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

by Katrina Kahler

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  Time Traveler

  Katrina Kahler

  Copyright © KC Global Enterprises Pty Ltd

  All rights reserved

  Table of Contents

  Book 1 – The Discovery

  Book 2 – The Impact

  Book 3 – Shocked!

  Book 4 – The Final Journey

  Book 1

  THE DISCOVERY

  Prologue

  The Trial

  At first, it was a gentle rumble, like thunder in the distance. It vibrated beneath my feet and shook the walls. Then the subtle shaking turned to tremors, shooting so hard through the wooden floorboards that they began to pull up out of the floor. Earthquake, it had to be an earthquake! There was no shaking the last time we did this, so what had changed? Panic set in and I wanted to tell my brother I’d changed my mind. But it was too late. The shaking suddenly became violent, sending me to my knees, with Kate, my best friend alongside me.

  Oliver, on the other hand, whooped in excitement. Typical of my brother to think this was something to be jumping for joy about instead of being worried! But he was the genius. And he should be the one realizing something was wrong. Terribly wrong!

  We pulled ourselves up using the furniture and clung tightly to whatever we could in order to stay on our feet. Kate’s face was pale, and her mouth was open in both shock and excitement. I’m sure my expression was no different.

  Without warning, trinkets from around the room and a pile of books that had been stacked neatly next to the workbench lifted into the air, hovering all on their own as if gravity no longer affected them.

  The shaking that had paused for a moment picked up again violently; I waited for the house to collapse on top of us, burying us alive. Bad idea, this was a very bad idea! Cracks appeared on the walls, and I clung to Kate’s hand. Oliver backed his way towards us and to my surprise, grabbed my other hand, gulping.

  “I think we made a mistake,” I swore I heard him say, but the crackling sound filling the room stole his words away. I took a breath to try and ask him to repeat what he’d said, and then a gust of wind snatched my voice away from me.

  Then, for a split second, time stood still. A heavy silence enveloped the room. I wasn’t sure what was more frightening, the silence, or the shaking of the objects as they hovered before our eyes. It was the same and yet so different. What had we done wrong?

  Then, it was as if time abruptly sped up. Everything blurred into a faded haze around us, and the woozy sensation in my stomach rose to my throat in a nauseating rush. I squeezed Kate and Oliver’s hands tighter. Unable to maintain my grip, I felt them being dragged away from me. My gut twisted as I was lifted off my feet, my scream dying in my throat.

  What seemed like a few seconds later, I landed sharply on my butt and heard grunts from Kate and Oliver as well. I opened my eyes, blinking as I tried to take in my surroundings.

  Very different surroundings.

  I had a sinking feeling our experiment had worked. But instead of being overjoyed and excited, I was terrified. Totally and utterly terrified.

  Chapter 1

  Three Weeks Earlier

  “This project is going to be the worst,” I muttered as I set my books in my locker, wishing I could delay it a few more days. I’d already put it off a week and now only had the weekend to complete my entire project so that it was ready to present to the class on Monday.

  Sometimes I hated school.

  “Oh come on. It won’t be that bad.” Kate Roberts, my best friend since kindergarten, smiled in an effort to cheer me up. But I wasn’t in a mood to be happy. She wouldn’t give up, however, and tried one more comment. “Your face will freeze like that, Holly.”

  “Now you sound like my mom.” I shook my head at her with a frustrated sigh.

  Kate grinned and shut her locker door. “Well, what’s so bad about a family tree project? It’s easy. I sat down with my grandmother, and once she got talking, I had enough material for five projects, at least.”

  I pulled out the textbooks I’d need for this weekend’s batch of homework and shoved them hard into my messenger bag. “I don’t exactly have a chatty grandmother, and my grandpa died before me, or my brother was born. So it’s not that simple for me. I only have my brother and my mom. And Mom doesn’t like me digging into our family history at all. At least not Dad’s side. She’s never told us anything about him.”

  I fidgeted with my necklace. Most days, I never gave my dad any thought, but with our latest project in history class revolving around who we came from and who our ancestors were, it was all I’d thought of for the past few weeks. Too bad I had no idea about my father’s side of the family. No idea at all.

  I didn’t even know what my dad looked like.

  “Maybe now your mom will fill you in on all the details, especially if you tell her it’s for a grade,” Kate turned to me hopefully as we walked from our lockers towards the front of the school.

  All around us, kids bustled, racing to get to the buses. We didn’t take a bus. We got to walk since we only lived two streets over from the middle school. One of the benefits of a small town was what Mom always said, and I agreed with her. I loved being able to walk to and from school, or to the center of town. It made everything so easy and gave me more time with my best friend.

  As we walked, I wanted to believe Kate’s words. Mom refused to say anything about the man who was my father, but perhaps this could be my one chance to figure out who he really was. If I said I needed to know for a school project, surely she’d be obligated to give me answers, right? My grade depended on it.

  “Oh my gosh,” Kate whispered and grabbed my arm hard to pull me to a sudden stop. “There he is…the boy of your dreams.”

  I rolled my eyes, but at the same time, I shyly tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear as I stared across the front lawn of the school. Zac Fredericks. Cutest boy in the seventh grade and the coolest. I’d had a crush on him for years, along with half the girl population. He had short dark hair, blue eyes that always seemed to be smiling, and he was tall. A good head taller than me. I smiled wider when he glanced in my direction. My hands grew sweaty, and I clutched at Kate, unsure of what to do. Panic set in and all I heard was my pulse pounding in my ears.

  “Is he looking at me?” I whispered, shocked.

  “I think so. Wave or something,” Kate replied, shaking my arm.

  I lifted my hand to do just that when another girl breezed past me, her brown ponytail swinging from side to side as she moved quickly in Zac’s direction.

  She waved and called out, “Hey Zac! Wait for me!”

  Immediately I dropped my hand, my face burning hot as I watched Jade Nielsen run to catch up with Zac and his friends. They weren’t together, but Jade liked to make it look like they were, hanging on his arm and laughing at everything he said. You’d think they were in high school or something by the way she acted sometimes. She was one of those girls who strutted around as though she were better than everyone else. It made Mom click her tongue in disapproval and tell me how grateful she was that I didn’t act that way.

  “She is so annoying,” I groused as I turned away, Kate f
ollowing behind me. Mom might be right, but Zac seemed to drift towards Jade and her friends. I sniffed hard with frustration and walked faster to get away from them.

  “She’s so fake. Jake will see through her one of these days.”

  “You sure about that? She’s got him wound around her finger, and she knows it, too.” I frowned at Kate, still trying to get over my embarrassment at waving at Zac. I just hoped that he didn’t realize.

  Clutching at the strap of my bag, I tried to tune out Jade’s obnoxiously loud laughter as we walked towards the sidewalk, leaving the school behind. At least with the weekend ahead, I wouldn’t have to see her until Monday, not that it was any consolation. Our projects were due on Monday, and of course Jade was in our class. She’d spent the last three days telling the class all about her family history and how incredible it was. According to her, her great, great, great whatever grandfather was in the Civil War and had earned himself a medal of honor. She teased everyone with artifacts she was going to have her mom bring to school so she could show them off. Genuine artifacts that her grandfather actually used.

  And me? I had half a family tree because I had no idea who my father even was.

  “You’re grinding your teeth again,” Kate said, nudging my arm.

  “Why does she have to be so rude? Like why?”

  “Because that’s how she is, you know that. All eyes on her or no eyes,” Kate said, laughing. “Your presentation will be fine, Holly. The only person you have to impress is the teacher, remember?”

  I scoffed. “Mrs. Clarke, who’s already made it pretty clear Jade is her favorite student? She doesn’t care that I have the highest marks in the class, without even trying to get on her good side, the way Jade does. She’s one of those teachers, you know? Easily pulled into the popular kids’ world. Hate it, hate all of it.”

  I couldn’t wait to get through one more year of middle school and be in high school. I kept going back and forth on whether it would be better or not, but at least I’d have a wider selection of classes, classes that hopefully Jade Nielsen would not be taking.

  We reached my house first, and Kate waved me off as I hurried to get inside and finish up my project. The only thing I’d done so far was written down all the names on Mom’s side but hadn’t done any actual research yet. Tests in other classes had kept me busy studying all week; I was also still getting up the nerve to ask Mom about my dad again.

  “Mom, you home?” I called out as I opened the front door and stepped inside.

  “In the office, honey!” she replied.

  Mom worked from home most of the week and only had to go into the head office in town on Mondays. I dropped my bag at the bottom of the stairs then wringing my hands as I held my breath, I went to find her in her office. Papers were scattered everywhere, and there were images of items hung on the wall, tacked up until there was hardly any space left. Mom worked in marketing. Her job kept her busy the majority of the time, but me and Oliver, my older brother, never complained. She took good care of us, and we tried not to make her life stressful.

  Until right now of course.

  “Hey, kiddo, how was school?” she asked, looking up with a smile.

  “Good, I guess,” I mumbled. Taking a breath, I continued, “Mom? Remember I told you I had this huge project in history class?”

  “Hmm,” she mused, jotting something down on a post-it note. “What was it again?”

  “We’re supposed to research our ancestors,” I explained, pacing around her office. “You know…who they were, where they came from or if they did anything interesting. We’re supposed to write up our family tree, too, you know like…add as much information as we can. But…but I was hoping I could go to school on Monday with both sides of the family tree filled out…and not just you know, your side?”

  Mom stopped scribbling and leaned back in her chair. Her eyes narrowed as she tossed her pen on the desk. “We’ve talked about this before, Holly.”

  “I know, but it’s for a project,” I pleaded. “Why can’t I just know my dad’s name? Who he was?”

  “I’m not going through this again,” she said, using that Mom voice that most kids respected and stopped pushing. But not me.

  “Why can’t I know? I’m twelve now. I can handle the truth!”

  “You don’t need details about his side. My side is interesting enough,” Mom insisted. “If you had done your research, you’d know your family migrated from England and that your grandfather was a well-known scientist. He studied physics and the manipulation of time. He was a very important man who received several awards for his work.”

  I groaned with frustration, wanting to pull my hair out. “Yeah, that’s awesome, but what about Dad’s side? What if there’s someone buried in his family tree that’s even greater?”

  “A scientist isn’t enough for you?” she asked, and I heard the warning in her voice to stop pushing for answers I wasn’t going to get.

  What can I say? I got my stubbornness from Mom. Neither her words nor her tone of voice was going to stop me. “It is,” I replied, “but I just want to know…and this is my chance! What’s so wrong with knowing?”

  Mom stood and turned her back to me, crossing her arms. “Holly, you don’t understand. Your dad left us, alright? He walked out one day and never came back. He left us! You were only a baby, and your brother wasn’t even two!” She whipped around, and angry tears shone in her eyes. “He doesn’t deserve to have his children know who he is.”

  “But—”

  “No! No buts! He’s gone from our lives, and as far as I’m concerned he doesn’t exist.”

  Her harsh words had me taking a step back, but I didn’t ask again. The last thing I wanted to do was make Mom relive the pain of that day. And here I was doing just that.

  “Mom, I’m sorry,” I whispered, hating myself for not thinking of what it would do to her. She loved our father and then he just up and left her. He broke her heart and even after all these years, it still hurt her.

  I still wanted to know about him, but I’d have to find out on my own.

  Mom came over and hugged me, kissing the top of my head. “I understand how you feel, and I get it, but I’m not ready to go down that road. Not yet. Now,” she said sniffing hard and clearing her throat, “why don’t you go downstairs and see if you can find some fun stuff about your grandpa? I’m sure there are a few trinkets of his you can use.”

  I nodded and left her office. With no other alternative, I went back to my school bag and grabbed my history book along with my project notes for class. Mom said Grandpa was a scientist, but I doubted we had any cool looking invention or gizmo I could use. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t find one in the basement, though.

  My brother, Oliver was a super smart techno genius. He had skipped eighth grade and was already in high school. The basement was where he messed around with computers and whatever gadgets he could find and take apart that Mom wouldn’t miss, or ones that he’d dug out of dumpsters.

  When I headed down to the basement, I breathed a sigh of relief to find that he was nowhere in sight. At least he wouldn’t be in my way.

  He was family, and I loved Oliver, but he tended to go into these long-winded explanations of whatever new high-tech device he was working on in the hopes of taking it to the tech fair over the summer. None of that interested me, and I usually wound up making up an excuse to leave him alone with his tinkering.

  Setting my history book down, I sifted through the items on his workbench, but there was nothing that looked old enough to convince my teacher or the class. None of it looked finished either. Gears and levers were piled in various places along with nuts and bolts and things that I had no idea about.

  “Darn it,” I whispered, tapping my fingers on the table trying to think.

  Mom said there might be boxes down here, but I didn’t see any. Maybe I’d find something in the attic? I only had a few days to find some physical objects I could use in my presentation, preferably something c
ool to outdo the antique items Jade would bring to class next week. With desperation driving me on, I sprinted out of the basement, up to the top floor, and stared up at the string dangling overhead. Technically we were not supposed to go into the attic. The ladder was old and rickety, and Mom said it was too dangerous for us to be using it. But I needed something for my project. Anything! I couldn’t stand to see Jade showing off and getting all the praise from our teacher. Again.

  Desperate times called for desperate measures.

  “Holly! I’m going to the grocery store,” Mom called out, interrupting my thoughts. “Let your brother know where I’ve gone. If he ever comes out of his room, that is!”

  Beaming at my stroke of luck, I called out, “Will do! Bye, Mom!”

  “You don’t have to sound so excited that I’m leaving,” she yelled back with a laugh. “I’ll be back in an hour or so!”

  I waited, bouncing on my feet for her to leave. The car started outside, and I heard the squeaking of the brakes as she reversed down the long drive. I counted to twenty in my head, then jumped up and grabbed the string for the ladder. It unfolded loudly and nearly smacked me in the head as dust fell around me. Once it was down, I tested my weight on it, holding my breath. When it didn’t collapse, I grinned. Then, taking it one step at a time, I climbed up into the attic.

  Chapter 2

  I sneezed for the fourth time in a row as the dusty air tickled my senses and second-guessed my genius idea of going up to the attic in the first place. With my hand over my mouth, I looked around for the light and found a long string that was attached to a bulb overhead, hanging down in the center of the attic. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, but that was silly. There was nothing up there except boxes and spiders.