CHAPTER THIRTEENTHE TIME TOUCH
The rise and demise of Elbert the Excellent was popular gossip in the streets of New York City. Almost everyone knew about his short stint in jail, and in the years that followed, those who encountered him noted how he never was the same afterward. People glimpsed him standing alone in odd places, like a churchyard cemetery in the middle of the night, or an abandoned theater stage at dawn.
Soon, he was nicknamed Elbert the Eccentric. There were whispers about his travels outside of New York with a secretive group of people. Witnesses reported seeing him as far away as London. “Saw him at some clock tower,” one person insisted. “Just stood there for eight hours straight, asking passersby for details about some fellow who worked there ages ago. Pretty unusual stuff, if you ask me.”
Elbert ignored what people were saying about him. His life had been shaken, and his mission to acquire and wield the power of the mysterious time touch was more important than ever now. He called together some of his most devoted fans, the same ones who had supported him in his magician days and who had spread the word of his candles. They were delighted to assist their favorite magician on his legendary quest. Together with this group of protégés, he traveled the world, seeking the last piece of the time touch: the one he hoped could reverse the past.
If Elbert had found Santiago irritatingly cryptic, his close group of followers soon found Elbert even more so. Elbert had a penchant for enigmatic sentences and puzzling phrases. He often referred to the treasure they sought as “the one in which past days unfold.”
“The treasure we seek is more powerful than anything the world has ever seen,” he told his followers. “It’s an ancient magic. You’ll recognize it if you find it.”
In another instance, he explained the treasure as an object containing the fabric of time itself. “Quite dangerous, as the powers can manifest for the worse, if the owner isn’t careful.”
One of the places he and his followers occasionally frequented was a small town by the name of Candlewick. He’d stare at the candlelit lampposts on the streets, muttering under his breath. Often, he was seen flitting about the town’s newly famous candle factory, where he looked in the windows every chance he got, or else near a large mansion up the hill. He was careful to evade authorities each time the owners of the mansion complained.
A passerby in town asked him one day what he was up to, after witnessing Elbert cursing at a lamppost.
“Well, you see, I’ve been the biggest fool on this side of the ocean,” Elbert replied calmly to the baffled passerby. “He’s been using my pendulum. I’ve seen glimpses of him with it. That’s how he gets away with his many atrocious misdeeds. And that’s another thing he stole from me—from Santiago.” He looked down the hill in the direction of the candle factory. A dark shadow passed briefly across his face, then was replaced by his calm smile again. “We need to find the last one. The one that can reverse all this. We must find it.”
The passerby merely nodded as if he understood. It seemed safer to pretend to agree.
“It took me a while to realize just how he managed such great success in so little time,” Elbert continued conversationally. “But it all makes perfect sense now. What he took from me, it was more powerful than I’d realized. Tell me, which worries you more, sir? The past or the future?”
“Neither. I’m more concerned with today.”
Elbert smiled. “Then you are better than most people. Tell me this then, sir, when you focus on today’s troubles, your mind thinks of little else, correct?”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Sure you do,” insisted Elbert, his smile growing until he was grinning crookedly ear-to-ear. “Try to think about what you’re having for dinner tonight and, at the same time, try to think about how much a pinstripe hat costs. You’ll find that it’s impossible to think two thoughts at once.”
“Sure, but I can think of them one after the other.”
“However, you can’t think of them at the exact same time.”
“I suppose not,” the passerby agreed.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret. That is the key to hypnotism. Existing in the absolute present, right down to each second, and bringing someone else into that golden space with you.” Elbert looked into the distance, toward the mansion up the hill. “‘The one in which lie gifts of gold.’ Of course, the physical gold isn’t what’s important. The gift, the present, lies within. The only problem is, if it truly contains the time touch, it’s extremely dangerous. It could lead to disastrous effects, I imagine. Because, let me ask you this, what if you were forced to spend most of your day thinking of one thing, and nothing else? What if, against your will, you think only of pinstripe hats for multiple days? Weeks? Everything else will escape your notice. You’ll forget who you are—unless you’re a pinstripe hat yourself. Do you know what I mean?”
The passerby shook his head, then quickly walked away.
“Shame he went off the deep end,” the passerby later said as he retold the story to an interested crowd. “He used to be quite brilliant.”
CHAPTER FOURTEENRULES OF TRAVEL
A few days after Adam visited the Barons in the 1920s, before he had time to fully comprehend that day’s bizarre events, the snow globe changed again. The cemetery was back in the glass, and stayed that way the entire night.
This time, Adam resolved to take the journey, despite the fear of whatever he might find on the other end. He still didn’t like the idea of traveling to a cemetery—especially after all he’d learned—but he was determined
