Silent, I leaned back into him, breathing in the smell of sun and feathers. Although he said it was okay, it would still be my fault if Ron figured out we were up to something.

“You did well,” he said as his arm slipped around me. “You’ve worked hard for this skill, and you should be happy.”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling slightly better as I stepped back onto his feet.

But he didn’t move. Actually, nothing was moving—not Barnabas, the wind, or the corn—and I jerked when I felt a nebulous something touch my amulet and claim a portion of it.

Instinct kicked in, and drawing on hours of practice, I brought up my inner sight of my amulet, placing it among the fabric of time.

The “now” was a shimmering line stretching to infinity. On it was my soul sending out thoughts into the future, pulling me along as they fastened me to the future an instant before it became the present. Behind me in my inner sight I could see my past, interweaving heavily with Barnabas, Nakita, and even the bright silver thoughts of Ace. But it wasn’t just my thoughts that were attaching my amulet to the present, as was normal. There were someone else’s.

Ron, I thought in a panic, wiping a theoretical hand over the fabric of time to destroy his amulet’s ties, and only his amulet’s ties, to me.

I opened my eyes…. The entire process had taken less time than a bubble bursting.

“Barnabas?” I quavered, seeing his arm still around me. I slid from his unmoving grip. Panic slipped between my thought and action. Ron had stopped time. Son of a puppy.

Heart pounding, I turned in the absolute stillness of stopped time. There, right in the middle of the road, was Ron.

Ron wasn’t a tall man, not much more than my height, which wasn’t surprising, since he was born a thousand years ago. I think his height bothered him. His tightly curled graying hair had once been black, and his complexion was dark. His eyes shifted color upon his mood, and I wondered if mine did now, too. He was wearing the same light-colored outfit that I’d seen him in moments ago in my head, sort of Greek-looking. Seeing him standing ten feet away with a shocked expression gave me a flash of satisfaction. Maybe he hadn’t expected me to break his hold so easily.

“Stop it,” I said as I gripped my amulet. His trying to take my amulet wasn’t likely, since he couldn’t use it, but it was still hard for me to let go of the warm stone.

Ron squinted down the long road behind me. “Congratulations,” he said, “both on breaking my hold on your amulet and learning how to converse silently with it. I know Barnabas didn’t teach you. He has the imagination of an earthworm. Did the seraphs? Maybe you could use your inside voice next time? You were shouting.”

He was being sarcastic, and I flung a hand out in warning when he took a step forward. Stopping short, he put a hand on his hip to look at me like someone might look at a yapping dog behind a fence. “What are you doing out here? Isn’t it a school day?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” I said, backing up to be side by side with Barnabas and Nakita. “Let them go.”

He smiled. I remembered when I believed in it. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, Madison. I won’t hurt you. The seraphs would kill me. You’re their next big hope.” He shook his head, almost laughing at me.

“There are worse things than being hurt.” And I bet you know all of them, I thought, wishing I had Barnabas and Nakita to back me. Jeez, it was weird having them silent and unmoving behind me. With a sudden thought, I brought up the nether sight of my mind, searching the fabric of time for the violet glow of Nakita and the brilliant green of Barnabas. Finding them, I wiped all the threads that were connecting them to Ron’s amulet.

Feeling it, Ron swore, dropping back as Barnabas and Nakita both came to life.

A surge of excitement washed through me, and I wavered on my feet with the effort of trying to divide my attention between the now and the next. The minute I quit wiping Ron’s amulet’s threads, they would be frozen again.

“Leave her alone, Ron!” Barnabas shouted as he caught me, and I felt an odd sensation tingle through my aura. Nakita stood between us, and I wanted to cry. I had freed them! I wasn’t so helpless after all, even if Barnabas was keeping me from falling down.

“It’s not me,” Ron said darkly. “She’s just not good at what she’s trying to do.”

Barnabas’s grip on me tightened, and I slowly found my balance. “’S okay,” I said softly as dividing my thoughts got easier. I had practiced wiping threads before, but I hadn’t done it in a while. Even so, that time I had been destroying the threads my amulet was making, not another’s. This was…hard, and I couldn’t concentrate on everything.

Nakita slowly eased out of her instinctive crouch, knowing Ron wasn’t bent on hurting us. He just wanted to know what we were doing. I wasn’t going to tell him, and he looked unhappy as I slowly stood under my own power. All we’d have to do was leave, and he’d get nothing.

“What do you want?” I said, though it was obvious. And who was that with you in the desert? Finding enough time to teach him, are you?

Ron spread his hands wide as he tried to look reasonable. “To know what you’re doing,” he said. “It’s not a scything, or I would have flashed forward by now.”

Nakita shifted to put her slight form between me and Ron. “So you can just go, yes?” she said, but he ignored her, looking at Barnabas instead.

“Killing those you once pledged to me to save,” Ron said caustically, and I realized that the two hadn’t spoken since I’d become the dark timekeeper and Barnabas had left him. “I gave you your amulet. You were my best, Barnabas, but I wouldn’t take you back now if you abased yourself on a rock for a thousand years. Consorting with the same dark reaper you fought against? Look at her, with her black nails and shiny purse. She’s no warrior. You’ve yoked yourself to the inept and foolish. You have truly fallen, angel.”

“You didn’t give me my amulet,” Barnabas said tightly. “Your predecessor’s predecessor did,” he said, releasing his amulet to let the purity of the neutral green shine forth. Nakita and I exchanged a wondering glance. Just how long had Barnabas been at this? “I still believe in choice,” he went on stoically. “Times changed. You didn’t. I owe you nothing. You lied to me,” Barnabas finished bitterly.

“You failed me,” Ron said, as if it didn’t matter. “I told you to keep your mouth shut. If you had, it would have gone perfectly and light reapers would be in control by now.”

“I trusted you to do what is right,” Barnabas said softly. “Now I trust Madison.”

Ron huffed. “So easily swayed into killing the innocent,” the light timekeeper mocked, trying not to look as if he were edging back.

“I’m not,” Barnabas said, and Nakita pushed past him.

“And the mark isn’t innocent,” she said hotly, a flush to her cheeks. “He’s deliberately going to allow people to die by his actions, then go on to do it again!”

Alarmed, I shot a look at her. “Shut up!” I exclaimed. She was giving everything away!

But the damage had been done, and Ron’s eyes lit up. “It is a reap,” he said. “But I’ve not flashed forward.”

Nakita struck a dramatic pose. “The seraphs see farther than you.”

“Will you shut your mouth!” Barnabas shouted.

“And no worries, Chronos,” Nakita boasted, undaunted. “I will kill him before you can set a guardian angel to protect him to his dying days. You won’t sully the seraphs’ perfect vision this time!”

Great. Just great. This wasn’t going well, and I looked into the frozen cornfields as I stood in the middle of an empty road, the sky holding an unmoving sun. “Ron, will you just back off?” I said, knowing he wouldn’t. “Whether you believe it or not, I’m trying to save someone.”