by Zach King
lightly browned slices of bread from the toaster. They
smelled like toast this time, not charcoal. “If at first, you
don’t succeed . . .”
Try, try again, Zach thought.
He eyed his dad’s watch. In theory, only his dad could
use its magic, but that was what Zach had thought
about Sophie’s glasses as well. If he could borrow So-
phie’s powers, maybe he could use his dad’s watch, too?
Which would give me a chance to rewind to last night’s
dance, Zach thought, and save Rachel from having the
worst night of her life!
Zach was excited by his plan but tried not to show it.
He knew better than to ask his dad for a do-over on the
dance. Mr. King felt strongly that using his watch too
freely kept people from learning from their mistakes.
He’d also said more than once that turning back time
can have all sorts of unintended consequences if not
done with the proper care. Unburning a couple of pieces
of toast by turning the clock back a few minutes was
one thing, but Zach knew that his dad would never let
him rewind things all the way back to last night’s dance.
Too bad that’s exactly what I have to do, Zach thought.
He hadn’t figured out Tricia and Hogan’s plan in time
to save Rachel last night, but if he had a second chance,
he was sure he could set things right. He just had to get
his hands on his dad’s watch.
Or maybe a copy of the watch?
I’m going to need some help here, he realized. Good
thing I have plenty of cousins!
And one sneaky little sister.
“Okay, we have to move fast,” Zach said several hours
later, “before Dad notices that his watch is missing.”
Zach sat in front of his laptop, while Sophie looked
over his shoulder. He had his bedroom door closed, but
he could still hear his dad taking a shower in the bath-
room down the hall. The only time Mr. King ever took
off the watch was when he took his evening shower, so
Sophie had seized this opportunity to turn invisible and
snatch the watch from the nightstand in their parents’
bedroom. Then she’d just have to put it back where it
belonged before their dad was done showering.
“We’re ready when you are,” his cousin Andy said
from the left half of the laptop’s screen. He was wearing
his trademark silver sunglasses. His own room, many
miles away, could be glimpsed behind him.
“Right,” Cousin Gwen said from a separate window
on the right side of the screen. The split-screen effect
made it look like they were sitting right next to each oth-
er even though they were actually in two different loca-
tions. Her once-blue cotton-candy hair was dyed purple
now. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
It had taken Zach most of the day to set things up with
his cousins, and to wait for his dad to take off his watch,
but everything was in place now.
“Thanks, guys,” Zach said. “I really appreciate this.”
“No problem,” Andy replied. “But do you really think
you can make my magic object work for you?”
Good question, Zach thought. “That’s what we’re go-
ing to find out.”
He put on Andy’s sunglasses, which he had never done
before. Was it just his imagination, or did he feel a pe-
culiar tingle behind his eyes as he looked through the
shades? He held the borrowed wristwatch up in front of
his eyes so that it was reflected in the mirrored lenses.
“Center the reflections and concentrate,” Andy
coached him. “You really need to focus your magic to
make it work. It took me a while to get the hang of it.”
“That’s what I keep telling him,” Sophie said. “Prac-
tice makes perfect.”
But Zach didn’t have time for lots of trial and error.
He needed a copy of the watch right away. Peering at the
watch through the lenses, he tapped the bridge of the
glasses frames just like he’d seen Andy do many times
before.
Presto, change-o . . . copy!
At first, nothing happened. Zach started to worry that
the incident with Sophie’s glasses had been just a freak,
one-time thing. Like with the ice cubes or the vending
machine.
“Keep concentrating,” Gwen encouraged him. “You
can do it.”
“Maybe if you start slow,” Andy suggested, “and use
just one eye?”
Taking his advice, Zach shut his right eye and stared
as hard as he could through the left one, which start-
ed to water from the effort. The tingle turned into a
strange, painless sort of throbbing sensation, like the
magic was building up inside his eyeball. He tapped the
frames again and, all at once, a miniature reflection of
the watch popped out of the left lens and magically em-
biggened to full size. Zach caught the new watch before
it hit the ground and put it down on the desk next to the
real one. The two watches looked totally identical.
“OMG, it worked!” Gwen exclaimed. “You just bor-
rowed Andy’s magic!”
“Word!” Andy agreed. He stared in amazement from
his half of the screen. “So does this mean you can use
anyone’s magic object?”
“Looks like it.”
Zach could barely believe it himself.
“Just be careful, big brother,” Sophie pointed out.
“We’ve spent years training. We all know that magic
isn’t easy to control—even after you’ve been doing it for-
ever.”
Their cousins were impressed anyway.
“You must have some kind of all-purpose magic,”
Gwen speculated. “It must work with any sort of magic
object.”
“I guess . . .” Zach shrugged. “To be honest, I’m still
trying to figure it out.”
“We’re all trying to figure it out,” Sophie added. “But
it’s a puzzle.”
“Which we can crack another time,” Zach said, all
too aware that his dad wasn’t going to stay in the show-
er forever. They were cutting it close here. “First, I need
to help out Rachel, like I was telling you.”
He took off Andy’s sunglasses and handed them to
Gwen, who passed them back to Andy, from one com-
puter window to another. Zach couldn’t help but think
about how handy it would be to have Gwen’s computer
powers as well. He was starting to get excited about his
newfound abilities when he heard the shower shut off.
His dad would be looking for the missing watch any
moment now.
“Thanks again,” he told his cousins. “Dad’s out of the
shower. Gotta motor.”
“Just remember, that new watch is just a copy, a re-
flection,” Andy said, sliding his shades back on as he got
ready to log off. “It’s going to fade away. Copies don’t
last. Remember that.”
“Gotcha!” Zach handed the real watch to Sophie, be-
ing careful not to mix it up with the copy.
“We need to
get this back where you found it.”
“Piece of cake.” Sophie tucked the watch in her pocket
and turned invisible. Her voice seemed to come from
nowhere. “Be right back.”
Zach tucked the duplicate watch in a desk drawer
just as he heard his dad stroll out of the hall bathroom,
humming to himself.
“Hey, Dad . . . Dad,” Zach called out, to buy Sophie a
few precious moments. “You got a minute?”
“Sure, Son.” Mr. King detoured into Zach’s room,
wearing a bathrobe and slippers. “What’s up?”
Zach’s mind went blank as his imagination failed him.
“Um, er, that is . . . what day is it?”
“Saturday, you silly,” Sophie interrupted, appearing in
the doorway. She flashed Zach an A-OK sign behind
their dad’s back, signaling that the watch was back
where it belonged. “Really, Zach, sometimes I don’t
know where your head is at.”
“Me either,” Zach said. “Just lost track of time, I guess.”
Sophie rolled her eyes at the “time” joke.
Mr. King scratched his head, looking slightly puzzled
by the exchange. “Is that all you needed, Zach?”
“Absolutely,” Zach said, thinking of the duplicate
watch. “Thanks, Dad!” He was more than ready now.
Operation Do-Over was a go!
Chapter 9
“So how does this work again?” Aaron asked.
He and Zach met up behind the school gym. It was
Sunday morning, so there was nobody around but them,
which was the whole idea. Dew covered a narrow strip
of lawn around the perimeter of the gym. Rusty metal
Dumpsters were tucked away in the rear of the building,
out of sight and out of mind. In short, it was a good
spot to avoid being observed while you tried to change
history.
The boys were dressed up for a dance that was now
a couple of days in the past, but, according to Zach, it
didn’t have to stay that way. Aaron was having trouble
wrapping his mind around that idea. Time travel was
not something he was used to, and thinking about it too
much made his head hurt.
“Okay, one more time.” Zach pointed to the retro
bronze watch on his wrist. “I use this copy of my dad’s
watch to rewind time back to the night of the dance, then
we stop Hogan from dancing Rachel into Tricia’s trap,
Rachel doesn’t fall into the pool, Tricia doesn’t get to play
hero, Rachel wins the presidency, the AV Club keeps its
funding, and everything turns out better . . . for our side.”
“Got it,” Aaron said, “I think.”
He had left Michael at home this time since he wasn’t
sure if time travel agreed with cats. The last thing they
needed right now was for Michael to cough up a hairball
in reverse. Aaron got grossed out just thinking about it.
“And nobody else will notice time running backward?”
“Not even my folks will notice,” Zach said, “so we can
fix Friday night without anyone knowing. And nobody,
except you and me, will remember what happened to Ra-
chel.” He turned toward the gym. “I really appreciate you
coming along with me, by the way. You ready to do this?”
Aaron checked to make sure his camera’s battery was
fully charged and the drive still had plenty of memory.
No way was he not documenting this operation on video.
How often did you get a chance to film the past when it
was actually happening . . . again?
“Almost,” he told Zach. “Just one more thing.”
He rescued a small packet of mustard from his jacket
pocket and, before Zach could object, squirted a big glob
of mustard into Zach’s face.
“To boost the magic,” he explained. “Maybe.”
“Dude!” Zach yelped as he swept the mustard out of his
eyes. “You had to go with the spicy. That stuff stings. You
really need to stop doing that!”
“Better safe than sorry,” Aaron said with a shrug. “I
figured best case, it helps your powers. Worst case, you’re
just delicious!”
“Dude . . . whatever. Okay, you ready?”
“Ready,” Aaron said as bravely as he could muster.
“No time like the present,” Zach said as Aaron cen-
tered him in the view frame, “to rewind to the past.”
Zach started turning the dial on the watch backward,
causing its hour and minute hands to move counter-
clockwise. He felt that familiar tingling sensation, and
he knew the magic was working.
To his amazement, the sun arced backward across a clear
blue sky, sinking into the east, as Sunday morning rolled
back into Saturday night before it rose again in the west as
Saturday afternoon returned.
The clock hands gained speed as Zach spun the dial
faster and faster, so that hours slipped away like seconds.
Saturday afternoon swiftly became Saturday morning. An
early bird landed nearby and spit a worm back into the
grass. And soon enough it was late Friday night. Cars re-
versed down a nearby road while a bat flapped backward
overhead. A piece of litter flew back inside a passing car. A
weed retreated into the pavement.
“Whoa,” Aaron said, his eyes wide. “It’s like hitting re-
wind on a TV remote, but it’s not TV . . . it’s the real world
that’s backing up!” He swayed unsteadily, looking a little
green around the gills. “Is my blood flowing backward in
my brain? ’Cause I’m getting dizzy. . . .”
Zach knew how he felt. He was getting jet lag just stand-
ing in one place. Reversing time this fast was more than a
little disorienting.
“Hang in there,” he said to Aaron. “We’re almost there.
Just a few hours—I mean minutes—more.”
“Make it fast,” Aaron said. “I think I’m getting time-
sick. . . .”
“Don’t throw up! You’ll ruin your clothes.” Zach count-
ed down the remaining time on the watch. “Approaching
early Friday evening and . . . we have arrived at our desti-
nation!”
He let go of the dial and time stopped going backward a
bit more suddenly than he expected. It was like hitting the
brakes on your bike way too fast. Zach and Aaron stum-
bled like they were dizzy before falling and landing with an
“oomph” on their butts in the cold, damp grass.
“Ouch,” Aaron said, rubbing his hip. “What’s with the
bumpy landing?”
“Sorry,” Zach said as the boys got back on their feet.
“My dad makes this look so easy, but I guess he’s had a lot
of practice. Plus, he doesn’t usually go as fast or as far back
as we just did.”
“No biggie.” Aaron patted himself as though to make
sure he hadn’t left any important parts back in Sunday.
“Could be worse. I don’t see any dinosaurs trying to eat
us, so I guess we didn’t go back too far.”
“Not even close,” Zach said confidently. Bright lights
now shone inside the gym. Country-western mus
ic, com-
ing from inside the building, confirmed that the dance
was happening all over again. “We’re right when we be-
long, just in time to save Rachel from being ambushed!”
Zach and Aaron circled the building to the front en-
trance. The parking lot, which had been completely de-
serted on Sunday morning, was now packed with cars,
and a flood of kids dressed up for the dance poured into
the gym.
“Talk about déjà vu,” Aaron said. “It’s really Friday
again—just like you said it would be.”
“Welcome back to two days ago,” Zach said, grinning.
“Let’s make it count this time.”
“Wait!” Aaron said, looking worried. “We’re not going
to bump into our earlier selves, are we?”
Zach shook his head. “Doesn’t work like that. We didn’t
actually travel through time. We just rewound the clock,
remember?”
They followed the crowd into the gym, which was all
decked out for the dance just the way Zach remembered.
The dummy horses were still standing around like they
had wandered away from a merry-go-round. A few brave
kids were daring to ride the mechanical bull. Scanning
the scene, he spotted Hogan showing off his snazzy rope
tricks between the refreshments and the dance floor. Ra-
chel was among a big circle of kids watching the show.
Zach was relieved to see that everything was exactly the
way it had been.
Great, he thought. There was still time to stop Tricia
and Hogan. I just need to steal that dance from Ho-
gan—and if I’m lucky, dump him in the pool.
“Get your camera ready,” Zach told Aaron. “This is
going to be good.”
Zach had come fully prepared for this mission. Reach-
ing into his vest pocket, he fished out Sophie’s magic pink
glasses. It had not been easy talking her into lending them
to him again, and whether or not he pulled this off, he
would owe her big-time.
“You sure this is a good idea?” Aaron asked. “Remem-
ber what happened at the mall.”
Zach winced at the memory. “That was my first try. I