Timesurfers Page 27

  “So I have to be home by midnight, or I’ll turn into a pumpkin?” Cate snorted as she pressed her thumb into her eye socket.

  “The majority of changes will have absolutely no impact on you. If you’re awake at midnight when history resets and a change does impact you, it makes you violently ill. There’s vomiting, fever, and other nasty things.” Rose screwed her nose up and shuddered.

  “Great.” Cate rubbed her eyes. “I’ll turn into a sweaty, vomiting pumpkin if I stay out past midnight. Even Cinderella had it better than me.”

  Rose pointed a finger Cate’s way. “You can learn a lesson from Cinderella. Never leave anything on a mission someone can use to track you. She was stripped of her powers and had to live with an insipid prince as punishment for her carelessness with that glass slipper.”

  “Cinderella wasn’t a Timesurfer,” Cate scoffed.

  “She was until she was careless,” Rose said without cracking a smile. “History is rampant with Timesurfers who didn’t respect their powers and follow orders.”

  “Tell someone who cares.”

  “Here’s another fun fact. The midnight resets are what cause most of those nasty twenty-four hour illnesses people say they’ve had.”

  When Rose tossed her hair to the side, Cate’s stomach clenched as she glimpsed the red marks down her neck. “Naitanui doesn’t want me. He wants her. Future Cate. I think I like Mortez better anyway. At least she does something.”

  “I’m very supportive of you continuing on your chosen path with Mortez,” Rose growled under her breath.

  Cate squeezed past Rose and stomped up the stairs toward her bedroom. “The boys told me that Mortez was helping me search for Xavier.”

  Rose strode across the room and yanked the gold, heavily embossed curtains open. “Well she’s either really bad at it or just pretending.”

  “Naitanui didn’t take Xavier. So it’s either Elias or Mortez. I think it was Elias.”

  Rose turned slowly and deliberately on her heel. “That coward ran and hid after a woman defeated him.” A feral yowling rang out across the yard, and Polka Dot appeared at the window.

  Cate gave a toothy grin as the cat hissed at Rose. “Polka Dot hates everyone except Eve.”

  Rose opened the window and a warm breeze wafted the scent of gardenias into the room. It was transitioning from twilight to evening. The colour had washed from the sky, but the stars were still hiding. Rose shoved the ginger cat off the ledge. “Well, I don’t care for him and his racket too much either.”

  Cate made a horrified noise in the back of her throat.

  “Don’t have a cow. He landed on his feet.”

  “That was mean.”

  “So you think that’s mean, but you’re fine with joining Mortez who murders people on a whim.”

  “If Naitanui was more like Mortez, this could have been over that first day.” Cate hurled a shoe across the room. “I won’t kill Zach. I’d rather kill myself.”

  Rose raised her hands over her head in frustration. “If Naitanui was more like Mortez, I would have decapitated you at the bus stop. I’d still be up for a quick decapitation if it wasn’t forbidden. Death is the coward’s way out. It takes courage to move past and live with what you’ve done, good and bad.”

  “You’re the consummate martyr.”

  Rose poked at the half-packed bags on the end of the bed. “Are you going somewhere?”

  The heavy thud of car doors saved Cate from answering. “Mum’s home. Get out. Use the window.”

  Rose fidgeted with her hair and cracked her knuckles. “Can I meet her?”

  Cate picked up a weird vibe from Rose. “Absolutely not.”

  Rose dug around in the bags. “You are going somewhere. I want to meet your mum.”

  Cate shoved the bags out of Rose’s reach. “Stop pawing my stuff. I’m not introducing you to my mother. What would I say? ‘Hi, Mum, this is Rose. She’s an immortal Timesurfer.’” Bitch, she added silently.

  Rose growled in the back of her throat. “Socially awkward does not begin to describe you. ‘Hi Mum, this is my friend, Rose.’ is fine.”

  “Friend? That’s an enormous lie,” Cate snickered.

  Rose shoved her out the bedroom door. “Move.”

  “Touch me again and I’ll smack you,” Cate growled and started out of the room.

  Rose laughed. “We both know how successful you’ve been at that to date. Forgive me for not pretending to be scared.”

  Annoyingly, Rose made an excellent point. “You can’t make me introduce you.” Cate stomped down the stairs and swung around the banister at the end. “Get out.” She kept her voice low and opened the front door. Voices floated from the kitchen.

  Rose hesitated on the last step. “I guess the three wise men are here too.”

  “I said get out. What if they recognise you?” Cate hissed.

  “That’s a given.”

  “Cate!” her mother called from the kitchen. “I found Zach lurking in the front yard. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk to him or kick his butt. Either way, I invited him in.”

  How many times did Cate have to tell him to piss off?

  Balthazar’s enormous form filled the kitchen doorway. “I’ll throw him out for—” He stopped short at the sight of Rose. His eyes widened, and he let forth a string of curses.

  Rose smiled her predator smile. “Is that any way to greet a lady?”

  He lunged and stumbled as Rose danced under his arm. She sent him skidding across the terracotta tiles with a ferocious backward heel kick to the lower back. The crunch made Cate clench her teeth.

  “Too slow.” Rose flounced through the kitchen door.

  “Stay out. Please.” Balthazar’s eyes pleaded with Cate.

  Having her own defiant moment, Cate stepped over Balthazar, crumpled against the wall, and followed Rose into the kitchen.

  Chapter 30

  Family Meeting

  Zach stood near the kitchen island bench. “Hey. Your mum said it would be fine for me to come in.”

  “Rack off, Zach! We are never, ever, getting back together.”

  Gaspar and Melchior were backed up hard against the kitchen cupboards. Their fear filled eyes darted between her mother and Rose. The colour had drained from her mum’s face, and her knuckles glowed white where she gripped the edge of the kitchen bench, her eyes fixed on Rose.

  “Just passing by and thought I’d say hello.” Rose arched an eyebrow as she stared defiantly at Cate’s mum.

  “You!” Her mother’s voice was scarily quiet, her face now an ash grey. The knife in her mother’s hand sailed through the air, ruffling Rose’s hair, it passed so close.

  “Mum!” Cate’s jaw dropped as her mother grabbed a second knife and speared it across the kitchen.

  Rose gave a harsh laugh as she swatted it away. “After all this time, that’s not very friendly.”

  Cate’s brain strained. “You know one another?”

  The air in the kitchen rippled as Austin and Rafe appeared. Rafe slammed Melchior and Gaspar’s heads together with a sickening crack. They slithered, unconscious, to the ground.

  “That evens the odds.” Rafe rubbed his hands together.

  “You...” Cate started toward Rafe, but her head snapped back as someone grabbed her from behind. Hot fingers dug into her bicep.

  “Stay still,” Austin breathed in her ear.

  She tensed, preparing to struggle, when Austin threw her onto the ground. Her head smacked against the corner of the kitchen bench on the way down. Red stars exploded behind her closed eyelids. Their glare forced her eyes open as Jonah burst through the side door. Warmth trickled down her cheek. She brushed a hand up the side of her face. It came away tacky and crimson. “Austin...” There were no words to describe the betrayal and rage flooding through her.

  She scrambled to stand. Her heels slipped along the polished cork floor, and her hand knocked the knives scattered on the floor. There were three. Her mother only threw two. Where had
the third come from? Zach stood by the knife block. The carving knife in his hand sailed toward her head. Austin’s hands roughly grabbed her shoulders and spun her out of its path.

  Zach reached for the last knife in the block.

  “What the...? You’re trying to stab me now, you insane tosser!” Cate yelled.

  As he drew the knife back and aimed the point at her head, Jonah deftly plucked it from his hand. “Children shouldn’t play with knives.”

  Zach dashed forward.

  “Let it play,” Rose murmured.

  Zach showered Cate with punches which she easily deflected. A fierce blow to his nose sent him reeling backwards. He pointed at Cate. “I’m going to kill you before you kill me.”

  “What?” Cate said.

  He pointed an accusing finger at Cate. “I overheard you and Eve on the phone planning to have that zombie, Brittany kill me. Jonah forgot I can hear from miles away now.”

  Cate glared at Zach, astonished he would even suggest that. “You’re one insane dickhead.”

  Zach puffed out his chest proudly. “But I was too clever for you both. I texted Brittany and pretended I wanted to see her. When she arrived I smashed a vase over her head, and the broken pieces stuck in her brain. She’s dead. Again. I googled how to kill a zombie.”

  “You killed Brittany?” Cate shook her head.

  “You killed her first!” Zach stomped his foot like a petulant child.

  “You’re a complete psycho. Mum, come here. Mum! Get away from Zach,” she repeated when her mother didn’t move.

  “It’s kill or be killed, babe!” His lips curled in a lurid grin.

  “I’m not your ‘babe’! Did you hear how ridiculous what you said sounded?”

  Rafe’s eyes narrowed as he inspected her mother from all different angles. “How are you doing that?”

  “How is she doing what?” Cate demanded. Zach charged at her again and she speared a knife from the floor toward him.

  There was an audible groan from Rose and Jonah.

  “That won’t kill him,” Rose breathed.

  “It will hurt like hell though,” Austin said with glee.

  Zach clutched at the knife. Its blade was now buried deep in his chest. “You’ll pay for that, bitch. I’ve had it with you. You and your permanent sidekick are both dead. Killing Eve will be a bonus! I’ll do it first and make you watch.”

  Cate scrambled toward her mother. “Mum, get out now. If you so much as breathe on Eve, you’re dead, Zach,” she hissed.

  Zach started to sway. “She’ll be dead before morning. Just like you.”

  “The only person likely to die in this room today is you, Zach.” A lazy flick of her mother’s elbow caught Zach on the temple, and he tumbled to the floor. She grabbed Zach by the hair. “You did all this. You should be dead. History says Cate should have already killed you. Jonah, make this right.”

  Icy fingers of fear crept along the back of Cate’s neck. “Why is my mother giving you orders, Jonah?”

  The air rippled. Her mother’s image blurred. It was like looking at a reflection in a pool of water after you dropped a pebble. She stretched an arm toward her mother, terrified she was going to dissolve before her eyes. “MUM!”

  As the ripples cleared, Mortez stood where her mother had been.

  “Well, well.” Rose’s face was incredulous. “You’ve been using a glamour all this time? No one’s been able to hold a full glamour in hundreds of years.”

  “That’s why Cate didn’t recognise you at the GTs,” Austin murmured.

  She shook her head, hoping to purge the nausea spiralling through her. The floor bucked and tilted under her feet. Austin’s fingers bit into her arm as her knees sagged and she dropped toward the ground. The room slid in and out of focus. She picked a spot on the floor and concentrated to clear her mind.

  “Where’s my mother?” Cate’s words were laced with quiet menace. She fought free of Austin’s grasp, grabbed Mortez by the shoulders, and shook hard. “Where is she? You sick—”

  Austin yanked her away from Mortez, whose shirt cracked and ripped where Cate had refused to let go. “Don’t say something you’ll regret.”

  She bucked and twisted against the pressure of his arms clamped around her. Her heel made solid contact with Austin’s knee.

  “You wanted us to lay the cards on the table,” Rose snapped. “Mortez here is your mother! She’s been here all along. Hiding behind a glamour.”

  Hysteria bubbled up Cate’s throat. “No...” All the air was sucked out of the room. The only sound was Zach gasping on the floor. Everything seemed to slow as her mind toiled to comprehend the vile truth.

  Mortez stepped closer. “I am your mother.”

  Tears dripped down Cate’s cheeks. With her eyes squeezed shut, she fought to deny the sound of her mother’s voice. “You can’t be my mother!”

  “I named you Hannah after my mother. You have her eyes. Even though you go by Cate now, I still call you Hannah when I kiss you goodnight.”

  “Plenty of people know that.”

  “Ask me anything, Hannah. Something only you and I would know.” The woman purporting to be her mother crooned in an all-too-familiar voice. She even smelled of her mother’s perfume.

  “You’re not my mother,” Cate hissed.

  “Your first day of school here, I gave you a special shell. I told you to turn it three times if you needed me. After school, you proudly handed me the shell and said I should keep it and turn it three times if I ever needed you.” Mortez dug into her front pocket and pulled out a round, raised shell with a familiar pattern.

  Cate knew that stone. Her heart clenched and a fragment cracked and broke away. The raw hole it left burned more with each heartbeat. Her heart somehow knew this woman spoke the truth. Still her brain refused to accept it.

  “I wanted to protect you from this life for as long as possible,” Mortez said.

  Rose snorted. “You weren’t protecting her. You were hiding a weapon.”

  “Shut up!” Mortez took a menacing step toward Rose, who stood her ground. Austin and Jonah were between them with the speed and grace of water.

  Rose beckoned Mortez. “Come and get me.”

  “Enough.” Jonah’s shirt clung to his back. Dampness the shape of a rising sun stretched across his shoulders. Sweat dripped from his chin and his hair was plastered in wet waves across the nape of his neck. “Cate isn’t in danger from them.”

  “From the look of you and Austin, you’re both getting a real historical adjustment.” Mortez brushed Jonah’s sopping shirt.

  “Cate, this is your mother.” Jonah’s sad smile made her stomach shrivel.

  Cate tasted bile. “Did Dad know about you?”

  Mortez nodded.

  “You never worked black ops, and there was no witness protection program.” Each lie was like a fist smashing into her rib cage and made her gasp.

  “Your father and I agreed going into hiding here was the best option. I could protect you and also have the added security of your brothers being near you without raising suspicions,” Mortez said.

  Cate pointed to Mel and Gaspar’s unconscious bodies. “They’re my brothers?”

  Jonah nodded. “And Balthazar too.”

  “But...they’re Austin’s brothers.” Her brain stopped dead and refused to move past one thing. Mortez had been married to Austin’s father. Mortez was Cate’s mother. Did that mean...? She covered her mouth.

  Rose made a frustrated choking sound. “They’re Austin’s half brothers. Austin’s father was your mother’s first husband. You and Austin don’t share any family blood.”

  Cate gave a bitter laugh. “So we aren’t hiding from the bad guys. We are the bad guys.”

  Mortez reached forward but recoiled as Cate flinched. “I know this is a lot to take in. I did this all for you. Preventing Elias from hurting you again was my priority.”

  “Elias captured and tortured Cate and her father?” Jonah’s eyes met Cate’s, clea
rly thinking about their encounter at the Neon Posse. Elias was in Tempus Falls.

  “I assume it was done under his directive. You were so vulnerable until you came into your powers, Cate. Each night I hoped with all my heart they would emerge. I was devastated each time I healed you from the fire ants.”

  “No! They weren’t dreams. You let fire ants gnaw at me?” Cate pulled at her hair.

  Mortez tugged a hand through her hair. “To see if your powers were close. They always appear subconsciously during sleep first. I always healed you.”

  “Well, THANKS! That makes you so much less of a monster,” Cate shrieked. Another piece of the puzzled clicked into place in her head. She pointed an accusing finger at Mortez. “You healed me when Jonah attempted to surf with me.”

  Mortez nodded. “I wasn’t happy with Jonah at all. I want you to be safe.”

  “Well, news flash! Elias is here in Tempus Falls, so the whole hiding me from him thing? Epic. Bloody. Fail,” Cate screamed.

  Silence resonated like a clear, crisp note around the room. Out of the corner of her eye Cate sensed movement. A bloodied knife lay on the floor where Zach had been.

  The laundry door banged shut.

  Cate whirled and bolted to the front door. She yanked the door open and flew down the steps. The freezing air burned through her chest mingling with the bitter mix of agony and betrayal encasing her heart. There was no time for tears. Zach was going for Eve.

  Chapter 31

  SORCERESS

  Cate sprinted along the damp, empty streets. She hurdled painted picket fences and tore through hedges, oblivious as thorns gouged her arms and face. When she finally paused at the familiar red door of Eve’s house, her pounding heart threatened to smash through her chest. The freezing air burned her lungs with each gasp.

  Lights blazed throughout Eve’s house. Cate counted twenty silhouettes in the downstairs windows. This wasn’t right. Eve’s parents weren’t party people. Hands on her knees, she scanned the front yard. She knew Zach was here.