Free The Unlikely Time Traveller by Janis Mackay Page B

That would seriously screw things up. So you see, we can’t go. Not yet.”
    “Go?” That was Scosha. “You must bide and enjoy the celebration.” She beamed round at us. “Peebles is famous for its harvest festival.” Then she nudged Nesswho looked, I thought, a bit embarrassed. “And this year’s festival will be extra telling. Ness receives the high honours.” Ness flushed again. “And will be garlanded.”
    “But I must make a speech in praise of the harvest,” Ness said, twisting her hands together. “And I know not what to speak of. Ideas escape my mind.”
    “The right words will come. Tell Ness,” Scosha said to us, “to fret not; it will be grand.”
    “Yeah,” Robbie said, breezily, like he had a clue what they were going on about, “you’ll be totally brilliant, Ness!” I was still gaping at him. Still trying to take in all this fingerprint bond stuff.
    “Thank you, dear Robbie,” Ness said, “though the truth be I have no clue what to say. I will be so tongue-tied, Mother will faint. But I thank you for encouragement.”
    Robbie beamed round at me, the way he did in class whenever he managed to come up with a right answer. I wanted to drag him back to the yew tree right that minute, minus his fingerprint. It would serve him right. “Tell Ness it’ll be brilliant, Saul,” he said, “go on.”
    So I did, feeling like Robbie’s parrot.
    “Thank you likewise, Saul,” Ness said, then bowed to us both. “Travellers, you would do me friendship to attend the festival celebration as my honoured guests.”
    This was going to be my moment to tell her how, now that I had found my lost friend, us travellers really needed to get going. “Sure, it sounds great!” Robbie said, “Doesn’t it, Saul?”
    I glared at him.
    “Do say likewise.” Ness smiled eagerly at me.
    Saying no to Ness didn’t feel right. I knew how stressed she was about this speech thing she had to give at the celebration. Plus now Robbie had an appointment!Something told me he might be right about the fingerprint thing. We shouldn’t just break an agreement with these future people, who might be working hard to make Robbie’s onesie. Plus, strictly speaking, this being 2115, Robbie and I were dead. It felt too weird having his fingerprint documented on some machine. What if Robbie never came to get the suit and the people with the fingerprint looked him up and discovered he should never have been in this time – could Ness get in trouble for helping us?
    “Um… Let’s see,” I said, my mind racing.
    If we did stay, I’d definitely look for the time-capsule tin. I’d get Robbie to help.

19
    “If you’re going to have a party,” Robbie piped up, “I could do my magic card tricks.”
    Ness pulled out the cards I had given her from her pocket. “Wondrous,” she said, “and I have a gift from Saul of such very cards.”
    Robbie did a double-take. These were our gang’s cards, and hey-ho, I had given them away.
    I jumped in quick. “Just a wee present,” I said, nudging him.
    Robbie asked if he could borrow them.
    “You may,” Ness said, handing them over. They were a pack that, now I thought about it, Robbie had actually bought in the first place.
    Ness’s eyes flitted from me to Robbie, like she was trying to work us out. “Perhaps you boys are apprentice entertainers? They are famed for magic card tricks. Perhaps that is it?”
    “Or wandering players?” Scosha had joined in.
    “Nah,” Robbie said, shuffling like he was some card whizz, “we’re magic travellers, aren’t we, Saul?” He grinned at me and winked.
    Even though part of me felt like punching him I found myself grinning back. Robbie was that sort of boy: annoying me one minute then he’d have me rolling around laughing the next. Maybe we could hang aroundfor this party. It might even be fun.
    I stretched my legs out and leaned back on the bench. I knew how time travel worked. Two days in future time would only be minutes in our