Lost in time

Chapter 4

“Deal.” Mayhem holds out her hand and he shakes it.

“Good, I will see you tomorrow.” He winks at her, and they rush out of the shop squealing the moment they are out the door.

His heart aches at the sound. Their sparkling eyes and energy remind him so much of his daughter. Having them come in every day might just be the best investment he has made in years.

If he could, he would skip back to his apartment at the back of the shop, still smiling.

***

The girls run into the apartment talking non-stop about what they saw in his shop, and how nice he was when they nearly ran over Magenta.

“HEY! Watch where you’re going!”

“Sorry, big sis.” Mayhem grins.

“You don’t look sorry!”

They disappear into their room.

“Come and help me with dinner. Mom will be home soon.” She shouts, and they are quiet.

She walks to their bedroom to call them and all three jump at the sight of her.

“What’s wrong with you?!”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing!”

The front door opens and Magenta closes her eyes. Her mom is home, and dinner isn’t ready…

“Hi girls! I’m home.”

Magenta rolls her eyes. Here it comes.

Magenta’s phone rings just as her mom opens her mouth, and she grins.

“Saved by the phone.”

***

“Dammit!!”

“What happened?” He hears the voice of the general before the backup generators kick in and the lights come back on.

“This is why we need the help of the government.” Maximillian sighs.

“Our current power source isn’t strong enough to carry the amount of energy required to open the portal. As you saw, we can get to the point where we get the spark.” He points to the time wheel, noticing his sister Sophia, shaking her head.

This is the part of the project she begged him not to share with the gentlemen in the meeting. She is sure that if they search on their own, they will find their own power source strong enough to carry the load, without getting the government involved.

“Why do you think we would be able to help you with a power source?” the general asks again.

“General, let’s not try and fool each other here, we both know that you have more than enough types of possible ways to power up a machine of this magnitude. I can find the material myself, but I thought that you might be interested in the fact that this machine can change our current circumstances! If we can go back in time and fix whatever caused the climate change, we can give the world a better today.”

“Do you realize that none of that made any sense to any of these gentlemen?” Sophia steps into the visitor’s room.

“Gentlemen, if we can get the machine running, we can go back in time, place our own people at the necessary points in history, and they will influence decisions that are made to stop the climate change. We know what their future holds. In other words, our present, we know what decisions got us here.”

They both look at the general and their other guests looking back at them. Max feels as if the seconds tick by longer than normal, finally deciding to stop the awful silence.

“The ball is in your court if you are interested in being part of our project. Sophia will show you out.” He greets them with a friendly smile, but storms to his office the moment they are gone.

“Fools!!” He takes off his jacket, hanging it up on the hanger behind his door before starting to pace his office.

“That didn’t go as planned.” Sophia stands leaning against his door frame.

“It went exactly as planned. I wanted them to see that we need their resources.”

She walks into his office, taking a seat across from him on the other side of his desk, and crosses her long legs.

“Max, honey catches more bees than vinegar.”

“Sophia, as usual, you have the saying totally wrong.”

“I know. I just don’t like the idea of flies.”

She stands up and walks over to her brother, rubbing his arms.

“Patience, my dear brother. I will find a solution.”

He grunts and nods.

“Now, tell me why you were late this morning.”

He rolls his eyes at her and explains about the incredible CV he received and the girl he was interested in interviewing.

“Actually, I just wanted to see that she is in fact real. I had already made up my mind to give her the job, but then she didn’t show up!”

He goes off on a tirade of frustration about how someone would throw away an opportunity like this. She laughs at his usual expectations that everyone walks at the same beat as his drum and convinces him to give the girl a call and find out what happened.

“There is probably a pretty good explanation why she didn’t show up. From what you’ve told me about her, she doesn’t sound like the type of person that would just flake on an interview.”

Sophia pats his arm and leaves him to brood over whether he wants to call her or not.

***

She recognizes the number as the one for the man she was supposed to have the interview with. The moment she answers, he starts yelling about how unprofessional it is not to show up for an interview, and she sighs.

“Mr. Maximillian, if you would give me a chance to explain.”

“Maximillian, my name is Maximillian. It’s not my surname.”

“Sorry. I was there, your doorman wouldn’t let me in.”

“Ben? He wouldn’t have stopped you if he didn’t have a good reason. He knew I was waiting for you.”

“I didn’t get his name because he didn’t even give me a chance to ask before chasing me away. He is very rude, and, as a matter of fact, so are you. I don’t think this is going to work. Have a good day.” She presses the red button on her phone and stands up, preparing for her mom to throw a huge fit about the way she just turned down a job interview and the fact that she didn’t cook dinner.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a job interview today?”

“Uhm,” She pulls her hoodie over her hair.

“I didn’t want to disappoint you if I didn’t get the job.” She starts moving around the kitchen to get dinner she was planning on making, going.

“Magenta!”

“Mother.”

“Did you go in those clothes?”

“Of course, now can we please stop talking about it. It wouldn’t have worked out in any case. H’s doorman judged me before even finding out who I was, and Maximillian is rude. I can’t work with rude people.”

“Yes, rude people usually can’t.” She turns around, walking to her bedroom to put down her things.

Magenta feels like an i***t after what her mom said. She knows she can be a bit difficult to deal with, but some people really aren’t worth talking to. Especially overly protected, spoiled millionaires that are used to getting their way.

Her phone rings again and this time she switches his call to silent. In her mind, the matter has been settled.

***

“Who the hell does she think she is?” Max slams down his phone on the desk, nearly cracking the screen.

“What was that all about?” Sophia opens his door.

“I could hear you shouting all the way down the passage. I hope you weren’t talking to that poor girl like that!”

“She was rude! She actually told me she didn’t think it was going to work. According to her, Ben chased her away and wouldn’t let her into the building. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Did you ask him if there was anyone who asked about coming to see you?”

“No, but he wouldn’t.”

“I would ask him first if I were you. Now, can I trust you not to shout at anyone else today? I’m going down to the lab, and I don’t want our staff running for their lives.”

He grunts and she laughs at him, closing his door before leaving.

He sits back in his chair and runs his hand through his hair. He needs this woman to come and assess and sort out his antique warehouse. There might be something in there that can help them with the power source. He tried to collect anything and everything he could find that had any possible reference or connection to magic or energy source but has nobody to sort it all out. The crates are standing in the warehouse, and he was sure that he would have someone who would be able to catalog the lot by now.

He tries to call her again, but it just rings. Serves him right for being a brute. He calls Ben, who informs him that the only person who was there early in the morning was a beggar. Max asks him more details, but he can’t remember saying he doesn’t pay much mind to the beggars. They come from the poor part of the city, take a train out to where they think they can get in and steal something and just try their luck. He sends them on their way as soon as possible to make it clear they aren’t going to get away with it on his watch.

Maximillian sighs. There is no way a woman with these kinds of qualifications would look like a beggar… Would she? Pushing the thoughts about her aside, he leaves to check in with Sophia to find out what damage there is on the machine after their little experiment.

***

Magenta would give anything to have gotten her hands on some of the items that were mentioned in that collection…

“Stop it!”

“Stop what?” Mystery looks offended.

“I’m sorry, I was thinking out loud.”

“About the interview?”

“Yeah,” She sighs.

“Why don’t you speak to mom and call the guy back. I’m sure if you ask him, he will see you again, but this time, just wear something from mom’s closet.”

“No, if he can’t take me as I am, it’s not going to work. You can’t walk around those dusty antiques with a suit. Can you just imagine mom’s face if I have to come back home and her outfit is ruined? Besides, both his doorman and he are rude, and, according to mom, so am I… so it won’t work. Don’t worry. I will find something.”

“Tell me what you girls did today.”

The three younger sisters sit looking at each other for a moment.

“Nothing much. Most of the buildings have been stripped bare, so we just walk through them and check if there is anything we can use.” Mystery shrugs.

“Please tell me you are being careful when you go to the market.”

“We didn’t go to the market.” Mischief grins.

Magenta looks a little surprised.

“You didn’t? You all looked so happy when you came home, I thought you had collected a big loot by the way you were talking. Is it a boy? A group of boys?”

“Who is looking at boys?” Their mom appears in the entrance, standing with her hands on her hips.

“Nobody, mom, but you have to at some point make peace with the fact that the girls are going to be making friends with boys. I was just teasing them.”

“You aren’t dating, why should they.” Her mom huffs and Mischief rolls her eyes at their mom.

“I saw that young lady!”

“Sorry, mom, but you can’t seriously expect us to wait for Magenta to find a boyfriend before we are allowed to start dating. She will turn into dust and worm guts before we will be allowed to date.”

“MISCHIEF!”

“Sorry, mom.”

“I’m sure your sister will find someone. As soon as she gets out of her sweatpants.”