Chapter 1: Destination: Scottish Highlands 1200 AD

"I thought you were going to wear jeans on your dress down day?" Mrs. Lynn asked her daughter, Delia.

"I felt like wearing a skirt today, Mom." Delia responded with the hint of annoyance in her voice. She hated it when her mother probed into her business.

"But you wear a skirt everyday, dear."

"And your point is?"

"I was just making an observation. One day that attitude is going to get you into trouble."

Delia sighed. It was a cold winter day, and Delia was preparing to go to school. She went to a private school where everyday the girls wore skirts, red and black plaid, with a black sweater vest that said "St. Peter's" on the left breast. Today, however, was a dress down day where students could wear whatever they wanted. Delia wore a skirt with green and black plaid, black stockings, and a black sweater with a scoop neckline and 3/4 sleeves, and black heels. Her layered, dark blonde hair was curled and framed her face. She did not wear makeup, though, except for her trademark lip gloss. She had natural rosy cheeks, so there was no need for blush. Delia secured her silver hoop earrings and applied her lip gloss.

"Delia! You're going to be late for the bus if you don't hurry!" Her mother's voice yelled.

"I know." Delia grabbed a muffin, pulled on her suede jacket and walked out the door with her black messenger bag slung over her shoulder.

******

"Hey, Del." Delia's best friend, Melanie, said as Delia took a seat next to her on the school bus.

"Hey, Mel. What's up?" Delia said, looking to see what Melanie had decided to wear. She had on light blue jeans, tan Tims, with the white soles. Her long dark, curly, brown hair was still wet and fell down to her lower back.

"Not much." Melanie responded. They sat the rest of the way in silence. It was 7:45 am, and both girls were tired. Not many of the other people said anything on the bus either. Suddenly, Melanie broke the silence. "You did study for the AP history test, right?" Delia had a horrible memory and Melanie was always reminding her about different assignments and whatnot. Delia bit back a curse. "No. Frik, I'm going to fail. What's it on again?"

Melanie thought for a moment. "Uh, I think it's on the Middle Ages."

"Well, that's a big area of time, can you get a little specific?"

"Why don't you look at that outline Mr. Hans gave us?"

"Maybe I lost it."

Melanie sighed and handed her, her outline. "Here, use mine. You're lucky we don't have history until 10th period."

"Thanks, Mel." Delia took the paper and folded it up and put it in her bag, in one of the front compartments.

Delia went through the rest of the day, as if it was a regular day. She was going over Mel's house after school, the same as always. They were going to cram for the big physics midterm tomorrow. Midterms had been a little later this year, than usual, due to the mass amount of snow days they had.

When the girls reached Mel's house, her mother was not home and her father was downstairs working in the cellar. Delia thought Mel's dad to be quite eccentric. The last time she was over for dinner, she asked how his latest experiment was going. He had responded, joyously, "It's going extremely well. Soon, I shall be able to travel back in time." Delia did not know how to respond to such a comment. Surely, he was not attempting to build a time machine. That was the most absurd idea Delia had ever heard.

During their cramming session, when really they were talking about boys, they heard a small explosion come from downstairs. As they reached the first floor, Dr. Johnston had a wide smile on his face, and much dirt covering him from head to toe. He addressed his daughter and asked her to help him in the kitchen with something. That something he did not say, for Delia was standing there.

After they left, Delia peered down the cellar stairs. There was a lot of smoke coming out of the room, but that did not deter her. She slowly walked down the stairs to see many chemicals sitting on tables and notes tacked to the walls, with various equations. The thought of math made Delia sick, not to mention that awful odor coming from somewhere in the room. She knew that she should not be down here. It was the number one rule in the Johnston house. Curiousity killed the cat, Delia thought, but to quote one of her good friends, but satisfaction brought him back.

The smoke cleared and she saw what looked like a shower placed in the corner of the dark room. She went up to it and looked inside, but she knew better than to step in. Unfortunately, the machine must have been motion censored for it said, "Dr. Johnston," After a few seconds of beeping, lights flickering, and shaking the machine said, "Scottish Highlands, 1200 A.D." Delia heard the sharp intake of her breath as she felt something grab onto her arm and pull her into that machine. She tried to scream but it was muffled. The last thing she saw was Mel's basement, the chemicals in flasks, and the equations tacked on the walls. Then everything went black.