Adventures with Friends
Time Travellers: The Eight Musketeers?
Four friends are sent back to correct history- they just might have to rewrite it.
Chapter 2
Erica's head finally quit spinning. She vaguely remembered herself being thrown backwards. Although the feelings were brief, they were profound. She had felt as though she was compressed until she had become the pea. Then, she was stretched as if her bones were made of rubber. She was twisted, shaken, and flattened before she had ended up here. Where ever that was.
Erica became aware of her surroundings. She was lying on the ground and someone was screaming bloody murder. She opened her eyes to see a bright blue sky, trees, and green grass. She looked around for her friends. They were sprawled throughout the clearing that Erica suddenly found herself in. Krista was lying motionless, Chase was no where to be found, and Jacob was thrashing about on the ground, screaming. Erica jumped to her feet and ran to Jacob.
"Jacob!"
"AHHHHH!"
"Jacob!"
"AHHHHH!"
"Jacob!" Erica roared darkly.
Jacob stopped, closed his mouth, and opened his eyes. He stared up at Erica with wide eyes. He reminded her of a deer in headlights. She couldn't hold back her smile.
"What in the world are you doing?"
"Erica!" he burst jumping up and grabbing her by her shirt collar. "You're here! Thank God!"
"Dude, of course I'm here," she said pushing him away. "Where else would I be?"
"I don't know."
Erica stood up. "Whatever. Let's go find the others," she said, helping him to his feet.
The two cousins made their way over to the motionless Krista. Erica bent down and shook Krista by her shoulder. She didn't move. Erica cast a nervous glance up at Jacob. Erica tried a pushing her a little harder. Nothing. She stood up.
"She's not coming out of it. It's like she needs a jumpstart."
"I've got a jumpstart for her," Jacob said, bending down. He placed both hands a few inches above Krista's sides. Erica smiled and took a big step back. Jacob then buried his hands in Krista's sides. It was as if Jacob had electrocuted Krista. Krista's body contracted and Krista jumped up, screaming. Jacob and Erica began laughing. Krista glared at them both.
"You think that's funny?" she asked Jacob heatedly. Jacob fell into a new wave of laughter. Krista brought up her hand and decked Jacob across the face. Jacob stumbled away from Krista, holding his cheek. Erica was bent over in a fit of laughter. "Yeah," Krista said. "What now?"
"Jeez, Krista! I was just making sure you were alive!"
Krista looked around at her surroundings. She stared at Erica for the longest time. "Didn't we use to be in a museum?"
Erica looked around and then back to Krista. She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Where'd the museum go?" Jacob asked.
"Where'd Chase go?" Krista interrupted.
Erica looked around again. No matter where she looked, she could not find Chase.
"Dude. Where's Chase?" Erica blurted.
"Since I did not just get done saying that," Krista said sarcastically.
"You lie," Erica returned.
"Shut up. Let's go look for Chase."
The three walked around the clearing, calling out Chase's name. But, as Erica so cleverly discovered, he was not in the clearing. They started walking through the forest. After at least an hour of looking for Chase with no results, Jacob leaned against a tree. Krista stopped and sighed and Erica sat on the ground.
"Where are we?" Jacob panted.
"I have not a clue," Erica returned.
"Well, what happened to the museum?" Krista pressed.
"I don't know. The last thing I remember was the pretty lights coming from the rings. And Chase screaming "Oh damn! This is wack!""
"Oh yeah!" Jacob chimed in. "And we were all thrown back. But after that, I don't remember a thing. All I know is that I woke up screaming."
"I remember being compressed then stretched," Krista added.
"Yeah. So do I. Then I woke up to Jacob's screaming."
"You were screaming?" Krista asked.
Jacob shrugged and looked away from Krista. Erica smiled. "Like a sissy girl." The two girls laughed.
"Shut up!"
The girls stifled their laughter. Voices floated across the scene. The three exchanged looks. They all got up and started following the voices. As the voices became louder, the trees began to thin out. They found themselves on the edge of a dirt road. A horse drawn wagon drove by them. The teens watched it drive by with confused looks on their faces. After it passed, they looked at each other.
"Well that was different," Erica stated.
"Where the heck are we?" Jacob asked.
"Look! A town! We can find out where we are there I bet!" Krista said.
Jacob and Erica shrugged and followed Krista down the dirt road. They reached the outskirts of the town before they realized that the people that were bustling around in the streets were wearing medieval looking clothes. They stopped in their tracks.
"I don't think we're in Kansas any more," Jacob stated.
"Dude, we're from Nebraska," Erica said.
"What does that sign say? Does that say Paris?" Krista asked.
Erica squinted. Sure enough, a sign hung from a nearby building saying Paris.
"Yeah. That's what it says."
"Paris? That's like halfway across the world," Jacob said.
"How did that happen?" Erica thought aloud.
"I don't know. Maybe Chase is somewhere in the town," Krista suggested.
"Town? Isn't Paris a city?" Jacob asked.
"It is. Or so I thought. But I guess, that is what happens when a city Americanizes."
"What?" Jacob and Krista burst.
Erica rolled her eyes. "Nevermind."
"Whatever. Let's go."
The three started walking through the town. Many of the people they passed would stop and stare at the three kids. Erica finished staring down an old man and turned back to her friends.
"People keep staring at us," Krista informed.
"No shit, Sherlock," Erica returned.
"Haven't people ever seen jeans and t-shirts before?"
"Apparently not."
The three continued on in silence. They tried to pick out Chase's name in a conversation or pick out a bit that would help them find him. They scanned the crowd and streets for any sign of their friend. But were unable to find him. They walked through the streets until they reached the town square. They looked around. A crowd of men dressed in blue tunics stood in the middle of the square. Their attention was transfixed on a man dressed in black on the top of the stairs of a nearby building. Men in red tunics surrounded the men in blue. Krista, Erica, and Jacob exchanged looks.
A man in a red uniform walked up to them. "You cannot be here. You must leave."
"What is going on?" Erica asked.
"The Musketeers are being disbanded."
"Why?"
"By the king's orders. Now go on."
Krista lead the other two away from the group of men. They stopped in the shadow of a nearby alley.
"Did you just talk with that French guy?" Krista asked.
"Yeah..." Erica answered warily. "Why?"
"Do you understand French? Do you speak French?" Erica started to answer but Krista cut her off. "No! No you don't." Erica nodded her head in agreement. "Then how come you were able to talk with that guy?"
Erica looked over to Jacob. "I don't know. Didn't you guys understand the conversation?"
Krista and Jacob exchanged looks. "Well... yeah," Krista finally said.
"Then why are you asking me? You don't know French either."
"I don't know French," Jacob said.
"Shut up, Jacob. You're barely passing English and you speak English," Erica pointed out. But something was nagging at the back of her mind. Something was not right. Erica furrowed her eyebrows. "No," she stated. Krista and Jacob stared at her. "We're in France and those guys in blue back there were the Musketeers. The Musketeers were in France in like the 1600s." Jacob and Krista met Erica's serious gaze. "We went back in time."
"Back in time?" Krista repeated. "How?"
"The rings!" Jacob burst.
"Wait. Didn't that letter say something about those rings having special powers?" Krista asked.
"Yeah! They did!" Jacob burst.
"You're right. And that guy said something about my ring being for communication," Erica said, looking down at her ring. "That must be why we are able to speak and understand French. What else did that letter say?" Erica asked.
"Something about imbalances in time."
"And the end of the world," Jacob added.
"And something about fixing these imbalances," Erica finished.
"So what does that mean?" Jacob asked.
No one answered. Erica shrugged. "I guess it could only mean that history has somehow gotten off course."
"So we have to put history back on the right path?" Krista asked. They looked at each other and shrugged. "I take that as a yes."
"What else could it mean?"
"That we're about to die," Jacob offered.
"Thank you, Jacob!" Krista said in a tone that ended any further comments Jacob would have.
"Man! How does that dude who wrote the letter expect us to correct time?" Erica exclaimed.
"That guy can't be serious," Krista assured. "Let's just focus on finding Chase and then getting home."
Erica nodded and watched as the Musketeers turned in their cloaks and swords one by one. The man in black had disappeared and the red men were overseeing procedures. They watched until all of the men had disappeared from the square.
"Maybe we should ask someone with authority if they have seen Chase?" Krista suggested.
"Sure. Maybe we'll get thrown in jail while we're at it," Jacob returned.
"Shut up, Jacob," Erica said after seeing Krista's frightened face. "Don't worry. All we have to do is give 'em Jacob."
Krista laughed and gathered up her courage. Erica stood up and walked to the center of the square. Jacob and Krista followed her. Krista, however, bypassed Erica and went straight to the staircase. Jacob and Erica decided to make sure she didn't get herself killed. Krista pushed the big oak doors open and disappeared. Erica's spirits sank when she saw that it was dark inside. She stepped through the door. As the darkness closed in around her, the hairs on her arms stood up. It took all of her willpower to convince herself not to run from the building screaming.
She looked around for Krista. She spied Krista already approaching a group of men. One of those men, Erica recognized, was the man dressed in black that had disbanded the Musketeers. She put her head down.
"I have a bad feeling about this," she whispered to herself then followed Krista.
Erica about dropped in her tracks when she spied Krista approaching the man in black. She didn't know why at the time, but there was something really, really forboding about that guy. Perhaps it was the black clothes with the black hat, black boots, black hair, and the black eye patch that really set Erica off. But she couldn't be sure.
"Excuse me," she heard Krista say. "But we're looking for one of our friends and we were-"
"Go away. We are not your mother," the man returned in a cold, deep voice that sent shivers up Erica's back. She could see Krista searching for something to say, but it was no use, she was at a loss.
Erica stepped up and grabbed Krista by her arm. She put on a steely smile and looked at the man in black. "You should do some soul searching. You just might find one," Erica snapped as she pushed Krista into a fast walk. The man who was a whole head and a half taller than Erica glared down at her. And if looks could have killed, Erica would of dropped dead. But she kept her frozen smile on, turned around, and practically ran away before the man could think of something intimidating and terribly clever to say. As soon as Erica's back was to the man, her smile instantly melted into a grimace.
"Oh my God!" she mouthed.
She could feel the man's gaze boring into her back until she had quickly shut the door tightly behind her. She stood rooted to the spot for a moment. She gave a weak laugh. Krista looked at her.
"Don't ever let me do that again!"
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