Redeemed by Margaret Peterson Haddix Page A

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€œElucidators are like . . . you know that story about the Sphinx?” Jonah asked. “How it’s tricky and full of riddles? You can never get a straight answer from an Elucidator. At least, I can’t. Charles Lindbergh told me he could.”
    Mom’s jaw dropped.
    â€œYou talked to Charles Lindbergh?” she asked, sounding awestruck.
    â€œHey, Mom, remember, Charles Lindbergh kidnapped me and turned me into a baby?” Katherine chimed in. “ Not my favorite person. Just because you like history, don’t go acting like he’s Justin Bieber or something.”
    â€œA lot of history is pretty awful,” 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€œ I never liked history,” he said. “I hated it in school. Bor-ing. Like school in general.”
    â€œMichael!” Mom said, sounding horrified. “Don’t say that in front of the kids!”
    Dad got a stricken look on his face. He leaned toward Jordan, Jonah, and Katherine.
    â€œI think your mom is way more grown-up as a thirteen-year-old than I am,” he whispered, as if he were sharing a big secret. “I keep forgetting I’m supposed to be acting like a dad.”
    Mom shot Dad a disgusted look. It was a lot like the looks Katherine usually gave Jordan.
    â€œCan we get back to the task at hand?” Mom asked. “Jonah, it’s possible that you’re holding two Elucidators right now, though we’re not sure if either of them works, or works right. Even if you’re afraid that going home right now might create problems, couldn’t you call JB and ask him what to do? If he was using an Elucidator to communicate with people in the future, couldn’t we communicate with him?”
    â€œExcept he doesn’t have an Elucidator right now, Mom, because Jordan took it,” Katherine reminded her. And it was amazing: She didn’t sound snarky or mean like she normally would, saying, Mom, you’re wrong!
    What had happened to Katherine in all her time travels, to change her so much?
    Mom made a face.
    â€œI guess I was still thinking Elucidators were like cell phones, and even if JB doesn’t have his Elucidator anymore, we could still call him on the landline. . . .” She sounded ashamed of herself for not having figured out more.
    â€œAnyhow, our house could be swarming with time agents right now,” Katherine continued.
    She made them sound like storm troopers.
    â€œMaybe we could get these Elucidators to show us what’s going on at our house right now—I mean, right after the five of us left,” Jonah said, as if he’d just thought of that. His voice shifted into an authoritative tone: “Elucidator, show us that scene. Project it on the wall, so we can all see.”
    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 Angela’s head, each whorl of the granite countertop Chip was leaning against, each line on JB’s face as he called out, “Jonah? Katherine? Jonah?”
    What are Mom and Dad and me? Jordan wondered jealously. Chopped liver? Doesn’t he care that the three of us disappeared too?
    â€œSo there aren’t a million time agents there and JB hasn’t gotten a replacement Elucidator,” Jonah muttered.
    â€œYet,” Katherine reminded him.
    The scene on the wall froze.
    â€œAt least one of you is thinking of grabbing an Elucidator and zooming back there to arrive in the next instant, so we