The Library

She nodded, "Yeah, we should get on the road." She fiddled with her sleeves, and in the process discovered she was wearing a chunky, gaudy timepiece, complete with fake jewels around the clock. Because she wasn't wearing enough plastic. She was honestly afraid to check for earrings at this point.

She rolled her eyes and dismissed that train of thought, focusing instead on Adam, his words. He was still upset, but that wasn't a surprise. Mourning was one of those emotions that liked to linger. Still, she didn't confirm that he was 'stupid' for his sixteen-hour trip, even though that was almost definitely the case.

Carter had quickly gotten dressed - throwing on the hideous jacket and pants - and jumped out of bed to greet the woman at the door, and the moment he saw her, things were starting to make sense.

It was Claire, but perhaps ten or twenty years down the line. She still had the same accent and the same eyes. She was one of the girls from that harem Esther's mother was in. He could only assume Amy was another byproduct of that harem and had to be Claire and Jay's daughter.

He wondered what Jay was up to since he seemed to be absent from the picture. Either he was dead, absent, or something else.

Clearly, they weren't just there for Amy, they were there for Claire, and he was sure that they had to know Esther (or at least of her) to some extent. He could even see the faint resemblance in Amy's face with Esther. Half-sisters.

Carter smiled warmly at Claire and Amy, bowing his head a little by way of greeting. "Hello," he mirrored. "We're doing quite well, many thanks to your daughter Amy. She's really helped us out."

Claire vaguely smiled.

"I'm glad," she replied. "Well, is everyone ready for breakfast? There's enough space for all of us in my car."

I wasn't ready yet, but it didn't take me all that long to get ready - I just had to throw on the clothes I had ended up here in, and swing by the bathroom before I was all set to go.

I had to stay alert. At some point, I'd be able to get Claire alone. I wasn't sure how, yet, but I'd figure it out. And once I did, I'd finally figure out what had happened to Esther and Elizabeth.

Once Skull was ready, Carter looked to Claire with a smile.

"Sorry about Skull, he's a little slow in the mornings," he said, coming up beside Skull and giving him an affectionate pat on the back. "But we're ready to go, now!"

They reached the restaurant and Claire told them to order whatever they wanted.

As they ate, Scott and Amy mostly stayed in their own world, talking about people they knew in high school that they would likely to run into again. Amy was asking if they could go to Disney and do a million other things once they were back.

While her daughter talked, Claire noticed the way that Skull and Carter kept staring at her, and she was starting to grow uncomfortable, so she gave them a condescending smile.

**

They hadn't been driving for very long before it happened. He didn't talk to his guest much, but he had put on a David Bowie cassette tape.

"David Bowie was Esther's favorite," He told Queenie.

It happened right after that.

Great. Adam had gone at least fifteen years without ever having any serious car trouble, and he wasn't about to start now. The engine was shot, and he'd need a jump at least and new battery at most. He realized he'd probably outwore it by driving so much in such a short period of time.

Luckily, they weren't far from the last exit. Maybe a mile at most. He wasn't sure how he felt about leaving a stranger with his car while he went to call Triple A, but he'd take the keys. He supposed if Queenie got bored waiting for him and decided to hitch, it was beyond his control.

"I need to you stay with the car, okay?" He said. "I'll be back soon."

Claire, apparently, hadn't recognized us just yet.

Or maybe she had, and just didn't want to accept that the two of us were the people she had met years ago. I'd have to come up with something to jog her memory. Something that didn't sound crazy, but also would make her realize just who we were.

I looked between Carter and Claire.

...I was starting to get an idea.

"So, honey, when can we visit Esther and Elizabeth again?" I said to Carter, making sure my voice was just loud enough for Claire to overhear. I gave Carter a nudge that was more of a shove for good measure. I had to get him back for earlier, after all. "It's been ages since we've seen them. We really need to swing by Utah soon."

Even though I was facing Carter the entire time I was speaking, my eyes were looking right at Claire.

I sighed and slumped my shoulders.

"And it's too bad they live so far out in the wilderness," I added. "We'll have to find that guide we had last time - Iris was her name, right?"

Once I was done talking, I turned back to Claire - still looking her right in the eye as I sipped my water.

Queenie had spent the drive trying her best to tune out the headache-inducing music and plotting a course for what she would do next. Or, that was what she'd tried to do. Really, there was no clear path forward. She was many, many years before time travel would even begin testing, and she didn't even know if she could find anyone she knew in this time. The only way home appeared to be whatever, or whoever, ran the library.

So her thoughts turned to a game. Were she to be prompted to kill Adam, how would she do it?

Her mind ran through scenario after scenario as she stared idly out the window, perfecting a plan she knew she'd never use. Just a thought exercise.

And then the car broke down, and she was ordered to stay with the car. She got out of the car and leaned against it, stretching. "Sure thing, love," she said to Adam, "You go on."

She noticed him taking the keys and refrained from rolling her eyes. As if she couldn't hotwire a car as old as this one, and it wasn't running, anyway. It was sort of insulting, really. She got that he didn't trust her - he was right not to - but thinking she was dumb enough to steal a crappy car like his? That was beyond insulting.

Claire's face fell.

"Amy," she said. "Go see if my other credit card is in the glove compartment of the car."

"Why?" Amy asked.

"Go right now," Claire replied. "Scott, go with her." They both had looks of protests, but knew it was an order.

Claire wasn't sure how they knew about her, but she had to nip this in the bud right now. As soon as Amy and Scott were out of earshot, she leaned in closer. "What do you want from me?"

**

Adam returned about an hour later to find Queenie still sitting the passenger seat. He wondered if she'd moved from that spot. He was hungry and thirsty and as such had bought two water bottles and a big bag of Doritos. That would have to do until they could eat at an actual restaurant.

He handed her a bottle of water and opened the bag. "This will have to do for now," he said. "Mechanic will be here soon. They should have us on our way. Sorry it took so long. I had to call my wife."

Queenie had, by now, searched the car. The general consensus was that Adam was absolutely, irrevocably, boring. So Queenie went back to planning a murder.

Soon enough, though, Adam came back.

She took the offered water and opened the bottle. "You're married?" She mentally kicked herself for missing the ring. It was useful to know he hadn't taken after his father. Or, not openly, at least.

Now that Amy and Scott were out of the way, I happily moved away from Carter. There was no need for pretending anymore.

"I'm guessing those names did their trick," I said, resting my elbows on the table and my chin on my hand. "I could be polite, but I'm impatient right now - I'll skip the pleasantries."

I took another sip of my drink before pushing it away.

"I want to know what happened to Elizabeth and Esther in Utah," I said. "Seeing that you're not questioning why Carter and I don't look a day older than the last time we met, I'm assuming your memory hasn't been jogged. You met us in Utah, back when you were with Jay and those girls. Carter and I got on Jay's nerves, so he kicked us out. But Elizabeth and Esther stayed."

I leaned back against my seat.

"So," I said, resting my hands in my lap, "I want to know what happened to them after that."

"Look, I don't know how this is possible, how you know about Jay," Claire replied. She remembered now. They could have found out about Jay some way, but it wasn't exactly a secret that she'd been a part of the group. But they looked too much like the group she'd met. Still, it needed to explain why they hadn't aged a day in twenty years. "Your friend Elizabeth left that night. Your friend Esther stayed a few days. Then they left. I don't know what happened after that."

Just then, she saw Amy and Scott came back in.

"But you are not to utter one word about this to my daughter." Then, Claire waved to Amy and Scott as if nothing was wrong.

"I couldn't find your credit card," Amy said.

"Thanks for trying, sweetheart," Claire replied.

Amy clearly knew something was up, but there was nothing Claire could do about it right now.

**

"Yes, I'm married," Adam said. "And we have a one year old." He took a picture out of his wallet and showed her. Then, he found what he was looking for. His favorite picture of he and Esther together, at his wedding. "This is Esther. My baby sister."

She fiddled with her ponytail, messing with the ends for a while, smoothing it out, then eventually settling on braiding it.

"Cute kid," she said as she turned her loose ponytail into a very long braid. She only nodded when he showed her the picture of his sister.

It was the same Esther then. She was in the right place to accomplish...something. What steps was she going to take? How was she going to get home? So she met the brother of some chick she hardly greeted that one time, how thrilling. What now?

Carter watched with burning hatred as Skull recklessly burned one of the only bridges they had to Esther. Had he no restraint, he would've reached across the table and strangled Skull. Maybe stabbed him with a fork off the table. Kicked him in the shin. Something.

But it seemed that whatever friendly, fragile relations they had with Claire were now ruined, and they'd have to play a different game. One of bribery and secrets, if they didn't want to get kicked out again and sent back to the library where the woman would look at them with disappointment (but likely not explain anything).

He smiled warmly at Amy and Scott as they came back.

"Ah, welcome back," he said casually. "We were just sharing a little about how Skull and I met in Utah, but we were also talking about joining you on your way to LA!" He looked from Amy to Claire, making direct eye contact with Claire for just a moment. Though his expression was amicable, he hoped his intent was clear.

"Or if we sit a while longer, we could share more about our adventures back then! We've met quite a few interesting people in our travels."

Claire wasn't sure what to do.

She wasn't sure what these men wanted. The men didn't look like they had weapons. Briefly, she wondered if they weren't really neighbors with her daughter and this wall just an elaborate ruse, as they didn't seem all that concerned about getting back to their apartment. Still, Claire had invited them to breakfast, and was now regretting it.

She figured they didn't have much choice if she wanted to keep what she knew a secret from Amy. Maybe she could find an excuse to ditch them.

"Alright, then let's get going." Claire went up to the register and paid for the meal.

They drove for the next few hours. Claire kept the radio on, talking to Amy and Scott and deliberately excluding Carter and Skull from the conversation. The whole time she was thinking about an excuse she could make to ditch them but nothing came yet.

By the time they crossed the border into California they were getting hungry, so they stopped at a random diner off an exit. It was an odd time of day, almost three PM by now, so there were only two other cars in the lot. One, a rusted green minivan, gave her a sense of deja vu, although she couldn't put her finger on why.

**

Queenie hadn't been much to talk, so after the car was fixed and they were on their way Adam kept the radio on. Eventually they stopped for lunch at a random diner off an exit after they crossed the border into California. They'd only just gotten the drinks when he noticed Queenie's eyes were on a group that had just entered.

One younger gay couple and...

Claire? He'd only met her once back in 1981. The younger redhead must have been her daughter. He wasn't sure about the third guy. Just then, Claire and Adam locked eyes. Clearly, she recognized him too.