30

Philip watched the people around the altar. His brain weaved in and out of confusion. What was Skye doing with Saul again?

Hadn’t they escaped?

His gaze moved to the tower, and he frowned.

They were here?

All they had to do was get inside and speak the ritual. They were so close. Why hadn’t they done it yet? Events and conversations passed through his memory. The guard from the dungeon. Seth. Leah.

Reality hit Philip with a pain in his forehead. Leah was being sacrificed, and Skye wanted to save her. Philip gasped and sat straighter, watching with sickening clarity as the guards tied Skye down. Had Seth taken Leah to safety?

They had to get out of here, right now. He reached for his knife, but had another memory. He’d given it to Skye. Grinding his teeth against his frustration, he moved closer to the action. All he had to do was cut Skye free, pull her into the tower, and speak the words that would take them home.

Easy, right?

OK, not easy at all. He had no way to cut her free, and definitely not in front of a huge crowd of onlookers.

Did God get them through all of this just to let it end here? With sickening resignation, he realized he didn’t actually know what kinds of plans God made. All he did know was that he had to try.

Fighting against the dizziness, he moved around the side of the temple and into the dark corridors. Light from the torches around the sacrifice glowed in the distance, and he moved from column to column, drawing closer to saving Skye. As he darted between various bits of construction, he noticed a few different things.

Tools. The place was littered with builder’s tools.

Score. He grabbed what he could, sticking something that looked like a pick axe under his robe and holding various tools in each hand. He finally made it to the corridor just beyond the altar.

The crowd’s focus was on Saul and his loud musings.

Lilla stood to the side, smiling like the wicked witch she was.

The guards were distracted, but not that distracted.

Saul finished his latest spiel and then paused for effect.

A voice rang out. “You cannot go through with this!” Ezekiel stepped through the crowd, followed by Seth’s father and two other old men. The other council members must have arrived.

“Ezekiel! You are welcome to watch, my friend,” Saul bellowed. “The sacrifice is about to commence.”

He completely ignored Ezekiel’s warning, but Ezekiel moved closer. “The council forbids it, Saul!”

The people around the tower stopped their cheering. This was apparently something worth listening to.

Philip had no idea how these people regarded their council members, but he was glad for the distraction.

The guards moved forward at Saul’s beckoning.

Philip darted to the altar, using the tools to cut Skye’s arms free.

She gasped, tears streaming down her face. “Philip!”

“Shh!” he hissed. He quickly sliced through the ropes at her feet and practically dragged her into the tower.

“We have to say it. Now!”

Skye glanced frantically at the events unfolding outside. “What about—?”

“It doesn’t matter!” he said too loudly. “Ezekiel and the council will deal with this. If we get out of here—”

“Hebat is gone!” Lilla shrieked.

A guard spotted them, and he and Lilla started toward them.

Skye turned to him and clutched his hands. “I’m ready.”

He swallowed hard and nodded, as the guards rushed him. “On three. One—two—three.”

“Ultu ulla ati, me peta babka.”

Two guards reached them and locked onto Skye’s arms. This was it. They hadn’t made it.

Someone hit Philip on the head, and the world tilted on its side. Sand swirled around him. Wind blew across his skin, blurring his vision and spinning him in circles.

Philip heard a scream. Felt a jolt.

And then he knew nothing.

***

Skye woke up in a grassy field. At least, she thought it was a field. She squinted against the sun’s light, shading her eyes with her hand. On her left, land stretched out as far as she could see. Slowly, she turned her head to the right.

Philip lay beside her, his eyes closed. In the distance, Stonehenge rose.

Her heart fluttered faster. Crawling closer to him, her excitement built. “Philip,” she said hoarsely. “Philip, it worked. We’re home!”

She shook his shoulder, but he didn’t wake up. The knot on his head hadn’t disappeared, and her heart dropped to her stomach. “Philip?”

The knot was sickeningly purple. He needed help.

She looked at herself and groaned. She had nothing here. No normal clothes, no phone.

Then she remembered Philip’s clothes. He’d worn his robes over his modern clothes—she’d seen his jeans when he’d pulled out his knife. She lifted his robe and dug through his pockets.

His phone was snuggled into the left pocket, and relief spread through her. Flipping it open, she searched for the battery sign. Only four percent! She quickly dialed Mom’s phone. It crossed her mind briefly that it was a good thing she was on Philip’s phone because Mom wouldn’t recognize the number. She’d answer right away, versus if it were Skye’s number, she’d probably let it go to voicemail.

Surprisingly, Mom answered on the first ring. “Skye?” she pleaded.

Skye sat up, clutching the phone. “Mom?”

A cry on the other end rang out. “It’s them!” Mom said. “Skye, where are you?”

Skye glanced around, swallowing hard. “We’re at Stonehenge, and Mom? Hurry. Philip is hurt.”

~*~

Mom and Mr. Matthews arrived along with an ambulance.

Philip had awakened, but was groggy. She’d managed to help pull the robes off Philip, but she still wore her own. What were they supposed to tell their parents?

Mom climbed out of the cab and rushed forward. She didn’t give a second look at Skye’s robes, only crushed her body against Skye’s, sobbing the whole time.

Tears flooded Skye’s eyes, too. Mom was glad to see her?

“I was so worried!” Mom blubbered.

Skye couldn’t help blubbering too.

“What happened?”

Philip moaned as the paramedics probed him. His eyes fluttered open, and his gaze met Skye’s.

Her heart leapt, and she smiled.

Philip glanced at the paramedics, and he smiled, too. His gaze roamed back to hers. “We did it,” he croaked.

She smiled wider and nodded, tears running down her face. “We did it.”

“Let’s move him to the ambulance,” a paramedic said.

Mom clutched Skye’s hand. “Come on. Let’s get you into the cab.”

But Skye stayed put. “I’m going to the hospital with Philip,” she said.

Mom shook her head. “I want to get you taken care of, Skye. We need to speak to the police.”

Skye met Philip’s gaze again, and she didn’t look away as she said, “We can do that at the hospital, Mom. Philip and I, we’re sticking together from now on.”

Philip smiled a grateful smile.

Mom glanced between them. “OK, to the hospital it is.” She put her arm around Skye’s shoulders. Skye watched as they pulled Philip into the ambulance. Things didn’t look so great, and yet they’d never looked better. Once Philip was settled, he reached toward her. She took his hand without hesitation.

Thank You, Heavenly Father.

The ambulance siren played loudly, and they started down the road a moment later. They were home, and safe. It was unbelievable. Now they needed to figure out how to explain what had happened.

“Skye?” Mom frowned at her now, and Skye was finally ready to give Mom her full attention.

“Skye, what on earth are you wearing?”

Skye laughed. Things were about to get very interesting, but at least she wasn’t being sacrificed to the gods of the skies. She was home with her Mom and her newest, old best friend. Things were good.

“Mom,” Skye said with a sigh. “It’s a long story.”

EPILOGUE

Skye paced the lobby of the hotel. What was taking Philip so long? They were supposed to load the bus at 10:00 AM, and it was already five ’til ten. The elevator dinged, and she spun toward it.

Philip shuffled out of it behind a half-dozen others. The group seemed to be together, because they wore identical t-shirts. That, and every last one of them had a neon green fanny pack clipped around their waist.

Skye held in her snicker.

“Sorry,” Philip said. “We ended up stopping at every single floor. That was seventeen stops. Way too long to be suspended in the air.”

She grinned and let it go. “Are you ready for this trip?”

He held up his own camera, brand new and barely used. He’d begged his dad for it just a week ago, and Mr. Matthews had relented without too much of a fight.

In fact, Mom and Mr. Matthews had been giving them whatever they wanted ever since coming back from the past. They didn’t know what had happened to their kids—even though Skye and Philip had tried being honest. The doctors insisted they’d hit their heads or something, and Mom and Mr. Matthews didn’t believe their story.

Whatever. It didn’t matter to Skye. What did matter was that Mom had been at least a little more “present.” And things had been better.

In the last month, Skye and Philip had gone on a half-dozen tours to different sites around the area that they had not seen before. They’d taken a million pictures with Skye’s camera, but Philip wanted in on the action too, so he’d gotten his own.

At each site, they looked for clues—clues to the past. But they were careful with how they spoke. Especially if there were stones around.

Sometimes the pictures showed interesting hazes. Sometimes they showed nothing.

The bus pulled to the stop outside the hotel, and Philip waved his hand for Skye to go first. They loaded the bus and took a seat together.

Then she handed him a brochure.

“Where are we going today?” he asked.

She flipped open her brochure and a bright, colorful picture of the Tower of London peeked out at them.

Philip raised his eyebrows and leaned close. “I don’t want to go back to when this place was used as a giant torture chamber.”

Skye grinned and shrugged. “We’ll be careful.”

The bus finished loading and they pulled into traffic.

Philip wrapped his hand around hers, and she smiled again. They had a few more tours scheduled throughout the summer, but Philip had also agreed to help her with volunteer work at All Nations Church. Things were good.

Skye didn’t worry about Philip abandoning her anymore. She didn’t worry about Mom, either. Mom was Mom, and Skye could deal with that. She could deal with a lot more than she’d realized.

Skye didn’t anticipate going back in time ever again, but if she had to? At least she had Philip by her side.

Together, with the one true God, they could handle anything.