4
“T hat’s it.” I stand up. “You better leave now.”
“Wait, Alice.” Fabiola pulls me back again. “Time travel is real. Not like the Einstein Blackboard, which only sends you back to Wonderland.”
I sit down.
“Only Mr. Tick and I,” Mrs. Tock says, “can execute time travel.”
“Although there are a few conditions that have to present themselves to do it properly,” Mr. Tick says. “But you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why do I need to worry about it in the first place?”
“Because of our offer,” Mrs. Tock says. “We want to make you time travel.”
“What kind of offer is that?” I say.
“We want to send you to the future,” Mr. Tick says.
“Is this a joke?”
“We’re time, darling,” Mrs. Tock says. “We don’t joke.”
“Ask older people,” Mr. Tick adds. “Or the man who just missed his ride outside.”
“Or the student who’s going to fail tomorrow’s test because he didn’t respect us, time, enough and ended up sleeping through his classes,” Mrs. Tock says.
“Or the man who is going to die in” — Mr. Tick stares at his watch — “about three seconds before he ever did what he always wanted to do.”
“And why?” Mrs. Tock snickers at Mr. Tick.
“Because he thought that time, us, is on his side.” Mr. Tick high-fives Mrs. Tock. He has to lower his hands though.
“We get it,” Fabiola says. “Tell us why you want to send Alice to the future. Why would Black Chess openly offer us this? What’s the point?”
“Didn’t you figure it out yet?” Mrs. Tock sneers.
“Here is the deal,” Mr. Tick says. “Black Chess will use our services because we have common business interests. They want to send Alice into the future so she can locate what’s left of the Six Impossible Keys.”