My own mind is so snared in Colin’s story that I do not quite comprehend what Nicolas is asking.
“I do not believe we stumbled upon Mr. Booth by accident,” Nicolas says to me. “You are in a unique position to hear his story, and we are in a unique position to right the wrong... insofar as the clock is concerned. Not the clock itself, but the money it would have won.”
“Oh!” I say. “Yes! Of course.”
I turn to Colin. He can hear both sides of our conversation, and his brow has knit in confusion.
“Nico believes I happened upon you because I have the Sight and can hear your story. He also means that we are... Well, we are not from this time, either.”
I explain as quickly as I can. I am ready for bewilderment and even denial. Are we mad to think we can pass through time? I am prepared to prove it, with knowledge from our time, but Colin is a ghost compelled into the land of the living each year. Magic has become his life, and he seems no more shocked by this revelation than the realization that I can see and hear ghosts.
“We could return to your time and pass along the money to your mother and sisters,” I say.
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize something else, and I brace for him to ask the obvious question.
Can you save me?
Can you go back in time and stop Scarlet Jack from murdering me?
I hold my breath, but when he speaks, he only says, “You are able to steal the clock?”
“We do not need to,” I say. “Money in this world is worth far less than money in our own world, as we have discovered to our dismay. In this situation, though, it is most helpful. As to Nico’s question, what would you have expected to receive from the sale of the clock?”
“More than I could expect you and your companion to freely give to my family, ma’am.”
“How much? We can negotiate a fair amount, but first, we must understand what you expected.”
“I may have overstepped in my optimism, ma’am, but I did hope for ten pounds.”
I soften my voice. “In your time, for your family, it would truly be a small fortune. In this time, it would scarcely buy dinner.”
He stares at me, as if awaiting a laugh to indicate that I jest.
I reach for my wallet, remove the bills inside and fan them out. “Fifty pounds. Yes, these are not bills you recognize, but it is the same amount. I am certain you heard your elders complain about prices in your day and how much less everything cost in theirs. Well, multiply that by a dozen generations, and I find myself walking about carrying enough to feed your family for a decade.”
He seems stunned. Then he says, carefully, “You would take ten pounds to my family, back in my own time, through this magical ‘stitch’ as you call it?”
I resist the urge to equivocate and say that we will if we can. If we cannot, he must believe we did. That is what will set him free of this endless, futile task.
“We will,” I say firmly. “You need only to give us the directions we require, and we will return to your time and ensure that your family receives ten pounds.”
“And that it came from you,” Nicolas says. “We will find a way for them to know that you left it for them.”
The ghost’s eyes mist, and I realize this was equally important. I mouth a thank-you to Nicolas.
“Could they believe I earned it through honest work?” Colin asks. “I understand if that is too much to ask, and I do not know if they realize how I died—what I was doing to make a living...”
“We will do what we can,” I say.
Again, Colin goes silent. He sits, hands folded in his lap. Then he looks from Nicolas to me and asks, in the quietest voice. “Why would you do this? You do not know me or my family.”
“We will do it because we can,” I say.
Nicolas smiles. “And we will do it because it will be an adventure.”
At that, Colin relaxes and laughs under his breath. “I hope it will be one, then, and I hope there is some way for me to repay you.”
“You repay us by finding peace,” I say. “Consider it our holiday gift to you.”