Chapter Five

Getaway Car

Elias’s head was throbbing. He felt only partially cognizant as he stumbled after the strangely dressed fellow he now knew as Tyler. Once they emerged from the library building, the crisp autumnal evening air was a welcome refreshment, as if he had just been splashed in the face with cool water.

He drew in sharp breaths, trying to keep as silent as possible while he hurried after the redheaded boy. His heart rattled and raged, like a beast trying to break free from a cage, but on the outside he attempted to paint a picture of composure. He couldn’t believe his grandfather had been sitting on such a massive secret, and for so long.

Keeping quiet proved a difficult task with every new bizarre sight he encountered. As Tyler led him across a manicured courtyard, they passed other young people in even more curious dress than his new American guide: women were clothed in skirts that seemed to be missing a great deal of fabric, as their bare legs were exposed (the scandal!). Others were even wearing men’s trousers! Some passed by with metal hoops dangling from their earlobes, and a man even had a small metal ring pierced through his nostril. He was tempted to stop and ask the boy if it was dreadfully painful, but he didn’t want to risk falling behind and losing sight of Tyler.

Another thing was that almost every person they passed had their eyes fixed on one of the small handheld devices that Tyler had claimed to be a “phone.” The notion seemed preposterous.

Then again, so did the notion of closing one’s eyes while standing in one’s grandfather’s London bedchamber and opening them to find oneself in a library in America.

As a child, Elias’s grandfather had told him stories of America from his travels. Never in his wildest imagination would he have guessed that it would be so…strange. It was like these people were living in a different era—a different universe, even.

“Where is it that you are taking me?” Elias asked.

Tyler looked over his shoulder. “My friend Zoe has this event she wants me to attend at the Newark Historical Society. I’m already late and don’t really have time to drop you off in my dorm room, so you’ll just have to come with me. Try to keep your head down and interact with as few people as possible. After the event’s over we can talk about what to do next.”

So many things to keep track of. And what kind of name was Zo-ee? Elias blew out a breath as they continued along. He went back to inspecting the passersby and realized they were doing the same to him, shooting him queer looks. Receiving judgmental glances was not entirely uncommon in Elias’s experience. He usually caught them from his parents’ friends and other adults when they assumed he wasn’t looking, shortly after playing polite to his face. At least these Americans weren’t pretending.

“Aren’t you worried you might be a little underdressed for an event?” Elias asked, returning to his new companion.

Tyler stifled a laugh through closed lips, and it was accompanied by a snort, which would have appalled either one of Elias’s parents, but when he looked around no one seemed to care.

Tyler replied, “It’s not some fancy party or anything. It’s just a presentation put on by struggling actors and history nerds about what life was like back in the Victorian era.”

Nerds? The Victorian era? Americans were supposed to speak the Queen’s English and yet, for all he knew, Tyler might as well have been speaking another language entirely.

“Actors…you mean like thespians. So this is going to be a theatrical performance?”

“In a way.”

“And the Victorian era. Is this a recent era in time? The one we are in now perhaps?”

Tyler stopped dead in his tracks, nearly causing Elias to stumble into him, but he was able to catch himself mere inches away before they collided. They were so close that Elias could feel Tyler’s breath warming his skin. His heart was racing once more, but no longer from confusion or fear…

…or maybe it was simply a different kind of fear.

They looked at each other for a moment before each took a step backward to create distance between them. Elias was still awaiting an answer to his question, but Tyler had now broken eye contact, his gaze falling to the ground. All the same, Elias could read the expression he was wearing, for it was one he had seen on his mother’s face on plenty of occasions. It was the expression of someone weighing their decisions and trying to make a choice; a choice between a lie and the truth.

“Is there something you need to tell me?” Elias prompted.

“The Victorian era…it’s the era of time you…” Tyler pulled out the device he had claimed was a telephone and tapped on it a few times. “Okay, Google, when was the Victorian era?”

Elias jumped as a strange voice emanated from the device, saying, “The Victorian era spanned from 1837 to the early 1900s.”

The 1900s?

“And so…this is a historical era then? Meaning it has already occurred?” Elias did his best to remain standing as he asked, “Earlier in the library, you had mocked my clothing because it looked like I was dressed like someone from the nineteenth century.”

Tyler nodded.

“So then what century is it now?”

Tyler hesitated, and Elias watched as he swallowed, nervously. Finally he replied, “The twenty-first.”

Elias’s resolve to stay standing and appear calm was quickly weakening. He clasped his hands over his face and turned his back to Tyler, attempting to get what little privacy he could in that moment. When he pulled his hands away he viewed this strange new world with an odd, twisted sense of clarity. His grandfather had already told him the watch could transport him to both a different time and place—for some reason the time element had seemed so much more impossible.

“I know it’s a lot to take in and I know you’re freaked out, but we really have to go,” Tyler urged.

Freaked out? More bizarre terminology. This stranger had already been so helpful, but if he really wished to help, using proper English would be a start.

Without waiting for Elias to respond, Tyler started forward once again. Somewhere in his clouded mind, a voice was yelling at Elias, compelling him to follow, but his body wouldn’t listen. His legs felt heavy and the world around him, unsteady.

After getting more than ten paces ahead of him, Tyler called back over his shoulder, “You coming, Eli?”

And just like that, Elias was pulled from his trance, his legs sturdy and nimble once more as he chased after the boy. No one called him Eli, not his parents, not his grandfather, not even little Samantha. It showed an odd degree of familiarity for this stranger to assign his own name for Elias. And yet, Elias welcomed it. It was like a secret that the two of them now shared, and you didn’t share a secret with someone you didn’t trust.

After traversing farther across the school’s campus, they wound up in a strange paved lot of land with the most peculiar objects that Elias had come across yet in this new place and time. They were like large containers of some sort; each seemed to be made of metal, all in different colours, and had windows exposing their contents. They had four wheels—or, what he assumed to be wheels from their shape, though they looked nothing like the sort you’d find on a carriage. Could that be what these were…carriages of the future?

Tyler took something out of his pocket and almost simultaneously, one of the strange wheeled devices made a loud chirping nose and a set of lamps embedded in its front side illuminated briefly. Elias jumped, but Tyler’s laughter forced him to straighten and calmly adjust his collar, as if he had not just been terrified a moment before.

“Come on, get in,” Tyler instructed.

“In? You want me to get inside that thing?”

Tyler’s eyes rolled behind his spectacles. “I don’t have time for this.” The statement seemed to be aimed more at himself than at Elias. He sauntered over to the metal contraption and opened the door, affirming Elias’s initial conclusion that this was some sort of carriage.

Elias looked to the strange metal carriage as Tyler climbed in. The idea of getting into it filled him with uncertainty, but he scanned his surroundings and was instantly filled with even more trepidation at the idea of being left behind. He sucked in a breath as shaky legs led him toward the chariot awaiting him.

As Elias sat down, hesitantly closing the door behind him, he noticed Tyler giving him a quizzical look. “Didn’t they have cars during your time yet?”

“Cars? American, you’re going to need to start using terms I can actually understand.”

“Sorry…ugh…” Tyler adjusted his glasses. “I guess they were called automobiles back then? Autos?”

Automobiles. That did sound a little more familiar. Elias opened his mouth to say as much, but before he could get a word out, Tyler had slipped a small key into a slot and twisted it. There was a low roaring and rumbling sound, and the entire automobile trembled. Without even thinking for a moment about what he was doing, Elias reached over for Tyler’s hand, clutching it.

The move shocked even him, but Elias continued to hold onto Tyler’s hand. More than being embarrassed, he was curious; would the boy pull away? Would he taunt him for his sudden show of fear?

Tyler did neither of those things. He turned his eyes to the street ahead of them and the automobile moved forward miraculously, like a boat adrift on a current. Much like a ship, the navigating was manipulated by a steering wheel. Elias thought Tyler would have needed both hands for such a task, but he seemed to manage just fine operating the wheel with his left hand while allowing Elias to squeeze his right hand.

Elias was endlessly grateful for this, considering that each bump or bend in the road felt like it would lead to his untimely death. After what seemed like an eternity, but was most likely mere minutes, Elias gradually became more and more certain that Tyler had the situation under control and that he would not wind up dead, and so he slipped his hand away and onto his own lap. Either he was imagining things or Tyler had squeezed his hand back, for he felt a slight tug before they were separated.

They rode on in silence for a little while longer. Elias watched the passing surroundings with wide eyes, his heart still racing with underlying fear and his head throbbing with the ache of things he could not comprehend.

His concentration was finally broken when Tyler asked, “Do you know how you got here?”

“No.”

Tyler nodded. “Well, what’s the last thing you remember?”

Remember? Remember. It became a command to himself. Urging himself to recall the events leading up to his inexplicable transportation. Remember, for God’s sake.

“I was in my parents’ home in London…the year was still 1886…and we were arguing. I remember being quite angry.”

Tyler frowned in sympathy then nodded again, beckoning him to continue.

“I wanted to get away from them. So I went to my grandfather’s room. I wanted to be alone. And there was…and I…”

The watch. His grandfather.

Elias looked out of the corner of his eye to Tyler, who still seemed to be expecting some sort of explanation. He clutched the watch, finger brushing over the engraving. He knew exactly what had brought him here, but this American boy would think him a right nutter if he shared it with him.

Then again, the whole situation was already so bizarre. He could just as well inform Tyler that he rode on a dragon through time and space with a faerie as his guide and it would sound just as plausible as a magical watch.

Instead, all he said was, “That’s all I remember.”

Tyler blew out a breath, tapping on the steering wheel with his fingertips. “Time travel. I feel like I’m in an episode of Doctor Who, or something.”

“Doctor who?” Elias blinked. “I mean, who is Doctor Who?”

“Never mind.”

They continued along the path and the farther they got without any sort of mishap, the more at ease he felt. He’d been previously sitting erect but finally allowed himself to sink into the seat, tentatively leaning his head back. It occurred to him that he shouldn’t be feeling calm. He should be panicking. He should be having a complete breakdown of all his senses. Somehow, someway, he had gone from his grandfather’s bedroom in London to a library in New Jersey, over a hundred years forward in time.

But he closed his eyes and brought himself back to the moments just before being transported. The pressure…the tension…the anger. He suddenly heard banging against a door, as clearly as if it was happening in that moment, rather than a mere recollection. The stark contrast between his parents yelling at him from the other side of a door and this red-haired boy, whom he didn’t even know, offering to help him in a time when he was vulnerable. Given the choice, he was temporarily happy to remain here, trying to make sense of the bewildering set of circumstances, rather than back in the “comforts” of his home.

Up until that point his mind had been racing and his senses had been on a razor-thin edge, like an animal being stalked by a predator or a soldier flung into enemy territory. He didn’t know Tyler, didn’t know if he could trust him quite yet, but the boy had been successful in making him calm enough that he could sort through the countless thoughts plaguing him. A creeping curiosity was taking hold. If Elias hadn’t believed Tyler when he told him they were in the twenty-first century, then this automobile was certainly enough to convince him. There were so many compartments and lights and buttons and knobs. Before he had time to question his actions, he reached for the small black knob nearest to him and fiddled with it.

Instantly, bizarre noises were filling the space and Elias’s heart rate, which he had just managed to coax back down to a human level, was speeding faster than the vehicle they were in. He quickly turned the knob again, hoping it would get the bizarre noises to cease, but it only made matters worse, with a combination of syncopated beats, erratic melodies, and what seemed to be a man or woman wailing at the top of their lungs.

Tyler shook his head and swatted Elias’s hand away. “Here,” he offered, turning the knob in the reverse direction, transforming the cacophony into something that might have even resembled music one would play on a phonograph. But the sounds elicited were so alien…so mechanical, with an odd echo and resonance to them. If it was indeed music, he could hardly imagine what type of instruments were being played.

He listened for a bit, and as the singer continued to scream and wail, he could feel his facial features crumpling as if he had just taken a bite of something bitter. He looked over to his guide, but Tyler did not seem to be experiencing the same feelings of distaste. On the contrary, he looked entirely amused.

“What is this?” Elias finally brought himself to ask.

“ACDC.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Tyler smirked. “It’s the name of a band…a musical troupe? They play music, rock music.”

So it was supposed to be music. Although he wasn’t entirely sure what geology had to do with the situation.

He wrinkled his nose once more before adding, “It’s entirely atrocious.”

He had meant for it to be a serious observation, but the minute he said it, Tyler broke out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Though Elias was not keen to the joke, the sound of Tyler’s laughter warmed him and replaced the sour frown on his face with a smile. Somehow, it felt like he had managed to pass some sort of test, and Tyler’s joy was his prize.

It was lovely.

“Fair enough,” Tyler admitted once his laughter had subsided. “I was never really a big fan of theirs, either.”

For the rest of the ride, Tyler continued pressing buttons that caused the music filling the automobile to change. With each new song, he explained the different type of music that it was; country, rap, pop…it honestly seemed he was rattling off random words. But he would back up his musical knowledge with further information about the particular artist or group who composed the song in question. Elias listened intently, far more captivated by Tyler’s excitement than the information being shared.

Through a sea of noise, they finally landed on a composition that, while still bizarre, was far more agreeable. The musician, a man by the name of David Bowie, accompanied by a group named Queen, and the song was about being “under pressure,” a situation Elias found all too relatable.

Elias felt like he’d only just begun to immerse himself in the song, when the automobile came to a stop.

“We’re here.” Tyler nodded to a brick building with white columns lining the entrance. It was strange; much like the library that they’d previously exited, this building didn’t strike him as particularly futuristic or modern. In fact, it looked like it could easily fit in his part of town back home. But he supposed that was apt for a building that housed the “New Jersey Historical Society of Newark.”

The calm he had found faded once more as an odd thought struck him: the thought that anything from his home, from his life, would be considered a historical relic in this new place. He reached down for his stomach, suddenly feeling nauseous. This feeling was only amplified when he looked out the car window, realizing he would have to go out there again. Out amidst people he did not understand—who would not understand him. Here in this automobile, he was safe. Here with Tyler.

He glanced over, hopeful for another moment of safety and peace, but Tyler had already exited the vehicle and was waiting with an expectant look for Elias to do the same. He took a deep breath then turned his attention to the door but was met with the realization that it was equipped with more buttons and levers and knobs, and he wasn’t exactly sure how to free himself. He flashed Tyler a look for help and knocked on the glass separating them. He felt both honored and embarrassed when he came around to open it for him.

Elias took a step toward the building, but Tyler stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “I know you’ve been through a lot today. You just experienced something that should have been impossible. I can’t even imagine what you must be thinking right now, and I’m sorry. I promise we’ll be here for only a little bit, then we can try to sort things out.”

More comfort. The calm feeling was back, and once again, Elias was glad he was in the company of Tyler and not his parents. He nodded and said, “Thank you.”

Tyler nodded as well, then led the way inside. As he followed, Elias watched Tyler’s hand hanging at his side, wishing that he could hold onto it the way he had when the automobile’s engine roared, but he looked around, uncertain if such a thing would be acceptable in mixed company. He kept his hands to himself and marched ahead.