When the idea comes, it’s so obvious I stand up as if electrified. “It’s not organized, Kyler. It’s just happening. There’s more activity on certain nights, that’s what your mom said. Nights when bad things are happening, natural disasters and stuff, but the VA doesn’t know when that is. All they know is they get these guys, they treat some of them, some disappear back to wherever, and some return again.”
“But, then what are they doing here?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, but the VA and the government obviously know about it. The weird thing is they’re keeping it secret, but they’re still letting it happen. Why would they do that?”
“Because they can’t control it?” Kyler makes a “what do you think?” stretchy face, his mouth turned down. “Maybe it’s some kind of crazy natural phenomenon?”
“And that’s why they have to keep it secret!” All that research last night is paying off. “Time travel is the biggest military weapon a country could ever invent!” I’m trembling as I say it. “Travel back in time and you can change whatever you want. You can control the entire history of the world. If the government knows there’s some weird “natural time travel” thing going on, they aren’t going to let anyone else know until they understand it and control it themselves. They’re definitely not going to let other countries—or terrorists—know.”
I pause for a moment and I see the Celt clearly again, in that moment before the nurses gathered around, his blue eyes not fierce anymore, but sad. “‘I don’t want to get stuck here.’”
“Say again.”
“That’s what he said. ‘I don’t want to get stuck here.’ It makes total sense. Maybe he’s afraid he’ll never get back to the portal or time machine or whatever he has to use to return home. He’ll be stuck in this time, forever!”
Kyler thumps his fist on the table. “Why didn’t I think of this?” he says. I guess he’s bummed about me trashing his theory. I’m going to tell him not to take it so hard. Kyler’s real smart normally, and he can be hard on himself, but then he leans in and whispers, “I heard Mom talking to Dad this morning when she got off her shift.”
“And?”
“Well…” He holds on to the word for a really long time just to bug me.
“What?”
“She said a patient ran away last night.”
“No!”
“Yeah, a patient ran away.”
I grab Kyler’s shoulders and pretty much shake his head off in time with my words. “It’s him. It must be him. That proves it! He’s gonna try to get back to his own time. We have to find him, see it with our own eyes. This is probably our only chance, ever, to prove that time travel really exists!”
Romanii: Northern Borders has never felt so real as it does tonight. These guys aren’t just computer-generated anymore. I’ve seen a Celtic warrior. I’ve heard him. I’ve smelled him. I’ve even spoken to him. I should be relishing every moment of my epic victory against the Romans, but I can hardly concentrate. “Let’s pause,” I whisper.
I have to repeat myself twice before Kyler finally understands. “Good call!” he whispers back with a thumbs-up. It’s always risky playing Romanii during the week. We have to keep our voices especially low. Even if Mom is working the night shift, Grandpa is still under strict instructions to close me down. No war games during the week, only four hours max on the weekend. That’s why Grandpa’s monthly poker nights are so great.
“I can’t think of anything but the Celt. The real Celt!” I say.
“Me too. Let’s get back to planning. We have to have a plan.”
“I know, but what? He’s run away. He could be anywhere. Did you ask your mom whether they’d found him again?”
“Yeah, I slipped her the question on the way back from my violin lesson. She’d totally forgotten it was Dad she was talking to about him, not me. The Celt has disappeared, for sure.”
“Good, that’s easier for us.”
“Easier?” Kyler does a giant “what do you mean” face into the screen, which makes me laugh.
“We know he’s still out there. It’s easier for us to find him outside than in the VA with all those doctors around all the time.”
Kyler shrugs. “I could just pretend I was visiting Mom,” he mumbles. “Anyway how do we know he hasn’t already gone back to his own time?”
“We don’t,” I say, “but we’ve got to start somewhere. We have to assume he’s still here and find him before he goes back.” Kyler’s looking pretty unhappy about the whole situation, like he wants to give up. Well, no way! No way are we giving up on this.
I grab my military history book and hold the cover up to the screen. “For inspiration,” I say. Kyler holds up some chips. It’s a good idea. I take a few from the bag Grandpa let me have from his poker store and crunch. They were supposed to help me with my homework, but I figure I am at home and I’m thinking, so this is like homework.
“OK, so, you’re a Celt, and you’ve time-traveled to the future. What would you do?” I flip some pages, looking at the pictures.
Kyler blows air through his lips and lifts his shoulders to his ears. “I dunno. Go get ice cream? Fly around the world? All the stuff I couldn’t do back in my time?”
“Kyler,” I groan. “He was freaked out.”
“OK, then I’d hide.”
“Right. He’s going to lay low someplace until he can get back to his own time again.”
“So, where do you think he is?”
I’m looking at a page about Celtic weapons and how the Celts offered swords to the gods. It talks about the druids and their sacred oak groves. An idea comes. I wait a couple of seconds to let Kyler anticipate my genius. “In a park,” I say.
Kyler snorts as if he’s not that impressed.
“No, listen. It makes sense. The Celts hated towns. They conquered Rome. Rome, Kyler! It didn’t get any better than that, and you know what? They left again. They didn’t want to live there. Celts were into wild places. They worshipped oak trees, and they left offerings for their gods in ponds and marshes. If I were this guy, I’d hide somewhere I felt safe.”
Kyler puts his head to one side. His jaw drops open.
“Got a better idea?” I say.
“No,” Kyler says slowly. “That’s good, Mikey. That’s pretty good.”
“So here’s how we start. We check out a different park every day when we walk to school. We can do it without our moms—without anyone—knowing. If you print out a map tonight, we can make our first trip
