“Nice to meet you.”
Fiona raised her hand to the back of her neck. “You’re the one that shot me with the dart.”
He nodded. “Si. Rune insisted we give you another chance.”
“But you don’t like the idea?”
“No.”
Gosh, Joseph, tell me how you really feel.
Fiona clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and mentally put Joseph on her list. Little man had to go.
She glanced at her father and he looked at her. She could tell from his expression they were on the same page, but that for now, Joseph was somehow useful.
Fine.
Joseph moved to the reclining chair, now covered with a sheet. He plucked at the sheet, glanced at Rune, shrugged and sat to open his laptop up on his lap.
“I’ve had a tremendous response.”
Rune arched an eyebrow. “Really? How many?”
“At least a hundred.”
“Keep up the good work.”
“A hundred what?” asked Fiona.
Joseph’s mouth hooked to the right. “None of your business.”
“It absolutely is my business as long as I’m chained to your radiator.”
Rune frowned. “You can tell her. What can it hurt? In a day or two she’ll either be on our side or eliminated.”
Fiona’s head swiveled.
Wait, what?
Joseph took a deep breath and forced it out, as if bracing himself for a great confession.
“Using shortwave radio, Internet chat rooms and email I’ve been able to contact a large number of people like us, all over the country.”
“People like us?”
“Time travelers who have changed our minds about our core mission.”
“Our core mission to help people?”
Joseph seemed surprised she knew. “Right.”
“All these people are time travelers, too?”
Joseph nodded.
“How do you know?”
“They said so.”
Fiona nodded. “Riiight.”
So that’s got to be about ten percent time travelers and ninety percent crazies.
“So what are you asking them?”
Joseph scratched his cheek. “I asked them to come here.”
“Why?” Fiona straightened. He’s calling every nut in the country to our doorstep. She glanced at the cuff around her ankle. I have to get out of here.
“They all worship Rune.”
Fiona looked at her father.
“I was one of the first to see the truth,” he explained.
She nodded. “Ah. You’re the O.G.”
He blinked at her.
“The Original Gangster.”
Rune shrugged.
Fiona moved on, returning her attention to Joseph. “But, do you think that’s a good idea? Bringing them all here?”
Joseph wriggled in his chair as if agitated by her questions. “Rune and I decided. We’re going to build an army.”
“In Hollywood?”
“What better place? We’ll take over the media here, and then we’ll expand.”
Rune shook his closed fists in the air like an over-sugared toddler. “I’m thinking D.C. next. We’ll take over politics.”
“Which should be easy once we have Hollywood,” added Joseph.
Rune pointed at him with a long bony finger. “Exactly.”
Fiona chewed on her lip, thinking. “Okay. I see where you’re going with this. But, to play devil’s advocate, what if they’re lying?”
“Who?”
“The people you’re contacting. What if they’re lying about being like us. What if they’re just crazy?”
“Ah,” said Rune. “But what if we’re just crazy.”
Now it was Fiona’s turn to blink at her father. He stared back, his eyes wide.
Oh boy.
“Dad, are you under the impression you just made a pertinent point?”
Rune lifted his chin and looked away from her. “Don’t be rude.”
Joseph folded his laptop and leaned forward, scrutinizing her from head to toe. “She hasn’t gone through the change yet.”
“No, I don’t think so,” agreed Rune.
Fiona groaned and scratched her ankle. “How can you tell?” She asked as off-handedly as possible, hoping to catch them off-guard.
Please tell me it’s as easy as asking them. I’m an actress. Give me the script and I’ll play the part.
Rune tapped his chin. “Well, when I started changing, I felt a bit lost.”
“How?”
“I started losing time, finding myself places I didn’t remember going.”
“Me too,” agreed Joseph.
Rune perked. “See? That’s the point I was trying to make. We’re all crazy, until we’re not.”
“Until we’re crazy like a fox,” added Joseph, grinning.
“And you’re better now?” asked Fiona.
Both men nodded, and then Joseph seemed to have a second thought. “It took a few years—”
“Decades, I’d say,” corrected Rune.
“Yeah, maybe, but then you can see everything.”
Fiona gaped and looked down at her cuff. “Decades? If you think you’re keeping me chained on this filthy sofa for decades, you’ve got another think coming.”
I’d go right from crazy aunt parts to grandmothers.
She shuddered at the thought.
Rune wrapped a gangly arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. “No, no. We’ll let you go once it starts. Then we’ll keep an eye on you to make sure the change is easier on you than it was on us.”
“You won’t be alone like me,” mumbled Joseph.
Fiona grimaced. “But what if I already feel like you do?”
“Without the transition period?” asked Rune.
“What if I’ve already had my transition period?”
Rune seemed gobsmacked. “Is that possible?”
“I felt lost during the eighteen hundreds. A little loose-cannon.”
“Oh yeah?” asked Joseph. He seemed less disdainful of her for a moment.
Rune tilted his head, ogling her as if she’d appeared before him for the first time. All the attention made her feel like the cool girl at the party. It was an experience both familiar and missed.
“I never considered that you might have already gone through the change,” said Rune.
Fiona nodded as earnestly as possible.
Or maybe I’m just smarter than both of you and don’t have to lose my mind to change my mind.
A touch of suspicion seemed to creep back to Joseph’s countenance.
Time to put some effort into the little one.
“I’m
