Okay, if Saoirse’s not in town then where else could she be?

There’s the forest… the seashore… I didn’t check her farm either…

Aaaahhh! There’s just too many possibilities!

Or, you know what, I didn’t see Maebh at that funeral either. Maybe they’re both at the seashore, gathering seaweed again or something.

Yeah, the seashore. I’m gonna go look there.

It took about 30 minutes to walk there from town. I stretched my legs a little, and then looked up. My heart skipped a beat.

Sitting on a bluff, staring out at the sea, was none other than Saoirse. I found her!

“Hey,” I said, walking over to her.

She didn’t seem to hear me. Is something wrong? Where’s Maebh…?

I sat down next to her, and placed my hand on her shoulder. She then suddenly took a sharp inhale.

“Inis Cathaigh…” she whispered.

“What?”

“Inis Cathaigh.”

She gestured to the castle thing in the distance. So that’s what it’s called…

“They say… women are not allowed there,” said Saoirse. She was talking unnaturally slowly. “But they also say that about reading. But I can read… so what am I…?”

I stared at her. Yeah, something is definitely wrong.

“What happened, Saoirse?”

She turned to me slowly. Her eyes were tearing up.

“M-Maebh…”

My heart sank. What happened to– wait, the funeral! Was that– no, it couldn’t have been… no…

I instinctively held my arms out. Saoirse fell into them and started sobbing.

“Everyone is gone… everyone…”

We sat like this for a while. I didn’t say anything, I wasn’t sure what else to do. I’d never seen her like this before.

Then, finally, she stopped crying and sat back up.

“And… y-you too have to leave… today…”

I turned away awkwardly. She was right. Once I leave she’s going to be completely and utterly alone. I didn’t want to leave her here… I had to fix this…

“You could come with me.”

The words had escaped my mouth before I could stop them. She looked at me, stunned.

“What…?”

My heart started beating fast. We just stared at each other for a few seconds before she finally spoke again.

“To your world…?”

“Yes. To San Francisco. To 2019. To the future.”

“I– I don’t… know…”

I stood up. She looked up at me as I held my hand out.

“Do you trust me?”

She hesitated, and then slowly took my hand and also stood up. My heart was racing now.

“Yes.”

I pulled out the device. The destination was still set to what I’d entered earlier: 9th January 2019, San Francisco, USA.

“Are you sure?”

Saoirse clutched her pin and nodded.

“Take me away from here before I change my mind.”

I grinned, then hammered the button. Saoirse held on to me tightly as the device lit up and the new core activated. We both closed our eyes.


WHOOOOOOOOSH