Portal - BK 1

by Imogen Rose

  “Well, one of them anyway,” shrugged Larry

  Olivia sighed and looked at him with resignation, “Can I come back with you and see them?”

  Larry shook his head and said, “That wouldn’t be a good idea for a lot of reasons.”

  Olivia looked at Larry, “I’ll take your word for it, though I miss them desperately. You’ve really worked on this and I am extremely grateful.” Then she looked sad. “I’m still going to have to wait though, aren’t’ I?”

  “I’m afraid so, but keep yourself busy here.”

  Olivia nodded resignedly but she was thankful.

  They moved to Mountain View six months later. Little Harry lost his English accent and in no time turned into an all American boy. He was always a delight to be around. He was, like his father, musically inclined and spent precious moments strumming the guitar with his dad. He started playing baseball at an early age, at first with Rupert and then with the local teams. They started heading to the ice rink regularly during the hot summers to keep cool, as Olivia was sensitive to the hot temperatures. Harry proved to be gifted on the ice and was playing ice hockey in no time.

  Rupert put his hands on Olivia’s shoulders and gently shook her out of her thoughts. She looked up at him disoriented.

  He smiled, “Daydreaming?”

  She nodded embarrassed, but was saved by the front door opening and Arizona arriving home.

  “Hey, I heard you made it,” said Rupert, “Congratulations!”

  Arizona nodded trying to hide her pleasure, “I’m hungry, any food left?”

  “Congratulations, Arizona. Dinner’s in the kitchen. Will you be ok with Ella for a while? She ran off to the playroom with Jonas. His mom will be here soon to pick him up. We have to head off right now. In fact I’m already a bit late. Harry should be back shortly.” Olivia added

  Arizona nodded curtly as they headed for the door.

  They took the Hummer and stopped by Larry’s place to pick him up.

  “Did you get a chance to talk to Kellan, Larry?” Rupert asked as he pulled out of Larry’s driveway.

  Larry laughed, “You’re kidding, right? It’s like trying to get an appointment with the President. He’s been totally busy since last night. However, I did tell him to come to Ariele’s after tryouts and he texted me a while ago that he’d be there soon. He sounded intrigued.”

  “He won’t be so intrigued when he finds out that this is a fishing expedition and he’s going to have to spill on his new beloved,” laughed Rupert.

  “Ah, young love, I didn’t see that coming,” mused Larry.

  Olivia’s mind wandered back to Kellan and Arizona’s first meeting all those years ago, when Larry was getting Arizona and Ella ready for their transport. Larry had decided that the journey was too complicated for the girls to make on their own even though he had managed to get Olivia’s mother to agree to accompany them. She had been tough, even after Larry had explained the whole procedure. She felt what they were doing was against nature. However, the thought of forever losing her daughter and granddaughters had made her reluctantly agree to this, in her mind, totally bizarre project. Larry didn’t feel confident in her commitment and decided to make the journey with them.

  He had decided to bring Kellan as well because he couldn’t be absolutely sure of a perfect return and he couldn’t bear it if anything separated them. After Larry’s wife died during childbirth, Kellan and his dad only had each other.

  Olivia hadn’t been there for that first meeting between Arizona and Kellan. Neither of them seemed to remember anything from that time. How surreal it all must have been for Larry as he transported them all through the portal with her waiting breathlessly at the other end.

  Olivia pulled herself together as Rupert drove into Glenda’s driveway and parked. There was no sign of Kellan’s bike yet. Glenda greeted them at the door and invited them into the living room.

  “Well, Ariele is not in a particularly good mood. She turned quite bitter when I hinted what this was all about. She clearly knows more than she’s letting on, but I don’t know how far we’ll get with her. Is Kellan coming, Larry? He may be able to help.”

  Larry nodded and continued, “Let’s just summarize what we know and decide how we’re going to handle things. So, first of all, why are we suspicious that there is something going on?”

  Olivia shrugged, “Well, I guess the most overwhelming indication is that Arizona herself proclaimed that she is Arizona Stevens.”

  Larry looked thoughtful, “And you don’t think that this is something she’s just recollecting from before you changed her name here? Could she have suddenly remembered the past or found her birth certificate?”

  Olivia shook her head, “That would be so much easier to deal with, but I have a feeling there is more. The sudden interest in ice hockey, for instance. She didn’t have that eight years ago, she was barely learning how to skate. We heard she made the varsity team this afternoon, so she must be fairly good.”

  Glenda nodded in agreement, “She seems to be close with Ariele too, which is strange because a few weeks ago, she didn’t give Ariele a second look. Ariele has been acting very strange. I just hope that she didn’t initiate this.”

  “Just one way to find out,” said Larry, “Let’s ask her.”

  There was a loud bang on the door and Kellan stepped in. He dumped his jacket and helmet on the chair and asked, “What’s up? This looks serious.”

  His father nodded at him and beckoned him to sit.

  “Have you had a chance to eat?” Glenda asked him as he glanced towards the kitchen.

  “I had some pizza earlier but I’m starving,” he said hopefully.

  Glenda smiled and went to the kitchen while Kellan updated them on the tryouts. Glenda returned with a plateful of sandwiches, cheese, fruit and warm bread and pointed Kellan to the drinks.

  “Get started with this, I have some cake for after.”

  Kellan smiled at her gratefully and dove right in. and asked, “Where’s Ariele? I thought she was joining us.”

  “She is upstairs sulking at the moment. I’ll go and get her in a minute.”

  Kellan looked disappointed. “So, you’re all about to attack me on my own. Not fair. I’ve already been beat by Arizona this afternoon.”

  “Kellan, it’s her we need to talk to you about,” Olivia replied. “We need to know what’s going on so we can help.”

  Kellan laughed, “Well, I’ll try to help, but Arizona’s fairly sure that whatever it is, you are responsible. So she’s not going to be easy to help.”

  Olivia interrupted him, “Kellan, do you remember when you first met Arizona?”

  He looked grim as he replied, “Which one? Darley or Stevens?”

  Olivia froze.

  Larry thankfully took over and said, “They are one and the same. Olivia changed her last name when Arizona was eight. Did she suddenly remember the name Stevens?”

  “It’s more complicated, Dad, but I am glad you told me about the name change. It makes more sense now, although it’s all far from clear. I noticed a big change in Arizona last Monday, at physics. When she turned around and looked at me, it was as if she was seeing me for the first time. There was no hint of recognition. She acted as though we were strangers, but strangers with a connection. I can’t really describe it. She went from being Harry’s sis to my…. Well, I just felt connected to her in a way I never did before.” He paused and took a long sip from his soda and then continued.

  “I have to say, I don’t feel comfortable talking about Arizona behind her back like this, but I feel tremendous pressure to do so especially after what happened to her in the restroom with Simla.”

  Olivia nodded, “Yes, we need your thoughts about that too in a minute. But continue…”

  “Well, like I said, we seemed to have this new connection. I couldn’t stop thinking about her and felt the need to be close to her all the time. So, I decided to take her out to watch the Draconids with Harry and Maria. We
got very close.”

  Olivia’s eyes narrowed, but she relaxed as Kellan shook his head at her, “Nothing like that. However, you can imagine my surprise when she turned out at the ice hockey tryouts without warning me! So much for our new found closeness. I was pretty peeved. It wasn’t until Saturday that she filled me in with what was going on with her.” He stopped and looked uncomfortable.

  “Go on,” Larry encouraged.

  “I really don’t know if I should.”

  “You should,” said Rupert quietly and waited.

  “This is going to sound so whacked. I didn’t really believe it until Ariele confirmed some of it. Can we at least get her down here to back me up?”

  Glenda nodded and went up the stairs to fetch her daughter. There were a lot of arguing sounds, but they appeared shortly. Ariele looked positively furious. Her demeanor changed slightly when she saw Kellan and she went over and plopped herself down next to him.

  “I could get her to come down,” said Glenda glowering at Ariele, “but she’s not cooperating.”

  Glenda looked to Kellan, “Go on now, Kellan.”

  Ariele looked over at Kellan and hissed at him, “Keep your mouth shut!”

  Kellan looked shocked, it was the first time he had seen Ariele so venomous.

  “Ariele, I’m only trying to help. I love her and would never harm her in any way. You believe that, don’t you?”

  “Well, get her to send Arizona back then,” she screamed and pointed her finger at Olivia, and then stormed out of the room.

  Glenda looked around apologetically, “I’ve taken away her cell phone and computer so she can’t contact Arizona right now. Ariele could do this situation real damage.”

  “Maybe she’s right though. Maybe you are the ones doing or have done the damage?” Kellan pointed out accusingly.

  Rupert looked over to him and said, “Kellan, you’ve known us for years. Do you really think we’d harm our own children? We want to protect them. This is what this is about and we need your help to be able to do so more efficiently.”

  Kellan nodded. He was confident that everyone here was in Arizona’s corner.

  “After she tried out for the team, I was fairly annoyed. Not annoyed that she tried out, but because she kept it from me. She had clearly mentioned it to Harry. He was not the least bit surprised. So Arizona and I ended up having a fight on the way to school Friday morning, but she promised to explain later in the evening. Anyway, as you remember, that was the day she was attacked. I really needed some answers, which I didn’t get then.”

  He continued, “We went back to the lake the next day and she started to explain. The explanation was all over the place though and I barely believed her. I guess, to simplify, the gist of it was that her name is Arizona Stevens, she is from the future, she lives in New Jersey with her father Dillard and plays ice hockey at Princeton High School.”

  Kellan didn’t take his eyes off Olivia as he said this. He could see her tearing up. She stood up and excused herself, walking off toward the kitchen with Rupert following her.

  Larry looked at Kellan, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Mainly because it sounds nuts. In addition, Arizona told me to keep it to myself.”

  Olivia and Rupert returned from the kitchen with some more drinks and sat back down.

  “Did she say how she got here?” Rupert questioned.

  “She doesn’t know. Apparently she woke up here during a car journey last Saturday?”

  Olivia shuddered. It must have been the journey back for Gertrude. How was that possible though? She looked at Larry. He nodded; he was thinking the same thing. Kellan looked over from Olivia to his father and caught the exchange.

  “What’s going on? You two obviously have some ideas. I shared, I think you owe me the same.”

  “We certainly do, Kellan,” replied Olivia. “However, we still need a few more answers from you first.”

  Larry continued as he looked at Glenda, “What does Ariele know? I had a feeling that this would turn out to be complicated for her, but I was hoping you would deal with it, Glenda.”

  Glenda looked frustrated, “Well you’ve all seen her, I’ve no control. I don’t think she went up to Arizona and blabbed, though. That’s not like her.”

  Kellan decided to add his thoughts. “Ariele obviously knew Arizona from Princeton and helped her fill in the blanks about her life once Arizona confronted her. She feels awful about all this. I know you want me to go on, but you have to give me some answers first.”

  Olivia nodded as he asked, “What happened Saturday for this change to occur?”

  “Truthfully, Kellan,” replied Larry, “We don’t exactly know. We are trying to figure it out as you are giving us information. We didn’t even know for sure that there was a change then until you told us, though we obviously had our suspicions. That’s why it’s so important that you tell us everything you know.”

  Larry looked over at Olivia, “I’m thinking that this happened when you went to get Gertrude.”

  She nodded, “I can’t work out how, though.”

  Kellan looked incredulous, “This has something to do with your new dog?”

  Larry smiled, “Simplistically, yes. But it’s a long and complicated story, which I’ll share with you when we get home. The bits I understand, anyway. I really can’t explain this dog thing, though. That’s ok with you, isn’t it, Olivia? I think Kellan deserves to know what’s going on.”

  “Yes, definitely Larry. Please fill him in. I trust your judgment.”

  “What about Arizona?” Kellan asked. “She needs to know what’s going on, too. I can’t know and then not share it with her. I feel that it will be better coming from you two though, whatever this is. Does Harry know anything?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Rupert, “He hasn’t mentioned anything. He was puzzled by her sudden interest in hockey, but she told him that she got good from watching him play….”

  Kellan laughed, “And he believed her? Typical!”

  Rupert continued, “And he is taken aback by her sudden interest in all things Kellan, but put it down to girly hormones.”

  Kellan shrugged, “He’s going to have a tough time swallowing the truth. You’re going to tell him as well, aren’t you?”

  Rupert and Olivia looked at each other and nodded.

  “When?” Kellan asked firmly.

  “Kellan, you have to give me some time to digest this and work out what’s going on. I’ll do it soon,” Olivia promised.

  Rupert added, “It’s such a hard story to tell, to understand, even to begin.…”

  Olivia looked up at him, kissed his lips and whispered so only Rupert could hear her.

  “The beginning is simple. It started with the words, come find me two years ago.”

  It was finally Thursday, time to head to New York! I felt energized, I sat up in bed and looked over to my suitcase. Just a few more last minute things to throw in and I’d be ready. Ella came flying into the room and threw herself onto the bed with a thump.

  “Come on, lazy pants! Get up and get ready! We have to head off to the airport soon. I’m all ready,” she exclaimed.

  So, she was. Mom must have curled her hair this morning. She looked very Shirley Temple.

  “Mom’s driving us to the airport in half an hour. Come on!”

  I jumped out of bed and rushed into the shower. Mom hadn’t been around much this week. She had been busy at work constantly and was not coming to NYC for the same reason. I would need to pin her down for a talk soon, but it would have to wait until after the trip. I had some investigating planned; it would hopefully help me when I confronted her.

  We were all really looking forward to this trip. I loved Manhattan and this was going to be really fun since the whole gang was going: Harry, Kellan, Ariele, Ali, Maria and I. Ella had insisted on bringing Jonas as I had been allowed to bring so many of my friends. We were going to have to take turns babysitting him while Ella was busy auditioning.


  I showered quickly and then threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie. I grabbed my coat, bag and dragged my suitcase down the stairs. Everyone was ready and throwing luggage into the Hummer.

  “Arizona, get some breakfast. Rupert will deal with your luggage. Did you bring a coat?” Mom asked as she struggled to roll Ella’s luggage out the door.

  I pointed to my coat as affirmation and headed to the kitchen for some cereal. Through the kitchen window, I saw Jonas and his dad arrive. Jonas was jumping up and down with excitement as he waved his dad off. A tired looking Harry arrived in the kitchen and got himself a bowl of cereal and gobbled it down silently.

  “Ready, everyone?” Mom shouted from the hallway.

  Harry and I threw our bowls into the dishwasher and headed out into the car where Ella and Jonas were waiting impatiently, already strapped in.

  The flight to New York was uneventful. We met up with the others at the airport and battled it out for seats. I sat between Kellan and Ariele. I noticed that they seemed out of sorts with each other, barely being civil and wondered what that was all about. I asked but they just blew me off. So, Ariele did not say much and I spent most of the flight watching a movie with Kellan and cozying up to him. I must have fallen asleep.

  “Shrimp, wake up! We’re here, look at all the buildings! We’re landing soon.”

  I lazily extracted myself from Kellan’s chest and looked out. The view was unbelievable, and I could feel the excitement building.

  “Lean over, Ariele, you can’t miss this view!” I shouted and I nudged her sharply.

  She leaned over hesitantly, peered out the window and broke into a smile. It was hard not to. I reached out, took her hand and squeezed it as I winked at her. This was our playground! I held on tightly to her hand and Kellan’s as we landed at Newark airport. We had a stretch limo waiting for us. I was overcome by the feeling of familiarity. Even the air felt like home.

  As the limo reached the Turnpike and headed north, I wistfully glanced back at the southbound traffic. That’s the direction I wanted to be going in. However, once we reached the Lincoln tunnel those thoughts were behind me, at least for a while. Familiar sights hit me as soon as we exited the tunnel into Manhattan, the first of which was the bus station and the big parking lot. We took 38th street up to Madison Avenue and drove north on this shopping mecca. I looked at all the shops as if I was seeing them for the first time. Arizona Stevens had never had any interest in them, but Darley couldn’t wait to explore them!