30

TRUTH IN LIES

Adelaide opened her eyes to the flicker of colored lights in the dim of the time machine. White noise rang in her ears as she sat up and fumbled for the seatbelt strapping her in. Teo and Kolt, their clumsy movements a mix of time travel and adrenaline, did the same. Raising to her feet on shaky legs, Adelaide stood and reached for the button that opened the door.

“Don’t,” a soft voice croaked.

Adelaide dropped her hand and looked to the floor where Pauline was stirring. Her eyes blinked slowly as she fought against the aftereffects of the chloroform. Adelaide ignored her and opened the door.

Bright light from the apparatus floor flooded in. She held a hand to her face, shielding her eyes as Kolt helped Pauline to her feet and slung her arm across his neck to support her. Adelaide couldn’t believe it. She’d actually found Pauline, and in turn, Kolt had found Sienna. She still wasn’t sure what made the girls one and the same or how all the pieces fit together, but soon Pauline would be recovered and Adelaide would get her answers.

She smiled at the thought of knowing and finally being able to feel like she could breathe again, but the moment didn’t last long. As her feet hit the cement floor, Adelaide realized they were not the only ones in the room.

Matriarch stood several yards from the catwalk stairs. Despite the still-late hour of the night, she was dressed in the dark-grey tones of a starched pantsuit. Her silver hair hung down her back in a pleat. She curled her long fingers together and rested her twined hands in front of her.

Xander was nowhere in sight, but Charlie remained. The hands of an armed guard gripped each of her shoulders and kept her rooted in place, standing a few feet away from the controls. Her eyes widened with fear and apology as they looked at Adelaide. “Ad, I’m sorry.” Charlie started. “She found out—”

A slap across her face by the guard silenced Charlie. She slowly drew her head back and bit her lip against tears that threatened to fall as she raised a hand to her reddening cheek.

“Grandmother!” Kolt strained against the weight of Pauline.

Matriarch’s slate eyes darkened. “Refuse to cooperate and a bruised cheek will be the least of Ms. Smith’s worries.”

She nodded to Charlie’s guard who removed his gun and pressed the muzzle into her side. Charlie’s breath hitched as the cool metal settled between her ribs and a tear slipped down her cheek. Charlie’s wild eyes met hers, and Adelaide’s stomach clenched as fear spread like a chill down her spine.

“Let’s start with your gun, Mr. Capone.” Matriarch motioned at Teo. “Remove it, slowly, and hand it to Hatfield.”

Teo’s jaw clenched, but after a glance at Charlie, he complied and relinquished his weapon to the nearest guard. “Anything else you’d like?”

“Me,” Pauline said, her voice still weak, but stronger than before. “She wants me.”

“What?” Kolt’s jade eyes flicked between Matriarch and Pauline in confusion.

“Interesting.” A knowing smile spread across Matriarch’s face. “You remember her, but you don’t remember what happened. Turns out some things you just can’t erase—love, hate,” she paused, “and power.” Turning to Adelaide, she added. “I suppose I should thank you, my dear. We could have never gotten Sienna back or found your mother’s journal without you.”

Adelaide reeled. “What?”

Matriarch laughed, the sound cold and hollow in the large room. “Did you honestly think you could steal the time machine without anyone knowing. Or that it would be as easy as blacking out a few cameras and sneaking in between the guards’ shifts?”

Adelaide’s mind was slowly arranging some of the missing pieces into a picture that made sense. “You wanted us to take it. Civil War Richmond was never about Elizabeth. It was about finding Sienna and the journal.”

And in her desperation for answers, Adelaide had just hand delivered both to Matriarch on a silver platter.

“Right you are, my dear,” Matriarch crossed the room to Adelaide. “But it was also about much more than that.”

Teo stiffened beside her as Matriarch raised a hand to Adelaide’s face and grazed her knuckles across her cheek. Sweat beaded on Adelaide’s palms, but she held the woman’s gaze refusing to let her see her flinch.

“You see.” Matriarch grasped Adelaide’s chin and forced her head up to meet her own. Her fingers felt like ice and drew blood as the stone on her ring pierced Adelaide’s skin. “You and Sienna here share a particular gift and I, for one, would like to know what it is and why.”

Adelaide wrenched her chin from Matriarch’s grasp and cut her gaze back to the woman’s. Adelaide weighed her words carefully, not wanting to give Matriarch any information she didn’t already have. “If you’re talking about bringing the items back, what makes you think we understand it?”

“I’m not under the impression that either of you do.” Matriarch’s eyes slid to the journal in Adelaide’s hand. “But I think your mother did.”

Adelaide gripped the journal tighter to her side.

Noticing the motion, Matriarch tilted her head at Adelaide with curiosity. “Don’t you want to know what it says?”

Adelaide remained silent. Of course she did, but whatever Matriarch’s intentions were for wanting to know, she didn’t trust they were good.

Matriarch nodded as if she could sense Adelaide’s thoughts and stepped around her. She let out a shaky breath. As she turned to follow Matriarch with her gaze, her eyes connected with Teo’s.

“What about you?” Matriarch approached Pauline. “Aren’t you the least bit curious or are you as stubborn as your sister?”

Adelaide stilled as Matriarch’s words washed over her. “Sister?”

The woman looked back to her. “You didn’t know? Well neither did I until your blood taken by the door at the gala flagged as a sibling match to Sienna’s from her initiation.”

Adelaide swung her eyes to Pauline, expecting the girl to be equally shocked, but a whole other emotion entirely splayed across her face. Adelaide swallowed. “You knew.”

Pauline stiffened, her voice still slow from the chloroform. “Yeah, Anna told me the night of the fire.”

Silence weighed in the room as Adelaide tried to process all the new information, but it ricocheted around her head, making her feel like she had whiplash. She didn’t understand. How could she have a sister she didn’t know about. It didn’t make sense, and yet, it also did. Though she couldn’t explain how, Pauline had known who she was in Paris and what she could do. And while their abilities, themselves, were still a mystery, it could explain why they shared them.

Matriarch, her voice sharp like a double-edged sword, broke the silence. “Why don’t we talk about the fire, huh? Because I, for one, would like to know what happened and why you were the only one to walk out of the flames.”

Adelaide had to remind herself to breathe while waiting for Pauline’s answer, but the girl remained silent.

Matriarch raised an eyebrow. “Very well.” She motioned once again to Charlie’s guard. “Make it quick, Adams. I’d hate to ruin the floor.”

Charlie struggled against Adams as he shoved his gun farther into her side. “No, please!”

“Anna!” Pauline shouted.

Matriarch held a hand up, stopping Adams. “What?”

Pauline winced, knowing it was too late to take her words back. Adelaide hoped she had heard the girl’s answer wrong, but as Pauline repeated it, she met Adelaide’s gaze with sympathy in her heavy eyes. “Anna started the fire.”

Adelaide’s knees buckled as blood pounded in her ears. She would have fallen to the ground had Teo not caught her. Hot tears streamed down her face. “Why?”

“Because the Red Rose Society is trying to change history and they think I,” Pauline paused, realizing the error in her words, “we, are the key to doing it. Anna set the fire to help me escape, burn what she’d discovered, and keep them from learning about you.”

Matriarch closed the gap between her and Pauline. She grabbed the girl’s arm and dug her nails into her pale flesh. “My daughter died in that fire.” She leaned in. Her eyes held a glint sharp enough to sever bone. “So, if I were you, I would tell me everything Anna told you or things will start to get very unpleasant.”

Kolt did what he could to shield Pauline from his grandmother, but it wasn’t much with her weight against him. Her head lolled as her eyes fought to focus on Matriarch.

All at once, Pauline lunged. Silver flashed in her hand, and Adelaide had just enough time to register that it was her own dagger before it sliced a red line across Matriarch’s cheek. The older woman recoiled, and the guards that had been standing around the room rushed in toward them at its center. Adelaide snapped to her feet and stood numb in the crowd, unable to get herself to move. Teo threw a punch and pushed the guards back best he could as Kolt ran to the time machine. He opened the door before climbing inside and starting the gears. It whirred to life, sending a violent gust across the apparatus floor.

Charlie elbowed her guard in the gut and launched herself at the controls. Her fingers flew across the buttons, and the turning gears picked up speed as she met Adelaide’s eyes and yelled, “Go!”

A shot cracked with the wind, and Adelaide watched as Charlie fell against the control panel. A steady trail of blood ran slick across the buttons.

“Charlie!” She started to run toward her friend, but Teo caught her in his arms. She clawed against him as more tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision. He threw her back in the direction of the time machine. His face fought emotion as he repeated Charlie’s words. “Go!”

A sob escaped her lips, and she turned on her heel. She sprinted up the steps and into the machine. Her arms fumbled with the belt as she strapped herself in and yelled to Kolt in a shaky voice, “Is it ready?”

“Almost,” he yelled back as he shoved his com set on his head and paled, realizing no one would be on the other end.

Adelaide flinched as bullets ricocheted off the time machine and threw her gaze out the door. Teo sucker punched a guard in the stomach. He ran toward the time machine and threw Pauline’s arm around his shoulder as he passed her, helping her along. Bullets peppered the air again. Teo grunted and staggered as a steady spread of blood soaked through his shirt near his stomach.

“You fools,” Matriarch bellowed. “I need them alive.”

Taking on Teo’s weight, Pauline threw his arm around her shoulder and crossed the last few paces to the time machine. Adelaide helped her deposit Teo on the floor. She reached for the girl to pull her the rest of the way in but her hand clasped air as Pauline was pulled backward through the door. Adelaide had just enough time to register a flowered necklace, much like her own, slip out from under Pauline’s shirt before Charlie’s hand slapped the button on the control panel, and the door closed. A buzzing sound began to build in her head, but Adelaide could do little more than grip her mother’s journal tightly in her arms and watch a loose page slip to the floor as darkness claimed her.

To unravel the mysteries that continue to plague Adelaide, look for book three in the Crimson Time series.