“Whether you’re scared or not,” Kasia said. Rahim noticed Kasia had this strange little smile on her face, and then he realized she’d been picking on Kimo on purpose. She usually only did that to people she liked. It dawned on him that Kasia liked Kimo. A lot.

  Rahim didn’t know how he felt about that. It was like the first day of school all over again. Then he felt bad and he just shook his head.

  “I guess we should get started,” Rahim said.

  “They don’t have dogs, do they?” Alex asked.

  “No, they have three big robots. I don’t think they need dogs,” Kasia said.

  They approached the mansion through the forest. They had borrowed a flashlight from the shed at Kimo’s house. Rahim felt like he was getting eaten up by bugs of all kinds as they crept closer to the mansion. Kasia had been teasing Kimo about being afraid, but now that they were in the forest with the insects and strange birds hooting and whistling, Rahim felt it, too, right down to his socks. He gripped the short crowbar they had also borrowed from Kimo’s shed. It was a heavy piece of iron curved at one end and flat along its length. He’d put it in his waistband near the small of his back, but now he was gripping it with both hands.

  He tried to tell himself that all that mattered was getting the phone and getting home. He had meant what he had said to Kasia about talking to their future selves. He needed to know exactly what was going on with their missions, with the time stream, with everything.

  And he was ready for a full reassessment. Just because his future self was some kind of time cop didn’t mean he had to be one, too. If all this time traveling had taught him anything, it was that nothing was set in stone. Things changed all the time, and time changed all the things.

  “Stop,” Kasia whispered.

  They were at the edge of the forest. Rahim could see the first floor of the mansion was dark, but the second floor had a few windows lit up with a pale-yellow luminescence.

  “Okay, you guys, go to the side of the house and the front door. We are gonna head to the back. Count to twenty-five, then light ’em up, okay?” Kasia said.

  “Burn, baby, burn,” Alex said. “Disco inferno!”

  * * *

  Kasia and Rahim slipped down the edge of the property and came around the back of the house. Kasia pointed at the crowbar, then pointed at the back door of the mansion. It was sentineled on both sides by enormous elephant’s ear plants that stood taller than Rahim.

  “You’re physically stronger than me. When they set off the sparklers, we go in through the back door,” Kasia whispered.

  “I hope we can like bust the doorknob or whatever,” Rahim said.

  “Maybe they aren’t built as well as they are in our time,” Kasia said.

  Rahim wasn’t sure about that logic. His dad was always talking about how easily things broke and how tough things were “back in my day.” Rahim took a deep breath. They didn’t hear anything but the birds and the wind and the faraway sound of the ocean like a whisper in the night.

  “Oh, come on, guys, just light the—”

  A series of explosions accompanied by a shower of red, green, blue, and yellow sparkles erupted around the mansion. The night was turned into a Day-Glo technicolor storm of light and sparks.

  “Okay,” Kasia said. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

  Kasia and Rahim ran across the backyard as a few more explosions went off. They reached the back steps and climbed them two at a time to get to the door. Rahim was about to put the crowbar in the frame when a thought entered his head.

  “Let me take a look at something,” he said.

  He grabbed the doorknob and turned it to the left. The door opened with a slight squeak. The interior of the mansion was dark as the bottom of a mineshaft.

  “Saw it on TV once,” Rahim said.

  Kasia stepped forward with the flashlight.

  “Let’s go,” she whispered.

  * * *

  Back in Philadelphia, the Reynoldses and the Collinses were in a standoff with the androids.

  “Where are our kids?” Professor Reynolds said. He was standing now, still holding the phone close to his chest.

  “Repeat,” the androids said in unison. “Put the phone down and step away.”

  “Where are our children?” Mrs. Reynolds yelled. She was standing beside Professor Reynolds now.

  R-2 and K-2 took a step forward.

  All four adults took a step back.

  “This is our final warning,” the androids said. “Put the phone down and step away.”

  “Wait! Just tell us if they are okay,” Mr. Collins said. He stepped forward, in front of Professor Reynolds. He was holding his arms wide like he wanted a hug.

  The androids looked at each other; their glowing eyes dulled for a moment, then they turned back to Mr. Collins. Their eyes glowed brighter.

  R-2 reached out, grabbed Mr. Collins by his collar, and raised him into the air. His feet kicked helplessly as the androids spoke.

  “Tell him to put the phone down and step away,” they said.

  “Where. Is. My. Button?” Mrs. Collins said. Professor Reynolds turned his attention away from the androids and saw that Mrs. Collins was holding a big metal pot full of some kind of thick greenish soup. She had somehow slipped out of the room into the kitchen and grabbed it off the table.

  She threw hot liquid at the androids.

  The viscous concoction splashed across the heads and chests of the androids. Professor Reynolds felt some splatter on his cheek. It was a little warm and smelled like kale.

  R-2 dropped Mr. Collins and began to frantically paw at his face, as did K-2. Professor Reynolds could hear the sound of gears grinding. It reminded him of his father’s old work van. The two androids began to spin around in circles as they continued to try to clear the kale soup from their eyes.

  Finally, they stopped.

  They stood there, covered in soup, their green glowing eyes staring straight ahead. They started walking toward the four parents, who had backed up to the stairs. Their movements were more spastic now.

  “I think the soup messed them up,” Mr. Collins said.

  “Maybe I should stop making that,” Mrs. Collins said. “Nobody seems to like it.”

  “When they get close to us,” Professor Reynolds said to his wife, “I’m gonna give you the phone. Then you make a run for it. Find the kids, wherever and whenever they are.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Omar,” Mrs. Reynolds said.

  R-2 and K-2 continued their herky-jerky advance.

  “Geez, they’re like the Terminator!” Mr. Collins said.

  “Hey, kids, isn’t it past your bedtime?” Agent Brown said. He was standing in the doorway, holding what appeared to be a giant vacuum cleaner hose attached to a backpack. He pushed a button on the hose, and a crackling blue light poured from it like a bolt of lightning. It blasted R-2 and K-2 with a spiderweb of arcing electricity that caused the androids to shake and shimmy like they were doing the latest internet dance craze. Then they both collapsed on the floor.

  “Now it’s like Ghostbusters,” Mr. Collins said.

  Agent Brown turned off the machine he was wearing and let the hose drop to his side.

  “We made improvements to the taser,” he said. “I happened to be in the neighborhood on the off chance that these two showed up. The moment that phone came on, it sent an alert.”

  Agent Brown held out his hand.

  “Let me take that back to the lab,” he said. “Let’s see if we can get your kids home.”

  Mrs. Reynolds put her hand on Professor Reynolds’s shoulder.

  Mrs. Collins grabbed Mrs. Reynolds’s hand.

  Mr. Collins put his hand on Mrs. Collins’s back.

  Professor Reynolds nodded and held out his hand with the phone toward Agent Brown.

  The phone stopped vibrating. The words CONNECTION ACHIEVED appeared on the screen and began to shimmer.

  “Why does it—” Professor Reynolds began to say. Then a halo of white light enveloped him, his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Collins. Agent Brown watched as the light covered all of them, and then they disappeared right before his eyes.

  He pulled out his own phone and dialed the institute.

  “Agent Brown,” he said. “I think we have another temporal transmission.”

  * * *

  Back in 1978, Kasia and Rahim slipped into the house as the sparklers continued to light up the night sky with ribbons of colors.

  Kasia touched the temple on her glasses. Her right lens lit up.

  “Iago, suspend stealth mode and find our phone,” she said.

  Rahim heard the thunder of heavy footsteps, but they sounded like they were headed for the front door rather than toward the kitchen, where they were. He saw Iago come to life up on the ceiling as he exited stealth mode and flew down to greet Kasia.

  “I missed you, too, but we have to find the phone,” Kasia said.

  Iago led them through the house to the staircase. Rahim and Kasia followed him upstairs to a wide landing. They turned left and went into the first bedroom. Kasia opened the door and Iago flew in, heading directly for a nightstand.

  Kasia rushed to it and opened the drawer.

  “Oh, hello there,” she said. She grabbed the phone.

  “We got it, Rahim!” she said.

  But as she turned around, she saw one of the hooded robots holding Rahim around the waist and lifting him up off the floor.

  “Kasia!” Rahim yelled. “Get out of here!”

  “You still got the crowbar?!” Kasia said.

  “Oh yeah!” Rahim said.

  He swung the crowbar up and over his head. He felt it make contact with the robot at the same time he heard it hit. The sound reminded him of his grandfather’s rock polisher, the one he used to make jewelry. The robot let Rahim go and stumbled backward before bouncing off the wall and falling down the stairs.

  Kasia and Rahim ran in its direction with Iago following. They saw Rashad and one of the other hooded robots standing below them.

  “Let’s go home!” Rahim said.

  Kasia started to type her home address in the phone when she felt strong hands on her shoulders. Without a second thought, she tossed the phone to Rahim, who at the same time threw the crowbar at the head of the robot that was grabbing Kasia.

  Rahim caught the phone, but before he could type in his address, he saw Kenta come out of the shadows. She stood next to the robot holding Kasia.

  “I don’t want to hurt her,” she said. “I really don’t. But I won’t let you leave. You can’t go through the time stream again. You don’t know what you’re doing to our world.”

  “I’m correcting things. I’m fixing mistakes!” Rahim said.

  “Is that what they told you?” Rashad called up the stairs.

  “Maybe in your world. In your time stream. In your dimension,” Kenta said.

  “What? What are you talking about?” Rahim said.

  “Don’t move, kid,” Rashad said. “Y’all put up a good fight, but it’s done.” He reached over Rahim’s shoulder to pluck the phone from his hands.

  Rahim stomped on his foot.

  “Ow!” Rashad yelled.

  Rahim wriggled free and ran straight at Kasia and Kenta. He collided with them, and the three tumbled to the floor in a heap. Rahim held the phone up and spoke into it, activating the voice-to-text function.

  “Nearest attic!” he yelled as he grabbed Kasia’s hand. In an instant, they winked out like a light. Seconds later, they appeared in the attic with Dr. and Mr. Jackson. The Jacksons were sitting next to each other with their hands tied behind their backs.

  “Rahim and Kasia, where did you come from?” Nat said.

  Rahim held up the phone.

  “We can all get out of here now,” Rahim said as he and Kasia started untying the Jacksons. Nat rubbed his wrists once he was free.

  “I don’t know what you young’uns have going on, but I need to get Evelyn out of here. Can you help me with that?” Nat said.

  “We’re all getting out of here. Right now,” Rahim said. He was about to speak into the phone and transport to the Jacksons’ hotel room when he heard someone yell his name.

  “What?” Rahim said. “Who was that?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Kasia said. “Let’s go.”

  “Kasia!” someone else yelled.

  Kasia froze.

  “That’s my dad,” Kasia said.

  “Yeah,” Rahim said. “I thought I heard my mom.”

  He ran to the door of the attic and dropped it down. He didn’t even wait for the ladder to fully extend before he jumped to the floor and ran to the railing on the stairs. Kasia was right behind him.

  Rahim saw Rashad and Kenta and their three hooded robots standing on the landing, blocking their way down the stairs. In front of them was a bright ball of bluish-white light. The ball began to grow larger and get brighter. Rahim stared at it. He could hear voices coming from the light. His mother’s voice. Kasia’s father’s voice. More.

  “No, no, no,” Kenta said.

  As the ball of light grew, it got so bright Rahim had to close his eyes. Soon it seemed like the whole house was full of light so intense he could see it through his eyelids.

  Finally he was able to open his eyes.

  When he did, Rahim saw his mom and dad and Kasia’s mom and dad standing in front of him.

  “Rahim!” his mother screamed.

  “My Button!” Mrs. Collins yelled.

  “Son!” Professor Reynolds said.

  “Kasia!” Mr. Collins said.

  Rahim was dizzy. “Are we back home?”

  “No,” Kasia said. “They came to us.”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Rashad said.

  20

  No one moved for a moment.

  “Get them!” Kenta yelled to her robot henchmen. The hooded figures didn’t move. They actually began to shake, tremble, and glitch.

  Kenta rolled her eyes at them and stomped a foot. “These grown-ups,” she said. “Get the grown-ups!”

  One of the robots moved toward Mr. Collins, who raised his fist in an old-time boxing stance.

  “I haven’t been in a fight since I was nine, but you better stay away from my daughter!” he said.

  The other two robots moved toward the Reynoldses. Professor Reynolds stepped in front of Mrs. Reynolds.

  “Stay back!” he said.

  Before the robot could grab him, a rock came sailing over the railing of the landing and bonked off the head of the robot.

  Everyone turned to see where the rock had come from. Kimo stood in the doorway with a few more rocks in his hand.

  “I told you I wasn’t scared!” he shouted.

  Rahim was so stunned at the sight of his parents that he was rooted in place. But when the robot started opening and closing its hands like bear traps, he snapped out of it and yelled at Kasia.

  “K,” he said, “crowbar, my dad!”

  Kasia dropped to the floor, grabbed the crowbar, and tossed it to Professor Reynolds, who caught it with a grace Rahim had never seen him use before in his whole life.

  He choked up on the crowbar like it was a baseball bat. The robot that had been struck by the rock was walking into the wall and bouncing off it like a pinball. Professor Reynolds turned to the other one and swung the crowbar with all his might at what he thought was its head.

  The robot caught the crowbar with its left hand and snatched it away from Professor Reynolds.

  “Well,” Professor Reynolds said. “That didn’t work as well as I hoped.”

  “Iago,” Kasia said. “Hardware integration!”

  Iago had stayed out of the fight up to this point. But now he had orders. He flew down from the ceiling and into the hood of the robot. Rahim heard a sound similar to a small chain saw running.

  “No, stop! Destroy that bug!” Kenta yelled, but it was too late. The robot dropped the crowbar and took two steps backward. It leaned against the wall, and Rahim could swear that he heard it sigh.

  “Iago, get him to lie down,” Kasia said.

  A few lights flashed on Iago, and suddenly the hooded robot slid to the floor and curled up like a baby going to sleep in a crib.

  “Good boy, Iago,” Kasia said. Iago flew back out of the hood and landed on Kasia’s shoulder. Professor Reynolds picked up the crowbar again and pointed it at Rashad.

  “You, lie down beside him,” he said. “Now.” Rahim had heard his father talking to students who weren’t doing their work. This was that voice but a hundred times more intense. Rashad put his hands up and then lay down beside the robot.

  Kenta grabbed Mrs. Collins around the neck and pulled her in front of her like a shield. She took a few steps toward the bedroom. She was holding what looked like a pen with a small glowing tip against Mrs. Collins’s neck.

  “I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” she said, “but you’re making me do this the old-fashioned way. Now put the phones down. Yes, I said phones, plural. All of them.”

  “You say that you don’t want to hurt anyone, but you already hurt Dr. Jackson. You tied her and her husband up in the attic,” Kasia said.

  “They were fine. We didn’t hurt them. We just needed them to stay out of the way for a few days. There are events we are trying to keep them away from. After two days, we would have released them back into the world without any problem. They wouldn’t see a boy collecting a rock, and so she wouldn’t figure out how to solve the issue of time travel and teleportation. Our world would be safe.”

  “A boy find a rock? Do you mean me? Why would that help her do anything?”

  “It doesn’t help her in any direct way,” Kenta said. “It’s a butterfly event, you could say. You could even argue that if she saw a boy take a rock, but then that same boy got scared and ran off, and then played basketball, and then forgot the rock, that the whole thing would be nullified.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rahim said.

  “It’s complicated math,” Kasia said. “I’ll explain it to you later.”

  “It’s not math,” Kenta said. “It’s life. You think it’s something academic, or a game, and you just stomp your way through time and space not caring who it hurts. Meanwhile I have seen the fabric of my entire existence unraveled.”