by Imogen Rose
“Snails? Yuck! No, definitely not. Biting into bugs is not for me. Yeah, burgers sound perfect. Do you–”
“Have any honey mustard to go with that?” he finished for me.
“How did you know?”
“I noticed you diving into it in Paris. It was an… um… unusual sight.”
“Here we go with that Paris stuff again. When exactly do you think you saw me?”
“A few days ago. And I didn’t just see you, we chatted. We had dinner together. We even danced.”
I rubbed my forehead. He was weirding me out. I decided not to press him for any more information just yet; I couldn’t process it. I needed to think. We walked along together in silence. Had I really lost a year? How? And what had I been doing during that time? Stan seemed to think we’d met in Paris. Could I really have traveled to Paris and have no recollection of it? What was it that people called that sort of thing? Temporary amnesia? All I knew about that was what I had learned from movies. Somehow, people totally lost their memories for a while. It usually followed some kind of trauma. Was that what had happened to me? What sort of incident could have caused me to lose my memory? I felt my head, massaging the back and top of my skull for evidence of bumps from being hit in the head.
Stan laughed. “Looking for evidence of a brain injury?”
“Yeah, sort of.” I sighed. “How else do you explain the fact that I honestly can’t remember you?”
Looking at me gravely, he pursed his lips. “I don’t know what happened to you after you left London–”
“London?” I interrupted. “I thought you said Paris? Geez!”
“We did meet in Paris. After your time in Paris, you traveled to London. That’s where you met my father.”
I clenched my jaw. One of us was nuts; that was for sure.
“Then you disappeared from London. I guess your grandfather rescued you. Perhaps you were injured during the rescue?”
“Rescue? What was I being rescued from?”
He pointed to a whitewashed Gaudi-inspired–I knew that from my trip to Barcelona–house. It was gorgeous. We walked through a gate into a fenced backyard dominated by a white marble pool surrounded by sand. Parasol-topped beach chairs lined the side of the oblong pool. The pool water was perfectly still as we walked around it toward a raised patio with several picnic tables. After rinsing our feet in the warm stream of water from an outside shower, we entered the house through a set of patio doors. I stepped onto the white slate floor of the house and looked around in awe. It was all white, with a bit of cream, the kind of house Mom would adore. I preferred a splash of color myself.
“Whose house is this?” I asked.
“It’s one of my family’s houses. No one has actually ever used it, yet. I believe we’re the first. I hope everything is working okay. I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.”
“Mr. Stan? I am Billy, your housekeeper and cook.”
I turned around to look at the smallish man who had just appeared. He was smartly dressed in a pair of black slacks and white shirt.
“Nice to meet you.” Stan shook the elderly man’s hand. “This is Arizona. She will be our guest tonight. Can you get a room ready for her?”
“Yes, sir. How long will you and mademoiselle be staying?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Your dinner is ready. Shall I serve you first, and then get the room ready?”
Stan nodded, and we followed Billy into the dining room. We sat down and waited for him to bring our dinner. Once he’d done so, he excused himself, and Stan and I dug into our burgers.
“Stan, can I email my mom now?” I asked, after the first few bites hit my stomach and I could think again.
“Finish your burger, and then we’ll go find the study.”
“You don’t know where it is?” I gulped my virgin piña colada.
“No, this is my first visit here. It shouldn’t be difficult to find, though.”
And it wasn’t, but it was more of a den than a study. There were no study-looking desks, but instead it contained antique tables and French-looking chairs covered in silver-embroidered cream fabric. The only sign that it was a study were the two Mac Air computers sitting on the coffee table.
Stan walked over to the table and brought one of the computers to life. I watched as he opened up his email and scowled as he read through a message. “Arizona, Raj has sent me an email. He wants you to cut and paste it to your email account and send it to your mother.”
“What does it say?”
“Come see.”
It was short and to the point. There was no way Mom wasn’t responding to that. “Stan, do you know anything about these blueprints?”
“Not a lot. Can you send it off to your mom? The sooner she deals with this, the sooner I can return you home.”
I did what he asked and sent the message to Mom. She would get it immediately. Email from me went straight into her personal email account, then was pushed through to her phone. It would have been quicker to call her, but I supposed Raj wanted to limit my contact with Mom so I couldn’t tell her where I was. I stared at the screen waiting for a message from her.
“Come on, Arizona. Let’s jump into the pool and swim for a while.”
“I think we should wait until Mom replies.” My eyes were still fixed on the screen.
“She’s going to reply to Raj’s email, not yours, remember?”
Of course, that was what the note had instructed. However, I thought she might copy me. “Can we take the Mac with us? Just in case?”
Stan nodded and picked it up before leading me outside. “There are some swimsuits to choose from in that hut over there.” He pointed to a whitewashed wooden cabana.
I walked inside, rummaged through the selection, and settled on an aquamarine one-piece Speedo swimsuit. Once dressed, I ran back out and jumped into the warm water of the pool. Stan was already lying on a blue lilo in the middle. I swam over and pulled myself up onto a yellow one. Once I was comfortable, he handed me a cold bottle of coke. I took a sip, and then asked, “Now what? I assume Mom didn’t email my account, and you haven’t heard from Raj yet, or you would have said, right?”
He nodded.
“Well, Mom’s bound to have contacted him by now, so can you call him to find out if I can go home?”
“He said he would call.”
“Stan, please….”
He jumped off the lilo and swam to the side of the pool and picked up his cell. I watched as he listened, his face twisting into a frown.
“What’s up?” I asked, when he swam back.
“Nothing yet. No reply from your mom.”
I was stunned. “She must have! Did he give her the right email address? She totally would have emailed him right back!”
He shrugged.
“Look, she would have! There must be some mistake. Let me talk to him.”
“Okay. Come on.”
He called Raj again and handed me the phone. “Dr. Sen? It’s me, Arizona. Have you heard from Mom, yet?”
“I just told Stan that I haven’t. And I’m getting very annoyed.”
“Look, something must be going on. Mom would have totally emailed you right back.”
“Going on? Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she lost her iPhone or something. Let me call her. Or let me call Dad.”
“No. I’ll do that. You stay with Stan. I’ll see you in the morning.” He hung up.
I stared at the phone in anger, wanting to bash it against the pool wall, but I finally handed it back to Stan. I was beyond frustrated. Stan jumped up to the side of the pool and held out his hand. I grabbed it, and he pulled me up. Once I was cocooned in a fluffy green towel, we walked back inside. It was starting to get dark. I was going to have to spend the night here. I didn’t feel afraid, but perhaps I should have. I felt safe with Stan, even though he was holding me prisoner. He seemed like a good person. How had he become mixed up in all this?
“Arizona,
your room is upstairs. Get some sleep, I’ll see you in the morning, and hopefully take you back home. You have nothing to be afraid of, you know that, right?”
I gazed into his clear blue eyes. I shook my head. “No, I don’t know that. You’re holding me prisoner. You took me! How am I supposed to feel safe with that?” I pushed him, thumping his chest with my fists.
He grabbed my hands. “I’m sorry. I hate that I’m doing this. But you are safe. Go to your room; it’s the first one on the right when you go up the stairs. I’ll come and get you for breakfast.”
He released my hands, and I turned and fled up the stairs, rushing into the bedroom and slamming the door shut behind me. I didn’t even turn on the lights, letting the light from the moon guide me to the bed, which I jumped into, crushing my face into the pillow and letting my tears flow into the satiny softness.
Then I stopped breathing. Someone was in my room. I could hear someone breathing heavily. Then I heard footsteps. I lay deathly still as they walked over to my bed. I felt a hand on my back.
I was just about to scream when a hand came down over my mouth, clamping it shut.
“Shush. Poppet, it’s me, David.”
I squirmed under his hand, trying to move it off of me, but he held firm. So I shot him the death glare–without any effect. I guessed it was too dark for him to notice.
“I’m going to take you to my dad’s house to keep you safe. I’ll explain later,” he whispered. “We need to get out of here first. I’ll get you to safety once we’re on the beach, away from here. I can’t wander you from here,” he mumbled. “Can you promise to be totally quiet so I can take my hand off your mouth?”
“Mmm, mm,” I managed to say, and he let go. I opened my mouth to speak, but he hushed me. Then he took my hand and pulled me to the window. I looked down. We were just on the second floor, but it was still quite a jump. “How did you get up here?” I whispered.
He yanked at a piece of rope attached to the end of a hook secured over the wooden part of the window frame. It didn’t look too steady, but if it had held his weight on the way up, I guessed it would be fine for sliding down on. I had a hundred questions, but we needed to get out of there first. I guessed Mom had sent him. She must have been able to trace my email somehow.
Luckily, the security around here sucked. Raj would be furious with Stan, but that wasn’t my problem. I guessed that Stan hadn’t seriously thought that anyone would try to rescue me or that anyone would be able to find me in a house in the middle of nowhere. But David had. I had no idea how, but I was grateful. I turned around and put my arms around him. I felt him tense, which was a bit strange, so I let go.
“Grab onto my back and hold on,” he said as he turned around.
I did just that, climbing onto him like I used to do when we were younger and played together. I put my arms around his shoulders and wrapped my legs around his waist in a firm grip as he climbed out the window and started lowering us down the rope. I hoped the rope wouldn’t give under our weight. The climb down was painfully slow; David took his time, bouncing his feet off the wall. I dropped off of him as soon as his feet hit the ground.
I noticed lights going on in the house. David grabbed my hand, and we ran toward the beach. My bare feet sank into the soft sand with every step until they suddenly seemed to be airborne. I was still holding on to David’s hand, but I couldn’t see him, and my eyes were forced shut. I felt warm and relaxed as David enveloped me in his arms. Then I felt the sand again and opened my eyes. We were still on the beach.
“Stop and take a breath. We’re safe now. It’s just us here,” David said in a soothing voice.
I didn’t share his confidence. The lights in the house had gone on, which meant that Stan must have heard something. It would be just moments before he caught up with us. It was better to keep running. I glanced back to see if he was at our heels already. It was pretty dark, but the moonlight reassured me that we were alone. Very alone. Where had the house gone? I was sure we hadn’t run more than a couple of hundred feet, at most. I turned all the way around and strained to look into the distance. “Where did the house go?”
“It doesn’t exist in this dimension.”
“What? Where are we?”
“We’re still on Harbour Island in the Bahamas. I’ve got a bike parked about five minutes from here. Let’s walk to it, and then head to the airport. My dad arranged some flights. We’re taking a flight to Nassau, and then a connecting flight to San Francisco. He’ll pick us up there.”
“David, I’m not even wearing any shoes.” I looked down at my bare toes.
“We’ll pick some up as soon as we see a shop. We have to go, though. Come on.”
“Hold up. How did you find me?” I asked, stubbornly refusing to move. “And where did the house go?”
David sighed.
“Oh, huff and puff all you want, but I want some answers. Well?”
David plunked himself down on the sand running his hands through the grains. I sat down beside him and waited.
“Poppet, have you heard of Wanderers?”
“Yeah. A few times now. Something to do with time travel. Sounds warped. Stan, the guy who was holding me hostage, said he was one. He said that was how he brought me here. One minute I was at the gym, and the next here. I know for sure that I wasn’t taken on a flight or anything like that, so…” I shrugged.
“Stan? Did he tell you anything else about himself?”
“He said that he’d met me in Paris last week. I don’t remember ever meeting him before, so he was probably making that up. And I certainly wasn’t in Paris last week!”
“I’m assuming that’s Stanford, Potomal’s son.”
“Yeah! He did mention that name! So, how do you know him?”
“I don’t really know him, but I know of him. Not much, though. I can’t even imagine how he’s involved with Raj Sen.”
“Anyhow, tell me how you found me.”
“I’m a Wanderer, but not the same kind as Stan.”
I tried holding my giggles, but they broke loose and escaped with a major snort.
“I am, really,” he said somberly.
“David, I’ve known you for... like forever! Don’t you think I might have noticed that you were some kind of superhero or whatever? Plus, if you could time travel, why didn’t you just go back in time and do all that homework you kept forgetting to do?”
He laughed. “You’d think, right?”
“Yeah!”
“We have rules, and we have to get permission from our leaders, in my case, the Elders, before we travel. Besides, I was only just recently given permission to travel on my own.”
“Are you for real?”
David wove his fingers through mine. It made my stomach flutter. I looked at his face; he was the one I had always wanted. Now he was telling me that he was some kind of supernatural. That was just silly. All I really wanted was for him to stop talking and kiss me instead. I closed my eyes and moved my face closer to his.
“Arizona, what are you doing?”
I opened my eyes and gazed into his. His face was just inches from mine. I felt a hot flash surge through me. He didn’t move away but, instead of kissing me, he rested his forehead against mine. We sat like that, heads together, for a few moments.
Then, without warning, he let go of my hand and stood up. He walked over to the water and flicked sand into it with his toes. I joined him. The water was cooler now. The horizon was starting to lighten with the rising sun. I sat down and stared at the breathtaking sight. This had to be the most beautiful beach I had ever been on. And I was here with the boy I had been crushing on forever. He was, unfortunately, having some kind of teen-boy angst moment. I decided to ignore him and enjoy the sunrise.
The light from the sun revealed the pink of the sand sifting between my toes as I dug them in and out of the sand.
“Arizona, we should go.” David walked over and offered me his hand. I took it, and he pulled me up, letting go of
me as soon as I was standing. I followed him along the water, and then across the sand to a palm tree. A blue motorcycle leaned against it.
I put on the helmet that he gave me. Then he took off his shoes and removed his socks.
“Here, put these on. It’s better than nothing,” he added, probably in response to my grimace.
Wearing someone else’s smelly socks wasn’t appealing. I took them hesitantly. They were slightly damp and sticky. Ugh. I put them on and climbed on behind him. I held on tight as David roared along the road. I wondered whose bike it was. I still had no clue how David had found me. We made a quick stop at a small store to pick up a pair of flip-flops, and then we were on our way again.
We drove right up to the departure terminal where David beckoned me to follow him.
“Are you just going to leave the bike here?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah. I don’t have time to do anything else with it. Come on, we have to get our tickets.”
He hurried me in, and went up to the counter getting his credit card out. I hung back as he had asked me to, and once he had our boarding passes we walked to the gate, stopping at airport security where David handed over our passports. I was glad he’d had the presence of mind to bring mine. We boarded our flight to Nassau.
“Okay, start talking,” I demanded, once we were settled into our seats. “How did you find me?”
He nodded. “I’m a Wanderer. I was assigned to you.”
“What?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“Unlike Stan, I’m a regular Wanderer. Our main purpose is to learn, and we’re often assigned human subjects for study. I was assigned to you.”
“When? Why?”
“As soon as you moved to Mountain View. I wasn’t told why I was assigned to you in particular at the time. I’m working that out at the moment.”
“So, what have you worked out?”
“I was assigned to you because of your family, in particular, because of Rupert.”
“Dad?”
“Yes. Rupert is a Sigma-Wanderer.”
