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looked like Dad.”
    “Your dad?”
    “Yes.”
    “Um. That’s strange. Are you sure?”
    "Almost positive. Do we still have any pictures?”
    “No, I got rid of them a long time ago.”
    “Do you know where he is?”
    Her face fell.
    “What?” I said.
    “Kally. I got word he died two years ago.”
    “Oh. That’s terrible.”
    “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I’m sorry he was such a horrible father, but he was and we got him out of our lives. But the way he lived – he was a criminal, Kally. He was bound to get in trouble. His trouble was big and it got him killed.”
    “Are you sure?” I wasn’t sad that my father was dead. I didn’t much care. I never thought I’d see him again anyway.
    “I identified his body.”
    “Wow.”
    “I know, it’s horrible, but I didn’t think I should lie about it at this point.”
    I shook my head. “No, but do you think . . . do you think maybe he didn’t really die, but traveled through time?”
    “Phew, that’s quite the stretch. No, I identified the body,” she said again. “He didn’t travel anywhere after that . . . but it is time travel so who . . . no, Kally, I'm almost certain your father never traveled through time. No matter where he went, he would have gotten in trouble. He wouldn't have known how to handle it. I'm sure he was stuck here and in his own time only." 
    I didn’t remember knowing him. I had a faint impression of pictures of him and Mom, but I hadn’t seen any pictures for a long time. Maybe Ivar Lennox hadn’t looked like him, but something about Lennox had definitely reminded me of the pictures. 
    "Your story is amazing, though," Mom said.
    “You don’t believe me?”
    “No, that’s not it at all. It’s just amazing.”
    “You do believe me?”
    “I don’t think you’ve ever lied to me, even when I didn’t necessarily want to hear the truth. I believe you, but it'll take me a little time for it to soak in.”
    I sighed.
    Mom put her hand on my arm. “Do you wish you hadn’t come home? Do you miss them? Remember, don’t lie to me.”
    “I miss them. I don’t wish I’d stayed unless you could come too. I wish they were all here and I could see them.”
    Mom sat back and looked at me a long moment. Finally, she said, “I think you should try to go back.”
    “What? Why?”
    “Because when you talk about them, your face lights up. Traveling there might make here less . . . awful."
    “You want me to run away?”
    “I don’t look at it like that. I want you to live a good life.”
    "But you aren’t there.”
    “That’s hard, I’ll admit, but you know how to come back."
    "Mom, I don’t know how any of it really works. If I knew I could go back and forth, I might, but I don't want to risk it. Even if I did, I have no idea how to get there in the first place."
    "Maybe it'll just happen again." I looked at her. I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
    “I thought you’d tell me I needed to get over it and move on," I said.
    She shrugged. “I want you to be happy, but . . .”
    “What?”
    “Remember, someone doesn’t want you there, Kally. If you go back, you have to be careful.”
    “If I ever go back. If. If I get scared, I’ll just yank off the necklace.”
    “You promise?”
    “Yes. Look at us, talking like it's going to happen again."
    "We don’t know," Mom said. "And we should be prepared." She touched the pendant. “You found it in Mr. Bellini’s clock. Talk to him. See where he got the clock. Maybe you can begin there.”
    “What if he wants the necklace back?”
    “You’ll have to give it to him.”
    “What if it’s the thing that made me travel?”
    “Then it isn’t meant to be.”
    The next day I finished Mr. Bellini’s clock, hid it in the wagon, and made my way to his house.
    *****
     
    “I’m sorry it took me so long, Mr. Bellini,” I said.
    He'd snuck me and the wagon in through his back door. We stood in his small kitchen; the only part I noticed was a wall with some