Paralysis Paradox (Time Travel Through Past Lives Adventure Series Book 1) by Stewart Sanders Read Free Book Online Page B

Where?’ I asked, confused.
    ‘On the walkie-talkie, shall I drop it down?’
    I went to respond with a sarcastic yes, but stopped myself when I remembered that the Mad Hatter might actually do it.
    ‘Erm, no! I’ll be up in a minute!’ I shouted as the lighter burnt my thumb and I dropped it.
    As I climbed up in the dark, I wondered how I was going to explain to Vera why an old man answered my call, but by the time I got to the top, the phone was lying on the ground, and the old man and Frankie were sharing a cigarette and sniggering. They looked like guilty kids.
    ‘Sorry, Missy, ya mum hung up. She got very uppity ’bout me answering your walkie-talkie, so I explained that you were indisposed and were having to go in the bushes!’
    Shaking my head, I picked up my phone and wiped away the mud before checking that there was no one waiting on the line. If it had been my father I would have been upset, but as it must have been Vera, I was actually rather glad that they had been so rude.
    ‘You said Marj called,’ I said.
    ‘Who’s Marj?’ asked the Mad Hatter. ‘I said Missy.’
    ‘No, I distinctly heard you say Marj—Marj was my mum’s name. My real mum, but was she calling or were you calling me Marj?’
    ‘It was your mum, and I said Missy,’ he spat.
    This conversation was going nowhere. I looked at my watch and realised that I had only half an hour till lunch. I guess my packing earlier had taken longer than I’d thought. Absentmindedly, I noticed my hands were covered in damp, brown rust.
    ‘I have to go, guys. It must have been my evil stepmum who called, so you will have only wound her up more!’
    ‘Oh, she said she was your mum?’ The Mad Hatter looked perplexed, as I donned my gloves.
    ‘That would be hard—she’s been dead ten years! Anyway, don’t go down there without me, promise?’ At my instruction, Frankie’s eyes shifted away, and the Mad Hatter whistled, pretending to be even madder than he already was. ‘I mean it!’
    ‘Tell ya whats: we won’t go down as long as you speak no words to no one.’
    ‘Deal,’ I said, as I started running back along the path we had laid in the snow.
    I looked back and watched the old man put his finger against his lips as if to say ‘Shh’ again. Don’t worry: I will not speak of this or Bouncing Pond, I thought. No one would believe me anyway; they would all think I’m as mad as the man who takes calls for me from my dead mum or calls me by her name!
    ***
    Taking off my hat, gloves, coat, and boots, I could hear voices in the dining room and the sound of laughter. I headed towards the door but heard footsteps running after me.
    ‘You can’t go in like that, Miss Vicky,’ said an out-of-breath Jane. ‘Come on.’
    She led me into the cloakroom, scrubbed my hands like I was a child and ran her fingers through my hair like a comb to tidy it. Looking in the mirror, I could see that my tights had rust all down them, so I quickly took them off and handed them to her.
    ‘Well don’t just stand there; you’ll need to get rid of them—I can’t have Vera finding them and moaning to Dad!’ I smiled as I issued her orders, keen for her not to cry again.
    She nodded and ran off to the domestics’ quarters, as I approached and pushed open the heavy drawing room door. I strode in, beaming.
    ‘Hello, Dad. So sorry I’m a bit late.’
    ‘Darling! You remember Uncle Josef, don’t you? This is his son, Andreas, and this,’ he said, pointing to a wizened old man in the corner, ‘is our esteemed colleague, Herr Dr Konrad Schmidt.’ I didn’t remember Uncle Josef, but I pretended that I did to please Dad. George, my friend in Charlie’s life’s surname was Schmidt and I wondered if they were related. I could hardly ask if he knew someone from 1911. Though, he did look old enough.
    ‘Hello, Uncle Josef, how nice to see you again!’ I shook his hand politely. He was about Dad’s age, balding, and wore thick, black-rimmed glasses like they