The Time Travelers, Book 1: Lessons in Time Travel
“I wonder why he willed these things to you?” asked Mack. Mack had moved to Ithaca from Paris that year, and immediately she and Gwen had become best friends.
“Maybe they have sentimental value,” said Gwen, reaching for the hourglass. She picked it up and turned it over, watching as the sand flowed down the narrow neck into the lower bulb, forming a small pyramid. “Except, not for us, since we didn’t know him. We’ve never even heard of him.”
“Did your mom know him?” asked Mack.
“We can’t reach her,” said JD. "Right now she’s in the middle of a desert. Even the satellite phone doesn’t work there—it’s too remote.”
“All we know about this great uncle is by these items. This must be how Mom feels when she has to reconstruct entire civilizations from a few fragments of pottery,” mused Gwen.
“Well, I wouldn’t keep the mirror,” said Eloise. “I’d get rid of it right away.”
“Why’s that?” asked JD.
“It looks like an antique,” added Mack. Its gilded frame was intricately carved with a tangle of leaves on top of which perched a small bird.
“Precisely,” said Eloise. “Antique means old, and old mirrors are eerie. They can trap your soul or be haunted by evil spirits, like old toys and puppets.”
