by Jen Greyson
“But what if she’s leading us away from Tiana?”
“She doesn’t know we’re here, so is not what she’s doing.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I can’t.” He finally looks at me. “But this is what I’m trained for. We either follow my instinct or yours.”
I sigh. “Yours. We follow yours.”
“Remember that,” he says and steps into the crowd, headed toward the restaurant.
The Pearl Olive is posh and dimly lit, overflowing with rich velvets and richer patrons. I search the room, desperate for confirmation Penya’s still in here.
He nods at the hostess and takes a step to move around her but I tighten my hold on his arm, pulling him to a stop. “Table for two,” I say brightly.
He scowls, pissed I’ve already disobeyed him, but we can’t go barging through the building. The hostess smiles. “One moment.”
As I’d hoped, she steps away to check seating options and as soon as she’s in the depths of the restaurant, I urge him forward, searching the patrons.
“There.” He jerks his chin toward the kitchen entrance and I spot Penya’s retreating form. She’s given in to the time period as well, fully concealed behind layers of taffeta and silk. I’d know her characteristic portly figure anywhere, and thankfully so does Constantine. We hurry past waiters and I hope we have a few minutes before any of them raise an alarm. The kitchen is a bustle of activity with trays and plates coming out as fast as orders come in. Pots and pans hang from the ceiling and stunningly dressed waitstaff moves between the metal tables and counters.
Penya stands on the far side beside a silver-haired chef and my guts clench in recognition. He’s the man who trapped me in the basement of Nikola’s hotel. “Oh shit, Constantine!” I grab his arm and yank him around a huge metal cooling rack filled with this morning’s fresh bread. Anger and bile surge up my throat. “That guy she’s talking to… He tried to kill me when I was with my scientist.”
Constantine ducks down so he can see between the loaves. His entire body tenses like he’s torn between staying in place so we don’t tip off Penya and exploding in a fury against a man who would dare harm me. While he watches, I glare at Penya, fighting a renewed sense of betrayal. I gave her the benefit of so many doubts. Facing off in basement with one of J.P.’s men, I still couldn’t blame her. I never thought she could stoop to level when she seemed to care about what happened to his work. It was all an act.
I trusted her so much… My guts clench. To find out now she had involvement with Nikola’s death… I can barely keep from bursting out of our hiding place, bolts flaring and avenging him.
Penya talks frantically, waving her arms and I can’t hear anything she’s saying over the kitchen clatter. “We need to find Tiana. Now, while Penya’s distracted. We can go to the other building, grab her and get out of here.”
“Only delaying the inevitable. Penya’s gone to much trouble for this alteration. You know as well as I do if we remove Tiana, she’ll move closer to the arc's completion, flinging her right back to this time. And alerting Penya to our involvement in the process.”
“Dammit.” He’s right, but all I want to do is get my baby sister to safety, alteration be damned.
He curls his fingers around my elbow. “In this instance, patience is our only advantage.”
I can’t wait. I can’t leave her. “What are you saying?” the anxiety of abandoning her squeezes my lungs until I’m gasping.
He shushes me as Penya moves toward us, back into the main part of the restaurant. She’s going to see us, but there’s nowhere to go.
“Hey! You can’t be here.” A waiter spots us and Penya jerks toward his voice. Constantine yanks me backward around a pot of boiling stew and out a back door I didn’t see because I was so focused on Penya. We’re in an alley and I scramble against his hold around my waist to get back in there. “No. Let me go. I can’t leave Tiana. That man already tried to kill me, what if Penya told him to take out Tiana?” I struggle but he tightens the band of his arm until the pain is more intense than my need to return.
“And what do you think he’d do if he saw you? Invite you inside?” He pulls me tight against him and whispers harshly in my ear. “He would kill you. Then who would protect Tiana?”
I freeze and a chill races up my spine. I can't lose this chance.
“I will not allow you to sacrifice your life for hers.”
“I have to save her,” I whisper, defeated. “Don’t you see?”
He wraps me in an embrace. “And we will. But not today. Not like this.”
We hurry back to the warehouse, heads low and walking as fast as we can in the unfamiliar shoes and clothes. Now the stares brand us impostors and I want to be safely hidden so we can come up with a new plan. Constantine shoves through the heavy metal door and slams it closed. We both lean against it, sagging and breathing heavy. “You have to help me save her.”
He threads his fingers through mine and lifts them to his lips. “Have I failed you?”
“No.” I rest my head against his shoulder.
We barely catch our breath when the air waves and Ilif appears to my left, amid Constantine’s big pile of scrap. He steps quickly to the side and brushes the smudge of dirt from his pant leg where he caught it on a beam. I don’t know what he’d do if the fabric snagged on something—most likely race home to change. His quirk eases a bit of the tension at our failure.
“Were you successful?” he asks.
I frown. “We spotted Penya and trailed her, but the men she’s working with are ones I dealt with in New York. If we’re not smart about how we handle this, she will take it out on Tiana.”
“I feared as much. We must act wisely here. Your typical rash decisions will cost you.”
“I know.” It’s killing me I can’t barge my way through this situation. Penya would expect of me, and if I can figure out what the opposite is, we might have a chance. “How about you? Where’s Papi?”
“He’s safe with your mother. I identified an adjustment gets me closer, but the only data returned is a delayed signature. As Vic and I have used information and location to track Tiana, we’re arriving after she and Penya have already left. She’s still one step ahead of us.” He frowns and smoothes the hair at his temple. “After the third time, I conceded perhaps she was doing it to spite me.”
I look at the door. “Then we have to go back out there. We know one of her guys is working at the restaurant down the block. Maybe I can tail him—”
“No,” Constantine says. “Too dangerous.”
“Everything is dangerous with Penya involved. What other choice do we have?” I pull away from him, frustrated and angry I’m failing so miserably. The sharpness of my defeat is magnified by how close we are. This would be easier to take if we were a million years away instead of across town.
“There must be another way,” Ilif says. “Some way to get ahead of her.”
Constantine straightens and unbuttons the first three buttons of his shirt. He rolls his shoulders and walks to another nearby pile of scrap, perusing it for anything useful while he thinks. His fingers ease into a haphazard section and he retrieves an L-shaped piece of iron. He turns it over and rubs the surface, then says, “We know when Penya shows up in Spain. She advised me for nearly a half-year before your arrival in the early days. Can we wait for her there?”
“No,” I say without thinking it through. Sitting around waiting is the cruelest form of torture. I hate it more than anything. It’s wasteful and useless. I look to Ilif for support. He’s no good at waiting either. Not anymore, and not with Penya getting the best of him. Surely he’ll see how awful Constantine’s suggestion is.
“We wait,” Constantine says with confident surety.
“Yeah. I don’t wait. I’m an action kind of girl.” I turn to Ilif. “Where do we need to go? What do we need to do?”
Ilif holds up his hands. “I want to hear his theory.” He points at Constantine.
/> I cross my arms, feeling betrayed and ganged-up on.
“Why do you prefer waiting?”
Constantine walks to me, still turning the bit of metal between his strong, sure fingers. His voice is quiet, but carries across the open space of the warehouse. “That moment is the only one we’re certain of. My journal references several encounters with you in close parameters to when I sought Penya’s counsel in matters of war. Penya will need to meet you, correct? All of must still occur.” He glances at Ilif for confirmation. “Correct?”
I turn to Ilif. “Does it? Or now we’ve already killed Viriato does not need to happen?”
“Yes, it must still happen, otherwise—” He shakes his head. “There is no otherwise because you can’t unmake a lightning rider’s alteration. It stands historically—or in this case, in his future.” He gestures toward Constantine. “It could work.” He sighs. “And frankly, it’s our only option at this point.”
Constantine nods, then turns back to me and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “You have placed your trust in me before. Do not let your fear of waiting erode trust. When Penya arrives in Spain we have options. We can watch her, grab her, or interrogate her. She might have Tiana with her. Dilemma solved.”
“Wait.” My nervous laugh is high-pitched and strained. “You seriously want me to wait? While my baby sister is with a madwoman and in extreme danger?”
“I don’t believe she is,” Constantine says. “Tiana is too valuable. Penya would not risk hurting any of your family of riders. She needs you all and your immeasurable talents. Tiana might hold your skill, but she’s fresh and untainted.”
“And leverage,” Ilif says.
Constantine cups my face to soothe the strain and fear at his words. “But will keep her safe, don’t you see?”
I nod and try to check the tears. I want to believe him. I do. He’s never been wrong before now. I’ve trusted him with everything—my life, my missions, my ability—but this is different. This is Tiana.
“Penya has not taken Tiana on a whim,” he says. “She is a brilliant adversary and we must treat her as such. Tiana is safe because Penya has worked too hard, destroyed too many lives, changed too many moments of history. And she’s not done yet, which is why she will…” He tucks his fingers beneath my chin and forces me to look at him. “She will protect Tiana. Your family is more valuable and precious to her than diamonds. Trust me. Tiana is safe.”
He shrugs and takes a small step away. “I mean, unless Tiana is irritating and bull-headed like you. Then maybe I could see her getting rid of her.”
My mouth drops open, then I recognize his ploy for what it is and I laugh. His barb did what it meant to. It got me out of my heart. “Thanks.”
He winks, then grabs me to him and kisses me hard. “Trust me,” he whispers.
I nod and step out of his arms, needing to let the plan sink in. It was a horrible one. But if Ilif couldn’t trace either the residue or Tiana, it was the only choice we had. And sucked.
“Much as I know you despise it,” Ilif says. “Your warrior’s plan is sound. On both accounts. Penya will not allow harm to come to Tiana and if you wait for her in Spain, your chances an encounter are greatly improved. Penya is now aware of your presence in London. I’m actually quite surprised you saw her. As was she. She’ll move Tiana as little as possible now, tailoring every event to ensure the least amount of exposure and possibility of another. She’ll limit her interactions to only those involved in the alteration and she will micro-manage every bit of Tiana’s time. Tiana will not have the luxury you did of figuring out the alteration on your own. I gave you latitude and suggestions. Penya will tell Tiana when and where to be, what to say, how to affect the alteration.”
“Right, which means we know she’ll be with this scientist girl.” That still seemed like a far better route to go than sitting around twiddling our thumbs a thousand years and a country away.
“In limited stretches. And what are you going to do? Invite yourself to someone’s dinner party? Penya will see you’re blacklisted. You can’t exactly hide him.” He flops a hand toward Constantine, looking splendid in his finery. “Frustrating as it might be, if you time it right, you’ll only have to wait a few days, a week at most. Constantine knows when Penya arrived. That timeline will not change because all of was part of your original alteration.”
“A solid plan,” Constantine says and flexes, shredding his shirt. He grins in glee at the ripping sound of the fabric.
“That was expensive.” I stick my finger through a new slit and poke his bicep.
“I’ll find a way to make it up to you.” He yanks the bits from his shoulders.
Spending days staking out Spain without anything pressing would be a gift. “We could work on more things in the books. Train on rider stuff while we wait. We’ve only used the section with the colors and I found bit about water, but there’s still tons of info—”
“What books?” Ilif says, shocked.
My eyes widen and I stutter, realizing what I’ve revealed. “Did I never tell you about those?”
“What… Books?” He grinds out the words and again, this is an extreme show of emotion for him.
I jam my hands behind me and scuff the floor with my toe. “Remember when you asked me and Papi where we found the chant, back when we first met?”
“Vaguely.”
I still wasn’t sure why he’d wanted to keep the info from Ilif, but I’d never gotten around to setting the record straight. “Papi may have lied to you when he told you it was on a couple scraps he found in his Father’s stuff.”
Ilif’s jaw clenches and he stares me down. Our relationship won’t be anything other than the rocky roller coaster it’s been since the beginning. But I do feel the slightest bit of remorse about not telling him. Now, with him helping me find Tiana, it seems a fair trade-off to give him the information. “Before he died, my Grandpapa left him a book—a huge, leather-bound thing filled with accounts of alterations. Maybe from all the lightning riders before us.”
Ilif nods curtly. “What else have you failed to mention?”
He’s pissed and I don’t blame him, we’ve had a touchy alliance, but his has been founded in trust since the alteration with Nikola, and truly, I’ve done my best. This was an honest oversight, but I’m sure he thinks I did it on purpose—and considering our past, I would have. But not anymore… at least not until he screws me again. For now, I’m willing to trust he won’t abuse what’s in those documents.
“Uh, there are some little pamphlets.”
He seethes and does his best not to say something rude, but he struggles.
I keep talking to settle him. “It’s how I figured out the different colors of the lightning and what they do. Constantine and I did a bunch of training, testing them.”
His eyes narrow. “And you didn’t think this was information I needed?”
I laugh. “You’ve never thought there was information I needed. You still don’t trust me with any of it, and you know it. At least I’m telling you now. That counts, doesn’t it? I didn’t have to.”
“I have been nothing but honest.”
Constantine snorts derisively.
“I think you and I have different definitions,” I say. There’s still a ton of stuff you haven’t told me.”
“Then I believe going forward we should amend the status of our working relationship.”
“Oh yeah? What do you suggest?”
“You tell me everything you know.”
I study him, weighing the consequences of telling Ilif things as I figure them out. We’re aligned in this mission because it concerns Penya and our last alteration and the events surrounding Nikola went well enough I’m willing to afford him a bit of trust, but it will take time before he gets it carte blanche. I’d be a fool to erase the lies and disrespect he's shown me because he’s been on his best behavior as of late. Ilif is the kind of guy needs to be kept within sight but at arm’s length. This might be a mistake
to let him know what’s contained in the documents, but if it helps him find Tiana, I have to risk it.
“Can I see them?” he asks politely.
“You can’t have them, but I’ll let you study them and make copies.” I hold up my hand. “On one condition, you have to agree we hunt down Penya and Tiana first.”
His face hardens. “I find it disturbing you would question the pressing need to eliminate woman.”
“There is value in taking your eyes off the current target to scan for new enemies,” Constantine says.
“I agree, I don’t want him getting all tangled up in a geekfest of information when we should be out looking for Tiana.”
“I understand. But an enemy is only viable until new information is presented. Staying the course because that’s the current strategy is foolhardy. Until we are successful in this endeavor to save Tiana, all information must be examined.”
“Fine,” I tell Ilif. “Use them.”
“When do I come find you?” I ask Constantine.
He shrugs. “You’ve always known precisely the best time.”
“It’s true,” Ilif says. “Trust the alteration.”
“But this isn’t one… right? We’re not changing history.”
“Your connection with Constantine stands outside the alterations. Trust that, then.”
“Sure,” I say, miffed. They’re acting like it’s super easy to skip back in time and convince a warrior I’m not a sorceress, not a spy, and not come to thwart his efforts to win a war. “The only reason he agreed to work with me last time was because he had the journal. He knew me, knew us, knew who I was. This time he won’t know me at all. We won’t have met on the dock.” I groan and squeeze my temples. “There is no way.” I look at Constantine. “You know how hard it’s been. You already thought I was a sorceress the first go-round… and the second, ten years later.”
“Yes, but Penya did not pave a smooth way for you.”
“What?” I remember his anger at me, at being thrown together with me on our mission to kill Viriato. He was so upset about it. Penya was such a trusted source for him then, and she was the only reason he’d agreed. “What did she tell you?”
