The Unlikely Time Traveller Read Online Free PDF Page A

Dazed, I wondered if I ever would. I always knew timetravel was dangerous. You never know what situation you’ll land in. And you don’t land at your best. Right now I felt like I’d never walk again, or talk. I would just lie like a zombie. That daft thought, weirdly, made me feel better. A groggy laugh pushed past my lips. Wait till I see Agnes, I thought, then I’ll tell her she was wrong. There is a zombie in the future, (if this is the future!) and he’s called Saul Martin! Not all that funny but it cheered me up.
    Next thing I heard this gross chomping noise, right next to me, then I felt these rubbery wet things on the back of my hand. I screamed, or tried to, but a mangled whimper came out. I forced my eyes open, and found myself face to face with an old grey horse that was trying to bite me. I pulled my hand away. It rolled back its head and whinnied, then it stamped the ground.
    “Tinder, no!” the same voice yelled. But the horse kept stamping, and neighing loudly. It looked well disturbed. And it wasn’t the only one. Further down I spotted six or seven other horses, shaking their shaggy manes and pounding the ground. The horse near me bared its huge yellow teeth. I lay stock still, my heart pounding. If I didn’t move, the horse might think I was dead. If I didn’t move, the guy might not discover me. I hadn’t spotted him yet but he was somewhere nearby, chanting away.
    “Tinder, hush, and Tara, still now, so I may rehearse my speech: Dear citizens. We who live… Um … Tinder! What under the sun is the matter? It is terror enough I must make this muckle speech, and now you, acting startled. Hush!”
    Next thing the mad horse lunged at me. Quick as a flash I rolled away from it. I kept rolling, partly because I didn’t trust my legs, partly to confuse the horse.
    Someone was running towards me. Some guy with long hair. The mumbling and shouting one. Now he wasjust shouting. And waving his arms about.
    “Senseless hare-brain,” he yelled. “Fear in me enough to make this dreaded speech, now you spy on me, and make disturbance. Go!” I grabbed at some stone statue thing and hoisted myself to my feet. My legs felt like jelly.
    Wildly I looked about. This was the garden! Tidied up and full of startled horses, but I knew it was our garden. I was under the yew tree. Right where I’d been when I left the twenty-first century. If I had. I staggered to the wide gnarled trunk and propped myself against it. The guy with the long hair was striding down the garden, and seemed seriously upset. Was he going to beat me up?
    Maybe he was, but lucky for me he changed his mind. He glared at me, shook his head, then strode off to calm the main group of snorting, stamping horses.
    With my heart still banging like mad I pressed up against the yew tree. Something rustled under my foot. No way! I had just stepped on a Mars Bar wrapper! If there’s one thing Robbie loves it’s Mars Bars. Was this just coincidence or had Robbie been here? If Robbie had been through a time-travel shift like I just had, the first thing he’d reach for was a snack. Shakily I snatched up the wrapper. I heard the bleep from my pocket again. I couldn’t believe a text had reached me in the future. If this was the future? It seemed quite horsey, and there were no flashy spacecraft about.
    I fumbled for my phone, pulled it out and saw a text from Agnes. You R Joking! Then the screen went blank and the phone went dead. I stabbed at it with my finger but nothing happened. I wanted to call her. No! I wanted to yell. I am deadly serious! But my link to home had just died on me.

8
    I slipped the useless phone back in my pocket, groaned, then realised I was gazing at the carved initials AB on the bark of the yew tree. I gasped, thinking of Agatha Black from 1812 – the first time traveller – and I felt better. If Agatha could time travel into the future, so could I. My legs stopped trembling.
    The guy was further down the garden now, patting