They threw him up and out of the door. Oliver flew through the air and landed hard on his behind. He groaned in pain. The doors slammed behind him.

Suddenly, Oliver felt a vibration coming from deep within his pocket. He grabbed his timetable and gasped. It was starting to come back online. Slowly, a single, weak light was beginning to blink to life.

Oliver realized hed been right. The speed of time within the school and outside it had switched when hed stepped over the threshold. More time passed here than there. But soon, more lights would switch on, and once the timetable was fully back online hed be locked out of the School for Seers forever. He had to leave now if he stood any chance of returning to the school before his absence was noticed.

But he couldnt, not while Lucas was at large.

Oliver clutched his timetable. The only thing he could be certain of was that he had to stay, even if that meant sacrificing his school, his new life, and his friends. He had to find the bomb.

With a heavy weight pressing in his chest, Oliver slid his timetable back into his overalls pocket.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

There was no time to waste. Immediately, Oliver was back up on his feet. He skirted around the perimeter of the building, glad that the nettles and brambles hed had to contend with in his own era had not yet grown. Another difference; in his era, the windows were boarded up, but not so here.

Oliver made his way around the back of the building and cautiously peered in through the first window. It seemed to be some kind of store cupboard, with mops and brooms inside. He headed on.

The next window showed a break room. Oliver ducked quickly when he saw there were workmen sitting around a table eating sandwiches.

He hurried on in his crouched position to the next window. This time he rose up very, very slowly. He peered inside. And there, sitting at his desk, blinking through the window at Oliver with bemusement, was Armando.

Oliver felt a flutter of relief to see him alive and well. But Armando, on the other hand, did not seem pleased to see Oliver. He strode over to the window and heaved it open.

What are you doing? he barked. Youre trampling on private property.

Its Lucas, Oliver blurted out.

My apprentice? Armando asked, raising an eyebrow. What about him?

Hes building a bomb, Oliver told him hurriedly.

Hes just a boy!

There was no time to explain that he meant a version of Lucas from the future, because Armando slammed the window shut and turned his back on Oliver.

Oliver felt the glass bump against his nose. He felt crushed. Armando didnt believe him.

But he wasnt giving up. Hed have to take some drastic action to prove to Armando he was someone worth listening to.