Twisted pleasure balloons in my chest at the sight of him on the floor, but before we can grab him, he vanishes. Rose and I wait with rapid breaths, watching the space where he disappeared.
“Holy shit,” Rose says, her wide eyes like two black coins. “He knew we were going to be here. Let’s find McGregor’s research notes and get the hell out of here before he comes back.”
“I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” I say. “I can’t believeyou’redoing it. After all your lectures about keeping the oath and lying low.” Rose has always been a stickler for rules, and after all the grief she’s given me about Ella…
“It’s not like we’re stealing. It’shiswork. We’re just… giving it to him early.”
I open my mouth to argue when someone bangs on the door.
“Fuck,” Rose says.
“Start looking.” I shoot to McGregor’s desk while Rose beelines to his computer. “It won’t be on there. He’s old school. We need to find his research journal. It’s handwritten.”
I yank the top drawer from its hold, rummage through the contents and toss it into the corner of the room with a loud crash. There’s no point in being quiet now. Whoever’s on the other side of the door might not have access, but it’s only a matter of time before someone shows up who does. Or Matthews reappears.
“What does it look like?” Rose yells, rummaging through piles of papers stacked on top of the desk.
“It’s an A4, brown leather-bound book. I’ve seen it here so many times.” I tug open another desk drawer, adrenaline pulsing through me. More people are shouting from behind the door now.
“We need to go,” Rose says.
“We can’t come back. We get it now.” I yank the bottom desk drawer, but it’s locked.
“Parker,” Rose repeats. The noise outside grows, and the banging on the door continues.
“It’s in the bottom drawer.” I flip the heavy wooden desk upside down. The computer crashes to the floor, papers and pens following. “Help me.”
We shove the desk against the door, and I kick the locked drawer, over and over, swearing each time it doesn’t budge. My chest numbs at the faint beeping of a code being entered into the keypad.
I grab a trophy from one of the office shelves and smash it into the base of the drawer. The wood splinters, fragments biting into my skin as I rip them away. My heart lurches at the sight of brown leather.McGregor’s journal.“Rose, get ready,” I say, yanking it free.
The office door bursts open, launching the desk toward us. We jump backward, Rose’s hand grabbing my shoulder. Her influence, scorching me from the inside out, wavers as Matthews steps into the room. His face is unharmed, and he’s flanked by guards with their weapons drawn.
I shove Rose behind me, but my foot catches on something and we both stumble. Her power hits me like an explosion, engulfing my body and traveling us from the room. But not before the gun fires. Or before the bullet slices through my skin. And somehow, we are simultaneously falling and ripping through time.
I tense for impact, but when I open my eyes I’m standing in a sunken garden, and Rose is unconscious on the ground beside me.
17Mariella
I open the typed letter from the hospital and read the contents with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asks.
I swallow against the tightness in my throat. “It says—” I release the letter, and it flutters down onto the sofa. “It says she wasn’t a patient there.”
“There must be a mistake,” Anna says, reaching for the discarded letter.
I jump to my feet, banging my knee on the coffee table. The pain doesn’t register. I grab my phone and find the hospital’s number, following the prompts to speak with the medical records department. Thirty minutes and four transfers later, a woman with a nasal tone apologizes and tells me there is no record of my mother ever attending Massachusetts General Hospital. I’m so lightheaded I barely hear her lengthy explanation about misplaced records during the digitization process seven years ago.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” the nasally voice asks. “Hello?”
“No. Thank you.”
“Have a nice day.”
The phone cuts out, and a heavy silence rings in my ears.
“What did they say?” Anna asks. She’s hovered close by for the whole ordeal.
