Kerstin Gier - Ruby Red (Ruby Red - Trilogy)

For Elk, Dolphin, and Owl,

who kept me company while I was writing, and for a little red double-decker bus that made me happy at just the right moment

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

Hyde Park, London

8 April 1912

AS SHE FELL to her knees and burst into tears, he looked all around the park. Just as hed expected, it was empty at this early hour. Jogging wouldnt be fashionable for a long time yet, and it was too cold for the beggars who slept on park benches with nothing but newspaper over them.

He carefully wrapped the chronograph in its cloth and slipped it into his backpack.

She was huddled beside one of the trees on the north bank of the Serpentine, on a carpet of faded crocuses.

Her shoulders were shaking, and her sobs sounded like the desperate cries of an injured animal. He could hardly bear it. But he knew from experience that it was better to leave her alone. So he sat down beside her in the dew-covered grass, gazed at the smooth surface of the water, and waited.

Have tissues been invented yet? she finally sniffed, turning her tearstained face to him.

No idea, he said. But I can offer you a monogrammed hankydead right for this period.

G.M. Did you pinch it from Grace?

She gave it to me, dont worry. You can blow your nose on it all you like, Princess.

She smiled wryly as she handed him the handkerchief. Now its ruined. Sorry about that.

Oh, never mind! he said. Just so long as youve stopped crying.

Tears shot straight back into her eyes. We shouldnt have abandoned her. She needs us! Weve no idea if our bluff will work and no chance of ever finding out now.

Wed have been even less use to her dead.

If we could only have hidden away with her somewhere far off, under other names, until she was old enough to

He interrupted her, shaking his head firmly. Theyd have found us anywhere we went; weve discussed that a thousand times already. We didnt abandon her. We did the only right thing: we made it possible for her to live in safety. At least for the next sixteen years.

For a moment she said nothing. Somewhere in the distance a horse whinnied, and voices drifted over from West Carriage Drive, although it was nearly dark now.

I know youre right, she said at last. It just hurts so much to know well never see her again. She gently rubbed her red-rimmed eyes. At least were not going to be bored. Sooner or later theyll track us down, even here, and set the Guardians on us. Hes not about to give up either the chronograph or his plans, not without a fight.

He smiled, seeing the light of adventure come back into her eyes. Maybe well outwit him after all. Either that, or in the end the other device wont work. Then hell be finished.

Right. But if it does work, were the only ones who can stop him.

Thats just why weve done the right thing. He stood up and brushed the earth off his jeans. Come on! This damn grass is wet, and youre supposed to be taking things easy.

She let him pull her to her feet and kiss her. What are we going to do now? Look for a place to hide the chronograph? she asked, looking undecidedly at the bridge separating Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens.

Yes, but first lets raid the Guardians deposits and stock up with cash. Then we could take the train to Southampton. The Titanic leaves on Wednesday. For her maiden voyage.

She laughed. So thats your idea of taking things easy! But right, Im with you!

He was so glad she could laugh again that he kissed her once more. I was really thinking. You know that out at sea a ships captain can marry people, dont you, Princess?

You want to marry me? On board the Titanic ? Are you out of your mind?

It would be so romantic.

Except the bit with the iceberg. She laid her head on his chest and buried her face in his jacket. I love you so much, she murmured.

Will you be my wife?

Yes, she said, her face still buried against his chest. But only if we leave the ship in Queenstown, Ireland, at the latest.

Ready for the next adventure, Princess?

Ready when you are, she said softly.

Uncontrolled time travel usually announces itself a few minutes in advance, but sometimes hours or even days ahead. The symptoms are sensations of vertigo in the head, stomach, and/or legs. Many gene carriers also speak of a headache similar to migraine.

The first journey back in timealso known as the initiation journeytakes place between the sixteenth and seventeenth years of the gene carriers life.

F ROM T HE C HRONICLES OF THE G UARDIANS ,

V OLUME 2: G ENERAL L AWS OF T IME TRAVEL

ONE

I FIRST FELT IT in the school canteen on Monday morning. For a moment it was like being on a roller coaster when youre racing down from the very top. It lasted only two seconds, but that was long enough for me to dump a plateful of mashed potatoes and gravy all over my school uniform. I managed to catch the plate just in time, as my knife and fork clattered to the floor.

This stuff tastes like its been scraped off the floor anyway, said my friend Lesley while I mopped up the damage as well as I could. Of course everyone was looking at me. You can have mine too, if you fancy spreading some more on your blouse.

No thanks. As it happens, the blouse of the St. Lennox High School uniform was pretty much the color of mashed potatoes anyway, but you still couldnt miss seeing the remaining globs of my lunch. I buttoned up my dark blue blazer over it.

There goes Gwenny, playing with her food again! said Cynthia Dale. Dont you sit next to me, you mucky pup.

As if Id ever sit next to you of my own free will, Cyn. Its a fact, Im afraid, that I did quite often have little accidents with school lunches. Only last week my pudding had hopped out of its dish and landed a few feet away, right in a Year Seven boys spaghetti carbonara. The week before that Id knocked my cranberry juice over, and everyone at our table was splashed. They looked as if they had measles. And I really couldnt count the number of times the stupid tie thats part of our school uniform had been drenched in sauce, juice, or milk.

Only Id never felt dizzy at the same time before.

But I was probably just imagining it. Thered been too much talk at home recently about dizzy feelings.

Not mine, though: my cousin Charlottes dizzy spells. Charlotte, beautiful and immaculate as ever, was sitting right there next to Cynthia, gracefully scooping mashed potatoes into her delicate mouth.

The entire family was on tenterhooks, waiting for Charlotte to have a dizzy fit. On most days, my grandmother, Lady Arista, asked Charlotte how she was feeling every ten minutes. My aunt Glenda, Charlottes mother, filled the ten-minute gap by asking the same thing in between Lady Aristas interrogations.

And whenever Charlotte said that she didnt feel dizzy, Lady Aristas lips tightened and Aunt Glenda sighed. Or sometimes the other way around.

The rest of usmy mum, my sister Caroline, my brother Nick, and Great-aunt Maddyrolled our eyes. Of course it was exciting to have someone with a time-travel gene in the family, but as the days went by, the excitement kind of wore off. Sometimes we felt that all the fuss being made over Charlotte was just too much.

Charlotte herself usually hid her feelings behind a mysterious Mona Lisa smile. In her place, I wouldnt have known whether to be excited or worried if dizzy feelings failed to show up. Well, to be honest, Id probably have been pleased. I was more the timid sort. I liked peace and quiet.

Something will happen sooner or later, Lady Arista said every day. And we must be ready.

Sure enough, something did happen after lunch, in Mr. Whitmans history class. Id left the canteen feeling hungry. Id found a black hair in my dessertapple crumble with custardand I couldnt be sure if it was one of my own hairs or a lunch ladys. Anyway, I didnt fancy the crumble after that.