Sent (novel) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The children Jonah, Katherine, Chip, and another boy, Alex, have no preparation before they are sent back to the 15th century at the Tower of London by way of time travel.

JB promises them that they can return to the present if they can fix time.

Katherine gets time sickness from the dramatic time warp. Jonah and Chip help her to her feet while they are talking to JB through a futuristic machine called the Elucidator. They quickly discover that Chip and Alex’s true identities are the 12-year-old King Edward V and his 10-year-old brother, Richard, the Duke of York. Chip tells Katherine she can be his queen and Jonah becomes annoyed, replying that "she's my sister."

In the Tower they find two ghostlike boys. JB explains that they are tracers, which show how time would have gone on if time travelers had not messed with them. Chip blends in with his tracer, and realizes he can think like King Edward V. He realizes that they are the princes and kings of London, that Richard III wants them dead, and that their mother has a plan for their escape. Soon, two men come to the room the tracers are in and throw the boys out the window. However, Jonah and Katherine pull Chip and Alex from their tracers. The group thinks that they succeeded in fixing time.

However, the men search for their bodies and the group is forced to hide. Chip gets frustrated at JB and throws the Elucidator at the wall. Jonah picks it up and finds that the Elucidator is critically damaged. They reset it, and use one of its functions to become invisible. The next morning, the group leaves the Tower and joins the coronation of Richard III. Chip and Alex run off, angry after seeing their uncle take the throne. Jonah and Katherine go to a chapel where Richard III is praying, and they pretend to be angels. They tell him that the princes are in heaven, but that he will never be able to go there himself. However, the Elucidator finishes resetting and Jonah and Katherine become visible again. They run away and eventually find Chip and Alex, who are with their mother and their sisters. JB explains, through the Elucidator, that one of the two men who threw the boys out of the window was sent by the queen to protect them.

He brings them out of time to tell them how and when to save Chip and Alex, and then drops them two years later in time. Katherine and Jonah meet Richard III again during the night, and tell him that if he gives the throne to Edward V/Chip, he will be forgiven and will go to Heaven. In the Battle of Bosworth Field, pitting Richard III against Henry VII of England. Jonah and Katherine try to get Alex and Chip out of their tracers so they can tell them they need to leave. When Jonah can't, Katherine gets Chip out by telling him she would be his girlfriend if he asked. Chip gets Alex out but then Richard III comes to Edward V/Chip and tells him that he will give Edward V back the throne after the battle. The battle ensues, and Richard III is killed. Jonah and Katherine pull Chip and Alex out just before they get killed in original history. JB makes them come back to the cave using the Elucidator. JB explains to the group that they succeeded - they did save Chip and Alex, yet managed to keep history the same because Richard III was dead, the princes were considered dead, and all the people who knew that Richard III planned to give back the throne were dead in the battle.

When they are back in the present, JB asks Jonah and Katherine to "help" another kid. JB gives them another "traveling companion," a girl named Andrea, who is really Virginia Dare from the lost colony of Roanoke. JB tells Chip and Alex they have to stay in the present while Jonah and Katherine are gone. JB replies that it will seem they were gone for a few minutes, but Chip says he knows it will be longer. Chip and Alex are just about to resent but then Jonah and Katherine are sent back into time.