Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) by Brad Magnarella (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

it before securing it against my chest: a pocket watch, so we could keep track of the time.

“Does the traveler have a name?” I asked.

“Yes, Lazar.”

If the man in question was indeed an Upholder, that meant Malachi or Jordan. But I’d never heard either one referred to as “Lazar.” We could be dealing with someone altogether different, possibly even demonic.

“How about a description?” I pressed.

“Ye can see for yourself tonight,” Maggie snapped.

Following her elation at recovering the locket, the vampire seemed edgy now, anxious to return to her sanctuary. For no other reason, maybe, than to be alone with her prize. Her eyes flicked over each of us as she staggered toward the door. Released from Caroline’s enchantment, the children filed behind her.

“Hey, what’s so special about that locket, anyway?” Bree-yark called. The question clumped up his brow in a way that reflected my own curiosity. I’d sensed no magic or special properties in the locket.

Expecting the vampire to leave us guessing, I was surprised when she stopped. “It belonged to my little girl,” she said quietly, and left.

A vampire who turned children—even a time catch version of them—made my blood cook. But Maggie’s parting words, and the tender way she’d spoken them, had me reconsidering her motives. I shook the notion from my head. Trying to moralize a vampire’s behavior was a blood-slick slope best left alone.

Caroline joined us, Arnaud in tow.

“Nice going,” I said to her. “But what happened to looking not touching?”

A smile brushed Caroline’s lips. “P.T. Barnum’s office was well defended. But then alarms began to sound, and the guards locked the office and headed upstairs. When cries of fire followed, I doubted we’d get another shot at the locket. The door was easily breached, and the locket easily found, thanks to the ward. Barnum had stored it behind a false wall in his closet, along with some other artifacts.”

“Was the ward powerful?” I asked.

“The original would have challenged me, I’m sure, but being an echo, I was able to overcome it.” She knew what I’d been asking, because she added, “And yes, the magic was similar to your own.”

I suppressed my emotions with a measured nod. The 1861 version of my grandfather may have left Barnum’s American Museum, possibly over the treatment of the other acts, but the active ward that resembled mine meant he was still around. Unfortunately, it didn’t put us any closer to finding him.

Unless he’s Lazar, I thought suddenly.

“I hate to interrupt,” Gorgantha said. “But someone wanna tell me who you cats are and what the crunk is going on?”

“I’m Bree-yark,” he said, stepping forward and extending a hand.

Gorgantha took it, even though he hadn’t really told her anything.

“I’m Everson Croft and this is Caroline Reid,” I said. “You and I belonged to a team called the Upholders.” Once again, I showed her the symbol on my hand before indicating hers. “There were three others: Seay Sherard, Jordan Derrow, and Malachi Wickstrom. It was a mutual defense arrangement. Three of your groups were infiltrated by demons. We traveled to 1776 New York from the early twenty-first century to confront them, but we all got separated. You ended up here somehow.”

The mermaid’s scaly brow knitted as she studied the symbol below her webbing. “The Upholders,” she echoed. “That does make a little jing-a-ling in my head. And those other names are kicking around like they should mean something too.”

“What’s your earliest memory?” Caroline asked.

“Honestly?” She ran a hand along the burn scars of one arm. “Pain.”

The way she said it made me cheer the fire raging three blocks away.

“If it’s all right with you, I’d like to try something,” Caroline said. “An intervention to restore your memories.”

Gorgantha looked over at me. As far as she was concerned, we’d just met, but she’d known me longer than Caroline, and I had the added cred of having just helped her escape the museum. “Let her,” I said. “There’s a lot missing from your memory, and restoring it could help us find the others.”

She looked at Bree-yark, her other liberator, who also nodded his encouragement.

“All right,” Gorgantha agreed.

Several minutes later, Gorgantha was on her back, Caroline cradling her head from behind. To keep the mer from drying out, I’d soaked her with one of the water bottles I’d packed. The moisture also had a calming effect, allowing Caroline to induce a light trance.

“Think it was her treatment at the museum that affected her memory?” I whispered.

“More likely being in this period,” Caroline replied. “The longer one spends in a time catch, the harder it becomes to connect with outside memories. Yet another feature of the phenomenon.”

“Are we in any danger?” I asked.

“As long as we don’t get stuck here, no.”

From my post by the door, I glanced over at where Bree-yark was guarding Arnaud, our ride home. We couldn’t leave before we’d found the others and the St. Martin’s site. I hoped Gorgantha would be able to help with the first.

Magic stirred behind Caroline’s closed eyes and around her hands. I paced as she began restoring the connections between the mermaid’s mind and her far-off memories. A few times Gorgantha twitched and muttered, but Caroline’s magic quieted her again. At last, Caroline opened her eyes and gave Gorgantha’s head a gentle shake.

“Wake up.”

Gorgantha stared at the ceiling a moment, then pushed herself into a sitting position. She blinked her eyes and looked at each of us in turn. When her gaze settled on mine, a huge smile broke across her face.

“You janky-ass player!”

“Wait, is that a good thing?” I asked.

But Gorgantha had already jumped up and seized me under the arms. She spun me like a child. As Caroline wheeled past my vision, I shot her with a little finger pistol. Whatever she’d done had evidently worked. Gorgantha pulled me into a spine-crunching hug and rocked me side to side before setting me back down.

She wiped at her tears. “Didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

When I rubbed her thick arm, I noticed