home. In Stane Way, actually. We were supposed to come here together and-”
“What?”
“I was just going to show her, but she didn’t make the jump.”
“Make the jump?” echoed Cosimo, his brows lowering in a scowl. “What did you do, Kit?”
“Nothing!” protested Kit. “I was just going to show her. She didn’t believe me, so I wanted to show her the ley line, you know. Well, the same thing happened as last time, and I ended up here, but she got left on the other side.”
“Stupid boy!” roared Cosimo. “How could you do something so utterly asinine?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” replied Kit lamely. “Anyway, there’s no reason to assume the worst. Nothing happened.”
“You’d better hope so.”
“She’ll take the tube home. Big deal. She’ll be royally annoyed at me, but she’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know what you’ve done, do you? You haven’t the foggiest idea how incredibly dangerous this is.”
“No, I-” Kit began, then paused. “How dangerous?”
“More dangerous than you can possibly imagine.”
“But you said if I changed my mind I was to come back, so-”
“I didn’t expect you to try to bring along your paramour. I suppose you told her everything? Why not tell half of London while you’re at it-place a notice in the Times, broadcast it on the BBC?” The elder fellow shook his head in dismay. “Well, the churn is upturned. All that remains is to assess the damage. Pray that it is not a complete disaster.”
Kit frowned. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m sorry. Let’s move on.”
“See here, my boy. Telluric energy is one of the more subtle yet powerful forces in the universe-the least understood and probably the most unpredictable,” explained Cosimo. “You have travelled through what some are pleased to call a low-frequency window-a threshold, if you will, separating dimensions. You have ended up here, as anticipated, but there is no way to tell where your girlfriend has gone.”
“But she didn’t go anywhere,” Kit protested. “She didn’t follow me. She stayed on the other side…” One glance at the elder man’s face and he lost all confidence in this assertion. He finished weakly, “Didn’t she?”
“It is possible, but not at all certain. You have neither the skill nor experience to be bringing others with you. In time, should you live long enough, you may develop your talents. But until then, you really must refrain from attempting to drag others along-however good an idea it might seem at the time.”
“Well, I didn’t know, did I?” muttered Kit peevishly.
“I suspect your friend travelled too,” Cosimo continued, “but inasmuch as she did not arrive here, we must surmise she went somewhere else.”
“Where, then?”
“That’s the trouble, you see-the possibilities are endless. Your friend could be anywhere or anywhen.”
“Anywhen?”
“Moving from one world or dimension to another, you inevitably travel in time as well. There is no way around it. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“Time travel, of course.” Kit realized then why he had arrived back in London eight hours late, and he grasped the fact that Sefton-on-Sea was something other than a quaint tourist attraction.
“Stay right here,” commanded the old man. “Don’t move a muscle. Can you do that for two minutes end to end?”
“Got it, professor.”
“Good,” said Cosimo, already starting away. He turned back after only a few steps. “What does this Mina of yours look like?” Kit offered a brief description, including the colour of her jacket and the trousers she was wearing. “Yes, that’s enough,” said the old man. He turned and walked into the shadows. His body grew hazy-as if viewed through the pane of a frosted glass window. There was a sudden gust of wind, and he vanished completely.
Kit waited and wondered how long he would have to stand in the alley. The thought was still bouncing around in his head when he felt the breeze stir and saw Cosimo hurrying out of the shadows once more.
“She’s not there.”
“Where?”
“Stane Way.”
“Maybe she went home.”
“No, she should have been exactly where you left her.”
Kit shrugged. “If you say so.”
Cosimo shook his head slowly. “You really have no idea what’s going on here, do you?”
“If you put it like that,” muttered Kit, “I guess not.”
“If your friend has travelled to another plane of existence it is a problem-a very big problem-and one that must be addressed with all urgency and seriousness of purpose. So, come along, my boy.” Cosimo began moving toward the seafront. “We’re going to see an old friend of mine. He’s giving a lecture this evening, and I’ve arranged for us to have dinner afterwards. We’ll explain the situation to him. As it happens, he’s a colleague and a scientist, and he may be able to help.”
They emerged from the alley and walked along the quayside. The seafront was quieter, almost deserted now. The large schooner was still there, but the stevedores and fishermen were gone, their boats secured for the night. A sprinkling of early stars was beginning to appear in the eastern sky, and the sun was going down like a molten globe behind the blue-shadowed headland. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight…,” mused Kit. The sea was calm and taking on a silvery glow.
They soon came to a deeply rutted road and turned onto it. With the bay at their backs, the two proceeded up a steep slope, climbing through a clutch of low houses to the top of the sheltering hill. Kit was puffing and sweating as they gained the rim, and he was allowed to pause and catch his breath. The bay spread out below them in a gleaming arc, bronzed by the light of a setting sun.
“Where are we going?” Kit asked, feeling the air cool the sweat on his skin.
“See that stone?” Cosimo pointed to a finger-thin standing stone beside the road a couple hundred yards away. “That marks a ley I have found particularly useful.” He cast a hasty glance at the darkening sky. “We’d best be getting along.”
They continued on the road at a sprightly pace. The old man seemed to gain vigour with every step, and Kit found himself having to scurry time and again to keep up. Upon reaching the standing stone, Kit called, “Hey! Can we stop a second?”
Cosimo stopped. “Young people have no endurance.”
“We have other qualities.” Kit stooped, hands on knees, and gulped air.
“Sorry, old chap, but we must push on,” his grandsire said. “We really cannot dillydally any longer.”
He beetled off again, leaving the road and forging out cross-country, striding through long grass toward a broad rise, the first of a bank of hills glowing deep emerald in the dusky twilight. Kit followed, jogging to keep up.
“The leys are mostly time sensitive, you see,” Cosimo informed him. These words were still being spoken when out of nowhere sounded a horrendous, blood-stopping snarl. The sound echoed across the quickly darkening landscape, driving out all lesser sounds.
“What was that?”
“We’ve been careless,” said Cosimo. “Now they’ve found us.”
“Who?” Kit demanded, looking around frantically for the source of the unnerving growl. “What was that?”
“Listen to me,” said Cosimo, desperation edging into his tone. “Do exactly as I say without hesitation or deviation.”
The snarl erupted again-a vicious, guttural rumble that reverberated in the pit of his stomach.
“Sure,” said Kit, trying to look everywhere at once. “What do we do?”
Three dark shapes appeared at the spot where they had left the road. They hesitated for a moment, then picked up the trail and came upon two vaguely human shapes either side of a low-slung mass too small for a horse but too big for a dog.
