Time Tracers by Annabeth Bondor-Stone

Author:Annabeth Bondor-Stone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

5:22 P.M.

Nobody in the mall noticed Taj, Syd, and Eon crawling back out of the garbage can. Everyone was too busy chasing after the loose animals. Gerbils and ferrets scurried in every direction. An African parrot perched on a beam near the ceiling kept screeching, “Come and get me!” over and over again. Taj was pretty sure he saw a bunny riding up the escalator. He couldn’t believe what a mess he’d made. But there was nothing he could do about it now. Eon was already rushing to the exit.

Taj caught up to him. “You should call Ernie! Maybe he can get some intel from O’Clock’s scanner!”

“Absolutely not,” Eon said. “If O’Clock is on the inside, he’s watching everything. Intercepting communication. We can’t trust anyone. Not even our own team.”

“Not even Ernie?” said Taj. “He can’t be a criminal mastermind. He wears Hawaiian shirts and sandals with socks!”

“Anybody could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Eon.

Taj shook his head. “Not even a sheep would wear that outfit.”

Eon turned to Syd. “We have to go dark.” He pressed a red button on the side of his watch until the face went black. Without hesitation, Syd did the same. Taj followed them out of the mall and onto the bus.

“If we can’t talk to the team then we have to do this ourselves!” said Taj. “Let’s get back underground and start searching the network!”

Eon started the engine. “There are thousands of hives underneath the city. There’s no way we’ll be able to find the summers in time if we’re just running around without a plan.”

“We’ve got to try something!” Taj insisted.

Eon merged into traffic. “We have to talk to F.T. face-to-face. He’ll know what to do. Every move we make, O’Clock . . . whoever he is . . . is going to be one step ahead,” Eon said in a measured tone.

Taj felt frustration bubbling up inside of him. “How can you be so calm?! What about the summers? What about my friends and family? My whole town! They’re running out of time—and we’re running out of time to save them!”

“We have to be smart about this,” said Eon.

“Smart?!” Taj threw his hands in the air. “You don’t understand! You don’t even know how it feels for someone you care about to have their time stolen!”

“YES, I DO!” Eon shouted, punching the steering wheel. He took a deep breath and put his fingers to his temples, like he suddenly had a massive headache.

“I’m staying out of this one,” said Syd, putting her headphones on.

Taj didn’t know what to say. A moment passed. He took a cautious step toward Eon. “Who was it?”

Eon stared at the road. Then he said quietly, “My daughter. Time thieves stole her childhood.”

Taj was dumbfounded. “What? How?”

“Hoodlums took it. They’re time thieves that steal childhoods from kids and from their parents. That’s why adults are always saying, ‘They grow up so fast.’ One day Lea was in kindergarten, and the next thing I knew she was starting high school.

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