by Imogen Rose
Website: http://www.ImogenRose.com/
MOMENTUM (Portal Chronicles Book Four)
Text copyright © 2011 by Imogen Rose
Cover photograph and design by Imogen Rose
Cover photo copyright © 2011 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.
First Kindle Edition: July 2011
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.
Acknowledgements
As always, my younger daughter, Lauren, continues to be my inspiration. You started me off on this journey and you keep me on it. Thank you for putting up with me spending so many hours on the computer.
My friend and editor, Sue Bernstein, is my rock. Thank you so much for having my back.
Once again, it was an absolute pleasure to work with Lynn O’Dell and her editing team.
I want to thank my beta readers, Al Kunz, Allirea Brumley, Frankie Sutton, Vickie Boehnlein, and Laura Price for their valuable criticisms and suggestions.
I am very lucky and grateful to be surrounded by an incredible support network. I would especially like to mention Steve Windwalker, Misty Baker, Candy Beauchamp, Al Kunz, Leilani Lopez, and all the amazing book bloggers who have taken the time to read and review my books. And I want to thank all my friends for their support.
Most of all, I am indebted to my readers. I wish I could thank each and every one of you in person for taking a chance on a completely unknown author. 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
As he unlocked his front door, Kevin noticed an envelope hanging from the doorknob. It was beige and crumpled, with Dr. Sanderson scrawled untidily across the front in black ink. He ripped it off, went inside, and placed the envelope on the yellow, wooden hall table while dropping his briefcase down beside it. He peered at it again. A wave of nausea washed over him, and he could feel his chest tightening. Why was he suddenly feeling so anxious? It was just an envelope.
He reached for it with his right hand, a sharp twinge in his arm making him flinch–fallout from his misadventure with Raj Sen. A hot bath was what he needed, and a glass of wine. He picked up the envelope and, grabbing a bottle of wine from the kitchen on the way, walked into the living room. Once comfortably seated on his couch, he tore open the edges. The sick feeling before hadn’t been for nothing.
Dr. Sanderson
We need your help getting back home. We know about the two Arizonas, but will keep that to ourselves in return for your help. We’ll contact you this evening.
Sophie & Dan
Great. Kevin took a sip of his wine, and then threw his head back on the couch. It was evening already; the call would come anytime.
So they knew about the two Arizonas. So what? Who could they tell? Who would believe them anyway? They could potentially try to talk to Arizona Stevens and her father, Dillard, in Princeton. There was no way either of them would believe those two. In fact, they were likely to call the FBI and have Dan and Sophie carted off for kidnapping Arizona. Arizona Stevens would have no trouble remembering them. He had nothing to worry about. Anything Dan or Sophie said would only get them thrown in jail or have them committed to a psychiatric unit. So far, they had managed to avoid being apprehended by the police. Bringing any attention to themselves would change all that.
My skin burned with anticipation. His cheek lightly brushed mine as he moved his lips toward my forehead and gently kissed it. I moved against him, willing him to move his lips down, down to mine. I turned my face upward and drowned in his blue eyes. I felt his hand firmly grasping the back of my head, bringing it closer to his. I closed my eyes and brought my lips forward to meet his.
Stupid alarm clock! I reached to turn off my iPhone alarm without bothering to open my eyes. Gah! I was still tingling from my dream. No big deal, though. Today was going to be the day that I would kiss him for real. Well, not today, maybe, but at the Ball, for sure. Time to get up and set things in motion. I sat up, stretched my legs, and studied my toenails. I knew that I had last polished them with a pink rose shade, not the dark purple I seemed to have on. Not that it was hideous in any way. I kind of liked it. I wriggled my toes, letting the light play off the purple, wondering how on earth they’d turned this color. I had definitely polished them pink. Could it have been one of those color-changing polishes? I’d better check the bottle.
Eeeeek, what was that? A mouse? Could it have been a rat? Something had definitely scurried by the side of my bed. I held my breath and stood on my bed hoping that whatever it was wouldn’t leap up at me.
“Dad!” I made sure to clamber to the very middle of my queen-sized bed. “Dad! Harry! Hurry!”
“What is it, Arizona?” Dad rushed into the room, his eyes wide.
“A mouse, or even worse–a rat!”
“Calm down. We don’t have mice or rats. Let me have a look.” He bent down and picked up something that squirmed in his hands. “Is this what you mean?” He held up a small dog.
“I guess. Where did that come from?” I didn’t know a lot about dogs, but I guessed it was a Chihuahua. It was a puppy, a cute one.
“Tallulah! Come back to my room right now.” Ella ran into my room and sighed. She took the puppy from Dad’s hands and rushed out shaking her head. She looked a bit different. New clothes, no doubt.
“Panic over. Get ready and come down for breakfast, Arizona.” Dad turned and left, leaving me on my own.
What on earth was that thing? Were we babysitting someone’s dog again? Well, as long as it didn’t have any nasty accidents in my room, I guessed it was okay. It did smell a bit weird in here, must have been the dog. Anyhow, what to wear? I took a quick look through my window. I was thinking my cute blue Marc Jacobs dress for today. I would have to change into my cheer outfit later, but the blue would be perfect. It would match the gorgeous blue sky. The blue would clash with the deep purple on my toes... whatever had possessed me? Oh well, nothing I could do about it now, no time. I’d better hurry. I went to grab the dress from my closet, immediately noticing that it had been rearranged. Why would Mom rearrange my clothes? I didn’t like the new setup, but there was nothing I could do about it just at that moment. It took a bit of hunting to find the dress; it had been stuck in the back with the rest of the dresses. Same with the shoes. I would have to ask Mom about this and get my stuff put back to normal. This reorganization had already cost me ten minutes that I didn’t have.
I had promised David that I would have breakfast with him this morning. He’d said that there was something important he needed to talk to me about. As if I didn’t know! He wanted to take me to the Ball. And I wanted him to take me. He was finally ready to make a move; it seemed like I had waited for this forever. It was finally going to happen.
I had wanted to date David for a very long time. We were meant for each other. I met David in elementary school, shortly after I moved to Mountain View. I didn’t remember much from back then, but I did remember our first meeting. I had been the new girl. I had worn a blue dress on that day, too, not a Marc Jacobs, though. I had walked into class late and been introduced by my teacher. I couldn’t even remember her name anymore, I just remembered her hideous green loafers with scuffmarks on the fronts, which I had focused on to avoid all the prying eyes staring at me.
“This is Arizona Darley,” the teacher had said. I had b
een taken aback by the name Darley. Mom had, of course, explained that her new husband, our new stepdad, had adopted us, and we were now all going to use Darley to avoid confusion. It had taken some getting used to.
Once the teacher had introduced me to the class, she pointed me to a desk beside a blond-haired boy. I was horrified. It was bad enough having to start school in the middle of the semester, but then to be seated next to a boy... one with a very annoying smile, that really sucked. I stuck my tongue out at him as I walked over and sat down. The girl in front of me snickered. That girl eventually turned into one of my very best friends, Ali, and the blond-haired boy turned out to be David. We never really talked to each other through elementary school. We had this weird eye-contact thing going. We sort of smile-crushed on each other. Yeah, very second-grade, but we somehow kept our relationship at that level until middle school. It didn’t get much better then, but since we had lockers next to each other, we’d said the occasional hello and wassup. Strangely, though, I had always felt close to him and happy when he was around.
Our relationship changed in seventh grade. Nothing drastic happened. I just tripped. David and I were walking to class sort of next to each other when I fell over a bag someone had dumped right on the floor in front of me. I went flying over it and would have landed on my face had it not been for David somehow managing to catch me mid-flight, saving me from a broken nose, at the very least. And that was it, we became best buddies. Once we started chatting, we discovered that we had endless stuff in common. We liked the same books, music, and TV shows. More than that, we–at least I thought so–felt totally relaxed around each other. I felt I could tell him anything, and he’d listen without judging me. I basically told him everything, well… apart from the little crush I had on him. Not that I thought that he didn’t feel the same, but I wanted him to make the first move. Really eighteenth century of me, but I was stuck on black and white movies. I wanted my romantic moment.
So why did I think he was going to ask me to the Ball? I didn’t know. I just knew. It would be the perfect romantic moment, and he would know that. He was the only person I wanted to go with. Neither of us had dated anyone else all these years. It seemed like all those years had been building up to what I hoped would happen today.
I took extra care with my hair and makeup. I wanted to look my best for David. Once again, I found that my stuff had been messed with. What was up with that? I couldn’t find my things on my vanity table. Could it be Ella? I was running really late now and had no time for a breakfast chat. I popped my head into the kitchen on my way out to wave a hurried goodbye at everyone before heading off to Starbucks.
“Bye, everyone!” I waved as I rushed past the door.
“Hold up, Shrimp! Where are you off to?” Kellan shouted.
“Heading off to meet David for breakfast!” I shut the front door behind me and walked into the fresh air. As I drove off in my Jeep, I saw Kellan come rushing out the front door waving frantically. I waved back. He seemed to want me to stop, but I really didn’t have time. There was no way I was going to be late for this meeting. I had waited too long. My cell phone went off–Kellan. Well, I was driving; it would have to wait. What could be so urgent? Had I forgotten something at home? The Jeep smelled awful, like old sweaty clothes. I made a mental note to get it detailed after school.
I walked into Starbucks and was happy to see that the comfy chairs were free. I flopped into one of them and waited. David must have been running late. He’d better hurry, or we’d both be late for school. I checked my phone, no messages apart from a text from Kellan.
Call me
I would, but later. I got out my mirror and checked my makeup. I fixed my hair and then checked the door again. No sign of David. This was becoming slightly annoying. Surely he would be on time if he wanted to ask me out? Maybe he’d been in an accident. Images of motorcycle pile-ups flooded my mind. Perhaps that’s what Kellan had wanted to tell me. I thought of calling him back, but called David instead.
“Hello,” said a female voice that clearly didn’t belong to David.
I felt a pang of jealousy shoot through me. “Hello, who’s this? Can I talk to David?”
“Arizona? This is Inez. David’s not here at the moment. Did you want to leave a message?”
David’s mom. Why did she have his phone? Surely he hadn’t done something to get it taken away; he wasn’t that sort of guy. “Hi, Mrs. Skoog. I was supposed to meet David for breakfast at Starbucks this morning. He’s half an hour late, so I was starting to wonder.” There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Mrs. Skoog, are you still there?”
“Yes, Arizona. Shouldn’t you be at school?”
Busted. “Well, I would’ve been, if David wasn’t late. Is he okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine. You better head to school.”
Stood up? He’d better have an ironclad excuse; I was beyond annoyed.
I walked to my first class–physics with Dr. Lee, my favorite–after getting a late pass from the office. I knocked on the door and waved my pass at him.
“Miss Darley?”
I walked into the room. “Sorry, I’m late. I have a pass.”
“Arizona, you’re in the wrong class.” Dr. Lee looked annoyed.
“No,” I replied. Wrong class? No way. I walked to my desk, and then stopped short. I looked around. Why was everyone giggling at me? And where were my usual classmates–Maria, Justin? I shook my head. “I’m confused, Dr. Lee. This is Tuesday, right?”
“Yes, but you’re not in this class. Check your schedule.”
“Arizona!”
I turned around and saw Kellan. Thank goodness. He took physics with me. He walked over, while Dr. Lee protested, and took me by the elbow.
“Come with me, Shrimp.”
His tone was firm, so I relented and followed him into the hallway.
“Kell, what’s up?” I asked, slightly on edge.
He looked sad. Something had obviously happened. “Is it David?”
“David?”
“Yeah. Is he okay?”
“I guess. I don’t know.”
“Why do you look so gloomy then? What’s up?” I asked again.
“Arizona, let’s go for a walk. We need to talk.”
“Okay. Later, though. I’ve got to get to class. Don’t we have physics this morning?”
“That’s what we need to talk about.”
I shrugged. Weird. I followed him out of the building to the empty playing fields.
“Come on, Kellan. Talk. What’s so important that we have to skip class?”
He turned to face me and took my hands, lacing his fingers through mine. I felt a weird flutter. He studied my face, and then spoke softly, but with a hard edge to his voice. “I think I know what’s going on, Arizona. You’re going to freak.”
“Arizona! Kellan!”
I looked over to see David running toward us. Sheesh, about time! “Kell, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” I pulled my hands away and turned to walk over to David. Kellan followed me. What a pain. “Kell, I want some alone time with David. I’ll talk to you later. Okay?” I shot him the death glare.
“Hi, Poppet! Mom told me you called, so I came right over. Everything okay?”
“No!” I pouted and stamped my foot. “You stood me up! I can’t believe it. We were supposed to meet for coffee this morning. Remember?”
He narrowed his eyes, looking confused. It had obviously slipped his mind. Boys! He grabbed my hand and closed his eyes–probably trying to come up with an excuse. I could feel him tensing. He opened his eyes and looked at Kellan. What about alone time didn’t he get?
David nodded at Kellan. It looked like they were exchanging some kind of secret message.
“Look, what’s going on?” I asked, irritated.
“Poppet, you’re going to freak.”
I was beyond exasperated now. “Yeah! So you guys keep saying! I’m gonna freak if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” I could s
ee that both Kellan and David were at a loss for words. They just gaped at me. “Kell?” I pleaded, getting seriously worried. Kellan would tell me; he told me everything.
I’ve known Kellan forever. Unlike David’s and my relationship, Kellan and I have been close buddies since we were kids, since I moved to Mountain View. I can’t remember exactly when we met, but he’s been a permanent fixture at my house. He is practically part of our family. His dad, Larry, works with Mom at Ames. They are both physicists. Kellan is best buddies with my brother, Harry. They play ice hockey together. Kellan spends all of his family holidays with us, even the big ones like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love him. He is like a brother, but better. He never judges me. Sort of like David, but since I don’t need Kellan to think of me as someone he’d like to date, I can be totally me with him. So, I looked at him, giving him the full benefit of my puppy eyes, and repeated, “Kell?”
“Arizona, you’ve lost a year of your life,” Kellan whispered.
“Say what?”
“You’ve lost a year of your life.” He took my hands in his again.
I felt that weird flutter return.
“I don’t even know how to begin to explain it. David, help me out.” Kellan looked over at David, who appeared just as defeated as he did.
“Have you got any idea what’s going on?” David spoke directly to Kellan as if I wasn’t even there.
“Yeah. I think it’s Gertrude.”
David sighed, nodding.
“Gert, what?” I asked. Then I quickly returned to the first statement–You’ve lost a year of your life.
“Shrimp, let’s drive you home, and we’ll explain when we get there, I promise. This isn’t the place for it.”
We all piled into my Jeep. I held my tongue for as long as I could, but exploded once we were back inside the car. “Lost a year? Will one of you explain!”
