by Ben Cass
“Sure,” said Ellie. “Although I just kind of go by instinct, not measurements.”
Doyle held his hands in a T-shape. “Timeout,” he said. “Can we discuss the part about fixing up my house? Nothing is broken, which means you redecorated. What did you two do?”
“Nothing too big,” Kira said. “You will not even notice, I am sure.”
“I doubt it,” he muttered darkly.
“I imagine you will want to get a decent shower first, Jen,” Kira said. “Which room, Alistair?”
“Mine,” he said. “I only have the two beds, and you’re in the other one, so they can share.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is that all right?” At Jen’s nod, he continued, “I can sleep on the couch.”
“Perfect. Jen, up the stairs, there.” Kira looked over at Ellie. “Perhaps you could make something for her to eat?”
Ellie nodded.
“I’ll help you,” Doyle volunteered.
DOYLE and Ellie went into the kitchen while Kira led Jen upstairs. Ellie stood by the counter, tapping her lip as she thought. Doyle remained quietly behind her, watching. “Maybe a nice omelet and some toast would be good for her,” Ellie finally said. “We can add in some pieces of meat and cheese to give it flavor. Maybe some cloves or cinnamon. That works.” She went to the refrigerator, pulling out supplies and handing them to Doyle, and then went through his spices, considering each one carefully. He set items on the counter as they were handed to him, raising an eyebrow at some of the choices. When she handed him the curry and teriyaki sauce, he shook his head, his eyes widening. She ignored his reactions; some people just weren’t adventurous with their food, but she was not one of them.
“Now to turn the stove on and get the frying pan out.” Ellie turned the front burner on before pulling out the frying pan from its resting place under the sink.
Doyle leaned against the wall, his arms folded. “Enjoy your ride?” he asked, his voice laced with amusement.
“My ride?” she asked, pouring a thin coating of cooking oil into the pan. “What ride?”
“The one you took this morning. I saw you on the way in.” Doyle laughed. “I’m not sure if grand theft auto applies to a Wiler. I suppose I could ask the sheriff.”
Ellie froze in the act of setting the cooking oil back on the counter. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned to face him.
To her relief, he didn’t look concerned at all.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Theonus offered and I didn’t think you’d mind.”
Doyle held up a hand to stop her. “Oh, I don’t. Actually, I wanted to compliment you. I’ve only met one other person who could ride a Wiler without a saddle of some kind. That was very impressive.”
Ellie sighed with relief and cracked the eggs into a bowl. She turned the heat on the burner down and began scrambling the eggs. “Can I ask you something?”
“Does it involve kissing?” Doyle still sounded amused. Ellie shook her head.
“No. It’s more serious. And can I have a straight answer for a change? I don’t like the evasive ones you and your sister seem to prefer.” His eyebrow twitched, but he gave her his full attention.
“Go ahead.” He was the picture of patience, which irritated her, for some reason.
“You’re not really a coach, are you?” Ellie looked directly at him as she spoke, measuring his reaction.
“Sometimes I do feel more like a babysitter.” His eyes twinkled again as he spoke, but Ellie ignored it. She wasn’t going to be charmed out of this answer.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it. You’re pretending to be something you’re not, for some reason you’re mysteriously keeping top-secret, and you’re convinced I can’t handle knowing the truth.”
Ellie dumped the eggs into the frying pan, making them sizzle and pop as she spoke. She poured some teriyaki sauce onto the eggs, allowing it to soak into them. “And please don’t insult my intelligence by trying to deny it. You have an elephant-sized, saber-toothed dog who can communicate telepathically. Last time I checked, you can’t just buy one of those at Petco. Whoever you are...whatever you are...you’re not from around here.”
She could feel Doyle’s eyes staring into the back of her head. “Are you sure you’re only sixteen?” he suddenly asked. “You’ve got a better head on your shoulders than some adults I’ve met.”
Ellie turned her head and returned his stare evenly, craning her neck to look up at him. “I’m almost seventeen. And I get it from my mother,” she replied calmly, looking back and adding some paprika to the cooking eggs. “She taught me to read between the lines. You’re hiding something, something big and, if I had to guess, life-changing for us. I can see it in the way you carry yourself. I’ve heard it in your conversations with Kira and Theonus. I don’t know what it is, exactly, but I promise you I will figure it out eventually, so you might as well just tell me and get it over with.” She paused for a few moments, making sure the egg didn’t burn. Doyle just watched her calmly as she added the cheese and meat and folded the omelet over.
“I see,” he finally said. “You want the truth, do you?”
Ellie threw a handful of curry into the eggs, considered, and then added a second handful. “I think I deserve it. After all, you seem to be taking a strong interest in my sister, and I consider it my duty to look out for her welfare.”
“I did say I’d tell you more after your sister came home, didn’t I? Very well. After you’ve fed her...breakfast,” Doyle lifted the curry and shuddered, “meet me out in the barn. I can’t tell you everything, but I’ll tell you what I can.” He opened the back door and stepped outside, muttering, “Curry? Teriyaki sauce? In an omelet? What kind of culinary freak show is this?”
“Don’t question my cooking....” Ellie turned her attention back to the omelet, grumbling to herself. Over the last twenty-four hours, her view of the man she knew as Coach Doyle had changed. He was no longer somebody to sit and giggle over. She still thought he was the sexiest guy she’d ever seen, but knowing he had risked his life to save theirs had turned him from a sex object into a hero. Realizing he was not what he had claimed to be had turned him into a mystery. She was determined to solve it.
JEN sat down on the couch in Doyle’s room. She had showered off and gotten dressed, changing into some of her own clothes thanks to the sheriff’s rescue of her emergency bag from her car. At the moment, Jen was trying to spend a few minutes decompressing and taking everything in. Doyle’s sister was busy opening curtains in the room, letting in the bright sunlight. Something about her movements tickled Jen’s memory. “Kira? Have we ever met before?” Was that a hesitant pause in the taller woman’s motions? No, surely not.
“Why do you ask?” Kira tied the curtains back and faced Jen, her face oddly blank of emotion.
Jen frowned, thrusting her chin into her upturned palm. “Because I feel like I’ve known you my entire life. And your brother...” She shook her head but realized Kira was watching her intently.
“What about him?”
Jen shrugged, waving her hands in the air with a shooing motion. “Forget it. Not important.” She gave a half-hearted grin.
Kira gave her a knowing smile in return. “If you started to say it, it is important to you, which means it is important enough to be said to me. What about him?”
Jen hesitated and then blurted out, “I think I’m falling in love with him. I know it sounds crazy, or even stupid, but it’s true. I know I just met him a few days ago and then he saved my life three different times, and is taking care of Ellie and me, putting us up in his own house, so this is probably some weird form of Nightingale syndrome...I mean, I don’t even know his first name!” She felt Kira’s long fingers fall across her mouth, silencing her breathless rush of words. She looked up, a bit surprised.
The other woman smiled down at her warmly. “His first name is Alistair, although he is not very fond of it, which is why he uses that ridiculous last name ins
tead.” The name set off another tickle in Jen’s mind, for some reason, and she forced herself to listen to Kira. “This sounds neither crazy nor stupid, and I doubt you have a psychological condition. Well, not much of one, anyway.” Jen shook her head, smiling at the familiar, teasing tone; Kira and Doyle were eerily alike in some ways. “I have seen the way you look at him...and I have also seen the way he looks at you. I have not seen that look from him in many years.”
When Jen asked, “Since that girl ran away from him?”, Kira sat down suddenly next to her, as if her legs had given out. From the way her body tensed, Jen suspected she was readying for an argument. She reminded herself this woman was probably quite protective of her twin brother, as she was with Ellie.
“He told you about her?” Kira’s voice was guarded, and her eyes were unreadable. “He never talks about her with anybody.”
Jen nodded, trying to project confidence and ease, even though she didn’t feel it. Kira seemed to be getting tenser by the second. “Sort of. He said they were sixteen and had been secretly dating. He confessed he loved her and wanted to be with her forever and she ran away and was never seen again. I think he holds himself responsible.”
Kira let out a long breath. “He does.” Her eyes bored into Jen’s, unblinking. The intensity of her stare made Jen look away briefly. “He has been punishing himself for a long time. He went through some...some difficult times.”
“But that’s ridiculous!” protested Jen. “It’s not his fault a teenager wasn’t ready to deal with the implications of love! I told him she was being selfish by not telling him what she was feeling and by running away, even if that’s not entirely true. I mean, it wasn’t selfish, but also wasn’t the best reaction, obviously. Still, it’s not her fault, either. It was just an unfortunate situation, I think. I reminded him girls have a lot going on, especially at sixteen. For a guy who seems to know a lot, he doesn’t seem to really understand what goes on inside the mind of a teenage girl. Or any female, for that matter.”
Kira paused for a moment, considering her words, and then nodded in agreement. Jen thought she seemed extremely satisfied. “I agree it is not his fault. Alistair does not see it that way, though. I am afraid he believes he ruined her life.”
“He deserves somebody who will love him and take care of him.” Jen hugged her knees to her chest as she spoke, although she stopped herself as soon as she realized she was doing it. You’re acting like a love-smitten teenager, she told herself firmly.
“Somebody like you?” suggested Kira softly. Jen looked at her askance, noticing how at ease Kira suddenly appeared: the elbow on the couch, her head resting on her hand, her legs drawn up underneath her. All tension was gone from her body.
“You don’t think I would?” Jen asked stiffly.
Kira smiled at her, tilting her head. “On the contrary, I truly believe you would. I think you would not have any problems dealing with the implications of love, as you so aptly phrased it.” She leaned close. “And between us girls, I would be thrilled if you two get together. I could not pick a better match for him.” She looked around the room and grimaced. “And you would surely have better taste in decorating.”
Jen leaned back into the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “I just met him a few days ago, though. That’s what makes it so impossible.”
“Jen, when I first met my husband, it was love at first sight. Literally.” Kira held out her hand, admiring her wedding ring. “I was on vacation in Ohio when I saw him in a restaurant. Our eyes met and I just knew I had to talk to him. By the end of the week, we were a couple. I even moved to Ohio, just to be near him, based on the strength of that one week. We were married a few weeks later. I was still a teenager at the time, and had only been in the country for a few months.”
Ellie came in then, carrying the food on a tray. “Breakfast!” she announced cheerfully. Setting the tray down next to Jen, she handed her the plate and fork. “Hope it tastes as good as Doyle’s lips did.” She grinned at Jen. “Yeah, I figured it out. I asked him if he wanted to kiss you, and he smiled and walked away. That told me he already did.” Kira’s eyebrow shot up, the first time Jen had yet seen surprise on her face. Doyle’s twin looked over at Jen and gave a sly half-smile.
“Is there something you would like to tell us?” Kira asked Jen, amusement in her tone. Jen shrugged nonchalantly.
“He kissed me. I was just lying in the hospital bed.”
Ellie started laughing.
“I knew it!” she crowed triumphantly. “I told you he was perfect for you!” She ran out of the room as Jen tossed a pillow after her.
Chapter Fifteen
When Ellie arrived in the barn, she found Doyle sitting atop a fence that had been part of a stall, lazily chewing on a piece of hay. Theonus lay on his stomach, paws surrounding a large tree trunk. He was gnawing it much as a normal dog would a rawhide bone.
“Hey, Theonus,” she said, climbing over the tree to scratch the Wiler on the bridge of his nose. Theonus’s long tongue came out, licking her legs. “Oh, that was just nasty,” she laughed, squirming.
I know. That’s why I cleaned them off for you.
Ellie had become completely accustomed to hearing his thoughts, and she replied back silently, I’ll get you for that. Theonus returned to his tree trunk, but Ellie could see the smirk on his face. Even after spending much of the previous evening with him, the human expressions still amazed and baffled her.
Doyle pulled the hay from his teeth. “You’re here, which I suppose means you want me to answer some questions now.” She nodded. “Okay. What’s first?”
“What do I call you? Because I get the feeling Doyle isn’t your real last name. Your sister pronounced it like it was a dead thing in her mouth.”
He shrugged. “Kira has questionable taste sometimes. It’s not my real last name, but calling me Doyle is fine. I like it much better than my first name. Who names their kid Alistair?” He shuddered.
“I like your first name. So much nicer than Elowyn. So, Doyle, who are you? Who do you work for? Why are you pretending to be a coach? Where did Theonus come from? Why did you call his name the other night if he communicates telepathically? Why couldn’t I see inside the barn yesterday, but now it looks normal? Why do you insist on calling me by my full name? Where is Kiamada?”
Doyle chuckled softly. “That’s a lot of questions all at once. I don’t really work for anybody except myself, honestly. I became a coach because I needed a job here. Theonus came from Kiamada, the same place Kira and I did, and the other night, I called his name out of habit. Even though he can hear my thoughts, it’s human instinct to yell for help. Besides, the yelling pinpointed our location faster than I could have thought it. As for the barn, Wilers have this...ability, I guess you could call it...to bend light so you can’t see them. It helps them in the wild, especially at night.” He held her gaze with his own. “And I insist on using your full name because it is absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of home.”
Ellie flushed at the compliment, feeling the heat rising across her nose and cheeks. She looked away, studying Theonus, who had grabbed the tree trunk in both paws and was stabbing it with his fangs, trying to tear and rip the wood apart.
When she felt the warmth leave her face, she turned back to Doyle, who hadn’t moved. “And Kiamada?”
“Kiamada is in the middle of the Gebonc Ocean.”
Ellie threw up her hands. “Right. The Gebonc Ocean. I’ve heard it’s lovely this time of year.” Her sarcasm was not lost on Doyle, who gave an impish wink.
A cracking sound came from Theonus’s tree trunk. Ellie decided not to look. Instead, she stayed on her questioning. “And where, precisely, is the Gebonc Ocean?”
Doyle put the hay back into his mouth. “That’s a little harder to answer. The short answer is it’s not on this particular Earth.” Ellie’s eyebrows rose.
“You’re telling me you’re an alien? E.T. phone home, live long and prosper, all that stuff?” She knew how skept
ical she sounded.
He shook his head, laughing softly. “I rather like Mork, actually. Nanu, nanu. No, I’m not an alien. I’m human, Elowyn, just like you and Jen. I’m just from a different Earth.” He frowned. "Hmm. I suppose, technically, that would make me an alien, wouldn’t it?”
Ellie tilted her head, studying him. Beside her, Theonus succeeded in ripping a large chunk of bark off his tree. His growl of satisfaction derailed her attention momentarily, but she soon returned to Doyle. “I think I follow, but I’m not sure,” Ellie admitted. Doyle slid off the fence.
“Are you into reading science fiction or fantasy?” he asked, gnawing on the hay.
Ellie nodded. “Sure. All the time. I love Terry Brooks and Arthur C. Clarke.”
“Mm. They’re very talented, definitely. I assume you are familiar with the concept of the multiverse?” Again she agreed. “There’s your explanation. Kiamada exists on an Earth in a universe adjacent to yours. Our reality happens to overlap your Earth’s reality in certain places, which as far as we know are only located in my homeland. That’s how I was able to come here.”
She started to scoff at him; did he really think she was an idiot? Ellie opened her mouth to speak, but another loud cracking sound from behind caused her to turn around and look at Theonus, who had managed to split the tree into halves, and was now happily gnawing on one of the chunks.
Ellie felt like slapping her forehead. Maybe she really was an idiot. She was looking at an enormous, saber-toothed Rottweiler, who was literally eating a tree—were Wilers vegetarian?—and she was questioning Doyle’s story?
Ellie poked at her teeth with her fingernail. “So you’re human?”
“Entirely,” he assured her. “Kiamada itself was actually a part of this Earth, a long time ago. Somehow, it was taken to the other universe. The details are a bit fuzzy, and all we have are fragments of stories that may or may not be true. I’ve done some research in my time here, and there are also fragments of those same stories. I don’t remember the author’s name. Play-doh? Something like that. Anyway, we still have people from your Earth who end up living in mine and people from mine who live here.” He spit out the hay. “Gah. I tried it. That’s just disgusting. Worse than gum. How do people chew that stuff?”
