Ghostwriter

I don't get it.

Why is the bookstore shut down in the future?

Where is my family?

Don't worry, Ruben.

We can fix this when we get back to our time.

How are we gonna get back there if we don't even know how we got here?

I have an idea. Follow me.

To help us find the missing manuscript,

G.W. must've released something from a time travel book

that somehow sent us to the future.

So, once we figure out what G.W. released,

we can figure out how to get back to our time.

Maybe there's a blank book in one of these boxes.

Grandma's favorite chair.

Why would Grandpa just throw it away?

I don't know, but it can't be good.

Time travel is science fiction, right?

Well, time travel stories that use technology would be sci-fi,

but if they use magic, Grandpa would call it...

Fantasy. Check it out, this book is blank.

Whatever G.W. released,

it's from Time Castaways : The Mona Lisa Key by Liesl Shurtliff.

No way, I read this last year.

It's about a character named Captain Vincent

and his time-traveling pirate ship called the Vermillion .

I don't remember setting sail on any pirate ships, Donna.

The Vermillion can transform into any vehicle from any time.

- Like the subway we took to get here. - Exactly.

In the book, there's a device called the Obsidian Compass

which controls where and when the ship travels to.

I bet the compass was the thing you were playing with on the subway.

- Wow, G.W. didn't waste any time. - And we can't either.

Let's get back to our time and save the bookstore.

Good, the compass is still here.

Oh, let me. I read the book,

and last time you touched the compass, you accidentally sent us to the future.

This dial controls where we go.

Which dial controls when we go?

Right here. Century, year, month, day and hour.

I hope you know what you're doing,

'cause the last thing we need is to end up in dinosaur times.

I have always wanted to see a T. rex.

Donna, I'm kinda worried about my grandpa right now.

Understood. Present it is.

"Prepare for a quantum time leap."

That's what they say in the book right before they time travel.

This is freaky.

I think you mean amazing.

Can you believe G.W.'s sending us on a time travel mystery?

Yes, I can.

I hope this takes us home.

We're back?

Only one way to find out.

The bookstore's open!

- -

You're here!

Where else would I be?

Everything okay?

Everything's great.

I'm just happy to be back at our bookstore.

Okay.

Then maybe you can help us sort out a disagreement about the renovation.

Now that Curtis and Donna's dad offered to help, we can finally get it done.

So I say we turn the back room into a nook for book-themed gifts,

like, uh, lamps, cozy blankets, reading socks...

Or you can focus on the only thing you need to read: a book.

I want to bring in more serious collectors

with a space in the back for first editions and rare books.

We shouldn't do anything.

I mean, at least not yet.

Those are all really good ideas,

but this is the bookstore's future we're talking about.

Let's just take our time.

We don't have much time.

The store's losing money. A few more months like this and...

The bookstore will close.

Don't worry, Ruben.

This bookstore's been around for decades. She's not going anywhere.

Dad?

One of those ideas is probably the reason why the bookstore shuts down.

Not the reading socks, they're super comfortable.

We'll figure it out, Ruben.

Right after we find the missing manuscript somewhere in the past.

Let's all read Time Castaways tonight.

Then tomorrow, after the election results,

we can decide where... I mean, when to go next.

Right, the results are coming out tomorrow.

Now there's no way I'm going to sleep.

Good, then you can finish the book.

Once certain events occur at any given time,

it's very difficult, often dangerous, to try and change them.

Hey. Did you finish the book?

Uh, still listening to it.

Hello, students and faculty,

the student council election results are in.

As your principal, it is my pleasure to announce

Hammett Middle School's newly elected student council.

- You've got this, Ms. Prez. - All thanks to you, Mr. VP.

Our new vice president is Krista Russo and our new president is Asher Shapiro!

- - Great job, Russo! Yeah!

I can't believe we lost.

What could we have done to win?

- You two ran a great campaign. - Yeah, I voted for you.

We should've made cupcakes for everyone like Asher and Krista did.

They were good, but not as good as your speech, Curtis.

I know, we could use the Vermillion to go back in time, so you could...

No, we can't.

It says in the Time Castaways that we're not supposed to mess with the past.

Ruben's right. Time travel has rules.

We can't change the past,

and we can't meet ourselves at a different time, or else...

Or else what?

We would make a ripple in time that could cause a huge disaster.

This day just gets better and better.

We just have to be careful.

We don't wanna ruin everything when we're so close to finishing the mystery.

What do you mean, "finishing the mystery"?

He means that once we find Mason Briggs' missing manuscript for The Cobalt Mask ,

we can finish G.W.'s unfinished business and get back to living our normal lives.

We wouldn't have lost the election

if we weren't talking to ghosts and book characters.

And as cool as this has been,

I need more time to figure out how to save the bookstore.

Why do you all suddenly hate the mystery?

We don't hate it, but you have to admit, it takes up a lot of time.

Yeah.

Yeah, right. Of course.

I can't wait to have more time for making clothes.

Anyway, I think we know where the manuscript is,

inside the secret compartment in Sloane's house.

Back when Albert Hughes lived there and wrote as Mason Briggs.

- Right. - But when was that?

We know the last Mason Briggs book was published in 1969,

and Mason... I mean, Albert, died in 2015.

So, do we start from 1969 and go forward? Or start in 2015 and go backward?

Looks like Ghost Writer has the answer.

What does G.W. want with that old flyer we found?

"Bring your favorite characters to life."

But G.W. brings characters to life all the time.

This flyer is for a mural contest

hosted by someone named Miss Weaver on Sunday, May 1st, 1955.

Are we supposed to go to 1955 to find The Cobalt Mask manuscript?

I think so. G.W. gave us a day, a year and a way to time travel.

Looks like we're going to the '50s.

Not dressed like this, we aren't.

We're so lucky these '50s outfits were in the costumes department at school.

- Are we? - Yeah, I don't know about this.

I mean, I kind of like it.

Too bad there weren't any decade-appropriate shoes in your size.

Hmm, don't flip your wig.

Come on, cool cats. Let's roll.

This decade is real neato.

"Neato"?

I picked up some sayings from Frank, the cab driver.

It's not just the clothes that are gonna help us fit in.

I think fitting in is the least of our problems.

That is not neato.

Albert's house isn't even built, so why would G.W. send us to 1955?

- Oh. - We know it's bad, Ruben, but...

That's not it. How much of Time Castaways did you listen to?

Enough.

Ruben's got time sickness.

In the book, it happens to some people when they time travel.

Is there a cure?

Food from the present.

We have to go back to our time and get Ruben something to eat.

All right, let's beat feet out of here.

That's really getting annoying.

Come on.

Hey.

Someone is hungry.

Very.

Oh, Dad. I, uh, have something for you.

- What is it? - A peace offering.

I don't wanna argue about the store anymore.