“Holly, hurry up,” Oliver hissed, and I saw his and Kate’s faces in the basement doorway.
I held up the calibrator, and he nodded to indicate that I’d grabbed the right thing. So I made ready to sprint back towards them when the front door abruptly swung open. I froze, caught between the front entry and the basement door, holding my breath. Oliver whispered my name to move, but I couldn’t. It was like my feet were suddenly glued to the floor. Slowly, I glanced over my shoulder and immediately noticed the familiar pink knit scarf and the green jacket that was being worn by a familiar figure…myself…Holly, in the past. She was humming under her breath as she kicked the snow from her boots. She hadn’t seen me yet.
Finally, I got my feet to move in a quiet attempt to sneak back to the basement door. I only had a few feet to go. My past-self was still busy, muttering under her breath about having to pee in the middle of a snowball fight.
So close…I was so close…
“Hey!”
I cursed and heard Oliver and Kate gasp.
“Who are you?” my past-self asked in surprise. “I’m calling the cops!”
Even as Oliver whispered a harsh no, I started to turn around. The second I made eye contact with myself, everything changed. The jaw of my past-self dropped, and she rubbed her eyes as if she were dreaming. Then the room began to spin. I became that dizzy, I almost couldn’t see straight.
“What is this?” my past-self asked, confused and freaked out. “What’s going on?”
“I’m you,” I replied, trying to stay upright. “Just…just act like you never saw me.”
Why did I feel so funny? My limbs were light; so light. I felt like I could float away if I weren’t careful. Horrified at what was happening to me, I was startled to hear my other-self scream in alarm. I looked up to see her holding her hands before her face, but they weren’t solid anymore.
They were translucent. And the translucent effect was spreading.
“No,” she whispered. “What’s going on! Help me!”
I tried to reach out as if to help myself but stopped short. My own hands were fading right before my eyes. I staggered backward, not ready to believe what I was seeing.
I was disappearing and soon…soon I would be nothing.
Frozen in fear, I lifted my gaze and locked eyes with my past-self. “I think I made a terrible mistake.”
***
Book 2
THE IMPACT
Chapter 1
I stared at my hand, disappearing before my eyes. My past-self had her mouth open in silent horror. I was ready to join her when a hand closed around my shoulder and dragged me towards the open basement door, taking the calibrator from my hand as we went.
“What are you doing?” I asked Oliver as he and Kate guided me to the basement.
I was still fading away, and Kate bounced on her feet as she panicked. Oliver frantically tinkered with the device, not answering my question.
“Oliver!”
His hands shook as he fiddled with the device and the calibrator. “You’re not supposed to see yourself! We have to get out of here. NOW!” He mumbled under his breath, and his fingers moved faster, trying to get the machine going again.
Another finger vanished before my eyes. “Oliver, what happens if we can’t go back?” I asked, my voice shaking with fear. “Oliver!”
“You disappear,” he yelped. I froze at his words. “You disappear forever.”
I gulped as my pinkie vanished next. “Please hurry,” I begged.
He turned his attention back to the box, and a few seconds later it hummed to life, the familiar blue light emanating from it. He twisted the dials and turned the knobs, calling for me and Kate to hurry over to him.
Upstairs, I heard my own scream and the front door open. The other me was screaming for Mom and Oliver. I could hear the sounds clearly. But at the same time, the basement had begun vibrating and shaking as it had before when we vanished into the past. The light crackled up Oliver’s arms, and the same giddy feeling hit me again. This time though, I could not bring myself to laugh. Not when my entire hand that I tried to place on Oliver’s arm was gone. I held Kate’s hand tightly with my other hand, which so far was still intact. All around us, random items and objects of different shapes and sizes floated and hovered in the air.
We spun around and around until I waited to be sick for sure this time, then with a loud pop everything suddenly stopped and we were standing in the exact same place in the basement. Oliver clutched the machine as its humming slowed and the blue light receded into it.
“Did we do it?” I asked, afraid to check and see if I was whole again. “Oliver? Kate? Can someone at least tell me if my hand is back?”
“Yeah, your hand’s back,” Kate exclaimed and grabbed hold of it to confirm.
I glanced at it clasped in hers and sank to the floor in relief. Oliver set the machine back on his workbench and checked the clock in the basement then picked up his phone and checked that too. “Oh my gosh, we made it back.”
“I vote we don’t do that again,” I mumbled from the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “Like ever.”
Kate plopped down beside me, nodding in agreement, but Oliver remained quiet. I sat up enough to see him slouched on the stool and to my surprise, grinning like a madman.
“Oliver?”
Slowly, he turned to stare at us, and a laugh escaped him. “Do you have any idea what we just did?” he asked through his laughter. “Do you know what this means?”
“Yeah, it means your sister almost disappeared,” I reminded him, annoyed.
“Besides that.”
My brow shot up. “Besides that? Wow, some loving brother you are.” I laid my head back on the cold concrete floor, cringing at the spider webs between the rafters overhead. “Why didn’t you tell us that before we went back.”
“Tell you what?”
“That we could disappear, you moron!”
“Oh yeah, I meant to, but I thought I’d take us back to the right day and we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
I smacked myself in the forehead at my brother forgetting such a crucial rule.
“Why would she have disappeared just from seeing her past-self?” Kate asked.
“It was in the notes, but I didn’t get too much into them,” he mumbled, turning to shuffle through the stacks of notes from our grandpa. “Just said it wasn’t a good idea, but I thought it meant your past-self could freak out or something.”
“Not that the person would vanish into nothing?” I muttered.
“Look, Holly, I’m really sorry, alright? But we made it back, and you have to admit that until you ran into yourself, the whole thing was pretty incredible.”
I sat up all the way and couldn’t avoid smiling at my brother. His excitement was contagious. “I guess it is pretty neat. Amazing actually!”
After my near-disappearance act let my brain catch up with what we had just done, I was awestruck. We had gone back in time. Like, actually back in time. I saw myself. I heard Mom and Oliver’s voices. “How is this even possible?” I murmured, more to myself than looking for an actual answer. I doubted I’d understand anything my brother had to say on the matter anyway.
Oliver was sifting through stacks of papers on the workbench again. “I have to keep reading through these notes, but I think we made a huge first step.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, and finally found my feet. Kate held up her hand and rolling my eyes over-dramatically, I reached down to pull her up with me. “We’re going to wait to do that again though, right?” I stared at my hands, happy to see them both whole, not at all ready to watch them disappear once more.
“It’d probably be safer if we waited until I have a chance to check through these notes some more,” Oliver admitted, and I saw the guilt on his face. He was more upset about me almost disappearing than I thought.
I crossed the basement to reach him and leaned into his arm. His hands stopped shuffling the papers, and he rested his
cheek on top of my head.
“I really am sorry,” he whispered. “As much as you drive me nuts, life would be pretty boring without you around to bug me. As well as finding ways to get me into trouble,” he grinned.
“I forgive you. But can we make a deal now that we know how dangerous this can be?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“No using this alone. Please!” I said sternly. “I don’t want you to think you know what you’re doing, then have it backfire, and I lose my brother.”
“Next time you do this, I want to come along, too!” Kate chimed in brightly.
We turned to look at her, and I bobbed my head, yes, waiting for Oliver to say no. But instead, he agreed, too. “Why not? She already knows about it, and as long as she doesn’t tell anyone, I don’t see why she can’t hang around. Might not be a bad idea to have three people,” he nodded.
I held out my hand. “Right then, we’ll be the Time Traveling Musketeers,” I announced.
Oliver gave me a blank look, but Kate was all for it and rested her hand on top of mine. “Oh come on, Oliver,” she smiled, batting her eyelashes at him, making him turn three shades of red. “All groups like this have to have a name. That’s just how it is.”
His lips pursed, but he gave in as we both gave him puppy dog stares. His hand rested on top of Kate’s, and I grinned at how her cheeks were the next to turn red.
“Sweet,” I said, and we threw our one hand up then let it fall with a laugh.
A door opened upstairs, and all smiles disappeared. I held my breath until I heard Mom. “Oliver! Holly, where are you two?”
I glanced at Oliver, and he nodded, shooing us towards the stairs. “She’s home early! I’ll hide this then I’ll be up,” he said.
“Down here, Mom!” I called as Kate, and I rushed up the stairs.
“Hanging out with your brother?” Mom asked, setting her purse down on the entryway table with a curious look on her face.
“Yeah, he was showing us something he was tinkering with,” I said with a sigh. “You know how he is. He has to tell someone what he’s discovered or else he’ll explode.”
The curious look disappeared, and she grinned. “Yes, yes I do know that. And hello, Kate.”
“Hi, Mrs. Peterson,” Kate replied politely.
“Did you two enjoy your trip into town?” Mom asked, heading into the kitchen and carrying several paper bags with her from her shopping trip.
Kate giggled, and I nudged her with my elbow to shush her. Until that moment, I’d honestly forgotten about our walk into town and bumping into Zac. Zac, who had asked for my number and wanted to hang out tomorrow.
Mom’s brow went up at Kate’s incessant giggling. “So, it was a fun trip, hey? Did something exciting happen, girls? Or should I take a wild guess?”
“No,” I insisted as Kate said, “Yes!” at the same time.
Mom burst out laughing. “Alright then, keep it to yourselves, for now.” She gently poked the tip of my nose. “But if it has something to do with a boy, just remember, Mom’s know everything. And you can share all the details later, young lady.”
Yeah, like how we just traveled back in time! I kept the thought to myself, but before she could say anything else, Oliver strolled into the kitchen. Kate ducked her head and turned away as Mom’s eyes shifted from my friend to my brother and back again. “Sounds like you three have had a very interesting day.” She raised her eyebrows at my brother curiously.
“Oh, I thought it was boring,” Oliver muttered, plopping down on a barstool at the breakfast counter. “I had to look after these two. It interrupted my work.”
Mom sighed and started unpacking the bags. “I know you love working on your projects, Oliver, but sometimes it’s good to get out of the house. Breathe some fresh air. Let the sunlight hit your face every now and again.”
He huffed in reply then turned to the fridge, looking for something to eat. I was abruptly reminded that apart from our ice cream, we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. But my hunger disappeared when Mom shook her head, mumbling about Oliver being like his father. Oliver and I exchanged a look, both pretty sure she hadn’t meant to say that so loudly. He looked ready to push Mom for more about Dad, but she was in a good mood, and I didn’t want that to change or make Kate feel uncomfortable if it started a disagreement again.
“How was shopping?” I asked, watching her unwrap several items out of brown paper.
She set a beautiful bright blue vase on the counter with swirls of purple and green glass in it. “There’s a new shop in town where they do glass blowing,” Mom told us, turning the vase so we could see it from all sides. “Fantastic pieces.”
Next, she set out a glass figurine of a polar bear, and something in her eyes told me she liked it for more than one reason. Her fingers rested on it, and her eyes suddenly shone with tears before she blinked and cleared her throat loudly. I frowned at Oliver as she turned her back to us, but he shrugged, unsure of what was wrong. Mom liked bears, we both knew that, but this one meant something more to her.
Curiosity had me thinking of the pictures I’d found in the attic and wondering if there was a clue hidden amongst them. Then Mom began telling us about her other finds at the local antique store and Oliver, and I groaned. She was always picking up old odds and ends, but when she pulled out a small studded box that resembled a treasure chest, all three of us were intrigued and gathered around closer.
“It just called to me,” she told us, sounding wistful. Mom never sounded wistful.
When she opened the lid, we stared inside the box at an ornate looking metal key. It was fairly large and looked very heavy. Oliver’s eyes widened as he stared at me. My brow furrowed in confusion at why he was so excited. I saw his gaze dart down to the basement and then back up towards the attic. He did it a few more times, his face growing pinched as his frustration mounted. Then finally, it clicked.
No. No way could this be the missing key to the metal box I’d found in our attic! How could Mom find it at the local antique store?
“Pretty neat, huh?” Mom said.
“What are you going to do with it?” I asked, more earnest than I meant to sound. Both Mom and Kate blinked at me.
Mom smiled. “Out of all the pieces I’ve brought home from that place, this is the only one that you’ve ever been interested in. An old key,” she mused. “I have the strangest kids.”
Oliver and I both stuck out our tongues at her, and she laughed, sliding the box to me. “Wait, you’re giving it to me?” I asked, surprised. “Wasn’t this expensive?”
“No, it wasn’t actually. The owner of the store forgot it was even there. I found it tucked away on a dusty old shelf, buried under a few books and a weird looking machine that was broken. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
I bounced on the balls of my feet. We had to get to that store. If this was the key that we thought it was, then who knew what else we might find that had belonged to Grandpa. But if it was Grandpa’s key, why had his stuff been taken there? Mom kept all our old things in the attic. I realized it must mean Grandma had taken it to the antique store, or Grandpa had, at some point in his life.
“Thanks, Mom,” I told her and picked up the box carefully.
The key rested on a velvet bed, but the corner looked like it had been pulled up at some point. Later. I’d have to wait until later. Reluctantly, I closed the box and set it aside as Mom asked Kate if she wanted to stay for an early dinner.
“Thanks, Mrs. Peterson, that would be great. I’ll just call my mom to check if it’s ok,” she pulled out her cell and walked to the front of the house.
“Tacos sound good for you two?” Mom asked Oliver and me, digging around in the freezer.
“Tacos sound great,” I agreed with a wide smile, my hunger suddenly returning with a vengeance.
My grin widened when I caught Oliver glancing Kate’s way. I felt sure that I wasn’t the only one who was pleased that she was staying for dinner
.
Chapter 2
When dinner was finally over, and we’d helped with the dishes, I grabbed the box that Mom had given me and headed with Kate towards the stairs that led up to my room. Oliver motioned that he’d be up in a bit and said something about tidying his mess in the basement. Mom nodded in approval.
I shot him a worried glance, but he shook his head, and I breathed a sigh of relief. He was sticking to his promise as agreed, and not planning to use the machine without us.
After closing the door to my room, Kate and I sat down on the purple rug in the middle of the floor and stared intently at the decorative box. I had flipped the lid open, and the ornate looking key was in full view.
“Care to tell me what’s so special about this and why it’s got you and Oliver freaking out?” Kate frowned.
“This key, I think it belongs to the metal box Oliver had to pry open,” I said. “Our grandpa’s box. But we can’t try it out because the lock is ruined now.”
“The one for the time machine? Why do you think that? And if it is, why would it be at the antique store?”
“I don’t know; it’s just a feeling I have. And Oliver thinks so too.”
Kate frowned at me once more, clearly thinking that my brother and I both had overactive imaginations.
“Look,” I said, pointing to the messed-up corner of the felt. “I think there’s something under it.”
She squinted at it. “Could be, or it’s just old, and you two have gone a little, you know.” She twirled her finger by her ear as she whistled. I gave her a playful shove. “Just saying,” she grinned.
“You did go back in time with us, remember? So if we’re crazy, so are you.”
“Good point.”
We stared at it intently, waiting for Oliver to hurry and get his butt upstairs. I wanted to take the key out and pull up the velvet but didn’t want him to be upset with me. So we waited. And waited. And we continued to wait.
Time Traveler - Books 1, 2, 3 & 4: Books for Girls aged 9-12 Page 8