A sudden stir in the ramshackle room made Jasper turn towards a small man in an oversized nighting-gown, perched on a stool. He was hunched over an incredibly powerful magnifying glass, focusing in on a small green ball with intricate swirls covering it.

But the man was not looking at the ball anymore. He was staring at Jasper. He adjusted his spectacles and looked at Jasper with a piercing gaze, almost as if he was trying to put together a rather difficult puzzle.

After an awkward silence, the man cleared his throat. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He asked, his German accent strong.

"Umm, yes actually, I..." Jasper had not thought this through. What should he ask? Do people talk the same in the future? What if this man finds out that he used magic to get here? What if this man hates magic? What if this man sends him away to be killed? What if-

Shove it. He's only got one shot at this, and he needs to find his father.

"Have you ever heard of the Gray witch of Aberdeen?"

The man's eyes immediately widened. "Margaret Gray? She used to come here all the time."

Jasper gasped. This man knows about his mother. "Yes!" Jasper cleared his throat awkwardly at his sudden show of enthusiasm "Yes. Do you know where I could find out about her? If she had, I don't know, a special relationship with anyone 'round here?"

The small man narrowed his eyes and then scratched his salt and pepper goatee thoughtfully. Jasper knew he had pushed it too far and cursed internally.

The man hopped off of the stool and waddled over to an old door at the far right of the room, hidden between a teetering pile of books and a large carnivorous plant.

"Follow me."

Jasper cautiously stepped forward into what seemed to be the backroom of this shop. Only this seemed to be even more wondrous. The floorboards creaked underneath his feet as he turned around, marvelling at the sheer amount of clocks covering this room. Hundreds, thousands even, hung on the walls, all displaying different times as they ticked to their own individual beats.

"Ah, here it is." Jasper turned to face the man who was now standing near a large stone lectern, ivy climbing up its side in tangled masses. Resting on top of it was a crumbling leather bound book with incredible golden swirls and patterns that almost seemed to interchange every minute.

Unsure of what to do, Jasper glanced back at the man, who just looked him dead in the eye and gave a small, decisive nod.

Jasper reached out slowly with trembling hands. He had no idea what to expect. What exactly did this strange man want him to do?

When his hand was no more than an inch away from the book, an ethereal light swirled around him, sending shivers down his spine. The dust that lay on top of the ancient book flew into the air, merging with the gold engravings to create a ball of glowing light that spiralled around the room. The book rose into the air and stitched itself back together, the collapsing spine straightening, the worn edges sharpening. It almost looked like it was brand new.

Once the book had finished repairing itself, it slowly sank back down to once again, be gently rested on top of the lectern.

"You're Gray's son then." The man said as Jasper slowly drew his hand back, the light fading away.

"Yes." Jasper nodded his head, not feeling the need to say anything more.

"Then there's someone you need to meet."

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Jasper was soaking. Rain hammered down on him as he bolted towards the small lights of houses in the distance. After a particularly bumpy ride through time itself, he'd landed in a stack of soggy hay and managed to anger an extremely short man. Thanks astral plane.

Jasper ran on as the muddy roads turned into cobbled streets. Candles flickered in small windows of half timbered buildings and rickety gutters gushed with the rain water. A couple of abandoned stalls sat out in the street their awning drooping with the weight of the puddles that collected on them.

After a few moments, Jasper finally found what he was looking for.

A small weathered hanging sign slowly swung on its creaky frame, the carved letters gazing down at Jasper from their place on the wall above. Jacob's House of Pub. Sounds decent enough. The small diamond-leaded windows had little banners strung across them that read newly rebuilt, and a warm light shone from within.

Jasper couldn't really be bothered about any of these details, he just needed a place to wait the storm out. He shoved his shoulder into the heavy wooden door and pushed hard.

A roaring fire crackled at one end of the room whilst a wooden bar stretched across the other side. The room was homely and warm, the low light of candles creating a wonderful atmosphere. Round wooden tables were dotted around with no more than a dozen people sitting scattered amongst them.

Not quite knowing what to do, Jasper hopped up onto one of the barstools and put his head in his hands. There was no way that he could search for someone in that in a storm of that ferocity. He'd almost frozen half to death so the raging fire was quite a comfort.

Jasper grabbed one of the papers that were stacked in a neat little pile to one side of where he was sat. Maybe he could glean some information from one of these.

Jacob's House of Pub: Weekly Announcements

Mon 19:00 - 20:30

Special guest André Beetroot is coming to do some more stand up. Make sure not to drink too much beforehand!

Wed 12:00 - 17:00

Bingo club will resume as normal. Don't let Sheila bring any more cake.

Thu

The pub will be closed due to ongoing renovations. Don't worry folks, we're just adding even more rooms!

Sun 13:05 - 14:45

Church of the Sunset Dawn elders meeting

Many thanks to Mr Ipkiss for making and printing these. We don't give you enough credit these days.

Nothing of interest here. Jasper raked a hand through his wet hair and sighed.

Suddenly, a small glass shot to his hand from the other side of the bar. Slightly taken aback, Jasper eyed the bright drink suspiciously.

"Don't worry, it's just orange juice" A rough voice chuckled as a large burly man walked over to him, a small towel draped over his shoulder.

Jasper had heard of oranges, though they were only for the very wealthy. There was no way he could afford this.

"I don't have the money sir"

"No, neither do I" Another chuckle. "But those guys do."

Jasper turned to see two men sitting at a small round table at the back of the room, both already looking at him and smiling warmly.

They looked friendly enough, if you ignored the massive crossbow strapped to the taller one's back.

The armed man raised his hand in greeting before motioning for Jasper to come over. Oh dear. Jasper did not like where this was going.

Jasper timidly shuffled off the barstool and started walking towards the men.

"Please, please, pull up a chair", one of them said with a strange accent (possibly Welsh, TBC).

"Now, there's nothing to worry about," The other said, his eyes crinkling in the corners. This guy was definitely Welsh.

"My name is Frankie and this is my husband Alan."

Alan grinned at Jasper. Okay... Jasper wasn't loving the excessive amount of smiling. Who were these men? What did they want? Why did they buy him a drink?

"We knew your mother."

That was like a punch to the gut. Jasper almost spat out his drink.

"You did?" Jasper asked breathlessly. He was definitely not expecting this.

Alan spoke up now "Yes, remarkable woman she was. Never gave up, no matter the circumstances."

"Yes." Frankie chimes in "And she was incredibly smart too." He paused.

"So smart in fact, that she realised, you didn't necessarily have to go forward in time to have your magic accepted" Frankie smiled at his husband as he slid his hand onto the others.

Jasper was touched by how genuinely happy these two men were. He had this strange bittersweet lump in his throat as he thought of the chance his family never had.

"Before she left, she gave me this gift" Frankie said as he pulled something out from his inner pocket.

A small notebook.

"A dairy." Jasper voiced his thoughts.

"Yes." He smiled "I write down all of mine and Alan's endeavours and adventures in here. And I must say, there is something truly magical about keeping a diary."

"Why are you telling me this?" Jasper was enjoying this but there seemed to be something more that the couple weren't telling him.

Alan and Frankie exchanged a worried glance. Then Alan spoke up.

"Have you checked the diary recently?"

Jasper pulled out the worn book and flicked to the first empty page. Except it wasn't empty. Written in the same scrawling handwriting as every other page, was a note that Jasper hadn't seen there before.