Thank you, @Wolfy and Darkling! :)

Day 7, Part 1

The first thing pangolin thought of when she woke up the next morning was that it had been a week since the time-travel journey started.

A week... It felt more like a year. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ancient Wales, the Renaissance had all sped past, and so much had happened. She shook her head ruefully as she got out of bed and opened the curtains.

Outside, the air was fresh and cool. There was a sweet scent of violets. A robin hopped along the ground. pangolin could hear a brook bubbling somewhere behind the trees and a bluejay shrieking from an old stump. It sounded achingly familiar, as if pangolin were suddenly home again looking out of her own bedroom window. It was beautiful to be back in the United States, but a little sad too - this wasn't home, not yet. It was the 1700s.

After the CBers had had breakfast and a hurried discussion in Eclipse's room, a plan was decided on.

Luna Silvermoon and Silver Crystal made their way downstairs, where Marcus and Jeff Kiss were deep in discussion. Silver Crystal busied herself with a pack of cards on a nearby table, pretending to be playing Solitaire.

Luna Silvermoon closed her eyes, whispering a spell under her breath. A moment later she opened her eyes. It had worked. A slip of paper fluttered from Marcus' pocket.

Jeff Kiss bent to pick it up. "What's this?"

Marcus raised his eyebrows. "I don't know. Let me see it." 

But Jeff Kiss kept it, reading it over silently. Luna Silvermoon smiled, remembering the message she had ordered her magic to write on the paper before she made it fall out of Marcus' pocket. Dear Simon (Simon Ashbee was another employee of the Inn,) tell Jeff that the 63 crows are not black. Do not let him know they are green. Signed, M.

"What's all this about?" Jeff barked.

"Want to play War with these cards, Luna?" asked Silver Crystal, as if nothing was going on. Luna sat down and began to shuffle the cards. "Okay. How many cards do you suppose there are in a deck?"

Silver Crystal glanced for a second at Marcus, who was looking puzzledly at the paper. "But Jeff," he protested, "this is ridiculous. What 63 crows? I can't understand this message at all."

"Hmm," replied Jeff.

Marcus looked frightened, as well he might. It would be unnerving to meet that ice-blue gaze at the best of times, but when its owner was your boss, and a feared magician besides - it was no wonder his voice faltered even while he moved closer defiantly.

"I haven't the remotest connection to that note. It's not even my handwriting."

Jeff glanced again at the note. "Oh, isn't it? Well, we'll let it pass ths time." He cast the paper on the floor and went to the doorway. "But next time - there will be consequences."

Marcus stared after the retreating figure, then saw Silver Crystal and Luna intent on their card game.

"Hey!" he said crossly. "What are you doing here?"

"We've been here all along," replied Silver Crystal. "Playing War. Have you ever played it?"

"certainly not. A nice peaceable game for little girls to play - I don't think!" And he, too, stalked out.

Silver Crystal watched him go. She disliked him, but the thought of what Jeff Kiss might do to him made her feel unsure. "Luna, will Marcus be safe?"

"If Jeff casts him out of the Inn or goes after him, I'll protect him," the other girl replied with finality. "I can protect one person at a time, just not several."

"Sounds good." Silver Crystal smiled. "Well, I guess our first plan's accomplished!"

Day 7, Part 2

Madame Agalier bustled into the room, followed by the other CBers. Silver Crystal, watching her, wondered how much she knew about the Nile Corporation. She had always liked the interesting, quick-witted Frenchwoman  - it didn't seem true that she was in on the plot, but if she wasn't, why would she be working for the Inn in the first place? Silver Crystal's thoughts were interrupted by Luna Silvermoon.

"Where are Lyric and Midnight Phantom?"

Lyric and Midnight Phantom were standing in the library, which Marcus had asked them to come to. Marcus stood at one end of the room, fiddling with the cord of the blinds that were drawn across the window. Only the tick - tick - tick - of a clock kept the room from being eerily silent. The room was only dimly lit.

Lyric bit her lip. Marcus had evidently wanted to talk to her and Mid, but now that they had arrived, he wasn't saying a thing.

"What were you going to say to us, Marcus?" Mid ventured after a moment.

Marcus started and glanced at them as if he had forgotten they were there. "Well - look. You'll have met Luna Silvermoon, of course? Well, she may be a witch - but we aren't sure. She's not dangerous, but still we need to know whether she's a witch. So while you're touring this century with Madame Agalier, do please keep your ears open for any information about her. I'm asking you to do it because she wouldn't be suspicious of you, whereas she would be suspicious of me if I started asking questions."

Lyric swallowed. It had come - the moment when she was asked to spy for the Nile Corporation. She held her gaze steadily fixed on Marcus' face and nodded. "All right."

"Oh, and by the way." Marcus turned halfway toward the girls. They couldn't see his face - he was silhouetted against the window - but his voice held a thrill of urgency.

"You might want to stay away from Saint Mary's Church. It could be dangerous, but don't say I told you so." Then he shrugged and yanked up the blinds. "Run along now. Madame Agalier must be waiting for you."

Once all the CBers were assembled downstairs, Madame Aglier opened the door and they all set off along the countryside road that ran past the hotel. Within a few minutes they had come to the outskirts of Boston, one of the most important cities of the United States back when it was only the Thirteen Colonies.

pangolin had been to Boston before, a year ago, and she was surprised at how familiar it felt. She even recognized some of the old gray buildings as the group meandered through the streets, and the people hurrying along could have been the same people she had met when she visited the 2000s version of the city - except for the clothes.

Two women in white wigs and long, full dresses ambled by, talking in a clipped British accent.

"Well, my dear, I told John that the Patriots would rebel," said one importantly. "I said to him, 'John, 'twill happen quite soon, for this rabble shan't endure His Majesty King George much longer.' And you see I was right."

"But of course John wouldn't listen," observed the other woman. "'Tis a shame how he never does, even though thee and he have been married for nigh twelve years."

"Has the Revolution begun already?" Wolfy was asking Madame Agalier.

"Yes," she replied. "We're right in the middle of it. Of course you must remember it was not really a revolution, like what occured in France or Russia, but a War of Independence - the first of its kind, really."

The pealing of church bells sounded through the warm summer air. pangolin smiled. She liked the strong, sonorous noise of it. A carriage drove past with a coachman in a red-and-gold jacket holding the reins. Some children ran along the street after the carriage, laughing and rolling wooden hoops in front of them. The city wasn't as loud or crowded as the ones in Rome or Egypt, and yet it was still full of interesting people and places.

"I think I just belong in the 1770s," pangolin remarked.

"I like it too," agreed Flamarestii. "Although I think my favorite place so far was King Arthur's castle."

"But it wasn't King Arthur's castle," Artemis pointed out. "It was Sir - Sir - oh, Sir Arveragus' castle. Funny, I don't remember Sir Arveragus at all. Perhaps we didn't see him."

"Next," Madame Agalier was saying, "we will be visiting Saint Mary's Church. That's the stone building up ahead."

Lyric gasped as she realized that this must be the church Marcus had warned her about. "Oh, Madame Agalier, do we need to see it yet? I feel sort of tired."

"Then you stay here and rest, and I'll go on with the others. It's only a step."

"But Madame - "

The bells stopped pealing. in the clear quiet that followed, pangolin heard a dog barking - a queer, throaty bark, but still quite urgent. She turned. At the corner stood a large, shaggy black dog, his green eyes fixed on the group. He barked again.

"Who's that dog?" pangolin asked.

"It's like he's trying to tell us something," mused Amethyst.

Madame Agalier sighed. "He is trying to tell us nothing. If you really insist on not seeing the church, of course we do not have to. But - "

At that moment pangolin saw Darkling, who had been going on ahead, climb the steps of the church - and disappear inside.

We now have the next part of the ski-lodge!

Day 7, Part 3

The dog barked again, then trotted a few steps away, still watching them.

"That's Reuby Moonnight's wolf!" Amethyst exclaimed suddenly.

It was true. Amethyst wondered why she hadn't recognized him sooner. The proud yellow eyes, the finely shaped head, the small, triangular ears, were all Wiccan's features. 

"But Reuby was left in Wales," Hex pointed out.

Suddenly an image flashed into Lyric's mind. A quiet, sunlit room in an Italian palace, with an artis peacefully painting near a window, and a golden-haired woman in a doorway with a yearning look in her eyes. And the tall, quiet girl who had stood next to that woman. Reuby Moonnight.

"Who is Reuby Moonnight?" Mid asked.

Lyric spoke up.

'I think this wolf wants us to leave the church," she said. "And we have good reason to. Before we left, someone warned me not to go near it. He asked me not to reveal his name, so I won't. But if the wolf is Reuby's, we can probably trust him. Back in the Renaissance, a woman named Lady Elaine appeared and gave Midnight Phantom and me important information about the Inn - and there was a girl with her named Reuby Moonnight."

Madame Agalier gave a slight gasp. "That settles it. We'd better follow Wiccan."

"What about Darkling?" asked Rora, looking worried.

Darkvine ran up the steps of the church and looked in through the heavy doors.

"It's empty," she called back. "Wherever Darkling is, he's not there now."

"Let's hurry!" Lyric urged.

The wolf, as if he understood, trotted down the road, and the others followed him. Hex felt better now that she was moving. She turned for a last look at the church, glad that she was leaving it, although at the same time questions filled her mind.

The wolf led them through a maze of side streets that seemed to be mostly empty. Then abruptly, the cobbled street ended. A dirt path was all that remained, running through a meadow filled with spring flowers. Violets grew along both sides of the path, their deep purple or pale yellow petals filling the air with a sweet scent. Floating just under the violet-scent was a faint odor of animals that must have been coming from two cows, grazing and flicking their tails peacefully in a corner of the field. A wren sang its bubbly, rolling song - teakettle, teakettle, teakettle! it chirped. A warm wind lifted Artemis' dark hair.

"This is wonderful!" squealed Rora happily.

Wiccan trotted down the dirt path, but when they all started after him, he turned and barked. He quite obviously wanted them to stay where they were.

So they sat or lay down among the tall, nodding grasses, and listened to the humming of bees in the flowers, or the soft roar of the wind, or the endless teakettle! teakettle! teakettle! of the wren. White clouds scudded quickly along the blue sky. They looked like giraffes, or kites, or goal nets - anything really, and they were endlessly changing. Artemis, lying on her back in the warm grass, realized with a vague sense of wonder that in this meadow she felt - safe. Almost since the journey began, her senses had always been stretched to the utmost, straining to detect danger from Jeff Kiss or Marcus or some unknown source. But here all that had vanished. Perhaps this meadow really was a safe place.

"Do you think Wiccan will be back soon?" she idly asked Eclipse, who was lying beside her.

No answer came. Artemis sat up.

Eclipse was fast asleep. Her black hair was spread loosely around her face, and she looked more relaxed than Hex had ever seen her. She found herself looking closely at the other girl. Eclipse's  pale face with its long dark eyelashes, the finely etched eyebrows, the straight, small nose were all familiar to her. But Artemis hadn't really thought much about the person behind the face.

Life must have been hard for Eclipse. Where were her parents? Eclipse never spoke about them. Perhaps they were dead. Yet Eclipse had worked tirelessly all this time to protect the CBers and fight against the Nile.

Well, maybe now she would have help, if Lady Elaine and Peter were here. Artemis' gaze wandered away over the meadow. She found herself wondering about Lady Elaine. Who was she? What was she doing, time-travelingall over the place? She pictured the golden-haired, kind-faced woman in her mind - and realization flashed over her.

She had always thought that Lady Elaine looked familiar, somehow - but she had never been able to think why. Now she knew. Lady Elaine's gray eyes, with their changing depths that were so like the sea on a misty day, were like Eclipse's. That was it. She looked like Eclipse.

Just then Artemis heard a steady panting and turned to see Wiccan rushing up. And behind him - yes, it was Reuby Moonnight, her face shining. And behind Reuby - Lady Elaine and Peter the minstrel!

"You've come!" Hex exclaimed.

Peter smiled. "Yes, at last. We meant to rejoin you sooner, but we couldn't."

Eclipse stirred and opened her eyes. "Lady Elaine! Peter!" she exclaimed, sitting up. 

Lady Elaine sat down. "Oh, did we wake you up? I'm sorry."

"No, it's all right." Was Artemis imagining it, or was Eclipse's face a little happier than it had been?

"Now let me tell you all what we've been up to," said Lady Elaine.

Quickly she and Reuby recounted how they had followed the CBers to the Renaissance and then the 1700s. "Peter and I used to work for the Time Travel Inn," said Elaine, "which is how we knew how to time travel, and how we knew that you were in danger."

"And that's how we were able to appear to Lyric and Midnight Phantom," Peter added, "and warn them against Jeff Kiss. You see, he wanted them to spy on you. Once we'd done that, we came here, as we knew that would be the next century for the Inn to stop at, and sent Wiccan to get you. It wasn't safe for us to be seen within Boston."

Suddenly Nightly spoke up.

"Pardon me, you two, but what's happened to your medieval way of speaking?"

"Oh, that!" laughed Lady Elaine. "We aren't really medieval. We're modern people. But when we left the Inn, Jeff Kiss was very angry and we only just escaped him by staying in ancient Wales, where we were separated. I posed as the wife of Sir Arveragus, and Peter posed as a minstrel. The day we were reunited was the day you arrived in Wales. You see, we're married."

Artemis remembered the song Peter had sung that day - the story of a knight who had journeyed far and wide to find his wife and child. Everything was falling into place.

"What should we do next?" Flamarestii asked.

"Go on to Russia," replied Lady Elaine. "And try to save Darkling."