Time Stoppers

by Carrie Jones

She got the windshield wipers on and shifted the car into reverse and slowly pulled it out of the parking spot. Her eyes were wide and huge.

  Bloom kept talking. “We’re all good at certain things. We all have skills. You, Eva, are good at bickering.”

  Eva punched him in the arm. He didn’t even say ouch, Jamie realized. Elves were tough.

  “Annie is good at magic, even though she doesn’t know it yet,” Bloom continued. “She’s also highly caring, as is Jamie, it seems. They both basically just ooze kindness. Annie’s a bit bossier, though, so she’s probably good at being a leader. Eva is not good at being a follower, but she’s good at hitting and having a temper and tinkering with things.”

  “And you are good at talking,” Eva interrupted as Annie slowly pulled the cruiser out of the parking lot and turned onto Sea Street.

  “You turned,” Jamie said. “Good job.”

  He felt proud of her, oddly enough. He let out a big breath, relieved that he wasn’t the one driving.

  Annie’s hands were tight on the wheel, and her eyes were focused. She was somewhat terrified. She still managed to quickly turn her head and flash Jamie a smile. Then as they drove up the hill she called over her shoulder, “What’s Jamie good at, Bloom?”

  “He’s good at stealing the keys to police cars, and at being kind, which is a very helpful trait.” Bloom paused for a second. “He’s smart. He’s encouraging. He notices things. He can tell how people are feeling, which is an important skill …”

  Is that it? Jamie thought, crushed.

  “I think he is good at being good,” Bloom declared.

  Eva snorted.

  “What?” Bloom countered. “That’s the most important thing of all.”

  Jamie thought he might have said more but the elf paused. Jamie turned his head so he could glance over his shoulder at the passengers in the backseat, but his attention was distracted by something behind the car, just down the hill, coming up from the harbor.

  He tried to speak, but no voice came out. He cleared his throat with a squeak and tried again. “Um, Annie, there’s a pack of wolves following us. I’m thinking that you might want to speed up.”

  34

  Surrounded by Wolves

  As they entered the main street of Mount Desert, the wind blew hard, scattering snowflakes every which way. Annie had to lean forward just to see if the cruiser was still driving on the actual road.

  “Are the wolves still behind us?” she asked.

  Jamie’s knuckles were white from gripping the back of his seat so ferociously. “Yes.”

  “Okay … okay …” Annie’s own hands clutched the steering wheel. She pushed a bit more on the gas pedal. They were going too fast on the snow already. She didn’t want to have an accident. Not only would they lose a quick, relatively safe way back to Aurora, but they’d also be at the mercy of those wolves.

  “Does anyone actually know how to get to Aurora?” she yelled over the roaring engine and the sirens. “Wait. Why are there sirens?” They were coming from the police cruiser. “Jamie? Can you stop the siren noise?”

  Jamie gave her a frazzled groan and started randomly hitting buttons. Blue lights turned on from their position atop the roof, casting swirling blue rays around on the snow. The radio blared dance music.

  She rounded the corner onto Route 198. “Am I at least going the right way?”

  “Yes,” said Bloom.

  “No,” said Eva.

  They bounced around in the backseat, staring out at the wolves, which were still bounding after them.

  “Guys!” Annie was exasperated. They had to know where they lived, didn’t they? Annie groaned inside. She was stealing a police car, driving illegally, and putting all their lives in jeopardy. The least they could do was know how to get home. The moment she thought it, she felt guilty for thinking mean thoughts.

  “It’s okay, Annie,” Jamie said next to her.

  “What?”

  “To get grumpy sometimes.”

  She wanted to see his expression but she didn’t dare. “How do you know I’m grumpy?”

  “I can sort of feel it,” Jamie explained.

  “You feel it?”

  “Yeah, like I feel other people’s emotions. Plus, you’re making a grumpy face.” He paused.

  “I’m not a hundred percent grumpy. I’m just so stressed. We have to hurry back before things happen. Everyone’s so defenseless, just frozen in feathers. We need to hurry.” Annie peered at the straight stretch of two-lane state road ahead of her. There was a mountain to one side and a pond to the other. They were driving away from the ocean. That couldn’t be right. “And I can’t even tell if we’re going in the right direction.”

  “We are definitely going the wrong way,” Eva insisted, “and the wolves are catching up.”

  Jamie yelled back, still trying to get the siren to stop. “How can they catch up? We’re speeding.”

  “I don’t think they’re regular wolves,” Annie said in a low tone, slowing down.

  “They’re freaking magic, obviously,” Eva shouted simultaneously. She pounded her tiny fist against the roof of the car. “It is so not fair that Jamie gets shotgun. I’m the dwarf. I should be playing with those gadgets. Annie! What are you doing? You’re slowing down.”

  Annie bit her lip and eased the cruiser into a stop. She put the big stick lever into reverse again and started to turn around. “We’re going the wrong way.”

  “The wolves!” All three of the others pretty much shouted it at the same time while Annie tried to turn the car around. It wasn’t easy. There were a lot of angles involved. Annie had never done anything like it before in real life. Just video games.

  “Dude! The car is sideways! Let me drive!” Eva commanded, pulling on the metal cage to emphasize her demand.

  “Which way are we going now?” Bloom asked. “Also … the wolves …”

  “Annie!” Jamie didn’t say anything else.

  Annie breathed out a large breath as the wolves circled the cruiser. The blue lights cast wide beams along their fur, tinting it. They all stood with their ears back, teeth bared, tails raised, at full attention. Annie cut the engine. The siren stopped.

  “Um … They’ve surrounded the car,” Jamie said quietly.

  “I know.” Annie unbuckled her seat belt. She stared into the brown, dilated eyes of the wolf-dog closest to her.

  “Drive, Annie!” Eva declared.

  “I don’t want to hit them.” Annie opened the door before any of them could say anything else. Cold air burst inside the cruiser. She jumped outside, closing the door behind her. She could still hear her friends yelling for her to come back, screaming their questions about what she was doing, and Eva doubting her sanity.

  “Trust me,” she whispered, staring at the closest dog. “You know me.”

  The wolf-dog’s ears moved forward just a bit, and his jowls relaxed so that his teeth were no longer showing.

  “You remember me, don’t you?” Annie said in a soothing dog-whisperer kind of tone. “From the trailer? We escaped together.”

  The animal cocked his head. His tail wagged one quick time as Annie squatted down. She slowly stretched out her arm toward him so that he could smell it. Behind her, Jamie had opened the passenger side door of the car. The others tried but couldn’t get out. The cruiser’s back doors were locked.

  “Annie …” His voice was a terrified whisper.

  “It’s okay,” Annie answered, not even sparing a glance back at him. “I know them. That’s Big Mister Number Seven.”

  A wolf near Jamie growled, low and threatening.

  Annie wiggled her fingers. The wolf-dog near her moved forward an inch, which was just enough for his nose to touch her fingertips. He sniffed. She tried not to move. The wolf-dog skulked closer another inch, moving his head so that Annie’s digits grazed his muzzle. She scratched it, and cooed, “There … there … everything is okay now.”

  His tail began to wag happily in a circular motion. E
va and Bloom stopped shouting and banging on the windows. Jamie uttered some sort of exclamation under his breath.

  Annie petted Big Mister Number Seven’s head. He made a happy dog noise and sauntered closer, pressing his side into her knees. She thought of Tala, that magical white dog that she missed so much, trapped at Aurora. She had to save him. Maybe these wolf-dogs could help. She stood up slowly, quickly counting to see how many there were. She hadn’t gotten a really good chance to notice because she’d been so focused on driving and now … Now? She gasped.

  The cruiser was completely surrounded by a pack of wolves or wolf-dogs. Annie wasn’t sure what the difference was between them. It didn’t matter. There were twelve of them, including Big Mister Numbers Seven and Nine, all staring at her. The good news was none of them seemed to want to bite her or rip her head off. Actually, none of them even growled at her.

  “Thank you,” Annie said to Big Mister Number Seven, “for trusting me and for calming them down.”

  The lead wolf-dog nuzzled her hand for more petting.

  “They like you,” Jamie said quietly, almost reverently.

  “We have some history together,” Annie said. “Two of them were prisoners with me.”

  “At Walden’s?”

  “Yeah.”

  She briskly shook the memory away and addressed the wolf that was now leaning against her legs and making a noise that sounded almost like purring.

  Turning to the wolf, she asked, “Do you know how to get to Aurora?”

  The wolf wagged his tail and stood up again. His eyes met hers.

  “Will you lead us there?” Annie asked. “Be warned. I am a horrible driver. So, you’ll probably just want us to follow you.”

  For a second the wolf-dog didn’t respond. Then he backed up several paces and lifted his head to the sky. He howled once, long and sad, then marched around the cruiser, prancing and nudging the other wolves, yipping at them. Eventually all the canines lined up in front of the car, except for Big Mister Number Seven. He leaped over Jamie and sat in the passenger’s seat.

  “We aren’t going to both fit,” Jamie explained.

  The wolf growled.

  “Okay … Okay … I’ll just sit in the back.” Jamie unlocked the back door and hurried into the seat. Eva grumbled and moved aside so that there would be room.

  “Afraid of a dog,” she muttered.

  The wolf turned around and snarled at her. She stopped muttering.

  Bloom snorted and leaned forward despite the wolf-dog’s huge teeth hovering just beyond the cage that separated the seats. “Annie? Are you ready?”

  Annie turned around, smiling at him. She petted the wolf-dog. His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth, and then he remembered to give the children in the back another menacing stare.

  “Cross your fingers,” Annie said. “We are on our way.”

  Turning back around, she switched the ignition on. Nothing happened. She stepped on the gas. The engine did not roar to life. She switched the ignition on again and stepped on the gas at the same time.

  Nothing.

  The cruiser wouldn’t start.

  35

  Sleigh Wolves

  It was Eva’s idea. Of course it was. Nobody else would have had the audacity to hook up eleven wolf-dogs with harnesses made of belts and rope and police tape and then attach the entire contraption to a car, turning the police cruiser into a bobsled.

  But it worked.

  Eva sat on the top of the squad car with her feet hooked beneath the blue lights. She held the makeshift reins in her hands. She squealed with delight. Jamie figured out the heating system and from his position in the backseat explained to Annie how to turn the heat on. She rolled down the windows so Bloom could keep an eye on Eva and make sure she didn’t fall off during all the lurching and curving angles of the road.

  Still, even as they got closer and closer to Aurora, Jamie had a niggling feeling inside his chest that something was going to go horribly wrong. Eva barked at him not to be a negative naiad, but he could tell from the expression on everyone’s face that they had the same lurking feeling. And, no, it didn’t have anything to do with the wolf in the passenger seat. It was something bigger than that.

  “Almost there!” Bloom chirped from where he was hanging out the window. “Almost …

  The elf’s blond hair swept back from his face. Horror rewrote his features. “Eva!!!”

  Jamie jumped to his own window and glimpsed out, terrified that Eva had fallen off the top of the cruiser, but she was still there holding the reins.

  “What now, elf?” She snorted. “You jealous ’cause I get all the fun?”

  She was smiling so broadly that her whole face beamed.

  “No! The crow!”

  Bloom pointed to the left. Black swirling wings beat at the air. The monster was coming straight for them. They must have crossed back over the stream and not even noticed.

  “Eva!” Annie screamed. “Get in! Get in the car!”

  “I can’t.” The dwarf shook her head. “If we stop, the crow will get us.” She cracked the reins. “Hurry, wolves! Hurry!”

  The monster was getting closer. They rounded a corner and moved up a hill.

  “How much farther is it?” Jamie asked.

  Bloom didn’t even turn to glance at him. He just kept staring at the crow. His voice came out dazed. “What?”

  “How much longer till we get to Aurora?” Jamie asked.

  Bloom shook his head. “A half mile … Maybe less … I think.”

  Jamie began calculating the speed of the car, the speed of the crow, and the distance between the two. There wasn’t enough time.

  “We won’t make it, will we?” Annie asked.

  “No.” Jamie shook his head, heart plummeting. This was it. They were done for.

  “Ideas? Anyone?” Annie gripped the steering wheel as if it would help her somehow.

  “You two run,” Bloom said. “Eva and I will hold it off and distract it so you two can run into town. It’s just up the road. Hide in the woods. Go fast. Just get the gnome inside the town line. There’ll be a sign.” He took a small crystal out of his pocket and began murmuring.

  “The crow will freeze you,” Annie argued. She hiccupped with emotion. “We can’t …”

  Jamie touched her shoulder. “Bloom’s right. We have to. There’s no other choice. We’ll get the gnome inside Aurora, and it will unfreeze everyone.”

  Bloom sat up even taller. “It’ll be okay, Annie.”

  The crow was so close. Annie put the car in park. Jamie pushed on the cruiser door. He was locked inside.

  “Annie, unlock the doors!” he urged frantically.

  Annie began pressing buttons. The siren blasted back on. The blue lights swirled. The radio blared. And finally, finally, the doors unlocked.

  Jamie pushed the door open with his feet, double-checked the security of the gnome tucked into his shirt, and peered back at Bloom. The elf was too busy mumbling and creating a ball of light between his palms to pay any attention.

  “Annie?” Jamie yelled.

  “On three, Jamie. Jump on three.” She held on to the door frame, ready to leap out of the cruiser. It reminded Jamie of parachuters about to leap out of military planes. He took the same position. The cold wind rippled at his clothes.

  “Please do not let me die,” he mumbled.

  “One!” Annie yelled. “Two!”

  The beast was closer than ever. Jamie could feel it just behind them, ready to attack. His whole body screamed with fear.

  “Three!”

  They jumped. The ground rushed up to meet them. Annie landed almost catlike on two feet in the snow, but Jamie’s body curled into a tiny ball and hit the snow with a bouncing sort of plop. He rolled through it and down toward the ditch at the side of the road.

  “Jamie!” Annie yelled.

  Snow flew up and all around as he tumbled down along the side of the road. He could hear Annie running behind him, trying to c
atch up.

  “Flatten out!” she hollered after him. “You’re like a bowling ball. You’re rolling, Jamie! Oh my gosh. Oh my …”

  Jamie rolled past twigs, snapping them. He bumped over rocks. Bruises started forming. Annie was right. He had to flatten out. He flung his arms and legs away from his body and came to a stop by a boulder twice his size.

  Frantic, Jamie tugged on his jacket zipper. What if the gnome had broken? What if he’d ruined it?

  “Jamie!” Annie ran to his side. Worry etched her features into something sad, almost like a cartoon. She got down on her knees next to him and peered at him. “Are you okay?”

  In one motion, he pulled out the gnome. There were no broken pieces, no scratches, nothing. Relief flooded his heart as Jamie tucked it back inside his shirt. He stood up warily, muscles and skin protesting the movement.

  “I’m okay,” he told her, grabbing her hand. “Let’s go …”

  They kept to the shadows, skulking low among the bushes, stopping only for the briefest of seconds to determine what was happening in the battle behind them.

  The wolves had come free from their tethers and reins. They leaped up at the crow, growling and with teeth bared, only to become quickly surrounded by feathers. Bloom’s light balls had little effect on the monster, and he’d yanked Eva inside the cruiser with him, rolling up the window. Jamie didn’t know how long that would protect them.

  “We have to hurry, Annie,” he whispered.

  They both knew that as soon as the crow was done with Eva and Bloom, it would come searching for them.

  “Can you run?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  They stood and raced forward. No longer hidden by the shadows, they were much more vulnerable. Behind them, Eva opened the window and hollered, “IT SEES YOU! GO! GO! GO!”

  If I open the window, that means that the beast could get inside the police cruiser, Annie thought. It meant that Bloom and Eva were frozen now. It meant that Jamie and Annie were the only hope left.

  Jamie ran as hard as he possibly could. Annie grabbed his hand and he pulled her along.

  “Almost there,” he said. He was trying to be encouraging but his voice was so full of fear that the words came out in terrified squeaks.