CHAPTER 8
I woke up, being kicked repeatedly in the side. Surprise surprise it was Kiera. “Wakey Wakey Moron!” Said Kiera in a hushed tone, Gaius and Merlin apparently were still asleep. I tried to roll back over and sleep, but Kiera just kept kicking me. I had no choice but to get up. I got up. Kiera had clearly enjoyed kicking me repeatedly and was almost a little disappointed that I had got up when I did. “The time manipulators have recharged, I have checked” Kiera said. I was still half asleep and couldn’t process things properly, so I murmured some response and looked for some sustainence. I found an apple and ate it, slowly savouring it. Kiera started punching numbers into the time manipulator. “Where are you taking us?” I asked, my mouth half full.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” She said, I swallowed. “I am taking us to 2013, your base, you said that they are tracking Enigma, so that is where we shall go.”
“OK then, that makes sense” Kiera spent the next few minutes punching numbers into her control panel. After a while she looked up. “Do you want the space-time coordinates to enter into your time manipulator?” She asked “Or do I have to do it for you” she said this in the most condescending voice that was humanly possible. “I can do it!” I said, angrily, and I heard Gaius murmur in his sleep. Kiera hushed me. I looked at my time manipulator and tried to get access to the keypad. I pressed a button, roughly where the panel came out and, to my joy, it popped out. “What are the coordinates?” I asked.
“Punch in these numbers EXACTLY” she said, stressing the exactly a little more than was necessary. “1320310251517101062” I muttered the numbers under my breath and showed Kiera what I had typed in, she scrutinised it, making sure I had nothing wrong and then nodded. I slid the control panel back into the time manipulator and looked at Kiera. “On three” she said, “one, two, three” I activated the time manipulator and felt my head spinning, as it did every time I travelled in time – I hated it. A few seconds later (but in true terms 1511 years!) my head stopped spinning and we were standing on top of a rooftop in London, presumably in the year 2013, Kiera was also there, so we either both got it right or both got it wrong. The building was right in the heart of London, everything was visible, and we were right next to the Thames and Big Ben was next to us, connected to the building we were standing on. I then twigged – we were standing on top of the houses of Parliament! “Kiera.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know where we are standing?”
“Yep”
“Pray tell, why are we standing on top of the houses of Parliament?”
“Felt like it.”
“OK” I clearly wasn’t going to get a clearer answer than that. “How do we get down?”
“pff – talent” At which, she did a somersault off the building, head over heels and landed gracefully on the ground below. “Your turn!” she shouted from the bottom. I could not do that, but I figured, I am wearing thick boots, it is only a five story drop, and if I overshoot, I can aim for the Thames. I took a deep breath and jumped, not knowing really what would happen. I straightened my legs, ready to compress my legs to avoid breaking them. Three two one, I hit the ground bent my legs and put a fist down to make sure I didn’t fall over! This did, however make me look impressive. “Not too shabby, Moron” she said, I looked up and stood up, this was clearly the closest I would ever get to a compliment from Kiera. “You are aware that, although landing and jumping off the houses of parliament is impressive, the base is at Euston square”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kiera was angry
“You didn’t ask! I assumed you could just find out in the future!”
