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“I’m sorry,” I said weakly, shaking my head in case my ears needed clearing, “but did you just say … spirit-hunting skills and transformation abilities?”
“Bad examples. I shouldn’t have gone there,” Michael said hastily, standing. I wondered if the accidental touch made him get up or if the topic of conversation did. He moved away from the table to pace, twisting his thumb ring as he walked. “It’s not my goal to freak you out.”
“Too bad,” I answered. “Because that one was so solid it didn’t even touch the net.”
Swish.
“Emerson, none of what we do is easy or clear-cut.” Cat’s voice carried a hint of exasperation, making me feel slightly stupid. “Just listen to what we have to say, and at least try to understand. It can’t be that hard to wrap your brain around.”
Michael snapped his head toward Cat. Her spine straightened, and her irritated look disappeared. “I’m sorry. I’ve lived in this world for so long I forget how foreign it can look from the outside.”
Michael continued to stare at Cat, his expression so intense it made me nervous. She broke the gaze, and he turned to me. “The Hourglass has a specialty, too. Everyone there possesses an ability that involves the manipulation of time.”
I was still trying to interpret the look he’d directed at Cat, so it took a second for Michael’s words to break through. “I thought you said we were the only ones who can travel?”
“We are.” He sat down beside me again but moved his chair a little farther away. “But time as a concept is fluid. It can be slowed down, sped up, stopped.”
I thought of the most impossible, movielike scenario I could. “So if someone were shooting at me and I had the ability to stop time, I could pluck the bullet out of the air before it hit me?” I asked, laughing.
He didn’t crack a smile. “Does the fact that such a thing is possible upset you?”
“No more than any of the rest of it,” I mumbled, the laughter dying in my throat. I dropped my head into my hands. “Why is it I suddenly feel I’m on the more normal end of the freak spectrum?”
“I keep trying to tell you normal is relative,” he said. “Do you need a second?”
I needed a millennium. “Can I … Can I do those other things? Stop a bullet?”
“All indications are that your ability is traveling to the past.”
“That’s enough,” I said, feeling a little better. Although stopping a bullet would be a handy skill for a girl to have. “So what about everyone else?”
“Nate is kind of like Oliver Twist mixed with David Blaine.” Michael wiggled his fingers as if coaxing a rabbit out of a top hat. “Thievery skills with illusionist abilities. He can slow things down, speed things up, including himself—all depending on his needs.”
“How did he end up here?” I asked, frowning. “That doesn’t seem like the kind of ability Liam would’ve encouraged.”
“He didn’t encourage it. Not for financial gain anyway. But there are other reasons to need stealth.”
“What about everyone else?”
“Dune can influence water. It’s handier than it sounds. Ava … well. She’s still trying to figure some things out.” Michael gave me an apologetic smile that faded as he glanced toward the back stairs. “Speaking of Ava, I have to talk to her. Then we can head back to Ivy Springs.”
“I’ll be right here.”
Seething with envy.
He disappeared through the doorway leading to the stairs. It sounded as if he took them two at a time. I focused my attention on Cat. “What are Nate and Dune doing today?”
“A consult job I set up. Dune can control things like the tide and the direction a river flows. It’s helpful when we’re looking for certain things, but it’s not something he can use very often. He’s also a research genius, which comes in handy …”
She continued, and I tried to pay attention, but my mind strayed to Michael in Ava’s room. What were they doing up there? She said she needed to talk to him. I really hoped they were talking. I really wished she weren’t so gorgeous. I really wanted to go upstairs and listen outside her door. I hadn’t told Michael when he questioned me the day before, but I had learned how to eavesdrop at boarding school. From the other students. Not the teachers.
I realized Cat was silent and waiting for a response to something she’d said.
“What? Oh my word, I’m so sorry.” I sat up, horrified, my hands flying to my mouth.
“It’s fine—I promise. I know your mind is elsewhere.”
“That obvious?” I covered my face to hide the blush I felt coming on.
