Anna Peregrine--A Map of Days

Chapter Nine

   My friends soon came to the loop entrance, with my clothes in tow. I flew behind a bush as Jacob threw them at me. I quickly turned and got dress before going to the car, finding that Paul was now with us. I crammed into the back with my friends as Paul had now taken the front.
    We started driving again through the present day night. Jacob went to turn on the headlights only for Paul to hiss, "Wait." He pointed out the windshield. "There. Look."
    Across the field from us I could see two pairs of headlights crossed and several men. They had been waiting for us.
    "Floor it. Run them over," Enoch said.
    "Don't. They've got rifles, and they're good shots. There's too much ground to cover to get clear of them," Paul said.
    "Then back up. It's not worth the risk," I said.
    Like every loop, there was the main way out, and the back way out. The promise with that was you had to go through the past, and the past held many hollows. But we took it anyway.
    We drove back through the loop entrance, returning to the daylit world of Miss Billie's motel.
    "Back so soon?" she asked, as her and her dogs walked towards us.
    "There are more highwaymen out there," Paul said, leaning through his open window. "They must've put out a call for reinforcements."
    "I wish we could take you all with us," Jacob said to Miss Billie.
    The woman shrugged, "As long as my dog treats hold out, we'll be alright."
    "We'll ask H to send you more as soon as he can," I said.
    "I'd appreciate that."
    "Can you show us the back way out of here?" Jacob asked.
    "Sure. Though by taking it you're risking your lives. There were shadow creatures everywhere back in sixty-five, even down here in Florida."
    "We'll be okay. Anna and I've got a nose for hollows."
    "You're like H?"
    "They're like Abe," Emma said proudly.
    "Don't know him. But if H trusts you enough to hire you. I gues you know what you're doin'. And, of course, them boys outside wouldn't dare follow you into hollow territory. They'd soil their damn undies rather than face those creatures." She gave us quick directions, past the garage, down Main Street, right at the courthouse. "And when you feel the pop in your ears, you know you've passed through the membrane."
    We thanked her and got going again. We drove down Main Street, I kept my eye out for any hollows. When we turned right at the courthouse, my stomach dropped and I felt the air ripple but nothing changed.
    "We're out," Paul said.
    We passed through the membrane, now we were in normal 1965 Florida, where hollows could meet us at anytime.
    We passed small towns all in silence. We were all exhausted. It felt like this roadtrip had been a life time, when really we had only started today.
    "We should call home. Tell everyone we're okay. They're probably worried," Bronwyn said.
    "We can't," Millard said. "We're in 1965, so we'd be calling Jacob's house in 1965."
    "Oh. Right."
    I looked over at Emma who had an inscrutable expression. Abe. We were when he was alive. I was. Oh, the guilt I had.
    "Paul, how far is your loop?" Emma asked.
    "Should get there before sundown," he answered.
    "Can you point out the town it's in on our map?"
    Emma pulled the road atlas and found a page of Georgia. There was barely enough room to fold it out with all of us in the back. She passed it to Paul.
    "It's right . . . here," Paul tapped a blank spot between Atlanta and Savannah.
    Enoch shifted his legs and leaned over to look before laughing, "You're kidding. Someone hid a time loop in a town called Portal?"
    "Actually, the towns named after the loop. Or so the story goes."
    "Are there peculiar thugs and highwaymen in Portal, Georgia?" Millard asked.
    "Surely aren't. That's why the Ymbryne who started our loop made it move around from day to day; so nobody malintentioned could find it."
    "Which Ymbryne made it?" I asked.
    "Her name was Miss Honeythrush, but I never met her. We use a loop-keeper now, just like most folks do."
    "Do ou know what happened to her?"
    "I don't, but Miss Annie might. We can ask her. I hope you'll be able to stay and rest awhile."
    "I doubt we'll be able to stay long. We're getting an important mission," Emma said.
    I was out quickly though, resting my elbow on the inside of the door. My rest didn't last long though, for Jacob stopped at a coffee shop right at the border of Georgia.
   "Who wants coffee? I'm dying here," he said.
   We all raised our hands but Paul.
   "I'm not a coffee drinker," he said.
   "Have a sandwich then. It's lunchtime."
   "No, thanks. I'll just wait here."
   "We should all stay close to Jacob and Anna,"      Emma said. "In case there are any hollows around.
   Paul folded his hands in his lap and looked around, "I can't go in there."
   "Why is he being difficult?" Enoch asked.
   And then I realised why, and it made me sick.
   "They won't let him," I said sadly.
   "What do you mean?" Enoch asked.
   Paul looked angry and embarrassed, "Because I'm black.
   "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Enoch asked.
   Millard sighed, "Enoch isn't a great student of history."
    "It's 1965, We're in the Deep South," I said.
    "That's terrible!" Bronwyn said.
    "It makes me sick. How can you treat people like that?" Emma asked.
    "Are you sure they won't let you in? I don't see a sign or anything," Enoch said.
    "They don't need one. This is a white town," Paul said.
    "How can you tell?"
    "Because it's nice."
    "Oh."
    "Hollowgasts aren't the only reason I don't like traveling through the past. They're not even the biggest reason. You all just go on in. I'll wait here."
    "Forget it. I wouldn't eat here if I was dying of starvation," I said.
    "Me neither," Jacob said.
    "What if we burned the place down? It would only take a minute," Enoch said.
    "That would accomplish nothing. The past–"
    "I know, I know, the past heals itself," Enoch interrupted Millard.
    "The past? Is nothing but an open wound," Paul said.
    "What he meant was you can't change the past," Bronwyn said.
    "I know what he meant," Paul said.
    A sharp knock on Jacob's window made me quickly turn my head to see a man with an apron and a paper hat on. Jacob rolled down the window a few inches.
    "He'p you?" the man asked.
    "We were just leaving," Jacob said.
    "Mmhm. You kids old enough to drive?"
    "Yeah."
    "This is your car?"
    "Of course."
    "Are you a cop or something?" Emma asked.
    "What model vee-hicle is this?"
    "1979 Aston Martin Vantage," Enoch said, making me clamp my hand over his mouth as he realised what he just said.
    The man stared at us expressionless, "You a comedian?" He straightened and waved at someone. "Carl!"
    A police officer just turned a corner and pivoted the car at us.
    "Start the car," I hissed.
    Jacob turned the key, the engine made a loud noise making the man stumble back. When he regained his balance, he tried to reach through the window but the gap was too small for him to get his arm through. Jacob put the car in reverse and started to roll. The man cussed and yanked his arm out.
    I fell asleep once again, before we stopped at a filling station, and a thought rolled through me. It was something I had felt awful about holding back now forever since I realised it. I had to admit something to Abe. Now.
    Whilst Jacob was filling up, I told him I was going to go stretch my legs. I walked around the back of the filling station finding a payphone. I exhaled nervously before paying the fee, grabbing the phone and dialling his number.
    The phone rang and rang, and then, he picked up.
    "Hello?" a young Abe Portman said.
    "Abe?" I said.
    He was quiet for a moment, "Anna? Wh–Are you out of the loop?"
    "Ye–Yes, I am. But I am okay, I promise. Abe, I'm from the future. I'm with someone who is special to you, I'm not going to say who though because I don't want to mess up timelines."
    Abe chuckled, "Alright. It is wonderful to hear from you, Anna."
    "You as well," I said as I saw Emma approaching, gesturing for me to come to the car. "Abe, I have to go, but I need to tell you something. I've had a crush on you for a long time, long before you and Emma were courting. I've loved you for a long time, Abe, and I am sorry that I've never come clean before."
    "Anna–"
    I hung up before he could say anymore. Emma approached me, "You were just talking to him, weren't you?"
    I nodded, "I'm sorry, Emma."
    "I heard everything."
    "Are you mad at me?"
    She shrugged, "You never had him cheat on me, so no, though it is a little awkward."
    I looked away before turning to her, "You cannot tell Jake."
    "Do you still have feelings for Abe?"
    I nodded, "But I love Jacob."
    "Are you sure he's not a substitute for Abe?"
    I nodded, "I just had to tell Abe. I love Jacob, believe me, I do."
    "Alright."
    I was quiet, "Don't tell anyone about this."
    "I promise."