Free Back to Blackbrick by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

went on about how he was someone who never broke his promises, as if I weren’t even there and as if I hadn’t had anything to do with the whole thing.
    I thought then would be an excellent moment to unveil the truth. The timing was more or less perfect and I was feeling quite excited. So without waiting for another second I said, “Hey, guess what? I know a whole load of things about you.” And I was feeling all knowledgeable and wise, the way only time travelers can.
    â€œFor example,” I continued, looking at her, “I know what your name is.” She looked at Kevin, and then they stared at me in a not-particularly-impressed way.
    â€œYour name’s Deedee.”
    There was a kind of spooky silence for a while, and I assumed they were absorbing my brilliance.
    â€œDeedee?” they both said then. “Who’s Deedee?”
    â€œDon’t worry,” Kevin whispered to her, and he tapped his half finger on the side of his head, which I knew for a fact was his way of saying there was a lunatic on board.
    They told me that neither of them had ever even heard of anyone called Deedee in their lives.
    â€œThis is Maggie,” he said, pointing to her with that finger again. “Maggie McGuire.”
    And his voice was as certain and solid as a bullet whistling toward me.

Chapter 9
    IT WAS all wrong.
    This girl looked like she was about fifteen, maybe even sixteen, and she had a ton of siblings that Granny Deedee never had, as far as I knew. This girl was a different person completely.
    Oh no , I said to myself. I’m tampering with history here. I’m interfering with the natural order of things . It wasn’t until then that I realized how hazardous the whole thing was. You’re not supposed to mess with the past like that.
    The point is that if you want to exist, then your grandfather has to marry a very specific person, and in my case that person’s name was not Maggie McGuire. And now there was a massive question mark over me and my whole basic future existence.
    So I went, “Whoa!” and I pulled the reins, and the horses slowed down and then they came to a total stop.
    â€œCosmo, what are you doing?” Kevin said. “Keep going! We’ve got to get back as quickly as we can. This is no time to relax.”
    â€œI’m not relaxed,” I said, which was definitely true.
    â€œExcuse me for a second,” I said to Maggie then, and she looked at me and smiled.
    It’s very hard to explain what it was like to have Maggie smile at you, even under stressful conditions like the ones I was in. I could supply you with a load of details, like for example that her hair was all messy and her face was all pale and oval and everything, but that still doesn’t really give you an idea.
    So anyway, I asked Kevin if he wouldn’t mind stepping off the cart for a moment, there was something I needed to discuss with him in private, and it was important.
    â€œWhat the bloody hell, in the name of all that’s holy, are you doing?” he asked after we’d both jumped down onto the muddy ground.
    â€œThere’s something I really need to discuss with you. Something to do with you and this girl. You see, the thing is, she’s not who she’s supposed to be at all.”
    â€œGod almighty,” he whispered, his voice kind of gravelly and grim. “You need to keep out of this. This is none of your business.”
    He was only a young boy himself, way too young to be thinking about making a lifelong commitment to somebody, especially someone who he wasn’t supposed to end up with anyway.
    The other quite big problem was that she was gorgeous. And if he did end up with her like he said he was going to, then I was pretty sure it meant he wouldn’t be ending upwith Granny Deedee, and if he didn’t do that, then I’d basically never be born.
    Typical me to get tied up in a situation like this.
    â€œI want you to