Chapter 4: Empty Home.

The five Skydancers stared at the empty, dilapidated cottage.

Camille shifted uncomfortably and looked around. "We are at the right edge of town right?" She queried worried. "I mean..."
Angelica shook her head. "We've like, checked out all the other edges of town Camille." She looked up again. "This is so not right."

Slam shared a worried look with Jade.

None of them knew how to explain this. They had come to the Tinker's cottage directly after leaving the palace ground – taking the same route they always took – only to find that they didn't end up where they usually did.

Where they thought the Tinker's house would be they found instead the remnants of what must've been an old, abandoned farm cottage. The city ended about half a mile in the palace's direction.

Puzzled, but not worried because they hadn't really been paying attention to their flying, they backtracked and tried again – flying lower this time so that they could follow the roads instead of their landmarks. Their puzzlement was slowly beginning to change to worry when the edge of town came a lot quicker than they thought. After that they had split up, searching for some explanation as to how they could've completely ended up in the wrong place. Nobody came up with any explanation or discoveries, which led them to return to the abandoned cottage.

Jade hugged herself and glanced at her friends.

"You don't think that Joanie was right about this place being different do you?" She queried hesitantly. "I mean, it's... Not possible."
Breeze shook his head defeated.

"I think we should've learned by now that anything's possible here." He said forlornly. "It's possible that because Skyla didn't direct us here something could've gone wrong but... How and what?"

"And, more to the point." Slam chipped in. "Where are we? Some things are the same."
Camille shook her head. "There must be a reasonable..." She got interrupted by a familiar cry.

"YOU GUYS!"

They turned around to see Joanie flying at full speed in their direction. The alarmed tone in her voice immediately put them on edge as they flew up to meet her.

They looked for signs of pursuit or danger but Joanie was alone.
The girl flew straight to them and grabbed Breeze, who had been the closest to her by the shoulders.

"We went back!" She exclaimed. "There-was-this-man-and-he-was-making-a-speech-and-the-girl-next-to-him-was-young-and-they-took-hands-and-then-the-Tinker-was-in-front-of-me-but-they-didn't-know-who-it-was-as-I-fell-and-there's-going-to-be-a-feast-before-the-marriage-but-she's-not-happy..."

Slam took Joanie by the shoulders to give her a little shake.

"Slow down kiddo!" He interrupted her. "Geez, take a breath what are you saying?"

Joanie opened and closed her mouth before she bit her lip and forced herself to calm down. Breeze gently lowered them to the ground and let go of Joanie, allowing her to sit down and get her breath back.

Jade immediately went to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong Joanie?" She queried gently.

The young girl looked up at her, her features pale.

"We went back in time Jade." She said slowly. "That's why things are different." She paused and waited for their response.

They didn't keep her in suspense.

"No."

"That's impossible!"

"Joanie, are you sure?"

"She's like, so pulling our legs."
Breeze silenced them all. He held his hand out for Joanie and pulled her up.

"What makes you think that?" He asked in a reasonable tone.

The girl licked her dry lips.

"I saw Dame Skyla." She said softly. "Only, she was young – my age, maybe a little older. And I think her husband was there was well but the one who proved it to me was the Tinker. He was there, only he was a lot younger – I almost didn't recognize him but, when he spoke to me I knew! I'm not lying."

The last came out as a desperate plea.

The other Skydancers wisely kept quiet as they looked at each other, processing the news.

"Is there anything else that you saw that made you come to this conclusion?" Breeze asked levelly.

Joanie realized that they needed a little bit more convincing. She bit her tongue and nodded.

"The older man with them had the Skyswirlstone."

A heavy silence reigned as the five stared at her. Joanie started to feel desperate.

"Go see for yourself!" She pleaded. "Please, I'm not lying."
Jade shook her head. "We're not saying that you are." She said. "It's just a little bit..."

"Far out." Slam finished for her, he glanced at Breeze.

"Coming with me to the palace?"
The Indian boy nodded.

"Sit tight." He told the group. "We'll come back as soon as we have some answers."

The girls watched them fly off before they glanced at each other.
Shaking her head, feeling more frustrated than she had ever felt before in her life, Joanie ignored the others as she went to the cottage wall and sat down.

She was going to take great pleasure in four little words when the others returned.

'I told you so.'

AN: I'm into the swing of things again – though a little disappointed in myself. My holidays have ended and I didn't come even close to where I wanted to be. (But then again, you all know how I am with deadlines.) But, no fret, I'll still try to get one chappie up a week.

Oh, to everybody. HELP!! What's Skyler's da's name again? Skylark? Skyhawk? Hawkwing? Sparrow? ;-P No, really, I need some guidance because I can't imagine what it had been and I'm getting pretty close to having to use it.

To Firedaughter, thanks love. Here's a challenge for you up above. As I said somewhere I saw Skydancers close to eight years ago so, needless to say my memories are a bit fuzzy. I'll change the imps name but I'll probably keep the Hurricanes-hurricanes purely because I can't bend my mind into thinking about them otherwise.

To Gem. I reread the paragraph over the weekend and thought exactly the same thing. (So I took Joanie aside and gave her a smack against the head.) I was in a bit of a funny mood when I wrote it so then I tend to loose control over the characters. They don't listen to me!!! Good luck with the homework! Don't you have a holiday coming up at some point or another? I only have three weeks of classes left before exams! Jipee!!!

Either way, take care and keep safe.

Alyss.