The bells of the old clock tower rang out twelve times, signaling the arrival of midnight on Halloween night. I shivered as a cold breeze swept through the empty street, stirring up leaves and sending them dancing around my feet. This was my favorite night of the year. When the veil between worlds grew thin and magic seemed possible.
I turned towards the looming clock tower, its weathered stones illuminated by the full moon. As the bells finished their refrain, the hands spun wildly, reversing direction. I blinked in confusion. Suddenly, the street around me began to morph. The pavement turned to dirt, the quaint shops replaced by small wooden buildings. People in old-fashioned clothes walked by, not noticing the strangely dressed girl in their midst. I realized with a jolt that the clock had sent me back in time.
Frantically, I searched for a way back home. One showed a figure standing before a clock with spinning hands. Beneath it was a riddle:
"When two gongs of the clock sounded, the verse made it evident - the first piece of this mystery was my own being."
The clock hands spun again, transporting me further back in time to what looked like the Middle Ages. I was in the town square, where people in rustic clothes milled around market stalls. A monk stood on the steps of the church, preaching loudly.
"A witch!" he cried. "She wears the clothes of the devil!"
The crowd began to gather angrily around me. I had to think fast before I was captured. The riddle said the first clue was me. I looked down at my modern clothes and got an idea.
"Behold!" I shouted theatrically, waving my arms. "I am from the future! I have been sent by the heavens to reveal thy fates!"
I improvised prophecies about the people in the crowd, astounding them with my "powers." While they were distracted, I slipped away to the clock tower. There, I discovered the second riddle:
"Well done, you clever lass. To return home is your task. Below the 3rd chime await, A clue tied to love or hate."
This time the hands took me to the Victorian era, depositing me at a lavish masked ball. I noticed a young couple arguing passionately on the dance floor.
The clock struck three. I rushed over and picked up the necklace, inspecting it closely. There was a slip of paper tucked into the locket with the third riddle:
The end is drawing near, But have no fear. When 4 chimes sound, The key will be found.
I dashed over to claim it. Inside the key was the final riddle:
As the fifth chime sounded, I placed the key into the clock's hidden keyhole. The hands whirled wildly again, but this time when they slowed, everything was back to normal. It was midnight on Halloween night in the present. The traveling curse had been broken! I smiled up at the old clock tower, which now seemed much less ominous.
Relieved but exhausted from my time-traveling ordeal, I headed home. I had learned an important lesson about messing with magic, but at least I would have one heck of a story to share at school on Monday!