L'affaire Bob

33. Oh la la! Une Sorcière!

Emma's POV 

The English cries of street-sellers echoing around me and the neighing of the cab horses made it pretty clear that I, unfortunately, did not land in the training room. 

 Marching through the narrow and cobblestone-paved streets, I started examining my surroundings. On both sides, gas lamps decorated the alley every few meters. Tiny old shops were bespeckling the area, with the owners' houses just above. The boutiques' names, as well as the English-written placards placed in front of them, left no doubt as to where I was. 

 I had landed in England. 

Trying to deduce in which decade I had arrived, I scanned the various stores around me more intently. One of them, I noticed, had a painting of Queen Victoria hanging on its window. Someone had, on the bottom of the picture, beautifully calligraphed a "Long Live The Queen."

"So I was in the Victorian Era," I thought. "Wonderful." 

Now, all I had to do was search for a deserted backstreet, and I could finally time-travel in peace back to the base.

Throwing a look behind my back, I noticed the weird glances I was getting from the people all around. Be they passers-by or shop owners, all of them were looking at me as if I had grown a third ear. 

I continued to walk straight ahead, hoping they would forget about me and start minding their own business again. I stayed like that for a minute or so, not daring to look back. However, by the time I reached the end of the alleyway, I felt that the people intensely watching me had doubled, if not tripled. 

Shivers crawled up my spine. Murmurs were starting to rise from behind, yet I did not succumb to the urge of glancing at my newly-made public. 

Only when I heard shouting from afar did I realize how wrong this decision was. 

I whipped my head towards the origin of the sound and saw two police officers walking down the road. 

-"I saw her appear out of nowhere!" a person whispered to the officers. 

-"She wasn't there five minutes ago!" another one added. 

-"Oy, lad, she does look like a witch," one of the officers admitted. 

-"If that's the case, officers, then what the bloody hell are you waiting for?" barked an old man from behind, who, I assumed, was their sergeant. He was wearing the same uniform the other two had on, the difference being that his' was slightly more orned, with a few shiny medallions here and there. "Go arrest her!" 

And that was, I figured, my cue to run. I took a turn and dashed down the new street I was in, bumping into a few shoulders who dared stand in my way. A few women screamed when I got near them. Some hid behind their husbands, urging their kids to get inside and away from the dangerous mad witch. 

I started running faster. People were backing away and trying to avoid me, which made the run quite easy. 

There was one man, however, who wasn't so keen on letting me pass. 

Towering over me in his 6 foot 2 inches and his bulky shoulders, he stood there, making me halt.

-"Umm, sir," I started, and motioned for him to move away. 

-"Sir, can you move?" I said, more straightforward this time, in case he didn't get it before. "I need to go." 

-"Oh, I know that, young lady. But you ain't getting nowhere. At least, not on my watch." And tilting his head towards the running officers behind me, he shouted: "Officers! She's here!"