Matt and I did as ordered. I hazarded a glance at our coachman, only to realize he wasn't even there. He'd run off, thank God, hopefully to get help.
"Will someone tell me what's going on?" Dr. Seaford asked.
"I'll explain soon," Payne said. "But first, hand over your watch, Glass."
Matt put up his hands. "Come and get it."
Payne smirked. "Seaford, retrieve every watch you find on Mr. Glass's person. If you do not, I shoot him."
"But it's useless to you," I wailed. "It only works for Matt. Let him keep it, please."
Payne simply smiled that ratty smile of his. "Check every pocket, every seam, Seaford. He'll have more than one watch."
"All this for a robbery?" Dr. Seaford shook his head.
"Just do it!"
Dr. Seaford turned to Matt and apologized. He found Matt's first watch, the one we recently bought from the Masons', and held it up for Payne to see.
"Where was it made?" Payne asked.
Dr. Seaford opened the case and read the inscription. "Here in London."
"That's not the one. Keep checking."
Dr. Seaford returned the watch to Matt and Matt pocketed it. It didn't take Dr. Seaford long to find Matt's second watch in his hidden pocket.
My stomach dropped. My blood turned to ice in my veins.
"Where was it made?" Payne asked.
Again, Dr. Seaford opened the case and read the inscription. "New York."
"I believe that's the one. Throw it here."
"No!" I cried. "Dr. Seaford, that watch is keeping Matt alive. If you give it to him, he'll destroy it and Matt will slowly die."
"Keeping him alive?" Dr. Seaford asked in wonder. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"
"Magic," Payne told him. "You are a magician, she is a magician…and that watch is mine, now. Throw it here or I'll shoot Glass and he'll die immediately. It's your choice. A slow death or a quick one? One gives hope that Glass can overpower me and retrieve the watch. The other…well." He cocked the gun.
"It's all right," Matt told the doctor. "Give him the watch. It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters!" I shouted.
Dr. Seaford drew in a breath. "I don't quite understand what this is all about." He held up Matt's watch. "But I do know that he has a gun and that it's pointed at Mr. Glass, here. I can't let him shoot you over a watch, sir."
"I understand," Matt said.
Dr. Seaford threw the watch.
"No!" I cried.
Matt grabbed my arm, stopping me from charging forward. But he could not stop me from throwing my own watch. It sailed through the air and I willed it to wrap itself around Payne's wrist and shock him as it had done on more than one occasion to save me.
But it hit him in the shoulder and fell to the pavement where it lay unmoving and silent. It only worked when my life was in danger and it hadn't chimed since Payne stopped pointing the gun at me.
Payne lifted his foot to crush it.
"Don't!" Matt barked. "It was given to her by her parents."
"You know I'm not one for sentimentality, Glass." Payne brought down his boot heel and twisted and twisted and twisted.
The metal case splintered, the glass inside cracked. My watch gave a single, plaintive chime before falling silent. Payne removed his boot to reveal a pile of pieces so broken they could never be fixed.
Tears burned my eyes. My father had made that watch and I had pulled it apart hundreds of times. I knew the inner workings by heart and could put it back together with my eyes closed. It had saved my life. It was beyond repair now.
Matt's hand found mine and grasped tightly. It was an attempt to comfort me, but the tremble wracking him did nothing to ease the ache in my chest. I met his gaze and saw his heart swimming in his eyes, and his pain. So much pain.
The sheriff smirked. Then he pocketed Matt's magic watch.
I closed my eyes. Every sound was amplified in the dark. The click clack as one of the horses took a step, Payne's low chuckle, Matt's labored breaths. I slumped against the coach as hot tears slipped down my cheeks.
"India, my love," Matt purred, his lips very close to my ear. I suspected he was about to say something else so when he'd didn't, I opened my eyes.
Payne pointed the gun at Matt's head. "Don't move, Glass," he said. "Miss Steele, Dr. Seaford, come with me. I have work for you both."
"Me?" Dr. Seaford blurted out. "What do you want me for? What work?"
"Magic work."
Dr. Seaford's nostrils flared and the muscles in his jaw pulsed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Of course you do. There's no time to discuss it now. Come with me. Walk ahead of me with Miss Steele. Now, Miss Steele," he pressed. "You know what will happen if you don't."
I squeezed Matt's hand then let it go. I took one glance at his face and wished I hadn't. There was real fear and helplessness, and bone-shattering pain carved into the hollows of his cheeks and eyes.
I joined Dr. Seaford and together we walked off with Payne at our backs, his gun still obscured by his jacket. I resisted the urge to glance over my shoulder at Matt. I couldn't bear to see his distress.
"Hell," Payne suddenly muttered. "I want to see him die."
"No!" I screamed, spinning around.
But I could not reach him in time. He pulled the trigger and fired. Matt reacted but not fast enough. His body jerked from the impact of the bullet and he fell to the ground.
He didn't move.
Chapter 14
The gunshot must have acted as a signal to Payne's driver. His coach came around the corner and stopped beside us. Payne opened the door and bundled me inside. He forced Dr. Seaford in with the gun pointed at his temple.
Noise filled my head. Screaming. I was screaming.
Payne slapped me across the mouth and I stopped, dazed, my vision blurred. "Make another sound and I'll hit you again," he growled. "That goes for you too, Seaford."
I stared out the window at the houses rushing past and the trees, and slab of gray sky. Then Payne closed the curtains, plunging the cabin into semi-darkness.
No one spoke. I imagined Dr. Seaford had a thousand questions, but was too scared to ask them. I wished I could offer him an explanation at least, but I couldn't even do that. It wasn't Payne's threat that kept me silent, but the yawning hole in my chest. I felt as if it would swallow me.
I huddled into the corner of the cabin and welcomed my tears. They slipped silently down my cheeks, my chin, onto my arms folded around myself. I felt so cold.
Matt was dead.
If that gunshot hadn't killed him, he'd die anyway without his magic watch. It was hopeless. I'd failed him. My magic had proved utterly useless.
I should have told him I loved him.
"Miss Steele?" Dr. Seaford asked gently. When Payne didn't follow through on his threat and hit him, he added, "Are you injured?"
"No," I said.
He heaved a breath and let it out slowly. "Can you tell me what you want from us?" he asked the sheriff.