Kota
" Mr. Lee, Are you prepared?" Mr. Blackbourne asked from behind me. I turned toward him buttoning the cuffs of the deep green button down I was wearing and narrowing my eyes a little at the odd note I could detect in his voice. I took a moment to really observe him. He was sitting stiffly and poking at his compad just a little too hard. His steel grey eyes had gone hard as ice and his normally perfect hair was mussed, as though he had continually run his hand through it. Now I was confused, Mr. Blackbourne was in charge of our team and he had always been very formal and hard to read but if I was reading him right this new mission worried him. I had to wonder if there was something he hadn't shared with the rest of the team. At our briefing earlier the mission hadn't sounded any different from many of the others we had been on recently, although this one apparently might take more time than most of our missions which is why I was going ahead to ensure that everything was in place for the rest of the team.
"Sir, Is everything okay?" I ask a little concerned.
"Everything is fine Mr. Lee," He said looking up, "why do you ask?"
" You just seem a bit worried sir," I replied. He sighed softly and tossed his compad on the table. Leaning forward on his elbows he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers causing his glasses to rise up to his forehead.
"I am worried Mr. Lee," He rose and walked over to stand in front of me crossing his arm across his chest, "I have a feeling this assignment may be more complicated than we have been led to believe. I have too many questions that have been left unanswered by the council. Why would what appears to be a simple reconnaissance and recovery mission take the amount
of time they are anticipating we will be gone? Why would we need the entire team when a couple of you would do? Why were we given no choice on this assignment?" He turned away from me and started pacing. Until he started telling me his questions I had not given much thought to our new assignment beyond what had been provided by the council. Now he had me wondering too. He was right. The more I thought about it the more questions that came to mind.
" What do we do then sir?" I asked. Although Mr. Blackbourne was the head of our team I was the team lead. I needed to be able to keep my brothers on task and if they started asking questions like this as well then I needed to be able to handle it, but how do I do that when I don't know the answers myself?
" Unfortunately there isn't much we can do but continue on with the assignment," My eyes followed him as he continued to pace, " and be very, very cautious. Something is off here but I can not figure out what it is. I have shared my concerns with Dr. Green as well," Well that was no big surprise, the two of them practically came as a pair, " Between the three of us perhaps we can figure out what is really going on here." He stopped pacing and speared me with a stern look," I hope Mr. Lee, that it goes without my saying that you should not share any of this with the others, and if they come to you with questions direct them to me. I do not want you boys distracted from our assignment."
Uh-oh. Before I could stop myself I flinched at his words. I had a feeling that might not be as easy as he thought. Mr. Blackbourne noticed and raised an eyebrow in question.
" I've been dreaming about her again sir, " I shifted nervously from foot to foot. For several years I have had dreams about the same girl, but the dreams were always vague and misty. The best I could do was remember the general feelings and impressions left by the dream but the one thing I knew with certainty from the start was that she was very important to us, my team...my family. I had similar dreams for over a year before Mr. Blackbourne had found North and Silas bringing them into our family and making us the largest team at the academy with nine members. Mr. Blackbourne had discovered early on
that I was a dreamseer. It was a rare ability and so far as anyone knew there was only one other in existence currently and he was much older. My dreams were always important. They weren't foretellings or visions exactly...more like intuitions or messages. It was hard to explain and just as hard to figure them out most of the time. However just like the dreams I had about North and Silas before they came to us I had been positive about the dream girl from the start. We had flubbed several assignments when I first started dreaming about her because we were too distracted trying to find her. The dreams had lessened over time, never going away completely, until we had all but given up on ever finding her.
"Start talking Mr. Lee"
" Every night sir...She's gotten clearer. Nothing else has, I still don't know where we are or anything but I can see her pretty clearly, " I pushed my glasses up on my nose and started silently counting to myself, dreading his next question.
" How long Mr. Lee?" He spat out the question his voiced laced with disappointment.
I gulped, He wasn't going to like the answer.
"Over a month sir."
" And why did you not share this sooner?"
" I'm sorry sir," I stopped fidgeting and counting. I needed to be confident in my decision and he would respect that. " I didn't want to distract our family again unless I was sure. It wasn't until you told us about this assignment that I got the message clearly. Somehow, sir, this assignment is linked with her."
I relaxed as I saw the disappointment leave his eyes and he nodded his head approvingly at me. " You made the right choice Mr. Lee, although I wish you had come to me sooner with this. For now let's keep this between us, No reason to get the others worked up and distracted. Now are you ready?"
I nodded adjusting my glasses again. It was rare that one of us timed without someone else going along as backup but I was an expert on the early 21st century and had an established identity since it was my home-time. I would need to make sure that the identities and histories we had established for the others were in place and ensure that any problems or issues were taken care of. Given the amount of time we were staying the transition into the time period would need to be seamless and virtually unnoticed. I had a feeling it would be easier for some of us than others, like Mr. B who had never lost the extreme formalness of his Home-Time.
" I would like to keep us in one general location if possible," Mr.B said picking up his compad again and making notes as he spoke, "See what you can do about figuring out a way to keep us near your place. We wont impose on your mother for this long but perhaps an empty house or somewhere we can establish some kind of gathering place, The Taylors Uncle has volunteered to accompany us to help with that if needed." I wasn't surprised, Uncle was technically retired but he was the kind of man who just couldn't help but keep busy.
" Well then, we shall see you soon Mr. Lee. Remember no more than 24 hours before you report."
I pulled my timepiece from the pocket of my slacks. It resembled a pocket watch, although behind the ordinary watch face was the time face. I opened the time face and adjusted it to the correct location and time. Since no one had as yet figured out to make timing inconspicuous we had to be careful to make sure we arrived in an area where no would notice that someone had just appeared out of thin air. In this case it was easy, there were woods near my place and that was where I set my timepiece to take me. Giving Mr.B a farewell nod I pushed the button at the top and felt myself blink out. Although the transfer was instant it still left me a little unbalanced when I blinked into the woods near my house. I took a moment to adjust and regain my bearings when I heard a startled squeak from behind me. I turned mentally preparing a story for whoever had seen me blink in. I froze when my eyes fell on the most beautiful creature I had ever seen and jolt went through me as I realized it was
my dream girl. Before I could manage to shake off the shock she turned and ran.
Sang
They were at it again. For years my parents had been indifferent to each other but ever since we moved a few weeks back they couldn't hold a conversation without it escalating into a screaming match. I set down the novel I was reading and went to my closet to find my worn sneakers. I contemplated changing out of my jean shorts and blouse but decided against it, after all it wasn't like anyone was going to see me in the woods. I had been escaping to wander the woods since we moved in and hadn't run into a single other person yet. That was a good thing. I wasn't supposed to have contact with other people, they might figure out how disturbed I was. I heard something smash against the wall downstairs and knew I had to get out there. Once she was done fighting with my father she would come up here and find something to start in on me for, which inevitably led to a punishment. I glided silently across the floor and slowly eased open my bedroom door. Glancing out the door I noticed my sister Marie had cracked open her door as well. She saw me and sneered, flipping me the bird before shutting her door. I had no idea why she hated me but she did and took every opportunity to get me in trouble. Thankfully I don't think she hadn't noticed I had on my shoes or she would have been trying to get our mother's attention and get me in trouble for trying to leave without permission. After waiting a couple minutes to be sure Marie wasn't going to peek out again I eased down the hall to the far end where a back staircase that my mother hadn't found was. It made getting out far easier than trying to sneak down the main stairs, especially when they were fighting. Once I was finally out the back door I paused and listened to see if they were still fighting. Yep. I took a deep breath and dashed toward the edge of the woods not slowing till I was well hidden behind the tree line.
I slowed to a walk enjoying being outside and away from my family. I had lived most of my life isolated from the world. My insanity was an embarrassment, as I was constantly reminded by my mother. When I was 5 I had begun talking about imaginary people, in vivid detail. My mother had been
horrified and began ensuring that I never talked to anyone outside the family. It escalated from people to places I couldn't have possibly known anything about and when I began describing the ripples I could see around me I had sealed my fate. I wasn't even allowed to leave the house without permission except to go to school. My mother only allowed it because she didn't want any one to question why Marie went to school and I didn't but I wasn't supposed to speak to anyone or get involved in any way. I had gotten pretty good at making myself invisible and figured things wouldn't be any different at this new school. I was lost in my thoughts, enjoying the peace. I pushed a branch out of my way and my eyes went wide as a boy appeared on the path in front me from nowhere. I couldn't prevent a startled squeak from escaping. I didn't know what to do, I had never run into anyone out here before and certainly not someone who appeared out of nowhere. It had to be another one of my crazy delusions. Well I certainly wasn't going to stick around and let this one play out.
Kota
I found her! For a full minute that was all that registered. Then I realized she had taken off and now had a good head start. Damn! I took off after her. I had to fix this somehow but I couldn't seem to push my brain past the fact that I had finally found her and in to a solution. She was fast, I couldn't seem to close the gap between us. Where was Nathan when you needed him? He could have caught her in no time and he liked running. I noticed she was headed in the direction of the street my mom lived on. That was good. If I couldn't catch her now I would know where to find her again. She stopped near the edge of woods and I slowed. I had to take this slowly so I didn't startle her again. I crept forward as quietly as I could. She had sunk to the ground, Her knees drawn up against her chest, eyes clenched tightly closed , hands on the side of her head, rocking back and forth and muttering. Edging closer I squatted down and reached out a hand to her.
" Hey, " I started but at the sound of my voice she started rocking harder.
" No. No. Your not real. Your just a delusion, " She repeated it over and over.
Wait....What? A delusion? She thought I was a delusion? What on earth? I drew back in surprise and tried to work through this information. After a moment I put it together. She must have shown the usual signs that indicate someone is a Timekeeper and been led to believe that she was delusional. Okay, time to step back and reevaluate. We had thought it would be a fairly easy matter once we found her to bring her in to our family but this presented a whole new complication. I withdrew quietly till I was out of her sight but watched to make sure she was okay. After a bit she quit rocking and looked around her. She took several deep breaths and stood, brushing herself off before heading toward a house a few doors down from mine. Once she was safely inside I took out my timepiece and reset it. I needed to talk to Mr. B NOW!