A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry for not updating in, like, forever, but three projects due in ten days doesn't give a lot of free time. But school will be out in –counts on fingers- eight and a half days, so the updates should come a bit quicker. Thanks for reading and reviewing! (Insert "I own nothing" disclaimer here.)
Lewis stared, open-mouthed, at what Lela had just said. She—she—she couldn't! Was she joking? But- no- Lela wouldn't joke about a thing like this. Her face was vivid with excitement, but her eyes showed dead seriousness. If Wilbur was alive, then wouldn't she have returned to normal? Or maybe she was returning to normal because she had remembered again. It could all be found out very soon.
"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Lewis and Lela both ran towards the time machine, but stopped short.
"Oh, heck, no," Lela muttered. The blue time machine was driven into the ground and covered in dirt. Lewis's house was… two hills away.
"I guess we should starting pushing?" Franny asked.
"Oh, that's not what I'm worried about," Lela flipped out a small pointer device thingy and aimed it at the time machine. A laser hit it and Lela put the pointer thing back into her pocket.
"Go push it," Lela nodded to Lewis. Lewis jogged over to the dirty blue machine and shoved all his weight into it. But the time machine was now much, much lighter. Lewis fell over and the machine short fifty feet forward.
"Whoa," Franny whispered. Lela gave a short laugh.
"Pretty cool, huh? Lewis invented it… but not for another twenty eight years," she giggled again.
"But now," Lela's face returned serious, "what I'm worried about is fixing the time machine."
She watched Lewis gleefully pushing the time machine around with one finger. She rolled her eyes and flipped out the pointer again and shot it at the time machine. Lela and Franny watched Lewis slam into the back of the machine and slide slowly down. She laughed as Lewis turned to her angrily. Lela shrugged like saying, wasn't me.
"Come on!" Lewis yelled pleadingly. Lela again flipped out the pointer, aimed, and fired. Lewis pushed the time machine back to his house and Lela and Franny walked over the two hills behind him. There was soooooo much work to be done.
"Wait, so doesn't it go that way?" Lela asked flipping a piece upside-down for the eighty-second time. Lewis snatched the piece back and growled.
"No, it goes…" he tried to shove the piece into place, but it didn't fit. Reluctantly, he flipped it to the way Lela had flipped it, pushed, and screwed it into place.
"Ha," Lela breathed softly, but with all of the jauntiness she could fit into that one breath. She rolled out from under the machine.
"Who's her father's daughter now, Lewis?" she called to him, laughing.
"Guess who's her father," Lewis taunted back. Lela groaned. Franny stood on the sidelines, being very quiet for a girl like her.
After Lela mocked Lewis a little more when he was very vulnerable under the time machine (even though she could never beat him at his witty comebacks), she made her way over to Franny.
"Hey," she said quietly. "What's up?"
Franny shifted her gaze to Lela.
"What's up? What's up?" she repeated. Lela rolled her eyes.
"Okay, so, bad question to ask. What I meant was…" Lela tried to find the right words for it.
"How are you dealing with it?" Franny suggested wearily. Before Lela could say yes, Franny answered her own question.
"I am… in shock, to say the least. And depressed. How can you smile and tease each other when Wilbur's gone?" Franny asked desperately. Lela cocked her head and locked her gaze with Franny.
"Because I know where he is. And I've got two great parents who care about him too much. Love prevails over all, you know." Lela tilted her head back and gazed at the ceiling, sighing.
"Where is he anyways?" Lewis asked softly, walking up to them and leaning against a wall. Lela stood up a little straighter.
"So after we had the little time deal thing, my dad did all of this research on the time stream, just to make sure Wilbur didn't totally destroy it. Four years after, he finally came up with a result. It was named tempus cavus, or time hole. It was basically what Wilbur had had created. When he disappeared, I forgot about it. Then, when I re-remembered Wilbur, I remembered that as well, and knew he must be in there!" she squealed excitedly.
Lewis simply glared at Lela. "You mean there's a chance he might not be there?"
Lela's smile disappeared. "Well, maybe… That never crossed my mind… But don't think that way! He's here! I know he must be after I remembered again!" She tried to smile again, but the thought that Wilbur still may be gone had wiped the hope out of her.
"Is the time machine fixed, Mr. Joy-Killer?" she snapped at Lewis. Lewis shrugged.
"Haven't tried it out yet. Since you know all of that stuff, would you like to test drive it?" Lewis asked.
"Sure. It's better than you blowing up, anyways," she cackled quietly. Lewis raised his eyebrows. Grinning from ear to ear, she hopped into the time machine and turned it on. With a promising vroom, vroom and a kuh-chunk, Lela groaned and slammed the steering wheel.
"No good. Keep working, Mr. Kill-Joy," she leapt back out and slid the car creeper out from underneath with her foot. Lewis rolled his eyes, but lay back down with the wrench and other tools and set to work again.
"Wait!" Franny suddenly said. "Lela, you still have that crystal, right?" Lela nodded and slid the dark blue box out of her pocket.
"Hand it to me," Franny held out her palm and Lela placed the box in it. Kicking Lewis out from his spot under the time machine, and after a few clinks and clanks, she slid back out again.
"Try it now, Lela," she said, handing back the crystal. Lela scrunched up her forehead, but did as she was told. The time machine started just too perfectly.
"Whoa, awesome!" Lela giggled as the lights turned on in the machine. "Look, Lewis, she's smarter than you!" Lewis rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find my brother!" Lela threw her head back and laughed.
Lewis jumped in, but Franny did as well. She sat there excitedly and expectantly, until she saw Lela and Lewis staring at her oddly.
"What?" she spoke up. "Don't I get to come?"
Lela shook her head. "I will be in so much trouble if you are found. Just for taking Lewis to the future, my brother got grounded for I don't even know how long, we lost track. And my mom isn't as busy as my dad, so she'd find you right away. Sorry, but I just can't risk it."
Franny pouted, "Please?"
"NO!" Lela was very firm and pointed her out of the time machine. "I still want to survive after this and you coming along will not help."
Franny look to Lewis for support, but he merely avoided her gaze and shook his head.
"We really can't risk anything more. You might already remember in the future because we told you about Wilbur and you may be waiting furiously for Lela to arrive back and punish her to death. Sorry." Lela shot a horrified glare at Lewis.
"Thank you for putting that idea in my head…" she muttered.
Franny looked to them one last time to see if they would change their minds, but scowled as they didn't and got out.
"Bye, Mom," Lela smiled shyly as she started the engine.
This warmed Franny's heart and she waved as they disappeared back into the future. Franny grinned to herself. She knew she would see Lela again someday.
A/N: Wasn't that a wonderful idea Lewis put into Lela's head? Ha, ha, maybe not, but please tell me what you thought of this chapter in a review. It means the world!! Please review! Thanks all!