Return Once More

The air lock registered a different certified Historian’s name this time when I swiped my wrist. The tech must have been programmed to switch it up, which eased my anxiety further.

The laws of physics prevented Historians from crossing paths on different trips in the same past—like, we didn’t see the previous groups of apprentices observing Caesar’s death or the Triangle Fire. There was some intricate set of principles that made it impossible, but I didn’t need to understand them to work as a Historian. Those worries belonged to the Science Academy. Essentially, the only way to watch Oz was to go with him, so I’d have to travel back in Sanchi to when he’d left, then leave from there. I set the dials on Jonah’s travel cuff for ten minutes before Oz’s departure, then whispered “Air lock, Historian Academy, Sanchi,” into the tiny speaker.

I disappeared and reappeared in the same place, just about an hour and a half ago. I reset the dials and requested a trip to “Norwich, England, Outskirts,” hoping the vague instructions worked.

*

Norwich , England , Earth Before–1714 CE (Common Era)

The soft landing in the middle of nowhere pleased me. Beautiful, rugged coastline stretched out for miles, all green and browns, trees giving way to waist-high grasses before easing into sand and rock that took a beating from the crashing surf. There wasn’t time to admire it, and a quick request for the route into town brought up a map on the lenses in front of my eyes. The hike into town took the better part of an hour and sweat trickled down my back, partly from the exercise and partly fear that I would miss Oz’s arrival.

The town of Norwich yawned in front of me, paved with quaint cobblestone streets and pretty, sturdily crafted storefronts, row houses, and churches. A gazebo sat in the middle of the town square. The market bustled with people out shopping for bread or cheese or new clothes for the squalling children they towed through the streets behind them. There were women in full skirts chattering around a round marble fountain that burbled and twinkled in the morning sun, and men in suits walked with purpose into money changers’ offices or held heated discussions, pipes dangling from their lips.

The brain stem tat returned Oz’s location in response to my query, but his wardrobe blended so well it almost fooled me. The fact that he looked super handsome caused me to do a double take. He strode purposefully down the main street, clad in expensive gray silk, knee-length breeches and a matching waistcoat, paired with off-white stockings and a linen shirt. A darker gray frock coat and a bicorn hat on his head finished off the look, though if my bio-tat hadn’t been working overtime spewing information, the details would have escaped me.

It all fit him perfectly, stretched across his broad shoulders and accentuating things on the rear end of Oz I’d never considered assets before today. I must be off my nut, checking out Oz’s ass in broad daylight.

My idle admirations screeched to a halt, every muscle in my body tensing, when I noticed the Gavreau strapped in the belt at his waist. The sight dropped a leaden ball into my stomach.

There was no good reason to bring a sonic waver on an observation.

Oz whipped around, as though sensing my eyes or my steps dogging his. I turned my face away at the same moment I registered how the gray coat brought out his eyes, and ducked behind a group of women waiting in line to buy fresh bread. The smell of it cooking filled the air, and brought back the sharp memory of sharing a snack with Caesarion. My heart pounded so hard my ribs hurt.

When I peeked again after counting to thirty, Oz had continued down the street.

The cobblestones made my steps unsteady, tripped me more than once before he turned down a less crowded alley, then onto a different street. A man stood on the stoop of a legal office, and Oz headed toward him. When my eyes focused, the glasses followed my gaze, analyzing the time, date, and place, and ru

James Puckle. Lawyer. Three years hence, inventor of the world’s first machine gun technology. Married twice. Children with the first wife, Mary (decd), none with the second, Elizabeth, wed two months hence.

None of it meant anything to me. The glasses and my bio-tat gave no indication that today would be special, not in Norwich, not for James Puckle. He had impacted the world with his technology, but not yet.

Not yet.

My mouth went dry at the thought, recalling the sonic waver nestled against Oz’s hip. At the memory of Booth’s random comment about changing the past, at the realization that I now knew that it had been done before—by my brother. The chance that he was the only one seemed remote now, watching Oz move with such purpose.

Before my imagination ran wild, my classmate swerved into a young woman who had bent to retrieve a bundle of rosemary she’d dropped into the street.

Her coloring didn’t match the rest of the commoners in town; her skin was shaded an olive color similar to my own, and her long, silky black hair was pi

The wisp of Oz’s coattails turned at the end of the street and I hurried after him, turning right to discover an empty, smelly alleyway. He had returned to Sanchi.

The scene I’d witnessed left no doubt in my mind that Oz was up to no good. Whatever this was, it wasn’t an observation. He’d interfered. Pushed that woman so that she and Puckle interacted. Touched the past, as I had done the other day. I knew why I had broken the rules—to meet my True Companion. But Caesarion was personal; I wanted to save him because of my feelings, but it didn’t mean the rules that governed the Historians weren’t smart or in the best interest of humanity as a whole. I would never jeopardize our lives on Genesis or our future.

Nothing I had done so far would change anything significant. What I’d witnessed a moment ago, though … I had a feeling it could. Would.

It left me with the lingering question of whether Oz felt the same way about what we’d been taught at the Academy, or if he had different plans altogether for those of us living in Genesis.

Chapter Fifteen

Sanchi, Amalgam of Genesis–50 NE (New Era)

This morning we were working on private reflections, entering our individual conclusions on the Triangle trip, and this afternoon we’d have our last supervised reflection on the event.

Our footsteps and hushed conversations banged off the walls of the empty hallway as my class made our way to private reflection. I’d read old mystery novels where characters overheard conversations through heating ducts or in sewers—the entire Academy felt that way. At least our dormitories, with our blankets and furniture, soaked up some of the noise.

The seven of us found the main Archive room empty, with the exception of a third-year boy whose name escaped me. He scooted past us and out the door without a word. Oz escaped to the private carrel he had on permanent reserve before the rest of us dropped our things. We spread out, two or three to a table, all subdued in the early morning.

It was my first chance to get back to the Archives since following Oz to Norwich, and I wanted to jump right into figuring out what in the System had happened there, but the Triangle reflection came first. There was no way I was ever going back into that memory if it could be helped, and if our deep reflections weren’t approved at our end-of-month review, we had to redo the observation.