Out of Time 01 - Out of Time

battled its way through Simon’s fear, just as it had when he was boy. Slowly, he let himself be led back to his seat. “Since I arrived here, I’ve been counting down the hours till the eclipse and now that it’s almost here... What I wouldn’t give for more time.”
    “Time’s odd that way, isn’t it? Drags on interminably when you want it to pass, and it’s gone in the blink of an eye when you want it to linger.”
    “I should have been more aware. More careful. I knew he’d probably try something like this,” Simon said more to himself than to Sebastian.
    “Who?”
    “King. He’s kidnapped Elizabeth. Taken her God knows where.”
    Sebastian’s tea cup clattered on the table. He cleared his throat and arched a bushy eyebrow in forced nonchalance. “King Kashian?”
    “You know about him?”
    “He’s the reason I’m here. My assignment was to study him and what happened at...” Sebastian’s forehead wrinkled. “That’s why I went to the pub. Our records showed he frequented the establishment. Was part owner, I think. I had no idea he was involved in Elizabeth’s disappearance.”
    “He is.”
    “You’re well acquainted with him, I take it?”
    Simon clenched his fists. “You could say that.”
    “Is it true then? Does he have a soul?”
    “He thinks so.”
    “Fascinating. Did he tell you how it happened? It’s most unusual.”
    “I don’t care about King,” Simon bit out. “All I want is Elizabeth back. And to go home.”
    “Of course,” Sebastian said too quickly. “But perhaps some things are better left to their proper end.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “We mustn’t interfere with the period we visit. I understand the lure of involving yourself in the lives of those we study. All too well. But you shouldn’t muck about in such things.”
    “I’m not here to study anyone. I told you it was an accident. Elizabeth and I were examining the watch when it activated.” Every mention of her name made his heart break into another piece.
    “That must have come as quite a shock,” Sebastian said in sympathy. “I wish I could see the faces of the Council when they find out not one, but two people have managed to break their security. They’re really quite strict about it. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t confiscate the watch. I assume, in your time I’m dead.”
    Simon frowned. How could he be so casual about it?
    Sebastian took a sip of tea and smiled philosophically. “I don’t expect to live forever.”
    “The family hid the watch,” Simon said, not saying that they’d hidden everything that reminded them of him, including Simon himself. “I only recently inherited it.”
    “Ah. Ashamed of me even in death. They’re nothing if not consistent. Well, I’m glad you have it.”
    “I’m not. I wish I’d never seen the cursed thing,” Simon growled and pushed away from his chair. He walked restlessly toward the window. The storm outside raged on. Sheets of gray obscured the fading light. He gripped the window sill. “First the nightmares and now, this...nightmare.”
    “Did you have dreams? Prescient dreams?”
    Simon turned back to Sebastian. “How did you know?”
    “An uncommon side-effect of the watch. There’s a temporal wash given off, a sort of blurred fissure in time around it. Most people aren’t sensitive enough for it to register. It’s a rather remarkable gift really.”
    “It’s bloody awful, is what it is. You have no idea the things I’ve...” His voice trailed off. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Sebastian about the dreams. He turned back to the window. “I have to find Elizabeth. She’s...she’s everything to me.”
    “She must be a remarkable woman.”
    Simon closed his eyes for a brief second and then stared out into the darkening street below. “She’s stubborn beyond measure, thoroughly reckless and idiotically optimistic. All and all completely maddening.”
    Sebastian chuckled.
    Simon turned to face him. “And I love her more than I thought possible.”
    “I know the feeling, lad. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t think of dear Nora. God rest her soul. Your grandmother was an angel that walked the earth. For too short a time.”
    Simon had barely known his grandmother. She died in an accident when he was very small, but he remembered her voice and, of course, the stories Grandfather told over games of chess.
    Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. It was so obvious he couldn’t imagine why he hadn’t