The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick Page B

that fed the pond below. The wooden bridge! Hooray. She crossed over it slowly, making as much noise as possible, running her hand along the smooth tree-log railing. At the far end of the small bridge was a large boulder, perfectly shaped for a little sit and a rest, but there was no resting tonight.
    In a moment, Feenix found herself on the other side of the stream, back on the smooth path. She was high in the trees now. She listened for the sound of the boys’ footsteps or their voices. But now there was nothing.
    She strained her ears. All she could hear was the low soft shushing of wind through the old leaves. Very suddenly, she felt all alone in a way she did not like. With the mist pressing in, the darkness falling fast, and the sound of the water rushing by, it was like she was on a little ship far out to sea, a thousand miles from anywhere. She stopped whistling and held still, waiting for the sound of the boys behind her.
    The silence, however, went on and on. All she could hear was the shushing of the trees. Crud buckets, where were the twerpy bleepsters?
    To her relief, she heard a padding and a soft breathing. That had to be Edsel. He was so not in shape. She decided she would give them a great reward for their efforts and let them catch up with her. They could all walk back together and if he really wanted the stupid rock maybe she would give it to him.
    Feenix waited until the footsteps were almost upon her. “Took you long enough,” she called out.
    A shape came out of the mist. “You have the advantage, your legs being longer.”
    Her breath caught in her throat. This was neither Dweebo nor Danton. Being accosted by strange people when you were alone in the park was not a good thing. And of course, it was her own fault. How come she never realized stuff like this till the last minute?
    She couldn’t see much of the person in front of her, but she could tell that whoever it was, was pretty small. He had switched on some kind of light and held it high so she couldn’t see his face.
    “Put that down,” she said.
    “Pardon me,” he answered and lowered the light. “I did not mean to startle you.”
    “Do I know you?” The person looked weirdly pale in the falling darkness, but somehow familiar.
    He shook his head. “I had hoped to catch up with you before the bridge, but the time is past for that now. We are all in great danger. ”
    She peered at him, trying to see if he was carrying some kind of weapon. From what she could make out he was small and kind of vegetarian looking. She was sure she had seen him somewhere before. In any case, she could probably give him a good kick and outrun him.
    “The Fetch,” he said urgently in a low voice. “You must give it to me now.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “The Fetch. The stone you stole from the boy.”
    Whoa! How would this guy know about the stone? Could he have been following her, too? It was one thing to have a couple of yo-yos like Edsel and Danton sneaking up behind her, but some creepy little stranger?
    “Do not be foolish. What you carry is dangerous to us all. If it gets into the wrong hands, we will all pay dearly. There are lesser powers who would make terrible mischief with it given half a chance, and already the Unraveler is on the loose. His strength increases with each day that we approach the solstice.”
    Lesser powers? An Unraveler? She imagined some kind of mutant X-Man whose power was making holes in people’s sweaters. She giggled with sudden relief. Now she got it. “The boys put you up to this, didn’t they?”
    The little man made a gesture of impatience. “If your young friend had left the Fetch where it was meant to stay, we would not be in this peril. The Keeper would have collected the treasure at the appointed hour and no one would have been any the wiser. But a Fetch, once it is moved, is irresistible and the Keeper has little power to intervene. If some meddler wakes the foragers now, and any happen to get loose, we will be