The Thyme Travelers

Epilogue

So I bet you're wondering what happened after that, huh? Well, that's what the epilogue is for.

Zach made an amazing recovery. He was back to school in two days, whereas I was back in one. I took that Wednesday off. All was well at school. Oh, and by the way, Jackson got charged for working with the goons. He is in juvy right now.

Imma get back to school in a minute. I want to explain everything with Eliza.

She and I were closer than ever after that day at the hospital. She would take me to the mall more often, and I began to enjoy those trips. I began to talk more and more, but I still did my healthy amount of daydreaming, which I didn't get yelled at for anymore. Anyways Eliza encouraged me to tell my parents about being a genius (oh the things she finds out while she's dead), and so I did. They were prouder than ever, but they didn't push me to the brink of insanity with unwanted attention. That part about me still hadn't changed. Eliza didn't pester me as much, but she did keep telling me how cute I looked in her outfit the day I saved her life. Oh, and she did pester me about another thing.

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew you and Zachariah Stone were together!!!!!"

It went like that for a while until I told her that she did know it.

Zach and his mother were also closer than ever. He helped out around the house more often and she was more active in his life. And he had learned a lesson from our time traveling adventures.

"Hey" I texted him two weeks after the time traveling.

"Hey whats up?" he texted back.

"Nm. Wanna hang out 2day?" I asked hopefully.

"Srry I cant. Im hangin w/g-ma :)"

That's right. He found time to be with his grandmother while he could. I smiled when I read that, even though it was a denial for a date.

Back to school. Wow. My mind is like a pinball machine. I go from topic to topic with ease. But anyways, Zach and I were practically heroes. That's not to say we were popular. I would turn down popularity any day, you know? It's just not for me, but when we both came back, people said hi to us more often down the halls. They would ask us for our story, like what happened, why did it happen, how we dealt with it, etcetera. The hubbub would die down eventually.

"Okay students," Mr. Hyde said, breaking me out of my thinking spell. "Head down to the gym for the Invention Showcase."

It was two months ago that Hyde-Mr. Hyde had assigned this project and Zach and I began to make a time machine. That's when all this began. And this is the ending.

We had come a long way, I thought as my class and I made it to the gym. I caught up with Zach and we walked together towards our table with our project sitting on it. It obviously wasn't the time machine. No one ever found out about the time machine except Eliza. I'm sure Jackson and his "CIA" goons had tried to explain, but that probably earned them each a soft, squishy room. I giggled at the thought and Zach looked at me.

"What?" he asked smiling. I shook my head, also smiling.

"Don't worry about it. Let's concentrate on presenting our project with grace and dignity." That's right. We whipped up one helluva project in about a week.

"Okay Ms. Thyme, Mr. Stone, what do you have here?" Mr. Hyde asked with a smile on his face as he held up a clipboard and wrote something down.

"The Thyme Teller," I said, pointing to the poster behind the invention. The name was Zach's idea. No, it wasn't a watch. It was a modification of the machine I had made with my grandmother. The invention itself was about as big as, say, a normal sized Bible in length, width, and depth. It was just a screen that had to be turned by one single button, and the rest was touch-screen. Zach turned it on.

"It shows you time, place by satellite, can be used as a stopwatch, countdown, and there's a YouTube feature here," Zach explained, pointing at the machine, clicking the button and touching the screen. Mr. Hyde looked impressed. He wrote something down on his clipboard and looked at Zach and I.

"You both get an A...plus! Congratulations," he said with a smile. Then he moved on from our table to grade someone else's. I looked at Zach.

"High five!" I exclaimed, and we high fived each other.

After school, Zach and I rode our bikes to the park and we walked in silence, just enjoying each other's company. The last time I had been in this park was when Eliza had passed and I had been crying. Zach was there to comfort me, just like he was here today.

"Let's go to the willow," he said, taking me by my hand towards the willow tree I remember climbing while hiding from the alleged CIA. Most of the leaves on the willow had fallen, but there were still a few left. We walked underneath the branches until we were both near the trunk. I leaned against it, enjoying the peace.

"Oh, Zach," I sighed happily. "We've come a long way." I saw him nod.

"I know. It feels like forever ago that you and I would sit at separate lunch tables and we wouldn't talk to anyone unless we needed to." Then he turned to me. "I'm glad that's all changed." I nodded, gazing deep into his green eyes.

"Me too. I can't believe that in the course of two months you and I became close and then we became...time travelers." I looked at my cast and then at his lone, fading signature. He came over and hugged me. God only knows how at-peace I felt. All was great. We had escaped with our lives from criminals, we had proved we were two of the greatest minds in the world, and most importantly, we had saved my sister's life. All with the earth as our soul witness. I liked it better that way, though.

"We had made the biggest scientific achievement in the course of history," he said, almost pained.

"But you and I both knew that we messed with the natural balance of things," I replied. "That's why you asked me to destroy what we had made. It was the only way to ensure our safety and the safety of those around us. We pulled away from our hug and he nodded.

"Yes. You're right. But you saved a life, and that's all that matters."

"We, Zach. WE saved a life. I couldn't have saved Eliza without you. And of course, Sputnik." Zach laughed his sweet, warm laugh and I laughed along with him. When he stopped, he looked deep into my eyes.

"I have something to give you," he said, giving his famous half-smile. He reached into his black leather jacket and pulled out a small box, then handed it to me.

"To celebrate our achievements. Open it," he said. The box itself was simple, but I loved it anyways. It was from Zach. I broke the tape and took off the lid.

"Oh my God, Zach, it's...beautiful," I breathed.

"I wanted to give this to you the day you saved Eliza, but we were, um, interrupted." I laughed.

"Oh Zach, thank you so much," I said. I threw my arms around his neck and I kissed him.

Inside the box was a necklace. The necklace had a silver chain with a silver heart and a golden heart looped onto it.