Matt went over to her and saw that she was looking at a book. It was Matt’s book that Pike had been reading, the one about famous inventors his parents had given him on his birthday.
Jia looked up at him. Her eyes were so incredibly sad, Matt felt his heart squeeze inside his chest.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “About Pike. I wish there was something I could do.”
Jia looked back down at the book. “I was supposed to take care of her,” she said, her voice a bit raspy. “I was the one to find her first on the Vermillion. Did you know that?”
Matt shook his head. He remembered Jia telling him once that Pike had been found in the Vermillion’s food pantries, eating a pile of sugar.
“Captain Vincent didn’t want her to stay at first,” Jia said, “but I convinced him because I thought she was so sweet-looking and we couldn’t figure out where or when she had come from. I couldn’t bear the thought of her being discarded and all alone in the world.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop her,” Matt said. “By the time I saw her leap across I’d already turned the dials, and we just had to get away from Vincent. If you had seen what he was doing to my dad . . .”
Jia shook her head. “It’s not your fault,” Jia said. “I should have done something sooner, said something . . .”
“What do you mean?”
Jia looked at Matt. He’d never seen her look so serious. She opened her mouth. Matt knew she was about to tell him something important, but they were interrupted by a loud thumping.
“Hey, what’s that sound?” Ruby asked.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It sounded like someone was pounding on a door.
“It’s coming from over there,” Corey said, pointing to the other end of the ship. They all moved in that direction. Mrs. Hudson drew her sword and took the lead, shepherding her children behind her.
The thumping grew louder. Then a muffled voice could be heard.
“Hello? Help!”
“There!” Ruby said, pointing to a small boat turned upside down on the deck of the ship. Someone had to be underneath it.
“Another stowaway?” Uncle Chuck said.
“Maybe Brocco or Wiley got caught on Blossom like Albert,” Jia said.
“Careful,” Mrs. Hudson said. “It could be a trap. Matthew, Charles, lift it up, please.”
Mr. Hudson and Uncle Chuck both stepped forward and lifted the boat. A man crawled out.
“Phew,” he said, sitting up. “Thanks, I thought I was maybe going to die in there, and before that I thought I was going to die out there.” He pointed to the water, then looked around and seemed to realize he was not wherever he had been before. Then he looked at Mrs. Hudson’s sword pointed at him. “And I guess maybe I’m still going to die?”
It was not Brocco or Wiley. Matt didn’t know this man, and yet he looked familiar. He just couldn’t think why.
Someone gasped. Gaga stumbled forward. “Henry?”
And then it clicked in Matt’s brain. This was Henry Hudson, his long-lost grandfather.
7
New-Old Family and New New York
Matt was trying to understand what was going on. Henry Hudson was on Blossom. Henry Hudson, his dad’s dad, who had been discarded by Captain Vincent in the Hudson Bay in 1611. Somehow, in all the chaos, Matt must have traveled there and picked him up. He remembered the lone man in a boat, how they’d crashed into him during their time chase with Vincent. That must have been his grandfather, Henry Hudson. Somehow, they’d pulled him along with them.
Henry Hudson looked a lot like Matthew Hudson, except with a beard and no glasses. They were about the same age, which meant he’d just been catapulted roughly forty years into his future.
“Henry, is that really you?” Gaga said.
Henry squinted at Gaga and then his eyes went wide. “Gloria?”
Gaga’s face went from pale green to just plain green. She swayed on the spot. Matt thought she might faint, but then she stumbled to the side of the boat, leaned over, and vomited in the water. Mr. Hudson went to her and patted her on the back. Mrs. Hudson handed her a handkerchief. Gaga took it and wiped her face, then turned back around to face her husband, who she believed had died decades earlier.
Henry stumbled to his feet. His clothes were definitely from the 1980s. “Gloria, is that really you? I don’t understand. You’re so . . . you’re so . . .”
“Old?” Gaga supplied.
“Yeah . . . I mean older. And still beautiful. I mean . . . How long have I been gone?”
“That depends on who you ask,” Uncle Chuck said.
Henry cocked his head at Uncle Chuck, studying him. “You look like my great-uncle Bill.”
“I’m sure that’s a great compliment,” Uncle Chuck said.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Gaga said. “Have I gone completely crazy? Or are we all dead? We’re dead, aren’t we? And this is”—she looked all around—“some strange in-between place.”
“No, Mom,” Mr. Hudson said. “You’re not crazy, and you’re not dead. I can explain.”
“Wait, Mom?” Henry said. “Hang on. You’re not Matty, are you?”
“Yeah . . . hi, Dad.”
“Boy, time really does fly.”
“Somebody tell me what is going on right now!” Gaga shrieked.
“I will!” Mr. Hudson said. “I just . . . I’m not sure where to begin.”
“How about at the beginning,” Henry said.
Mr. Hudson laughed. “Which one?”
“Oh, come on,” Corey blurted. “It’s not that hard.” He turned to Gaga and Henry. “Listen up. We’re time travelers, okay? Our whole family. Matt invented a time-traveling compass, our mom is three hundred years old, and we’re being chased by a bunch of time pirates, one in particular named Captain Vincent. He’s the maniac who abducted us before. And he’s Charles, your son and our uncle.” He pointed at Uncle Chuck.
Gaga’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She looked at Mr. Hudson, and then Mrs. Hudson, and finally Uncle Chuck. She stared at him long and hard. “Charles. You’re . . . Charles?”
“Charlie?” Henry said.
“We call him Uncle Chuck,” Corey said. “It just sounds better.”
“Chuck . . . Charles,” Gaga said, still staring at her long-lost son who was now nearly the same age as her. “But . . . but that’s impossible. You can’t be . . . You can’t be . . .”
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad,” Uncle Chuck said with a little wave.
“I don’t understand,” Gaga said. You’ve worked for me for nearly forty years! I would know my own son if I saw him!”
“Not unless you were expecting him to be thirty years older than he should be,” Corey said. “Time travel. It’s a beast.”
“And who are you supposed to be?” Henry asked, looking down at Corey. “My great-grandfather or something?”
Corey laughed. “Close. I’m your grandson.”
At this Henry’s eyes nearly burst out of their sockets. “My grandson!”
“Yeah, you got three of them. Grandchildren, I mean. I’m Corey, and that’s your granddaughter, Ruby.” Corey motioned to Ruby, who waved and smiled. “She’s my twin, but we are nothing alike. And that’s your other grandson, Matt, or Mateo, so you don’t get him mixed up with our dad. We are also nothing alike, but not in the same way that Ruby and I are unalike. He was adopted from Colombia and is a total genius. He invented the Obsidian Compass, which is how we time-traveled to rescue you, and I guess it’s also how you got discarded in the first place. Ironic, huh? Or is that not the right word for this situation?”
“Is there a word for this situation?” Henry Hudson said. He was looking at Matt now, who wished he could disappear. Why did Corey have to point out all that? Was he trying to embarrass him or just being a total blabbermouth? He felt so exposed, and he would have liked to have made his own introduction to his long-lost grandfather.
“Okay . . . okay, so you’re all Matt
y’s kids. And is this your mom?” He nodded to Belamie.
“Oh, sorry, Dad,” Mr. Hudson said. “So . . . this is my wife, Belamie.”
Mrs. Hudson held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Henry.”
“Charles told me you were getting married. That was yesterday for me, but he was much younger then . . . though still older than I had left him. So, I’m guessing the wedding happened a while ago?”
Mr. Hudson nodded. “Twenty years. Sorry you couldn’t be there.”
“Guess I got a lot of catching up to do. A daughter-in-law . . . grandchildren . . . Wasn’t expecting that for a couple more decades, but okay. Life comes at you fast sometimes, I guess. And who are these two?” Henry asked, nodding to Jia and Albert. “You’re not my great-grandchildren, are you?”
Jia shook her head, then looked to Matt as though she didn’t know how to explain herself.
“This is Jia,” Matt said. “She’s my . . .”
“She’s our friend,” Ruby said.
“But sort of, like, Matt’s girlfriend,” Corey added.
“Shut up, she is not,” Matt said, feeling his face heat up. Now he couldn’t even look at Jia. He glared at Corey instead. Why did he always have to ruin everything by opening his big mouth?
“And you are a friend of the family, too, I assume?” Henry asked Albert.
“Ick, no way,” Corey said. “More like a family enemy.”
“Corey,” Mrs. Hudson chided.
“What? It’s true.” He turned back to Henry. “Albert’s in league with Vincent. That’s the guy who discarded you. He’s here by mistake, and now he’s our hostage.”
“He’s not our hostage,” Mrs. Hudson said.
Albert kept his head down and didn’t say anything, which Matt thought was probably wise, given the circumstances. Maybe he wasn’t their hostage, but he certainly wasn’t one of them.
“Man, this has been the weirdest day,” Henry said, and then looked back at Gaga, who was still staring at him like he was a ghost. “Gloria, I’m so sorry. The way I left . . . and you never knew what really happened . . .”
Gaga shook her head. “No, it’s not your fault. And I’m sorry too. If I had only known . . .” She then turned sharply to Mr. Hudson, her expression turning severe. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me any of this?!”
Matt backed up a bit. Corey and Ruby did too.
“I told you we should’ve told her,” Corey said under his breath.
“Mom, we’re really sorry,” Mr. Hudson said. “We honestly didn’t know about Charles or Dad until a few days ago.”
“You should have told me the instant you knew!” Gaga said. “And not just about your father, but all of it. I assume you thought I wouldn’t notice anything strange was going on?”
“I . . . well . . . ,” Mr. Hudson stuttered. Gaga bulldozed right over him.
“All this time I thought I was going crazy. I thought I was seeing things a few days ago when I looked out the window to see you and Belamie chasing after the kids in Chuck’s hunk of junk bus, when suddenly it disappeared into thin air, right before my eyes. And then a fluke storm rolled through, nearly destroyed my entire vineyard, and then you all reappear moments later, and everything seemed fine. I’m fine. We’re all fine. But then I’ve heard you all these past few days, whispering and conspiring who knows what. And then I start hearing about penguins in the desert and snowstorms in Jamaica, and an earthquake hits New York, and a monsoon floods everything and destroys my house and vineyard, and then a pirate ship appears and then . . . and then . . . my son who I thought had run away and my husband who I’d thought had died both suddenly appear, but my son is the same age as me and my husband’s four decades younger! And you thought that would all somehow escape my notice?!”
“I’m sorry,” Mr. Hudson said. “I just . . . we didn’t know how to tell you, or if it would even be helpful.”
“News flash,” Gaga said. “It’s always helpful for a grieving widow to know that her dead husband is actually still alive. How did this happen? And why?”
“I wouldn’t mind a few details myself,” Henry said.
“We know this is all a lot to take in at once, for both of you,” Mrs. Hudson said. “We’ll tell you everything, we promise.”
“Yes, you will,” Gaga said. “Every last detail. But not here. If I have to spend another minute on this boat, or whatever it is, I will go crazy.”
Matt didn’t doubt it. He could see his usually very with-it grandmother unraveling before his eyes. She was breathing hard, clutching at her chest, her face in a grimace. Her usually sleek silver hair now resembled dandelion fluff with half the fluff blown away.
“Can we go home?” Ruby asked. “I think we’d all be most comfortable there.”
“We can’t go back to the vineyard,” Mrs. Hudson said.
“No, I mean home home. Like our apartment?” Ruby nodded toward the city, the familiar skyscrapers sparkling in the afternoon sunlight.
Yes, home, Matt thought. It felt like they’d been away for ages, and Matt suddenly ached for their apartment, his own bed, the familiar things and smell.
“I don’t know,” Mrs. Hudson said. “It seems like just the place Vincent would go to find us.”
“Maybe not,” Jia said. “In all the time we came to New York, Vincent never did want to set foot in your apartment. He never even tried. I think that’s why he sent Pike to steal the letter instead of going himself.”
Jia frowned and looked away. Mentioning Pike must be painful for her, Matt thought.
“He did always try to kidnap us when we were outside, never when we were home,” Ruby reasoned. “So maybe it really is the safest place for us to be.”
“And maybe he won’t think to search for us in New York in any case,” Matt added. “He found us at Gaga’s house. I’ll bet he’d think we would think it wouldn’t be safe to go home, so maybe it’s actually the safest place we could go right now.”
“That all seems oddly reasonable,” Mr. Hudson said.
“And besides,” Ruby said. “Even if he did think we’d go home, he wouldn’t know when to go. He can’t know what date we traveled without the map.”
“Maybe, but Vincent isn’t the only risk in going home,” Mrs. Hudson said. “What if we’re there right now? We don’t know what the date is, exactly, with everything being so mixed up. We could run into ourselves, which could do just as much damage as Vincent could inflict on us, maybe even more.”
Matt thought not, but he didn’t say so. Given what he’d just witnessed, he was guessing Vincent could do quite a bit of damage. “Where else would we go?” Matt asked. “I don’t think we’ll be able to travel right now, anyway. Not far, at least. I can probably get us home, but it wouldn’t be safe to do much more than that. The compass needs some maintenance. I lost a piece. It could take a few days to fix it.”
“Can’t we at least try?” Ruby pleaded. “We’ll be careful, and if we hear anything then we’ll leave right away.”
“Belamie, everyone’s exhausted,” Mr. Hudson said. “My parents have been through the wringer. We need a place we can rest. And I, for one, would prefer to go home.”
“I second the motion,” Gaga said.
Uncle Chuck raised his hand. “Third.”
Mrs. Hudson finally relented. “All right. We can try going home, but any sign of trouble and we leave right away, agreed?”
They all nodded.
“Matt, if you hold the time dials and just set the location dials it should work.”
Gaga groaned. “Oh no. Please, no, don’t do that . . . that thing . . . whatever it is. I can’t take it.”
“It’s okay, Mom,” Mr. Hudson said. “It’s almost over.” He turned back to Matt and whispered, “Make it as smooth as you can.”
Matt did his best to make the travel smooth, and Blossom turned back into her original bus form. It was a bit cozy at first, but then Blossom, seeming to sense their discomfort, widened and st
retched to create a bit more breathing room. Blossom was now more the size of a motor home.
“She seems to be getting better at transforming,” Mrs. Hudson noted.
Matt nodded in agreement. He had noticed certain similarities between Blossom and the Vermillion, the way they transformed, the feisty, almost sarcastic personalities of the vehicles. He wondered if it was just the effects of the Obsidian Compass and if it would have that effect on any vehicle. Or could it be that Blossom and the Vermillion were actually the same vehicle? It was a crazy notion, and yet it weirdly made sense. He guessed only time would tell. Only time would tell a lot of things. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe it would just keep bringing more and more questions, making more and more chaos. There didn’t seem to be much order to the universe anymore.
They landed on Fifth Avenue, right near the museum and only a couple of blocks from their apartment, but there was no chance of them getting through all the traffic. Fifth Avenue was completely jammed because not only were there cars and buses and taxis, but also horse-drawn carriages where neither the horses nor drivers seemed to understand what was going on. There were policemen on the streets, trying to direct traffic with their whistles and batons, but it made little difference, and they seemed just as confused as anyone.
“This is supposed to be Manhattan?” Henry said, looking out the window as a covered wagon pulled by oxen passed by. “Did we go back in time?”
“We couldn’t have,” Ruby said. “There are too many modern buildings.”
“The timelines have been disrupted,” Matt said. “Different times and places seem to be breaking up and getting meshed together.”
They parked Blossom right in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, between a warhorse in full armor and an old Model T. Everyone tried to get out the side door at once until Mrs. Hudson yelled at the kids to calm down and let their grandmother out first. Uncle Chuck and Henry both assisted Gaga out of Blossom. Corey and Ruby were next to jump out, followed by Albert. Matt climbed out and then realized Jia wasn’t with them. He turned back to find her tucking the book Pike had been reading inside her vest.
The Forbidden Lock Page 8
