The Time Travelers' Club -- Chapter 99: Surprised?

“You are sure of this?” pushed Mrs. Steers.  “You have double-checked your research?”

Mrs. Labuler promptly handed her a piece of paper and sternly answered. “Mrs. Steers, I will give you the speech I gave you the last time.  I can only do the research.  This is all based on information that someone else did.  Legends, myths, and facts are all mixed together.  The only way to really tell is to go and see for yourself.”

“I apologize,” said Mrs. Steers, backing off.  “It’s just that I’m worried about the Dr. knucklehead, the books, and of course, Sam.”

“I totally understand.  How many times have we been through this before?”  Mrs. Labuler picked up a stack of papers and began to sort them.  “This group is no different than any others in the past.  See this stack here.”  She held out what she had just picked up.  “Remember that group in Paris in the 1870s?  This is research that I pulled together about them. I have finally organized it after how many years?”

Eyeing the stack, Mrs. Steers empathized.  “I understand.  And I know that feeling.  As a Club, we haven’t done a lot to keep our own history organized.  I’m glad to see you’re making progress.”

From out of nowhere, a piece of paper fluttered down.  Mrs. Labuler grabbed and read it. “It’s for you. You’ve been summoned home.”

Mrs. Steers read it then dropped it into a nearby glass of water.  It glowed pink.  “Well, I guess I’d better be going.”

Returning home, Mrs. Steers found Sam and Xavier waiting at the kitchen table.  They had just refilled their mugs of hot chocolate.

“What’s happened?”  Mrs. Steers fretted.  “Is everything alright?  Your note was vague.”

Xavier motioned for her to sit down at the kitchen table.  “We’ve got something to tell you that you’re going to love to hear.  Hot chocolate?”

“Yes, please,” said Mrs. Steers.  “And then get talking.”

Sam jumped right in.  “Xavier and I went to see the duel.”

Mrs. Steers shrugged.  “What duel?”

Fumbling about with the tea kettle, Xavier emphasized his words.  “The duel.  The famous duel.  You know… the one that started the organization of the Time Travelers.”

Mrs. Steers was speechless, mouth gaping.  “Do you mean…”

“Yes, the duel.”  Xavier placed a mug of steaming hot chocolate in front of her then sat down.  “Ranulfus and Iordanus.  Now, before you get mad, you need to know something.”

Xavier pointed at Sam.  That was his cue.  He had been afraid of her once before, when he went into the attic.  He had no idea how she would react to his time traveling alone.

“Well…  I… I…,” Sam stuttered.  “Well, you see, I was reading and… I thought about going back…”

Mrs. Steers waited patiently, before interrupting.  “I know.  You don’t even have to say it. You thought about going back to the place and time.  And Boom!  You were there.”

Sam simply shook his head.  “I barely said them.  I only said them once.  Are you mad?”

“No,” said Mrs. Steers.

Sam was shocked.  “But I thought that…”

“Don’t fret.”  Mrs. Steers retrieved cookies from her cookie jar in the shape of a bird house.  “You went to a time no one else that I know of even did.  Alright now.” She pulled an envelope from her jacket pocket. “Xavier, I need you to go to Rufus Leightstone with this.”

“Fine,” said Xavier.  “I’m off.”  He glanced at Sam and shrugged his shoulders.

After Xavier disappeared, Sam turned to Mrs. Steers.  “Don’t you want to know more about the duel? Something strange happened while I was at the duel.”

Mrs. Steers looked perplexed.

Sam didn’t wait for her to ask.  “I think the guys who were dueling could see me.  They kept looking at me.”

Mrs. Steers puzzled over Sam’s comment.  “Hmmm…  I wonder.  They might have thought you were a ghost.  The two gentlemen you saw were the most powerful of all the Tempos Servos.  They could use all the incantations, but who knows for sure.”

“I was really freaked out by them looking right at me and saying something in some language I didn't recognize,” said Sam.

“It was probably an old German dialect or Dutch.  Who knows. Don’t worry about it.  It’s been my observation that these things work themselves out.”  Mrs. Steers got up.  “Now, I have some important business.  Why don’t you head upstairs?  Your Mom will be home soon.”

Sam left disappointed with her.  He couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to hear more.  Mrs. Steers, on the other hand, went to her office and immediately began sorting through piles of papers.

“Where is it?  I just know it’s here.”  She moved around the office.  "Where are those notes about Ranulfus and Iordanus?  I do need to get this office cleaned up."

Moving one stack after another Mrs. Steers muttered to herself over and over.  "They saw Sam.  They saw and touched Sam."  Then to "I read about it. I read about the whole scene.  I read about how they saw a ghost.  A ghost of a small boy."

Hours later, exhausted from looking through papers, Mrs. Steers stopped. She sent off two notes, summoning Rose and Ari to meet her when they could.  She glanced at the clock.  It read 11:12.  Outside the sun shined bright and reflected off the snow.  At 12:23, Rose came in through the back door in the mud room, removing her snow-covered boots.

“That sun is really bright when it hits the snow.”  Rose took off her coat and laid it over the back of a kitchen chair.  Rubbing her hands together, she went straight to the stove to make tea.  "I'm here."

"I'm in the back parlor." Mrs. Steers called out to her.  She put her papers down.  “We’ve got a lead. Mrs. Labuler found new evidence of the location of the scroll. Or at least part of the scroll. Or maybe not. You know how that goes.”

Stepping into the parlor, Rose watched Mrs. Steers’ face go from excited to disappointed.  “Now, Lottie, you have to remember that stuff gets lost.  The scrolls may have been destroyed long ago.”

“Yes, I always seem to forget that.”  Mrs. Steers smiled at her.  “You’re right.  I worry too much.”

“And besides, not everyone can use the incantations…”

Mrs. Steers stopped her.  “Until they read them and realized they worked for them.  Some of us were tracked down, just like I tracked down Sam.  Albert was traced by Jameson, but then as it turned out, Albert’s family had been involved with the Club many generations back.  They left the Club and never spoke of it again.”

"Doesn't matter right now," said Rose, nestling into one of the chairs.  "We've got to talk about Dreda."

"Fine, but we've got something else to talk about as well," added Mrs. Steers.  "Ranulfus and Iordanus.  Sam saw them. They touched him.  They spoke to him..."

"Just like in the legend..." said Rose, leaning forward.  Her mouth gaped.  "This is really breaking news..."

Ari arrived.  "I'm here."

"Yes, we see you," said Mrs. Steers.

Rose's mouth was still hanging open. "Why is Rose staring at me like that?" said Ari.  "Why are you staring at me like that?  Do I have something hanging from my nose?"

"Don’t mind her. She’s just stunned.  Sit down and we'll fill you in," said Mrs. Steers.  "We need to talk about Dreda, Sam, ghosts, and Rome.   We need to go to Rome."