Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

28. Doctor Stanislaus Pym

Emma clutched her sister's hand like her life depended on it as she looked around wildly, as if Michael would be there all of a sudden, right beside them. (Right beside them, where he was always supposed to be.) Rationally, she knew that wouldn't happen, she knew that Michael hadn't come back with them. He was still stuck in that field with those monsters, through some terrible turn of fate that Emma couldn't grasp. But even trying to think such a thing felt like sacrilege, felt wrong wrong wrong.

"What are we gonna do? Oh my god, what are we gonna do?" She said rapidly, her voice filled to the brim with panic. She hated hearing herself like that, hated when her fierce demeanor crumbled, yet she couldn't stop it from happening. She couldn't stop herself from being afraid, and she couldn't stop Michael from being gone.

Kate pulled Emma into her arms and clutched her tight. Her face was gaunt, her brain wracked with terrible thoughts. She had felt Michael's hand on her arm, she knew it! So had his fingers slipped away without her notice? Or, worse, had one of those monsters grabbed him and pulled him away from her? The mere thought of their rotten fingers on her little brother made her stomach turn. 

"We'll get him back. I promise you, we'll get him back." Kate said it to herself as much as she did to her sister.

"How?" Emma asked desperately. Kate hesitated, and it nearly made Emma sob. She didn't want to cry or collapse, didn't want to come across as weak, but she felt so helpless. If Kate didn't know what to do... Kate was the one with all the answers, the one that Emma looked to in a crisis, the calm, steady presence ready to take her siblings by the hand and solve their problems. If she didn't know how to rescue Michael from the dangerous times he had been left in, was all hope lost?

Emma might have broken down, then, caved in and begun to cry, but a new voice - booming, brash, and highly irate - rang out. 

"What in the hell is goin' on in here, Abraham?"

"I don't... I... They just appeared!" Kate and Emma both turned, recognizing the softer voice. There he was, standing in the doorway - the photographer from before, apparently named Abraham. He looked older than when they had first spotted him, with less hair on his head and more wrinkles crisscrossing his face. His stunned, slack-jawed expression was the same, though. 

The owner of the brash voice pushed past him, her arms crossed over her chest. She was a short, stout woman clad in a gray muslin dress, with silver-streaked black hair pinned up in a bun. Her gaze was hard, her lips set in a permanent frown. "Just appeared, eh," she said. "That's damn rude, if you ask me. Showin' up without proper notice, like they're the bloody rulers of France. Well, out with it, your majesties. What're your names?"

Emma just blinked at her. Kate answered quickly, "Kate and Emma, ma'am. We didn't mean to cause any trouble, honest. But our brother... I don't... Abraham..."

"Are we still in Cambridge Falls?" Emma blurted out, cutting off her sister's panicked words.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Damn right you're in Cambridge Falls, girly. You're in the bloody Cambridge Falls manor. I know it's no Versailles, but it's quite nice by our humble peasant standards."

The Countess had lived in the manor, Emma thought, with all those kids, but she probably wasn't here now. Not if Abraham were around taking pictures. Besides, the room looked worn, as if it hadn't been used in some time, not like there were monsters and prisoners traipsing about.

"Right," Emma said. "And, uh... When are we?"

"It's 1899," Abraham answered in a faint tone of voice. "September. September 23rd."

Emma's eyes went big with surprise. September 23rd, 1899 was the correct date. The day that they'd been living before Michael put the photograph in the green-covered book. Somehow, they'd been sent back to the right time! For a moment, she felt a spark of triumph, before it was stomped out by the realization that they were still in the wrong place, and it wasn't as if any of their friends were there to help them save Michael. They were still on their own.