Chloe pulled into a parking spot in front of a playground. She shut off the engine and turned to Max, who sat in a sea of grocery bags.
"Doin' okay, Caulfield?" Chloe said.
"Yeah, actually," Max said, "it's kind of comfy. So...what's the plan?"
"There's an ice cream shop right over there," Chloe said, pointing to a squat building on the other side of the playground, "as far as anyone will know, we parked here, walked over there, and chowed down on ice cream before driving home."
"But…?" Max said.
"But," Chloe said, grinning, "Lee's house is about a 20 minute walk that way," she pointed off to the left, "so we head up there, rewind as we go, break in, rewind, get the bracelet, then come back here and, hopefully, mega rewind."
"And if I can't mega rewind?" Max said, "Photo?"
"Photo," Chloe said.
"Sounds like a pretty good plan," Max said, "just...what if the guy's house is a fortress?"
"I looked at the house in street view...it's one of those modern glass box things," Chloe said, smirking, "and, to paraphrase, people who have valuable collections shouldn't live in glass houses."
"Okay," Max said, "I'm in."
"Sweet...now take a picture and let's go!" Chloe said.
"Er, let's rewind a bit first," Max said.
After a brief rewind, Max released Chloe's hand and grabbed her camera.
"Look badass," Max said, pointing the camera at Chloe.
Chloe put one hand on the wheel, propped her elbow on the door, and looked over at Max with a lopsided grin. Max took the shot.
"Wowser, if that turns out as well as I think it might, I'm totally putting it in an album," Max said.
After the photo developed ("Chloe, you are just...amazingly sexy," Max said), Max stored it in her bag and they began the walk towards their target.
They passed through the most deserted places they could find, rewinding at intervals to save themselves time. A few times, a rewind found them back where they were before.
"Someone must have been glancing at us from somewhere," Max said when it happened the first time.
It happened again a few minutes later and Chloe said, "gah...fuckers need to keep their eyes to themselves."
When they reached the address, they strolled right up to the house. As Chloe had indicated, much of the outside was wrapped with windows.
"Break a window or try the door?" Chloe said.
Max stepped up to the door and turned the knob; locked. She shrugged.
"Wish I had my crowbar," Chloe said, "hmm...see if you can find something to either pry the door or break a window."
They wandered around the lawn, looking for anything to help them break in. Max turned a corner and stopped.
Jackpot, she thought.
In front of her stood a partially-complete iron railing around a small garden. Heavy iron rods were stacked in a loose pile nearby. She grabbed one and hurried back to the front of the house, where Chloe stood holding a large rock. As soon as she saw the rod in Max's hands, she grinned.
"Way to go, G," Chloe said, "want to take a swing?" She pointed to the nearest window.
"I think you're the expert at this sort of thing," Max said, handing the rod over to Chloe.
"Can't refuse the offer to smashy smashy," Chloe said.
She stepped over to the nearest window and swung the rod, hard. It smacked against the window, sending cracks spidering outwards...and a tremor through Chloe.
"Fuck, these are some tough windows," she said.
She swung again, hitting the same spot; the cracks multiplied. A third swing and the window shattered. They looked around nervously. No alarm sounded and there was no sound of anyone running towards them.
"I can't believe this place isn't alarmed," Chloe said as she stepped up to the broken window.
As soon as she stepped through, an ear-splitting alarm began blaring.
"You must be fucking kidding me!" Chloe shouted over the alarm.
Max ran forward and jumped through the window. She grabbed Chloe's hand and rewound until the window repaired itself behind them. She stopped the rewind and they stood in the now-silent house.
"Nice job, Max," Chloe said.
"I wouldn't be much of a time traveller if I couldn't get past an alarm," Max said.
They turned and walked towards the center of the house.
"So, any idea where the…," Max started before the alarm began blaring again.
"What the serious fuck?" Chloe shouted.
They retreated back to where they broke in and rewound.
"Okay, this house is way sneakier with security than Sean Prescott's place," Chloe said, "what do you think? Motion sensors?"
Max dropped to the floor and looked at the base of the windows. She examined the supports and saw a small hole.
"Trip sensors, I think," Max said.
"Like, lasers?" Chloe said.
"Yeah?" Max said, standing.
"Dude, this is totally like a spy movie," Chloe said, "we should've brought hairspray or whatever to see the lasers."
"That would be awesome," Max said, "but I think we just need to look for the little holes," she pointed down, "and step over them."
"Lame," Chloe said.
They walked again towards the center of the house, finding another hidden beam emitter in the hall and stepping over it. They rewound there and continued onwards to explore the house. It took them only a few minutes (and tripping the alarm again) to find what they were looking for.
"Holy shit," Chloe said as they stepped over an obvious sensor and into a large room. One entire wall was made of floor-to-ceiling windows with an amazing view of Portland. The rest of the wood-paneled room was populated with display cases. They came in many sizes and, from where Max stood, she could see scrolls, sculptures, tools, and jewelry. And around the rest of the room sat individual displays of swords, suits of armor, and more.
"This is amazing," Max said, her eyes wide as she looked around at the collection, "let's hope that the bracelet is in here."
She began walking along one side of the room, passing by a pair of ornate masks from Bali, a Norse sword, and a decorated clay pot from Crete.
"Dude, check this out," Chloe said.
Max turned to find Chloe wearing a dark helmet with large horn-like structures on the front. In her hands she held a long sword.
"I am Chloe Price, total fucking badass," she said.
"How the hell did you get those?" Max said.
"These? Oh, they were on display stands over here," Chloe said, "this," she pointed to the helmet, "is a samurai helmet and this," she held up the sword, "is from a Holy Roman Emperor. Isn't that badass? I'm a Holy Samurai Empress!"
"Another Halloween costume idea?" Max said.
"Oh hell yes," Chloe said.
"What would I be?" Max said.
Chloe glanced around, squinting at placards, "um...let's see...this hat...these badass necklaces or whatever...and ooh, that thing. Got it: you'll be a Sumerian Goddess of Axes."
"Wowser," Max said, chuckling and continuing her search.
Another minute passed before Chloe said, "hey, Max?"
"Yeah?" Max said.
"I think I found what we're looking for," Chloe said, "it's just...um...come and see."
Max stepped over and found Chloe (samurai helmet still on her head) in front of a display case. The placard on the case read:
Ornamental Bracelets
Native American
Arcadia Bay, OR
In the case were three bracelets, each made of a series of stone pieces held together with thin, cord-like rope. Etched onto the stone pieces were the same symbols they'd seen on the other Arcadia Bay artifacts.
"Didn't Miranda say there was one bracelet?" Chloe said.
"She probably just assumed there was one," Max said.
"Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing," Chloe said.
"We should take all three," Max said, "that way Sean Prescott gets none of them."
"Yup, good plan," Chloe said, "you can wear one and...um...I can wear one? And the third we can...hide in my attic or something."
"Or give it to Miranda," Max said.
"That," Chloe said, snapping her fingers.
"Okay, now that that's decided, how do we open this thing?" Max said.
"Smash," Chloe said, raising the sword she was still carrying and bringing the pommel down hard onto the glass top of the case. The glass shattered and Max winced, expecting an alarm...but none came.
She reached into the case and grabbed one of the bracelets. As soon as her fingers touched the stones, a tingling sensation raced through her body.
"Whoa," she said.
"You okay? What happened?" Chloe said.
"Just felt...tingles or something," Max said.
She tied the bracelet around her wrist and stared at it; nothing felt different.
"So...does it work?" Chloe said.
"I'm not sure...I guess we should try it out...a really short rewind," Max said.
Chloe held out her hand; Max grabbed it and began to rewind.
Wowser, Max thought, her eyes wide.
Every rewind she'd ever done had been like wading through syrup...time had always pushed back on her ferociously, tearing away at her stamina and leaving her drained. But now it felt more like walking through ankle-deep water...it felt like driving Jefferson's Bentley instead of Chloe's truck.
I have so much control, Max thought, backing off to slow her rewind...slowing it further and further until the ghostly images of her and Chloe's past selves nearly stopped moving.
And then she stopped time completely. Chloe's past image stood frozen, grinning beneath the samurai helmet above the smashed display case. Max's image stared with motionless wry amusement at Chloe.
"Holy shit," Chloe whispered.
Max stopped the rewind and their past images vanished.
"I don't believe it," Max said, releasing Chloe's hand and staring at the bracelet, "rewinding has never been so easy. And you saw how I stopped time there? That was so hard to do before."
"That was fucking awesome," Chloe said, her eyes wide.
"It feels like I have so much more control now," Max said, "slowing down, speeding up...it's just...wow. Maybe...maybe you should put one on and see what happens."
Chloe eyed the remaining two bracelets warily.
"Hopefully I won't, like, explode or some shit," she said.
"They must be harmless," Max said, "after all, that collector guy and others have been touching them. And as far as we know, none of them have exploded."
"True," Chloe said, reaching in and grabbing the nearest bracelet.
She strapped it to her wrist and looked over at Max.
"Anything?" Max said.
It would be so awesome if Chloe got powers too, Max thought, I know it would make her feel better about all of this. As much as she says she's happy being my bodyguard, I know she'd love to have some badass powers of her own.
"Dude," Chloe said, her eyes widening, "I can see through your clothes!"
What?! Max thought, her own eyes widening.
She opened her mouth to respond but then stopped, catching sight of Chloe's lips twitching.
Max narrowed her eyes, struck a pose, and said, "anything different from what you saw this morning?"
"I know I had you there for a second," Chloe said.
"You did," Max said, "I...was kind of hoping something would happen."
"Me too," Chloe said, "but if I do end up with powers someday, I hope it's a little better than seeing through clothes."
"Does seem like that would have very limited uses," Max said.
"Of course, I'd be using it all the time around you," Chloe said, winking.
"Don't I know it," Max said, "okay, let's take these and get out of here."
She grabbed the third bracelet and turned to see Chloe staring towards the front of the house, her brow furrowed.
"You hear that?" Chloe said.
Max listened carefully and heard sirens in the distance.
"Er...no alarms have gone off...they must be going somewhere else," Max said.
"Yeah," Chloe said.
Max placed the third bracelet in her bag while Chloe placed the sword on the nearest case. The sirens grew louder.
"You don't think…," Chloe started.
"Shit," Max said, her eyebrows rising, "maybe we triggered a silent alarm...but where?"
They began searching the room as the sirens continued to grow louder. They couldn't find any sensor holes on the ground or along the walls. Max moved back to the display case and checked under the top, finding what looked like a long sticks of unlit LEDs along opposing sides, hidden beneath the wooden sides.
"Hey Chloe, what do you think these are?" Max said.
Chloe came over and looked.
"Shit, I can't believe we didn't check for that," Chloe said, "those get set off if you put anything between them."
"Like the bottom of a sword?" Max said.
"Yup," Chloe said.
The sirens were now blaring right outside of the house.
"Okay, we got this figured out?" Chloe said, bouncing on her feet nervously and glancing towards the door.
"No, wait, something doesn't make sense," Max said, "the cops got here really fast. We just got these bracelets out."
"So something before that? We already checked the floor and the door," Chloe said. The sirens died away and someone outside began speaking through a bullhorn; they ignored it. Max furrowed her brow before a thought struck her.
"Holy Samurai Empress!" she said.
"Oh shit, you're right," Chloe said, her eyes rising to the helmet still perched atop her blue hair.
They hurried over to the display and began examining it, Chloe ducking down to check the floor. Max couldn't see anything out of the ordinary but, on a hunch, she pressed on the pedestal where the sword had been: it moved downward slightly.
"Hey, Chloe," Max said, "you remember the beginning of the first Indiana Jones movie?"
"Yeah, what abou...oh, are you fucking kidding me?" Chloe said, "you mean these are like the little golden statue?"
"Yep," Max said, checking the pedestal for the helmet as well.
"Fucking hell," Chloe said, "at least we're not getting crushed by a giant fucking ball."
Motion caught their eyes and they looked outside: uniformed police were carefully moving through the back yard.
"Looks like time's up," Max said.
"Okay," Chloe said, standing and removing the helmet, "we rewind to before I grabbed these things?"
"Yeah, and at that point the case there," Max said, pointing, "will be repaired too."
"Awesomesauce," Chloe said, "now let's do some hella time travel before we get tear gassed or something."
Max grabbed Chloe's hand and rewound. She continued until the sword and helmet were back on their mounts. When she stopped, she stood still and blinked for a few moments: that had been the easiest rewind she'd ever experienced. She held up her arm and looked at the bracelet.
Wow, she thought, this really does make one hell of a difference.
Chloe released Max's hand and wandered to the empty case that had held the bracelets.
"You think these also had an Indiana Jones setup?" she said.
"I don't know," Max said, "but maybe we should hang around to see if the cops show up."
"Sounds good to me," Chloe said.
"Just...um...no more hats," Max said, smiling.
"Dude, if I had a little baggy of sand like Harrison Ford did, that helmet would be mine," Chloe said.
They wandered the room to pass the time, looking at the various objects on display. Max found herself very impressed...and a little annoyed.
These belong in a museum, she thought, imagining Indiana Jones nodding approvingly at her thoughts.
There were also several pieces just begging to be photographed...but Max resisted the urge. They wanted no evidence that they'd ever been there...except for the bracelets, of course.
Finally, Max checked her phone.
"I think we should have heard sirens by now if we'd triggered something," she said.
"Yeah, I think we're good," Chloe said.
"So now we head back for the long rewind?" Max said.
"That's the plan...do you...think you can do it?" Chloe said.
"Yeah, I can't even begin to understand why, but this thing totally works," Max said, raising her wrist, "that rewind we did a few minutes ago? So easy."
"Ha, now it'll be even easier to sneak into awesome places!" Chloe said.
"I should've known this would only encourage you," Max said, smiling.
They made their way back to the front of the house, carefully stepping over the trip sensors.
"Chloe and Max: ninja burglars," Chloe said, grinning.
She opened the front door and the alarm sounded.
"Fuck!" she shouted.
They ran out of the house and jogged away.
"Chloe, you sure do make a lot of noise," Max called out.
"All for you, Max, all for you," Chloe said, "especially last night and this morning."
"Dork," Max said.
They reached the end of the driveway and ducked behind a short brick wall. Max held her hand out. Chloe took it and Max started to rewind. She quickened the pace...faster and faster...it felt like there was no limit. Birds darted backwards across the sky like rockets; clouds zipped by above in a blur; falling leaves shot upwards.
She glanced at Chloe, who watched the scene shifting around them, her eyes wide and her mouth open.
Max kept going. But as she continued to increase the pace, a note of hesitant fear rose in her mind...so she slowed the rewind to a brisk but comfortable pace. After a few more moments, she felt that they were approaching the time she wanted so she slowed down and stopped.
She looked down at her wrist in amazement; she'd only just started to feel the kind of pressure in her head that had been her constant companion whenever she'd rewound before. Her now-erased practice sessions with Warren and Kate had lessened that pressure considerably...but the bracelet had relieved it almost entirely.
"Dude, that was fucking insane," Chloe said, "are we seriously all the way back to when we left the truck?"
Max looked at her phone.
"Yeah," she said, smiling.
"Shit, you weren't kidding, that thing on your wrist is giving you hella boosted power," Chloe said.
"Yeah, it's way different," Max said, standing and helping Chloe up.
They made their way back to the truck, rewinding again once they were back. Apart from the bracelet on Max's wrist, the one on Chloe's, and the one in Max's bag, every hint that they'd been at Mr. Lee's home had been completely erased.
"I think it's time to celebrate this win with some ice cream," Max said, grinning.
She turned to open the truck door but Chloe put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back.
"Hold on a second," Chloe said, "these bracelets are pretty visible like this. Maybe we should hide them."
Max looked down at her wrist.
Chloe's right, Max thought, if anyone sees us with these, it could get back to Lee or Prescott...and then we'd be really screwed.
"Good idea," Max said, untying the bracelet, "any thoughts on where?"
"Um...upper arm maybe...or ankle, I guess," Chloe said, shrugging.
Max set the bracelet on the seat; she half-expected to feel something when it broke contact with her skin...but she didn't feel anything. She reached down, rolling up the right leg of her jeans. She grabbed the bracelet, which sent tingles through her body again, and tied it around her ankle. She held her leg up and shook it a little; the bracelet didn't fall or slide too much. She gave Chloe a thumbs up and rolled the pant leg down.
Chloe had already started to pull her pant leg up, exposing her ankle.
"Ah!" Max said, feigning surprise, "my dear lady! You are showing your ankle in public. How scandalous!"
Chloe tied the bracelet to her ankle and sat up, saying, "I'll show you scandalous."
She reached over the pile of bags between them and wrapped her arms around Max's shoulders, pulling her over for a kiss.
After finishing their ice cream reward, Max and Chloe drove back into the city and over to Arcane Mysteries.
"Yo, Miranda," Chloe said as soon as they stepped through the door...and into a cloud of incense that left Chloe coughing.
"Hi," Miranda said brightly from behind the counter, "I didn't expect to see you again so soon!"
"Ah...but we come...bearing gifts," Chloe said through her coughs.
Miranda raised an eyebrow as Max dug into her bag.
"We...um...acquired some special items and wanted to make sure one of them is safe with you," Max said.
Max pulled the bracelet out and held it out towards Miranda.
Miranda's mouth dropped open and she hurried around the counter. She gently took the bracelet and Max noticed a twitch in Miranda's face as she grabbed it.
"Amazing," Miranda whispered, "simply amazing...it really works. I...I can hear your heartbeats...ha! Unbelievable...but how? How did you get it?"
"Actually, there were three," Max said, bending down and lifting her pant leg to show the bracelet there. Chloe did the same.
"Three?" Miranda said, "I had no idea."
"And as for how," Chloe said, "maybe it's better if we don't say."
"Ah, probably so...but I can imagine," Miranda said, beaming at Max.
"Actually," Max said, "you know more about the guy who had these than we do...do you think he and Prescott will go nuts looking for these?"
"I...don't think so," Miranda said, "Certainly, Mr. Lee will keep his eyes and ears open and so you should keep these as a carefully guarded secret...as will I. But, as anyone familiar with collectors of old treasures around here could tell you, Lee keeps everything close to his chest...I suppose it's possible that he'd tell Prescott that they're missing...but I think it more likely that he'll make up some story or simply say that he's decided not to sell."
"How do you know that?" Chloe said.
"Because he had a second century Roman sculpture stolen from him about four years ago and no one knew a thing about it until the thief was caught a few months ago," Miranda said, "Lee likes to keep a veneer of invulnerability."
"Well...that helps us," Chloe said.
"Although," Miranda said, chuckling, "he's going to have one hell of a time figuring out what happened to these, if my guesses are correct."
"Oh yes, Bat Max and Chloe Wonder strike again," Chloe said.
"Dude, I'm kind of hungry," Chloe said as they hopped back in the truck.
"Me too," Max said.
"Hmm...I wonder where the nearest food trucks are," Chloe said, starting the truck.
Max shrugged among the plastic bags.
The door to Arcane Mysteries opened and Miranda strolled out. Chloe lowered her window.
"Two blocks that way," she said, pointing and eliciting grins from Max and Chloe, "I recommend the one with the fish and chips; you'll know which one."
"Thanks!" Max and Chloe both said.
They waved and departed, making their way to the promised food trucks and finding the recommended fish and chips.
They ate in the truck and with their hunger satisfied, they sullenly agreed that it was time to go home. They played a quick round of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would drive first; Max lost.