Hester brightened further. ‘Great!’ Then her shoulders dropped and she scowled. ‘No, not great. You said we should be glad we’d only travelled thirty years and not three hundred, but we’re probably here because Gordon did that rune thing when you set off the skull. He controlled what happened. We need a sorcerer as good as Gordon Mackenzie – and one who understands what he’s doing – to get us back to where we belong. That won’t be easy.’ She pointed at me. ‘You might end up losing control again and we’ll end up threethousandyears in the past.’
Otis blanched. ‘Also,’ he said, ‘if we dig up the skull now, it won’t be there for us to dig up a second time in 2024.’
Hester snapped her fingers. ‘If it’s not there in 2024 and we can’t dig it up then, surely we can’t travel into the past so we won’t be here now.’ She hesitated. ‘Right?’
‘But wearehere now,’ Otis said. He looked at me, bafflement in his eyes.
I grimaced. ‘I’ve got to be honest, I don’t understand how any of it works. I don’t know if we can affect the future that’s already happened. We should avoid doing anything that might cause ripples in the – er,’ I scratched my head, ‘space-time continuum.’
‘The space-time what?’
I drew in a breath to explain, but my understanding of physics came from watchingStar Trekas a kid; I didn’t really understand the science at all. ‘We’ll try to keep everything the same as it should be,’ I said lamely. Somehow.
The brownies exchanged looks, then nodded. Apparentlythey’d decided by mutual agreement that any discussion of the mechanics and implications of time travel was pretty pointless.
‘We focus on what wecancontrol,’ I said firmly.
‘That’s not much,’ Hester told me.
Otis was more positive. ‘Do you have a plan, Daisy?’
‘Not really,’ I said. ‘But I’m sure something will come to mind soon. What we need to do is to deal with our problems one by one. Let’s take care of the small stuff and perhaps solutions for the big stuff will present themselves.’
Before Hester could tell me that I was burying my head in the sand and being hopelessly optimistic, I leaned towards her and her brother. ‘Right now, we don’t have any money. The cash I’ve got won’t be accepted because it’s not been minted yet. My bank card won’t work because my bank account doesn’t exist. We’re penniless – literally. The first thing we have to do is solve our cash-flow problem.’
‘That part’s easy,’ Hester said. ‘We steal five pounds from one person and use it as a bet. A horse race would be easiest. We’re from the future so we know the outcome already. We keep betting until we become millionaires. It’ll only take a few days.’
Otis gasped. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a millionaire.’
‘Why stop at a million?’ Hester said. ‘How about a billion?’ She grinned suddenly. ‘Forget returning to 2024. Let’s stay here and become rich beyond our wildest dreams!’
I frowned at them. ‘That won’t work.’
Otis and Hester glanced at each other again. ‘Hugo,’ they chorused.
‘No,’ I said, ‘I?—’
Hester interrupted me. ‘Don’t worry, Daisy. You can meet up with him again in 2024 when you’re sixty years old. He’ll still be thirty-two, but you’ll be rich enough to definitelyrock a toyboy.’
I gritted my teeth. ‘I’m not talking about Hugo.’ I gazed at them both in frustration. ‘Yes, we’re from the future, but do any of us know which horses won which races in 1994?’
They stared at me blankly.
‘Football matches?’ Otis asked hopefully.
I had a sneaking suspicion the World Cup was about to take place. Maybe Brazil won? Or was it Argentina? I didn’t know. ‘Nope.’
Hester squinted. ‘Tennis?’ I shrugged. ‘Do you knowanythinguseful about 1994?’ she asked.
‘Nothing specific is coming to mind.’
She groaned. ‘We’re going to be the worst time travellers the world has ever seen.’
‘We’re theonlytime travellers the world has ever seen,’ I said cheerfully. ‘We’ll work something out.’
‘We’re doomed,’ she muttered.
‘There’s something else we need to think about,’ Otis said. ‘Gordon was coming here to solve the mystery of Lady Rose. Should we go looking for her, warn her something is going to happen to her? She doesn’t go missing for another few weeks, right?’
