A Window in Time

Chapter 4: Unlocking Secrets

   The two walked side by side in the forest on their way to the box. Alistair stood close to Emmaline because he thought that she was afraid and needed reassurance. Emmaline stood close to Alistair because she just wanted to be near him. The stirrings in her heart definitely made her wonder about how the two knew each other.

   "So, you really haven't any idea how we met? No ideas as to our relationship?" The girl smiled at the boy.

   "I have no clue. Although, I must confess, as I was sleeping last night, I dreamed of you."

   "Really? May I inquire what the dream was about?"

   "I couldn't really make heads or tails of it," he answered. "I dreamed that I was chasing something in the forest and that you were with me."

   "I had a similar experience!" she exclaimed. "Earlier when I was walking in the woods, a strange string of images flashed inside my mind, and one of the things I saw was you, running with me in the forest. I hadn't realized that I was chasing something."

   "Well, if we saw the same thing, maybe it's a memory."

   "Perhaps so. I just wonder what the numbers mean."

   "Wait, I just remembered something! When I was trying to wake you up for the first time, you were saying something about "lights" in your sleep. What did that mean?"

   "I really don't know. Maybe there is something in this book that may explain it? I keep all my ramblings in here," she responded. They stopped walking and the girl pulled out the leather-bound notebook from her knapsack. Opening it to the string of numbers, she examined the previous pages further back in her journal and came across a brilliantly illustrated sequence of colors. They looked like the aurora borealis, and they brightened up the notebook with dazzling shades of blue and green. Underneath it, there were large uppercase letters which read:

   THE LIGHTS.

   "So, these are the mysterious lights? Looks like something you would see in the north pole," Al mused. "You're quite the artist, though."

   "Oh, thank you."

   "Indeed. Now, what do you believe this means?"

   "Well, I don't recall any trips to the arctic recently. So the lights must have been in this area."

   "I've never seen anything like it around here that I can remember." Alistair raised his nose upwards, a bit haughtily.

   "Are you saying my information is false, Mr. Bennett?"

   "When did you start calling me Mr. Bennett again?"

   "When did you start acting conceited?" she retorted quickly. "I've never known myself to be wrong, in fact, I'm one of the only people that I dare to trust. Now, there must be some other facts in here. About these lights. Just hold on for a moment." She ran her fingers over the short journal entry next to her illustration and began to read it aloud.

   "November 15, 1878.

   Today, strange lights appeared in the sky. They were absolutely vivid, the green and blues lit up the atmosphere. Then, I saw a strange craft in the midst of the lights with two figures inside it, the craft looked like a ship. I tried to follow the vessel, it led me to Epping forest. Then, all of a sudden, the vessel vanished in a flash of light. I have been doing research with one of my associates, Mr. Alistair Bennett, and the string of coordinates that the sky ship disappeared over was TQ405865. More research about the ship and the lights to come soon..."

   "Wait, wait. That journal entry was written exactly a year ago! We've been knowing each other all this time?! Maybe even longer?!" Al exclaimed.

   "Apparently so." she responded. "Although I could have done a better job in choosing my associates," the girl whispered bitingly under her breath.

   Alistair took the journal from Emmaline's hands and compared the numbers from the old journal entry to the numbers that the woman wrote down earlier that morning.

   "So the numbers were the coordinates of the forest. You were right!" he admitted.

   "Knew it." she smirked at him.

   "And who's conceited now?"

   "Shut up."

   Their laughs echoed through the forest all around them, but they fell silent as they started walking again and they approached the area of the box. They observed that the entire forest seemed to be deathly quiet. In the daylight, they could also see that the box had made quite an impact on its surroundings when it landed, forming a crater. It also looked like it had crashed into some trees and burned them slightly. Alistair noticed a change in the cube immediately.

   "Hey, isn't this part of the box expanded? It wasn't like that yesterday."

   They drew near to the metal cube, warming in the sunlight. The top of it had risen and revealed two screens on either side of the smaller cube-shaped extension. The screens seemed to be at a resting state.

   "What is this?" Emmaline crouched down and looked at the screen on her side. She could see Alistair through the clear material. The girl stuck out her tongue and crinkled her nose at him.

   "I don't know. And quit being silly."

   "Maybe if we touch the clear part...?" Emmaline tapped it and the whole cube seemed to come to life. The screens lit up and turned blue and green. Pictures flashed across the screen. A smooth male voice echoed out of the cube, and it shocked the pair.

   "Welcome to the interface of the time jumper. You have many options. You can do research, program the Cube, or return to your point of origin. Where would you like to start?"

   "What sorcery is this?!" Al jumped back in alarm. Emma stared at the object curiously.

   "Researching: Sorcery.

   Sorcery may refer to: Magic (paranormal), also known as sorcery, Maleficium (sorcery), a Latin term meaning "wrongdoing" or "mischief" and is used to describe malevolent, dangerous, or harmful magic, "evildoing" or "malevolent sorcery", or Witchcraft, the use of supernatural, magical faculties.

   Which topic would you like to know more about?"

   "Stop the research." Emmaline said confidently. "It's not magic, you twit. It's obviously machinery."

   "Stopping research. Going back to main interface..."

   "How do you know that?!?" Alistair screeched.

   "Welcome to the interface of the time jumper. You have many options. You can do research, program the Cube, or return to your point of origin. Where would you like to start?"

   "Return to point of origin." the girl said.

   "Activating vortex manipulator..."

   "NO, WHAT ARE YOU-"

   Al's screams reverberated all around them, and then everything was quiet. The pair was off for a wild ride.