Mila braced herself. Something profound was about to come out of his mouth.
“Do ye know anything about quantum mechanics?” he asked as nonchalantly as if inquiring about the time.
She rubbed her forehead, massaging it to rid herself of this head-splitting confusion. “Now is not the time for complicated discussions. I am not up to it. Just tell me what ye are thinking.”
“Mind ye, I have only read a few articles here and there.” He frowned at the landscape, then jabbed his thumb at the crude road. “Basically, one theory I studied proposed if we can mathematically express particulate activity in one direction, then we can mathematically express it in a diametric one as well.”
She hated it when he talked over her head. “Layman’s terms, please.”
He shrugged. “Time travel makes sense through a quantum lens. Whatever goes forward must also be able to go backward.”
What he suggested could not be true. It just could not. “Ye think we traveled through time? Backward, even?”
“That would explain everything being gone.” He gave her shoulder a sympathetic pat. “Why else would the turnaround park, the road, our braw minibus, and those lovely Americans disappear like they were never here? And it sure doesna appear as though we advanced into the future.”
“I canna bear the thought of such a thing. I need to sit.” The sudden wobbliness in her knees threatened imminent collapse. She leaned on the lad as he helped her to a nearby boulder. Several shaky, deep breaths didn’t help either. All she felt for certain was that she wished he hadn’t said what she feared aloud. Never call the demon by name. If you did, it always appeared.
She sagged forward and propped her aching head between her hands. What would they do? How would they survive?
“Give me yer pack.” He tugged on one of the straps. “It’s about to tip ye over.”
She numbly relinquished it while staring at the muddy patch of ground between her feet. A sense of shame wormed its way through the numbness of her confusion. She was the adult here, and yet Robbie was taking care of her.
“How ye can ye be so bloody calm about this?” She swallowed hard, trying to control the rising bile burning at the back of her throat. Another round of vomiting would help nothing.
He made a clumsy yet sweet attempt at rubbing her shoulder again. “I think it exciting, Mi. Think about it. A real adventure.”
Mi.The endearment made her heart swell and feel even worse about falling apart in front of him. The precious bratling had always called herMiever since learning to talk.
He bent and peered up into her face. “And no feckin’ eejits are here trying to make me feel guilty about being smarter than I should be or teasing me about my height.”
She lifted her head and managed a quivering smile. “Ye make a convincing argument.” A shiver stole across her as she looked around again. “But I am afraid, Robbie. What shall become of us?” She was thankful for the rain still showering down. It helped hide her tears. “I am so ill-equipped to take care of ye here.” She paused, then shook her head. “Wherever or wheneverhereis.”
“And I am glad of that too,” he said quietly. “Maybe now ye will stop treating me like I am nothing more than a wee babe. I can do stuff for myself, ye know? I’m most nigh grown.”
His gently accusing tone made her sit straighter. “I dinna treat ye like a baby.”
“Aye. Ye do. Coddle and overprotect me because of my size and cause Mama and Da are gone.” A very mature sternness settled across his soft, babyish features. “I just turned fifteen and am cursed with remembering everything I read, see, or hear. I know I am small for my age, but that doesna mean I need to be treated like a bairn.”
He was right. She bowed her head. “I am sorry. Ye realize it’s only because I love ye.”
He grinned. “Aye. I know.” After granting her a rare hug, he gave her a teasing shake. “I reckon I love ye too.”
“Brat.” With a determination she didn’t feel, she pushed up from her rocky seat and studied the area again. If Robbie could be so brave, she had to be brave too. “’Tis definitely the Three Sisters. At least we know where we are.”
He pointed at the rutted path. “Whatever this era, they travel with wagons. If we follow this road, could be we’ll be lucky enough to come upon a settlement or something.”
“I dinna ken if that will be lucky or not. We must be cautious.” She glanced down at her soaked clothing, then pointed at him. “We are dressed for our time. Not the past.” A glance up at the murky sky gave her an idea. “We should stay here, ye think? Go back up where we were and hope another storm passes through and returns us home.”
Robbie’s dubious squint upward didn’t give her any hope. “We can try. But my guess is that storm was a fluke of nature, some unnatural fluctuation triggered by an ionic imbalance somewhere. ’Tis doubtful it will happen again this soon. Whatever it was built up a lot of energy before it went off. Remember all the lightning and how sick it made us? I dinna ken what created it, but I am more than a little certain we dinna have the means to re-create it.”
“Ye are supposed to humor a woman when she’s feeling hopeless.” The thought of never returning to the life she knew was terrifying. “I think we should at least go up there and wait for a bit. Just to be sure.” Determined to make the anomaly happen again even if it meant wishing it into being, she started climbing.
“Did ye leave the keys in the minibus?”
She glanced back at him. “What?”
“Did ye leave the keys with those ladies?”
