Apparently, no one in the orphanage ever met his father, nor did he disclose pictures of his late parents to anyone. How she happened to have a drawing of his father with such a weird resemblance made him really curious.
"I actually drew that way before you came to Melrose. I come here and sketch out the faces of those that appear in my visions, This one happens to show up most often, but the reason I became interested in him was because I saw him in a vision I had when I touched you," explained Olivia.
"I also saw her in the vision," she added, "Actually, they were kissing."
"What?!" Oliver blurted out in disbelief.
"That can't have been my father you saw," he explained, "either that's someone else, or you were just forming images in your mind."
"I should've thought likewise, but the pictures in the black locket already confirmed it," replied Olivia.
"Wait, I think I've seen that woman before in my visions," Oliver said.
"Which one?" asked Olivia.
"That one you saw with my father. I had this vision long ago where she was seated on a throne in a large dark castle," Oliver explained.
"I told you we're somehow connected," Olivia said.
"How is that even possible," Oliver muttered inaudibly.
"I bet you've seen this one before too," Olivia said, pointing at another picture, this one was a bearded man in a black tuxedo.
Oliver immediately recognized the face. It was the man from the crowd during the spelling bee competition at Madison Square Garden who got him hypnotized while he was on stage.
"Holy smokes, I've seen him before," he muttered in horror, "and it wasn't even a vision."
"I was during the annual spelling bee competition when he tried to mess with your mind while you were spelling," Olivia said.
Oliver's eyes widened in shock.
"How do you know that?" he asked her.
"Before the spelling bee, he had shown up in several of my visions but I never took him seriously. It was when I had another vision on the third day after the competition, where I saw what really happened that day on stage, that I found he might be a factor," she explained.
"Oh… that's why you kept asking me what I saw, isn't it?" Oliver asked.
"Sort of," she replied.
"So… you said you needed my help," Oliver said.
"Yes, I need your help. I figured out that the only place I can find the answers I seek is in the past, that's why I need you to take me there," she explained.
Oliver seemed totally puzzled at this moment.
"Wait a second, I don't get it, you're asking me to take you back in time, as in time travel?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I didn't think I'd asked much," she replied.
"Well, fun fact, I'm no time traveler," Oliver said, "I mean… Is that even a thing?"
"Of course, it's a thing," replied Olivia casually, "it's psychic thing."
"I don't understand," Oliver said, "Is that even possible?"
"Wait, hold on a second, You mean you don't know?" She asked him. She seemed really stunned.
Oliver was totally clueless and startled himself. He still wanted her to explain further if there was another meaning of the words time travel that she meant, as he was still yet to comprehend the possibility of the request she was making.
"I have zero idea what you're talking about right now," Oliver said.
Olivia sighed wearily.
"I cannot believe you're saying this. Honestly, you need to research about yourself more often," she said.
She immediately walked towards a nearby table with several books piled on it, and there she quickly picked out a certain book with a thick grey cover. Slowly returning to him with the book in hand, she earnestly leafed through its faded pages till she came to a stop at a certain page. Oliver looked on enthusiastically, with curiosity in his gaze.
"Here look," she said, showing him the book.
"'… for where our eyes doth see we cannot go, but where they can't see we can go.'" she read out audibly. "Leonardo Escobar stated this theory in the year 1689. He was among the pioneers of ancient panoramic exploration of time travel, and the first predecessor of the paradox theories," she explained.
Oliver seemed a bit puzzled at first, but after thinking about it for some moments he asked her;
"So… does that mean when someone sees visions of the future but can't see those of the past, they can also time travel to the past where they can't see?"
"Exactly," replied Olivia.
"Since your visions tend to reside in the future, it means you can travel to the past; on the contrary, for someone like me whose visions are in the past, I can travel to the future," she explained.
Oliver was greatly marveled by the detailed theory of time travel, but he was still having a hard time conceiving this newly found ability.
"Just to let you know, I believe those theories a hundred percent, but I still don't think I can be of help to you," Oliver told her.
"Why not?" she asked him.
"You're the only one person I know that can help me, Oliver, you gotta help me out," she pleaded.
"I know, but I'm dealing with a lot presently," replied Oliver, "and besides, I don't know how to time travel, I didn't even know it was theoretically possible."
"Just try triggering a vision, but that of the past instead of the future, that's how you get to time travel," Olivia explained, "It's that easy."
Oliver became really puzzled right now.
"How do you expect me to just trigger a vision by will?" he asked.
"What's wrong with that?" she replied, "Isn't that how psychic visions work?"
"Wait," he muttered thoughtfully, "yours happen by will?"
Olivia's eyes widened in shock, on hearing his statement.
"You really suck at this," she muttered almost inaudibly.
"Great. Guess I'm the unlucky one whose visions come on erratically without warning," Oliver grumbled.
"Seriously you need to learn to control your visions," Olivia said.
She handed him the grey book she was holding.
"Here, you can have the book," she said, "It can help you master your powers on time."
"Thanks," Oliver said.
"So you're gonna help me when you're ready, right?" she asked.
Oliver thought over it for a while then said;
"I'm gonna help you, but under one condition."
"Just say the word, I'd do anything," vowed Olivia, her eyes sloping down to the corners with all genuineness and sincerity.
"I need you to take me to the future," Oliver said.
There was a sudden change in the look on Olivia's face immediately Oliver made the request, like that was the last thing she wanted him to say.
"First I'm gonna ask if there's any necessary reason why you asked that," she told him.
"It's actually very important that you do this for me," Oliver said.
"I had this vision about a couple of weeks ago where someone got attacked by the werewolf. I really want to prevent this attack from happening, but the problem is that I can't tell what day it was in the vision. I need to go to the future and find out the date of the attack so I can make sure it never happens," Oliver explained.
"Oliver, as much as this sounds important, I'm sorry I can't do what you're asking," Olivia said.
"Why not?" Oliver asked, looking a bit surprised, "I thought you said you could travel to the future."
"I haven't mastered it yet," she replied shortly.
"Look, traveling to the future isn't as easy as traveling to the past, it requires long years of devoted practice. And unlike the latter, the future isn't writing yet, there are an infinite number of possibilities and parallel realities yet unborn, making it so difficult to maintain the prime without deviating," she explained.
"But you can always try," Oliver suggested.
"It's too dangerous, Oliver," she protested, "One must navigate his or her way through a straight line, and by all means possible, try to avoid losing track, or he or she would end up trapped and lost forever in an alternate dimension."
"Sorry Olivia, but you have to deal with it," Oliver said, "I'll only help you if you help me. It's a win-win."
"Come on Oliver, don't do this to me," Olivia insisted.
"By the way, who is this you so desperately want to save, even though it means endangering my life?" she asked, "Let me guess, Felicity?"
Oliver was surprised how she knew Felicity was the one he wanted to save.
"How do you even know that?" he asked her.
"I wouldn't call it a lucky guess, since it's obvious how you've been following her around for the past few weeks like a desperate little bodyguard," she replied.
"Honestly, Oliver, have you not any shame?" she asked him.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Oliver muttered, with his brows arched in puzzlement.
"Felicity Ferguson is the kind of girl that would get you soft and distracted, she's not in your league," she persisted, "She's not even worth it."
"Wait a second, do you even hear yourself?"Oliver replied. He seemed a bit shocked and upset by the statement she had just made.
"What makes you think you can decide whose life is worth saving and whose isn't?" Oliver asked her.
"That is totally not what I meant, Oliver, stop making it seem like I'm some evil villain or something," she protested.
"Then stop behaving like one," Oliver replied. "You see, you often think of yourself higher than everyone else, when the bitter truth is that we're all the same at the end; a bunch of level zero orphans."
"That's called refusing to settle for less," Olivia replied, "you should try that sometimes."
"Anyway, I'm gonna help you save your little girlfriend, since I don't have much of a choice," she added.