Twin Speex: Time Traitors Book II by Padgett Lively

Author:Padgett Lively [Padgett Lively]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Mar Y Mariposa Press
Published: 2015-07-15T07:00:00+00:00

*

Charles Drake sat on the edge of the bed sipping a cup of excellent tea. Ettie sat facing him, crossed-legged and propped up on numerous pillows. They were alone. Evening crept over the windowsill and settled in around them. Weak electric lights flickered in sconces about the room, and the fire cast flame-shaped shadows against the walls.

“I think you experienced some form of time distortion sickness. Odell was particularly prone to it himself.”

Ettie had been feeling much better, but with this statement experienced again the nauseating disconnect in her brain. “Which Odell would that be,” she sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against a pillow.

Charlie cast a worried eye over her pale face. “I honestly don’t know.”

Ettie’s mind wandered back over the past few days. She ticked off events in a linear fashion. Day one: She walks down the street dressed like a Victorian showgirl. Day two: Odell promises to tell her what is happening. Day two again: Her mother is murdered, and Odell still promises to explain everything. Day three: Odell disappears—

With a gasp, she sat up straight. Ava! Where the devil was Ava?

“What is it?” Charlie asked, eyeing her carefully for any relapse.

She shook her head as if to clear it. “A friend of mine… Ava. She left several texts and messages for me a few days ago about Odell. I thought it was strange at the time. They really don’t know each other. But now, it makes perfect sense…”

He raised his eyebrows, waiting for clarification.

“Ava is a professor of history. She’s been focused for the last couple of years on eighteenth-century feminism, and Odette Swanpoole is kind of her special topic. I can see Odell going to her for information. And if he revealed any of this crazy time travel stuff… well, she could be with him.”

“That’s quite a leap. She may just be busy. It is even possible that in this timeline you are not friends. Or she doesn’t exist.”

Ettie looked sad. “I’d rather think of her with Odell. But whichever it is, I’d like to find her.”

He rubbed his hand along his injured shoulder. It was still sore and stiff, but a few hours sleep and a decent meal had done much to restore his strength. He had made a decision in walking out of that hospital room leaving Arthur Bradley alive. From the jumble of his many dimensional lives, he had identified an ever-present constant: self-interest. Perhaps it was inevitable. Survival was the overriding drive of the little band of feral children in eighteenth-century London. They made alliances, even friendships, but they never lasted. Something always disrupted them: poverty, desperation, the law, sickness, death. He had never known a moment’s rest, a breathing space to examine his path, to choose his own way. Betrayal had always taken him to the same place, no matter who he turned on, whether it was Odette, Odell, or even Sir Archibald.

He didn’t know if he could ever regain Ettie’s trust, but right now they needed each other.

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