“What do you mean, it’s not a game?”
“Sophia, come on.” Sam opened his hands wide. “Really?”
“Have you looked around?” Ryan motioned to the chair she was sitting on, the crates, Marielle.
“Do you remember what Kayla said?” Sam searched her face. “About the glass that Birdie found?”
Sophia’s gaze darted to Birdie. “Yes, but it wasn’t true. Birdie said it wasn’t true.”
“It was true, Sophia.” Birdie’s stomach sank. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I never should have brought the aventurine to camp. That’s what the glass is called, aventurine, and sometimes, like now, it opens a window to the past. But I don’t know how to control it.”
“But then, where are we?” Sophia hugged her elbows to her body as she turned back to her brother.
“We’re still at Burg Rheinfels,” he said. “But we’re not sure when.”
“Approximately 1498.” Friedrich stayed beside Marielle. “The marriage between Prince Gunzelin and Princess Elisabeth was extremely important and, as you know, it failed. Maybe we can right that wrong.”
Raina inched closer to her brothers. “Birdie?”
“We’ll find a way back, I’m sure.” She tried to sound confident, but the words felt hollow. She pushed forward anyway. “We’ve always found a way back before. We just need to figure out—”
“How?” Kayla snapped. “We’re all here. It’s not like there’s anyone left in the storeroom to bang on something.”
“Is that what happened?” Louisa stepped forward. “You came back when I banged on the lunch tray?”
Birdie nodded. “And again when Ryan slammed the hammer down on that spike.”
Angry voices rose beyond the doors at the top of the stairs.
“We can’t stay here.” Louisa glanced at the doors and then at Friedrich. “The search party will circle back when they don’t find Marielle.”
“I wish we had our costumes,” Rich said. They were gone, along with the table they’d sorted them on. “We’ll stick out like sore thumbs.”
“I have this.” Louisa held up the petticoat she’d used to cradle the aventurine. “But it won’t do us much good.”
“Oh my God.” Raina stiffened. “We’re going to die.”
Friedrich ignored her. “It’s too late to worry about costumes now. Our priority needs to be helping Marielle.”
“No, our priority should be helping ourselves.” Kayla folded her arms. “Do you hear the guards out there? I don’t want to get decapitated by a battle axe or something.”
“Or the guillotine!” Raina reached for the bun at the crown of her head. “They lopped people’s heads off back then. I mean now. Oh my God!”
“Calm down. This is Germany, not France,” Louisa said. “And no one is getting decapitated.”
“Is there somewhere you can hide?” Birdie asked Marielle. “Somewhere we all can hide?”
Friedrich translated, and Marielle pointed toward the tunnel. “We must leave the walls and go to the forest. We can’t stay in the fortress. It’s not safe here for me, or for any of you as strangers. There’s a cave in the forest where we can hide.”
“The forest we saw this morning?” Rich asked.
Friedrich glanced up from Marielle. “The one behind the parking lot.”
“It will be difficult,” Marielle continued as Friedrich translated. “We must use the tunnels. They branch off underground. One will lead us beyond the fortress walls.”
“Why should we all go?” Raina laid her hand on her chest. “I’d rather be in the storeroom than lost in a forest somewhere.”
“We aren’t safe here,” Louisa said. “The only reason that guard didn’t question us was because he was preoccupied with finding Marielle. We’re strangers. And look at us. Besides, he’ll be back.”
“The tunnels might be guarded too,” Rich said.
“I agree, but there is no other way,” Friedrich said. “All the guards are busy with the search.”
“You don’t think they’d search the tunnels?” Rich met his gaze. “That’s the first place I’d look.”
“I am certain they are searching them,” Friedrich replied. “Of course they are.” He quickly questioned Marielle, then turned back to the group. “She does not think the guards would waste time searching the tunnel to the forest because everyone knows it’s blocked, and she could never get through it on her own.”
“Um, why are we going into a tunnel that’s blocked?” Kayla tilted her chin. “That makes no sense. And why is it blocked?”
“Superstition, probably,” Louisa said. “The villagers believed the forests were haunted. It would make sense for them to block tunnels to keep evil spirits away.”
“Or invading armies,” Rich added.
“Excuse me for being Captain Obvious, but if it’s blocked, then how will we get through it?” Kayla asked. “And, like Raina said, how do we know she’s not the thief? She could be setting us up to take the blame.”
“Marielle is not the thief.” Friedrich glowered at Kayla. “We have no reason to doubt her. She needs our help, and this is the only way to save ourselves too. She can’t escape on her own. Crates, barrels, and boulders block the tunnel.”
“Boulders!” Raina threw her hands into the air. “I can’t lift boulders!”
“She thinks we’re strong enough to move them?” Rich glanced at Marielle, who stood watching them as they spoke, her gaze flitting to the top of the stairs at every approaching sound.
“If we all work together, yes,” Friedrich said. “It will not be easy.”
Marielle tugged his shirtsleeve and pointed to the tunnel.
“We need to go now. Who’s coming?”
Ryan’s and Sam’s hands shot up immediately.
“I’m in too,” Rich said.
“And me.” Louisa turned to Birdie. “You must come because you’re the only one who knows how the aventurine works.” She handed her the cooled glass, and Birdie slipped it into her pocket.
“I don’t really—” she began, but the thunder of approaching hooves cut her off.
Marielle didn’t bother to wait for the others. She darted toward the slit in the wall that concealed the tunnel entrance, her skirts swishing as she ran.
“Come!” Friedrich ushered them all toward the wall. “All campers must come.”
“Great.” Kayla lifted her right heel and dragged the strap of her sandal back into place. She repeated the action on her left heel and then fell in step behind Sophia, who’d entered the tunnel behind her brother.
“Are you sure this isn’t part of camp?” Sophia pushed up next to him. “Some kind of challenge or quest they made up?”
“It’s real, Sophia,” Sam said.
“Wait until I tell my mother,” Raina muttered.