A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1)

They slipped past the guards at the top easily because they were snoring up a storm, practically lying on top of each other. Eyeball mentioned as they passed that he had helped them with their insomnia by pouring some powder into their drinks — a concoction he’d gotten from a mean old hag he’d met in the slums.

Valerian, probably, thought Sera, though her knowledge of medicinal herbs of the era was limited.

As they slunk their way through the narrow, cramped halls and corners of the ship’s belly, she felt claustrophobic and nauseated and tired of the smells of body odor and foul breath. Soon enough, she told herself. Soon enough they’d be fighting for their lives in the wide open, nothing around them but air and sea.

They finally reached the hatch in the floor that led down to their short-lived sleeping quarters of the previous night. But instead of going down, Eyeball moved past it and stopped at a seemingly random spot farther along. He shushed them, then started running his fingers along the wood of the wall. There was a low grating sound and a panel popped out into his hands — he gently placed it on the ground.

“Weapons,” he whispered.

Sera moved forward to stand beside him as he reached into the cubbyhole and pulled out knives and swords. She held her arms out and he stacked the weapons there like firewood. When the pile got heavy, Riq helped as well. In the end, there was an odd assortment of at least a dozen blades.

“Okay,” Eyeball said, winking his lone eye. “Let’s hope to the sea gods your Riffraff can swing these blasted things without choppin’ their own ears off.”

Sera nodded, then looked at Dak. It lifted her heart to see that his face was full of excitement more than fear. Maybe they could pull this off after all. Eyeball went down the ladder into the sleeping quarters first, then Dak. Riq got on his knees to pass the weapons to them — she saw Eyeball’s large hands reach up and grab them. She followed Riq’s lead, glad to be relieved of the burden.

When she looked back up she noticed her reflection in a tiny metal mirror hanging on the wall. At the sight of her face, a sudden and piercing ache seized her heart and squeezed it. She scooted backward until she hit the wall of the narrow hallway. A deep, black sadness filled her — a feeling she recognized all too well.

She was having a Remnant.





IT DIDN’T last long, ending almost as suddenly as it had started. But the vision that passed through her mind — more like the absence of a vision, as if she were supposed to be seeing something but it wasn’t there — haunted her deeply in those few seconds. In her mind’s eye, she saw her face as it had appeared in the small mirror. And every ounce of her expected a woman’s hands to appear and caress her cheeks, a beautiful face to reach down and kiss her forehead. The fact that it didn’t happen was so maddening she thought she’d scream, or lose her mind completely. But then it was gone, just like that.

A Remnant. She’d had another Remnant.

She looked at Riq, realizing that she must look crazy.

“You okay?” he asked. His face revealed nothing.

“Yeah,” she answered. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just . . . got spooked there for a second.”

Dak called out from below. “You guys coming down or what?”

“Be right there,” she whispered.

“Never mind,” Dak returned. “We’re coming up.”

Sera glanced at Riq again, and he was giving her a knowing look.

“A Remnant?” he asked.

Sera tried to hide her surprise. Then she nodded.

“If we fix the Breaks, you won’t have to deal with that anymore. Saving the world sounds great, but it’s not a bad deal that we get to save ourselves in the bargain.”

It was the nicest thing she’d heard him say. Not so much the words as the way he’d said it. Genuinely.

“Thanks,” she whispered. A small echo of the pain she’d felt in that short burst of a few moments still lingered in her heart. But there wasn’t any more time to dwell on it. Eyeball’s head popped through the opening in the floor.

“Time for battle,” he said.



Sera got the last pick of the lot from the weapons stash — but it wasn’t too bad. A thin dagger about the length of her forearm. It ended in a vicious point and the blade along the side seemed freshly sharpened, the shiny silver surface almost glistening. It felt completely awkward in her hands. She took a few practice jabs and almost stabbed the only eye their new leader had left.

“Watch it, girl!” he barked. “Oops, now I guess they all know.”

Most of the Riffraff army had climbed out of the sleeping quarters, crowding the small hallway. Ricardo was nearby.

“You’re a girl?” he asked. “For real?”

“For real,” Sera said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But I can fight just like the rest of you.”

“Never said you couldn’t,” he responded with a smile.