It is several weeks before More and Cromwell can set a meeting. As it is a special event, Anne invited as many people from our group as possible, including Bessie and members of Catalina's household. People must start wondering what on earth takes place in the queen's rooms by now. Thomas Boleyn is also there and greets More and Cromwell when they arrive. George is also sitting with Anne, and they are happily talking.

Even Catalina has made it, in disguise, of course. "Someone is covering for me," she explains when I ask her about it. "It might not be convincing, but it should give us long enough to witness this meeting."
"That's good. We'll want as many people here as possible," Anne says. Jane is also here, and she walks over to me. I am not ready for a conversation with her yet!
"Hello, Emma. It's been a long time."
"Yeah." I look at Catalina and Anne. History doesn't recall this meeting, so we must be safe. But if King Henry finds out... I shake my head. No, I will not go into those thoughts yet. We must succeed.
"I was thinking we could have a walk in the gardens once this meeting is over."
"It could take some time, and it might be dark by then."
"What do you mean? It's summer."
"Besides, you're supposed to be staying with Catalina. What would people think if they see you walking around Court?"
"I do not care what other people think."
"You should; you're a future queen."
"You are not setting a good standard for the rest of us."
"I don't have to worry about that so much. People will not care about me in the future."
"Are you—"

"Mistress Seymour, it is good to see you again," More says when he walks in with Cromwell. I never realised More knew Jane. How do they know each other? I guess I could find that out at some point.
"It is good to see you too, Sir More." Jane and More start talking, and I walk over to my parents. Thank goodness More is distracting Jane, so I don't have to talk to her anymore.

"Are you all right?" Mum asks.
"I wasn't expecting to see Jane again so soon, and I don't know what to say to her!"
"Do you love her?"
"No. I don't have any romantic feelings towards her. I don't want to lie to her."
"Then you must break from history." Mummy takes my hand. "We want what is best for you, and if that means you break from history, then you do that. If we are already faking Henry VIII being on the throne until 1547, then this is quite minor."
"You're right. I'll tell Jane once the meeting's over. There is no point in delaying it."

We spend the entire meeting in Anne's bedchamber, which is nothing abnormal. "So, what are our options?" Cromwell asks. "How many people need to know about the death?"
"Not many," I say, "only those that are essential, so those closest to the King."
"Which is a lot of people. How do we limit that?"
"We cannot tell the King's doctors yet. While King Henry already knows, we better not risk it."
"But we could use the help of a doctor," Catalina says. "If we are really going to do this, we must know about what plants are healthy and which ones are poisonous."
"That is a good point, but is poisoning the way we want to go?" Mum asks. "It's a method that people would recognise."
"Well, it's Tudor England. Our technology will not be as advanced as it would be in the twenty-first century, so it might be some time before someone works it out. Whether that will be months or years is another matter."
"How much do we need to fake?" Cromwell asks.
"It depends on when the King dies," Mum says. "If it is prior to 1533, there is a lot. If it's during or after October 1537, not a lot."
"No, a lot of things happen after October 1537," I say. "Whenever we do, it will have consequences, and we must be careful."
"How are we going to be careful?"
"The coded letters. I can teach you both so you can decipher the codes. As both of you are currently in the King's inner circle, we must find out everything we can." I look at Thomas Boleyn. "Is there any news from the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk and her household?"
"Yes, a young girl just joined her household, Katheryn Howard."
"Wife number five. Try and keep an eye on her, and report back to me if there are any changes. Anna of Cleves would have been born in 1515 and Katheryn in 1524."
"And those are wives number four and five?" More asks.
"Yes. If we succeed, then they won't be married to the King. If we fail, they will marry him." I begin pacing around the room. "We must also make preparations in case we fail. Which countries will help us?"

"My nephew in Spain will be willing to get me out of the country if necessary, but if I leave, I will risk Mary's future," Catalina says, "and I am not willing to risk her becoming illegitimate and not being able to claim the throne."
"Then we must ask him to lend us his support if we ever need it. What about Scotland?"
"Scotland and England are enemies," Anne says. "Why would they help us?" She goes over to the window and looks out. "There is a man in a strange uniform out there." We all hurry over to the window and look into the gardens.

As Anne said, there is a man wearing a uniform wandering around the gardens. He holds his hands behind his back, but I can still see the two gold bands around his sleeves. There is a black hat on his head, but I can't make out anything else. He looks up at the window and I gasp. "I don't believe it."
"Why, who is it?" Anne asks.
"Someone who isn't born for several hundred years yet."
"Can we trust him?" Thomas Boleyn asks.
"Yes. I'll go and fetch him."
"Be quick!" Anne calls.
"I will." I hurry out of the Queen's rooms and down a busy corridor, not caring whether people stare at me or not.

A warm breeze hits me as soon as I enter the gardens. As I slowly walk around to the officer, I pretend to take an interest in the flowers blooming around us. "If I know you well enough, you are not interested in flowers," a Scottish voice says.
"Well, then you know me well." I look at the man and realise who I am talking to. His blue eyes glitter, even under his cap, and a warm smile tugs at his lips. I beam at him. "Welcome to Tudor England. The others are waiting for you."
"You know who I am?"
"Of course I do, Mr Murdoch. I am from the twenty-first century, after all."
"Well, Emma... I may call you that even though we have not formally met yet?"
"Of course, you may. You are going to be my husband in the future."
"Thank goodness for that." Will takes my hand and kisses it. "I love you too much to lose you."
"And I you."
"Even though this is the first time you met me?"
"Yes."

I link arms with William, and instead of heading back to Anne's rooms, we walk around the palace for a while, and I point out places where I often frequent. "What year is it?" He asks.
"1531, so we have a couple of years until King Henry crowns Lady Anne."
"Right." We finally make it to Anne's chambers.
"Before we go in, there is something you must know. We are planning on changing history."
"What?"
"King Henry is going to become a tyrant unless we change it."
"But if you change that, so much could change! What if Anna never makes it to England because of the changes you are making now? How will you explain it to foreign courts if the King of England suddenly dies?!"
"Keep your voice down! Few know, and they are all in that room."
"I come from a time when King Henry was on the throne until 1547."
"Either we fail or succeed, and no one discovers it. That's comforting to know."
"But if you kill the King now, who is in the twentieth century?"
"I don't know unless a certain someone decided to try and bring the King of England back to life to get revenge on us."
"Who?"
"Have you ever heard of my aunt Laura?"
"The crazy one that keeps trying to kill you for no reason? Yes, I have."
"Well, she could have been the one behind it."
"But if you succeed and kill the king, what will happen to the queens? They won't marry King Henry, that's for sure."
"Oh, I know. That's what I'm trying to prevent."
"Have you thought that the marriages made the queens who they become?"
"Of course I have. I am trying to change history for the better."
"Yes, I can understand that. But you will need to fake tens of thousands of executions. How are you going to manage that? And if it's before Edward's conception, you will have to fake a second King of England."
"I did not think of that. Maybe we should schedule it for after Edward's conceived, otherwise history could turn out wrong."
"What about Ruane?"

"I don't want to be pregnant with the King's child! I refuse!"
"How can you refuse something like that?"
"I will figure it out, but I will do it."
"I am sure you will find a way to do it."

The doors open, and we look to see Thomas Boleyn standing there. "Sorry, we heard you two arguing," he says, and he lets us in.
"Who is this gentleman?" Anne asks, looking at Will.
"This is William Murdoch, my future husband from the twentieth century. I'm so sorry, I didn't ask you what year you were from."
"That's all right, lass." I feel my heart beating faster and warmth flooding my cheeks. I must look like a fool. "I am from the 28th of February 1912."
"Happy Birthday."
"How do you know that if you are from the future?"
"You are... quite well known."
"But I work at sea."
"You will work on an infamous ship soon."
"Which ship?"

I shake my head. I will not think about it yet. "We should focus. So, from what Will said, we either succeed and no one notices, or we fail, and history continues as normal. Either of those options will work so long as not that much changes."
"Yes, but our lives are at stake!" Anne yells. "It's rather a lot."
"I know, but I am trying to work with what we have. At least we know there won't be too many negative consequences if we get caught out, and the King realises it doesn't conform with history. Besides, if anyone hears us, it's their word against mine."

"So you are back in the King's good books?" Catalina asks.
I scowl. "He was making sure I would stay loyal to history."
"And here we are doing the exact opposite."
"Yeah, so he should have just kept me under house arrest if he didn't want me to cause trouble."
"You should really start talking like a Tudor if you are going to end up as Queen," Jane says.
"To hell with that! I'm more focused on keeping history on track to learn something like that."
"You have been here for decades and haven't learnt?"
"You guys pick up on our dialect easier than we pick up on yours," Mummy says. "It will get easier as we go through time if we keep to what we are already speaking."
"Fair enough," Anne says before she and Jane can spark an argument. "So, when do we want to stage it?"
"At some point after Edward's conception, so in early 1537," I say. "We will only have a decade to fake, then. I could always try going to the Tower and getting you two out of the eighteenth of May. It's the day before your execution, Anne, so it will save you. Does King Henry know what any of you look like as a teenager?"
"What is a teenager?" Everyone but Mummy asks.
"They're people between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, so between childhood and adulthood."
"Right," George says. "I guess that makes sense."
"That word is mostly used after the second world war, and as you seem to resurrect at some point after that, you will grow used to it. Now, back to my question. Catalina, Anne, Jane, will King Henry know what you look like around that age?"
"No," Anne and Jane chorus.
"He knows how I look," Catalina says. "I arrived in England in 1501, and he was ten years old. He would easily recognise us all if we only go back a few years."
"Which is why we must succeed so he doesn't suspect anything. Sure, it will change history as Anne is supposed to get executed, but I want to risk it."
"You're risking a lot, since you and Sarah Jane will cease to exist if something in our plan goes wrong."
"Will just assured us that if it goes wrong, history will continue as normal. So, we must make sure we're safe until the twentieth century."
"Like that is something we can control," Anne says. "We are playing with fire here. If we make one wrong move, it will burn us all down."
"Did you have to make the fire reference?"
"Sorry."

More and I share an awkward look between us before looking away again. I don't think either of us wants to revisit that day. Maybe we can make a working relationship between us. I'd never call him my friend, and I don't think he'll call me his, but if we can work together, it will help.