Evadeen Brickwood - Children of the Moon

“Do you think that woman noticed something?!” she asked. Chryséis didn’t answer straight away. She looked pale under her freckles as she started washing her hands, in case somebody came in.

“I don’t think so.”

“But what if she comes back to check?”

“Why should she do that?”

A girl, who needed the toilet desperately, walked in just as Katherine started to say something. The girls left. They could talk later.

In was in any case time to get back to Trevor. Katherine began to giggle as she sat down next to him and could stop.

“How did it go?” Trevor whispered and looked bewildered at Katherine.

“Just nerves,” Chryséis sighed. “Somebody bumped into her by the swing door.”

“Oh that’s great, did he notice anything?”

“No, I don’t think so. It was the lady over there...” Chryséis pointed slightly with her chin. The woman looked up at the waiter, who brought her the bill. Looked all normal.

“She seems okay,” Trevor decided.

Katherine giggled some more as their order of hot chocolate was served. Bradley Benson walked past the window and Katherine stopped at once. He waved at them in an unusually friendly manner. They waved back half-heartedly.

“Don’t tell me Holly sent him to spy on us.” Chryséis creased her forehead.

“Who knows. But there was nothing to see.” At least Trevor hoped so.

By the time they arrived back at Pemberton, Katherine had completely recovered from her giggling spell. They went straight to the back veranda, where a table was just being cleared.

Katherine snuggled into the comfortable cushions of the broad bamboo chair. There were jugs with iced tea and glasses on the tables that had been prepared for the Sports Day. ‘Too good to waste,’ cook Hadley had said in the morning. The students agreed. Cook’s ice tea was even better than her famous lemonade. Katherine watched the relentless rain.

“Imagine all this water coming down in one great gush. Instead of slowly drizzling down,” she said.

“It would be like a tidal wave. Sweeping away our beloved school and us in the process, girlfriend.” Chryséis rolled her eyes. Katherine sometimes came up with these ideas out of the blue.

“Sometimes I am glad that nature just takes care of things.”

“So am I!” Trevor agreed.

“Yes, like thanks to the rain I don’t have to play tennis against all those champs today. Thank you, thank you nature—” Chryséis bowed mockingly toward the rain.

Like Katherine she was no sports genius. The occasional swim or walk on the beach was okay - and yoga of course. But clobbering it out in a competitive match on the tennis court was not her cup of tea.

“I would have liked a bit of action for a change,” Trevor said and added on a whiny note, “I’ve been working in the lab on our project nonstop for two weeks.”

“Yes, we all have. We’ll get plenty of action, trust me.” Chryséis curled up in her chair and angled for her iced tea. “I’m hooked on this time travel idea.”

“More than an idea by now,” Trevor corrected her.

“Are you sure we won’t end up in the future, when we get into the vortex?” Katherine shivered a little at the thought. “The future! Food shortages, wars, global warming and things like that. Yikes!”

More students came pouring through the open French doors and settled noisily around the low tables.

Katherine took a juicy orange quarter from the glass plate in front of her. She enjoyed these occasional downpours. They were much more pleasant than the endless drizzle on the British Isles.

Even so, it made her feel a bit homesick. She missed English food in particular. Luckily, her mother often sent food parcels with Marmite, mince pies, anchovy paste and Branston Pickle.

“Don’t worry, the time spans are all set. In any case, it’s a lot harder to travel forward in time than backward,” Trevor said, stretching himself lazily.

He couldn’t understand what was still bothering Katherine. Everything was under control. After all, he’d done it before. Trevor waved a brief impression of greenish, slithering scales aside and took a few hasty sips of iced tea.

“We can program the exact time of departure as a long-term reference point. Then we can take our time. Nobody will ever know we’re gone. We’ll just arrive back at the same time we left.”

“We’ve two VIC-tests under our belts and the last TPF-test happens next weekend. Easy peasy.”

“Alright, if you say so…”

“What’s a Tippi Eff?” Bradley turned around grinning at them. That’s all they needed!

Chryséis kept her cool and said casually, “Something to eat, smartass. None of your business anyway.”

“Okay whatever,” Bradley said and took the glass jug to the kitchen for a refill. Katherine just managed to control another urge to giggle.

“I don’t think he heard anything with all the noise around,” Trevor said.

“Okay then, let’s talk shop,” Chryséis said in a soft voice. “The invisibility devices are sorted. And we’ve got the big experiment planned for the excursion. What do we take with us into the vortex?”

“Sounds scary: into the vortex. What if the vacuum battery doesn’t give us enough juice and we can’t get out again? Will our skeletons keep spinning in it forever?”

“Oh rubbish Katherine MacDougal! The battery is working just fine. Don’t get all scaredy-cat on us. What kind of scientists worry about something like that?”

“Yes, okay,” Katherine said, but she didn’t sound at all convinced.

“Stop going nuts on us, please, we still have so much to do,” Chryséis said.

“Actually, we don’t need that much. Just a few provisions. Food, sleeping bags. Stuff like that,” Trevor said.

“Good idea. Chris, why don’t you write down a list?” Katherine was back on track.

“Sure, why not.” Chryséis scribbled on a serviette. “If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just try again some other time. At least we’ll be all packed up.”

“Not a chance. We’re going in Carter Valley as planned.” Trevor wondered for a second, if they would really manage to do it in such a short time. But then he relaxed. Sure they would manage.

“Okay then, next weekend then. We need some food, at least snacks and something to drink. Any ideas?”

The rain was letting up now and the sun broke through the thinning cloud blanket. Bradley Benson laughed out loud. He sat at a table with Holly and two other girls not far away. The three friends jumped, but Bradley didn’t pay attention to them.

“He’s making me all nervous,” Chryséis said.

“Oh, just ignore him,” Trevor growled.

“Talking about food provisions—,” Katherine said, “I just received a food parcel from home. Fancy some toast with anchovy paste?”

“No thanks Your Royal Highness that’s too British for me. I can do without yucky English food. How can anyone get used to that fish paste stuff and brown yeast spread and what not?”

“Thanks a lot! It can’t be that bad, if so many people in Britain like it!” Katherine snarled back.

She fought an uphill battle to get her friends interested in delicacies from England.

”And in any case, what about yucky American food?”

Trevor stopped a full-blown argument about food.

“I’ll get some chips from the tuck shop. What about you, want some? Thai Chili or Sour Cream and Onion?”

“Thai Chili for me, please.” Chryséis rather enjoyed the occasional junk food.

“Okay, I’ll have some Thai Chili, too,” Katherine squeaked still offended. She mumbled something under her breath about ignorance and pampered American taste buds, but then she also enjoyed her potato chips.