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She was waiting for me to tell her my name, and I couldn’t lie, but I hesitated, not wanting to impact the future more than I already had.
“Tansy,” I said. “But don’t tell him you talked with me. I wouldn’t want him to …” Tell you he doesn’t know anyone named Tansy.
She nodded. “It will stay between us.” She looked like she was about to say more, but a car barreled down the street, tires screeching as it turned onto the street next to us.
It went up on the sidewalk and across a corner of the lawn as it made the turn. I let out a slow breath. Mrs. Gardner would have been there if she hadn’t stopped to talk to me.
She watched the car and reached into her pocket for her cell phone. As she punched in the number, she shook her head. “This is why those parties are a bad idea. That guy is going to hurt somebody.
Did you get the license plate number?” I hadn’t been looking, but I knew it anyway. NDSTRCT. It was Bo’s brother’s car. I had recognized Bo in the driver’s seat.
I gave her the license plate letters, feeling both sick and relieved.
Had Bo even realized what he’d done that night? How could he have lived with himself if he had known? I wasn’t sure whether to feel angry or sorry for him.
Mrs. Gardner’s phone call connected. She was no longer looking at me, but down the street where Bo had turned. She gave her husband the information and told him about the party. I was glad she wasn’t looking at me because I saw lights spinning around me, coming in close, and then I stood in my family room.
Chapter 24
The room wasn’t like it had been before our trip to the Middle Ages.
The furniture and curtains were gone, and the carpet had been pulled up, as though someone tried to take it but realized it was too big and heavy to move. Clutter lay everywhere. Books, pencils, electronics, canned food. Apparently the thieves hadn’t known what to make of a lot of our modern things.
I was definitely back on our street. Through the bare windows of the living room, sunshine poured in. I could see the paved road, the neighbors’ houses, the streetlamps standing sentry over the sidewalks.
Sandra held Stetson in her arms, gently bouncing him on her hip. I caught sight of my dad in the hallway, checking the rest of the house.
The desk in the family room was gone, but the computer sat on the floor, still plugged in. Nick was bringing up an Internet page. Hudson, sitting next to him, looked at me wryly. “Did you say your good-byes to Robin Hood?”
“I did. And he was very grateful for the chance to change his destiny.”
“Oh really? How grateful?”
Nick jiggled the mouse in an attempt to hurry along the computer.
“She couldn’t have gotten in much trouble. She was only there about ten seconds longer than we were.”
“Yeah, but that’s probably twenty minutes in Middle Ages time,” Hudson said, and he looked considerably less certain about my ability to stay out of trouble for that long.
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I needed to tell Hudson what I’d done, but I couldn’t just blurt out that I had changed his whole last year. What would he think about stepping into a completely different life now?
I would break the news to him carefully.
“Um,” I said, but didn’t get any further.
Sandra walked over to me and gave me a hug. “Thank goodness you made it back. Now I can stop worrying and start cleaning.” She handed the baby to me, and he grabbed hold of my neck eagerly, clearly not knowing what to make of this strange, empty place.
“When is Chrissy going to take Stetson back to the future?” Sandra asked.
I held Stetson so his head rested against my cheek. His hair felt like silk against my skin. “I don’t know.” Sandra gave him a kiss on the back of the head. “I’m glad we had the chance to spend some time with him.” I wondered if she would be as glad if she knew he might have to stay here.
The computer screen popped up, and Nick said, “It’s last Monday morning at 7:03 a.m. We didn’t even miss a day of school. If we hurried now, we could make it on time.”
“Except that all your clothes are gone,” Dad said, coming into the room. “The dressers, the beds—everything was taken.” Nick gestured to his dirt-splattered tunic. “We can’t go anywhere like this. How are we going to shop for new clothes?” Dad rubbed the back of his neck. “Especially since we left our cars in the Middle Ages.”
Hudson stood up. “I can’t wait to find new clothes. I need to call my dad now. He’s probably been looking for me all night. What am I going to tell him?” He took a step toward the kitchen and then turned back to us, snapping his fingers. “I’ve got our story: the police have 333/356
been searching for Robin Hood—I mean, the medieval bandits. We’ll tell the police that they broke in here, took our clothes, made us dress in their medieval stuff, and then held us hostage while they cleaned out this place. They only just left, and now we’re alerting the authorities.”
“Why did they make us dress in medieval clothes?” Sandra asked.
Her eyes were wide at the prospect of having to know facts about this story. She wasn’t used to lying.
Hudson held out a hand as though grasping at the air for details.
“They’re some sort of revolutionary group that’s trying to bring back the feudal system. They stole your cars, and we heard them saying they’re driving to California and then flying back to England. That way, the police will stop working overtime to look for them in town.” His glance slid over me, and his lips twitched in dissatisfaction. “Well, the bandits made all of us wear their medieval clothes except for Tansy, who was clearly on her way to the Oscars when the bandits broke in.”
“Hey,” I said. “It’s not my fault Chrissy was in charge of my wardrobe.”
Nick regarded me. “They made Tansy put on an old prom dress because that’s the sort of gown befitting a maiden.” Sandra bit her lip. “You think the police will buy any of that?” Hudson nodded. “The Merry Men stole silverware from the Village Inn and a nose ring from a store clerk. They set a precedent for weird behavior.”
He strode toward the kitchen, and I called out, “What about your hair?”
“What about it?” he asked.
“How are you going to explain that it’s a couple of inches longer than it was yesterday?”
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Hudson stopped in his tracks and ran a hand through his hair.
Sandra headed to the hallway. “Let me see if we still have the haircutting scissors.”
Hudson followed her, rubbing his hand against his cheek. “I should shave too.”
Dad went with them. “I think we still have some razors. I’ll show you where.”
For the next few minutes, Hudson, Nick, and Dad shaved. After that, Sandra trimmed Hudson’s hair. Thankfully, the haircutting scissors were in a black plastic box that the thieves hadn’t found interesting enough to take. I stood near the bathroom door with Stetson, watching Hudson’s hair flutter to the ground.
“I need to talk to you in private when you have a minute,” I said. I kept my voice casual so I didn’t lead him into asking a lot of questions.
“Right.” His gaze went to the baby and he smiled. “When is Chrissy going to send Stetson to the future?” I shrugged. Every minute that ticked by made me worry a little more. Perhaps she hadn’t come because Stetson no longer existed in the future. Had I changed things that much?