Attic, part 81

“If I understand this right,” Josh said, “if you go back into our world, then from that moment onward the world changes. That’s the deal, right?”

“Yes, that’s it exactly,” Amelia said. “One cannot change the past, but for me it is not the past — it is the present. Or at least the very last `present’ that I experienced directly.”

“And if you come back all those years ago,” Josh continued, “then we won’t exist?”

“Oh, I suspect you will exist, although your life will probably be altered. And Mr. Symarian here,” she nodded in the direction of their teacher, “will certainly exist. But he doesn’t really count. He is rather outside of such things as time and space.”

“Oh,” Jenny said, “you mean…”

“Yes, I’m afraid that you, my dear, are the issue,” Amelia said, “I am sorry to say that your very existence hangs in the balance. After all, your birth was the result of a very particular series of events, as all births are. Remove even one brick and the entire building comes down.”

“And I would think,” Jenny said thoughtfully, “that in this case we’d be talking about more than one brick.”

“Yes,” Amelia said ruefully, “in this case we’d be talking about an entire wall.”