Cinder pov

Cinder, Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne, Cress, Winter, Jacin, and Iko were all crammed at a small table aboard the Rampion eating dinner. Dinner being crappy fast food that Thorne had piled up in a food storage room for their month-long trip on the Rampion. Though they still had a couple days until they took off, everybody had been so anxious to see everyone else that they had come early.

Yes, they were having a reunion. And so far it had been amazing to be with all her friends. Cinder was pleased to see that no one had changed. Thorne was still arrogant and flirty (though less so with other girls, especially when Cress was present), Wolf was still silent and unemotional, Scarlet was still spunky and violent, Cress was still adorably innocent and sweet, Winter was still crazy (though not in a serious way as the bioelectricity chip had fixed that) and lovable, Jacin was still snarky and indifferent. And Kai, Kai was still….Kai. There was no other way to put it.

Cinder smiled at Kai, their hands entwined under the table. It had been half a year since the war with Levana. Cinder was in the process of dissolving the monarchy and her advisors were mainly doing the work of ruling Luna, and Kai had appointed Torin to take over for a month so they were both going to be aboard for the trip. Stuck aboard with a bunch of crazy people. Joy.

Suddenly, Thorne got up and grinned. Oh no, Cinder thought, what did he do this time? "Guess what, guys? I have a surprise!" he announced.

Everyone except Cress groaned. "Thorne, your freaking "surprises" are always guaranteed end in something bad," Scarlet complained. "Just forget about it- no one wants anything to do with your surprises!"

Cinder couldn't agree more. The last time Thorne had a "surprise" was when he decided it would be a good idea to surprise Cress with a dog. Unfortunately, he hadn't done much research on this dog and it turned out to be...well, not quite right in the head. Everyone had visited Cress to see the new pet, and it had caused major chaos. Chaos being bruises, blood, broken bones, and Cress's house looking like a tornado had gone through it. They took the dog to the vet the next day and the vet had confirmed it "mentally unstable." "Oops," Thorne had said. "Surprise?" Yeah, it was a freaking surprise.

"No, seriously guys," Thorne pleaded. "It's perfectly safe, I swear."

Everyone gave him suspicious glares.

"Oh, come on!" Thorne exclaimed. "It's just a box! What can it do?"

"A box?" asked Cinder incredulously.

Thorne smirked. "Yeah, a box. But a very unique box! A wonderful box! Come on, I'll show it to you."

"How wonderful can it be? I mean, it's a freakin' box. Woohoo! A box! Wow!" Cinder commented sarcastically, following him. The rest of the group got up, sighing, and went after Thorne as well.

Thorne went into a storage closet and turned on the lights. The room was filled with odd objects the crew had never seen before and in the middle, indeed, was a box.

"Wow," said Jacin. "Stunning."

The box was shaped like a cube with six sides all of equal area. It was a little more than two feet by two feet. It was made of cardboard.

In other words, it was exactly like every other freaking box in the universe.

"Ok, I'm done," Cinder said, rolling her eyes. "Let's get outta here."

"No! Wait!" Thorne called. "You haven't seen the box yet!" Cinder rolled her eyes; it was right there. Was he still blind?

"Let's just see what he has, ok guys?" said Cress in a quiet voice. Everyone groaned but complied because after all, Cress wanted it. Sweet, adorable Cress. If Cress thought it was ok, then it would be, right?

No. Cress had wanted the dog, too. But no matter.

Thorne grasped the box...and pulled the "box" right of off the box. As in, pulled the cardboard cover off the gleaming silver cube with dials and buttons and levers. What the….Cinder thought.

"Wow," Winter breathed, "now that's a box."

Thorne grinned cockily. "See? Winter thinks it's a nice box!"

"Fine, Thorne. It's a "nice box." Ok?" said Cinder, rolling her eyes. "But no matter how nice it is, I fail to see how exactly this is important. I mean, it could be the nicest box in the world and still be of no value."

Meanwhile, Winter had gone up to the box and was examining it. She turned a dial to the number 2.

Then another to 0.

The next to 1.

The last to 6.

2016.

"No, Winter, don't touch it," called Jacin.

Winter paid no heed. Of course, thought Cinder. How very Winter-esque. A button in the very center began to glow.

Thorne looked nervous. "Winter, I wouldn't press that..."

Winter pressed the button. Then Cinder began to gape, cause the entire freaking box was beginning to glow.

"..button," finished Thorne, his mouth falling open. "Oh, no…"

The world began to spin.

….

The world stopped spinning. Cinder opened her eyes.

First she saw Kai. Thank the stars. Then Scarlet. Cress. Wolf. Winter. Jacin. Iko. And unfortunately, Thorne.

And then Cinder realized nothing had changed. They were in the same room aboard the Rampion, with everyone still there, a silver box in the middle.

"Is everyone ok?" asked Kai.

"Yeah. What happened?" Iko asked.

"I have no idea," Thorne said. "I didn't know the box glowed! Or made the world spin!"

Cinder glared at him. "Let me guess- surprise?"

Thorne grinned sheepishly. "Well, yeah."

Scarlet peered suspiciously at the bottom of the box. "Wait a minute...guys, what is this?" She waved a piece of paper she had pulled from underneath the box in the air. Printed at the words on the top were the words, "Instructions for operating time machine".

Time machine?!