I reach for Jack’s hand. Amber’s mother is in the wind. Nothing left to memorialize. No place to anchor Amber’s grief. She’s just... gone.
“We have to find her.” Julio’s practically burning out of his skin.
“Come on,” Jack whispers, steering us from the receptionist desk. “Maybe we’ll pick up a scent.” We follow Jack through the lounge. He pulls up short in front of the TV. Julio and I nearly trip over him as he turns toward the news ticker.
TEEN SUSPECTS IN TN ASSAULT HOLD UP BAR IN AR.
SUSPECTS LAST SPOTTED IN OK HEADING WEST ON I-40,
CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS.
A newscaster’s face fills one side of the split screen. My throat goes dry as I recognize the face on the other. Jack rushes to the TV and raises the volume.
“We have with us Dr. Michael Chronos, head of psychiatry at the private youth rehabilitation center from which he says these four teen suspects escaped just days ago. Doctor, tell us what you know about these young people.” The newscaster taps his note cards on the desk and stares grimly into the camera.
Chronos’s eye twinkles, the same deep shade of blue as his suit jacket and his matching patch, the thick cake of TV makeup concealing the worst of his scars. His cufflinks, two gleaming silver scythes, catch the light as he adjusts his sleeves for the camera, a clear message intended for us. He smiles through his beard, looking every bit the respectable doctor he’s claiming to be. “I’ve known these children a long time, as long as they’ve been under my care. And while I believe this may have started as a game... a joyride, if you will... their misadventure seems to have spiraled out of their control. If they aren’t returned to our care, more lives may very well be in danger.”
“If any of our viewers have seen these young people, we encourage you to call the tip line on the bottom of the screen.” A number flashes across the ticker, one Chronos will no doubt be closely monitoring. “Doctor, you told our producers you have a message for the four of them, in case they’re out there watching?”
Chronos gazes deeply into the camera. “Jack. We’ve all made mistakes, son.” He taps his eye patch with a self-effacing smile that could almost be genuine. “I’m no exception. I know how it feels, to be afraid, to make impulsive choices you can’t take back. But if you don’t put an end to what you’ve set in motion, someone’s going to get hurt. Maybe one of your friends. Maybe all of them.” He pauses long enough for us to recognize the threat behind the plea. To see the promise of violenceunder the feigned sadness of his smile. “You’ve made some dangerous choices, and the ice you’re treading is thin. But you already know that, don’t you, son?” Jack’s eyes glaze white and his fists clench. “The only way to set your future back on course is to face the consequences of your actions and turn yourselves in.”
A chill creeps over the room. Jack looks angry enough to trash the place all over again as he storms to the reception area. “Jack, what are you doing?”
“Excuse me,” Jack asks the woman. “May I borrow your cell phone?”
She hesitates. Her eyes flick anxiously toward the television as she hands it over to him.
JACK
“Jack, don’t.” Fleur takes my arm before I can dial. “He’ll know exactly where we are.”
“His Guards were here. He already knows.” I carry the phone a safe distance down the hall and punch in the tip line number. When the police operator answers, I demand to speak with Dr. Michael Chronos. The operator stalls, asking a series of questions I don’t bother answering. Suddenly, the line goes silent. It begins to ring. Then clicks over as if it’s been forwarded and picked up again.
“Mr. Sommers.” The connection is crystal clear. As clear as the eye of his staff. He’s rerouted the call, plucked it right off the police line, and dropped it onto the Observatory’s secure network. “I assume you received my message.”
“I have no fight with you. Whatever happened between you and Daniel Lyon’s got nothing to do with us. Why can’t you just let us go?”
Julio and Fleur lean close, struggling to hear.
Chronos sighs. “I can’t do that, Jack. What kind of precedent would that set? Especially after that impressive display in Oklahoma yesterday. You’ve forced me to make an example of you. If I let your behavior go unpunished, the Observatory will be spawning lovestruck tornadoes everywhere.”
“Where is she?” Julio hisses. “Ask him where his goons took Amber?”
I muffle the microphone too late. Chronos has gone quiet, listening. I can picture him on the other end of the line, sifting through my memories, contemplating the odds of our next move.
“What do you want?” I ask him.
“I would like you and your friends to surrender to my Guards for immediate Termination.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Then I suppose we’ll just have to see this through to the bitter end. You already know what that looks like.” I grit my teeth, remembering the images Chronos was so eager to show me. “Kai Sampson has already been dispatched to find you. It’s only a matter of time, Jack.” The details of my death stir in the dark corners of my mind, where I’ve kept them hidden—Kai Sampson’s piercing dark eyes, the ice cracking under me... But if Kai’s going to kill me, she’ll have to catch me first. Doug got lucky. We took a risk coming here, stopping anywhere with ties to our old lives. I won’t let that happen again.
As if reading my thoughts, Chronos says, “It’s too late to change the outcome, Jack. The decision that set your destiny in motion has already been made, as has mine. We’ve both made choices,” he says, thegravel in his voice betraying some sadness. Or regret. “And I will not let mine be in vain.”
“You’re talking about Ananke.” The line goes quiet. Lyon said Chronos killed her because he couldn’t bear the idea that the future he saw in her eyes was inevitable. Because he was desperate to change it.
“I loved her, as much as you love your Fleur. And I assure you, while your commitment to saving her may seem heroic, it is flawed. In the end, those sworn to protect both of you will succumb to the burden of that oath. Your choice to place the life of that girl over your own will cost more than either of you were willing to part with when you began this journey. Your Handlers will die, as will you, Jack. Leaving your beloved Fleur alone on the battlefield to grieve for you.”
