Author's Note: I know this whole story is a far-fetched concept at best, but I hope you like it. Whether you love it or hate it, please review!

THE HOUSE OF TIME

CHAPTER FOUR---THE PAST

"Ahhhh!"

The piercing shriek slowly made its way through Cinder's dulled senses. Nothing quite made sense to her. Everything was a bit hazy.

Cinder looked up and saw a boy muffle the girl's scream. He seemed vaguely familiar...

"Shh! Stop screaming!" he whispered violently. "We're not here to hurt you."

The girl seemed to calm down a bit, enough to ask, "Wh-who are you?"

"We don't have enough time for introductions!"

It was then that Cinder noticed the sound of heavy footsteps, accompanied by a not-so-distant voice complaining, "What on Earth is going on?"

The boy begged, "Please, please, tell us how to get out of here. Quickly!"

The footsteps were coming closer and closer...

The girl hesitated for a brief moment and then said, "Go out that door and into the next room. Go down the stairs; they'll take you to the kitchen. Try to get out as fast as you can, and be very quiet. Make sure Mistress doesn't find you!"

Prince grabbed Cinder's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Come on... we have to hurry!" He glanced back at the girl. "Thank you." Then, he dragged Cinder into the next room as quickly as possible.

They had made it to the base of the narrow staircase, which was obviously reserved for servants, when they heard a very angry voice. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I-I'm terribly sorry, Madame. It will not happen again."

There was a loud slap. Cinder flinched.

"You better make sure it doesn't happen again, Lucille. I will not tolerate such behavior."

"Yes, Mistress."

Prince brought Cinder's attention back to the situation they found themselves in. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

Slowly, he opened the door separating the stairs and the kitchen. There didn't seem to be anybody around at the moment. Somebody had to be nearby, though, because something was cooking on the stove.

Cinder focused on the stove. All of a sudden, she realized that it was HER stove, as well as her house! But, she thought, that doesn't make sense...

"How do we get out without being seen?"

Cinder was about to answer, "I don't know." Instead, she was struck by an idea.

"If this is the kitchen, that means that the pantry is to our right. There should be some stairs that lead to the basement. We could probably escape through one of the windows down there."

"Okay, let's do it."

Together, they crept out from behind the door and went into the pantry. They came to the door guarding the entrance to the basement.

"This is it," whispered Cinder.

For an awful second, she thought the door might be locked. However, it easily allowed them to enter. Prince was only too happy to close the door behind him.

The basement was dark but rather large compared to the other rooms throughout the house. The floor was nothing but solidly packed dirt. Farming equipment lined the walls. On one side were two rather small windows.

"I don't think I can fit through either one of those," said Cinder.

"You won't have to." Prince pointed to a nearly hidden door beside the windows. They both walked over to it. As Cinder was about to turn the handle, Prince stopped her. "Before we go out there, we need a plan."

Cinder could only nod.

"We need some place safe to stay where we can... figure things out."

She nodded again. "What is this place? I mean, I know it's my house, but..." She left her comment unfinished.

Prince gave a nervous laugh. "Well, it seems that we've managed to travel through time."

If she was being honest with herself, Cinder would admit that she'd known this all along. The reality of it all, on the other hand, didn't hit her until just then.

"How do we go back?" she asked, trying to stay calm.

Prince seemed to have the same problem. "I don't know." He took a deep breath, hoping panic wouldn't overcome him. "I do know what the Stepps were like, though, so my main priority is to get out of here first. We can worry about everything else later."

"Okay, so what's our plan?"

"Well... my ancestors were supposedly decent people, and my family's lived next door for generations. Maybe I can convince them to have pity on a couple of kids for a few days."

"And how are we going to manage coming back to this house?"

"I already told you; we can worry about that later."

"Fine. So, what's our story?"

Prince thought for a while. "We came from New Hampshire to visit our grandparents who live-"

"How could we have the same grandparents? We don't look anything alike! Besides, our parents would be with us if we were visiting our grandparents."

"Well, do you have a better idea?" asked Prince angrily.

"Why don't we just say we're two friends who got lost? It's true enough."

Prince grinned. "Oh, so we're friends now. That's a nice change." He tilted his head and whispered in her ear, "I always knew you liked me..."

Cinder sneered at him. "Shut up." But, his closeness made her shiver.

Instead of continuing this topic, like she had expected him to, Prince cleared his throat and went back to the subject of escaping.

"Alright, we'll go with your story. What do we do about clothes?"

Cinder looked down at her T-shirt and jeans. She certainly didn't blend in very well. Prince, on the other hand, was dressed perfectly for the time. Well, enough so that he wouldn't attract attention.

"Maybe I should go over and explain our situation by myself. I could say that you were injured along the way and can't make your way to the door. I could come back for you with some extra clothes or something, and you could change..."

Cinder knew the plan was pathetic. If she was truly injured, she'd be rushed into the house as quickly as possible. A doctor would be sent for immediately. But, she couldn't be seen with her modern clothes. I can't believe this is happening to me, she thought.

Seeing no alternative, however, she simply said, "Okay."

"Just go and wait for me behind the barn. I'll come back for you."

Finally, they went out the basement door. The night disguised them as best it could. The air was cool, with a slight breeze.

Cinder went to her destination and watched Prince make his way to the neighbors' house.

Looking around her, everything was different. I'm in the past, she thought. I'm in the past.

She saw Prince knock on the door, but only faintly, with the lack of light. Somebody answered the door.

"Who's there?"

Cinder snapped her head back; some one had found her. Not knowing what to do, she ran as fast as she could.

"You there, stop! Stop!" The man ran after her and easily caught up with her. "There's no use in trying to run now."

Indeed, there was no use in trying. The man had her locked in his arms. She certainly wasn't getting out anytime soon.

Shame, shame, SHAME on me! I hope you'll all forgive me for giving you a mediocre chapter after not writing for so long. Thank you for the reviews from vanillafluffy, ElvenSilver (I love you!), Losa (Please be easy on me...), Phillippa of the Phoenix, panemonium, Fiyero, and Speaker For The Five Year. Now, I've had a few comments on Prince. Yes, he is annoying. But, his name's Prince... what do you expect? lol Anyway, he's not meant to be a bad person, and hopefully he'll grow on you as the story develops. In any case, I may not be able to update for a while, but I'll try my best. Reviews are still very welcome!