"I had a feeling those clues wouldn't be there for just anyone to see," said Janie, trailing after him. "After all, it's unwise—"
"Yeah, yeah, we know. It's not good to tamper with time."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Peragro Vetustas
Time flew by at an alarming rate with July rolling into August. The days were warm, but it continued to rain off and on, and Chase still waited for some sort of premonition. Something had to happen soon or the boys would have to leave without getting things done. Chase hated to think about going back to New York. Whenever he did, his stomach did a weird, whirling flip. Even though he'd been living in the Tinker house for only a short time, it felt more like home than the apartment in New York City ever did.
His mom had left, rather reluctantly, the day after his birthday with the promise to visit again before the end of the summer. "And be careful!" she had shouted right before vanishing with Grandfather.
Doctor Dan still came by often to check on Aunt Clair. Chase thought he hoped to learn the secrets of the house and Relic from his vulnerable aunt. He hadn't caught the doctor snooping again, but maybe he was just a lot sneakier now.
Chase also tried not to dwell too much on everything the Relic had told them, but sometimes, like when he was in bed at night, his mind would spin out of control. He'd end up spending half the night awake, tossing and turning. No wonder he hadn't yet had that darn premonition.
"Do you think you'll ever have a premonition about the time traveling stuff?" asked Andy as they were getting ready for bed.
"Beats me," said Chase. "But if I do, I wish it would happen already. I hate waiting!"
"Maybe it's the kind of thing you can't have a premonition about? Did you think of that?"
Chase scrunched his eyebrows together. "Why'd you have to go and say that? Now you got me even more stressed out."
"Sorry," said Andy, shrugging. "Just saying. So maybe you need to concentrate on it more."
"I've been trying," said Chase. "But the last thing I remember dreaming about was Aunt Augusta teaching me how to knit flower eye-patches and yelling, 'Yes, you do know how to ride a flying walrus!' "
"That's weird," said Andy, snickering. "But I'm pretty sure it won't come true." He climbed into bed and without another word, fell fast asleep…
The kids were playing hide-and-seek, and Andy was looking for the perfect place to hide. Usually, he would think it was a baby game, but in this house, he'd let it slide. Tearing down a hallway, he darted into the Hall of Portraits. Skidding to a halt, he turned slowly, gazing at the pictures of his many ancestors. It felt eerily as if they were all staring at him, their eyes following his every move. Aunt Augusta glared down at him with her one good eye.
Deciding that maybe he didn't want to hide in there anymore, he turned to run back down the hall and tripped on the carpet runner. He fell toward a huge portrait of an unsmiling man and woman seated on a wrought-iron bench. He reached out to brace himself, but instead of crashing into the picture, he toppled into a garden thick with flowers and plants.
His eyes wide, Andy gazed at his surroundings. He was part of the painting now, but the Hall of Portraits on the other side of the frame was still visible. Jumping to his feet, he went to brush the dirt and leaves from his shorts when he saw he no longer had on his regular clothes. He now wore old-fashioned, dark-blue knickers and a white and blue checkered sweater.
"Weird," he muttered to himself.
"Charles?" said a woman's voice.
"Aye, Beatrice?" answered Charles in a bored voice.
Andy swung around. The people in the painting were talking! And, they had strong accents, which made Andy remember the earlier Tinkers were from Scotland.
"I believe we have a visitor."
"Splendid! I do love visitors," said Charles. "It gets a wee bit borin' sittin' here stiffly, day after day, year after year."
"Young lad, what brings ye to our lovely portrait on this fine day?" asked Beatrice, beckoning to Andy with her long elegant fingers.
He sidled through the flowers to stand in front of the couple. They both had short, dark hair and were dressed in clothing from the 1920's; the woman wore an orange, knee-length dress with a fringe around the bottom and the man was dressed in a dark suit with a fedora hat pulled low over his dark-brown eyes.
"I—I'm not sure," he answered. "Who are you?"
"I'm Beatrice Tinker and this gentleman here is my twin brother, Charles. Are ye a Tinker as well?"
"Yeah," Andy said, studying them thoughtfully. "Your powers don't happen to be time-travel, do they?"
"Alas, Beatrice, tis not a social call," said Charles. "He wants us to share our secrets for travelin' through time. A very tricky business, I must say."
"I didn't mean to bother you," said Andy politely. "I accidentally fell through your picture and into your garden."
"Naw. We don't mind," remarked Charles, flicking a leaf from his trouser leg. "It's happened to others before ye."
"Though, ye do wish us to tell ye how to journey through past and future time," said Beatrice shrewdly, narrowing her eyes at him.
"If you wouldn't mind," said Andy. "It's very important. We have to save the world from evil!"
"Aye. That is truly a fine reason," said Charles, glancing at his sister. "What say ye Beatrice?"
She shook her head, sadness in her eyes. "I don't know that we should help ye. Ye see, it's always the same, everyone believin' their cause is the most important; that their mission will make the world a finer place."
"But it will!" exclaimed Andy. "Those rotten Dark Enemy guys want to control all the magic in the world and take away our free will. We can't let that happen! Please, you have to help us." Andy clasped his hands in front of his chest. "Please?"
She looked deeply into Andy's pleading eyes before saying, "Do ye promise to do what ye need to do there and nothin' else? To return as soon as ye are finished and to cause no harm?"
Andy bobbed his head vigorously.
"This is of the utmost importance! Make no exceptions!" Beatrice closed her eyes and sighed as a breeze whispered through the trees and swirled around them. "The secret words are Peragro Vetustas, which mean travel through past or future time. Say the words and the time and place to where ye wish to travel. After ye finish, it will begin. Ye'll stay still, while the world and time fly past.
"To return, repeat the words and say the time and place to where ye wish to return. When ye travel, the magic will go with ye. Yer garments will become those of the time ye are in and yer words will become the language of the time, but yer thoughts will be yer own." She opened her eyes. They now blazed with a piercing bluish-white light. "REMEMBER, CHANGIN' TIME CAN LEAD TO VERY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES!"
With a blinding flash, he was thrown from the painting and landed with a painful thud on his backside on his bedroom floor.
Andy stared at the ceiling, his legs wrapped in the blankets trailing on the floor. He blinked several times to clear his fuzzy brain. "Holy-moly! Did that really happen?" he whispered to himself. "It sure feels like it." He gulped. "Wow! I had a real live premonition dream!"
Scrambling to his feet, he leaped onto Chase's bed. "Chase! Wake up!"
"Go away, I'm sleeping," mumbled Chase as he burrowed deeper into his pillow. "Tell Mom I'll see her in the morning."
"No!" yelled Andy, shaking him. "Mom's not here. I had the premonition."
"What are you talking about?" asked Chase, his drowsiness disappearing.
"We were playing hide-and-seek—"
"Yeah, right," Chase broke in. "Since when do I play that little kids' game?" He pulled the covers over his head. "Go back to bed. Maybe you can dream you're playing a wild game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey."
Andy bounced off the bed. "Okay, fine. I won't tell you I met Charles and Beatrice Tinker and that they told me the secret words and what happens when you time-travel."
Chase flung back his blankets, his eyes lighting up. "You really had the premon
ition?"
"Yeah," said Andy, grinning. "It was pretty cool, and a little scary too. It felt like I was in the painting with them."
"So? Tell me!"
It didn't take long for the story to pour out. "It was nothing like my other dreams," said Andy. "But I don't understand. Why do you suppose I had the premonition this time?"
"Who knows?" said Chase. "Why did I have them in the first place and not you? I'm just happy we have the clues we need to go for it. And it's good we don't have to find costumes."
"And we don't have to worry about talking to people in their language," added Andy. "Beatrice said the magic will do it for us."
Chase lounged back on his bed. "Pregro Vest—wait, what did you say it was?"
"Peragro Vetustas," said Andy, rolling his eyes. "We can't forget."
"Oh, yeah. Peragro Vetustas." Chase repeated it to himself several times. They were going to travel back in time. The idea made shivers run up and down his spine. He wished he'd paid more attention in history class. "I wonder if Grandfather ever tried it," he murmured.
"It's not something anyone should mess with too much," said Andy. "Beatrice sounded mad when she told me changing time can lead to 'very serious consequences'." His voice deepened as he said the last three words.
"But we're going back to fix something important," said Chase, looking irritated. "Those evil creeps need to be stopped."
Andy scrunched his face into a worried frown. "What if we can't stop them?"
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Traveling Through Time
"Hi-yah! Take that, you Dark Enemy! Hi-yah! And that! And that!" yelled Andy, kicking and swinging his arms at his invisible attackers in what he thought were cool ninja moves.
"Come on, Andy," said Chase, who was already halfway down the stairs. "Janie and Persephone are probably wondering where the heck we are. And we're not supposed to know about the Dark Enemy, remember? So stop yelling about it."
"Oops, I forgot," whispered Andy, jogging down the stairs after one last kick. "Sorry."
A few minutes later, they bumped into Janie and Persephone in the hallway outside Grandfather's study.
"There you are," said Janie. "We're playing hide-and-seek with Maxwell. I'm hoping he'll lead us to where he hid my cell phone."
"Hide-and-seek?" said Chase. "Funny you should mention that."
"Why?" she asked. "Did you want to join in?"
"Sure, let's go. Andy wants to hide in the Hall of Portraits. Don't you, shrimp?"
The boys grinned at each other.
"What's up with you two?" asked Persephone.
"Did you have your premonition?" asked Janie, her face lighting up.
"Andy did."
"It happened in the Hall of Portraits!" exclaimed Andy. "Let's go check it out."
When they reached the long hallway that was crammed portraits, Andy hurried to the huge picture from his premonition. "Here they are," he said. "Beatrice and Charles Tinker."
"These are the time-travelers, huh?" said Janie, wrinkling her nose. "Classy. She looks like a flapper and he looks like a gangster."
"I liked them," said Andy, as he stared at the twins, frozen in time in their portrait. "Do I need to go into the painting again?"
"I dunno," said Chase, shrugging. "Your future-self found out what we needed to know, so I wouldn't think you would have to go again, or at all, because, if you think about it, you haven't been yet. Man! Is this confusing or what?"
"Why don't you tell Janie and me what you found out?" said Persephone.
Andy quickly retold his premonition story with Chase nodding and adding his own two-cents worth every now and then.
"Oh, my gosh! This is insane!" cried Janie dramatically. She flopped back onto the floor. "We're traveling back in time. My nerves can barely handle it."
"I know!" said Persephone. "This is too wild for words."
Janie jerked back up. "Okay, this is what we have to do. We already have the information on what time and day to go back to. And thank goodness we don't have to worry about what to wear or how to talk with the locals. So Grandfather, my mom or Persephone's mom don't know we're gone, we need to remember the exact time we go and come back at that time. It'll be a split second thing. Bam! We're there. Bam! We're here. Even if we're gone for months and months—"
"What! Months and months?" said Andy, frowning at her.
"It's only an example," said Janie, with a nonchalant swish of her hand. "I hope it'll be done quicker than you can spit."
"That's good," grumbled Andy. " 'Cause I can spit pretty fast."
"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath and smiling. "When do we go?"
"What about now?" said Chase. "There's no time like the present."
"Yeah, because it's not as confusing as dealing with the past or the future," retorted Janie.
Five minutes later, the four kids peeked into the Time-Travel Room. Luckily, the cuddleupus was napping again.
"Here's the plan," said Chase quietly, glancing at his watch. "It's 11:33. We'll sneak in and hold hands while Janie says the magic words and the other stuff. We'll put Andy closest to the plant. If it wakes up, he can give it a big kiss."
"I'm not kissing that thing!"
"You know what I mean," said Chase, grinning at his glowering brother. "Pretend you care. Come on, let's go."
They crept into the room, slid against the wall and huddled in the farthest corner.
"You better hurry before I chicken out," whispered Persephone. "My heart must be pounding five hundred miles a minute, and I'm pretty close to puking."
Chase nodded, his own heart thumping like mad. They were taking a tremendous risk, but when they saved the Relic, it would sure be worth it.
"Ah! It's awake! Hurry up!" yelled Andy as one of the cuddleupus's long tendrils reached across the room and tickled his ear.
"Peragro Vetustas," Janie murmured. She closed her eyes and said the time and place where they wanted to go.
Persephone's and Andy's hands tightened in Chase's as the room started to spin around them. Something brown streaked past and he thought he heard Janie yell, "Maxwell!"
Things spun backward at a rapid pace just as Charles and Beatrice had said they would. Time and the world flew by in a dizzying blur of buildings, landscape and the constant passing of night and day. It was as if they were in the eye of a tornado. Chase clamped his eyes shut.
With a sharp jolt, the sensations ended. Chase opened first one eye, then the other. Feeling queasy, he blinked and peered around curiously, noticing the other kids doing the same thing. Andy was groping his neck and looking relieved a plant wasn't attached to it.
Chase glanced down. His shorts and t-shirt were gone. He was now clad in rough, brown trousers tucked into black leather boots, a tan shirt with string ties at the collar and cuffs, and a black belt. He reached up and touched the hat perched on his head; a beret of some sort. Andy was dressed the same, but the girls wore long dresses that came up a few inches past their ankles, and had square necklines and long sleeves that split at the wrists.
"Oh, man!" he said, with a big smile. "Am I glad to see these pants. I was worried I'd have on one of those short skirts you see guys in movies wearing."
Janie, who was scowling down in distaste at her dark-green gown, looked up. "Didn't want to show off those knobby knees, huh?"
"They're not knobby," said Chase, looking insulted. Then he spotted Maxwell clinging to Janie's shoulder, his beady eyes practically popping out of his head. "That was your maniac ferret zooming by. I thought I was seeing things."
"I guess he didn't want to be left behind," said Janie, scratching Maxwell's ears.
"Are we in the right place?" asked Persephone.
They were in a barn that had several empty stalls and one filled with a large horse that was staring at them with sad, brown eyes. Moldy old hay was scattered across the dirt floor.
Janie darted to the doorway and looked out. "Oh no! We should be on the outskirts of Florence, not in t
own."
"Great!" said Chase in frustration. "Now we might miss Jedadiah. We better get going."
"Wait," said Andy, picking up a big bundle next to his foot. "Look, cloaks for us to wear." He shook them out, causing a jingling bag to fly from the bundle. He picked it up and yanked it open. "Wow! It's filled with gold!"
"Let me see," said Chase. Grabbing the small, draw-string bag, he pulled several gold pieces from it and held them in his palm.
Janie brushed her finger across the top of one. "I remember these from studying the Renaissance period in history. They're gold florins. That's the money used now."
"I'm kind of hungry," said Andy, rubbing his stomach. "Maybe we should get some pizza."
"I don't think they've invented pizza yet, shrimp," said Chase. "Anyway, we don't have time for exploring. We came here to find Jedadiah and that's what we're going to do." He dropped the coins back into the sack and tied it to his belt. "I'll keep this safe for us."
Flinging their cloaks over their shoulders, they left the barn and headed down a narrow dirt alleyway. This led them to a much wider road. As they stepped out into the open, a loud rumbling filled the air.
"Look out!" yelled Persephone.
Streaking toward them was a carriage pulled by four galloping horses. Andy flicked his hands to freeze the animals, but nothing happened.
Chase caught his brother's arm and yanked him out of the way. Barely escaping being trampled themselves, Janie and Persephone tumbled to the ground. The carriage thundered by and disappeared around a corner, leaving a big dust cloud behind it.
Chase, reaching down to help the girls up, saw he had jumped right in the middle of a big pile of horse poo. "Geez!" He scraped his boots in the dirt. "Can anything else go wrong?"
"Looks like it already has," said Janie, brushing off her skirt and cloak.
"What do you mean?" he asked as he stomped the ground. Yuck! he thought. Didn't anyone come by and scoop up this stuff?
Chase Tinker & The House of Magic Page 16