Leo snaps his fingers good-naturedly.“This is why the family fortune is in shambles.Are you sure you cannot take over as my business manager?Then maybe I could put off marriage for a few more years.Not that we have very much to manage at this point that hasn’t already been auctioned off.”
I laugh awkwardly, knowing I could save his entire fortune if I became his business manager.I certainly know the trends of the time period, and even remember some the biggest businesses.I could make him so much money if he had some time.
But I think that would change the timeline too much.Not that I got a manual when all this happened.
A manual would be so nice.
“I shall send for Anne,” Leo says.
I glare at him.Another person is not what I need.Especially one that can report back to Victoria that I’m being suspicious.“Why don’t we just go the two of us?”
Leo laughs.“Whilst I would enjoy nothing more than thumbing my nose at society, I do think this is not the time for either of us to draw negative attention to ourselves.”
He’s right.I don’t like it, but he’s right.We wait while his coachman fetches Anne, and then finally we can get in the carriage.I would have liked to be on this trip without a spy, albeit a nice one so far, but it is not looking like that is an option.I’ll have to watch what I say and do on this trip.This trip to figure out time travel.
“Where would you like to go?No questioning or judging you, just because we need to know how to get there,” Leo says.
“Bedford College, in York Place, please.”
“All right.You heard her,” Leo calls out to his coachman.“Wherever she wants to go.”
He’s so obliging it’s a shame I can’t ask to go to Osbourne House in the year 2025.
“Youwantto go to a school?I cannot say I enjoyed the concept much the first time around, but I did say we could go where you wanted.”
“I need information.There’s no better place for information than a school.”
“Maybe a school library would be the absolute best.”Leo purses his lips in thought.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”But the thought of all those books isn’t the only thing making me warm under all the layers I’m wearing.It’s the potent combination of the ideas of Leoandbooks, Leonearthe books, Leoin front of bookshelvesthat really makes me a little wild.
“What kind of information do you need?”
Right, the task at hand.“Information about faraway places and how to get to them.”
“Then we should be going to the docks for a ship.”
“Places that can’t be reached with a ship.”
Leo scoffs.“What kind of place cannot be reached by a ship?”
Of course a citizen of the British Empire can’t fathom a place that can’t be reached by ship.Just you wait.Even though you’ve already seen the height of the Industrial Revolution and all the changes it brought, just you wait for the future that’s going to blow your mind.
I miss those mind-blowing conveniences that I took for granted.Reliable electricity and plumbing.A pocket computer that helps me answer any question I could have and provides entertainment.But also the necessities.My parents.My friends.My students.
I’m alone here.Even with Leo, no matter how much fun I have with him, it’s not the same.
I want my mommy.
And I know I don’t get to see my family that much.They’re a six-hour drive on a good day, but with California traffic, that could easily be ten.But they’re only a call away.A text.A WhatsApp thread.
And now they’re not even that close.
“There are places outside the reach of the Empire,” I say.
“I shall have to take your word for it.Even though this tangent has done nothing to answer my original query.”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”But the urge to share with him, unburden myself of my secret, is strong.Especially as the silence lingers.And then stretches.
