Now and for Never by Lesley Livingston

something to say. “Oh! I know— did any other pictures load up from the camera card? I mean, maybe I actually wrote something helpful at some point.”
    â€œI’ll check,” Milo said, taking out the machine and flipping it open. His fingers slid back and forth across the touch pad for a few long moments before he finally swore under his breath and slammed a fist down on the countertop.
    â€œThe files are corrupted,” he said. “After the first two pictures, the rest are scrambled. Damn it!”
    â€œNo!” Clare leaned over his shoulder. “I thought you said the Falderall cage would protect the camera!”
    â€œFaraday,” he corrected. “And it did. The camera worked fine. It took pictures. The image files are here, they’re on the card … the computer just can’t read them for some reason. I guess I’m not totally surprised. After all, this memory card was hidden in the back of Morholt’s diary for almost two thousand years.”
    â€œBut … if the data is still there,” Al chewed on her lip, frowning, “there must be a way to retrieve it. Isn’t there anything we can do?”
    Milo thought for a minute. “I know a guy.”
    â€œOf course you do.”
    He half-smiled at his tech-obsessed cousin. “It’s going to take data recovery software, but I think it’s possible, so I’ll put in a call to my guy.”
    â€œYou mean the mysterious, amoral Dan?” Clare raised an eyebrow. “He of the hacking and the classified information and the lack of scruples where passing it on is concerned?”
    Milo shrugged. “He’s only slightly amoral.”
    â€œPlease be careful,” Clare sighed. “I don’t trust guys like that.”
    â€œHe’s not exactly Stuart Morholt. It’ll be all right,” Milo assured them. “As soon as we’re done at the Tor, Piper and I will drive straight back to London. And while Dan’s at it, I’ll get him to help me figure out where the island in the photo is so we can get there in time to meet you.”
    â€œBut how—”
    â€œSame way I found Boudicca’s burial mound,” Milo said. “Computers, topographical know-how, good old-fashioned guesswork.”
    â€œThree days isn’t a lot of time.”
    â€œWe’ll be there, Clare. Trust me.”
    She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I do. And we’ll be there, too.”
    â€œI know. You already were.”
    She held his gaze for a long moment until she thought she might not ever be able to look away. “Okay …” She blinked rapidly and paced around to the other side of the table before she did something embarrassing. Then Clare realized there was something else that needed to happen before they went.
    â€œAl … Remember the thing we did in grade school? With our thumbs and the safety pins?”
    â€œYeah. We pricked our thumbs, tied them together, and swore an oath of eternal sisterhood,” Al said, grimacing. “And your mom almost had a conniption.”
    â€œGood times.” Clare nodded. “I think you and Piper shoulddo the same thing. In case anything happens to me, or we get separated or something. Then Piper will still be able to call you home.”
    â€œYeah, no.” Al shook her head. “For one thing, I’ll faint.”
    â€œYou won’t faint.”
    â€œI almost fainted the first time. And for another thing? No way.” Al crossed her arms over her chest. “Nothing is going to ‘happen’ to you and we’re not going to get separated.”
    â€œLook—I know that. You know that. The scathach and the Romans? They don’t know that. I’m contingency-ing. And I’m not taking no for an answer. No thumb prick, no shimmer.”
    When Al hesitated, Piper rolled her eyes.
    â€œDon’t be such a baby. Clare’s already stabbed me in the thumb once