Saturday
The Valecroft Estate was surprisingly devoid of the usual bustle
It was, after all, a weekend; the morning stretched out impossibly slow as the staff went about their business.
Gardeners still tilled the flower beds.
The kitchen staff prepared breakfast for the dozens of employees scattered throughout the grounds.
Security patrols picked up their pace to ensure that the vast home and its many outbuildings remained untouched.
Meanwhile, within the house itself, the passage of time was strangely difficult to discern.
It was shortly after eleven when Sam arrived via the main gates, Arthur waiting for him as he emerged from the black Jag
“Welcome home, Master Sam,” Arthur said, bowing.
“Thank you, Arthur.” Sam paused as he caught sight of the folded paper in Arthur’s hands.
“Will you tell Lord Valecroft?”
Sam inclined his head.
“If he is available.”
Arthur’s smile was warm, if formal.
“He has been expecting you.”
Sam blinked.
“…Expecting me?”
Arthur merely inclined his head.
“This way.”
Edward’s study was much the same as ever
Sunlight spilling across the large windows bathed the room in a golden glow, and books lined the shelves that stretched the length and height of the walls.
A few of these were arranged upon a great table along with a number of old-looking maps that covered one entire side of the chamber.
Even as Sam entered the room, Edward was standing by the fireplace, engrossed in a book that he set down immediately upon noticing his son’s presence.
“You met him,” Edward said.
It was not a question.
Sam set the folded paper on the desk.
“He asked me to give you this.”
Edward regarded it for a long moment before picking it up.
His facial expression, as always, gave little away.
To all intents and purposes, nothing whatsoever had changed.
To Sam, however, clearly, something had.
Edward unfolded the note and scanned it, his lips tightening slightly as he read.
He folded it up once more before offering the barest hint of a smile.
“…So.”
“He finally remembered,” Sam said, waiting as Edward reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a lighter.
The flame from it guttered slightly as Edward held the note over it.
Within a matter of seconds, the paper had turned to ash, and Sam frowned as he watched this happen.
“You burned it.”
Sam gave him a strange look.
“I memorized it.”
“You didn’t want it?” Edward remarked as he extinguished the lighter.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Certain words cease to be useful once read.” Sam was about to say something else when the familiar sound of Edward’s tone told him that further questioning would be pointless.
With a sigh, he changed the subject.
“I’ve been reading over that photograph.”
Edward glanced up.
“Good.”
“I still don’t understand it.” Edward gestured for him to continue.
“You’re not supposed to,” Sam replied.
It was not an entirely unexpected remark; in fact, it was almost reassuring.
“Then why have you given it to me?”
Edward crossed to the bookshelf and removed yet another book from its place on the shelf, setting it down on the table beside Sam’s.
Unlike the other books, this one, too, was not opened.
Not even its pages were turned.
__
Later that afternoon, Sam found himself sitting alone in his room, the aged black-and-white photograph in front of him on the desk, lit by the glow of the desk lamp.
He had examined it countless times, once again searching for the answers within the image, but this was not happening.
It all made sense, in hindsight.
Sam took another look at the photograph, this time looking at the people within the image rather than at the things that were not there.
After about a minute, his gaze was caught by something strange.
Hundreds of people filled the picture, some of them children, while others were adults dressed in a variety of clothes.
Most wore traditional clothing of the local area, including some women with parasols and men wearing top hats.
However, very few looked in the same direction as most of the others.
Sam frowned.
It was strange, really.
A royal procession would have drawn the eye of everyone in the street toward itself, but the people in this picture seemed to be looking all over the place.
One man was looking across the street, and another woman was looking back over her shoulder.
Perhaps most strangely of all, two children in the picture appeared to be watching the rooftops in the distance, while another gentleman in the picture was watching the photographer himself with an unreadable expression.
Sam slowly lowered himself onto the chair behind him.
“…Why?”
The photograph said nothing in return.
Sunday morning
Blackthorn University Library.
Despite it being the weekend, the building was still open for business, and Ethan was already seated by one of the large windows as Sam entered the room.
“You actually showed up,” Ethan said with a smile as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose
“You sounded like you meant it,” Sam replied.
He set the photograph down on the table before Ethan, who gave it a long, thoughtful look.
“I know you’ve been staring at it for days,” Ethan said.
“What is it you think you see?”
“I need another set of eyes,” Sam admitted.
For the next few minutes, neither man said anything as Ethan examined every single detail of the picture.
When he finally set it back down on the table, he shook his head.
“I don’t see what you see.”
Sam did not seem surprised by this.
“What do you see?”
Ethan considered this for a moment.
“…People.” New chapters come out on g.com first.
“What about them?”
“They don’t look surprised,” Ethan said.
“What?” Sam asked, surprised.
“If this was some kind of miracle, where is the panic?” Ethan continued, gesturing to the people in the picture.
“Where is the excitement?
Where is the confusion?”
He turned to look at Sam again.
“They all look perfectly normal to me.” Sam was silent for a moment as he stared down at the photograph again, his heart beating a little faster.
Ethan was right, of course.
If something miraculous had occurred, then there should have been signs of that in the faces of the people watching it happen.
Instead, everyone in this picture looked as though they had seen something completely ordinary.
“…So maybe…” Sam whispered
“…the mystery is not what happened,” Ethan finished for him.
Sam slowly looked up at Ethan and gave him a small smile.
“…Maybe the mystery is why it didn’t happen.”
For the first time since he discovered this photograph, it felt like something worth wondering about.
Evening came to London, and Edward was alone in his study.
He stood by one of the tall bookshelves in his office, peering at the small gap between two other shelves.
From his pocket, he withdrew the same small brass key that Arthur had returned to him the previous night.
Inside the narrow space between the bookshelves, Edward saw a number of old photographs.
Most of these were similar to the one he held in his hands; they each depicted a large crowd of people, though these people were gathered in different places, and at different times.
Edward set aside one of the photographs and quietly placed the one he had found beside it.
Each of these images was different, but they all carried the same strange, inexplicable detail.
Edward turned away from the hidden compartment, his shadow stretching across the room as he faced the darkened windows.
Very softly, almost as if he was not sure anyone could hear him, Edward spoke.
“You’re beginning to ask the right questions…”
He was not speaking to Sam, exactly, but rather to the many years of careful preparation that had led to this moment.
Meanwhile, in another part of London, in another windowless room, a report was placed before the unseen superior who had requested it.
The first line on the paper read,
Subject Sam has begun analysis of Archive Photograph One
The man read the line twice before closing the file and standing up.
He did not seem unduly concerned by this development, only smiling faintly as he said,
“…Good.”
A long pause stretched out before he spoke again.
“He was always meant to.”
The room’s lights dimmed, and the report disappeared back into the darkness, its cover bearing a single line.
Archive One
And somewhere, far away from the sleeping streets of London, the past was slowly coming to life.
End of Chapter 22
TO BE CONTINUED….