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Autumn wind howled through the wooden slats of the Clawthorne’s screened in back porch, bringing with it the promise of a cold dark night.
Floorboards creaked below the feet of Edalyn, the youngest Clawthorne, as she rocked on her heels beside her older sister, Lilith, whose nose was far too deep a textbook for Edalyn’s liking.
“Please Lily?” She once more held out a thin paper map tightly wound in a scroll to her sister.
They had been this way for months. Ever since Raine transferred to Hexside, Lilith had been more than happy to let Eda goof off with them and leave her to her studies.
As the threat of the Emperor’s coven tryouts loomed over head of the sisters, however, Edalyn was desperate to go on one last adventure with Lilith before one of them was whisked away to the castle forever.
“I really can’t, Edalyn.” Lilith pushed the paper back into Eda’s hands without looking up, “Tryouts are tomorrow I have to be ready.”
“You’re gonna get in Lily, I promise. I just want to spend one last night with you before you go away. Come on, please ?” Eda’s eyes welled with fake tears. Lilith knew it was a ruse but bent to her sister's whim anyhow.
“Okay...” She closed her book and took the map from Eda, “Grab a coat.”
With a shriek of joy Eda dashed up the stairs to grab her tattered grudgby jacket from its hook in the hallway. A photo strip flew from its pocket as she whipped it on.
She bent over to pick it up and looked it over with a smile. Three photos sat in a straight line. One of Raine kissing her cheek, one of the three of them hugging, and the last of Lilith and Raine’s shocked faces as she lit the booth up in flames.
A smile tingled her cheeks as she put it back in her pockets. Raine Whispers . She thought. What started out as a goofy new friend who transferred from St. Epiderm had quickly turned into a debilitating crush. Titan, did Eda have it bad for Raine. And if you asked anyone who had ever been in a twenty yard radius from them, they had the hots to her too.
“Edalyn, come on! I don’t want to be out after dark!” Lilith’s voice rang shrill up the stairs and Eda booked it down to her.
Lilith watched her sister from the dining room table as she placed various books and objects in her bag with a pointed frown on her face.
“Ooo do you have your little nerd-vention?” Eda asked, poking through the sacks’ contents.
“Stop it!” Lilith smacked her hands away, “How many times have I told you not to go through my stuff!”
Edalyn shrugged. “Once or twice, who can keep count? But seriously, do you have that thing you made?”
“My magnetic time pool manipulator that I invented specifically for looking for time pools?” Lilith asked with a sigh, “Yes, Edalyn, I will be bringing my magnetic time pool manipulator that I invented specifically for looking for time pools with us to look for time pools.”
“I mean, a yes would have sufficed.”
With a groan, Lilith heaved her satchel over her shoulders. “Come on, I don’t want to be out all night.”
Fallen leaves crunched below the sisters feet as they traipsed through the woods behind their house. Eda savored the cool late afternoon air on her cheeks. Autumn had always been her favorite time of year. If you asked her, that’s the time that Bonesborough truly felt like itself. When all was right with the world.
By the time they had reached the Tricep Conjunction, Eda was beginning to regret her choice in footwear. And once they had found Forearm Forest, she was regretting not bringing one of their staffs to fly on.
That, of course, would never fly with Lilith. A good scientist makes his discoveries on foot . She would say. Whatever that meant. In the air, on foot, in the rafters of a tree, what difference did it make? In the dozens of times they had been out in search of time pools they had never actually found one.
“So…are we almost there?” Eda asked, looking around the barren forest surroundings.
“I don’t know yet.” Her sister muttered as she dropped a piece of soil into one of her vials, creating a puff of blue smoke, “I think we’re getting close, stop distracting me.”
Eda stalked off to a large willow tree in the middle of the dilapidating woods while Lilith muttered to herself about which side of the isles last year's fire flu season started from.
The tree stood tall and green despite being mid October. Its leaves gently swayed with the wind as Eda reached a hand out to touch its bark, her hand slipping softly through the tree instead. She gasped and pushed her hand further through.
“Lily!” Eda shouted for her sister and turned back to see her frantically scribbling and checking her notes.
Eda shook her head and stuck it through the tree looking gleefully at the lush forest that surrounded the other side.
“Lily!” She shouted again with glee.
“Not now, Edalyn! I think we need to head further northwest…these moss growth patterns are consistent with the Witches Almanac meaning goreberries won’t be in season until…June? That can’t be right…”
With an irritated groan Eda pushed back from the tree and stomped over to her sister. She grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her back to the tree.
“Edalyn! I am trying to find these stupid-“
“Would you just stop being yourself for five seconds and listen to me!” She let go of Lilith’s arm and gestures to the talk willow tree, “Time pool found! Let’s check it out!”
“This doesn’t make any sense…” Lilith stuck her hand through the tree, “According to my research the time pools are further north…this one must be closing, or perhaps it’s a fools' pool, we really shouldn’t.”
“Oh come on! Five minutes!” Eda tugged at her sister's arm and stepped halfway into the tree. With a sigh, Lilith grabbed Eda’s hand and followed her through the pool.
The pair looked around the once again barren forest with disappointment.
“I don’t understand…” Eda’s eyes wandered back to the tree they had just stepped through, “I looked, it wasn’t like this a minute ago.”
Lilith began rummaging her satchel again. “I told you it’s a fool's pool. We basically just walked in a circle. Let’s keep moving.”
Eda looked around the forest glumly but followed after her sister. Deep down she knew Lilith was smug, happy Eda hadn’t found a time pool before she did. Perfect prissy Lily, always had to be right.
She kicked at the rocks beneath her feet as she followed her sister out of the woods. Lilith banged on the side of her makeshift time pool devices grumbling at it.
“Stupid thing!” She groaned and shoved it back in her back, “I’m sorry, Edalyn, it ran out of power.”
“What?! I thought you had it charged right before we left!”
“I did” Lilith tossed the rest of her equipment in the bag with annoyance, “It just drained itself! It must be faulty or something I don’t know! Let’s just go home, it’s getting late and it’s already going to take us forever to get back.”
Eda mumbled disappointment but complied and followed after Lilith on their way back home.
“Do you think we can bring Raine next time?” She asked, beaming, “They don’t think time pools are real, I’d love to show them one and shut them up.”
Lilith snorted. “So two of you can distract me? Pass. Besides, that would be a horrible date with your sister there.”
“Lily!” Eda gasped, coughing on her shock, “It’s not- We’re not- I don’t like them!”
“Mhm, very convincing.”
The girls began approaching Tricep Conjunction again as the sun slowly began to dip beyond the horizon. Nocturnal critters lined their path, chirping contently to themselves.
Eda smiled as she stopped to pluck a bright red rose from a bush near her feet. After giving it a quick sniff, she twirled it to rid the flower of any bugs before tucking it in her hair.
Lilith stopped to sit on a tree stump nearly half a mile from the house.
“Just give me a minute.” She whispered, out of breath.
Eda continued to wander the surrounding area. She plucked a lighting bug off a smooth rock and held it out to Lily.
“Look, the fireflies are still out!”
Her sister stood with a frown. “What is that?”
“A firefly?” She asked holding the glowing bug out to her.
“No, in your hair.”
“Oh!” Eda plucked the small flower from her hair, “It’s a rose! Can’t believe I found it too, all the bushes around the house have died off for the winter.”
“That’s because they don’t bloom in October, that’s probably a carnation.” She said, lifting her satchel up around her shoulders.
“It’s not a carnation, I know my flowers. It’s a rose, see. It has fewer petals than a garden rose and classic rose hips.” She explained pointing out the flowers' different features.
Lilith shrugged. “Maybe it’s a hybrid.”
“It’s not a hybrid!” Eda tried showing her the flower again, “Wild roses live longer and are more resistant to diseases, why can’t you just admit I’m right?”
“Because you’re not. There are no roses in October.”
“There’s over three hundred classifications about roses.” Eda scoffed, “You really think there isn’t at least one in bloom right now?”
“Nope.”
“Just because you refuse to admit you’re wrong doesn’t mean you’re right.” She muttered to herself, “No wonder you have no friends .”
Lilith scoffed. “And what’s your excuse?”
Eda’s eyes welled as she looked away from her sister and back at the flower in her hands. True to Lilith’s word, she and Raine were the only friends Eda had. It wasn’t like she didn’t try to make friends. Everyone saw Eda as a loud mouthed troublemaker who was nothing more than a liability. Even her sister.
Maybe that’s why she liked Raine so much. They didn’t give her slack for who she was. To them, she was funny and charismatic and charming, all the things she wished other people saw when they looked at her. Not some childish agitator.
“Edalyn wait…” Lilith reached out to her sister who was busy kicking her shoes off at the top of their back porch.
She brushed Lilith off. “See you at the tryouts, Lily.”
Eda pushed through the back door and shuffled quietly upstairs. The entire house was pitch black. Her mother, Gwen, must have assumed her daughters were already snug in bed when she and Dell turned in for the night.
Silently, she crept into bed and snuggled up for the night.
“Poor little Edalyn.” Odalia Blight cooed, “Big sister Lily is out sick and you have no one to play with do you?”
“What do you want, Odalia? Is ordering Alador around getting boring?”
“From you? Nothing at all. Have fun hanging out in detention by yourself again. It’s what you’re good at.”
——
“I don’t understand, Edalyn. Why did you spike the lemon-raid with scab roaches?” Vice Principal Bump ask with his hands out in frustration, “You know Principal Faust is looking for another reason to expel you! I have to give you detention, you leave me no choice!”
——
“Suspended from school again, Edalyn?!” Gwen’s cold words just barely scratched the surface of Edalyn’s mind, “I swear all you know how to do is get in trouble! Forget trying out for the Emperor’s Coven with your sister! The coven doesn’t want someone who doesn’t know how to act right!”
——
“You’re a screw up.” “Troublemaker.” “Good for nothing.” “No coven will want her.” “She just wants attention.” “Loser.”
——
Eda tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep with the never ending stream of hateful jeers from her pupils and loved ones her subconscious decided she needed to be reminded of.
So what if Eda wasn’t perfect, who was? Lilith? Big deal. Lilith may have been the tamer of the two, but there was nothing she could do Eda couldn’t. That very fact annoyed Eda to her core. She was just as capable as her sister, but Titan forbid anyone ever realize that.
Eda’s eyes peaked open as she stretched with an ungracious yawn. She rubbed her eyes hoping to feel more awake. She laid her head back down, eyes fixated on the floor.
“Huh?” She sat up still looking at the round green rug she most certainly didn’t have on the floor below her.
She looked up at the blue pinstripe wallpaper adorned with flyer derby posters and figure model zeppelins hanging from the ceiling.
“This isn’t my room…” She muttered to herself.
“I’ll say.”
She whipped her head back to the corner of the room where a young boy around the same age as her watched her from a plush recliner.
Words betrayed her and her only instinctive response was to scream.
“LILY!” She scrambled out of the bed, throwing everything in her path at the boy who was trying to follow her out the door.
“LILY!!”
“Stop shouting!” The boy called after her, “You’re gonna wake my parents!”
Screams came from behind the door of Lilith's room. With the help of her shoulder Eda barged in, nearly taking the door with her.
“My room!” Lilith was shouting, “What happened to my room!”
“Dell what’s going on out there?” Muffled voices rang out from somewhere beyond the hallway.
Lilith screamed again pointing at the boy behind Eda. “Who is that?!”
Who am I ?!” He asked, incredulously, “Who are you guys!?”
Eda looked him over as Lilith jumped out of the bed she was in, he looked…familiar, but Eda couldn’t quite place him.
Before she had any real time to think Lilith had grabbed her arm and began pulling her down the hall. They dashed down the stairs hoping to find solace in their living room.
Unfortunately for the sisters it didn’t look like their living room.
“Lily, what’s going on?” Eda asking in a trembling voice.
This was their house. This was very clearly their house. So why did nothing look right? And where were their parents?
“I don’t know. I have no idea-“
Lilith cut herself off when her eyes met the portrait hanging on the mantle above a roaring fireplace.
“That’s…that’s Gammy and Poppy…”
“Huh?” Eda looked up at the portrait of a young couple with their son standing in front of them, “Oh yeah…it is. That’s that picture of them and Dad he has in the study. Why’s it out here?”
Lilith didn’t answer. Her eyes wandered around the room. The soft pink wallpaper, the antiqued appliances, and all the pictures of their grandparents.”
“The time pool…” She muttered.
“The what?” Eda asked as she poked around an old splintering bookshelf.
“The time pool! We went through the time pool!” She rushed to collect her satchel from the dining room table where she left it and tossed Eda’s grudgby jacket to her.
“I don’t understand, you said it was a fool’s pool?” Eda whipped her jacket on before struggling to slide on her shoes she had left on the back porch.
“I thought it was! It only took us back 30 years!” She grabbed Eda’s hand as she started running off towards the woods. “Come on, we have to get back before it closes!”
The pair was silent as they sprinted through the woods. Years of grudgby training finally paid off, giving them the stamina to make it back to the decrepit forest in half the time it took them yesterday.
“This is it!” Lilith shouted pointing at the ornate willow tree up ahead, “Come on we’re almost there!“
Once in front of the tree, Lilith handed her back to Eda. She placed her hand against the bark. It stopped.
“No.” Lilith brought her other hand up to the tree, pushing as hard as she could against it, “No no no no no no!”
“Lily?” Eda asked, with eyes fixated on the tree, “Why can we go through?”
Lilith’s hands laid still on the bark of the large willow tree.
“The time pool is closed.”
Eda slung her sister’s satchel onto her shoulders. “So how do we get back?”
“I don’t know…”