The Time Shifters Chronicles Volume 2

By Shanna Lauffey

An ancient people who can move through time or space... but not both at the same time.

Akalya of the Harekaiian must discover who is behind the hunt for her people, when no one should have known they existed.

A secret that never should have been revealed... and a man who is obsessively hunting down that secret.

The Time Shifters are in danger. Someone wants what they have and they're willing to kill if necessary to get it. A time travel Mystery... and a time travel love story replete with time travel Physics.

The Time Shifters Chronicles will take the reader through an exciting journey through time and space with Akalya, a nomadic spirit who only wants to live invisibly among the ordinary people of Los Angeles. Through an apparent accident of fate, she becomes the only one of her people who can save them from the enemy who hunts them and she must risk everything, even her life, as a sacrifice for the greater good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Golbin Publishing
• Release date: May 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463666142

Shanna Lauffey

Shanna Lauffey is a native Californian currently living in Europe. She spends her time between homes in Sweden, France and the UK. She writes Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance in her spare time between attending university and travelling.Her first novel, She-Wȕlf, was released 1st January 2012. A Science Fiction series involving time travel is in progress.

Book preview

Chapter One

Three years sounds like a long time when you have it all ahead of you, but time has a way of moving quickly when you live from day to day, falling into regular habits and a familiar routine.

Marcus and I lived happily in our Venice Beach house for those blissful three years, unharried by the cares of the world. We went for walks on the beach, attended concerts that we might have missed in rock’s golden age and lived from one day to the next, doing mostly ordinary things that people at leisure do to fill their hours.

I thought about getting a local job, but with Hollywood Park race track so nearby and Bodi, the little cat who had adopted us needing company during the day, instead I spent the time bolstering our freshly set up accounts, always being careful not to allow them to come under scrutiny, avoiding activity during those few years when Mason and Julia had been able to put us under surveillance.

Even checking up on Darren Tate’s resources had become routine. Once a month I checked his computer, hovering the mouse over the elusive folder marked tmtrvl to see that the date of last entry hadn’t changed. Nothing was being added. I still had a copy on a USB stick that needed to be cracked, but it was one of those things that kept getting forgotten and left for another day.

Mason was due to appear in January, 2020. As the time drew near, I began to develop nervous habits. Connor had not specified the exact day he had taken his father ahead to, but I wondered what Mason would make of the changes in technology over the years. He had shown an ability to adapt quickly in the past, even over much greater leaps in time. Would he continue following his obsession to learn about my people? For him, only a moment would have passed.

The question still remained, where was Julia? Connor had taken her somewhere as well. He would never say where, or when. We saw little of him during those years, though he visited his mother. Gaye was my long time friend and understood the importance of anything that affected our kind, but Connor always managed to artfully turn aside her attempts to glean information from her son.

I still missed the teenage Connor whom we had known. I knew that he dared not move so far into his future again, but there were just a few occasions when I secretly went back to visit him.

I didn’t tell Marcus because I had lectured him too much about the dangers of cross time slips of the tongue, but it was during one of these speeches that an idea occurred to me; If I could learn from the young Connor where he would take someone to make them disappear, in a way that he wouldn’t remember years later, then perhaps I could at least gain a clue as to what he had done with Julia. It wasn’t that I actually cared about her well-being. It was more a matter of concern that she was somewhere loose in time where she might be concocting new ways to make trouble. Julia might be shallow, but she was resourceful and manipulative. I wasn’t going to underestimate her.

7th January, 2020

Normally Kallie would knock, but this time she couldn’t be sure that Mason wouldn’t be the one to answer the door of the house he had shared with his son, before Connor had effectively kidnapped him through time... again. Kallie assumed that her old nemesis wouldn’t be in good temper if he was here. Confronting him at the door of his home would be awkward at the best of times, but if he had recently arrived, it would be the worst time to spring another surprise on him.

Kallie trusted to the early morning hour that she wouldn’t happen across either of the occupants. Having been to the house many times now, she had the ability to pop directly into the living room whenever she wished, though until now, she had usually approached the house on foot and knocked on the door like any Mem visitor. It seemed only good manners to afford Connor his privacy.

All of her senses were on edge. The moment she manifested inside the house, her eyes scanned every doorway, seeking any hint of movement. The bottle-green furniture felt almost inviting in its familiarity, yet Kallie was very aware that this was not her territory. She listened for the sounds of footsteps or heavy breathing, detecting only a single entity snoring from the direction of Connor’s bedroom. The pungent scent of last night’s pizza hung in the air, suggesting that nothing had changed in Connor’s routine. Still, Kallie made no assumptions. Connor could have shared his pizza with his father. Mason could be sleeping quietly.

Kallie tip-toed as silently as possible down the hall, grateful for the soft, mottled brown and green carpet that helped muffle her footsteps. The door of the second bedroom stood open, as did the door of Connor’s room. She slunk to the room that would be Mason’s first and peered in cautiously. No one was sleeping in the bed. She stepped inside, still moving slowly and carefully to avoid making a sound. There was no one to be found, yet a beam of moonlight through the window showed that the furniture was freshly dusted and the bed looked as though it had been made recently, in anticipation of imminent occupation.

Next, she made her way to Connor’s room, noting that the bathroom door she passed between the bedrooms was also open. She peered around the door cautiously as she passed, ascertaining that no one was inside. She glanced through the open bedroom door without touching it, in case it might squeak, and observed Connor sleeping for just a moment before she crept towards the kitchen, keeping her thoughts as quiet as possible lest the connection between them should disturb his sleep. One cup and one plate stood in the drainer. Connor had eaten alone the night before. Satisfied that Mason had not yet arrived, Kallie distance shifted to the front porch, then shifted back a day, but to a time in the late morning when Connor was likely to be awake. She noted with some satisfaction that he had allowed the bushes in front of the door to grow sufficiently tall that the neighbors could not see the area right in front of the door. She reached forward and rang the bell.

Kallie! Connor exclaimed in surprise as he opened the door. What an unexpected pleasure. Do come in.

Connor stepped aside, allowing room for Kallie to slip inside the house she had prowled only a moment before in her relative time. Kallie gave herself a mental pat on the back for keeping her thoughts silent so that Connor had not sensed that the person ringing the doorbell was her. Too many times he had distance shifted out, pretending not to be at home rather than opening the door to her. She looked around the familiar room again for a moment, then turned to Connor.

I’ll get right to the point, Connor. When is your father due to arrive?

Tea? Connor offered, ignoring her question for a moment.

Kallie caught the subtle expression that insinuated that she had been rude in questioning him so abruptly.

Yes, please. Cherry if you have it.

Connor usually had a selection of herbal teas to offer, but cherry was Kallie’s favorite.

I apologize for being so abrupt, she added. But you know why this is of importance to me. I have to know his movements. Between us, we need to find a way to persuade him to leave our people alone.

Connor twisted his mouth into a wry smile, then walked into the kitchen to start the tea kettle heating water before he returned to answer Kallie.

Your instincts are good as always, Kallie. He’s due tomorrow. I suppose I should prepare his room and try to make things nice, at least.

Kallie had to turn away from Connor to cover her smirk. Her instincts had been even better than Connor knew. It was pure feeling that had drawn her to the house on the actual day that Mason was to return. Now she had to find out what time.

Will you be going out, so that you don’t meet yourself bringing him through? Kallie watched Connor’s expressions closely, looking for any clues to information withheld.

Briefly, Connor responded. But I want to be on hand very soon after. He’ll need some explanation.

Let me come too, Kallie pleaded.

Connor looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered.

It would be nice to go out for a bagel or something. It’s been a long time. But I need to speak to my father alone first. We can arrange a meeting with you sometime after.

Kallie nodded, pretending to agree, though she had her own thoughts on the matter, suppressed deeply so that Connor would not guess her intentions.

So shall we meet here? she asked, pushing the matter. What time?

A sly look entered Connor’s eye, just before he turned to go into the kitchen to finish making the tea. Kallie speculated that he had learned far too much technique from her over time and could even now be slipping ahead a day for his rendezvous, knowing that he could return a few seconds later to finish making the tea. With this in mind, Kallie followed him into the kitchen. Sure enough, the teabags had been left to steep, but the only sign of Connor was a barely detectable temporal trail. Kallie reached her consciousness into the subtle gravitational wave, detecting the moment Connor had shifted to.

She withdrew quickly, hoping he would not sense her presence before she broke the connection. She didn’t jump ahead immediately. Instead she walked back out to the living room and waited patiently for Connor to ‘finish making the tea’, and prepared to observe his reactions carefully so that she could note whether what she intended to do would be discovered.

Connor came out of the kitchen with the tea a moment later.

You know I would love to catch up, Kallie. But I’ll need my full focus to calm my father down when I see him. Why don’t we meet Thursday, day after tomorrow, then maybe we can all sit down together and have a discussion about where we go from here?

Kallie tried to look just a little put out, but nodded agreement.

I suppose that’s best, she acquiesced. She stayed and traded small talk with Connor for a decent amount of time, over half an hour, so that she wouldn’t seem anxious to be on her way elsewhere. If she could second guess Connor’s movements, he was just as likely to perceive her thoughts and guess her intentions, unless she could throw him off the scent and lead him to believe that she genuinely believed his plan was best. Years of experience gave her an edge when it came to the unavoidable duplicity of a Time Shifter’s actions. Kallie’s acting abilities had saved her life many times in the course of her long life.

Eventually they said goodbye to each other and Kallie promised to come on the appointed day, perhaps with Marcus if he wanted to visit too. Kallie was fairly sure that she had acted her part well and that Connor would believe she had accepted his plan willingly. She distance shifted from his living room directly to the beach, just in case he should take an interest in the direction of her trail as she had his, then she walked for several minutes along the strand, letting the temporal trail dissipate into the ordinary world of static space-time in which the Mems existed. When she felt she had walked far enough, she detoured to a quiet back street and shifted ahead to the following day, then she distance shifted into the bedroom that Mason would occupy that night.

Kallie smiled to herself, noting the freshly dusted room again. Connor had no doubt prepared it for his father’s arrival as a result of their conversation the day before, creating a small time loop within the greater loop of Connor’s existence. Kallie shook her head. How she had become an integral part of that time loop was something she still didn’t understand. She promised herself another visit with Professor Harlan Edmundson in the near future to see if he could offer a more intelligible explanation than he had in the past, but she had other business at that moment.

The sound of Mason’s voice, raised in anger, echoed from the living room. Kallie waited for a moment, listening while Connor assured his father that he would be right back. As soon as Connor from three years before was gone, Kallie ran into the room and grabbed Mason’s arm before he could turn and see who else was there. She shifted the pair of them back a few minutes so that they wouldn’t meet the current Connor when he appeared, probably within a few seconds of leaving his father standing confused in his own house.

Mason just had time to recognize Kallie and to open his mouth to ask a question, then suddenly they were on a beach cove that Kallie knew in Palos Verdes. The rocky beach was completely surrounded by cliffs, so there was no place to run to. Kallie knew there was a path where people climbed down, but it wasn’t apparent to someone who didn’t know the place and Mason looked around with a panicked expression, obviously feeling disoriented and trapped.

It’s alright, Mason, Kallie assured him in her most soothing voice. We’re just going to have a little private chat before I take you back home. Connor shifted you ahead again. It’s the seventh of January, the year 2020.

So far Mason had said nothing, but only kept jerking his head around to try to get his bearings. When Kallie told him the year, he turned towards her, making eye contact for the first time. He started to move his mouth as if to speak, then stopped before the first syllable could be uttered. Another moment passed without any other sound but the gentle crashing of ocean waves on the small bay and the occasional distant cry of a seagull, then suddenly Mason found his voice.

That little bastard!

Chapter Two

My concerns about Mason were nothing compared to the reality. In all the time I had been dealing with the man, I had never really got to know him as a person; to understand his motivations.

I did try. I talked to my friend Gaye about him, since she had been his girlfriend in 1969, and again briefly in 1970, when they were both much older and out of their natural time. I learned little except that Gaye had only been with him a few weeks in San Francisco ’69 and she had never known him that well herself. That was what made it so easy for her to fall for his false charm so easily again.

Ironically, Marcus knew him better than any of us, from the days when they had worked in the Psi lab at UCLA. However, that, too, was limited. Marcus only saw one side of the researcher who flashed the Zener cards.

Only one person had ever known Mason well; his son. We hadn’t seen much of Connor since he nearly killed me, and himself, in an unintended fiery demonstration of the heat producing potential of speeding particles within the atoms at the cellular level of human construction. I tried to visit him several times in his natural time to make sure he was alright, but he largely avoided me. I could see that the guilt of his mistake was eating at him, but when he actually began to hide from me, to shift to another time or place when I knocked on his door, my visits to that period of his life stopped. I wouldn’t badger him.

The Connor we knew as an adult was a changed man. Like his father, he had become insular and let few people get close to him. Many times I wondered how far he could be trusted, considering his split loyalties between his mother and his father. What I didn’t know yet was just how much of that loyalty extended to me, for my part in helping to arrange his birth.

I also didn’t realize that of all of us, Connor’s father knew him least of all.

Where are we? Mason asked. The wary look in his eye as he took in his surroundings reminded Kallie that she would have to use caution in any dealings with this man.

Just a bay in Palos Verdes that I know. You’re not far from home. I just wanted to talk to you before Connor meets with you, a minute after he left you at your house.

Kallie watched Mason’s rapidly shifting eyes closely, looking for comprehension. Suddenly, they looked directly into hers.

He brought me ahead... three years... then... went back?

Kallie nodded.

To his natural time. His plan was that his current self would walk in immediately after and fill you in. Only I’ve borrowed you for a moment. I think it’s time we discussed where we go from here. You’ve done awful things to my people, but Connor will just keep moving you through time if you persist. You may never pay for the murders in Chicago with the trail lost in temporal space, but he won’t let you hurt us again. He may be your son, but he’s still Harekaiian.

His mother’s whelp, all the way...

Connor has a lot of loyalty for you. Don’t overlook that. Kallie took a deep breath and hoped that her next statement wasn’t a bluff. But he won’t let you hurt people again.

Mason was quiet for a moment. He looked again at the cliff walls that contained the bay and Kallie could almost see the wheels turning in his calculating mind, working out what he would have to say to get her to take him back to his house, where he had at least the illusion of control. The sound of a wave crashing was accentuated by a seagull’s cry. Kallie could feel the light spray of salty smelling water from the dissembling wave a few steps away. Mason’s expression contorted several times before at last he spoke.

I have to know how it works. His tone was adamant, perhaps even obsessive.

We are taught from the earliest age that we do not speak of it to... people who are not us. Kallie had come close to using the term, Memlekel, but she caught herself at the last moment. But if what information I can give you will make you leave my people alone, I will try to answer your questions as best I can.

She had tried to sound sincere, though every fiber of her body resisted revealing anything more than she had to. After all, it wasn’t as if she understood the mechanism that allowed her to shift through time herself.

Is it something anyone can do? Or is there something physically different about you? Mason pounced on the offer of information like a starving wolf on a steak.

There is a difference, Kallie answered, wondering if anything she said was actually true. A variation in the nerve impulses that allows us to communicate with our own bodies at a subatomic level so that we can affect the speed of the electrons, and even their direction.

Kallie had heard Harlan explain something like this long ago, but she had never fully understood it.

It isn’t something you could find in a physical examination.

She looked at Mason pointedly, only to see him nodding agreement.

Nothing I could weigh or measure gave me any information...

He looked back at her with a guarded expression.

When you dissected innocents, Kallie added harshly. You killed them for nothing, when you might have gleaned something more useful with an electroencephalogram, or even Kirlian photography.

Or perhaps a gauss meter? Mason suggested.

Kallie struggled to keep her expression neutral. Measuring electromagnetism was one of the experiments that Harlan had spoken of in his lectures.

Perhaps, she conceded. Your own scientists have established a relationship between matter, light speed and gravity. Time and space are elusive subjects to master, even for a scientist. There are none among us who understand it completely.

She turned away from him, sure that this time, she did not speak the truth. Harlan understood far more than he was able to explain to those like herself who had limited knowledge of the science behind time travel. Protecting the knowledge that Harlan Edmundson existed among the Harekai had always been second nature to Kallie. She would not hand him over to Mason for his interrogation. However, she wondered if something of his knowledge might supply Mason with enough information to find an end to his quest and thereby neutralize him as a threat.

I do know where I can find more information, which I am willing to do to satisfy your need to know. Kallie kept her back to Mason while she admitted this much, then she turned towards him to ask a question. But I ask for information in return. How did you get from 1980 to 2010? It is the only segment of your movements through time that I cannot account for. Did Connor transport you?

The question had niggled Kallie for a long time. It grated on her nerves to admit to Mason that she didn’t have this piece of information, but she had run out of options. Asking Mason directly and hoping for an honest answer was her last alternative. Connor might have done it, but he had never indicated knowledge of this transfer. It was possible that a future Connor would go back for some reason, but knowing that his father’s presence in 2010 would lead to all that had happened, including the deaths of the people he had kidnapped for his experiments, made his willing complicity seem unlikely. Kallie’s suspicions that an unknown factor was involved were confirmed as she watched a cunning smile spread over Mason’s face.

You know someone called Titor?

Kallie wrinkled her brows.

John Titor? He was a hoax in the early twenty-first century. Some guy went on an Internet forum pretending to be a time traveler from 2036 and made predictions up to 2015. None of them panned out and his design for a time machine, while showing some understanding of Einstein’s Physics, was unworkable.

That’s the name he gave, Mason assured her.

What did he look like?

A little weird, even to an old hippy. Mason winked at her.

She had almost forgotten her first impression of Mason, meditating in Golden Gate Park with his long, blond hair flowing in the breeze... his nickname... and wearing painted jeans and a green and purple striped poncho. His thinned hair was close cropped now and he looked much like any middle-aged businessman.

He was dressed in a tapestry hauberk, like something you would see in a sixteenth century display at a museum, Mason explained. He claimed to be Alchemist to the Queen and had business elsewhen, which ticked a box for me, so I touched his sleeve as he faded out and suddenly we were in 2010, though I didn’t know the date yet. He made a grab at me, presumably realizing his mistake, but I ran away and eluded him in an alley. I’d ditched the kid with my younger self already so I had no reason to go back, but that’s when I decided I had to know how to do this, whatever it took. The scientist in me says that if you can do it, there must be a way for me to do it.

Kallie tried to think clearly, but this was too much information to process quickly. She was sure that he must be leaving something out, perhaps something essential, but she could see that it was all she was going to get out of him for the moment.

I’ll make a deal with you, she offered. I’ll take you back home and go make enquiries about whether there is some way for ordinary people to learn to do what we do... and about this guy calling himself Titor. We’ll need to speak again soon. I can find you easily enough.

Kallie could see that made him nervous. His gaze shifted back and forth, much like it had when they had first appeared in the bay.

You don’t mention to Conner that you’ve seen me, Kallie continued. But try to find out what he’s done with Julia.

Julia? Mason looked confused. Kallie had to remind herself that Mason wouldn’t know that Connor had taken Julia someplace, or sometime. Perhaps both.

Connor has her stashed somewhere or somewhen, she explained. Nobody knows where. She has her own agenda for harassing my people and I want to know what he’s done with her.

Mason was quiet for a moment, then he nodded his head.

Okay, agreed. I have some interest where Julia is concerned too. I may need your help to get her back. I know he hates her. I hope he hasn’t harmed her.

Do you think he’s capable of that? You must know him better than anyone.

I hardly know my son, Mason admitted. Not since he was a kid. I’ve missed a lot of years because of him taking me across time like a little shi...

Mason forgot what he was saying mid-word. Kallie removed her hand from his arm and disappeared, leaving him standing in the middle of his own living room where she had snatched him from just seconds before. In the next instant, a mature looking Connor stepped into the room.

Hello, father. You’re in the year 2020, and I’m really, really sorry.

Kallie manifested at her favorite oasis on the beach near her house in Venice, then made a slight adjustment to get back in sync with her natural time. The minutes she had spent talking to Mason made little difference, but she was meticulous about getting back to her own time, even for such a small deviation. She walked the short distance up to the beach house quickly and burst through the door, brimming over with excitement.

Marcus! I need to do a search. I’ve got something to go on now!

She found Marcus sitting at the computer, presumably surfing idly through various chat forums as he often did of late. Marcus turned towards her as she sat on a chair next to the computer, a confused expression on his face. Bodi jumped into her lap and Kallie unconsciously started stroking the little cat while he settled down to purr his pleasure at her return.

What are you talking about, Kallie? Mason demanded. Where have you been?

Mason’s back, she explained quickly. I stole a few moments to question him and learned something about how he got from 1980 to 2010. Not much, but it’s something to go on.

What do I need to look up? Marcus turned towards the computer again and opened a new tab, then clicked on a bookmark for Google search.

Sixteenth century, Alchemist to the Queen. Oh and John Titor.

Marcus opened a second search tab and typed in the relevant search words. He skimmed through a few pages with Kallie looking over his shoulder.

In the sixteenth century, the Alchemist John Dee was advisor to Queen Elizabeth the first, Marcus quoted.

When does Titor first appear? Kallie scanned the page as Marcus clicked on the other tab. 2000 to 2001... maybe a kid in 1980?

Marcus looked up at Kallie, wondering what she was so intent on calculating.

Want to fill me in on some details?

Kallie realized that she hadn’t explained enough for Marcus to follow her train of thought.

Mason said he was transported by a guy wearing a sixteenth century hauberk. You and I know it’s not possible for someone from that far back to travel to this century, unless maybe there’s something in Alchemy that we don’t understand yet. There were stories about the Alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle, appearing three hundred years after they should have died... and another one known as Fulcanelli. We still don’t know everything about time travel.

Or Alchemy, Marcus added. Where does this guy, Titor, come in?

It’s what the guy who transported Mason called himself, and we know Titor was definitely an Internet hoax, but someone from 1980 wouldn’t have heard the name.

So he had to come from later... maybe 2010? Marcus speculated.

Maybe. But why would he be dressed like he was from the sixteenth century? Kallie looked completely at a loss.

Marcus thought for a few minutes.

What about a re-enactor? he suggested.

Kallie’s brows knit together as she looked at Marcus.

In 1980, Mason was working for UCLA, Marcus explained. "The Parapsychology lab shut down in ’78, but he continued to teach in the Psychology department until he disappeared, so we know he was in Los Angeles. One of the things that was big on campus then was The Society For Creative Anachronism, a group that re-enacted history. They were almost obsessive about historical accuracy in their costuming. They were one of the groups that used to go to Ren Faire."

Ren Faire?

Marcus typed in the search words and a page came up for the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Kallie looked at the page with interest.

Irwindale?

"I don’t know where that is, but the Faire wasn’t there in 1980. It used to be held at a place in the Agoura Hills."

Kallie didn’t explain that she had already known of the earlier location at the Paramount Ranch, just half an hour away from another ranch in those same hills associated with the Manson Family in the 1960s. She had only been to the Renaissance Faire a couple of times, but they were strong memories. Too powerful to share just yet.

I wonder what’s there now? Kallie’s voice took on a dreamy quality as the nostalgia flooded in. Marcus didn’t appear to notice, but tapped in some new search words and clicked on the maps button. The location, a patch of stark hills near the San Fernando Valley, looked fairly desolate, although an image search produced information about a filming location and some old Western buildings on the site.

We’ll have to drive, Marcus mused.

I think I should go alone for this one, Kallie suggested. She tried to sound as if she were only offering logic, though she was determined that she would have her way on this. A woman alone can move around unnoticed and approach insider groups in an event like that, where a couple can easily find themselves isolated.

Marcus thought for a moment before answering.

"Alright. I know you’re not going to get into anything you can’t just shift out of. I’ll drive us up there and you can shift back and see if there’s anything... anyone relevant, like a Time Shifter hanging out at the Faire, then if you shift back to just a moment after you left, I won’t be kept waiting out in the middle of nowhere."

Kallie nodded.

Let’s do it, then. My long skirt and peasant top will fit in easily enough. It’s still early so I’ll have plenty of time this afternoon to make time adjustments after we get back.

Bodi jumped down to the floor as Kallie stood up, then turned and meowed to remind her to feed him before she went out again. Kallie complied, smiling at the little cat who would always give her a reason to return, no matter how much her thoughts and emotions were suddenly jumbled in her head.

Chapter Three

I’m not sure why I didn’t mention to Marcus that I had been to Faire. I could have done so without mentioning... certain liaisons. The fact was that I had been in love with a Mem, but an unusual one among men. He had a certain magic to him. I wasn’t the only woman drawn to his special qualities, but I had shared what you might call an intimate friendship with him.

Like my friend Gaye, I had been attracted to a free spirit, and it was this that kept me from ever trying to make him completely mine. I did, after all, have my own nomadic ways. Ironically, during some time while I traveled outside of Los Angeles in the late 1970s, he got married. The last time I saw him he was with her at a small gathering at a friend’s house and I could see that she was the wrong woman for him. He would discover this himself in a few years, but during the time he divorced and remarried, I had separated myself from that group of people entirely and didn’t hear of the changes until long after.

I wasn’t at the 1980 Faire, so there would be no danger of encountering my younger self. There was, however, a very high likelihood that I would see this knight whom I had loved, resplendent in his chain mail and barbaric fur trappings that made him all the more alluring to the ladies. I would have to avoid allowing him to see me. Though I looked at least ten years older now than I did in my early twenties when he knew me, I still looked very much like myself. I don’t change much.

Most importantly, I would have to keep my mind on my reason for being there. I was looking for a Time Shifter. In that environment, it would not be possible to identify him by the way he dressed. Many people would be in period costume, though the tourists who didn’t bother usually appeared in equal numbers. And what of Mason? For the Time Shifter to have been at hand in costume, would Mason also be at the event in question? How had these two known each other? Or did they?

There was no guarantee that either of them would be at this Faire at all. They might have met at a completely unrelated SCA event. But I wanted to go. I wanted to step into that missed moment of my past and see my knight once again, if only from a distance. There would be no difficulty finding a performing knight who was known for the most outrageous battle tactics. He had a name, and I had been one of the people close enough to him to know what it was, but most people, even close friends, simply called him Animal, or sometimes The Animal.

Marcus drove their new car along the coast road, then turned north onto Malibu Canyon Road. This took them most of the remaining distance to the old Paramount Ranch, where they had to follow directions eventually gleaned from the Internet for finding the site where the Renaissance Faire had been set up annually for several years.

The old ranch grounds were still used for a movie set , but mostly for westerns. There were a few old wood buildings that suited that sort of scene, but they were not within the small area that had been used for the Renaissance Faire grounds. Kallie and Marcus were able to identify the right spot by topographical features, though there was effectively nothing there now besides scrubland.

Kallie felt her heart race once they were sure. Her memories of the event as it had been in those days were as clear as if they had happened yesterday. She had come across the man known simply as ‘Animal’ on social media since getting used to having a computer around, and was aware that he had settled down in another part of the country, writing of his experiences and enjoying a comparatively sedate life, devoted to his second wife. The Animal she knew had been considerably more exciting, living life on the edge and throwing himself into every experience as if it were to be his last, sometimes believing that it might be.

That part of his life had coincided with the golden age of the Renaissance Faire. The event would go commercial eventually, but it had been started in 1963 as a means of preserving history. The original organizers had been working from the altruistic attitudes that epitomized the 1960s. and had created a re-enactment of a 1580s market faire at Port Deptford in Elizabethan England. Many of the people involved had been meticulous about historical accuracy in their costuming and carried their characters beyond the event into the leisure activities of their ordinary lives, slipping into role at social gatherings at times.

Inevitably, newer people came and historical accuracy slipped into general costuming among more and more attendees. Kallie’s usual long skirt and peasant style blouse would fit right in by 1980. The important thing she had to remember was that she wasn’t going there to see the captivating Barbarian who came to visit the Faire, but to find a real life Time Shifter, probably wearing a historically accurate costume.

She continually reminded herself that she must not get distracted by sentiments from her past. She was aware that Marcus would likely have sensed something personal in her intent to go alone, but they trusted each other implicitly. Kallie might have questioned whether she deserved his trust on this occasion, but the need to stay out of sight of those who had known her at the Faire would guarantee her fidelity, regardless of any temptation otherwise. There could be no direct dealings between her and the Animal, or any of her other past friends whom she might cross paths with at the event. She had deliberately brought a rich, gray shahmina along to drape over her head to cloak her features to avoid being recognized in a crowd.

Kallie chose a path that would be filled with people when the Faire was open. She had considered making the transfer during the darkness of night, but those who worked the Faire and stayed on grounds were given to having parties after hours and the chance of being observed by someone wandering between encampments at any hour of the night were actually rather high. Conversely, appearing within a crowd of mixed tourists and Faire performers at the busiest part of the day would almost surely go unnoticed.

Are you sure you don’t want me to come along... even if I stayed out of the way and just nosed around... Marcus looked as lost as Kallie had ever seen him. Like a typical man, he wanted to protect her, yet they both knew that she was entirely capable of getting herself out of any potentially sticky situation with her shifting abilities and this excursion, at least, wasn’t likely to present any physical dangers. The irony didn’t escape either of them either. Marcus himself possessed the one ability that could have put her in danger in 1980. His ability to stop a Time Shifter from moving through time might easily hobble her, though he had been careful not to use it since he had chosen to align with Kallie instead of Mason and his goons. All of that seemed long ago now.

Kallie took his hands in an uncharacteristic affectionate gesture and replied to him in a soft, almost wistful voice.

As tempting as it might be to see if you could stop the shift that takes Mason to 2010, you know that time has a way of preserving chronology. Mason would recognize you. You do stand out, after all. I don’t know if you realize how striking you are.

Kallie looked up and down her black clad protector and imagined how much attention he would draw at a costuming event. His dark hair and sharp features were emphasized by the habitual black clothing he chose to wear. Though he wouldn’t be considered good looking in the male model sense, the intensity of his gaze and the hawkish, subtle command he radiated when his attention was focused on someone had the power to fascinate a woman, even a strong willed one like herself.

Kallie wondered for a moment if he was even aware of his effect on women when they passed them on the beach. The loose, black cotton poet shirt and side-laced jeans he usually wore suited him all too well. If he ever noticed women watching the couple intently as clearly as Kallie had seen them look, at least he was gentleman enough to give no indication. More than once she had noted a strange woman’s glance, assessing whether the dark stranger would find herself more interesting than the quiet woman with no makeup walking next to him. Though Kallie’s part Pakistani heritage gave her a natural prettiness, she did nothing to emphasize it or otherwise draw attention to herself.

The corner of Marcus’ mouth curled upwards at her compliment. He had never been one to respond greatly to flattery and Kallie got the impression that it made him feel a little uncomfortable. She squeezed his hands, then let go and took a step backwards.

I’ll be back in just a minute, she promised, then she winked at him.

Marcus took a deep breath and watched her standing there smiling reassuringly at him. He couldn’t remember ever directly watching her shift before, at least not without taking him with her. The image of her remained in his mind even after he knew deep down that she had departed, like a ghost of her form that faded slowly from memory. He blinked, then the remembered impression was gone.

He stared at the place where she had stood. A minute wasn’t so long to wait, he knew, but he couldn’t help wondering how much time would pass for her and what adventures would ensue before that minute to her return came. He sat on a log, ignoring his internal agitation, and began to count seconds.

Kallie felt the light whoosh of a shoulder just missing hers and quickly began to walk, merging into the crowd of people within which she had materialized. As expected, they were a mix of tourists wearing tank tops and shorts and elaborately costumed performers, as well as ticket buyers who had made an effort towards some form of general costume. She was aware that she would be assumed to be one of these, though she hadn’t actually bought a ticket.

Her eyes darted left and right, looking for any familiar faces. When she found none, she began to relax and to fully respond to the nostalgic atmosphere of an event that she hadn’t visited in over forty years. How young she had been then, just in her twenties and still susceptible to the romantic ideals of young women. Though she felt an element of becoming older and wiser over the decades, Kallie was grateful that she had never descended into the cynicism that marked many ordinary people her age. Attending Faire one more time brought out a certain restrained excitement... an anticipation of theatrical fun to be had that made the years just fall away.

She had prepared well, filling her pockets with appropriately dated cash in the knowledge that much of the activity would come down to sellers hawking their wares. A food stall that she vaguely remembered was just ahead of her on the left and Kallie turned her steps towards it, despite having had a substantial breakfast before she and Marcus had set out.

The extra energy needed for shifting made a good excuse to sample the mock Elizabethan and other usual fare that she knew she would find on offer. She bought a chai, the spicy, hot tea drink that vaguely resembled what her Eastern relatives would call a drink by the same name, and a piroshki. The meat filled pastry was the easiest thing to eat while walking without getting greasy, as would be the case with a turkey leg or most of the other period delicacies.

Kallie had to strain her memory to try to recall the performances she once enjoyed. By instinct alone, she wandered towards the part of the site known as Witches Wood, just in time to see a performance by a ribald juggler. She found a place to just sit and observe while she finished her Piroshki, then stayed for a while after, watching the movements of people. A Hobby Horse chased a group of young girls around within a circle of observers. Other small performances that ranged from a small group of minstrels playing a lively tune to a mock argument between a supposed husband and wife in costume and speaking in Elizabethan English occurred near where she sat, but mostly she saw people walking to and fro, wandering from one part of the site to another in their quest for more interesting things to see and do.

She had never joined any of the guided walks arranged for the tourists. She had been part of the inner circle at the time, people who came along with the paid performers or stall holders and contributed some form of support to their part of the event. Kallie treasured fond memories of helping the knights put on new items they had bought at the armory and of one in particular whom she had helped to dress daily, holding up the awkward pieces of leather and metal armor while he slipped his arms into the appropriate apertures.

Kallie pulled her attention away from thoughts of the Animal and forced herself to think about what she had come here to do. She had come to find a Time Shifter, and already she could sense that there was one on site besides herself. She would know him if he came within her line of sight, but until that happened, all she had was a vague sense of temporal displacement somewhere within the enclosed space of the event at hand. The guess that had led her here was borne out by that sense.

She knew enough to discount any possibility of a genuinely displaced time traveler from the Elizabethan era, but it was a stroke of luck that the experiences of her youth had provided a logical source for someone who would appear to be from a century four hundred years past. If the clue hadn’t been local to Los Angeles, she probably wouldn’t have known where to start.

Kallie kept her shahmina wrapped like a hood, peering out from inside her makeshift concealment to search among the sea of mostly unfamiliar faces to seek anyone who might be hiding within the flamboyance of many. With so many people enjoying the theatrics of the re-enactment, the Faire was a perfect medium for a Time Shifter, accustomed to making himself invisible among crowds, to express some thespian tendencies while remaining anonymous within the greater company of players.

She also kept an eye out for those few familiar faces of old friends who might know her, though they wouldn’t expect her to appear at this event. Not this time. It had been known among them that she had traveled elsewhere and she had not reacquainted herself with that group of friends when she had returned to L.A. As always, any Mem friendships she had formed eventually had to be left behind, herself all but forgotten. They would have aged while she appeared not to, and the closer a friendship became, the greater the danger that someone would notice something out of place sooner or later.

A movement in Kallie’s peripheral vision drew her attention. She pulled the shahmina closer around her features as she turned to look more closely at a man who had stood up and walked away after a short performance by two women who had made a cultural demonstration out of the simple act of shaking out a blanket, jumping and screaming and making a game of it. She only saw him from the back, but she recognized him by the way he moved and the fair hair that stuck out from beneath an obviously new Elizabethan style cloth hat bought from one of the costuming stalls.

Mason...

Kallie got up and followed, making a point of keeping some distance and moving differently than her usual gait so that he wouldn’t turn and recognize her by the same means.

Chapter Four

I had been looking for a time traveler, but when I saw Mason, I followed, hoping he would lead me to the Time Shifter. Mason was my primary quarry, after all. Somehow he would travel through time to 2010 and although I didn’t actually believe I could stop it from happening, I wanted to learn how he had managed it and whether the facility might be available to him again.

Mason back in my own time would surely pursue some form of mischief. I needed to know what weapons he had available to him. I