“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.

332/356

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?”

334/356

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?

From the living room, Dad called out, “Tansy, how are we supposed to move this?”

Oh. The diaper bag. I went to go talk to him. When I reached the family room, Dad and Nick were fingering through the bag. Dad took out a bright gold bottle. “Why did you change this stuff? The police are going to wonder why we have golden baby toys, diapers, and wet wipes in a place thieves just left.”

“I gave the enchantment back to Chrissy,” I said. “But I wanted to have some gold first. I didn’t know the police would be checking it.

Sorry.”

335/356

Dad stared at me in surprise. “After all the trouble you went through to get the enchantment, you gave it back to Chrissy? Why?”

“It put all of us in danger during the Middle Ages,” I said. “I didn’t know if the danger would stop once we got back home. Chrissy said that kings, giants, and pirates come after you if you can produce gold.

Besides, the enchantment was never meant for humans, so it hurt my heart. And,” I added more quietly, “I traded it for something Hudson needed.”

“Ahh,” Nick said, like the last sentence explained everything.

My father sighed and turned the gold bottle over in his hands.

“You’re probably right. Unending wealth might have its downsides. All those servants getting in the way. The car insurance rates on our Ca-dillacs.” He let out another sigh. “I sure hope Hudson appreciates whatever you got him.”

“I hope so too,” I said.

Nick picked up a gold pacifier. “Gold is worth thousands of dollars a pound. We still have a pretty good fortune here.”

“The bag is too heavy to move,” Dad said. “We’ll have to take it piece by piece to the safe in my closet. That way, the police won’t see it.”

I helped Dad and Nick move a few of the lighter items. It was hard for me to carry much while I was toting around a baby.

When I went to check on Hudson, he was done with his haircut and was on the phone. I didn’t have to listen for long to figure out it was someone at the police station. He was giving a description of our cars and their destination.

Which meant the police would be here soon and I would have even less of a chance of speaking to Hudson privately.

When he hung up, I said, “I need to talk to you about something.” 336/356

“Right. In a minute.” He walked toward the family room. “Where is everybody? We need to go over our story to make sure we get it straight.”

“They’re moving gold from the diaper bag into my dad’s safe.”

“What?” he asked, but we reached the family room and he saw what was happening. He went to help, shaking his head at me as he did. “You know, if you could have waited until after the police left to create ducky-shaped treasures, it would have made things easier.” I followed after him. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Gold?” he asked, and the way he said it sounded like it was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

“Not gold specifically. I want to tell you what happened after you guys came back home.”

“Oh, Robin Hood then.” He sounded even less thrilled by this subject.