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"I'm really sorry it's gotten so out of control," he confessed, "But it's nice to see that all the plotting hasn't kept you two apart."
They both turned to look at Derek and he added, "It's not often one gets a chance to witness true love but when you have you never forget it. I've seen it before and I'm looking at it again. And that is no coincidence."
That night after returning to Whispering Winds, Quinn retired to the rose room, but sleep wouldn't come since her mind wouldn't stop.
Gabriel had taken Derek aside before they left his loft, and though she didn't know exactly what they discussed, she suspected it had something to do with what was going to happen in the future. Had Derek seen the person who had killed her? Had he followed that person? Was that why Gabriel saw him fleeing the scene?
Time travel was enough to make a person crazy and to think the powers that be in the future were thinking about making it a mainstream activity was just insane. How would they prevent the past from being messed up irrevocably with all those people moving through time?
Suddenly Quinn sat up in her bed. If Tessa's work fueled what came later, she was going to have to bury her work -- leave it in the temples with the Mayans where it belonged.
She climbed from bed and grabbed her robe before padding downstairs to the great hall where the men were playing a game of billiards. Gabriel was leaning against the wall, his cue stick in front of him, but his eyes were on the staircase when she descended as if he knew she was coming. His looked her from head to toe and back again before a slow, smile curved his lips.
"Quinn, couldn't you sleep?" Cole asked.
"I think we need to pay a visit to the Yucatan," she said.
"Why?" Gabriel asked and was already replacing his cue stick and coming around the table toward her.
"Everything that has happened is because of time travel. Tessa has to bury her research for good. If we stop Tessa's work then the future will be different. If we take away the means of sending people back in time then everything else that happened, won't."
"Makes sense. Do you think your friend will be willing to do that?" Cole asked.
"I do, yes."
Gabriel wrapped his hand around hers and said, "I still want to know who is behind all of this."
"Agreed," Nick jumped in. "I'll make the arrangements. We can take my plane."
Gabriel started pulling Quinn towards the stairs. "See you in the morning. Say good night, Quinn."
But her mind was already filled with all the magical things this man was going to do to her body. Gabriel lifted her into his arms when they were out of sight and pressed his lips to her neck before he whispered, "I am so going to enjoy this."
Quinn's thoughts were on Tessa during the car ride to the temples in Mexico. It wasn't fair to ask Tessa to give up her research but it had to be done. Time travel was just too dangerous -- especially in the hands of people out to intentionally cause harm. The cab pulled up to the double-wide and when Quinn knocked, it only took a moment for Tessa to appear in the doorway.
"Quinn!" She jumped down and hugged Quinn hard.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Tessa's pale eyes looked from Gabriel, to Nick, before returning to Quinn. "This isn't a social visit, is it?"
"No. We need to talk."
"Okay, come in." Tessa headed into the trailer and once they were sitting in her office Quinn looked to Gabriel who explained what awaited both Quinn and he in the future. Tessa sat quietly and listened and when he was done she stood and walked to an adjoining room moments before the sound of her vomiting carried through the trailer. After a few minutes, she reappeared in the doorway.
"My God. I know what I'm studying is dangerous, the Mayans buried it so deeply because of that, but my studies are all theoretical. I would never actually attempt to create practical applications. I should have known that others wouldn't be so careful." She paused and pulled a hand through her hair before she added, "Yes, absolutely, I'll bury my work and not just bury it but destroy it so no others will find it and take up where I left off. We're going to need that necklace from Derek because that's a piece of it and we need the Codex because that's the map."
"Where is the Codex?" Nick asked from his spot against the wall.
Tessa met his gaze before she answered rather cryptically. "Well, that's where it gets a little complicated."
"Meaning?"
"It's in the State Library in Dresden, Germany."
Nick's disbelieving laughed filled the silence. "Perfect! Stealing from the Dresden State Library, yeah, that shouldn't be too hard at all."
"We don't need to break into the library; we'd probably start an international incident if we tried. There's a copy of the Codex in Guatemala City," Quinn informed them. "We need to find it, I mean we need to be thefirst onesto find it. We're going to need Derek and Constance." Quinn looked at Tessa. "We know where in the Yucatan the Codex was found, right?"
"Yes."
