Matt tried to think of something to say. He understood his mom’s logic but . . . Jia. If she were with them now, if they had rescued her from Captain Vincent, then maybe he would agree with his mom. Maybe he’d be fine to let it all go. But she wasn’t here, and he didn’t think he could let it go. Matt wrapped his hands around the compass.
“We have to rescue Jia,” he said with as much finality as he could muster.
“Mateo . . . ,” his mom started, but he cut her off.
“We can travel back to that day at the museum and rescue her before Captain Vincent can take her away.”
Mrs. Hudson paled. “That would be extremely foolish, and you’d regret it.”
“Then we’ll find another way.”
“No,” said Mrs. Hudson, her voice hard and final.
But Matt felt something break in him. His obedient nature, perhaps. “I’m not asking for your permission,” he said between gritted teeth. “I’m telling you. I’ll go by myself if I have to.”
“No, you won’t,” said Corey. “Because I’ll go with you.”
“Me too,” said Ruby.
Their parents gaped at them, stunned by this complete rebellion by all three of their children.
“And if you steal Matt’s compass and lock us up, then you’re no better than Captain Vincent.”
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hudson looked as though they had just been slapped across the face. Clearly, the comparison to Vincent was below the belt.
“That’s enough,” said Mr. Hudson. “We are not the enemy here. And, Mateo, put that thing away, and all of you stop being ridiculous. You’re not going anywhere. You don’t have the first clue where to look for Jia, not without my map, and guess what? I’m not sharing.”
The fire of rebellion Matt had felt a moment before was quickly extinguished. His dad was right. He had no idea where to search for Jia. Without the map they were stuck.
Mr. Hudson dragged his hands down his face, stretching his skin so he looked ghoulish and then just extremely exhausted. His eyes were red rimmed and puffy. His usually tousled hair was even more of a mess. Matt thought he looked old, all of a sudden, like he’d aged two decades in a single day. “Can we all just take a minute? Can’t anyone in this family stay in one place for five minutes?”
Chuck snorted and sat up. “Are we there yet?” he asked in a sleepy voice.
“No, Chuck,” snapped Mr. Hudson. “Go back to sleep.”
Chuck obeyed and started snoring again.
No one said anything. Matt glanced at his mother. She stared back, her eyes full of panic. Matt lowered the compass. His mom breathed.
“Okay,” said Mr. Hudson, like he’d just managed to keep a bomb from going off. “Okay, we’ll figure this out, okay? Let’s just . . . get some rest. We can talk more tomorrow.”
Matt suddenly felt the full force of his exhaustion overcome him. His entire body ached. He could barely keep his head up.
Tui helped them all set up their beds. She had plenty of furs for everyone, and in a few minutes Matt was warm and cozy between two fur pelts. Mr. Hudson put more mammoth dung on the fire. It smothered the embers at first, dousing them in darkness, and then the flames flared and spread warmth. Matt was extremely drowsy. The final dregs of his energy dried up. He snuggled down between the furs, ready to fall asleep in a half second.
Something cool touched his cheek and he started. His mother was crouched down next to him. Matt reached for his compass and braced himself for another fight, but his mom didn’t make a move for it. “Hey,” she said. Her voice was calmer now, her eyes softened. “You know I love you, right?”
Matt nodded. He waited for the but. I love you, but I’m in charge. But I don’t trust you. But you can’t go find Jia. But the but never came.
“You know what changed my mind about being a time pirate?” his mom asked.
“What?”
“You.”
“Me?”
She nodded, brushed her fingers through his hair. “When you visited me in the past—years ago for me and just a day ago for you—that’s when my old life ended and when my true life began. It was you.”
Matt squirmed a little beneath the furs. He didn’t know what to say. The experience of seeing his mom before she was his mom hadn’t been such a momentous, emotional experience for him. It had just been . . . weird. He suddenly realized that there were things he couldn’t possibly understand about his mom, but then he thought just the opposite was true. There were things about him that she couldn’t possibly understand either.
“Here.” His mom reached beneath the collar of her shirt and unclasped the gold chain she always wore. “You shouldn’t keep your compass floating around in your pocket.” She handed Matt the chain. He took it, then tentatively pulled out his compass and looped the chain through some of the metal. He clasped it around his neck and tucked the compass beneath his shirt. He shivered a little at the cold metal against his warm skin.
“Thanks,” he said.
His mom leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. She did the same to Corey and Ruby on either side of him, and before Matt could so much as mutter a good night, he fell into a sleep so heavy and deep it felt more like a coma.
13
Impasse
Matt woke to the smell of coffee, pancakes, and maple syrup, and the sound of someone whistling a tune. When he opened his eyes, he saw Chuck standing in front of a camp stove pouring pancake batter on a griddle. Matt gazed around. They were still inside Tui’s ice cave, and he was toasty warm beneath the furs.
Mr. and Mrs. Hudson were sitting by the fire, furs around their shoulders and cups of steaming coffee in their hands. Corey and Ruby were both eating stacks of pancakes drenched in maple syrup.
“Pancakes, Matty?” said Chuck.
“Um, sure,” said Matt. He didn’t hate the name Matty, necessarily, but no one ever called him that. That’s what Gaga always called his dad.
“Did you get all this from inside your bus?” Matt asked as Chuck handed him a stack of steaming pancakes and poured syrup over the top.
“Yeah,” said Chuck. “I didn’t even know Blossom had one of these griddles. I found it this morning. She was always a good bus, but she’s just full of surprises lately.”
Matt wondered if Blossom had somehow connected with his compass like the Vermillion did with the Obsidian Compass, shifting and providing supplies according to where and when they were traveling. He wondered if they traveled in her a great deal, if she’d one day be able to make transformations like the Vermillion, if somehow she would evolve. He was eager to run some experiments, but he had a hunch if he were to so much as turn a dial on his compass, his mom and dad would tackle him to the ground. No one brought up the conversation from the night before, though Matt felt it sitting in their midst like a ten-ton woolly mammoth.
Chuck filled the awkward silence by chatting up Tui, asking more about her life in Mali, her travels, her favorite movies and music. He claimed you could always really get to know a person through their taste in music. Did she prefer jazz or blues? Country or rock? Led Zeppelin or Grateful Dead? To which Tui asked what kind of music could rocks make, and why would anyone be grateful to be dead? Matt stifled a laugh. For all her time traveling, she clearly had not been immersed in modern pop culture, at least not in the latter twentieth century.
Matt looked over to see that his dad had pulled out his map and was studying it with his brow furrowed.
“Do you know where the Vermillion is now?” Ruby asked.
“No,” said Mr. Hudson. “The map is being a bit difficult for some reason, maybe because of how far we traveled. I’ve only ever used it in New York, so perhaps it needs to recalibrate to this time and location.”
Ruby scooted over to get a better look at the map. Mr. Hudson gave her a wary look, but he didn’t close the map. “What about there?” Ruby pointed. “Is that it?”
“No,” said Mr. Hudson. “The map seems simple to read, but it’s actually quite complex.
It’s difficult to keep a timeline for a time-traveling ship and know when and where it is in relation to your own time and place. Here’s an example.” He pointed to a faded mark on the map. “We know the Vermillion traveled to Rome in 44 BC, but how long ago according to our timeline did it go? Ten years ago? Twenty? The map is calibrated to the timeline of whoever is in possession of it. The brightness of the mark is only an estimate, but I’d say it was there, oh about twenty-five years ago in my own timeline.”
“That would have been when Mom was still captain,” said Ruby. “Before you met her.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Hudson, “but I already had the map by then. I studied it obsessively.”
“Where did you get it?” Matt asked. “And who made it? Was it Quine?”
“No idea,” said Mr. Hudson. “I bought it in a flea market in London.”
“You don’t remember who from?” Ruby asked.
“No, unfortunately. I wish I did, but my memory is very fuzzy on that point. I paid for the map and I left.”
“How much did you pay for it?” Matt asked.
“Fifty pence, less than a dollar. I knew it was probably worth a lot more than that, and I just figured the guy selling it had no idea.”
Or they did, Matt thought. Maybe the seller wanted his dad to buy it for some reason. He rubbed at his wrist where his bracelet used to be. Like his father’s map, it had also had some connection to the Obsidian Compass and the Vermillion, and also like his father’s map, they had bought it for cheap off of a street vendor. There had to be some connection. These items had not made their way into their hands by chance. They were all chess pieces in some larger game.
Matt scooted cautiously toward his dad to get a better look at the map. It looked different than the last time he’d seen it, before they’d traveled here. There were different borderlines and land masses. Matt spotted the pinkie-sized island off the coast of Siberia that he knew was their current location, but there was no mark showing that they were there. So the map was connected to the Obsidian Compass and the Vermillion specifically.
“Anyway,” continued Mr. Hudson, “the map will show the Vermillion’s travels in relation to your own timeline. The mark will glow blue like the base of a flame, but right now it seems to be . . . wait a moment. . . .”
Suddenly the map started going haywire. Land lines faded and shifted back and forth. The symbol of the Vermillion popped up all over the map and then disappeared like a game of whack-a-mole. Dates and coordinates appeared, too, flashing on the map one after the other, faster than they could read them.
“Why’s it doing that?” Ruby asked.
“Probably from the travel,” said Mr. Hudson. “It just needs to recalibrate.” He lifted the map off the ground a little, shook it, then put it back down on the ground, but it was still going berserk. He stood up with the map and walked away from the group a little, like he was trying to find a spot with a good signal. “There. It’s better now.”
They all came toward it again.
“Stop,” said Mr. Hudson, putting up a hand. “Stay back. It’s like you’re causing interference.”
“Maybe it’s the compass,” said Mrs. Hudson, glancing at Matt.
Sure enough, every time Matt got within a few feet of the map it went haywire. When he stayed away, his dad was able to read the map but could not find the Vermillion anywhere. “She must be in Nowhere in No Time.”
Mrs. Hudson frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“He is hiding,” said Tui.
“Why?” Ruby asked. “I thought he wanted us to find him.”
“Not if he knows I am with you,” said Tui, flashing a wicked grin. “Then he knows he is dead.”
Mrs. Hudson cleared her throat. “We should take a look at Chuck’s bus now, right? See if we can get it working again.”
And then what? Matt didn’t dare to ask the question.
The day was bright, clear, and, in Corey’s words, “booger-freezing cold,” a description that no one could refute. They all carried a load of mammoth dung from Tui’s cave and built a bonfire on the beach near Blossom, both to keep from getting frostbite and to keep the polar bears and walruses away. Blossom appeared to be the new cool hangout for Siberian Ice Age animals, but once they got the fire going, they kept away.
Chuck and Corey made friends with some of the walruses by feeding them pancakes. They were trying to teach a little one to do tricks until a big walrus with giant tusks bellowed and chased them away. It wasn’t very fast of course, but it was still funny to watch Chuck and Corey jump.
Ruby finally convinced Mrs. Hudson to give her a fencing lesson using icicles for swords. Their ice swords broke about once a minute, but that appeared to be part of the fun. They’d just go pull off another one from a nearby rock and start again.
While that was going on, Matt moved around Blossom, inspecting her and making all the repairs he could. Most of the damage seemed to be fairly minor—tightening nuts, reconnecting wires, adjusting the timing belt. Probably their biggest problem would be getting it to start in this cold. Tui stood and walked past him. She appeared to be watching Ruby and Mrs. Hudson fence, but every now and again Matt saw her glance toward him. He guessed his mom had asked her to keep an eye on him, make sure he didn’t bolt away with his compass after he fixed the bus.
After the tenth or so ice sword broke, Mrs. Hudson called it quits. She wanted to talk to Mr. Hudson, who was crouched by the fire with his map.
Ruby ran over to Matt, her cheeks and nose bright red, her breath coming out in clouds. “Can I help?” she asked, smiling.
“Sure,” said Matt. “You can help me change the flat tire.”
“Okay!” Ruby said as though this were the most exciting thing in the world. She assisted Matt with the jack and removing the nuts. She chattered about her sword lesson with their mom, what a good teacher she was, and the different techniques she’d taught her.
“It’s different than what I learned with Captain Vincent,” said Ruby. “I mean, he always wanted me to hold my sword a certain way, but Mom showed me a different way that really does feel much more natural.”
“That is because your mama is the best swordswoman in the world,” said Tui from behind them. “No one can compare with her.”
“I wish she’d show us more,” said Ruby. “It’s like pulling teeth to get her to give me a lesson.”
“It brings back memories for her, I think,” said Tui. “Memories she’d rather forget.”
“You mean like when she was Captain Bonnaire?” said Ruby.
Tui nodded. “Yes, when she was with Vincent. Fencing was something they always did together.”
Matt got a flash of his mom and Captain Vincent fencing on board the Vermillion, the light in her eyes, the color in her cheeks, how close they’d been. It made him feel queasy.
“I am happy for your mama’s new life. I am,” said Tui. “But she wishes to shed a past that will not be so easily shed. Vincent will not let you be. I know it. Your mama knows it. I think we all know what is true, deep down, but we don’t always want to listen. Truth is sometimes painful to face.”
“What do you think we should do?” Ruby asked.
Tui shook her head. “It is not my place,” she said. “I am sorry, I should not speak so freely. Your mama is a good captain, but she is afraid, and fear makes people blind, sends them in the wrong direction, and I fear your mother will soon regret not taking action in order to protect those she loves so dear.”
Matt felt a chill run through him that he was certain had nothing to do with the bitter cold. He looked over at his parents, their heads together. His dad brushed his mom’s hair out of her face and whispered something in her ear. She laughed and kissed him. Watching his parents kiss always made Matt feel squirrelly but also sort of . . . safe, like no matter how crazy things got, their love would endure and hold them all together. But now he wondered if that was a childish fantasy, a fairy tale. The reality was Vincent could appear any moment an
d rip them all apart.
“Oh!” Tui exclaimed, clutching her head as though she were in pain. “If only I had gotten the compass, as was meant to be! I go back to that day in my mind over and over again. I think how I could have kept Vincent from getting the compass. We all could have been spared. We would have lived in peace. Even your friend. But it is too late. We cannot go back.”
Matt tightened a nut on the tire, then took another from Ruby’s cupped hands. She was staring at Tui in a strange way. He could practically see the wheels turning in her brain.
“When exactly did Captain Vincent get the compass?” Ruby asked. “Do you remember the date?”
“As though it were yesterday,” said Tui. “AD 1998. March tenth.”
“Huh,” said Ruby. “And it was in LA.”
“Yes. San Pedro Bay. Your mama was supposed to steal a boat there. She said there was something important in it. That is what she tells us, and we never see her again and everything goes bad.”
Matt finished up with the tire and moved on to other things while Tui and Ruby continued talking. He lost track of the conversation.
“Let’s take a break, yes?” said Tui. “We will eat now. Maybe Chook has more of those hot dogs and what do you call those sticky fluffs? Mash . . .”
“Marshmallows,” said Matt.
“Ooh, yes, those are delicious!”
“How are the repairs coming, Matty?” Chuck asked as they ate more hot dogs and thawed themselves by the bonfire on the beach. Matt’s fingers and toes ached with cold.
“Okay,” he said. “Nearly there, I think.”
“Excellent! Do we have a destination in mind when we’re ready to go? I have a list of suggestions if you need them. Woodstock is at the top of my list, of course. We could also witness the creation of the Seven Wonders of the World, both ancient and modern. I’ve always been curious about Stonehenge. Maybe we could see how they built it and why? But probably first stop, we wanna go someplace warm. I think Princess Tui would especially like that, right, Princess? How about Jamaica? Warm, sunny, plus great music!” He pulled out his harmonica and started playing a song. Matt recognized it as “Coming in from the Cold,” by Bob Marley. He’d listened to the record in Gaga’s basement while making his compass.
Time Castaways #2 Page 16