Page 57 of Borrowed Time

On the surface, this seemed like a good plan. After all, when I had the amulet to help me, I’d only been a minute late to return. Even if I added in some extra slop, so to speak, because of the greater length of time involved, I shouldn’t be more than a half hour late at the most, and well within the margin of error.

“Sure,” I said, doing my best to sound confident and breezy. Yes, I’d proved the other day that I really could control my time-hopping talent as long as I had the amulet to keep it in check, but still, one small success wasn’t that much compared to all the occasions in my past when I’d messed up royally.

But we were here now, and it wasn’t as though I could back out of the experiment. Otherwise, I might as well throw up my hands and resign myself to staying in 1884, and that sure as hell wasn’t going to happen.

“Here you go,” Jeremiah said as he handed me the amulet. “Four o’clock.” Then he looked over at Seth, adding, “Of course you are welcome to any of the books in the library to keep yourself amused while we’re waiting for our time to catch up with Devynn’s. And Mrs. Barton left a cold meat pie for us in the larder.”

That didn’t seem particularly appetizing, although I guessed it was probably tastier than it sounded. Anyway, it wasn’t as if Jeremiah could take Seth out to lunch to keep him entertained…and although I supposed Seth could teleport himself back to the hotel to wait it out, I doubted he would feel comfortable doing that.

No, he’d stay here until I returned, no matter how long it took.

“That sounds fine,” Seth said, and a small smile flickered in the corner of his mouth. “I’ve been meaning to catch up on my reading anyway.”

“Very well,” Jeremiah said. His gaze went to the clock on the bookshelf behind his shoulder. “Four o’clock.”

I nodded, trying to stay focused on the reassuring weight of the amulet I had clutched in my hand. Attempting a smile was probably a bad idea, so instead I just replied, “See you then.”

And the office blinked away from me, the same way the world always disappeared for that one fraction of a second while I made my time jump.

I reappeared, only to find a worried Seth standing in the far corner of the room, even as Jeremiah called through the door, “I have some paperwork to finish, Mrs. Barton. I’ll be out momentarily.”

Although I always felt a little disoriented when I traveled in time, now I felt extra off-balance. Mrs. Barton?

But then I looked at the clock.

Five thirty-five.

Goddamn it.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Jeremiah said, voice as smooth as ever. Did anything upset the man?

Probably, but he’d made his way through enough calamities in his life that he probably knew better than most that losing his head in a crisis wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“We were starting to get worried.”

Starting?

While Jeremiah was speaking, Seth had come over to me and taken my hand in his. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up just then.”

Gone back to the hotel to wait, I supposed, since it wasn’t as if he would have had too many options left to him.

“At least you can travel using Seth’s talent,” Jeremiah said. He kept his voice pitched low, probably so the housekeeper couldn’t overhear him. You’d think she would have been busy in the kitchen by now, though.

“Only if we use the amulet,” I protested. “Weren’t you just saying the other day that it wouldn’t be as safe in the hotel with us?”

Theprimusdidn’t even blink. “Yes, I did tell you that. However, it’s more important now for you to leave so no one will ever know you were here. I trust you to keep it safe.”

That I would, even if I had to sleep with it on…even if I had to wear it while taking a bath and risk turning my neck green.

“Nothing will happen to it,” Seth said stoutly, and Jeremiah’s stern expression softened just a bit.

“I believe that. Now, though, you should go. I will send you a note when I think we will have an adequate span of time to practice again.”

After this almost-disaster, I was surprised he wanted to try again so soon. But then, he understood that we had no place here, and the longer we remained in the past, the greater the chance we might do something that seriously disrupted the smooth flow of history.

“We’ll keep an eye out for it,” I promised, and almost as soon as the last word left my mouth, Seth had his arms around me, and the office blinked away to be replaced by the now-familiar surroundings of his hotel room.

Once we were there, he didn’t let go immediately. In fact, he pulled me closer, murmuring, “I was so worried when you didn’t show up when we thought you would.”

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