The Forbidden Lock

by Liesl Shurtliff

Charles shook his head. “Wedding.”

  “Aren’t you a little young to get hitched?”

  “Not mine. Matty’s.”

  Henry’s eyes widened. Matty was getting married. And he was missing it. How much had he missed?

  “It’s Matty he’s really after,” Charles said, nodding up to the man above. “I think . . . I’m not positive, but I think he stole his woman or something. Belamie. That’s the girl Matty’s marrying. Pretty. Smart. Mom loves her, and she doesn’t like any of the girls we’ve ever dated, you know.”

  “No, I don’t know,” Henry said, and his heart suddenly ached terribly, thinking of all the things he would miss, had missed, in his sons’ lives. And Gloria. He thought of how he’d spoken to her that morning, or however long it had been, and he was filled with sorrow and regret. This could not be the way they parted. This could not be the way his life ended.

  They hit the water. The ropes were pulled up, and the ship started to move away from them. Henry looked around and noticed the oars in the bottom of the boat.

  “Grab an oar,” said Henry, hard determination in his voice.

  “Huh?” Charles said.

  “We’re not getting left behind here. Start rowing.”

  They started to row, keeping up with the ship at first, but then something strange started to happen. The water began to bubble around the ship, and the ship itself began to change.

  A rope dropped down, and though he couldn’t explain it, Henry knew if they didn’t grab on to that rope right that second, they would be stuck here forever.

  “Grab ahold, Charles!” said Henry. He hefted his son to the rope. Charles clung to it and then the ship moved and he was pulled out over the water.

  “Dad!” Charles cried. “Hang on!”

  He reached out to him as he swung over the bubbling, churning water, clinging to the rope, but Henry knew it was too late.

  “Tell Gloria I love her!” he shouted. “And Matty too! I love you!”

  And then the ship was gone. And Charles too. It had just . . . disappeared.

  The little boat tipped and swirled in the eddies until it calmed to a gentle rocking motion. Silence. Henry stared at the place where the ship had been. It had just disappeared, and now he was utterly alone. Lost.

  Henry had never minded being alone, in fact he enjoyed it. Of course, he always knew he would eventually get back to Gloria and the boys, but now he didn’t think that would be the case. He never cared for being lost. He was not accustomed to it. He was used to being oriented, knowing where he was.

  Henry floated aimlessly in the boat for hours, huddled and shivering in the corner of the boat. He thought maybe he should row to land, try to find help, but he saw no signs of civilization anywhere, and what if the ship returned and he missed it? Or what if someone else came along? But he was hungry, and his head was pounding. He couldn’t think.

  The sun set. It grew colder. Henry began to shiver violently. He started to lose his sense of reason or any feeling of hope. He reached in his back pocket and took out his wallet. He always carried pictures of the boys and Gloria. Charlie was only five in this picture and Matty eight. He had a gap-toothed smile and front teeth too big for him. How could it be that Matty was getting married? That Charlie could be so grown up? And Gloria . . . what had happened to her? What had she made of all this? Did she think he’d run away? Left her? Did she find someone else? Everything had happened so quickly, he hadn’t thought to ask Charles these questions.

  If only he could go back. He’d do things differently. He didn’t care how many years had gone by. He didn’t care if Gloria was old and gray, or if his own children were now older than he was. He just wished he could see them, even if only for a few moments, so he could say how sorry he was. That he loved them so much. Always.

  These were Henry Hudson’s thoughts as he drifted aimlessly in the Hudson Bay. Finally, exhaustion overcame him. He curled up on the bottom of the boat and pressed the pictures of his family against his chest. He wrapped his flannel shirt as tightly around himself as he could and fell in a fitful, shivering sleep.

  As dawn approached on the other side of the bay, small ripples formed in the glassy surface of the water, and underneath it began to bubble and churn again.

  Henry sat up, leaned over the side of the boat. Would the ship appear again? Was there hope for escape after all?

  The water bubbled and swirled. A dark shadow formed deep in the water. It got bigger and bigger. Something was coming. It was coming right underneath him.

  The little boat began to spin. Henry grabbed on to an oar and tried to row himself out of the way of whatever was coming. But it was too late. A ship burst through the surface, spraying water, making waves and whirlpools. Henry spun out of control. The boat nearly capsized, but he used the oar to gain some control.

  The ship was not the same as the last one, he didn’t think. It was smaller, but it was moving fast and coming straight for him. It was going to crush him.

  Henry held on to the oar. “Well, this is it, I guess,” he said aloud, because he felt he should have some final words, even if they were only spoken to himself. He thought of Gloria, their two boys, the future he would never share with them, and then the ship collided with Henry Hudson.

  5

  Time Chase

  Alpine Rail, Switzerland

  Blossom bumped and rattled through space and time. Matt tried to keep hold of his mom, but Blossom became a human popcorn machine, and they were forced apart. Elbows and knees knocked into heads and stomachs as they traveled until Blossom stretched and widened and they landed with a jolt. Matt was thrown against a window. He heard the oofs and groans of people tumbling about, getting squished and crushed, but eventually everyone settled. Matt sat up. He looked around to make sure everyone was there and alive.

  Blossom had transformed into a train with simple cushioned benches and tables next to large picture windows looking out on green mountainsides. Mrs. Hudson was sitting on top of one of the tables, grabbing the sides for support. Gaga was in the aisle, groaning and clutching at her stomach. Mr. Hudson was next to her, bleeding at the forehead. His glasses were cracked and twisted on his face. Uncle Chuck looked dazed, his hair and beard a tangled mess, but he didn’t look hurt. Corey was helping to release Ruby, whose foot had been caught beneath a bench. Jia and Pike were seated neatly on one of the benches like regular passengers.

  “Where are we?” Mrs. Hudson asked, looking out the window.

  They were winding slowly up a mountainside. Green, sunny valleys were spread out below them. Quaint little villages dotted the land with whitewashed cottages and churches and farmland. The hillsides were scattered with flocks of goats and sheep.

  “Switzerland,” Matt said. “The Alps.” It was one of the locations Matt had memorized. He’d seen a picture of it in a book in Gaga’s house and thought it looked so peaceful and beautiful. He had imagined them living in secret in a tiny cottage in the mountains. It was even prettier in real life. He’d never seen such green.

  The train tracks dipped and stretched across a valley, straight through a village. “I don’t understand,” Gaga said as they passed little white houses, a herd of sheep, a woman hanging out laundry on a line. “We’re in Switzerland?”

  “It’s okay, Mom,” Mr. Hudson said. “We can explain.”

  “What about that? Can you explain that?” Gaga pointed.

  Another train appeared ahead, coming straight toward them, a red V blaring on the front. It was the Vermillion again.

  “Matt,” his mom said.

  “I got it.” He started turning the dials to the next location on his list. “Everybody hold on.” Everyone ran to grab on to something. Just before the trains collided, Blossom jerked away and they were plunged in darkness again.

  South Pacific Ocean

  Blossom transformed into an old fishing boat, a single sail billowing in the wind. They were all piled together in the middle. Matt was sandwiched between Corey and Ruby, with R
uby on the bottom.

  “Get off!” Ruby shouted.

  When he freed himself, Matt squinted at the bright light of the sun reflecting on the water. They were on the open sea, no land anywhere in sight.

  “Where are we now?” Mrs. Hudson asked.

  “South Pacific Ocean,” Matt said.

  “What?!” Gaga shrieked.

  Even though Vincent had Mr. Hudson’s map, Matt thought it might be harder for him to track them in the middle of the ocean. He seemed correct in that assumption. They bobbed on the surface of the sea quite calmly, except for Gaga’s hysterics.

  “Matthew! I demand to know what’s going on! What just happened to my house? What is that thing Mateo has? And who is Vincent? Is that the maniac who tried to kidnap the children?”

  But before anyone could answer Gaga, something large shot through the water about fifty feet away.

  “Guess you thought wrong,” Corey said grimly. It was a speedboat. It moved around in a circle until it spotted the Hudsons and then it sped toward them. The Vermillion’s flag waved in the wind.

  Brocco was driving the boat. Wiley and Albert stood next to Brocco, bracing themselves as they sped over the choppy water. There was another man with them, too, a new crewmember, a pale man with light brown hair and a beard, wearing a suit that could come from any number of eras and countries. He was holding some kind of case in his arms. Matt couldn’t focus on the man too long, though, because of Captain Vincent. He was standing on the bow, somehow maintaining perfect balance as the boat bounced over waves. He looked to Matt like a flying demon, a very handsome and well-dressed flying demon in red Converse. Santiago, the captain’s white rat, sat on his shoulder, glaring straight at Matt with his evil red eyes.

  Mr. Hudson cursed under his breath.

  “Time to move again,” Mrs. Hudson said.

  Matt turned the dials again.

  Dhaka, Bangladesh

  They landed on a road and nearly crashed into a motorbike. The bike beeped and swerved around them, but then they were faced with a cow in the middle of the road. Uncle Chuck, now in the driver’s seat, swerved around the cow and steadied Blossom, back in her bus form.

  The road was jammed with cars, buses, motorbikes, carts and carriages, animals and people. There didn’t seem to be any traffic rules. Everyone just sort of did what they wanted and worked around everyone else.

  “Did we travel to the circus this time?” Gaga asked. She was looking pale.

  “Bangladesh,” Matt said.

  “Of course,” Gaga said dryly. “I should have known.”

  Matt had chosen this location specifically because he’d read that it was a crowded and confusing city, which he hoped would make it difficult for Captain Vincent to find them.

  “Where’s our next stop? Mars?” Gaga asked.

  If Matt knew how to travel to outer space and thought they’d survive it, he would travel to Mars. Maybe Vincent wouldn’t be able to follow them there.

  They came up to a huge roundabout. In the center was a circular pond with a sculpture of a giant water lily. Suddenly the sculpture exploded and a car flew out of the center.

  Matt didn’t wait to confirm that it was the Vermillion. He turned the dials of the compass again.

  And again.

  And again.

  They bounced through time and space like an out-of-control, transforming bouncy ball. He took them to the Amazon, to the North Pole, the South Pole, the Grand Canyon, and the Serengeti, from their present day to the fifth century BC. But no matter where they went, no matter what time, Captain Vincent and the Vermillion were there. It was all so chaotic, Matt wasn’t even sure what Blossom had turned into half the time. He heard the groans and cries of his family as they traveled erratically from ocean to land, night to day, and year to year. Matt was accidentally slapped and kicked and knocked at every turn, and after the fifth or sixth turn of the dials, his stomach grew queasy. His head felt like it might implode. But he kept going. It was either keep moving or face Vincent. And they couldn’t face him. Matt didn’t know what would happen if they did, but he knew he didn’t want to find out.

  He lost track of where or when they went. He had exhausted his memorized list. Dates and coordinates seemed to pop into his head at random and he just turned the dials. Sometimes they were boats in the middle of the ocean, or a lake, sometimes they were a car or a bus in a city. It all started to meld together. There were explosions, shouts, and screams, and Matt didn’t know where or who they were coming from, if his family was getting hurt, or if he was, or someone else. At one point, Blossom nearly landed on top of a lone man in a boat. He was waving at them, probably afraid they were going to crash. And they did. Matt turned the dials right away, but he felt the jolt of Blossom colliding with the man’s boat before they disappeared. Matt had a horrible feeling that they’d done damage to the man’s boat, maybe even hurt the man. But what could he do? They couldn’t stop. They had to keep going.

  Through all the transformations, Blossom and the Vermillion seemed to be carrying out their own battle, circling and racing each other, weaving in and out of the other’s paths, coming dangerously close to crashing. It was unclear if anyone was in control of the vehicles. No one seemed to be driving the Vermillion or Blossom, from what Matt could see. In every formation, Wiley, Brocco, and Albert seemed to be standing by, waiting for the captain to do something. Wiley was always holding a large piece of paper in his hands. Mr. Hudson’s map.

  And there was the stranger on the Vermillion, the one holding the case. Matt could see him a little better now. He was a pale man with light blue eyes. He had a very solemn, severe expression. He was carrying his case like he was guarding a precious treasure. There were moments he saw the man looking toward him with a confused sort of expression, like he was seeing something that didn’t make sense to him. Matt didn’t have the energy to try to puzzle that out. He was too busy turning the dials of the compass, too busy trying to keep them alive.

  Blossom turned into a train again, a rickety steam engine, very basic and bare. Blossom seemed to be losing her steam. Or the compass, or maybe both. The train huffed and groaned as she chugged along, slowly.

  Matt was losing his own steam. He didn’t think he could go on. The rest of his family was in bad shape too. His dad was leaning over Gaga, who was keeled over clutching her stomach. His mom had her head to the floor, pressing her fingers to her temples. Jia and Pike were both curled up behind the seats. He could see only their feet. Uncle Chuck was limp in the engineer’s seat. Matt did not know if he’d passed out or if it was worse than that.

  Matt was not certain where or when they were. They’d landed in another storm. The car was open on both sides so they were exposed to the elements. Rain lashed down and the sky cracked with lightning followed by booms of thunder. They were chugging slowly between narrow, rocky cliffs and brown, snowcapped mountains, the opposite of the lush green Alps. It was cold, wet, dreary, and lifeless.

  A horn blared in the distance. There was the Vermillion again, also a train, coming up alongside them on a parallel track. Matt knew he needed to move, to turn the dials of the compass, but he found he couldn’t move. His fingers were leaden, his strength sapped. He just needed a minute to rest.

  The Vermillion was now even with them. The car doors were open between the two trains. They were running so closely together, Captain Vincent could take one step and board Blossom. And he likely would have had Mrs. Hudson not drawn her sword and attacked him with everything she had, which was clearly very little. Captain Vincent easily blocked her blows and retaliated. He smiled like they were playing a delightful little game. Matt could tell he wasn’t really putting up a fight, but more egging her on, allowing her to drain the last of her strength.

  Ruby and Corey crawled to Matt. Both of them seemed fine. How were they fine? “We’ll never be able to lose them while they have the map!” Ruby said. “We have to get it back.”

  “How?” Matt said. “I don’t think they�
�re going to just hand it over.”

  “We have to steal it, duh,” Corey said.

  “Okay,” Matt said, too tired to even put up a reasonable argument. “Go steal it then.”

  Corey stood up and saluted Matt. “Aye, aye, captain!”

  And before Matt could register what was happening, Corey took a running leap from the side of Blossom and landed on the Vermillion.

  “Corey, no!” Ruby shouted.

  He barreled into Captain Vincent, who stumbled back into the rest of his stunned crew.

  “Corey!” Mrs. Hudson shouted.

  It all happened in a few seconds. Corey snatched the map right out of Wiley’s hands. Brocco made a grab to take it back, and in doing so the map ripped in two pieces. Corey shoved Brocco, then made a run for it back to Blossom. Their parents were right there, reaching out to him. Corey took a giant leap, but Albert was behind him. He grabbed Corey by the shirt. Ruby screamed. Matt screamed. He was sure that Corey was going to fall right between the trains.

  But then Captain Vincent reached out his left hand. He made a few strange motions, like he was writing something in the air, and Corey stopped. He froze midleap, the torn map in his clenched hand. Matt looked around, stunned, as he realized that everything had stopped. The world seemed to have frozen right in the middle of the action, like a film on pause. The wind ceased. The rain hung in the air like a million tiny crystal droplets and spears. The air was perfectly still, unnaturally quiet. And it wasn’t just the storm that had been stilled, Matt realized. His entire family, and Jia and Pike, had been paused in time, just like three days ago in Asilah, when Captain Vincent had gotten the Aeternum.

  Matt tried to stand up, but he was very weak. He could hardly move, and then he thought it would probably be better if he stayed where he was anyway because Captain Vincent hadn’t seen him. He didn’t seem to know that Matt hadn’t been frozen like the rest of them.

  Captain Vincent put his sword back in his scabbard. He went to the pale stranger, touched him on the chest. The man took a deep, gasping breath and was revived.