Prologue
When he stepped through the trees, the breath finally came back into his lungs as he took in his surroundings. He knew where he was, though none of it looked like the Florence he'd known. Italy must have changed a lot in the past five hundred years.
A movement caught his eye as he looked around. The guy that was walking toward him looked the same as the last time he'd seen him only just moments before, only in different clothes, showing the difference in when they got there.
"There you are. It has been a week since I went through," he said. "I was beginning to wonder if you just gave up and went back."
"No, I would not go without her," he said.
"Hopefully not," he said, and then handed over a big bag. "I have brought you clothes, money, an airline ticket, license, and passport. You leave in five days to go to Atlanta. I am going tomorrow just to research the area to make sure we've pinpointed where we think she might be living."
As he was listening to his friend, he placed the bag down on the ground and started searching through all of its contents. There was black clothing and some papers that he looked at briefly. He started pulling off his suit jacket as he did. He was used to the idea of switching clothes with others that were worn in the present time and from not the times that he'd been before.
"There is something else that I should tell you that I think if valuable information," he said.
He looked at him and waited. "And that would be...?"
"She goes by Sabina," he said hesitantly. "That is why I think she may be the one."
"Just because she is the last girl and she has the same name..." He took a deep breath. "Maybe there was another that she didn't see and that's why we're having difficulty finding her."
"Really, you have to think that it is her, right?"
"We never had any luck with the others."
"But she is the last one. We do not have any other time to look!"
"She might have died like everyone had thought."
"You know you do not believe that!"
He started pulling on the pants and shirt, waiting to put on the jacket because it was warming up in the sunlight.
"I do not know what to believe anymore." He stood up and held all of the documents in his hand. "Now, what is an 'airline ticket'? Something to do with the sky?"
He sighed. "It is called an airplane. That is how these people travel in this time, not by ship. It flies thousands of feet in the air, going everywhere you would imagine. You remember the ones in '27? They are like those only much bigger."
"People just have to become better and better over the years, don't they?" He looked down at the other document. "What is a license? Is this for the automobiles of this time?"
"People call the cars now unless you get really fancy," he said. "And you have to have a license to be able to drive one. I had to get one of the pictures they had of you before so the man who forged these could make it look authentic. You may have to practice, though..."
"I had gotten used to driving in '27."
"The cars now are much faster than they were then. I've already purchased one over in America."
He smiled at his friend and put all of the papers back in the bag. "The faster, the better," he said, and together they walked down into the city of Florence.