“Yeah.”
“Well, see, there’s this story about it, aye? It’s supposed to be, like . . . the mother of all opals. Lu and Collum believe it’s real. And they think Celia’s after it. That she wants it to gain control of the Timeslippers’ device.”
The Nonius Stone. My hands twitched as I visualized my fingers filtering through the neatly organized files in my mind. I took a huge bite of the pastry, head tilted in concentration.
There. There was the passage I’d read.
The Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder spoke of how, in 35 B.C., Mark Antony had become entranced by the colored lights that moved within a marvelous stone, known throughout the Roman Empire. He wanted to present it as a gift to his love, Cleopatra. The owner—a Roman senator named Nonius—refused to sell, claiming the “jewel of the night” was everything to him. When Antony threatened him, the wealthy senator disappeared. He left everything behind—his family, his fortune—fleeing with only the clothes on his back. And the great jewel.
“But, it’s just a legend, right?”
“Could be,” she said. “But Coll is obsessed with finding it.” Phoebe fiddled with the pastry in her hand, spilling crumbs on the quilt. “It’s our da, see? He got left behind too. A long time ago.”
The bite I’d just swallowed stuck halfway down. “Your dad? But . . . Moira said he died.”
Even as I spoke, our conversation in the library rewound in my head.
No. What she said was: He’s been gone.
“Well, it’s likely,” Phoebe said. “He was injured. And it was twelve years ago. I was four, and Collum seven. A long time.” She sighed as she plucked at the crumbs on the quilt. “See, Lu had shut everything down after the King John thing happened and her father died. But no one beats my Gran when it comes to research. She learned that in 1576 a great jewel had been sold off by a tiny convent near the Wash. Apparently, it was found in the pocket of a young girl who’d fled to the nuns shortly after her whole family was murdered.”
“One of the farmer’s family survived the attack?”
Phoebe nodded, her small eyes gone round. “Aye. Betsy Fortner. She didn’t live long, though. But the nuns found something sewed into her skirts. The Viators decided it must be the Nonius. That the Timeslippers had missed it, somehow. Lu sent a team back to investigate.”
The hair on the back of my neck prickled.
“Who?” I could barely whisper the word.
“My da,” she said in the same hushed tone. “Your mum. And Celia Alvarez. She was still a Viator then. Had been since she ran off from her own family when she was fifteen or so. Claimed she hated her father. That he beat her. Asked Lu and Sarah’s da to give her refuge.” Phoebe made a face. “’Course I don’t really remember much about what happened the night they returned, but Collum does, and it hits him hard sometimes.”
“What . . .” I coughed to dispel the choking sensation. “What happened?”
Phoebe stared off, dredging the memory from a deep, dark place. I wondered how much was actual recollection, or if it was that she’d heard the story so many times, it had inserted itself as memory. She picked up the last lemon bar, brought it to her mouth, then set it back on the china plate, uneaten.
“All I recall,” she said, “is Mac waking us in the wee hours. Collum was in a rage, ’cause they wouldn’t tell us what was happening.” She paused to swipe at her eyes, smudging black streaks into the vivid blue hairline. “Da was everything, yeah? See, he’d got our mum knocked up when they were just kids. Seventeen or so. They were married for a few years, but Gran says they were never happy. Fiona hated everything about the traveling, too. Refused to have anything to do with it. She lit out right after I was born. Mac called and told her what had happened to Da. She never even came to see us. Not that I care.”
She shrugged, as if being abandoned by her mother meant nothing. But when her mouth twisted, I put a hand over hers.
“It’s okay.” She sniffed. “Truly. I have Collum, and Gran and Mac, don’t I? And Lu, o’ course. But Da . . .” She leaned back on the plush pillows. “Anyway, they sat us down and told us he was gone. I didn’t know what that meant. Not really. But Collum? Oh, he was in a state like you’ve never seen. Wanted to go get him, right then and there. Couldn’t understand when they told him it was impossible.”
I could see it. The solemn, round-faced little boy I’d seen in the photos, confused and furious when he learned the only parent he had left was gone.
“What about my mom?” I asked. “What did she say about it?”