A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1)

Dak and Riq were right next to Sera, held by two more of Eyeball’s thugs. She couldn’t even move enough to turn and get a good look at them.

A few people had awakened on the floor around them, including Ricardo. She eyed him, trying to warn him to keep quiet. The thought crossed her mind that maybe he had betrayed her and Dak somehow, but the look on his face was genuine shock. With some fear thrown in.

“Nothin’ to say for yourself, eh?” Eyeball asked with a sneer. “At least you’ve got some gumption, I’ll give you that. Take these brats to the brig and make sure they don’t get no breakfast.”

Sera concentrated on not crying as the burly men dragged her away.



She didn’t think it possible, but they went even deeper into the ship, to a dank, smelly pit that had several small cells along its length, each outfitted with bars and chains. All of them were empty, which didn’t surprise Sera considering they had just left the dock. They had the honor of being the first criminals of the voyage.

Eyeball opened up one of the cells and the men literally tossed Dak, Sera, and Riq into it. Sera landed with a thump, smacking her head against the wall. She cried out, the first sound she’d made since being taken. Dak grunted then rolled up into a ball, moaning with pain. Riq lay on his stomach, his head nestled in his arms as if he were asleep.

There was a rattle of chains then the click of a lock. Sera looked back to see Eyeball staring down at her through the bars of their new prison.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he chided them. “I should’ve known you three wastrels were up to something when you came beggin’ to get aboard at the last minute. And sneaking around like that. The only reason I don’t throw you on the docks right now is because I want you in me sight. Answerin’ me questions when the time’s right for askin’. I hope you three enjoy discomfort and pain.”

He turned and left, hanging his lantern from a hook before disappearing up the rickety ladder with his three goons.

Sera crawled over to Riq, who hadn’t moved yet. Dak’s moans at least told her that he was alive.

“Are you okay?” she asked, gently shaking Riq’s shoulder.

He rolled over onto his back. Sera gasped when she saw the hideous swelling of his right eye, the puffy skin already turning purple.

“One of his thugs punched me on the way down here,” the older boy said in a strained voice. “For no reason — I wasn’t resisting.”

Even though they’d all been mistreated, his almost childlike explanation just about broke her heart.

Dak groaned again, wincing from some unseen ache. “I thought I liked that stupid cyclops.”

“I wonder what happened,” Sera said. She showed Riq how to tilt his head to maximize the blood flow for his aches, then moved to sit against the damp wood of the wall. “I knew we should’ve been more careful in there. Someone obviously heard us and tattled.”

Dak’s face was all scrunched up in pain or anger, or both. “This would make more sense if we were plotting against the captain, but we were talking about saving him. I guess the Amancio brothers have allies everywhere.”

“We should’ve been more careful,” Sera repeated in a deadened whisper.

“I’ll say,” Riq replied. “I rest my eyes for one minute and you two go and botch the whole mission.” He gingerly prodded his swollen temple. “I guess there’s nothing for it but to use the Ring to get out of here, then warp back in. Assuming you haven’t mislaid it.”

“No, I haven’t mislaid it,” Sera said bitterly. She pulled the Infinity Ring out of the satchel, happy that she’d kept it on her while sleeping — and that Eyeball clearly hadn’t expected it to hold anything of value. “But we can’t just hop around with it. It’s out of the question.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Dak. “That’s our ace in the hole!”

“Do you want to do the calculations? Look, this thing doesn’t just move us around in time. It lets us travel through space, too. Every time we use it, I have to input global coordinates — while compensating for the rotation of the Earth, the Earth’s orbit around the sun. . . .”

“So you’re saying you can’t figure it out,” said Riq.

“I’m saying that there’s no way I can transport us back onto a moving ship. So unless you want to end up in the Atlantic Ocean circa August 1492, we need another plan.”

“We need to break out,” Dak said, as if he’d just announced he needed to use the bathroom. “That’s it.”

“No problem, right?” Sera said. “Just break on out. Okay, go ahead and do it.”

Dak frowned at her. “Don’t be a smart aleck. I’ll come up with something.” He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

“I’m sure you will,” Riq muttered. Impossibly, he was snoring a minute later.

“What a weirdo,” Dak said. “He could sleep on the tip of a weather vane.”