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
