The Unlikely Time Traveller (14 page)

Gasping, I shone the torch on Agnes’s face. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling. Then I hugged her. “Agnes!” was all I could say. How long had she been in the future?

“Yes, Saul, it’s me. Are you ok?”

“I am,” I blurted out, “but Ness isn’t. We have to find Robbie right now. He’s messed up big time.”

“I thought so.” She grabbed at my arm. What a relief to hear her voice. “Soon as I found his note I came after him, but landed in the dark. We shouldn’t have told him about the time-travel formula. Oh, I’m so glad to see you, Saul. And who’s Ness?” Apart from a thin beam of light from my torch lighting up Agnes’s face, I couldn’t see a thing. All the power had gone now. No lights in the hall. No street lights spilling through.

“Ness is the Fortune Lass. This is her big party. Agnes, we need to find Robbie, right now. I’m pretty sure he’s nicked their power. They save it up and it’s gone. Can you believe it? Ness is supposed to be crowned, and has to make a speech. But the power’s gone. No lights. No mike. She’s through there in the dark. Everybody’s really upset.”

“Do you mean you already found him, then you lost him again?”

“Yeah, something like that, and he’s stolen their
electricity. At least, I think he has. Look, Agnes, I’ll explain the future later. Right now we need to find Robbie and stop him.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Two and a bit days, I think.”

Agnes gasped, like she couldn’t believe it. “Really?”

“Really.”

Then I heard him. A voice from a nearby room. “Beauty! Now it’s time to take selfies of the future! Yo!”

“Robbie!” I yelled, dashing into the room. “STOP!!!”

“Chill,” he said. I could see the flickering screen of his phone. “Imagine if I could send a text to history. How seriously cool is that? Just imagine, Saul, I would probably be famous.”

“Not a good idea, Robbie.”

“Agnes!” He swivelled the phone and shone it in her face. “Wow, you gave me a fright. Like, how did you get here?”

“Same way as you, Robbie,” she said. “I found your note and came after you. I was worried—”

“Sick,” I interrupted her. “We’re all worried. Hear that crowd through there? They are big-time worried. You’ve really done it now, Robbie. Lights fell on people. There are kids crying through there. And what about Ness? Eh?” I was gritting my teeth, trying not to shout. “This is like their Christmas, this party. And it’s a really big deal for Ness. They only get so much electricity and you just zapped it all. I can’t believe you! Max was right. You
are
a numpty. You’ve ruined everything…” then I
did
shout, “… to charge your blinking PHONE!!”

“I want to go home,” he snapped. “I’ve had it with this place. All I did was charge my phone. What’s the big deal?”

“You just made one major disaster, Robbie. You’re not going anywhere until you do something to sort it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ve got the gold, remember.”

I heard him grunt. “Relax,” he mumbled, “I just wanted to take photos of the party.”

“Oh dear, Robbie,” Agnes murmured.

“Ok, ok,” Robbie muttered, “like, what am I supposed to do about it?”

“Candles?” said Agnes.

I heard Robbie pat his pockets. “Search me,” he said. “That’s one thing I didn’t bring.”

Then I had an idea. This was his one chance to make it ok. “Listen Robbie, run up to the den and go into Ness’s house. She said the door wasn’t locked. They have loads of candles. Fill up a bag with candles and get back here a.s.a.p.”

“In the dark?” I could practically hear his knees quake.

“Naw, you’ve got your charged-up phone to light your way. Hurry. And I’ll go and explain how, by mistake, you used all their power.” I wasn’t looking forward to that, but we had to tell them.

“I’ve got a lighter,” he whimpered. “Maybe that’ll do.”

“That won’t do, Robbie. Go and get the candles. You really have to do this. If you don’t, you’re out of the gang and I won’t be friends with you any more. I’m serious.”

“Ok,” he mumbled. “Ok.”

And, unbelievably, he went.

As Agnes and I patted our way down the dark corridor towards the hall I explained a couple of things to her – how there wasn’t so much electricity in 2115 and most of it was reserved for community use and how they save it up. And how there are horses, and no cars, but high-speed trains and flying wheelchairs.

“Cool,” she said, “I heard horses neighing when I got here. But the sun was setting and it was already getting dark. I didn’t know where to look for Robbie, so I ran over the field. It looks different, all organised. Then I ran round lanes and roads I didn’t recognise and found my way onto the High Street. I heard music. I was feeling scared and thought I might never find Robbie, but I heard one of the tunes my dad plays coming from this place. So I snuck into this party and had just stumbled through the door when you found me. I haven’t exactly been in the future a long time. Is it good, Saul? Is the future something to look forward to?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” I mumbled, thinking how the future was pretty awesome and we had just managed to spoil it. “And our den is this sanctuary place for old horses.”

“How lovely. No zombies in the garden then?”

Listening to Agnes made me feel better and helped take my mind off how I would have to explain to all these
really upset people that my ‘friend’ had – by mistake – done something to the power source, and we were very muckle sorry indeed but he would be here any minute with a few candles and hopefully we could carry on.

“Don’t worry,” Agnes said, nudging me as we approached the dark hall where people were still shouting and children were still wailing and where Ness, I imagined, was probably more disappointed than she had ever been. “I’m sure things will work out.” She squeezed my arm as we entered the hall. “Hey, nice costume by the way,” she whispered, tugging at my shoulder-flap. “Good luck!”

I took a deep breath. I coughed. I clapped my hands to get people’s attention. Which didn’t work, so I switched on my torch and swung the white strip of light around. The crowd gasped. “Excuse me!” I shouted. “I have something I need to tell you.”

A hush fell. Even the children stopped crying. “Speak then,” someone shouted. It could have been the man from up the front.

“I am the traveller.” I felt more confident because they couldn’t see me. I spoke louder. “My friend, also a traveller, did not understand about the power. We come from far, you see, where things are different.” I waved the torch around. “By mistake my friend took the power. He is muckle sorry. He has gone to fetch candles for light. Please, when he gets here, which should be soon, please carry on with your party. We can light the candles and still honour the Lass of Fortune. Ness can still give her speech. And,” I swung the torch about again, “I have this small light, if that’s any help.”

A hubbub ran round the room. I couldn’t make out if they were annoyed, upset, stunned or what. Then silence fell. I was going to say how sorry I was again,
when someone spoke. “Yes, let us carry on.” That was Ness’s voice. “Please, the celebration can continue. I am honoured that travellers come to the harvest festival. People do things differently and mistakes can be made by anyone.”

People murmured and gradually settled down. Around me I heard folk say how it was true, mistakes can be made by anyone. I heaved a sigh of relief. Some people sat on the floor. Some were soothing children. Someone was trying to sweep away broken glass. I shone my torch to help them. The atmosphere relaxed and even the band started to play. It wasn’t amplified, but you could still hear the music. Then I threaded through the crowd, bumping into people in the dark, with Agnes beside me. I needed to find Ness. I shone my torch ahead and there she was, still standing by the stage. “Ness, look, I am so, so, so sorry.”

“Was it Robbie, the unlikely time traveller?”

I nodded, then realised Ness couldn’t see Agnes. So I turned the torch on her. “Ness,” I said, “I brought another traveller.”

Ness gasped but didn’t say a word. Agnes was squinting in the glare of my torchlight, trying to see Ness in the dark. I shone the beam back and forth. “Um, yes, there’s three of us now,” I explained. “Ness, this is Agnes. Seems we’re all turning up for your big event.”

Ness bowed. Agnes smiled and, learning fast, bowed too. Just then I heard a murmur in the crowd. I looked round in time to see Robbie appear, with a lit candle, in the doorway. The band stopped. The crowd rose to their feet. The candle threw a ghostly light. Even from that distance and in that low light Robbie’s face looked beetroot. He took a deep breath then lifted something up, like it was a trophy. “I’ve got candles!” he shouted, triumphantly.

The crowd cheered. The future people of Peebles are a forgiving lot. Robbie, who had ruined their party, was now the hero.

“Imagine that,” Agnes said, “Robbie went all the way in the dark, alone. The future must have made him brave!”

“Not the complete dark,” I reminded her. “He had a torch on his phone!”

Another thing about people in the future, they pull together as a team. In about two minutes flat, all the candles were lit and set out around the place. It was nothing like as bright and twinkly as it had been with the circling lights, but it was cosy and you could at least see. The man at the front took charge again. “So,” he said, smiling down at Ness, “where was I?” He had to shout without his microphone.

“The honours,” Scosha called out. She was standing next to Ness and holding her hand.

“Ah, indeed. The honours!” The next moment several people appeared on the platform and lifted up a huge garland of flowers. The smell was pungent.

“Beautiful,” Agnes murmured.

He beckoned for Ness to come up. “This harvest, to honour the bounty of the earth we honour Agnes Reid.”

I glanced at Agnes, confused. But it was Ness climbing onto the platform.

“Agnes,” the man went on, “has been chosen this year to receive the crown of honours and to wear the garland of earth’s bounty. Her hard work we witness. Her kindness we witness. May the earth continue to feed and keep us. And may her speech give us strength and abundance for another year.”

To great cheering, the man on stage placed the garland on Ness’s head. She looked like a queen. And with the
soft candlelight, I bet she didn’t feel so nervous.

“She’s radiant,” Agnes said. I looked at Ness on the stage, in her turquoise-green dress, her long dark hair and now her crown of flowers, then looked at Agnes by my side. Maybe it was the flickering candlelight, but they had the same dark shining eyes. The same strong forehead.

Then it dawned on me. I couldn’t believe it didn’t occur to me before. After all, Ness lived in a house built on Agnes’s land. All along I’d thought Ness was a name from a river, but it was short for Agnes. I felt my heartbeat race. I kept glancing from Agnes beside me to Ness up on stage. They were probably related. Maybe – my brain raced trying to work it out – Ness was Agnes’s great-granddaughter. Or granddaughter even! Meanwhile the man was asking if she was ready. Ness glanced down at Agnes and nodded. She didn’t seem nervous any more. She looked strong, and with the wreath of flowers in her hair she was beautiful.

Ness the harvest queen walked gracefully onto the candlelit stage. A hush fell over the crowd. I glanced over at Agnes. I heard a rustling and looked up. Ness passed her finger over her sleeve where a small slit opened. From this she drew out two sheets of paper. I felt a lump in my throat. I know the candlelight wasn’t bright, but I recognised that paper. Ness smiled down at the huge crowd then said, “Dear citizens…” I could see the paper shake in her hands. Then she glanced down at me. I gave her the thumbs up and she smiled, took a deep breath and carried on. “I am honoured to stand here, crowned harvest queen.” You could have heard a pin drop, the crowd was so quiet. Ness’s voice grew stronger. “So many honours I have had, new friends made and bounties found. The harvest has fed
us once more. We give thanks to the earth.” Then she glanced down to where me, Agnes and Robbie stood and it felt like she spoke straight to us. “And we give thanks to all those who went before, and all good work done by people in the past.” Then she lifted up the letter and shook it out. I nudged Agnes.

“It’s from us,” I whispered into her ear.

“She found the time capsule?”

I nodded. We both gazed up at Ness.

“Gifts may come from unexpected places. So my speech to you came to me. Dear citizens,” Ness held up our letter, “this ancient communication came into my hands in wondrous fashion. Here is a letter written one hundred years ago, addressed to the people of the future – to
us
. Now I will share some of it for my speech.” She smiled down at me and Agnes, then read:

“Dear people in the future. We hope you find this letter, which we planted under the yew tree in Peebles in the year 2015, and we hope the yew tree is still growing in the future, and that life is good, and whoever finds this letter is happy. We just wanted to say the kinds of things we do in 2015 to let you know.”

She read the bit about what we like – climbing trees, biking, making fires and talking. She read about skateboards and phones and Robbie Burns and how having friends is the best thing.

“We love our wild garden. The garden belongs to Agnes and we hope it will be a garden in the future, and that young people will always have places to play. But what we mostly hope is that the world will be great and safe to grow up in, with bees and friends. No wars. And we hope you are not a zombie!! All the best from Saul & Agnes. Peebles, Scotland, 2015.

“And the letter is also from Robbie, who can’t wait to sleep over in the garden and watch the Northern Lights!”

Then Ness folded up the letter and carefully tucked it up her sleeve again. She smiled down at the candlelit crowd. “This is a speech for us all, written one hundred years ago and spoken by me here today. Let us think on all that the past gives to us. And now I wish you muckle celebration – and fun! To the harvest!” she said.

And the whole crowd echoed back: “To the harvest!”

Robbie lifted his phone and took a picture. Then he nudged me. “Time to go.”