Secrets of the Time Society

Michele Windsor dreamt she was walking along an unfamiliar beach, and though she was supposed to be alone, she had the frightening sensation of another presence behind her. Afraid to look, she kept her eyes on the sand, concentrating on the seashells beneath her feet, until she couldn’t stand it any longer. She tentatively glanced back—and cried out in terror
.

A line of black-cloaked girls in Victorian dress trailed Michele ominously, their faces hidden by the veiled netting on their hats. At the sound of Michele’s cry, the girls lifted their veils and raised their eyes in unison. That was when Michele saw that they all had the same pale, sharp face, the same stringy black hair and flashing dark eyes. It was one teenage girl multiplied, a girl whose furious face was a strange blend of young and old. A girl who seemed almost ageless
.

Rebecca Windsor was conscious of the sudden tremor to her hands as she took the leather-bound book from her mysterious visitor.
“The Handbook of the Time Society,”
she read slowly. She narrowed her eyes at the tall, willowy figure of Millicent August. Rebecca had been surprised to find this stranger with the long silver hair waiting for her when she returned home from tea with the Vanderbilts’ dull daughter. It was frankly shocking that the footman had let this woman, who had never
been properly introduced to the Windsors, into the parlor of the family’s brand-new Fifth Avenue mansion. Rebecca could easily have had Millicent turned out, but she had never been able to resist anything that carried a whiff of the improper or the unexpected. So now she sat eyeing the enigmatic woman, who looked back at her unflinchingly.

“Go on, then. Read it,” Millicent commanded, with none of the deference Rebecca’s wealth and station usually elicited from those who addressed her. She looked warily at Millicent before beginning to read aloud.

“Time may be the master of most human beings, but yours is a body and soul it cannot conquer. This unshakeable, undisputed force, that turns day into night and infants into elders, keeps its inner workings and phenomena under a mostly impenetrable veil. If you are reading this, then you have been chosen to lift the curtain.”
Rebecca drew in a sharp breath and snapped the book shut, her heart beginning to race. “Who are you really?”

Millicent smiled, her green eyes glittering in the light from the gas lamp. “I am the founder and president of the Time Society. It would seem that you are one of us—a Timekeeper, one link in a select chain of individuals born with the gene that enables us to move and manipulate Time. That is why I am here.”

Rebecca was stunned. It had never occurred to her that there might be others like her, and now she was unsure whether this turn of events was a misfortune or a blessing.

“It’s all right,” Millicent said smoothly, as though reading Rebecca’s thoughts. “You will be glad to join the Society, to have peers. It must be quite lonely to lead a double life at just seventeen years old, having no one with whom to share it.” She peered closely at Rebecca, almost testing her to see if she had in fact shared her secret with anyone. Rebecca thought briefly of telling Millicent about
him
, but she quickly decided against it.

“I rather like being the only one with this sort of … magic,” Rebecca admitted instead.

Millicent smiled thinly. “That too is natural. But you see, your power will grow much stronger once you join the Time Society. You will meet Timekeepers who can do things you’ve only dreamt of, and you will learn from them.” She leaned forward intently. “That is the purpose of the Society I founded half a century ago—to find others born with the Time-Travel Gene so we may use our gifts collectively, become stronger, and preserve our history while protecting our future.”

Rebecca’s head spun with so many questions, she barely knew where to begin.

“But—how can you look so young?” she blurted out. “You said you founded the Society half a century ago? But you don’t even look my mother’s age!”

“It’s called age shifting,” Millicent said, the odd phrase sending a shiver up Rebecca’s spine. “Simply put, it is a way of traveling through time in the body of your younger or older self. You can learn to do it too. If you join the Society, I will teach you.”

“How did you find me?” An unpleasant thought occurred to Rebecca, and she adopted her haughtiest tone as she asked, “Have you been
spying
on me?”

“I certainly wouldn’t call it spying,” Millicent demurred. “Long ago, the Society formed a committee of Detectors to locate unregistered time travelers. They can be quite easy to spot when you know what to look for—a woman wearing modern clothing while wandering about in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia, for instance, or a man appearing out of thin air whom others do not notice. You, dear, were spotted looking wildly out of place in the New York City of 1918.”

Rebecca flushed, unable to hide her smile as she thought back to that exhilarating afternoon. It had been only her second time-traveling episode. As disbelief had given way to astonished acceptance, she had realized that time travel was the answer to every question—the mysterious means by which she might obtain everything she had ever wanted.

As the slow, sepia-toned Manhattan of 1888 had faded, replaced by the kinetic and colorful city of 1918, Rebecca had floated through the city as if in an ecstatic dream. Her eyes drank in the great inventions people of her time fantasized about but didn’t dare hope to experience: the horseless carriage, the radio, the moving picture! Rebecca stood in rapture on the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue, watching not just one automobile but a
parade
of them, in different colors and models. They carried beaming men in army uniforms, who waved to the crowds through an onslaught of ticker tape and confetti while other New Yorkers held up banners proclaiming victory in something called World War I.

Later that day, Rebecca had raced into the back row of the grand Mark Strand Theatre, watching with openmouthed awe as a giant screen flickered to life and elegant black-and-white characters danced about, telling a story. It was stunning to witness how much had changed in a mere thirty years, and when she had gone home to 1888, it was with the dull disappointment of returning to a world without luster.
If it weren’t for him, I would have stayed
, Rebecca thought wistfully.
Stayed in that thrilling New York of 1918
.

“Rebecca?”

She snapped back to the present at the sound of Millicent August’s voice. “I beg your pardon—I was just remembering,” Rebecca murmured. She flipped through the handbook in her lap, watching as each page surrendered to the next. The pages were covered with what looked like
riddles and answers, and she felt her heartbeat quicken with anticipation.
I need to understand
, she realized.
I need to be able to do all I can with my new power
.

Rebecca looked up at Millicent. “You were right to come. I would like to join your Society.”

“I am very pleased to hear it,” Millicent replied, her tone betraying no hint of surprise. Clearly Millicent had known what Rebecca’s answer would be. The thought annoyed Rebecca; she loathed being predictable.

“Tell me more,” Rebecca demanded, jumping out of her seat to pace the room. “How could your Detectors see me? Whenever I’ve gone into the future, I’ve been invisible to everyone.”

“You have to spend a full seven days in another time before your body leaves its true present and joins you in the past or the future. Until then, you live like a ghost, appearing only to those who possess the gift of Sight. These are usually ordinary people with no powers themselves but who can see spirits, angels, and time travelers,” Millicent revealed. “It is often an inherited gift.”

Rebecca nodded, trying to take this all in. “And why is it that I am like you—a Timekeeper?”

Millicent frowned. “You really don’t know?”

Rebecca wondered for a moment if she had made a misstep. “However
should
I know?”

“Well, it’s the key, of course,” Millicent explained. “The power is in the key.”

Rebecca’s pacing came to a halt.

“The Key of the Nile, which we all possess, is what marks us as different from the rest of the population,” Millicent continued. “These keys, which came from ancient Egypt, form the shape of the ankh, the hieroglyphic character for eternal life. And in fact, the abilities brought forth by these keys do link us closely to the immortal.”

Rebecca instinctively reached up to touch her neck, where a key hung on a gold chain, tucked under the high collar of her tea gown.

“Before they depart this earth, Timekeepers always give the Key of the Nile to a family member,” Millicent said. “Every member of the Time Society is related by birth to another time traveler, and each family’s key is completely unique. That is why time travel is considered an inherited gift, like the Gift of Sight. What’s curious is that no one from your family has ever been in the Society—which would mean that whoever gave you your key must have lived their entire life as an undetected time traveler. Who was it?”

I stole it
.

“I—I don’t remember,” Rebecca lied, the key burning against her chest. “I think I’ve always had it—I only found it recently, in an old box of things I’d forgotten about.”

“Is that so?” Millicent asked, a slight edge to her voice.

“Yes,” Rebecca replied, drawing herself up to her full height. “It looked like just an ordinary key to me at first, so I cast it aside—until I discovered its power just this year.”

To Rebecca’s relief, Millicent nodded. “I see. Still, it’s a shame. I am
so
interested to know the identity of the Timekeeper who came before you.”

Before even thinking the question through, Rebecca blurted out, “If the key is what allows me to time travel, does that mean that if I hadn’t received it … I wouldn’t have this power?”

“The power runs in your family’s blood, in the Time-Travel Gene,” Millicent said slowly, looking so intently at Rebecca that the girl was forced to avert her eyes. “That is why you were given your key. Now, the key is the traveling device; most Timekeepers cannot move through time without it. Yet there
are
a few extraordinary Timekeepers who have learned how.”

As Millicent spoke, Rebecca felt the blood draining from her face and the cold weight of disappointment settling in her stomach. Millicent glanced at the mantel clock and stood. “I should be going now, but first, I’d like to invite you to attend the grand opening of our new Time Society headquarters next week. Nearly all of our members will be there, so it will be the ideal way to introduce you.”

Rebecca paused. Could she still go through with this? But Millicent was watching her expectantly, so she nodded quickly. “Of course. Where is it?”

“In San Diego, California.” Millicent chuckled at Rebecca’s wide-eyed expression. “Why, you’ve gone thirty years into the future! California will be a very short trip for you, especially if you follow the directions in your handbook.”

Rebecca stared down at the book in wonder. As she walked Millicent to the door, she asked, “Why San Diego? What’s there?”

“One of our members was involved in the building of the first luxury hotel in California, the Aura Hotel,” Millicent answered. “He is quite brilliant, and was able to design it so that it appears to the public as simply a grand hotel, but when registered Timekeepers enter, it transforms into our headquarters. It is like a train station from which we can depart one time period for another—but set in a seaside hotel.”