This is all new to me, but . . . is it like an iPhone? Does it have something like Siri? Could you just ask it if you could make your dad and me the right age again? Safely, I mean?â
âElucidators are like . . . you know that story about the Sphinx?â Jonah asked. âHow itâs tricky and full of riddles? You can never get a straight answer from an Elucidator. At least, I canât. Charles Lindbergh told me he could.â
Momâs jaw dropped.
âYou talked to Charles Lindbergh?â she asked, sounding awestruck.
âHey, Mom, remember, Charles Lindbergh kidnapped me and turned me into a baby?â Katherine chimed in. â Not my favorite person. Just because you like history, donât go acting like heâs Justin Bieber or something.â
âA lot of history is pretty awful,â Jonah said, and again he had that Be grateful that I am sharing some of my vast wisdom with you tone in his voice.
Dad shook his head impatiently.
â I never liked history,â he said. âI hated it in school. Bor-ing. Like school in general.â
âMichael!â Mom said, sounding horrified. âDonât say that in front of the kids!â
Dad got a stricken look on his face. He leaned toward Jordan, Jonah, and Katherine.
âI think your mom is way more grown-up as a thirteen-year-old than I am,â he whispered, as if he were sharing a big secret. âI keep forgetting Iâm supposed to be acting like a dad.â
Mom shot Dad a disgusted look. It was a lot like the looks Katherine usually gave Jordan.
âCan we get back to the task at hand?â Mom asked. âJonah, itâs possible that youâre holding two Elucidators right now, though weâre not sure if either of them works, or works right. Even if youâre afraid that going home right now might create problems, couldnât you call JB and ask him what to do? If he was using an Elucidator to communicate with people in the future, couldnât we communicate with him?â
âExcept he doesnât have an Elucidator right now, Mom, because Jordan took it,â Katherine reminded her. And it was amazing: She didnât sound snarky or mean like she normally would, saying, Mom, youâre wrong!
What had happened to Katherine in all her time travels, to change her so much?
Mom made a face.
âI guess I was still thinking Elucidators were like cell phones, and even if JB doesnât have his Elucidator anymore, we could still call him on the landline. . . .â She sounded ashamed of herself for not having figured out more.
âAnyhow, our house could be swarming with time agents right now,â Katherine continued.
She made them sound like storm troopers.
âMaybe we could get these Elucidators to show us whatâs going on at our house right nowâI mean, right after the five of us left,â Jonah said, as if heâd just thought of that. His voice shifted into an authoritative tone: âElucidator, show us that scene. Project it on the wall, so we can all see.â
The wall in front of them turned into a screen of sorts, though the picture was even sharper than the highest-definition TV screen Jordan had ever seen. It was even more intense than being back in the kitchen: He could see each individual hair on Angelaâs head, each whorl of the granite countertop Chip was leaning against, each line on JBâs face as he called out, âJonah? Katherine? Jonah?â
What are Mom and Dad and me? Jordan wondered jealously. Chopped liver? Doesnât he care that the three of us disappeared too?
âSo there arenât a million time agents there and JB hasnât gotten a replacement Elucidator,â Jonah muttered.
âYet,â Katherine reminded him.
The scene on the wall froze.
âAt least one of you is thinking of grabbing an Elucidator and zooming back there to arrive in the next instant, so we
Hayes Joseph
Margaret Graham
Katie Salidas, K.A. Salidas
Makenna Jameison
Julie Moffett
Ronan Frost
Ben Coes
Ginger Voight
Beth Kery
A Christmas Waltz