I was giving Tovah a chance. If she doesn't write tomorrow, I'll go ahead if you like.

Oh never! I love this thread far too much!

Dehlia ~

After several minutes of silent contemplation, we all came to a unanimous decision. 

"We need to get off this ship," I said firmly. The others nodded in agreement.

"Tonight," Dora said, glancing around.

"How?" Zoe asked.

I smiled. "How are ya'll at swimming?"

***

"That water looks dark," Diana said.

"And cold," added Zoe.

We were hidden behind an assortment of crates and barrels. A few sailors were on deck, but none were paying much attention on keeping watch. The moon thankfully was hidden behind a set of clouds.

I nodded in agreement with Diana and Zoe, feeling slightly queasy. During the day, the shore hadn't seemed that far. But now...

"We'll be fine," Dora said.

I glanced around to ensure no one was looking our way. Cautiously, I rose up slightly, lowering a rope over the edge. The closer we were to the water, the quieter our splashes would be.

"Okay, one at a time," I whispered, still looking around.

"I'll go first," Dora offered, swinging one leg over the side, and gripping the rope tight. I had to admire the girl's guts. We had tied the rope to the railing, though I held onto it just to be sure. Silently, she slipped over the edge. After several long seconds, I heard a gentle splash.

"Zoe, you next," I whispered, helping her over the edge. Half a minute later, her splash signaled to Diana for her turn. Finally, all three were in the water. I shimmied over the edge, listening to the water below. I quickly slid down, praying no one would find the rope and think to look for runaways. The rope stopped about four feet above the water. Taking a deep breath, I released.

The water was cold, colder than I had thought it would be. It sent a quick shock wave through my body, and made me want to gasp, though I managed to hold my breath. I kicked hard, breaking the surface. I could just make out the others' silhouettes, even though they were only a few feet away.

"Come on," I called, and started paddling toward the shore.

Hey, I like that idea! I'll wait to see if Moss posts, and if not, we'll go with an Indian?

Moss, yay, you're back! I love what you wrote, that's perfect.

Dehlia ~

Swimming in this frigid November water was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. My clothes weighted me down, making it difficult to keep my head above water. At times, I could hardly hear the others swimming nearby. Finally, after what seemed hours of swimming, we managed to hall ourselves out of the water, and onto the beach. My muscles ached, and my whole body was shaking uncontrollably. I was freezing, though I could feel my body slowly going numb. I knew that was a bad sign. The cold, night air wasn't helping either. If we stayed like this for too long, we would develop frostbite and fall ill. That was the last thing we needed. There was talk of building a fire.

"What do you think, Dora?" Zoe asked through chattering teeth. No answer came.

"Dora?" Diana asked a little louder. Again, nothing.

"Dora?" I asked, starting to become very worried. What if she hadn't made it onto the beach with us? "Where are you?"

"Here," came her soft, and tired reply. "I got separated once we got to the rocks. I managed to get to shore, though."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"So we're all here?" she asked. "Four of us?" Zoe asked.

Just then there was bump and moan from behind us. Zoe shrieked, while the rest of us remained stalk still. If this was an Indian, or someone else from the ship, we'd have no way to defend ourselves, and nowhere to run. A tiny spark flashed through the night, causing us all to jump. Then it sparked again, and again, till suddenly a steady flame appeared just a few feet away. It was small, but enough to illuminate the face of a young girl. She had long, flowing, dark brown hair, and pale complexion. She was soaked and shivering, her eyes wide.

I glance at the others, then back at the girl. I carefully step forward.

"I'm Dehlia. This is Dora, Zoe, and Diana," I say, gesturing at each in turn. 

"I'm Autumn," the girl said through chattering teeth. "I have no idea how I got here, just that one minute someone was yelling witch because of this, thing," she said, holding forward the strange flame. "The next I was on that ship. I saw you all, and though maybe you would know what was going on, so I followed you. But I slipped off the deck, and somehow managed to swim to land."

I nodded.

"Yes, we're from other times too, though we're not sure how we got here, or how to return," Dora said, stepping in. She hugged her arms to herself, trying to keep warm. I could hear everyone's teeth chattering, worse than before.

"We need to get warm, above anything else," I said, glancing around.

"The woods," Diana said, looking toward them. "It's our best bet."

~Autumn

Before she knew it, she had passed out as soon as they sat down. Autumn hadn't realized how tired she was. She dreamt of her family back home in Paris and missed it terribly. She missed her great-grandfather's mystery and how she had always drawn him in fantasies. Autumn wished he was with her and he could explain to her why everyone thought he was dead. Why it appeared he was dead.

Suddenly, she was in back in the restaurant. But the big surprise was that there was an man that looked like he was in his 50s that just standing in front of the door. Oddly enough, no one seemed to notice but her.

"Who are you?" Autumn asked.

He smiled kindly at her. "I think you know you I am."

She gulped. She did. "Great-grandfather, how can you be here?"

"Well, this is a dream," her great-grandfather said. "Doesn't mean it's real, does it?"

Autumn nodded. "How was I on the Mayflower? That wasn't supposed to set sail for a few more years."

"Autumn my dear, think of time this way: it can be elapsed. You were already on the Mayflower your whole life, all though it didn't appear that way. Think of it as a flame. The Mayflower wasn't flickered on yet for you, but for the passengers it had. The only flame that was flickering for you for awhile was Paris, France in the 1600s."

This immediately confused her. "What do you mean? You're not making sense."

Nicholas Flamel smiled once more. "Oh, you'll get it eventually Autumn. You'll get it eventually."

Then her dream faded away and she was being shaken awake.

"You passed out. Must be the cold," Dehlia said. "You all right?"

"Yeah... I think so," I said, remembering my dream the best I could. It probably meant nothing. Or maybe it did... oh had that dream messed with my head.

"All right then," Dora said. "I'll keep watch for any Indians. You still really need sleep, I can tell." She flashed a smile. "We'll find a way out, don't you worry. But in the mean time, we can at least have fun with it."

"I like your thinking," Zoe said. "Well, good night all!"

"'Night!" we all said, though this time I couldn't get to sleep with the dream still in my mind.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

So the idea for her great-grandfather Nicholas Flamel is that time can be elapsed and such and that's why he's in her dream. He never really died, he just figured out how to elapse time. What do you peeps think? I don't want to make it too fantasyish...