Children of the Moon. Evadeen Brickwood

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      In the end, Katherine helped her untangle the alicebands. “All right then,” Chryséis said with triumph in her voice. They put on their VICs, careful not to touch the flat button on the side.

      “Can we go now?” Chryséis asked all excited. She didn’t notice, how pale Katherine had become. ‘Time travel’ - the words echoed in Katherine’s mind. Her mouth felt so dry. She swallowed hard, but the fear didn’t want to go away. Now of all times she had to panic! Then, a completely useless question shot through her mind: Can you breathe prehistoric air just like that or is it dangerous?’

      This whole experiment was insane. Dangerous even! Katherine swallowed again and fought the urge to run.

      There was still time to cop out… no, it was too late. She couldn’t let her friends down now!

      Trevor had already activated the big white button on the TPF and tried to find a good spot, pointing the TPF here and there. And sure enough, something began to shimmer by one of the grey rocks. Another curtain-thing. A portal to the space-time continuum!

      “I knew it!” Trevor cried.

      Chryséis stared mesmerised at the shimmering spot. A time warp, this had to be a time warp! For the first time in her life, she didn’t know what to say.

      “All together. Now!” On Trevor’s signal, they pressed the red button through the plastic cover, locking in today’s time reference. Done. Step one completed.

      “I’m going to activate now. Get ready.”

      The girls grabbed each other’s hand and Trevor pushed the big white button a second time.

      Chapter 2

      A New School Year

      It had all begun like any other school year after the winter holidays and the experiment in Carter Valley was still a pie in the sky.

      As so often, Walt, the janitor, had fetched Katherine and other students from the Etheridgeville airport.

      Time travel was pretty much the last thing on Katherine’s mind as she sat comfortably in the back of the old-fashioned, black Volvo. She gazed dreamily at the passing landscape while trying not to pay attention to Privesh and Hendrik, who were having a boring discussion about sport.

      Looks almost like England, she thought. If one ignored the long bearded moss swaying from the branches of Eucalyptus tree. She had never seen that in England. And the sky was never such a bright blue.

      A tiny cloud between the trees shifted to the left as the road swerved through the broad school gate. Ah, there was another cloud not far from the first. That’s more like it.

      Katherine sighed and settled back into the snug leather seat. As always, the holidays had been way too short. She missed her gentle French mother and Dad and their comfortable home in Oxfordshire. And Aunt Trudie, Mom’s sister. She was always so nice and funny.

      She didn’t really miss her two younger brothers, Graham and Frederick. They were really naughty and bothered her endlessly.

      Dad was often away on business. The lingering smell of leather and cigars always reminded Katherine of him. When her Dad was home, she loved to sit on his lap and listen to his deep, sonorous voice. He’d tell her fascinating stories, like the one about a wedding in Pakistan he had been invited to.

      ‘The bride wore a red and gold sari dress and the groom’s eyes were hidden behind a veil of golden lametta,’ he had reported. ‘Women were dancing around balancing metal water jugs on their heads.’

      They made Dad ride on a painted elephant! Katherine could see the scene right in front of her as she smelled the leather of the car seat. This time, Dad had been home for only three brief days before flying back to Hong Kong.

      Would things be better, if her parents weren’t wealthy? Sometimes, all Katherine wanted was the luxury of growing up without being shipped off to boarding school. It seemed so unfair. Why couldn’t she just grow up like everybody else? Well, almost everybody else. There were many kids with rich parents at Pemberton.

      The rambling school building painted in rust and white, with its impossible spires and towers, appeared behind the sweeping green lawns at the end of the driveway. Katherine asked herself for the umpteenth time, who had thought that up.

      Loads of shrubs and trees dotted the Pemberton school grounds. All that exuberant vegetation kept two gardeners quite busy throughout the year. Murmuring water features sparkled between masses of flowers as the car purred past a nine-hole golf course.

      The sports facilities at Pemberton weren’t to be scoffed at, either. Too bad that Katherine wasn’t interested in sports.

      They left the tennis courts behind as the car began to wind its way up the alley between high bluegum trees.

      Walt steered the black Volvo deftly up the broad driveway.

      A familiar bump in the road jolted Katherine from her dreamy mood. A red squirrel with feathery tail darted up and down the trunk of a large tree as they reached the graveled parking lot. Directly in front of the entrance with its sweeping stairs.

      Children walked around everywhere between the parked cars, while adults in smart clothes stood chatting next to piles of luggage. A familiar sight.

      The school magazine proudly declared that Pemberton-students came from all over the States, Europe and from far-flung countries like Korea, South Africa and New Zealand. The academy enjoyed an excellent reputation all over the world.

      A sobbing boy of perhaps eight years was obviously new to the school and clung to his increasingly impatient mother. “Mom, I don’t want to stay here. Mom, please...”

      She scolded him under her breath and pulled his clawing hands from her expensive pink designer suit.

      "Lester..., stop it this minute. No, don’t do that... please... stop it!”

      At the same time, she tried to make a good impression on Woody Kranich’s mother, who was a fashion editor from California. Defeated, Lester sat down on his designer suitcase with a sad expression.

      For Katherine, there had been a few tears in the privacy of her first class seat on the Boeing that had carried her from London to New York. By the time her connecting flight had reached Etheridgeville, Katherine’s tears had dried up. After all, her parents tried to give her the best education they could afford. Nothing one could do about it, anyway.

      The Volvo came to a solid halt. On top of the broad steps, the great doors were flung invitingly open.

      ‘Pemberton Academy for Advanced Learning’, announced a polished brass sign next to the dark wooden entrance.

      “Right, here we are,” Walt said. His voice was raspy like a vegetable grater. “Out with you guys. I’ll get your things from the trunk in a jiffy and take them up to the entrance hall.”

      Walt was an amicable fellow with grey, wiry hair. He had been the janitor, chauffeur and supervisor of staff forever – even longer than the fat cook Mrs. Hadley - and proud to be an employee of importance.

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