That evening the dilemma was at the forefront of her mind. As she sat on the same leather seat, in the same pose, watching Alistar sip at his hot tea, Elvie tried to foster a clear answer to the question – should I tell him I’m from the future?

‘Homework time. So, what else don’t you know?’

Elvie pulled the list she’d composed out of her pocket and read. ‘One. I don’t know how to cast Elder House spells.’

‘Haha! Me neither.’

‘Two. I don’t know who Alistar really is.’

‘Ah, great, clever indeed. A way to get me to tell you who Alistar is, isn’t it?’

‘I don’t know…’ Elvie trailed off.

‘Is that three?’

She paused and looked into his eyes. Trust cuts both ways. ‘Hmmm. Before we get to three, will you answer a question for me?’

‘But then it wouldn’t be one, two, three – it’d be one, two, something else, three.’ Elvie didn’t say anything. ‘You know, you’re becoming quite annoying with all your questions.’

Elvie took it as permission. She took a deep breath. ‘I want to tell you something, but I’m not sure I should, and if I did, I’d be breaching the trust of someone I cared for.’

His eyes came alight. ‘How intriguing! Do go on.’

‘So I want to you to tell me something before I tell you – a sign of trust in you, shall we say.’ It was the same thing Eldridge had done on the day they’d met.

‘Tit for tat, a secret for a secret, is it?’ Alistar raised his eyebrows quizzically.

‘I guess so. When I first came here, I found something... I was exploring, on my self-guided tour – ’

He smirked. ‘Go on.’

‘And I came across this doorway at the back of the house. I’m curious – no, worse than that, I’d desperately like to know what’s behind the door.’

The eyebrows lowered. ‘The door?’

‘The door.’

‘Oh… That door. Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you there. Don’t make a face! I don’t have a clue what’s behind it because I’ve never been behind it.’

‘Has anyone?’

‘Nope. At least, not that I know of. When I first came to the house, however many years ago it was now – I braved plumes of dust to explore everywhere. I was the first here, you know? For a long time, I was the sole occupant, the caretaker, if you will. Over the years, there have only been two other Elder House magicians – three now. Sure, some came, but they went to their other Houses quickly enough.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve talked to the door enough over the years. We’re close friends now, but not close enough it will open for me.’

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Elvie accepted the answer as it rang with truth. In some way, the isolation Alistar endured explained his inability to interact with people. She coughed in her hand and changed the subject. His answer was acceptable – just. ‘Okay, I don’t...’

Alistar sat craned his neck to see her list. ‘Go on,’ he implored.

But it was difficult to tell someone you’d travelled through time. Eldridge had taken it well, but then, he’d seen how she appeared out of nowhere. Would Alistar – with all his oddities – take it the same way?

A voice whispered in her mind – that voice: ‘tell him.’ It had protected her so far, would it steer her wrong now?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained – her father loved to say that. ‘Be brave,’ she whispered to herself. Then to Alistar: ‘I don’t know the Elder House spell which brought me from the future to 1933.’

Alistar made to reply, when his mouth stuck in a perfect O. His large eyes doubled in size whilst the mug slipped through his fingers before he desperately tightened them. He coughed delicately, trying to regain his composure. ‘You don’t know how you travelled from the future?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You are from the future?’

‘Yes.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Is this a prank by the Masters? Or Callum? I admit the trick I pulled on him the other day was mean spirited…’ Her nod turned to a shake. ‘By the Five Saints of St Germaine; I’ve done my fair share of pranks, and this has the hallmarks of one of the most beautiful…’

Elvie kept shaking her head. ‘I’ll prove it.’ Like with Eldridge, she took out her mobile phone and turned it on. Thankfully, it glimmered to life, although she could tell the battery ran low on power from the little icon. There would not be much chance of her doing this again.

He was stunned, but exposure to magic appeared to give those from 1933 a deeper connection with the supernatural.

Alistar refocused on what was most important to him. ‘You’re telling me, you time travelled here using an Elder House spell?’ He still sounded sceptical, despite the device in her hand.

‘I did – and I think it was an Elder House spell. It makes sense that it was. One moment I was with my mother and father on a beach, the next, I was gone.’ She wiped the tear from the corner of her eye. She missed her parents so much.

He stared at her for a moment, then scrambled to his feet. ‘Wait, wait. We need to tell Callum. We work together on everything!’ He ran from the room, nearly crashing into a study desk in his haste.

‘And Rilla too,’ Elvie called after him. She was done with secrets.

When he returned, it was clear he’d already told them the bulk of her tale. Rilla was wide-eyed, no doubt wondering what was happening.

Callum looked sceptical. ‘Alistar says strange things all the time, but this is worse than normal.’

‘You’ve come from the future?’ Rilla asked softly.

‘It’s true. I did – I have… I don’t know how it happened, but here I am.’

Callum’s scepticism remained, even after Elvie demonstrated her phone’s functions.

‘What’s it like in the future?’ Rilla asked.

Elvie shrugged. ‘It’s home to me, so there isn’t an easy way to explain it. The natural world is much the same, but technology like my phone here, has changed everything. Technology which you have now, like planes, has developed a lot. I could take a plane from Australia to London in under a day. But it’s also different because you have magic, so I’m not sure if it’s the same timeline? That’s probably the right word.’ One question which had continually nagged her was why magic didn’t exist in the future? ‘Maybe I’m from an alternate reality. I’ve seen enough science fiction television shows to know it happens. I saw it on Stargate, once.’

They stared at her blankly.

‘You could tell us about what’s going to happen in the future?’ Callum probed.

‘NO! No, no, no! You can’t do it – it’s a rule. Haven’t you ever read The Time Machine?’ Alistar stomped on the idea. ‘If you change the past, you’ll change the future!’

‘But I’m already here. Wouldn’t it have happened already?’ Elvie rebutted.

Silence.

For once, Alistar did not have a strange reply. How could he? Nobody knew that answer.