(I am happy to announce that the cut-down on writing time was shorter than I expected! I will be again be publishing Elvey’s Adventures on Saturdays and Mondays)
“Is it ready?” Elvey asked.
Judy looked over the device, now put together in a small case.
“It should be,” she said, handing him the tracker, “All you have to do is switch on the big button, and it will guide you to the lock. How you get to the future…” she grimaced, “I’d rather not know.”
He smiled drily.
“Thank you, Judy,” he said, “I will be careful, and I’ll return as soon as possible.”
“Terrance,” Judy suddenly said, “Why is your hand stiff? I noticed you haven’t moved your left hand at all.”
He glanced at his hand, which had been hanging limp at his side most of the time.
“A gold chain wrapped itself around my hand and became invisible,” he said with a laugh.
Judy stared at him, saying, “Elvey… you do realize what that means, don’t you?”
The smile faded from his lips, and he answered, “Living gold chains guard prisoners – we all know that.”
“And,” she continued, “Can coil themselves around the prisoner’s throat whenever they please! You’ve been marked for death!”
“Thanks for the encouragement,” he muttered, “I can’t do anything about it for now, but so far nothing’s happened.”
Judy went to a bureau standing in the corner, and took out a piece of cloth, handing it to him and saying, “Use this as a scarf.”
He took it, feeling it, and, looking at her, said, “Chainmail – where did you get this?”
Judy smiled, saying, “Souvenir – but it looks enough like a scarf so no one would notice, and it can help protect you from that chain.”
Elvey put the chainmail around his neck, muttering, “Not uncomfortable.”
They joined the others in the bowling alley.
Peterson, turning to them, handed Elvey a knife, saying, “You should take this – just in case.”
Elvey put the knife in an intricately designed sheath hidden around his ankle, and said, “I need to go talk to Liam, and then I’ll go,” he turned, and then paused and added, “I won’t tell you Liam’s location. I think that would be the safest thing.”
Judy nodded.
And with that, and many goodbyes, Elvey left.
He took Judy’s car back most of the way to Liam’s house. He turned down a quieter road, parking the car where it wouldn’t be noticed, and went the rest of the way at a run.
He approached the ditch where he’d left Liam carefully, crouching and even crawling so that he was completely out of sight.
There was no sign of Liam in the ditch.
Elvey quietly whispered, “Liam, it’s Terrance.”
A slow movement, and then Liam appeared from behind a bush, glaring at him.
“What’s your favorite animal?”
“Owls.”
Liam relaxed and came nearer.
“I’m going to track the lock,” Elvey said.
“Should I come with you?”
Elvey shook his head, saying, “Too dangerous. Stay here – but I’m going to tell you where to go that’s safe, and you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
The boy nodded.
“You remember that constipated wooden owl in my workshop? Inside the owl, you’ll find a large crystal. Break off two sections, crush one, and walk through the portal that appears. When you want to come back here, crush the other section. Understand?”
Liam, wide-eyed, said, “What’s the crystal?”
“It’s really a complex machine that only looks like a crystal,” Elvey explained.
“What’s the portal?”
Elvey smiled briefly, “It’s a place that’s separate from everything. You’ll be able to observe without anyone aware of you, and you’ll be completely safe,” he grimaced slightly and added, “You might not like it though. You won’t get hungry or sleepy or anything. And you need to stay in my home, OK?”
“Alright,” Liam said, casually.
“OK,” Elvey breathed, “That’s it. I’ve got to get going now. I’ll be as quick as possible.”
With another goodbye, Elvey left by the same method.
He returned to the car, got in, started it, and drove on. He reached a dirt road that was hardly used, leading into a tall evergreen forest.
He reached a clearing in the forest, pulled the car to the side of the road, stopped it and got out.
Looking around, he slowly walked towards two large trees, looking up to the sky through the high branches. Standing a few feet from the two big trees, he took out a part of a crystal, and split it open with a pocketknife.
Light shone from inside the crystal, intense and darting from one side of the crystal to the other. Elvey carefully extracted one spark from the substance with his pocketknife and returned the crystal to its original form.
Elvey carefully removed a part of the casing from the device Judy had made, and, taking a long, low breath, he placed the spark into the device, pulling the casing shut quickly.
The instant the light was hidden in the device, the space between the two big trees disappeared, becoming a vast, dark void.
Elvey, holding tightly to the device, was sucked into the void.
The darkness of the void gradually formed into various images that passed rapidly, occurring around Elvey as he was dragged further in.
The scenes were indistinguishable and yet distinct; dreamlike but real.
Elvey passed on.
Suddenly, Elvey emerged. The void ended, reality stabilized, and he slammed into a concrete wall.
Elvey groaned, putting a hand to his head, and slowly sat up.
He stared at the concrete wall, picked up the device and put it in his pocket, and slowly stood up.
Elvey, supporting himself on a side table, looked around.
The surroundings were completely silent.
There was no sound of voices, birds, cars, or even lightbulbs or air conditioning.
Elvey was in a hallway of a big office building, with chic décor and moody lighting.
As he looked around, his eyes widened, and he muttered, “This is Rosen’s – but…”
A door opened at the further end of the room, and a man entered, looking at him.
“What took you so long?” Mr. Donaldson asked.
Homespun Tabby 