“Dude,” Corey said. “It’s Ebenezer Scrooge!”
“Kanin!” Marta said again, holding up the rabbit and beaming at her uncle.
Mr. Nobel went red in the face. “Would someone care to explain what the devil is going on?”
“I’d like to know the same thing,” Jia said, folding her arms and giving Matt a steely look that made him flinch.
“Me too,” Ruby said. She rested a hand on the hilt of her sword as though she thought she might need to fight.
“Me three,” Corey said. “Time to spill your guts, Marius Quine.”
28Hinges
Everyone started asking questions, and they pelted Matt like a hailstorm.
“What are we doing here?”
“Where’s Mom and Dad? And Gaga and Haha and Uncle Chuck?”
“Where did you go? How did you get Corey and Ruby back?”
“Kanin!”
“Why does my niece have a rabbit?”
“Matt, why are you so blurry?”
Matt could hardly process what anyone was saying. He was too excited. He was still trembling, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Corey and Ruby were back. Corey and Ruby were back! The fog that had hovered over his mind for however long had cleared.
“Matt, are you listening to us?” Corey asked. “What is going on?”
Matt put up his hands. “I’ll tell you everything, I promise. Just please be patient.”
Corey grumbled and muttered something under his breath. Matt was sure it was something about how he hated being patient. Ruby lightly slapped his arm. “We can be patient.”
“Yeah,” Corey said. “But make it quick.”
Matt grinned. Just that small interaction gave him a fresh wave of affection for his brother and sister. He wanted to hug them to the floor all over again. But he resisted. Corey, Ruby, Jia, and Mr. Nobel all looked at him expectantly. Marta, too, had settled herself on the bed with the rabbit, like she was ready for story time.
Matt told everyone what had happened. It wasn’t quick, but no one interrupted or complained. Even Corey listened quietly as Matt described how their dad and Corey and Ruby had disappeared during the time rift in New York, and how their mom reverted back to her younger self with no memories of her husband or children. Jia helped fill in parts of the story too. Corey and Ruby were both shocked to learn that she was really the daughter of an emperor. Jia told most of what had happened to them in China, including what they had learned there about the forbidden lock, the Summer Triangle, and how the emperor believed that Matt, Corey, and Ruby were supposed to fix it somehow.
Matt told them how Gaga, Haha, and Uncle Chuck had mysteriously disappeared in China, and then how Albert had stolen the compass and he and Belamie had abandoned them. This resulted in an outburst of rather crude insults from Corey until he saw the look on Alfred Nobel’s face, and he cowered a bit.
He told them about Yinreng’s threats, how Matt had figured out how to disassemble himself, and how he had rescued the younger Jia, placing her with Captain Vincent in order to save her life and also help them.
“Wait,” Corey said. “So you can do the disappearing trick?”
“Is that why you’re sort of blurry?” Ruby said.
“Prove it!” Corey said. “Do it right now!”
Matt was so exhausted, he didn’t think he had the strength to fully disassemble and pull himself back together, but he held up his hand and made it disappear.
Corey laughed like a little kid seeing a magic trick. “Whaaaat! You’re like a comic superhero!” Then his face suddenly fell. He knit his brow and frowned at Matt. “Or villain. Still not sure.”
“He’s not a villain, Corey,” Ruby said. “He’s our brother, and he saved us from nonexistence, remember?”
“Maybe,” Corey said. “But remember how he’s also Marius Quine, possibly related to Captain Vincent Quine? And from all we’ve seen they seem to be on the same side. And he still hasn’t told us how he rescued us. Maybe it was a fluke and he’s just playing it off like he saved us. Mom and Dad still aren’t here, you know, and Gaga and Haha and Uncle Chuck. Where are they now?”
Everyone looked back to Matt. “I think Mom is with Vincent right now,” he said. “She doesn’t understand what’s going on. She doesn’t remember us or Dad. And Dad’s still hanging in some kind of limbo. I think I can bring him back, but he might not remember us either. As for Gaga and Haha and Uncle Chuck, I’m not entirely sure. I saw them disappearing, but it wasn’t the same as when you two disappeared. It seemed different for some reason. More like . . . how I disassemble myself.” He was trying to think why that might be . . .
“How did you bring us back?” Ruby asked.
“Yes, I would like to know this,” Mr. Nobel said. “What happened to the dynamite? Did you see why it worked differently?”
“I did,” Matt said. “I put myself inside the dynamite.”
“You what?” Jia screeched.
“What do you mean you put yourself inside the dynamite?” Ruby asked.
“Yeah,” Corey said, “not sure how that fits.”
Matt explained as best he could what he had done and what had happened. How he’d put himself in the dynamite, and then when Captain Vincent blew up the tapestries, his own cells attached to them.
“I could feel you two the strongest,” Matt said, “I think because I had those pieces of your time tapestry. It was like you clung to me, and I couldn’t let go. There’s still more. Other people, I mean, but I didn’t have enough energy to gather them too. That’s why I’m fuzzy, I think. Part of me is still with them, or still inside the dynamite.” Even as he said these words, he could feel that small portion of him far away, like his very being was split between realms.
“Wow,” Ruby said.
“Yeah,” Corey said. “Wow.”
Jia seemed to be lost for words. He could tell she was battling between being impressed with him for what he’d done, but also upset with him for leaving
