Chapter Text
Born in 1990, Jacob Landry was raised by his loving family, parents Colton and Del and older sister Kat, until the summer of 1999, when a fall into the mysterious pond on the family’s property sent him tumbling back in time to the year 1790. Jacob’s ancestors, Elijah and Rebecca Landry, found the lost little boy and adopted him, accepting and raising him as their own son. Still young enough to adapt easily to a new environment, Jacob fell naturally into the 18th-century rural Canadian lifestyle. Jacob pushed aside the memories of his secret past – the future – until his older sister Kat made her own time-traveling trip into the mystical family pond to find him some twenty four years later. Their tearful 1814 reunion flooded Jacob with memories of his early childhood and reignited his long-suppressed desire to return to his own time. Jacob initially resisted the idea of returning to the future, because he was overwhelmed and fearful of leaving the only life he’d known since he was eight-and-a-half years old. However, after a great deal of thought and discussion, Jacob bade an emotional farewell to his adopted father Elijah and close friends Thomas Coyle and Susanna Augustine and leapt back into the pond, still apprehensive, but hopeful for his future. This is where our story begins.
Having leapt into the pond in the year 1814, Jacob feels himself being dragged downward with an ominous fear-inducing pull that he has not felt since that fateful summer night twenty-four years ago. The feeling leaves as suddenly as it came, and Jacob breaches the surface of the pond, gulping in big gasping breaths. Though his scenery is familiar, the air is noticeably colder than it was when he jumped in. Before Jacob has any time to process this change in season, however, he spots a woman with shoulder-length brown hair and modern clothing standing about ten feet from the edge of the pond with her back facing him. Upon hearing the sudden splash from the pond, the woman quickly turns around, and Jacob recognizes his sister, Kat.
Jacob Landry has finally found his way home.
A moment later, as his breathing begins to even out, Jacob grabs onto a jagged rock at the edge of the pond and starts to pull himself upright. Kat’s eyes grow wide with recognition, and she runs toward the pond shouting his name.
“Jacob! Jacob, be careful!” Kat grabs onto Jacob’s elbow and helps him out of the freezing water. Once he is standing, Kat quickly looks him up and down, still clearly processing that her brother is standing in front of her in the year 2023. “Hi, you’re here!” she exclaims in a breathless voice.
Jacob looks at his sister and breaks out into a smile as he realizes that it worked, that the pond returned him to his own time. “I’ve come home.”
The siblings tearfully embrace, holding each other for a long moment. Kat eventually pulls away, her entire front now damp with water from the pond. “You must be freezing! Come on, let’s get you inside.”
The pair walk through the wooded area towards the Landry home. A thin layer of fog envelops the barren trees around them. In any other circumstance, Jacob might find the scene to be eerie. Now, though, as he walks side-by-side with his sister, he feels safe. A calmness washes over him, and he is more resolute than ever in his decision to return home.
A few minutes pass, and the trees give way to a large field. In the distance, Jacob spots the familiar barn and paddock of the Landry farm. Jacob and Kat continue walking in comfortable silence, Kat not wanting to overwhelm her brother with questions or conversation. A couple minutes later, they arrive at a weathered white picket fence. As they walk through a wide break in the fence, Jacob spots the bright blue house in which he and his sister grew up. Suddenly nervous, he reaches for Kat’s hand, and she wraps her hand around his, giving it a gentle squeeze.
Parked in front of the house, there is an old pastel blue pickup truck and a dark silver SUV. Although Jacob has not seen a vehicle in over two decades, his subconscious still makes the connection that the presence of a vehicle means that someone must be home. He breaks the silence, “Do you think Mom is…”
“She’s inside.” Kat replies. Kat stops suddenly. “Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this?” She does not want to get her mother’s hopes up only for Jacob to become scared and jump back into the pond.
“This is truly where I belong.” Jacob reassures her. He explains to her that Thomas, Susanna, and Elijah all encouraged him to come back, and that he is unwavering in his decision. Kat is surprised and grateful to learn that Thomas Coyle is still alive after she witnessed his attempted execution by the evil Cyrus Goodwin during her last trip back to 1814. Assuaged by Jacob’s confident reply, Kat again takes his hand and leads him up the steps and onto the large porch of the farmhouse. “I wish Dad was here to see this,” she says. Their father Colton passed away in a car crash six months after Jacob’s disappearance in 1999.
Jacob takes in a deep breath, and his mind transports him back to his childhood. He can practically see himself running out the door and bounding down the porch steps as he did so many times during his first eight years of life. The memory causes him to chuckle for a moment. Kat reaches out and opens the front door. Jacob hesitantly follows her inside the house, still holding tightly onto her hand. The layout of the house is exactly as Jacob remembers it, as is most of the decoration. Just as he thinks he couldn’t possibly be any more overwhelmed, Jacob hears a familiar loving voice call out “Hey, honey, is that you Katherine?” as their mother rounds the corner, carrying a mug of coffee in one hand and her phone in the other.
Jacob had mostly forgotten what his biological mother looked like, since he was so young when he disappeared, but upon seeing her, all of his memories of her instantaneously come flooding back. She looks just like he remembers, only her curly hair has grayed, her face is slightly wrinkled, and her eyes shine with a quiet sadness that never used to be there.
As Del locks eyes with Jacob, she gasps and drops the mostly empty coffee mug from her hand, shattering it across the kitchen floor.