CHAPTER 6: It´s epic!

Griffin point of view:

Back in the bunker, we explain to them how the radio works. Thanks to Sam, now we are able of traveling to a precise date. But the date doesn´t matter right now, as long as we go to 1960s.

Dad and Jess are still trying to process the fact Savannah didn´t run away that night at the camp, she accidentally time travelled to 1960s, and she stayed there because a woman adopted her.

"See? Now they are even excited for time traveling." Wyatt brags. "My idea was brilliant. I deserve a prize! After talking to Savannah, we´ll talk to Anna. The Tremont´s best days are yet to come!"

"I still can´t believe time travelling is real!" Jess looks carefully at the radio.

Harper and I lead the group walking through the tunnel. I open the hatch and warn my parents and Jess,

"Whoever goes first feels a jolt. It´s painful, but you get used to it."

"What?!" Jess shouts, horrified.

"Let me go first." Dad says, and without waiting for an answer he goes up the stairs.

"Ah!" he groans because of the jolt.

"Ben!" mom yells. "Are you ok?!"

He doesn´t hear her. Anyway, she´s the next one, followed by Jess, the twins, Topher, Harper, and lastly, me. This part of the woods, in direction to The Tremont, looks exactly the same in every time period: simply lots of trees.

"The jolt was painful…" my dad comments. "It felt like… electricity. But the sensation fades away quite easily."

The astonishment on their faces is priceless when we get close to the hotel. They don´t even know where to look, the 60´s style of the place, the old cars or people´s clothes.

"Do you believe us now?" Zoey points at the hotel.

"It´s amazing!" Mom exclaims.

"Look at the fashion style!" Jess adds.

"Look at the cars!" Dad takes a few steps forward, so focused on the cars he doesn´t notice Savannah´s mom getting close to him.

"May I help you?" she asks.

"Hi!" Harper waves at her. "Remember us? We´re Savannah´s friends."

"Of course I do!" she says politely. "But she´s not here. She´s working at the camp. Would you like to wait for her inside?"

"We don´t want to bother you." I reply. "We´ll wait for her at home. May you tell her to visit us?"

"Sure. She´ll be there in about an hour."

"And tell her our parents want to meet her."

We set the table at the patio, dishes full of different cookies, juice jars for us, and coffee for the adults. A few minutes later, we hear someone whistling inside.

"That must be her." I get inside, looking for her. "Savannah?"

"Griffin?"

"Come here!"

She walks on her tiptoes, hiding behind the furniture, as usual.

"No need to hide this time! They are waiting for you."

"Oh, is that true?" she greets me with a hug. "I didn´t believe it when mom told me that."

"Yeah, it´s true. Long story short, our parents know about time traveling and they want to see you."

When Savannah crosses the patio´s door, dad and Jess jump off their seats as if they had to run for their lives. They both look like they had seen a ghost.

"Hi!" Savannah waves at them, smiling. "It´s been ages!"

"I can´t believe this!" Jess exclaims.

"It´s crazy!" My dad stares at her up and down, still shocked.

"It´s epic!" Savannah corrects him, giving him a quick hug. "How are you, Ben? It´s weird seeing you all grown-up."

"Well, you´ve grown, too! You are not a kid anymore, you're a teen!"

"Hi, Jess." She hugs her for a second. "Nice to see you."

"Oh, don´t lie. You didn´t like me, and I get it."

"True, but you changed. You are cool now."

"´Now´." Jess chuckles. "Ok, I deserve it."

We take a seat while my mom introduces herself,

"I´m Sarah Campbell, Ben´s wife."

"Nice to meet you." Savannah smiles. "I´m glad you´re back home. Judge Walker is gone, right?"

"Judge Walker?" Jess asks.

"The ghost." Harper explains. "Yeah, he´s gone."

"Then what´s the problem now?"

"That night a girl recorded what happened and posted it on the internet. It already has thousands of views, and if we don´t stop her the hotel will close forever."

"Let me help, I…"

"No, it´s ok, we got it."

"You´ve done enough, Savannah." Mom pours some juice for us. "Thanks for helping the kids fight the ghost."

"Of course! We couldn´t let him win!"

"He was terrifying!" Zoey shouts.

"Ok, enough with the scary and depressing stories, we all know what happened." Topher bites his chocolate cookie. "Harper, why don´t you tell us about when you time traveled to 1990? We don´t know that story."

"Yeah, I´d like to hear about that, too." Dad fixes his eyes on mine, eager to know the truth.

"Ok, so..." I begin. "When we explored the bunker for the first time, we were curious about where the hatch would take us. We accidentally time travelled to 1990s. The springs were there, the hotel was open, and we saw you…" I point at dad. "…pulling a prank on guests using a fake snake."

"That was hilarious!" Savannah laughs.

"Yeah, but we were punished for that." Dad taps his chin. "And for pouring juice in the springs."

"Oh, I remember that…" Jess rolls her eyes.

"You were kind of a troublemaker, honey." Mom gently holds his arm.

"That summer camp was the only place where I could have some fun! You know my dad, Sarah!"

"Yeah, he is… intense…"

"I can´t believe you used to pull pranks on the guests, dad!" Wyatt exclaims while chewing a cookie. "Now you get all cranky when we do the same."

"Yeah, well, I´m the responsible adult now."

"And did you pull pranks, mom?" Topher asks Jess.

I can´t help the laugh. Of course, she didn´t. Harper tries to hide her laugh for a moment, but it´s useless.

"No, Toph, mom didn´t pull pranks. She hated it." She turns to Jess. "Actually, we saw you and Savannah arguing because of that. You wanted Savannah to stop with the pranks, and you told her to stop getting Ben in trouble."

"No!" Savannah hits the table. "She didn´t ´told me´, she ordered me. You were kind of bossy, Jess."

We all laugh, including Jess, who says,

"Well, I didn´t want Ben to get expelled for getting in trouble every day!"

"I didn´t know about that argument!" Dad breaks in after taking a sip of his coffee. "You weren´t like that the previous year, Jess. We used to hang out every day, you were fun and nice to everyone, but in the 90s you picked on her, who knows why."

"I know why." She affirms. "You used to hang out with me, Savannah showed up, and you started to hang out with her, I was jealous."

"If you had told me that, instead of picking on Savannah, I would´ve kept on being your friend."

"Yeah, now I know I was wrong, and I´m truly sorry. I admit I was difficult as a kid…"

"You were kind of annoying, Jess…" my dad jokes, and we all burst into laughter, Topher almost spits out his juice.

"Yeah, she was…" Harper mumbles. I can tell her mouth went faster than her mind, she immediately regrets it. Jess´ withering look erases the smile from her face.

That look only lasts for a second, though. Jess smiles again and says,

"It´s true, I admit it. But you were annoying, too!" she points at dad and Savannah.

"No resentment, Jess." Savannah comments. "You changed, you are cool now."

"Hey, speaking of pranks…" dad interrupts. "Do you work at the camp now, Savannah?"

"I do. I´m a counsellor."

"So, now´s your turn to punish kids for pulling pranks…"

"I should, but I don´t!" she chuckles. "That goes against my nature!"

"And what about the talent show?" mom asks. "Remember the picture we found during the move, Ben?"

"Oh, that day was awful." He shakes his head.

"Why?!" my mom´s so confused.

It must be hard to play an original song in front of a crowd. It must be even harder to make a mistake, and even more if your dad instead of comforting you, gives you a lecture.

"We saw that moment, too." I answer. "Dad played a song he has composed, he made a mistake, got nervous and didn´t finish the song…"

"Dad was there." He sighs. "As you can imagine, he was angry and disappointed."

"Oh, poor you." Mom strokes his hand sweetly. "Well, it doesn´t matter what he said, because you won."

"I still don´t know why!"

"I do." Harper says. "Mom changed the result."

"What?!" dad and Savannah shout at the same time.

"She´s right. Savannah got more votes, but I lied." Jess confesses.

"What?!" Savannah dramatically stands up. "I was robbed! That trophy should be mine!"

We burst into laughter one more time. It feels so good to laugh out loud after all the drama and fear of the last weeks. It´s been a while since I goofed off with my family like this.

While we keep laughing, eating cookies, and drinking juice and coffee, dad goes to his room in search of the talent show´s picture. He finally comes back and shows it to us.

"The trophy should be mine!" Savannah repeats.

"Read this." Dad points at what´s written at the back of the picture. "´Ben Campbell: talent show winner.´ I won." He teases her.

"Cheater!" Savannah yells.

"I didn´t do anything!"

"Cheater!" She repeats, looking at Jess this time.

"I won. No discussion." Dad sits down again. "Thanks you, Jess, by the way."

"You´re welcome."

"This is so unfair." Savannah sits down, pouting.

"Ok, this is fun, but…" Zoey interrupts. "… how did you discover the bunker, Savannah?"

"Well… even in the 90s there were rumors about ghosts. Back then, the ghost was believed to be in the basement. So Jess dared me to stay there all night, and I did."

"That night, Savannah and I sneaked out and spent the night in the tree house." Dad explains. "Jess dared her, I tried to stop her, but I fell asleep, and she ran away."

"But he knew where I was, so he came to the basement with me. In the middle of the night we heard a loud noise…"

"It was frightening! So I ran away." Dad´s staring at nothing, as if he was reliving that moment in his head. "I thought she was behind me, but she wasn´t."

We are listening to them carefully, specially Topher and the twins, who don´t know the details of this story.

"The noise came from behind the boxes." Savannah keeps going. "So I looked there, and found the bunker, the tunnel, and the hatch. I ended up in the 1960s"

"That´s wild." Dad frowns. "How did you get used to it? It is completely different to the 90s."

"Because of my mom." The happiness on her face when she talks about her mom is undeniable. "I have a family now."

"I´m so glad to hear that." Dad smiles.

"I guess I must thank you, Jess. I went into the basement because I wanted to prove you I was no coward. Thanks to that, I have a family now."

"I´m glad you found your place."

We´re running out of food and beverages, and it´s getting dark, so dad asks one last question before Savannah goes back home.

"If you stayed in the 60s, when did you write the note for me? The one explaining you left the camp because you wanted to find your family?"

"Oh, Harper and Griffin explained to me all about time travelling, and they finally confessed their real identities. They told me you were feeling guilty about what happened, so I came with the idea of the note."

"What do you mean with "confessed their real identities?"" mom asks.

"At first they tried to keep it low. They didn´t introduce themselves as Ben´s son and Jess´ daughter. They called themselves Harry and Hermione."

We laugh, but she doesn´t get the joke.

"What´s so fun?"

"Harry and Hermione are the main characters of a famous book series, "Harry Potter."" Zoey explains. "7 books, 8 movies."

"Wow!"

"It has spells, potions, dragons, danger and adventure." Wyatt sounds excited, he loves Harry Potter.

"And romance." Zoey adds.

"I can´t believe you don´t know the series!" Topher shakes his head. "That´s not right."

"I think the first book came out in 1997." Mom comments. "If she went from the 90s to the 60s, there´s no way she´ll know it."

"Well, you should read the books and watch the movies." Topher suggests. "I have the 8 movies at home, we could watch them someday."

"Magic, dragons and romance?! Sign me up!"

"Why not tonight?" Jess offers. "You could have a slumber party."

"Thanks, Jess, but I must go home tonight." Savannah stands up. "Actually, I should go right now. I have a date!"

"What?!" Harper and I shout.

"What´s his name?" Harper asks.

"Jordan. Jordan Walker."

Walker. Harper and I exchange looks. I don´t need to read minds to know she´s thinking the same thing. That guy is Savannah´s future husband.

"But, you know what? I could tell him to go out anoth…"

"No!" Harper shushes her. "You should go. Don´t miss that date. Harry Potter can wait."

Savannah looks confused, but she doesn´t complain. It´s clear she likes Jordan, I can see the excitement on her face.

"Whenever you want to come home, you´ll always be welcome, Savannah."

"Thanks, Jess."

"And thank you for the visit, I had a really good time. I think we all did. It was a great afternoon."

"It was…" Dad begins and turns to Savannah. "What did you say? Epic."

"Epic." She repeats, before waving at us, and rushing through the hallway on her way back home.