You're so much faster than me.

You know exactly what you want to be.

You're two steps ahead of me.

I'm two steps behind you.

You're running away, I'm losing hope.

Please wait for me, where did you go?

I'm lost alone.

I don't know what to do.

I just want to be like you.

I cannot catch a hair! 

Not even a dress hem!

If you find my words, 

Please let me know. 

They fly away like birds,

But I don't want to let them go!

"They're here?!!!!” Trixie was out the door in an instant. 

"Trixie!!!" Colista jumped out of the car and scooped her sister up in a big bear hug. “I've missed you so much!" she said. 

"Not as much as I've missed you!" Trixie countered. 

"Fine,” Colista said, pretending to be upset, “We're even-- in height too, you must have grown 3 inches since I left.” 

Trixie tried to stand a little taller. "I am almost 12,” she said. “Isn't that old enough to go with you on your next mission?” 

Colista laughed. “We'll have to talk to Mom and Dad about that." 

Trixie sighed. "I already did, they said no." 

"Well maybe I can..." Colista started. 

"He-e-e-l-l-o-w, "Mike interrupted, "What about me?" 

"Oh, right,” Trixie said, pretending she forgot. Just then their parents burst out the door. 

"My babies!" their Mom said while hugging Colista. 

"Hey there son!” their Dad said. Everybody was all smiles having a wonderful reunion.

That night after dinner they were all sitting on the couch talking about what happened while Colista and Mike were away. “I had my birthday party last Saturday," Trixie said, “I wanted to wait for you guys but Dad said we can go to Porky’s for my birthday dinner tomorrow.” 

Mike jumped up. "That reminds me," he said, “We should probably wait ‘til tomorrow but I can't wait to give you your gift.” 

Colista handed her an envelope. Trixie eagerly tore it open and read the inside of the card, it said: Dear Trix, Happy Birthday!! Boy do we have a surprise for you. You're going to spend a month in Antarctica with us! Chill out, Mom and Dad said it's OK. We'll work out the details later, for now, start packing! With love Colista and Mike." As she read, a broad smile spread across Trixie's face.

Colista smiled as the plane landed and Trixie clutched her hand so hard her knuckles were white. Colista remembered her first day in Africa. She had been just as excited as Trixie is now. "Are you ok?" she asked. Trixie wiggled in her seat. "Ye-e-es!' she said.

"So this is where we're staying,” Colista said, a little disgusted. 

"Guess so,” Mike said, tossing his suitcase on one of the beds.

"Looks cozy," Trixie said, choosing the bottom bunk. It certainly was cozy, it was a small one room cabin with a fireplace at each end. There was a set of bunk beds on one side of the far fireplace and a third bed on the other side.

The next day they were getting ready to explore outside the cabin. “Trixie, did you pack your camera?" Mike asked. 

"Yea, I'll bring it," she said, "Why are you bringing cans of beans?" 

Colista answered for Mike. "Because your brother is scared of starving in just half an hour.” "Nu-u-u," Mike said. "You never know what could happen, we could get lost out there and starve to death.” 

Trixie looked scared. "So is it safe to go out?" she asked.

“Sure," Mike said, “It's just better to be safe than sorry."

“I'm freezing, can we go back now?" Colista asked. 

"I didn't want to complain but I'm pretty cold too," Mike said. 

"Just a little longer,” Trixie begged. “I don't get to have adventures every day like you do.” 

Mike looked up at the sky. "Ok but not too long," he said, “It's starting to snow." 

"Hurray!" Trixie began running, "Let's make a snowman and snow angels!" 

Colista and Mike looked at each other and shrugged then joined Trixie.

"Ok, we should really head back now,” Mike said. 

"Fine!" Trixie said, "Let's go." 

Colista looked around. "Go where?" she asked. 

"Back to the cabin of course," Mike said. 

"No, I mean which way is the cabin?" Colista asked. 

"It's that way,” Trixie and Mark said at the same time. They were pointing opposite directions. “Don't panic,” Colista ordered. 

"How do I not panic?" Trixie asked, “We're going to die out here!" 

"We are not going to die,” Mike said, "Although we would have a higher chance of living if you hadn't insisted that we stay and build a snowman."

Trixie gasped, "I just wanted to have an adventure!” 

"Well here you go!" Mike said, "Thanks to you we can spend our last days having one!" 

"I thought you said we wouldn't die!" Trixie retorted.

"Well…” Mike started, but before he could finish Trixie interrupted.

“And don't blame it all on me, Colista was supposed to keep track of where we are." 

Before Mike could answer, Colista spoke up, “Stop fighting,” she said, “It's getting late and we'll only survive out here if we work together." 

"How are we going to keep warm?” Trixie asked.

“We use our resources," Mike said.

“The only resource out here is snow and rocks,” Trixie said looking around. 

"I got it,'' Colista said, "We can build an igloo like the Indians did." 

"That could work,” Mike said, "And I brought some sticks to start a fire." 

Trixie stared at him. "How will we start it, or keep it burning?" 

Colista pated her pocket. "I have matches," she said. 

"The wood is pretty wet,” Mike said. “It should last the night, all we need is something to light that can spread to it." 

"I brought my sketchbook," Trixie said.

An hour later Colista, Mike, and Trixie were sitting in a small igloo around a fire, roasting beans on a flat rock. "How are we going to get home?'' Trixie asked. 

Colista put an arm around her. “We don't know yet,'' she said, “But God does, and He will protect us and lead us home if he wants us there.”

"What if He doesn't want us there?" Trixie asked.

"God wants us were He wants us," Mike said, "The Bible says 'God will work out all things for the good of those who love Him.’"

“And we love Him," Colista added, "All we can do now is pray." So they did. They prayed for God's will to be done and for Him to lead them home safely.

The next morning when Trixie woke up she felt like a magnet was pulling her east. So as soon as they were done eating breakfast they set off that way. About an hour later when they were about to turn back Colista saw something. "Didn't we walk along a lake for a while yesterday?" she asked.

“You're right," Mike said, "We walked Southwest from the cabin and then started following the lake." 

"How do we know where to branch off?" Colista asked. 

"I got it!" exclaimed Trixie, who had been looking at pictures on her camera. 

“Got what?" Colista and Mike asked at the same time. 

"The route, we branched off at this big boulder, see,” Trixie showed them the picture on her camera. So they followed the lake until they got to a big boulder then they went Northeast. When they saw the little cabin they all broke into a run shouting, "He saved us! God wanted us to get home!"

"We leave next week so you should get to packing," Grace said.

"Great," Emily said. The tone in her voice said she did not think it was too great. 

"Party pooper,” Rachle mocked. 

“See you in the woods," Grace called as she left without her shoes. 

"Um, Grace," Emily reminded her. 

"Oh, right," Grace put her shoes on and left.

1 Week Later

“Emily was supposed to be here 2 hours ago, where could she be?" Grace asked. 

"You know her,” Rachle said, "She probably couldn't decide which shoes to bring.” Just then the doorbell rang and Emily hobbled in lugging 7 suitcases.

"Oo!" what's in there?" Grace asked, opening one and rummaging through the fancy clothes. 

"Why do you need so many clothes?" Rachel asked. 

“Never know when you slobs might stain it," Emily said. 

“Never,” Grace said, setting down a pair of now stained capris. 

“What's in the rest of the suitcases?" Rachle wanted to know.

"That one has more clothes, the rest have parts of my bed, hair products, makeup, and electronics,” Emily told them. 

“Wow!” Grace said. 

"A bed? for camping?" Rachle was bewildered.

“What am I supposed to sleep on? The ground?" Emily asked. Grace rolled her eyes. 

"Ok let's go," Rachle said, walking out the door. 

5 hours later

"Rachle, do you know where we are going?" Grace asked. 

"Absolutely, the campsite,” Rachle said. 

“She has no idea how to get there," Grace whispered to Emily.

“Tell me I don't have to stress about this, I can not get a pimple,” Emily said. 

"Oh forget about your face,” Rachle said. "We’re lost."

10 minutes later

"Rachle, did it ever occur to you that wandering around here is just getting us more lost?” Grace asked. 

"We've passed that same tree at least 6 times," Emily said boredly. 

“There are other trees," Rachle said, "But you're probably right, let's set up camp here." Rachle and Grace set up the tent. 

5 minutes later

"That's it?" Emily asked, looking at the small tent that was just big enough for three sleeping bags. "How will my bed fit in there?" she asked. 

"It won't," Rachle said. 

"I guess I'll just have to sleep outside,” Emily said, looking at the sky to see if it would rain. 

“Ooo!” Grace got in the big fluffy bed. 

"Aaa! get out of my bed!” Emily screamed. 

Grace got out and revealed that she had left a big dirty smudge on the neat white sheets. 

"Never mind you can have it." Grace shrugged and flopped down. Emily growled. Rachle laughed.

“Well now your choices are cold ground or Grace's sleeping bag.” Emily would rather sleep on a bed of nails than in Grace's sleeping bag.

“Cold hard ground it is,” she said.

9 hours later 

Grace’s hand fell to the ground and she woke up with a start. The ground was was covered

in snow. The bed was covered in snow, but the only cold parts of Grace's body were her face and her hand. The blankets were very thick. She wanted to get out of bed and surprise Rachle and Emily with a pre-breakfast snowball fight but when Grace tried to push the covers away they wouldn't move. They were tucked in too tight and the top two layers were frozen solid. You would think that Grace could just fall back asleep but she was on the basketball team and had to get up at 5:30am every morning. Thankfully, Rachle was also an early bird, getting up at 6:30am to watch the sunrise. "How did YOU wake up so early?" Rachle asked, coming from behind the tent. 

“I will have you know that I get up at 5:30 every single morning, basketball or not," Grace sounded offended. 

“It's 7:00, why are you still in bed?" Rachle asked. "This bed is really comfy so I slept late... and I'm a little stuck," Grace said. Rachle rolled her eyes and tried to untuck the covers. They were too frozen to untuck. 

“How did it get like this anyway?" Rachle asked, “You never tuck your covers in." That was the first time Grace ever thought of how it happened. 

"I don't know,” she said. Rachle tried again to untuck the covers but they would not come. 

“I can't get you out," she said. 

Grace screamed, "I have to go to the bathroom and it's so hot under here that I feel like I sweated off at least 6 pounds.” Emily slowly stepped out of the tent, groggily rubbing her eyes. 

"What's all that noise? I'm trying to sleep,” she asked. 

"Long story," Rachle said. 

"Somehow my sheets and blankets got tucked in and frozen down,” Grace told her. 

"I can't get her out,” Rachle added. 

"Oh, I, uh, wonder how that happened,” Emily said as she backed into the tent. 

"What do you know?" Rachle asked Emily, who was acting awfully suspicious. 

"I tucked the sheets in during the night because I was mad at her for stealing my bed,” Emily burst. 

“Seriously?" Grace said. 

"Well I didn't know it would snow!" Emily yelled. 

"Well you knew I hate my covers tucked in!” Grace shot back. 

“I’ve told you a thousand times not to touch my stuff!" Emily screamed. Rachle was, as usual, the peacemaker. 

"Calm down, Grace shouldn't have stolen the bed and Emily shouldn't have tucked her in. Can you get over it?” Rachle said.

"Alright, alright, alright," Grace said. 

“Fine,” said Emily. 

"So any ideas on how to get me out?" Grace asked. Rachle looked around the campsite. 

“I guess we could start a fire and use it to melt the ice,” she said. 

"I'm already sweating to death now, do you want me to burn to death?” Grace would not have it.

"Or we could use my heating pad and not kill our friend,” Emily said. 

"You have a heating pad?" Rachle asked. 

"I happen to have very sensitive feet," Emily stated. 

"Who cares!" Grace yelled.

"Well we need electricity, "Rachle pointed out. Emily thought about that. “If we had a battery that might work." 

Grace had a solution, "I have a battery powered video game,” she said. "It might work if we could wire it right."

Rachle said that she knew a little wiring from Save the Earth Camp. So they wired it up and Grace was free and she learned not to touch Emily's stuff. Emily learned to control her vengeance and Rachel learned that her best friends were total wackadoos. They managed to enjoy the rest of their trip and stayed best friends forever and ever.

After dinner Tiffany got right to work on her robot. But it did not go well. Tiffany may for may not have kinda sort of maybe just a little bit caught the garage on fire. "Mom!” she yelled. Once the fire was out Tiffany was pretty upset about her science project.

The next day when Tiffany got home she stared at her robot. She should have waited to build her robot at school, but that would give her only two days instead of seven. Tiffany decided to just push a button and see what happened. She pushed it and the room started spinning. When the room finally stopped spinning, Tiffany did not know where she was. She looked around, she was sitting on dry grass, there were woods behind her, and teepees in front of her and a girl on a horse coming right towards her. Tiffany screamed and jumped out of the way. The girl stopped and got off of the horse. She had black hair in two long braids, she had dark skin and a brown dress, she had a purple belt, purple hair ties, and a purple flower necklace. She had moccasins. The girl said something, then seeing Tiffany's blank stare she said in sign language "My name is Calfury." 

Tiffany said, “My name is Tiffany" while doing it in sign language. (Any time they say something they always do it in sign language). “Where am I?'' Calfury told her that she was in a Siox tribe. “How do I get back to New York?" Tiffany asked.

“What is New York?” Calfury asked. Tiffany stared at her. Who didn't know what New York was? "I'm not sure, that is... never mind," Tiffany stammered. 

Calfury responded, “I know not of these strange things that you speak of, but I do know that you must stay here and rest until you can think straight.” Calfury began to lead Tiffany to the village of tents, Tiffany followed obediently, she was tired.

Tiffany woke up, it was dark but there was a campfire outside. She looked around. She was in one of the tents on a bed which she now saw was stuffed with straw. She looked down and saw that she was wearing a dress a lot like Calfury’s except less purple. The whole thing looked Native American. Tiffany gasped. She remembered her report on Native Americans, she remembered programming her robot before it caught on fire, had she time traveled or had she just teleported? ‘Native Americans do still exist today,’ she thought. Only one way to find out. Tiffany went outside and found Calfury, a girl a few years older than Tiffany, a man, and a woman. “Tiffany,” Calfury said, “This is my sister Amitola and my mama and papa.

"Hello," Tiffany said, “Do you know what day it is?" 

Calfury looked confused, “Yes why?" 

"I was Just wondering,” Tiffany said. 

“It's January 5th, 1522," Calfury said. Tiffany stared at her. 1522! Calfury was over 500 years old! Tiffany took a deep breath. ‘Wait a minute, how will I get home?’ Tiffany wondered. "What's wrong?" Calfury asked. 

“I don't know how to get home,” Tiffany said she ran back to where she was when she met Calfury. That's it, where she met Calfury! Maybe she could find something she dropped from home and use it to make something to get back.

Tiffany searched the grass but she didn't find anything. She sighed, why had she thought that would work? Tiffany looked down and saw the bracelet her 9-year-old sister Makayla made her for her 12th birthday. Tiffany sighed again, she really missed her sister and not just her, she also missed her 14-year-old sister, Ariona, and her 16-year-old brother, Carter. She studied the bracelet. The bracelet, that's it! Tiffany ran back to Calfury's camp and bonked into her halfway there. “I'm sorry, are you ok?” Tiffany said in a hurry. 

"I'm ok, are you?” Calfury said. 

"I'm fine,” Tiffany said, rubbing her head. 

“You know I was not talking about your head, Tiffany,” Calfury said. “I meant about getting home, back to your people." 

"I think I know how to get home but, could I stay with you for a few more days?" Tiffany said.

Calfury nodded, "Of course," she said, "Stay as long as you like." The next day Calfury showed Tiffany around the village. There was a lady who made dresses with fancy metal stuff. There was a man who made horse saddles and lots of other businesses. Tiffany saw Calfury pay for something with small beads. She used the beads on her necklace to buy two dresses, one she liked and one she didn't like.

That night when everyone else was asleep, Tiffany got out the dress she didn't like and got all the metal off. Then she melded it into a device to get home. She put the bracelet on top. She pressed the button and held her breath and then she was home. Tiffany looked at the robot, in a way it had done what she wanted it to do. She could have learned a lot about Native Americans but she was too busy trying to get home. Then Tiffany had an idea, she went back to 1522 and spent the whole week with Calfury. When she got home she brought the dress she bought and even had her necklace back. Calfury taught her so much about Native Americans that Tiffany got an A+++ on her report! And no time even passed at home while Tiffany was in 1522.

books.

     “Bookworm," Carrie muttered. “Look, I think I see a clearing up ahead!”

     The two girls ran to the clearing. “It's the perfect place to build a house!” Mary exclaimed. It really was a great place for a house, there was a large flat spot perfect for a house, there was a stream nearby to get water and plenty of rocks for a fireplace, there were also lots of trees around it. “The only problem is that there is no room for a garden,” Mary said. 

     “I'm sure Pa will be able to level it out,” Carrie said. “Let's go,” Carrie said. “Wait,” said Mary, “How will we remember where it is?” 

     Carrie thought a minute and then she asked Mary, “Do you have your sewing kit?"

    “Yes" Mary said, “Why?”

     “May I use it?” Carrie asked. Mary handed it to her.  Carrie took out the scissors and cut a piece of red fabric off her dress. Mary gasped. “What?” Carrie asked. “It's not like I don't have other dresses," Carrie said as she tied the strip around a thin tree. 

     "Okay," Mary sighed, “Let’s go!”

     “Can we wait a moment?” Carrie said. “I'm tired and my stomach hurts.” 

     "It's probably the poison,” Mary said. “We need to get you to a doctor, Ma will know what to do.”

     “Can't we just take a little break first?” Carrie asked. 

     “Oh, fine,” Mary said, so they took a rest.

     Mary woke up to the noise of Carrie coughing. She looked around. She was in a clearing with trees all around her and she could hear running water, what was going on? Then she remembered the day before. “Carrie, we have to get back to the wagon, come on," Mary said. When Carrie turned to face her, Mary could tell that she was tired and not feeling well.

     “Which way is the wagon?” Carrie asked. 

     “I think it's that way,” Mary said, pointing straight ahead. 

     “I thought it was that way,” Carrie said, pointing to the left. 

     “We will go straight and if we don't find anything then we will go the other way,” Mary said. So they went strait. "AAAAA!” Mary screamed.

     “What is it?” Carrie asked.

     "Snake!” Mary yelled. 

     "Aww, where?” Carrie asked. 

     "Carrie, it's poisonous!" Mary said. Both girls started running as fast as they could.

     When they finally stopped running Mary saw something. “Carrie, look,” she said. 

     “What is it?” Carrie asked. 

     “This plant,” Mary said, “I think it can cure poison berry sickness.” 

     Carrie immediately ripped it out of the grouped and ate it. About an hour later Carrie started to feel better. 

     "Okay, let's go," Mary said. 

     “Which way?” Carrie asked. 

     “I'm not sure,” Mary said. And then just when they were going to pick a direction they heard something. 

     “Mary, Carrie, Marrry, Carrrrie!”

     "Did you hear that? Mary asked.

     “Yes,” Carrie said, “It sounded like…” 

     “PA!” they both said together. 

     “I've been looking everywhere for you girls, where were you?" Pa asked. 

     “It's a long story," Mary said. 

     "I thought you were sick,” Carrie said. 

     "I'll tell you later,” Pa said, “Right now let's get you some dinner.” Pa led the way back to the wagon, and then, there right in front of them was a brand new, beautiful house. It turns out that Pa was never sick and the place where they parked the wagon was big enough for a house. Ma had sent the girls to look for a spot so that they would be surprised. Sometime Pa would clear a path to the spot Mary and Carrie found and build a playhouse for them.