Chapter six: okay, time for the hard questions
I decided now was a good time to get it off my chest; "you guys are gonna get attacked tonight."
I had expected horror; I'd thought they'd be horrified at the thought; but they didn't even flinch or look surprised. They just looked at me with a facial expression like "and?"
"By terrorists." Charlie continued. "They'll kill every last one of you!"
At this, Raymond burst out laughing. "That happens every day! It's a loop for crying out loud!"
I felt like a bomb had gone off in my brain. "What? Loop? What's that?"
"A time loop is a safe place for peculiars." Miss Cardinal explained. "It consists of a 24 hour time frame, at the end of which an ymbryne, like myself, resets it. As long as I reset this loop at the same time every day, we can stay here forever, never having to worry about the outside world or getting older, or pretty much everything."
"Ymbryne." Charlie repeated.
The old woman nodded. "Yes. An ymbryne is a rare type of peculiar; we can manipulate time and create time loops."
"She can also turn into a bird!" Janie exclaimed.
Miss Cardinal smiled at the invisible girl, then looked back at Charlie and I. "A cardinal, to be more precise. But that's the least of my abilities."
"So why'd you choose today?" Charlie asked. "It's freezing; why wouldn't you choose a nice, warm day?"
Miss Cardinal's face grew sad. "Yes; most ymbrynes choose the perfect day; all sunshiny and warm. But, in some cases, the day chooses the loop; like us."
"Miss Cardinal had to make it in a hurry because there was a gunman in the house." Janie piped up once again.
"It's also how Sebasten can constantly throw cars and never get in trouble." Riley said. "When the loop resets, everything that's been damaged in town is instantly repaired; the day it was destroyed hasn't happened yet."
"So y'all keep living the same day over and over again?" I asked.
"Yes." Said Raymond.
"That sounds incredibly boring." I pointed out.
"Sometimes." Janie said, the shoulders of her dress giving a shrug. "But it can be fun occasionally."
"Wait, so does that mean y'all die every day?" I asked.
All the kids except George laughed.
"No, silly; Miss Cardinal resets the loop before the gunman can shoot." Riley said.
George made some gestures I didn't understand to Charlie and I.
"Scuse me?" I raised an eyebrow.
Janie giggled. "That's sign language; he just told you that Raymond was so scared the first time that he wet himself!"
Everyone laughed except Raymond and Miss Cardinal.
"Mister Nelson!" Miss Cardinal scolded George.
George looked down in shame.
Raymond turned to me and Charlie. "I assure you; I absolutely did not wet myself; not the first time we were attacked, not ever!"
Janie giggled.
Charlie decided to change the topic to spare Raymond more shame. "So what's your peculiarity, Riley?"
Riley replied, "I can steal other people's peculiarities; when I do, they lose their ability for a second or two, and I have their ability for several minutes."
"Really?" Charlie said. "So you can do anything?"
Riley shrugged. "Not anything; I do have limits. Honestly, I get a little jealous sometimes; I don't have my own peculiarity like everyone else does."
I felt like my head was the soccer ball that pro soccer teams play with in the World Cup. I needed to go back to the present; back to 21st century Cunningham Valley; back to my grandmother, however annoying she may be; back to a world I understood. I stood up abruptly. "I really appreciate the dry clothes and the hot cocoa, and it was nice meeting all y'all, but my sister and I kinda have to leave; I think my brain is about to explode."
"I agree with my brother's statement." Charlie stood up.
"Understandable." Miss Cardinal said. "This is a lot of information to take in at once; I do hope you'll return in the near future." She pointed to a door next to the fire place. "There are some extra coats in there; the way you get out of the loop is you go clockwise around the column."
"Okay." Charlie and I nodded.
"Please come back!" Riley exclaimed. "We really enjoyed your company!"
"Have fun in the present!" Janie jumped up and hugged Charlie.
"Y'all have fun in New Years Eve 1949." Charlie said.
The children dispersed as we picked some bulky leather coats with warm wool lining from the closet; I guess they didn't want to actually see us leave.
Charlie and I were silent as we made our way out of the woods and into town once again. People were going about their business, not noticing us; I guess we stood out a lot less now than when we'd first arrived. The only disturbance I saw on our trek through the town was a brown car flipped upside down on the sidewalk, crushed to a pancake. I looked around for Sebasten, but didn't see him anywhere.
Eventually, we got back to the hole in the cliff face; we crawled into it, went the opposite way around the funnel rock as we did to get in, and were greeted by the 21st century. It was much too hot for coats, so we peeled them off and stuffed them into the hole.
The hole looked the same, but it was different somehow; it now radiated magic; it wasn't just a hole in the cliff face anymore; it was a portal to a strange new world.
"What do you think?" I asked. "Should we go back later?"
"Yeah; I liked them; they're cool."
I nodded. "Okay then." I looked and saw that the path leading to Great Aunt Esme's cabin was there. "Hey, maybe we should go into town; you know, just to make sure we're in the right year and not in like the 70s or something."
"Yeah." Charlie said.
So we went into town.
It looked just like we'd left it the day before; modern. We asked some teenaged girl what today's date was; she told us the correct one that we'd left this morning, as well as "you're idiots."
Some people were staring as we walked down the streets; we definitely stuck out like a sore thumb; we should've asked the folks at the children's home for our clothes back. We probably would've, but I really didn't feel like going back right now. I could live with looking like we'd just gotten out of church once if the alternative was going insane. We didn't speak of the peculiar children.
"Ricky? Charlie?" Said a voice behind us.
We turned around and saw Meghan. My heart beat in my ears as I looked at her. "H-hi, Meghan."
"Why are you dressed like that?"
"Oh this?" Charlie looked down at her dress. "Long story."
"These aren't our clothes, I assure you." I added.
Meghan shrugged. "Whatever."
"So what are you up to?" I asked.
"Oh I was at the library; I go there to read when I eat lunch; the school cafeteria is just unbearable."
I hadn't given it a single thought that Charlie and I were missing school; oh well, it was just school.
"What grade are you in?" I asked.
"Eleventh."
"Me too." I said. "Well... Technically I'm not in school right now, but I'm supposed to be a junior."
"I'm supposed to be in ninth grade." Charlie said.
"That's nice. On would you look at the time; I have to get back to school. See ya round!" Meghan waved as she walked down the street.
"You like her!" Charlie said in a sing-song voice.
My cheeks grew warm. "I do not!"
"Do too!"
"I don't!" I stomped my foot. "C'mon; let's get back to the cabin."
_______________________
Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow!
Love ya!
CC
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro