I giggled. ‘You’re kidding?’
He shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Why chickens?’
‘If we went back and told them the real reason for our mission, it would defeat the whole purpose of the mission! Most time missions have to have cover stories. I’m not sure you can understand the value of a chicken’s egg in my time. You have more than enough protein and farm-raised animals are plentiful. When I come from, chicken eggs are considered the ultimate luxury protein food.’ He shrugged. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time.’
‘I can’t imagine you living your life in the future.’
Ryan looked at me. ‘I can’t either. Being so distant from you. One of the first things I’m going to do when I get home is find out how you’ve lived your life. I’ll be checking into everything. I want to find out you’ve led a brilliant, exciting life. Learnt to drive, gone to university, travelled the world. Gotten out of Penpol Cove.’
‘What’s wrong with Penpol Cove?’
‘Nothing. It’s wonderful. But you need to experience the rest of the world as well. Get out there and explore the possibilities.’
‘I have to consider Miranda. I’m all she’s got.’
‘But you still have your own lives to live. Maybe when you leave home she’ll go back to college and train as a lawyer. You can’t hold each other back. You’re made for more than Penpol Cove.’
I bit my lip. He was right. ‘How will you find out about my life?’
‘We all leave a trail behind us,’ he said. ‘Marriage certificate, children, social-networking pages, newspaper articles. Maybe I’ll visit your descendants.’
‘That thought makes me feel so sad,’ I said.
Out on the horizon, a thick band of sea fog was rolling slowly towards the shore.
As soon as I pulled into the driveway, I knew that Ben and Cassie were home. Their cars were parked side by side on the block paving by the house.
‘Did they give you a hard time last night?’ I asked.
Ryan shrugged and unclicked his seat belt. ‘They freaked out a bit. Reminded me of my mission objectives. Lectured me on the Temporal Laws. The most frustrating thing is they don’t believe that we’re just friends. The number of times Cass went on about too much testosterone and me having poor self-control.’
‘I wish you’d exercised a little less self-control,’ I said, because time was running out for us and anything that was to be said needed to be said now.
‘So do I. Sometimes,’ he said. He reached out and cupped my face in his hand. ‘Maybe I’ll fall in love with your great-granddaughter.’
I knew he was trying to make a joke, but his words just left me with a gaping emptiness. To be born in the wrong time, always wondering if one of my descendants would be the girl who finally felt those arms wrapped around her, those lips on hers, was too tragic to laugh at.
‘What a lucky great-granddaughter,’ I said, attempting a light-hearted tone.
We went inside. Cassie and Ben were sitting at the dining room table, frowning at a large sheet of paper. Cassie covered the paper as soon as I entered the room.
‘How was your driving lesson?’ she asked.
‘Good,’ I nodded.
‘She’s a natural driver,’ said Ryan.
‘Eden, I would like you to stay for dinner again tonight,’ said Ben. ‘We’ll be going over the final preparations for the ball.’
‘I’d love that,’ I said. I wanted as much time with Ryan as possible, even if that meant enduring Cassie’s sarcasm.
‘Ben wants to go over the flight plans with you, Ryan,’ said Cassie. ‘Eden, come with me.’
Cassie took me shopping. I looked at her side on as she put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway. Her shiny, tightly coiled blonde ringlets snaked down her back. Her skin was clear and, although it seemed she never cracked a smile, she was undeniably beautiful. She caught my eye as she slipped the car into first and I looked away, embarrassed to have been caught staring.
‘What are you going to do when Ryan leaves?’ she asked expressionlessly.
She moved up through the gears rapidly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re in love with him, aren’t you?’
I felt my face flush pink. This was not a conversation I wanted to be having with Cassie.
‘Yes,’ I said quietly. ‘But I’ve known for a while that we only have a short time together.’
‘So you’re not going to try and persuade him to stay here?’
‘No.’
‘And you’re not going to try and come with us when we leave?’
‘No.’
She glanced at me, the slightest smile crossing her lips. ‘Ryan is right. You’re practical. Strong. You’re coping with some weird stuff very well.’ She hesitated. ‘It will be difficult when you’re left behind. You might want to tell someone about what you’ve been through.’
‘I won’t say anything.’
‘Good.’
We were on the main road now, heading towards Tesco. She drove in silence until we reached the turn-off.
‘Just remember that you must never speak of this. The Guardians of Time will eliminate you if they ever get wind of the fact that you know.’
‘Guardians of Time? I thought it was cleaners I had to worry about.’
‘They are the organisation set up to ensure the integrity of the timeline. A bit like the United Nations, I suppose, but with considerably more power. They monitor energy signatures that time travel leaves behind, approve and decline missions and organise clean-up agents.’
I shuddered. ‘They sound scary.’
‘They’re powerful. They do what needs to be done to protect the future. Which is as it should be.’
We pulled into the car park and parked close to the shop. Cassie locked the car and walked towards the trolley stand. I followed.
‘What’s Connor really like?’ she asked, as she pushed the trolley into the shop. ‘I’ve read the books and I know the official story and the gossip, but what is he like as a friend?’
‘He’s a good friend. Kind, funny, thoughtful.’
‘That’s generic,’ she said impatiently. She picked up some chicken wings and dropped them in the trolley. ‘I think we’ll have a barbeque.’
‘Don’t you mind about the meat?’ I asked.
She gave me a funny look. ‘We don’t eat meat because there aren’t any animals left. Not many anyway. But you have plenty.’
‘But Ryan acts like it’s a crime to eat meat.’
‘Yeah, well Ryan has strong feelings about things. He tends to overreact.’
I felt like I should defend him, but I didn’t want to get into an argument with Cassie. I suspected she would win and leave me feeling stupid.
‘So tell me how you and Connor met.’ Cassie grabbed a couple of boxes of vegetarian sausages and threw them in the trolley.
‘We met on the first day of primary school, but we didn’t become best friends until a couple of years later. Everyone else was making cards for Father’s Day, but the teaching assistant took us on to the school field to paint landscapes. We both knew why we’d been removed from the lesson. We would have been six.’
‘His father died from cancer, didn’t he?’
‘That’s right. His father died a few months before mine. A few years later his mother moved them into Perran and I didn’t see him for a couple of years, not until we both started at the secondary school. But it was like no time had passed at all. We were so pleased to see each other again.’
She tossed packets of tortilla chips and dips into the trolley. ‘What else should I get?’ she asked.
‘Some sort of dessert. And some bread.’
Cassie grabbed a strawberry cheesecake and a baguette.
‘Is he popular?’ she asked, pushing the trolley towards the checkout.
‘I wouldn’t say he was popular, but he’s not unpopular either. He’s got friends in astronomy club and in surf club. He’s hard not to like.’