Ellen Blake Destined To Return

56 - Newest additions to the family

'Hold on a moment,' interjected Marianne. 'How did you get back?'

'What me?' asked Billy.

'Yes ... you. You told us all about your experience, seeing a hospital, meeting Granddad, finding out about St Paul's Cathedral and that all of this was done because you travelled through time to ... I don't know ... 1880 or something. If that's what happened, if that was why we couldn't find you, then how did you get back here ... to 1941?'

'Well clearly it was the iron gate,' said Aaron. 'That's what you touched to make you travel through time. Wasn't it, Billy?'

'I think it was what made me travel back in time,' agreed Billy. 'But it wasn't what brought me back again. It was the boot scrape.'

'A boot scrape? What's a boot scrape?' asked a confused Ellen.

'It's a metal bracket that you use to scrape the mud off your shoes. There's one inset into the wall of the hospital. It's just by the door. That, like the gate, must be a memory gateway. Don't you think Brook?'

'More than likely,' said Brook.

'But I didn't know that's what it was or know that it would bring me back here. You see, after Granddad told me about the pipe organ a young woman came around the corner from the main road. She was wearing dark clothes and a shawl as a headscarf. I couldn't see her face too clearly. She led me over to the door and told me to scrape my shoe ... on the boot scrape.'

'I then remembered that Uncle Earnest had a sister, when he was younger. She was called Elsie and died of T.B. when she was a young woman. I wondered if that was who she was. Anyway, I did as she said. I scraped my shoe on the metal and looked up to ask her if she was Elsie and she'd gone ... vanished. I looked around but couldn't see her, so looked for Granddad and he'd gone as well.'

Billy continued.

'Just then the door was flung open and two men, dressed in Home Guard's uniform, ran out. They saw me and asked if I'd seen three men run in my direction, two big ones and one short one with glasses. I was still a bit confused, but realised they were talking about the Enforcers. I pointed towards the main road and they ran off. As the door swung closed behind them I caught a glimpse of the corridor and saw the desks and the receptionists. It was exactly how it looked when we ran through there. I knew I was back in 1941 and that's when Aaron shouted that he could see me ... and, well you know the rest.'

'Now you say it,' said Aaron, thoughtfully. 'I did see some soldiers when I spotted you earlier. But as I was so glad to have found you I didn't think much of it.'

'I really think we should get a move on,' declared Brook, impatiently. 'We want to get as much time and distance between us and Victor Garrone as possible.'

'No. Wait,' snapped Marianne. 'I don't know what you're up to, Brook, but it feels like you're trying to dodge the fact that Billy has not just had this experience, but the fact that he has actually time travelled. How is that possible? It's Ellen and Aaron who have the magic serum inside them, not Billy? So what made him go back in time?'

'Maybe you're a different branch of the family tree,' said Ellen, aloud. 'You could also be relatives of Agnes and Henry. That way, as Brook said, you could have the serum inside you. That would possibly explain why your Granddad would know how we were to get home. It is all because we're distant relations. What do you think?'

Billy considered this, but instantly dismissed it.

'That can't be right,' he said. 'Sure it would mean I ... and Marianne, would have the serum inside us, but Brook said that you can't travel through time until you're sixteen. Am I wrong, Brook?'