A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1)

Gloria laughed, obviously thinking that last one a joke. Dak decided not to press it — he thought back to the warning from his parents. Not to step on any bugs in the past.

“But things are getting bad,” he continued. “Lots of earthquakes and hurricanes and other scary stuff. Plus, the SQ is stronger than ever, pretty much ruling the whole world and running it into the ground. Aristotle was right — we need to fix the Breaks.”

Gloria’s look of wonder dropped into a gloomy stare. “Which is why you’re here. And I’m in this city for a reason, so I can guess why you’ve come.”

Dak was curious. “What would your guess be?”

“A little young to be interrogating your elders, no?” She smiled. “I’m sorry, this is just such a . . . momentous occasion, I don’t feel quite like myself.”

Dak shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ve never really had a chitchat with someone from 1492, so it’s all good with me.”

“There’s a major voyage planned for this week,” she said. “Commissioned by Queen Isabella herself, and led by Christopher Columbus. Does it have something to do with that?”

“Yes!” Dak shouted as he stood up. He quickly recovered and sheepishly sat back down. “Oh, sorry. I get a little excited about this stuff. But yeah, that’s my guess, too. There should be three ships — the Santa María, the Ni?a, and the Pinta. Their voyage ends up being really important. If history is about to go off course, our best bet is that it’ll have something to do with those ships.”

“Hold on,” said Riq. “Who’s Christopher Columbus? Aren’t we talking about the voyage led by the Amancio brothers?”

“Well, sure. The Amancio brothers — Salvador and Raul — were in charge once they threw Columbus overboard,” Dak answered. “The mutiny can’t be the Break, can it? No way. I’ve always read that Columbus was the bad guy.”

“Maybe the mutiny is supposed to happen and we have to help it,” said Sera. “If the SQ prevents the Amancio brothers from discovering America, that could cause all kinds of trouble with the time stream. Gloria, have you ever heard of them?”

“I know of Salvador and Raul. They’re relatively popular in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. Respected. But what on earth is America?” Gloria asked. She’d followed their exchange, her eyes widening with each word.

Dak was only too happy to give her a history lesson. Except, oddly enough, he was telling her about the future. “It’s hard to believe I’m in a time when people don’t know about this. Those ships are going to do a whole lot more than find new trade routes for Spain. They’re going to stumble upon a major continent that will come to be known as the Americas. It’s a whole New World, Gloria. It’s where we come from.”

Gloria considered for a minute. “You think you need to make sure the mutiny happens as it’s supposed to. It’s that simple?”

“Well . . .” Dak said. His enthusiasm dimmed — there was really nothing simple about the situation. “I’m not sure how this whole Break business works yet. But we definitely need to get on that boat. It can’t be a coincidence that we were sent to this time and place. That voyage is the key.”

Gloria turned an eye on Sera and said the strangest thing. “Then we’ll need to give you a haircut.”



It turned out there was a reason Gloria had been the Hystorian assigned to the port town of Palos de la Frontera when their suspicions about the SQ’s presence there had arisen. She was extremely knowledgeable of the shipping industry and had major contacts with all the fleets. She knew the only way to get Dak, Sera, and Riq on board the ship would be to pass them off as scrub hands. And that meant sticking to a no-girls-allowed policy, which Sera did not take very well.

“How can they be so sexist?” she asked as Gloria brought out a very nasty looking pair of silver scissors. “And have you even given anyone a haircut before?”

“Sexist?” Gloria repeated. “I don’t know what that word means. And the only hair I ever cut is on an animal, right before slicing it wide open. I promise I won’t do that last part to you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Gloria started snipping away.

Dak watched all of this with a constant urge to snicker. Riq sat by a window, lost in thoughts he didn’t care to share with anyone, hopefully looking out for any sign of the Time Warden’s burly frame. Gloria had called in a favor to have him thrown into jail, where his story of time-traveling rascals wouldn’t win him any friends. But it wouldn’t be long before his bosses heard about what had happened and had him sprung. Time was of the essence.