“I could barely get a job teaching at the Porting Academy after that.” Burnside chuckled. “Good thing I’d already made my fortune in Ordinary movie theaters.” The porter stuck out his hand to shake hers. “Pleased to meet you, Zanfira Marinescu!”
Burnside pulled a flask out of his pocket and took a drink. He offered the flask to Will, but Will refused.
“We should eat something,” Will said.
“I’m sorry. I have nothing to feed you,” Zani apologized.
“Not a problem,” Will smiled, reaching into his large pockets. He had two sandwiches, a half dozen cookies and two chocolate bars. He seemed to have come well prepared. “This one’s for you.” He handed the gold foil-wrapped bar to her. “I know hazelnut nougat is your favorite.”
She could have kissed him again. So she did. Burnside rolled his eyes and took another swig from his flask. “It’s always about a girl,” he mumbled.
“I’m just so grateful you’re here.” Zani wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye. “Both of you.”
“It’s all thanks to Burnside,” Will acknowledged between bites of food. “I couldn’t have come without his help.”
“My pleasure.” Burnside grinned, revealing his sparkling blue tooth.
“How did you figure out where to look for me?”
Will gently touched one finger to her bare throat. “Your charm—that little butterfly pendant you always wear. I remembered it looked exactly like the logo of the Mudpuddle. It wasn’t just a coincidence. My hunch was right. I knew it the minute Minerva showed me her great-great-great grandmother’s necklace.”
Zani gasped. Of all the clues she’d tried to leave, this one was the least intentional. “Flora’s necklace? I only gave her my charm a few days ago.” She thought about this. “Come to think of it, she mentioned mud puddling!”
“Your gift created a temporal anchor,” Burnside explained. “Something noncoincidental that exists in both times. That’s a large part of how we found you. It’s always easier to navigate via items like that. It’s not just the physical continuity of an object, though. There has to be a shared emotional meaning. That sort of connection creates a timeless link. It’s not entirely unlike a ley line…” Burnside mused.
“We can discuss this more later, Burnie. We really need to get going.” Will finished his second sandwich. “Zani’s been stuck in the past for long enough.”
“Wait,” Zani replied. “There’s someone you need to meet first, and I have a message I need to deliver before I go as well.” She lifted Flora’s note from her pocket. “It won’t take very long. Follow me?”
She led Will and Burnside to the palace courtyard, where she knew Papa Lathrop would be taking his morning stroll. More than likely, he’d also be musing about his latest plans for the device he wanted to call a “Gearheart Locket.”
She wondered what his reaction to the two porters would be when he met them. As open-minded as the wizard had been, she suspected he still nurtured a seed of doubt about her far-fetched tales of time travel. When they finally caught up to him, he was pacing in circles around the fountain, head down, with his nose buried in a book. Zani did not know how anyone could walk and read simultaneously like that without stumbling. She tapped his shoulder.
“Lionel Lathrop, I’d like you to meet my friends Will and Burnside. They are both porters. The travel companions I was telling you about?” She stressed the word travel.
Papa Lathrop’s expression when he looked up and his gaze landed upon Will was priceless. The two men stood motionless, facing each other like mirror images across time.
“Extraordinary!” Papa murmured. “The resemblance is uncanny.”
“Sir?” Will began uncertainly.
“You’re a Lathrop!” Papa exclaimed. “I would stake my reputation on it. My bloodline is unmistakable.”
Will swallowed hard. “I, uh, okay. The thing is, I never knew my family.”
“Yet I know you,” Papa replied. “Blood calls to blood across centuries. And you are certainly, without a doubt, my kin. I only wish we had more time to get to know each other.” Suddenly, his eyes bugged out as he noticed the Gearheart Locket hanging around Will’s neck.
“May I?” he asked, examining it carefully, almost reverentially. “The craftsmanship is exquisite. I’ve been working on something similar but only in sketches. I dare not build it in any workshop here using the king’s silver, lest the court claim it as its own. And I wasn’t sure if it would work.” He suddenly pulled his hand away in surprise. “It buzzed at me!”
Will hesitated only briefly before removing the locket. “Take it,” he said. “It works. And I think you’re meant to have it.”
“Will—” Zani interrupted, fearful of changing the timeline.
“It’s okay,” Will assured her with a smile. “I’m still fully warded. I haven’t shaken any of your spells. I think this is us ensuring he’ll make it in the first place.”
Papa Lathrop marveled at the locket, staring at it in disbelief, and then Burnside made a clicking sound with his tongue.
“I don’t wish to break up this reunion, kids! But I’ve found that once you’ve done what you came for, the shorter the stay, the easier the departure.” He tapped a finger on an imaginary watch.
