Chapter 22

It’s Time

Each night Cate fell asleep on unyielding rock as Jonah and Rose whispered by the fire. Her plan to eavesdrop was foiled as exhaustion and a surprisingly comfortable swag forced her into a dreamless sleep in minutes.

Tonight as she floated in the cosy space between wakefulness and sleep, the warm glow of satisfaction wrapped around her. Today her foot had grazed the front of Rose’s designer black singlet. She also came tantalizingly close to messing her perfect mermaid hair, not once, but twice. Cate’s first quantum indicator had also finally appeared.

The days had begun to blur together. Each morning she ran five miles in the soft, white beach sand, which squeaked under her feet it was so clean, followed by sparring and board breaks with Rose. Next, there was an hour with her blindfolded, standing knee deep in the ocean as she attempted to get a hand, foot, or even a fingernail on Jonah. The water stopped her from ending up unconscious every three minutes. The wet clothes and wet hair sucked, and so did having sand in all the wrong places.

During Jonah’s sessions, Rose reclined on the pristine white sand with a soft, wide brimmed straw hat to protect her fair skin, looking very demure until she opened her mouth with a few choice words of encouragement for Jonah.

After lunch Cate threw assorted weapons at targets, scaled the jagged limestone cliffs, and ran another five miles in prickly scrub that made her hands and legs bleed. To end the day, she sparred against Rose and Jonah in a ten foot by ten foot metal cage. That was her least favourite thing. There was nowhere to hide.

Jonah and Rose analysed her form and barked corrections. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stand straight enough, engage her core enough, or use those eyes everyone seemed to think she had in the back of her head. Whenever she wanted to scream that she was concentrating as hard as possible, she bit her tongue. If more concentration would help her smash Rose, she would concentrate more. There was also Xavier. This was all about finding him.

Jonah’s responsibility was to kick her butt in new and interesting ways, as Rose so eloquently put it. Always the perfect gentleman, he helped her off her butt each time he knocked her down. To finish tonight, Rose drew ten little black crosses on both Cate’s and Jonah’s bodies, and asked them to each hit as many as possible in three minutes. Jonah hit all ten, twice. Cate hit one.

Rose’s melodic voice floated through Cate’s comfortable sleep haze. “Having her around is doing my head in.”

“You’ll survive.” The slight gravel tone to Jonah’s voice complemented his drawl perfectly. Cate loved his accent as much as she detested Rose’s posh English one.

“Having you around is doing my head in more.”

“Right back at you.” Jonah gave a relaxed chuckle.

He was probably lounging on the ground, one arm behind his head, drawing circles on the ground with his other hand. That was the position he assumed each night as she went to bed. Cate concentrated on steadying her breathing and strained to hear their conversation.

“Have I told you how much I hate this?” Rose asked.

“Let me think...”

There was scuffling followed by a loud thud. She risked opening an eye. Rose and Jonah lay on the ground, arms and legs tangled around one another. Both of their hair still perfectly styled. The firelight highlighted the angles and planes of Jonah’s beautiful face. Rose’s ebony hair and perfectly shaped black eyebrows were such a contrast to her alabaster skin and vibrant red lips. She was exquisite.

Jonah brushed a thumb over Rose’s cheek with a tenderness that made Cate’s heart contract. He bent his head and placed a lingering kiss on Rose’s neck that made Cate blush. Watching old people canoodling was so gross and uncomfortable. She let out a relieved breath as Jonah planted a fleeting kiss on Rose’s forehead and helped her stand.

Rose fidgeted with her hair and then clasped and unclasped her hands. “Are you sure you erased everything about Austin’s relationship with Catherine from his mind, Jonah? Austin said Cate looked familiar at the bus stop.”

“Yes.” Jonah sounded certain. “I did it because I was terrified what Mortez could make him and Catherine do if she had discovered their relationship.”

What type of relationship did Catherine have with Austin? Cate wondered.

“People do unspeakable things for love.” Jonah’s voice was flat and tired. “Too late, they realise their exquisite love has turned insidious, devouring all that is good and pure in them from the inside out. Look at me. I choose to risk dying a slow, tortuous death every day because I can’t stop myself being in love with you. I won’t even try to be happy with Catherine, because we would both be settling for second choice. She deserves someone who loves her completely, and that can’t be me because of you.”

So Jonah and Catherine weren’t together, but they had a complicated thing going on too. My life must be emotionally exhausting. Cate was strongly leaning towards never having a boyfriend ever again. She wanted to slap her future self and remind her that there were more important things in the world than boys. She would also like to ask her future self what on earth she was thinking when she made the unfathomable decision to get on board with Mortez and her team evil. There had to be a story about that.

The colour had drained from Rose’s face. She pressed a hand against her chest. “If you love Catherine, you should be with her.”

“Catherine is my best friend. Of course I love her. Every minute I spend with her it becomes more tempting to settle for what the two of us could have. But I’m not in love with her, and she’s not in love with me. She and Austin protected their clandestine relationship for months. Catherine’s still oblivious to the fact that I know about them and I regret telling you about them,” Jonah hissed.

Right! Future Cate and Austin had that type of relationship.

“I never asked you to tell me about their relationship, just like I never asked you to help Naitanui protect my family from Mortez,” Rose whispered fiercely.

“Because you knew you didn’t have to, Rose. I was always going to feed you covert information about any plans Mortez had to harm your family. What sort of man would I be if I sat by and did nothing when the family of the woman I love was in danger? Each time I assist Naitanui to relocate your stepmother and sisters, I wonder if this is the time Mortez will be waiting to kill me slowly when I return, because she’s discovered I’m helping Naitanui protect your family that she’s devoted to killing as revenge for your indiscretion with her husband.”

Rose’s head dropped into her hands. “I didn’t know Daniel was married to Mortez at the time. I don’t regret what I did. Austin is the most beautiful thing in my life.”

“The only person I love more than Austin in this world is you. I’m the only father he has ever known. Each time Mortez murders an innocent who is my family by blood in some horrific way, it’s like another dagger is plunged into my soul. But I keep going because staying with her is the best way to keep you and Austin, my true family, safe.”

“I pray it won’t always be like this, Jonah.”

“Not as much as I do.”

The fire hissed and crackled through the big silence that followed.

It was mind blowing how messed up Jonah and Rose were. They had betrayed Austin in the most horrible way. If he found out they had wiped his memory he would be devastated.

Branches cracked, and a large black mass moved through the scrub toward them. The moon, round and full, came out from behind a cloud, highlighting their campsite. Cate’s heart jumped into her mouth and her stomach turned to water as she leapt to her feet.

“Everyone up,” a familiar voice commanded through the darkness.

“Stay, Cate,” Rose ordered.

“I’m not a dog,” Cate replied. She didn’t move though.

“Go, Jonah,” Rose whispered.

When Jonah reached to hug Cate she backed away. “Don’t touch me. Ever again.”

Jonah dropped his arms, clearly confused. “Good luck.” He flickered and vanished.

The group was close enough for Cate to make out Naitanui in the lead. Her stomach flipped when she saw Austin. She blinked a few times, taking in his familiar swagger, low-slung, tattered jeans, and orange and black checked flannel shirt. The group halted as they reached the fire. No one else looked familiar.

“Hey, Beautiful,” Austin said.

The hairs on Cate’s neck stood up one at a time when his breath washed over them. He casually brushed her shoulder, then shoved his hands into his front pockets and slouched against the limestone cliff Cate had climbed each night. With his arms flexed and killer smile in place, he looked amazing. She could watch him forever.

“Okay.” Naitanui motioned to the people surrounding him. “Take Cate to the holding area.”

Cate froze. “What?”

“You’re in lockdown until the GTs commence in six hours.”

“But I’m not ready,” she stammered.

Naitanui smiled. “No one is ever ready. Take her.”

She winced as fingers dug into her shoulders. “Ouch.”

“Well, isn’t she a big, strong girl,” a harsh voice said near her ear as more fingers dug painfully into her collarbone.

“Get your hands off me.” She wrenched against the Timesurfers’ hands as they tightened around her arms. A light bulb went off in her head. She repeated her request for them to remove their hands in her mind. The Timesurfers dropped their hands from her shoulders.

“I’ll take her to the holding area.” Rose grasped Cate’s elbow. “Austin, you should come too. She can’t compel us.”

“Sure.” Austin peeled himself away from the rock.

Cate fell into step with them both. Gravel crunched under her boots, and the stars twinkled with malevolent glee at her predicament.

“Halt.” Naitanui’s booming voice bounced off the limestone cliffs. “You chose the GTs, Cate. Speak up if you’ve changed you mind.”

“I haven’t changed my mind. I’ll do whatever it takes to find my brother.” Xavier had been on her mind each time she ended up on her butt or spitting out dirt these last three weeks. So a freaking lot.

“Show extra caution, Rose. Now the grommets have been announced, Mortez will know Cate is participating. I can’t predict what she might do,” Naitanui said.

Rose nodded.

“I love that everyone thinks I’m so special and important!” Cate murmured as the three of them walked away from the campsite. “What’s a grommet? And am I one of them?”

Austin’s hand grazed hers and his little finger wrapped around hers for the briefest of seconds. “A grommet is a Timesurfer who’s participating in the GTs. So that’s you, Beautiful.”

Now if she could just get someone to give her a straight answer on what exactly the GTs involved.

As soon as they were out of earshot Cate dug her heels into the gravel and stopped. “How do you know I can’t compel you or Austin?”

“Umm...” The puzzled expression on Rose’s face was priceless. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. She recovered quickly. “You’ve wanted me to go to hell, jump off a cliff, or stand still so you could hit me. I didn’t do any of those things, ergo, you can’t compel me.”

“And you.” Cate turned to Austin. “How do you know you’re immune to my talents?”

“I know because when I took you surfing the first time, you pleaded for someone to ‘kill you now’ and I didn’t. Also, Naitanui sent me on this mission because you couldn’t compel me.”

“You knew that?” Rose asked.

“I learned to keep secrets from two of the best, Mum. The big question is how you and Naitanui knew I was immune to Cate’s charms before this mission if I’ve never met her?”

Rose stumbled. She actually stumbled. In all the hours they had spent training, Rose had never stumbled.

“I’ll figure it out,” Austin said.

Cate realised how Rose and Jonah had erased Austin’s memory. Jonah had to touch people to access their powers. It happened when Rose took the photo of Austin, Naitanui, and Jonah at the Shack. That was why Austin had been vague about when it was taken.

Rose took Cate’s arm. “Good luck with that, Austin. Now grab hold of Cate somewhere.”

He slid his hand under Cate’s faded T-shirt and across her back. His fingers slipped inside her jeans and curved around her hip. “Are you ready for this?”