Lucinda’s faultless posture drooped. She stumbled back suddenly, as if too exhausted to go on. Moira made a sound of dismay. Collum was there in an instant to keep Lucinda upright. When Lucinda tried to wave them both off, Moira mumbled a few, quiet words in her ear. Finally, my aunt nodded, and the two boys helped her sit in a straight-back chair.
Moira moved to my side. “Eventually,” she said in a calm, steady tone, “as men tend to do, Carlyle and Alvarez argued. Alvarez split from the others after he secretly found a similar location high in the Andalusian mountains of Spain. He persuaded—or more likely threatened—Tesla into building two new machines, and then he began his own exploration.”
Collum spoke, his upper lip curled into a sneer. “Alvarez’s descendants and the people who work for them call themselves the Timeslippers, if you can believe it.”
“Aye,” Doug said with derision. “Original, right?”
I spun to face Lucinda. Her eyes were closed and she was scrubbing a hand over her mouth, as if her next words tasted bitter.
“The Timeslippers are now led by Carlos’ great-great-great-granddaughter. A woman called Celia Alvarez. I understand you saw her photo in the library.”
“I did,” I mumbled. “She—”
I thought back to the expression on the black-haired woman’s face. Bitter. Angry.
“Hope,” Moira said. “Celia and your mother were once the best of friends. Sarah loved her like a sister. It was Celia who contacted your mother in India. I don’t know what Celia told her to convince her to go. But I believe Sarah thought she could still reason with her. Unfortunately, she was wrong.”
Sweat popped out on my face, despite the chill. The room began to spin, slowly but relentlessly, around me. Large as it was—the room suddenly seemed to contract, to press in until every atom of oxygen was squeezed from my cells.
I took a step back, heading for the stairs, but Collum followed.
“Oh, you can tell yourself we’re mad if you like,” he said. “Scuttle back home to your books. Continue to cower in your house and act like the poor wee broken thing you are.”
I whipped around, my face on fire.
He came closer, his voice gone gritty. “But you know the truth now, and you can’t unlearn it. If you leave, you’ll always wonder what would’ve happened if, for once in your life, you’d had the courage to do something brave. You’ll always wonder if you missed the one shot you ever had at being more than just a scared little girl.”
My gaze flicked to the Tesla devices behind him.
“We are Viators.” Pride infused Collum’s voice as he gestured to the others, who were gathering behind him. “That means—”
“Traveler,” I snapped, meeting his gaze. “Yeah. I know my Latin. I know what it means. But even if this ridiculous”—my hands flapped, encompassing everything in the cavern—“is real, I don’t know what you expect me to do.”
“Sure you do, silly.”
I spun around to find Phoebe standing just above me on the stairs, wearing fluorescent blue jammies that matched her hair. Her grandfather was at her side, his lanky figure wrapped in a flannel robe, his own sparse strands mussed from sleep. Mac gave me a reassuring wink and moved to stand between his wife and Lucinda.
As I remained rooted to the spot, Phoebe gave me a friendly nudge. “No reason to go all barmy on us, Hope. It’s no biggie, really. We’re just time-traveling thieves is all.”
“Phoebe Marie MacPherson!”
“Just messing with her, Gran. We don’t steal anymore. Or at least not much.”
She gave an exaggerated wink, making Lucinda growl.
“Jeez, Lu, I’m only teasing the girl.” Phoebe brushed past to snuggle under Doug’s arm. His gentle eyes fixed on me as he hugged her to him.
Lucinda spoke. “I’ll admit, some of our ancestors were not what you’d call lily white in their dealings. My own father—unbeknownst to most of the world—was the source of almost every rare coin traded or purchased over the last thirty-five years. But I stopped all that when I took over.” She shot a grumpy look at Phoebe. “The Viators no longer profit from any artifacts acquired during our journeys. For the last twelve years, our focus has narrowed, and become more concentrated.”
Collum tensed at that but didn’t speak.
“All you need to know at this time,” my aunt continued, “is that the Timeslippers”—she grimaced, as if the word tasted foul—“have always viewed themselves as our rivals. They also have no morals. No compunction when it comes to preserving the proper timelines. And since Celia became their leader, she has recruited some very unsavory characters. We believe they’re trying to locate something that could endanger us all. An object which might have the ability to control when and where the Dim will open.”
“We begged Sarah not ta go.” Moira worried at the knotted belt of her robe. “But she wouldn’t hear it. She . . . she felt she owed it to Celia to persuade her to give up her preposterous quest.”
“It’s not preposterous,” Collum shot back. “The Nonius Stone is real. And if Celia gets her hands on it, there’s no telling what she’ll do.”
The Nonius Stone.
The name was familiar. If I wanted, I could burrow in my memory and pull up the information. But the stairs were empty at my back now. I could run. Leave this place and go home.