Past the Ages: Book Two Read Online Free PDF Page B

and me?”
    Lucy was exhausted after telling him about her adventures, but started. “I was thinking I’d feign a headache and skip the ball. Once my mother and father are gone for the night, I can sneak out through the servants’ entrance, and Will and I can ride to the cemetery where the amulet is located.”
    He blinked several times. “What’s it like?”
    “What?” Lucy asked, not sure where he was going with the question.
    “Two hundred years from now. What does that even look like?”
    She thought a moment and said the first thing that came to mind. “It’s a lot less dusty and the people dress showing a lot more skin.”
    Dashel burst out laughing. A small group of people walked by. At Dashel’s outburst, they sped up. Recognizing they were making a spectacle of themselves, he waved his groom over. “Let’s get some iced lemonade, shall we?” He stuck out an elbow for Lucy and Harriet to take, but her lady’s maid just shook her head and moved behind the two of them as they walked.
    In the buggy, he encouraged Lucy to continue.
    “Sounds like a good plan. What do you need from me?” He smiled brightly, his eyes alight with mischief.
    Harriet’s gaze focused on something outside the window, seemingly seeing something important. “Can you stop the carriage, Mr. Rothchild?”
    “Of course.” He alerted his driver who pulled the carriage over to the side of the road. Before it’d come to a complete stop, she jumped out.
    “Harriet,” Lucy said, flabbergasted, stepping out behind her lady’s maid. “Is there something you need?”
    “No, Miss.” She studied an empty spot in the street. “Go on without me. I’ll be home straight away. I just need to take care of an issue.”
    “If you’re sure, Harriet.”
    “I am, Miss. Thank you.” She strode off in the direction she’d been studying so intently.
    Lucy watched her a moment before returning to the carriage.
    “Is your maid going to be all right?” Dashel helped her back inside.
    “I do hope so.” She adjusted her dress as she sat, rather confused about the situation. “Where were we?”
    Dashel sat back, peering out at the street. “What do they get around in? Not carriages, I think.”
    It took her a minute to understand. “They are called cars and they’re fast.”
    That perked Dashel up. “How fast? Faster than a horse?”
    Lucy smiled at his boyish enthusiasm, her momentary worry about Harriet temporarily forgotten. “Much faster. And they have planes.”
    “Planes?” Dashel sat forward, clasping his hands together. “What is a planes?”
    “They are like cars, but fly in the air. They can hold hundreds of people all at once and go so fast a person can get from one side of the continent to the other in a few hours.”
    Dashel was astonished. “That is amazing.”
    “And they have something called fast food.”
    “What is that? Does it run while you eat it?”
    Lucy laughed heartily at the mental image he’d created. “No. You talk into a metal box, tell it what you want, and then drive to a window where a person hands you a bag filled with the food you ordered.”
    “I’ll be damned.”
    “It’s almost like time travel.”
    He sat back and returned to staring out the window. “Lucy Channing, I must say that knowing you is one of the best parts of my life.”
    “I am happy to be your entertainment, Mr. Rothchild. Our relationship hasn’t changed much over the years.”
    “Oh, but it most certainly has. You’ve introduced me to time travel. To the year two thousand fifteen. I love it.”

 
     
     
    SIX
    A KISS ISN’T JUST A KISS
     
     
     
    OVER THE next couple of days Lucy only saw Will at mealtimes and occasionally in passing. Each time her heart lurched with longing. She wanted to be near him, and hated the separation instilled by society. What made matters worse was that Harriet hadn’t been around either. Her lady’s maid sent another girl by the name of Pasha, to bring her meals, and help her