Parallelogram Omnibus Edition

by Brande, Robin

  “Thanks, Daniel. I appreciate it.”

  I splash downward one more time, just to dunk my whole self in oblivion one last time. But I’m not here to lounge around in a tub for a while, no matter how much I’d love to.

  I climb out and dry off and wrap the towel around me. Then I open the door and retrieve my duffel.

  There’s a note on top, written on stationery from the inn where we dropped off Jake.

  I have a message from your parents. Please come see me whenever it’s convenient. Jake

  It will never be convenient to deal with Halli’s parents. I shove the note to the bottom of the duffel and change into a pair of jeans and some thick socks and a long-sleeved T-shirt.

  As I comb out my long wet hair, I study my reflection in the mirror. I remember watching one of Halli’s memories where she was still trying to get used to living inside my body. She stood in front of my bathroom mirror at home, brushing my teeth. She leaned in close to look herself in the eyes. And wondered if she could see herself looking back.

  So who are we? Who am I? Last time, Professor Whitfield called me Halli 2. He said Halli 1 was gone forever—killed in that avalanche I tried to save her from.

  So I suppose when Halli took over my body, she became Audie 2.

  And now I’m Halli 3.

  I don’t want that. I don’t want to be Halli at all.

  Audie 3. A new creature. That’s who I am this time.

  Although no one gets to know that but me. Everything bad that happened last time started because I revealed who I was. That’s a mistake I won’t repeat.

  I kneel down next to Red. I hug him around his thick, furry neck and whisper, “You think I’m Halli, don’t you?” He thumps his tail and licks my lavender and vanilla cheek.

  It’s time to go contact Dr. Venn. And make sure he knows I’m Halli, too.

  7

  “HALLI MARKHAM,” Francie shouts for the third time, still trying to make Dr. Venn understand. “VIRGINIA MARKHAM’S GRANDDAUGHTER. DO YOU REMEMBER VIRGINIA?”

  “Who?” He has an American accent. Somehow I thought he’d be British.

  “VIRGINIA MARKHAM,” Francie tries again. “SHE WAS A FAMOUS EXPLORER. YOU WERE HER FRIEND?”

  I don’t know why I thought this lie would work.

  It’s just Francie and Daniel and me in the kitchen right now. Sarah and Sam are at the market. Sam thought it might be best if he weren’t around for the call, just in case Dr. Venn remembered him.

  Francie laughed at that. “It was ages ago! You look completely different now. For one thing, you had hair.”

  “He’ll remember me,” Sam assured her. “I was legendary.”

  He gave her a wink and then shuffled Sarah out the door. She said she had some shopping of her own to do.

  It took Francie a while to make contact. The woman who answered the comm seemed reluctant to bother Dr. Venn. But finally his ancient, holographic, 3D head hovered over Francie’s tablet on the table. Dr. Venn was in the house.

  His head is very round, mostly bald, with just a few clumps of wispy white hair growing out of the sides. He has a white beard, neatly trimmed. He wears glasses, but still squints. If he’s wearing hearing aids, they don’t work. From the look of time-worn face, I can believe he really is over a hundred.

  “I’M HERE WITH VIRGINIA’S GRANDDAUGHTER, HALLI,” Francie is shouting. “SHE WOULD LIKE TO MEET WITH YOU.”

  “Who?”

  Francie coughs and rubs at her throat. “Maybe one of you can try,” she murmurs to Daniel and me. “This is exhausting.”

  Daniel scoots his chair closer. “DR. VENN, MY NAME IS DANIEL EVERETT. I’M A PUPIL OF PROFESSOR LACKSMITH’S.”

  “Lacksmith?” He heard that. “How is that old yorker?”

  I shoot Daniel a look of surprise. I remember him showing me his own biography once, and it said he had won some award for “yorking.” I asked him what it was, but he wouldn’t tell me.

  Oh, but that was me—Audie. He never had that conversation with Halli. I quickly douse my curiosity.

  “HE’S FINE, SIR,” Daniel shouts. “HE SENDS HIS REGARDS.”

  Francie gives her son a hidden thumbs up.

  Liars are always welcome at my table.

  “MY FRIEND HALLI WOULD LIKE TO MEET WITH YOU, SIR.”

  “Meet with me?” Daniel’s lower voice must be at the right register. Dr. Venn seems to hear him fine.

  “YES, SIR. SHE’D LIKE TO APPLY TO OXFORD. SHE WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU FIRST.”

  “No, no … she needs to go to Admissions.”

  It’s time for me to take a stab at it.

  “I WANT TO MEET WITH YOU FIRST BECAUSE I’M VERY INTERESTED IN YOUR FIELD OF STUDY.”

  “What’s that?”

  “YOUR FIELD OF STUDY. I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU.”

  Dr. Venn scowls at that. Actually scowls.

  “PLEASE, SIR, I REALLY NEED TO TALK TO YOU.”

  “Young lady, you must have me confused with someone else—”

  “NO, SIR, IT’S YOU I NEED TO TALK TO.”

  But suddenly the thought hits me: what if he’s right? Maybe he isn’t the professor Daniel and his parents met with. Maybe I’m just wasting my time.

  In which case I need to get rid of this hovering head and go find the right one.

  There’s only one way to find out. It’s risky, because it reveals more than I want to, but I don’t really see another choice. I have to know.

  “DR. VENN,” I shout, “IT’S URGENT. HEADACHES. DEATH. PARALLEL UNIVERSES. THERE ISN’T MUCH TIME.”

  Dr. Venn’s holographic image jerks for a moment, blurs out of focus. When it steadies again, he’s staring right at me, eyes squinting into mine. The mouth above his trim white beard looks very tight and small.

  What can I do but stare back? And give him a slight nod.

  “Tomorrow,” he says. “Ten o’clock. Be on time. I nap at noon. And bring the yorker,” he adds, jerking his head toward Daniel.

  Then Dr. Venn’s head swirls back into nothing. He’s ended the call.

  I slouch back into my seat. Francie was right: that was exhausting.

  “What was that all about?” she asks me. “Parallel universes? Death?”

  Francie is a very open-minded person. So is her husband. They both own a history studio that uses people with extrasensory abilities to tell the stories behind archaeological artifacts. When Daniel told them the truth about me last time, they were happy to help me. They introduced me to a woman who was able to tell me what really happened when I threw myself into that avalanche. And she introduced me to her daughter, who helped me to contact Halli.

  And by the end of the day, I was screaming in agony. I was rushed to the hospital and never came out.

  Not an experience I intend to repeat. No matter how helpful Francie and her husband might want to be.

  So I laugh at Francie’s question. “I have no idea what it means. It’s just something Ginny told me to say if the professor gave me a hard time about trying to meet him.”

  “You really don’t know?” she asks.

  “Not at all.”

  “Hm. Curious,” she says. “In any case, it’s done. My vocal chords will recover one day. That man really does need an amplifier.”

  When Sarah and Sam return from the store, Sarah presents me with a gift. She’s uncharacteristically shy about it.

  “I saw it a few days ago, and I thought you might like it.”

  I pull it out of the bag.

  And burst out laughing.

  “No,” she says, looking slightly hurt. “It’s sincere.”

  “I know, Sarah. And I love it. Thank you.” I stand up and give her a hug.

  It’s a sleep shirt. Made of soft lavender T-shirt material. On the front is a picture of a sweet, well-groomed little poodle wearing a pink gemstone collar. She’s lying on her plump cushion, sleeping with a little smile on her doggie lips.

  Above her is a thought balloon showing what she’s dre
aming of: a ragged-looking mutt in a noble-looking pose, fur swept back and teeth gritted against a fierce driving storm.

  Underneath is a caption: Princess dreams of adventure.

  “That’s me,” Sarah says. “And you.”

  Oh, Sarah. Just ask Halli: adventure isn’t always as much fun as you think it is. I saw plenty of it in Halli’s memories: the fear, the pain, the constant uncertainty.

  But also, I have to admit, a certain pride in overcoming all those things. Why is Halli stronger than I am? Because she’s been through more. I’ve spent my life holed up in my room reading physics books. Halli has been out in the world.

  Correction: Audie 1 spent her life that way. I’ve had adventures of my own since then. I’ve known fear and pain and uncertainty myself. And I suppose you could say I’ve overcome some of that.

  Audie 3 is a new creature. A long-haired girl with her teeth gritted as she braces against the storm.

  I carefully fold up the shirt and slip it back into its bag. “Thank you, Sarah. I’ll wear it every night. It’s perfect.” I give her one more hug.

  And now it’s time to face the storm and grit my teeth some more. I’m going to have to go talk to Jake.

  8

  “This place is nice,” I say when Jake comes downstairs to meet me in the lobby of the inn. It’s night now, chilly outside, and I’m wearing one of Daniel’s coats since I didn’t seem to pack one of my own. It’s too big on me, but Sarah’s and Francie’s were too small. I’m sure they’d fit the real me, but Halli’s back and shoulders are broader. Plus Daniel’s coat has the advantage of having a collar that smells like him.

  “Yes, it’s very nice here,” Jake agrees, smiling at the lady behind the front desk. As he leads me into the sitting area in the next room, he murmurs, “If you like flowers. Thousands and thousands of flowers.”

  The inn is pretty flowery. Not only the many vases full of fresh cuttings resting on every available flat surface, but also the tiny blue flowers on all the upholstered furniture. It looks like the kind of place where somebody’s grandmother might live. I think it looks sweet.

  “Come on, it’s better than the last place,” I point out. I was staying in Halli’s parents’ London flat, in what was obviously their special Rose Room. Roses everywhere: on the furniture, the dishes, the curtains, the bedspreads, the tablecloths, even fresh roses crowded into the bathtub. A little rose goes a long way. Someone should tell them.

  “Other than the yippy dogs, I thought it was good,” Jake says.

  “What yippy dogs?”

  “Henry and Wallace?” Jake suddenly looks around. “You didn’t bring Red.”

  “No, he’s in the entryway with Sarah.” I enlisted her to walk over with me so she could watch the dog. I didn’t want to leave him at their house, just in case he might have another bout of separation anxiety and decide he needed to destroy everything in sight. And I didn’t want to bring him inside the inn with me, then have to shout to Jake from a safe distance away while Red growled in disapproval.

  “Thank you,” Jake says. “I appreciate it. So … you’re probably going to want to do this upstairs.”

  “Do what?”

  He gestures toward the tablet in his hand. “She wants to talk to you.”

  I feel like growling in disapproval myself. She can only be Halli’s mother.

  My real mother always hates it when I say I hate someone, so let’s just say I strongly, strongly, strongly dislike Halli’s mother. She’s a cold, mean, bossy woman. She and my own mother might look a lot alike, but the two of them are totally different. I used to think Halli was always so rude for how she treated her mother during their comm calls, but once I spent a little time with the woman myself, I understood completely.

  “Do we know the topic?” I ask, not even bothering to cover up how annoyed I am.

  “Our meeting today with Mr. Chilton.” Jake says. “Apparently you were too ‘inquisitive.’”

  I can feel my blood starting to simmer. “Aren’t I supposed to be asking questions? Isn’t that what I came here for? Ginny left me forty-nine percent of this company. I’m almost half owner. I’d like to know what it is we do.”

  “Whoa,” Jake says with a light chuckle, holding up his hand in surrender. “I’m just the messenger here.”

  I take a breath and try to calm down. I’m surprised I’m so worked up anyway. This isn’t my company or my 49 percent. Coming to London to tour the headquarters here was just an excuse I cooked up last time so I could find Daniel and get his help trying to solve the mystery of what happened to Halli and me.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, blowing out a breath. “You’re right.”

  “Look,” Jake says, “you know they don’t like this—any part of it. They’ve been doing whatever they wanted to for the past seventeen years. Your grandmother never really interfered. And now you’re here asking one of their employees about chemical processes and technical specs—of course it’s going to make them nervous.”

  I study his face for a moment. Who is he? Whose side is he on? I remember thinking those same things when I first met him.

  And I’m still wondering.

  Last time, he gave me a lot of inside information. Things I’m sure Halli never knew. Things about her parents, her grandmother, the company—and also plenty of inside information about Jake’s feelings for Halli. He’d been waiting for her for a long time. And then I showed up, and one thing led to another …

  Anyway. Different life now, different situation.

  But if he still wants to help the girl he thinks is Halli, why wouldn’t I take advantage of that?

  “I don’t want to talk to my mother,” I say. “Just tell her you delivered the message and I promised to settle down.”

  Way down. I’m not interested in their company at all this time. I won’t be bothering Mr. Chilton ever again.

  “I would,” Jake says, “but I can’t. You and I never had this conversation. I’m just here to shadow you, Miss Markham.”

  “And report back to them?”

  “Theoretically,” Jake says.

  We both look at each other for a moment while I take that in.

  “Fine,” I say with a groan. “You win. Take me to my doom.”

  9

  “Other than the yippy dogs … Henry and Wallace …”

  As I follow Jake up the carpeted wooden staircase to his room, I play those words over in my head. I don’t know any yippy dogs named Henry and Wallace. Jake thinks I do.

  They don’t belong to Halli’s parents—I’m sure of that. They made it very clear that they wished I hadn’t brought Red with me to their island—let alone let him stay with me inside their mansion and come with me to meals and meetings. They’d be the last people to own yippy dogs. Dogs like that need lots of attention and love. That disqualifies Halli’s parents right away.

  And I never saw any dogs, yippy or otherwise, in the building where their flat is. Once again, Red was the sole canine ambassador. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some down the hall or on another floor, and maybe I met them this time around.

  Only one way to find out.

  “Henry and Wallace … what cute little guys they were, huh?”

  Jake snorts. “Red didn’t think so. Of course, he doesn’t think I am, either.”

  “Yeah, he’s a funny one sometimes.” Red is his own dog, Halli told me once. She would know better than any of us. “I assume you went with the driver to pick up my duffel this afternoon? Or did you just give him the note to put inside it?”

  “No, I went. I had to pick up my things, too.”

  “Right.” So we were staying someplace together again. Someplace with yippy dogs.

  “Did you … see Henry and Wallace?” I try to sound as casual as possible, even though every question feels so obvious I’m sure he’s going to get suspicious.

  “Right there on their favorite lap. Mrs. Scott wanted to know if we’re coming back. I told her I didn’t know.”

&nbs
p; Mrs. Scott. Wow.

  My mind is whirling. That’s a pretty major change. But a very, very welcome one. Mrs. Scott is definitely an ally.

  Last time, I met her at the company board meeting on the island. She’s the one who warned me that Halli’s parents were trying to steal the company away from Halli. Mrs. Scott lives here in London, and she said I could fly back with her after the meeting and stay with her as long as I wanted. We were supposed to leave the next morning. But that evening, Halli’s parents had her escorted off the island and flown back to London right away. She was gone by dinner time.

  It wasn’t the last time I saw her, though. She came to visit me in the hospital, too. We were in the middle of discussing Halli’s parents again when Jake showed up and basically kicked Mrs. Scott out. He said Halli’s parents didn’t want me to have any visitors—that I was too weak and it was harmful. Mrs. Scott and I could both guess that they just didn’t want her talking to me, but then I had to go and prove Jake’s point by having a massive coughing fit. I never saw Mrs. Scott again.

  But now, this time, I stayed with her before I moved to Sarah and Daniel’s? That’s a really incredible piece of news.

  Something I’ll have to process later after I’m done dealing with Halli’s mother.

  “Halli,” she says in that tight voice of hers. Her head hovers over Jake’s tablet on top of the quaint little wooden desk in his room. “I’ve been trying to contact you since this afternoon. Why haven’t you answered your comm?”

  I didn’t have a tablet of my own last time, and I don’t seem to have one now. Which is fine, since I don’t know how to work them anyway. “How can I help you, Regina?” I ask in a bored voice.

  “You can help me by not taking up any more of my employees’ time. I told Mr. Chilton you’d only be there for an hour or so this morning. Instead you wasted his entire day.”

  “Really? Because I’m pretty sure I only wasted forty-nine percent of his day,” I shoot back, and I can see that I’ve scored a hit. Halli’s mother’s face looks even more pinched than usual.

  I remember when I first witnessed a few of the comms between Halli and her mother. Her mother used to at least pretend to be nice. But that was back when Halli’s parents still thought they could get her to do what they wanted and sign over her shares in the company to them.