Page 28

“You’re a lucky girl,” he says.

I think about stepping through the mirror into Ben’s room at The Villa and the possibilities of what would have happened if my first mirror-traveling experience had been somewhere else. “I’ve definitely had my fair share.”

He slides his hand around to cup the back of my neck and moves closer. There’s more to this kiss than the few light ones we’ve shared since returning. It’s like the perfect mash-up of a classical piece and a modern pop song—the way the drums come in at the exact right moment and make you throw your hands up to sing along at the top of your lungs. I slide my own hands up his arms and grip his shoulders.

A knock interrupts, making us fall apart quicker than I want. Ben takes a breath, smiles, and slides off the couch to get the door. The music pounding through me at Ben’s kiss falls away when I see Dr. Cooper standing in the doorway.

“I thought you were going to give us time to decide,” Ben says, tightness in his voice.

“I’m afraid circumstances have changed, and you don’t have much of a choice.” Dr. Cooper at least sounds like he regrets it.

“And if we say no?”

I stand up. Why isn’t Ben even asking me? He can’t make this decision alone. Not that I want to go without him, but I at least want more information about what I could do.

“You’ve both already traveled without authorization and done who knows what damage in the past,” Burke snaps from behind Dr. Cooper.

“How many times do we have to tell you it was an accident? Neither of us went back in time to change something for ourselves or wreck history for some unknown reason,” Ben cries. I come forward and rest a hand against his back, willing him to stay calm.

“That’s not what the nice little fortune you came home with says.” Burke stares Ben down with folded arms.

“Seriously?” Ben says, throwing his hands up. Dr. Cooper and I share a look, but neither of us gets a word in before Ben goes on. “I was stuck at the turn of the century. I needed money to survive, so I discreetly made investments to make that money. I’m not stupid when it comes to the ripple effect that decisions in history can have. I have a doctorate in it, by the way.”

“Yeah.” Burke gives a hard laugh. “I’d say you made money to survive—and then some.”

“Trying to figure out that mirror took some cash, Agent Burke.” Ben is practically yelling at this point.

“Let’s all calm down,” Dr. Cooper says before Burke can retort. “What my partner is trying to say is that there will be an investigation into how and why both you and Miss Granville went back in time. We believe you, of course—” He holds up his hands in surrender at the glower Ben gives him. “—but this is protocol for any type of traveling. Your funds are likely to be tied up for a while and possibly confiscated since they were the benefit of unauthorized travel.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ben mutters.

“But,” Dr. Cooper hurriedly adds, “we could find another arrangement, I’m sure, if you were to help us.” Both Ben and I stare at him for several seconds, a silence he finally breaks by asking, “Come with us, please,” his tone only minimally warmer than Burke’s.

I come forward and move my hand to Ben’s arm. “We can help,” I say. “We might be the only ones. It’s not worth this.”

Ben slides his hand down into mine and turns to face the two men, shielding me from them, as if that would help. He takes his time answering, watching in stony silence while Burke glares and Dr. Cooper pleads with his expression.

“Fine,” he says, and I give a nod of agreement as well.

They barely give me time to grab my purse and Ben his jacket before they lead us out to a black SUV waiting in front of the lobby doors.

“What changed?” I ask when the SUV pulls away from The Villa and onto the highway.

“Gibbons showed up on our facial tracking software in 1928,” Dr. Cooper answers. “It searches historical photographs the same way facial recognition software does today,” he explains in answer to Ben’s questioning expression. Dr. Cooper turns from where he sits in the front passenger seat and hands Ben a tablet. The photograph is a grainy black and white of a group of men posed on a busy street. Gibbons is off to the right side, hands in his pockets, and his face is turned in surprise at the camera. He hadn’t meant to be caught. I can see the beginnings of irritation in his expression.

“His suit is circa the early 1900s,” Ben says. “He must have just come from 1901 and didn’t get the right year.”

Dr. Cooper shrugs, but I don’t miss the distrust in his expression as he glances at the picture. “Maybe. That’s what we need to find out right away. This is in New York, so Gibbons is creating too many questions. Why did he leave The Villa when his best opportunity to get back to the present was there, in the mirror you traveled through? And when he got to New York, was it an accident he landed in 1928, or did he choose a mirror specifically to take him there?”

“Wait.” Ben waves his hand around. “How could he choose?”

“We don’t think he could. From what we can gather, the mirrors provide an A-to-B type passageway from near the time of their making in the past to either the present or near the time they were destroyed—which Gibbons couldn’t have known unless he planned this before he jumped to 1901.”

“So another suspicious circumstance—they’re all adding up,” I say, noting with a glance out the window that Burke is driving us toward the airport. “Why did you assume Gibbons is jumping around in time for bad purposes, though? Could he be on a rogue mission he didn’t think he could get approval for? Something to save his family or a friend or something?”

“Maybe,” Dr. Cooper answers again, but as before, I note his disbelieving frown. With a sigh, he says, “We found Gibbons in a black ops unit of the CIA—like Ben, he stumbled upon his ability to travel, but unlike you, Miss Granville, he wasn’t able to bring himself back for over a month. We recruited him right away, but you’re right to guess that we have never really trusted him—we didn’t have anyone else. I’d like to give Gibbons the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t, and you’re our best option to find out what’s going on.”

“If the mirrors go from the future to somewhere around the beginning of the mirror’s life, why didn’t Clara travel to the same time I did when she traveled through?” Ben asks.