18
Lionel steps from thelounge, headphones slung around his neck, a delighted expression playing on his face as he says, “The Carrington Event.”
“Lionel, we were just—” I blurt, unsure how I am going to complete the rest of this sentence, just as Sumner goes, “Thewhat?”
As I’m actively trying to figure out how to navigate this conversation, Lionel glances between us, looking pleased with himself. “September second, 1859? Google it. It’s the Carrington Event.”
It seems counterproductive to deny assistance at this point. Sumner’s already on his phone typing in the date, and two seconds later the internet confirms what Lionel’s already stated. I’ve never heard of this before, though admittedly I am not the biggest history buff.
“Could we trouble you to tell us more?” William asks, taking a gracious step forward.
A smile claims Lionel’s mouth, like William instead asked him to explain his video game collection in great detail. “So this guy, Richard Carrington, observes this blinding flash of light, which ended up being a pretty extreme solar flare. This caused a coronalmass ejection—or CME—to fire off toward Earth, leading to the biggest geomagnetic storm in history,” Lionel says. “This is months before the 1860s solar maximum is supposed to begin. Crazy bright auroras—northern lights—appeared worldwide. Some people thought it was morning during the dead of night.”
William’s eyes widen. “Yes. I believe that’s what I witnessed.”
My anxiety spikes. The impulsive need to cover for him is wearing thin. “He means—”
“Don’t bother. I mean, you and Winchel talkreallyloudly, even with my headphones,” Lionel says, reopening the door to the Forgotten Lounge. “If you’re going to discuss the quantum mechanics of time travel, you might as well stay.”
There is no way I heard that correctly, but when my eyes snap to Sumner’s, I find him frozen in place. William’s mouth is agape. Either we weren’t exactly as covert as we’d hoped, or Lionel is more observant than any of us expected.
“Or is that not the reason you keep gathering together in secret?” Lionel continues, pasting on that overeager metal grin.
“Listen.” I try to keep a measured tone. “Have you told anyone else about—?” I glance at William.
“Why would I? No one would believe me if I did.”
Relief floods through me. “Doyou?”
“Believe you?” He nods to William. “I’ve never seen someone have a more difficult time fitting in, and that’s coming from a complete wallflower.”
I can only hope he’s alone in sharing this observation, but atwinge of pity grows in my stomach. I’d always thought Lionel was a wallflower by choice. Almost as if he didn’t mind not fitting in. Maybe that’s not the case.
“I can help,” he urges, and my heart softens like a marshmallow over an open fire.
My pleading look must work on Sumner, because he sighs and says, “Inside.”
No one else is in the Forgotten Lounge this close to curfew. Lionel and Sumner claim the couch while William drags a rickety wood chair over for himself, offering me the frayed armchair. There’s a faint musky scent I’ve come to associate with this room, probably from dust and lack of consistent cleaning. At least it’s warmer in here.
Sumner watches as I tug off William’s jacket and hand it back to him, then refocuses his attention on Lionel. “What else happened?” he asks. “Just the unusually bright auroras?”
“No, the whole phenomenon caused power outages,” Lionel continues. “But what’s weird? Telegraph messages could still send over the geomagnetically induced current despite the lack of power. That’s what was reported, anyway. The world hasn’t witnessed a storm like that since it first happened.”
Sumner leans back against the threadbare couch cushions. “How do you know all this?”
Lionel shrugs. “I took astronomy last year.”
This reminds me. Mr.Kovacs’s email. And in the astronomy lab last Friday—what was it he said?We’d entered our solar maximum.The time when there’s an increase in activity from the sun and charged particles hurl toward Earth’s atmosphere, almost like when boiling water bubbles, burping over the edge and hiccupping splashes onto the stove where they sizzle out. This directly causes more prominent aurora displays—like the one I’d seen on Friday.
And it happened on an even larger scale during the Carrington Event.
If two geomagnetic storms occurred on the same day, more than a century apart, could the amount of energy produced create some type of overlap in space-time? The Carrington Event must have linked with the one happening here to create an unusual type of magnetic vortex between our two separate places in time. It’s not possible for a person to travel across a current through time and space, and yet…
William did.
All my breath collects in the center of my chest.
It’s connected.All of it.
