The Great Time Lock Disaster: The Adventures of Pete and Weasel Book 2

By C. Lee McKenzie

Becoming a wizard is hard work. For Pete Riley it’s almost impossible. He tries to follow the rules, but he’s impatient and being impatient only leads to trouble.
Big trouble.
He messes with a time spell when he shouldn’t and he and his bookish friend, Weasel, are swept into Victorian England, where they will be trapped forever if that wizard-in-training can’t find a way to reverse his bad spell by the next full moon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C. Lee McKenzie
• Release date: Mar 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310774782

C. Lee McKenzie

C. Lee McKenzie's background is linguistics with a specialty in intercultural communication. She's now a novelist who writes young adult and middle grade books. ALLIGATORS OVERHEAD, her first middle grade novel, received a sterling Kirkus review. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/c-lee-mckenzie/alligators-overhead/. Alligators Overhead is Book 1 in the Adventures of Pete and Weasel. The Great Time Lock Disaster is Book 2, and Book 3 is Some Very Messy Medieval Magic. Take a look at the Video on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h59dYGrVQvs] It's all about fun and magic. Her Young Adult books include Sliding on the Edge (2009, Westside Books) and The Princess of Las Pulgas (2010, Westside Books). Double Negative (chosen the top ten YA in Ezid Wiki), Sudden Secrets, Not Guilty, and Shattered (Indie Book Award winner) are her most recent young adult books, published by Evernight Teen. The eBook anthology called Beware The White Rabbit (2015) includes her story called They Call Me Alice. Two & Twenty Dark Tales (2012) includes her short story, Into The Sea of Dew. Premeditated Cat is her contribution to The First Time (2011). She has dabbled in a bit of horror with Heartless in the anthology A Stitch in Crime. Specialties Intercultural communication in the classroom and on the job. Editing and writing.

Book preview

Prologue

Hi! I’m Weasel. Everybody calls me that because of my brother. If you read Alligators Overhead, you’ll know why. But that’s not important. What is, is this.

I have a feeling that Pete Riley might be on the loose again. You see, after he found out he was kind of a newbie wizard and could do stuff like make alligators fly and old houses pop up after being gone a hundred years, it kind of went to his head. Then there was Fanon who took a liking to him because they’re both orphans. Oh just FYI, Fanon’s an alligator that wants to be Pete’s special friend like Cenozo is Pete’s Aunt Lizzie’s special friend. Usually cats are familiars for witches and wizards, but this is Hadleyville, and it’s different here.

Did I mention that the alligators around here talk? Well, they do. And then there’s the witches. The whole town’s full of them. And their magic isn’t that hot, so they mess up spells and vanish and need rescuing. Well, that’s what Alligators Overhead was about.

Now let me get back to Harriet. She’s the oldest and most powerful witch in Hadleyville, and she came back with that old house—a big, spooky mansion really. But after Pete saved the Ornofree swamp, she did Hadleyville and me a ginormous favor. She put Pete into an after school wizard training program with herself in charge. And because she can read his thoughts, she kind of keeps him under wraps.

Yes! *Pumping arms with joy!* I don’t have to keep him and me out of one mess after another as long as good old Harriet Hadley has an eye on him. And, the best part is, I can read my books uninterrupted.

Still, I keep getting vibes that make me think it’s been too quiet, too long. Guess I’ll have to turn this page to see what Pete’s up to this time.

Chapter 1

One minute the clock was tick tick ticking on the mantel and the next it was a smoldering mess.

No, Harriet shouted. Then she braced one hand on her desk and covered her eyes with the other.

Pete froze, not blinking, not breathing, but waiting to see if Harriet would point one of her long, bony fingers at him and turn him into a turnip or something slimy.

Without uncovering her eyes, she measured out her words. If. You. Don’t. Follow. The spell. To the letter—

It won’t work. Pete finished what he’d heard her say a lot of times.

Exactly. She took her hand away, arched her neck and peered over her glasses at him.

Pete didn’t need to hear Harriet’s voice in his head with that brain-to-brain talking she loved to spring on him. He knew what she was thinking. He’d screwed up three spells in a row. Right now she believed he’d never be the wizard she’d hoped for.

He believed the same thing. So if he wasn’t a good wizard, and he wasn’t a good ordinary kid, what was he? Nothing. A big fat zero of a twelve-year-old, that’s what.

He turned back the page of the thick, musty-smelling book and read the spell again, but silently. And there he found it, the word he’d skipped, the word that, if he’d said it, would have made the clock tick faster instead of melting into a useless lump.

I’m in need of some tea, Harriet said as she opened her library door. Study. On her way out, she pointed at the book on the desk. Do not practice any spells until I return. The rest are doubly tricky, and, she nodded at the remains of the mantel clock, need I say more? She marched out, mumbling loud enough for Pete to catch a few words. Impossible. Simple spell. He doesn’t listen. Disaster.

Being a wizard did not come naturally to him. That was for sure. Maybe he should give up. Maybe he should work on the ordinary part of him, and see if he could be more like Weasel—really smart with perfect attendance—the kind of kid Principal Pitt would give special privileges to.

He propped his hand under his chin and stared down at the old-fashioned loops and squiggles on the page. No wonder he had trouble with this stuff. Reading those spells with just the right pronunciation, just the right pauses and everything was hard. And he could barely make out some of the words.

Thumbing to the next page, he found another time spell and read the title. Recapturing Seconds.

It had only three short lines. He moved his finger along under each one of them, murmuring but being careful not to say the words out loud. Suddenly he found his finger back at the head of the sentence, but he didn’t remember moving it. Hmm.

Again he went through the spell, but this time he risked whispering it. His finger suddenly snapped back to the beginning. Holy beans! I’m…I’m doing it! I’m recapturing seconds.

Maybe he had a touch of wizard in him after all.

He turned the page, and it was blank until he touched it, then words spilled across the white space and a voice said, Wizard, read me. The command from the book shattered the quiet of the room.

He pressed back in his chair. Had the page called him a wizard?

Well? the page said.

Pete choked, then asked, Are you talking to me?

You’re the only wizard in the room at the moment. Am I correct?

He nodded and his fingers tingled at the sound of the word, wizard. It had to do with how whoever was talking to him said it. Somehow it sounded more important than usual.

Therefore…? the book said.

You’re talking to me.

Brilliant. Now get cracking. You’ve called on me, so do something.

I … I’m not supposed to—

Too late. You’ve opened the spell, and the only way is forward. It’s a time spell, you know. Time moves forward unless, of course, you’re really a good wizard, and then it can go in just about any direction you want. You are a real wizard, aren’t you?

Uh…I guess. Sure.

I thought so the moment I laid eyes on you.

Pete sat straighter in his chair. I am a real wizard. You bet. I only need some practice. Harriet’s uptight, and she gives me the jitters. That’s why I screw up so much.

He leaned closer and read, taking care to pronounce each word and to pause where he should. Now this is more like it.

Instructions for the next part of the spell were written in the margin. He ran his finger under these and read, The next three words are critical. Pay attention.

He read the first word. Waited. Then he read the second one. Waited. He was about to read word number three when his nose got a tickle. He sniffed. He clamped his nose between his fingers and waited until the tickle went away before letting go, and then sneezed—a big bahoomba of a sneeze. The volume of spells rose a few inches from the table. Pete pushed it down with both hands, and his palms grew hot. He jumped back. A mist streamed from between the pages with a fizzle, fizzle, swoosh.

There was a loud clunk, not from the book but from all corners of the room. The house shook, and the book covers slammed together just as Harriet banged through the door and into the room.

His hands shaking and on fire, Pete stood pressed against the far wall of the library.

You didn’t! she cried.

Before Pete could answer, Harriet grabbed the book and, clutching it to her, chanted, Seal for now. Be still, Time. A quiet settled over them like dust.

Harriet gentled the book to her desk as if setting down a bomb. That will hold for a while. She snatched him by the back of his shirt, and, with him him in tow, hurried out of the mansion, across the lot to the hole in the hedge and up to Aunt Lizzie’s kitchen door. Without knocking, she entered.

Aunt Lizzie and Miss Gladys looked up from where they sat in their usual places at the old round table, Aunt Lizzie in what she called her captain’s chair and Miss Gladys in her motorized one.

Good grief, Aunt Lizzie said, standing quickly and sloshing her coffee into the saucer.

We have a serious problem. Harriet shoved Pete to the sink and ran cold water into a pan.

Pete plunged his hands into the water and steam rose up in the air.

What on earth has happened? Aunt Lizzie asked.

No time to explain, Harriet said, already at the door. Keep Pete in this house until I can completely close the Timelock. I’ll send you a message as soon as all is back in order.

Timelock? How— But his aunt didn’t have a chance to finish before Harriet interrupted.

Use the Encircling Spell. Do it. Now. Quickly. And she was gone. Her magick couldn’t have made her disappear faster.

Gladys maneuvered her motorized chair so she could see Pete, then she drained her coffee, keeping her eyes on him. It was the same way she always eyed him, with huge dollops of suspicion. You best get on with that spell, Lizzie. I’m leaving before he, she jutted her chin in Pete’s direction, causes more trouble.

Miss Gladys set her cup down on the table, revved her motor and sped through the living room, onto the porch and down her ramp. In minutes, the Hadleyville Whisper Circle would know something was out of whack at Lizzie Glopp’s house and it was, as usual, Pete Riley’s fault.

Chapter 2

The days dragged.

The nights dragged.

It had been a whole week since he made that little mistake with the spell.

He might as well be in jail. Every time he left his room and went downstairs to even glance at the front door, Aunt Lizzie was there, her arms crossed, her head shaking, No.

How was he going to survive much more?

That night he flopped into bed, sending another brain-to-brain message to Harriet. Please talk to me. How much longer do I have to stay locked up?

But Harriet didn’t answer. It was as if she’d vanished. And what if that had happened? How was he going to get out of here? And what about that Timelock? Who was going to fix it? And what did Fix It mean anyway?

He was in a super ginormous mess.

Arrrg!

He wished he could go back to his old home where he was just an ordinary kid, doing ordinary things with his mom and dad. He got into trouble there, but not much. Not like in Hadleyville where anything he did made Principal Pitt and Sheriff Elmer twitchy to nab him.

He wished he’d never seen this swampy place, except he’d miss Fanon. And he’d miss Aunt Lizzie, too. Then there was Weasel. He’d miss … .

Pete yawned and closed his eyes. It was better to sleep than to think. Time passed quicker that way.

He was deep into a wonderful dream when the house shook and brought Pete upright in bed.

Ka bang!

He clamped his hands over his ears and jumped to his feet, his eyes wide open.

What— he gasped—was that?

He sniffed the air.

Smoke!

Where?

He got to his knees and peeked under his bed, then opened the closet door and sniffed inside. When he turned around a small spiral of smoke trailed from his bedspread. He grabbed his pillow and pounded until he was sure the tiny fire was out.

At the foot of the bed lay a scroll of paper.

Without turning his back on it, he felt behind him for his nightstand until he touched his pencil. Then, using that pencil, he lifted the scroll from his bed and dropped it on his desktop.

When it didn’t go up in flames and nothing else happened, he pried the scroll open, handling it like a tiny bomb.

There was writing inside. At least it looked like writing, but it was so messy he couldn’t make any sense of it.

Sleep wasn’t going to happen now, so he paced, thinking, trying to figure out what this thing might mean. Who was it from?

Harriet, he said in a breathy whisper. It had to be from her. Who else would drop a hot piece of paper into his room from out of nowhere, and shake his bed, then set off some kind of firecracker in the middle of the night to wake him up? Her message must be important. So then, why couldn’t he read it?

He held his head. Why is this happening to me? More important, what do I do now?

The answer was simple, really.

Escape. Get to Weasel.

He pulled on his jeans and shirt, stuffed his feet into his tennis shoes and carefully tucked the scroll under his shirt.

After tiptoeing down the stairs he opened the front door and stepped onto the porch.

The Encircling Spell was strong. Aunt Lizzie doubled its potency during the night. "More to keep

Reviews for The Great Time Lock Disaster

[beverlyjean-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever wanted to travel back in time or ahead to the future? What if you managed to do so but did not know the magic words to return back to your time? Well, Pete and Weasel, from ALLIGATERS OVERHEAD, are back and in trouble, again.In THE GREAT TIME LOCK DISASTER, sequel to ALLIGTORS OVERHEAD, by Author C. Lee McKenzie, twelve-year-old Pete Riley thinks that he’s not a good wizard and he’s not a good kid. He seems to find trouble no matter what he does. When he accidentally unlocks a time lock, Pete and his friend Weasel find themselves in 1837 England with no clue how to return home. I love the characters Pete and Weasel. They’re so real. Like normal kids, they make mistakes. Oh, as a wizard Pete is a bit different to most boys, adding more complications to his life. And, although I’m not normally a fan of alligators, Fanon is an exception. I wouldn’t mind having him for a pet. Descriptions of the places the boys visit are so vivid the reader, at least this reader, feels like she’s there, meeting the characters along with Pete and Weasel.THE GREAT TIME LOCK DISASTER would be perfect for middle school libraries as well as your own library. I recommend this novel for readers that enjoy a good adventure story, with a bit of magic and characters you’d like to have as friends.###

[robinsonstef · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After reading Alligators Overhead by C. Lee McKenzie I was excited to read the second book in the series, The Great Time Lock Disaster. Pete and Weasel’s story picked up right where they left off in the last book, which made it very easy to follow along. I liked traveling back in time with them and learning about what life was like in the 1800s. I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to eat the food they were given. I enjoyed the banter between Weasel and Pete, because Weasel seems a little unhappy with most of Pete’s decisions, and it was great to see that their relationship had not changed. I was glad that Weasel likes history, so he had some interesting things to see firsthand in the 1800s, even if he didn’t want to be there. This is a suspenseful book that also includes an underlying message about the trouble you could get into when you don't follow directions. This is a fun story for kids who like a good mystery and those who sometimes break the rules will be able to relate to Peter. I hope Pete and Weasel will have another adventure soon!