Into the Dim (Into the Dim, #1)(22)

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.

I didn’t move.

“Well, this is all of us, Hope,” Lucinda said, spreading her arms wide. “We Viators. Excepting your mother, of course.”

The only sound came from the rush of my own blood in my ears, and the chatter from Tesla’s machines. I studied each person in turn. Their faces wore identical, earnest expressions. Something wrenched apart in my chest. This was no deception. No elaborate joke. They were serious.

“It was an ambush,” Collum said, his hands in fists. “Celia laid it, and now your mum’s trapped there. Alone.”

My eyes burned, but I clenched my jaw and forced my shoulders back. An insane urge to laugh bubbled up inside me as I realized why Lucinda had sent for me. I needed to hear it, though. They had to say the words.

“Why am I here?” I asked in a flat voice.

Phoebe’s friendly, animated face was grave when she spoke. “The Dim’ll open in six days,” she said. “One of its weird quirks is that it won’t allow a person to go back to the same place and time more than once. It’s been tried in the past. But the Dim knows, somehow. Doug says it recognizes the person’s genetic pattern.”

Doug took up the explanation. “When someone tries to return again to the same point in space and time, The Dim just shuts down, see. All the lines turn to green. We don’t know why, though I believe it has something to do with the Dim disallowing a paradox to occur. For instance, you could cross your own path. And, oh, all kinds of awful . . . Well, let me show you.” He whipped out a small notebook and began sketching a series of intersecting lines.

Phoebe laid a hand on his arm and stepped out from the others.

“Listen, Hope,” she said, her small blue eyes locked with mine. “Lu, Gran, and Mac already went back to look for Sarah a few months ago. Though they didn’t find her, they found clues. A noblewoman, new to town, had recently joined the baroness’s household in Baynard’s Castle in London. No one they spoke with knew where the woman came from. And the baron and his family had left town for their castle in the country. There wasn’t time to go after her. But they did find out the woman’s name. Sarah de Carlyle.”