The Wizard of Time (Book 1) by G.L. Breedon Read Free Book Online

breaking something, somebody fighting, somebody changing diapers, somebody laughing, somebody singing. Always something.
    “Dinner was my favorite time. Everyone there all at once. All the voices all at once. My Grandfather and his big booming voice, swearing in Spanish for quiet and my mom insisting that everyone speak English at the dinner table. And my youngest brother wanting to know if it was okay to swear in English at the dinner table. I think the only thing that kept me sane when I came here is that there is always something going on. So many people all together like a big family. Ohin’s not my dad, and Ling’s not my mom, and Rajan isn’t my big brother, but they’re close enough. And after a while, they really grow on you. Even Rajan. He drives me crazy, but he’s risked his life to save mine more than once. So, just be patient. It’ll get easier.”
    “Thanks,” Gabriel said. “I’ll be fine.”
    “I know you will. Now let’s see the tower where they used to keep the prisoners.” She grabbed Gabriel’s hand and pulled him into a run toward the tower across the courtyard.
     

Chapter 5: The Waterloo Chamber
     
    Gabriel ate dinner that night in the Waterloo Chamber of Windsor Castle with Ohin, Sema, Ling, Teresa, and the two members of the team that he had not yet encountered: Marcus and Rajan. Originally a courtyard that had been roofed over during the restorations that began in 1824, the Waterloo Chamber was enormous. Paintings commemorating the battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the English triumph over Napoleon’s invasion attempt lined the walls. The long and exceptionally large room provided plenty of space for hundreds of the castle inhabitants to dine together at one time.
    The seven members of Ohin’s team sat at one end of an incredibly long table that stretched the length of the room. They shared a blueberry pie that Sema served to each of them on small, ornate plates. The dinner had been magnificent. Big, thick slices of roast beef with small red potatoes baked in butter and rosemary. There had been string beans and peas and carrots and corn on the cob, all served on beautifully decorated china plates. The dinner conversation had ranged far and wide, but Gabriel had been able to learn where and when his new companions had come from.
    Sema was from a successful merchant family in Istanbul at the height of the Ottoman Empire. She had married early and had a large family, being just as successful helping her husband mind the business as she was at minding the children. She had lived a long life and had been taken from the timeline in 1535 CE.
    Ohin had been born into a Coptic Christian family in 425 CE in Aksum, or what would become known as Ethiopia. He had been a stonemason and had also married young, but died in his early twenties in a construction accident when a ceiling fell in on him. He was taken from the timeline shortly before his first child was born. Gabriel felt boring and uninteresting compared with everyone else at the table.
    “How are you enjoying your first meal in the castle, Lad?” Marcus asked. “I always wanted to be invited to eat at Windsor Palace when I was a boy, and now I’d trade having hair again just to eat somewhere else for a change.” Marcus had a real English accent. From England, not some psychically implanted translation from an amulet. He had been plucked from the timeline in 1763 CE, and he looked to be about sixty years old now. The way he had explained his death, it had been unclear whether he was a thief who had been killed for robbing an inn, or if he had been an innkeeper who was killed by a thief. He was a warm and gregarious man of medium height with bright hazel green eyes and a shiny, bald head.
    “The meal is great,” Gabriel answered, trying to swallow a bite of pie without chewing so he wouldn’t be speaking with his mouth full. His mother was always chiding him about speaking with his mouth full at the table and while Sema didn’t