Page 95 of Saphirblau (The Ruby Red Trilogy 2)

“How right you are,” said Gideon, and his look became if anything even darker. Suddenly I felt terrible.

Mr. George was opening the door. “Come along, Gwyneth.”

“Just a moment, Mr. George.” Gideon was holding my arm. “There’s one thing I’d like to know. What year did you send Gwyneth to?”

“Just now, you mean? Nineteen fifty-six. July 1956,” said Mr. George. “Why?”

“Well—because she smells of cigarette smoke,” said Gideon, and his grip on my arm tightened until it hurt. I almost dropped my school bag.

Automatically, I sniffed the sleeve of my blazer. He was right. Hours in that smoky café had left obvious clues behind. How on earth was I going to explain that?

All eyes in the room were on me now, and I realized that I needed to think up a good excuse in a hurry.

“Okay—I admit it,” I said, looking at the floor. “I did smoke, just a little. But only three cigarettes. Honestly!”

Mr. George shook his head. “Gwyneth, surely I’d made it perfectly clear to you. You can’t take—”

“I’m sorry,” I said, interrupting him. “But it’s so boring in that dark cellar, and a cigarette helps me not to get scared.” I was trying my best to look embarrassed. “I collected the stubs carefully and brought them all back. You don’t have to worry someone will find a pack of Marlboros and be surprised.”

Falk laughed.

“It seems that our little princess here isn’t quite such a good girl as she makes out,” said Dr. White, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t look so shocked, Thomas. I smoked my first cigarette at the age of thirteen.”

“So did I. My first and also my last.” Falk de Villiers was leaning over the chronograph again. “Smoking really isn’t a good idea, Gwyneth. I’m sure your mother would be rather shocked if she knew.”

Even little Robert nodded hard and looked at me reproachfully.

“It does your looks no good, either,” added Dr. White. “You get bad skin and ugly teeth from smoking.”

Gideon said nothing. But he still hadn’t relaxed his firm grip on my arm. I forced myself to look him in the eye as naturally as possible, trying to summon up an apologetic smile. He looked back at me with his eyes narrowed, shaking his head very slightly. Then he slowly let go of me. I swallowed hard, because I suddenly had a lump in my throat.

Why was Gideon acting like this? Nice to me one moment, kind and affectionate, next moment chilly and unapproachable? It was more than anyone could bear. Well, I couldn’t for one. What had happened down here, between him and me, had felt real. And right. And now all he could find to do was expose me to the entire team at the first chance he got? What was his idea?

“Come along,” Mr. George told me again.

“I’ll see you the day after tomorrow, Gwyneth,” said Falk de Villiers. “Your big day.”

“Don’t forget to blindfold her,” said Dr. White, and I heard Gideon laugh briefly as if Dr. White had made a bad joke. Then the heavy door closed behind me and Mr. George, and we were out in the corridor.

“You’d think he didn’t like smokers,” I said quietly, though I felt like bursting into floods of tears.

“Let me put the blindfold on, please,” said Mr. George, and I stood still until he had tied the scarf into a knot behind my head. Then he took my school bag from me and carefully helped me forward. “Gwyneth … you really must be more careful.”

“A couple of cigarettes won’t kill me stone dead this minute, Mr. George.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean, then?”

“I meant you should be careful about showing your feelings.”

“What? What feelings?”

I heard Mr. George sighing. “My dear child, even a blind man could see that you … you really should take care where your feelings for Gideon are concerned.”

“But I—” I stopped. Obviously Mr. George saw more than I’d given him credit for.

“Relationships between two time travelers have never turned out well,” he said. “Nor, come to that, have any relationships at all between the de Villiers and Montrose families. In times like these, we have to keep reminding ourselves that, fundamentally, no one is to be trusted.” Maybe I was only imagining it, but I thought his hand on my back was trembling. “Unfortunately it’s an incontrovertible fact that sound common sense flies out of the window as soon as love comes in through the door. And sound common sense is what you need most of all at this point. Careful, there’s a step coming.”

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