“Where are we?” Sera asked. “And . . . when are we?”
Dak jumped all over that. “We’re smack-dab in the middle of the Revolutionary War. Those are British soldiers and they’re obviously expecting a battle with some American militiamen. Keep watching and you’ll see how organized and rigid the British are, and how wild and crazy the Americans are. I can’t believe I’m seeing this!”
His mom shushed him. “Quiet down!”
Dak felt an almost unbearable thrill of excitement as it finally hit him what was going on. They’d just traveled through time! He’d just leapt back hundreds of years using a device dreamed up by his own parents and perfected by his best friend. Judging by the half-glazed look on Sera’s face, she was coming to the same world-altering realization.
Movement out in the ranks grabbed his attention. Three red-coated soldiers were running toward them, guns raised.
“You there!” one of them shouted. “American spies! Come out or we’ll shoot!” He and his partners kept coming at full speed.
“That’s not good,” Dak said. “Do you know what they did to American spies? Because I do, and —”
Sera silenced him with a glance.
“What do we do?” Dak’s mom asked.
“Don’t worry,” her husband answered with forced calm. He was pressing buttons on the Infinity Ring. “Keep your heads down. I’m almost there.”
One of the soldiers fired a shot, smoke and fire flashing from the muzzle of his weapon. The ball smashed into a tree right next to Dak’s head.
“Almost there!” his dad repeated.
But it was too late. The soldiers crashed into the trees, throwing their weapons down and grabbing at the visitors from the future. The biggest redcoat pulled Sera by the shirt, ripping her off her feet. Dak moved in to help her but the man swung a fist, slamming it into Dak’s cheek. He fell to the ground, dazed. The other two soldiers tussled with his parents, pushing at them roughly. Dak caught a glimpse of his dad, struggling to hide the Infinity Ring and work on it at the same time as he was being roughed up.
Dak’s mom tore loose and fell on Dak, pulling him into her arms. Sera ripped herself free at the same time and jumped toward them. They huddled as a group and backed into his dad, who still fidgeted with the device.
There was a humming sound. The trees around them started to shake. Dak saw one of the soldiers pick up a gun he’d dropped. The bayonet on the end glinted in the sunlight, breaking through the branches above them. He lifted the gun like a spear and charged at their small group. Sera’s arms came up as if she could actually deflect the vicious blade.
Everything around them turned into chaos and color and sound.
Dak, his parents, Sera — all of them were ripped from the copse of trees, sucked into a wormhole. In that blur of movement and noise, Dak felt as if his body were frozen, but the others seemed to be moving. Dak’s mom had let go and turned to hug her husband, and the two of them looked as if they were dancing, the edges of their skin tendriling out like streams of their soul being torn away.
Someone squeezed Dak’s hand — he forced his head to move as if through a thick liquid or a tremendous wind, and he saw Sera looking at him. Still they flew through the wormhole, the rush of noise almost deafening.
An object was in Dak’s other hand. He knew it by touch: the Infinity Ring. When had his father given it to him? He didn’t have time to think, just gripped it in his fingers. The lights grew brighter, the sound impossibly louder. Dak screamed but the sound of it was lost in the madness.
Then it all ended. Dak and Sera appeared on the floor of the lab.
There was no sign of his parents. Anywhere.
11. Black Hoods and Black Cars
SERA COULDN’T quite process what was wrong at first. She’d just had the craziest ten minutes of her entire life, and now she stood back in the quiet lab of Mr. and Mrs. Smyth. Her mind felt a little bent, as if it had just gone up in an airplane and done loops. Parts of her body were hot and other parts were cold. Dak stood next to her, staring at something in his hands. She followed his gaze and saw that he clutched the Infinity Ring.
The soldiers were nowhere to be seen — but neither were Dak’s parents.
He was frozen, his eyes glued to the Ring.
“Dak,” Sera whispered.
His free hand shot up, palm toward her, telling her to be quiet.
She let a few seconds pass but couldn’t stand it anymore. “Dak, what do —”
“Be quiet!” he yelled. “They’re going to show up any second now.”
Sera felt a painful thumping in her chest, a mix of panic and aching hurt for Dak. Something terrible had happened, and she wasn’t sure why. But if his parents hadn’t appeared yet, they weren’t going to appear at all.
“Dak, listen to me. . . .”
He turned toward her, his face at first full of fire and anger. But it quickly melted into despair. His lips trembled.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice cracking. “Where are they?”
“I don’t know.” In that moment she felt responsible — had she messed something up in her calculations? “I’m sorry.” She hated that her words sounded so empty.
Dak turned on her, thrusting the Infinity Ring into her hands. “Fix this! Help them! Do something!”
“Dak, we’ll figure this out, but you need to calm down,” she said.
“Easy for you to say! You have no idea . . .” He started pacing around the room, looking as if he wanted something to kick.
But before he found anything there was a sudden explosion behind them.
Sera screamed and fell to the floor, instinctively turning her body to avoid landing on the Ring. Lights danced before her eyes as the huge iron door jumped a couple of feet forward then fell down, its ringing boom shaking the entire building.
Then came the people. They stormed into the lab in the wake of the tremendous crash — people dressed head to toe in black. At least a dozen of them.
Oh, no, thought Sera. It’s the SQ.
Dak freaked out, punching wildly at the intruders as Sera scrambled to her feet. She was shocked and confused and suddenly terrified that these people were going to put a bullet in Dak’s brain.
“Dak! Stop it!” she shouted, but he seemed like he’d lost his mind. Several men tackled him to the ground, subduing him roughly.
Sera didn’t know what to do. Her only thought was that she could use the Infinity Ring to get them out of there, but she’d barely had the idea before people were grabbing her, taking the Ring out of her hands. She kicked and flailed to no avail, screaming at the black-clothed thugs.
“Both of you calm down!” someone yelled at them. “We’re doing this for your own good!”
But Sera and Dak didn’t stop fighting as the intruders dragged them through the door and away from the laboratory.
They finally stopped thrashing once they were locked in the backseat of a car and black hoods were pulled over their heads. Sera fumbled for the door handle, but it was locked tight. It took a while for the two of them to calm their breathing, but silence eventually fell over them as the vehicle drove for miles and miles.
Dak didn’t make a peep as they rocketed through endless unseen streets. But every once in a while his shoulder trembled, and she knew he was stifling a sob. She wished she could talk to him, tell him that she knew all too well what it was like to have missing parents. Even though she’d never met her own, the pain was like a hole in her heart. But she couldn’t find the words.
If she couldn’t cheer him up, she could at least try to keep him safe. She resolved to do whatever it took to get him out of this mess.
On they went, turn after turn, the car silent, the mood gloomy.
What light Sera could see through the coarse fabric of the hood suddenly cut out when the car pitched downward then upright again, as if they’d gone underground or into the lower floor of a garage. There was a bang of metal and the vehicle bounced before speeding forward again.
Soon they came to a stop. Someone escorted them out of the car and led them forward, steering Sera by her elbow. Although Sera couldn’t see where they were going, she kept her ears trained on Dak’s shuffling footsteps. There didn’t seem to be much point in fighting, but if they dared to separate her from Dak, she would try.
Their captors didn’t take the hood off her until they’d reached a metal door. Sera quickly looked around. They were in a dark garage, just as she’d guessed, but only a few cars were parked there. It seemed to have been carved out of rock, with uneven walls and ceiling. Dak wouldn’t look her in the eyes. A blond man had them each by the arm, and he nodded toward the silvery door.
“Down the elevator we go,” he said. “Then all of your questions will be answered.”
Down the elevator they went.
Three floors down. A long hallway. A right turn, a left turn, and a second left. Another long hallway. Sera thought she’d keep track in case they had the chance to make an escape, but wherever they were, the place was built like a labyrinth.
And then, finally, they reached a small room with a table and four chairs. Two of those were occupied, by a man and a woman. They were both about the age of Dak’s parents. The man looked a little goofy — big nose, black hair sticking up — but the woman was stunningly beautiful, with dark skin and a flawless face. Sera wished Dak was in the mood to make one of his famously awkward historical speeches in an attempt to break the ice. It might bore everyone else, but right now it would lift her spirits. Dak remained silent, though. His face was sallow and droopy, and his eyes were red and moist.
On the table was a spread of food that looked too good to be true. Fruit and cheese and cakes and pastries. Sera’s stomach rumbled with hunger. The traitor.
The blond guard motioned for Dak and Sera to take the two empty chairs. Then, to their enormous surprise, he handed the Infinity Ring to Dak. “We’ll be right outside if you need us,” the guard said to the woman. She simply nodded.
The door closed behind him, and a weighty silence settled on the room. Dak clutched the Infinity Ring to his chest.
The man spoke first. “Well. Dak and Sera. We have so much to say to you. It’s hard to even know where to start.”
“Don’t you think we should start by telling them our names?” the woman asked, giving her partner a reproving glare.
“Oh, yes, of course we should.” The man cleared his throat. “My name is Brint, and this is my colleague, Mari. We, um, both know who you are. Although I guess you’ve figured that out by now. Please feel free to help yourselves to some food. If there’s anything else you want —”
Sera had reached the end of her rope. “We had a fridge full of food back at Dak’s house. You know, where we were when your goons trespassed on private property, set off explosives, and kidnapped us? We’re not in very good moods, and what we want is to know what’s going on!”
Brint had flinched at Sera’s outburst, leaning back as far as he could in his chair, a look of complete shock on his face. Mari hadn’t moved a muscle.