The Time Rip (38 page)

He turned to Jeremy and said “Garden’s coming along well, any ideas on plants yet?”

Freya walked casually out the gate, letting it click closed behind her. She hesitated, waiting for Jeremy to come running out after her and then listened intently for a moment. She could hear Jeremy clearly, as he spoke to Joe.

This was it then. She took a breath and found her heart suddenly pounding. Quiet as a mouse, she raced around the back of the walled garden and made for the time doorway.

It was only that she knew the location of it so well that she was able to find it so fast. She stepped through feeling the familiar rush of air away from her. Freya knew she would not have long to make her escape. As soon as Jeremy was able to get rid of Joe he would use his device to come after her, and this time he would begin with the field she was in now.

She took off running around the meadow. The wellies Jeremy had provided her with for the gardening were overlarge, but much easier to run in than her heels. She ran full out towards the road and felt joy rush through her at the site of her van, still parked where she had left it the day before. Of Martin’s four by four, there was no sign.

She slid around a bit in the mud as she made for the driver’s door, and sputtered out a sound somewhere between a whoop and a laugh of delight as she fished out the key.

Shucking the wellies into the passenger foot-well, Freya lost no time reversing up the lane and heading for the M4. It was immensely fun to be on the motorway once more, and she felt an incredible sense of freedom. The sky was overcast with clouds, just the kind of day she would have loathed previously, but it only seemed to add to her sunny mood. Here, doing sixty between junctions, Jeremy could not possibly find her. For these few miles, she was safe. She had done it. She had escaped.

Although it was fun to have outsmarted him, Freya was certain she had nothing to fear from Jeremy and, if she were completely honest with herself, she hadn’t really wanted to leave. It was more about being uncertain if she was ready for a relationship with him. One where he held all the cards.

The idea was a little freaky. Even worse was the knowledge she was already obsessed with him to the point that his mere proximity could obliterate rational thought. So it was with some caution that she drove into Reading.

It had been two hours since she had left Jeremy and he would now certainly be looking for her. Parking in a nearby multi-storey, she walked nervously to her friend’s home. Janet answered almost straightaway, gave a beaming grin and grabbed her by both arms to haul her into a hug.

“Where have you been, I haven’t seen you in ages?”

“Oh, here and there,” back and forth through time, “you know how it is.”

Janet let go of her long enough to shut the front door and drag her to the kitchen.

Freya sighed as some of the tension left her. “It’s good to see you, Jan. You are never going to believe what’s happened, but you’re gonna have to try ‘cause it’s all true, I swear.”

“Uh oh, that sounds like trouble.” She flashed Freya a grin over her shoulder as she pulled out a couple of mugs. “I’ve got a few unbelievable things to tell you, too. A real eye opener about Greg, that guy in the Muppets shirt I had my eye on the other week. Anyway, it’s brilliant to see you, tell me your news first. Where have you been and what have you been up to?”

“I’ve been with Jeremy.”

“Oooh.”

Freya grinned. “It’s not like that.”

“Really? How disappointing for you.”

Freya burst out laughing. “I’m not on that page yet, Jan. I’m still content to drool from afar.”

“So tell me, what’s been going on with you?” Janet pulled out a tin of cake and put the kettle on as she spoke.

Freya settled down as it began to rain. The sound was soothing on the windowpane, creating a sense of isolation from the rest of the world. When she had finished her rambling tale, Janet was looking thoughtful.

“So you can just walk into 1908, just like that?”

“Uh huh. I thought I was going crazy at first. If I hadn’t actually done it, I’m not sure I would have believed it was possible.”

“You know, before I met Greg, if you’d told me all of this I’d have been smiling sincerely while reaching for the number for your GP, but now I know as much as I do about him, I have no problem saying I believe you.”

“You do?” An astonished smile lit Freya’s face. “So how come? Does Greg have a time machine?”

“Not only has one but left it kicking about in an unlocked desk. I snaffled it and went to see a film in ‘96.”

“What!”

Janet laughed, “I know, but it was nothing less than he deserved for being so careless about what was going on.”

Freya was practically hopping up and down, “Do you still have it? Do you—”

Janet shook her head, looking amused, “I had to give it back.”

Freya’s look of disappointment made Janet smile. “I actually saw him appear out of nowhere when he thought I wasn’t looking, and that was after all the stuff I saw on his laptop.”

“Why am I not surprised you looked at his computer?”

“I only read a few e-mails.” She grinned and held up a hand so she could continue, “Even before that, I knew something was off about him. All that rubbish about being an IT specialist when it was clear he didn’t have a clue about computers. People think because I’m a jeweller I won’t know about stuff like that.”

“If he only knew…”

“Enough about me. What are
you
going to do? I am not at all sure about your plan to steal a time device. Maybe you should have talked things through with Jeremy.”

“I can’t believe you just said that when you already went time travelling with a nicked time machine.” She shook her head slightly, “I can’t believe
I
just said that.”

“Seriously, Freya, you like him and you think he returns your feelings. Why didn’t you talk to him about being unable to get home? He would have to be a monster to keep you from your friends and family.”

Freya bit her lip, looking anxious for a moment. “I don’t know, Jan. I don’t think he would expect me to stay there all the time, but if he closes the time doorway, I would be dependent on him bringing me back here. It puts all the power in his hands and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that. However nice he seems now, I can’t just allow him the ability to restrict my movements. It’s not like I could walk out if we had a fight.”

Janet paused as she considered her friend. “Do you think he would keep you against your will?”

“He did keep me there. If I hadn’t escaped I’d still be there now.”

“You didn’t tell him you were unhappy with his ultimatum, and you ran away rather than talk to him. Do you think he still would have kept you there if you had made your feelings plain to him?”

Freya ran a hand through her hair and then hissed out a breath in exasperation. “I know what you’re getting at, but it’s not that simple. I know he is interested in me; I would have to be blind to miss it. I’m just not sure what I want to do about it.”

“All right, answer me this: has he ever done anything that has been detrimental to your health and well-being?”

“Yes! He handcuffed me to his stupid bed.”

“He handcuffed you to his bed?”

“Um…”

“Are you sure this is something you want to tell me about?”

Freya huffed. She had, admittedly, left out some of the finer detail. “It wasn’t like that,” she said in a small voice.

“Did he hurt you, Freya, physically or emotionally?”

“Probably. I’ll probably have issues over it all for the rest of my life.”

“Poor Jeremy has no idea what a mountain he has to climb with you does he.”

“What do you mean, poor Jeremy?”

“If you weren’t blinded by fear over your feelings, you would have talked rationally to him, and
—
”

“And if I want to give this relationship a chance then I need to have some control. I can’t give that up.”

“Well, at least you are admitting you’re in a relationship with him.”

Freya scowled at her friend.

Janet rolled her eyes and grinned. “Jeremy has a lot to answer for in not being up front with you. I know you are incapable of keeping things straightforward, but I would have expected better of him.”

“Well I can’t go back now and undo everything that’s happened. I don’t have a time device. So. What would you do in my shoes?”

“I guess I would want to have a time device of my own,” she said, but on seeing Freya’s triumphant face added, “But I would have talked to him about it, and you’re still going to, Freya.”

“Does that mean you’re gonna help me?”

“Of course I will. Tell you what, we’ll go steal a time device for you and you can put it in a plastic bag and bury it near Jeremy’s house somewhere. Then you go back to him and tell him how sorry you are for walking out like you did. You can have it all out with him, see what he says, and work on your trust and commitment issues safe in the knowledge you have a fail-safe backup plan.”

“I love the way you put that. We’ll just go steal a time device. Do you think it’s even possible? I mean, I can’t see that they’d leave something like that lying around, especially after you nicking Greg’s. I know it was my original idea, but the more I think about it, the more nuts it sounds, and don’t suggest we take a look around during the day while paying a friendly visit, because I don’t want to go anywhere near Greg while I’m effectively on the run from Jeremy.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll go when the office is shut and we can search properly, and if we don’t find one, we’ll come back here and think again.”

“How will we get in, do you have a key?”

“No, and I’ll have to disable the alarms first, but it shouldn’t be a problem.” She flashed Freya a grin and jumped up to grab her laptop off the desk, hugging it to her chest and turning a neat two-step circle. “Project!”

It was after three when Freya woke up. She had tried to take an interest when Janet pulled out her laptop, but found her eyes kept drifting closed. Now she allowed them to wander around Janet’s small sitting room. The rain had turned heavy and the room was dim from the downpour.

Janet sat close to where Freya was curled up on the sofa. Her face, bathed in the glow from the screen, was a mask of concentration. Fingers flying over the keys then stopping abruptly and tapping absently at the sides of the machine.

The rain pounded against the windows; gusts of wind echoing mournfully through the chimneybreast.

Freya yawned and straightened up. “Any luck?”

“Hmm, yeah, nearly there now. Aha, gotcha.” A lazy grin curved Janet’s face as her fingers went into overdrive flying over the keys.

Freya shrugged, stumbled out to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to try to wake up a bit. She felt empty inside. Strangely cold. She wanted to run back to Jeremy, wrap her arms around him and feel warm again; tell him it was only a joke when she’d run off and that she hadn’t meant it.

What was wrong with her? When she had been with him, she had thought only of escape. Now she had managed it, she wanted to run back to him.

She heaved a sigh. This was a crazy plan. What had she been thinking anyway? With hindsight, it was easy to see that she shouldn’t have dementedly run away. Jeremy wasn’t her enemy; he would worry over her going missing, and might spend hours searching for her.