Loop (31 page)

The not-ha-ha-funny part was that I wasn’t all that surprised. I should have been shocked. Flabbergasted. But somehow, in my mind, Future Bree had taken on a separate identity. Persona non exista.

And yet she had held back information—important information. Kept it to herself. We were missing something. It didn’t add up.

“Why did you fail my midterm? And Anchor me?”

“You told me to do that, too. Although your initial report truly was a pathetic excuse for a—”

“Hey. I had my reasons.” I gestured at Finn.

“As did I,” said Quigley. “You have no idea how much scrambling I’ve had to do behind the scenes to buy you time for whatever it is your future self wants you to do. I’ve been deleting tru-ant readings left and right. Oh, and I had to alter the QuantCom data from your last two missions. That was a treat.”

“Why did you alter my QuantCom data?” I asked.

“Those surges. Your Com was picking up on another Shifter’s tendrils as they Shifted.”

My theory was right.

“I assume that Shifter was your father,” she said to Finn.

“Or my sister.” Finn nodded. “But how did you find me in the first place? Bree couldn’t.”

“He’s not in any of the databases,” I said. “I searched down to the tertiary level.”

“Yeah,” said Finn. “What she said.”

“He’s not in the system because I erased every trace of him when the device went missing. As a precautionary measure.”

“Missing?” I said. “You mean you
lost
it?” I might not like the chick, but Future Bree must have risked a lot to bring it here, whatever it was.

I could hear Pods moving around on the street below, and I looked at the clock. Four a.m. We needed to hurry.

“When did you realize it was missing?” I asked.

“You’re not going to like the answer,” said Quigley glumly.

“Why not?” But even as I said the words, I knew why.

“Your mother. As soon as she announced the clue, I ran to my hiding spot, but it was already gone.”

Finn’s eyes widened. “How did whoever stole it figure it out that fast?”

They didn’t.

“They Shifted there from the future,” I said.

“Precisely,” said Quigley. “There’s no way of knowing how long it took them to figure it out. Months, I suspect. Maybe years given the havoc they’ve wreaked throughout history to examine the
Mona’
s panel.”

Quigley picked the photo up and traced the edges of the frame with a sad smile.

“Have you never wondered why the
Mona Lisa
has been vandalized so often? The 2130 gashing attempt. The 1911 theft. Oh, and don’t forget that madman who doused it with acid in the 1950s. All trying to decipher the Truth clue. I just don’t understand how a fellow Shifter could be so reckless with our treasures from the past.” Quigley was really getting worked up.

“But why?” I asked. “I mean, with the Doctrine of Inevitability, surely they knew that it was a moot point, that they wouldn’t succeed.”

“I don’t know,” she said, “but still, someone figured it out eventually. They took the device before I had a chance to realize the threat. I’ve tried to go back and recover it so I could put it in another spot, but my timing is always off. I’m either too early or too late to catch them. They must have taken it immediately after I hid it.”

The office darkened as a hazy shadow moved across the room. Someone had passed through the light in the hallway outside the classroom. The shadow came back in the opposite direction and paused. Quigley sucked a hiss of air through her teeth.

“Keep low.” The words escaped without a twitch of her lips.

chapter 28

QUIGLEY SHUFFLED
a pile of soligraphic files around her desk, all trace of emotion wiped away. The shadow loomed larger, and Quigley looked up and pretended to see it for the first time.
Whoosh.
My hair fluttered as the office door slid open. Quigley glided forward to lean against the entrance, blocking the path.

“Any luck finding her?” she asked.

“Nope. Shouldn’t be much longer, though.” I recognized Coach Black’s husky baritone. “Already got a preliminary fix. Definitely in the building. They’re pinpointing now. See, this is why chips need to be mandatory. Situations like these. Already knew she was a risk, what with her mom being a tink and all. Wouldn’t want to be her in about fifteen minutes.”

“Or right now,” I whispered under my breath. Finn tapped my knee and held his finger to my mouth.

“I’ll keep my eyes open, but I think we both know this is the last place she’d come,” said Quigley with a lighthearted laugh.

“I’m gonna go grab some spare ants from the locker rooms. Wanna help?”

“I would, but I’m combing through the proximity sensors.”

“Good idea. Don’t work too hard.”

“Is there such a thing?” Quigley let out a … was that supposed to be a girlish giggle?

Oh, for the blarking love—was the woman attempting to
flirt
her way out of this?

“Tell you what, Chuck, I’ll hunt you down for coffee in the morning after we get her shipped off to Resthaven.”

“You’re on. Let me know if you find anything on the sensors.”

She wiggled her fingers at him. The moment the door closed, she shook her hand like something nasty clung to it. Quigley walked back to her desk and collapsed into the chair.

“It’s getting worse,” she said with a sigh.

“What is?” asked Finn.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?” She directed the question at me. “You of all people. I see the way transporters look at you in the halls. I hear the whispers in class. Anti-Shifter sentiment is reaching a new high.”

“Not my problem right now,” I said.

Quigley gave me a strange look, like she was measuring something within me that no one else could see.

“We should hurry.” She reached into her desk and began grabbing data buttons, compufilm, and her speak-eazy. “I’ll let them know we’re on our way.”

“Let who know? Where are we going?”

“Resthaven.”

And with that, I was officially back to not trusting the crapwench.

“Like blark you are!” I stiffened and was thankful that Finn, who had only heard of the place from my earlier rant but seemed to remember the vile nutso bin it is, pulled me protectively to his chest. He pushed his shoulder next to mine. I felt taller for it.

Quigley stopped her hurried packing and stared up in surprise. “Where else would we go?”

“Anywhere,” I snapped. “Anywhere else.”

She leaned back in her chair and pressed her fingers to her eyes. I was about to grab Finn’s hand and make a run for it when she said the opposite of what I was expecting.

“Bree, what do you know about the Haven Society?”

“You mean green lights and hot meals? That Haven?” It was Finn who answered. I knew he was thinking about the candles above his own front door at home. As was I. And, for the first time, I was also thinking about the same green glow that came from the Resthaven brochure I’d been constantly barraged with since my mother’s accident.

“Yes, that Haven,” said Quigley.

“They’re extinct,” I said. “The Haven was founded hundreds of years ago, maybe thousands. But they’re extinct.”

“Not extinct,” said Quigley. “And
not
founded thousands of years ago. Or even hundreds. They were founded in our future, Bree. Or, rather, they will be. They aren’t an ancient society that simply helps Shifters. They’re a futuristic society entrusted with safeguarding our secrets.”

I tried to wrap my head around what she was saying but couldn’t. “But they’re all mad at Resthaven. Everyone knows that.”

“That’s what I thought as well,” said Quigley. “I wrote them all off as unhinged. Until I received a visit a few months ago from someone I couldn’t ignore.”

“Who?” asked Finn.

“Myself,” said Quigley.

“Your future self?” So I definitely wasn’t the only one with future self issues.

“She’d disabled her microchip,” said Quigley.

“What?” I gasped. “Was she—?”

“Aunt Lisa’s not crazy.” It was Finn who said it, and he addressed Quigley. “You may not know me, but I know you. You don’t turn into some raving lunatic.”

“Exactly. I was surprisingly coherent. Articulate, even.” She snapped her satchel shut and swallowed deeply. “But the Madness had still begun. I was confused on facts I should know. Simple things. Recent events.”

“Then why trust anyone based on her recommendation?” I asked.

“I told you that the Haven exists to safeguard secrets, but that’s not entirely true. She said that they exist to guard one thing.” Quigley pushed herself up from her seat. “Truth.”

The Truth lies behind the enigmatic grin.

“It has to be related to the device,” I said.
“
But what does it mean? What Truth?”

Quigley blinked.

“You don’t … know? I thought that was—”

“
Don’t
say ‘obvious’,” I said.

“I wasn’t going to. I was going to say, I thought that was why you’re here. To tell me. Future You didn’t. She just gave it to me and told me it held the Truth. She instructed me to hide it and give Finn the clue. I assumed she would tell you what it was for. I thought that was why you and Finn sneaked off from the Pentagon, something to do with the device.”

“We were stealing my mom’s Shift record.” I pried the data button out of my pocket. “The one
you
destroyed.”

Quigley shook her head. “Again, not me. I went after your mom’s accident to check to see where her last mission was. The file was already erased.”

I sat there and glared at her, unsure if I should believe a word that had come out of her mouth. She’d just admitted she was going to lose her grip on reality. Well, sort of.

Almost as if he could hear my hesitance, Finn pulled his journal and pen from his pocket and wrote: “Everything she’s said has lined up with what we know so far. I don’t think we have a choice but to trust her for now.” He tilted the page so I could read it, then underlined “for now.”

He was, unfortunately, right.

So basically, the woman I thought was my enemy had been protecting me this whole time. Which meant some
other
nameless, faceless nemesis was waiting in the wings. Homing in on our location at this very moment. Plus, I had to wrap my head around the fact that Future Me was aware of everything that would happen. Clearly this device was important. But it made no sense that she would give it to Quigley to hide if she knew somebody would steal it.

When I caught up with Future Bree, there was going to be a serious arse kicking.

“What does the device look like?” I asked.

“It’s a simple design. A metal cylinder about this long.” Dr. Quigley moved her hands a few inches apart. “And thin. Maybe only a quarter inch wide. It could be anywhere.”

Finn twirled his pen over his knuckles. With each pass, he clicked the end in and out. In and out. “Do you think Future Bree just came back and got it?”

Like the flexi-phone.

Quigley shook her head. “I thought of that, but no. She specifically told me to keep the device safe until she needed it. Plus, it had to be someone on staff at the Institute to gain access to my office.”

Finn’s brow furrowed and he continued his nervous pen twirling and clicking.
Twirl, click. Twirl, click.
It was starting to annoy me. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop it when—

Nervous habit.

“Oh my gosh.” I grabbed his hand. “You’re brilliant.”

“I am?” He lifted his thumb off the pen mid-click.

“I know where the device is,” I said.

“You do?” Quigley rushed forward. “You’ve seen it?”

“Yep.” My thumb ticked up and down like I was clicking a pen in and out. In and out.

I’d been within arm’s reach of it in Bergin’s office when he’d brought me in to offer to pay for my mom’s bills. His pen. But he hadn’t actually used it. I’d never seen him with any paper. Paper was a rarity, sure. But no one would carry a pen around everywhere with him without anything to write on. Ballpoint pen, my heinie.

*   *   *

“And precisely how do you intend to force me onto the Thinga-ma-pad?” Finn stroked the bruise that bloomed across his upper arm. “Ow.”

Quigley’s death grip on me was fake.

On Finn, not so much.

“Ease up.” I grabbed Quigley’s clenched fingers, but right when I did so one of the dorm room doors flew open in the First Year wing as we passed. A bleary-eyed Molly Hayashi—the girl I’d caught Shifting back to literally beat herself up over her grades—wandered into the hallway rubbing her eyelids. She looked around for the source of noise that had woken her. When she saw that it was the
click-clack
of Quigley’s four-inch stilettos, Molly flew back into her room with an
eep
.

I kind of wished I could join Molly.

All this for a ballpoint pen. Sure, the device wasn’t
really
a pen. But it had better do something worthwhile. I quickened the pace.

My sudden burst of bravery had shocked even me, although I knew what it stemmed from—the fact that I had a future self. That knowledge made me feel almost invincible. But I didn’t have those same reassurances for Finn. Sending him home had been my stipulation, and Quigley had readily agreed.

“Finn, you’re a greater liability than asset right now,” she said. “This might be our one chance to send you home.”

We had to try. He’d been able to Shift when Wyck transported him. I just hoped Quigley’s transporting skills were better than mine. The crazy thing was, now that we had a decent shot of getting Finn home I kind of wanted him to … stay. I was going to miss him and his stripping ways.

“But I haven’t done anything to protect Bree yet,” said Finn. “Why would Future Bree ask me to protect her if she knew I was going to go straight home?”

“Oh, why does Future Bree do anything?” I asked.

“Shh.” Quigley came to a dead halt as we reached an intersection of corridors.

A tru-ant poked its beady little eyes around the corner. Quigley and I tried to stomp it, but it was too fast. It zipped off, beeping away as if cackling at a hysterical joke. Quigley cursed and clenched my arm tighter.