Time Traveler - Books 1, 2, 3 & 4: Books for Girls aged 9-12

by Katrina Kahler

  “We have to get back!” I argued, trying to go forward as the blue light pulsed out of the machine. It seemed to be breathing as if it had a life of its own. “Oliver! What do we do?”

  A heavy wind gusted around us and suddenly it felt as though someone had hold of my ankles, sliding me back towards the malfunctioning box. Kate and Oliver screamed as all three of us were pulled away from Dad. He reached for my hands, but my grip slipped, and I was unable to grab hold of him. The second that Oliver, Kate and I were back to back with the machine at our feet, the blue light surrounded us. It was so bright that I was blinded by it. I yelled for Dad, but then we were shooting through space and time all over again. I strained to see, terrified of where we’d wind up this time. We’d messed everything up again; even though we had finally managed to rid ourselves of Thaddeus Banes. We twisted and turned longer than we had any other time and I heard Kate and Oliver yelp in alarm. But when I reached out, I found myself alone in the bright spiral of blue light.

  I was sure I could see flashes of Oliver in the light, and Kate, then Zac and Mom and Dad, everyone who had been included in this wild adventure of ours appeared. The images flew by too fast for me to follow and understand exactly what I was seeing. I reached out, again and again, my fingers breaking through the light, scattering it like stardust until it surrounded me. I could do nothing as it glittered before my face. Dizzy and light headed, I feared this fall through time would go on forever.

  Then, rather than a sharp pop which was the usual sound we heard when we’d arrived at our destination, the sound of an explosion rang loudly in my ears.

  Chapter 8

  At first, I didn’t dare to open my eyes, petrified at what I might find. But rather than the hard surface of a floor, there was something soft beneath me.

  I opened one eye, then another, and blinked as I stared around my bedroom. I hesitated as I threw back the covers and glared into the morning sunlight pouring through my window. I studied every small detail, searching for any sign that this was the wrong time zone, or another messed up version of the present. But the color of the walls was right; my furniture was in the right place, along with my school things. I searched for the machine. I could not see it anywhere.

  “Am I back?” I said aloud and carefully climbed out of bed.

  This time, I remembered every detail of what had just happened. Thaddeus was gone, but we’d left Dad behind. How could that be?

  I stared around my room, trying to process the memories. Something buzzed, and I jumped, hand to my chest, ready to brace for being thrown through time again. But it was only the sound of my cell phone on my desk.

  I picked it up to see a message from Kate. I read it once, then I read it again, shaking my head to clear my vision so I could read the message a third time.

  “Project? What project?”

  I texted her back, panicking that I’d been thrown into a completely different time zone. Though, compared to the other issues we’d faced, a late project was far from terrible.

  I held my cell anxiously as I waited for her reply and the second my cell buzzed in my hand, I skimmed the message and frowned. The family tree project? Was the presentation today? I closed out the message and checked the date on my phone, sinking back down on my bed. Monday morning, the day we were supposed to give our presentations to the class. The week that all the crazy time traveling began.

  Closing my eyes, I thought back over the weekend that had just passed and saw it in two different ways. The first version was the time I’d found the boxes in the attic and discovered the time machine. But the second version had my eyes shooting open and holding my breath, not willing to believe it could be true.

  My memory of the second version was of me working on my family tree project which now rested on my desk. Slowly, as if scared it would disappear in front of me, I crept over and stared down at the poster. The entire thing was filled out. Mom’s side…and Dad’s. Dropping my phone, I snatched up the chart, eyes blurring as I saw Dad’s name proudly displayed beside Mom’s.

  “Hey, Holly? You up yet?” Oliver called as he knocked on my door.

  “Yeah, yeah I’m up!” I exclaimed and rushed to open my door, still holding my project. He stared at me wide-eyed as I almost ran right into him.

  “Uh, you alright?”

  I nodded slowly, squinting at him, unsure. “What do you remember?”

  “From what exactly?” he replied just as weirdly. He glanced down the hall towards the top of the stairs before leaning in closer. “Holly?”

  “Yeah?”

  He frowned at me. “The machine…do you remember it?”

  I let out a massive sigh of relief. “I was worried you wouldn’t remember!” He gave me a quick hug, the relief filling his features as well.

  I frowned at him. “We were with Dad and then the machine…it sucked us back to when? Back to the day we used it for the first time? Is that even possible?” I threw the questions at him one after another.

  “I guess so. I mean everything else has been possible, so why not that, right?” He ran a hand through his messed-up hair and blew out a heavy breath. “Everything we went through…it hasn’t happened yet. But…I remember bits of this past weekend, the version where everything was normal…it’s all a bit hazy but I don’t remember any mention of a time machine.”

  “That’s because I didn’t have to search in the attic for information for my project, so I never ended up finding the machine.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

  I held up the family tree chart and pointed to the spot where Dad’s name was filled in. “All the details about Dad and his family, they’re on here… so that means—”

  “You kids up yet? You’re going to be late for school!”

  Our eyes lit up at the same time. And in unison, the two of us both whispered the same word… “Dad!”

  We took off together down the hall. Our father, the real version of our dad who wasn’t an old man, stood at the bottom of the steps, holding a steaming cup of coffee in his hand as he eyed the both of us curiously. We rushed downstairs, and he barely managed to set his coffee down before we both threw our arms around him. He laughed warmly as he wrapped us in a tight hug.

  “Well now, why can’t you guys be this happy every morning before school?” he asked as he stood back smiling at each of us. “What’s going on with you two, anyway? You act like you haven’t seen me in years.”

  “We haven’t,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

  Dad’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Holly, Oliver, what’s going on?”

  We exchanged a glance, but I nibbled on my lip and said nothing. I guessed Dad might not remember what we did to Thaddeus. It was probably a good thing, and I didn’t care too much as long as our dad was here to stay, and we could finally be one big happy family.

  But then he looked down the hall towards the kitchen where we heard Mom humming loudly to the radio. He moved closer to us and winked. “Have I ever told you both how proud I am of you?” he whispered.

  “You remember!” I whispered excitedly, and he hugged us both again.

  “I can’t believe you did it!” he said and kissed the top of my head. Then he kissed Oliver’s as well. “I was gone for so many years and then finally…finally, I was thrown back to the very beginning, and I got to see the two of you grow up the way a father should. I’ve been here since the start, and I was able to be here for both of you.” He choked on the last words and wiped quickly at his eyes. “You are two amazing kids; you know that?”

  We both hugged him again, each of us struggling to believe he was really there.

  Oliver pulled away for a moment, glancing thoughtfully towards the stairs. “The machine, what happened to it?”

  “After all the problems it caused, I took it and I…I destroyed it.”

  My jaw dropped, and Oliver’s eyes almost bulged out of his head. “You did what? Why?”

  “So no one could use it again,
that’s why,” Dad stated simply. “You both risked so much to get this family back together. I wasn’t about to let anything tear us apart, not again.” He took a deep breath as he studied us, laying a hand on both our shoulders. “I remember everything that happened to me. I remember being taken away from you both and being trapped in the future. I remember everything you had to go through to get us back. I couldn’t imagine any of us ever going through that again.”

  “The machine’s actually gone?” Oliver muttered.

  “It’s a good thing,” I said, agreeing with Dad. “I would say I wished we’d never messed with it, but then we wouldn’t have you back, Dad. And now we do, so that’s all that matters.”

  I stared at his handsome face, the young version of our dad, and my heart swelled with love.

  He beamed down at us as Mom called out from the kitchen, “You three going to stand there all day or come in here and eat breakfast? Oliver and Holly, you’re going to be late for school!”

  “And you have a presentation to give today,” Dad reminded me.

  “Yeah, I do,” I nodded, remembering how that had gone the first time around.

  Oliver and I followed Dad, as I tried to come to terms with the fact that we had our dad back and he was in our lives for good. He gave Mom a sweet kiss on her cheek, and she leaned into him, grinning widely, oblivious to the nightmarish experience we had all been through.

  “You feeling good about your presentation today?” Mom asked.

  “It’ll be fine,” I said and ate my breakfast quickly so I could hurry and get dressed. I had faced so much. Surely I could manage a simple presentation in class. But my head continued to whirl with visions of what we’d been through and the realization that we had actually all made it back.

  Taking a moment between deciding on an outfit and fixing my hair, I stopped to glance over my project notes. I could see there was a lot more information than I’d had before. Dad, it seemed, had been able to fill in a lot of blanks for me about Grandpa’s career, his scientific discoveries and Dad’s career in science as well. Of course, there was no mention of any time machines. But I still couldn’t believe Dad was downstairs, laughing with Mom as if he’d never been absent from our lives.

  Part of me was sad we’d missed out on the last twelve years with him, but when I paused before leaving my room again, I finally noticed the framed pictures that were scattered around, showing us all as a family from the day I was born.

  I realized then that if I closed my eyes and thought hard enough, I could remember Dad being there. He taught me how to ride my bike; he helped Oliver with his first major science project. We’d eaten dinner together every night and played games on the weekends. There was even a memory of Oliver and I tackling Dad into a huge pile of autumn leaves in the backyard.

  Yeah, I remembered all of it, and it boosted my spirits so much that I skipped out the door. No matter what happened in class, I was determined that nothing would spoil the realization that we had our dad back and we were all safe.

  Oliver and I waved to Mom and Dad who stood on the front porch together, leaning into one another as they watched us walk down the street.

  “Man, we did it!” Oliver said. “Can you believe it!”

  “I know!” I grinned. “The whole thing is crazy! I wonder if Kate remembers anything. She didn’t act like it when I texted her earlier.”

  “Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

  My steps slowed, and Oliver frowned back at me.

  “What’s going on? Everything’s back to normal, better than normal now.”

  “Yeah, well, that means Jade is still at school, ready to give me a hard time. And the last time I talked to Zac we were in that strange messed up time warp…and he didn’t exactly like me. No one did. And,” I added as he grabbed my arm and pulled me along, “everyone thought I was weird and a bully, It wasn’t the nicest situation.”

  “To be fair, you were ranting and raving about a time-machine to me and probably to Kate, too. You were acting pretty strangely. But that wasn’t you, Holly, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Yeah, but still, I had no friends. No one like me apart from Kate…and you didn’t want to know about me either. It was just hard, alright?”

  He gave me a one-armed hug. “It’s going to be fine, I promise. And you’re going to knock them all dead with that presentation of yours. I can feel it.”

  “And Jade?”

  “You have to stop letting her ruin your day,” he argued. “Seriously, she’s one girl, and she’s nothing compared to my little sister.”

  “You’re just saying that to be nice,” I mumbled.

  Oliver pulled me to a stop again, and when I met his gaze, I saw a look of pride on his face as he grinned. “Do you realize what you did for all of us? You took on Thaddeus Banes, alone. You went back in time without us, and you risked your life. You took off from that facility with the time machine, on your own, to try and fix everything. You never gave up when none of us could remember what had happened. Imagine if we were still stuck in that nightmare of a future! But we’re back here now because of you, Holly! You’re an insanely brave and incredible girl, and don’t ever forget it!”

  I sniffed hard to hear such admiration from my older brother and brushed a tear from my eye. “I guess you’re right about Jade. At least she can’t say she ever fought against a real-life mad scientist and went on a mad chase through time, right?”

  “That’s the spirit. Pretty sure you’re now winning coolest kid of the year award.”

  I grinned back. Oliver and I were still talking when I heard Kate call out our names and run up to greet us both. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet as she clutched her books to her chest, smiling brightly at Oliver, and only Oliver.

  I watched his cheeks turn bright red as he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced shyly at the ground.

  “So, you guys remember, right?” she whispered suddenly, and we both sagged in relief.

  “Oh my gosh, I was so worried I wouldn’t be able to talk to you about anything,” I said as I gave her a quick hug.

  “When I woke up this morning, I wasn’t sure, but then it all came back.” She turned to Oliver and stepped a little closer. “Hey…uh, Oliver?”

  “Yeah?” he asked, his expression torn between smiling and frowning.

  “This weekend, do you uh, want to go catch a movie or something?”

  He swallowed loud enough for me to hear and I hid a smile behind my hand. “Like…like a date?”

  “Maybe…if you want to.”

  My eyes shifted from one to the other as the silence stretched on. I was about to stomp on Oliver’s foot when he moved closer and kissed Kate on the cheek. When he moved back again, her face was firetruck red, and he was having a hard time forming words.

  “Yeah…yeah…that’d be fun,” he managed to mumble. “Um…see you guys after school.” He hurried off, his backpack hanging loosely in his hand.

  When he started whistling, I burst out laughing and nudged Kate playfully with my elbow. “Wow, you’re going on a date with my brother!”

  “Is that weird?” she asked, suddenly looking panicked. “You can tell me if it’s too weird.”

  “Nope, not weird at all. I’m very happy for you both.”

  She put her arm through mine, and we giggled over the fact that she had just come right out and asked my brother out on a date. But Oliver’s reaction was the funniest part of all.

  At our lockers, we dropped off our bags and grabbed the books we needed for our first few classes. Everything was going well until I heard Jade’s voice echoing loudly down the hall. I groaned, resting my head on the locker door.

  “Oh come on, you already know how it turns out,” Kate nudged me.

  “I do, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.” I slammed my locker door shut and stepped out into the hall traffic without really looking, and stumbled right into someone else. “Oh my gosh, sorry!” I muttered as my books fell to the floor along with
the other person’s. I crouched down to help pick them up when I realized who was in front of me. “Zac!” I swallowed hard, waiting for him to glare at me again, or snap. But instead, the look he gave me caused butterflies to do a wild dance in my stomach.

  “Yeah,” he said laughing. “That’s my name!” His smile was friendly as he scooped up my books and we stood up together. “Holly? You ok?”

  “Yeah, course,” I said quickly. “Thanks, I uh, sorry for running into you.”

  “No big deal. You ready for history class today?”

  “Sure, why not,” I rambled. “You?”

  He shrugged one shoulder, and his eyes brightened. “Bet your project is more interesting than mine. I’ll see you in class later, okay?”

  I nodded and raised a hand to wave as he hurried off to catch up with his friends further down the hall. More butterflies filled my stomach as I realized that Oliver was right…the crazy time warp where everyone hated me, including Zac, no longer existed.

  By the time history class rolled around, I was anxious to see Zac again. But the second Jade stepped into the classroom, I groaned and slouched down as far as possible in my seat. She purposely stopped at Zac’s desk, blocking my view of him as she chatted excitedly about her project until the bell rang and class started. I hoped her name wouldn’t be pulled first, but when it was, Kate and I exchanged annoyed glances as we were forced to listen to her presentation all over again.

  Except for this time, when we went up to look at the artifacts she’d brought, there was no snarky remark about me not having a dad. She glared at me, but that was because Zac was still there looking when my group came along, and he happened to point a few things out to me that he thought were cool. Her lips thinned, and I could tell she was itching to dive in between us. I ignored her, not wanting to make a scene.

  When Zac went to sit down, she leaned towards me and whispered, “You can’t have him!”

  I lifted my gaze to hers but remembered everything Oliver told me. She wasn’t worth my time, so I merely smiled and returned to my seat, leaving her glaring at the back of my head. And all through my presentation and the rest of class, I didn’t care, not anymore. I’d been through too much craziness to let one girl give me a hard time over a boy. I’d nearly lost my entire family and had to fight to get them back. Jade was just a bully, and she wasn’t going to bother me anymore.