Where was Zani now? Wherever she was, it was too far away for him to feel. Lost in space and time. And it was all his fault. He laid his head on the table.
“You have to eat, Will. And tell us what happened. We can’t help unless you tell us.” Maida slid a sandwich in front of him. “If Zani were here now, she’d be telling you to eat, too. You’ll need your strength to find her.”
Finally, Will raised his head.
“You really think I can find her?” he asked, tears in his eyes.
“Of course I do.” Maida sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around him. “You’re Will Porter. You can go anywhere. And apparently, anywhen, too. Wherever Zani is, I’m sure she’s going to be thrilled to see you.”
“But she could be anywhere OR anywhen.” Will bit into the sandwich begrudgingly. It was warm, slightly soggy egg salad. Not exactly his favorite, but it would have to do. He was grateful Maida had made it for him. He didn’t think he deserved much of anything at the moment.
“Maybe I should put in a call to Amrita?” Maida suggested.
“I don’t know.” Arthur sat down on the far side of the nook. “It might make more sense to fetch Zephyr and Minerva. They’re closer.”
“How about I go get Tarquin.” Granny Luna paced in front of the table. “He doesn’t see patients on weekends.”
Will shook his head “no,” refusing all of them. He finished his sandwich and stood up to use the phone. There was only one person he wanted to call. Burnside Porter.
He dialed the number from the house phone and waited patiently as it rang ten times. Finally, the old porter picked up. Burnside was just finishing up a set of wind chimes, but he agreed to pop over just as soon as he was done.
“I hope she’ll forgive me when I find her,” Will said. When. Not if. He didn’t want to speak any alternatives into existence.
“Course she will!” Granny Luna tutted. “But if you wanted to pop by a florist I know in Malibu, having a nice bunch of flowers waiting couldn’t hurt.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Granny. But I need to figure out where Zani is before I can start planning homecoming gifts.”
“Oh, I meant for me. The flowers were for me!” Granny winked and ducked as Will lobbed a balled up napkin at her. She was winding him up, of course. “That’s more like it, Will.” Granny smiled. “Moping around never did anyone any good. I’m happy to see you get your spark back.”
“So how much of what you told us about going to France was true?” Maida asked gently. “Did you go back to the train, then?”
“No!” Will held up his hand. “We went much farther back, to the court of Catherine de Medici. Zani found a notebook in the archives that referenced her amulet. She wanted to track down the author.”
“And you found her?” Arthur joined Will back at the table with a fresh cup of coffee.
“Him.” Will frowned. “The notebook belonged to that vampire friend of hers.”
“Oh, dear.” Maida bit her lip.
“I can’t see what Zani sees in him. He wasn’t particularly friendly, shall we say?”
“You spoke to him?” Arthur was aghast.
“No.” Will shook his head. “We got away before he caught us snooping.” He reconsidered that for a moment. “I mean, I got away. I thought we both escaped but now I don’t know where Zani ended up. The temporal stream ripped her right off my back.” He rested his head in his hands again, fighting back tears, trying not to think of the worst possibilities.
“There has to be a beacon. Some kind of magical signature or clue to where she is. I know Zani. She always leaves a bread trail,” Maida said.
If only the Pair Tags had worked as efficiently as the Pathfinder’s Web had. “We were wearing a sort of magical pairing device, but it shorted out in the temporal space. I think the proximity detectors cannot function across the temporal dimension. Closeness takes on a different meaning.”
Will unpinned the tag from his vest. It was blackened and battered-looking now, with a small spring sticking out.
He thought of the moment she was ripped away from him. Time had been standing still and happening all at once. It had left him with such an odd feeling. One that he was now having a hard time explaining to his friends. But even without the pairing devices, he felt sure if he could at least get some physical proximity, he would be able to detect Zani across the void of time. If he only knew where to go.
“You know, when we were traveling, I saw a man walking right past himself at different times and ages without even noticing.” Will looked up at his friends surrounding him in the booth, hopeful they wouldn’t think he’d gone crazy. “I’m pretty sure we’re all sitting here together right now in a different now. It’s right on top of us, but also a million miles away. It’s like time is not linear, but in fact, concertinaed in on itself in layers.”
“Now that sounds like a really cosmic cake.” Rosie bit into one of the colorful cupcakes she’d brought over from the bakery case.
“Exactly.” Will picked up one of the other cupcakes and considered it. “With little more than a fluffy swipe of buttercream insulating us from the past and future.”
