“He wanted the time machine to himself, and he wanted to get your grandfather out of the way. I stopped all research after that, shut down the lab, and went about a quiet life with Mags. I assumed everything was fine until one day when I left the house.”
“And you never came back,” Oliver murmured. “Thaddeus took you away from us?”
He fell silent for a few long moments, and I wondered if he was going to continue or not. He tapped his fingers on the table and his frown deepened before he sucked in a deep breath.
“Thaddeus found me in town one day. He had a machine of his own, but the thing didn’t work properly. He switched it on, and I was thrown far into the future. Somehow, I wound up switching places with an older version of myself in the process. The older version came back, and my younger other self was lost somewhere in the void of space and time,” he mumbled. “I couldn’t very well go home looking like a sixty-year-old man. So, I didn’t go back home at all.”
My head hurt trying to keep track of what was going on, but then I gave up trying to understand what had happened. I trusted that this man was our dad and he had come back from the future. And our dad, the younger version who should still be living with us now, was trapped somewhere else. I grunted in frustration, mixed with sadness and rested my head on the table. Part of me wished we had never found this machine. But if that had been the case, then we would never have found our dad.
“Is there a way to get you back?” Oliver was asking when I finally lifted my head again. “To swap you back to your normal places?”
“There could be, but that’s not your biggest concern right now.”
“Why not? We want you back,” I argued.
He patted my hand. “And I would like to be back with both of you and your mother, but as you can see, something has changed in this town.”
“Our parents,” Kate said so quietly, I almost didn’t hear her. “What happened to them?”
Dad stood from the table and paced to the counter, leaning heavily against it. “It’s strange. I can remember this town the way it was before; the way it was when you first came into the shop. But since then…it’s been overshadowed by what Thaddeus did. Ever since his involvement, this has happened.”
Fear grew in the back of my mind, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
“Before your grandpa died, Thaddeus came out with an invention. It was his own time machine, and he wanted to use it. William, your grandpa, fought against the idea, tried to stop him from moving forward, but then, of course, he died, apparently from a heart attack. So it was left to me to try and put an end to what Thaddeus was doing.”
“What was he actually doing?”
Dad turned around to face us, shoulders slumped, and I saw the defeat on his face. “Thaddeus was using the machine to change major events in his life, with no care for what else it might change.”
“And he messed up the town? How?”
Dad grimaced. “That, I’m afraid was my fault, and your mom’s. She worked with me to try to build another machine so we could counteract Thaddeus’ new invention and put a stop to him.”
My heart was pounding in my chest, and I felt sick to my stomach at what he was going to say next. “What happened?”
“Thaddeus found out about our plans. That was when he threw me into the future, and my older self was brought back here.” His hands gripped the counter harder. “It gets worse I’m afraid.”
“Worse how?”
Silence fell over the kitchen as we waited for him to speak.
“Thaddeus bought out the town and then he ruined it. Drove everyone out,” he whispered. “I had nothing to stop him with. I was just an old man in an antique store. I watched as every shop was closed down, people were forced to move away. He ensured his revenge was carried out against our family and anyone who thought they could help us.”
“And Mom?” I asked, leaning closer. “Where is she? Where are we supposed to be?”
He folded his hands on the table, not meeting our eyes. “Your mom ranted and raved on and on about Thaddeus and the time machine, about how he’s the reason Grandpa was dead and that I was gone,” he murmured sadly. “She wouldn’t give up, and in the end, they took her away, locked her up in a hospital facility for the mentally unstable. And you two…you’re now supposed to be in the care of a guardian.”
“A facility? For the mentally unstable?” I didn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it! Mom couldn’t be locked up in one of those places. It was impossible! “We have to see her; we have to get her out! We have to do something.”
“I’m afraid you can’t just walk in and see her,” Dad said sternly. “It doesn’t work that way.”
“Why not?” Oliver yelled and both Kate and I stared at him amazed. He was furious, his face was red, and his hands were balled into fists on the table. “She’s our mom, your wife!” We’re going to go see her, and we’re going to fix all of this.”
“It’s not your fault this happened,” Dad pointed out, and the three of us cringed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “What did you do?”
We’d been so wrapped up in what had happened to our dad that we hadn’t yet told him of our own ordeal. So, after taking a deep breath, Oliver launched into the story about how our house was broken into and the three of us went back to see who had done it. We told Dad about finding Thaddeus in the basement and how he managed to take a close look at Grandpa’s time machine.
“I guess whatever he saw, he used. Then he created his own version of it and changed things,” Oliver finished, his voice shaking with anger. “It’s because of us that our mom is locked up and the town has died. We can’t just leave it like this. We have to do something.”
I expected a lecture, something, anything from Dad to make us feel bad for what we had done. But instead, he simply got up from the table and moved slowly around the tiny second-story apartment, mumbling under his breath. I couldn’t hear what he said, but when he turned back around, he was shaking his head.
“I’m sorry. It won’t be possible. If you try anything, you risk making things worse than they already are,” he said with finality. “We’ll just have to make the best of this.”
“Where are my parents?” Kate asked.
“Safe and sound living in another state,” Dad assured her. “I’m sure they’re extremely worried about you.”
“And us? Who’s this guardian you said is supposed to be watching out for us?” Oliver asked, getting up from his chair and standing toe to toe with our dad. “Who is it?”
Dad suddenly looked very uncomfortable. “You have to understand, all of this happened when you two were still very, very young.”
“Who is it?” I demanded, jumping to my feet. “Just tell us!”
“Thaddeus!” Dad yelled back.
He sighed heavily, his whole body seeming to cave in on itself. “Thaddeus took the two of you in as foster children when your mom was taken away. There was no one else around to care for you.”
My jaw dropped, and Oliver moaned in desperation. “How…how could you let him take us?”
“No one believed I was your father,” Dad muttered. “I was merely the old man who lived above the antique store. They would never have allowed me to keep you. But Thaddeus, he was a millionaire willing to take in two kids who lost their parents to terrible circumstances. And it was another chance for him to get revenge against me.”
“We’re not going back to him,” I said, stomping my foot for emphasis. “I won’t! And I want to see Mom. Where is she? Just take us to her!”
“You won’t be allowed inside! Don’t you understand? The place is owned and operated by Thaddeus! The second you show your faces he’ll be rushing back to claim you two. And he’ll know you’re not the same Oliver and Kate who lived with him before. He will know that you’ve come from another time zone and are aware of the truth!” Dad stormed away angrily, but I sensed his anger wasn’t meant for us.
He sank into an old
armchair, resting his elbows on his knees and holding his face in his hands. His shoulders shook, and I heard a strangled sound erupt from deep inside him. “Dad?”
“I tried,” he whispered fiercely, “I tried everything I could to get her out of there. But I’m an old man. I can’t bust through windows and climb over walls. I couldn’t do anything to help her! Or you two. All I did was get myself tangled up in this mess when I should have left it all alone.”
“You and Grandpa, you were discovering something amazing,” I insisted. “Something that could change the world for everyone. You didn’t do anything wrong. Thaddeus did.”
“The second he started poking around, I should have ended it.”
“He would have figured out something eventually,” Oliver said, stepping forward. “Look, you couldn’t do anything before, but you didn’t have us with you. We’re here now, and we have Grandpa’s machine. All we have to do is figure out how to use it properly this time, to set everything right.”
Dad lifted his head, tears glimmering in his eyes. “And if everything becomes even worse than it is now?’
I looked to Oliver, and he nodded in agreement at what he knew I was about to say. “I think we’re willing to take that chance.”
Turning to Kate, I stared at her determined to keep her safe, “Kate, you need to be with your parents. It’s too dangerous to come with us.”
“Oh no, you’re not getting rid of me that easily,” she argued. “We got into this mess together; we’re sticking together until the end. That was our deal! Remember? Let’s go see your mom and kick Thaddeus Banes’ butt.”
Oliver stuck his hand up in the air, and she turned to him with a grin. They high-fived each other before doing the same to me.
The three of us turned to look at Dad, waiting expectantly for his response. He glanced at each of us in turn, and a sly smile spread slowly across his face.
He pushed to his feet and rested one hand on top of ours and the other underneath, holding all our hands together. “I can’t guarantee any good coming from this, but I’m not about to let you go alone. Let’s go find your mom and then maybe we can find a way to fix this mess and get our lives back, once and for all!”
We lifted our hands with an excited yelp as he locked eyes with each of us.
“We’ll get a few hours’ sleep and then get going so we can reach the hospital by morning. And on the way, we can start planning what time zone to go back to so we can stop Thaddeus for good!”
I nodded firmly in agreement and pushed aside my underlying fear of what lay ahead. We had contributed to this mess, and it was up to us to make things right again.
I looked at Kate and Oliver, their eyes shining with excitement and I saw that my brother still had a firm grip on my friend’s hand. Even though I was worried about Kate, I was glad to have her with us, and I could see that Oliver felt the same way.
As Kate had said, we would stick together until the end. I just hoped we could recreate the past and get our lives back.
But I knew there was only one way to find out.
Chapter 11
By the time Dad announced that we were ten minutes out from the facility, my legs were bouncing so hard in the back seat of Dad’s beat up Chevy truck that Kate finally rested her hands firmly on my knees to try and get me to stop.
“It’s going to be fine,” she said with an anxious smile.
I nodded, and my legs stopped for a few seconds at least. “Okay, Dad, let’s go over the plan again. What are we going to do if we can’t just walk in and see Mom?”
“I’m going to distract the front desk nurse. I’ll make a commotion and you three are going to sneak past her and into the hallways. Last I heard, your mom was being kept in the east wing,” Dad added. A few choice words came out of his mouth, and we muffled our laughter before he added, “Sorry, I don’t normally speak that way, but when it comes to Thaddeus, I can’t help myself. I would just like to see him put in a jail cell where he belongs.”
“Maybe we’ll make that happen.” Oliver patted the machine on his lap which was still hidden away in the backpack.
We had debated leaving it at the antique store for safekeeping, but it was our only chance of a fast getaway. Once we saw Mom, we needed to go back in time and take her with us. Unfortunately, though, Dad said he had to stay here.
“I’ve been messed up enough already,” he said sadly. “I don’t want to drag another version of myself into the present, or past, or anywhere else it doesn’t belong.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and pictured the four of us living together again, the happy family I knew we could be. So far, it hadn’t been the right time for that to happen. Not yet. I promised myself we’d get there, though. And in my mind, I promised Dad that somehow, we’d get him back, so we could be that family and put all this crazy time travel stuff far behind us.
“As soon as you find your mom, I want you to get out of there, understand?” Dad said as he pulled off the main road onto a winding one leading through a dense forest and up a hill. “I need you to go back to the day you hid everything in the basement, before the break-in. Get the machine out of the basement and take it somewhere safe. Then stay away.”
“Are you sure that’ll be far enough back?”
“If that’s the point when everything changed, it should work. Everything stems from that day.”
Oliver and I exchanged a worried glance, but it was all we could do. If that’s what Dad thought would work, then we had to trust him. He parked the truck, and the four of us piled out. We drew our hoods over our heads from the jackets Dad had found for us, and he led the way up to the imposing brick building.
The view from the top of the pine tree covered mountain was spectacular and would be beautiful if the place wasn’t technically a prison for our mom.
We made our way to the rear where there was a large wrap around porch with a few people sitting at tables, playing cards and talking quietly. Men and women in scrubs were close by, watching the patients. Dad led the way up the few steps and straight inside. A frumpy woman with blond hair sat behind a short desk with two beefy guys not far behind her.
“How can I help you today, sir?” she asked brusquely and I could tell that her smile was fake.
“I’m here to see Thaddeus,” Dad stated loudly, and I paused as panic filled my entire being. What was he doing? For a horrible second, I wondered if we’d been tricked, but then Dad turned back to us, winked and slammed his hand on the countertop making the woman jump. “Thaddeus Banes! Where is the old codger! I need to have a word with him! The voices said so!”
Dad continued to rant, and the woman backed away from her desk as the two men moved closer. Dad yelled louder, swinging his arms wildly around, creating a spectacle. Oliver grabbed my arm and nodded his head towards the right. There, above the doorway was a sign that said, East Wing. We knew that our mother was down that long corridor somewhere, but as we turned to go, I worried about leaving Dad. What would they do to him? What would happen if Thaddeus appeared? Dad said that he wasn’t always on the premises, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t here now. The men grabbed Dad by the arms, and the woman began speaking into a phone. We had no more time to wait. At any moment, she would look up and realize the three kids who had just been alongside the old man had vanished.
We walked at a brisk pace until we were through the doors, then we ran, peering into every room that we passed. Names were added to some of the doors, and I skimmed each of them, searching for the name, Margaret. At the end of the hall, we hit a T-intersection and spun around in a circle, wondering if we should go right or left. Oliver bounced on his feet, mumbling under his breath before we decided to split up. He went right, and Kate and I took the left hall, my heart beating wildly in my chest as we ran.
“She has to be here,” I whispered as I frantically checked every room. “She has to be—”
“Holly!” Oliver called to us from the other end, and we bolted back in his direction. He pointed th
rough a narrow window into a room. A woman sat in a wheelchair, staring blankly through a window covered in bars. The name by the door said Maggie. “It’s Mom,” he gasped.
“Is the door locked?” I asked, turning it sharply. To my surprise, it opened. “Let’s go.”
Oliver hesitated and then followed me in, while Kate stayed outside to keep a lookout. Mom didn’t even turn around, she just sighed heavily and held out her hand.
“What pills am I getting today? The funny green ones, or the pretty blue ones?”
“Mom?” I said as I watched a shudder pass over her body. “Mom, it’s Holly, your daughter. Oliver’s here too, and we’re not…we’re not from this time.” I was worried that talking about time travel might make things worse, but we couldn’t stand there wasting the few precious minutes that Dad had managed to give us.
“We came to take you with us and make everything right again,” Oliver added. “Mom?”
She failed to respond and fear spiked inside me. But then suddenly she was on her feet, as though somehow we had managed to get through the fog in her head. She hugged us to her, crying. “My kids! My real kids! You found me; I knew you would. I knew somehow you’d figure all this out!”
We hugged her back, tears spilling from my eyes at my guilt over getting her into this horrible mess. “Dad’s here, too. Well, old dad,” I explained quickly. “He distracted the orderlies. We’re getting you out of here, going back to fix everything up.”
She cupped our cheeks in her hands, beaming at us. “Smart, just like your dad. Wait…you said he’s here?”
“Old dad, from the future,” Oliver corrected. “It’s a long story, but there’s no time. We have to go. Now!”
“Guys! We’re in trouble!” Kate yelped a second before an alarm sounded throughout the building. Kate managed to step back into the room just as the door closed and a heavy lock clanked into place. “No!”
All four of us rushed to it, tugging on it, desperate to get out, but the door wouldn’t budge.
Time Traveler - Books 1, 2, 3 & 4: Books for Girls aged 9-12 Page 22
