The Book of Time

Chapter 11

Snow. Snow everywhere. Thomas smiled. He loved the snow.

He looked around. He couldn't see Shay anywhere, or the portal.

His heart was in his throat. He pressed the find button on the bracelet and let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't far away.

A call was coming through.

"We got separated," Thomas said.

"The first time we went through, I was holding onto your arm but we went in separately this time. That must have been why," she said.

"Stay where you are. I'm coming." He hung up and pressed the GPS button. Shah Faisal, Pakistan? He looked around. He was standing in the middle of a town and there were people about, wrapped up in jackets. Snow covered the buildings, roads, cars, even that mosque he saw in the distance was covered. He was certain that Pakistan was supposed to be hot. Zahir was having a bit too much fun with that Book page.

He located Shay on the map. The snow had been cleared off the road recently so the layer of snow was thinner and there were no cars. It didn't take him long to reach to the location on the map. It was easy to spot Shay's purple sweater and bright blue scarf against all the white. Two men were standing nearby. He bristled and walked over.

"Sorry it took me so long," he said. He took off his sunglasses.

"No worries," Shay said. She gave him an easy smile. "They were telling me about the snowstorm that happened two days ago."

"Very bad," one of the men said.

"It must have been terrible," Thomas said in Arabic. He couldn't remember what language they spoke in Pakistan but this was an Islamic country and he was hoping they would understand.

"That man over there was giving her some strange looks," the first man said, jerking his head to a man looking outside a store window. He disappeared when Thomas glared at him.

"You should both head home. It's not safe right now and another storm might start at any moment," the second guy said.

"I'll take that under advisement," Thomas said.

"It was nice talking to you," the second man said to Shay. She waved to them as they walked away.

"They say there was a man giving you strange looks," Thomas said.

"I know. I saw him, but it was nice of them to stay with me until you came, even if it was unnecessary. That just goes to show that you can't believe anything you see on TV... or judge people based on the few you've met." Shay's face went dark. She shook her head and forced on a smile. "I need to go somewhere to figure out our next destination," she said. She was shivering.

Thomas looked around. There was an ice cream shop nearby (he couldn't imagine they'd be making much money at the moment), an emergency center (he wasn't sure what that implied about the ice cream) and a tea shop. That was the perfect place for Shay.

"There's a tea shop over there," he said. He hoped they had food. The protein shakes in his backpack were calling his name and his stomach was answering.

Shay sat in one of the booths. He ordered milk tea and a sandwich for Shay, and a few sandwiches for himself. The cashier was able to change his euros to... whatever currency she'd given him.

Thomas carried everything back to the table. He opened a protein shake first. Strawberry. He felt better once he'd drained the last drop.

Shay took a sip of the milk tea.

"It's okay but I like yours better," she said.

Thomas tried to his his laughter behind the sandwich.