Page 35 of Time of the Warlord (Stones of Scotland #5)

S adie screamed, but Professor Edmondson ignored her. Instead, he laid the gun down on his chair and peered dispassionately at Henry.

“Definitely dead,” he said. “I really can’t thank you enough, Matthew, for bringing his activities to my attention. What a despicable little man.”

Sadie couldn’t figure out what was going on. Was Professor Edmondson on their side? None of this made any sense.

Behind her, the time travel machine flared into life with a loud whirr and a flash of light.

“Good,” the Professor said. “That should be enough power to get me where I need to go.”

“Somebody needs to explain,” Sadie croaked.

The Professor smiled slightly. It was not a comforting expression.

“Henry here betrayed me,” he said. “He thought I was dead, and took charge of my company. I could not let such a betrayal go unpunished.”

Ah. Not because Henry was a terrible person, then. Sadie really did not feel any better.

“Does that mean we can go, then?” she asked in a small voice.

“Yes, of course,” the Professor said, waving one hand in a careless way that suggested he barely noticed her existence. “Matthew, untie them. Norah I expect you back at work on Monday.”

“You what ?” Sadie asked as her hands were untied. She whirled on her sister, who did not meet her eyes. “You’ve been in on this the whole time,” Sadie accused her. “You already knew what was going on!”

“I had an idea,” Norah admitted. “I was working with Jack to undermine Henry. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, Sadie, but I couldn’t risk having it all fall apart.”

Tears built in Sadie’s eyes.

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered. “Do you have any idea what that was like?”

“Sadie, I’m sorry,” Norah said.

Sadie didn’t want to listen to her. She didn’t want to hear any more of this. Ciaran still hovered in the doorway, his eyes wide and confused. Of course - they’d been speaking in English. He wouldn’t have understood a word.

“Ciaran, I need to get out of here,” Sadie said in Gaelic. “Will you come with me?”

He hesitated, his eyes flickering to the giant time travel machine. Sadie’s heart sank.

“Of course,” she said. “You need to go home. How silly of me.”

“He can stay for the weekend,” Matthew put in. “I can send him home on Monday.”

They all turned to look at the boy. He spoke of time travel so casually, as if it was nothing.

“That’s my boy,” Professor Edmondson said proudly. “I suppose we’d have time for that before we leave on our own mission.”

His glance included Norah in that statement. Sadie bit her tongue. She didn’t want to know where her sister was going, or what she would be doing. She was done with all of this nonsense. No more time travel.

“I can stay for a few days?” Ciaran asked, clearly still catching up with the conversation.

“Yes, I suppose so,” Professor Edmondson said. “Norah, call for the cleaners. We need to get this body tidied up. I have no further use for it.”

Sadie thought she might be sick. Were Norah and Matthew really working with this psychotic madman? She met her sister’s gaze, and something she saw in there told her not to speak. Wait , her sister seemed to say. So, wait she would.

“Come on Ciaran,” she muttered. “Let’s get out of here.”

To her surprise, he took her hand as they made their way down the long corridor.

“Matthew brought you here?” she asked.

He nodded.

“He said he needed my help, before it was too late for you and Norah. But I don’t really understand what he meant. I wasn’t needed at all.”

Sadie sighed.

“I don’t understand either. I don’t understand any of this. I suspect that we are just a tiny part of something far bigger.”

“You may be right.”

The reception area was still dark and empty. Sadie wondered absently where these cleaners were, then shivered. Cleaning up dead bodies was surely not the job of an average janitor. She didn’t want to know what else Professor Edmondson’s ‘cleaners’ were used to doing. Judging by all her prior research, though, Professor Edmondson would get away with this. Despite all the disappearances, he had never faced more than a casual investigation.

But where had he been , this past year? What had left him looking old and worn, and leaning on that cane? It seemed that Matthew and Norah knew the answer, even if they would not share it. Sadie would just have to trust them.

The noise and traffic of the city came as an abrupt shock. Ciaran winced away from the passing cars, brandishing his sword. Sadie took one look at him and burst out laughing.

“Oh, dear,” she said. “There’s no way we’ll be able to hail a cab like this.”

“I do not understand you,” Ciaran said through gritted teeth. They were starting to attract a bit of attention now, passers-by gaping and pointing.

“Screw this,” Sadie said, turning around and opening the door again. “We’re taking another one of the Professor’s cars.”