Hexad: The Ward by Al K. Line Page B

away from Peter and standing.
    "Fair point." Amanda cuddled Wozzy up close to her chest, not because she wanted to comfort him, but because he was clawing his way up there anyway, so it seemed like a win-win kind of situation. He began to purr. "He's gone to sleep," whispered Amanda. "The first cat to ever jump through time and he's gone to sleep."
    "Well, it does kind of mess with your head," said Peter, stroking his beard as though he thought it made what he said sound intelligent.
    "Look, let's forget about the cat. Where the hell are we?" asked Dale.
    Amanda looked at the Hexad she'd dropped on the floor, noted the flashing 0, the dome now red, shouting out its warning. "More important than that, how the hell are we going to get back home to our time from wherever this is? That was the last jump."
    Dale and Peter stared down at the flashing 0, realizing just what a mess they were in.
    "HobNob anyone?" asked Peter, as he miraculously pulled half a pack from the pocket of his corduroys.
    "Maybe it wasn't the cat that's been stealing the food after all," said Dale, taking one of the oat biscuits from the pack and munching on it thoughtfully.
    "What is wrong with you guys? We're stuck in time and we have no way of getting home." Amanda shouted, raising her arms above her head. "Shit, shit, shit! Ow, ow, ow! Help." Wozzy clung to the top of her blouse for dear life, hind legs scrabbling for purchase.
    "Come here, dude, is Mummy being mean to poor little Wozzy?" Peter put a hand under Wozzy's belly and slowly pulled him away. Wozzy hung on but finally he relaxed his grip a little and ended up half over Peter's shoulder. He rumbled deeply.
    "That is one sleepy cat," Dale noted in admiration.
    "He's had a busy morning, haven't you, Wozzy?" Peter stroked his tail then turned to take a look at where they were.
    Amanda and Dale followed his gaze.
    Uh-oh, this doesn't look good at all.
    Amanda stared at the large metal gate. It couldn't have been spookier if it had tried. This was as if somebody had gone out of their way to make the entry as typically spooky as you could possibly imagine. The style was retro insane asylum, all rusted metal and curved top, sweeping up to an angled point where the two halves of the gate met. Above, spanning from one brick pier to the other, joined to a wall that seemed to run right around the perimeter, was a curved sign made from the same metal. All it said was "The Ward," nothing else.
    "Well, that is about the scariest entrance to a building I've ever seen," said Dale, before he whistled as he looked up at the name. "The Ward? I'm guessing this isn't a nice spa resort then."
    "Don't think so. But more importantly, what are we doing here?" Amanda got an all-too-familiar tightening in her stomach.
    "I guess that's down to Wozzy, isn't it?" said Peter. "He's the one that made the jump, we just came along for the ride."
    "I'm not so sure," said Amanda, still staring at the sign. "I think there is more to it than that. When Wozzy hit the Hexad was anyone thinking about anything in particular?"
    "I was thinking that I wished we could get to the bottom of the mess we seem to be in, that we can't seem to just have peace and for time travel paradoxes to be always hanging over us. And that the damn cat was really annoying, of course," added Dale.
    "I was just worried I'd get told off if the coffee spilled," said Peter, adjusting Wozzy slightly.
    "And I was wishing I knew how to stop all of this." Amanda shivered a little as the temperature dropped, the weak sunshine replaced with a coolness brought on by dark gray clouds dropping low in the sky as if they wanted to match the mood of the people below. "Wait a minute, let me check something." Amanda picked up the Hexad and studied the dials that ran around the shaft of the cylinder, the brass inlay almost black with tarnish from use. It was like the device itself was in a bad mood too.
    Maybe because it's all used up. How are we going to get out of here?