happening.”
Willets took that in with a sense of dull frustration.
“When I reached into your room before, I sensed a second little girl.”
“Yes, that might be part of it,” came the response. “I came across her last night, and we are linked at the moment.”
“How?”
“She’s a telepath. There has to be some adept blood back in her family’s past, although they’re certainly not adepts now. Her name is Violet. She’s a very poor little girl, extremely scared and angry.”
At which point, Willets noticed something odd.
“You don’t mean poor as in ‘unfortunate,’ do you?” he asked. “You mean poor as in ‘poverty.’”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Now, Raine’s Landing had plenty of inhabitants you wouldn’t really call well off. Ordinary working types, who struggled to meet house payments and cover all their bills. But as for actual poverty, there was none of that in this place, not that Lehman knew about. This was a responsible community that looked out for its people.
“So where exactly does this Violet come from?”
“East Meadow,” the lips answered slowly. “Back in the Victorian Age.”
Which struck Willets like a thunderclap. Of anything that might have come out of that bright blue mouth, this was the very last he’d been expecting. She might as well have told him that the other little girl had come from the Jurassic Period.
“Good God, she’s reaching out to you through time? How in heaven’s name is she doing that?”
“Again, I’m not quite certain. She is holding a small object. It’s too bright for me to look at, but I’m sure that it is magic.”
Willets felt bewilderment.
“She owns an artifact, and she’s still poor?”
“I don’t think it belonged to her originally.”
Well, at least that made some sense. A street urchin from those times would lift anything that hadn’t been nailed down. But …
“How’s an artifact causing all of this? These holes and creatures, and these disappearances?”
“I’m not sure that I understand any of it,” the Little Girl told him, her tone remaining so calm that it started to irritate him slightly. “One thing appears to have nothing to do with the other. I am deeply puzzled.”
Lehman’s gray head whirled again. He tried to sort the information through, but couldn’t get a handle on it.
“These events began as soon as she contacted you? Have I at least got that right?”
“You have.”
“Then make her let you go,” he suggested.
The bright blue lips above him tightened up uncomfortably.
“I’ve already tried, sir. And I can’t. The artifact she’s holding is extremely strong.”
Goddamn , Willets thought.
“Too strong even for you? But what’s she doing?”
“Violet is just standing there. I think she’s in an alley. And it looks like she is stuck, the same way I am. She’s not moving.”
The Girl paused, her voice becoming slightly mournful.
“Neither of us can break the link. So someone else will have to do it.”
And the doctor was still thinking up a bucketload of other questions, when the brilliant white landscape faded, and the snow-covered backyard returned. Whether he’d been dismissed or this was a natural process, he had absolutely no way of knowing. But Ross Devries was standing right in front of him, and peering curiously at his face.
So the doctor blinked, letting the fellow know that he was back. Shrugged his shoulders several times, until his frame unstiffened.
And then started to explain what he had learned.
“I don’t believe this,” I said, when he’d finished. “This Violet whosis … she comes from more than a hundred years back in the past?”
The doc stamped his feet against the cold. “Apparently so.”
“And we need to stop her making this connection?”
Willets nodded.
“You don’t happen to know of anyone who owns a time machine?” I asked.
My companion pushed his lower lip out glumly.
“Then how exactly are we going to do that?”
Willets took that in with a sense of dull frustration.
“When I reached into your room before, I sensed a second little girl.”
“Yes, that might be part of it,” came the response. “I came across her last night, and we are linked at the moment.”
“How?”
“She’s a telepath. There has to be some adept blood back in her family’s past, although they’re certainly not adepts now. Her name is Violet. She’s a very poor little girl, extremely scared and angry.”
At which point, Willets noticed something odd.
“You don’t mean poor as in ‘unfortunate,’ do you?” he asked. “You mean poor as in ‘poverty.’”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Now, Raine’s Landing had plenty of inhabitants you wouldn’t really call well off. Ordinary working types, who struggled to meet house payments and cover all their bills. But as for actual poverty, there was none of that in this place, not that Lehman knew about. This was a responsible community that looked out for its people.
“So where exactly does this Violet come from?”
“East Meadow,” the lips answered slowly. “Back in the Victorian Age.”
Which struck Willets like a thunderclap. Of anything that might have come out of that bright blue mouth, this was the very last he’d been expecting. She might as well have told him that the other little girl had come from the Jurassic Period.
“Good God, she’s reaching out to you through time? How in heaven’s name is she doing that?”
“Again, I’m not quite certain. She is holding a small object. It’s too bright for me to look at, but I’m sure that it is magic.”
Willets felt bewilderment.
“She owns an artifact, and she’s still poor?”
“I don’t think it belonged to her originally.”
Well, at least that made some sense. A street urchin from those times would lift anything that hadn’t been nailed down. But …
“How’s an artifact causing all of this? These holes and creatures, and these disappearances?”
“I’m not sure that I understand any of it,” the Little Girl told him, her tone remaining so calm that it started to irritate him slightly. “One thing appears to have nothing to do with the other. I am deeply puzzled.”
Lehman’s gray head whirled again. He tried to sort the information through, but couldn’t get a handle on it.
“These events began as soon as she contacted you? Have I at least got that right?”
“You have.”
“Then make her let you go,” he suggested.
The bright blue lips above him tightened up uncomfortably.
“I’ve already tried, sir. And I can’t. The artifact she’s holding is extremely strong.”
Goddamn , Willets thought.
“Too strong even for you? But what’s she doing?”
“Violet is just standing there. I think she’s in an alley. And it looks like she is stuck, the same way I am. She’s not moving.”
The Girl paused, her voice becoming slightly mournful.
“Neither of us can break the link. So someone else will have to do it.”
And the doctor was still thinking up a bucketload of other questions, when the brilliant white landscape faded, and the snow-covered backyard returned. Whether he’d been dismissed or this was a natural process, he had absolutely no way of knowing. But Ross Devries was standing right in front of him, and peering curiously at his face.
So the doctor blinked, letting the fellow know that he was back. Shrugged his shoulders several times, until his frame unstiffened.
And then started to explain what he had learned.
“I don’t believe this,” I said, when he’d finished. “This Violet whosis … she comes from more than a hundred years back in the past?”
The doc stamped his feet against the cold. “Apparently so.”
“And we need to stop her making this connection?”
Willets nodded.
“You don’t happen to know of anyone who owns a time machine?” I asked.
My companion pushed his lower lip out glumly.
“Then how exactly are we going to do that?”
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