Matt winced as his mom brushed his cut-up face, frowning. “Oh, Mateo, what happened?”
“The rain,” Matt said.
“The rain?”
“It was sharp.”
They all looked at each other. “Maybe he’s talking about the window at Gaga’s house,” Ruby said. “It shattered, remember? Matt was right in front of it.”
“Plus he always gets really bad time sickness,” Corey said. “Maybe he’s lost his mind this time.”
“Well, that was some pretty intense time traveling,” Mr. Hudson said. “I’m a little woozy myself. You two okay?”
Ruby shrugged. “I feel fine.”
“Me too,” Corey said.
Matt marveled at his brother and sister. He couldn’t understand how they were both still standing. They never seemed to be affected by time travel. They never got time sick. Matt wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that their parents were born in different centuries, and that somehow made them biologically fit for time traveling. It was an interesting theory. Maybe one day, there would be many more children born of parents in different centuries. They could run all kinds of studies on the effects. But Matt was getting ahead of himself.
Jia came tumbling into his view. She was crying. “We have to go back for Pike!” she said. “She jumped onto the Vermillion just before we left!”
“I’m sorry, chérie, but I’m afraid we can’t go back.”
“We have to! We have to!” Jia cried hysterically. Matt had never seen her so beside herself. “You would go back if it was Matt or Corey or Ruby!”
“This is different,” Mrs. Hudson said. “Pike very clearly chose to cross over to the Vermillion.”
“She didn’t mean it! She didn’t know what she was doing!”
“We can’t be sure of that,” Mrs. Hudson said calmly. “It could be part of Vincent’s plans. It could be another trap.”
“You mean the way I was a trap?” Jia said in a hard voice. “Do you wish you hadn’t saved me?”
“Of course not,” Mrs. Hudson said, taken aback. “Oh, Jia, I’m so sorry. That’s not what I meant. I only—”
“Hello?” said a very irritable voice. “Anybody want to help me out here?”
They all froze and looked around the boat.
“Who’s that?” Ruby asked.
Matt looked up, squinting in the sunlight. Two stout legs were dangling from the mast.
Corey groaned. “Oh no! You have got to be kidding me.”
Jia wiped her tears. “That sounds like Albert.”
“How did he get here?” Ruby asked.
Matt remembered how Albert had been reaching for Corey as he was jumping across. He must have lost control of himself and jumped across, too, just before they traveled.
“Hello!” Albert spoke in his usual haughty tone. “It’s rather rude to leave a person just hanging like this! If I fall, I could break my neck!”
“Oh no! We wouldn’t want that to happen!” Corey shouted.
“Corey, that’s enough,” Mrs. Hudson reprimanded.
“I’ll go help him down,” Mr. Hudson said, which was easier said than done. Albert was not very cooperative when it came to following Mr. Hudson’s directions, so eventually Mr. Hudson just yanked on both his legs so Albert was forced to let go. Mr. Hudson caught Albert as he fell but clearly wasn’t prepared for Albert’s bulk. Albert landed right on top of Mr. Hudson, who let out an oof! Albert rolled off him, grumbling about incompetence. He brushed himself off, straightened his glasses, and smoothed his hair. Finally, he noticed the group of people staring at him. His face drained of color in an instant.
“Oh no,” he said. “I’ve been taken hostage by the enemy!”
Corey snorted. “Are you kidding me? Us take you hostage? I’d rather cut off my right arm than be forced to spend time with you. You’re a stowaway, that’s what you are, and we’re going to discard you the first chance we get. In fact, let’s throw him overboard now.”
Albert backed away, looked around for some place to run, but seeing that he was trapped on a boat floating down a river, he decided on another tactic. He stood up straight, lifted his chin. “It doesn’t matter. Captain Vincent will save me.”
“Sure,” Corey said sarcastically. “I’m sure you’re top of mind for him right now.”
“You won’t be laughing after the captain is finished with you,” Albert said. “You’re all doomed.”
Corey rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to him. He’s full of it.”
Albert’s eyes darkened. His nostrils flared, making him look even more piggish. “You think I’m lying? I’ve seen what Captain Vincent can do now. He’s more powerful than you could ever imagine.”
Matt thought of the time tapestry, and that strange dynamite the captain had almost used on his dad, the way it erupted beneath the train. He knew Albert was telling the truth. But there were still things he didn’t know or understand, and as long as Albert was gloating Matt decided he should try to get some information out of him.
“Who was that other man who was on the Vermillion?” Matt asked. “What was he doing for Captain Vincent?”
“That’s Al—” Albert began, but then stopped and reconsidered. He seemed to pick up on what Matt was trying to do. “That’s none of your business.” He clamped his mouth shut.
“You’d better tell us,” Corey said, “or we’ll throw you overboard, and I have a hunch you can’t swim.”
By the expression on Albert’s face Matt guessed Corey’s hunch was correct.
“Corey, settle down. We’ll do no such thing,” Mrs. Hudson said.
“But, Mom! He’s withholding information. He’s the enemy! This is war! Shouldn’t we at least torture him a little? Break a few fingers? Hold him underwater until just before he drowns?”
Albert tucked his hands behind his back and backed away a few steps.
Mrs. Hudson got down in Corey’s face and stuck her finger in his chest. “You won’t harm a hair on his head. He’s only a child.”
“I’m not a child!” Albert protested.
Mrs. Hudson turned on Albert and regarded him with a cool gaze. “Very well, then. You are free to go. You are not our hostage. We don’t take prisoners. We can drop you anywhere you wish here in the city, and you can wait for Vincent to rescue you. Is that what you wish?”
Albert’s eyes darted around. He moved his feet in a way that reminded Matt of a toddler doing a potty dance.
“I’ll take your silence as your desire to stick with us,” Mrs. Hudson said. “We will feed and protect you, but you will not be our prisoner, even though you deem us the enemy. You are free to go whenever you like. If Captain Vincent should return, you may return with him, if that’s your wish.”
Albert didn’t seem to know what to do with this information. He studied Mrs. Hudson with suspicion, trying to find the trick in her words.
A loud groan turned all their attention to the other side of the ship, where Gaga and Uncle Chuck were. Gaga slid down against the side of the ship, her face a pale shade of green.
“Yikes, I almost forgot she’d come along,” Mr. Hudson said. He went to Gaga and knelt down beside her. “Mom, you okay?”
Gaga shook her head back and forth with her eyes closed. “Never again. Never, never, never.”
Matt could only imagine how she was feeling. It was a terrible way to experience time travel in any case, but especially for the first time.
Matt closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. Captain Vincent popped into his mind, unbidden, pulling swaths of that time tapestry from his dad’s neck. Matt wasn’t sure exactly what the captain had been about to do, but whatever it was, Matt was sure they’d dodged a big bullet. But he wasn’t sure they’d be able to dodge another one. That had been too close. The captain was sure to take better aim the next time. But what could they do? He didn’t understand what they were up against.
“How cool is this?” Corey said. “I think Blossom turned into a Viking
ship!” He was standing at the front of the ship, holding on to the carved head of a dragon. The ship was long and narrow, the single sail striped orange and white.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Ruby said. “We’re not in the Viking Age.”
No, they certainly weren’t. They were sailing down the East River, toward the Brooklyn Bridge and the bay. The temperature was cool with a slight breeze, but not too cold that they were uncomfortable. The sun shone so brightly on the water, Matt had to squint in order to see. He wished he had his Mets hat. Where was it now in the timeline? He wondered. The last time he’d had it was when he’d accidentally traveled to the Vermillion back in Chicago, 1893, when his mom was still captain. Captain Vincent had grabbed it off his head. What had he done with it? He showed it to Matt when he’d boarded the Vermillion for the first time, but it had the message about the Mona Lisa in it then, and Captain Vincent said Matt had given it to him, so that didn’t totally line up. He hadn’t put the message inside his hat yet . . .
They were closer to the Brooklyn Bridge now than when they’d been in the plane, and Matt could tell something was definitely happening. Maybe it was one of those protests about climate change, or it could be a parade. As they drew closer, though, it looked more like a battle. On one end of the bridge was an army of men in full armor, not unlike the ancient armor he’d seen displayed his entire life at the Met. They had swords and shields, spiked balls and chains and double-sided axes. On the other end looked to be a Roman army, with red tunics, gold breastplates, and feathered helmets. They had swords and shields, too, and spears and bows and arrows and chariots pulled by armored horses.
“Maybe they’re filming something?” Uncle Chuck suggested. Matt remembered they’d tried to give him this excuse when they’d traveled to the Ice Age and saw woolly mammoths, but Matt was pretty sure that wasn’t what was happening here.
“You sure we didn’t travel to the Viking times?” Corey asked. “Or Ancient Rome?”
“We couldn’t have,” Ruby said. The bridge wouldn’t be there, nor the Statue of Liberty or any of this.” She gestured to all the buildings of the city. They were definitely in New York City, close to their own present if they were judging by the buildings and bridges. But even there, when Matt looked more closely, things were different. He couldn’t say exactly what, but it seemed like certain buildings were out of place, others missing, like the One World Trade Center. He knew exactly where that building stood, but he couldn’t see it now. Maybe this was before it had been built? But after 9/11? He didn’t see the Twin Towers either.
“What’s the date, Mateo?” Mrs. Hudson asked. “Where did you set the dials?” She walked slowly toward him.
Matt checked his compass. Truthfully, he hadn’t been paying all that much attention to the date when he’d turned the dials, only the place. “It’s . . . uh . . . 2019 . . . no 1902 . . . no . . . ah!” The dials were going haywire, particularly the time dials, which were shaking back and forth.
“Let me see,” his mom said, stepping gingerly to take a look. Corey, Ruby, and their dad gathered around, too, leaning in to observe the compass spinning its dials in Matt’s hand.
“I’ve never seen it do this before,” Mrs. Hudson said, her brow knit.
“Maybe it’s because time has been disrupted,” Ruby said. “The compass doesn’t know where or when it is, because the world doesn’t even know.”
It wasn’t a bad theory, Matt thought, but he wasn’t sure how helpful it was to know. Mrs. Hudson continued to frown at the compass.
“It might be that the compass just needs some repairs,” Matt said. “I lost a piece just before we traveled. I had to add a spare part at the last minute from Gaga’s phone, but it was only a temporary fix.”
“Lucky that it got us this far, I suppose,” his mom said. “Can you fix it?”
“I’ll need some tools and materials, but yeah, I think so.”
“Corey, do you have my map?” Mr. Hudson said. Corey looked down at his hand as if he’d forgotten what was clenched in his fist. He slowly held out the crumpled map to his dad.
Mr. Hudson took it and carefully unfolded it. He set it down on the bench and tried to smooth out the wrinkles. The map was torn completely in half. They had the piece with the Northern Hemisphere, so most of the earth’s landmasses, except the southern tip of Africa, the majority of South America, and all of Australia. That was helpful, Matt thought. At least Vincent wouldn’t be able to track them if they stayed out of those areas, and they’d be able to track him if he traveled in any of the places they could see on the map. But then Matt saw that no one would be tracking anyone. There were no symbols on the map, none that glowed to tell them where or when the Vermillion was currently located, nor any dark markings to show where it had been before. The map was broken.
Mr. Hudson’s hands trembled a little. They all knew how much he loved this map, what it meant to him. To all of them. It was the thing that had brought their family together.
“I’m sorry,” Corey said softly.
“No, it’s okay,” Mr. Hudson said, his voice a little hoarse. He carefully folded up the torn map and slipped it in his back pocket. “Better destroyed than in the hands of Vincent. He can’t track us now, at least.”
Albert, standing a ways off from the group, snorted.
“Is there a hog on board?” Corey said, looking around. “Oh, no, it’s just Albert.”
“Corey,” Mrs. Hudson warned.
“Call me whatever names you like,” Albert said. “Captain Vincent doesn’t need your silly map. He’ll track you down in other ways.”
“Well, he’s not here now, is he?” Corey said.
Matt silently had to believe Albert was right, though, and by the looks on the rest of his family’s faces he could see they felt the same. But no one said it aloud. That was too much.
They were sailing around Battery Park and out toward the Statue of Liberty. Matt saw those large birds again on top of the crown. Still there was no sign of Captain Vincent or the Vermillion, though Matt’s heart raced whenever he saw another boat or ship.
“Hey, where’s my sword?” Ruby was frowning at her empty scabbard.
Matt suddenly remembered that he’d dropped it on the Vermillion, after he’d chopped off Captain Vincent’s hand. “I’m sorry,” Matt said. “I took it. I was trying to stop Vincent, and I lost it.”
Ruby frowned. “What are you talking about? I would have remembered if you had taken it.”
“Stop Vincent from what?” Mrs. Hudson asked at the same time.
Matt wasn’t sure how to explain. He was still processing everything that had just happened, and he was still woozy and weak from all the travel. But he could see he would have to try his best because everyone was staring at him like he was deranged, including his parents. Never a good sign.
“When Blossom was a train,” Matt explained, “just before we came here, Vincent stopped time. Everything stopped. The train, all of you, even the rain was frozen in midair. That’s what I was trying to explain earlier. The rain became still and turned hard, like shards of glass. It hurt when you touched it. Anyway. you were all just frozen like statues.”
“But you weren’t?” his mom asked, looking at him with a creased brow.
Matt shook his head.
“How come?” Corey asked.
Matt shrugged. “I don’t know. I just wasn’t.” Matt did his best to explain what had happened, but it was very jumbled, and he could see by the looks on everyone’s faces he wasn’t making much sense, but the worst part was when he tried to explain what the captain had done to Mr. Hudson.
Everyone gasped. Mrs. Hudson paled. “What do you mean he pulled something out of his throat?” Mrs. Hudson inspected her husband right away, searching his throat for a wound. There was none.
“It wasn’t like he was pulling out organs or anything,” Matt said. “It was something I’ve never seen before. He called it a—”
“A time tapestry,” Albert supplied,
clearly unable to hold back his knowledge. “Captain Vincent can pull it out of anyone, and change things as he wishes.”
“And he did that to me?” Mr. Hudson said, putting a hand to his throat.
“I stopped him before he could do anything,” Matt said. “I used Ruby’s sword and I . . . chopped off Vincent’s hand.”
“You chopped off Vincent’s hand?” Corey said. “And I didn’t get to see it? That is so unfair!”
Matt did not think it was nearly as cool as Corey thought it was. If there was anything cool about it, it was the part where Captain Vincent regrew his hand right before his eyes, but he never got to explain that part.
“Well, there doesn’t seem to be any harm done,” Mr. Hudson said. “I’m fine. I still remember my ABCs and one, two, threes.”
“Let’s check, just to make sure,” Corey said. “Recite ’em.”
Mr. Hudson obliged, and then they all took him through a series of questions.
“What’s the capital of Alaska?” Ruby asked.
“Juneau.”
“How did I get this scar?” Corey asked, pointing to a thin scar beneath his chin.
Mr. Hudson laughed. “You jumped off the top of a playground because you thought you were Superman.”
“Most disappointing moment in my whole life.”
“Where did you go to college?” Ruby asked.
“Undergrad at Columbia. PhD at Oxford.”
“What day did we get married?” Mrs. Hudson asked.
Mr. Hudson looked at her, confused. “I never got married. Who are you, anyway?”
Mrs. Hudson paled. Mr. Hudson started laughing.
“Oh, that is so not funny!” Mrs. Hudson slapped him on the chest, but he just wrapped his arms around her.
“August 7, 1999. Best day of my life.” He kissed Mrs. Hudson.
“Gross. No PDA, please!” Corey said, but Matt didn’t mind it so much, he realized. Watching his parents, the way they looked at each other, made him feel safe. All was right with the world as long as they were together. They were the most unlikely pair, centuries and continents apart, but they belonged together. They were lucky. Matt hoped one day he’d have what his parents had. He automatically glanced over at Jia, but she wasn’t paying attention to the scene. She was sitting on a bench, hunched over something.
The Forbidden Lock Page 7
