by Rose, Imogen
“Good. There are plenty of books in the library, and feel free to watch TV. Make yourselves at home. Greg will be home at dinnertime, and I have asked him to take you out for something to eat.” She kissed our cheeks, and we waved as she drove off in her black Porsche Boxter.
“Score!” Ariele said.
“Yes, and check out this sweet ride.” I walked over to the Mini and ran my finger over the metal. “I’ve always wanted one of these.”
“I’d rather have her Porsche,” Ariele said, “but this will do for a ride to the airport. Let’s go get Kellan and take off.”
When Kellan didn’t respond to my tap on his door, I let myself in. He had fallen back asleep. He looked peaceful, but I had to wake him. I pulled at his elbow. “Kell, wake up!” I whispered.
“Mmm, mm. What’s the time?” He grabbed my hand and pulled me down beside him, opening his eyes and sending my pulse into overdrive with his hungry look.
“Stop that, Kell! We’ve got to get out of here. Celia’s left for the day, and we’ve got a ride!” I told him about the Mini.
He jumped out of bed and walked toward the bathroom, throwing off his clothes on his way. I turned away and left to pack.
We were on the road half an hour later. Thankfully, the Mini had a GPS to help us get to SFO. I drove, leaving Kellan and Ariele to figure out flights to Newark. It sucked not being able to book our tickets, and it meant that we’d probably be stuck flying standby. “Anything?” I asked.
“There are loads of flights, but we need a nonstop.”
“Ariele, your driver’s license may be a problem,” I pointed out. “Not that airport security scans them or anything, but what if someone recognizes you?”
“Yeah. No one knows me here, but I guess someone might recall my face from the pics in the newspapers. It was a long time ago, though. I’ll just have to chance it, ’cause I’m sure not driving all that way.”
I parked the car in the parking lot, and we rushed into the terminal and got onto the standby list for the next United Airlines flight to Newark. My pulse raced—in a bad way this time—as we neared the security line.
“Are you sure about this, Ariele? We could try driving,” I said. It would take a few days, but we’d get there.
“Look.” She pointed at the TSA agent who was checking the tickets. “He is not even looking at them closely, so stop worrying. We’re only going to get noticed if you keep fidgeting like that. Why don’t I go ahead and go through first? You two get to the back of the line, even step away from it while I go through.”
Kellan took my hand, and we walked away from the line and watched Ariele from afar. She greeted the TSA agent with a bright smile and handed him her license. He looked over it and then looked at her again. I was about to lose it. But then he nodded and let her through.
“Phew,” Kellan said. “Must admit that I stopped breathing there for a second.”
“Me, too. That was intense. Our turn. Should we go through separately?”
“Nope, I’m going with you.”
I walked over to the line, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. I pretended to be busy on my cell to avoid meeting anyone’s eyes, even ignoring Kellan’s attempts at conversation. When I finally got to the front, I handed over my driver’s license and boarding pass to the same agent who’d checked out Ariele’s, but without the smile that I had promised myself I’d flash. Instead, I just stood, not breathing, while he checked my license.
“Arizona Darley?” he said looking up at me.
“Yes,” I said, knowing that my voice sounded like I might have had a ton of cocaine hidden in my luggage.
“Have a nice flight. Next.”
I tried not to somersault with relief as I took off my shoes in preparation for the security check. A beaming Ariele waited for me at the other end.
“You made it!” she whispered. “One to go!”
“And here he comes.” I pointed at Kellan. “Boy, that was stressful.”
“I thought it was fine. Let’s pick up some food before we board. Some of these flights don’t even serve food anymore,” Ariele said.
Kellan grinned at me as he walked toward us. “Shrimp, I thought for sure that you’d get made. I’m glad that’s over. Let’s go.” He put his arm around my shoulder, ushering me toward the gate. We picked up some food on the way, and then waited for our names to be called from the standby list.
While we waited, I told Kellan about the pictures Ella had showed us the night before.
“You’re sure that’s not just Ella being a monkey?” he asked.
“Yes. I can always tell when she’s up to something,” I said. “I think we managed to convince her that it might be for a scrapbooking project Celia is doing for Mom, but she is going to show them to Mom tonight. I couldn’t have her show them to her this morning and risk a crack-up that would have cancelled their trip and blown ours. Anyway, what do you think?”
“If there is another Ella, there almost has to be another Dr. Darley.”
Two of Mom. Well, I’d kind of figured that after my conversation with David.
“What about two of me?” Ariele asked.
“Now that would totally make your moving back here impossible,” I said.
“Thing is, though, it seems like your family’s disappearance was thoroughly investigated, and you were never found. So I think you’ll probably be okay—as far as doppelgangers are concerned, anyway,” Kellan said.
Ariele nodded. “I hope so. I can’t wait to get back home. The last trip to Princeton totally sucked.”
Kellan nodded.
“I wish I could remember it,” I said.
“Try kissing Kellan when you get there. That might help.” Ariele snickered.
I elbowed her.
“Ouch! Now that’s a very A thing to do!” she tittered.
“Whatever!” But sitting there between the two of them in the airport lounge felt familiar. That feeling intensified when, two hours later, we boarded our flight, and I sat between them again, waiting for the airplane to take off. When Kellan put his arm around me, I was hit by a wave of déjà vu. We’d been here before, and I could even remember what I had worn—my Marc Jacobs military coat. And Ariele had been cross with Kellan.
“Why were you angry?” I asked her.
“Eh?” She shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“The last time we flew to Princeton. Why were you angry with Kell?”
“Oh my god! You’re remembering! That’s awesome!”
“She was pissed because I went behind your back and told your parents that you thought you were Arizona Stevens.”
“Oh,” I said, not understanding why that would have been such a big deal, but whatevah. As long as they’d gotten over it. I needed the two them grounded and focused.
The conversation must have awakened some bad memories for Ariele, whose cheery mood vanished. She pulled a magazine from the seat pocket in front of her, clearly not wanting to talk anymore.
Kellan drew me closer, and I lay my face on his chest, peering out the window as we flew into fluffy white clouds. We exited to a clear, bright blue sky with the clouds floating below. I relaxed, enjoying the drone of the engine and the rhythmic strokes of Kellan’s fingers through my hair. As my lids got heavier and heavier, I gave in and closed my eyes.
“Shrimp, wake up,” Kellan whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes to the sight of the Empire State Building. “Wow.” I leaned forward.
“Never gets old,” Ariele said, leaning over beside me. “That was quite a nap! You missed lunch.”
My stomach growled at the reminder.
“And Kellan had quite a time keeping his crumbs off your hair.” She giggled. “If I were you, I’d check for honey mustard stains.”
I sat up and felt my hair.
“She’s being an ass.” Kellan sighed. “Your hair is perfect, as always. I saved you one of the paninis we picked up from the airport. Want it now?”
“
Yes, please.” I smiled. I was still munching on the mozzarella cheese panini as we landed.
I followed Ariele through the terminal, as she seemed to know exactly where to go.
“I think we should take the train, since we can’t rent a car. That’s a real PITA,” she said.
“Or we could jump in a cab,” Kellan suggested.
“Train will be quicker,” she said. “And we can get a cab at the other end. Let’s take NJ Transit to Princeton Junction, and cab it from there.”
Once we were sitting in the train, it occurred to me that we had no plan. All our efforts had been focused on how to get to Princeton. But now that we were nearly there, what were we going to do? And Ariele would get spotted in Princeton where everyone had known her. I reached inside my bag and rummaged for my hat.
“Here, put this on.” I handed her the wide-brimmed, black sun hat. “Do you have anything else we can use to disguise you?”
“You’re going to have the same problem,” she said.
“Huh?”
“Even though you’ve never been here, this is Arizona Stevens territory, and you look exactly like her. We both need to be incognito.”
That hadn’t occurred to me, but she was right. I could easily be mistaken for my doppelganger.
“Ariele’s right,” Kellan concurred. “You both have to be really careful. I’ll do all the reconnaissance work.”
“Thanks, Kell.” I beamed at him. “So, what’s the plan? Are we going to head over to A’s house first?”
“And say what?” Ariele said.
“I don’t think we can just walk up to her door. Maybe we should hide outside, even stay in the cab, and wait for her,” Kellan suggested. “You just want to see her, right, Shrimp?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“No think so,” Kellan said adamantly. “That’s all we’re going to do. We’re only here to check out if this is for real.”
I didn’t say anything but gave him a perfunctory nod.
“I want to stop by my house. And I want to see Monica and drive by the school,” Ariele said.
“Who is Monica again?” I asked.
“She’s one of my very best friends.”
“Well, you’ll have to make sure that she doesn’t see you then.”
“You, too. She’s one of A’s best friends as well.”
Kellan shook his head. “This is a majorly dangerous plan. We’ve got to be really careful. Let’s get a cab, head over to A’s place first, and wait.”
“For how long?” I asked. “I don’t think a cab’s just going to hang out there with us.”
“Yes, plus it’s already dark out, so she might be at hockey or whatever. We need to figure out where we’re going to stay,” Ariele added.
“Any ideas?” Kellan asked. “You know this place better than we do.”
“The Nassau Inn is right in the middle of Princeton, and it’s pretty nice.”
As the train approached the platform, we still didn’t have a clear plan. But when we got in a taxi, Ariele gave the driver directions.
“Where are we going?” Kellan asked.
“We’ll do a drive past A’s house first. It’s on the way to mine anyway.”
I looked out the window as we drove through the badly-lit streets. Nothing triggered any recollections.
“Recognize anything?” Ariele asked me when we hit a more brightly-lit section of downtown Princeton.
I had a good look at the turret ahead of us and the Tudor house on our right. I shook my head.
“Don’t blame you,” Kellan said. “I barely recognize it in the dark.”
We drove for a while longer and then turned into a residential street with smaller houses.
“Now?” Ariele asked.
“No.” I was pretty sure that I’d never been here before.
“Could you stop here for a minute?” Ariele asked the driver.
We were outside a small, nondescript house with a broken porch light.
“This is it,” Ariele whispered. “A’s house.”
I stared at it long and hard, trying to imagine the interior. I closed my eyes, trying to visualize myself in it. Nothing. It was all a blank. I was pretty sure I had never been inside that house. “Which one is her room?” I looked at the curtained windows, which threw off a little light from inside.
“That one there.” She pointed.
The window was lit, so she must be home. A dog started barking inside the house.
“We better leave. That could be Gertrude!” Kellan warned as a door opened. A dog zipped across the street and launched itself at the cab.
“Do you want me to drive on?” the driver muttered.
“Yes, but hold on. I don’t want you driving over the dog. I’ll get rid of her.” I slid down my window. “Gertrude, go back inside.” I opened the door and patted her head. Well, at least we knew where Gertrude was hanging out.
Then from out of nowhere I heard, “Poppet? What the heck are you doing here?”
Sometimes the best thing to do was to take some time off. Not to reflect on matters but to simply escape them. Lately, that had been almost impossible. Olivia’s worries weighed heavily upon her, not only during every waking moment, but they also turned her dreams into nightmares.
Today had been a rare exception. The sheer energy, activity, and excitement demanded by the amusement park had completely overtaken her mind and body. Her feet ached as she sat, exhausted, in the back of the van while Larry drove. Ella’s head rested on her lap with her legs strewn over Harry’s.
“Good day?” Olivia whispered to Harry.
“Yep. Ella sure had fun.” He smiled down at his sleeping sister.
“She did. Thanks for being such a great big brother.”
“Ella makes that easy, as does Shrimp. She should have come. Even Ariele’s parents had a great time.” He glanced back at the couple who had fallen into an exhausted slumber.
“I didn’t want to force her,” Olivia said. “She’s been through so much recently. A day of unwinding at Celia’s probably did her a lot of good. Plus, she had Ariele and Kellan for company.”
“Isn’t it odd that, although she doesn’t remember squat from last year, she sure is all over Kellan? Even more so if that’s possible.” He frowned.
Olivia laughed. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Harry rolled his eyes. “I guess not. Just a bit gross at times.”
“They haven’t been behaving inappropriately, have they?” she said sharply.
“No more than usual. They just need to tone it down in front of Ella.”
“I’ll have a word with her,” Olivia said.
Harry chuckled. “Mom, like that will work. No, let me take care of it. I’ll talk to Kell.”
Olivia didn’t argue. Harry was totally on the ball with that one. All she’d get from Arizona was either a frosty silence or a full-blown meltdown.
“Mom.” Harry bit down on his lip. “I’ve been thinking about Dad. You know how I spent some time with Granddad learning about the Wanderers?”
Olivia nodded, her stomach sinking, guessing what was coming.
“I want to work with Dad. I know I said I’d finish college first, so I will, but then I’d really like to become a Sigma-W.”
Olivia breathed a sigh of relief that he planned to finish school first. “It’s important that you finish college first, maybe even graduate school. The Wanderers I’ve met all have normal jobs, so it’s important that you establish yourself before you think about following your dad. And what about a family?”
“I’ve already discussed this with Maria. She supports me a hundred percent.”
“Maria? She is the one?”
“Yes, and I’d like her to join us here. If something is going down in the other dimension, I need her here with me.”
“We can’t just bring her over, not without her parents’ permission. And how do we do that without telling them what’s going on? Especially when I don’t even know what ex
actly that is.”
“Have Arizona invite her. They were okay with her coming with us to New York.”
“That was for a couple of days. We have no idea how long we’re going to be stuck here.”
“Mom, did Dad say anything else about what’s going on?”
“No, I’ve told you all I know. We should hush about this now. The Moreaus are awake.”
“Gosh, I am bushed, but it was fun. Thank you for taking us, Olivia. We needed that,” Glenda said, tapping Olivia’s shoulder.
“Glad you came.” Olivia turned around. “We’ll be back at Celia’s shortly.”
“Really? I must have napped for quite a while. I see that Ella’s wiped out.”
Olivia smiled and stroked Ella’s hair.
“Can we talk about what we’re going to do next? I’ll understand if you’re too tired,” Glenda continued. “I just don’t feel as though I get what happened here—in this dimension—when we left. So, I’m really torn about what we need to do to move on. I’d really appreciate it if you could share something—anything—that might help.”
“I don’t really know much at all. I did talk to Celia last night, and she told me that the fuss about your disappearance started a couple of weeks after we transported you. She thinks one of your relatives reported you missing, and that’s when the investigation began. The press reported that a friend of Ariele’s told them that you got on a flight to San Francisco, but they were never able to determine which flight, which is not surprising since we flew you down in a private plane. So, the police didn’t have much to go on, but they launched a coast-to-coast search for you. When the press got hold of it, it spawned all kinds of conspiracy theories, and the public was captivated by it until they moved on to another story. The problem is that Ariele’s picture was posted everywhere.”
Glenda nodded. “There were a couple of weeks between us disappearing and the report?”
“Yes, at least that’s what Celia says.”
“And this was connected to a plane going down? Actually, Olivia, could you explain that to me? Now that I have been through the Portal, I can’t imagine how you got a whole plane through there.”
