"If they can jump through walls, how do you keep them in cages?" Billy asked.

"Wards," said Dorian. "Symbols that prevent them from using their magic. Dr. Morder releases the brownies a few at a time with blood samples from certain families strapped to their bodies. The blood is enhanced with a spell giving members of that family partial access to the tunnels." Dorian pressed his ear against the bedroom door. Uncle Finn seemed to be talking on a phone, although Jax knew it couldn't be a phone on Grunsday. It had to be a radio. "If Jax found the tunnels and got into them, it's because he's an Ambrose, and our blood was granted access."

"Are brownie tunnels everywhere?" Billy asked. "Or just in this building?"

"You can find them anywhere brownies go," said Dorian. "But we have more than our fair share-thanks to Jax's dad."

"What?" Jax scowled. Now what was his dad being blamed for?

"When your dad was a kid, he had a pet brownie living here. Dr. Morder thinks Stink is responsible for all the tunnels in this building except the one in the basement. That one was made by the brownies he releases. They run away from the lab, outside, and into the park."

"Back up a little," Jax said. "You said Dr. Morder's spell gives partial access to the tunnels. What do you mean by partial? I got through okay."

"The tunnels all have dead ends," Dorian said. "The one that goes to the park is the longest, but even it just stops dead. The brownies somehow continue on to wherever they're going, but we can't follow."

Jax didn't understand that, but Billy apparently did. "You mean, the brownies go into warp speed like the Starship Enterprise and poof, they vanish from here and appear somewhere else?"

Dorian looked startled. "Maybe. I thought the brownies moved the tunnels, but your idea makes more sense. Like hyperspace and the Millennium Falcon."

"Skip the sci-fi convention," Jax interrupted. "Can we use the tunnels to rescue Addie?"

"She can't use them. Only a few families in the Dulac clan have access to the tunnels," Dorian said. "You and I can use them to avoid the guards and Dad's keys to get her out of wherever they're holding her, but we'll have to find a way to smuggle her out of the building without the tunnels."

"You're going to be in big trouble when this is over," Billy said to Dorian.

Oddly, Dorian's face lit up. "Yeah, I will."

"Are your parents in bed yet?" Jax checked his Grunsday watch. "We're wasting time."

Dorian smirked. "No we're not. Didn't you hear what I said about burrowing through time?"

Jax didn't like leaving Billy in the apartment, but Dorian insisted it was safer than having him caught wandering the building. "We'd have to leave him behind here anyway," Dorian said when they reached the third floor. He stuck his head out of the elevator and motioned Jax to follow him.

Halfway down the hall, Dorian stepped through the wall, and Jax did likewise. Inside the tunnel, Dorian stuck his hand out awkwardly. "We'd better hold hands," he said. "I've never tried this with another person, and I'm not sure we'll end up together if we're not touching."

According to Dorian, the brownie tunnel not only existed outside of time, it could move them backward or forward in real-world time. "It has limits," Dorian had explained on the elevator. "I've never moved more than a couple hours."

Jax clasped Dorian's hand, which was clammy. He couldn't tell if his cousin was scared or superexcited. His eyes were glassy, and his hair was rumpled. Aunt Marian would've reached for the nearest comb. "I think I moved in time last night," Jax said. "I got back in only eight minutes, but I'd been gone at least an hour. I don't know how I did it, though."

"The trick is to concentrate on when you want to be," Dorian explained. "I'm going to try to get us back to when we were still at Rockefeller Center." He led Jax to a squishy hole in the floor, and Jax realized why they'd gotten off on the third floor instead of taking the elevator to the basement. His expression must have given his thoughts away, because Dorian said, "It's like going down a water slide. Except with no water."

A pretty tall water slide, thought Jax. The tunnel was made out of some weird fabric in time. Could it rip? Throw them out against a solid wall? Drop them to their deaths?

But Dorian had done it before, so Jax took a deep breath and slid in when his cousin did. He tightened his grip on Dorian's hand, expecting them to be wrenched apart by the fall, but instead of falling, they sort of oozed down the tunnel. It was like sliding through sausage casing. Or intestines. And then Jax wished he hadn't thought of that.

The tunnel contracted around him briefly and squirted him out in a heap beside Dorian. "That was disgusting." Jax let go of Dorian's hand and brushed himself off.

Dorian stood, then grabbed Jax's arm and helped him up. "You'd better hang on to me. We might get separated in time otherwise."

"When are we?" Jax looked around. They were standing in a storage room he recognized from last night's trip. It was beyond Balin's cell and near the outer wall of the building.

"We aren't anywhere yet. I mean, anywhen. Not while we're in the tunnel."

"So if this time shift works," Jax said, as Dorian led them back toward the center of the basement, "could we go up to the lobby and watch ourselves come into the building?"

"No. I've tried on purpose to run into myself, but I can't. It's probably against the rules to see yourself."

"Whose rules?" Jax demanded. Now they were passing Balin's cell.

Dorian noticed Jax looking into the room and said, "This isn't where they're keeping her. They've got a different prisoner in here."

"I know." Maybe it was a bad idea for Jax to give away what he knew, but he'd never had a cousin to impress before. "Angus Balin."

"How do you know that?" Dorian gasped.

"Ran into him last night. He said your dad's been grilling him about my liege lady."

Dorian looked ashamed. "You have to keep her away from Aunt Ursula, Jax. She's planning something bad for both Emrys girls."

"She's probably planning to kill them," Jax predicted grimly. "If the Emrys line dies out, the eighth day will cease to exist and so will all the Kin trapped inside it. Including the bad ones who just broke out of prison."

"Yeah, Dad said Aunt Ursula liked the timing of it. I didn't understand what he meant until I heard you and your friends talking about the Llyrs. But it still doesn't make sense. We get our magic from the eighth day," Dorian said. "I can't imagine Aunt Ursula giving up the advantage we have from the extra day-or our talents. Without the eighth day, we'd be cut off from . . ."

Dorian stopped talking, and the two boys stared at each other. They were standing in an alternate timeline very similar to the eighth day, and they could feel the magical potential buzzing through them. "Oh," said Dorian.

"Only members of your clan can get in here, right?" Jax said. "She wants to destroy the eighth day, kill every member of the Kin race, and turn all Transitioners into Normals."

"Except for the ones she lets into the tunnels. Dad said that any Transitioners who wanted to regain what they'd lost would have to come to us." Dorian looked horrified. "She'd have to be sure. I mean, really, really sure the tunnels replenish our magic like the eighth day does."

"That's probably the only reason Addie's still alive. The experiments aren't done yet." Jax tugged Dorian on. The tunnel was now passing through the corridor. Next would be the furnace room and then the lab.

But Dorian stopped him. "This is as close as we can get to where I think they're keeping her. The other end of the basement is mostly utility rooms-furnaces, water heaters, batteries for the solar panels, that kind of stuff. Over here are smaller rooms used by the clan families for storage. Any one of them would make a good cell. We can use the keys to check them out, but we're going to have to step into real time. And there are guards."

"Okay." Jax whipped his dagger out of its sheath and balanced it on the palm of his hand. He muttered a verse Melinda had taught him and closed his eyes.

"Uh, what are you doing?" asked Dorian.

Jax cracked an eye open. "Using my talent. What are you doing?"

"Watching you talk to yourself. How is that using your talent?"

"I need to know if there's anyone in the corridor before we step out."

"Who're you going to interrogate to find that out?" Dorian ran his hand along the wall of the tunnel, searching for the way out.

Jax had already found the exit, but he stepped in front of it. Something told him it wasn't safe to leave the tunnel. "I'm using my talent for information. The Ambrose talent for information."

"We're inquisitors. We get our information from people. Weren't you trained at all? You can't pull information out of thin air." Dorian spotted the exit and pushed Jax out of his way. "Let me look." He used his fingers to pry open the gap and pressed his eye to it.

"But I can get information without interrogating someone. I mean, I can do that too-"

"I don't see anybody out there. Let's go."

"Wait a minute." Jax didn't feel like it was safe, but Dorian pulled him into the corridor. Jax glanced at his wristwatch. It had stopped in the tunnel and was just now starting again. There was no way to tell what time it was to everybody else. "Now I'll need three watches," he complained. "One for the tunnels, one for Grunsday, and one for all the other days."

"No time-measuring device works in the tunnels," Dorian told him. "We'd better get moving. No matter what time it is, there'll be a guard passing by soon." He fumbled through the ring of keys and jammed one into the nearest door.

Jax glanced over his shoulder. Balin's cell was just down the hall. If they ran into someone, it might help to have a big, angry killer with them. But it would also give their intentions away. "What will they do if they catch us?" Jax asked.

Dorian peeked into the first room and apparently saw nothing of interest. "For sure we won't remember any of this." He moved to the next door but glanced at Jax. "What Gran said about Dulacs never using their talent on family? That was a lie. I have something to give you when we get back to the apartment. A journal that belonged to your dad."

Jax froze. "My dad kept a journal? You mean like a diary?"

"More like a log of the truth. So he could tell when they changed his memory."

A chill ran up and down Jax's spine. When they changed his memory, not if.

This is why he left. Oh, crap, this is why Dad left them. Jax opened his mouth to ask more questions, but something down the corridor drew his attention. Had he heard footsteps? No, it was the same feeling he'd had when he'd realized Evangeline was outside this building earlier tonight. "This way," he said. "Addie's farther down."

"What makes you think so? Your talent for information?"

"My bond." Jax marched off and left Dorian to follow. His cousin could make fun of him all he wanted. Jax was an Emrys vassal, and there was an Emrys down here. The pull wasn't as strong as it was with Evangeline, and it felt muffled. Wards, he thought-wards that would block Evangeline's scrying spell and the Donovans' scent sensitivity.

The corridor made an almost complete circuit through the basement in the shape of a squared-off U-or more accurately, a G. The elevator and Addie's cell were on opposite ends of the building, with her room beyond a set of fire stairs. Jax knew for certain they'd found it when he saw the warding symbol painted above the door. He rattled the doorknob and held out his hand to Dorian. "Quick! Give me the keys!" He'd free Addie and then Balin. They'd take the stairs, and Balin could overpower any guard who might be there. Billy, well, he'd have to come back for Billy.

Dorian tossed him the keys, but the knob turned by itself, and the door opened. Jax looked up into the face of a tall man in a lab coat with piercing blue eyes-Kin eyes. His complexion was pale, but his hair was a very un-Kin jet black and pulled into a ponytail.

Jax peered around him. "Addie?" he yelled.

Somebody moved in the semidarkness, reacting to his shout. Someone with blond hair. The man pulled the door shut, cutting off Jax's glimpse of the room's occupant. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly. "Dorian? Why did you bring him down here?"

"Dad said . . . um . . ." Dorian's voice faded away as he groped for a lie that would explain their presence in the basement in the middle of the night with a ring of keys.

Jax's hopes sank. That was a FAIL, Dorian.

"Dr. Morder!" a man called from behind Dorian. "Everything all right?"

"I don't think so," the man in the lab coat replied. "These boys need to be taken upstairs to see Ursula."

Nope. Jax was not going to visit Ursula and get his memory wiped. He launched himself toward the security man. With a dead end behind him, it was the only way out.

The guard held out both arms like a linebacker. Jax barreled straight for the guy, then rolled himself into a ball at the last second and hit him in the knees. The man staggered but grabbed a fistful of T-shirt. Jax rolled to his feet, and his momentum pulled him free.

He knew he'd never outrun this guy on the stairs, and there was probably another guard above. His best chance was the brownie hole. It was invisible, but Jax remembered its position in the corridor. He'd dive into it and- Jax yelped as a weight crashed into him from behind. His knees hit the concrete hard, and his chin next. The force jarred his teeth together.

"Kid," said a voice in his ear, "I have a Taser. Don't make me use it."

Jax went limp. He'd been Tasered before and had no desire to experience it again.

Dr. Morder marched Dorian around the corner with one hand on the collar of his shirt. The other hand, slim and pale, held a radio. "You may have just seen them go up in the elevator," he was saying in an unhurried voice, "but they are here now. Yes, that's exactly what it means. Please let Ursula know to expect them." He paused. "No, don't alert Finn Ambrose. Ursula will call him when she wants him."

The look of fear on Dorian's face let Jax know that, as much as he distrusted Uncle Finn, they were going to be worse off meeting Ursula Dulac without his protection.

24.

NO ONE BOTHERED TO hold Dorian on the elevator, although Albert Ganner and one of his brothers both kept their hands on Jax. Dorian was expected to stand in the corner, obedient and quiet, because that was what he'd always been.

Obedient and quiet.

Jax, meanwhile, kept trying to throw off the grip of his guards. He glared at them and wiped his bloody chin with the back of his hand. Dorian couldn't believe the way he'd run straight for Albert, trying to knock him down like a bowling pin. It had been stupid. Completely stupid and pointless and brave.

And I just stood there.

Aunt Ursula was waiting for them when the elevator arrived at the penthouse. Her son Daniel stood beside her, and behind them, Sloane. No one would've guessed they'd all been roused from their beds, and Sloane-dressed in a short skirt and a glittery top with her hair pinned up-probably hadn't been. If Dorian knew his cousin, she'd just come back from clubbing. Not dancing in the plaza at Rockefeller like Lesley, but schmoozing with other Very Important Transitioners at a private club.

What did you do? Sloane mouthed at Dorian.

Aunt Ursula cast a cold look at her errant nephews. "What were they up to, Ganner?"

"Dr. Morder said they were trying to get into the room with . . . uh . . . our guest. They had these." Albert Ganner held up Dad's keys.

"Not your guest," said Jax. "Your prisoner. The girl you have locked up in your nasty old cellar. The same place I'm guessing you wanted to put my liege lady."

"How did you know she was there?" Aunt Ursula glanced at Dorian.

"He didn't tell me," Jax said. "I'm an Emrys vassal. I felt her presence." Aunt Ursula scrutinized Jax, then looked back at Dorian. "I made him help me," Jax added loudly. "I said I'd beat him up if he didn't."

Dorian swallowed. Was Jax trying to protect him?

"Bring them in here." Aunt Ursula turned and led the way down the hall. The Ganners had to haul Jax bodily into Ursula's office, his feet dragging behind him.

"You old bat," Jax shouted at Aunt Ursula. "I'm not afraid of you."

Dorian had no doubt now. Jax was trying to draw all her anger toward himself and away from Dorian.

"I've been patient with you," Aunt Ursula said. "But you are distressingly like your father." She addressed the Ganners. "Hold him still." She laid her hands on his head.

Jax fought.

It sickened Dorian, seeing how hard his cousin fought. At first Jax stiffened, like he was trying to resist her mentally. Then he panicked. His body thrashed as he tried to get away from her hands. He kicked wildly. Albert and his brother shifted their positions, pinning Jax's arms and legs. Daniel moved in to help.