This is the eighth chapter in a book I am writing. The book (Undercover and Investigating) is the third book in a series, you can find the previous two books here: https://writeboy.blog/my-stories/ .
Back to Where it Started.
Boom, a turquoise ripple flies out of us and then the video cuts out. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched it now. I check the time at the bottom right corner of my laptop (00:17). The light of the screen illuminates Emily’s face on my shoulder. I close the laptop and slide Emily round so she is stretched out on the sofa. I creep from the common room to my dorm and then toss and turn for the next six hours until I have to be up.
Falling into a chair in briefing room five, I reopen my laptop screen and play the video yet again. “Jack, this is becoming an obsession. You really need to ease up.”
“I just don’t understand it. Something happened to us and it’s not normal so I want a reason.” I lean back and rub my eyes.
“Jack, look around you. Is any of this normal?” Emily puts her hands on her hips.
“I…I just really need to know what happened to us.”
“We will, in time. For now, we have to do the task we’ve been ordered to: figure out what these time skips are.”
In a matter of confusing minutes, we are in a situation that if you told me two weeks ago that I was in I would have told you that you were seriously confused. We are sat on a train with CAPS and O’Drice. O’Drice is sitting looking very confused as Lizzie messes about with Elijah and the rest of us talk and laugh (all this is new found territory. I don’t think that we have ever laughed with each other, at each other all the time but never with. O’Drice waves me over, “When did this happen?” He gestures to the good mood in the carriage.
“Don’t really know to be honest.” I reply and retake my seat next to Emily.
I unzip my bag and reach in. Emily sees me out of the corner of her eye, extending her arm towards mine, she places a firm hand in mine, “C’mon Jack. Leave it and relax, we can restart investigations when we get back to London.”
“Alright,” I zip my bag back up.
Getting off the train, the thick, polluted and muggy air hits me. Pulling my hat on I walk the now familiar steps down the platform of Euston station, I can already feel the sweat building on my spine and that’s before getting on the tube. By the time we get to my little suburb we are drenched in sweat, “You know, I don’t think the French Alps were so bad anymore.” Emily says, panting.
“What have you lot been doing?” I ask (wearing a new t-shirt).
“How?” Emily asks- more than a bit disgruntled.
“Benefits of having a Mum nearby.” I say- definitely gruntled.
“Yeah, right, your Mum’s awesome.” Emily says dreamily.
The IMPS and CAPS are stretched out in a park, O’Drice left to take a phone call but is coming back over now. “We’re going to go and take up the man hole cover for a start and see what we should do next.” O’Drice announces.
“Great, manual labour.” Ryan, one of the CAPS, remarks.
When we reach the time skip, Ryan and I heave off (with a lot of difficulty) the cover. Before even I can react, Emily hurtles forward and face plants into the hole under the cover. “Woah, what the heck?” I blurt out, “Emily are you ok?”
“Not really.” Emily says (muffled due to her face being pressed against this strange device. Filling most of the hole is a jumble of wires, pipes and various metallic boxes full of electronics. All of it looks ominous, none of it looks good. I lean down and undo the clasp of her necklace with clumsy fingers.
She gets up, “Cheers.” The rest of them and O’Drice crowd around the device and start to look for a way to turn it off.
After ten minutes, I lean forward and ask, “What about the big red switch on the side?”
“Well, that’s obviously the self-destruct.” Elijah says, giggling.
“Guess we’ll find out.” O’Drice flicks it and sure enough Emily’s necklace slides right off. Everything slows down, I dart out my hand and scoop the chain out of the air before it can disappear into the bottomless cavern.
“Here you go.” I pass it to Emily.
“Thanks.” She says awkwardly, hiding it as fast as she can.
Once we are back on the train, a huge black box filling the luggage rack, I sit down next to an unusually withdrawn Emily. “What’s up with you then?”
“What do you mean?”
“C’mon, I’m not that dense.” I look at her and she averts her eyes, “Have I done something? Or said something?”
“No, nothing like that. You’ve not done anything.”
“Then what is it?”
“I told you, it’s nothing.”
“Then why did you suddenly stop talking to me when I saw that necklace?”
“Look, Jack, it’s nothing that you have done- I promise. But I really can’t tell you. I know you would understand if I did tell you but not telling people has always been my defense…but I don’t know if I can carry on…” Emily buries her head in my shoulder and begins to quietly cry.
When we get back to Scotland, Emily is fine, we open the case and watch as the technicians begin dismantling the device, constantly taking pictures after every part taken off. It seems that it is made up of eight huge electromagnets, all spinning around and amplified by a series of panels which are taken away for testing. “Very well done, all of you, this is a very significant find.” Colonel McVallen, ever a woman of few words, holds a distinctly proud expression as she speaks. We go back to the common room, Jacob and Elijah go off to mess about somewhere (they have built a very strong bond) and I get my laptop out. I press play on the video again when Emily emerges from the dormitories.
“Jack, I need to tell you something…”
Writeboy 