When he was all back together again, he fell to the floor in a heap, gasping for breath. He felt like he’d nearly drowned. He was disoriented. He was trembling all over. He wasn’t even sure where he was.
“Matt?” He looked up to see Jia, sleepy-eyed, peering down at him from her bed. “What happened? Are you—” And then she gasped and covered her mouth.
Matt looked down at himself. He was still a bit blurry, like he hadn’t been able to pull all of himself together. Except his hands. His hands were solid and in sharp focus, and they were firmly grasping on to something. Or someone. Two someones.
Matt looked to his right and to his left. He closed his eyes and opened them again to make sure what he was seeing wasn’t a hallucination or a dream. Lying on either side of him, grasping tight to each of Matt’s hands, was a boy and a girl.
It all came back to him in an instant, like a tsunami of memories crashing over his brain. Memories of scavenger hunts and picnics in Central Park, birthday parties, baseball games, and trips to museums. Running down Fifth Avenue after school, the smell of hot dogs and gyros and garbage and exhaust. Memories of arguments and shouting and games and laughter. And love. There was overwhelming love threaded through every single memory. All this spread through him like wildfire, burning up any fears or doubts. He was not lost. He was not alone. He had a brother and sister, and they were here.
“Corey? Ruby?”
Corey flopped over and groaned. He sat up and shook his head, so dust flew off his shaggy hair. “What just happened? It felt like I was melting or something.”
“We’re still here,” Ruby said, holding up her free hand in front of her face. Matt hadn’t let go of her other hand. “We’re still here. I’m not dead. Or am I? Are we dead?” She wiggled her fingers, then felt her face.
“You’re not dead,” Matt breathed, still staring at his brother and sister, not quite believing any of his senses. But they were back. Real, solid, alive Corey and Ruby. “You’re not dead!” he shouted. His heart swelled nearly to bursting. He felt lighter than air. He was trembling so much, he thought he might fall apart again, but he needed to hold himself together so he could attack Corey and Ruby with a hug. And he did. He wrapped his arms around both of them and knocked them back down to the floor. He hugged them as tight as he could. They were so real. He was never going to let go. If he could, he would weld all three of them together and they’d stay like that forever.
“Oof! Matt, get off of me!” Ruby said.
“Dude, what is your deal?” Corey said. “And why do you smell like fireworks?”
“It’s dynamite,” Matt said. “I blew myself up!”
“Huh—What now?”
“Matt, I can’t breathe!” Ruby cried.
Matt still didn’t want to let go, but he had to reason that suffocating his brother and sister would be counterproductive to his goals. He released them, and Corey shoved him away. He fell back against the bed where Jia was still gaping at the impossible scene before her. She rubbed at her sleepy eyes and blinked a few times.
“Corey? Ruby? Is that really you?” Jia stumbled out of bed.
“It’s us,” Ruby said. “But I’m not sure what just happened.”
“Matt’s gone crazy, that’s what just happened.” Corey rubbed at his shoulder where Brocco had shot him. Matt must have aggravated the wound with his hug attack. He only felt a little bit bad about it.
“Where are we anyway?” Ruby asked, looking around. “This isn’t our apartment. And this isn’t New York, is it?” She was looking out the window. “Oh, but maybe it is. Is that the Empire State Building? Where’s Mom and Dad and everyone else?”
“They’re not here right now,” Matt said.
“What did you do?” Corey said in a growling voice. Matt winced, his joy dissipating ever so slightly at the anger on his brother’s face, the bewilderment on Ruby’s. Matt recalled the moments before Corey and Ruby had disappeared. They’d been fighting. They’d just found out Marius Quine and Matt were the same person and believed he was on Vincent’s side. There had been such confusion and anger. Corey had attacked Matt, and then everything had happened so quickly. It appeared no time had passed for Corey and Ruby since that moment, and Matt had to rewind his brain to meet them where they were at.
“I know everything is confusing right now,” Matt said. “And I know I owe you some explanations.”
“More than some,” Corey said.
“Where did Pike come from?” Ruby said. “Last time we saw her she had gone with Captain Vincent on the Vermillion.”
“And what is she doing?” Corey asked. “What’s that stuff she’s playing with?”
Marta was standing in the corner of the room. She was still weaving together more of the time tapestry threads that Matt had carried with him from the dynamite explosions. A shadow began to form, faint and blurred at first, and then slowly it grew sharper and more defined, something small. A minute later a white rabbit appeared. It looked to be the same one that Captain Vincent had first experimented on with the dynamite.
Marta squealed with delight. She swooped the rabbit up in her arms. “Kanin!” she said, which Matt assumed was Swedish for rabbit.
Corey and Ruby both stared in amazement.
“Wait, Pike talks?” Corey asked.
“Only Swedish,” Jia said. “Her real name is Marta Nobel.”
“Nobel?” Ruby said. “As in . . .”
Ruby stopped talking as creaking footsteps sounded from outside their door. A moment later the door flew open. It was Mr. Nobel. He was wearing an old-fashioned nightgown and a cap. Definitely not twenty-first-century pajamas.
“What is all this noise you are making? I am trying to sleep!” Nobel stopped short, seeing that there were two
