“To an extent, I guess. Maybe there’s a spell I can prepare that will mask our presence—that’s assuming we can find that portal along the river.”
“How long do you think a portal would remain open?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of any, have you?”
“There are rumors of such things in Glastonbury. Perhaps I can call someone back there and inquire.”
“That would be helpful. Meanwhile, I need to call some costume shops or theater groups to see if they have any costumes from the 1600s. The Crucible is a fairly common play in this area.”
“Good. Perhaps you can start there. Hopefully, they’ve done their research on the period garments.”
Freya grabbed the old phone book from the bookshelf and flipped to the yellow pages. “I’ll be sure to ask. If all else fails, I can sew. I’ll just need to adapt a pattern and find material they would have had.”
“Wool, most likely,” Devon said.
“Right. And cotton or muslin for their white collars and bonnets.”
“And nothing with a pattern or color. They were Puritans, after all,” Devon said.
“I hope the theater has the authenticity we need. I’m not sure about the buckles on the shoes or boots, or whatever else I might screw up.” She found the theater section in the yellow pages and began to dial.
“I’ll step outside and make my call,” Devon said.
That gave Freya time for a quick spell. She breathed deep pranic breaths and connected to the divine. “Goddess, hear my plea. Find us the costumes we need, easily.” She dialed the number of the largest theater ad in the phone book. Finally, she said, “If it be for the good of most, so mote it be.”
A pleasant-sounding female voice answered the phone. “Hello. Newburyport Theater.”
“Hello!”Sheesh, Freya, try not to sound so desperate.“Uh … I’m looking for a couple of costumes I can beg, borrow, or buy from you.”
The woman laughed. “What kind of costumes?”
Something authentic that Puritans would wear in the late 1600s, perhaps from the play, The Crucible? I need one for a man and one for a woman.”
“Ah, yes. We put on that production every couple of years. It’s a perennial favorite, so I’m betting we have those in storage.”
“Excellent! When can I come and get them? It’s kind of urgent.”
“I see. Well, I’ll have to ask someone from our costume design department if we can spare one of each. Is there a number where I can call you back?”
Freya gave the woman her cell phone number, in case she was out, chasing down a taser.
Fortunately, a quick search on the Internet pointed Freya to a Sporting Goods store that had tasers for sale. Devon had gone to a Hardware store for the angle grinder tool they would need to saw through the jail’s iron bars.
Later, Devon told her he had spoken with a couple of people in Glastonbury who claimed to have traveled through time. They couldn’t tell him how long a portal would remain open, but they’d given him a hint on how to find it. They said that he might notice a wavy appearance in the air. That might be hard to see in the dark, but they had to try.
Their errands took all day, but if they wished to travel at night, that was fine, as long as the time period in which they arrived was also in darkness.
The sun set a little after four in the afternoon. When Devon mentioned having a full stomach before they left, “just in case,” Freya started to get scared. She knew he must mean, ‘in case they couldn’t get back right away’ or at all.
She spent the time it took to make a couple of filling sandwiches to psych herself up for their adventure.
Sitting at her kitchen table, Devon said, “I believe things could go one of three ways. One, we get all dressed up, take a knapsack with the food and tools, and follow the river to no avail. Or two, we find the portal and go through it to a different time period than the one we’re looking for. And finally, three, we find the correct portal that leads us to the correct time and place.”
“Four,” Freya interjected, “if we wind up going through a future portal… I can’t imagine what the world will be like in, say, a hundred or two hundred years.”
“Yes, there’s that too. Let’s concentrate on reaching them in the past. The rest we can deal with if we have to.”
“Yes. Good point. And we’re going to need to light our way. How are we going to look as if we belong, if we bring a flashlight?”
