Aleca Zamm Travels Through Time
Page 4
“Wow, you are really something!” I said. That was a thing I said when I was trying to get out of answering someone’s actual question. “I’ve gotta go!” I yelped, and then I just ran into the movie theater, past a guy wearing a jacket that made him look like a hotel doorman in a big city. He tried to catch me, but I was too fast. I ran into the room where the movie was playing.
I looked up at the projection booth. “Ford!” I shouted. “Get down here! Now!”
And what do you know? He did.
15
The Boss of Everybody
I didn’t have time to lecture Ford about wandering off, because we had to run out the back door to escape from Young Zephyr before she could ask any more questions.
When we got back to the motor lodge, I called toward the hydrangeas, “Come on, Aunt Zephyr! We have to get out of here!”
“What’s your hurry?” Aunt Zephyr asked, crawling from behind the bushes. “She’s not going to come after you. Her parents don’t allow her to chase lunatics in the street.”
I stopped dead in my tracks.
“How do you think I knew it was you when you stopped time for the very first time?” she asked. “I’d met you before!”
I thought back to when Aunt Zephyr had arrived at our house, right after I’d become a Wonder. She’d known somehow that it had been me who’d stopped time. I’d even asked her how she knew, but she’d been mysterious about it. Now it made sense.
“Then all this time, you knew I’d run into young you?”
“I wasn’t sure when you’d fall into this particular day in history, but I knew it would happen eventually.”
“You’re not mad?”
“What’s to be mad about?” she asked. “As far as anyone in Prophet’s Porch knows, two crazy children ran like hyenas around the picture show, and no one ever saw them again. I’m the only person you really talked to.”
“There was a boy who asked about our clothes,” Ford said.
“Yes, I know. Max Phillips. But he’s a doofus. No one listens to him.”
“Then you knew all along that we could time travel!” I exclaimed.
“No. I knew all along that you could time travel. Up until your birthday party, I didn’t even know Ford existed. And I didn’t know that he and I time traveled with you.”
“So when did you—” I began. But Aunt Zephyr cut me off.
“We can talk more about this when we get home,” she suggested. “I don’t want to leave time stopped any longer than necessary. Let’s cross back over the bridge.”
“Yes,” said Ford. “The past is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live here.”
Aunt Zephyr looked back at the old town and sighed, like maybe she didn’t totally agree with Ford.
We walked back across the bridge, and at the end of the walkway, I stretched my arm just in case. If there was an invisible barrier on the present side like there had been on the past side, I didn’t want to find out about it by whacking my head again.
I didn’t feel anything. And even worse, I didn’t see the ugly green Dumpster or my school or anything at all from my time period. Just two-lane roads, gravel pathways, one-story buildings, and a lot more trees than there were in my time in Prophet’s Porch.
“I can’t see the present!” I exclaimed. “It’s still just past stuff! And I don’t see the barrier thing either! Does that mean we could be stuck here forever?”
Nobody answered me, which I took to be a big fat yes. I thought about what it would be like to stay in the past forever, with no Mom, Dad, Maria, or Dylan. I figured I would miss even Dylan eventually.
“Oh no!” I wailed. “We are doomed! Legit doomed!”
“You don’t see it?” Ford asked.
“See what?” Aunt Zephyr and I said together.
Ford made his hand into a fist and did a knocking motion. “And you also don’t hear it?”
“Hear what?” Aunt Zephyr said.
“The barrier. It’s right here,” he explained. “And through it I can see our school.”
“You can?” I asked.
“Yes,” Ford replied. “Join hands again.” We did, with Aunt Zephyr in the middle.
And there it was.
When our hands were joined, I saw what looked kind of like a painting hanging in thin air. A big painting, about as tall as my dad and just as wide. (As wide as it was tall, I mean. Not as wide as my dad, who is actually not very wide at all.) All around the “painting,” I could still see the old roads and buildings. “This is so super weird,” I said. “But let’s talk about it later. Right now I’d just like to get back.” I’d actually be glad to smell the Dumpster again just because it would mean that we were back home.
But just as we clasped our hands more tightly and were about to go through the time window, something very strange happened. Everything changed. It was like someone had switched the channel on a television. The bridge and the trees and everything else from the past were gone.
Under our feet was a street made of some sort of silvery substance. Cars were flying past us. Flying! I don’t mean “flying” like “going really fast.” I mean they were actually flying in the air! And there were big shimmery buildings that had screens all over them that would change advertisements every few seconds. All the advertisements had something to do with the word “Zella.” Zella cola, Zella flying cars, Zella perfume and purses.
“What’s happening?” I asked Ford and Aunt Zephyr.
They both looked just as stunned as I felt, but Aunt Zephyr managed to say, “I believe we have hit a time travel glitch of some sort.”
People glided past us on little contraptions like scooters, except they didn’t actually touch the ground.
Aunt Zephyr let go of our hands and grabbed hold of a man zipping past. “Excuse me, sir,” she said. “We’re new to Prophet’s Porch, and we were wondering—”
“New to where?” the man asked.
“Prophet’s Porch,” Aunt Zephyr replied.
“You must be lost,” he said. “You’re in Zellaville, the capital of Zellaland.”
“Zellaville?” Aunt Zephyr said.
“Zellaland?” said Ford.
The man looked at us like we were nuts. “Named for Zella Zamm, of course.”
“Zella Zamm?” asked Aunt Zephyr.
“The most wonderful person ever!” the man replied. “Everything here, and everyone here, is dedicated entirely to Zella! Zella is our queen!”
“Queen!” said Aunt Zephyr. “In the United States?”
“Oh, the United States hasn’t existed in quite some time!” the man said. “Where have you all been?” He gave us another weird look and zipped away.
“There’s no more United States in the future?” I exclaimed. “That can’t be!”
“She’s a Zamm,” Aunt Zephyr said. “And clearly a Wonder.”
“What’s her Wonder thing? Being the boss of everybody?” I asked.
“Yes,” Aunt Zephyr said, with a tremor in her voice. “Mind control.” Then she snapped back to herself. “Ford, do you see that portal anywhere?”
“Yes,” he answered. “It’s still in front of us, just a few feet away now.” We all joined hands again. I sighed with relief when I could see my school through the portal window.
“Let’s get home,” Aunt Zephyr said. “Let’s hope my teleporting works flawlessly this time.” Thank goodness, it did. It was a relief to get back to our own time, away from flying cars and shiny buildings and all that Zella stuff.
“Now what do we do?” I asked.
“First, we keep our word about the world geography lecture,” Aunt Zephyr replied.
We went back inside the school to my classroom, where, of course, everyone was still frozen in time. Aunt Zephyr addressed the class: “The world has a lot of geography. Any questions?” No one moved, so there weren’t any questions, naturally. “Well, that should about cover it. The world’s most succinct geography lecture ever. Aleca, Ford, get back to where yo
u were so that Aleca can start time again. Meanwhile, I’ll go home and start some research into this Zella character. She must be a baby or a very young child right now, if she has even been born yet.”
“Then what do we do?” Ford asked.
Aunt Zephyr sighed. “Well, I suppose we have to figure out how to stop her. Go on. Get going.”
Ford went to his classroom. I had to go back into the bathroom so that I could come out when time started again. I was so shaken up by everything we had seen that I almost forgot to finish that little number I was doing on Mr. Vine. Luckily, I had some gum in my pocket. I quickly chewed it and stuck it to the wall. Then I did a quick square dance move around him because it was all I could think of for my time stopping dance. It wasn’t my best work, but it’s hard to do-si-do when you’re worried about the future of your country.
When I said, “Aleca Zamm,” I heard Mr. Vine shout, “Ewww!”
I came out of the bathroom and found that I had positioned the gum perfectly so that Mr. Vine had leaned his hand right onto it.
“What’s the matter, Mr. Vine?” I asked.
“Someone stuck gum to the wall!” he replied.
“Who would do such a thing?” I said. “I’d better get back to class now.”
Of course it was almost impossible to concentrate on any of the boring stuff Mrs. Floberg wanted to teach us that day. But it was especially hard when we had a lesson in US history, because Mrs. Floberg said that democracy meant that we didn’t have a king or queen and that we the people ruled ourselves. It made me sad to think that someday in the future that wouldn’t be so and that everyone would be ruled by Queen Zella.
Queen Zella, huh? I thought. Not if I can help it.
About the Author
Ginger Rue is the author of the middle-grade Tig Ripley novels, as well as Brand-New Emily and Jump. She lives in Alabama.
Find out how it all began in book 1:
Aleca Zamm is a Wonder
ALADDIN
SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Ginger-Rue
Read more about Aleca’s adventures:
Aleca Zamm Is a Wonder
Aleca Zamm Is Ahead of Her Time
Aleca Zamm Fools Them All
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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First Aladdin paperback edition September 2018
Text copyright © 2018 by Ginger Stewart
Cover illustrations copyright © 2018 by Zoe Persico
Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.
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Cover designed by Karin Paprocki
Interior designed by Hilary Zarycky
Library of Congress Control Number 2017960993
ISBN 978-1-4814-7070-4 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-7069-8 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-7071-1 (eBook)