Chapter 2: Return to the Present

White sprayed around them as the box reentered the time stream. Calvin was thrown out as the box hit something, landing in the snow. Sticking his head out, he looked around at the white powder covering the ground. "I don't remember snow when we left," he said. "Must have miscalculated our return trajectory-"

"Calvin!" Hobbes cried out worriedly. "Six and Mono are out cold!"

Calvin's blood froze as he turned and looked at the two doll-like children, their small bodies preventing them from sinking into the snow. Scooping up Mono, he thought back to his misguided attempt at joining Cub Scouts. "We've got to get them to Mom!" he exclaimed after failing to come up with anything.

"You think this a good idea?" Hobbes asked, picking up Six.

"I don't have anything better!" Calvin shot back, already heading to the back door less than five feet in front of them. Opening it, he called out. "MOOMMM-Oof!"

His mother had grabbed him and had wrapped him up tight. "Calvin, don't you scare me like that ever again!" she cried.

"Okay… Mom I ne-"

"You've been missing for two days! Where have you've been?"

"Long story, but first Mono needs help first!"

His mother finally opened her eyes. "Who's Mono?" she asked.

Holding the unconscious boy, Calvin explained, "This is Mono. He's from the future."

She looked down, then her eyes widened. If Calvin had been paying attention, he would have heard a strange sound, like a fine veil tearing.

But he wasn't, so what he heard was his mother asked, "What is that?"

"This is Mono," Calvin explained, feeling a bit irritated. "Hobbes and I went to the future, and we brought him back."

"Him and Six," Hobbes added, holding up his bundle.

Mom looked like someone had whacked her with a fish. "Did Hobbes just talk?" she asked.

-C&HLN-

"Are they going to be okay?" Calvin asked as Mom tucked Six and Mono into an oven mitt. After getting over her apparent shock that Hobbes could speak, she had gotten ahold of herself, taking the two tiny children and changing them into some doll-sized clothes she had pulled out of a box. Calvin had taken the chance to get out of his own wet jacket.

Mom shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "This is so unlike anything I have ever seen before. The only thing we can do is pray.

"That being said," she added, looking down at Calvin, "I have some questions I would like to ask you. What did you mean by 'they're from the future?'"

So he told her. He told her about him wanting to see his future, how he had bribed Hobbes into coming with him, and the ruined city they had landed in.

He told her how they had found the remains of a library, of the silent and blind and monstrous librarian that inhabited it. How they had found the book of newspaper clippings and notes … and how it told that he had been the one to destroy the future. How the time machine wasn't where he had left it, how he and Hobbes were stuck in a dystopian future.

He told of finding Six and Mono, two kids who against overwhelming odds had survived in the city, despite each of them being a third of his size. Of losing Six, of Mono defeating what he called the Thin Man. Of finding and rescuing Six. Of their mad race from the flesh hidden in the tower and their crash into the snow.

By the time he was done, his dad had arrived home and the sky was dark. He had the same shocked expression Mom had at first, but as Calvin told his story it grew increasingly concerned.

After they had eaten the pizza Dad had gotten (a rare treat), the two of them decided to send Calvin to bed. He thought about giving his usual protests, but that was when the day's events caught up to him and he decided that his parents had a point. This time. Especially since Dad read him "Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie" twice without any complaint.

"You okay, Calvin?" Dad asked, after putting the book away. "You must have had a long day."

"I'm fine," Calvin said. "I've just… been thinking."

Dad was silent, waiting for more.

"I'm worried that I'm going to cause that future," Calvin continued after a minute of silence. "I don't know why I would build that Tower, or what state of mind I was, or would, be in. I don't think I would have even when I was six! Or at least I like to think that I wouldn't have."

Dad chuckled. "You wouldn't have done anything like that, even if you were a bit of a brat."

"But how you know I'm not going to construct the Tower in the future?" Calvin asked.

"Calvin," Dad said as he sat on the side of the bed. "The future isn't set in stone. Right here, right now, you have the power to change it, for better or worse. You're smart, and you now know better. I believe that you won't make the same mistake again.

"And despite almost giving me and your mother a heart attack," he added, "you did good. And I am proud of you. Now, go to sleep. Things will look better in the morning. Good night, Calvin." Looking at the tiger on the other side of the bed, he added, "Good night, Hobbes."

"Good night, Dad," the pair replied and fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Six and Mono awoke.