by Em Pitts
I went to bite my nails only to stop when I realized what I was doing. It may have been a habit I had before, but things are not near as clean in this time era, making now the worst time to revert back. The stress was clearly getting to me.
“Hell, I need to work on this problem too. It’s me who is stuck here. I need to be the one helping to get home. I need…ugh” I threw my arms up and collapsed on my ass right on the ground. Fuck chairs.
I’m trying. I do the work. I haven’t sought them out until now. I just need progress. I can’t wait for years. I made a promise.
A hand on my back was rubbing soothing circles and I still refused to move. I looked up into Nick’s eyes.
“I made a promise,” I whispered. He didn’t question me. He just nodded and kept rubbing my back. I was grateful for the moment.
“We sent a messenger to speak with John. He wasn’t home but should get back with us when he is.” Isaake spoke up from across the room. “We had business to take care of in Salem Town tonight and he still was nowhere to be found.” He was giving me information as I wanted.
“John?” I questioned.
“The one who can transport items.” Ollie’s voice held a lot less venom when he answered me.
“He tends to keep track of powerfully gifted people. Just because we haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” Isaake’s smooth voice answered me again.
“And if it doesn’t exist?” I dared to ask. The silence in the room was enough of an answer. They didn’t know.
“We try something else.” Raynor’s deep voice brought us out of that thought. “We keep trying.” He stated simply.
I thought back to the meeting with the village’s unofficial officials. Something that was said kept picking at my thoughts.
“What if it doesn’t exist yet?” I questioned. “Someone could get the gift from the trials, right?” I asked hopefully. The trials were soon.
“Technically.” Isaake conceded. “It’s possible.”
“So, someone who is going in the trials picks this gift and then we are good.” The hope was building in my chest. I just had to be patient is all.
“We don’t pick our gifts.” Raynor was the one who shot down my theory. Strangely, he sounded bitter about that.
“So how do you get gifted?” I was getting frustrated. The guys exchanged a glance before continuing.
“The minister has to approve each person to enter the trials. Then you enter the divine cave and go through a trial to approve your gifts. If you fail, then you die.” Isaake told me the process. It still felt like he was holding back on something, but that was more information than I had already.
My mind was racing with options. Only one stuck out to me. “So, I enter the trials and see if I can get gifted,” I stated. A chorus of no’s surprised me enough to jump.
“You missed the part about death.” Ollie hissed out.
“Women are not gifted,” Isaake added. He didn’t sound condescending about it, just factually. “Even if you did survive, there’s no guarantee you would be gifted with time manipulation either.” He added.
“I’m the best choice. I need it and don’t want power. Surely, if I go through the trial with pure intentions then I would be more likely to come out alive.” I nodded my head. It made sense to me. Who better to ask for help than the one who needs it?
“There’s an entity who gifts the powers. She doesn’t talk. Just burns the sard out of your arm. Then you leave woozy and in pain.” Raynor cracks his knuckles. “That’s a terrible sarding idea.”
“Agreed.” The others add.
Part of me wanted to argue, but the other part of me knew better. I needed to get home, but I needed to get there alive. If I died here, then Abby would never know what happened. I wasn’t ready to risk my life if there was another way.
“Okay.” I let it go. The others relaxed as I agreed. “Then we just try something else,” I repeated Raynor’s earlier idea. I looked all the men in the eye to capture their attention before I continued. “We. That includes me. Like it or not, I’m your fifth wheel now. I’m a part of this and you can’t just cut me out of the process.” I got nods from the others; Ollie’s was reluctant but there as well. I smiled in relief. Finally, it felt like I was moving forward. “Someone want to tunnel me back to the tavern?” I asked cheekily. Ollie snorted as the others chuckled.
“You can walk back for tearing my house to pieces.” He stated as he got up and walked to me offering his hand to pick me up from the floor.
I can't figure this man out. Ollie is sweet, then uncomfortable, angry and sweet again. I'm pretty sure he ignores me at times as well, like when we walked to the meetinghouse. Maybe, I'm just looking too much into it, but the way he acts is inconsistent and hard to tell what he will be like in the next moment.
“Fair enough.” I sighed disappointedly.
I honestly wanted to try the tunneling thing. I was so tired from the long days that everyone seemed to function on. Plus, it would have been extremely cool.
“I've got her,” Isaake spoke up as we were walking to the door. I guess he was the one walking me home tonight.
“Yeah, I heard about the kidnappings. I am a bit short so I would hate for the kidnappers to get confused and get stuck with me.” I laughed.
Isaake gave me a tight smile but didn’t respond. None of the men laughed. I guess it was wrong to use humor in that situation. I use humor on a lot of difficult situations in my life though. They will either get used to me or not.
The hole in the ground was gone when we walked out of the door. The ground looked undisturbed as if it never happened. I did not question it. There was clearly so much more these men could do that I wasn't aware of. I doubt I would even see a fraction of it in the time I'm here.
Isaake and I walked in silence to the tavern. I was comfortable with the silence at the beginning of the walk. I honestly didn't know what to say to the model-like man who had a perpetual stone-cold look about him. It was intimidating, to say the least. The silence led to hearing the nightlife, and it was peaceful and nice. At first.
Then my exhausted legs started hurting because I was thinking about how long the walk was and how much work I had done that day. Then I was thinking about Abby and getting beyond upset that she was not here to joke with and bitch me out over my faults. Then I was angry at my thoughts and started kicking at the ground as we walked. That must have been the point when Isaake noticed the silence was not good for me right then.
"Problem?" He queried.
"What gave it away?" I sarcastically replied and kicked the grass again.
The toe of my boot got caught dragging up sand with it. I stumbled and Isaake's arms caught me. He righted me then released me just as quickly.
"The mumbled cursing." He answered. I didn't realize I was mumbling. "The crying helped me realize though." I wiped my face unaware of the tears that had tracked down my cheeks. Cheeks that were now burning in my embarrassment. "Then you went and started murdering the grass." He gestured behind me where I had indeed kicked up grass and dirt in patches. "I figured I was your next target, so I might as well stop you ahead of time." I snorted at him.
"And here I was thinking you cared." I drawled sarcastically. His raised eyebrow had me wanting to move the conversation on. I started walking again as I continued talking. "My mind just wanted to run away with thoughts."
It was the silence. It happened every night I had been here. Sometimes, I cried myself to sleep, other times sleep came in a fit of exhausted turning and bouts of clarity as if I had not slept at all. I was fully expecting the silence again for the remainder of the journey, so I was pleasantly surprised when Isaake started speaking again.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He was behind me so I could not see his face when I replied.
"Not really." Truthfully, I did not want to talk about it.
I had to live it and that was enough for now. Talking would not help any more than crying every night. It doe
sn't solve anything. Isaake gave me a few moments of silence.
"What is it like?" He randomly asked.
"What?" I turned to face him completely confused by his question.
"The future. Your time. Tell me about it." He shrugged with his hands in his pockets.
He was trying to give me something safe to talk about, so I didn't have to drown in my mind with the silence. I melted for a moment before shaking my head. Or, he could just be wondering what the future is like and I'm overthinking it. Don't be an idiot, Tessa.
I looked around at the world I was standing on and tried to picture the future. "Different," I replied then snorted and started walking again. "There are buildings everywhere in some places and others look just like the world around you now. The buildings are made of brick, wood, and glass and can be so high in the sky that they look like they are touching the clouds."
I smiled at the thought of how Isaake would react to seeing a skyscraper. I wonder if his eyes would light up in curiosity. Nick would either be jumping in joy or speechless for the first time. It's hard to tell with him, I just know that he would feel extreme emotion. I wonder what Raynor would think. And Ollie...Ollie would probably be shocked. Shocked that I had not destroyed the thing just by being near it. I really need to fix the damage I did to his house.
"What do you want to know?" I asked to get out of my line of thinking. "There are a lot of things different in the future." He answered instantly showing his interest in the subject.
"Is there a record of historical events kept?"
"Yes. We are taught in school different historical aspects. World History, American History, battles, and revolutions." I waved my hand through the air.
It's a lot of stuff honestly and I don't remember half of it. Of course, I dropped out early and got my GED, so I don't know as much as others.
"What happened to the gifts then? You said they were not in your time."
Good question. One I have no answer too. I'm pretty sure my lack of education isn't the problem either. If something this big was written in our history books, then people would be scouting everywhere for the divine cave to bring it back.
"I have no idea. I've never heard of your gifts before." I answered a little solemnly.
If the gifts were not in my time, then something happened to stop them. And if the history was never written then it must have been something big. Either everyone died who knew about them, or people went to extreme measures to cover it all up.
Melancholy was working its way through me at the thought of all the people I had met being killed to keep a secret. It was a shock to the system knowing that these people were long past dead in my time. Here and now, everyone felt very much alive. Bridget’s grumpiness, Hector’s marital problems, Gerlick’s lack of space, and the guys' strangeness.
We were silent most of the walk, so we were almost upon the tavern already. I was not ready for my time with Isaake to end. I wanted to keep talking, if for nothing else to figure out at least one of the many missing pieces that I had no answers too. Maybe, he would stay and talk with me a bit more? I turned to him when we reached the back door to ask.
"Well, have a good night, Tessa." He said as he stepped away.
"Tess." I corrected again. He smiled in acknowledgment and continued walking away. After watching him for a moment I snorted at myself.
I guess I was the only one who was needing the company. That's nothing new. I shook my head in humor at myself. Time to see what this night brought me. I walked into the darkness to lay down and try to turn off my mind for a few hours. Maybe I can sleep at least that long for once.
9
Granny was in a mood this morning. It was a trying day already because I was working with her in the kitchen in order to make hardtack. Apparently, it's one of the simplest things to do and it shouldn't matter how much I fuck it up because it tastes like shit anyway.
With the trials so close new people were arriving and the rooms were filling up quickly. That meant Granny was busy with making more food and I was stuck doing a large amount of hardtack for the aspirantium for the trials. That’s the word used for the participants of the trials.
A loudmouth filling up on beer was proclaiming to everyone that his son is an aspirans. Granny was kind enough to answer my question about what that meant. An aspirans was an individual entering the trial. The aspirantium was the group as a whole. I’m just going to call them idiots for entering something that gets them killed. Never mind the fact that I thought about doing the same last night.
I've also learned that the trials last for a week and many of the men will take hardtack for the event as well as keep it for their travels afterward. Apparently, the towns baker refused to make hardtack, so this gave Granny extra business for the trials.
I'm not sure if it was the pressure from running the tavern during this large event, something with her husband, or maybe it was her time of the month that was causing her foul mood. I was used to the spoon whacking and the constant bickering from her. Today, however, Granny was mostly silent and shot me disapproving scowls often instead of communicating verbally. It was tiring.
I started cutting the hardtack into squares when Rose ran into the kitchen out of breath. "Goodman Bishop said he needs you out front immediately." She panted to Granny.
Edward A.K.A. Goodman Bishop as he insisted we call him, was the laziest man I had met. I felt sorry for Bridget having been married to the man for as long as she had. There was no telling what he would need her for.
I could tell she was thinking about ignoring him when she looked around at the food that was unfinished. Finally, she sighed and gave in to the inevitable. Giving me a stern look, she gave me a warning before leaving to attend to lazy Eddy.
"Don't destroy the food."
I nodded and continued cutting the hardtack. Four holes were poked into each biscuit making it look kind of like a large saltine cracker. This was as far as Granny got into teaching me how to make the hardtack.
I glanced over at the already cooked hardtack batch that she made first when she was teaching me. I was told not to even think about cooking it. She finished that part while I mixed and rolled the second batch. I tapped my fingers on the table debating what to do so that Granny would not come in to find me standing around. No need to push her mood any worse.
I spotted the unfinished food and realized I knew some of what she was making. It was tempting to put the filling in her pie shells for her, but I knew if she caught me, she would consider me destroying her food. The pottage over the fire was recently stirred and didn't need anything at the moment. I didn't want to make too much hardtack without knowing how much was needed.
I could always practice making something. Maybe if I got it right, I could redeem myself a little? Honestly, it's been playing on my ego that I suck so much at this. With that thought, my mind was cemented. I could get better. Practice makes perfect. Teacakes it is.
Bridget had a recipe book she kept up with. I asked her one day why she made sweets when there was a bakery right down the road. She refused to buy sweets from the baker, saying if a customer wanted his sweets, they could buy them from him. I think she was just proud of her recipes. They turned out wonderfully, so she should be. If I follow the recipe well then mine should be perfect too.
I set to work and laid the book on the table near where I was working on the hardtack, well away from Granny. Surprisingly, by the time I was done mixing in the ingredients, Granny was still nowhere to be seen.
I panned them up and reread the directions twice before putting them in the hole in the wall called an oven. I paced back and forth while biting my nails and struggling not to. When I get back I've got to start chewing gum and painting my nails to break this thing again. I had to watch the teacakes closely because I refused to burn them. Where was Granny?
My attention kept bouncing between the door and the food. I was seriously considering ignoring Granny's warning and finishing her pies for her, so she was not so fa
r behind. Shit, the pottage! I focused on stirring the pottage as carefully as I could so as not to knock the pot down.
Satisfied that I did not fuck up the food I grinned as I glanced towards my teacakes. They were turning a darker brown. I grabbed them off the fire as quickly as I safely could.
One minute. I swear it only takes a minute of not watching your food to ruin it. It's like children, you can't look away or disaster strikes in the form of a tornado and flying unicorn shit.
I might have been exaggerating, they don't look terrible, just a bit browner is all. I picked one up to blow on it and cool it down. Once cool, I took a bite. It was dry and soggy at the same time. There is no way that I did this right.
I chewed into a crunchy part and had the realization that it was a piece of eggshell. I spit out the cake and admitted defeat for the day. I might never be a cook.
Rose came into the kitchen silently as I was trying to clean up. She started on the food that was left unattended.
"Is Granny not coming back?" I inquired curiously.
Unlike me, Rose could cook just fine. And bake. And clean. She was the perfect housewife in training. It rattled my brain, that Granny had her working around the rest of the tavern and making runs for supplies while keeping me in the kitchen.
"No, Mr. Bishop needs her for a while. You're to work behind the bar." She replied softly. I smiled and asked her if she needed anything.
When I knew she was good, I went to the front and took in all the patrons. It was nearing lunch and getting more crowded than it had been all week. I wondered how many people would arrive for the trials as it was starting to seem like a lot. I should have made more hardtack. I'll make it a to-do list chore for later.
I kept myself busy helping anyone who needed me by getting drinks and food. With Granny gone I also tried to keep up with any room requirements so I could remember to do them later. Luckily most people were here for the food.