Out of Time Read Online Free PDF Page A

happened fit together. Simon pulled a slow hand down over his mouth and scrubbed at his chin and he put the pieces, however impossible they seemed, into place.
    Was it truly possible that all of the stories his grandfather had told him weren’t stories at all? The destruction of Pompeii, a night at Valley Forge, the War of the Roses. Dear God. Had he actually been there?
    Elizabeth leaned in to get a better look at the watch, her body brushing against his. “What’s going on, Professor?”
    How could he expect her to believe what he could hardly comprehend himself?
    She gripped his arm, and forced him to look at her. Her blue eyes, usually filled with confidence, danced nervously across his face. “What happened to us? Where are we?”
    He tried to quell his growing sense of panic and keep his voice calm and detached. “It’s not so much where we are, but when.”
    She shook her head. “What do you mean when?”
    He did some quick calculations. “Judging from the cars and style of dress, we appear to be in the late twenties.”
    “Twenties? As in Nineteen Twenties? You can’t be serious.”
    “Perhaps early thirties, I’ll need to check.”
    Research—the haven for a logical mind. Simon always sought refuge in detail, in the search for answers. His entire career had been built on the foundation that anything could be proven, no matter how incredible it sounded, if the right research was performed.
    “Check what?” Elizabeth asked following his gaze to the mouth of the alley before turning back and squeezing his arm more tightly. “I think you’d better tell me what the hell’s going on.”
    Simon held out the watch and stared down at the complicated dials. “If I’m reading this properly, I’d say it’s 1929. July 17th, 1929 to be exact.”
    Elizabeth let go of his arm and stepped back. Her voice trembled and she shook her head in denial. “That’s impossible.”
    A fresh wave of guilt washed over Simon. He couldn’t afford to give in to it. He cleared his throat and attempted to explain, but for the moment, could offer only, “It seems that my grandfather was more than merely eccentric.”
    Elizabeth stared at him, her expression blank. “Are you saying that thing’s really some sort of time machine?”
    “Apparently.”
    “That’s impossible.”
    “Apparently not.”
    She put her fists on her hips and looked at him accusingly. “You’re awfully calm about this.”
    He was anything but calm. Still, he knew they had to keep a clear head if they were going to find a way out of this mess. “Would you prefer I panic?”
    “A little, yeah. I mean—Hello! Time travel. Not an everyday thing,” she said, a frown coming to her face. “Unless, you’ve done this before.”
    “Don’t be absurd.”
    She dropped her arms to her sides in an uncharacteristic huff. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to be absurd standing in an alley in Nineteen Twenty-Nine .”
    Simon took a deep calming breath. “I assure you, if I had any idea what this watch was capable of…”
    Elizabeth relented. “I know. I’m sorry,” she said, nodding. She put one hand to her hip and pulled the other through the length of her hair as she turned and surveyed the alley again. “Can you undo it? Put it in reverse or whatever?”
    “I don’t think we should stumble ahead blindly.”
    “Worked getting us here.”
    Simon blanched at the remark. Whatever had happened to them was his fault. He could bear that, if there were a way to undo it.
    “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”
    “No, you’re quite right, Miss West.” The weight of their situation truly dawned on him. If he’d been alone he could have faced it without pause. But now, for the first time in his life, he was responsible for someone else. “The situation is entirely my fault.”
    Simon felt the unaccustomed need to comfort welling inside him again. Compassion had never been a strong suit of his. If anything, the opposite was true. “You do know that I