The Door Into Time
Page 9
Chapter 9
When James rounded a corner, Reece grabbed her brother’s arm, and the two shot forward on their tiptoes avoiding noisy twigs. They spotted him within a few seconds, but were careful to maintain a safe distance lest he spot them and lose them in the twists and turns of the woods.
James wasn’t just ambling along either. There was purpose to his step, and he moved forward without stopping.
Ten minutes into tailing the boy, Sean looked over at his sister and whispered. “The woods aren’t that big. Why haven’t we reached the other side?”
That thought had already dawned on Reece. “Maybe we’re in a different part that we don’t know anything about.”
“We’re just wasting our time if he’s not going where the Professor and Bear are.”
“But, if he is, we won’t have to search the whole woods for them.”
“I know, but we need to go home and get help. We can’t rescue Bear all by ourselves.”
“You’re right,” said Reece. “I tell you what. If James hasn’t led us to the Professor and Bear in a few minutes, we’ll turn around.” Then a discouraging thought brought her to a halt. “Now that he’s got food, he might not be going back there anyway.”
Sean continued to focus on James as he waited beside Reece. “Especially if he thinks they’ll lock him up. But, who would lock up a kid? It doesn’t make sense.”
Reece signaled for them to move ahead. Within one hundred feet, the trees thinned and more daylight found its way through to the ground. They dropped back farther, since there was less brush between them and James. But, suddenly the boy stopped and ducked down low to the ground behind a row bushes.
Likewise, the children quietly made their way a few more feet until they found their own hiding place.
James gently separated the brush and peered through.
“This might be it.” whispered Sean.
But, there was no time for Reece to answer, because James was on the move again. He maintained his crouched over position and kept a steady eye on something inside the clearing.
The children could easily see that they were at the edge of an open space. It must be the small shopping center where James stole the apple.
Finally, James slipped through and disappeared inside the clearing.
The children raced to James’ exit point and looked directly into the clearing. James was nowhere in sight, but what they saw made them look at each other in absolute wonder. This was not the shopping center they had anticipated. It was some type of historical park. Nearest them was a tiny church, then two small buildings one of which had a sign over the door indicating it was a General Store. Finally, there were a few rundown old cabins scattered on both sides of the narrow dirt road. Everything looked as though it had been there for ages, yet it must be fairly new. The problem was there was absolutely nothing like this near their house. So, where were they?