9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
A s the weeks went on, fall swept over the country, painting it in shades of yellow, orange, and brown. Fabienne had slowly adjusted to life here and to her husband. At first, they’d only pass each other in the hallway. Then once, Fabienne turned up for breakfast at the same time Brayden did, and after a few standard words of “nice weather today” exchanged, they ended up eating together in a not-too-awkward silence.
Then they also met for supper, and this time, the talk progressed to how Fabienne found the roller skates (performing well) and whether Brayden would mind leaving her the carriage tomorrow, as she and Caddie were going to Hartford (not at all, he had business there, too, but he liked to walk).
The next breakfast came, and the supper two days after that, and an evening spent in the sitting room where they both simply read a book. The fire in the hearth gave the room a soft glow and coziness that nearly lulled Fabienne to sleep. She may have drifted off for a minute, and as she came to, caught Brayden averting his gaze from her.
She cleared her throat. “I should better get to bed.” She got up and walked to the door.
“Good night,” Brayden said with a practiced casualness that made her pause.
He was casual—but so was she. The day of his return, she was nervous just to be in the same room with him. Now, she’d fallen asleep in his presence. What was happening to her?
“Fabienne?” Brayden was watching her, the opened book still in his lap.
“Thank you for fixing the birdcage.” She felt a blush coming and quickly left the sitting room, keeping her eyes on the floor.
The next day was the time for her first session with Robbins. He was already at the cottage when she arrived, but the first thing Fabienne noticed upon entry was her watch on the table.
“It’s fixed?” Relieved, she inspected it. They’d cleaned the dirt off the floral engraving, which was slightly annoying, but otherwise it looked fine. Dieu merci. Robbins has kept his word.
“Tip-top,” he confirmed. “And so, it looks, are you. No symptoms?”
“Nothing too severe.” The rash had disappeared a few days after the injection, and there were no other problems.
“Then let us begin. You might want to write this down—but be careful to keep it out of sight.” He put his watch on the table, gestured for her to do the same, then opened both lids. “The most important thing you must remember is what time unit each hand represents. Your watch is top of the line—it has two additional dials, see here. That’s five hands in total that let you control years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. It’s as much as a time traveler can ask for. Move the year hand one unit back, you’ll travel back one year. Understood?”
“Doesn’t sound that complicated.”
“Ah, but that’s not it yet! It is, however, the most important part, because you need to be wary of one thing: not traveling past your lifetime. When you travel, you appear in your body, wherever it is at the time you’ve traveled to, and take over it. So you must go to a time in which you exist. For example, you will not want to move that hand a whole sixty years back.”
“I haven’t told you my age.”
“Then I must say, you look remarkably well for it.”
Fabienne burst out in a laugh. This was still rather silly, but with Robbins being cleared of some suspicion, it felt good to do something. Thinking about what existence of time travel would bring along was too much for now, but she was ready to take small steps. Robbins had mentioned making holes to see to the other side, and that’s what she’d do. Her past and future were a terrifying dark curtain encircling her; with a little hole here and there, some light, and hope of saving her siblings, would shine through.
“Now,” Robbins said, “while you’re learning: the shorter time distance you travel, the easier.”
“What happens if I travel too far?”
“If you go out of your lifetime, you’ll get stuck. Essentially, it’s the same as dying. You’re gone, like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Let me conclude the demonstration.”
He showed her the rest: rotate the crown, click it up and down. Just like her ritual. Just like that morning in New York.
Robbins’s head dropped forward, as if he suddenly fell asleep, only to jerk up a few moments later.
Fabienne arched an eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“I traveled one day to the past and returned. I know, it doesn’t look like much from this perspective. Try it yourself.”
She reached for her watch. Robbins told her to choose a time when she wasn’t doing anything important or intense, so she picked this morning, and he led her through the steps.
“No need to worry about getting back,” he added. “The watch won’t travel with you, but with your lack of experience, you’ll get thrown back quickly. In time, you’ll learn to control your travel and be able to stay for longer. Go on.”
Fabienne looked from the watch to Robbins, who smiled in encouragement. Believing some tampering with the watch would somehow propel her back felt out of the realm of reason, but strangely, she found herself excited. A hole in the curtain. Here we go . She completed the last part of the sequence and stared at the watch. Pain burst in her temple, but left before she could do more than flinch.
“That’s all right. It would be quite incredible if you succeeded on your first try.”
“Does it always hurt?”
“No, it’s painless when done right. Don’t be discouraged. It’s all about the practice. Try again.”
Fabienne did, again and again, but nothing happened. Either she got woozy, or she got another short headache, or, once, she’d been slammed in the chest, but the pain abated as quickly as before.
Her enthusiasm waning, she completed the sixth or seventh sequence in a row, when her vision blurred. The light changed, the cooler, blueish shades now shining into a room with pale walls. Instead of the hard chair in the cabin, she was sitting somewhere comfortable, but she couldn’t make out the shapes. The scene darkened, and as her vision returned, she was back in the cabin.
“I think… I think…”
“I think you did it,” Robbins finished for her. “Bravo, Mrs. Marshall! How long were you there?”
“A few seconds, perhaps. But it was all blurry.”
“In time, you’ll gain more control. For now, I’m delighted with your results.”
“I barely did anything.” And even that little thing she did—she couldn’t quite believe it was real. “Let me try again.”
She picked another date—the previous evening, right after went to bed. The sequence, a slight pressure in her temples, and—
Her bed. She could feel the smooth blanket enveloping her, the warmth, the coziness, the dark of the evening. Blurry shapes became clearer—her vanity table, the fixed birdcage—and then she was thrown out of it again.
“That’s enough for today.” Robbins handed her a handkerchief, making a motion at his nose. Fabienne did the same to hers. She stared at the few blood drops left on the silk, less conscious of her nosebleed than of what she’d just done.
She’d time traveled.
“You’ve done well, but we should stop.” Robbins rummaged through his bag. “You’ll need another dose of almonite. We’ll meet again in a few days, once you’ve had your rest, to continue.”
“You do realize that once I learn how to do this, I can save my family myself?”
“I would not recommend that. Traveling a few hours back and doing nothing is one thing. Going further into a well-set past and making major changes is dangerous unless you truly know what you’re doing. Accidents can happen.”
That could be true. And she had a feeling Robbins would purposefully not educate her enough to know what she was doing. “What accidents?”
Robbins prepared the syringe. “They can be physical or mental. Some are simple. Indigestion, nausea. A short-term memory loss or confusion. Others are… much more gruesome. People getting turned inside out. Going insane. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—this is not at all fit for your ears—”
“It’s fine.” She didn’t linger on the imagery, though. Not the best topic while she was being given a strange substance. She sneaked a peek. The slight blue coloration was already spreading under her skin. The rash. The sequence that activated the watch. Accidents… Was that what had happened that morning? Had she traveled once before, and didn’t even know it? Hard to say without knowing more about time travel, but she didn’t dare question Robbins about her particular situation. What if her past conflicted with the reasons they chose her for the task? She couldn’t risk it.
Robbins finished the injection. “One more thing.” He pulled out a small bottle of ground, dried herbs. “With greetings from my superior. He made the mix himself.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve heard your husband has returned.”
They didn’t want her to poison him, did they? Yes, she’d have preferred for him not to return, but this was a bit much. “Don’t worry. I won’t be sharing any of our meetings.”
“I trust you in that regard. The mix, it’s, uh, it’s for keeping you healthy. We need you to maintain your current condition despite your… duties.” The way he was blushing left her no choice for interpretation.
“It’s to prevent pregnancy?”
He nodded, the movement jerky and awkward. Well, at least it was nice seeing him uncomfortable for once.
“Thank you.” She pocketed the bottle. She wouldn’t need it, but Robbins didn’t need to know the details of her rather peculiar marriage. “Very considerate of you.”
“We’re only looking after our investment.”
“And I thought you human.” She shook her head in pretend disappointment.
He chuckled, got up and reached for his hat. “The instructions for taking it are enclosed. This would be all for today.” He extended a hand. “Congratulations, Mrs. Marshall. You’re now a time traveler.”