“You’re not together now, are you?” Gaga said.
Belamie winced. “That was not of our choosing. Something happened. One minute I was on my ship and the next . . .”
“And the next you were thrown into some unknown place, surrounded by people who think they know you but you don’t know them?” Haha said. “I know the feeling. It was your boyfriend who did that to me, you know.”
“I’m sorry, explain to me again who you’re supposed to be?” Belamie asked. “My future brother-in-law?”
“No, I’m Henry. I’m supposed to be your future father-in-law.”
“He’s my husband,” Gaga said, “and this is our son Charles. He’s your husband’s younger brother.”
Belamie looked between Haha and Uncle Chuck. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I think you’ve got them a little mixed up. Surely he’s your husband,” she pointed to Uncle Chuck, “and he’s your son?” She pointed to Haha.
“Nope,” Uncle Chuck said. “I’m the son, he’s my dad. Time-travel mishaps.”
“All at the hands of your wonderful Vincent,” Gaga said bitterly.
Belamie shook her head. “It can all be fixed,” she said, “once I find the Aeternum. Everything can be made right. So let’s go. Off to China.”
“Now?” Matt said.
“Yes now. You said you could take me to the Aeternum. So take me.”
“But—”
“You gave me your word,” Belamie said sharply. “And I gave you mine, and I always keep my word.” She placed her hands on her sword. Matt swallowed. He was about to say they could go now when Gaga spoke up.
“We’re not going anywhere tonight,” Gaga mumbled from the bench, her eyes closed.
“Agreed,” Haha said. “I’ve had about all I can take.”
“Me too,” Uncle Chuck added.
“You stay here, then,” Belamie said. “None of you are needed on this mission, anyway.”
Gaga nearly flew off the bench. She advanced on Belamie with fire blazing in her eyes. Belamie jumped back, startled. “Over my dead body!” Gaga boomed. She held up a shaking finger. “I have lost my husband, my son, and then my other son, and two grandchildren to your time-travel nonsense. I may look like an old lady, but I will not let Mateo out of my sight for one second, and if you try to pull a fast one on me, I will rip you apart with my bare hands! I won’t need a silly sword.”
Belamie stared at Gaga, mouth slightly agape. Matt had to bite his cheeks to keep from laughing. Haha and Uncle Chuck had both risen halfway from the bench, preparing to interfere in another fight and looking rather fearful about it.
“We can leave in the morning,” Gaga said with a bit of a growl in her voice. “You’re chasing after eternity, aren’t you? What’s one more day in the grand scheme of things?”
“I . . . ,” Belamie began, but seemed to have lost the argument. She sighed. “Very well. We can stay the night.”
Gaga smiled. “Thank you kindly,” she said in a sweet voice that made Belamie flinch. Maybe there was still some tether there as her mother-in-law, Matt thought. It gave him a small bit of comfort, until his mom turned to him and snapped, “We leave at first light, understood?”
Matt nodded. Clearly there was still a tether between them as mother and son, even if she didn’t recognize it.
They got some of Uncle Chuck’s blankets out of Blossom and set up a crude camp right there in the midst of the wrecked city. Belamie kept her distance from Gaga, and Gaga kept close to Matt while she barked orders at everyone, which seemed to annoy Belamie, as she was used to calling the shots, but she clearly didn’t want to cross Gaga again. Matt was intensely grateful he still had his grandparents and Uncle Chuck. He’d lost those dearest to him, but he still had some family in this world. That was something. But even this thought seemed to be tempting fate. What if they were taken away from him too?
Uncle Chuck brought out some of the food they’d stored in Blossom for emergencies (like the one they were in)—some canned stew, granola bars, and fruit cocktail. A few people, seeing that they had food, made attempts to steal some, but between Gaga’s snarls and Belamie’s sword, it was made crystal clear that no one would be stealing from them.
“Poor souls,” Jia said. “I wonder what will happen to all these people? Where will they go?”
Matt didn’t want to think about it too much, because it was simply too much. He couldn’t worry about everything.
They ate their food in awkward silence. Albert continued to look at Belamie with a mixture of fear and awe. He had only just met Mrs. Hudson, and it seemed to jar him to see her as the legendary Captain Bonnaire. She paid him no mind, almost pretended that he wasn’t there until Albert spilled some of his stew, and some of it splattered onto her boot. She snapped at him and Albert recoiled. Ordinarily Matt would have been delighted to see Albert get a bit of chastising. It served him right. But in this case it was only heartbreaking. Belamie Hudson was always kind to everyone.
They all settled down to sleep, finding spots inside or around Blossom. Belamie remained close to Matt. He tried to imagine that she wanted to protect him as his mother, but he knew it was more about the fact that he had the compass. She wasn’t going to let it out of her sight, and Matt had a feeling she wouldn’t close her eyes until she knew he was asleep.
But sleep was miles away for Matt. The events of the day swirled in his brain. His dad. Corey and Ruby. The way they had unraveled and disappeared.
This is all your fault!
Don’t let go, Matt!
The image of them, their voices in his head, it made his heart race and pound in his chest. He tried to redirect his thoughts, think of something besides the horrors of the day. He counted to a thousand. He did multiplication in his head. He listed off the
