Timesurfers Page 20

  “Jonah’s been a complete gentleman. What would happen if Mortez discovered he snuck in to see Rose?”

  Austin drew a finger across his neck and made a horrible noise in the back of his throat. “She’d feed him to the fire ants. Jonah’s secret is safe because he’s a ghost. Every Timesurfer has a time tube when they surf. Not Jonah, no one can track him surfing. Mortez has to take his word about his comings and goings. She keeps him on a pretty tight leash though.”

  “Doesn’t she have to anchor him on all his trips back and forward? That’s why you guys call out to Naitanui and Mortez when you surf. So you don’t fall into a parallel dimension or...something?” she finished lamely.

  Austin looked impressed. “Normally that’s the case, however...”

  “Austin.” Rose marched across the gleaming wooden floorboards. “Naitanui needs you immediately. There are two time tubes headed Bach’s way.”

  “Bach the composer?” Cate asked.

  “No, Bach the exotic dancer.” The two knives holding up Rose’s hair glinted as she shook her head. “Of course Bach the composer.”

  “I was just asking.”

  “Listen more. Ask less—that’s how you learn,” Rose replied.

  “Why do you care so much about a composer? I’m sure his music is good and all, but history shaping?” Cate looked between Austin and Rose.

  “He had twenty-one children and was an informal adviser to royalty at the time. Those things have a big impact,” Rose said.

  “Also, you can never have too much music.” Austin strolled to the door and hesitated. “‘Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order and lends to all that is good and just and beautiful.’”

  “Don’t quote Plato to me.” Rose hurried to the doorway, kissed Austin on both cheeks, and hugged him. “Take care of yourself and don’t get killed. Love you.”

  His arms tight around Rose’s waist, his eyes fixed on Cate. “Love you too.”

  Cate’s breath caught in her throat.

  “Don’t kill each other before I see you next!”

  “Get!” Rose shuffled him out the metal door and closed it with a thunk. She brushed at her cheek.

  Was Rose crying?

  Rose exhaled loudly. “Wait here while I select the weapons.”

  “Like I have a choice.” Cate flopped on the white couch, which was even more comfortable than it looked. She picked up a magazine and pretended to flick through it. Her eyes followed Rose as she walked to the far wall and twisted a safe lock. Following the sound of an air lock releasing, the entire wall opened to reveal a six feet by six feet space with wooden walls lined with weapons and...jewellery. A string of emeralds the size of golf balls nestled in a red velvet box caught her eye.

  Shouts echoed down the hallway. Rose sighed. “That was quick, even for him.” She used some very colourful curse words, and there was a knock at the door. “You should get that. NOW!”

  Chapter 20

  Quantum Microchip

  Cate scooted over to open the door.

  Jonah gave her a curt, businesslike nod. “Cate.”

  A dozen people lay strewn along the hallway. Some moaned and others were quiet. Hopefully they were unconscious and not dead. She gave Jonah a tentative smile. “What are you doing here?”

  “Checking in with you,” Jonah answered with a tight smile.

  She contemplated the weapons strapped to his thigh, and the hilt of a sword protruding over his shoulder. He had expected trouble this trip. “How did you know I’d be here?”

  “Give me some credit. I know you pretty darned well.”

  “You might not know me as well as you think.”

  A look of satisfaction settled on his face. “So you aren’t here doing a deal with Naitanui to help you find Xavier?”

  Two bags Rose had filled with weapons dropped with a clatter on the floorboards. “Got it in one. Check his QIs.”

  She checked Jonah’s QIs and then looked down the hallway, expecting a rush of Timesurfers at any moment. “Is it safe for you to be here?”

  He leaned against the doorframe with a supreme nonchalance that belied the fact he was persona non grata at the Break. There were only a few inches between his head and the top of the doorframe. “There’s not a conscious Timesurfer left in the Shack.”

  “If Mortez is so interested in me, why isn’t she here? Why not storm the Shack, take me, kill everyone, and end it?”

  “Well! Aren’t you a bloodthirsty little thing? Naitanui has enchantments that prevent Mortez and her minions entering the Shack and the Break. Jonah’s the exception. The enchantments don’t recognise him because he’s a ghost.” Rose assumed her warrior-goddess stance.

  It was the hair, Cate decided. Rose’s gleaming black hair hung past her waist. Violet glinted from the smooth waves cascading down her back every time she moved.

  “It’s also more complicated than killing a few people. Lord knows if it was that easy Rose would have bumped you off at the bus stop herself.” Jonah smiled and drummed his fingers against his bicep. “Of course, she would have had to get through me first.”

  Rose made an annoyed sound and shook her head. “Not even a challenge. Take your overinflated ego and toddle back to Mortez.”

  “Happy to, after you tell me where you two are going with those overflowing bags of weapons.”

  “She’s training me,” Cate blurted.

  “Training?” There was genuine surprise on Jonah’s gorgeous face.

  “Yep.” Rose patted Jonah’s chest. “She’s all mine until the next new moon. I’m preparing her for the GTs.”

  “You aren’t serious?”

  Rose stabbed Jonah’s chest with her index finger. “Never been more serious, Lover. I’m training her for the GTs, and if she lives, she’s going to search for her missing brother. Apparently the evil Elias has taken him.” Rose raised both eyebrows and stared Jonah down. “He wouldn’t have been my first choice.”

  “Not your choice to make.” Jonah’s voice was quiet and steely. “I’ll help train Cate, of course.”

  “I wouldn’t want Mortez and the angst riddled Catherine to miss you.” Bitterness tarnished Rose’s every word.

  Jonah flinched and stepped back like Rose’s words were a sharp slap in the face. “You wanted me to join Mortez.”

  “No, I wanted you to stop taking those drugs that were killing you, and joining Mortez was the only way to ensure that happened.”

  Whoa! Cate never picked Jonah for an ex–drug addict.

  Jonah gave Rose a murderous look. “The drugs were to deal with my migraines, and true to her promise, Mortez has kept them under control for me. I haven’t touched any drugs since the day I walked into Mortez’s Command. Just like I’ve told you every other time you’ve asked me.”

  “This is just as hard for me as it is for you. I miss you more with every breath, every day, but I’d rather see you alive with Mortez than live in a world without you.” Rose glared at Jonah.

  “And of course the fact my joining Mortez was such a plus for you never entered your head?” The venom in Jonah’s voice was unmistakable. He paced back and forward along the wall his fists clenched at his sides.

  Rose grabbed Jonah and spun him around. “That’s unfair. There are no words to tell you how grateful I am you can also help protect my family from Mortez. No one else could or would do it.”

  “I don’t want your gratitude or pity.” Jonah’s voice was filled with anguish and bitterness. His hands pulled at his chocolate coloured hair. “I hate what we have.”

  Rose stumbled back as if Jonah had struck her. “I never asked you to help protect my family from Mortez. You chose to do that.”

  “You will let me help train Cate. You owe me that.” Jonah and Rose stood chest to chest, wrists touching. To say they had a complicated relationship would be the understatement of the century.


  “Fine.” Rose reached into one of the bags and produced a shiny black gun. She twirled it around her palm.

  “Arrgh!” Cate shrieked and flattened against the wall. “What are you doing?”

  Rose grasped Jonah’s outstretched wrist and pressed the gun to his skin. A clatter like a stapler sounded. A red welt the size of a grain of rice appeared on the inside of Jonah’s wrist. Rose pressed the gun against her own wrist and fired it again. She dropped the gun back into the bag and pressed her hand against the mark on Jonah’s wrist for the briefest of seconds. The welt vanished.

  “Quantum microchip.” Jonah showed Cate his wrist. “It’s a GPS chip. When the gun fires it activates a dormant quantum charm infused into the metal of the chip. It’s like a historical beacon. Magic and science coming together. Clever hey?”

  “Sure. What do they actually do?” Cate poked at where the red welt had been on Jonah’s arm.

  “Rose and I can track one another’s locations. I will use the location details to travel to wherever you two are training. Don’t kill each other before I get there.”

  “Come on, Apprentice.” Rose tugged at Cate’s arm. “Naitanui!”

  Their surroundings started to spin.

  ***

  “You’ve got ten minutes to pack a bag and return.”

  A decent shove from Rose sent Cate stumbling toward the painted blue door of her house. “Or what?”

  “I’ll come, grab your atrocious rainbow hair, and drag you down the steps to this very spot. Then I’ll make you commando-crawl along the road for a mile.”

  Cate trudged to the house contemplating how she’d like to rip out the violet highlights in Rose’s mermaid hair. Maybe even rip off a few of her perfectly manicured silver fingernails. She opened the door. “Hello.” Silence shouted back. She charged up to her bedroom and yanked the wardrobe doors open, searching frantically for her floral duffel bag and backpack. “Hmm. What to take?” She skidded down the hallway into the bathroom, grabbed her toiletries, and started throwing clothes in her bags. “What am I forgetting? Ah.” She popped Flopsie the white rabbit in. She couldn’t leave him.

  Her phone beeped with a text from Rose.

  “3 MIN WARNING!”

  That gave her an idea. She pressed speed dial number one as she forced her duffel bag shut, balancing the mobile against her ear with her shoulder.

  “Where are you?” Eve shouted down the line. “I came by this morning for our first solo outing in the car, and no one was home. I had the entire day planned out.”

  “Shush,” Cate whispered.

  “Why are we whispering?” Eve whispered back. “Have you got Austin or Jonah with you? I’m not sure if I’m emotionally ready for you to jump into anything with either of them.”

  “Eve! Shut up. They’re not here.”

  Eve grumbled down the phone.

  “I’m going with Rose to train for a Timesurfers initiation thing. The GTs.”

  “What the...?”

  “You can’t tell anyone. I just wanted someone to know I was going.” Cate cursed and ran to her wardrobe. She had forgotten boots and socks.

  “It sounds like a dreadful idea.” Eve was still whispering. “Do you want me to come with you? I can be there in less than fifteen minutes, ten if I steal a bike. I don’t know if I can even still ride a bike.”

  Eve’s offer was a testimony to what a true best friend she was. “Thanks, but no. When these guys time travel, they can bring you back to the exact moment you left. I’ll be back before you get here.”

  “You’re time travelling?” Eve screeched. “What will you wear?”

  Cate’s phone vibrated with another text from Rose.

  “1 MIN”

  Crap! “Got to go.” She snapped her phone case shut, grabbed a bag with each hand, and headed downstairs. As she charged out the front door, she came to an abrupt halt. Am I doing the right thing?

  Polka Dot shot across the cream pebbled driveway and crouched under the lavender bush waving in the slight breeze near Rose. His yellow, unblinking eyes glowed at Cate. She had to do this for Xavier. There was no other choice. She hoisted her bags more firmly onto her shoulders and, with her head held defiantly high, marched toward Rose.

  “Naitanui!” Rose called. Her fingers bit into the flesh near Cate’s tricep.

  The world swirled. Stars exploded and fizzed across the black velvet canvas. In less than a minute her feet sank into soft, warm ground. She blinked against the glare. They were at the beach. The blindingly white sand squeaked under her boots. There were no beaches in Tempus Falls, just trees and hills. “Where are we?”

  “The beach.” Rose marched her supermodel body up the sand dunes, weaving her way through the sparse vegetation with the grace of a dancer. If she had been wearing a bathing suit, it would have been the perfect Sports Illustrated cover picture.

  “So helpful.” Cate tugged her jacket off and tied it around her waist. The heat from the sun stung her arms. Layer upon layer of plump, fluffy clouds hung in the sky. Cate wanted to reach out and hug them they looked so soft and pure. There was ocean, beach, clouds, and sparse scrub as far as she could see. “Where are we going?”

  “Shut your mouth, save your strength, and keep up.”

  Cate’s ankles and knees were scraped and bloody through her leggings from brushing against the thorns and sharp leaves. The sun was directly overhead, so it had to be around noon when they reached a sparse clearing the size of a baseball field. Soaring limestone cliffs curved around one side. Black human outline targets lay scattered on the ground. Piles of sandbags, drums, and logs littered the grey sandy floor. Four lookout towers accessed by rope ladders, connected by rickety wooden footbridges, bordered the clearing. Two rolled up swags and a few battered looking pans sat at the foot of the cliff.

  “This is us,” Rose said. “I’ll start a fire and make lunch. Roll out your swag, change, and stand up all the human shaped targets and those round archery targets on the far side of the grounds. Don’t go past the limestone cliffs.”

  Cate tapped her watch a few times, confirming it was broken. “We’re sleeping outside?”

  “We’re doing everything outside.”

  A mosquito the size of a golf ball landed on her arm. This was not going to be fun. She changed into black drawstring cotton pants behind a large boulder streaked with red. Please let it not be dried blood. Her pink singlet with “Suck it up, Princess” emblazoned across the front in sparkling silver earned her a basilisk stare from Rose, which made Cate very satisfied indeed.

  The dry scrub crunched under her boots as she stood up the targets. They were heavier than they looked. Spears, swords, knives, arrows, and some razor-edged spinning disks littered the ground. A warm breeze brought the sharp scent of salt and something else that made her mouth water. She jogged back to camp and peered into the battered billycan Rose was stirring. “That smells awesome. What is it?”

  “Stewed seagulls, with wild rosemary and eucalyptus bark.”

  Cate’s stomach lurched and somersaulted. She was hungry, but not Survivor hungry.

  Rose rolled her eyes and snickered. “It’s chicken with coriander and bacon.”

  Cate loved anything with bacon, however, Rose had sewn the seed of doubt. What if it was seagull? She shuddered. “I used to go to a beach like this on vacation each summer.”

  “This won’t be a vacation.”

  There had been no family vacations since they relocated. Repetitive behaviour was frowned on when you were in witness protection. There was also no summer break at her mum’s school because crime never took a vacation.

  Rose put a lid on the billycan. “All right, while that’s finishing up, give me a quick demo of those fierce black belt skills you touted the first day we met.”

  “What? Now?” Frankly, stewed seagull was more appealing.

  “Yeah, let’s see if you’re pathetic, atrocious, or a combination of both. I won’t hit you. Promise.” Rose crossed her heart with her hand and moti
oned Cate forward. “Come on. Show me what I haven’t got to work with. I’ll tie my hands behind my back if you like.”

  The GTs obviously involved combat. Hence the possibility of death Rose spoke about with Jonah. Xavier had better appreciate this. She assumed her fighting stance.

  “That’s like knocking on the front door and yelling ‘HELLO! I’m here to fight.’” Rose tapped a manicured nail against her chin. “Continue.”

  She executed a few half-hearted kicks. Rose whirled and smashed a heel into her stomach, making her sink to her knees. She struggled to get a full breath. “You said you wouldn’t hit me.”

  “I didn’t hit you. I kicked you. I’ll kick you again if you don’t fight with some conviction. Those kicks wouldn’t have bothered a puppy. You must have more than that.”

  Anger surged through Cate. She assumed her fighting stance, and went at Rose with everything she had. She feigned right and left and kicked high and low. There were a lot more high kicks than low as she attempted to get dirt on Rose’s flawless complexion. She punched and kicked with every combination imaginable. Nothing hit its mark. Rose was a freaking warrior-goddess. She had the hair and the fight moves. Cate screamed toward the sky in frustration.

  “Give up?”

  The cheerful tone in Rose’s voice and the fact she wasn’t breathing hard made Cate’s blood boil. She charged at Rose and ended up headfirst in a very scratchy bush. Her out of control breathing rasped painfully in her chest. She got to her feet with a kip-up, spitting dirt and leaves. Rose moved to check on lunch, and Cate seized her opportunity. A second later, she landed hard on her butt.

  Rose threw her head back and howled with laughter. “So there is a scrapper hidden under there. Excellent. You sounded like a train steaming up behind me—the breathing and stomping. So unstealthy.”

  Tears prickled Cate’s eyes. She was tougher than this. Crying in front of Rose would be the last straw.

  “Eat. Then we’ll get into it. What’s your strongest weapon?” Rose handed her a tin cup filled with stew.

  Cate sniffed at the food, stealing a furtive glance to check Rose was eating. She touched the fork to the very tip of her tongue, rolling the taste around in her mouth. If it was seagull, it tasted delicious. “Um...I suppose nunchaku. I’m okay with a sword or a bow and arrow, but I’m rubbish with knives.”