Read Online Infinity Bell: A House Immortal Novel by Devon Monk - Free Book Online
Authors: Devon Monk
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didn’t touch him. My touch brought him pain. Well, not when he wasn’t wounded, but in this state, if I touched him and caused him to have full sensation, he’d be screaming his lungs out.
So I stood there resting my hand on the mattress, holding on to the edge of his blanket.
“You have screwed up my life, Abraham Vail,” I said quietly. “You showed up at my kitchen door, bleeding,wounded, and mixed up in a world I was doing my best to stay hidden from. I should have told you to move on and take your complicated world right along with you.
“But I didn’t. I couldn’t. There was something about you that made me want to help, made me want to know why your eyes were so sad even though you couldn’t feel pain.
“And look where it’s gotten me. I’m running. Still running. I’m all out of tricks up my sleeve to make this right. For you, for House Brown. For anyone.”
Abraham, being unconscious, didn’t have a lot to add to the conversation, but maybe all I needed right now was a really good listener. A comatose man three pints low on blood fit that bill pretty handily.
I surveyed the room, spotted a chair, and brought it over, setting it next to the table and then sitting down.
“What am I supposed to do? House Brown relied on me and on Quinten to keep them safe. If I die . . .” I took a breath, let it out. “I suppose the world will just go on without me, won’t it? No big loss.”
“No,” Quinten said quietly from the hallway. “It would be a very great loss. To the world. And to me.”
I wiped at my face, at the tears that were threatening to fall. I didn’t want him to know how scared I really was.
“What are you doing up?” I asked. “You barely got to bed.”
“I slept on the plane.” He walked into the room, plucking up a chair as he did so and setting it down across from me. His shirt was still untucked and mostly unbuttoned, his sleeves rucked up to his elbows. He must have smoothed his fingers back through his hair, setting most of it into a semblance of order.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“We need to plan,” I countered.
That stopped him, and he frowned while taking a moment to consider me, as if he’d forgotten what I looked like.
I wasn’t the same little sister he had left behind. I’d been taking care of a farm, stitched animals, an elderly grandmother, and all the crises that cropped up with House Brown for three years without him.
I’d followed a wounded man into a city and politics that were so far over my head, I didn’t want to know what could have gone wrong, just for the chance to save my wayward brother.
A girl had to have guts to do that sort of thing.
And I had guts.
“All right,” he said, “we need a plan. But first you need to know some things.”
“About Gloria?”
He clasped his hands together and looked down at them. “That’s . . . private, Tilly.”
“You like her.”
“Yes,” he said, still not looking up.
“Do you love her?”
He finally lifted his eyes. He didn’t have to use words to tell me the answer to that question. He was so in love with her, the pain of it shadowed his eyes.
“Okay. I won’t ask anymore,” I said.
“I want to talk about the Wings of Mercury experiment,” he said, switching smoothly into teacher mode. “The easiest way to think of this is that the Wings of Mercury experiment fell like a hammer and shattered a moment in time.”
“You’ve told me that already.”
He gave me a look and I shut up.
“What I’ve spent the past three years at the Houses searching for is the journal that lists the calculations that went into the experiment.”
“How will that help?”
“Once I have those calculations, I can—we can—mend time. Fix it.” He waited, maybe for me to be amazed or impressed, but I had no idea what he was talking about.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He scratched at the stubble of his jaw, then pressed his fingertips against his lips as he
So I stood there resting my hand on the mattress, holding on to the edge of his blanket.
“You have screwed up my life, Abraham Vail,” I said quietly. “You showed up at my kitchen door, bleeding,wounded, and mixed up in a world I was doing my best to stay hidden from. I should have told you to move on and take your complicated world right along with you.
“But I didn’t. I couldn’t. There was something about you that made me want to help, made me want to know why your eyes were so sad even though you couldn’t feel pain.
“And look where it’s gotten me. I’m running. Still running. I’m all out of tricks up my sleeve to make this right. For you, for House Brown. For anyone.”
Abraham, being unconscious, didn’t have a lot to add to the conversation, but maybe all I needed right now was a really good listener. A comatose man three pints low on blood fit that bill pretty handily.
I surveyed the room, spotted a chair, and brought it over, setting it next to the table and then sitting down.
“What am I supposed to do? House Brown relied on me and on Quinten to keep them safe. If I die . . .” I took a breath, let it out. “I suppose the world will just go on without me, won’t it? No big loss.”
“No,” Quinten said quietly from the hallway. “It would be a very great loss. To the world. And to me.”
I wiped at my face, at the tears that were threatening to fall. I didn’t want him to know how scared I really was.
“What are you doing up?” I asked. “You barely got to bed.”
“I slept on the plane.” He walked into the room, plucking up a chair as he did so and setting it down across from me. His shirt was still untucked and mostly unbuttoned, his sleeves rucked up to his elbows. He must have smoothed his fingers back through his hair, setting most of it into a semblance of order.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“We need to plan,” I countered.
That stopped him, and he frowned while taking a moment to consider me, as if he’d forgotten what I looked like.
I wasn’t the same little sister he had left behind. I’d been taking care of a farm, stitched animals, an elderly grandmother, and all the crises that cropped up with House Brown for three years without him.
I’d followed a wounded man into a city and politics that were so far over my head, I didn’t want to know what could have gone wrong, just for the chance to save my wayward brother.
A girl had to have guts to do that sort of thing.
And I had guts.
“All right,” he said, “we need a plan. But first you need to know some things.”
“About Gloria?”
He clasped his hands together and looked down at them. “That’s . . . private, Tilly.”
“You like her.”
“Yes,” he said, still not looking up.
“Do you love her?”
He finally lifted his eyes. He didn’t have to use words to tell me the answer to that question. He was so in love with her, the pain of it shadowed his eyes.
“Okay. I won’t ask anymore,” I said.
“I want to talk about the Wings of Mercury experiment,” he said, switching smoothly into teacher mode. “The easiest way to think of this is that the Wings of Mercury experiment fell like a hammer and shattered a moment in time.”
“You’ve told me that already.”
He gave me a look and I shut up.
“What I’ve spent the past three years at the Houses searching for is the journal that lists the calculations that went into the experiment.”
“How will that help?”
“Once I have those calculations, I can—we can—mend time. Fix it.” He waited, maybe for me to be amazed or impressed, but I had no idea what he was talking about.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He scratched at the stubble of his jaw, then pressed his fingertips against his lips as he
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