Curious faces stare at the book and Vermont points out, "That's just like yours, is it not?"
"Not mine exactly, it used to be in the vault, and it just caught my attention so I kept it with me.. although now I think this is not just any stopwatch."
Elaine reaches out towards the pocket in her skirt and pulls out the ominous object that seemed to have changed the merry atmosphere into an absurd occurrence.
Claire gulps and murmurs something to herself, as they stare at the illustrated image and the object in Elaine's hand. The object itself, generally speaking, was a one of a kind. A classic Breguet pocketwatch, unlike regular and cheap ones, instead of ticking, it emitted a smooth, rhythmic tune. Made with precision and "Breguet Gold", it felt imposing on Elaine's palm.
They compared it to the picture and it did look the exact thing. Elaine held the object Infront of her, and out of some instinct, randomly fixed a time.
Everything went silent, and the three found themselves in a place that was alike to a vacuum; hollow, empty,and only themselves. Even an experienced researcher like Elaine herself was struggling to put together her thoughts and think logically on what happened. While they looked around and sought for an explanation, a sudden, strong pull began dragging them down almost how Alice fell down the rabbit hole.
As they went down, the dark place began to emit light and soon enough, all three fell onto a surface with a thud.
Thankfully, it was not as hurtful as it might have been, due to a layer of dense, velvety grass. "What is this? Is this a meadow?"
Claire remarked as she rubbed her head back and forth to recover from the fall. Vermont tried standing up straight and Elaine..well, she did not have a very smooth "journey", as motion sickness caught up to her.
As Claire helped out Elaine, Vermont looked about and tried searching for the book and pocketwatch, he did find the book... just not the very object that seemed to cause this sudden..."migration".
He sighed and opened the book, the illustrion was there and everything was still the same.
"The pocketwatch is not here."
Elaine, now somewhat better, felt bad again and wondered how long this would last.
Claire exclaimed as she stood up from her crouching position, "WHAT! Do not tell me that, how will we be able to go back?"
"Seriously? You think arguing and exclaiming while throwing logical comebacks at me will work?"
"No, I'm just saying that how irresponsible could you be? You were closer to Elaine and to that pocketwatch, Mister etiquette."
The two broke out into a squabble as Elaine managed to stand up.
The place was like in the middle of nowhere, no signs of life but she could tell that this was maybe a pasture or meadow given the growing vegetation patch a few yards away and the prints of cow hooves.
"You two.. let's try to calm down okay? We're not alone, that I can tell but we need to figure out everything."
Vermont looked back at Elaine and said "Wherever we are, it definitely is somewhere in the past. Look at that vegetable patch. Why is there sign that claims it's owners name? In our times, they do have that, plus, why is it small and not large for mass production? Not only that, just look at the place, it's nowhere near to our timeline."
Claire huffs in exasperation, "Well he is not wrong. What will we do?"
"I think we should-"
A rustle from a bush nearby interrupted them, and the whoever or whatever it was, they did not do a good job in hiding.
A tuft of ginger hair gave away from behind the bush.
Vermont reached out first and as he was close enough, a figure jumped out and froze, like a deer caught in headlights.
"I am so sorry, I didn't mean-"
The girl was wearing a typical milkmaid dress that now was covered in dirt, and her ginger hair that was divided into two braids, were messed up. Her cheeks blushed into a bright red, and her blue pupils expanded as if she saw something unreal.
"Are you the members from the high society?"
Claire tilted her head in confusion but it did not take long for the three to release that this could be used to their advantage. The girl assumed them as high class in this place and wlel technically that was not a lie however their clothes were modern of sorts. They needed something of their standards.
Elaine stepped up. "My dearest apologies, I'm..." She stopped midway realizing she could not use "Lytton", what if someone renowned already existed? "I'm Elaine. This is Claire and that is Vermont. You are not wrong miss, we seemed to have lost our way and could you please help us find a place to stay for awhile?"
It took the awestruck maiden to process before she nervously claimed "O-Of course...be my guest.. I'm all alone at home...for now that is, it's just there-"*
She said pointing towards a red brick cottage by a river stream that was down this hill or meadow they were on.
Claire smiled and asked "What's you name, dearest?"
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance..my..my name is Annie"
The girl said, clumsily bowing at them, as she wanted to display a proper greeting, although the three deemed in as unnecessary for their benefactor.