1 Adventure time

THE TIMEKEEPERS The Ancient Olympics SJ KING

Chapter 1 Adventure time It was the final game of the soccer tournament, so the crowd didn't mind the hot Mexican sun. They shouted and cheered as the clock counted down the last seconds of the match. Rosa's team was tied 2-2, and the ball was in midfield.

"Come on, Rosa," she said to herself. "We can still win!" She dodged the girl who was marking her and raised an arm—she was free and onside. Her teammate kicked the ball across the front of the goal, straight toward Rosa. Suddenly, the ball stopped in midair and the players were as still as statues. The crowd of spectators were silent, their flags stopped in midwave.

There was no birdsong, no distant roar of traffic—not a sound. Rosa wasn't worried—she knew exactly what was happening! Instead, she was excited. Rosa belonged to a secret organization called the Timekeepers, who traveled into the past, putting history back on track when it had gone wrong. And an evil villain, named DeLay, was always causing chaos throughout the centuries... Rosa glanced at her wrist. The hands on her special watch were spinning backward! She was being called to the History Hub, the Timekeepers' HQ. DeLay must have messed up history again, she thought.

Rosa flipped up her watch face to reveal a screen of buttons, and pressed the biggest one. She gasped as her feet left the ground amid a whirl of colors. Bright, white light hid the field, the stadium, everything... The next moment, Rosa's soccer cleats touched down and the white light shimmered and disappeared. She was inside a fantastic museum. Its shelves and glass-fronted display cabinets were crammed with historical objects. The History Hub!

"Rosa, here!" she called, then glanced at some of the objects: a young prince's crown from the 14th century, a papyrus scroll from ancient Egypt, and a gold locket containing a piece of paper that was too fragile to unfold. Something rustled. Rosa looked up at a large cuckoo clock on the wall. A little red door opened and a bright-eyed bird looked out. "Cuckoo!" the bird said. "Hi, Tempo!" said Rosa. "Am I first to arrive?" "Cuckoo!" the bird replied, bobbing her head. White light flashed and a dark-haired girl appeared. "Yasmin, here!" she said. Yasmin loved all things technology!