The Time Traveler’s Passport

We are told we did not wipe out history. Instead we learned that reality branched at the juncture of the future meeting the past. Whether a new reality was created at the juncture or we plugged into one that already existed is still unresolved and, as a practical matter, immaterial. The point is that our present cannot and will not be changed by time travelers—they will change a reality we are not connected to in any way, except at the specific retrieval intervals.

Jess is running in the woods near her home when she sees the child. He’s lying in a fetal position in a little copse of trees, hands tucked neatly under his chin, as if he is sleeping. She thinks, at first, that he is lying on a black mat. But then she draws nearer and sees that the ground around him is burned.

The Strangers came here because they wanted more time.

The high ground was doubly useful because it meant the house’s occupants could keep an eye on the time travel mechanism.

“How's work in the time-travel business?” he asked finally

Annabeth touched the sickle pin at her chest. “Mostly White folk trying to gentrify the past.” Her gaze turned back to one of the blackboards.