Time Castaways #2 by Liesl Shurtliff

Author:Liesl Shurtliff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

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

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