A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1)

Sera only rolled her eyes.

Brint cleared his throat. “And all of that leads us to the Cataclysm. More than a dozen Breaks have been officially listed as matching Aristotle’s criteria. Everything from the kidnapping of a First Lady, to a botched mission in Europe during World War Two that had significant consequences. These Breaks not only led to undesirable outcomes, they severely damaged reality itself. The Remnants are one consequence of that. The increasingly intense natural disasters are another. Everything is falling apart, as you must be more than aware.”

Dak thought about that — his knowledge of history left no doubt that the rate of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcano eruptions had increased dramatically over the last hundred years. But to think that was somehow tied to certain events in history taking an unplanned route was . . . crazy. Just plain crazy.

“I can see those wheels spinning in your head,” Brint said to him. “I know this all must seem unlikely. But I swear to you, with all my honor as a Hystorian — and I’ve devoted my life to this — that what we’re telling you is true.”

“It’s a lot more complicated than we’ve laid it out,” Mari added. “But this is the gist of it. Aristotle created a society that would diligently track and pass down records of the Great Breaks throughout the years, hoping that someday the Hystorians would pioneer time travel and go back to correct what went wrong. And that’s where we stand today.”

Brint tapped his finger on the table. “Of course, there’s an even more immediate danger than earthquakes or Remnants.”

Dak waited, wondering, What now?

“The SQ,” Brint announced. “They’ve been around just as long as the Hystorians, though they’ve been known by many names. And where the rest of the world has suffered, they’ve actually benefited from the Breaks. As you might imagine, they’re not thrilled with the idea that somebody might change that.”

“What Brint is trying to say,” Mari continued, “is that the SQ has eyes and ears everywhere. And if they were to catch wind of what we’re up to here, they’d kill us all without hesitation.”

“We can keep you safe,” Brint said. “But only if you give us that Ring.”





SERA DIDN’T like Brint’s tone — she didn’t like this turn in the conversation at all. She quickly squeezed Dak’s hand before her friend could say anything. They had to play this right.

“I think the stakes are well-defined here,” Brint continued. “We need that Ring so we can reverse engineer it. Make our own. And begin the process of fixing history.” He and Mari looked squarely at Dak, who held the Ring clutched to his chest.

“Um,” Dak started before Sera could stop him. “I don’t know. All this stuff you’re saying makes sense, I guess, but . . . I need the Ring. I have to find my mom and dad.”

Sera knew Dak could be talked into anything — he was trusting to a fault. That meant it was up to her to protect their interests here, and she had no problem speaking up. “How did you people even know we had an operating time-travel device? Were you monitoring the area for stray chronon particles?”

Brint’s eyes flickered to Mari’s. “Um, yes, that’s exactly how we knew what you were up to.”

Sera scoffed at how easily she’d tricked them. “There’s no such thing as a chronon! The Hystorians have been spying on the Smyths all along, haven’t they? You’re no better than the SQ!”

Brint stuttered and stammered. Mari cleared her throat, stepping in to take charge of the conversation. “Okay. Yes. We’ve been . . . monitoring Dak’s parents. But we’re not like the SQ, I promise you. We’ve only done what we have for the good of the world. How do you think the Smyths got the money they needed for their research, anyway? The Hystorians have been funding them all along, in secret, providing grants that they didn’t know came from us.”

“Which, by the way,” Brint interjected, “gives us partial claim to the Ring technology.”

Sera took a moment to consider her next move. Brint and Mari seemed genuine enough. But she didn’t dare let the Ring out of her sight — not until Dak’s parents were safe. And if Brint and Mari had been monitoring the lab, they knew that the Ring was all but useless without Sera’s know-how . . . and without Dak or Sera to activate it. That was an advantage she could use.

“If you knew anything about this technology,” she said, “you’d know that it would take months to make your own device. At least.”

Brint and Mari exchanged a long, worried look. It was obvious they didn’t have that kind of time.