The Art of Stealing Time: A Time Thief Novel (3 page)

“That has nothing to do with it,” Mom Two interrupted, leaning forward to see the paper. “We could get in if we wanted.”

“But you were born in Scotland.”

“Location of birth has nothing to do with whether or not Arwyn will allow you to stay in Anwyn.”

“Who’s Arwyn?”

“The king of Anwyn, of course. That’s very interesting, Mrs. Vanilla.”

My mind was a whirl of frustration and worry. “So, you’re saying that if we found the entrance to Anwyn, you would go there?”

Mom Two looked thoughtful for a moment or two, then raised her eyebrows at my mother. “I would have no objection to visiting there, assuming we would be left to our own devices. Mags?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to spend much time there, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt us to drop in and see it. I have one or two friends who might still be there, and it’s always pleasant to renew old friendships.”

I got all hopeful for about five seconds, then remembered the snag. “We don’t know where the entrance to Anwyn is. Unless one of you knows how to find it?”

“No, but—”

I mused aloud, worrying the problem like a terrier with a chew toy. “I didn’t see a door or anything when I was there and, of course, I died to get there, so it’s not like I just walked through an entrance. Damn. It was such a good idea, too.”

“Gwenny, you did not die—” my mother started to say at the same time Mom Two said, “I think you should look at Mrs. Vanilla’s drawing.”

The first of the fireworks went off, dragging my attention from the offered bit of paper to the sky, then down to my watch. We were fast running out of time. The longer it took me to get the old lady back to her home, the harder it would be for me to explain how I’d found her.

“Later. I’ve got to get moving right now. Stay here, and don’t get into trouble,” I said, grabbing my purse in preparation for heading off to the car park. “I’ll meet you in about ten minutes at the entrance.”

Mom Two straightened up to her full height (about an inch taller than me) and said with injured dignity, “We are not children, Gwenhwyfar. You do not need to speak to us as if we are. Mags, I believe that in view of the evening’s events, we deserve to treat ourselves to an ice cream. You stay here with Mrs. Vanilla, and I’ll fetch us all a cone.”

I bit back the urge to tell them that I would treat them like adults when they stopped indulging in the harebrained (and illegal) plans that threatened to get them banished to the Akasha, or worse, but as I turned around and took a step, I bumped into a large body that had his back to me.

“Whoops. Sorry.” I started to apologize to the man, but stopped when he turned to face me. “Oh, it’s . . . uh . . .”

“You!” he said, a smile spreading over his face, going so far as to touch his eyes. Which, as I remembered, were a remarkably clear shade of topaz blue. “Gwen Byron, right? What a surprise meeting you here. A pleasant surprise.”

I stared at him for a few seconds. He was the man I’d met two days before, the one who had wrestled to the ground—and later arrested—the lawyer who had threatened my mother and, incidentally, tried to throw me over the edge of a cliff to certain death. My mind, annoyingly, went blank at the partial use of my name, but luckily, before I corrected him, I remembered that in my attempt to hide my relationship with my mom, I had given him only my first and middle names.

“Uh . . .” I felt utterly and completely stupid standing there staring at him. I didn’t know his name, but the one thing I knew for certain now filled me with a spike of pure, adrenaline-fueled fear: he was with the Watch, and my mother was not ten feet behind me, chatting pleasantly to her kidnap victim.

Without thinking of the wisdom of my act, I grabbed his arm and walked past him, forcing him to turn so that his back was to Mom. “Hi!” I tried to think of something to say that wasn’t a shriek of fear, but my brain didn’t appear to be up to the task of witty banter in the face of danger. “I . . . I don’t think I ever got your name.”

“Gregory Faa.” He made a bow, an old-fashioned move that was simply elegant on him. But that was no surprise; everything about him was elegant, from the dark blond hair that swept back off his forehead to his mobile, sensitive mouth and firm chin, right down to the sapphire blue raw-silk shirt and what had to be Italian shoes. He had said something at our only previous meeting about being born in Romania, which went a long way to explain the polished manners. “I had no idea you were still in the area. But then, I had no idea why you ran away from me so quickly the other day.”

I gave him what I hoped was a placid smile, but which I fear turned out to be more of a grimace, and endeavored not to look over his shoulder at the bench where my mother and Mrs. Vanilla sat. Watch members were notoriously sharp and intelligent, and I was certain that he would notice if I kept looking over his shoulder at the bench.

“I was . . . um . . .”

I focused instead on his chin, but that just filled my mind with wholly inappropriate thoughts about biting it, so instead I stared at his left earlobe. An earlobe would be safe to look at. “I was . . . er . . .”

He wore a sapphire stud earring. It glittered darkly in the torchlight, contrasting pleasantly with the hair that curled around the back of his ear. I had the worst urge to run my fingers through his hair, wondering if it was as silky as it looked. I shifted my gaze to his cheek. The faintest hint of golden stubble was visible in the warm light of the torch. “I was . . . erm . . .”

Dammit! What was wrong with me? I was no stranger to the attraction of a handsome man, but neither was I a giddy young thing who couldn’t talk to a good-looking man without wanting to bite his chin and run my hands through his hair and lick his mobile lips.

“Were you, now?” he asked with a little laugh that made the lines around his eyes crinkle up in a way that made my stomach go warm and happy.

“Sorry. I’m an idiot,” I finally said, my brain evidently deciding that I’d had enough time to make a fool out of myself. “Nice to meet you, Gregory. Or do you prefer Greg? Or . . . Rory? That sounds kind of like a long shot, nickname-wise, but sometimes people go that way.”

I was babbling, pure and simple, and for that I blamed him. If he didn’t look so very . . . golden . . . in the torchlight, I could have concentrated and behaved in the manner of a normal human being. In desperation, I dragged my gaze away from the stubble that made my fingertips tingle with the need to touch it.

“‘Gregory’ is fine. Only my cousin Peter calls me Greg, and usually then it’s to tease me.”

A question rose in my mind, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t just pop out of my mouth even though this man, this golden, crinkly-eyed man, was about the most dangerous person I could ever come up against. “Why would calling you Greg be considered teasing?”

“It’s the way he says it,” he answered, smiling again. “He’s around here somewhere with his wife. Perhaps I might introduce you to them.”

Great. Just what I needed—a member of the Watch and his family. A little shudder went through me at the thought of what would happen if Gregory-not-Greg were to turn around and see my mother, the very woman he had been sent out to arrest two days before.

“Sounds lovely,” I lied, and taking his arm, I tugged him in the direction opposite Mom.

A look of surprise flitted across his face for a moment, but he walked next to me docilely enough.

“Are you here for the fireworks?”

“Fireworks?” I asked stupidly, my mind busy wondering how far I could drag him away from the bench before I released him and called my mother to warn her of his presence.

He pointed upward. I looked. A burst of red and silver and green exploded overhead.

“Oh, those. Yeah. We always come to the park for the big festival.”

“‘We’?”

He stopped.

Panic hit me. I moved forward, urging him along with me, needing to put as much space between him and my mother as was humanly possible. “Me. Not we. I meant to say ‘me.’”

“Me always come to the park for the big festival?”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” The braying laughter was of a quality that was well over the border of merry and smack-dab in the middle of deranged, but honestly, my brain refused to come up with any sort of an explanation, feeling that laughing it off was the way to go. My brain was wrong. “No, of course I meant to say that
I
always come to the park.”

The look he gave me was no longer one filled with amusement, and that, for some bizarre reason I didn’t even want to examine, made me sad. “I see. Would you think me boorish if I were to inquire where you’re taking me?”

“Taking you? I’m not taking you anywhere,” I said, pulling on his arm when he tried to stop again. “We’re just out for a little stroll to see the fireworks. Oh! Unless you’re here with someone. Someone female? Or . . . er . . . male?”

He gave me an odd look. “You’re the second attractive woman in two months who’s hinted that I’m gay. Do I give off some sort of homosexual vibe of which I’m unaware?”

“No! Far from it! That stubble is really . . .” I coughed and sternly reminded myself that he was the Enemy and I needed to stop thinking of him as a sexy, sexy man. “I don’t like to assume. People’s sexuality is their own business, and I’d hate to presume.”

“I appreciate such thoughtfulness, but in my case it’s unnecessary. I assure you that I am as heterosexual as they come. Risqué pun not intended.”

We reached the far edge of the open park area, and I judged that we were about as distant from my mothers and Mrs. Vanilla as we could get without actually pushing him off the park grounds altogether. I dropped his arm and gave him a bright smile. “Nice to know that! Well, it’s been super fun, but I really have to get moving. I’ve got a plane to catch.”

“A plane?” He looked moderately interested.

“Yes. I’m returning home to Colorado.” I didn’t want to have to lie outright to him again—I’d already done so once, and many members of the Watch had very finely tuned mental lie detectors. In addition, my mothers had taught me that every lie was returned threefold, so I didn’t say any more than that I was returning home. That, at least, was true enough. “I’ll let you get back to your girlfriend. Or wife. Or significant whatever. Thanks for the walk!”

“You’re welcome, but I feel obligated to point out that the fireworks display is still going on, and the only people I’m here with are my cousin and his wife. They are newly married and probably are enjoying my absence more than they would my presence, so if you’d care to drag me back toward that wall with the stone animals, I’d be happy to oblige.”

“Ha ha ha ha!” I did the hysterical laughter again, looking around quickly for the nearest means of escape. Damn him for noticing where I had bumped into him! One thing was certain: I couldn’t let him go back there. I ignored the odd look he was giving me and said quickly, “I
hate
that wall. It gives me the willies every time I’m near it. You couldn’t
pay
me to go back there.”

“Do you know,” he said slowly in a near drawl, “I get the oddest feeling that you don’t wish for me to see the Animal Wall. Which is a very odd thing, for which I have very few explanations. And yet, the sensation is there. It leads me inevitably to the question of why you have so carefully hustled me across the width of the park.”

I stared at him in abject horror for the count of seven, then spat out, “I have to run!” And I did. I turned on my heel and ran like the hounds of Anwyn were after me, weaving in and out among people, hurdling small children, and dashing past booths and tents to the parking areas beyond the edge of the park. I ran until I had a stitch in my side, whereupon I slowed down to a jog until I spotted my mothers’ car. I stopped next to it, gasping for air, searching the lit streets behind me for signs of pursuit. There were none, thank the gods, but that didn’t mean anything. Hurriedly, I dialed Mom Two’s phone number.

“Where are you?” I gasped in between panting breaths.

“At the entrance. I thought you’d be here by now. Mrs. Vanilla has something to show you.”

“The Watch is there.” I unlocked the car and got in, starting it up as I continued. “He’s blond, about six one, and is wearing a sapphire blue silk shirt and black pants. Fancy shoes. Little cleft in his chin. Golden stubble. Earring. Hair slightly curly in the back and crinkles around his eyes. If you see him, get the hell away and call me. I’ll be there in about two minutes, traffic willing.”

I pulled out into the traffic, my fingers tight on the steering wheel. How on earth could the man see through me so easily? What if he found the moms? How was I to get them off of a kidnapping charge? The people at the L’au-dela had been very specific when they arrested me, believing I was my mother—they’d said one more crime, one more incident of straying from the path of righteousness, no matter how small, and they’d toss my mother into the Akasha, where she’d stay for all eternity.

“That was an unusually detailed description, Gwen,” Mom Two said thoughtfully. “What is this golden man’s name?”

I turned onto the road leading to the park drop-off zone. “Gregory Faa. Don’t call him Greg.”

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t like it. I’m almost there. Stay safe.”

The three of them were waiting for me when I pulled up a minute later. I was nervous as hell as the moms assisted Mrs. Vanilla into the backseat of the car. I scanned the people around the entrance until everyone was strapped in.

“Right,” I said, jerking the wheel and slamming my foot on the accelerator. “Now we take you to Summerland.”

“What?” My mother shrieked a little at the way I took the corner and clutched madly at the back of the driver’s seat. “Dear, you almost knocked Mrs. Vanilla to the floor, and she’s already been down there when your other mother was driving.”

“Told you to strap her in,” Mom Two, who was riding shotgun, said complacently. “Not my fault if you didn’t do that.”

“I did strap her in, but she must have unhooked it. No, dear, leave it on.” Mom was addressing Mrs. Vanilla, gently patting her hands. “Gwenny is a very . . . intrepid . . . driver, and you’ll need to be wearing that for safety’s sake. Gwenny, we cannot go to Summerland.”