QUANTUM (Portal Chronicles Book Three)

Text copyright © 2010 by Imogen Rose

Website: imogenrose.com

Cover photograph and design by Imogen Rose. Cover photo copyright © 2010 by Imogen Rose

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Paperback ISBN-13: 9780982800201 (Printed in the United States of America)

Acknowledgements

My younger daughter, Lauren, continues to be my inspiration. She loves a good story and looks forward to my next novel, not just with enthusiasm, but also with high expectations. I hope I have delivered. Lauren, thank you.  You started me off on this journey and you keep me on it.

What would I do without Sue? I met Sue Bernstein a few years ago. We share a passion for Champagne and shopping. When she offered to edit my first book, I’m sure she didn’t quite know how much of her (billable) time she was about to spend editing my stories. I’m indebted to you, Sue, yet again, for editing this novel and for your patience with me.

Similarly, I’m extremely grateful to my friend Andee Larkin for copy editing my work so carefully. Thank you Andee, you are a star.

I want to thank my beta readers, Al Kunz, Allirea Brumley, Frankie Sutton and Vickie Boehnlein, for their valuable criticisms and suggestions.

Thank you to all those who purchased and enjoyed PORTAL and EQUILIBRIUM, the first two books in this series. I am blown away by the enthusiastic support from all of you.

-Imogen Rose

A dreamer must dream

A storyteller must tell

I dream to tell

A STORY FOR LAUREN

prologue

Amadea glanced up at the wire-sculpted herald angels as she walked toward the ice rink looking for Inez. The breathtaking sight of the looming Christmas tree made her stop for a moment before she fought her way through the throngs to where she had arranged to meet Inez, smiling at her fondly as she walked up and gave her a hug.  Inez laughed apologetically as she inadvertently smeared her lipstick onto Amadea’s gorgeous brown fur coat as her face was brought close in a tight embrace. Amadea looked down at the smear and shrugged; it was of no consequence, nothing that couldn’t be dealt with. She could tell that Inez was mortified, so she squeezed her shoulders reassuringly and gave her a not-to-worry look. Inez smiled gratefully–she would, of course, have the stain taken care of–and then pointed to the ice rink. Amadea followed the direction of her finger, looking down to see her young son glide effortlessly on the ice–it almost looked like he was floating. He was easy to spot, the only one wearing a helmet, she had insisted on it even though he’d been reluctant.

“Inez, thank you so much for putting us up. We really appreciate it,” she said, looking down at Inez gratefully.

“You are very welcome, my dear,” Inez smiled. “It’s been lovely having you, I’ve enjoyed the company. I’ll miss you both.” Christmastime in Manhattan was always magical, but it was even more so if you had someone to share it with. She could relax around Amadea, who knew her secret–that she was a Wanderer, a being who could travel through time and dimensions. Taking her guests to visit her favorite haunts, sharing the delight of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Rockettes show, and today, watching people skating around the ice rink at the Rockefeller Center was such a treat. Normally, Inez would have forgone these pleasures, opting to work.

Amadea hugged her and turned back to watch her son. He was crouching down on the ice. Had he fallen? She instinctively started walking toward the rink, but stopped as he stood up and watched him intently. He seemed to be fine. He was staring down into his gloved hand and then started skating again. Not casually, as before, but purposefully. Amadea watched him skate up to a little girl who was standing by the huge gold statue of Prometheus. He took his helmet off as he chatted with her. She was a pretty little girl from what Amadea could tell, very fashionably dressed in a beautiful, pink, wool coat. The little girl suddenly smiled as he handed her something. She took it, kissed him on the cheek and skated off toward her mother who was calling for her.

Amadea kept her eyes on her son as he skated off the ice and made his way up to find her.

“Mummy, that was fun! Can we come again?”

“We’re heading home to London tomorrow, but we’ll come again, I promise,” she smiled, looking at his flushed cheeks. “What was that you found on the ice, Rup?”

“Oh, it was this shiny necklace, said Quantum on it. Mummy, what does that mean?” Rupert asked.

“Quantum? Hmm, that’s unusual,” Amadea mused. “Did it belong to the little girl?”

“Yes, her name is Ollie and I’m going to marry her one day.”

This blows. Where the heck was he? I must have left him like a zillion messages telling him that I’d be back tonight. Let me explain. I was–yet again–waiting for Dad to pick me up. He was inexcusably late. It was particularly annoying since I was now alone in the school parking lot. The bus driver dropped me off last, but here I was–by myself. It was dark, not that I was the least bit bothered by that, but Dad should be, wouldn’t you think?

I walked over to the main building and let myself in. Thankfully, the door was still unlocked–a school concert, no doubt. The halls were quiet, but there were muffled sounds emanating from the auditorium. I put my ear to the auditorium door trying to identify the source, but gave up, gently prying the door open so I could have a peek. The debate team. Sigh.

As I made my way down the hallway, I ran into the janitor–Bob. I ran into Bob a lot. He was used to letting me back into school after hours to retrieve my hockey gear and other stuff that I habitually forgot. I wondered what drove him. He just seemed to go about his business, happy as a clam, not the least bit annoyed with me when I disturbed his routine. He smiled kindly and let me borrow his cell phone–I had forgotten mine at home–to call my dad. Dad wasn’t picking up his phone. It sucked, big time. I tried Monica next. Monica is my BFF, well one of them. The other one is Ariele. She moved to California last weekend. I was going to miss her.

Last weekend started early, way too early for me. Who schedules SATs early on a Saturday morning? That’s seriously warped. Then, after the SATs, I decided–on a total whim–to head off to an all-girls’ ice hockey camp–yes, weird, I know. However, I knew that there would be college scouts there. I figured that since I had totally screwed up my SATs–and GPA–I’d better try to get on the ice hockey scouts’ radar. So I went, although I had totally decided not to. I’d never played with a bunch of girls before and I thought it would really suck. But it wasn’t too bad. In fact, I sort of enjoyed it. So when the coach suggested I stay for the rest of the week, I jumped at it. Missing school for a week–awesome! Well, almost a week. It was only Thursday. Maybe I could blow off school tomorrow. That would make the week perfect.

I guessed that Monica must still be at lacrosse practice since she wasn’t picking up her phone. I tried Christian, the captain of our varsity hockey team. He had a new car and used any excuse to take it for a spin. “Hey, can you pick me up from school?”

“Sure, Arizona. Whatcha doing at school so late? I didn’t recognize your number.”

“Just got back from camp. I left my phone at home in my rush. I’m using Bob’s.” I had been ridiculed to no end by my varsity teammates for considering going to this camp. Christian had led the assault.

“Camp?”

“Oh, can you just drive over? I’m fed up waiting. I’ll tell you all about it when you get here.”

“Be there in ten,” he said, and cut the call.

I tried Dad again. To be fair it wasn’t like he could call me back. It was my own fault for forgetting my cell.

The silver BMW stopped at the corner of the parking lot, the regular spot where Christian always met me. I couldn’t wait to get a car of my own. This weekend would be a good time for some car showroom visits.

“Hey, A! What the heck? What happened?” Christian gasped as he looked me up and down.

So, I didn’t look my best–who cares? Christian had seen me in a much worse state than this. He was strangely dressed-up himself–I snickered to myself. New girlfriend, no doubt. “Hot date?” I couldn’t help but smirk.

He shrugged, appearing strangely embarrassed. “A, what happened?” he repeated again.

“Sheesh! Nothing happened. I just went to girl’s camp, that’s all.”

“Your hair?”

“My hair? What’s the matter with you? It’s a bit grosser than usual, so what?”

“I kind of liked it blonde….”

“Blonde?” I guffawed.  “You lost your mind? Let’s go. I’m wiped.”

We rode in silence, though I had a nagging feeling that Christian was desperate to talk to me. However, for whatever reason, he decided not to. What was up with him anyway? So I’d missed a couple of practices. It was the end of the season, though. No biggie. However, best to have it out. I waited until we arrived in the driveway.

“What’s eating you, Christian?”

“Arizona, what’s going on with you?” he asked, rolling his eyes. “You came to school on Tuesday, resembling a blonde Barbie. You hook up with the new guy, David, and then missed school today. Now you’re pretending to be back from some camp, your usual self again. I don’t get it!”

Well, I obviously must have woken him up from some strange daydream, though he certainly didn’t appear to have just awakened. Or maybe he got hit in the head during hockey. “Christian, good grief! Get hold of yourself. You’re not on drugs, are you? That would be super stupid. I’ve got to go. Whatever is up with you, sort it out!”

“Yeah, right. There’s something up with me!” he sighed, and looked totally puzzled and annoyed. “There’s definitely something up with you!”

“Yeah, yeah… thanks for the ride. See you tomorrow, get some sleep,” I muttered.

I struggled into the house with my kit and luggage, waiting for Gertrude–the love of my life, a lazier-than-a-fat-cat Chihuahua–to jump up on me. There were no signs of her, which was not that surprising. Dad must have dropped her off with a sitter before he left. Well, he was supposed to have gotten back today, but there were no signs of him, either. I was totally exhausted. The day had started with a drill at six in the morning, so I was ready to hit the sack. I enjoyed the quiet of the house as I flung myself into the comfort of my bed and dozed off.

I was rudely awakened by the sound of breaking glass. Instinctively, I grabbed my hockey stick and readied myself. It was probably just Dad having forgotten his keys, but it’s always best to be careful.

~

Raj Sen felt euphoric. He knew that she would come back. There were no signs of the other kids, but all he needed was the one. Arizona would do. The blueprints to the portal were going to be his after all. The absolute and utter mess would be sorted out. All he needed to do was get this pesky child and then contact her mother, Olivia Darley.

The incident in Mountain View had been unfortunate. In hindsight, he should have come straight back up to Princeton and staked out the house, just as he was doing now. However, no real harm had been done. While Erica and Kevin had been hurt, he couldn’t bring himself to feel any remorse. They were both pains. If Kevin had just cooperated and Erica minded her own business… well, no point in thinking about all that now. Let bygones be bygones and all that.

Raj was happy to see the silver BMW–kids were so spoiled these days!–drive away after dropping Arizona off. He was glad that the boy who was driving hadn’t decided to stay. This show needed to get on the road. He knew that Dillard wasn’t home yet, so it was just the girl. There was no chance of him being able to seize her on his own. However, Dan could do so with no problem, he thought to himself, looking up to his right. Dan, towering above him at six-foot-five and built like a linebacker, looked decidedly sour.

“Ready, Dan? Let’s give it a few hours and then get her while she’s sleeping.  I’ll have the syringe ready.”

“Dr. Sen, I want out. This wasn’t the plan. Sophie?” Dan queried, looking over to his sister-in-law. She was sitting waiting in the van, windows down, looking bored.

“You’re right, Dan. It wasn’t. However, we have to see this through. Or we get nothing after all this,” she explained.

“Yeah, well nothin’ is fine with me. I just need a beer.”

“Shut up, Dan. Just do what I say,” Sophie said irritably.

“Stop with the arguing,” Raj said firmly. “We need to concentrate. Let’s try to get it right this time. The end game is the same. We still need the blueprints. We’ll wait until she’s sleeping, then grab her.”

“Then what?” Dan asked, rolling his eyes. “What happens after you drive her from New Jersey back to California? Do you even have a plan?”

The plan, thought Raj to himself. The plan would be to take Arizona back to Mountain View and wait there until his daughter, Simla, made contact. This would be complicated for Simla if Erica was still indisposed after the unfortunate incident at the Sanderson residence where he had inadvertently stabbed her, but Simla was resourceful. She would find another way to transport herself over if Erica was unable to help her. Like Erica, Simla was a Wanderer after all, or at least had the potential to be. She really ought to be able to wander on her own by now, Raj thought irritably. His irritation clearly reflected in his voice as he responded to Dan. “We’re going to take Arizona back to Mountain View. I’ve made arrangements. We have a cottage just outside town and we’ll wait there until we hear from my daughter.”

Dan muttered under his breath.

“Dan?” Sophie challenged.

“Oh, nothin’. Let’s get this over and done with.”

~

I inched my way into the family room. The breaking -glass noise had definitely come from there and other noises were still coming from there–clunking and thuds. Where the heck was my cell phone? I clenched my hockey stick firmly and peered into the room. It was pitch black, so I reached over to hit the light switch. Before I could even blink, I was grabbed and pulled over toward a giant. That’s all I could tell in the dark. I felt a sharp pinch in my left arm as I struggled to get free from his grip. Then I lost it, overcome by a feeling of numb sleepiness. Then, nothing–I blanked.

~

Phase one of the new plan had been executed to perfection. Raj was pleased and couldn’t stop grinning as the van headed toward California with their new passenger in the back. She would be out for a while and although they would need to make a few stops along the way, Raj figured that they could take turns driving straight through, eliminating the need for overnight motel stops.

~

Are you flipping kidding me? My head pounded. What the heck was that? I was lying down being tossed about from side to side. This was unbearable. I tried to steady myself, finally managing to get some support by grabbing onto the sides of the mattress or whatever I was lying on. Whatever it was, it smelled like rotten cheese, seriously hurl-worthy. I lay on my stomach, holding on, trying not to inhale any more of the stench than I absolutely had to. In spite of my head feeling like I was having some kind of stroke, I managed to get up on all fours, carefully let go of the mattress with my right hand and extended my arm as far as I could, swaying it about, feeling around. I tilted my body as far as I could without letting the mattress go with the other hand, and my fingers rubbed against metal. I let go with my other hand and gingerly moved toward the metal, running my hand up and down it. It was a wall of some sort so I crawled along it. It was a small area. The hum confirmed that I must be in the back of a van or truck. Shit.

Shit, shit, shit! This couldn’t be happening! Someone was kidnapping me? There must be some kind of mistake. They must’ve been after someone else. Or–could it be? Could my dad have gotten into some kind of trouble in Atlantic City and I was now being held hostage until he paid up? Double shit! One thing was clear. I needed to find a way to get out of here. After all, if I was being held hostage until my dad paid up some debt, well, that could be a long time–forever.

We drove for hours, I needed a drink pretty bad, my mouth felt like sandpaper. I was relieved when the van slowed down and we finally came to a stop. The door opened slowly. It was beginning to get light outside. The giant from before–actually a big Shrek of a man–waved his hands at me.

“Come on, Arizona. You can use the rest room here and we’ll get you something to eat and drink as long as you behave.”

He knew my name! Well that settled it. This must have something to do with my dad’s debts.

“What did you do with your hair? I almost thought we nabbed the wrong girl,” he chuckled. “I guess you were trying to disguise yourself.”

My hair? Why was this stranger going on about my hair? Maybe he did have the wrong girl. But he’d called me Arizona. It was probably a case of mistaken identity. “Look, I’m not who you want. There’s been a mistake. Let me go.”

“No mistake,” a female voice confirmed from behind Shrek. She had a gun. Priceless. If not for that, I could have easily taken her. I assumed she was my restroom company. I quickly decided that I needed to refuel, and since I really had no option, I may as well go along with this–for now. I asked once again, though. Just to make sure.

“Are you sure? I’m Arizona Stevens. I don’t have money or anything. What do you want with me?” I asked, confused.

“Cute! It won’t wash. Nice disguise, by the way,” the woman replied. “Come with me.”

“It’s not a disguise, but the fact that you think so makes me think you’ve got the wrong person.”

“Shut up, Arizona,” the woman said, now looking totally annoyed. Her lips were drawn into a thin line and the gun was pointed right at me.

Yup, good reason to shut up. I followed her into the restroom. We were obviously at a service plaza. We didn’t use the main restroom, but the outside one, which was attached to the gas station. I saw people inside the main building, but there was no opportunity to get their attention–especially with that gun ominously poking my side. The woman didn’t say anything more; she just beckoned me to follow her back to the van once I was done. Shrek handed me a bag of food and then waved at me to get back in. I spied a third person sitting at the wheel before I headed back into the darkness.

Hours went by and then we stopped again for a similar break. We did this numerous times; I dozed off between the breaks. I had been afraid at first, but the routine became comfortable and I gave in to the boring monotony of it all. I’m sure we drove for at least a couple of days. I never got a good look at the mysterious third man, he always stayed in the van, or so it seemed. I gathered from the conversations between Shrek and the woman that their real names were Dan and Sophie.

I knew that our journey was over when the third man opened the van door and beckoned me to follow him. He was small and wimpy looking. If not for Shrek-Dan towering behind him, I could have managed to overpower him. For whatever reason, it was clear that he was the leader of this pack of idiots. I could tell from the look of smarmy superiority exuding from his plain, bordering-on-ugly face. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Arizona, where are the others?”

“Others?”

The expression on his face suddenly changed. The smarmy, arrogant smirk was replaced by an exasperated turn of his lips and a mad squinting of eyes. His rather large nose twitched and he clenched his knobby hands into a tight fist. I did the same.

“Raj, stop that!” Sophie said, taking his arm and leading him away.

“Sorry ‘bout that. The boss is a bit short with the temper,” Dan apologized. “Let’s go inside,” he said, pointing to a cottage. “There’s food and drink in there, and you’ve got your own room and all.”

Sheesh, fantastic… my own room in a run-down cottage where I was being held hostage, just what I’ve always wanted–not. I followed Dan in and we sat down and waited for the other two to come in.

“We’ve got some beer, want some?” Dan offered.

I was very tempted, but decided that I needed to remain clear-headed. If I had learned one thing at girls’ camp, it was that I was a lightweight. “Do you have anything else? Water will do.”

“Yup, lemme see. We’ve got Coke, lemonade and water.”

“Coke, please.” I guzzled it down.

“Things will be easier if you cooperate,” Dan remarked.

“I’m a bit lost. I would cooperate if I knew what you wanted.”

“Eh, just answer the boss’s questions, that’s all.”

“I’ll try.”

“Good.” He nodded as Raj and Sophie walked into the house. Raj seemed to have calmed down a bit, his face was back to the same smarmy look he’d had on before.

“So, let’s begin again. Where are the other kids?” Raj asked.

“What kids?” I asked, and noticed Sophie put her hand on his shoulder.

“Ella and Harry.”

I shrugged. I had no idea who Harry was. “Ella’s with Mom, I guess. Why do you want to know?”

Raj got up and started pacing, walking up and down the living room. “Sophie, let’s go. We’ve got stuff to take care of. Dan, watch her.”

I watched them leave in relief, but I was not entirely comfortable at being left alone with Dan.

“Want to watch a movie?” he asked. “Or play some video games?”

“Movie sounds good,” I said, and Dan and I settled down to watch Terminator. Dan was totally into the movie, his facial expressions matching each scene, which was kinda odd. When it finished, Dan whipped up some burgers and we sat down to eat. There were no signs of the other two yet. “Dan, can I ask you something?”

“No probs with the asking.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”

“No worries, I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt you. Once he gets what he wants, we’ll return you to your mom.”

“Mom? You mean back to my dad, right?”

“I guess,” he shrugged.

I hope he guessed right. Although he probably assumed that I lived with the both of them, I don’t, of course. I live with my dad. Getting shipped off to Mom would probably be worse than staying here.

Everyone who knows me is aware that my mom and I don’t get along–at all. Now, my dad doesn’t win father-of-the-year by a long shot, but he is way easier than my mom. Mom is a physicist. She and my sister, Ella, moved to California when Mom and Dad separated. Ella is nine, a total pain as well. My relationship problems with Mom go beyond ordinary teen issues. My deep hatred–and I do mean hatred–has been festering for years. I can’t even remember for how long. All I know is that if I never saw her again, it would be too soon. I think of my sister as an extension of my mom, so I don’t want her as a part of my life either. The only time I see them is during their vacations. Mom has an apartment in Princeton, which she stays in when she visits. She usually insists that I at least lunch or dine out with them every vacation, which is thankfully not too often. Lunch is usually spent glaring at each other while she whines on about my schoolwork. More often than not, I end up walking out on them. So, sitting here with Dan was not so bad, well, apart from the fact that loony Raj and his gal pal were going to be back eventually.

“That’s them, I assume,” Dan announced, when we heard a van drive up. “Yup. Simla should be here soon. Arizona, go to your bedroom and stay there.”

I nodded, relieved–I was in no hurry to face mad Raj–and got up to leave. I walked into the bedroom that Dan pointed to and shut the door. Well, I left it slightly ajar so I could listen in. I sat down on the oddly out-of-place princess bed. Simla? Ah! That’s why Raj looked familiar. They must be related somehow. Now this made even less sense. Simla was coming here? Why? I heard my door shut and it sounded like it was being locked. I got up and tried it–locked. I tried the windows–locked as well.

~

“So, wassup?” Dan asked, looking at Raj and Sophie.

“Just waiting for Simla, she should arrive any minute,” Raj said noncommittally.

“How is she getting here?” Dan asked. She was, after all, in another dimension. The portal was apparently inactive until the energy sources were replenished. So how was she coming over?

“Through the portal, I’m guessing,” Raj offered, not sure if that was indeed the case or if she had learned to wander.

“How’s that possible?” Sophie asked.

“It’s possible if a year has passed in the other dimension and they’ve reset the portal to open here– now,” Raj said matter-of-factly, watching the gaping looks.

Dan shook his head and shrugged in confusion. “It’s October 2009 there? They are ahead of us? How can that be?”

“No, no, no,” Raj muttered, frustrated. It was so hard dealing with Dan-types. At least Sophie seemed to get it–she was nodding. “The portal can be set to open in any time-dimension continuum. I’m assuming Arizona’s mother, Olivia, has control of it at the moment. All she has had to do is wait a year in her dimension, reset the portal to transport back into this time and dimension and voila!”

“So, Simla is traveling back from the future to meet you on your pre-arranged date.”

“Yes!”

“Why?” Dan asked, still confused.

“I asked Simla to bring the blueprints. If she doesn’t have them, we’ll send her back with a message from Arizona.”

“Oh, okay. What if she has them? What do we do with the girl then?” Dan asked.

“We’ll give her back to her mom or get rid of her.”

“How?”

“I’ll leave that up to you, Dan. Just drop her off somewhere.”

“Drop her off?” Dan asked, his brows furrowed.

“Oh, for goodness sake. Just drop her off outside Kevin Sanderson’s house; she’ll be fine from there. Okay?” Sophie interrupted. “It’s certain that her mom will ask for her in exchange for the blueprints, though.”

“Is Arizona locked up safely?”  Raj continued.

“Yup,” Dan assured him. He had personally bolted the windows and doors.

Raj nodded. “I’d like to talk to Simla on my own, so you two can go for a ride. Get back here in an hour exactly.”

“Are you sure?” Sophie protested.

“I am. I haven’t seen my daughter for a while. I want to talk to her on my own.” He wanted Dan and Sophie out of the house for other reasons, but that explanation would have to suffice. They didn’t know about the casualties of the last meeting with Kevin Sanderson. Both Kevin and Erica had been hurt. If Dan and Sophie found out they would probably bail on him. Simla would probably know, especially if her mother had been badly hurt–which was a strong possibility as he remembered sticking the kitchen knife deep into Erica’s chest.

“Fair enough,” Sophie agreed. “Let’s go, Dan.”

Raj waited. Simla was already ten minutes late, he was starting to fret. He always insisted on punctuality. He was beginning to wonder if she would turn up at all when he heard a car drive up. Raj immediately recognized Simla’s blue Smartcar. He had made arrangements for her to pick it up outside Ames. He watched her get out of the car. She wore the same haughty look her mother did; it intimidated him. She looked more grown up than he remembered. Her hair was cut short into a messy bob and had red highlights through it. The smart black pantsuit she was wearing made her look much older than her sixteen, well, maybe seventeen years. She was pulling a briefcase out from the car–with the blueprints, hopefully. Raj opened the front door to greet her.

“Simla! Good to see you,” he said, as she came walking into his outstretched arms. He wrapped them around her and held her tight. It had been over a year for her.

“Dad, I’ve missed you!” she whispered, her eyes starting to well up. “I can’t believe this worked. I thought I’d never see you again. It’s been awful since you left.”

“Has your mother been a pain?”

“A pain? Dad, don’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“Let’s sit down, Dad,” Simla suggested, dragging her father over to the couch.

“So, we’re sitting. Pray continue,” Raj requested.

“Dad, Mom’s dead.”

Erica dead? “When? How?” he asked, hoping that the incident at Kevin’s had nothing to do with it. He graphically remembered thrusting the kitchen knife right into her, feeling the pressure of her flesh against it. Could he have pushed it far enough to cause such damage? Could he have killed her?

“A year ago. I don’t know how exactly. She was stabbed. The Wanderer Elders arranged her funeral.”

Raj put is face into his palms. This was bad. If she was dead, the police could be out looking for him, here in this dimension. She had, after all, been killed here just days ago. Hopefully she had been removed and transported back by the other Wanderers with no one notified at this end.

“Dad, this must be a real shock. I’m sorry that I was so abrupt. It’s just that it’s been a year for me. I wasn’t thinking,” Simla whispered.

“No, it’s okay, Simla. And what about you? How have you been managing?” Raj asked, relieved that the Wanderers had kept his involvement in her mother’s death from her.

“I’ve been living with the Weeks’. The Elders decided that Grayson should look after me until I leave for college. He’s been good to me.”

“Is everyone treating you okay?”

“Nothing has really changed. Same old.”

“Tell me all that’s happened to you in the last year.”

“Dad, I haven’t got time. I have to leave soon,” Simla said sadly. “Olivia is waiting for me. She brought me through. Come back with me.”

“Simla, I can’t. Not yet. Olivia brought you through? Didn’t you learn to wander?”

“I tried, but can’t yet. I’m trying to learn on my own, meditation and all that stuff. The Elders won’t help. They won’t show me how.”

“You’re resourceful, Simla. You’ll find a way. In the meantime, Olivia can transport you. How did you get her to do it?”

“Oh, it was easy really, but there was a lot of luck involved. I went to see Olivia in her office to get the blueprints. I didn’t go alone, though. I figured that I would need some leverage, some really heavy leverage. I tried to contact Dillard to see if he would come with me because I wanted to use him as blackmail. I left a message on his cell to contact me. But he never got back to me. I had to think of something else. I convinced–with a substantial amount of the money you left–a guy, an actor, who looked a bit like Dillard to accompany me to Ames. We had to get him a fake driver’s license, but that wasn’t difficult. All he then had to do was sit in the Ames lobby and flash his license if anyone asked.

“I went up to see Olivia in her office on my own, and left the Dillard stand-in waiting in the lobby. As you can imagine, Olivia was totally uncooperative and practically sneered at me when I asked for the prints. So, I told her to call down to reception, that I had something there for her. I can’t tell you how nail-biting that was, I was hoping she wouldn’t ask him to come up! As soon as she was told that Dillard Stevens was in the lobby, her attitude totally transformed,” Simla laughed.

Raj couldn’t help but laugh with her. He would have given anything to have seen Olivia’s face.

“So, I promised her that I would get rid of him if she just handed over the blueprints and arranged for me to transport through the portal. She handed them over very reluctantly and promised that she would transport me through in October when the portal was functional again.

“I waited, for what seemed like ages, going about my daily routine. Anyway, here I am and here are the blueprints,” Simla said proudly, handing over the briefcase to Raj. “Is your buyer here or back home?”

“Back home, which is a big issue. A year has passed. I don’t even know if the deal is on the table anymore. I want you to take this slip of paper with you. It has a cell number on it. Call it when you get to the other end. The number will be a year old, but it’s still worth a try. Ask to speak to Dr. Masterson. If you get him on the line, explain to him that you’re my daughter and that you have a message for him. Ask him if he’s still interested in the deal. If he is, let him know that I’ll be in touch soon. No biggie if he isn’t. It won’t be hard to find another buyer for these blueprints, but I will have to come back home for that. All my contacts are in the other dimension,” he said, looking down and smiling at the briefcase.

“Dad, you should come home with me now. I really have to go, but I don’t want to leave you here. Olivia is not going to wait for me much longer. I can’t risk her leaving me here.”

“Simla, you should go. I do need a contact over there, so I will ask you to go back for now. Make contact with Dr. Masterson if you can. Have Olivia bring you back here in exactly one week. I’ll figure something out by then. Maybe even go back with you. But don’t tell Olivia that.”

“Of course not, Dad! Okay, I better go. Take care of yourself,” she said, and hurriedly kissed him on his cheek.

Raj watched her get back into the tiny car and drive into the distance. He wished he’d had more time with her. They still had so much catching up to do. He looked toward the room where Arizona had been sequestered. It was time to get rid of her. She was irrelevant now. It suddenly occurred to him that it was odd that Olivia did not insist that Arizona return with Simla in order for her to release the blueprints. Did she accept that Arizona was to stay with her father, even after all the trouble she went through to get Arizona to move to her dimension in the first place? What was he supposed to do with the pesky teen now? He couldn’t keep her here. He had better things to be getting on with than babysitting. There was, in fact, no reason for him to stay here anymore. He did need to be back here in a week to meet Simla again, but he could take off in the meantime and leave Arizona to be dealt with by Dan and Sophie. He didn’t need them anymore, either. He had the blueprints. He was free. He hastily gathered the few items he needed and walked off toward the road. He would catch a ride at the next rest stop.

~

I could hear muffled sounds coming from the living room. I tried the bedroom door again, it was firmly locked. The knob didn’t give at all, no matter how hard I tried turning it. I contemplated banging the door down. That wouldn’t exactly be a new accomplishment for me. I had done it before, out of anger, in my own house. However, I had learned to weigh the consequences. Months of therapy had taught me that, if nothing else. There were at least three of them on the other side of this door. I felt fairly confident that I would be able to handle Raj and Sophie, however there was no chance of me getting past Dan. Dan had said he would protect me from Raj, so it was best not to anger him at this point. Appealing to his gentler nature would probably be the most efficient way to get out of here. I’d wait until I was left alone with him again. Perhaps even try pretend crying… I rolled my eyes at the thought.

I wondered what was going on out there. Had Simla arrived? Should I try to get her attention? We were sort of friends after all. She should help me out. I had done so numerous times for her. I hadn’t seen her for a while though; she seemed to have disappeared from school again. That was fairly common, though. Simla had long, unexplained absences from school, always coming back looking deflated. I tried to talk to her about it, but she always brushed me off saying something about family issues. Some family issues! Turns out her dad is a kidnapping freak! A criminal. No wonder she always looked so beat. She probably spent her spare time visiting him in prison. Would she help me if I banged on the door?

I wasn’t even sure she was there. It was probably just Raj, Dan and Sophie and I couldn’t risk enraging them. Why would Simla’s dad have kidnapped me? Did Dad owe him money? Had Dad gotten involved in something really shady that involved Simla’s dad? Sheesh! I put my ear to the door, but could hear absolutely nothing. I looked around for another way out but all the windows were boarded up. I probably could have kicked them out, but not without creating a racket. So I waited.

When the door finally unlocked and opened, Dan came into view. His brows were furrowed and lips pursed. He sighed heavily when he saw me.

“Have you seen the boss?” he muttered.

“No, have you?” I responded. It was immediately apparent that something unexpected was up when Dan turned around and shrugged at Sophie.

“What’s going on?” I asked, prompting Dan to turn back toward me.

He heaved his shoulders up and down and sighed.

“Sophie, we need to take Arizona back to her parents and then deal with Raj. We can’t do much while we have her here with us. We can’t just leave her here, she’s just a kid.”

Sophie came into the room, nodding at Dan.

“Arizona, any idea where Raj went?”

I shook my head.

“Did you hear anything? Was a girl here? Did he leave with her?”

“Look, I did try to listen through the door, but I couldn’t hear anything. I’ve no idea if Simla was here or not. Why would she be involved with this? What is this anyway? Why am I being held here?”

“Shush, don’t talk, I need to think. Stay in here for another ten minutes while Dan and I talk and then we’ll let you know what we’re going to do. But don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt you.”

I nodded and waited in silence as the two of them went back out for their chat, closing the door behind them. Something was definitely up. But, more to the point, I was thirsty and hungry.

I didn’t have to wait long. The door opened and Sophie beckoned me to follow her. I was relieved to see Dan standing in front of the stove cooking.

“I need to use the restroom,” I mumbled. Sophie nodded and pointed me to the hallway bathroom. When I got back, the two of them were sitting down, digging into burgers. I was has happy to spot a third plate waiting for me.

“Dig in, Arizona,” Dan offered, pointing to the plate.

I didn’t need to be told twice. I sat down and dove right in. The juicy meat combined with barbeque sauce and caramelized onions were sheer heaven! “Thanks, Dan! This is really good,” I managed to splutter between chews.

Dan nodded. “Sophie?”

“Arizona, Dan and I have decided to let you go. We’re hoping that you’ll keep our names to yourself. We didn’t plan this, this was all Raj’s doing. He seems to have disappeared.”

“Why did you take me in the first place? Is he going to come after me again? Is my dad okay?” I asked, looking to her for some answers.

“Arizona, I won’t answer any questions. All I’m going to say is that we, Dan and I, don’t want to keep you captive. So, we are going to drop you off somewhere you can get help to get home.”

“Why can’t you drive me back?”

“We have other plans, and besides, it’s too far,” she said, and then pursed her lips. She wasn’t going to say anymore, that was clear.

I had absolutely no idea how far from home I really was. The drive had been long, but I had no way of knowing where we were. I guess I’d find out soon enough, I thought to myself, as I was directed to take my place in the back of the van again. The journey didn’t take long. Half an hour was my guess, perhaps slightly longer. Shortly after the van stopped, the door opened and Dan let me out.

“Go over to that house there and ring the bell. It’s Kevin’s.”

“Kevin?”

“Oh, drop the act, Arizona. You’re free now,” Dan muttered as he walked back to the driver’s door and got back into the van. I watched the van drive into the distance before I turned to look at the house. It could be a trap. In fact, it almost certainly was. I would be much better off trying to find a cop and getting some real help. Kevin? I had no idea who that was, or where I was. I looked around trying to figure out which direction to walk in to get some help. This was a quiet neighborhood. Nice mini mansions with perfectly manicured lawns, but no kids playing outside or anyone for that matter. No one to ask to borrow a cell phone from. As I was deciding which direction to start walking in, I spied a motorcycle turning into the road and making its way down toward me. I hastily started walking up the road, in case it was Kevin, I didn’t want to bump into him and face any complications that would entail. I put my head down and covered my face the best I could with my hoodie and walked briskly up the road, but the bike slowed down as it approached me. It stopped and I clenched my fists getting ready to punch the snot out of him–or her–if he tried anything. I watched him take his helmet off and look at me intently, his face breaking into a wide beaming grin.

“Poppet!”

He was cute. Especially beaming like that–he looked really happy to see me. I almost let my guard down and my lips twitched wanting to smile right back at him. But I didn’t. Poppet? He was clearly demented.

“Poppet?” he said again and got off the bike.

“Come near me and I’ll pound your brains in,” I growled and picked up a large pebble from the walkway–that would have to do. I brought it up over my shoulders getting ready to throw it at him.

“Geez, Arizona! Calm down!” he muttered, taking a step back and glaring at me. His nice smile had turned into a frown.

“Who are you? And what do you want with me?”

He continued to glare at me, shaking his head.

“Look, tell me who you are and what you want. And how do you know my name?”

“Arizona, what’s the matter? It’s me, David. But you know that! Why are you acting so odd? And what happened to your hair?”

My hair? Right, enough! I threw the pebble at him with the greatest force I could muster.

“Ouch! Stop that!” he cried, as he bounded toward me, grabbing hold of my hands.

I struggled to get free of him, kicking his shins and spitting on him–it landed on the tip of his nose.

“Gross!” he yelled and let go of me, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

I bolted. I ran down the street as fast as I could. I could hear him following me on his bike. I turned right onto another road, and kept on running. I noticed a car slowing down and curious glances from the passengers. No other cars drove by; this road appeared pretty isolated. I wasn’t just running; I was sprinting. I kept glancing back, hoping that a cop car would come by. Then I tripped. Stupid rock. I fell knees-first onto the hard concrete, but managed to steady myself, preventing my face from hitting the pavement.

“You, okay, Poppet?” David–I gathered that was his name–asked as he tried to pull me up.

“Ouch! Don’t!” I yelled and hit him. “It hurts!”

“Let me get you to the ER. It’s not far.”

My eyes were welling up from the intense pain in my knees. What if I had fractured them?  What if I couldn’t play hockey? Tears started streaming down my face.

“Arizona, I promise I’m not going to hurt you, okay? The hospital isn’t far. Let me take care of you.”

What choice did I have? There were no signs of anyone else stopping. No signs of any cop cars. What if David abducted me, maybe he worked for Raj. How did he know my name? I knew that if I tried to ask him any questions right now, they would just come out in big sobs. And I was in no position to fight him. So I nodded.

He placed his helmet on my head and secured it. Then he gently lifted me up and placed me on the bike. I flinched with pain. Although he looked concerned, he stayed silent and brought the bike to life. I hung onto him as he maneuvered the bike through the roads to the emergency bay at the hospital. We stopped right outside and he carried me in as we were greeted by the hospital staff. I was put in a wheelchair and pushed along the corridor while David explained what happened. I only had to correct him once. He called me Arizona Darley or something.

“No, it’s Stevens,” I interrupted.

David shrugged and we walked into an elevator. There was a nice, peaceful silence as we ascended up to the second floor where I was once again wheeled through never-ending corridors. We finally came to a halt in front of a set of double doors.

One of the nurses turned and spoke to David. “Mr. Skoog, you can’t come any further. Wait here, we’ll be about an hour. If you give me your cell number, I’ll call you with an update. There’s a cafeteria on the ground floor.”

David nodded. “Arizona, I’m going to look in on my dad. I’ll come back to see you when I get the call,” he said, handing the nurse a bit of paper with his cell number. “Okay?”

I nodded. I guess it was okay. I’d get the nurses to try my dad. But if I couldn’t get in touch with him perhaps this do-gooder could. Not before he told me how he knew my name, though. Before I could ask him, I was pushed through the double doors into the exam suite.

~

As David made his way to the elevator, he was overcome with a sense of unease. Something felt very wrong, in addition to the obvious. What was Arizona doing back here?  She’d been transported back to her family. He’d just seen her at the Halloween dance! Yet, here she was. He needed to talk to his mother. As he exited the elevator, he hurried down the corridor to his dad’s room. The cops guarding the door let him pass. His mother was sitting on a chair beside his dad’s bed, unobtrusively reading on her lighted Kindle. His dad was fast asleep, breathing deeply, his chest heavily bandaged, heaving with every breath. His mother’s eyes widened in surprise when David entered the room. She stood up and beckoned him to walk with her outside.

“David, I am surprised to see you. I thought you were going back to the house to get some rest. There’s nothing you can do here for the moment. Your dad’s heavily sedated; he’ll be out for a while. I’ll call you when he wakes,” Inez said.

“Mom, as I was heading back, I ran into Arizona, just outside Dad’s house.”

“Arizona?” Inez repeated, furrowing her brows.

David summarized the events to his mother. “I’ve no idea what she’s doing here. She doesn’t seem to recognize me. It’s bizarre,” he concluded, shrugging his shoulders.

Inez looked grim. It was odd to see her look like this. She was usually a picture of calm and serenity. “I don’t know what to think! I just saw her, safe with her family. How did she get back here?”

“I don’t know, Mom. The last I saw her was at the Halloween party. She seemed fine. I told her about Erica and she was upset for Simla, but didn’t want to get involved. I saw her leave the lake with Kellan. She seemed a bit sad after our talk, not surprisingly. I can’t imagine how she got back here. The portal is inactive, right?”

“Yes. I’m fairly sure of that. It was going to take a year for it to become active again. She must have come through some other way,” Inez mused.

“How, Mom? None of the Wanderers would transport her without Constance’s permission. And Constance would let you know, even though you passed the leader role onto her. So how?”

“David, did she say anything at all to you? You said that you think that she didn’t recognize you. That’s impossible unless she has been drugged or had her memory messed with in some way. Did she look confused?”

“She looked scared and a little disoriented. She did look different. Her hair was light brown rather than platinum blonde. I almost didn’t recognize her at first. She was hovering around outside Dad’s house, which was the only reason I stopped and spoke to her. I didn’t recognize her from a distance. She looked pretty disheveled, like she hadn’t washed in a few days–very unlike Arizona.”

“Where is she now?” Inez inquired.

“Well, she tripped when I was trying to catch up with her. She was sprinting away from me and crashed down pretty hard on her knees. Anyway, I helped her get to the hospital; she’s in the ER at the moment. Someone is going to call me once she’s done.”

Inez ran her fingers through her hair. “David, I need to think. And I need to contact Constance.”

David nodded. “Mom, go. I’ll stay here with Dad until Arizona needs me. I’ll contact you as soon as I find out what’s going on. Go back and find out how Arizona disappeared from there. I can transport her back as soon as you get permission from Constance and the rest of the Elders.”

Inez gave her son a hug and looked in on Kevin before she left David looking over his father.

David sat down and picked up the Kindle that his mom had left behind. He scrolled through the NY Times while listening to his dad’s labored breathing. His silenced cell phone vibrated in his pocket causing him to flinch. “Hello?”

“Mr. Skoog, I’m calling from the ER. Are you still at the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“We are done with Arizona Stevens. You can come and pick her up. We tried calling her dad, but he didn’t answer.”

“Okay, I’ll be right down,” he said. David got up to leave, glancing down and touching his dad’s hand briefly before exiting the room. How would he handle Arizona? He needed answers; hopefully she had calmed down enough to be able to talk to him now. He wasn’t feeling confident, though.

~

I hate hospitals, I always have. The smells, the sounds, the people–yuck. If you’re not ill when you enter, you almost certainly will be by the time you get out. Even if you manage to escape the zillions of disgusting bugs saturating the air, some drunk will probably puke all over you. I asked the nurse to wheel me into a corner away from the other patients. We’d been unable to get hold of Dad. He wasn’t answering his phone, as usual. I had found out that I was in California… thousands of miles away from home! So, I couldn’t really call Monica or Christian to take me home. No, I needed to get on a flight. But how? I didn’t have any money. So here I sat and waited for the boy who brought me in here. I should be grateful, but it was his fault I was here in the first place–so I wasn’t–the least bit grateful, that is. Who was he anyway? Maybe he could lend me some money for a ticket back home. If not, I’d have to call the cops or something for help. Just then, David walked though the door and looked around trying to find me. I waved.

“How are you doing, Arizona?” he asked, as he drew up a chair and sat down opposite me.

“Nothing’s broken. I’ll be fine. I’m just bruised pretty bad. I need to keep the weight off my legs for a bit,” I said, nodding toward the crutches I had been given. “This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t chased me!” I snapped, unable to stop myself. “This is your fault. So, you’ll have to help me get home!”

He nodded. “Arizona, I was only chasing you because I wanted to talk to you. You know I wouldn’t harm you, and, of course, I’ll help you get home. That’s no problem. Your mom and dad must be so worried.”

Mom. Why hadn’t I thought of her? The least she could do was help me get back to Dad. She was in California, after all! “We’re in Mountain View, California, right?” I asked, looking at David who looked perplexed.

“Yes.”

“Well, Mom lives here. I don’t have her number on me, but she should be easy to track down. She works at Ames, I think. Let’s call her. Do you have a cell I can use?”

David shrugged as he handed her the cell. “Arizona, you may not be able to reach her.”

“I will, too. Watch this,” I said, and got put through to Ames.  I felt defeated as I listened to the lady on the other end insisting that she had not heard of an Olivia Stevens. Maybe she worked somewhere else. How was I going to find her? Even her home phone was not listed, that’s if she even had one. Maybe she only had her cell. I didn’t know what her cell number was, I had it programmed into my cell, but of course didn’t have that on me… so frustrating. I looked back up at David, trying not to well up with tears. He was sitting back, looking at me intently. I shrugged.

“Do you want me to get you home?” he asked gently.

I nodded. Duh, of course, I wanted that.

“Okay, I’m going to take you back home to my dad’s house. We can wait there until the arrangements to take you back have been made.”

I nodded. I guess it would take a while to get a flight booked. I was in no position to argue, and this seemed like a plan. Or did it? I mean it was a plan all right, but it could be a plan to lock me up again. I was having none of that! I shook my head vehemently.

“Arizona?”

“How do I know that you’re not going to take me back to a house and lock me up? Maybe there are others waiting there for me.”

“It’s okay, Arizona. It’ll be just you and me. Dad’s here at the hospital, still on life support. Why would you even think I would do you any harm?” he asked, looking decidedly hurt.

“Your dad’s on life support? Here? Can you show me?” I asked. If that bit of his story was true maybe the rest was, as well. Maybe he was just a do-gooder out to help me. He stood up, grabbed my crutches and started rolling my wheelchair through the hallways, into the escalator, then through the hallway again until we stopped by a door manned by a sour-looking cop.

“It’s okay,” David said to the policeman, nodding at me. “We’ll just be a minute.”

I was wheeled into a darkish room. In the middle, surrounded by equipment, lay a man in the bed. He looked like he was dying; he sounded awful.

“That’s my dad,” David whispered.

“What happened to him?” I whispered back.

David turned me around and wheeled me out of the room and then he went back in to talk to the nurse in his dad’s room. He was back moments later.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.

“Yes, he’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

As we rolled along the corridors, I asked him again what had happened.

He sighed. “Raj Sen stabbed him.”

“Stop!” I shouted. “Raj Sen? You know Raj Sen?”

He stood still and glared at me.

“Well?”

“Arizona, of course I do. What’s the matter with you?”

I couldn’t help but shake my head. This was bizarre. We needed to talk, but not here, everyone was staring at us, my shouting had brought us unwanted attention. “David, let’s go to your house and talk. Okay?” I felt safer knowing that his dad had been stabbed by Raj–warped, I know–but he wasn’t likely to be in cahoots with Raj under those circumstances.

He nodded and wheeled me to a cab.

“Where’s your bike?”

“It’s in the parking lot. I’ll come and collect it later. It will be easier to get you home in a cab.”

True. He lifted me gently and placed me in the back of the car and secured my seatbelt for me. We were driven back to the same house that Dan and Sophie had dropped me off outside before. Sigh. David carried me in, and put me down on a couch in the homey-looking family room.

“Can I get you something to eat and drink before we talk?”

I nodded and waited while he busied himself in the kitchen. When he came back, he was bearing a tray full of sandwiches and sodas. I was famished and dug right in, as did he. When we finished, I sat back and stretched, I was so tired. “Well, let’s talk. How do you know Raj?”

“The same way you do, Arizona! What the heck is going on with you?” He was clearly frustrated. “Raj kidnapped you, we rescued you, took you back home and here you are again! Acting really odd! How did you get back here?”

“Wait a minute now!” I protested. “Yes, Raj kidnapped me, but what’s all that other stuff? You hardly rescued me! I practically got dumped here. So, that’s really stretching your contribution to my predicament by quite a bit. And you certainly haven’t brought me to my home yet. This is your home! Although, I will be grateful when you do get me home.”

He shook his head. I could see him struggling. “Arizona, tell me, what happened to you? How did you get here?”

“Well, I was home in Princeton–that’s where I live– when Raj and his little entourage of Dan and Sophie broke in, drugged me and took me on a road trip that culminated in a cottage, here in California by the look of things. Then he, Raj, disappeared, and Dan and Sophie couldn’t be bothered with me anymore, so they dropped me off here. They asked me to ring the doorbell and said someone would help me get back home. I’ve no idea why Raj took me in the first place, the idiot!”

“They took you from your house in Princeton?” David mused. “How did Raj get back there and then come back here?”

“How am I supposed to know? How do you know Raj anyway?” I retorted.

“How do I know Raj?” he repeated, looking at me like I was deranged. “Arizona, I have to call my mom. I’ll be back in a little while. Make yourself comfy. Here are the controls to the TV,” he said, as he stood up. Then he left and I switched on the TV. I was too tired to concentrate and my mind was churning with muddled thoughts. Who was this guy? He still hadn’t told me anything. I was going to tackle him and get some answers as soon as he came back. I stretched letting my head fall onto the cushion at the end of the couch and closed my eyes.

~

As soon as Arizona had asked him how he knew Raj, David knew that he needed to take a breather away from her. He needed to clear his head. She appeared lucid, but still unaware of obvious stuff. One thing was clear: Raj had gotten to her again. David really needed to let his mother know. He called her, hoping she was back by now.

“David?”

“Mom, I’m glad you are back. How did it go? Are things crazy at the Darley house? Is anyone else missing?” His mother was silent at the other end. “Mom?”

“David, we have to talk. Where is Arizona now?”

“She’s here at Dad’s house with me,” he said, walking over to peek through to the family room. “She’s sleeping on the couch,” he relayed, as he noticed her passed out in a deep sleep.

“Good. I’m on my way over. See you shortly. How is Kevin?”

“The same. The hospital will call us when he wakes.”

David walked over to the couch where Arizona lay sleeping soundly. She looked so peaceful. He gently placed a blanket over her and sat down to watch her sleep. She looked different. What could have happened to her? She didn’t seem confused in any way, but she obviously was. When he heard his mother’s car in the driveway, he got up and quietly let her in, making sure not to awaken Arizona. They walked through to the kitchen.

“I just got a call from the hospital. Kevin has woken up. He seems to be doing better. I’m going to head over there soon, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

“I bet things are crazy over at the Darley’s. Did you tell them that we found Arizona and that I’ll bring her back soon?”

“Well, no.”

“No? Mom? What’s up?”  David asked surprised.

“Well, Arizona is home at the Darley residence. They’re all fine. No one is missing.”

David’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“David, Arizona is home, with Olivia and Rupert.”

“So who’s that girl in the living room? What I’m saying is, Mom, I know that it’s definitely Arizona!” David insisted.

“It can’t be, David. Maybe it’s someone who looks like her. You did say that she was different. Maybe that’s because it isn’t Arizona.”

David let out a frustrated sigh. “Mom, it is Arizona! I’m a hundred percent sure. She answers to the name Arizona and she looks exactly like her apart from her hair color which is now brown–and she told me that Raj abducted her.”

“Well, she can’t be in two different places at the same time, can she?” Inez shrugged.

“Mom, are you sure that Arizona is at home? Did you actually see her?”

She nodded. “I talked to her. She’s worried about you. Worried about how you coped with Simla as well as how you are coping with your dad. I need to talk to the girl in the living room.”

David nodded. “Yes. Let her sleep for now, though. There’s no point waking her up. She’s not going anywhere.”

“Are you certain about her?” Inez asked. “I mean you would know, right?”

“I’m certain.”

“I wonder if she’s from the future?” Inez mused.

“From the future…?”

“Maybe Raj managed to open the portal in the future and brought her through?”

David shook his head. This was blowing his mind. “Mom, could you explain that, I don’t follow.”

“Well, fast forward this dimension by a year. Imagine that during that year Raj somehow manages to seize control of the portal. He transports his way over to the Darley dimension, also a year in the future. He kidnaps Arizona–who has maybe changed a bit during a year–and resets the portal to bring him back to the past.”

David closed his eyes. “Mom, that still doesn’t explain why she didn’t recognize me. Besides, she called herself Arizona Stevens, so if anything, she’s from the past.”

“Hmm,” Inez mused. “However, it’s a possibility, right? That Raj went and got her somehow?”

“Well, it’s easy enough to check. I’ll head over a year into the future into the Darley dimension,” David suggested.

“Well, we’ll need to discuss that with the Elders. They are unlikely to grant you permission to pop into the future for a look. It will be less complicated to try to find out from Arizona what’s going on. She’s slept long enough. Let’s wake her.”

~

I stretched and let out a yawn. I was awake, but didn’t feel the least bit refreshed. My knees still hurt; Tylenol would be welcome. I looked around. It was dark, but there was light coming from the hallway and I could hear muffled sounds. I sat up and stretched again. Then as I contemplated getting up, David came walking back into the room. He had a lady with him.  She was older, older than my mom anyway. She was short and blonde. Her face had a serene quality to it, but she did look surprised, her eyes wide.

“Ah, you’re up, Arizona,” David said, when he saw me.

“Yup.”

“This is my mother, Inez. Do you feel up for a chat?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t mind some Tylenol first, if you’ve got some,” I said, pointing to my knees.

“Sure, I’ll get some. Be right back.”

The lady–Inez–walked over toward me and sat down on the couch opposite me. When she smiled at me, I felt instantly warm and relaxed.

“How are you, Arizona? Do your knees hurt a lot?”

“Yes, but I’ll be okay, just need to rest them.” I noticed David coming back and he handed me the pills and water, and sat down beside his mom, nodding at her.

Inez looked me over carefully. “Arizona, do you recognize me at all? Do you recognize David?”

“No. Should I?”

“I’m not sure. We are trying to work out how we are connected–if we are. You seem to know Raj.”

“Know is a bit of a stretch. He abducted me. That’s all I really know. Wait… he’s my friend Simla Sen’s dad, which is kind of odd. But I never knew that before. I mean before he kidnapped me.”

“You know Simla Sen?” David asked smiling.

Something about that smile just drew me in, gave me butterflies, so weird. I shook myself. “Yes, I go to school with her. Do you know her?”

Inez interrupted us. “Arizona, can you tell us how you were abducted by Raj, as much as you can remember, please. We want to help you get back home and the more we know, the more we can prevent Raj from trying this again.”

“Well, I came back from hockey camp and….”

“Hockey camp?” David interrupted, his brows furrowed.

“Yeah, an all-girls ice hockey camp. It was a five-day camp. I left on Saturday and came back home to Princeton on Thursday. I was hoping Dad would be back from Atlantic City by then, but he wasn’t.” I could see David and his mother shooting each other quizzical, pointed looks. “What are those looks all about?”

“Oh, nothing. Please do continue, Arizona,” Inez encouraged.

“All right. As I said, I came home to an empty place. Christian, one of my friends, picked me up from school and drove me home, not that it’s relevant, but anyhow. I was tired. It was late. I had been up since very early so I went to bed. I didn’t even change. I’m not sure at what time, but I was woken up by the sound of glass breaking and I was then seized by Dan–one of Raj’s pals. The other one, Sophie, drugged me and I was put into the back of a van. They drove me to a cottage here in California. Nothing much really happened there. The important stuff seemed to have happened when I was locked up in a bedroom. Next thing I knew, Raj had apparently disappeared and Dan and Sophie just wanted to get rid of me. So, they dropped me off outside this house and told me someone would help me. I was standing outside thinking about the pros and cons of knocking at a completely strange door versus trying to find a cop when you came riding up on your motorcycle,” I said, looking over at David. “You know the rest. Can you help me get home? If not, I’m sure the cops will be able to help. My mom actually lives here in Mountain View. We could try to find her.”

“What’s your mom’s name and where do you think we could find her?” Inez asked, looking at me intently.

“Her name is Olivia Stevens. She works at Ames, I think. She is a physicist. I tried to contact her from the hospital with no luck. But, I’m sure the cops could track her down. I would much prefer it if you could help me get back to my dad, though. Mom and I don’t get along. So, can you?”

“Yes, that’s no problem. Why do you think Raj took you?” Inez continued.

“Haven’t a clue. At first I thought it was mistaken identity. But then I thought maybe my dad had gotten into some gambling debts and Raj was holding me until my dad paid him back. But, I really don’t know. The fact that he’s Simla’s dad is really strange. I suppose they may gamble together, I don’t know. Can I ask something now? How come you think you know me, David? And how do you know Raj?”

David cleared his throat, throwing his mother a glance and reaching for her hand. This was getting too weird. “Arizona, I guess I don’t. I thought you were someone else.”

“Someone else called Arizona? Why were you wondering about my hair? My friend, Christian, said something about it earlier as well. What’s going on?”

“I’ve no idea,” David shrugged. “Raj stabbed my dad, right here in this house. He is very dangerous. Can you try calling your dad again? Mom and I are going to go to the kitchen and get on the computer to figure out how to get you home, okay? Here’s my cell.”

I watched them walk back out and then dialed Dad and waited for his answering service.

“Hello?”

“Dad, it’s me! Arizona!”

I was so relieved when Dad finally picked up his phone. Turns out that he’d gotten invited to a private poker game–who can resist that?–and lost all sense of time. He sounded upbeat and pleased with himself, having done pretty well. I decided not to worry him about my current predicament, other than to ask him to transfer some money to my card, since he now had some. He was going to head home tomorrow, so I guess I would wait and update him when I got back home. I wasn’t in danger anymore. And even if I was, there wasn’t a thing he could do about it anyway. So why worry him? At least now I’d have the money for airfare. I was going to be fine.

David and his mom looked sorta at odds with each other when they walked back into the room. Probably sick of having me to deal with when they needed to be with David’s dad. “Hey, I got hold of Dad! He transferred money over to my account, so I’m okay. I’m going to call a cab to take me to the airport and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Inez nodded at me. “Arizona, I’m relieved that you got hold of your dad. Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s been busy, but he’ll be back home tomorrow.”

“Did you tell him about Raj?” David asked.

“No, there’s no point in that until I get home.”

“But what if Raj comes back for you?”

“Eh? I doubt it. He’s the one who disappeared. Probably after he realized that he got the wrong person in the first place. How do you know him anyway?”

Inez held a bit of paper up. “We’ve checked the flight times.  The soonest I can get you on a flight is tomorrow afternoon. You are very welcome to hang out here until then.”

I nodded. “Great, thank you. Let me give you my debit card so you can book it,” I said, scrambling for it in my pocket, realizing that I didn’t have it with me. Well, Dad could book my flight. I’d just call him back. I’d have to explain to him what I was doing in California. Sheesh.

David shook his head. “No need. We’ll book it for you, it’s just easier. I’m going to fly out to Jersey with you to make sure you get home safely. Okay?”

I was dumbstruck. I’m not five! “No need! I can take care of myself. Really, I appreciate you’re trying to help, but I can travel by myself. I’ve done it heaps of times before.”

Inez shook her head. “I’m sure, Arizona. However, humor me. I’ll feel much better about this if I knew David made sure you get home.”

She looked intense, no point in arguing with her, I could clearly read that. So I nodded.

“Good. If that’s all settled, I’ll bid you goodbye. I need to head over and check on Kevin. I’ll call you with an update, David.” She touched his hands and they both closed their eyes–weird.

Once Inez had gone, David and I stared at each other–a bit uncomfortably. We were sort of stuck with each other. I bet his mom had insisted on this and he was annoyed. Well, tough–he shouldn’t have chased me in the first place. This was his fault.

“I’m sorry you’re stuck with me,” I pouted at him. “You can go. I can take care of myself.”

He walked over and sat down beside me, looking at me intently as he did so. “Arizona, I’m happy to do this. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Well, you seem put out. There was something up between you and your mom. I assumed it was about me.”

“It was. But not about me looking after you. It was about taking you back to Princeton before we know what’s going on with Raj,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, looking decidedly miserable.

So miserable, in fact, that I patted him–patted him with a full-blown you’re-a-really-good-doggie look on! Geez, what’s wrong with me? I only ever pat Gertrude like that. For whatever reason, I had, in that moment, bizarrely felt the same toward him as I did Gertrude. “I’m sorry! About the pat… don’t know what came over me!”

He guffawed. And took my hand. I instantly felt warm and slightly euphoric. He put his arm around me–like it was the most natural thing in the world to do–and leaned back into the couch with my head resting on his chest. Now, this was totally unnatural for me, physical contact with people makes me very uncomfortable. However–for whatever reason–this felt strangely okay. More than okay, I felt safe and warm; I didn’t want to move. So I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling. I could hear his heart, steady comforting beats. I turned my head, so that my face lay resting on his chest. When he started stroking my hair, I wanted to… shut the heck up! I mentally slapped myself, sheesh. What the heck? Where did that come from? Arizona Stevens, wake up! I tried to gather enough strength to pull myself away from David’s arms, but couldn’t. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I just really didn’t want to. I just hoped that he couldn’t see my goofy grin. We sat like that for ages, though not long enough, until my uncontrollable big mouth went and spoiled the magic by spewing out questions. Seriously.

“David, how do you know Raj?” And the magic instantly stopped, as David stopped stroking my hair and sat me back in the couch so he could talk to me. Moment killer.

“Raj stabbed my dad, that’s how I know him.”

“Why? If that’s too personal a question, it’s okay. I’m just curious, He seems to be the one connection between us. And I was dropped off here….”

David took my hand again and squeezed it slightly. “Arizona, it’s a long story. The short version is that he was after some blueprints and thought that Dad would be able to help him procure them. When he found out that Dad wouldn’t, he stabbed him, pretty bad. He’s a very dangerous, deranged man.”

“Well, how am I connected with all this? What did he want with me?”

“Like you assumed before, it’s probably a case of mistaken identity. What we don’t know is whether Raj has realized this yet or not. He may have let you go because he realized that he had the wrong person. But we can’t be totally sure, which is why I’m concerned about taking you back.”

He relaxed back into the couch, throwing his arm around my shoulder and pulling me back with him. I wasn’t going to spoil it this time. I clenched my jaw shut to keep from speaking again. Talking could wait.

~

He didn’t want to get too far from the cottage, so Raj asked the truck driver to let him out at the third rest stop away from it. The truck driver’s singalong to Shania Twain was driving him crazy anyway. He would check over the blueprints while he waited for Simla to find out if his buyer was still available. It had been a year, so there was a good chance that she wouldn’t even be able to contact him at this point. In which case, he would force Olivia to reset the portal from this end to open back in the present. If that wasn’t possible, he would have to manipulate one of the Wanderers to take him back. These blueprints were useless without a buyer. He would need his data at the other end to find another buyer if Masterson wasn’t interested.

He trudged along to the motel alongside the highway and got himself a room. It was simple, a bit threadbare, but it would do. The TV worked, and that’s all he needed for a week’s entertainment. Most of that time would be spent dreaming about the new yacht he was going to purchase from the proceeds of the sale. He smiled. Things were finally looking up. All he now had to decide is where he wanted to live. The world and its dimensions were his oyster.

~

I woke up with my face firmly planted in a scented, soft pillow. I breathed in the lavender aroma and felt relaxed as I turned over onto my back. A white, distressed chandelier dominated the ceiling. The morning sunrays coming through the uncovered windows played off the sparkly crystals hanging from the chandelier, creating dancing patterns on the light blue walls. I sat up and looked around trying to figure out whose room this was. There were no personal items in the room, so I couldn’t tell if it belonged to a boy or a girl. The books on the bookcase were carefully arranged to look nice, and consisted of a collection of travel books.

How did I end up in this room? The last thing I remembered was sitting back and relaxing in David’s arms. What was with me? I never get close to anyone, male or female. Yet, here I was, throwing myself at a stranger like a love-starved puppy dog. ‘Nuff! Get yourself together, Arizona!

I got up and walked to the door, which had a cute plaque that said Loo on it. Luckily, I knew that meant bathroom in British English. Once I was inside the loo, I quickly realized that this must be a bedroom specially put aside for guests–the basket full of goodies indicated so, along with the tidy towels embroidered with the word guest.

After a quick shower, I went back into the bedroom to find that a set of clothes had been left for me on the bed. I looked around to make sure that whoever had left them was gone and then proceeded to examine them–jeans, a plain white t-shirt and flip-flops. Perfect. I threw them on and pulled my hair back into a ponytail while it was still wet. I felt so much better.

As I walked down the stairway, I could hear noises coming from downstairs. I followed them into the kitchen where David and his mother were sitting engrossed in conversation.

“Good morning,” I declared, to announce my presence. I felt a sense of excitement as David looked up and smiled at me–get a grip!

“Good morning, Arizona. Did you sleep well?” Inez inquired, beckoning me to a chair by the kitchen table.

“Yes, thank you. I did. The room’s very comfortable. How did I get up there?”

“Oh, you fell asleep down on the couch. I carried you up and tucked you in,” David replied, still smiling. “How are your knees?”

The thought of David carrying me up to the bedroom was both uncomfortable and exciting all at once. “Thanks, David. I mean for helping me upstairs. My knees are much better. Totally okay actually.” The pain seemed to have magically vanished.

Inez stood up and walked over to the toaster. “Let me get you some breakfast. Bacon and eggs okay?”

“Perfect, thanks,” I said gratefully.

“Well, I want to head over to the hospital soon. I’ll leave you in David’s capable hands. You don’t have to be at the airport until five this afternoon, so I’m hoping that David will keep you entertained until then. David, perhaps you could show Arizona some of the sights?”

David nodded as his mother put a plate in front of me and waved as she headed out the door. I picked up a fork and started shoveling the food into my mouth.

“Hungry?” David laughed.

“Mmm haa,” I mumbled.

He sat back and watched me eat, sipping on a cup of coffee. When I was done, I carefully wiped my mouth–slobber is never a good look–and reached for some orange juice. “So, what are we going to do until we have to leave for the airport?” I asked.

“Whatever you’d like. We can stay here and maybe play video games. Or we could go out. Whatever you want.”

“Hmm. You know how I told you that my mom lives here in Mountain View?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I really hate her and don’t particularly want to see her, but I am wondering where she is. I mean, no one seemed to know her at Ames and yet I’m fairly sure she said she works there.”

“Well, Ames is a fairly big institution. Whoever you spoke to could be mistaken. Or perhaps she works at one of the satellite departments….”

“I guess. I’d like to call Ames again, though.”

“Sure. Once you’ve done that, I’d love to take you out to the lake. It’s one of my favorite places. We could stop and pick up some sandwiches on the way for a picnic. Sound good?”

“Yup! Can I borrow your computer to get the info I need for Ames, and your cell?” I asked.

He nodded and handed over his cell and pointed to the computer before he left me alone with them.

I hit a brick wall again. No signs of Mom at Ames. Oh well, it’s not like it mattered. I didn’t really want to see her; it was just a bit strange, that’s all. I turned the computer off and went to find David.

He was sitting waiting for me in the living room. My heartbeat instantly quickened as he smiled at me. I’m sure I went beet red–so embarrassing.

“I’m ready to go.”

“No luck?” he asked.

“No, but it doesn’t matter.”

“How so?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you later. Let’s go. I feel house sick. I need to get out in the fresh air. You mentioned a trip to a lake. That sounds perfect.”

The drive out to the lake was exhilarating. David tore through the streets of Mountain View and then we off-roaded through trees until we came to a spectacular lake. We brought our blankets and picnic over to the grass and sat down to enjoy the sunshine.

David lay back and looked over at me as he shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand. He was so hot–not temperature-wise but looks-wise. I would guess he was about six-two or thereabouts. His messy blond hair and blue eyes (which twinkled in the sunlight)–hot. His most striking feature were his lips, though. I was totally mesmerized by them, especially when they broke into a smile revealing his perfect teeth–I wondered if he had needed to endure years of braces like I had.

“So, tell me about yourself, Arizona,” he drawled.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Why?” I couldn’t imagine why he would have any interest in my relatively boring life.

“Well, we don’t have anything else to do at the moment,” he laughed. “Besides, I’m kinda curious.”

“Not much to tell, really. I live with my dad, Dillard, in Princeton. I go to Princeton High, where I suck at my classes but I’m pretty good at ice hockey. I play for the varsity team. My parents are separated. My mom and my sister, Ella, live down here–apparently. I don’t have a lot of contact with them. I have issues with my mom, which I don’t really want to get into.”

He nodded.

“I have a dog, a Chihuahua, called Gertrude. She’s my favorite everything, I love her to death. That’s really it. Not much to know. What about you?”

David reached for my hands and pulled me down beside him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“What do you want to know?”

“Have you lived here in Mountain View all your life?” I asked.

“Pretty much. I go to Mountain View High and play ice hockey as well.”

“Get out of here! Really? I had you pegged as more of a football player.”

“Well, I do play football, as well. However, I had to choose, so I picked hockey. Do you like playing for the varsity team?”

“Yeah, I love it! It took a while for the guys to accept me, but now it’s great!”

“I’m guessing you date one of the guys on the team?” he murmured.

“Fishing?” I laughed.

He turned to look at me. “Maybe.”

“Well, no. I don’t date.”

“You don’t date? Why not?”

“’Cause it’s stupid.”

“So, if I asked you out on a date, you’d say no because it’s stupid?”

“I guess.” I said, standing up. “This is a stupid talk. Let’s walk.”

He got up and we walked along the lake, throwing the occasional pebble in and watching the ripples in the water. My knees had totally recovered, not a twinge. Would I say yes to a date if he asked me? This was kinda like a date and I had said yes. I liked being with him. He was easy company and he made me feel safe. He was easy on the eyes, as well–more than easy. Every time he smiled my heart seemed to skip a beat and I seemed to constantly yearn for his touch.

“I would.”

“You’d what?” he asked looking puzzled, throwing his pebble into the water and then turning to look at me.

“I’d say yes if you asked me out on a date.”

“You would?” he asked smiling, taking my hands and pulling me down to sit on the grass beside him. “Really?”

I nodded, feeling a bit silly now. Why did I have to voice that out loud? Stupid mouth.

“So, will you go out on a date with me?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know when, I’m flying home today.” The thought of possibly never seeing him again made me feel oddly sad.

“How about right now? We have a while before we have to head to the airport.”

“Sure, why not?”

“How are your knees?”

“Good as new!”

He took my hand and we walked back to the blankets. I thought he was going to lie down and we would spend our first, and possibly only, date relaxing in each other’s arms passing the time away. That would be perfect. However, he must have had other ideas. He quickly gathered the blankets and walked me back to his bike.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he said mysteriously, as he secured my helmet. I climbed onto the bike behind him and held on as we rode back through the trees. A date–my first one. Well, first since that one with Jake in second grade, but that didn’t really count. It’s not that I hadn’t been asked out. I’d had pretty much the pick of the hockey team at school. I guess I was a bit shy in that aspect of my life. I didn’t quite know how to handle myself with boys other than to thump them. They did seem to like that.

I felt differently around David than I did with other boys. I felt connected. Not that this could go anywhere. We lived way too far away from each other. So, I was going to savor every moment that we did have together, starting with the feel of hanging on to him as we rode through the streets.

We stopped outside an ice rink. Perfect. A good skate around was exactly what I needed. My legs felt great. David took me by my hand as he led me through the doors into the rink. We had the best time, chasing each other around the ice. Then I fell. My knees were obviously not back to normal yet and just gave way. David scooped me up and carried me to the bleachers.

“I’m sorry, Arizona. I shouldn’t have brought you here. Your knees aren’t okay, are they?”

“It’s okay. I didn’t fall on them, no harm done.”

He sat down and checked my legs out. I sat next to him, resting my head on his shoulder, breathing him in. As I looked up, I bumped my chin against his. He brushed his lips against mine and I felt like I was going to explode. I grabbed the back of his neck and brought him closer to me, kissing him right back. His lips were soft and warm, I felt like I was drowning into him. We sat there for ages, completely immersed in each other. Until his cell rudely interrupted us.

“Hey, Mom. Yes, we are going to head over soon. How’s Dad?”

I listened to David talk to his mom and then he gently lifted me off the bleachers, standing me up.

“See if you can walk.”

I took a couple of steps. I was fine, just a twinge, but I could walk. I nodded at David.

“Good, let’s try not to put any unnecessary weight on them, though. Lean on me as much as you can.”

We made our way back to his house on his bike and then waited for a cab to pick us up to take us to the airport.

Once the flight was airborne and we were served refreshments, David sat back and took my hand. He pursed his lips and nodded, clearly needing to say something.

“What?” I asked, a little concerned.

“Nothing. Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. I’m gonna miss you.”

I nodded and squeezed his hand. I was going to miss him, too. In the short time we’d been together, we had totally connected in a way that I hadn’t with anyone before. The thought of never seeing him again was unbearable. I could feel myself welling up with tears and I hastily shook myself.

“Arizona?”

“David, why did you call me Poppet when you first saw me?” It was one of the questions that had been bugging me. It was almost like he thought he knew me.

He flinched. “I mistook you for someone else I know.”

“Who?”

“Just a girl, I know.”

“Know? Is her name Arizona? Should I be jealous?”

He laughed. “No, you shouldn’t. And yes, strangely she is called Arizona as well. She’s a family friend. I’ve known her for a long time.”

“Kinda odd, mistaking me for someone you’ve known for a long time….”

“Well, she has blonde hair, but you guys look a lot like each other apart from that.”

“All right, I guess that explains it. So, you’re not seeing anyone?”

“No. I’d like to be seeing you,” he whispered.

“I’d like that too, but we live so far apart. Chances are that we’ll never see each other again. Unless I start visiting my mother in Mountain View! She’s supposed to come up to Princeton soon for her vacation, so I’ll get all her info off her then. I never took any interest before. I’ll consider putting up with her if it means I can see you.”

David leaned forward and kissed my brow. “We’ll work something out.”

I spent the rest of the flight telling David about myself–my childhood in London and our move to New Jersey. We both nodded off toward the end of the flight and were woken up by a flight attendant beckoning us to secure our seatbelts for landing.

As we made our way through Newark airport, I was overcome with gloom. I hated the thought of saying goodbye to David. I wasn’t the least bit ready to let go. He was going to accompany me back to the house, but had decided to not come in to make explaining things to my dad less complicated. He had to get right back to catch his flight home anyway.

As we stood outside my house, beside the cab, saying our goodbyes, the front door to the house opened.

“Arizona, is that you?” Dad shouted.

“Yeah, I’ll be right in.”

“Hurry up!”

“I’m coming, hold on! David, I have to go.”

“Bye, babe,” David whispered into my ear, kissing it gently, before letting go of me and stepping back in the cab.

A tear trickled down my cheek.

Agent Claire Adams shook out her blond wisps of hair and studied the crumpled note in her hand. Perhaps she ought to put it into storage, cold-case it with the rest of the stuff from the Darley-Fox case. She looked at the note again.

time travel

Two simple words, written on a white, crumpled piece of paper, handed to her secretively by Ariele Moreau. It had to be some kind of code, of course. She hadn’t been able to crack it. Neither had any of the techies. She scrambled around looking for a picture of Ariele in the cardboard box sitting on her desk. She had brought the box out for one last look before she filed it away. Claire studied Ariele’s beautiful face staring back at her from the photo. Claire had always been slightly envious of such flawless, natural beauty–the chestnut hair cascading down Ariele’s shoulders framed her heart-shaped face perfectly. The haunting green eyes had a story to tell, she was certain of that. She’d been unable to get permission from her parents to talk to Ariele on her own. It was pointless talking to her in their presence; after all, it was them she had hidden the note from in the first place.

She glanced over at the unopened book beside the box. Time Travel in Einstein’s Universe by J. Richard Gott. She’d ordered it ages ago and then became busy with another case–a case she had successfully wrapped today. She should be out celebrating. So, why ponder over this old case?

The case was now a year old and still unresolved, and for as long as it remained so, there was always a chance that the children were at risk. She and her team had concluded that Raj Sen’s disappearance was permanent. Conclusions, though, could be flawed. No one, including his daughter, had seen or heard from him. His wife, Erica, had disappeared–off to join her husband, no doubt. Apparently, life in Mountain View was back to normal. Claire should let it rest. She should move on, forget about it. The kids were back, her work was done. She should file it, at least while the case remained static.

Her hand inadvertently moved to the unopened book on her desk and drew it toward her. The green cover appealed to her and she flicked through the book, stopping on page thirteen, her eyes focusing in on one word.

Quantum

Quantum mechanics… she read on. Perhaps this whole time-travel thing was not totally insane. She gave herself a shake. Of course it was! She threw the book into the box and sat back and closed her eyes. It was time to move on.

Claire did need to unwind, to have some fun. She looked down at her feet and at the sorry footwear that couldn’t really be categorized as shoes. The hideous black sneakers were comfortable, and the manufacturer promised a pert set of thighs if used enough. She should sue them. Thankfully it was fall and open-toed shoes were out. Her toes hadn’t been pedicured for months, they looked revolting. What she really desired was a pair of Manolos, however, she would have to settle for the black Stuart Weitzman pumps she had splurged on. She slipped into them, making sure not to glance at her feet while doing so; there was no point in spoiling the illusion. When they were safely on, Claire looked down, admiring her shoes. It was amazing how a pair of nice shoes could change one’s outlook on life. She suddenly felt much brighter and ready for some fun. She grabbed her bag, ready to head over to the restaurant when her cell phone rang.

“Agent Adams?”

“Yes.”

“This is Agent Pitt. Are you still in your office?”

“I was just about to head out,” Claire said. “What’s up?”

“It’s the Darley-Fox case,” he replied.

“What about it?”

It was October again! The sky was clear and the stars were twinkling, their light dancing off the shimmer of the lake. I couldn’t help but smile. Everything was perfect. This lake continued to be my favorite place, despite what happened last year. Kellan and I had been back many times since then, but the incident still haunted me. The events of that night would be forever embedded in my memory. Not that I could remember much from the incident itself–just a sudden blackout. I guess that’s what frightened me the most, that I had been completely unaware of the impending danger. That night, last October, had definitely made me more vigilant, more aware of my surroundings. I was always on guard. Even now, as I lay watching the stars with my head firmly planted in the crook of Kellan’s arm, I wasn’t completely relaxed. I listened to every sound. The creaking of the tree branches, the rustle of the leaves, the occasional scurrying of small animals–squirrels mostly, I hoped–and the other nighttime noises, all intensified to my alert ear. Kellan broke my concentration by turning toward me and whispering into my ear.

“Did you feel that?”

I nodded. Of course I did. The October Shivers. It’s what we call the subtle tremors caused by the vibrations coming from Ames at this time of year. Of course, not everyone knows that they come from Ames and that the time-travel portal my mother manufactured is responsible for them. I wondered if Mom was over there messing around with the portal. I still wanted to go back to Princeton to visit Dad. I would ask her about it tomorrow. Was it even safe? Raj Sen had tampered with it with last year. Was he still at large?

The last time anyone had seen him was in the other dimension–Stevensland, as I like to call it. That’s where my dad was and that’s where I would have to go back to see him again. I hoped that Raj had disappeared, though he obviously didn’t vaporize or anything. So, there was a possibility of running into him in Stevensland. Now, that would be unpleasant, to say the least.  Although Raj was not much to contend with size-wise, he was a nasty lump of evil to be reckoned with. In a short space of time, Raj had stabbed David’s dad, killed his own wife, Erica, and then taken off. What a jerk. All in order to get the blueprints of the portal so he could sell them and become rich. Unfortunately, for him, his scheme–harebrained to start with–had gone woefully wrong. He definitely didn’t bargain for the Wanderers suddenly appearing and turning his plans to dust.

It was hard to believe a whole year had passed since then. I could still graphically remember the dark basement that Kellan and I were held in, the excruciating pain that followed once the sedative drugs used to take us there had worn off. I remember the excitement when I first woke up back home in Princeton and then the desperation I felt when I discovered that Kellan was not with me anymore. The Wanderers rescued us. If it weren’t for them, goodness knows what would have become of us. It was because of them that we were back here by the lake, able to appreciate the calm and serenity of the evening. I turned over to face Kellan. I swept the strands of hair off his face revealing his gorgeous eyes. They were gazing right into my soul, or so it seemed anyway. I know that sounds a bit melodramatic, but sigh. He brushed his lips against mine and I moved in toward him.

“Mmm, this is so good. Shrimp, I want to lie here forever,” he whispered.

No argument from me there. I totally gave in to snogging–as they call it over in England–my boyfriend.

He suddenly pulled away from me. “Easy, Shrimp. We better stop,” he laughed.

Sigh. Again.

I still lay as close to him as I possibly could and my mind wandered back to the previous year.

Though last October had been full of adventure and drama, life had since calmed. After Halloween, everything mellowed out. Life settled into a comfortable routine. Kellan and I became inseparable. Ice hockey still dominated my free time. It was great having my older brother as captain of the team. We had grown very close, spending a lot of time together both on and off ice. So it was very difficult to watch him head off to college. I really missed him, as did Ella. She was closest to him. Thank goodness for Skype, at least they got to see and talk to each other everyday.

Harry graduating from Mountain View High had left a big dent in the varsity hockey team. He’d been the clear-cut choice for captain last year and it was assumed that David would take over for our senior year. However, when David’s dad was stabbed by Raj, he naturally went over to Stevensland to look after him. We fully expected him to come back once his dad had recovered. But, strangely, David decided to stay over there. Why? It was a complete mystery. He was so close to his mother that there must have been some mitigating circumstances for him to make that decision–if it was, indeed, his decision. He was a Wanderer, after all, and they answered to their leader, Constance.

So, toward the end of last semester, Coach Stanislaw was pretty much tearing his hair out–the little he had– trying to decide on a new team captain. He needed to make a choice between Kellan and me. We were clearly the two best players on the team. His decision was made easier when I was asked to be the captain of the local all-girls travel hockey team. It would be good for me to show any lurking college scouts that I was a force to be reckoned with. I needed to be able to prove to them that I could play at college level for a girls’ team. So, Kellan was the new varsity captain, but I would play for them as much as I could, my priority being my own girls’ team. So, any spare time we had was spent at the ice rink, slamming pucks at each other and practicing the different drills.

“Kell, are you excited about captaining the team?”

He laughed. “Regretting your decision to captain the girls’ team?”

I nudged him sharply with my elbow. “No! I need to do this to be able to play college hockey.”

“I know. I’m going to miss having you on the team. Though I have to admit that I was dreading having to play for you!”

“Why?” That was hurtful. I mean I was as good as any of the boys–better, even. I pouted to make sure that he knew I was unhappy. And I moved away from his neck to make doubly sure he got the message.

“Oh, come on, Shrimp. You’re going to be a total control freak as captain.”

“And you’re not?” I challenged.

“No, I’m not,” he said, and grabbed hold of me. “You know I’m not.”

He was right, of course. I could already picture myself bossing the girls around. I would really have to rein myself in. I rolled my eyes and slid back closer to him and we continued gazing at the stars. We’d have to go home soon–school tomorrow. Our lazy summer days were over–we had homework waiting.

Our summer vacation had been great. We were busy with hockey camps and whatnot, but we’d also had plenty of downtime. Mom and Rupert discussed various travel plans with me, but I wasn’t really that into it. The school year had been busy and what I wanted most was to spend time with Kellan. And with Harry.

I toyed with the idea of traveling to England to check out the Dillard Stevens who lived in this dimension. By all accounts, he was still in Leeds. I spent some time googling him and learned that he was separated from his third wife–or whatever–and seemed to have a total of five kids, from what I could tell. That’s not including Ella or me. Though Ella and I were not his daughters–technically. I mean we weren’t conceived in this dimension, I would imagine.

There were two Dillard Stevens, the same person living two separate lives in two different dimensions. The one in this dimension had no idea that Ella or I existed. I was still Dillard Stevens’ daughter from the other dimension. So confusing! I wasn’t born in this dimension. But, could I have been conceived in this dimension? Was there a time when both the Dillards were the same person, in one dimension, and the dimension then split? I vaguely recalled the many-worlds theory that Kevin had tried to explain to us.

I was fairly sure a DNA test would prove I was the daughter of both the Dillards! I couldn’t work it out, and until I did it would perhaps be best to leave things be, no point upsetting the status quo, until we knew more.

Plus, imagine turning up in Leeds. Hello Dad! Imagine springing that on Dillard Stevens, perhaps to discover that he was not the least bit interested in getting to know us. He did have other kids! Besides that, I was not prepared to welcome a whole new family into my life, one that included multiple siblings and stepmothers. My life was complicated enough.

Additionally, how would I explain to Ella that she had another dad, no, two other dads? She’d never known anyone but Rupert as her dad. She didn’t even know about our real dad back in Princeton.

So, I decided to put those thoughts aside, it would open up a whole can of worms that was better left untouched. What I needed to do was to arrange to visit my dad in Stevensland. That would mean a trip through the portal, a not altogether comfortable thought, especially since the portal had been tampered with last year. Was it even safe? It was active again, thus the tremors. I would have to discuss it further with Mom.

How was I going to explain my year-long absence to Dad? What had he done when I went missing? Was the FBI out looking for me? I guess, even if they had been, with no results a year later, they would probably have given up on me. Dad would be devastated. I doubted that he would have remained at our house in Princeton; it would’ve been too painful for him.  Would I even be able to find him? Had he tried to contact Mom and Ella when I disappeared? If so, he would have hit another brick wall. Although I had asked Monica to let him know that I was okay, that wouldn’t be of any comfort when he came up against multiple dead ends trying to find me.

One solution would be to head back to the other dimension back in time, to last year, so that no time would have been lost there when I went back. That way, I could just tell Dad that I had been away playing hockey or whatever. I wondered whether it was possible to reset the other end of the portal back to last year?

The roar of a bike approaching from behind the trees interrupted my thoughts. Kellan and I were on our feet as we saw a beam of light flickering through the branches. The bike came to a dead stop right in front of us. After our misadventure at the lake last year, we were on guard. We braced ourselves. I clasped a rock in my hand, ready to pummel it into the biker. There was just one, no match for the two of us.

The darkness made it hard to identify whom we were dealing with. However, once the helmet was lifted from his head and a shock of blond hair and the intense gaze of blue eyes were revealed, well... I threw myself at him. He lifted me up and bear-hugged me.

“David!  What are you doing back here? It’s so great to see you. I’ve missed you!”

“Hey!  What’s up?” Kellan added.

“Good to see you, Poppet. Hey, Kellan. Rupert sent me out to get you. He wants you both to come back with me.”

“Why?” I asked.

“He’ll explain when we get there. Come on, he wants us back right away.” David indicated an urgency revving his engine.

He seemed pretty intense about it, so we reached for our helmets. Something serious must be going on. I climbed on behind Kellan and we took off, zigzagging through the trees to get to the main road. I wondered what was up. It was odd that Rupert had sent David out to get us. Why was he back? He hadn’t been around much in the past year. David had pretty much started living with his dad. He hadn’t shared anything about his life for a while. I guessed he was going to school in the other dimension. Boy, it would be so odd, yet cool, to experience the same school in different dimensions. I wondered if there was any overlap between students or teachers, probably not. I bet David was the ice hockey captain for their varsity team. Hopefully he would stay around long enough for me to be able to catch up with him. I had really missed him. The last time we’d had any real kind of chat was at the Halloween dance last year. That had been fairly short and was mostly about Simla and the very unfortunate news that her dad had murdered her mom.

David and I shared a special bond. His Wanderer abilities had saved us from Raj last year and brought us even closer. The weirdest thing is that he seemed to be able to read my thoughts when he made physical contact with me. It would be so cool if I could do that, too! There was definitely an unusual connection between us, though I had been aware that he also like-liked me–in the human sense as well. I say liked because I had a feeling that David had gotten over that emotion. I noticed that at Christmas. He seemed a bit more detached around me. No more deep, piercing gazes or stolen touches. His mind seemed preoccupied. Certainly any romantic feelings that he may have had for me in the past seemed to have completely disappeared. I missed them in a strange way. Though I didn’t have any romantic feelings toward him, I felt very close to him. I guess it wasn’t that strange that he had withdrawn from me, especially after seeing how committed Kellan and I were to each other. Still, selfishly, I missed his closeness.

Kellan and I tore down the road behind David toward my house and stopped just outside the front door. Rupert stood waiting for us on the porch. He was in his jeans and t-shirt. He was running his fingers through his dark hair, his blue eyes studying us intently as we walked up the steps.

“Hey, kids. Come inside.”

“What’s up?” I asked. “You look worried.”

“Come inside and I’ll tell you.”

We followed him in. After a year of living with him, I could still not figure Rupert out. I had somehow managed to avoid calling him Dad–it just didn’t feel right. He seemed really nice and utterly devoted to my mom. There was something about him, though.

“David, thanks for driving out to get them. You’d better get back to your house. Your mom is waiting to take you over to Constance.”

David nodded and turned around to wave at me, before heading toward the door.

I stopped him. “David, I’d love to catch up with you before you go back to your dad’s. Are you going back soon or are you staying for a while?”

“That would be great, Poppet. I may be around here for a while, so we’ll get a chance, no doubt.”

“You will? I mean, you’re hanging around? How long?”

“I’m not sure, but I won’t go without catching up with you first. Okay?” He came over and hugged me. I wondered if he could still read my thoughts when he touched me. He smiled and nodded. Then he looked over at Kellan. “Later, Kellan.”

“So what’s up, Rupert?” Kellan asked, as we walked into the kitchen with him.

Rupert looked uneasy. His hands were firmly stuffed in his pockets and his lips were pursed. “I’m not sure where to begin,” he said, and ran his fingers through his hair again.

I could tell that something bad had happened. Could there be news from Raj? “Just tell us. Where are Mom and Ella?”

“Ella is at a sleepover. We–your mom and I–decided not to upset her. She’s safe where she is, we’ll pick her up in the morning.”

“Safe? Where’s Mom?”

“Olivia’s over at Constance’s house at the moment. I’m going to drive over there shortly to pick her up.”

“What’s she doing at Constance’s house?” It was weird for Mom to be over at her house. Constance was now the leader of the Wanderers, since she took over from David’s mom last year. Mom didn’t quite believe that Wanderers even existed, even though they’d been instrumental in saving us. She refused to believe in anything paranormal. The thought that there were beings that were able to travel through time and dimension was beyond her level of acceptance. She firmly believed that they, too, had manufactured some kind of scientific device that allowed them to travel through time. So as to not to upset anyone, Mom tended to stay away from Wanderer talk. So it was strange that she was now visiting with their leader.

Rupert glanced at his watch. He had done this a few times now, he was clearly waiting for someone to join us. “Arizona, the portal is functional again and we’ve had an unexpected issue with it.”

“Unexpected issue?”

“Yes, Arizona,” a voice said from behind me. “We have an issue that needs to be addressed.”

I turned around and met the smiling eyes of Gramadea–her real name is Amadea–which is what we (practically everyone) call Rupert’s mom. Yes, strange I know. I don’t think of her as my grandmother–she isn’t–but I call her that anyway, out of respect. Where did she come from? I hadn’t heard the door open. I was surprised to see her. I had only met her once before, last Christmas.

Last Christmas had been an elaborate affair, as are most other things here in Darleyland. We had a full house and Gramadea appeared on Christmas Eve, laden with gifts for everyone. I had immediately seen the resemblance between Rupert and her, the same striking blue eyes, for starters. I had immediately felt a warm feeling of serenity exuding from her, the same as I did when I got close to the Wanderers. However, there was a difference, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I hadn’t felt comfortable asking her about herself, she seemed fairly reserved. Rupert didn’t volunteer any information either. So, whether or not she was a Wanderer remained a mystery.

On Christmas day, after spending a lazy morning opening gifts, we went over to Kellan’s place for Christmas dinner. The Fox house was dressed up in Christmas decorations and even smelled of Christmas. A giant tree decked out in silver ornaments dominated the three-story hallway. I was glad that Ella had insisted that I dress up for the occasion. Hard as it was walking in Mom’s pink Manolos, they did make me feel fabulous, and tall. And they complemented my pink-trimmed grey dress–so Ella declared. I brought the Medor clutch Mom had gotten for me last year as well, so I did feel quite adequate. But only adequate. Looking around, I could clearly see that this was a very formal Christmas dinner event. My heart skipped a beat as I spotted Kellan walking up to me. Beyond hot. He looked amazing in a black suit, seasonally dressed with a red bowtie.

Gramadea seemed to be best pals with Inez, David’s mom. They pretty much spent the entire afternoon chatting with each other and then Gramadea suddenly announced that she had to leave. So, we didn’t get the chance to get to know each other at all. Everyone around me seemed to sort of know her. Kellan said that she showed up once a year at Christmas. I asked Kellan about her and he, like me, assumed she was a Wanderer. Did that mean that Rupert was one, too?

Since it was traditional for Gramadea to show up just once a year, it was unexpected to have her appear here now. “Hi, Gramadea!” I said, looking up at her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until Christmas.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes. This is an unplanned visit. We have a situation, I’ve come to help out.”

“A situation?” Kellan and I asked in unison.

She came walking right up to us and threw her arms around Kellan and me. “Good to see you, kids. I have missed you. Where’s Ella?”

“She’s at a sleepover tonight,” Rupert replied.

“And Harry? Did you manage to make contact with him?”

“Yes. He’ll fly in if we need him. However, he’s busy at college, so let’s try to avoid that.”

Gramadea nodded and then took the cup of tea Rupert handed to her.

“Gramadea, what’s up?” I asked, getting slightly impatient.

She got right to the point. “Children, you both are aware of the existence of Wanderers. Right?”

Kellan and I nodded.

“Well, there’s more to it. There are different kinds of Wanderers. Most of the Wanderers you’ve had contact with thus far–David, Inez and the other Elders–are the most common type of Wanderer. These Wanderers are able to traverse time and dimensions. What they cannot do, however, is travel geographically–other than by using methods available to most humans, like air and ground transportation.

“There are Wanderers who can travel geographically. We call these kinds of Wanderers Sigma-Wanderers or Sigma-Ws. Sigma-Wanderers have the benefit of being able to travel anywhere, even inter-galactically, if they wish.”

I could feel my head exploding. I had so many questions, but Gramadea was not a lady one interrupted, so I held my tongue and listened.

“You may have been told that the Wanderers are a peaceful species whose sole purpose is learning. That’s precisely right. The Wanderers report all their findings to the Sigma-W. You may think of the Sigma-W as the controlling entity. There is, of course, a hierarchy within this group. And, like with most other groups, there is a rogue element as well. So, you are wondering why I am telling you all this?”

“Yes, and how do you know all this?” I asked.

She smiled at me–one of those annoyingly evasive smiles.

“Arizona, as I said when I first came in, we have an issue. The issue may involve the Sigma-W, which is why I had to explain their existence to you. Granted, my explanation is very simplistic, but sufficient for now. As you know, the portal is functional again. What you don’t know is that Olivia used it today.”

“Mom went through? Why? Where to?”

“Arizona, she was being blackmailed by Simla Sen. Simla had Olivia transport her through the portal so that she could meet with her dad.”

“Simla went through?” I repeated, sounding like an idiot, no doubt. “She met with Raj? So he’s still around. How did they know where to find him? A whole year has passed….”

Gramadea nodded. “She had your mother transport her back in time, to last year. As you probably know, Erica–Simla’s late mother–was a Wanderer. This means that Simla has latent Wanderer ability, which could be activated by the Elders if they choose to do so. However, as Simla has proven herself unworthy that was never an option. Her defiant personality has provoked interest from the rogue Sigma-W group, who has been tracking her moves.

“When we found out that Simla was going to travel through the portal we were naturally a bit concerned. We obviously don’t have much experience with Wanderers traveling through the time/dimension continuum other than using their natural abilities. However, much to our relief, the transport didn’t seem to affect Simla on her first passage through. Olivia reported back that all was okay and that Simla had successfully met with her father.”

“What happened between Simla and her dad?” Kellan asked.

“I’ll get to that later. It’s not particularly relevant at the moment. What is of more concern is what happened to Simla on her way back here. As Simla reentered the portal, she started to shake violently and then began to fade. Olivia tried to grab hold of her– unsuccessfully. Olivia describes the incident as Simla fading into a mist. She just disappeared, leaving Olivia on her own. Needless to say, Olivia is totally stumped and devastated. Larry–Dr. Fox–brought her to Constance for guidance. Constance contacted me.”

“Wow, so Simla is gone? Disappeared in the portal?” Geez, this was unbelievable.

Gramadea shrugged. “We have no explanation for what happened. It could be biological–her Wanderer body reacting to the artificial transport. The only other time that a Wanderer has transported through the portal is that one time when Olivia brought Gertrude through and she has not displayed any effects from it, though we still haven’t worked out how she affected you, Arizona.”

“What?” Kellan voiced what I was thinking. “Gertrude?  How is she relevant?”

Rupert looked over to his mom and then spoke. “We may have overlooked telling you that Gertrude is a Wanderer.”

“What the heck?”

“Language, Arizona.” Rupert reminded me, sternly.

“I’m sorry, but this is all so insane. How can a dog be a Wanderer?”

“Wanderers come in different forms,” Rupert explained. “Gertrude was assigned to Arizona Stevens because of her issues with humans.”

“Why did I need a Wanderer assigned to me at all?” I asked flabbergasted.

Gramadea sighed. “Arizona, all that may become clearer if you let me finish explaining. Okay?”

I nodded.

“So, we don’t know if transport through the portal could have somehow affected Simla biologically.”

“I don’t understand,” Kellan interrupted. “Affect her biologically, what does that mean? What do you think happened? Did she just implode and then vanish into thin air?”

“I doubt that would be the case. It’s more likely that the portal triggered her wandering abilities and she… wandered away. That’s what Olivia’s description of what happened seems to indicate. However, we have no way of knowing that.

“There is another possible scenario that we are looking into. Like I said before, the rogue Sigma-W group is interested in her. It’s possible that they took her.”

I shook my head, looking over at Kellan. I wasn’t sure what to make of it all. Had we suddenly woken up in a bad fantasy movie? This was beyond insane. I snorted. Not on purpose, it just sort of happened.

“Arizona?” Gramadea inquired.

“I’m sorry. Something tickled my nose,” I said, making sure not to catch Kellan’s gaze. “So, what’s this got to do with us? I mean, I’m concerned for Simla, but I’m not sure that I can help in any way. Mom’s okay, I assume. Or you wouldn’t be here,” I said, looking over at Rupert.

“Yes, she’s fine, very concerned obviously. She’s still over at Constance’s house,” Rupert reassured me.

“Why did Mom take Simla over to see her dad in the first place? Why couldn’t one of the Wanderers have taken her?” I could see Rupert hesitating at my question.

“Simla went to meet with her father, to give him the blueprints to the portal,” he offered, looking at his mother intently.

“Why would Mom give her the blueprints now that we’re all safe?” I asked.

“She was blackmailing Mom with other stuff,” Rupert mumbled.

“I get that! What other stuff?” This was like bleeding a stone!

“Simla had apparently contacted Dillard Stevens in Leeds and threatened Olivia that she would tell him about you and Ella if she didn’t hand over the blueprints.”

“Ah.” I had to hand it to Simla. Good move on her part. Telling Dillard about us would certainly have turned Mom’s life into a circus.

Gramadea continued. “So Raj now has the blueprints, except they aren’t the real ones. Olivia gave Simla a set of fake prints. However, it will take Raj some time to figure it out. Olivia told Constance that Simla had made arrangements with her to be taken through the portal again in a week, as she had arranged to meet her dad again. Simla didn’t tell Olivia for what. When Simla doesn’t turn up to this meeting, goodness knows what Raj will do. The concern for us is what, if anything, he can do to you. So, my reason for telling you all this is to warn you. You all need to be vigilant. Not only may we have Raj to contend with again, but we may also have Simla, with or without the rogue faction of the Sigma-W. It’s the uncertainty that’s particularly scary.”

“Geez, no kidding!” I spluttered. “You’re basically saying that we could be kidnapped once again!”

Kellan grabbed hold of my hands to calm me. “Tell us more about the rogue Sigma-Ws and how they concern us,” he asked Gramadea.

“The rogue group was formed by a Sigma-W called Potomal after a power struggle between himself and the present Sigma-W leader. The main aim of the group is to overthrow the present regime. The group is very small. Due to our basic nature, becoming rogue is unnatural.”

I couldn’t help but catch the word our, but I let her continue.

“So, Potomal only has a handful of allies. He’s always looking for new recruits and his interest is obviously piqued if he hears of a Wanderer with less than pure intentions. Word of Simla’s defiant nature has obviously been picked up by his Intelligence team. Simla is a special case. She was born to a regular Wanderer and her father is human. She seems to have inherited some of his traits. We are still not sure that Potomal got to her, but we’ll find out soon enough. It could well be that he had her taken from the portal.”

“How would he take her?” Kellan asked.

“Oh, he would have transported her through to another dimension, just like you were, last year. So, we think that, however it happened, Simla wandered away when she was in the portal.”

“Gramadea, you said our,” I finally got out.

“Our?” Gramadea asked, looking decidedly puzzled.

“Yes. You said our when you talked about Sigma-W. Are you a Wanderer? A Sigma-W?”

Gramadea nodded.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised that she was a Wanderer. Not a lot surprised me anymore. I guess I would have been a bit more surprised if she’d said that she was a werewolf or something. I looked over at Rupert. I had always wondered about him. That whole story, the one that had started all this–come find me two years ago–only really made sense if he was a Wanderer of some kind. He didn’t look like one and he didn’t exude the same serene quality the rest of them seemed to. Still he was Gramadea’s son, so it kinda followed that he was one as well. “I’m guessing you’re some kind of Wanderer as well?” I asked, looking directly at him.

He shook his head, but remained silent, looking over to his mother.

“Arizona, the wanderer abilities of the offspring of Sigma-Ws lie dormant until activated. Once they are activated, the Sigma-W must serve the cause. Rupert chose to not have his abilities activated so that he could remain with your mother.” Amadea hung her head in sadness.

I could see Rupert’s jaws clench down as he comforted her by putting his arms around her.

“Does Mom know?” I asked. When Mom and I had our heart-to-heart chat she wasn’t able to explain how Rupert had known to ask her to come and find him in the past. This sort of explained it, but just sort of.

“No, Arizona, not yet. I was hoping that she would accept the Wanderers before I tried to explain this to her.” Rupert looked to his mother. “We need to tell her.”

“She’s been told, I hope. I asked Constance to explain it to her,” Amadea offered. “However, by all accounts, Olivia didn’t absorb it. She still thinks it’s a lot of hogwash. She thinks that Simla has disappeared within the portal somehow. She and Larry are going to return to Ames to try to examine it.”

Kellan sighed. “Can we backtrack for a moment? So, to get this clear… Raj made contact with Simla, how?”

“We don’t know, we suspect it was a prearranged meeting from the last time they saw each other,” Rupert mused.

Kellan continued. “So Simla heads through the portal with Olivia and meets her dad. Then she comes back to return here. Olivia and she start to transport, but somehow Simla disappears during the procedure. And we are now hypothesizing that this was caused by one of two methods. She may have spontaneously gained the ability to wander since her mom was a Wanderer or a rogue group of Sigma-Ws took her. Geez.” He shook his head. “If the rogue group took her, what do you think will happen now?”

Amadea shrugged. “I’m not sure. Potomal’s only motive is to strengthen his group and ready them for a takeover. He would develop Simla’s wandering abilities for that purpose. However, Simla has a mind of her own. I’m sure that as soon as she learns what she can, she’ll be back to help her father.”

“What if she spontaneously gained the ability to wander? Then where do you think she went?” Kellan asked.

“She’s had no training, so she will have no control over her ability. She could have disappeared anywhere,” Amadea explained. “It will be very disorienting and frightening for her.”

“Wow. This is hard to absorb. What are we to do now? Will you start a hunt for her? What about Raj?” I asked.

“We have no answers yet. Sigma-W Intelligence is trying to find out if Potomal has her. We are standing by until we hear from them,” Amadea replied. “If he doesn’t have her, we’ll need to start a search. We will at least know that she is at the same geographic point, but even a time/dimension search could take forever. We may never find her.  We can only hope that she manages to take control of her abilities and transports herself back here.”

“Kids, I’m going to head off to Constance’s house now and then perhaps over to Ames. Kellan, you will stay over. Your dad will come by later. Hopefully we’ll know more by morning,” Rupert said. “My mom is going to stay here and watch over things.”

The doorbell rang.

“It’s probably Grandma, she’s staying over, too.” Rupert went through to let her in.

“Grayson, hello!” Amadea said, looking over me as Rupert came back into the kitchen. “I thought you were going to wait over at Constance’s house.”

“Justin’s disappeared,” Grayson said, his voice cracking.

“Disappeared? How?”

“I was bringing him with me to Constance’s house. We were in the car, I was driving, he was sitting in the passenger seat with his ear buds in listening to his iPod. Then he just vanished. One moment he was there and then he was just gone. I don’t know how. He can’t wander–at least I don’t think so. I’m very worried. I was driving fast when he disappeared.”

As we stood there listening to Grayson’s strange story, his voice seemed to fade a little bit. Then I felt something pull at me from above and everything in the room began to fade. The last thing I saw was the desperation and shock in Kellan’s eyes as he tried to grab hold of me.

Through my tightly closed lids, I could feel the bright sunshine, which glowed a bright, orange-red. I was afraid to open my eyes. I felt disoriented, I wasn’t even sure if I was stationary. I could feel a pressure in my shoulders and my feet felt light. I was definitely not standing on them, but I wasn’t lying down either. I felt weightless. The closest I had come to a similar sensation was when I wandered with Morgana. However, the feeling of warm euphoria was missing. I felt frightened and unbalanced, like I could fall at any moment.

There was a passing calm as I felt a pressure on my back, like a support, while I was maneuvered to what felt like a horizontal position and then I hit a firm surface. The back of my head ached from the impact, but I was okay. I couldn’t have fallen far; it was like being suddenly placed on a hard floor after having been carried around for a while–unexpected, rather than traumatic.

The bright sunlight–at least that’s what I assumed it was–still shone through my eyelids, which I still had firmly shut. My olfactory senses were assaulted by a circus of smells I had a hard time analyzing. It was mostly pleasant. Fresh bread and strong coffee dominated the mix. There was an underlying whiff of stale tobacco and… pee, yuck. The aroma was unmistakable. I have been here several times, even spent a whole summer here when I was younger. Paris. The aroma was much stronger than I remembered. Different neighborhood, I guessed. Of course, it couldn’t really be Paris. I couldn’t have traveled for more than half an hour, probably less.  Wherever I was, it had that distinct smell.

“Where am I?” I whispered, with my eyes still firmly shut. I listened with my ears wide open, at least that’s how I imagined them to look. I could hear faint sounds, mostly the sound of engines–cars. A muffled undertone of chatter could be heard through the sound of the traffic. I listened for a response to my question and when I felt like I had waited long enough, I opened my eyes to the world. I was immediately blinded by the rays of the sun coming through the skylight above me, so I shielded my eyes with my palms, turning away from the light to face the large window that dominated the wall to my right. The window was trimmed with heavy auburn velvet and gold tassels–for whatever reason they reminded me of Grandma, she was fond of tassels. I quickly scanned the room, I was alone. The room itself was fairly large and decorated with old-lady furniture–heavy, dark fabric on dark polished woods, ornate mirrors and oil-on-canvas paintings of country scenes. I had been placed in a large four-poster bed, trimmed with the same velvet and tassels as the window. My head must have hit one of the posts on my descent, hence the pain. I moved over to the luxurious pillow and slumped down on it, looking over to the window. I could make out the dark outline of something through it, but couldn’t make out what it was. So, I got up and walked over. The Eiffel Tower. Well, it clearly didn’t look or smell like Vegas, so, good grief, I must be in Paris after all! But how?

I had a good look out the window. I was clearly on the north side of the Seine, I could spot the river, which was fairly close and the Eiffel Tower was slightly to the left of me. Beyond that, I had no idea where I was. I turned around and headed for the door situated on the opposite wall. As I was about to turn the gilded knob, something clicked and then it turned. I made my way to the opposite side of the room and waited.

The door opened slowly to let a familiar face through, Well two, actually–Simla and Justin. I wasn’t entirely jaw-down-on-the-floor surprised to see Simla, but the sight of Justin walking through that door, well my jaw did hit the floor, metaphorically, of course.

Both of them walked in with their fingers over their lips and closed the door quietly. They waved at me to follow them to the couch at the far end of the room, while making it clear for me to hush, which I was less than thrilled about. However, I decided to give them a chance to explain before I bit–can’t imagine where that rabid thought came from–them or whatever.

Once we were huddled together on the couch–which had a nauseatingly strong smell of cigarettes–Simla looked me up and down and then spoke.

“Where are we?” she whispered.

“Where are we?” I hissed right back at her.

She nodded.

“You don’t know?” I snapped. Beyond incredulous.

She shook her head.

“Do you know?” Justin whispered.

“Well, yes. Duh. We’re in Paris.”

“In Paris?” They both exclaimed in unison. “How? Why? How do you know? Are you sure?”

“Well, yeah. I’m sure,” I said, pointing to the window.

They both got up and walked over and gazed outside. I could hear them gasp.

“Sure it’s not Vegas?” Justin whispered, as he walked back to the couch.

“Yeah. I’ve been here before. Not here, as in this room, but here in Paris. Besides it totally smells of Paris.”

“What are you? A sniffer dog?” Justin mumbled. “What do you mean it smells like Paris? All I smell is that disgusting smell of tobacco or whatever.”

“Oh, never mind,” I said, shaking my head. It was so typical of him not to be able to concentrate on the nice aromas instead. “What are you two doing here? How did you get here?”

“Well we obviously don’t know what we’re doing here or we wouldn’t have asked you,” Justin replied sourly.

“Well, do you know how you got here?” I persisted.

Justin shook his head. “Not really. I was in my dad’s car, listening to my iPod when I felt something pull at my shoulders. Then Dad began to fade and I felt like I was wandering, but it was different somehow. It took much longer for one thing and I was cold. The next thing I knew I woke up in a room, similar–but much smaller–to this one but on the other side of the apartment.”

“We’re in an apartment?”

“Yeah, quite a nice one, too. It’s huge,” Simla added.  “I was delivered to the room beside Justin’s. I must have gotten here first. I heard a commotion through the wall and went to investigate, and found Justin in there on his own.”

“I understand that you were taken from the portal?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yup, I’ve already told Justin. Did your mom get back okay?”

“Well, she did come back through. I haven’t spoken to her yet. She went over to Constance’s right after she came back. They are trying to figure out what happened to you.”

“Where were you taken from?” Justin asked me.

“From home. I was taken from the kitchen. Your dad had just arrived and was telling us how you disappeared when I felt some kind of pressure to my shoulder and then everything faded.”

“Did anyone see you fade?” Simla asked.

“Yeah. Kellan saw, but the others–Rupert, Grayson and Rupert’s mom–were busy talking.”

“What did he do?”

“Do? There wasn’t much he could do, it all happened so fast. He tried to grab hold of me, but I seemed to fade right through him.”

“Shit.”

“Yes, no kidding,” I agreed.

“Anyone got any ideas? Why we’re here?” Simla shrugged.

I shook my head. I had no idea whatsoever. “Did you guys search through the rest of the apartment?”

Justin nodded. “Yup. The front door is locked. In addition to the three bedrooms we have, there are another three bedrooms. One of them is locked, so I guess I don’t know for sure if it’s a bedroom. The two that are unlocked are empty. We did knock at the locked one, but there was no reply. There’s a kitchen with lots of food–I’m kind of hungry. There is a huge room with a big conference table in the middle with seating for at least twenty people. Then there is a living room with comfy seats, huge TV and game station. And the usual, bathrooms and all,” he added.

“No other people, other than us?” I asked.

“Not as far as we can tell, but let’s be careful and quiet. We didn’t get here on our own,” Simla responded.

“Well, I need some grub. Let’s head over to the kitchen.”

I nodded. Whoever brought us here had locked us up. They left us in an apartment that seemed fairly respectable. So it was probably okay to get some food, best to keep our strength up while we waited for someone to come to us with an explanation.

Justin opened the door to my bedroom hesitantly and peered into the hallway. Then he turned and beckoned to Simla and me to follow him. We followed him through the apartment to the kitchen, which was unexpected. I had expected an old-fashioned, dark-wood kitchen with a large, old cooking range. The stainless steel vision took me by surprise. This was a high-tech, gadget-overloaded, sci-fi kitchen. I made my way to the triple door fridge/freezer and couldn’t help but smile as I opened it–none of that fancy-schmancy French stuff. Pastrami, cheese, burger meat, fruit, veggies, a nice selection of Starbucks Frapuccinos, Coke, you name it!  This was full of real food. In the middle, there was a huge strawberry cake, which I rescued and placed on the stainless steel counter. I immediately dug in, as did Justin.

“What’s up, Simla? Dig in!”

“Naw, I don’t like strawberries,” she explained, and pulled out sour cream and onion chips.

I helped myself to a handful of those as well and washed them down with Coke. Whatever the three of us felt about each other, for now we had to remain united. So I decided to share a bit of what I knew.

“It’s got to be the Sigma-Ws,” I announced.

“Say what?” Justin mumbled, as Simla looked over questioningly.

“The Sigma–Ws,” I repeated, thinking that these two were really ignorant for half-Wanderers–if that’s what they are called.

“Yes, I think you get it. We don’t know what you’re talking about. ‘Splain,” Simla snapped, clearly irritated.

“You’ve never heard of Sigma-Wanderers?”

“No!” Justin practically hollered at me.

“Okay, okay, keep your pants on,” I soothed. “The Sigma-Wanderers, as you can tell by the name, are a type of Wanderer.”

“I thought there were just the Wanderers,” Justin grumbled, looking over at Simla who nodded. “How many types are there and how do you know?”

“Well, I don’t know how many different types there are. I just know about the Sigma-Ws because Rupert’s mom told us about them.”

“Rupert’s mom? What’s she got to do with it? Anyway, tell us what you think they are first.”

I couldn’t help but catch that little snide comment–what I think. Gah. “Well, unlike regular Wanderers, Sigma-Wanderers can travel geographically, as well as through time and dimensions. That’s why I think they are responsible. I mean, we are in Paris!” I concluded triumphantly.

“Why would they take us and then bring us here?” Simla inquired.

“Well, it’s not them, per se… it’s the baddie Sigmas,” I said.

Justin cracked up. “Baddie? What are you? Five?”

“Oh, shut your face, you know what I mean!” I really needed to give up on Ella’s lingo. “Anyhow, the not-so-nice bunch,” I continued, grimacing at Justin, “are led by a Sigma called Potomal.”

“Silly name,” Simla remarked, rolling her eyes.

“Yup,” I agreed. “Potomal wants to seize power and control of the Sigma-Ws, who, if I understand this correctly, rule the Wanderers. Don’t know why he wants control.”

“Well that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it, airhead?” Justin scowled. “Everyone wants power!”

“Not so sure about that,” I said. “Anyhow, if you shut your mouth, I’ll continue. That’s unless you don’t want to know what I know.”

Justin nodded, so I continued. “Apparently Potomal has been watching you for some time,” I said, looking over at Simla.

“Me? Why?”

“Because he thinks that you will be easy to recruit to his cause, since you seem to hate everyone. So that’s probably why you’re here. Maybe he’s been watching you, too, Justin and you’re here for the same reason. I can’t for the life of me understand why I’m here, though!”

“Rupert’s mom told you all this?” Simla asked thoughtfully.

“Yes.”

“How does she know? Is she a Sigma-W?” Simla asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Yeah.”

“What about Rupert, is he one as well?”

“No.”

“So assuming Simla and I are here as potential recruits, which would explain the nice lodgings, we still have you to contend with. Why do you have the nicest room? Maybe they took you by mistake. Maybe they were after my dad or Rupert’s mom,” he mused.

I guess that was possible. They could, in fact, have been after Rupert. He was a potential Sigma-W, after all. I guess we would know soon enough. In the meantime, we had everything we needed here. “So what are you two going to do if Potomal wants to recruit you?”

They both shrugged.

“Sheesh, I don’t know. I guess I’d have to know a lot more before I make a decision of any kind,” Justin said. “Show me the money!”

“Oh, don’t be an ass,” Simla responded. “If it means that they’ll teach us both to wander, well… then it’s a no-brainer. I mean, our own type has practically abandoned any intention of accepting us.”

“Speak for yourself,” Justin said. “My dad thinks that they’ll let me wander–eventually. I just have to prove myself.”

“And how are you going to do that, Justin? Pretend to suddenly become a good citizen?” Simla asked sarcastically.

“Actually, yes. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ve been putting in a lot of community service hours and haven’t been in any trouble for a whole year! So unless the Sigmas are offering something really sweet, I’m not interested.”

“They may teach you to wander geographically,” Simla mused.

“Still not worth it, I can hop on a flight anytime.”

“Guys, we know we’re in Paris, but have you two wondered when we are in Paris?”

They both looked at me like I had asked the most profound question ever.

“Not until now, Arizona,” Justin replied. “Well, there are no dinosaurs outside, so it must be post-dinosaur age anyway. When was the Eiffel tower built?”

I shrugged as Simla perked up and replied, “1889. Had to do a report on it last year.”

I was impressed that she remembered. The food in the refrigerator was from this decade, but if we were in the past perhaps it was brought here from the future. I went and looked out the window again. The cars were all small. No Hummers in sight, however, this was Europe, so that wasn’t unusual. Even if we have been relocated in time, it was not drastic and we wouldn’t be able to tell if we were in a different dimension or not, so there was no point speculating.

“Simla, are you really thinking of defecting?” Justin asked her again.

“Sheesh, it’s not defecting, I have nothing to defect from! Mom’s gone and so has the chance of me ever being able to wander.”

“That’s not true. You’ve been living with Dad and me for a year. I’m sure he’s noticed that just like me, you’ve stayed out of trouble. I’m sure he’ll vouch for you eventually. Give it some time.”

I couldn’t help but snort.

“What?” Justin exclaimed grumpily. “What now?”

“She’s hardly been staying out of trouble,” I laughed.

“Yes she has. We’ve both been clean for a whole year. We haven’t even gotten detention!”

“So, blackmail is okay, is it?” I asked, looking at Simla intently.

“What you talking about, Arizona? Blackmail?” Justin asked bemusedly.

“Shall I tell him or would you like to, Simla?”

She sighed and looked over to Justin with obvious resignation, her shoulders slumped forward and big sad puppy eyes in full action. “Justin, I had no choice.”

“No choice?”

“I had to do it for my dad.”

“You’re in contact with your dad? How?”

“Last year before he took off through the portal, we planned that if he didn’t make contact with me to tell me otherwise, we would meet up in a planned spot at a planned time. I was to get the blueprints for the portal off Olivia and give them to him. We planned to meet earlier today, in the Stevens dimension at a cottage.

“Last year, after Halloween, I decided to extract the blueprints from Olivia and have her transport me back to my dad, as he asked me to do if I didn’t hear from him. I obviously had to use leverage to get Olivia to give me the prints.”

“Wow, I’m not even going to ask you what you did, I don’t want to know,” Justin sighed.

“I do,” I said.

Simla shot me the evil eye. Nice. “It’s not important right now. Anyway, I did go back and he has the prints,” she practically spat at me.

“And you’re not winning any good-behavior points, I can see that,” Justin shrugged. “Was getting him the prints really worth ruining your chances to wander? Really, Simla. Even I’m disappointed in you.”

“I don’t care what you think! There was no way the Elders were ever going to let me wander, no matter what you think. So stuff you. I wanted to help Dad. He’s all I have left. Can’t you understand that?”

Even though Justin was shaking his head in disgust, I could empathize. Our dads may not always be perfect, but they are family. I couldn’t really blame Simla for wanting to help her dad. I probably would have done the same. I mean I probably would have gotten the blueprints. Since she didn’t say how she got them, however, I couldn’t condone or disagree with her methods, though blackmailing my mom was absolutely unforgivable and it must have been pretty serious leverage.

Simla stomped out of the kitchen back toward a bedroom that I assumed was hers. Justin and I followed her in, closing the door behind us. Simla plunked herself on the bed. She was clearly sulking.

“I hope it is Poto or whatever his name is, and that he wants to recruit me! I’d join him in a heartbeat,” she said sulkily.

“Simla, don’t do anything rash,” Justin said softly. “I know you don’t want to admit it at the moment, but you know that you’ve been happy living in my house with Dad and me for the past year. We’ve had some fun times together. Everything seemed so relaxed and uneventful. Don’t get yourself into an untenable situation just because you’re angry. Weigh out all the pros and cons carefully. Not just for yourself, but also for your father. Think of how your decision to join some kind of subversive paranormal group may affect him.”

“It would probably afford him the power that he really wants,” Simla suggested.

“Maybe, but you don’t know that. You don’t know what Potomal wants from you or if this even has anything to do with him and the Sigma-Ws. After all, Arizona could’ve just made that up.”

“Why would I do that, you idiot?” I asked, irritated. “Anyhow, looks like we’re going to find out soon. Or perhaps another person has been taken and brought here. I can hear noises from the hallway.”

“Shush!” Simla hissed at me as she went over to the door and put her ear to it. Justin and I followed and did the same. We could hear footsteps approaching, so we stood back and waited. The doorknob turned and the door creaked open.

All hell had broken loose at the Darley mansion. Constance turned to Olivia, Inez and Larry, as she carefully put the 1960’s telephone receiver back in its cradle.

“Olivia, you’re needed back home. You should go as well, Larry.”

“What’s going on?” Olivia asked, immediately sensing that something was horribly wrong.

“Olivia, Rupert will explain as soon as you get there. Larry?”

Larry nodded and gently took Olivia by the arm and led her out of the house.

A sense of dark foreboding had overtaken Inez’s usually calm spirit. She could feel herself almost shaking with fear. What could be so disastrous to cause Constance to emit such negativity? Inez was too afraid to ask. So she just looked over at Constance apprehensively. The doorbell rang.

David came walking into the kitchen with a wide smile, which lifted the mood in the room–almost. However, he must have also sensed that something was wrong, as he stopped dead and the smile dropped from his face. “What’s going on? Mom? What happened?”

Constance stopped chewing her lower lip and turned to face both Inez and her son. “Amadea just called. She’s over at the Darley Mansion.”

“Rupert’s mom?” David asked, looking at her for confirmation. She nodded. “She wasn’t there when I left the house.”

“Was everything okay when you left?” Constance queried.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, I know something is going on with Simla, but I’m guessing something additional is up by the look of things here. Is Simla back?”

Constance shook her head. “Arizona and Justin have disappeared.”

“What?” exclaimed both David and Inez simultaneously.

“Amadea was very brief about it. She’s heading over here shortly to bring us up to date. All I know for the moment is that both Justin and Arizona have disappeared. I don’t know anything more.”

“I’m going to head back over,” David said, backing away toward the door.

“No,” Constance ordered with authority. “Stay. Amadea will be here shortly.”

~

The drive back to the house was mostly silent. Neither Olivia nor Larry spoke at first. Larry was concentrating on getting them there as quickly as possible. Hadn’t they had enough drama for one day? Olivia sighed as she pictured the scene that had taken place earlier today.

Simla had come back to Ames looking satisfied but a little sad. This wasn’t surprising really. Leaving her dad again couldn’t be easy. Olivia had wondered why she decided not to stay with him. That had been partly explained when Simla demanded a repeat visit the following week. When Olivia had asked her for what, Simla turned into her usual evasive, defiant self. Olivia had merely shrugged. The main thing was for them both to return through the portal, as Larry was expecting them. She could deal with the demand for the second visit later. It had clearly been initiated by Raj. Simla hadn’t mentioned anything about two visits before her visit with him. Perhaps he’d sent her back for something. Perhaps he planned to return with her the next time? Whatever it was, those plans had come to an abrupt end in the portal.

Simla had simply disappeared. There was no other way to describe it. She had faded right before Olivia’s eyes. She wished that she could have reacted more efficiently–grabbed hold of Simla. However, before she’d even reached out, Simla was gone.

She had explained it–explain may have been too refined a word, spewed it out in a muddled fashion–to Larry when she transported back through by herself and he insisted on driving her straight to Constance’s house.

This, of course, had something to do with the Wanderers. Regular folk don’t just disappear, not like that. Although still not a hundred percent convinced about the Wanderers, Olivia had, with reservations, accepted that something was definitely going on, something she was unable to explain. She’d never seen a wandering take place before, if that’s what she’d seen happen to Simla–that or some kind of spontaneous vaporization. She hypothesized that the portal could have affected Simla’s physiology somehow. However, why was only Simla affected? Nothing had happened to her, Olivia thought to herself. She was still transported through normally.

The elephant-in-the-room difference between Simla and her was that Simla’s mother was allegedly a Wanderer. Had been. Erica was unfortunately no longer with them. Olivia sighed.

“What’s up, Ollie?” Larry asked. “You’ve sighed about a million times.”

“Well, I’m guessing that there is some news about Simla, which is why we’re going back. Constance sounded pretty grave; it’s got me even more worried, if that’s possible.”

“I know what you mean,” Larry agreed. “Wonder how Rupert would have received any news first?” Larry mused. “I guess we’ll find out in a moment,” he said, as he turned into the Darley driveway.

The front door opened before they even came to a stop and Kellan flew down the stairs to meet them. It was immediately apparent that something was seriously wrong. Tears were streaming down Kellan’s face as he flung himself into Larry’s arms the moment he climbed out the car.

It was a scene Olivia had witnessed only once before. Kellan had been about six then and his mother had just passed. He appeared to be just as distraught at the moment. Whatever could have happened? Rupert and Grayson–what was he doing here?–came walking down to Olivia, both appearing extremely agitated. “Rup, what’s happened?” Olivia choked out, her fears mounting.

“Ollie, Arizona has disappeared.”

“And so has Justin,” Grayson added.

Olivia took a step back, so she could properly see Rupert’s face. “Rup?” She tried to absorb Rupert’s hurried, and rather confused, recount of what had happened. Only Kellan seemed to have witnessed the act itself. She looked over at him, there was no point questioning him about it right now. She felt all the blood drain from her.

“Ollie?”

“Rup, did Kellan say how?”

“He’s not been able to say much, but he did manage to share that she turned into mist. We were all standing in the kitchen talking and then she was gone.”

“Sounds exactly like what happened with Simla in the portal,” Olivia confirmed. “Was Justin in the kitchen also?”

“No,” Grayson said. “He disappeared from my car on our way to Constance’s house. I stopped here as I was just minutes away.”

“Did he disappear into a mist as well?” Olivia asked.

“I don’t know, I was driving. I turned around to say something to him–can’t remember what now–and he was gone.”

Olivia put her face in her hands. She felt sick.

“Ollie?”

“Rup, I just need a couple of minutes to think this through.”

He nodded and put his arm around her shoulder as she leaned on his arm and tried to analyze her thoughts. There were two eyewitness accounts of the disappearances now, hers and Kellan’s. So, it was safe to assume that neither of them had experienced some kind of delusional episode. Olivia also concluded that the disappearances had nothing to do with the portal. After all, Arizona had disappeared from their kitchen. But was it correct to conclude that this had nothing to do with Wanderers? Arizona did not have any Wanderer connections. Could Wanderers have taken them? Why?

As Olivia opened her eyes she immediately caught the watchful gaze of Amadea. “Amadea! What are you doing here?  Oh, I didn’t mean that to come out so abruptly. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Hello, Olivia. I came over when I heard about Simla. Constance contacted me.”

“Why would she contact you? No offense, but how does she expect you to help in any way? With Simla?”

“I expect Constance told you about the Sigma-Ws?”

Olivia could feel herself tensing up. Not back to this again. Not only was she expected to believe that Wanderers–beings who could travel through time and dimensions–existed, but now they had embellished this with yet another phenomenon–Sigma-W. “Yes, Constance mentioned them,” Olivia conceded. “She told me that they can wanderer geographically and that they are the ruling faction. Constance told me that there’s also a subversive group that has been tracking Simla, and that this–Simla’s disappearance–may be their doing. To be honest, I don’t give two hoots about Simla or the Sigma-Ws right now. Arizona is my only concern. Please do excuse me if that sounds insensitive.”

Amadea nodded. “Of course, Olivia. I understand. However, all this might be connected.”

“How?”

“I think it would be best for Rupert to explain this to you. Rupert you have my permission,” Amadea said, looking over at her son.

~

They had secluded themselves in the privacy of their bedroom, leaving the others downstairs. The last thing Olivia needed at the moment was a long heart-to-heart, even with Rupert. They had pressing issues to deal with–they had to find Arizona, now! “Hon, can we talk later? I’m sure whatever it is, it can wait. I think we should contact that FBI agent–I can’t remember her name, but I have her card in my wallet–and have her help us.”

“And what are we going to tell her? That Arizona vaporized into thin air?” Rupert shrugged.

Olivia stopped short, hearing that description aloud–vaporized. That sounded so out there, to say the least. How were they going to be able to convince the authorities to help them find Arizona with that description? They had to do better. “Rupert, we need to be able to pass on relevant information to the FBI in a more coherent fashion. They’re not going to buy that, even I wouldn’t if I hadn’t seen it firsthand when Simla disappeared. And I’m still questioning what I saw. Did I really see that or was it some kind of illusion?

“Yes! It could have been an illusion of some kind! Couldn’t it? I think we can reasonably suggest that to the FBI. I mean, what I saw isn’t necessarily what happened. I’m sure the FBI has experts in this kind of thing who may be able to help.” She looked at Rupert expectantly, while she scrambled for the card. “Here it is,” she declared triumphantly. “Agent Claire Adams. Shall I call or do you want to since you were here when it happened? Shall we tell her about Simla and Justin as well? I think we have to.”

“Ollie, hold on. You really think this could be some kind of illusion? I hadn’t even considered that. Who could be behind such an elaborate undertaking?”

“Raj?”

“I doubt he has the technical abilities or the funds to orchestrate something like this. He just got hold of the prints today, so he can’t have a great deal of money. And, besides, why would he do this? Abducting his own daughter? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, do you have any better ideas? If you don’t, I’d like to go ahead and make this call to Agent Adams. She may come up with some other ideas. We need all the help we can get.”

“Olivia, hon, please give me a moment,” Rupert pleaded, taking her hands and sitting her down beside him on their king-size, whitewashed wooden bed. He gently turned her face toward him and gazed into her eyes, securing loose strands of hair behind her ear. “I do have to tell you something, and I need to talk to you about it now, because it may pertain to Arizona and the other kids who have gone missing. And if there’s even a small chance, well, you have to know. And Mother finally gave me permission to share.”

Olivia felt a slight twinge of irritation at the thought that he needed his mother’s permission to tell her anything. “Well. If it’s not wasting important time searching for Arizona, please do tell.”

“Ollie, why are you annoyed?”

“Oh, just ignore me. I’m being childish. I can’t comprehend why you would need your mother’s permission to tell me anything.”

“Because she’s the Queen.”

Olivia stood up and hurried to the bathroom, locking the door firmly behind her. It was time to call Agent Adams.

She heard a knock. “Yes?”

“Ollie, you okay?”

“Yes, I’ll be out in a moment.”  When she re-emerged, she went back and sat down next to her husband.

“Did you call her?”

“Yes. But I hung up before she answered it. I’m not sure why.”

Rupert sighed. “Now, do you think you could just listen to what I have to say?”

“Are you going to go on about kings and queens?”

He nodded. “Yes, but I need you to listen,” he said firmly.

“Rupert, you’re not on drugs or anything, are you? I don’t like listening to silly talk.”

“Ollie, enough,” he said, his voice hoarse, sterner than it had ever been when talking to her.

She looked up at him in surprise. He had her full attention now.

“There are things I’ve wanted to share with you for a very long time but haven’t been able to. I didn’t have the permission I needed. Now that I’ve been given the go-ahead, please don’t ruin this by indicating that you are still not ready for me to let you into my world entirely.”

“I thought I was entirely in your world,” Olivia whispered, her eyes welling up.

“Ollie, there are things I’ve had to keep from you, but you know that. You’ve asked me many times to explain how I knew to ask you to come find me two years ago. Your patience toward me has been unbelievable and I’ve wanted to share this with you for such a long time. Well, I’m able to share it with you now, finally.”

“And this has something to do with Arizona disappearing?” Olivia asked.

“It could. Now will you listen to me?”

Olivia nodded, inwardly bracing herself, but she decided not to say a word until Rupert was done. She needed to listen to him analytically, to piece together any information that could lead her to Arizona.

“As I said before, my mother is the Queen. She is the queen of the Sigma-Ws. Constance has already explained their purpose and abilities to you. My father is the leader.”

“I guess that makes you a Sigma-W?” Olivia couldn’t help but ask.

“Ollie, try to remember back to your first visit to New York City when you were little. You were with your mother. It was Christmas. You went skating at the rink at Rockefeller Center. You wore a pink wool coat and a matching hat.”

“Gosh, yes… vaguely. Mom had a conference at a really amazing hotel in New York and she decided to bring me with her because she said that Manhattan was so very beautiful during the Christmas season. She was right. I mean, I used to love Christmas in London, but there was something magical about Christmas that year in New York. Anyway, how do you know about my visit? Did Mom tell you?”

“No, I was there with my mom. We were visiting as well, staying with Inez, who worked in the city at the time. We did all the seasonal stuff, the Rockettes included,” he smiled.

“Me, too,” she smiled, fondly remembering how happy she’d been. “So if Mom didn’t tell you, who did? We’ve got some pictures somewhere.”

“Ollie, that’s when we first met,” he said, and lightly brushed her lips with his.

“Rup?”

“You were at the Rockefeller Plaza ice rink, skating around in circles. I was immediately drawn to you. You were so careful on your skates, making sure not to make any mistakes.”

“I didn’t want to fall, being graceful was a priority with Mom,” Olivia smiled.

Rupert laughed. “Yes, I can tell that about your mother. After skating around for a while, I noticed that something fell from you. So, I skated over and picked it up. It was your Quantum necklace,” he said, touching the pendant where it now rested safely on Olivia’s neck. “I picked it up and skated over to hand it back to you.”

“That was you?” Olivia said in wonder. She threw her arms around Rupert. “That’s just amazing.”

“Well it was an amazing and life-changing moment for me, anyway. You just skated off and forgot all about me,” Rupert teased, pulling at her hair.

“Ouch, Rup! That’s not entirely true. I did tell Mom about you.”

“I told my mom as well. I told her that I was going to marry you one day.”

Olivia was speechless.

“Of course Mom hoped I’d forget all about you,” Rupert added. “She wanted me to follow my Sigma-W destiny and train for my future. And I did try. I continued to learn and train for many years, but you were inside my head, inside my heart. When the time came, I couldn’t promise to give the Sigma-W all of me. How could I, when my heart had firmly been placed with you? You can only imagine the displeasure of both my parents! As you know, I’m an only child. They had high hopes for me to take my position within the Sigma-W.”

“Rup, I don’t know what to say,” Olivia whispered.

“Hon, I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to. My parents accepted defeat after a while and Mom even helped me track you down. Of course, it was too late. You were already married, with Arizona on the way. I tracked you for a while just to reassure myself that my time had passed, but that’s when I realized that you were utterly unhappy. So I talked to Mom about it and it was she who, after having you investigated, decided that the best course of action would be for us to have met at least two years earlier, before you were married to Dillard.

“She had Glenda, Alexander and a lot of your physics professors positioned so that you would be steered in the right direction research-wise. You were surrounded by Wanderers, some of whom you are now aware of–Erica, Grayson, Morena–all of whom have watched over you from afar and encouraged your pursuit of constructing the portal, which I will admit they have helped with, without your knowledge. Everything, including Dillard’s position in New Jersey, was engineered by the Sigma-Ws.”

“All because you wanted me?” Olivia asked, finding her tongue again. “Why didn’t you just wander me off to the right time and dimension?”

“Two reasons. The first one is that you’d have had me committed. Even after all this time you can barely take this in. Imagine your reaction if I had told you this when we first met?”

Olivia nodded, she couldn’t argue with that.

“The second is that you were pregnant. I didn’t feel like I could just whisk you away, even if by some odd chance you accepted all this. I felt like I had to let you give your marriage and your new family a go.”

“So I was surrounded by Sigma-Ws and Wanderers watching over me and helping me construct the portal?”

Rupert nodded.

“Rup, this is a mind-blowing story, one that has me loving you even more if that’s possible. I have so many questions, but the most important issue is whether this is somehow connected to Arizona’s disappearance. You seem to think that it may be. If so, how?”

“Mom and I were discussing this before you arrived. Here’s what we’ve got so far. The Sigma-W Intelligence was aware that the subversive group led by Potomal was tracking Simla. We hypothesize that was in order to recruit her. It may be that they took–if they are involved–Justin for the same purpose. Their reasons for taking Arizona are more complicated. Potomal’s objective is to overthrow the current regime, which is headed by my father. It may be that Potomal decided to kidnap Arizona for leverage.”

“Leverage?”

“Well, she is the granddaughter of the most powerful Sigma-W,” Rupert explained.

“But, we don’t even know your father!” Olivia protested. “I had assumed that you didn’t know him either; you’ve never mentioned him before. Neither has Amadea for that matter. Besides, Arizona is not his biological granddaughter anyway.”

“True, that does have us confused. I can only imagine that their Intelligence is less than perfect. We did have Arizona’s birth certificate changed to list me as her father. Not that it makes a difference anyway. Dad would think of her as his granddaughter, biological or not.”

Olivia shook her head. “What a mess! What are we going to do now? How are we going to find Arizona?”

“Ollie, Mom and Dad are working on this. Let’s head over to Constance’s house for an update. Mom and everyone else are over there already.”

“What about Ella? We should go and get her from Sally’s house.”

“Ollie, Sally’s mom is a Wanderer, she’s keeping an eye on Ella. Let’s collect her on the way back from Constance’s house. No point in waking her up.”

“But what if she gets taken as well?” Olivia shuddered. “I’d rather pick her up now.”

Rupert nodded.

Much as I hate to, I have to admit that the turning knob scared the living bejeezus out of me. We weren’t dealing with wimpy Raj-like humans anymore. Paranormal malevolence was a whole new can of worms I didn’t particularly want to dive into and we now had one about to slither through the door. Except she didn’t slither, but walked into the room with jaunty, light steps.

Simla, Justin and I stepped back into the room to give her space. She was about five-foot-five and very slender. Her pale skin was covered in all black–a turtleneck dress that stopped just above her knees and a pair of black leggings underneath. I couldn’t help but notice her large silver pendant–looked like two Ws. It looked very familiar, but I couldn’t place it. She was wearing a sensible pair of black Tod’s loafers and slung over her arm was a black coat, which she then placed on the chair beside her. A sharp blonde bob, finished with straight cut bangs just above her big, blue eyes, accented her angular, pixie-like features. She looked harmless enough. Besides, there were three of us.

“Hello. I’m Luna. Welcome to my home. I’ll be your host while you’re in Paris. I hope you’ve been comfortable.”

We nodded. I couldn’t place the accent. Definitely not French, more Italian.

She continued in her soft-spoken voice. “You are, of course, confused as to why you’re here.”

We nodded, again.

“Let’s go into the conference room and I’ll explain.” She turned and we followed her into the room with the big table, assembling at one end. I could see the pendant more clearly now as she sat opposite me. It appeared to have a W and a ∑ shape. Gramadea wore a similar pendant, only hers was smaller.

“So, why did you abduct us?” I asked.

“You’ve not been abducted. You’ve been brought here so we could make you an offer.”

And pigs fly, I thought to myself. How was this not abducting?

“You are the guests of the esteemed Potomal.”

“Who?” Simla and Justin asked. I guess I was a step ahead, having already heard all about Potomal. I let Luna update them, watching them gawk. The only new thing I learned was that this subversive group called themselves the Sigma-W-Pi. Pi for the p in Potomal–go Greek everyone… I wondered if they had their own sorority house, I guess this was it.

“So, we are hoping that you and Justin will train with us,” Luna concluded, looking at Simla. “However, you’ll be told more about this in the next couple of days and have some time to make up your minds. In the meantime, please keep an open mind and enjoy the process.”

“What about her?” Simla queried, glaring at me. “Why bring her?”

“Potomal has other plans for Her Royal Highness. But he has asked that you all spend the first few days here in Paris with us. The training here will not be specific, but more of a preparation for things to come.”

“Her Royal Highness?” Simla snorted. Justin was killing himself guffawing and, truth be told, I was on the verge of collapsing into a heap of giggles myself. But something about the way Luna looked at me prevented me from doing so. I bit down on my cheeks to maintain control.

Luna stood up, clearly irritated. “Calm down! My colleagues Madison and Olivier will be here soon. You have been assigned Madison, Simla. Justin, you have been assigned Olivier. Your Highness, I will remain in your service for now,” she said, looking over at me.

I wanted to kill Simla when yet another snort escaped from her overactive proboscis.

“Make yourselves comfortable. I will return shortly with Madison and Olivier to take you out for dinner. I have put a selection of outfits for you in the wardrobes in your bedrooms.”

After she left, as expected, Justin and Simla turned to me. “What the heck? Your Highness?”

I shrugged and rolled my eyes. Not a clue. “Beats me. But I kinda like it. Please feel free to call me that as well.” I smirked.

“Get stuffed, Arizona!” Simla spluttered. “Why would she call you that?”

“Sheesh, I don’t know! Maybe I smell royal? Unlike you.”

“Eat shit,” Simla muttered. “Get the heck out of my room, I’m going to get dressed,” she said irritably.

I was happy to head back to my room, the only one of the three with a view of the Eiffel Tower. I must be special. Strange that I should feel so elated by the mere reference to anything hinting at being a princess, boy, it must be that Darley spirit. Too bad Ella missed this, she was the epitomy of everything princess. I squirmed. What was I thinking? If there was one spark in this whole, weird situation, it was that Ella wasn’t here. She was safe back home–I hoped from the very bottom of my heart. I opened the wardrobe door and stared at the small, but neat array of outfits in front of me. Now, I could really have done with some Ella help. What’s a girl to wear out to dinner in Paris with her captors? It might have been prudent to ask Luna whether we were going to McDonalds–for a Burger Royal, a la Pulp Fiction–or somewhere less casual. The selection of outfits in the wardrobe strongly hinted at the less casual, not a pair of jeans in sight. I selected a black and violet Chanel dress, laid it down on the bed and plunked myself down beside it. Royal? Why would Luna think I was royalty?

One thing was crystal clear. I was not royalty. I knew that for a fact, after having had to do that mind-blowingly boring family tree project at school. However, even if I did have a sprinkling of royal blood from hundreds of years ago in me, so what? And how would the Sigma-W-Pi know anything about it anyway?

I tried to remember back to the earlier conversation with Gramadea and Rupert. Gramadea had admitted to being a Sigma-W. She’d said that Rupert had pretty much kissed his wanderer life goodbye when he opted to be with Mom. Yup, but that didn’t help explain why I was here or why I was being referred to as royalty. However, that couldn’t be a bad thing–I hoped. It should ensure better treatment, I thought, looking out at the Eiffel Tower in wonder. I decided that I would do what I usually did–go along with this situation the best I could until an opportunity presented itself to get the heck out of here. Well, unless I was presented with a French castle and Prince Kellan was there waiting for me….

I sighed. Enough with the ridiculous daydreaming. I had been abducted! By aliens, practically! I needed to conduct myself very carefully. As harmless as Luna appeared, she was undoubtedly dangerous. I just knew that. After a quick wash in the shower suite–think ten showerheads coming at you from all directions, cool!–I stepped into the Chanel dress. I sat down opposite the ornate dressing table and applied some lip gloss after I had blow-dried my hair. As I was considering playing with some of the makeup in front of me, the door behind me opened and I could see Luna walk in. She smiled over at my refection. She had also changed. She was still wearing all black, but her outfit now consisted of a plain shift dress, a cropped cardigan and pumps. She was still wearing the pendant–I would have to ask her about it when the time was right.

“Your Highness, you look lovely! I brought a tiara, I hope it’s to your liking,” she said, and held out a dainty, sparkly princess number that Ella would have killed for. It took everything I had not to let out the most ungainly snort ever.

“That’s very nice, Luna,” I managed to mumble. “I think I may leave it off, though. Thank you.”

“But, Your Highness. Everyone will be expecting you to wear one!”

“Everyone?”

“The French arm of the Sigma-W-Pi. They’re all invited to the dinner. We’ve never had one of the Royal Family here before, they are excited. I’m aware that you are not here of your own accord, but it would mean so much to everyone–there will be a photographer there,” she added.

Flaming g-r-e-a-t! I reached for the tiara with irritated resignation. But Luna didn’t give it to me. Instead she came over and placed it on my head. I could see from her refection in the mirror that she wasn’t entirely happy with the look.

“Your Highness….”

“Luna,” I interrupted. “Please call me Arizona.”

“Oh, okay, Your… I mean Arizona. May I put your hair up in a bun? It will keep the tiara from falling. Your hair is so shiny and smooth…,” she explained.

“Knock yourself out,” I said. What was the harm? May as way go all the way. Perhaps I should ask for a ball gown and scepter…. I sat with my back straight and allowed Luna to have her way with my hair. It reminded me of the Ball last year, good times. I missed Kellan. What’s a princess without her prince? I was glad he wasn’t here, though. All this fun was sure to end in tears at some point. Whatever was in store for me, it was bound to be bad. Real bad when they found out I wasn’t the least bit royal.

“There,” Luna said, sounding pleased with herself as she stepped back and surveyed my royal head.

“Thanks, Luna.” That did look rather fabulous. Simla was going to be pissed.

“Y… Arizona, will this bag be okay?” Luna asked, holding out a silver Chanel.

I guess. I nodded and reached out for it, trying to remember as much as I could from the Princess Diaries, so as to not disappoint.

“Simla and Justin will meet us at the reception. I thought it would be nice for us to walk over. We have time and it’s a beautiful evening.”

“Yes, that sounds lovely,” I agreed. It would give me a chance to figure out a bit more about where in time I was at the moment, or so I hoped. It may even give me an opportunity to escape.

“Arizona, although it will just be you and I walking over together, there will be no point in trying to escape. It will just mess up your outfit, we’ll still get you to where we need you to be,” Luna informed me, smiling sweetly.

Darn, could she read my mind? I slipped my feet into the pair of Chanel flats Luna placed in front of me.

“I have a pair of heels for you to change into once we get to our destination, but these will be more comfortable for our walk over.”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“Have you visited Paris before?”

“Yes, quite a few times.”

“We are meeting over at the Île de la Cité. I thought we could walk down and perhaps visit the Cathedral before we go to dinner?”

A God-fearing kidnapper? Sigh. I’ve always loved Notre Dame Cathedral, though. I visit every time I come to Paris. The Rose window has always mesmerized me, and I love the tranquility of the hall and wandering about the annexes. Plus, maybe I could get the attention of someone in there to help me escape.

I could hear noises from the living room as we exited my bedroom.

“That’s just Simla and Justin taking to Madison and Olivier, you’ll meet them later on. Let’s go,” Luna said, gently nudging my elbow and leading me outside into the fresh air.

It was a beautiful evening. By the temperature, I would guess we were either in late spring or early fall. Looking around at the trees, I was thinking, early fall. It was time to start probing Luna gently, as we walked along the Seine toward the island.

“Would you like me to share some of the history of this place as we walk along?” Luna asked, looking over at me.

“In a minute. I’m hoping you could answer a few questions first. Let’s start with something real simple, like what year is it?”

“Your Highness…,” Luna began.

Back to that old malarkey again!

“I’m not in the position to answer those kinds of questions. I’m sorry.”

“Why not?”

“I get my orders from our leader, Potomal. He’ll explain everything to you when you see him. In the meantime, I have been asked to make sure that you are well-entertained and comfortable.”

I guessed he would be at the event we were on our way to and that I would have my answers soon enough. But I asked, just to make sure. “I’m assuming that I’ll meet him tonight?”

“We were hoping that he would grace us with a visit, but he’s been detained. You’ll see him in two days,” Luna offered.

“Two days! What the heck am I supposed to do in the meantime? Go shopping?”

“If that is what Your Highness desires. Paris has some great shopping.”

“I know that! Why two days?”

“Well, mainly because that’s how long it will take Simla and Justin to complete the first phase of their training. You may join them in the meditation aspects if you’d like. The next phase will take place in London and that’s where Potomal is at the moment, so it works out efficiently.”

“What are they training for exactly, I mean Simla and Justin?”

“I’m not allowed to talk about that.”

“Of course you’re not,” I sighed. “How come I’m not training with them?” I sighed again. “You can’t tell me. Right?”

“Right,” she confirmed.

We were walking over the Pont Neuf Bridge toward the Cathedral, which was lit up, the towers glowing in the dark. The sight was simply breathtaking. I stopped for moment to take it all in.

“Amazing isn’t it? This island is where the earliest Parisians settled, a Celtic tribe called the Parisii. I’d like to travel back there sometime to experience it for myself.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Around 52 BC.”

“Why don’t you?” I asked her. “Travel back, I mean.”

“I will, one day. I’ll also visit when the Romans were here, when they worshipped Jupiter, on this very site. It would be fun to do a trip through time see the progression for myself. After the Romans, Paris became a Christian society. That’s when the first grand cathedral–not Notre Dame–but Saint-Etienne Basilica was built to replace the ancient Roman temple by Childebert I, the King of the Franks, in 528. Notre Dame eventually replaced the Basilica when Pope Alexander III commissioned its construction in 1163, though it was not completed until 1345.”

I could tell that Luna was passionate about Paris. “Have you lived here a long time?”

She smiled. “I wish I could be more open with you. I have lived here for a while, and it’s my most favorite place in the world.”

As we walked over to the West Façade, my eyes were drawn up to the Rose window. I could hear Luna hesitating. “Go on,” I laughed. “I’m sure I’ve been told before, but I’d love a refresher.”

“I was about to ask you if you have preference for which one of the three portals we go through? However, I see you are busy admiring the window, beautiful, isn’t it? I expect you’ve been told that the central theme of the design is human life, with symbolic scenes of the zodiac in the stained glass along with other scenes.”

I nodded and headed for the central portal–The Last Judgment portal–not that it had any significance for me whatsoever, I just like to head through the middle of things. I walked through at a faster than normal pace, feeling drawn into the tranquility. The familiar smell of burning candles brought me back to the half a dozen times I had visited here before. I went over to light a candle and then sat down on one of the chairs and closed my eyes. I could hear the bustle of tourists walking up and down the sides with guides. It would be so easy to grab one of them and ask for help. Alternatively, I could stand up and yell blue murder and call some attention to myself. What would that accomplish?

For one thing, I had no idea which time or dimension I was in. So even if I could get someone to render some assistance, what if I was in the future, or the past? In another dimension? How would I get back? If I made a scene now, how would Luna react? She would probably grab me and wander me off to another dimension, pronto. And she would be pissed! No, I needed Luna to help me get home… or perhaps another Wanderer could help. It was probably best to stay in her good graces until I could figure out a failsafe way to get some help.

I guess there was a small chance that I was still in the same time and dimension, a teensy chance. The tourists at the cathedral looked contemporary. Their clothes, bags and hairstyles seemed to indicate that we were all in the same decade. But, how could I find out for sure? I needed to get hold of a cell phone. Then it would be easy to check. One phone call to Kellan’s number is all it would take. If it was out of service then I would know for sure that we were in different dimensions. If I did manage to get hold of him, an escape would be relatively easier. Until I knew for sure, I would need to play along with Luna. Like she had warned me before, an escape attempt at this time would probably only result in messy hair.

“Your Highness, are you ready to walk on?”

“Luna, seriously. Please call me Arizona.”

“I’ll try, when it’s just us. In public I’m required to address you properly,” Luna explained.

Whatever, I sighed to myself.

We walked out into the cool evening and strolled down the side streets. I stopped in front of a sign–Nos Ancetres les Gaulois–I broke into a smile.

“Arizona?” Luna asked, clearly puzzled.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” I remembered coming to this restaurant with my family. It was a ton of fun and the food was great. I remembered that Mom had arranged it as a special treat when I was obsessed with Asterix and the Gauls as a kid. I recalled the medieval feel of the place, the veggie basket, barrel loads of wine–which I had been allowed a little taste of, yuck–and the guitar player. “Have you tried it?”

“No, I wasn’t even aware of its existence before you stopped in front of it,” Luna admitted. “Is it good?”

I smiled. “In a rough-and-ready way.” Yup, not a place to go in a Chanel dress and tiara! We walked on some more and then Luna walked down half a flight of metal stairs to a shabby wooden door. She turned and looked at me, handing me my heels.

“Are you ready?”

No big surprises. Walking through that shabby wooden door in my Manolos and tiara, I hadn’t been expecting anything less than the over-the-top setting in front of me; I was supposed to be royal, after all. All the same, I surveyed the mini-ballroom with trepidation. The light sparkling from the two crystal chandeliers illuminated the crowd gathered before me. There must have been at least fifty people in the room. A very good-looking crowd, not a hair out of place. Everyone had stopped talking, as they turned to stare at me. I offered them the best princess half-smile I could muster, as Luna took my elbow and led me through the guests. As I passed them, they nodded in gentle bows.

Well, no surprises until I was led to a chair that looked suspiciously like a throne. I looked over to Luna.

“It’s just for the photographs,” she said reassuringly.

Ah, well! That makes it all better then, doesn’t it? Sheesh. “So what happens now?” I asked Luna, trying not to roll my eyes. “Where are Simla and Justin?”

“They should be here any moment, they were supposed to have arrived before you. I would like to introduce you to a selection of our most prominent Sigma-W-Pi members. They’ll want pictures. I hope that’s okay with you.”

I nodded. It’s not like I had any choice. I was surprised at the number of people in this room. I had assumed that the rogue group was much smaller than this. “Luna, who are all these people?”

“There are a handful of Sigma-W-Pi’s here, you’ll meet them shortly. The rest of them are ancillary staff–regular humans who assist us with day-to-day operations. They would all like to meet you, too, but since there are so many we held a raffle earlier and the winner will be presented to you later.”

Just peachy. I couldn’t figure this out at all. Why on earth was I being presented as royalty? Even if I had been royalty, this was insane. I was clearly not a Sigma-W-Pi, so why expose all these people to me and put them at risk? I would have their descriptions in my head and could reel them off once I got back home. The only explanation was that they must exist in a different dimension from mine, so they had no fear of me going back and blabbing about them. “Luna, why are we doing this? It makes no sense….”

“Your Highness, Potomal asked me to entertain you the best I could. What’s better than a ball?”

I was thinking some ice time would be better, but didn’t voice that to Luna. So, all this because Luna felt obliged to entertain me while she babysat me for the next couple of days.

“Enjoying yourself?” a voice asked from behind my throne.

“Your Highness, may I present Potomal’s son,” Luna muttered, clearly taken aback. “I wasn’t aware you were coming,” she said, rolling her eyes and moving back as he pushed past her.

“I had an unexpected break, so I thought I would come over and meet Her Highness myself. I’d like some time to speak with her,” he said, clearly indicating that he wanted Luna to make herself scarce. Charming–not. She practically stuck her tongue out at him as she moved away. Wow, in one moment she’d gone from being this super-polished mademoiselle to a brat, who’d have thought!

“Hey! May I call you Arizona?” he asked, perching down on a stool next to me.

“Sure, I’d rather you did. What’s your name?”

“Please call me Stan.”

“Stan?” I asked giggling. He didn’t look like a Stan. He was tall, dark and incredibly handsome. His green eyes were mesmerizingly charming, as was his generous smile. I would have picked Damon or William for him. Not Stan.

“It’s short for Stanford, but I prefer Stan.”

Ah, that suited him a lot better. “So, Stan, you’re Potomal’s son?”

“Yes, I am indeed. Son of the infamous Potomal. Well, one of his sons.”

“Big family?”

“I’ve got two older brothers, an older sister and a younger sister.”

“Yup, big family,” I smiled. “So, are the rest coming tonight as well?”

“Just Luna, but you’ve already met her.”

“Luna? She’s your sister?”

“Yes, she’s my baby sister. Really annoying at times, but you know all about that, you’ve got Ella.”

“Oh, Ella’s okay,” I said defensively. So, Luna was his little sister, which explained their interaction. “Luna is clearly in charge of babysitting me, why are you here?”

“I wanted to see what all the fuss was about,” he smiled. “One doesn’t get to meet the granddaughter of Spencer Darley everyday. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Spencer Darley? Who the heck was that? Not my granddad, that’s for sure. Both my parent’s fathers had long passed, way before I was born. I had never met either of my grandfathers. Actually, I had never met either of my grandparents on Dad’s side of the family. The only grandparent around had been my grandma, mom’s mother. Besides, a Darley couldn’t be my grandparent. I didn’t say anything, though. Probably best not to volunteer any information. I would have to find out more about this granddad by gentle prying.

“Arizona?”

“Oh, sorry. My mind wandered for a moment. How is Granddad?”

He smiled. “You call him Granddad?”

I shrugged a smile at him. I gathered that it was less than customary to address Spencer Darley as such.

“To answer your question, I have no idea. When was the last time you saw him?” he asked.

“It’s been ages,” I said, being as nonchalant as I could, “and he’s been busy, I guess.”

“I suppose. But you’ve seen the Queen very recently though, right? I believe she was with you when we transported you?”

The Queen? This boy–cute as he was–had some serious delusional issues. In fact, all of them seemed to. They were quite mad. Thankfully, Luna rescued me.

“Your Highness, are you ready to get your picture taken?”

“I guess. Bring it on.”

Luna shooed her brother away and proceeded to usher a group of five guests to come up to meet me–three ladies and two men. They were fairly old, I’m guessing about my parents’ age. The two men were chubby, dressed in black suits and bow ties. I noticed that both their jackets had the design from Luna’s pendent embroidered on them. Two of the women looked French–petite, very simply but elegantly dressed in dark suits. The third one, well she could have been ripped right out of Jersey Shore–big hair and all, and when she spoke, she confirmed it. All three of them were wearing the same pendant as Luna’s. Luna carefully introduced me as Her Royal Highness, Princess Arizona to them, while I tried not to collapse into a heap of giggles as each of them bowed. I noticed how Luna failed to introduce any of them to me. Not a name or rank. Each of them stood beside my throne for a picture. Then Luna beckoned to another lady to come meet me. She was much younger, maybe in her early twenties. She was clearly French, too.

“Your Highness, this is Isobel. She won the draw to meet you.”

Isobel bowed and beamed out a dazzling smile as the cameraman took yet another picture and then she promptly left me alone with Luna. She wasn’t wearing the Luna pendant. And she was the only one who had been introduced to me.

“I take it that the first five were Sigma-W-Pi members?”

“Yes, they were.”

“Is that why you didn’t introduce them to me?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, Arizona. We must seem a bit rude, but I don’t have permission.”

“From your dad?”

“Pardon?”

“Your brother told me that you are Potomal’s daughter. I’m guessing that’s who you get your orders from.”

She narrowed her eyes, looking around, most probably to give her brother a what-for for blabbing. A set of double doors opened up, and Luna nudged me to get up and follow her.

“It’s time for supper. After that, there will be dancing through here. You will need to stay for the first six dances–with selected dignitaries–but then we can leave.”

“Luna, I’ll escort Her Highness to dinner,” Stan said from behind me, as he took my elbow and led me to my seat at the long oak table.

Dinner sucked. The food was flipping gross–snails, frogs, yuck. I picked at my veggies as Stan prattled on about the various delicacies.

“What do you do exactly?” I asked him.

“Do? I’m a student of economics, in my third year at the London School of Economics. So, I study and go pubbing a lot,” he laughed, taking a gulp of his wine.

“What about Luna?”

“She studies history of art at the University of Paris. She’s just started. This is her first term.”

That explained her keen interest in the historical aspects of the city. Must be a hoot being a history major who could travel back in time to gather data for projects. Seemed kinda unfair to the rest of her class. Just then, I noticed Justin and Simla come walking in as the double doors opened momentarily to let them through. They were accompanied by a woman and a man, Madison and Olivier, I supposed. They were older than I expected. After having met Luna and her brother now, I expected Simla and Justin to have been assigned younger guards or whatever they were. I guessed both Madison and Olivier to be around thirty. They were both well built, like they’d been working out, perhaps with the help of a generous dose of steroids. Madison’s biceps did look disproportionately large. They were both dark haired and looked hard, like they had smoked for years. Perhaps they were ex-smokers turned fitness fanatics. Strong and fit as Justin was, he would be no match for Olivier. Olivier and Madison didn’t stay. They showed Justin and Simla to their seats at the other end of the long table and then left quietly after bowing to me ever so slightly. It was hard to decipher Simla’s and Justin’s moods. I wondered what they had been doing while I walked over here via Notre Dame de Paris. They certainly weren’t dressed up for the occasion. They were both wearing all-black workout clothes, and Simla looked out of breath. Her expression was very guarded; however, that could just be due to her being dumped among all these people. Justin looked a bit more relaxed and delved right into a conversation with the lady sitting next to him, while helping himself to the food as it was presented to him. I could see that Simla was not particularly smitten with the food selection and I couldn’t resist a smile when the snails were brought to her.

“Are those your friends?” Stan asked, looking in the direction of Simla and Justin. “The girl does not seem to favor the escargot?”

“No, we’re not used to some of these dishes in the U.S.” I explained.

“There’s a McDonalds not far away, I will be happy to take you…,” he offered.

I’m ashamed to admit that my face must have totally lit up at the mention of McDonalds! A burger would be just the thing–I was still hungry. I remembered my manners just in time and smiled at Stan. “That’s really thoughtful of you, but this food is delicious, thank you,” I said, as I swallowed an escargot and tried my very best not to choke and hurl it back up on Stan.

“What are your friends’ names?” Stan asked. “Are you close friends?”

“No, we’re more acquaintances than friends. Justin and I play hockey together and Simla used to be a friend.”

“High school drama?” he laughed.

“Yeah, something like that.” I spent the rest of dinner describing my high school to Stan. I told him about the hockey, my classes, and Kellan. I wasn’t sure that I should have mentioned Kellan, but my mouth blabbed about him before I could stop myself. Hopefully, I didn’t inadvertently place Kellan in danger.  Still, Potomal and his Intelligence must know all about Kellan and me. Stan was probably just trying to maintain a polite front by keeping me engaged in conversation throughout the dinner. He was very reluctant to talk about himself. The few times I tried asking him about his life, he always managed to bounce the conversation back to me.

Once dinner was over–the desserts were particularly delicious–Stan led me out to the dance floor. I had absolutely no idea what to do–I can’t dance for the life of me–but he seemed to know that, and deftly led me around, making it seem relatively easy. As Luna had warned me before dinner, I was required to stay for another six dances–the one with Stan had been unexpected–each with older Frenchmen–two of whom I had been introduced to earlier. Dancing with them proved to be much more challenging than it was with Stan. I barely made it off the dance floor in one piece and I was fairly sure that my poor dance partners would require extensive podiatric care.

Stan was laughing at me as I headed back to him. “Finishing school?” he asked, between guffaws.

“What?”

“Finishing school, as in Switzerland.  Dance lessons, etiquette?”

“You’re kidding, right? I think Mom went to one of those places when she was a kid. No one does that now!  And even if they did, I have way better things to do with my time.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him.

He did look genuinely surprised. “Luna went to one, said she really enjoyed it. I had to take dance lessons as well…,” he added.

“We’re in the twenty-first century, right? In fact which year is it exactly?”

“Stan, don’t answer that,” Luna said authoritatively, coming up behind me. “Your Highness, you may put your questions to Potomal when you see him. Right now, it’s time for us to go back to the apartment. Stan, you need to go back home and perhaps you would let me know before visiting again?”

“No probs, Sis,” he said, and kissed her cheek. “Arizona, it was a pleasure meeting you. Perhaps we’ll meet again when you visit London.” Then he bowed and faded away. Wow.

“Luna, why does it look different when the Sigma-Ws wander as compared to the Wanderers? You guys seem to turn into mist, while the Wanderers disappear like they are heading through an invisible wall.”

She shrugged, making it clear that she wasn’t divulging anything. “Arizona, would you like to go for another walk? Paris at night is so beautiful. If you’re not tired, we could walk up to the Louvre and then take a taxi back from there.”

I nodded. That sounded good. Besides, it would give me time to quiz her some more. We crossed over to the north bank of the Seine and walked along the river with the Eiffel tower in the distance.

“Have you been up to the top?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, actually I have, several times. It’s one of those things we do every time we visit. We have warm crepes first and then we head up to the tower.”

“Do you take the steps or use the elevator?”

“Gosh, the elevators! Mom did tell me that she had made it all the way up the steps when she was younger, but it seems like overkill to me.” We turned right and walked up the side streets until we came to the Louvre and its famed glass pyramid. I knew that this was the newest addition to this 12th century structure. If I could only remember when it was built, it may provide me with a time reference, surely Luna wouldn’t be able to resist a history lesson? “Luna, when was this pyramid built, again?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as I could.

She bit. “Impressive isn’t it?”

I nodded.

“It’s the most recent addition to the Louvre and functions as the main entrance now. The pyramid structure was designed by I.M. Pei–who is actually an American designer, he designed the John F. Kennedy Library in Massachusetts and the East building of the National Gallery of Art in DC among many others, I’m sure you’ve heard of those.  The pyramid was built in 1989.”

1989. Well, that didn’t help much. I had already guessed that we must be in the 21st century.  Anyhow, Luna kept going.

“The pyramid consists of 603 rhombus-shaped segments and seventy triangular segments. It’s about seventy feet high.”

“Oh, I thought it had 666 glass segments.” I said. “I’m sure I’ve heard that.”

She laughed. “Oh, that’s just a myth. Did you read that in Dan Brown’s novel?”

I shrugged. “I guess.” What I did learn was that we were past Dan Brown’s novel–and I am guessing she meant the Da Vinci Code–publication date. Now when was that? I was trying to rack my brain trying to remember. I was drawing a blank. I’d ask Justin, it was one of his favorites. “Can we head back now, I’m a bit tired.”

“Certainly,” Luna said, and promptly hailed a taxi that brought us back to the apartment in no time. As soon as I had changed out of my Chanel dress and slipped into a comfy pair of flannel pajamas, I snuck through the hall to Justin’s room and knocked, hoping that he would still be up.

“Wassup?” he asked, as he opened the door.

He’d obviously been sleeping, his eyelids looked heavy and his hair was all messy. I scooted by him into his room and made myself comfortable on his bed. A year ago I would have never dreamed of doing that, he had positively hated me. However, during the past year, things had calmed down between the two of us and we came to exist in a mutual, peaceful disregard for one another. However, staying away was not an option at the moment.

“Arizona, scram. I was sleeping.”

“Well, you’re not anymore, besides, I need to talk to you.”

“Oh, come on! I have to be up at six, I need to sleep.”

“Oh, stop being a whiner. Why do you have to be up so early anyway? Luna didn’t say anything to me about an early start.”

“Gee, why am I not surprised?” he muttered, rolling his eyes and throwing himself back into the bed, burying his head in the pillow.

I grabbed the edge of it and swiftly pulled it from out under his head. He groaned and sat up.

“So, why do you have to get up so early? And did you find out what the heck we’re doing here?”

“It’s fairly clear that they–whoever they are–are trying to recruit us. Simla and I were separated this evening and I haven’t had a chance to catch up with her yet. She was wiped and went straight to bed when we got back. After you and Luna left, Olivier drove me to a gym. It was kinda weird. We didn’t talk much, just worked out. He said that he needed to assess my fitness level. Once we’d done that, he told me that we would be spending the next few days in Paris and then going to London where I’d meet the rest of the team and start my proper training. He said he hoped that I would decide to join. I did try to get more info from him, but it was like questioning a stone. Did you have better luck? Who was the guy you were sitting with at dinner?”

“That was Potomal’s son, Stan. And get this, turns out that Luna is Potomal’s daughter!”

“Sheesh!”

“Anyhow, I pretty much drew a blank on the info thing. Apart from listening to Luna go on about the various buildings, all I really found out is that we are probably in the 21st century. Justin, when did that Dan Brown book you like come out?”

“Why?”

“Luna mentioned it, so I am guessing we are after the publication year of the book.”

“I think it was 2003, but I can’t be sure. I’m not good at dates.”

I sighed. This had pretty much been a total waste of an evening. I made no headway. A stroll through Paris, that’s it. I had no idea what to expect tomorrow. By all accounts, Luna had been tasked with babysitting me for the next couple of days until we traveled to London where everything, I guess, would be revealed. I looked over to Justin to ask him what was planned for him tomorrow. He’d fallen back asleep, so I quietly left his room and climbed back into my royal bed and closed my eyes.

It was a full house at Constance’s place. Rupert followed Constance up the stairs, Ella sleeping soundly in his arms, as Olivia made her way into the living room, following the sounds of chatter. Her eyes focused on Larry and she walked straight over to him. In this mess of confusion, he was her rock–he had to be. There was no chance of him suddenly wandering off. She needed that assurance, especially now that she’d found out that her own husband had such potential. Everyone stopped talking when they noticed her walk in. Everyone included Amadea, Grayson, Inez, David, Morgana, Javier and Lars.

“Olivia, how are you holding up?” Inez inquired, once she was seated next to Larry.

“I’m not sure. Not good.”

Inez nodded. “We’ll wait until Constance and Rupert join us. Kellan is going to wait upstairs with Ella.” Once the two returned and Rupert had taken his place next to Olivia, Constance took the floor.

“Rupert, I take it you’ve had a chance to update Olivia completely now?”

“I have,” Rupert affirmed, putting his arm around Olivia’s shoulder.

“Olivia, I know all this is hard for you to accept, so we’ll be very mindful of that in our discussions. You now know that you are married to Sigma-W royalty, which makes you and your family a target.”

Royalty? Rupert hadn’t put it quite like that; she gave him a look. “Why are we a target now? Why didn’t the subversive group try to take control before?”

Constance signaled Amadea to take over.

“Potomal’s group is relatively new, formed a little over a year ago. He’s been trying to recruit new members to strengthen the group but has found it difficult to do so. Our Intelligence tells us that he has now started recruiting humans, for the day-to-day groundwork, which leaves him more time to concentrate on strategizing. So, now is when he is ready to make a move.”

“Has your Intelligence managed to find out if Potomal is, in fact, responsible for Arizona’s disappearance?”

“Yes. I just heard back from my husband with the latest update. Potomal has Arizona, Justin and Simla, as we suspected.”

“Where are they?” Olivia whispered.

“We are coming up blank as far as location goes, for the moment. Intelligence is still trying to track their whereabouts. It’s proving very difficult. They may not even be here on this planet.”

“Rup, how can that be? Arizona couldn’t survive on another planet!”

“Ollie, we’ve no idea where they are at the moment, or even in what dimension or time frame.”

Amadea interrupted. “We’re trying to get that information from the humans working for the Sigma-W-Pi, which is what Potomal’s group call themselves. They are, however, scattered all over the world, in the different time/dimensional planes, so it may take some time. We are more likely to hear from Potomal first, with a ransom demand.”

“So, what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Olivia asked, getting agitated. She looked around. How could she have allowed herself to become involved in this insanity? She felt a squeeze to her hand and looked up into Rupert’s eyes.

“Honey, it’s going to be all right, I promise.”

“How do you know? How do we even know if Ella is safe? They could have taken her while we’re down here,” she mumbled, and got up to make her way to check on her younger daughter. Rupert pulled her back down gently.

“Ollie, look,” he said, pointing at the computer monitor at the far end of the room.

It clearly showed Ella sleeping peacefully while Kellan sat beside her, ever watchful. Olivia was reassured, but only momentarily. “What about Harry? Has he been warned? I tried to call him earlier, but he wasn’t answering his cell.”

“He’s fine. We do want to bring him here, though, which is something we need to discuss now,” Amadea suggested. “Rup, we could fly him over or I could head over and collect him. I would prefer the latter if that’s okay with you and Olivia.”

It was only then that it hit her. Harry was Amadea’s biological grandson. Could that mean that he had Wanderer potential? Could her own son be a Wanderer? “Amadea, is Harry a Wanderer?”

“Like Rupert, he has Sigma-W potential, but it lies dormant for now. He’s unaware of it.”

“Seeing that he’s your biological grandchild, why did Potomal take Arizona instead?”

“That’s another mystery and we’ve been discussing that as well. The most obvious reason may be that Potomal just doesn’t know. I do want to reassure you that Potomal will treat Arizona very well. The fact that she is not my biological grandchild is irrelevant, she is just as important to me as Harry is. She will be considered of royal lineage and he’ll treat her as such. He may be after power, but he is not by any means a violent man.”

“How will he seize control without exercising violence?” Olivia asked.

“Well, by creating havoc, I presume, such as he’s doing at the moment. Spencer, that’s my husband, will be forced to hand over power to minimize chaos.”

“But won’t that ruin the whole Sigma-W operation?” Olivia wondered. “What’s the aim of the group anyway?”

“No,” Amadea said, shaking her head. “Potomal will take over and continue to carry out the chartered operations.”

“Chartered by whom?”

“I’m not at liberty to divulge that.”

Perfect. So, what now? Start a knitting circle while they waited for someone to get back to them with more information?

“Shall I go and get Harry?” Amadea asked again. “A flight would just waste time. We need him here with us.”

Olivia nodded, on autopilot. Then she shook herself. “What are you going to tell him?”

“Not a lot when I pick him up. I was merely planning to do just that, pick him up and bring him here and we can explain it all to him then. I won’t be long.”

“Do you even know where he is?”

“Yes, he’s at late night hockey training. I’ll wait until they’re done and pick him up once he has changed.”

Once Amadea left, the room erupted into a low murmur. Grayson looked particularly agitated and finally spoke. “What about Justin and Simla? Much I as share in the worry over Arizona, I’m terribly concerned about them. While Arizona will be afforded all the privileges that come with her standing, that’s not the case for them. They’re just Wanderers, and as such not of a revered rank. What will Potomal do to them? Will he harm them?”

Inez took his hand to calm him down.

“Grayson,” Constance said gently. “As we’ve discussed, the most probable reason for their disappearance is that Potomal is trying to recruit them. If they have the sense–which I expect they do–to go along with it, they’ll be fine. Potomal will try to win them over with his hospitality and generosity. If they decide, for whatever reason, to try to escape or decline his offer, I’m not sure how he’ll react. My worry for them is more that they’ll probably be in the care of his ground staff, and there’s no telling what they may do, they’re humans after all. So, it’s important that they’re very much a part of any rescue plan.”

“Rescue plan?” Rupert inquired. “Aren’t we going to let the Sigma-W deal with this?”

“No,” David said emphatically. He’d been very quiet so far. “We’ve given them plenty of time. So far, all they’ve told us is what we suspected in the first place. I have to find Arizona and I’m not sitting around here and waiting anymore.”

“David,” Inez said firmly. “Hold on for just a moment. Let’s at least try to do this systematically.”

“Do what?” Rupert and Olivia asked.

“As you know, David was assigned to Arizona–here in this dimension–and he has a special connection with her, much like my connection with Kevin–I can feel him. David’s connection to Arizona is stronger and he thinks he may at least be able to transport himself into the same dimension she is in. He can feel her at the moment, but only very weakly. We are assuming the feeling will get stronger the closer he gets. It’s a long shot. But it’s all we’ve got for now.”

“I’m going with you, David,” Kellan announced, coming down the stairs with Ella.

“Mom! Dad! What’s going on?” Ella said sleepily, running over and clambering onto Olivia’s lap. “I thought you were going to let me sleep over at Sally’s!”

“Hey, baby. I’ll take you back over to Sally’s house soon. Did you have a good time?”

“Yes, Mommy. Can I get a snack? I’m hungry.”

“I’ll take her,” Rupert said, lifting Ella off Olivia’s lap and then carried her into the kitchen.

“Kellan, I’d like to take you. I don’t know that I have the strength to wander with you several times, as I’m expecting to have to do. It’ll be too draining. I’m going to have to do this on my own. Mom, I’m ready for phase one.”

“Hold on, David. Constance, we should tell them. I feel Kellan should go,” Inez interrupted.

“Mom, I can’t do it. I’d really like Kellan to come, but no.”

“David.” His mother indicated to him to quiet down.

Rupert had returned with Ella, who was sitting and happily munching on a cookie. Once Constance felt she had everyone’s attention, she spoke.

“Ella, hon. There is a TV in the room next door, Morgana will take you through and you can watch the Disney Channel for a while. Okay?” she asked, and Ella happily walked off.

Once she was safely out, Constance turned to Olivia. “Olivia, you must think that the world is full of Wanderers. That’s not the case at all. There are relatively few of us and a proportion of us, like Rupert, chose to forsake our destiny and live as normal humans. The reason you are surrounded by Wanderers is because of Rupert’s position.”

Olivia had felt Rupert tense up as the word forsake had been spoken. That must have been an incredible sacrifice for him. She reached over and squeezed his hand.

Constance continued. “You were basically surrounded by Wanderers ever since Rupert declared that he was going to give up his Sigma-W life to pursue you–the second time that is, we didn’t take him seriously the first time he mentioned marrying you, that day in New York, years ago. Inez told us all about it,” she smiled. “However, once he had made the decision, it was our goal to make it possible for him. As I said, you were surrounded. You are now aware of some of the Wanderers involved, but not all of them. In fact, some of the Wanderers are not even aware of the roles they have played and will play in the future. Larry has been your closest ally for years….”

“Larry’s a Wanderer?” Olivia gasped, looking over at him. “No way!” Larry was shaking his head adamantly at her.

Constance waited for Olivia to calm down. “No, he isn’t. Larry, this might be hard to hear. Your wife, Catherine, was a Wanderer. She was a Sigma-W.”

All eyes were on Larry. He had clearly not known this about his late wife. He was visibly shaken and Olivia moved over to comfort him. “She didn’t tell me,” he whispered, perplexed. “Why?”

“She wasn’t given permission,” Constance offered. “She was a Sigma-W. We had no authority to give her permission. My point in telling you this, at the moment, is to pave the way to tell you that your son, Kellan, has latent Sigma-W potential.”

“What?” Kellan spluttered and walked toward Constance. “I’m a Wanderer? How?”

“I already told you how, Kellan. Your mother…,” Constance explained.

“No, I mean how do I actually wander, so I can go and find Arizona?”

“You’re a Sigma-W. When Amadea returns with Harry, she is going to explain.”

“Harry?” Kellan inquired.

“Sorry, you missed our earlier conversation,” Constance sighed. “Harry is a potential Sigma-W as well.”

Kellan sat down. Olivia looked at him with compassion. This was incredibly hard to get one’s head around. She could only imagine what was going through his mind. They were going to have to deal with this again when Harry returned.

“Do I really have to wait?” David inquired. “I’d like to get going. Surely Kellan can join me once he’s ready.”

“We won’t be able to find you, David. You’re the only one with a sense for Arizona, so you’ll have to track her.”

“What happened?” Harry muttered, as he suddenly slumped to the floor with Amadea beside him.

Olivia hurried over and brought him back to sit between Rupert and her. She noticed both Kellan and David looking agitated as Constance brought Harry up to date. Could this really be happening? Had she really been told that her son was some sort of a paranormal being? He was just Harry! He was just an ordinary boy. He’d shown no signs of being odd in any way. True, he’d given her much less drama than Arizona, but she attributed that to him being a boy. Did she miss any signs?

Harry was conceived when Olivia had first gone through the portal to find Rupert. He’d been a regular, sweet toddler, always into everything. He was musical like his dad and had developed a fondness for hockey. He’d been good at school. Kumon–the Japanese Math class–had helped him to excel at math. She remembered all those years of him whining about doing his daily Kumon sheets. He had the expected interest in girlfriends, but had been fairly attached to Maria since sophomore year in high school.

His relationship with his sisters was very close and loving. He had readily accepted Arizona into his life when she had arrived through the portal. And he had instantly fallen in love with his new baby sister, Ella. Harry always served as the peacemaker when there were disagreements between the two sisters, which seemed to occur regularly. He had a way of diffusing chaos. Maybe that was it. Perhaps that was a sign that he was different, but it just never registered with her. She could see Harry’s body tensing up as Amadea gave him a brief background of his heritage. His face was planted in the palm of his hands. He looked up when Amadea had finished speaking.

“Dad, what does all of this mean? Can I wander?”

“Harry, you have the potential, and with adequate training you’ll be able to. The Sigma-Ws are required to fulfill their obligations if you are trained. That’ll mean time away from your family, from your friends. Your normal day-to-day life will come to an end. It’s a big decision to make, but one that you’ll have to make before you are given leave to wander.”

“So, you are basically saying that I, for example, would have to give up being with Arizona if I decide to accept Sigma-W training?” Kellan asked.

“Not necessarily,” replied Amadea. “It depends on how willing your potential partner is to adapt to your lifestyle. In the case of Rupert, for instance, he had to give up being a Sigma-W because Olivia would never have accepted that, not at that time anyway. Kellan, I don’t feel that this is the right time for either you or Harry to make a grave decision like this. It is just important for you both to know your potential in case of unexpected complications.”

“What kind of unexpected complications?” Larry practically shouted. “Inez, I’m so disappointed in you. All these years we’ve been so close. Not just you and I, but Morgana, as well. How could you have kept this from me?”

“Larry, I’d like to talk to you about this later,” Inez said.

Larry whispered, “I promise to keep my voice down. Please, Inez.”

“Larry, I had no choice. It was really up to Catherine. If she had wanted to reveal herself, she would have asked for the Sigma-W council’s permission to do so.”

“She did, Inez,” Amadea confirmed. “We had a meeting planned to discuss it, but she passed before it took place.”

“Why didn’t you tell me after?” Larry persisted.

“There was no need. What difference would it have made to your life?” Amadea retorted. “We’d every intention of telling Kellan when he was ready and when it was appropriate to do so. He’s been ready for a while, but there has been no need or reason to tell him. He’s a happy, well-adjusted teen living a full and happy life.”

“And you’re telling us now because both of us may be in danger from the subversive Sigma-W element, what are they called again?” Harry asked.

“The Sigma-W-Pi, the pi stands for Potomal,” Rupert confirmed.

“And he’s got Arizona?” Kellan asked. “You know that for sure?”

Amadea nodded.

“Mommy, can you come up to bed with me?” Ella asked, coming back in to the room. “I’m tired.”

Olivia nodded and took her upstairs.

“Look, enough wasting time!” David groaned. “Please let me go and try to find her. Mom?”

“Constance, I think we should. We have no other options at the moment, at least until we hear from Potomal,” Inez responded.

“David, please let me come,” Kellan pleaded.

David nodded. “Mom?”

“Yes, go ahead, David. And you have our permission to take Kellan, though I feel it would be better to take him once you have established exactly where Arizona is. No point exhausting your energy reserves. Can you understand that, Kellan?”

“Yes, of course. Will you come back and get me once you know?”

David nodded and prepared to transport.

“David, remember the system we worked out. Follow it to the letter and report back to me after every four transports,” Inez reminded him, as he closed his eyes, curved his back and disappeared.

“He’ll be fine, Inez,” Constance reassured her as she hugged her friend.

“Now what?” Harry asked.

Amadea announced, “I’m going to wander back to Spencer, your grandfather, to find out if there is any further news and we’ll take it from there. Constance will take care of things here until I get back. I’ll go upstairs and bid Olivia goodbye before I go.”

“Can I come, Gramadea? I would love to meet Granddad,” Harry asked.

Amadea looked over at Rupert and then nodded. “Come with me.”

~

“You’re what?” Olivia whispered, shocked.

“Mom, it’ll be fine. I’ll be right back with Gramadea. I want to meet Granddad. Don’t worry, I’m not going to join the Sigma-Ws or anything,” Harry assured her.

“I guess you’ll be safest with them,” Olivia admitted. “You must return back with Amadea, understand?”

“Olivia, you have my word. I’ll be back with him as soon as I’ve found out from Spencer what’s going on. They’re bound to have some news by now.”

“Mom,” Ella whispered sleepily, disturbed by the voices. Olivia felt Harry kissing the top of her head, but he had disappeared along with Amadea before she had fully turned around. Another child had wandered off.  Olivia felt completely vulnerable; she seemed to have lost all control. How could she have let this happen?

As the bright rays shone through the skylight, waking me up to a new Paris morning, I felt both excited and apprehensive. I breathed in the Paris air. The fresh smell of baguettes made my stomach grumble.

Last night had been weird, to say the least. Parading about like royalty, being introduced to a bunch of strangers, all while wearing a tiara. Bizarre. My evening with Luna had obviously been slightly different from the one that Simla and Justin had spent with Madison and Olivier. That was evident from the gear they were both wearing when they arrived at the reception. Justin had been less than forthcoming about what they’d been through. All he’d said was that he’d gone and worked out! That explained the gear. Anyway, it was time to find out exactly what they’d been up to.

I got up and wrapped myself in the oversized white terry bathrobe hanging on the hook in the bathroom and walked over and banged on Justin’s door. There was no reply, so I opened it and peered inside. He was clearly gone, his bed neatly made. I found the situation to be the same in Simla’s room. She was gone as well. I walked into her room and checked her wardrobe. It was full of clothes; I hoped that they were coming back. I had to know what was going on with them. So, for now, I was alone in this big apartment. I went over to the kitchen and gulped down some cereal–even though a basket of fresh, warm baguette slices had been left out–before I went back to my room to get dressed. Since I had no idea what the day would bring, I’d no idea what to wear. Was I expected to do the royal thing again?

I walked into a tidied bedroom. The bed had been made up, the heavy auburn velvet coverlet neatly covered the mattress again. The pillows had been plumped and placed neatly against the headboard. My conundrum about what to wear was instantly dissipated when I saw the selected outfit carefully placed on the bed for me. I jumped into the space-age shower and lingered there for a while, enjoying the warm spray of water against my skin. When I finally decided to end my water relaxation time, I wrapped myself in a thick, warmed towel and went back into the bedroom to get dressed. The clothes were simple–a pair of black yoga pants, a plain red t-shirt and a black zip-top hoodie. I put them on and stepped into the black MTBs waiting for me by the door. A workout day? That would suit me just fine. Hopefully I’d run into Simla and Justin at some point.

The door to my bedroom opened and Luna peeked in. “May I come in, Your Highness?”

“Luna, you promised to call me Arizona in private. Remember? And yeah, come on in,” I said, plunking myself on the bed. “So, what are we doing today? Any chance I can go home now?”

“I have an exciting day planned for you. First, I thought we could take a walk down to the Eiffel Tower and get you those crepes you were telling me about. I have a fondness for them myself. Then, I thought we could walk down to Swan Ally Island where one of the replicas of the Statue of Liberty stands. It’s a bit of a walk, hence the sneakers,” she added with a smile.

“That sounds very pleasant, but I’d like to see Simla and Justin,” I insisted.

“That’s on our schedule as well,” Luna replied happily. “After our visit to the Statue, we’ll head over to our training facility at Versailles, where Simla and Justin have been based for the day. They have their meditation segment scheduled for this afternoon. You may join them for that. I know that you are keen to spend some time alone with them, so I’ve arranged for you to have some time before dinner tonight.”

That sounded like a plan. “And when do I get some real answers, like when do I get to go back home?”

“You’ll be taken to London tomorrow and will have an audience with Potomal at his convenience. He’ll deal with your questions. In the meantime, today, continue to enjoy our hospitality.”

The walk to the Eiffel Tower took forever, I was happy to be wearing sneakers. We didn’t stop at any of the many street vendors who lined the Seine banks. We walked passed the Louvre and the Jardins des Tuileries. We didn’t stop to sit and soak up the atmosphere like I usually did when we visited here. Instead we walked briskly by. I thought Luna might have taken an opportunity to show off her knowledge and educate me, but she didn’t. She seemed to be engrossed in her own thoughts and didn’t say much as we walked.  We stopped at the crepe stand by the Eiffel Tower and munched down on sugar-filled, warm crepes and washed them down with water.

“What’s up, Luna? You seem distracted.”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing. Not something that concerns you anyway. It’ll get sorted.”

“That sounds a bit mysterious,” I persisted.

“Are you ready to walk on? If you’re tired, we can take a taxi.”

“Luna, what’s the point in all this? This sightseeing? I’ve been here before, so it’s all been-there-done-that for me. Why not just cut to the chase and head to London?” I asked, getting more and more frustrated as I voiced my thoughts. This was beyond ridiculous– being on vacation with my captor.

“If this is not to your liking, I can transport you to London now. My father won’t be available until tomorrow, though. I can arrange for Stan to entertain you until then. We thought you’d be happier here, in Paris, with your friends until they were ready to travel as well.”

Hmm, I did want to talk to Simla and Justin. “Why can’t they come to London now?”

“They have a meditation segment to master before they go tomorrow. We thought you might like to join them for that. We can head over now, if you want to. That’s if you don’t want to head to the Statue of Liberty first.”

I got over the Statue of Liberty when I was about six! Pretty amazing as it is, living in New Jersey, I have experienced the Liberty sights from all angles possible, even a bird’s-eye view from a helicopter. And Mom had made sure that I had experienced the Liberty Statues in Paris, as well, during my previous visits. The one on Swan Ally was actually my favorite; the view of the Eiffel Tower behind it was breathtaking. However, like I said before, been there, done that. I certainly didn’t feel like doing it again with Luna.

“So?” Luna asked.

“So, let’s head over to Simla and Justin. Where are they?”

“They are at Versailles. Have you been before?”

I nodded. Ella developed a strange fascination for Marie Antoinette after Mom took us to see the Color of Flesh in New York. The story itself went over Ella’s head but she was mesmerized by the costumes and so the last time we visited, Mom made sure that a trip to the palace and gardens of Versailles was included.

“We can take a taxi or I can transport you…,” Luna said, looking at me intently.

“I guess your way is faster?” I queried.

She nodded, looking for a quiet place. “Come with me,” she said, pointing to the bushes.

“Okay, take me over,” I said, closing my eyes. I felt her take hold of my shoulders and then I felt weightless, just as I had during my last experience. When I suddenly felt pressure on my feet, I opened my eyes. We were standing opposite one of the most beautiful fountains I have ever seen. I remembered it from my last visit, but couldn’t remember the name. I looked to Luna for information.

“It’s the Latona Fountain,” she reminded me, as we emerged from behind a tree.

“No awards for having a great memory for fountain names here,” I said, slightly embarrassed. “I do remember that her children’s names are Apollo and Diana, though.”

“That’s right,” Luna confirmed. “And there’s the back of the Chateau,” she said, pointing to the magnificent building behind the fountain. “Let’s walk. We are meeting Justin and Simla at the Queen’s Grove for the meditation segment. It’s nice and quiet there today, it will just be us.”

“Oh, I thought that was much later? Didn’t we plan to be here later?”

“I accounted for that in the transport, Your Highness.”

Very handy! I followed Luna through the paths to a grassy isolated spot where I spotted Justin, Simla, Olivier and Madison. They were sitting down on the grass looking up at me as we approached them. Olivier and Madison jumped to their feet and bowed. There were no other people around.

“Your Highness, please allow me to introduce Madison and Olivier to you,” Luna said, nodding to them.

“Pleased to meet you,” I said, and shook their hands–sweaty hands, they must have been working out. Simla looked exhausted, she barely acknowledged me, where as Justin grinned and seemed pleased to see me.

“Shall we get started?” Madison asked, beckoning Luna and me to sit down.

I sat down and followed along–pretended mostly–to Madison’s instructions. We started off doing a bunch of breathing exercises; I’ve always hated those. I find that whenever I focus on my breathing, I tend to hyperventilate. So I ignored her. The breathing exercises were built upon by the addition of muscle relaxation exercises. Seriously, why not just head to a spa for a massage? I watched Justin and Simla out of the corner of my eye as they were following along. Justin appeared totally into it. His chest was heaving just at the right intervals and his muscles were tightening and relaxing when commanded. Simla, on the other hand, was totally faking it–and very badly, worse than me, if that’s possible. I could see Luna watching her. Boy, she was going to be in trouble. Maybe that’s what Luna had been preoccupied with before. Maybe she received reports back that Simla was not participating fully. It’s not that surprising, though. Simla wasn’t into any sports. Any kind of physical activity must be super- challenging for her.

After about an hour of messing around with these exercises, Madison stood up, bowed and walked off, with Olivier following at her heels.

“I promised you some alone time,” Luna said, getting up. “So, I’ll be back in about an hour.” She handed Justin a couple of canvas bags. “Here are some refreshments, enjoy.” She then disappeared into a mist.

“Come on! Let’s run!” Simla whispered, getting up and pulling at Justin’s arm.

I was going to suggest the same, but hadn’t for a moment thought that Simla would go along. I had pictured making a run for it along with Justin, leaving Simla behind. So, I was a little shocked. I instinctively grabbed Justin’s other arm and got ready to run. I wasn’t prepared for the force with which he propelled both Simla and me back onto the grass. I landed with an almighty thump, hoping that I hadn’t cracked anything. “Geez, you idiot! Whatcha do that for?” I yelled.

“Did you both leave your brains behind? What’s the matter with you?” Justin shot back. “Do you really think that they’re going to just let us take off? They’re probably watching us right now!”

“Well, I think we should take a chance!” I grumbled. “What have we got to lose? Besides, they didn’t say we had to stay here for the hour.”

“Arizona’s right,” Simla said, rubbing her legs. “Push me again and I’ll kill you. I’m going. Stay if you want to, but I’m taking off.”

“Where to, Simla?” Justin sighed.

“To that big Chateau for starters. There are bound to be people in there, in fact if I come across anyone before I get there I’m asking for help.”

“Simla, they’ll stop you and you’ll be in trouble. Go on and try,” Justin dared her.

She did, much to my surprise. She walked off on her own toward the building. I was just about to follow her, when Justin took my arm.

“Arizona, hold on. I need to talk to you. You can follow her if you want to after. Please?”

“But I might not be able to catch up! I’d better go with her.”

Justin took my arm and briskly led me to where we could see Simla. She was walking toward the chateau, slowly. Her feet must hurt; she was limping slightly. As I was watching her, she suddenly disappeared into a mist.

“See?” Justin mumbled. “That was just plain stupid. You want to go next?”

“Sheesh! What should we do?” I despaired.

“Nothing. There’s nothing we can do. Not at this very moment. Come and sit down.”

I shook my head and we walked back to the canvas bags and sat down. Justin laid out the food in front of us. I was hungry; it had been a long day. I watched Justin as he wolfed down his brie-laden baguette. I had known Justin since the start of middle school. We had gelled instantly. We not only played hockey together, but also suffered through Kumon. He’d been a dweeby nerd when I first met him, however, he had since filled out into a five-foot-eleven, muscle-bound jock. He seemed to spend his life in the weight room at school. Justin had been part of both my Stevens and Darley lives and I was dying to find out how he had managed to do that. I did, however, have to find out what was happening now first and figure out how to find Simla. “Justin, you wanted to talk. So talk.”

“Okay, if I update you, will you do the same?”

“Sure, you go first.”

“I’ve been hanging out with Olivier. Strange guy, doesn’t say a lot, chuckles to himself from time to time. He’s definitely a Sigma-W-Pi. He’s got one of those pendants they wear. I tried engaging him in chitchat to try to figure out what we’re doing here. He just shrugged his shoulders. All I’ve been doing is training–which has been okay–apart from that meditation stuff, which seems like a waste of time. Olivier has me lifting weights and doing cardio. He’s been like a really good personal trainer. I don’t know what I’m training for, though.  My understanding is that I’m being taken to London tomorrow and that’s when I’ll find out.”

“What about Simla?”

“From what little she told me, I gather it’s been the same for her. She hates exercising, though, so it’s been hell for her. She’s thoroughly pissed and wants to go home. She’s not willing to wait until tomorrow to find out what we’re doing here.”

“Strange,” I remarked. “She was all gung-ho to start with. It’s fairly certain that you guys are being prepared to join Potomal’s group. He probably just needs to know that you guys are fit enough. What are you going to do if he asks you?”

“I’m keeping all my options open. I’m going to wait and hear what he has to say. I’m worried about Simla, though. She is now adamant that she’s not joining. Apparently her dad has the blueprints for the portal, so she said that she’d be able to travel anyway, she doesn’t really need to be able to wander, especially if it means busting her guts training everyday. She stupidly told Madison that, so I bet they’re now on alert as far as she’s concerned. And who knows what they’ll do now that she tried to escape!”

I shrugged. What a mess.

“What about you, Your Highness?” Justin snickered.

I thumped him. “Stop! I’ve basically been treated like a tourist with a personal tour guide. Luna and I have been doing the Paris sights until I got fed up this afternoon.”

“Why does she call you that anyway?”

“I have no idea, but, like you, I’m keeping all my options open for the moment. I’m being taken to London tomorrow, as well, and was told that I’ll find out more then.”

“Luna is Potomal’s daughter and you met the son as well?”

“Yeah, one of them. The youngest–I believe–Stan. He seemed okay. We’ll probably see him in London, that’s where he’s based. Justin, we need to figure out how to get Simla back. What are we gonna do?”

“We’re on the same team, right?” Justin asked.

“You tell me!” I retorted. “Our recent history has been confusing.  I’m still not sure if we are friends or enemies.”

“Arizona, we’ve been friends for a long time. I think that overrides any drama we’ve had recently. We need to stick together for now. We need to help Simla out as well, if we can. We’re dealing with forces much more dangerous than we’ve ever been to each other. So, can we call a truce and work together?”

I nodded. It sure would be easier if we worked together. Could I trust him? “How are we going to communicate with each other if we get separated in London?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to find a way. Did you snitch a cell phone off anyone yet?”

“No, of course not! How could I?”

“Haven’t you been around any people other than Luna all day?”

“Yeah, guess I have. I couldn’t just take one off someone, could I? Besides, I can’t recall a word of French, which really sucks.”

Justin reached into the front of his pants.

“Eeewww, do you have to adjust yourself in front of me? Gross!” I complained.

He rolled his eyes at me and pulled out a cell phone.

“Where did you get that?” I whispered excitedly. “Hide it, they may be watching!”

“I slipped it out of someone’s gym bag in the changing rooms earlier today, after weight training.”

“Fricking awesome!” I said, and hugged him. “Does it work? Who have you called?”

“Haven’t tried it yet. This is the first time I’ve been left alone all day. Olivier was standing right next to me when I slipped the cell phone out of that bag. I’m majorly lucky that he didn’t see me.”

“No kidding. Let’s try it when we get back to the apartment tonight–after you clean it.  Okay?”

He nodded.

Just as I was about to ask him to explain his bi-dimensional life, Olivier and Luna came walking up to us. We got up; both of them looked fairly pissed off. They didn’t say a word as they grabbed us by the shoulders and transported us back to the apartment where they unceremoniously dumped us on the couch.

“Angry maybe?” I snickered, rolling my eyes. “Come on, let’s go to your room and try the cell.” I grabbed the phone and looked at the date. Phew, our time hadn’t changed. Only one way to find out if we were still in the same dimension. I called Kellan.

I listened nervously as the phone clicked and a French speaking voice came on. I’d no idea what she said. “Justin?”

“Did you dial the international code?”

“No, what is it?”

“001.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, impressed as I tried that. The phone clicked a number of times and then I head the comforting sounds of a ringing tone.

“Hello?”

“Kellan?”

Raj Sen surveyed the room around him. He could get used to living like this. His earlier walk through his new, unexpected living quarters had filled him with the warm sensation of opulence. Every detail in this suite reeked of unabashed luxury. The suite itself consisted of three separate rooms–a bedroom, a living room and a bathroom. To call them rooms were not doing them justice, though. They were works of art. The bathroom, for example, had its own endless pool. Yes, settling into this suite was no problem whatsoever. His only complaint was the complete lack of windows; there was no view to the outside world. Still, if one was going to be deprived of the natural light from the sun, the light twinkling off the thousands of crystals hanging from the five-foot chandelier would do.

He made himself comfortable on the couch and reached out to pour himself a cup of tea from the steaming silver teapot, which seemed to have magically appeared on the glass coffee table when he had been in the bathroom enjoying the luxury of the Jacuzzi. He inhaled the aroma of mint emanating from the steam and then carefully took a sip.

The question was: what was he doing here? And, where exactly was here? He looked at his clock. An hour ago, he’d been at that nasty–he had not bothered to clean it–cottage in Mountain View watching Oprah. There hadn’t been much to do since Simla left. He spent four nights hanging out at the motel he’d been dropped off at, and then, when he thought it was safe to go back to the cottage, he’d returned to it. It was deserted, with no signs of Dan, Sophie or police around. So he made himself comfortable, to the point of being a slob, but who cared? He only had a few days left of living in squalor. Once Simla returned, they could get on with getting the portal blueprints to its new owner in return for a disgusting amount of money. He’d been feeling good enough about his future to spend his last days at the cottage watching endless hours of TV, not worrying about a thing.

The sudden pressure to his shoulders had taken him by surprise, during his favorite Oprah segment–the one where Tom Cruise jumps on the sofa. His eyelids felt unbearably heavy to the point that they’d been forced down. An indescribable weightlessness followed, accompanied by a loss of all perception of time. He must have temporarily lost consciousness, waking back up in this suite. It had taken him a few moments to collect himself and find his balance. Once he’d done so, he investigated his surroundings as best he could. Perhaps the buyer for the blueprints had somehow brought him here for the exchange. There was not much he could do while he waited to find out. The doors to the outside world were locked and his cell phone was missing. So, he sat back, closed his eyes and relaxed.

He quickly opened them again when he heard sounds coming from outside the locked double doors and sat as still as he could with excited anticipation. His future was about to walk in and greet him.

He was slightly taken aback when Simla appeared and then flung herself at him. She hugged him so tightly that he couldn’t see her face, but he could feel the wetness of her tears soaking into his shirt. He could also feel her trembling body and he wrapped his arms tighter around her to calm her. After a few minutes, he could feel her relaxing slightly, so he pulled back from her to be able to see her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, she had obviously been weeping.

“Dad,” she sobbed.

“Simla, what on earth’s going on? Have you been harmed?”

“I don’t know, Dad. I mean I’m okay, physically, but I’m scared.”

“What are you scared of? Where are we?”

“Madison is really furious with me and I’m scared to death of her.”

“Who’s Madison?”

“She’s a Sigma-W-Pi,” sobbed Simla, and pushed her face into her palms.

“Simla, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Calm down and then explain. I’m going to pour you some tea.” Once he handed her a cup of tea, Raj sat back and watched her drink it.

She looked so different from just five days ago, when he last saw her at the cottage. She had appeared so polished and mature. The girl drinking tea was far from that. She was the scared, unsure, disheveled Simla from a year ago. Whatever could have happened in just five days? She was only supposed to go back through the portal with Olivia and call the number he’d given her. She wasn’t even supposed to have any contact with the buyers apart from just calling Dr. Masterson and asking him if he was still interested in the purchase. Something had obviously gone terribly wrong. Who was Madison? He allowed his questions to swim around in his head while Simla calmed down. Once she put her cup down, he allowed himself to voice them.

“Simla, are you feeling a bit calmer? I need to know what’s going on. Did you make contact with the buyers?”

“Dad, I didn’t even make it back through the portal!” she muttered angrily. “The Sigma-W-Pi took me before Olivia had a chance to take me back.”

“The Sigma-W-Pi?”

“They are a type of Wanderer, only they can travel geographically in addition to the usual stuff. Isn’t that how you got here?”

He nodded. He must have. The transport had felt a bit like when he had wandered with Erica, but it was also different. So this made some sense. But this was the first time he’d heard of this type of Wanderers. What did they want with him and Simla? They weren’t after the blueprints, that was for sure. They hadn’t exactly imprisoned them in uncomfortable surroundings, so whatever the Sigma-W-Pi wanted from them couldn’t be all that bad. “Who’s Madison?”

“She’s the Sigma-W-Pi in charge of my training. She’s been working me like a slave,” Simla said, welling up with tears again.

“Training? She’s mistreated you?” Raj asked, getting angry.

“No, Dad. Not really mistreating. She’s just been on my back to train really hard. We’ve been out running, doing weights. I’m exhausted. I hate it.”

“I’m confused,” Raj mumbled, furrowing his brows. “What are you training for?”

“You know, I’m not even sure! I think I’m here because they want to recruit me for something. I’m guessing they’re going to teach me to wander, that’s why they’re training me so hard. But they haven’t actually told me anything yet. I got fed up with all the exercising and tried to run away. That’s why I’m in trouble. What are you doing here?”

“I’ve no idea. Simla, tell me everything. Start from when you left the cottage, don’t leave any detail out.”

As Simla recounted the events, Raj found himself getting more and more confused. Hopefully someone– perhaps this Potomal character that Simla had mentioned numerous times–would enlighten them. In the meantime he sat and listen to his daughter tell him a story that would have landed any of his patients into a locked ward with heavy medication–indefinitely.

He was happy when he heard the door open again, but he could feel Simla tensing up, so he laid his hand over hers. A woman walked into the room, he guessed from Simla’s description that this was the formidable Madison. She was certainly wearing a fearsome expression as she marched into the room to face them.

“Come with me,” she beckoned, waving her hands at them.

“Where are you taking us? Where are we?” Raj demanded.

“Your questions will be answered shortly. Come with me,” she repeated.

Raj stayed put on the couch, pulling Simla back down when she made an attempt to stand up. “We’re not going anywhere until we get some answers,” he said firmly, pursing his lips into a thin line.

“Dad!” Simla protested in a whimper.

“Shush, Simla! Not a word. Let me deal with this.” He could see that the Madison woman had been taken by surprise at his lack of cooperation. Well, no one was ordering him around.

Unexpectedly, she smiled at them. “Suit yourselves. Stay here if you want.” She shrugged and turned to walk away.

“Wait!” Raj called. “Why have you brought us here? Where are we?”

“Like I said, if you want answers, you’ll have to come with me. So, what’s it going to be?”

Raj would have loved to tell her where to go, the insolent woman! Remaining in this place indefinitely without answers, however, was not an option, so he got up and pulled Simla up with him.

“This way,” Madison said, and led them along the corridor to a bank of elevators. They were taken to the top floor where the elevator doors opened into a marble-floored hallway surrounded by Greek-looking statues. They followed Madison through brass double doors into a round conference room surrounded by floor to ceiling windows. Well, at least one of Raj’s questions had just been answered. The gleaming metal capsules of the London Eye dominated the view. They were definitely on the north side of the river Thames. London. He certainly had not expected that. The journey didn’t seem long enough to be able to bring him all the way to London from Mountain View. Normally, that would be at least a ten-hour flight, by airplane that is. These Sigma Wanderers could really travel fast. He was impressed.

“Please sit down,” Madison instructed, pointing them to a couple of chairs.

As they seated themselves, the doors opened again and a bunch of people walked in. Raj tried to get a good look at each. However, one person stole his attention. The man must have been about four hundred pounds. He was at least six-foot-six inches tall, easily towering over everyone else in the room. His shoulder-length blond, straight hair was secured in a low ponytail. He was smartly dressed in a three-piece dark business suit and gleaming brown Brogues. He wore an out-of-place looking silver medallion. He took a seat directly opposite Raj and Simla. He stared at Raj with his ice-blue eyes as he spoke in a soft baritone voice.

“Welcome to London. I hope you’ve been comfortable,” the man said, looking at Raj, and ignoring Simla completely. “My name is Potomal. I head the Sigma-W-Pi.”

The big cheese, Raj thought to himself. He should have known! He was hardly likely to be one of the hired muscle guys in that fancy suit.

“I’m sure you are looking for answers. You must be wondering why we brought you here.”

Raj nodded. “Yes, we are.”

“We need Simla to work for us, temporarily only. Once she’s completed the project we need her for, you both will be free to go.”

“What project?” Raj queried.

“We need her to extract some information for us. She will be given adequate training for it. There is no danger involved.”

“Well, I’m not doing any more training!” Simla whined. “Why should I help you anyway?”

“We were hoping that you would do it for the reward of being able to wander,” Potomal replied. “However, since that doesn’t seem like a strong enough incentive, we’ve decided to hold your dad and hand him over to the FBI team, who were investigating the Darley children’s disappearances last year, if you don’t cooperate.” Potomal looked at Simla with a smirk on his face.

Raj couldn’t help but be impressed. Whatever it was this giant of a man wanted Simla to help him with, she didn’t have much choice now. She would have to suck it up and get on with it.

“You’d really do that?” Simla muttered angrily, looking away from Potomal’s glare.

“You better believe it!” he growled back at her.

She shook her head and looked at Raj in dismay. “Okay, I’ll go along with it as long as neither of us is put in any danger,” she conceded.

Potomal’s facial expression relaxed, but his voice was as hard as before. “You’re in no position to bargain with us. I suggest you now shut up and complete your training with Madison. Once you’re done, you’ll execute your project and then you’ll be free to go home. Your dad will be offered the hospitality of staying in the suite downstairs until you are done. I take it that it’s to your satisfaction?” he asked, looking over at Raj.

Raj nodded. It wasn’t like he had any choice. His only concern was how long all this would take. He needed to head back and deal with the blueprint sale. “How long do you think Simla will be?”

“Not long at all. We’ll get to work immediately,” Madison said from behind them, and nudged at Simla’s elbow to follow her. “Dr. Sen, please accompany us, we’ll drop you back at your quarters.”

“Simla, no more warnings. Any tricks and your father will be marched straight into the FBI’s capable hands. Capish?”

Simla looked over her shoulder in defeat and nodded at Potomal.

It was almost surreal to hear Kellan’s voice over the phone. I hadn’t for a moment thought that I would actually be able to make contact with him.

“Hello?”

“Kellan, it’s me, Arizona!” I said, breaking into a huge grin.

“Shrimp?” his voice crackled and then went silent.

“Kellan, you still there?”

“Yeah, is that really you, Arizona?”

“Kell, yeah. Listen, I don’t know how much time I have….”

“Arizona, where are you?”

“In Paris.”

“Paris, France?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m still in Mountain View, but we’re going to head straight over there to get you. Where are you exactly?”

“We?” I asked, wondering whom he was bringing with him.

“David. Shrimp, where should we meet?”

“I don’t know. How long is it gonna take you to get here?”

“I don’t know. Depends on when the next flight leaves from San Fran. I think the flight itself takes at least ten hours if it’s direct. We’re gonna head to the airport right away. I’ve got your number on caller ID, so I’ll call you once we get there, and then figure out where to meet. Are you being held captive or did you manage to escape?”

“Yes, I’m under guard, so I can’t come out to you. You’ll have to find me. Kellan, I won’t even be here tomorrow. I’m being taken to London.”

“That’s actually better. The flight time is a bit shorter. I’m going to call you as soon as we land. Will you be able to keep the cell phone turned on?”

“Kellan, I don’t know how much juice it has. It might be better if I call you. Okay? I’ll try you in about twelve hours. Hopefully you’ll be in London by then. If I don’t get you then, I’ll try you again every half an hour after that.”

“It’s a plan.” Kellan paused. “Arizona, make sure to take care of yourself. I love you.”

“Love you too, Kell,” I said, and hung up. Wow.

“So?” Justin asked, before I took my next breath.

“Can you believe it? That was Kellan! He and David are going travel to London and contact us when they get there. Can I hang on to the cell?”

“I guess. They’re less likely to search a royal than me anyway, it’s safer with you.”

“So, all’s good between us?”

He nodded.

“The aim’s to get back home. You’re going to try to go along with their schemes until we find a way of escaping?”

“Yeah. I’m also going to try to figure out what happened to Simla and help her. They’ll most likely separate us once we get to London. If we don’t see each other, I’ll try to steal another cell and contact you. Hopefully David and Kellan have some sort of a plan or we’re screwed.”

“Yeah,” I replied, sighing.

Plan? I was guessing the plan was to grab me and hightail it back home. Kellan and David hadn’t even known where I was, so whatever plan they may have was obviously in its formative stage. From Kellan’s reaction, I could tell that he never expected a phone call from me. I could only hope that David and he had additional help and it wasn’t just the two of them out on a wild goose chase of a rescue mission.

“Well, I guess it’s time for bed,” Justin suggested.

I nodded. It had been a long day. I’d walked for miles and miles–I was exhausted. As soon as Justin left my room, I threw myself down onto the soft mattress and buried my head in the feather pillow. I just needed five minutes of downtime before I would get ready for bed.

The five minutes must have turned into hours. I slept like a rock, my head was still buried in the pillow when I woke. I felt like I had slept for days in a heavy, dreamless slumber. I was stiff from the awkward position I had laid down in, but managed to turn over and squinted to avoid the Parisian rays from the skylight. Turns out, I didn’t have to–the skylight had magically disappeared–not. I had clearly been moved. I could only assume that I was transported to London while I slept. I felt for the cell phone in a panic–I had put in my pocket, thank goodness–and breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the metal casing against my palm. Phew!

I looked around. It was clear that I still maintained my Royal status. If anything, I had become more royal–this room made my last one look quite plain. I looked out the bay windows to a view of the London Eye, which I got to ride in the last time I had visited this city. I went to the bathroom, which was the size of my bedroom at home, and tried Kellan’s number. He picked up on the first ring.

“Arizona, it’s been fourteen hours! What happened?”

“Sorry, Kell. I’m just getting up. I can’t keep up with the whole time thing when we are being transported about randomly. I’ve no idea what the time is. I’m just happy that we’re still in the same dimension and you picked up my call,” I said, feeling intense relief at hearing his voice.

“Shrimp, any idea where you are?”

“Well, I can see the London Eye and the Thames from my windows, so I am guessing on the north bank.”

“Are you high up?”

“I guess, I really don’t know. Hold on, let me check.” I snuck back for another look out the window and then went back to the safety of the locked bathroom. “Kell, I’m guessing about eight or ten floors up. I can’t be sure. The window is locked. How are you going to find me?” I asked, knowing full well that there was no way for him to do so. I had to think of a plan, somewhere we could arrange to meet.

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “We need more clues. Look out the window and tell us everything you see.”

It was too late for that. I could hear noises from outside the bathroom. Someone was in my bedroom. “Kellan,” I whispered, “I’m going to try to find a way to get to the London Eye, so hang around there and I’ll try to find you. I’ll try to call you later.”

I made my way back to the bedroom where Luna was waiting for me with a big smile on her face.

“Good morning, Your Highness!”

“Hey, Luna. Wassup?”

“We’re in London! I wasn’t expecting to come, but my father asked me, so we get to spend some more time together. I love London, such a great city, amazing history.”

I loved London, too. This was my first home. I was born here, at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. Even though we moved away a long time ago, I was still very familiar with this city. We came back for frequent visits, usually around the time of the annual Wimbledon Tennis Championships, which my mother procured tickets for every other year–happy memories of Pimms and strawberries–however, no need to share that with Luna. I was glad to see her. If anyone could be persuaded to do a bit of sightseeing, it was Luna. Now I needed to convince her to take me to the London Eye. “So, Luna, what’s the plan for today?” I asked, hoping that there were no major ones.

“As I promised you in Paris, you will get to see Potomal this morning, once you are ready. He’s waiting for you.”

Typical! I tried to remain emotionless as I took in this bit of information. I had no idea if I should feel apprehensive or not. More importantly, I needed to get word to Justin about the London Eye plan. “Great, I’m looking forward to meeting him,” I lied.

“There is a selection of outfits in the wardrobe for you to choose from. I’ll take you to him, once you’re dressed.”

“Help me out, Luna. I don’t have a clue what to wear. Just choose something for me while I take a shower. Okay?”

By the time I came back, she’d laid a smart olive suit on the bed for me, with complementing shoes and a bag. I hurried into them and sat still while Luna arranged my hair into a bun. Since I was clearly not dressed for flight, I’d have to come back and change before trying to get to the London Eye. Okay, it was time to face the big boss.

I had expected someone much more stuffy and formal-looking. Luna’s dad looked like an ex-rock’n-roller imprisoned in a linebacker’s body and squashed into a Donald Trump suit. It was just all wrong.  I was surprised; he was so unlike either Luna or Stan, who now stood beside his father, beaming at me.

“Your Highness, it’s a pleasure to have your company. Please do join us for breakfast,” Potomal said, ushering me into the large dining room.

This was some serious wealth. Everything was opulent, even the door hinges. We walked past the main dining table–which I guess would seat about fifty–to a side room with a smaller table where we took our seats. It was just the four of us. I wanted to ask if Justin was going to join us, but decided to wait. I didn’t want to disrupt the current pleasant mood in the room. When we had been served and taken a few bites, I noticed Potomal sitting back in his chair, studying me–and my most unroyal table manners, no doubt.

“Are you looking forward to seeing your grandfather?” he asked, catching me off guard.

“I wasn’t aware that I was,” I said vaguely, hedging my bets.

“Of course, you weren’t,” Potomal agreed. “We will be returning you to your grandfather in a few days. Until then, it’s an honor to have you as our guest. Luna and Stan will entertain you, perhaps show you around the city.”

“What am I doing here in the first place?” I asked as softly as I could, so as not to provoke him in any way, but I could see his face clouding over.

“You are here as our guest,” he said firmly, and got up. “I shall leave you in Luna and Stan’s capable hands. Have a good day and I’ll see you at breakfast again tomorrow.” With that, he disappeared out of the dining room, leaving me rolling my eyes at Luna.

“You said that I would get some answers,” I said accusingly, staring her down with my best death glare.

“What do you want to know?” she asked. “I’ll try to answer what I can.”

“First of all, what the heck am I doing here? What gives you–or your dad–the right to just take me from my home and hold me captive? Answer that for starters. I am seriously pissed off!”

Luna took a deep breath, clearly startled by my outburst while Stan muffled a snicker.

“Oh, go on and snicker if you want, you overgrown Sigma puppy.”

That was it. Stan was practically on the floor chortling with his mouth open. Not a pretty sight. I grabbed Luna’s arm and pulled her all the way back to my room and threw her onto my bed. “Well? Start talking or I’m going to thump you!”

“You’re planning to get violent?” she asked, surprised, as that would have been the least possible scenario that she could have anticipated.

“Yeah, so start talking.”

Luna cowered; I felt a bit ashamed. I was obviously not going to hit her–probably.

“Start by telling me what I’m doing here.”

“Your Highness, you are our leverage to gain control over your grandfather.”

“Say what?”

She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Well, my dad wants control of the Sigma-W,” she explained patiently. “Since your grandfather has control at the moment, we need leverage to make him step down. You are part of that plan.”

There was absolutely no point telling her that my grandfather died a long time ago and that he had so not been a Wanderer. I was piecing it all together slowly. This had to do with Gramadea, I was sure of that. She was the only Sigma-W I knew in our family. Apparently Rupert was a dormant one…. I sighed. Grandfather. The must mean Gramadea’s husband. They thought I was Rupert’s kid. I had never been told anything about Rupert’s dad. Could he be the leader? Gramadea was married to the leader of the Sigma-W? It would all make sense if that was the case. So I was now deeply submerged in a paranormal royalty-fest, with takeovers thrown in. How jolly! Mom’s head must be exploding!

“Your Highness?” Luna whispered.

I had totally forgotten about her as I was pondering the possibilities. What was it that I needed to ask her? “Where’s Justin?”

“He is at training with Olivier this morning. Simla is with them, as is Madison.”

Oh, so Simla was back. I wondered what they did to persuade her to rejoin them. What was their role in this takeover? “I’d like to see them.”

“You will, at dinner. Would you like Stan and me to show you about in London in the meantime?” She pointed to the Ferris wheel. “We could take a ride on the wheel, I haven’t been before, but I’ve heard that the view is spectacular,” she said, trying her best to placate me.

Perfect. What to do about Justin, though? If I got a chance to escape, I had to take it. Anything else would be utterly foolish. I would come back for Justin and Simla. I needed some time to think this through. This would be a one-chance deal and it had to be successful. “Luna, I’m going to get changed before we go. Can you give me some privacy?”

“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll go and get Stan organized to come.”

“Can’t it just be the two of us? We could go shopping after, at Harrods and Harvey Nicks. Does he have to come?” I asked, rolling my eyes at her to compound the need for male-free shopping time.

“No problem. As you wish. I’ll go and get changed as well. I’ll be back in about half an hour, is that long enough?”

“Yup,” I said, and grabbed my cell as soon as she left. I stopped myself from calling Kellan right away. I had to think this through first. If Kellan and David had made any concrete escape plans, I’m sure he’d have told me during our last conversation. They probably assumed that we would somehow make a run for it through the streets of London and then catch a flight home. That was not going to work. Luna would whisk me off to another world before I could say burger. We had to be smart.

I needed David to transport me off quickly before Luna could comprehend what was going on. That would, however, mean leaving Kellan behind as David could only wander with one person at a time. That was not going to happen. There was no way was I leaving Kellan behind. I needed David to get Kellan to safety first and then come back and wait for me by the wheel. It was time to call them.

“Kell?”

“Arizona, are you coming? We’re at the London Eye already. How long are you gonna be?”

“I’ve been thinking about how we’re going to do this, a plan, you know, and I was thinking that David needs to get you to saf….”

“Shrimp,” Kellan interrupted. “My phone is running out of juice. Don’t worry about the details, just get here ASAP!” And he cut the call.

I called him right back, we had to agree on a plan or this would never work. He wasn’t picking up, his cell must have died. What now? I hurriedly changed into jeans, t-shirt and a hoodie. Then I stepped into a pair of black sneakers. I was ready to run. I was going to have to run, as there was no way I was going to let David take me while leaving Kellan behind. This sucked. However, I would at least get to see Kellan, even momentarily. It was better than nothing. I missed him like crazy. And, it was certainly possible that they actually had a plan. Or so I hoped. Whatever way this was going to play out, I’d find out soon enough, as Luna walked into the room.

“Ready, Your Highness?” I had become sadly used to the Your Highness thing.

I nodded and got up to follow her out.

We walked down to the Millennium Bridge and crossed over to the south side of the Thames, to Victoria Embankment. Although there are numerous bridges across the Thames, I remembered that this was the first pedestrian-only bridge built in the last century. I remember Ella having a tantrum on this bridge the last time we crossed it.

“Shall we head up to Harvey Nicks for tea after our ride?” Luna inquired.

“Sounds good,” I said, feeling a bit bad for her. She seemed like a really nice girl. Too bad she was caught up in her father’s schemes. I didn’t take my eyes off the big Ferris wheel as we approached it. We walked toward the ticket booth and I immediately spied Kellan. My heart skipped a beat. It took everything I had to pretend to ignore him. I didn’t want to give Luna any indication that I was up to something. Thankfully, Kellan did the same, standing leaning against a fence, looking casual as he chatted with David, who didn’t even glance at me. They were talking to a third person, with her back to me. She came into view as we brushed passed them on out way to the booth. Gramadea.

I let Luna get in front of me as we walked to the ticket stand and took our places at the back of the line. I noticed that Gramadea left David and Kellan chatting with each other and then took her place in the line, right behind me. As Luna stepped up to the kiosk to pay for the tickets, Gramadea laid her hands on my shoulders. I shut my eyes and felt the weightless sensation of wandering.

When I felt my feet come into contact with a solid surface, I opened my eyes and steadied myself, holding on to Gramadea’s arm, but not for long. I found myself pulled from her and enveloped in a warm, tight embrace. I didn’t have to look to see who it was, I could breath him in as my nose nuzzled against his neck. Kellan. We stood there for ages, not moving, standing dead-still, stuck to one another, hoping time would do what it wanted around us as long as it left us alone.

“Shrimp, you okay?” Kellan whispered into my ear. The warmth of his breath made me quiver. “Arizona?”

“I’m fine. Really. I’m just so tired. So tired of being away from you.”

He pulled me even closer as I heard a cough from behind me. He didn’t loosen his grip.

“Gramadea?” he queried.

“Kellan, we should go inside,” she said.

“We’ll join you in a bit,” he said firmly, not showing any indication of following her or loosening his grip around me. I could feel her leave; we were alone. Kellan let go of me with one arm, the other one still wrapped around me and we walked over to a bench and sat down as closely as we could next to each other.

Kellan let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes as he leaned back–with me still attached to him–to rest his back against the wall behind us. It was a stone wall, about eight-feet tall, so I couldn’t see over it. In front of us was a mansion clad in stone. It looked really old, with the stones of uneven shape, but they had been cleaned. My eyes were drawn to the thatched roof. I remember this type of roof from the Tudor mansions I saw on my previous visits to London.

“Kellan, are we still in London?” I whispered gently, so as to not wake him up had he fallen asleep.

He stroked my hair and put his head against mine. “Yes. We’re in Wimbledon Village.”

“Is that such a good idea? Shouldn’t we be further away from Potomal?”

“Shrimp, we’re safe. Though I’m not going to let go of you for even a sec,” he said, squeezing my hand. “We’re in a different dimension from Potomal. It would take him some time to figure out in which one.”

“Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense. Where’s David?”

“He’s inside the house waiting with the rest of them.”

“The rest of them? You mean Gramadea? How did she get here anyway? How did you all get here?”

“Well, all I know is that Gramadea and David are in there waiting for us. I have no idea if there’s anyone else. David tracked you using his sense of you,” Kellan said, with a slight edge to his voice. “I want to know more about that by the way. Did you know about his connection with you?”

I nodded. “So he tracked me to the right dimension?”

“Yeah. And then he came and got me. We weren’t sure what to do next, but then you called! We reported everything to your grandmother, I mean Gramadea, who came back with us. I hoped she’d have some kind of plan.”

“We should probably go in. Besides, I want to thank David for bringing you back safely. Then we’ve got to go back to rescue Justin and Simla,” I added.

“You’re kidding, right?”

I shook my head adamantly.

“Arizona, I’m sure they want to be there. But, if they don’t and need rescuing, we certainly can’t do it.”

“Well, I don’t think they want to be there at all. Simla even tried to run away. I promised Justin I would go back and get him.”

Kellan nodded. “Okay. We should let Gramadea and the other Wanderers deal with this. They’ll need as much information as you can give them. If you’re ready to be grilled, we’ll go in.”

I wasn’t feeling particularly ready for a grilling, but I had to do what I could to help Justin and Simla. I got up, still semi-attached to Kellan and we walked toward the house together. We walked through the unlocked, heavy, wooden double doors into the hall to be greeted by David and Amadea. David came bounding up to me and pulled me in for a hug.

“Sheesh, Arizona. You had me seriously worried. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, David. Thanks for bringing Kellan,” I said, and kissed his cheek.

“No problem,” he said, as Kellan grabbed my hand again.

“Children, let’s go through to the pool. There are a lot of people down there who want to see you.  They’ve been waiting patiently for some time. Some you know and some will be new to you. Your parents will be here soon, Arizona.”

“Mom and Rupert are coming?” I asked surprised.

“Yes,” replied Gramadea. “So is Ella.”

“What about Harry?”

“He’s already here. Come on. Let’s go see him and the others.”

I gave Kellan a quizzical look, but he just shrugged as we followed Gramadea through the corridors.

“I didn’t know,” he whispered. “I don’t know what’s going on at all.”

We finally walked down a curved staircase, which ended in a foyer that opened into a finished basement. It was huge. There was a round swimming pool in the middle surrounded by a crowd of people. As I was scanning them, one broke free and walked toward us. I let go of Kellan and met my brother halfway as I flung myself into his arms. “Oh my gosh, Harry! It’s so good to see you,” I said.

“Likewise!” he said, and put his arm around my shoulder. “Come on. Let me introduce you to the others. Come on Kellan. David, you, too.”

Harry ushered me to where Gramadea was now standing, which was next to a man who pretty much looked like Rupert, but slightly older.

“Arizona, this is Granddad.”

Granddad held out his hand. This was clearly Rupert’s dad and Harry’s grandfather, not mine. Or was he? Sort of. I supposed he was my step-granddad. I took his hand and shook it.

“I am very pleased to meet you, Arizona. I can’t wait to meet Ella and your mother. They should be here any moment. In the meantime, let me introduce you to some of the people here. Don’t feel that you need to remember everyone’s names.”

With that, Granddad walked Kellan and me around the pool introducing us to everyone from Katarina to Joel. He was right. There was no way I was going to remember the names, though I may remember some of the faces. They were all wearing Sigma-W pendants clearly displayed around their necks.

I heard a shriek from behind me as we were nearing the other end of the pool and I turned around ready for action. Something launched itself at me with such a force that I tumbled backwards and despite Kellan trying to steady me, I fell into the pool in a panic with whatever it was still attached to me. It let go and splashed about in the warm water. All eyes were on me, all mouths open in gaping guffaws.

“Arizona!”

“Ella, you monkey!” She managed to splash me a couple of times before Rupert and Harry pulled her out the water.

“Can I go swimming? Pleeeeeze?” she begged.

I climbed back out with a bit of help from Kellan, though his arms had turned into jelly as he couldn’t steady himself from chuckling so much. “Sheesh, your face, Shrimp. Priceless.”

I thumped him and stomped off toward Ella, who was now safely in Rupert’s arms or I would have thumped her as well. Seriously annoying.

“She was just excited to see you,” Mom said, stepping between Rupert and me. “We are all excited to see you, and relieved. Have you been harmed in any way?”

“No, I was treated like a princess,” I couldn’t help saying.

“You were?” Ella asked, her eyes wide. “Did you get to wear a tiara?”

I laughed. “Yeah, actually I did. A really nice one, you would have totally loved it.”

“Can I see it?”

“I don’t have it any more,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“Aww, that’s a poop,” she exclaimed.

“Yup, anyhow. I’m glad to see you, Ella. You did frighten the bejeezus out of me, though. And we’re both wet!”

Gramadea arrived with some towels for us. “Come with me. I’ve got fresh clothes for both of you. And if it’s tiaras you both are after, we’re not short on those either,” she smiled.

“Awesome.” Ella managed to look awfully like the Cheshire cat, smiling from ear to ear.

~

Olivia was relieved to see Amadea take charge of the two girls. She’d been slightly taken aback by Arizona’s response to Ella, her old Stevens responses almost reappeared–almost. It was a relief when Arizona managed to control them. This would give Olivia some time to talk to Rupert and properly meet her new father-in-law.

The decision for them all to come over to Spencer’s house–one of his many residences, scattered all over the world–had been a hasty one. One that was taken in order to keep Ella safe. The scary ability of Potomal’s group meant that it was impossible for Rupert and her to protect Ella. They had no way of keeping Potomal from whisking Ella away from them. The only way was to hide her, and where better to hide her than here?

Spencer Darley–Olivia looked him over carefully and was slightly startled by the uncanny resemblance he had to Rupert. It wasn’t just the physical resemblance; he also emitted a similar aura. Rupert took her hand and pulled her over to his father.

“Dad, this is Olivia.”

“I am very pleased to meet you at last,” Spencer said, with the same disarming smile that had drawn her to Rupert. “We should talk. Let’s go to the study. Everyone out here will be fine; they seem to be enjoying themselves. I’ll introduce you to them when we come back.”

The study was more like a library. A couple of large oak tables surrounded by leather-clad chairs dominated the center. Spencer led them to one of the tables and they sat down around it. Harry, David and Kellan joined them.

“I’m glad to see you all. You’ll be safe here while we work out our issues with Potomal,” Spencer reassured them. “I will be leaving tonight, but I’ll leave you in Amadea’s capable hands and there will also be a group of Sigma-W staff here to watch over you.”

“Please tell me how you got Arizona back? What happened to her?” Olivia asked.

“We haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet. She just returned here with Amadea. What I know from our Intelligence is that she was held briefly in Paris and then moved to London.”

“Held? Has she seen a doctor? Is she traumatized?”

Spencer looked to Kellan. “Kellan is the only one who has spoken to her properly since she was rescued. She has just arrived, so we haven’t had a chance to get her to a doctor yet.”

“I don’t think she needs one,” Kellan added. “She seems absolutely fine. She hasn’t shared much about what she’s been up to. Her main concern seems to be Simla and Justin at the moment. She’s adamant that we go back and rescue them.”

Olivia nodded. “Of course, that has to be our main concern right now, too,” she said, looking at Spencer.

“Dad,” Rupert said, “I know that you’re absorbed with sorting out the Potomal issue at the moment, but Justin and Simla need to be made a priority.”

“Son, they are. With Arizona safely back with us, Potomal has lost his bargaining platform. I can’t imagine that he has a backup plan without her as a pawn. He will probably try to find Harry or Ella when he sees that Arizona is missing, which is why I insisted that Ella be brought here. Potomal is not aware that I have any interest in Simla and Justin’s welfare. I would like to keep it like that. It gives us a better chance to rescue them if we catch him off guard. We don’t want him finding out that we are interested in rescuing them so he doesn’t amp up security around them and decide to use them as leverage. As far as we know, for now, they have been brought in to solidify his numbers, so that there are enough of them to make a takeover bid. From what I know, once that is accomplished he was planning to send them home, unless they want to stay and work for him willingly. What I do need to know is whether or not they want to be rescued. Will they cooperate if we send in a team? I heard that Simla was unhappy in her present life. So, it is possible that she decided to stay.”

Kellan shook his head. “From what I have gathered from Arizona, Simla doesn’t want to be there. In fact, she even tried to escape.”

“That’s useful to know and be rest assured that we’ll speak to Arizona about this as soon as she gets back from changing out of her wet clothes. I’m sure that we all want to know what she’s been through. Once she’s filled us in, we can decide on a plan. Do you have any other questions in the meantime?”

Olivia had so many questions, but now was not the time, especially with the kids here. It was, as Spencer–she would have to get used to thinking of him as her father-in-law–said, time to get the Potomal mess sorted out. “Can you tell us a bit more about Potomal?”

“Potomal used to be my second in command. I have known him for a very long time. When Rupert decided to renounce his future as Sigma-W leader, Potomal assumed that he would take over instead. I didn’t know this at the time, but I did notice an increased effort from him, his work was impeccable. He busied himself in every aspect of our work, learning as much as he could. I was really pleased with him and encouraged him to educate himself by rotating him through the various groups. It was clear to everyone that Amadea would take charge, should anything happen to me. The chain of command then goes to Morten–who you will meet at some point–after that. Morten is my cousin. Potomal has always resented this link in the command and assumed that through hard work I would see that he was better suited and appoint him my heir. When it was made clear that the chain of command would stay static for now, he was very disappointed and angry. Still, Potomal kept doing his duties, but with much less enthusiasm. We later found out that he’d been trying to gather enough of our members to do a takeover. When we found out, I had no option but to have him expelled from our operations. He is independently wealthy, so he has been living in his various residences with his five children. We do monitor him, as we hear whisperings of a takeover plot from time to time. None had resulted in any action, until now. I am guessing that he has finally accumulated enough staff to be able to run the basic operations, which is why he took action now.”

Olivia noticed Spencer hesitating as the door opened and Amadea walked in followed by two dry girls. Ella was wearing a very expensive-looking tiara. “Ella, my goodness! Look at your tiara!”

“Mom, isn’t it just the most beautiful tiara you’ve ever seen? It’s a bit like the ones we saw at the Natural History museum in DC, isn’t it?”

It actually kind of was, Olivia thought to herself looking at the tiara. This was not purchased at Claire’s. It had a definite Van Cleef feel to it. She looked over at Amadea.

“It’s fine, Olivia. She’s a princess after all,” she said, winking at Ella.

~

No kidding, I thought to myself. Gramadea had that right. No one could argue with Ella being a princess.

It was clear to me as soon as we walked into the library that they had been talking about me. Although this was not surprising, it was a bit disconcerting. I would have liked to have been there from the start. I looked over at Kellan, who was pointing at the chair next to him. I walked over and sat down. Ella was looking at her new grandfather with suspicion.

“But I didn’t know that I had a granddad! You’ve never sent me any cards or presents. That’s what granddads are supposed to do….”

Spencer smiled. “Tell you what, Ella, for starters, keep the tiara. How about that?”

“Well, yes, but Gramadea gave it to me, and I think she wants it back.”

Amadea smiled. “I don’t want it back-back, just let me keep it safe for you when you’re not wearing it. Okay?”

“Thank you, Gramadea and Grand…  what shall I call you?” she asked, confused.

“Just call me Granddad.”

“All right,” Ella agreed. “Thank you.”

“You are very welcome. Now there are a whole lot of people waiting at the pool who want to meet you. This is Alexa,” Spencer said, nodding over at a girl who had just walked into the room.

I guessed Alexa was around fifteen or so. She was very pretty, slightly gothic-looking, wearing all black, nail polish and all. I could see Ella’s little face beaming with appreciation.

“Hi, Alexa,” Ella said shyly.

“Hi, Your Highness. It’s my pleasure to meet you. I’ve been told that you’re a talented actress and singer. Shall we head outside, so you can tell me more? I play the guitar myself.”

Ella skipped off happily with Alexa, just as Spencer expected, no doubt. Was I supposed to call him granddad as well? I guess it was slightly better than having to call him Your Highness or something equally ridiculous. All eyes were on me. They didn’t have to ask. I knew that it was time for me to tell them about my little adventure.

If there was one thing Raj hated with a passion, it was being excluded. What was the point of having a brilliant mind, like his own, sitting idle while there was work to be done? Why trust Simla to do anything? He would have been more than happy to help Potomal with whatever project he was engaged. Sitting around in this room, magnificent as it was, was getting boring. He’d even spent time in the endless pool this morning. His body didn’t need exercise; it was his mind that needed stimulation before he turned into a vegetable. Plus, he did need to get back home to deal with his own business. The buyers for the portal blueprints weren’t going to wait around forever. It seemed that Simla hadn’t managed to contact them before she became involved with Potomal. Come to think of it, how had she become involved with this? Why had Potomal chosen her? Clearly, Simla was not a willing participant. Raj had surmised that much from their meeting with Potomal. In fact, the only reason he seemed to have been transported over was to be used as blackmail to get Simla to do whatever they needed her for. Why Simla? She couldn’t even wander. Raj walked over to the couch, slumped back into it and reached for the television controls. The unit didn’t even receive any regular programs; it was set to a movie channel only. He switched it back off, as he heard a noise from behind him.

Before he could turn, he felt a firm grip on his shoulders and the now-familiar sensation of Sigma-wandering. Where were they taking him now and why? Wherever it was, it was far away. The sensation of wandering lasted at least half an hour before he felt himself roughly dropped onto something hard. He was stiff from the journey when he opened his eyes and looked down at the wooden surface he was sitting on. His knees hurt. A quick scan of the surrounding area indicated to him that that he was in some kind of outdoor patio area, surrounded by trees and flowering bushes.

“Who on earth are you?”

Raj looked up to see a small lady–probably in her late sixties–walk up to him.

“Are you all right? You don’t look well. Are you hurt? Shall I call an ambulance? Did you fall? You look like you may have broken something.”

“No. Thank you. I think I’m all right.”

“Annie! Come out here,” she called, much to Raj’s dismay. Two of them would be so much harder to get away from. He stood up gingerly as Annie emerged from the house.

“Oh, my! Who is this, Lizzy?” Annie asked, with wide eyes. She, like her friend, was probably in her late sixties or seventies.

“Ladies, I am John,” Raj replied, thinking it would probably be better not to reveal his real name.

“John? Okay. Are you sure you don’t want us to call an ambulance? I’ve got a cell phone right here, my son insists that I carry one at all times,” Lizzy said, rolling her eyes at her friend.

“Yes, I’m sure. But thank you, I appreciate your concern.”

“Well, come inside for a minute and we’ll make you some tea before you’re on your way. Are you feeling up to walking? I can lend you one of my walking sticks,” Lizzy offered.

Raj’s feet did feel like jelly, but he found his balance and showed Lizzy that he was well enough to walk, even if it was with a bit of a limp. He would love to walk right out, but he felt dehydrated and he needed to find out where he was. “I’d love a cup of tea,” he said gratefully.

He hobbled into the house through the patio doors, which led into a small family room. The place was dark, with brown wall-to-wall carpeting and dark musty-smelling furniture. An enormous flat screen television, which looked completely out-of-place, occupied one of the walls. He was startled by two cats peering suspiciously at him from the behind the coffee table.

“Oh, that’s Chuckles and Couch Potato, never mind them. They aren’t used to strangers. We don’t have a lot of visitors,” Annie said and shooed them away.

Raj sneezed. He would have to get out of here soon; he was allergic to cats. “Annie, where are we?”

“You don’t know where you are? Did you get lost walking? You are not dressed properly for that, you know. Best to wear hiking boots when walking around here. We have snakes.”

Lizzy returned with the tea and sat down on the couch on the other side of Raj, sandwiching him. He felt claustrophobic.

“Where are we?” he asked again.

“Lizzy, John seems to have gotten lost walking. I was just telling him that he needs to dress in better shoes for walking,” she said, pointing down at his dress shoes.

Lizzy nodded. “At least you’ve kept them clean. Drink up, there is plenty more.”

Raj sipped the over-sweetened, creamy tea. The extra sugar would do him no harm, but it was disgusting going down. “Ladies, I’d like to figure out how lost I am… where did you say we were?”

“We didn’t, not yet. We’re about half-an-hour’s drive from the nearest city–Mountain View. Is that where you’re from? Or are you from San Francisco? You look like a city person. Out on a nature ramble? City folk sometimes get these funny urges, you know, to want to experience nature and all.”

“Yes, I’m from San Francisco,” Raj lied, taking a long sip from his cup. What the heck was he doing back in Mountain View? Which dimension was he in? He couldn’t go back to Mountain View until he knew. It would be best to head over to San Francisco and lay low for a while until he found out what was going on. Why did Potomal drop him off here? Was Simla finished with her project? Potomal should have had the decency to take him back to the cottage he took him from in the first place. Raj couldn’t believe that he’d just been unceremoniously dropped off at this place! It suddenly occurred to him that he had no money. How was he supposed to manage? He looked around to see if there was anything of value around. The ladies had the big television, so they were probably not cash-poor. There was bound to be money and jewelry sitting about that he could borrow for now.

“Did you hear me, John?” Annie asked loudly, nudging him.

“Sorry, Annie. I’m a bit tired that’s all. I need to be on my way. May I use your bathroom before I go?”

“Yes, it’s through there,” Annie said, pointing to the hallway. “Do you have a car somewhere? I could drive you to it.”

“Ladies, thank you, you’ve done enough for me already. I shall be on my way soon. My car is parked up the road. I’ll find it. Not to worry.” He got up and walked toward the hall but made a quick detour when he spotted the stairs and made his way to the bedrooms. That’s where the jewelry and money would be.

~

What a strange phone call! Of all things, Claire had never expected this odd turn of events. Someone had made an anonymous call to the Bureau and left a message for her, an urgent message. Agent Pitt conveyed that the message was short, just asking her to pick up Raj Sen from an address about half an hour from Mountain View.

The FBI had hunted Dr. Sen for months after the disappearance of the Darley kids, finally giving up after Christmas last year. She’d never expected to hear from him again. There was no time to lose; the last thing she wanted was to let him slip by again. She hightailed it to her car and followed the GPS directions to the address Agent Pitt had given her. She had no further information because she didn’t wait for any. There was no time.

Claire brought the car to a halt right outside the small cottage surrounded by woods and waited for backup to arrive. There was no way she was going in on her own unless the inhabitants seemed to be in imminent danger. She called Agent Pitt as she staked out the cottage.

“Brief me, please,” she requested. “Start by telling me who the cottage belongs to.”

“It belongs to Elizabeth Jensen, who lives there with her sister Ann Strom. They are sixty-nine and seventy-two years old respectively. They are both widowed. Elizabeth has a son, a cop, works in San Francisco. Do you want his family breakdown?”

“No.”

“Ann has four children, scattered all over, no one close to Mountain View. They are fairly well off, they both have substantial savings.”

“Do they have any connection to either the Darley or the Fox families? Any previous connection to Raj Sen?” Claire asked.

“Not that we’ve discovered so far, but we are still digging.”

“Thanks, Agent Pitt. I can see backup arriving, so I’ll check back in a little while after I know what’s going on. This is probably a hoax call, but it’s always best to make sure.”

As the two squad cars parked behind hers, Claire could see the curtains from the downstairs left window twitch. Moments later the front door opened and a lady–Claire guessed Elizabeth from the description she’d been given–came walking toward her. Claire got out of the car and walked over to meet her.

“Mrs. Jensen?”

“Yes. What on earth is going on?” she asked, looking at Claire anxiously. “We’ve never had police cars here before.”

“Is everything okay, Mrs. Jensen? Is your sister home?”

“Yes. Here she is now,” Elizabeth said, pointing over to Annie, who was walking toward them.

“Is this about the gentleman who was here earlier? John? I did think there was something strange about him.”

Claire wondered who John was. “Mrs. Jensen, can we go inside and talk?”

“Yes of course. Do your friends want to come as well? I have a fresh batch of cookies.”

“That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Jensen. But, I think they’ll wait here for now. I’ll let them know and meet you inside,” Claire said, and walked over to tell the backup squad that she’d be fine going in on her own. When she walked into the house, Ann was seated on the couch and Elizabeth was busy carrying through cookies and tea on a pretty china tray.

“Have a seat, my dear. Now, what can we do for you? Two visitors in one day is quite unusual for us, but very enjoyable, isn’t it, Annie?” Elizabeth said happily. “Now do tell us your name.”

“I should have introduced myself to begin with, my apologies. I am Agent Claire Adams. I work for the FBI.”

“Well, that’s very impressive,” Annie said in awe. I don’t think I’ve ever met a real agent before, though I know from the television what you do. Lizzy’s son is a police officer,” she said proudly. “So, how can we help you? I gather this has something to do with our earlier visitor.”

“Yes,” Claire replied. “You mentioned his name was John?”

“Yes that’s right. We didn’t get around to asking him his last name. I suppose we should have,” replied Annie. “He seemed like a nice man, from the city.”

“San Francisco?”

“Yes. He didn’t say, but we think he was out on a nature ramble and got lost. We found him, fallen over, out in the backyard. He’d probably tripped over something; I found him just sitting there. He looked hurt. He wasn’t hurt badly, though. Just a limp,” Annie reassured Claire. “So, we didn’t call the ambulance or anything.”

“Ladies, was it this man?” Claire asked, pulling up Raj’s picture on her iPad and passing it to them.

“Yes!  That’s him. He looked a bit older than in the picture, but it’s definitely him,” confirmed Elizabeth. “Why are you asking? Has he gone missing? He left a couple of hours ago, so he should be back in the city by now.”

A couple of hours ago? Shoot. Claire wondered how long it had taken for the message to filter down to her at the FBI. So much precious time lost.

“Did he leave you an address or a way for you contact him?”

Annie shook her head.

“Have you ever seen him before? Can you think of any reason he would have been here at your property?”

Annie shook her head again.

“Can you tell me about his visit here, starting with how you first found him?” Claire asked. She took notes while they recounted their story. They’d found him in the backyard, he had tripped on something and hurt his foot. Whatever would he be doing in their backyard? This property was miles from anywhere. Why drive all the way out here? Was there something he needed to retrieve from the backyard? Did he come back for something he had hidden there previously? Or maybe came back for something he’d hidden in the house.

“Ladies, do you mind having a look around to see if anything has been touched or is missing? You said he was only in this room, the bathroom and the backyard, but I want to make sure nothing is missing.”

“You think he was a thief?” Annie asked horrified, looking at her sister. “I didn’t even consider that! If it wasn’t for the fact that he was hurt, I wouldn’t have let him in the house….”

“No, no. I just want to make sure,” Claire comforted. She walked through the house with Elizabeth and Ann. Nothing seemed out of order in the downstairs portion of the house. Ann checked the safe hidden behind a replica of the The Starry Night. It hadn’t been tampered with.

Things changed when they went up to the bedrooms. Ann kept a small collection of jewelry in her bedroom, in a pretty enamel box that sat on her bedside table. It was now empty.

Ann was visibly shaken; her hands trembled as she closed the box. “I had some cash in there, too, maybe five hundred dollars or so.”

Claire could see Elizabeth trembling as they entered her bedroom next. Claire handed her the enamel box from her bedside table, which also turned out to be empty. Elizabeth’s eyes welled and tears started streaming down her face. Claire sat her down on her bed. “Mrs. Jensen, we’ll do every thing we can to recover your property. I’m going to get a local detective to come and sit down with you to make a list of everything that’s missing.”

Claire looked to Ann. “Mrs. Strom, you said that John left on foot and that he went to look for his car. I suppose you didn’t see it, the car, I mean?”

Ann shook her head. “He seemed lost. I suppose he could have just been a regular burglar and we’ve been played for fools.”

“Can you come with me to the backyard and show me any outbuildings like sheds or garages you may have. I need to make sure that he is gone and that he’s not still hiding outside.” Claire walked outside with Ann, leaving Elizabeth in her room, still distraught. A quick survey of the backyard didn’t reveal any information. Claire couldn’t find any tracks, but that wasn’t something she was good at. She’d already called in a team to investigate that. The only outbuilding was a garage that housed a Chevy Impala that the two sisters shared, for trips to the grocery store mostly. Claire wasn’t surprised to find the car missing. “Mrs. Strom, if you give me the car registration, we’ll put a trace on it. I would like to call your nephew, he should come down here. May I have his phone number? One of the police officers will stay with you until he arrives.”

Claire mulled the case over in her head as she drove back. A whole year had passed since Raj was last sighted and his wife remained missing. He had now suddenly reappeared out of the blue, appearing to not know where he was. So, why and how did he end up on Mrs. Jensen’s property? To her knowledge, Raj was not a common thief, so he must have taken the valuables because he had no money. A year in hiding could be draining on the finances. But still–stealing from two elderly ladies? He told them that he was going to San Francisco, so she could almost be sure that it was the one place he wouldn’t go. What he would do is make contact with his daughter. What was her name again… Simla?

Claire called Pitt. “Could you give me Simla Sen’s address and background, please?”

“Yup, I’ve got it right here. She’s been living with the Weeks family. I’ll send the address to your GPS. She’s a senior at Mountain View High. No siblings. What else do you want to know?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going to drive over to see her. Can you meet me there?”

Claire had been at the Weeks’ house last year when the Darley children disappeared. She’d met the father, Grayson, and she’d also met Simla’s mother, Erica, there.  At that time, Claire suspected that there was something going on between Grayson and Erica, but since it wasn’t relevant to the case, she’d left it alone. Grayson Weeks had been totally distraught during the questioning when Erica disappeared. He seemed to know nothing about her whereabouts. It had been assumed that she’d gone to find her husband.

Claire drove right up to the entrance of the Weeks’ house, got out of her vehicle and knocked on the door. It seemed very quiet. There was obviously no one home. She tried calling both Grayson’s work number and his cell, without any response, so she left him messages. The FBI would watch the house. It was past school hours, so she had no idea where to begin looking for Simla and was happy to see Agent Pitt arrive. He would have done his research.

“Any idea where we would find a seventeen-year-old girl at this hour?” she asked him.

“After-school sports, music, theater club… you name it. She doesn’t have any close friends from what we can tell, apart from Justin, whose house she lives in. We should track him down. He’ll probably know where Simla is. Now, let’s see,” he said, pouring through his notes. He was old-school, everything was noted down on yellow legal pads. “Our best bet is the ice rink. The varsity team has a scheduled practice there this evening. Won’t be the least bit surprised if Simla is over there watching them practice.”

“Yes, that sounds like out best bet. Let’s go. I’ll meet you over there. You’ve got someone assigned to stake out this place, right?”

“Yup.”

Pitt was right. The ice rink was buzzing with activity. The team was on ice, partaking in a heavy training exercise by the look of things. There were groups of parents and teens scattered in the bleachers. Claire scanned them for familiar faces. She noticed a group of girls huddled together, engrossed in conversation.  She recognized a couple of familiar faces in the group–Ariele and Monica–two of Arizona Darley’s friends. She couldn’t see Arizona herself, but guessed that she must be on the ice with the rest of the team.

She scanned the rink again but couldn’t spot Simla anywhere. So Claire walked up to Ariele and Monica. “Hi, girls,” she said, using her most friendly tone.

“Hi. You’re the agent from last year, aren’t you?” Ariele asked, looking totally surprised. “Wassup?”

“I’m looking for Simla Sen. Have you seen her?”

“Nope,” replied Ariele. “She doesn’t hang out with us, though. Justin might know where she is, but he is on the ice at the moment, I think. What do you want with her?”

“I just need a quick chat. Has anyone seen her today?” she asked the group. There were at least eight girls there; surely one of them had a class or other activity with Simla. They were all shaking their heads. “Would you happen to have her cell number?” Another round of shaking heads. She sighed. This was going nowhere. She’d need to get Justin off the ice and ask him. He’d at least have her cell number.

Claire walked down the bleachers–wishing she’d changed back into her sneakers, these heels were killing her–and got the coach’s attention.

“Ma’am?” Coach Stanislaw muttered.

“I’m Agent Claire Adams. I need to have a quick word with Justin Weeks. I won’t keep him long.”

“He didn’t show. I have no idea where he is, but if you find him, tell him he’s benched from next weekend’s game.”

“Any idea where I might find him?”

“Nope. Kids!” he frowned, and turned to go back to his players.

“Hold on, let me talk to the rest of the team, someone must know where I can find him.”

“Look, lady. Do you have parental permission to speak to any of these kids? If not, I suggest you go and get some. Well?” he challenged.

“Look, Coach. I’ll be frank with you, but this is highly confidential. We have a serious problem. Dr. Raj Sen, Simla’s dad, was possibly–and it’s just a possibility–sighted earlier today. If it was him, it’s quite likely that he will try to make contact with her. He’s a dangerous man, we need to warn her and provide her with protection. We’ve been unable to locate her so far, so any information you or the kids have may be crucial,” she pleaded.

Coach Stanislaw blew his whistle bringing the skating to a sudden halt. Another sound of the whistle resulted in the skaters assembling in a group in front of Coach’s box. Claire was impressed.

“Kids, have any of you seen either Justin or Simla today?”

Claire was once again presented with the, now expected, shaking of heads. One boy perked up. “Coach, he wasn’t in any of his classes today. I’m in all his.”

“Has anyone got Simla in your class?” Claire asked, trying to identify the faces behind the helmets. It was impossible.

The same boy who had spoken before nodded. “Yeah, she wasn’t in class either, but I only have one class with her.”

“Anyone else?” Claire tried. There was a shuffling, but otherwise all remained silent. “Thanks, Coach. If you hear from them, please call me,” she said, leaving her card with him.

“What do you make of all this?” she asked Agent Pitt once they were outside again.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It could have been Raj Sen at the cottage. We don’t know that for sure. Those ladies are fairly old. We can’t go by that identification a hundred percent. Still, it could have. As for Simla and Justin? They’re seventeen. There are a hundred different explanations why we can’t locate them at this moment. I say we stake out the house and head over to the school tomorrow morning.”

Claire nodded. She needed some time to look through the files, anyway. Putting out a search for Simla right now would be an overreaction. It wasn’t like anyone had reported her missing. In fact, for now, they didn’t really know anything.

~

Raj watched the FBI agents talking outside the ice rink from his borrowed Corolla, which he had acquired when he dumped the Impala. How had the FBI gotten on his case so fast? He did expect Lizzy and Annie to call the police when they discovered their stuff and car missing, so he had dumped their vehicle as soon as he could. He certainly didn’t expect the FBI to get involved so quickly. They obviously knew it was him, why else would they be looking for Simla? And where was she, anyway? Could she still be with Potomal? If so, why had they dumped him here where he was in danger? Why was he being punished? Had Potomal alerted the FBI, like he said he would? What had Simla done?

Kellan looked majorly hot in his Sigma-W protective shell. I was wearing one, too. I bet I looked pretty awesome, as well–I could tell by the appreciative glance from Kellan. All black leather–surprise, surprise–with the Sigma-W logo on the front, red epaulettes, and black biker boots, which I was hoping to get to keep. We were ready to transport out to rescue Simla and Justin.

We, Kellan and I, had not been privy to the planning aspect of this mission–very 007. We’d spent the short time it took the Sigma-W council and my parents to come up with a plan catching up. My biggest surprise? When my boyfriend told me that his mom had been a Sigma-W.

“Get out!”

We had been sitting out in the backyard with Harry and David munching on strawberries while Ella went for a swim with Alexa. Alexa and Ella really hit it off. Or rather, Alexa was an expert at keeping little girls happy. They had been playing with makeup and doing mock fashion shows. Ella was having a blast. She was now reluctant to remove her tiara to go for a swim, nearly opting out of it just so she could keep the tiara on her head, until I offered to take care of it for her until she came out of the pool. I put the tiara on my head and decided to wear it while Ella swam.

“Kellan! Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me before? Or did I know, but forgot when I changed?” I still couldn’t recall much from my Darley life before last October, so there was a possibility I had known this all along about Kellan’s mom, who had passed away when he was about six.

“Shrimp, no. You didn’t know,” he reassured me. “I only found out about it recently, as in after you were taken by Potomal’s group.”

“Wow, your dad kept it from you this long. Why?”

“He didn’t know either,” Kellan explained.

I was flabbergasted. “How could he not know? Being married to a paranormal being… that’s ridiculous!”

“Is it?” Harry asked. “She lived an ordinary life, not one as a Wanderer.”

“I guess, but still….”

Harry hunched forward looking at me intently. “You do realize that Dad has latent Sigma-W abilities, don’t you?”

I nodded. Seeing that both Rupert’s mom and dad were Sigma-Ws, it would be odd if he didn’t. “Can he actually wander?”

“No,” Harry replied. “I guess he could, if he wanted to. He would need to release his abilities. He chose not to when he opted to be with Mom.”

“Why couldn’t he do both?” I asked, out of real curiosity.

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but from what I’ve been told, the privilege of becoming a Sigma-W comes with responsibilities and duties. I think it would make it difficult for Dad to be a regular husband and dad, which I guess is what they wanted.”

“What about you, Harry?”

“I have latent Sigma-W abilities, as well,” he smiled.

So I was sitting in the company of two potential paranormal beings and David. Freaky. And not freaky. They were my brother, my boyfriend, and my–I couldn’t define my relationship with David. The word friend didn’t fully describe our closeness. So I was the only regular person here. How boring–for me. “Wow! What does this mean for the both of you?” I asked, looking in turn at Harry and then Kellan.

Kellan shrugged. “Not a lot for now,” he said. “I mean, we have the ability, but that doesn’t mean we have to do anything with it. I haven’t known about this for all my life, so I’m not going to worry about it now. What about you, Harry?”

“I don’t know. I want to spend some time with Gramadea and Granddad learning more about it, but I’m not prepared to buy into this lifestyle–though I don’t know exactly what that entails–right now. It is kinda awesome, though.”

Sheesh. I was starting to feel a bit jealous. “So, is wandering the only thing the Sigma-Ws can do, or do they have other abilities as well?”

“Only?” David laughed.

“Oh, you know what I mean!” I smiled. “Can the Sigma-W make themselves invisible? Walk though stuff? Breathe fire? Superhuman speed–that would be cool for hockey….”

Harry chuckled “No! Well, I don’t think so. It would be cool if there were other things we could do. I guess we’ll have to ask Gramadea.”

“Right at this second, you’re both as useless as I am in the wandering department, right? It’s only David who can wander.”

“That’s right,” Harry replied. “It would be useful for us to be able to wander, especially to help out with the rescue mission. As it is, we’re going to have to be babysat.”

“Is there a way they can temporarily switch on your abilities, just for this mission?” I asked.

“I wish,” Harry sighed. “I did ask. There’s no possible way of doing that.”

“Too bad. Kellan, are you all right with all this? Were you upset to learn about your mother?”

He shook his head. “No, not the least bit, once I knew that they hadn’t even told Dad. He’s a bit upset and it’s no wonder. Knowing Dad, I’m sure he’s reassessing his whole time with Mom now, wondering if there were any signs. I need to get back to talk to him soon. I’ll bet he’s freaking out about me. We didn’t have any time to talk things through before I left with David. I guess, in a way, I feel a bit more unsure about myself. I’d stay on here, with Harry, to learn more, but I’m concerned about Dad. Besides, I’m not letting you head off on your own,” he said, coming up and kissing my forehead.

“Cut it out,” Harry muttered. “We get it, you like each other.”

We stopped chatting as Ella came bounding out to retrieve her tiara. She was still wet, wrapped in a huge pink towel.

“Why are you wearing it?” she sulked.

“Sorry, safest place,” I grinned, as I took it off and handed it to her.

“Kids, can you all come in now?” Gramadea asked, coming up behind Ella. “Ella, go and get changed. Alexa asked if you wanted to play Guitar Hero with her.”

“Awesome! See ya later, alligator,” she said, and took off.

“Right!” Gramadea said, beckoning us.

After a short briefing where we were basically assigned babysitters–Gramadea was mine and someone I never met before was going with Kellan–we changed into our protective gear. I thought we looked like cool superheroes; I had to stifle a giggle. Harry was going to stay behind. He wasn’t the least bit pleased, but… tough cookies. He was of no use without any abilities and, unlike Kellan and me, he had never seen any of Potomal’s lot, so he couldn’t even help in that aspect.

So, there we were, Kellan and I dressed up in our Sigma-W gear. I felt good. A team of sixteen Sigma-Ws, including Gramadea, met us in the conference room. There were no signs of Granddad, I guess he was too important to go on rescue missions. I didn’t recognize any of the faces. These weren’t the same people we had been introduced to when we first got here. This must be their SWAT team, or whatever. Mom and Rupert came to see us off.

“Arizona, now remember… do exactly what Gramadea says. Do not go off on your own. Right?”

“I won’t, I promise,” I reassured them, waving them off after a group hug.

Gramadea stood behind me and put her hand on my shoulder and we transported off. The journey was short and we landed right outside the building where I had been held. It was pitch dark. I guess we had moved in time, as well. There were no people around, so I guessed it must have been very late into the night, maybe early morning.

It was surreal, like being in a sci-fi movie. The SWAT team took their places in front of us. The four of us–Kellan, his minder, Gramadea and I–stayed at the back. We went to the main entrance of the building, armed with the building code so we could get in–thank goodness for Intelligence. Turns out that we didn’t need it. The front door was unlocked, the lobby empty. The security guard was not at his station and the lights were off–weird.

“Top floor?” Gramadea whispered to me. I nodded and we made our way to the stairwell. It was decided that this would be the safer option. Safer maybe, but I was pooped by the time we got to the top. The door was gently pried open by one of the Sigma-Ws in front of us. He went first and then beckoned us through. The hallway was as I remembered, except deathly quiet and dark apart from the beams from our flashlights. Had Potomal’s group transported off? We searched the floor, systematically, room by room. We finally came to the room I had been held in.

Light escaped from under the door, but we couldn’t hear any sounds. The room itself was big; I knew that from my stay there. It could hold a small army of people, certainty more than there were of us. It was possible that on the other side of this door a team of Potomal’s group were waiting to take us out.

Gramadea ushered Kellan and me back along the corridor to an empty alcove, where we remained out of sight. We could hear a lot of commotion, angry voices and running around. One of the Sigma-Ws finally appeared at the alcove to update us.

“There are a boy and girl in there. The girl is going nuts. The boy is trying to calm her, but she won’t let up. She is completely hysterical. What do you want us to do?”

Simla and Justin. I ran through the hallways toward the room and burst through it before Kellan or Gramadea could stop me. Simla was weeping hysterically while Justin looked helplessly toward me while trying to restrain her. The Sigma-Ws were looking uncomfortable, shuffling around.

“Everyone, leave,” I shouted, taking charge, while Kellan and Amadea arrived in the room. They stayed as the rest of them left. I went over to Simla and grabbed her hand. “Shut up! Pull up your big girl panties and shut up!” I seethed through clenched teeth. “Get hold of yourself!” She looked startled, by my lack of empathy I guess, and turned angry.

“You stupid… troll!” she yelled, and clenched her fists.

“Troll?” I snorted.

She came at me. I stood back as Kellan and Justin grabbed hold of her.

“Nice going, Arizona! What were you thinking?” Justin gasped as Simla was spewing obscenities at me.

“Well, it worked! I had to do something to get her out of her Bella Swan despair. Look! No despair now,” I declared proudly.

Kellan shook his head. Well, it had worked. All we had to do now was wait for her to simmer down and then she’d be good to go. It didn’t take long. She looked at me long and hard and then started chuckling. She either thought the situation was funny or she’d completely gone bananas on us.

“Simla?” Justin queried, letting her loose.

“Oh, never mind. Let’s get out of here,” she said.

“Wait a minute,” Gramadea said, walking up to us. “I take it you’re Simla and you are Justin?” she asked.

They nodded at her.

“I am Amadea, we’re here to take you back home. Can you first tell us what happened? Where are Potomal and his group? You two seem to be the only ones here.”

“Are you sure?” Simla asked, here eyes welling up again.

“Yes, the team has now searched through the building. It’s empty.”

“You didn’t find my dad?” Simla asked, clearly upset again.

“Your dad? Raj Sen?”

“Yes,” she sobbed.

Gramadea frowned. “Simla, why would you think your dad was here?”

“I saw him. He was brought here when I tried to escape, as leverage to get me to go along with their plans.”

“Do you know where they were keeping him?”

“No.”

“Do you have any idea what happened here? Where is Potomal?”

Justin shrugged. “All hell broke loose when Arizona disappeared. Potomal gathered all of us for deployment to one of his other residences. Simla said that she wouldn’t go without her dad, so Potomal just shrugged and left us here. They just disappeared on us, all of them. They seemed to be in an awful hurry, like they were expecting you to arrive.”

“Do you think they took Dad?” Simla whispered.

“No, I can’t see any reason they would do that,” Gramadea mused. “How exactly did Potomal threaten you with your dad?”

“He said that if I didn’t do what he asked, he’d deliver Dad to the FBI,” Simla said, barely breathing. “Do you think he would really do that? Why?”

“Because he said he would. Potomal usually does exactly that. I have no idea where your father is, though, or if Potomal even had time to carry out a plan like that. He couldn’t just walk into the Bureau with Raj beside him. It’s more likely that he dumped him somewhere, to get rid of him. We’ll get our Intelligence on it, though your father is very resourceful and knows how to avoid being discovered when he wants. I’m not even sure that your dad is someone we want to get involved with other than the fact that you’ve been inadvertently involved in this because of us. Our council will make a decision. Will you both need help to get back home or have you learned to wander?”

They both shook their heads. “No, we can’t wander. We’d just begun to train.”

“Okay, we are going to transport you back home, well, to Constance’s house. Grayson is staying over there.” Gramadea turned and looked at us. “Are you ready to go back?”

A while later we were back in Spencer’s Wimbledon house, getting ready to journey back to our home in Mountain View. Although our safety could not be guaranteed, Mom was adamant that she wouldn’t remain in hiding forever. Besides, I wanted to get back to hockey. Harry was going to stay behind for a while to learn more about the Sigma-W, and since he was the most at risk–being Spencer’s only biological grandson–it was for the best. Gramadea assured us that, for our safety, she would make sure Potomal was informed that Ella and I were adopted, not that it made a bit of difference to her, but anything that made us less attractive to Potomal was worth a shot. So we were returning home, knowing full well that we were at risk. Security around us was tightened considerably and Mountain View was now swarming with an influx of Sigma-Ws, in all shapes and sizes, who would watch us. We were greatly relieved when Intelligence told Gramadea that Potomal was having trouble holding on to his recruits after the last attempt at initiating a takeover. It would be sometime before he tried anything again, if ever. Here’s to hoping he was enjoying his wealth on a warm beach somewhere.

I did wonder what had happened to Luna and Stan. In a way, I had kind of gotten to like them, even though they were holding me captive. They’d just seemed like two interesting college kids, inadvertently caught up in their father’s schemes–a bit like Simla. I wondered if they had managed to go back to school or if they were forced to continue their education elsewhere. “Gramadea, do you have any idea what happened to Luna?”

“I do. Luna is still attending college in Paris, which is the real reason why Spencer has given his permission for you to go home. We were dumbfounded when we heard that. Luna must have either completely fallen out with her father or they’ve come to some understanding where he has promised her peace while she finishes college. Either way, she is available to us, should anything happen to any of you,” Gramadea said meaningfully.

So, we were ready to go home. Ella was wearing her tiara–given to her on the understanding that she couldn’t wear it to school; Mom would keep it safe. I wondered what it was worth–a fortune. Ella had really enjoyed her royal time here and made plans to come back during vacation.

Kellan and I braced ourselves for the journey. As Simla and Justin had already been transported back, it was just us, Mom, Rupert and Ella. David was coming with us as well, at least long enough to say goodbye to his mom before he went to his dad’s again. I hoped we would get to spend some time together before he had to leave.

I closed my eyes as I felt the pressure to my shoulders and the following weightless sensation. I gave in to total relaxation and let my mind wander. Total relaxation until my mind wandered to Simla, or rather her dad. Simla told us that she’d seen him. He’d been in London at the Potomal residence. Now, no one knew where he was. Sigma-W Intelligence had come up with nothing. What could Potomal have done with him? Maybe he took Raj with him. Raj’s resourcefulness might prove useful in Potomal’s schemes. If Potomal had done that, why didn’t he force Simla to go with them? I rolled my eyes–as much as I could with them firmly shut. It would be way too much bother to deal with a screeching, hysterical Simla while orchestrating a quick getaway. Potomal probably just got fed up. As long as Raj didn’t turn up on our doorstep, I really didn’t care what happened to that idiot. I just hoped that Simla could let it go, but I wasn’t too optimistic about that. I hoped she didn’t do anything stupid. I would love for everything to go back to normal so we could just get on and enjoy life for a while.

That would have to include a trip to see Dad, though. Since the portal was now functional, I saw no issues with that whatsoever. Mom and I would just need to work out the logistics, I was thinking as I landed on a soft surface and opened my eyes.

I was home.

He still had power over her, Raj thought to himself. He knew how to contact the one person he could blackmail Olivia with–Dillard. The threat of exposing her family to Dillard would guarantee Raj the blueprints. All he had to do was get her to take him back to the cottage, so he could retrieve the prints that had been left behind when Potomal plucked him out of there.

After that, he’d be rich. He had already contacted his buyer, Dr. Masterson, who was still very interested. Of course, Olivia and the portal would be totally unnecessary if Simla would just learn to wander. Then she could go and get the blueprints herself. Wait!

It occurred to him that he really didn’t need to go back at all. Why not just get a fresh set of prints from Olivia? That would be the simplest option.

He’d staked out the Weeks’ home all morning, but there were no signs of anyone apart from the pesky FBI agents. How much more obvious could they be? And, more importantly, what had become of Simla? Where was she? If she was back home, she should have gone to school this morning. But, there were no signs of her being back. Did she permanently join forces with Potomal? Surely he wouldn’t have been dumped back here if she did. Did Simla know that he’d been unceremoniously dropped off at some old ladies’ house in the middle of nowhere, without any money? He was more than a little angry with her. She should have done what Potomal asked.

Raj found himself holed up in yet another crummy roadside motel. This life style had to come to an end, he thought; he was thoroughly fed up with it. As he stared up at the moldy popcorn ceiling illuminated by a dusty, naked light bulb, he wondered if he should pick up the phone and make the call to Dillard. Why wait?

~

Constance braced herself for Simla’s return. Grayson looked stressed. Word had reached them that the FBI was back in Mountain View asking about Simla and it seemed that Grayson’s house was now being watched. Constance was glad that Simla and Justin were being returned so promptly. If they were missing for much longer, their disappearance could spark a full-scale search and investigation by the FBI. As far as she knew, the FBI agent, Claire Adams, was the same agent who had been in charge of the Darley kids’ disappearance last year. What was she doing back here now? Had some new evidence come to light? Whatever it was, the timing was terrible.

“Any more news as to what the FBI is doing here?” Constance asked, looking over at Inez and Grayson.

“Morgana has a contact over at the police station, she is trying to find out,” Inez replied. “She should be here any…,” Inez stopped as the doorbell rang.

“Morgana, any news?” Inez asked her, as Constance ushered her into the living room.

Morgana’s lips turned into a grimace, her brows furrowing into a look of confusion. “I’m really having a hard time understanding what’s going on. My contact at the station told me that they backed up the FBI on a call this afternoon. He couldn’t give me the location, but said that a man had appeared at a house occupied by two elderly sisters, burglarized it and then took off. My contact told me that it is very unusual for the FBI to get involved with a seemingly routine burglary. A call like that would normally be handled by the local police.

“Apparently, after the FBI left the scene, the remaining local cops asked the elderly sisters why they’d called the FBI rather than 911. As it turns out, they hadn’t called anyone. The FBI agent just turned up at the house without prior warning. The two ladies were initially quite pleased to have two visitors in one day. That changed, however, after the FBI agent asked them to have a look around, and they discovered that their valuables and car were missing. So, my contact is stumped. He doesn’t know who contacted the FBI or why.” Morgana took a deep breath and sighed.

“Hmm. Do you think this has anything to do with Simla?” Constance wondered.

“Constance, wait. There’s more,” Morgana said, passing her a sheet of paper. “I got this from the station. This is a picture of the burglar they’re looking for.”

Constance, Grayson and Inez studied the black and white photocopy of a picture of Raj. Constance froze.

Inez shook her head. “How is this possible? Couldn’t it be someone who just looks like Raj? That’s got to be the most likely explanation.”

Constance nodded. “Yes, but the FBI must think it could be him. Why else would they have been looking for Simla? It’s the only thing that makes any sense. But, how did Raj get back here? Get Larry on the phone and ask him to come over right away. Ask him if the portal has been used,” she directed, looking over at Grayson who was already dialing.

After the call, Grayson relayed that Larry was at Ames and was sure that the portal had not been used since Olivia went through. “I’ve got a number of missed calls and voice mails. I’m afraid my phone was turned off. I need to check them. Please excuse me.”

As Grayson checked his messages, they all heard a thud from the kitchen and rushed through to find Simla and Justin sitting on the floor.

“Justin!” Grayson exclaimed and hurried over to his son as Morgana helped Simla up.

“Come in to the living room and have a seat,” Constance suggested, ushering them over to sit on the comfortable, oversized armchairs. They both looked exhausted but happy. She gave them a moment to breathe while they gathered their thoughts and sipped the tea she had handed them.

“I’m so glad to be back,” Simla said, looking around at everyone.

Constance nodded. “I received word from Amadea about your recent trials. I am glad you haven’t been hurt and are now back with us. Was the journey back okay?”

“Yeah, thank you,” Justin replied. “I’m really tired, though. I guess you are, too, Simla?”

“Yes! After some rest, I just want to get back to school and a regular life again. I’m done with the wandering stuff.”

“Simla, I’m a bit surprised to hear you say that. Did Potomal mistreat you in any way?” Constance queried.

“He made me train a lot. I wasn’t into it at all. I really only wanted to learn to wander so I could get back to Dad, but now…,” she paused.

“Now, what?” Constance prompted.

“Well, he’ll contact me when he can, I guess,” she said vaguely.

“Simla, take a look at this,” Constance said, handing the photocopied picture over to her, watching her carefully. She looked genuinely puzzled.

“It’s a photo of Dad… where did you find it?” Simla asked excitedly.

“We got it from the local police. It’s a picture of a man who burglarized a house belonging to two elderly ladies earlier today.”

“You’re kidding!”

Constance shook her head, as Justin groaned.

“Justin?” Grayson queried.

“Shit.”

“Justin,” his father warned, “language.”

“I’m sorry,” he said apologetically. “Raj was taken by Potomal. By the time we were rescued, Raj had disappeared. I assumed that Potomal took Raj with him. But, I guess I was wrong, if he’s out stealing from old ladies.”

There was a stony silence in the room as everyone tried to digest this new turn of events.

“Justin, do you have any idea why Potomal took Raj?” Constance asked, once she had absorbed his information.

“Well, Simla tried to escape from Potomal’s clutches, but Potomal wasn’t done with her yet. So, to keep her there, Potomal brought Raj in and basically told Simla that if she didn’t do what she was told he’d dump Raj at the FBI,” Justin summarized.

Constance held out her hands to Inez, Morgana and Grayson for a brief conference. Her thoughts flowed to them effortlessly. Raj must have been dumped here as Potomal had threatened. Simla had no doubt provoked it somehow, but it didn’t matter, the end result is what mattered. Raj was on the loose and the FBI was on his trail. What a mess.

“Simla, what are your thoughts about all this? Your father could be here in Mountain View.”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I just want him to be safe. Being here is dangerous for him, but I do want to see him.”

Was it time to tell Simla that her father killed her mother, Constance wondered. She really didn’t want to, but it might be the only way to keep Simla safe, away from her dad. She looked up at Inez who was shaking her head at her.

Grayson interrupted their exchange. “The FBI agent, Claire Adams, left me voice mail asking me to contact her. Shall I do that to find out what’s going on? It may help us with our decisions….”

Constance nodded as Grayson made contact with the agent. “Agent Adams? I’m returning your call.” Grayson chatted with the agent while Constance prepared some snacks for the kids. “So, what did she say, Grayson?” she asked, as she laid the tray of snacks on the coffee table and watched Simla and Justin help themselves enthusiastically.

“She said that there had been a possible Raj sighting today. She had received an anonymous tip that he would be at an address, so she investigated. Raj appeared at a cottage a bit outside Mountain View, owned by two elderly ladies. He spent some time having tea and chatting with the ladies before helping himself to their valuables and car and then he just took off. Agent Adams told me that she put agents on duty outside our home in case Raj tries to contact Simla. She wants to come over and talk to Simla, but I said that we’d been away for the day and were just about to go home, and asked her to come in the morning instead. So, we should be going home. I think the house will be safe. It looks like we’re surrounded by agents.”

“Safe?” Simla muttered. “What exactly do you think Dad’s going to do? All he wants is to see me. Is that so bad? He’s not a murderer or anything.”

Constance flinched. “Simla, just go home and rest. We’ll meet again in the morning and talk.”

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “I’m going to school tomorrow. I’m done talking.”

~

The clock in Raj’s room showed 5:00 AM. That meant it was ten in the morning in Leeds right now and Dillard should be awake. Raj had been up fretting all night and was now growing more and more frustrated with the bedside telephone. He tried calling Dillard six times and left six messages. Why didn’t he call back? What if Dillard didn’t return his call at all?

Could he pull the same deception that Simla had so brilliantly executed? Could he make Olivia believe that he had access to Dillard and get her to mail him another set of the blueprints? Would she fall for that? His eyelids flickered as tiredness engulfed him and he finally submitted to the darkness of sleep.

Olivia’s bedside phone startled her back to consciousness. With sleep-heavy eyes still closed, she reached over for the receiver. Rupert was still fast asleep beside her, worn out from their recent events. They’d only fallen asleep a few hours ago.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Olivia.”

Blood rushed from Olivia’s core as she hastily stood up and tiptoed into the hallway with the receiver, making sure not to disturb Rupert. She felt sick.

“Dr. Darley?”

“Yes, who’s this?” she asked with trepidation, knowing the answer already. The voice was unmistakable.

“Raj Sen,” the voice confirmed.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Just another copy of the blueprints. I may also need to ask you to take me back through the portal if things don’t quiet down here in Mountain View.”

Olivia was astounded at the nerve of that man.

“Dr. Darley?”

“I cannot believe the audacity! What on earth makes you think that you’re in any position to make demands? I’m going to call the FBI right away,” Olivia said, and hung up. The phone rang right back. She sighed. “What?”

“Recognize this phone number?”

Olivia shuddered as Raj recited the numerals to Dillard’s cell phone. “Yes,” she whispered.

“I’m going to text your cell with an email address this afternoon. You’ll have one hour to send the blueprints to me. Don’t be late,” he said menacingly, and hung up.

Olivia bit into her lower lip as she slipped back into the bed, snuggling up close to Rupert. She put her head on his chest and listened to the rhythmic sounds of his breathing. She felt a hand go up and stroke the back of her hair.

“Where did you go, hon?”

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Mmm. What’s up, Ollie? Why are you awake so early? It’s only just after six.”

“The phone woke me up.”

Rupert opened his eyes and turned to look down at her. “Who was it? Is everything okay?”

“No,” she whispered, and paused.

“Ollie… you’ve got me worried,” he said, pulling her up with him and sitting back in the bed. “Tell me what’s up.”

“Raj Sen called me.”

Rupert’s eyes narrowed.

“He wants another copy of the blueprints. He’s going to text me with his email address this afternoon and I’ll have an hour to send them to him.”

“That’s ridiculous! Let’s call Agent Adams.”

“He said he’d contact Dillard and tell him everything if I don’t,” she whispered.

Rupert rubbed his forehead. “Which Dillard? What dimension is Raj in?”

“Well, he has to be in this one, since he called me,” she said frustrated. “So, if I don’t send the prints over in time, Raj is going to call Dillard in Leeds.”

“Is that all he wanted?”

“For now, I guess. He was rambling something about if the FBI doesn’t let up he may have to get me to take him through the portal again. I’d be happy to do that!”

“Okay, so email the prints over. I’m going to have to let Constance know what’s going on. She’s coordinating our security detail. I should have checked in with her when we got back, but I was too tired. I’ll call her now.”

Olivia watched Rupert as he talked to Constance on the phone, filtering out all the sounds and concentrating fully on him. He wasn’t human. It was a concept she couldn’t even begin to understand without further explanation from him. He looked human. Everything about him was human, down to the way he felt, smelled. He did everything humans do: eat, talk, laugh, cry… nothing that she considered paranormal. He didn’t have superhuman strength, the ability to make himself invisible, time travel, or immortality–as far as she knew. But the shocking fact was that she really didn’t know anything at all. Apart from that she loved him completely.

Rupert’s facial expression changed as he was speaking. He’d seemed stressed to start with, but now he was looking downright agitated. She tuned back into the vocal world, too late to listen in on the conversation as he placed the receiver back in its cradle.

“Rup?”

“She knew.”

“Knew?”

As she listened to Rupert update her on the events in Mountain View from the previous day, she felt unexpectedly calm. Raj Sen was back. So what? All he wanted was the blueprints, no problem there. Her only concern was the kids’ safety. Of course, there was still the worry of what would happen when it was discovered that the blueprints wouldn’t, in fact, manufacture anything functional. That was, however, years down the line, and whoever bought them would most certainly hunt Raj down. She would worry about that when the time came. For now, they were surrounded by a formidable security detail that not even Potomal was expected to be able to breech. She sighed as Rupert finished telling her about Raj’s escapade with the old ladies.

“So, I think that we should go ahead and send Raj the blueprints and hopefully we’ll be rid of him,” Rupert concluded.

“The blueprints to the nonfunctional prototype?” Olivia asked for confirmation. It was only missing a small detail, but a critical one.

He nodded, watching the door to the bedroom pry open. Ella bounded in and jumped onto the bed.

“Dad, where’s the dog?”

“She should be in the house, let’s go and find her,” Rupert said, and took her hand as she dragged him out.

Olivia got herself ready in the meantime and was all set for the day when Ella came back in, this time with Rupert and Arizona.

“Mommy, she’s gone!” sobbed Ella. “We’ve looked everywhere.”

“Honey, we’ll find her, she can’t have gone far. Someone probably noticed her all alone in the house when we were away and took her somewhere safe.” They’d forgotten all about Gertrude in their trials. Poor thing, where could she have gone? Olivia was mortified that they had overlooked Gertrude.

“Mom, can we get another dog if we can’t find her?”

“Charming!” muttered Arizona, and walked out.

“Hon, we’ll find her,” Rupert reassured her. “Now, get ready for school and then come down for breakfast.”

“I feel so bad. Gertrude was left in the house all by herself,” Olivia whispered.

“No, hon. Larry was here when we left. I’m sure he’d have made sure she was okay,” Rupert said, and dialed Larry. The conversation was brief. “Larry dropped Gertrude off with Inez.”

“Phew!”

“Come on, let’s head down to breakfast.”

~

Raj couldn’t help jumping for joy once he’d spoken with Olivia. He even waltzed around the armchair twice with the musty-smelling bed pillow as his dance partner, which then bounced against the wall as he threw it with as much force as he could muster. Goodbye grubby room. He walked out the door, slamming it hard, unaware of the phone ringing on the other side.

He got into the Corolla and drove to San Francisco. Much as he wanted to see Simla, for now he would accept that he had lost her. She was probably still with Potomal. She’d find him when she was ready. His main concern for now had to be to get himself established. A nice mansion by the beach and a boat would be his priorities. He might even buy some of those fancy Hermès scarves–that Olivia always wore–to present as gifts to the many ladies who would be guests on his yacht. Yes, life would be sweet, as Simla would say. And she would eventually come and share in it, he felt certain of that. And, like a good father, he would forgive her recent lapses.

Once he entered the city of San Francisco, he drove into Chinatown and parked by the Internet Café on Bush Street. It was busy. He got himself a large coffee and logged onto the first free terminal. He registered with Hotmail and then texted the address to Olivia using the pre-paid phone he had picked up earlier.

Then he relaxed, surfing the web for beachfront properties with boat docks. Miami looked good, but it was still within the FBI’s jurisdiction.  Perhaps he should consider something abroad, maybe the Bahamas or Costa Rica? But how would he get there without a passport? His face broke into a smile. He nodded at the lady opposite him who thought that he was smiling at her. He wasn’t, of course. He was smiling because it had just occurred to him that money buys everything–including passports.

A check of Hotmail revealed that he had a message from Olivia. The subject line of the message was empty as was the body. Olivia had simply attached the zip file containing the blueprint images. Perfect. He pulled out his cell and called Dr. Masterson. He would be on his way to the Bahamas in no time.

~

Olivia sat back in her chair, wedging her feet out of the Manolos. It was done. She’d sent the prints. Was it possible that they were finally rid of that insane man? She momentarily wondered what his plans were for the blueprints. Who was the buyer, and what would they do when they found out that they couldn’t make it work? Would they hunt Raj down? Would he have the good sense to get as far away from here as possible, for Simla’s sake?

Her fingers brushed against the metal of her necklace as she went to rub the side of her neck. She took it off and laid it down on the desk in front of her, examining it closely. Quantum. It had become a part of her; she’d had it for as long as she could remember. She couldn’t even recall when it had been given to her exactly. She’d have to ask her mom. This was the necklace that started the bizarre turn of events that had become her life. She may never have met Rupert had it not been for this pendant falling off her neck onto the ice. That was her tipping point–this necklace falling off. It was scary to think that such a seemingly insignificant event had steered her life.

The buzzer rang and Olivia let Rupert into her office.

“Hey, Ollie! All done?”

“Yes, I sent the prints. I don’t think I’ll hear back, but you never know.” She shrugged and threw herself down beside him on the couch. “Did you get Gertrude?”

“I did. Ollie, there’s something I need to discuss with you, something that’s going to be difficult for you to hear. So, I want you to remain calm, and don’t get worked up. It will all be okay in the end.”

“You’re really worrying me now.”

Rupert kissed her gently. “Honey, it’s about Gertrude. As you know, Inez and Gertrude spent some time with each other today. Inez said that Gertrude doesn’t look happy or healthy at the moment.”

Olivia wasn’t entirely surprised that Gertrude may be looking a bit depressed. Their busy lifestyles had diminished the time they spent with Gertrude, but no more so than other families with pets. “I have noticed that she’s been looking a bit down, but I assumed it was because we’ve all been busy and no one was paying any attention to her. I’ll get the girls on it. We’ll make it a point to spend more time with her. I’ll draw up a schedule.”

“Ollie, I think it’s more than that. This may come as a bit of a shock to you, but Inez feels that Gertrude should go back to the other dimension. It wasn’t right to bring her through the portal.”

“Oh, that’s ridiculous,” Olivia dismissed.

“I want you to talk to Inez about it,” Rupert insisted. “I’ve brought Gertrude home for now, though. Arizona took off with David earlier, so she hasn’t seen Gertrude yet. I left a message on her phone to tell her that she is home.”

Olivia nodded.

“Ollie, how are you? The last couple of days have been crazy. How are you coping?”

“I guess I’m okay. I have a lot of questions,” she said, not sure if she really wanted answers. The answers would most likely be out there.

“Shoot.”

“I suppose the first one is obvious. Do you resent making the choice you did? You gave up your destiny, in a way, just to be with me.”

Rupert shook his head adamantly and took her hands. “Ollie, I can’t believe that you would wonder that for a moment. It wasn’t a choice for me. You are my destiny. Being with you is not something that happened on a whim, it took years of careful planning.”

“The decision was made on a whim, though, when you were just a child,” she said, pointing to her necklace.

“Okay, you have me there! Guilty as charged.”

“Seriously, Rup. Are you sure this is the life you want?”

“A zillion percent sure, as our sweet Ella would say.”

“I think…,” Olivia hesitated. “I think, if you wanted, I’d be prepared to try to live your life with you.” She looked at Rupert, whose eyes welled up as he brought her in for a cuddle.

“I don’t know what to say,” he whispered. “There’s no way I would want that for us, though. I like what we have here. The kids are happy. We’re happy. We just have a miserable dog,” he smiled.

“Rupert, can you tell me more about how all this works–biologically. And do you have any other abilities, or latent abilities?”

“Our genetic makeup is very similar to humans. There is nothing much different about us biologically. Our latent wandering abilities are switched on through meditation and training. There are different kinds of Wanderers. You are now aware of two kinds. Wanderers may exhibit additional paranormal abilities. The most common one is being able to read and feel the emotions of others. Inez has that ability. It’s a targeted phenomenon. Inez told me that David has the same ability, but his is stronger. He is able to read and feel Arizona very strongly.”

“Wow. I really want to know more now. Not just about Wanderers, but also about other possible paranormal phenomena. What do you recommend as a good and reliable source?” Olivia asked, still feeling bewildered by it all.

“Talk to Morena and Morgana. They are both experts,” he smiled as he pulled her closer.

“Rup, do you have any other latent abilities?”

“Not that I know of. Those only manifest after the wanderer abilities are released.”

Olivia felt strangely conflicted. The scientist in her had a compulsion to study this amazing ability. Wandering. The possibilities for research were endless and she was in a unique position, having access to the subjects themselves. She could also observe and study the conversion process, the biological make up…. She stopped herself. What was she thinking? She was actually considering using her own husband as a scientific subject. No. She had to put his wandering aspect to the back of her mind, and continue living their lives normally, as a regular couple.

Continue? Who was she kidding? The last few days had proven to be quite the opposite of normal. They were now surrounded by a security detail–paranormal security–because they were at risk from the Sigma-W-Pi. No, their lives would never be the same again, but she owed it to the kids to keep it as normal as possible, starting with pizza night after a trip to the ice rink to watch Arizona play in her first league game of the season.

“Ollie, what are you thinking about?”

“Turning you into a research specimen,” she smiled.

Rupert chuckled. “Trust you to turn this into a project, even if it’s only in your mind. But, no, hon. While you can get me to do most things, I’m not letting you experiment on me.”

“I was just joking… I think,” she smiled. “I promise to banish those thoughts!”

He shrugged his shoulders still looking bemused.

“Rup, how do you think we should handle Harry? What if he comes back from Amadea’s wanting to convert?”

“Convert? Ollie, it’s not like joining a cult.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, but you know what I mean.”

“I have no idea what Harry will decide to do with his life. I think we’ve brought him up to be well grounded, so I’m confident that whatever he chooses to do, he’ll do so based on solid reasoning. I don’t think we have to worry. Even if he did decide to join Sigma-W, it’s not like we’re sending him into battle. The Wanderers are peaceful. His life will be good either way. I’m sure of it.”

“Sure of it?”

“Well, as sure as any parent can be of their offspring being ready to face and deal with the real world, and be happy doing it. Harry is basically a peacemaker, everyone likes him. That will help him along in his journey through life.”

“Ideally, what do you want for him?” Olivia asked.

“I’d like him to finish college to start with, and then think about doing a graduate degree, followed by entering the job market, just like anyone else. The Sigma-W council will want the same. They place a heavy emphasis on education. After that, he’ll make his own decision. And whatever that may be, I’ll be happy with it.”

Olivia nodded. She would be, also. “Let’s go home and take Gertrude for a walk. Ella should be back from her play date soon. I managed to reschedule with Sally for this afternoon, so Ella was pleased. She wanted to take the tiara, but I said no.”

Rupert laughed. “Good call! Goodness knows what that thing is worth.”

Half an hour later, they were in the woods behind their house walking Gertrude. Gertrude had been overjoyed to see Olivia, jumping and pawing at her. Ella hadn’t returned home yet.

“Ollie, we need to talk about Gertrude.”

“You know, she seems really happy right now. Look at her little tail wagging.”

“Ollie, it may seem like that, but she’s not happy. Inez told me so.”

“Inez told you so? Look, I’ve had Gertrude for years. I know that she’s happy, just look at her.”

“Inez is sure,” Rupert insisted.

“How? She only spent a day or so with her. Maybe Gertrude was sad to have been left behind. She’s fine now.”

“Remember that Gertrude is a Wanderer.”

To be honest she’d completely forgotten that fact. “And?”

“That means that Inez can communicate with her. Gertrude is unhappy here. She wants to go back.”

“I’m finding this even harder to take in than it was accepting that you are a Wanderer. Where on earth does she want to go back to? Surely not to Dillard in Princeton! They never got along. Dillard’s not an animal person. We knew that before we got Gertrude. It was all he could do to tolerate her. This is utterly ridiculous. The three people that she’s been the closest to–Arizona, Ella and I–are here!” She shook her head in confusion.

“Olivia, calm down. Gertrude does not belong here. Ask her yourself.”

“You’re kidding right? I just ask her and she’ll suddenly talk back to me?”

“No, let’s go over to Inez and have her help you communicate with her.”

“Rup, is this really necessary?”

“Yes.”

“All right, we’ll do it tomorrow.”

“No, Ollie, today. Right now. I’ve asked if Ella can remain playing with Sally for a bit longer.”

“I can’t see the urgency. I’m tired and we still have to get to Arizona’s game….”

“We have time, Ollie.”

It felt so good to wake up in my own bed this morning. Not that I had any complaints about Potomal’s hospitality. His digs were awesome, but my room felt safe. I went straight to sleep after my journey back home. I was conveniently dropped off in my own bed, so I hit the pillow, without getting into my pajamas. I woke up this morning looking like something out of a zombie movie, my mascara smeared into raccoon eyes and my hair definitely reminiscent of Bozo. Thank goodness for Chanel Vendetta nail polish, I thought to myself, as I glanced down at my intact pedicure. At least something looked decent.

Now, on the back of David’s bike, I felt back to normal. A shower had quickly refreshed me and a cup of coffee jolted me into a rush of activity, which concluded with the application of lip gloss. We were heading over to the lake, for some one-on-one time. David had woken me up with a call to let me know that he was going back to his dad’s tomorrow. So today was all we had and I wanted to catch up with him.

Kellan was a bit put out naturally. We’d planned to spend the day together, and that would have included going to school. When I asked Rupert–Mom was not around–if I could cut school, he’d been surprisingly understanding, positive even. So I was having a day off from school!

David and I hadn’t seen much of each other during the past year. When we did, it was rushed and we didn’t manage to catch up. Last Halloween there was a certain closeness between us that I really missed. I wondered whether it was gone forever, or if it was just missing for the moment because we’d been apart.

Oops! I checked myself. I wondered if David could still read me. Last October, he revealed that when he made physical contact with me, he could hear my thoughts. There was no distance between us now. I was hugging him tightly as he rode the bike through the trees toward the lake. Can you hear my thoughts, David? He nodded. I could only imagine the grin behind the helmet.

The grin was still firmly planted on his face as he removed his helmet and lifted me off the bike. He held up both hands in a surrender move. Very cute.

“Can’t read you now! Ponder away!” he teased.

I took his hand, dragging him along to the lake, making sure to blank my mind of any inappropriate thoughts. I concentrated on the image of a burger. It made me hungry.

“Me, too,” David said, as he dropped down on the grass and started emptying out the contents of the picnic basket. “No burgers, but here’s a bacon sub. It’s really nice to get to share some downtime with you, Poppet. I’ve missed you.”

“Why didn’t you come back? Your dad’s okay now isn’t he?”

David nodded. “Yeah. He’s still scarred, both physically and emotionally, but he’s back at work. I think work has been really good for him.”

“What about you? Been playing any hockey?”

“Yeah, I’m captain of the varsity team,” he beamed. “I hear you’re the captain of the girls’ team. How’s that working out?”

“I love it! I didn’t think I would, but the girls are awesome. We just started the season; we’re playing the first league game tonight. Will you come and watch?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Great! I’m still playing for the varsity team as well, just not as much. But it’s fun to hang out with the guys.”

“How have you been coping with Simla and Justin?”

“They’ve sort of kept to themselves this year. I did try to reach out a bit to Simla. I really felt for her after her mom died, but she seemed to want to be left alone. Strangely, though, when we were at Potomal’s, she was different somehow. She was more direct with me, treated me like a friend almost. It’ll be interesting to see where we go with our day-to-day relationship now.”

“Did you hear about her dad?” David asked.

“There’s more news?”

David nodded. “He turned up just outside Mountain View yesterday.”

“Get out!”

“Really, he did. The FBI is all over it, as are the Wanderers.”

“What does he want? He has the blueprints, right?”

“Mom spoke to Constance this morning. He apparently wanted another copy. He must have left the last set behind in the other dimension.”

“I’m assuming Mom called the FBI on him?”

“Nope. He pulled the Dillard threat from last year.”

“Figures. So she sent the prints?”

“Yes, she is emailing them to him.”

“Does Simla know about this?” I asked.

“She knows about him being back, but not about the blueprint saga.”

“I assume she wants to see him?”

“Yeah. Her house is surrounded by the FBI, though. She can’t be seen trying to find him, even if he has managed to make contact with her somehow.”

“How did the FBI get involved? Did Potomal dump him here as he threatened?” I listened carefully as David repeated the story back to me. Poor old ladies. “So, I guess Simla will lay low until the FBI loses interest again and then try to find him. He’ll be loaded soon. I bet he’ll get a fortune for those prints.”

David nodded. “Yeah, I expect that’s what she’ll do. I don’t think the Elders will stop her. She’s old enough to make her own decisions.” He sighed. “What about you and Justin?”

“The same, over the last year. We played hockey together, but apart from that we’ve kept our distance. We did seem to bond when we were held captive, but I don’t know if it’ll last or not. I hope so, sure makes life easier.”

“What else, Poppet? Everything fine with you? You and Kellan still going strong?”

I nodded, making sure not to emote too much. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Best to change the subject. “What about you, David? It must be surreal to go to the same school in a different dimension.”

He suddenly looked uncomfortable, rubbing his leg and running his fingers through his hair.

“David? You okay?”

He nodded. “I’m not living in Mountain View with my dad. I never said I was.”

“I guess you didn’t. I just assumed so when you went back. Where did you go? Another dimension? Or have you been living elsewhere in this dimension? I’m confusing myself. Where the heck have you been?”

“I met a girl,” he said, hesitantly. “I moved to be closer to her.”

“David’s in love! Awesome! What’s she like?”

“She is very pretty, a lot like you really,” he smiled.

“Oh, you goof! Well that explains everything. You seemed so distant, but it’s just that you’ve been concentrating on someone else. I hope she’s nice. You deserve the best,” I said, and clambered over the food and drink to give him a hug. Then I lay back enjoying the warm sun on my skin. I was happy. It was such a relief to have David back in my life again, even if it was only for a short while. I fell asleep briefly. I was still tired out from the previous couple of days. When I opened my eyes again, David was sitting up and watching me intently. It clicked. He must also be my security detail while he was with me. “Sorry, David,” I said, embarrassed.

“Don’t apologize. I like watching you sleep–in a non-creepy way,” he hastily added.

I punched his shoulder. “I know! So, what were you thinking about while I nodded off like an old lady?”

He didn’t smile like I had expected him to. His mood was suddenly somber.

“David?”

“Poppet, how’s Gertrude been?”

What a strange question. “Fine, I guess. I’ve been too busy to spend any time with her. She has a walker who comes over and takes her out her everyday. She seems happy enough. Why? Has she been complaining?” I laughed.

“Actually, yes.”

There’s not much one can say in response to that. I could feel an inane conversation about better dog care coming up. Gertrude was well looked after. She was loved, fed and walked. I just didn’t have much spare time, most of which I spent with Kellan.

“Yesterday, Gertrude spent some time with Mom….”

“Oh, so that’s where she’s been! We’ve been so worried. We looked all over the house for her this morning, she’d just disappeared.”

“Yes,” David continued. “Mom and Gertrude had a conversation.”

“Doggie Wanderers can converse?”

“Yes, by sharing their feelings.”

I sighed. “So what did she tell your mom?”

“She wants to go back home–to Princeton.”

“Tough cookies. She’ll have to suck it up, silly dog.”

David’s brows furrowed. “I’m really shocked to hear you say that. Don’t you care about her feelings?”

“David, I wasn’t even aware that she had any feelings. She’s a dog.”

“She’s a Wanderer.”

“I know, but….”

“No buts,” David said adamantly. “She is one of us. She is unhappy and wants to go home.”

“David,” I protested. “Dad’s not going to want her!”

“How do you know? Maybe he will. Or maybe Gertrude is ready for another assignment. Her work with you is done and to simply keep her as a pet is making her miserable. She needs to have a purpose. Her purpose is not here, it never was. She was forcibly taken from another dimension and brought here by your mother, causing all kinds of havoc.”

“I can’t just let you transport her back….”

“Arizona, Gertrude is a Wanderer. She doesn’t need me to transport her back. All she needs is Constance’s permission, and then she can wander back on her own.”

“Well she’s not a Sigma-W, is she? So, she can’t magic herself to Princeton. You’d have to drive her,” I said, in the most smart-alecky way possible.

“You have me there. Still, this is serious.”

“David, what do you want me to say? Take my dog. I don’t think so. Besides, Mom would never let you do that. Sheesh, she went through all that trouble to bring her here in the first place. And what about Ella? She’ll be devastated.”

David nodded. “It’s not going to be easy. Constance has assigned a Wanderer puppy to Ella. We are going to bring her over tomorrow.”

“Seriously? You think giving her a new puppy is just going to make her forget Gertrude? I don’t think so. Look, I want to go home,” I snapped, standing up.

He pulled me down and put his arms around me. I sobbed into his shirt. I knew Gertrude would go. I could feel it. I couldn’t stop her and I certainly didn’t want to keep her prisoner. But I would miss her so much.

“She’ll come back to visit you whenever you want. Just let me know and I’ll make sure she comes.”

I lay in his arms sobbing for a while. I was going to miss the lazy lump. Dad had better look after her. He probably needed her more than I did. I had so much love here and he was alone. Besides, I planned to go and visit him soon so I would get to see Gertrude, as well. “Ella isn’t going to be able to handle this.”

“She will. The new puppy is a Wanderer, too. She will instantly connect with it, just like you did with me. Remember, Arizona Darley, I am your Wanderer, not Gertrude. Who do you think about when you’re sad? When you’re scared? Gertrude brought the Arizona Stevens to you because it lives so strongly within her. But it’s me you turn to.”

I was dumbfounded. He was right. Not that it made my affection for Gertrude any less. I loved her like my pet and that can be the strongest connection ever. However, the connection I felt to David was way deeper.

“Poppet, I know this is going to be painful, but I just wanted to warn you. You could try to talk Gertrude into staying. However, she seems ready to wander.”

“Does Mom know?”

“I think so. My mom is expecting us to come over to her place.”

“You’re going to let Gertrude go today?”

“No. We’ll make sure that Ella connects with her puppy first. We’ll then explain to her that Gertrude doesn’t belong here, we’ll do it in a way she can understand and accept. Mom wants us over so we can all sit down and figure this out together. Okay?”

I nodded and walked over to the bike and got on, watching him gather the blanket and basket before getting on in front of me and riding back through the trees to the highway. I tried to blank my mind and concentrate on the wind. I would have to leave Gertrude behind next year when I moved to college anyway. It hadn’t occurred to me to dwell on that. So why was this so difficult? When I went to college, I would still see her during vacation times. Could I now? Would she be able or even want to visit with us?

David veered off the road and brought the bike to a halt. He took his helmet off and looked at me. “Poppet, of course, she’ll want to come back! And it’s a good thing that you’re considering what would have happened next year anyway. Really, the main concern is Ella. Or that’s Gertrude’s main concern. She’s bonded with Ella over the last year, though she hasn’t enjoyed the numerous dress-up sessions. The new puppy will.” He put his helmet on again and restarted the bike.

Mom and Rupert were already at Inez’s house when we got there. Mom came over and hugged me, she was visibly emotional at what was going on. My heart skipped a beat as Gertrude came bounding up the stairs from the back yard, jumped up on me and licked my face. I hugged her close and carried her over to the couch. I looked at her sadly and asked, “Seriously, Gertrude?”

She looked at me miserably. I looked up at Mom.

“Don’t worry, Arizona. I’m not going to let anyone take Gertrude.”

“Mom, I don’t think anyone is taking her. I think she is leaving.”

Mom shook her head. “Inez, what’s going on?”

“As you know, I spent the day with Gertrude yesterday. I hadn’t spent any time with her, not even checked in with her, since she was brought through the portal. By all accounts, she was doing fine, so I didn’t interfere, although I should have. Her transport was unauthorized by the Elders so we should have sent her back immediately. With all that was going on with Arizona, we did feel that it was perhaps best to let her stay. We let her stay as your pet, Arizona. She is, however, not just a pet. It seems that she is unhappy not having a purpose.”

“But she does have a purpose,” I protested. “We all love her. We do, Gertrude,” I said, kissing her forehead.

“Arizona, I know. You love her as your pet. She needs more than that to feel fulfilled,” Inez explained.

“I know. David explained it to me. I’m just having a hard time accepting it. I just want her to know how much she’s loved and how much we’re going to miss her. And I want her to promise to visit.”

“Rupert said that you communicated with her and you would show us how,” Mom challenged.

Inez nodded and walked over to me. She sat down beside me and asked me to place Gertrude between us. She gently patted her head and looked into her eyes and nodded. “The easiest way for me to do this would be to read her and answer your questions that way, but I’m sure you wouldn’t believe me. So, I’ve asked her to lift her right paw as an affirmative answer. No, this won’t work with complicated questions, or even simple ones that require more than a yes-or-no answer, so think before you ask the questions. We’ll stop when she lies down. That’ll mean she’s had enough. Arizona, you start.”

“Gertrude, you know I love you, right?”

She looked up at me, wagging her tail. Then suddenly, as if she just remembered, she raised her little paw. I was astounded. I looked up at Mom, who was shaking her head in disbelief.

Inez spoke again. “Olivia, you go next and then the two of you can take turns until Gertrude has had enough.”

“Gertrude, are you angry that I brought you through the portal?”

We all looked at her intently for an answer. Gertrude looked around, then the paw came up.

“Arizona, I know it’s your turn, but may I ask anther one, please?” Mom asked, clearly dismayed.

I nodded.

“Gertrude,” she said, “do you understand that my reasons for doing so was because we love you and I wanted you to be with us?”

The paw went up right away.

“Do you want to go back?” I asked. That was the one thing I really needed to know.

Gertrude didn’t hesitate. She raised her paw. She was obviously one hundred percent sure. Then, she lay down.

“Gertrude, just one more, please,” I pleaded, as Inez glared at me sternly. She stood back up, cocking her head to the side, looking at me intently. “Gertrude, will you come and visit me often?” Her paw came up and then she climbed into my lap and fell asleep. Wow.

“What about Ella?” Olivia whispered.

“David, can you go and get her?”

“Get whom?” I asked. Mom and I looked at each other.

David returned with something in his arms, some kind of pink snugglie. He came over to the coffee table where Inez put down a cushion. Gertrude went over and sat on it and waited, looking up at David. We were all looking at David.

He carefully unwrapped the blanket to reveal a set of big eyes… oh, I was overcome. It was the cutest little Chihuahua since Gertrude had been a pup. David sat her down beside Gertrude, who promptly licked her. I reached over to pet her.

“This is Gertrude’s niece,” Inez smiled. “She is a Wanderer and she has been assigned to Ella. I’m in no way saying that Gertrude leaving won’t break her heart, as it has yours, but this will help.”

David came up and gave me hug. “It’s going to be all right, Poppet.”

We were in a crazy hurry to get to the rink after our meeting with Inez. Thankfully Kellan swung by my house and picked up my hockey kit for me. I was emotionally drained; it was hard leaving Gertrude and the new puppy–who was fricking adorable–behind. Inez promised me that Gertrude would be waiting for me at my house after hockey. It was decided that Gertrude would leave tomorrow with David. There was no point in prolonging the pain of the upcoming separation. Thankfully, Gertrude would wander back and visit with us briefly in a couple of days. Inez did warn us that, although she was allowing this first visit, the visitations couldn’t be too frequent. It would apparently drain Gertrude both physically and emotionally. However, she would make it a point of visiting every couple of months.

When we asked Inez about where exactly Gertrude was going, she was annoyingly evasive. I tried to explain to her my dad’s dislike of animals and that Gertrude wouldn’t be happy there, but she told me not to worry. Apparently everything had been taken care of to Gertrude’s satisfaction. My satisfaction seemed to be irrelevant. Oh well.

I managed to draw on the annoyance of that thought, feeling myself grow more and more frustrated. By the time David dropped me off at the entrance to the rink, I was boiling over. Kellan was waiting for me with my kit. He came over to hug me, but must have felt my mood.

“Hey, what’s up? You look ready to kill,” he said bemusedly, which added to my irritation.

“Just a bit stressed. I have so much to tell you. Hang out after the game?”

He nodded, as I quickly kissed his cheek and went in through the metal doors.

What’s the best thing about playing for a girl’s team? Hanging out in the locker room with my team, instead of having to change by myself and being left out of all the locker room banter. The girls were super excited, as was I.

“Ready?” I shouted, struggling into my slightly-too-small black and yellow Mountain Cats jersey. They had gotten my measurements all wrong; I’d have to get a new one. I glanced over at the C on my shoulder. Captain. I smiled.

“Yeah, good to go,” shouted Tilda, our goalie. “Sure you can handle a bunch of girls?” she teased.

I chuckled and threw my lip gloss at her. Then I deposited my pink helmet securely on my head and led them out. This was a seriously awesome bunch of players. It was too bad none of them went to Mountain View High. They seemed to come from the private schools in the area. I had gotten to know them a bit during summer camp. They seemed pleased to have me on the team.

“Seriously, Arizona. You’ll need to get yourself a black helmet,” Coach Mims ordered, as we entered our box.

I smiled back–I had no intention of doing that. Coach delivered his pre-game talk. I listened more intently that usual. I was the captain, after all. Better take things a bit more seriously. The usual butt-ending and body checks were not going to cut it. In fact, body checking was against the rules! So, I really had to pull my socks up and play differently, relying on my speed and stick skills, which would be difficult playing defense. I glanced up at the stands–everyone was there: Mom, Rupert, Kellan, Ella, David, Ariele, Ali, Maria. And wow, even Justin and Simla. I smiled and waved at them.

It was awesome feeling the ice beneath me as we skated along during warm ups. When the whistle blew, I skated to the center for face off. We played well, but not well enough. We were young as a team and hadn’t had much experience playing together and it showed. I only spent two minutes in the penalty box for gently–yes gently, she didn’t even go down–body checking my opponent. The game ended in a draw, which was okay for the first game. I’d get this team into shape for the next one.

The post-game locker-room antics were hilarious. Tilda started us off by shaking a bottle of coke and announcing that it was Champagne before she sprayed it all over us. A riot ensued. Thank goodness there were showers we could use.

Kellan was waiting for me outside the changing room as I emerged with a crowd of noisy girls.

“Hey,” I said, and walked into his arms and kissed him.

“Is that the boyfriend?” Tilda snorted from behind me.

“Yup,” he said. “Nice to meet you, ladies. Well done on the ice today. You were awesome.”

“Oh, you’re hot!” Tilda retorted, looking him up and down. “What’s your name?”

I laughed, “Kellan, cute isn’t he?” I said, and pinched his cheek really hard.

“Shrimp!”

“Shrimp?” repeated the girls, rolling their eyes and laughing.

I shook my head. “Later, girls. See you guys at practice tomorrow,” I said, dragging Kellan toward the exit.

“Nice girls,” he said, as we walked over to my yellow Jeep. Kellan had driven my kit over in it. “We’re heading over to my house for dinner. Your family, David, Ali, Maria and Ariele are already there.”

“Do we have to go over right away? Can we talk first?”

“Well, they are waiting. Hold on, let me call Dad and check.”

As he called, I wondered how I’d fill him in on everything. In a way, I felt too drained to begin. It would have been handy, this one time, if he could read me.

~

Olivia looked around Larry’s living room, happy to have everyone here to celebrate Arizona’s game. She’d not had a chance to talk to Larry yet, after the revelation that his wife, Catherine, had been a Sigma-W. She looked around and spotted him walking over to her, talking into his cell.

“That was Kellan,” he said, putting the phone back into his pocket. “They are running a bit late and will be here in an hour or so. Kellan said we could go ahead and start without them, if we want. How is Ella holding up? Is she starving?”

Olivia looked over at her tiara-wearing daughter and smiled. She was busy chatting with her friend Jonas. “She seems to be fine. She had a play date with Sally earlier, which wiped her out. She napped on the way to the rink, so she should be fine. She had a snack about an hour ago, and she’s been helping herself to all the delicious crudités.”

“Good. How are you holding up? I heard about Gertrude. Inez told me.”

“I am conflicted. I’m going to miss her like crazy like I did before, which is why I brought her here. I can’t keep her here now that I know she wants to leave. Where will she go, though? Surely not back to Dillard? That frightens me more than anything.”

“I can’t imagine so,” Larry comforted her. “What does Dillard need a Wanderer for? No, there must be another plan for Gertrude. Whatever it is, she wants to partake in it. Inez would never force her.”

Olivia nodded. “I just wish I knew. It would make it easier for me. But this is not about me; it’s about doing what’s best for Gertrude. I understand that, and also have her best interests at heart. I hope that she knows that she is always welcome back with us, anytime.”

“I’m sure she knows that.”

“Larry, what about you? How are you coping? I haven’t talked to you since you found out about Catherine….”

“I’m okay, I guess. I’ve spent ages trying to figure it all out. How could I not have known this about my own wife? It was one thing you not knowing about Rupert, but I’ve known about Wanderers for a long time, yet I didn’t know my own wife was one! Was she a Wanderer plant? Did she even love me? Would we have met each other if the Wanderers hadn’t wanted me to work with you?”

“How did you and Catherine meet, Larry?” Olivia asked. She had wondered before, but Larry always avoided talking about his late wife. It was too painful for him.

“We met at a conference in Bern. I first noticed her when she was presenting her paper. I was mesmerized by her voice, so soft, but captivating. Then at the conference dinner, she came up to me and introduced herself. She said that she really enjoyed my talk….” He stopped. “She came up to me.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that she was a plant,” Olivia protested. “Besides, no matter how or why you met, you both loved each other. You had a child together.”

Larry’s eyes welled up. Olivia put her arm around him and walked with Larry to the library for some privacy. Once he had worked through his emotions, he pointed to the painting on the easel. “That’s her.”

Olivia nodded. She’d seen the painting many times and suspected as much. “She was very beautiful.”

“Beautiful?” said a little voice from the doorway.

“Ella, yes. You are beautiful,” Olivia smiled. “What’s up? Where’s Jonas?”

“Right here,” Jonas said, peering around the doorframe.

“Dad sent us to look for you, though I think that was just an excuse to get rid of us. They all looked very secretive. They’re up to something,” Ella said, nodding her head and raising her brows.

“Oh, I can’t imagine what. Let’s go find out,” Olivia said, shooting Larry a quizzical glance. He just smiled mysteriously. On the way back to the living room he walked up close to her and whispered, “We were going to wait for Kellan and Arizona, but this can’t wait any longer.”

Everyone was huddled into a circle when Olivia, Larry, Jonas and Ella walked into the room.

“Ella, we have something for you,” Rupert said as he moved to let the new puppy scamper out.

“Awww, I love her,” Ella whispered gathering the puppy up in her lap.  “Can I keep her? Can I call her Tallulah? She is so cute! Look she’s wearing a matching tiara.”

~

We decided to drive over to my house. It was empty now that my family was over at Kellan’s. As soon as I opened the door, Gertrude sprang up on me and licked me half to death. My eyes filled and tears streamed down my face.

“Shrimp? Come over and sit down,” Kellan said, ushering me to the couch while I held onto Gertrude. “What’s going on?”

I told him the story, all of it, amid occasional sobs. Gertrude sat on me, licking off my tears.

“Geez. This is unbelievable. Will she do the paw thing now if we ask her some more questions?” Kellan asked.

“I don’t know. We could try.” I put Gertrude down beside me and looked her in the eye. “Gertrude, can I ask you another question?”

She yawned and lay down, closing her eyes.

Kellan laughed. “I guess not.”

“It’s not funny,” I said grumpily.

“I know. I’m sorry. You’ll see her again. We’re heading off to college next year anyway.”

“I know,” I said, leaning into him. I put my nose to his chest and took a deep breath, he smelled so good. He cupped the back of my neck with his hand and pulled me in, brushing his lips against mine. I lost myself in him for a while. The best a-while I had all day, hockey included.

“Shrimp, we better head over to my house, everyone is waiting. It was always meant to be a late dinner, but we’re now very late.”

I reluctantly extracted myself from his arms and stood up. “Let’s take Gertrude with us.” I picked her up and carried her out to the Jeep.

As I was driving, Kellan suddenly snapped, “Stop! Pull over.”

My heart skipped a couple of beats at his tone. I was filled with dread. “What’s up,” I asked, once I had pulled into the hard shoulder. “Did I drive over something?” I asked fearfully.

“No, no. Hold on just a sec,” he said, obviously gathering his thoughts.

He looked seriously worried, his brows twisted into a deep furrow. I waited, getting more and more anxious.

“Arizona, what if you disappear once Gertrude leaves?”

I shook my head trying to get my head around to what he was suggesting. “You mean you’re wondering if I’ll turn back into the original Arizona Darley?”

He nodded.

Wow. I had never considered that possibility. Had anyone else? The Wanderers? Mom? It was possible that when Gertrude left, she would take Arizona Stevens with her. She had, after all, brought me here. What would happen to me? Would I evaporate into nothingness, never to exist again? It is entirely possible that I would, for all intents and purposes, die. Arizona Darley could emerge again. I had sort of stolen her life, after all.

“Shrimp?”

“Kellan, it hadn’t even occurred to me,” I said, looking over at him. “I guess you would have your real Shrimp back.”

He got out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Sheesh. I shouldn’t have said that so flippantly. I got out of the car and walked around, put my arms around him and hugged him tight.

“Kellan, don’t be angry. I didn’t mean it like that. I have no idea what’s going to happen. I can’t imagine myself being any other way now. I am Arizona Darley who plays hockey and loves you.”

He nodded and brushed his lips against mine. “You are my real Shrimp,” he whispered into my ear.

The game had been wicked. Since David was away, I was subbing as captain, sweet! I had laid out two of our opponents and gotten myself banned from the next game, but it was worth it. David was going to be proud of me–I think. I had managed to keep our spotless record intact. It sucked not being able to celebrate it with him, though. It had only been a few days but I missed him. Sheesh, I snickered to myself. I have changed!

A lot had changed over the last year.

~

Last year, as I watched David get back into the cab to head back to Newark airport, I felt so low. I had walked into the house, not really wanting to chat with Dad.

“Hey, Arizona, where’ve you been? I was expecting you to be home. And what did you need all that money for?”

“Dad, I’m tired. Can we talk about this in the morning?”

“No, I have to go to Atlantic City again. I’ve been invited to another private poker game. Can’t miss it.”

“Why not?”

Dad looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “What are you talking about? I can’t miss it, you know that.”

I sighed. I knew that? That being that he was a compulsive gambler and couldn’t say no to a game.

“Anyway, where have you been and why did you need all that money?”

“Well, I went to camp, remember? You were supposed to pick me up at the bus stop, at school.”

He sighed. “Sheesh. I’m sorry, slipped my mind. How was camp?”

“Pretty awesome, really intense. The digs were bad, roaches and all. We didn’t spend much time in them, though. When I got there, I’d already been assigned a roommate–Marie from Vancouver. She was a really nice girl, you know, sweet and demure, not at all what I’d expected. I was a bit worried that the rest of them would be all girlie-girlie as well. But Marie was the exception. The rest of the girls were loud and aggressive. Marie turned out to be really good on the ice, though. The scouts were all over her. It turns out that her mom is looking into a position at Princeton, so who knows, she may end up moving here. That would be cool. We could use her on the team, though the boys may eat her alive. Or not, she’s very pretty.

“Anyhow, practice started at six in the morning every day, so we were up at five. The day started out on ice, followed by breakfast and theory, which was achingly boring, but could have been run by scouts so I tried paying attention.”

“Good. Were you approached by any of them?”

“Yeah, two. They asked for my contact details and said they’d be in touch.”

“Let me know if they do. So what did you need the money for?”

“Well, when you didn’t pick me up at school, I got Christian to drop me off at home. I went straight to bed. Then someone broke in….”

“Broke in? Did you call 911?”

“No, I didn’t have time. I heard glass shattering and thought it might be you, having forgotten your keys or whatever, so I came into the living room to have a look. And someone grabbed me….”

“Arizona, are you hurt?” he asked, visibly shaken.

“No, Dad. I’m fine. Anyway, I was put in the back of a van and driven to Mountain View in California.”

“You were kidnapped?” He was now gaping.

“Yes, Dad. Know anything about it?”

“What?”

“Well, think about it, Dad. Why would anyone kidnap me? You and your gambling debts could be the only reason,” I said angrily.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Arizona! I don’t gamble with kidnappers! Have you called the police?”

“No. Dad, do you gamble with Raj Sen?”

“Never heard the name. Who’s he?”

“He’s the one who kidnapped me. He is also Simla’s dad.”

“Simla?”

“Oh never mind! Don’t you pay attention to anything I say? I’ve mentioned Simla hundreds of times before. She’s the girl who got bullied at school. Remember the bathroom incident with the cell phone camera?”

“Vaguely,” he muttered unconvincingly.

“She’s a friend of mine, sort of.”

“What do you mean, sort of?” Dad asked.

“Well, she’s not a buddy like Ariele or Monica. Simla is a bit distant and very shy. She’s hard to connect with. She doesn’t have a lot of friends, any friends, really. I’m the closest she has to a friend at school. I look out for her, make sure that people know not to bully her. And she helps me with math.”

“Ah!” Dad said knowingly.

“No, it’s not like that.”

“Arizona, are you telling me that your friend’s dad kidnapped you? That’s bizarre. Why? Did you fall out with Simla?”

“No! I assumed it had something to do with you.”

“Call her.”

“Simla?”

“Yes! Who else? I want to talk to her dad. Wait, we should probably let the police deal with this.”

“Yes. Dad, where’s Gertrude?”

“I don’t know. She was here with you when I left, Arizona.”

“No, I left first, Dad! Anyhow, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we find her! Maybe Raj Sen took her. She wasn’t here when I got back. Maybe he did something to her so she wouldn’t bark and wake me up when he was breaking in. Dad call the police, we need them to find her.”

We spent the next few days talking first to the local police and then to the FBI. I told them everything–even about Dan and Sophie, even though I had promised I wouldn’t. The police couldn’t find Simla or her dad. The whole family seemed to have disappeared. That was a big concern, if Raj was in hiding, he might try something stupid again. The FBI put a watch on our house. Dad was beyond pissed off that he missed his poker game.

He left for AC the first chance he got, two days after I came back home. I wasn’t ready to be left on my own, but couldn’t get myself to tell him. Not that he would care. My next-door neighbors, Raymond and Beth, insisted that I stay with them during the nights at least. Normally that would have been a total drag, but I was grateful for it. They were both horrified that I had been kidnapped right under their noses.

“I’m so glad you decided to stay over,” Beth said, showing me to her son’s old bedroom. “This is yours for as long as you need it.”

“Thanks, Beth,” I said, looking around at the room. Beth’s son played college football now but he must have started off young by the looks of all the football gear in his room, including the tiny cleats. “When did he start playing?”

“Oh, he’s been playing all his life, probably was about four when he got his first cleats,” she said, pointing at them.

“Awesome.”

She smiled and gave me a hug. “It’s awesome having you stay over.”

Early next morning, as I was having breakfast–Beth cooks a wicked breakfast–with the Goldens, their doorbell rang.

“A bit early for visitors,” Beth remarked, as she went to the door. She looked slightly perturbed when she walked back into the kitchen.

“Beth? Everything okay?” Raymond asked, getting up.

“Yes, dear. It’s a visitor for Arizona.”

Not the FBI again? This early? What did they want now? Maybe they had tracked down Raj Sen or Simla.

“It’s that boy who visited with you. The boy on the motorcycle.”

“Who?”

“He’s waiting for you in the living room. Don’t be too long.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes as I entered the living room.

~

Sophie looked at the TV screen as she cleaned up the bar area. How could she have ended up here? A year ago she’d been working at Ames, earning a good salary. Now, she was cleaning up after a barrage of drunken customers in a bar–The Hurler, nice name, it aptly described the clientele–in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The clientele was a mix of the local drunks and the surrounding college kids who couldn’t afford the nicer establishments. It was also frequented by a bunch of dealers, who kept the place running financially. The only women who came in here were, well… never mind. This was the only job Dan and she managed to get on short notice after their misadventures with Raj Sen. They’d had no money at all. Thankfully, the owner of the bar, Al–who had a fondness for body glitter–had taken pity on them and liked Dan for a bouncer. So, she did the hard work, while Dan sat outside chatting mostly.

She changed the channel to watch the local news. Sophie froze. There on the screen were artist’s renderings of Dan and her–with the offer of a reward. She hastily changed the channel back to sports and went to find Dan. They had to get out of there.

~

David! I couldn’t believe my eyes! David was in Beth’s living room! I flung myself at him. I was in his arms–practically slobbering all over him–when I found myself again and hastily drew away from him. Sheesh, way too enthusiastic, what had come over me?

“Arizona, what? Did I do something wrong?”

“No…. I’m not usually like this; this is awkward. I didn’t mean to jump you like that,” I apologized.

He smiled and gathered me back into his arms. I didn’t resist.

“Arizona, that’s inappropriate in my living room,” Beth said, wandering in and looking at us sternly.

We let go of each other instantly and stepped back. “I’m so sorry, Beth. I let my excitement get the better of me.”

“It’s okay. I do know you like him,” she smiled. “I guess you’ve come to take her to school, young man. What’s your name?”

Introductions. I can be so inadvertently rude sometimes. “David, allow me, please. Mrs. Golden this is David, a friend. David, this is Mrs. Golden, my neighbor and this is Mr. Golden,” I said, as Raymond walked into the room and shook David’s hand.

“I came to take you to school,” David said, looking at me with amusement.

“Now, David, you have to understand that Arizona here has been through a lot. She is being watched by the FBI and they are going to drive her to school this morning,” Beth informed him tritely.

I could see the confusion in his eyes.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Golden. I’ll go and let them know to follow us instead,” I said, ushering David out the door before Beth could protest. Once the agent said it was okay, we walked over to David’s bike.

“I take it you informed the police that you were kidnapped?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “I kinda had to, once I told my dad about it. I didn’t say anything about Raj and what happened to your dad, though. Do they know?”

“The local police do, but the FBI was not brought in. How long are they going to keep watch on your house?”

“I don’t know, at least until Dad gets back,” I said.

“Back? I thought he was back already? I wouldn’t have left you on your own–who was the man at your house when I dropped you off? I assumed it was your dad,” David said, clearly perturbed.

“David, it was. We spent the last couple of days being questioned and he was desperate to get to a poker game in AC, so he left yesterday, once he got the all-clear to go.”

“And he left you here, all by yourself?” David asked, his brows furrowing.

“Not all on my own. The agents are here, so are Mr. and Mrs. Golden. I stayed with them last night.”

“Can’t you see how wrong that is?” David asked angrily.

I didn’t want to see how wrong it was. If I allowed myself a journey into that thought process, I was sure to come out of it emotionally scarred. So, why go there in the first place?  Denial has worked well for me for years.

“David, can you take me to school now? I’d better not be late, I’ve missed so much already.”

“Is this your first day back since you went to camp?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you spoken to any of your friends?”

“Nope. Well, I spoke to Monica–she’s my BFF–briefly to let her know that I didn’t need a ride to school this morning, but that’s all. Been too busy with the police.”

“Ah,” he said, furrowing his brows again.

“What’s with all the furrowing? You’re going to need Botox if you don’t stop!”

He chuckled. “That’s one thing you don’t have to worry your pretty little head about. Jump on, I’d better get you to school.”

Pretty little head. Yup, I guess there was a first time for everything. David’s bike was wicked. I would have to rethink the whole Dodge Charger–my dream car– thing. I may want to go all out and get a Harley instead. I’d have to ask him how he got his hockey kit to school. David dropped me off right outside the main entrance.

“Arizona, have a good day. Can I pick you up and take you to dinner after school?”

“Yeah, there’s no hockey practice tonight, so that would be great. What are you going to do all day?”

“I have a few things to organize, tell you about them after school. See you later,” he said, and kissed me goodbye before he took off.

“Still into David?” Christian asked, walking up behind me.

“Still?” I laughed. I guess Monica must have updated him with the David news. I hadn’t been able to stop myself from blabbing about him to her during our very short conversation this morning. I still had to tell her about the kidnapping!

“Early days?” he winked.

“Yeah,” I rolled my eyes at him. “Very early, so don’t go around starting annoying rumors, or I’ll have to thump you.”

“Back to normal,” he muttered, as he thumped me really hard. He was getting himself up from the floor following my well-placed shove when Noah and Brandon came walking up to us. “She’s back to normal, guys. Don’t mention the h-a-i-r,” he said, and rolled on the floor laughing. I sighed and left them in the hallway acting like idiots.

“A?”

“Hey, Mon, wassup?”

“Um, not a lot. Wassup with you?” she asked, grimacing in a bordering-on-ugly expression.

“Too much to get onto right now,” I said, rolling my eyes, “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“After school?”

“No, I’m spending time with my friend, David, after school today. Tell you all about him tomorrow.”

“Figures,” she said. “Say hi to David from me.”

Nope, I was keeping David all to myself. The day dragged. The classes were numbingly boring. I just narrowly missed detention, thank goodness, I had after-school plans. The other kids were behaving odder than usual, but I just couldn’t be bothered with them enough to figure out what their problem was. Even Mr. Harvey acted oddly concerned and didn’t wake me when I nodded off in his class. He even asked if I was okay once class ended.

I was glad to see David waiting for me after school. I nodded at the agent who was watching us from his car. Then I got up on David’s bike.

“Where to?” David asked.

“Let’s head over to my place. It’s empty.” Too empty. Gertrude had mysteriously disappeared. I looked for her everywhere. The police had helped, as well. We called all the rescue centers and put up flyers. There wasn’t a tree in the neighborhood and the surrounding area without her picture on it. I felt empty knowing I may never find her again. I hoped she hadn’t been run over or murdered by that insane Raj Sen.

“I noticed all the posters of Gertrude missing,” David said, as we sat down in the kitchen for a snack. “Any ideas where she went?”

“No. She was gone before I got back, so I think Raj may have taken her to stop her waking me up when he broke in. I don’t know what he did with her, though. I hope he didn’t kill her,” I whispered, my eyes welling up.

David pulled me in and held me tightly, allowing me to saturate his shoulder with my tears. I blubbered for quite some time, until I was all cried out, but still miserable. I loved Gertrude. I needed her. She was my one rock.

“Arizona, I am here for you,” David said, comfortingly as he stroked my hair. I lay face down on his chest, feeling totally despondent.

“I need her back, David.” I lay listening to his heartbeat as it lulled me to sleep.

I woke a few hours later, almost stuck to David’s chest, my tears having glued me to his skin where it peeked through his shirt. I could hear that he was fast asleep so I tried getting up without disturbing him. He stirred and stroked my head.

“You up?” he whispered.

“Yeah, stay. I’m going to take a shower and get decent before you take me out somewhere awesome for dinner.”

“Like where? I don’t know this area yet. Where’s a good place?”

“Let’s go to Sho Gun and get some hibachi. I’m hungry.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed and closed his eyes again.

Dinner was good, but it was even better being back home with David. He didn’t say much during dinner. He seemed ravenous, though. I wondered when he’d last eaten. Must have been some time ago, so I let him enjoy his meal in silence, mostly. I did ask him about his father and I gathered, between his mouthfuls, that he was doing a bit better, but he was still in the hospital. His dad was going to be released in a few days, so David had decided to pay me a visit before then.

Once we got back to the house, David was back to his usual chatty self.

“How was school? And don’t just say good. I want to know everything.”

“Well, it was kind of good, in a sense, I guess. Nothing bad happened. People were acting a bit strange.”

“Strange? How?”

“Well, Mr. Harvey, one of my teachers, was actually nice to me in spite of my falling asleep in class. I usually just get handed a detention slip. And everyone looked at me a bit strange.”

“Did anyone say anything weird?” David inquired.

“Weird? Why would they?”

“It’s just that you said that they looked at you strange….” He shrugged.

“You know, it’s nothing. Just stupid high school stuff. Who cares? Whatever it is, it’ll be forgotten by tomorrow.”

David nodded.

“Tell me about you now. I’m really glad to see you. How long are you staying?”

“I was going to travel back tomorrow, but I think I’ll stay for a bit longer, at least until your dad gets back.”

“That’s great, but he may not be back for a few days, can you stay that long?”

“Yeah, Dad’s not due to be released just yet and Mom’s over there anyway. She’ll look after him until I get back.”

“Are they divorced?”

“Yeah, for quite a while now. They are still best friends, but I want to go back and look after him when he moves back home. It doesn’t feel right to have Mom do it. She has her own life.”

I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. I wish my parents could have at least remained friends. I don’t think they ever were to start with, though.

“Arizona, how would you feel if I transferred to your school? I really don’t like being so far away from you.”

“That would be awesome, David! How? When?”

“I’m not sure. It depends on how quickly Dad recovers. A couple of months, maybe.”

“How did this happen, David? Are your parents moving here?”

“No, I’m moving here on my own.”

“Get out! Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“How come? My dad would never allow me to do that–live on my own.”

David nodded and sighed. “It wasn’t easy convincing them. They do think this is a slightly out-there decision on my part. However, I promised that I would be sensible, and they’ve always tried to let me follow my dreams. Mom, in addition, feels you’d benefit from having me around. She really took to you, and is worried about you.”

I had strangely taken to David’s mom as well. I felt an instant connection with her. Whichever way David had persuaded his parents to allow him to move–and I was sure there was more to the story–it was beyond awesome. I’d still have to be without him for two months. Just having him here with me today had taken the edge off my pain and loneliness. Did I just need him for that? Or, was there more to it? I guess the distance could be a good thing. It would help me sort the bad from the good and make sure that I wasn’t just using David to dampen my sadness. I had to kick myself back into real life again and deal with what was going on. But two months, that’s an awfully long time.

“I’ll try to visit you as much as I can, but it won’t be easy. Between looking after Dad, school and homework, it’s going to be a challenge. Especially since the flights are so long.”

We were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. “David, go hide in my bedroom. It’s probably Beth. I really don’t want her seeing you here.”

I dealt with Beth the best I could. I could tell that she was disappointed when I insisted that I would be fine and wanted to sleep in my own room. She left saying that she would ask the agents to keep a special look out.

When I went to tell David that it was all clear, he’d fallen asleep in my bed. He looked peaceful, gentle snoring sounds coming from where he lay on my pillow. I went and lay beside him, feeling safe, giving way to my dreams.

By the time Christmas came along, I was proudly zooming around on my spanking new Harley, which I had guilted Mom into buying for me. It hadn’t been all that difficult once she found out about my misadventure in Mountain View and that I had tried to find her. Turns out that Ella and she had moved to Hollywood when Ella got cast in a TV show. She had apparently told me all about it during our last lunch, but I had been too busy listening to my iPod. So that whole news bulletin totally eluded me, as did the slip of paper on which she jotted down her new number. I vaguely remember throwing it in the garbage. Anyway, the Harley was mine.

I had spent a hard two months without David. He hadn’t been able to visit at all, so I was by myself most of the time. I was busy, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. Monica was a bit weird with me and, shortly after David left, when I spent a girl’s evening out with her and some of the girls from the lacrosse team, she took me aside.

“A, what’s going on? Why did you change your look?”

Okay, I admit it. Ever since I met David, I was paying more attention to the way I looked. I was even using some of the perfume my mom left behind. I couldn’t have him think I was totally gross. I was even wearing my hair down instead of pulled into my usual ponytail. So what? “Oh, do you have to go on about it? Seriously, can’t we talk about regular stuff?”

Monica shrugged. “What about David? Where did he go?”

“He went home. His dad’s not well. He’ll be back in a couple of months.”

And he did come back. But Gertrude didn’t. It was like she’d disappeared into thin air. Like Raj, in fact. No one had seen him either. I was devastated losing Gertrude. She was a permanent fixture in my bed; I needed her warmth at night. Mom offered to buy me a new dog for Christmas, but Dad wouldn’t hear of it. He was right. No other dog could take Gertrude’s place anyway.

David moved into a small apartment in Princeton, just a few blocks from my house. He started coming to school with me.

“David, are you going to tryout for the hockey team?” I asked him, after he’d been at school for a few days. We were standing by Lake Carnegie in Princeton. I wanted us to have our very own lake here. It was way less isolated than the lake David had taken me to in Mountain View, but just as pretty, I thought anyway.

“You think I should?”

“Yeah, definitely! You’ve been playing for Mountain View varsity, right? You probably won’t even have to try out. Just talk to Coach about it.”

“All right, I will. Just bear in mind that I’ll outplay you,” he smirked.

Yeah, right. I ate those words. David could play! I was sure that he would become our next Captain, when Christian left for college next year. So, David and I practically spent all our time together. We were in all the same classes, played hockey and hung out. I didn’t feel lonely anymore. Furthermore, I felt secure in the knowledge that David had my back. I felt connected with someone–other than Gertrude–for the first time in my life.

We were only apart twice during the remainder of the year. Once was at Christmas when David went home to see his parents. He did ask Dad and me to come, but Dad didn’t want to go–poker game–and I didn’t want to leave Dad on his own. So Christmas was difficult.

The second time was now–October. He’d been gone for almost a week–during school time. He didn’t give me any warning as he burst through my door early in the morning last week.

“Arizona, I’ve got to leave for a while. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Take care of yourself.”

“Where are you going?” I asked, concerned. He looked unusually stressed.

“I have to go home. Mom needs me.”

“Is everything okay? Is your dad all right?”

“Yeah, they’re fine.”

“Then what? Is Raj back?” There had been no signs of Raj during the last year. It was like he and his family had evaporated, they had left no clues behind. There had been a few sightings of Dan and Sophie, but they made a run for it whenever they were spotted.

“Don’t worry about this, Arizona. I’ll be back in no time. Okay?”

“I guess. Call me every so often to let me know you’re okay,” I said, making sure I wasn’t sounding clingy. I could cope just fine. I was just worried about him; he looked so tense.

“Babe, I have to go,” he said, as he held me tight for a last time before he left.

It was now a week later. I didn’t know if I should be pissed or seriously worried. I looked down at my cell. No point calling David again, he’d turned off his phone. I hated to, but I called his dad.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Is this Dr. Sanderson?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“Oh, pardon me. This is Arizona Stevens. I’m David’s….”

“Hi, Arizona! How are you doing? Inez and I were hoping that you would join us at Christmas. We were sorry you couldn’t make it.”

“Me, too. I’d love to come down this Christmas.” I’m sure we could find Dad a poker game in Mountain View. “Dr. Sanderson, is David there with you?”

“No, he’s with his mother.”

“Have you heard from him at all? Is he okay? I’m just a bit worried. He hasn’t called me at all.”

“I haven’t heard from him, but I’m sure he’s fine. Probably just busy with Inez.”

“Okay, thanks. Bye.”

“Goodbye, Arizona. I look forward to seeing you at Christmas.”

So that was that, I thought to myself as I dragged the duvet up to cover my body. It was too warm, but the duvet afforded a feeling of security. I lay back into the pillow and stared at the ceiling. Dad was away, the house was wonderfully quiet. It would be Halloween soon. It would be my first Halloween with David. I hoped he would be back in time. I would miss dressing Gertrude up in a Halloween costume. Just as I was drifting off with images of different costumes running through my mind, the doorbell rang. Sheesh.

I stumbled out of bed and went to open the door. I could tell that it was him even before I opened it. The whole house suddenly felt happy. I flung the door open and jumped into his arms. “David!” I smooshed his face with mine.

“What’s that?” I yelled as something scratched my leg. I looked down. I was overcome with happiness as I jumped off David and gathered her up in my arms. Gertrude.

epilogue

Dillard looked at the number again. He’d tried calling it back three times now, but no one was picking up. Some one called Raj Sen left six messages for him. He’d said that it was urgent, that it had to do with Olivia. Quite frankly, he didn’t care. Olivia was history and he’d like to keep it like that. If it weren’t for the fact that Raj had mentioned that Dillard could be due a lot of money, he wouldn’t even have tried calling back.

Money? Well, he was in no position to pass up any chance at a bit of money. His ex-wives were bleeding him dry, had bled him dry. He was now forced to live in this crappy council apartment in the Secroft area near Leeds, whereas his latest ex-wife and their kids enjoyed living in the four-bedroom house that he had poured his sweat into. She’d taken everything in the divorce.

At least Olivia had left without bleeding him dry. In fact, he’d bled her dry, he recalled fondly. Those were the days. Olivia had been one of those toffie-nosed young conservatives seen sipping on Champagne with a capital C at university. He would have never come into contact with her had it not been for Christine Glendorf. Christine was one of the few women in his engineering classes. She also happened to be an active member of the young conservatives. She’d brought Olivia along to one of weekend engineers’ parties. Why? Who knows?

He’d felt sorry for Olivia. Although she’d been one of only six women at the party, the guys left her alone, concentrating their attentions on the other five–Christine being particularly popular. And it wasn’t because Olivia was dog-bottom ugly. Just the opposite, in fact. Her almost perfect features, accented with a mane of sleek, long hair, made her appear almost unapproachable–until she smiled, which she had done at him when she’d noticed him staring. He’d grabbed a flute from the bar and filled it with beer–it was all they had–and walked over to her.

“Refreshment, mademoiselle?” he’d asked, gallantly bowing his head.

She’d laughed, but had taken the flute. And so it began. He’d immersed himself in a false persona, pretending to be just like her, pretending to enjoy the things she did. He kissed footie goodbye and spent his time at ballets–all to be with her. He loved what her presence had offered. It opened doors that had been previously closed to him.

They had rushed into marriage, or he had, mainly to save money. What was the point in having two apartments when they could live in one? She did start getting to him soon after they moved into their new London flat, after they had both been offered jobs at the university. If she dragged him to one more opera, he’d happily strangle her. What he needed were season tickets to Chelsea FC–which he did get. He reconnected with his buddies and kissed spending time with Olivia goodbye. Well, apart from when they visited her friend Celia. Celia lived with Rockson, a theater producer whom Olivia adored. Dillard adored him for other reasons–Rockson was a dealer, though Olivia wasn’t aware of that. So, a trip to Celia’s meant a supply of the necessary substances to help him cope with the life that he had faked for himself. The drugs helped him more than cope; he actually started feeling brave enough to reveal himself to her. Dillard guessed that she didn’t like the real him. They drifted apart. Divorce was an easy decision.

You’d think he would have learned his lesson. He’d come out of it fairly wealthy, a magnet for the local girls. He had enjoyed life to the fullest and then got married again. What a sap! He was now back to being almost poor again. Yes, money would come in very handy. He called the number again, no reply.

Who was Raj Sen anyway? He turned on his computer and googled him–over two million hits. What about Raj Sen and Olivia Darley, that was her married name as far as he could remember? Hmm, this was interesting, Dillard thought to himself as he scanned over the FBI wanted bulletins and news stories form last October. He couldn’t remember this being mentioned in the British press, but then he avoided the news channels.

So, Raj Sen–probably the man who kidnapped Olivia’s children–was trying to contact him. Why? Wait a minute. Sen? Wasn’t that the name of the woman who had left the odd message on his answering machine last year? He couldn’t recall for sure. He’d jotted it down at the time, but it would have long been discarded. He hadn’t called her back. Again her message had mentioned Olivia, but there had been no mention of any money. What was this all about? There was only one way to find out. He picked up the phone and booked a ticket to New Jersey. Yes, he could call her, but if there was money to be had, he better do it right and surprise her. Only money could change his current unsatisfactory momentum.

The Story Continues…

PORTAL CHRONICLES BOOK FOUR

Imogen Rose was born in a small town in Sweden and moved to London in her twenties. After obtaining a PhD in immunology from Imperial College, she moved with her family to New Jersey, where she has been based for the past ten years. Storytelling is her real passion and she is excited to be publishing the third book in the Portal Chronicles.

Please visit imogenrose.com for more information.

FaceBook Fan page:

www.facebook.com/pages/PORTAL/243074017116?ref=ts

BONUS MATERIAL

1.      Heroes ’Til Curfew by Susan Bischoff

2.     SOJOURNER by Maria Rachel Hooley

3.     FLAMING DOVE by Daniel Arenson

4.     THE POWERLESS SERIES by Jason Letts

An excerpt from Heroes ’Til Curfew

the second book in the Talent Chronicles series

by Susan Bischoff

Something doesn’t feel right.

But then I thought, Maybe you really are just paranoid.

Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean no one’s out to get you.

That last thought was my dad’s voice in my head, because I was that well programmed. Which is why I had varied my schedule and left work a little bit earlier than usual. I was trying to throw off my stalker.

As I walked down the brick-paved road that ran through the middle of the downtown pedestrian mall, my own boots were the only ones I could hear beating the pavement. The feelings I had weren’t the sensations of being followed and watched that I had become familiar with over the last month or so. Tonight was different.

It’s not like I’m that kind of psychic. I don’t, like, sense disturbances in the Force or anything like that. It’s just that I’m trained to pay attention to my surroundings. At some point, that kind of training turns to instinct—an instinct that warned me something was up.

The economy of our town was not great, and downtown was especially bad. Yeah, here and everywhere else in country, right? That left a lot empty storefronts, a lot of darkened glass windows that showed my reflection as I walked by, a lone, dark-haired girl in a vintage army jacket and combat boots, faking confidence in her stride.

Our store was at the far end of the mall. I had to walk the whole length of it to get home. I remember being so happy when my dad started letting me walk home by myself, because I loved walking it, the feeling of freedom in the night air, the quiet, the glow of the converted gas lights. But making enemies, getting my ass handed to me, getting to walk around with a bruised face for weeks and all the attention that got me…that kind of thing changes a girl, I guess.

I glanced over at the confident girl who moved from glass to glass beside me, at the dark alleyways that opened up every few buildings, the looming, brick store facades, and the shadows under awnings where the attractive but weak lamplight didn’t reach. I listened hard to the sound of nothing—too much nothing, it seemed to me—and tried not to think about the cell phone in my pocket and of calling Dylan. Not because I was some useless girl, afraid of the dark and in need of rescuing, but just to hear his voice.

As if I would have the guts to just call up Dylan, just to say “Hey.”

I passed by the fountain that they didn’t bother to put water in anymore, even in summer. More than one person had used it for a giant trash can today. Was that really any better than throwing your trash right on the ground? What’s wrong with people?

I don’t know what it was that made me take a closer look as I walked by Dog-Eared. Mr. McGuffey always closed the shop at five o’clock. He said that after dinner his customers were all home reading, and he would be too. The lights were on low in the front of the store, like usual. Over the piles of used books stacked against the front windows, the tall bookcases that created a maze through the shop had yet more books stacked on top of them that reached to the ceiling. There was one center aisle that went straight to the back of the shop. In the retail world we call that a power aisle, although it would have had more power if Mr. McGuffey could stop acquiring books and letting the stacks encroach on it. But I guess that squeezing your way around that shop is part of its charm.

There was a flare of light. Just a quick something that was gone almost as I noticed it. Whatever it was, it was probably what had caught my eye in the first place, because that was just not right. Moving closer to the shop, I thought I saw movement on the far aisle, the one on the side of the shop that butted up against the building next door. There were no windows there, and it was too dark to see, so I decided to duck down the alley on the opposite side. Maybe I could see something through the windows over there.

Now I’ll admit it: it’s not a great idea for a girl, alone at night in a deserted downtown shopping area, to go creeping down dark alleys to peep in store windows where suspicious activity may or may not be taking place. But in my defense, I’m not exactly an ordinary girl, and I was just going to have a look anyway.

There’s another power aisle that runs along the back of the store, in front of the door to the back rooms. In that aisle were four boys, doing bad things.

I recognized Jeff right off, even though his back was to me. Maybe it was the Neanderthal posture. Standing next to him was a smaller guy who looked vaguely familiar. Probably a freshman. Across from Jeff was a tall guy I didn’t know who looked older than we were, and next to that guy was a sophomore who was in my gym class last year.

Jeff and the freshman each had a pile of books in front of them, and when I say pile, I mean it looked like they’d just gathered up and armload and dumped them in the floor. Nice. They were tossing these books, in sync with each other, into the air in front of the other two. Who would then d-i-s-i-n-t-e-g-r-a-t-e them. No, really, I kid you not. I don’t know what the younger guy was doing, but his book just turned to dust which floated down to the carpet. The older guy’s book burst with a brief flash of flame and then exploded into embers that glowed for second before they joined the mess of dust and ash on the floor.

I shuddered. Damn I hate fire.

And fire in a bookshop? Genius. What a bunch of idiots. Did they want to burn the place down? Start a fire that would rip through all those stacks of books, choking the place with thick, black smoke, trapping them all in that maze of bookshelves, crawling frantically along the floor, searching for the exit, while the temperature—

I sat down hard in the alley and put my head on my crossed legs, taking deep breaths of dirty, old cement and the smell of my leather boots. It’s worth mentioning again: I hate fire.

But what was I going to do, let them burn down the store with their stupidity? Besides the fact that not even stupid people deserved that experience, more importantly, there was Mr. McGuffey. He used to bring me some tattered picture book that was beyond selling every week when I was a little kid in the store with my dad. I totally owe my love of reading to my complete lack of a social life and the owner of Dog-Eared. So there was no way I was going to just walk away.

And I couldn’t call the police either. Or…I guess it was more like I wouldn’t. These guys were Talents. No matter how much I didn’t like them, I still had enough us against them mentality that I wasn’t about to bring in the cops. We Talents needed to police our own. The police would just report the whole thing to the National Institutes for Ability Control. If NIAC came to investigate Talents in Fairview again, that wasn’t going to be good for anyone. We’d already had more kids taken away to the State School in the last month than in the last few years put together, and I did not want to draw any more attention to our town than we already had.

I just wished these idiots felt the same way.

I pushed myself back up and moved to the next window, the one that didn’t have a view of much of the shop because it was located behind a bookcase and piled with paperbacks. I could see the latch in the middle, so it wasn’t a problem to reach out to it with my mind and get it to turn. The fact that it had been painted over at least once required a little mental elbow grease, but I got it. I floated the piles of paperbacks down to the floor before opening the window, so they wouldn’t fall and make noise, and then I hoisted myself up and climbed in.

At the end of the row of bookshelves, I peeked around the corner. They were still playing their stupid game.

The first two would count it down, “Three, two, one, GO!” and toss the books.

Then the other two would say, “Ashes to ashes!” and “Dust to dust!” at practically the same time they destroyed the targets.

Losers. I was debating what to say when a girl rushed out of the center aisle into the middle of them to bang on the door to the back room. Yeah, hon, just step right in the middle of a contest between the guy with the flame and the guy with the—disintegration ray power. Whatever. It’s not always easy to come up with names for some of these Talents.

The door was yanked open and Marco stepped out. My stomach did something unpleasant. Ok, I’ll admit, I was kind of scared of my nemesis. Call it post-traumatic stress. Mr. I-Can-Bench-Press-A-Steel-Girder did almost kill me not too long ago. When I looked at him, I imagined the feel of his hands around my throat, right before Dylan tackled him and saved my life. I so did not want to take Marco on again.

“You’re screwing up Angie’s concentration, Bella. What do you want?”

“Corey was feeling me up again when I was out of my body.”

“What?” said a voice from in the stacks, “She wasn’t using it.”

“Cor, this isn’t a date-rape opportunity, it’s a job. If you get your rocks off fondling unconscious chicks, get some GHB and do it on your time. Or take Sleepy, here, for a night on the town.”

“My name is Curtis,” the freshman whined, indignant.

“Like anyone cares,” Jeff said.

“Hey, can we work now? Angie’s still looking for the cash. Bella, get your virtual ass back up to the roof and do your job.”

“Ok, but I thought you’d want to know that some girl went down the alley and was looking in the windows.”

“What?” Marco asked, in a dangerous tone that made the boys sit up, but didn’t seem to affect Bella very much.

“Yeah, dark-haired girl in an army jacket? Looked kind of like Joss Marshall.”

Oh shit. I pulled back behind the stacks and started to move toward the window.

He came through the bookcase. I mean through the bookcase. One minute there was no one between me and the window, and the next there was a shimmer to the air in the form of a body coming out of the books. It grabbed me hard while it was still fading back into Corey Danvers, who smiled as he jerked me into the back aisle where everyone could see me.

“And look what I found.”

***

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek at my new book, Heroes ’Til Curfew, which continues the story of Joss, Dylan, their friends, and their enemies from Hush Money. Please visit me at http://susan-bischoff.com for up-to-date information on the Talent Chronicles series.

Sojourner by Maria Rachel Hooley

Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Moon has been dreaming of her murder her entire life, and in those dreams, a dark presence is there, watching. When she returns to Hauser’s Landing, the very place her father disappeared, she comes meets a gorgeous guy named Lev Walker, and it’s not long before she’s falling in love. But there’s something different about Lev, something that makes her afraid. When she realizes he’s the eerie watcher in her dreams, she’ll have to discover the truth. Is he a guardian angel or a sojourner, an angel of death who has come to collect her soul?

Book 1—Sojourner

Book 2—Covenant

Book 3—Second Sight

Book 4—Anathema

Available at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com,smashwords.com.

FLAMING DOVE

A dark fantasy novel by Daniel Arenson

I am Laila, of the night. I have walked through godlight and through darkness. I have fought demons and I have slain angels. I am Laila, of the shadows. I have hidden and run, and I have stood up and striven. I am Laila, of tears and blood, of sins and of piety. I am Laila, outcast from Hell, banished from Heaven. I am alone, in darkness. I am Laila, of light and of fire. I am fallen. I rise again.

"Really, really fun... pure pleasure to read." -- Geek Speak Magazine

"A delightful read... hard to put it down." -- MotherLode Book Reviews

The battle of Armageddon was finally fought... and ended with no clear victor. Upon the mountain, the armies of Hell and Heaven beat each other into a bloody, uneasy standstill, leaving the Earth in ruins. Armageddon should have ended with Heaven winning, ushering in an era of peace. That's what the prophecies said. Instead, the two armies--one of angels, one of demons--hunker down in the scorched planet, lick their wounds, and gear up for a prolonged war with no end in sight.

In this chaos of warring armies and ruined landscapes, Laila doesn't want to take sides. Her mother was an angel, her father a demon; she is outcast from both camps. And yet both armies need her, for with her mixed blood, Laila can become the ultimate spy... or ultimate soldier. As the armies of Heaven and Hell pursue her, Laila's only war is within her heart--a struggle between her demonic and heavenly blood.

Learn more at: DanielArenson.com

FIREFLY ISLAND

A fantasy novel by Daniel Arenson

Discover a world at the edge of imagination….

"This is the most excited I have ever been about a fantasy book!"

-- ReaderViews.com

King Sinther, his flesh made of stone, tyrannizes the enchanted Firefly Island. Swords and arrows break against him. Armies crash before him. All of Firefly Island, a land of magic and mystery, suffers under his cruelty.

But one girl, a simple slave girl, has magic that can stop him. Whatever Aeolia feels, she can make others feel: joy, sadness, hunger... even pain. If she hurt herself and shared the pain, she could hurt the mad stone king.

Can Aeolia escape King Sinther's assassins, defeat him, and save Firefly Island?

"A very promising debut... I would highly recommend this book."

-- FantasyBookSpot.com

Learn more at: http://danielarenson.com/

The Powerless Series by Jason Letts

If you love stories in which a heart-stopping discovery changes everything for an ordinary teen, the Powerless series will be one you won’t want to miss. But instead of finding something wonderful, Mira Ipswich learns she’s living in a world where everyone has a magical ability, everyone except herself. Accompany this naïve, headstrong girl as she attempts to understand her inconceivable condition, fit in with a vibrant batch of peers, and explore the world around her she never knew was there.

Edited by Chuck Wightman, the story is the winner of the Webb Weaver 2010 Writer's Competition, the judges proclaiming they were "entranced by the writer's ability to bring together this unlikely group of kids," and that the book could "be a hit in the YA book world." The story is a roller-coaster ride filled with lots to discover in an ever-expanding world, a set of diverse characters, and their deepest hopes and aspirations. If you like stories with plenty of dramatic twists and spirited intensity, it'll have you falling in love with a brand new series and begging for more!

The first two books of the Powerless series, The Synthesis and The Shadowing, are available now, and book three, The Stasis, will become available by December 2010!

www.powerlessbooks.comhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OQUOFI