“We must be getting close,” said Jia. “That one was not long after I came aboard.”
An image poured forth of the vineyard all lit up. “That’s our wedding day,” Mrs. Hudson said. She reached out almost as if she wanted to touch it.
“It’ll be the next one,” said Mr. Hudson. “He would have come straight to the wedding after figuring out his mistake with Dad.”
The dials turned. Another image flashed.
“That’s it!” Mr. Hudson shouted. “That’s Dad!”
An image poured out of the compass of a man who looked very much like Mr. Hudson, but with a short beard and no glasses. He wore a flannel shirt, much like the ones Gaga always wore. He looked terrified. Next to him was a young man, no more than twenty.
“And that’s Uncle Chuck!” Corey said.
“Matt, stop the dials if you can,” said Mrs. Hudson. “Check the date and location.”
Matt held the dials in place. “Sixty degrees north and eighty-five degrees west.”
Mr. Hudson quickly went to look at the globe, tracing his finger along the lines. “That’s in the Hudson Bay! The Hudson Bay! Vincent would dump him there, that unimaginative ba—”
“The date, the date!” shouted Mrs. Hudson, cutting off her husband. “We’ve got nothing if we don’t know the date.”
Matt studied the dials. “The year is 1611, and the month is May, no, June—” The table started shaking, and the dials of the compass slipped.
“Corey, stop shaking the table!” Mr. Hudson shouted.
Corey threw up his hand. “Why does everyone always think it’s me? I’m not doing anything!”
The tremor grew stronger. It vibrated the floors, shook the walls and ceiling.
“Earthquake! Earthquake!” Gaga shouted, running into the kitchen. The smoky image of Grandpa Hudson was still hovering in the air. Mr. Hudson quickly swiped his hand through it. “There’s an earthquake! Everyone get under the table. Oh! My vineyard!” She pointed out the window.
Matt looked. His jaw dropped. The vineyard had split clean down the middle, forming a ravine that was widening and deepening every second.
“Uncle Chuck!” Corey shouted. “Uncle Chuck is out there!” He pointed to where Uncle Chuck was, right in the midst of the splitting vineyard, clinging to a few grapevines while the earth literally fell out from under his feet.
The ground shook more violently. And then the window shattered.
Matt shielded himself as glass flew over the table and floor. A cold wind gusted through, knocking over chairs, a mug of coffee, and the compass. Its loose pieces scattered. Matt fell to the trembling floor and crawled after the pieces. He gathered them all up, tried to put them back together, but the ground was shaking so hard it was impossible.
Another window shattered. Pictures fell off the walls.
“Get everyone to Blossom, Belamie,” Mr. Hudson said. “I have to go help Chuck.”
“Be careful!” Mrs. Hudson called after him as he raced out of the house.
The house tilted violently. Everyone went sprawling. Matt clutched the pieces of his compass to his chest as he fell. Flaming logs spilled out of the fireplace. Cinders and ash billowed out. The living room rug caught fire. The fire spread quickly. It caught on to the drapes and the room began to fill with smoke and flame. The smoke detectors started beeping.
“Fire! Fire!” Gaga ran to the kitchen and came back with the fire extinguisher, but by that time the fire had spread well beyond containment by a single fire extinguisher, and she couldn’t figure out how to use it anyway.
“Why are these things so impossible!” she shouted as she shook the red canister. “I’m going to sue whoever made this thing! Where’s my cell phone? Somebody call the fire department!”
“Gloria, we have to get out of the house now!” Mrs. Hudson shouted and then coughed. “Everyone outside now!”
Corey and Ruby were already running for the door. Pike ran to Jia, still clutching the book. Jia took her hand and they ran. The wall cracked. The ceiling groaned. The light fixture crashed to the floor. Matt was still frantically trying to get the pieces back into the compass as the smoke thickened and the flames crept closer to him.
“Matt!” his mom shouted. “What are you doing? Get out of the house now!”
Matt clutched the pieces of his compass and hurried out of the burning, smoking house.
Outside, the ground still shook violently. The vineyard was completely gone. Now there was a small canyon in its place. It continued to widen and deepen. Mr. Hudson was on the edge of a cliff, pulling Uncle Chuck to safety.
The house was now engulfed in fire. Flames crawled out the windows and licked the sides of the house. Gaga pulled her phone out of her purse and dialed 911. “Hello! My house is on fire! My address is—What is that!”
The sky above them was churning. Dark clouds rolled toward them. Matt thought it almost looked like a whale swimming through the sky, and then the whale burst through the clouds.
“Is that an airship?” Gaga said. “What is an airship doing here? What is happening!”
The side of the airship was emblazoned with a black compass and red V. It was the Vermillion. It came barreling toward them on a wave of black clouds.
Corey cursed under his breath.
“We gotta get out of here,” Ruby said.
“Like out out,” Corey said.
And Matt realized they meant they had to time-travel. Of course they did, but the compass was still in pieces! Quickly, Matt tried to get the pieces in order. He’d gotten it mostly put back together, but there was a piece missing. He must have dropped it somewhere, either inside the burning house or outside. Either way, he didn’t have it and there was no way the compass would work without that piece.
“Everyone to Blossom!” Mrs. Hudson said. They all ran toward the bus.
Chuck’s orange Volkswagen bus was still stuck in the porch where
