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The crowd began to speak. They looked around, confused.
“Gone because of me?” King Piggy said, his voice squealing a little. “I would never!”
“I think you need to leave now,” Queen Elissa said, her eyes hot with anger.
Anna slipped her hand into Queen Elissa’s, standing tall next to her sister.
Anger flashed on King Piggy’s face. Amelia thought he would try something awful. But then the local people began to speak.
“You’re not taking her with you!” one man shouted.
“Yeah, she’s done so much for us!” a woman holding a baby said, and Amelia saw that she was standing next to the carpenter.
They were joined by more and more voices. Soon it seemed like the whole hilltop was shouting for King Piggy and his men to get back on their boats.
King Piggy looked around the crowd. His eyes were wide with fear as he saw them starting towards him. He looked back and saw his men were scared also.
They weren’t ready to give up yet, Amelia thought, but they were close.
Suddenly King Piggy’s eyes went wide and he squealed. “Get away!”
ChAmelia looked over her shoulder and tried not to laugh.
Dave was approaching, his turban and mummy mask on and his arms stretched out in front of him.
The crowd began to gasp in surprise and many stepped away from Dave in shock.
“This place is cursed!” King Piggy cried. “It’s a mummy, alive!”
He stepped back. His guards did as well.
“Go, now!” King Piggy said. “Back to the ships!”
All the soldiers turned and ran, their armor jingling as they did.
King Piggy’s voice echoed off the hills around them. “Run for your lives!”
Seconds later they were gone, out of sight behind the trees.
As the last one disappeared, Dave ripped off the mask and unwrapped the strips of cloth from his head to reveal his perfectly healthy face.
The circle of people that had formed around him, giving him space, suddenly realized the trick and began cheering. They pressed in around Dave and Amelia. Puto and some of the other guards lifted them up.
“You did it!” Dave cried to Amelia.
Amelia was confused. “Me?”
“They believed because of what you said!” Dave pointed at all the people.
“I was so scared!” Amelia replied. “I barely knew what to say.”
“That doesn’t matter!” Dave laughed.
Queen Elissa took Amelia by the hand.
“Thank you.” Queen Elissa said.
“Amelia!” Dave’s voice cut through the cheers of the crowd. “Look!”
Luther stood by himself, waving. Amelia’s breath caught.
Even from that distance she could see the light on the sundial was almost to Today.
Dave and Amelia scrambled down from atop the soldiers and made their way through the crowd to Luther.
“Let’s get outta here!” Dave said as soon as they were close enough. “We did what we came here to do!”
“We didn’t come here to do anything, we’re just here on accident!” Luther said.
“Who cares!” Dave exclaimed, holding out the cow. “We’ve got to go now!”
“Wait!” Amelia said, putting a hand on Dave’s arm. She ran back to Queen Elissa. “We need to leave. Thank you for letting us help you. Your city will be amazing, I just know it.”
Queen Elissa’s face broke into a huge smile. She knelt in front of Amelia. “Thank you, Amelia. We couldn’t have done all that without you and the others.”
Amelia looked at Dave and Luther. They were waving at her to get back to the sundial. “You’re welcome, but I really do need to leave.”
“You appeared mysteriously,” Queen Elissa said, her mouth breaking into a wry, lopsided grin. “I suppose you should disappear the same way.”
Amelia ran back to the others, now afraid. There was almost no time. The light on the sundial seemed to be moving faster and faster as it approached the mark that underlined the word Today.
“Quick, Dave, get the cow!” Luther said.
All three of them touched the sundial. Amelia held her breath as Dave set the wood cow on the word Yesterday.
Nothing happened.
“What’s wrong?” Luther asked. “That’s what you said was going to work, right? Put the cow on the side that says Yesterday.”
“Oh! I get it,” Dave said. “We need to put it on the side that says Today.”
“Hurry!” Amelia said.
She held the sundial with one hand and pulled Dave’s sleeve with the other.
“It’s not so easy with you jerking me around everywhe–oh no,” Dave gasped.
Amelia watched as the cow slipped from his fingers. It fell and hit a rock, breaking into pieces.
“No,” Amelia whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Forget sorry, we gotta go!” Luther said. “Just use the broken pieces. It’ll work, right?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Dave replied. “It’s magic. I know nothing about magic.”
“Just try it!” Luther yelled.
Amelia held her breath. The ray of light was crossing over the word Today when Dave set the two halves of the cow on top of it.
Nothing happened.
“What?” Luther asked. “What’s going on? The cow should get us back, right?”
“Oh, how could I be so stupid!” Dave said. “The cow was made yesterday. Like, here, in this time. If we want to get back, we need something that was made in our time!”
“I’ve got this!” Amelia said, slipping a plastic bracelet from her wrist.
“That won’t work,” Dave said. “It wasn’t made on the day we left. It was made months ago. Maybe longer!”
“It has to be something that was made on the day we left?” Luther asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Dave said.
“That’s easy,” Luther replied, reaching into his back pocket. “I’ve still got my sandwich!”
He held it up, then slammed it on the word Today just as the ray of light touched the line under the word.
The kids began shrinking. It happened so fast that they felt like they were falling towards the sundial. As they did, the hilltop seemed to grow as large as an entire country. The people around them looked like giants, and the buildings and trees like skyscrapers. The kids felt like ants in a forest as the grass around them reached to the sky. For one moment they were so small that the sundial seemed to stretch for miles between them.
It all went dark in a flash.
For a second it seemed like there was nothing around them.
Then they were back in Grandpa Joe’s study.
All three of them rocked to one side like they were in a car that took a sharp turn.
They were back home, and they were safe!
Amelia looked from Dave to Luther and back again. “We made it!”
“That was amazing!” Dave said, jumping to his feet.
“You’re right,” Luther said, grinning, “It really wasn’t that bad! Now that we know what’s going on, I just might try it again!”
At that moment the door opened and Grandpa Joe appeared.
He looked down at Amelia, Dave, and Luther. “Ah, I see you three finally worked up the courage to explore the study. I’ve been waiting for that for ages.”
His eyes traveled down to the sundial and then widened in shock.
Amelia held her breath, afraid about what he might say.
“You haven’t been in here long, have you?” Grandpa Joe asked, his eyes narrowing.
“No.” “A while.” “It’s been ages!” All three of them said at once.
A worried look flashed across Grandpa Joe’s face, but it soon melted into a tiny, knowing smile. “I see you found my sundial. Was there anything...interesting?”
The three kids looked at each other and burst into laughter.
To Be Continued...