by Imogen Rose
My stomach heaved as I struggled to look at Kellan’s dad. His face was ashen and withered. Even through the ghastly mask, I could see his strong resemblance to Kellan. Was Kellan lying somewhere in this same state? The image made me gag, and I wildly looked around for a garbage can. Spotting one in the corner, I rushed to it and yanked off the lid to deposit the contents of my throbbing stomach into it. Then I stood back up, feeling faint and cold, so cold goosebumps formed over the length of my arms.
Dad put his fingers on Larry’s neck and felt around while periodically tossing Morgana strained glances. Then he let out a relieved sigh.
“Rupert?” Morgana whispered.
“He’s alive. I can feel a pulse. It’s steady but very weak. We need to get him to the hospital.”
Larry truly looked awful. There was a big piece of duct tape across his mouth and another around his ankles; his wrists were bound with wire that had cut into his flesh, leaving his wrists raw and bleeding. His face was bruised black-blue on the side that touched the floor. He looked like he might have fallen off the chair which was laying mostly on top of him. Dad carefully removed the chair and examined Larry’s body with his hands.
“Arizona, do you think you can find Jackson? Get him to call an ambulance. Morgana and I will carry Larry to the base of the stairs, so get the paramedics to meet us there. Okay?”
I nodded and fled the room. I ran through the corridors, up the stairs, and was totally out of breath by the time I got to Jackson’s station.
“Arizona! What happened? Are you okay? Where’s your dad?” Jackson spluttered, as I tried to catch my breath.
“911, please call 911,” I gasped.
He looked at me searchingly. “Paramedics?”
I nodded and he made the call without asking more questions. Once he hung up, he started with them again.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded.
“Is your dad okay? Where is he?”
“He’s fine. It’s Larry. He needs help.”
“Larry? Dr. Fox?”
“Yes. He’s unconscious. Dad’s with him by the stairwell. He said to call an ambulance and bring the paramedics there when they arrive.”
“Let’s go. Show me where he is.”
“No, we should wait for the paramedics.”
Jackson looked unsure but nodded. Then his face clouded over.
“What?”
“There was a man here before looking for him. I didn’t let him in. I wonder if he breached security. I wonder if he had something to do with it.”
“What did he look like?”
Jackson described Lars. “I have video footage of him. I didn’t think he found Dr. Fox, but I guess he must have.”
Thankfully, we heard the siren of the approaching ambulance and opened the door wide to let the paramedics in. I ran ahead of them toward the spot Dad had asked me to bring them to. Dad was there with Larry. There was no sign of Morgana.
Dad stepped away as Larry’s limp body was lifted onto a stretcher and rolled out to the ambulance. A few police cars had arrived and officers were rushing in as we tried to get out. We slipped into the back of the ambulance with the police on our heels.
“We’re going to need to talk to you both,” one of them said firmly.
“I know. We’ll meet you at the hospital.”
The policeman didn’t look the least bit pleased, but moved away as the paramedic closed the back door to the ambulance. We roared off, sirens blazing.
Morgana was waiting for us at the emergency bay. She took my hand, holding me back, as Larry’s gurney was wheeled into the building with Dad following. I pulled at Morgana, urging her to let me go inside.
“Hold up, Arizona.” She pulled me back. “Rupert asked me to meet him here and make sure you got back to Constance’s house.”
“No.” I shook my head vigorously. “We’ve got to go and make sure that Dr. Fox is okay.”
“I fully understand. I want to do that as well, but we won’t be able to see him anyway once he’s in the ER. Even your dad will have to wait outside and talk to the police. It’s best we go. Your dad promised that he’d call us with regular updates. Okay?”
She had a point, but it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to talk to the police, though. What could I tell them that Dad couldn’t? Nothing really. I looked up at Morgana and nodded and walked to her car with her.
David was waiting outside when we got to Constance’s house. I walked right into his arms and let my emotions spew out onto his momentarily dry t-shirt. I didn’t know what I should feel or think, other than that I felt it was a good time to let whatever was building up inside me out. He held me tight, his arms crossing over my back, carefully avoiding my painful shoulders. His cheek lay against the top of my head, rubbing it softly, soothingly.
I looked up, narrowly missing his lips with mine as he straightened. He gazed at me tenderly, moving his arms and turning around. Taking my hand, he led me up the stairs to the front door. “Feeling ready to go in?” he whispered.
I nodded, wiping away the remainder of my tears with the back of my hand. We walked into the living room, which was totally silent. No one said a word as we sat down on one of the sofas. They looked at me uncomfortably, obviously not knowing if I was able to talk or if I was going to disintegrate into a sobbing mess again.
“I’m fine,” I said hoarsely, my voice still rough from the tears. “Did Dad call?”
“He did,” Constance replied gravely. “Larry is being examined, and your dad is talking to the police at the moment. He’ll call us back once he’s done with them.”
“Arizona, I’ve already updated them about what we saw at Ames, so you don’t need to go over it again.” Morgana smiled at me gently.
I was glad. I didn’t want to relive those images again, though I had a feeling they would stay with me forever and visit me in my nightmares. Kellan’s face flashed in my mind, bringing fresh tears to my eyes.
“Arizona?” David’s face was tight with worry.
“I’m so afraid. So afraid for Harry and Kellan. What if they are lying somewhere…?” No one said anything. There wasn’t anything left to say, not until Dad came back, and we could get a rescue plan locked in.
“Arizona?”
I looked around, forcing my lips into a smile, even though I was unable to reflect it in my eyes. “Ella!” I swept her up into my arms, smushing her.
“Hold on, Arizona! Let me get Tallulah!”
I eased my grip as she leaned over and picked the little dog up off the floor. I pointed to the glittering crown on top of the dog’s head. “That’s a nice tiara.”
“Yes. Grandma got her one to match mine,” Ella explained. “Why are you so sad?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed. I was fairly sure that she had no idea what was going on, and I certainly didn’t want to worry her with it. It was bad enough for her to have Mom laid up in the hospital and to be away from her friends. It couldn’t be easy hanging out here away from everyone she knew. I was glad she had the puppy. I wondered how that had happened. Had Mom finally given into one of the bazillion whines during a visit to a pet store?
I could feel David smiling down at me. He was still touching me, and reading every one of my thoughts, no doubt. I elbowed him slightly in a flicker of annoyance. These uninvited visits into my thoughts had to stop.
“Sorry,” he whispered in subdued amusement.
“You miss Kellan. Is that why you’re sad?” Ella asked.
“Yes, I do. And I miss Harry, too. I wish they would come home.” I hugged her.
Constance’s phone startled us, and we all stared at her as she answered it. I was hoping it was Dad, but it was impossible to tell from the deadpan expression on her face as she replied with monosyllabic grunts.
She hung up and gazed at us with the same blank expression, like her thoughts were miles away. “That was Rupert. Not much news about Larry, other than that the doctors have stabilized him and are hopeful. Rupert�
��s finished talking to the police and is on his way over. He should be here very soon.”
“Good,” growled a low, dark voice that scared the living bejeezus out of me. I flinched, but Ella jumped off my lap and flung herself at Trina.
“Trina! Are you done? Can we play Guitar Hero now?”
Trina beamed. “Yep. I’m all done.” She waved the stack of hand-scribbled notes in her hand at Constance. “Where’s your dad, Ella?”
“Don’t know! I was just about to ask. What’s going on? What happened to Kellan’s dad?” Her eyes widened as she looked over at Constance, who was clearly struggling with how to handle her questions.
“Dad is on his way, munchkin,” I answered. “Kellan’s dad’s been in an accident. He’s going to be fine, though.”
“Accident? Like Mom?” Ella’s chin twitched, and her lips curled down at the corners.
“No, not like Mom. But he’s in the hospital and will be better soon.”
Ella nodded, not looking very convinced.
“Ella,” Trina interjected, coming over and prying Tallulah from Ella’s lap. “Come on, let’s go play for a while.”
“I don’t feel much like it anymore,” Ella whispered.
“Okay. Let’s just go for a walk then, and get some fresh air. I bet Tallulah is ready for a walk.”
At the word walk, Tallulah started wagging her tail furiously, squirming to get down from Trina’s hold. She jumped to the floor and tore out of the room, returning with her leash. She ran up to Ella with wide, expectant eyes.
I couldn’t help but laugh, and it felt good being able to release more tension. “Ella, bet you can’t say no to those puppy-dog eyes!”
Giggling, she jumped off my lap and secured Tallulah’s leash. “Come on, Lulu, let’s go!” She walked the dog outside, Trina following, with everyone throwing Trina appreciative nods. Hopefully, she’d keep Ella busy and away from the talk when Dad returned.
Constance looked through the notes Trina had passed to her before leaving with Ella. When Dad arrived, she handed them to him.
“I don’t have any more news about Larry,” he said apologetically. He sat down next to me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but worried. What are we going to do?”
“It’s time to figure out how to get Harry and Kellan back.”
Two hours later, we still had no firm plan. I was beyond aggravated. I stood and paced around the room as Dad and Constance laid the index cards on the floor and peered over them. They had spent all this time going over Trina’s sheets upon sheets of notes, carefully transcribing the data onto index cards, and now laying them down in some kind of order that didn’t make sense to me. There were four lines of cards on the floor. Dad studied them carefully and then looked up at the rest of us–David, Inez, Javier, Lars, Morgana, and Morena. We’d all been waiting quietly, perhaps a bit impatiently, for this moment. Ella had returned a while ago with Trina, who had ushered her into the family room, and we’d not seen them since.
“Thanks for being so patient. Those notes were a mess, and the handwriting wasn’t easy to decipher, but I think Constance and I have managed to make some headway. Constance, can you explain what we’ve done?”
“Yes. Trina gave us a bunch of notes detailing the various residences and possible emergency meeting places and hideouts of the Sigma-W. We’re going to need to contact them in order to rescue Harry and Kellan–”
“Why?” I interrupted. “Can’t we do that ourselves? I mean, there are plenty of us.”
“If Potomal’s group is involved in their abduction, we don’t stand a chance against them.”
David nodded. “And we know for a fact that they are involved. We saw them at the casino. We saw Madison and Olivier. And we know Stan was involved.”
I flinched inwardly. He was right. I knew that. I wanted to believe that we could rescue them anyway, especially with all the Wanderers in the room.
David must have read my thoughts again. He met my gaze evenly and shook his head, so I didn’t argue. There was no point; I was just wasting everyone’s time.
Constance continued, “We’ve divided the possible places that the Sigma-W leadership could be hiding into four categories. The first one lists the formal residences of the royal family in this dimension.” She pointed to the left row of cards. “The second row contains the residences in other dimensions. The third row consists of possible escape houses in this dimension, and the last, the escape houses in the other dimensions.”
I counted the cards on the floor–sixty-three. There was no way we could go looking for every one of them. It would take forever. David glanced at me and raised his eyebrows in agreement.
Dad took over. “So, we need to decide where to start looking. And we’re going to have to ask Trina for help again.” He winced. “Morgana, do you mind looking after Ella for a while and asking Trina to join us?”
“I’ll take her out for dinner and then to visit Olivia, if that’s okay with you,” Morgana offered, getting up.
Dad looked at her gratefully. “Thanks. I’ll call you if we need you.”
I was shamefully thankful that Morgana had offered to take care of Ella. I should have; Ella would have preferred it, but I didn’t want to miss out on anything. Plus, Ella would probably be safer with a Wanderer anyway.
Trina walked into the room with a smug expression. “You need me again?” she droned.
I guessed that she must have some redeeming qualities since Ella seemed to like her. Whatever they were, she was devoid of them at the moment. She was just a lump of snarly unpleasantness.
She plunked down on the one free armchair in the room with a resounding thud and proceeded to stare at Dad with a challenging smirk. “Well?” She reached into her bag for her pipe.
“Trina, thanks for your notes. We’ve tried to organize the various options into groups. There are sixty-three in all, and we just don’t have the time or the manpower to go through all of them.”
Trina rolled her eyes and smirked.
“Do you have any suggestions as to where we should start? It would be very helpful.”
“I bet it would,” she snickered. “What’s in it for me?”
“What do you want?” I could see the hollow desperation in Dad’s eyes.
“I’m thinking an assistant would be nice, don’t you think? I mean, I do still want my old job back, but a helper would free up some of my time. I am getting on and need my afternoon naps. So, yes an assistant, an attractive boy, preferably.” She cackled.
Dad’s face was a blank, empty mask. His eyes were cold and expressionless as he held Trina’s gaze. When he spoke, it was in an icy, low tone. “Very well, but you know I can only request this of my father.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she snipped, irritated. “We’ve been through all that.”
“So, where should we start?” Dad pointed at the index cards. “Where are the most likely places the Sigma-W are hiding out?”
Trina took a long, deep drag from her pipe and exhaled slowly, glancing at each person in the room. “Do you want to know the most likely places or the actual place they’re hiding out?”
I could tell Dad was fighting to maintain his cool. It was rare, very rare, for him to lose his temper, but I knew he was on the verge. He bit down on his lower lip, closing his eyes for a second. When he opened them, his eyes were narrowed and stony. “Trina, now is not the time to play games.” His voice cut the air with a chill that made goosebumps rise on my arms.
“Sheesh, can’t a girl have some fun?”
A low snarl emanated from Dad’s lips.
“All right! Keep your speedos on!”
“Just pick up the index cards with the most likely locations and give them to me,” he growled.
“Oh, the location is not on any of those cards!”
Dad suddenly stood, his hands clenched.
Trina sprang to her feet and hid behind the couch. “They’re all at Alfred’s!”
“Alfred?” Dad�
�s voice was lethally calm.
“Yes, Alfred’s. He’s a friend of your dad’s. He has a big house in London. That’s where the Sigma-W council members congregate in a crisis, which I take it this is.”
“Why didn’t you tell us this in the first place?” Constance asked. “We’ve wasted two hours!”
“Well, you didn’t ask. You asked me to list all their residences and hidey places, and that’s just what I did–”
“Be quiet!” Dad’s voice boomed, making me almost jump out of my skin. David grabbed my hand, calming me down. “Constance, take this despicable woman out of my sight. Get all the information we need from her and charter a plane to take us to London. We need to get to this Alfred’s house as soon as possible.”
Dad collapsed back into his chair as soon as they left.
“Dad,” I whispered gently, after he’d had a few moments to himself. “Let’s go over and see Mom before we leave for London.”
“Yes, you’re right.” He lifted his head. “I don’t know how long this will take, so let’s go now and visit Larry as well. Ella will be with Olivia. Are you sure you want to come to London, Arizona? I’d much rather you stayed here with Ella and Morgana. David can stay here with you.”
I shook my head adamantly. “I need to come and help find the boys. I can’t stay here and wonder….”
“I’ll come and look after her,” David offered, squeezing my hand. I squeezed back, throwing him an appreciative glance.
“Dad, who is Alfred?”
“I’ve no idea. I’m guessing it’s one of Dad’s Sigma-W associates. But, in all honesty, I don’t know. Once I declined to join, I wasn’t privy to the Sigma-W affairs.”
“What about Trina? What does she do for the Sigma-W? Or rather, what did she used to do?”
“She was the Sigma-W historian and librarian. She knows everything about everything and everyone who has been part of or connected to the Sigma-W in any way.”
