Free The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens Page B

Sallow.”
    “Abraham …” Kate and Emma had decided to be up front; they needed answers, and the old caretaker was their best, and safest, hope of getting them. “Do you, um, do you remember us? From before. One day beside the lake. Did we just sort of … appear?”
    Kate knew if she’d asked this question two days earlier, Abraham would have had no idea what she was talking about. But since then, she and Emma and Michael had gone back in time. The past was different now. That meant Abraham’s memory should also be different. And in fact, even before she’d finished asking the question, the old man was smiling.
    “Remember you? Three young ’uns just—pop—appearing out a’ nowhere? A person doesn’t go forgetting a thing like that. When I saw you lot get off the boat day before yesterday, I said to myself, Abraham, old boy, them’s the same that stepped out a’ thin air near fifteen year ago, and look at ’em, not a day older. But I’m glad you finally fessed up; I feared I was getting soft.” Abraham leaned closer. “I take it you’ve pieced it together, then? The truth about Cambridge Falls?”
    Kate shook her head. “That’s why we’re here.”
    “Oh, you’re having me on! Two children who go skipping about through time, and I’m to believe you’ve not realized the very nature of the place you live?”
    “We thought … I mean, we suspected there was something strange.…”
    “Strange, oh yes. That’d be putting it mildly.”
    “And Dr. Pym … is he …”
    “Is he what, miss?”
    “Is he a …” Kate couldn’t bring herself to say the word.
    Luckily, Emma’s patience had reached its limit. “Is he a wizard?!”
    “Shhhhhhh!” Abraham scooched his chair even closer, gesturing them to lower their voices. “Let’s not be announcing it in Westport!” Then he winked, grinning. “But you’ve hit it there. The man’s a wizard, true as life.”
    Kate set her cider on the floor. She no longer trusted her hands.
    “And how did the two of you find out? Did he do a spell, perhaps?”
    “He sort of made a fire appear,” Emma said.
    Abraham nodded knowingly. “Yes, a brilliant man, the Doctor, but he couldn’t start a fire to save his own life. Tell me, are you witches, then?” A look of worry crossed his face. “ ’Cause if you are, I’ll just say I’ve never been anything but friendly toward you, and don’t reckon being changed into a goat or growing an extra bottom—”
    “We’re not witches,” Kate assured him.
    “Yeah,” Emma said. “We always thought magic was just some stupid thing Michael talked about.”
    “Is that so?” Abraham rubbed his beard. “You didn’t know magic was real?”
    “It’s not unusual,” Kate said. “Most people don’t think magic is real.”
    “Not even Michael,” Emma added. “And he’s pretty weird.”
    “Then how in heaven’s name did you come—”
    “We’ll tell you everything,” Kate said. “But you have to tell us about Cambridge Falls. The truth.”
    He looked at them for a long moment, then sighed. “Very well. I suppose the cat’s out of the bag. But I’ll be needing my smoke.” And he took out his pipe, tamped the bowl with his thumb, and lit it with a stick from the fire. “Now, the first thing you must know is that the magic world used to be entwined with our own. Like this.” Abraham threaded his knobby fingers together. “Was that way for thousands a’ years. Till people—normal people, I’m talking about—started spreading out and multiplying, putting up towns and cities. Finally, the magical types saw that humankind was unstoppable. So they began carving out territories and made ’em invisible to human eyes and impossible to enter unless you knew the way. Whole chunks just vanished off the map. This went on a century or more. Then, last day a’ December, 1899, what was left a’ the magical world up and disappeared. Whoosh!”
    “But,” Kate interrupted, “that’s not that long