Now she was back in her own century, in her own bedroom, and was trying to make sense of it all. Had this really happened? Had she dreamed it? But her bed was still made. Unslept in. And this man—he didn’t look anything like her. She was sure. She popped open the locket. Not me. Not me at all. No resemblance whatsoever!

She had no desire for sleep. How could she? She and her mother did look a lot alike. The same curly copper-colored hair. And the same nose with the same band of freckles scattered across it come summer. It had been summer when that picture was taken, her mom in the mom-kini and Rose in her Little Mermaid bathing suit, her Aguaphile swim goggles with cartoon frog eyes on top slung around her neck, and clutching the Mickey Mouse pocketbook that she carried everywhere, and of course her Disney water bottle too. How much Disney merchandise could one kid wear? How did one explain Disney to Franny? Or, for that matter, to Her Royal Highness Elizabeth? She was a real princess and not a Disney one. How could any of this be explained? Possibly the man in the picture was dressed up for a costume party? Halloween, perhaps? Otherwise how could there be an actual photograph of a sixteenth-century man? There were only paintings then. The more she thought about it, the weirder it got. And she sensed it would keep getting weirder.

She climbed into bed and tried to fall asleep but couldn’t. Around midnight she got up, went to her computer, and googled “portraits of Elizabeth I.” There were many, but she was already queen by this time and usually wore a crown. One portrait intrigued Rose. She was older, in her fifties but still quite beautiful. In her hand it appeared as if she were holding a clear plastic tube. Impossible! Plastic hadn’t been invented. There was a Latin inscription: Non Sine Sole Iris. Rose then went to Google Translate for the meaning. “No rainbow without sun.” So the “tube” was really supposed to be a rainbow. The queen herself was draped in a dazzling array of jewels, but what fascinated Rose was the collar. “Epic!” Rose whispered to the image on the screen. “That collar is absolutely epic!”