The Time Hopper

Mr Consequences

Ugh. I didn't like talking to Mr Consequences. As the name might imply, he acted as something of a conscience for the children of the elements, by which I mostly mean myself and Took, the child of blood, as we were the main trouble makers of the group. But his role tended to boil down to scolding us. And protecting the Tir Na Gog so we all had somewhere safe to stay where Obsidian couldn't find and torture us, which was great and all, but I wish he didn't tell me off so much.

"Ok, so there are more of you?" Riley asked me, walking besides me as we reached a fork in the path. One direction headed upwards, to the mansion, where my dust filled room was waiting for me after months away, and the second led down to the docks.

"Kinda. But I'm the only child of time, so I'm the only time traveller. I don't know how many of the others are home right now, but I can introduce you to those who are later if you'd like." I offered, though a little reluctantly. Apart from Took, I didn't really like any of them that much. They were too cowardly and boring for my taste, not willing to break the rules or go on adventures or do anything fun.

"So what can the others do? Are they as powerful as you?"

"No-"

"Yes. Ignore Sadie, my boy, she has a penchant for over exaggeration." A voice cut through her, coming from up ahead where the trees thinned out. The sunshine glittered off of the water, and the path ended in a natural archway formed by two willow trees bending to meet each other, their feathery fringes hanging down like a lacy curtain. I sighed and swept them aside, holding them up and waving a nervous Riley through. Sure enough, there was Mr Consequences, not even looking over his shoulder at us. I hung back, wondering if I could slip away and leave Riley to get his questions answered-

"Do not do that, Sadie. You brought the boy from his own time, that means you have a duty of care over him." He chided me, effectively blocking my plan of escape.

"I don't think there's anywhere safer on the planet, in any time, that could be safer than with you. I could argue that leaving him with you would be filling my 'duty of care'." I muttered, kicking at a rock and sending it skittering into the lake, ripples spreading out from the point of impact. He sighed.

"Sit down and be quiet until I am finished with him. I feel that we also need to speak." Well that wasn't a good sign. I sighed heavily and dramatically flopped down onto the sandy beach, beginning to play at building a sandcastle. Riley looked at me, clearly confused, but I just shrugged at him. "Now then, my boy, come and sit with me. I'm sure you have so many questions, and Sadie isn't the best at answering them accurately." I didn't appreciate that at all, but speaking up now would only serve to get me scolded again, so instead I pulled out my book and flipped to the page I had used to get to Riley's time and place. I had folded down the ear of the paper, but now I smoothed it down and instead wrote the information in my fountain pen that I definitely hadn't stolen from a president.

"I don't understand how this is possible." That was a statement, not a question, and Mr Consequences wouldn't answer him, because he was infuriatingly pedantic like that. Riley caught onto it surprisingly fast, following up with an actual question: "How is this possible?"

"Broadly, magic. If you want a more specific answer, you shall have to ask a more specific question."

"Fine, then. How is time travel possible?" Riley already seemed to be getting pissed off with Mr Consequence's antics, which wasn't unexpected. You needed to patience of a saint to put up with him.

"Again, broadly, magic. Specifically, our friend Sadie here was born with the innate ability to influence and play with the element of time. When she was young, she funnelled that ability into her book to make it easier to control, and now she uses the magic harboured within to travel through time." I would argue that that would only raise more questions, but clearly Riley was willing to take this at face value.