“Race ye to school!” Micah challenged, taking off before Robyn or Vivian could have a chance to reply.
Robyn took off after him with no hesitation.
“Hey!” Vivian protested, hurrying to catch up. “Do you know how hard it is to run in a long skirt?”
The boys paid her no mind, until Micah's foot fell out from underneath him and he fell flat on his face.
“Jings and crivvens!” Micah swore. Robyn went to help his boyfriend up, while Vivian came up behind stifling a laugh.
“What did you trip over?” Robyn asked, looking at the apparently smooth sand.
“I dinna ken.” Micah said, standing up and brushing sand from his front. “It felt like there was a hole in the sand.”
Vivian started inspecting the sand, she found the hole and put her hand in. “Check this out! I think it's a time pool.”
“A timepool?” Robyn repeated, kneeling down by his friend. “I thought those were just myths.”
“I wonder when this one goes…” Micah said, giving the sand an experimental poke. “Should we check it out?”
“Only one way to find out.” Said Robyn.
“Have you gone mad?” Vivian demanded, “Who knows when you'll end up! Not to mention if the tide comes in you'll be trapped…not to mention the bloody-fly effect…”
“Dinna fash, Viv, it's a new moon tonight, the tide won't get this high for a week at least, an’ as long as we don't go changin’ anythin’ we won't have anythin' to worry about.”
Vivian shook her head. “I'm not risking it.”
“Then can you keep a lookout while we go?” Robyn asked, Vivian looked skeptical. “We'll be quick. Come on! You're an oracle witch, you get to see into the future all the time. This might be my only chance.”
Vivian pursed her lips. “Fine, you've got one hour. If you're not back by then, I'm telling your mom.”
“Deal.” Robyn held out his hand to shake. Then he and Micah jumped into the timepool.
They emerged on a sunny beach not notably different from the one they left other than the fact Vivian wasn't there.
“When do you think we ended up?” Robyn asked.
“Dinna ken, watch, with our luck we only ended up twenty minutes in the future and are late to school for nothin'.”
Robyn laughed, “Let's check out the town. Maybe we'll find something with the date.”
They went into town and found it not too terribly different from the town they knew. A few shops and stalls had different names and the slayground equipment looked newer, but for the most part everything looked the same.
“We can't have gone too far.” Micah said. “Yer grandparents shop is still there.”
A big sign that said Clawthorne's Carvings hung just as it always had, with the shop windows full of palismen. They got closer until they saw a much younger version of Robyn's grandmother carrying a box out of the door.
“Thank you again for all your help, Caleb.” She said to someone behind her.
“It's the least I can do after everything you've done to help my brother and me.” A man replied, he came into view seconds later. Robyn stood frozen in place as he saw his father for the first time. He recognized him immediately from his mother's descriptions, not to mention their own similarities. He was taller than Robyn, with blonde hair instead of brunette and round ears, but other than that they looked very similar.
“Will Philip be joining us today?” Grandma Sylvia went on to ask.
“I'm afraid not. He is preoccupied with his studies at the moment.”
“Ever the scholars, you two boys. Sometimes I wonder what it is you are looking for.” Grandma said.
Caleb chuckled a bit uncomfortably, “Well, the Boiling Isles are so different from our home. There is so much to learn…”
“Dad…” Robyn took a step forward, but Micah grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“What are ye doin’?!” Micah demanded.
“This is my one chance to meet my father…” Robyn said. “To talk to him, I could…I could warn him!”
“He just mentioned a brother! You heard him right? Mom never mentioned I had an uncle, but she said that Dad was betrayed by someone close to him…”
“I could save him! I could have my father in my life! I could actually get to know him! I could even have siblings!”
“Robyn!” Micah grabbed his boyfriend with both hands. “I get ye're excited but have ye ever stopped to think that maybe the way things are now they are…” He grappled for the right word.
“...for the best?” Robyn finished sharply.
“No! Obviously not best! I just meant…maybe things happened the way they were supposed to happen.”
Robyn pulled away, “Easy to say for someone who has a perfect, intact family.”
“My family has its flaws.” Micah said.
“Flaws?” Robyn scoffed. “Do you have even an ounce of an idea how good you have it? Some people would give anything to have something like you do! I don't expect you to understand my situation but you are in no position to tell me ‘things are best or meant to be the way they are now’. I have the chance to get a future with my father in it! You out of all people know how important of a matter that is to me!”
“I expected a bit more compassion from my boyfriend!”
“Titan's sake, would ye please listen to me!” Micah begged.
“You've said quite enough.”
“Ye won't even let me finish a damn sentence!”
“Look, if you don't wanna help me with this, go and watch the pools with Viv. I can very well handle this without you.”
“Cryin' out loud, I AM NOT AGAINST YE TRYIN' TO ACHIEVE YER DREAM FAMILY LIFE!” When he realized people on the street were turning to stare, he grabbed Robyn's arm and pulled him into an alcove between two shops. “I just want to remind ye that changin' even the smallest thing in the past can lead to chaos in the future.”
“Right.” Robyn said dryly, “I forgot the part where saving my father from being murdered leads to a catastrophe.”
“I'm not sayin' it will be the end of the world. I'm sayin' we don't know at what cost saving yer father comes. He died to protect ye and yer mother. What if by savin' him, we lose yer mother and... you.”
“I think you're exaggerating. We don't have infinite of time to stand here and fight, so last chance: are you with me or not?”
Micah opened his mouth, then closed it, lost for words.
“Fine.” Robyn said. “I see how it is.”
“Go back and wait with Vivian. I don't need you here.”
Before Micah could stop him, Robyn stormed away. His father was helping his grandmother stack boxes onto a cart.
“Careful, there, Blondie.” A playful voice said, “those decorations are for the festival tonight. If they get wrinkled no one in town will ever fall in love again.”
“Cathy, don't tease.” Grandma said, “Just because you don't believe in the Lunaris blossoms doesn't mean everyone is jaded.”
Robyn's mother rolled her eyes. She looked so different than Robyn had ever seen her. Her hair was short and her face much more youthful. She jumped up onto the cart.
“Um…excuse me…” Robyn said.
“Sorry, dear, the shop is closed for the holiday.” Grandma said, hardly casting a glance in his direction, “We'll be open tomorrow.”
Caleb was already climbing into the cart beside Catherine. Grandma Sylvia climbed in front and drove away.
Micah came up behind Robyn and took his hand. “Ye tried. Let's get back.”
“No.” Robyn said determinedly. “If I can't warn him…maybe I can stop his brother…”
