Chapter Three

Riley lay across the couch, his fingers laced behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. He'd just gotten off the phone with Ben, telling him that he did have the President's private number, and now he had to figure out exactly how he was going to meet up with the President, if he was going to meet up with the President. He wanted to meet the President, and there was so much he wanted to discuss, especially about Page Forty-seven, but he couldn't manage to get Tanya in the same room as the President and the page without everyone thinking it was an issue of national security.

His mind had raced through solution after solution, but none seemed practical enough or sane enough to work.

Unless...unless he could convince himself to work with Ian and let him handle everything. He really didn't like Ian, but he did like his sister, which put him in the precarious position of 'what do you do when you like the sister of your enemy?'

He sighed, pondering his relationship with both Tanya and Ian, coming only to the conclusion that he was only willing to cooperate with Ian as long as it was okay with Tanya, and the Howe siblings seemed virtually inseperable, so he had no choice but to go along with whatever they came up with.

It all centered around the compass around her neck, as far as he could judge, but he couldn't figure out exactly how or why, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find an answer.

NTNT

"So, how's Riley?" Ian asked, sipping some tea.

"Just fine, last I checked. A complainer, as always, so perfectly normal," Tanya replied. "I heard you haven't seen much of Shaw's ghost lately."

"I haven't, but sometimes I feel as if he's watching."

"Is that a good thing?"

"I assume so. Nothing of import has happened yet."

"'Yet' being the operative word." Ian smiled and set his cup on its saucer, examining the floral pattern which lined the edge of the saucer. "Have you heard from Joe lately?"

"Joe the prison guard?"

"Which other Joe would I be talking about?"

"Joseph is a very common name, and to answer your question, no, I haven't."

"Oh." She frowned slightly, staring down into her tea. "From your descriptions, he sounded like a good bloke."

"He is, but I'm sure he's quite busy. The inmates in block 'C' are quite the roudy bunch."

"So you've told me in countless letters from jail."

"You got all those? You only responded to half."

"Haven't been able to respond to all of them. I was trying to quit my job at the time, which was a battle in and of itself, but that's another story."

"Sounds like an interesting one."

"It was a nightmare trying to get through it, trust me."

"Perhaps when we have a chance at a longer tea time."

"Perhaps, but no scones, though. You remember what happened."

"Yes, I remember." Ian chuckled and sipped some tea. "I remember quite well, actually. Speaking of memory, do you recall the time we embezzled our father out of thousands of pounds?"

"Who doesn't? It was in the London Times for a week."

"Ah, what a story that was."

Tanya couldn't help but laugh. She took a sip of her tea and set her cup on the saucer. She absentmindedly traced the rim of her cup, her mind drifting to none other than Riley and a smile playing on her face.

As she replayed one of her conversations with him over and over again in her mind, her vision suddenly changed, and she couldn't help but gasp.

"Tanya?" Ian asked, but his voice sounded distant, and it wasn't long before it faded completely.

She could see Riley running down the street, being hotly pursued by Nathaniel, who should've been in prison. The buildings surrounding them blurred, but she could easily discern the Revolutionary Diner as being one of them.

Her vision snapped back to the tea cup in front of her and the dining room around her.

"Tanya, is everything alright?" Ian asked, walking around the table and resting his hands on her upper arms.

"I...I think I...Oh, I must be losing my mind."

"What makes you say that?"

"I just saw...I..."

"You just saw what? Tanya, what's wrong?"

"I just saw Riley and Nathaniel running down a street, past the Revolutionary Diner." Her voice broke, and Ian pulled her into him. "Normal people don't see things," she said quickly. "Normal people don't have these experiences."

"Howes aren't normal, Tanya. I thought being a Howe meant a lot more than most other things to you."

"I feel like a circus freak."

He kissed her gently and sighed. "It'll be alright. I know it will," he whispered.

NTNT

"Wait, am I gonna die?" Riley asked into his phone.

"No, I just saw you being chased," Tanya replied from the other end of the line. "I swear to God I'm losing my mind. I don't even know why I'm telling you this. You can't trust the word of a madwoman."

"People see things like this every day. They're called visions or premonitions, and some of the people that get these premonitions are investigators."

"Oh, wasn't this in your book?"

"Mentioned briefly. Good memory."

"Thank you."

"Well, that's part of the reason why I don't think you're crazy."

"I appreciate it, Riley, but it really doesn't help much, to be brutally honest with you."

"Well, I tried."

"You did, and I appreciate that more than you can realize right now."

Riley smiled, and he could swear he blushed. "Hey, can you go out tomorrow, go to a movie or a library or something? Just to take your mind off what happened, perhaps?"

"That sounds lovely."

"How does ten sound?"

"Even lovelier."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

"See you."

He snapped his phone shut, pocketed it, and sighed. It took a moment, and then he pumped his fist in the air in victory, in the same manner as he had before the first date.

NTNT

"So I hear you have a date," Ian said with a sly smile. "Where and when? I want to crash it."

"Ian," Tanya said, rolling her eyes. "Can't you shut up for five minutes."

"Yes, but I just keep talking to get on your nerves."

"So how do I get on your nerves?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Of course. You take me for a complete idiot, but you won't let me take you for an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, Tanya."

"But you make one of me."

"I do not, and you know it." Tanya rolled her eyes again and sighed. "Now, how does some rest sound?"

"Enough with this 'rest' kick you're on. Really, you sound like you're someone's mother." Ian gave her a light shove, and Tanya took this as a small victory. She'd found a way to push at least one of her brother's buttons, and that was something she'd be proud of under any set of circumstances.