by Rose, Imogen
“Rupe, how are you?”
“I’ve been busy wandering from one place to the other, trying to get to meetings all over the world. I am bushed.” He pulled her close again and rested his cheek on her head.
“Come and lay down for a bit while we talk,” Olivia suggested.
“Good idea, but don’t let me fall asleep.”
“I won’t.” She pulled him over to the bed and pushed him down on it.
“It’s like that, is it?” He chuckled.
“Too right.”
~
He’d fallen asleep after all, and Olivia couldn’t bear to wake him, so she let him sleep for a while, waking him up with a gentle kiss.
“Mmm. How long did I sleep?”
“Not long, just ten minutes or so.”
“Good. I have to go soon.” He turned over on his side and kissed her cheek. “You wanted to talk? Or was that just a ruse to get me into bed?”
“Surely I don’t need to trick you for that?”
“Never. So, what’s up, apart from our very naughty daughter?”
“I don’t know what to do with her.” She sighed. “Rupe, did you know that we have doppelgangers? I mean, apart from Dillard?”
“No...”
“We do.” She told him what she’d learned from Celia.
He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. She let him take his time absorbing what she’d said, lying back in the crook of his arm. By Celia’s account, there was just one of Rupert. That provided Olivia with some measure of relief.
“There are two of you? Of Ella?” he asked quietly. “What about Arizona?”
“Yes. Celia said that Arizona—the other one—is in New Jersey with Dillard. There doesn’t seem to be another Harry.”
Rupert sat up and leaned forward, raking his hair back with his fingers. “I need to see this for myself.”
Olivia touched his arm. “Is that a good idea? Somehow, I feel we should just leave it be, not interfere in what’s already done.”
He got up and paced the room. “I am going to have to think about this. I need to go, but I hate leaving you with all this to deal with on your own.”
“Can you tell me anything about what’s going on? Are you in danger? When can we go home?”
He sat back down and put his arm around her. “I could tell you what’s going on, but I know you’re not ready to hear all this just now. You have enough to deal with. Let me take care of it, and I’ll explain everything once we’re all back home. There is chaos and danger around, but I will be okay. Don’t worry about me.”
“I do.”
“I know, but I’ll be fine, I promise. Now, I can secure Mountain View so that you can go home in the next few days. You’ll have to remain in Mountain View, though, but that’s better than hanging out here, right?”
“Yes! But what do you mean, secure?”
“Again, you’re just going to have to trust me on that.”
“Oh, you mean by having the Wanderers watch us? That wasn’t foolproof.”
“Not exactly. But what I have in mind will be.”
Olivia shook her head. “I really don’t like this covert stuff, especially when the kids are involved.” She shifted and stood up. “But I’ll go home when you tell me it’s safe. Will you come back to do that yourself or send someone?”
“I don’t know just yet, but I want to do it myself.”
“Dad?” Harry opened the door.
“Hey!” Rupert said, bearhugging his son.
“Ella said you were here.”
“I was just about to come find you. How have you been?”
“Good. Bored sitting around and doing nothing. I was thinking… can I go with you?”
“Harry! No!” Olivia gasped. “I thought we’d discussed this, and you were going to stay and complete college.”
“Mom, it’s okay.” Harry smiled. “I’d just like to help if I can. Then I’ll go back to college. That’s if Dad doesn’t need me to stay and keep an eye on stuff here.”
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea, Harry,” Rupert said. “Ollie, you are fine here at Celia’s, and I will move you back home in the next day or two. Meanwhile, Harry can hang out with his old man if he wants and learn the family business, so to speak.”
“He’s not going to go wandering by himself or anything?”
Rupert laughed. “You have my word.”
“And you’ll keep him safe. I know that.”
Soon after Rupert and Harry left to find Ella, Olivia took out the pictures of Ella’s doppelganger and looked at them again, wishing that she could feel what was in the other Ella’s heart. Was she happy? Did she have everything she needed? Was there anything she could do to make this Ella’s life better? Should she? Olivia needed to know more about the doppelgangers. She went to find Celia, stopping first at her den. There were no signs of Celia, but Olivia lingered, picking up the photo album from the coffee table and flicking through the pages. She found a few more pictures of Ella and scrutinized them. It was impossible to tell from the pictures how the other Ella really was on the inside.
Olivia finally found Celia sitting by the baby grand piano in the living room accompanying Ella as she sang. Olivia sat down and watched them, wondering if the other Ella was musical as well or whether this was something Ella had picked up from Rupert.
“Did Dad stop by?” she asked Ella when she was finished.
“He did! Dad said he wanted to hear me sing, so I did a little show for him.”
“You sound wonderful, honey.” She turned to Celia. “And you play as beautifully as ever.”
“Why, thank you.” Celia got up and bowed. “Drink?”
“And a chat?” She looked across at Ella. “It’s bedtime. Go get ready, and I’ll come and tuck you in soon.”
“Can I watch TV until you do? You always take so long when you have these chats.” She rolled her eyes.
“Cheeky Charlie. Yes, you may.”
“Shall we go down to the den? All the best wine is down there.” Celia smiled.
“I’m curious about the pictures you showed me the other night,” Olivia said once they were comfortable, each with a glass of Bordeaux in hand.
“I bet.” Celia smiled. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything, I guess. Do you have any more photographs?”
Celia got up and rummaged through the drawers of her side table, bringing out another photo album. She handed it to Olivia and sat down next to her, watching her face.
Olivia ran her fingers over the leatherbound album, suddenly wary of what she was about to see. Would looking at these pictures impact her life?
“You know, you don’t have to look at them.” Celia put her hand over Olivia’s. “I had such a hard time believing that you weren’t just the other Olivia playing a trick on me that I went to visit her yesterday when you were at Universal. It is spooky how the choices you made haven’t changed you physically in any way down to your haircut and the clothes you wear. The only really noticeable difference is that you have a certain serenity that she doesn’t. She is very driven by her work and looking after Ella at the expense of herself.”
“Is she happy?” Olivia asked, finding it strange to refer to the other Olivia as a different person entirely, but that’s who she was, somehow.
“I think so. She certainly shows no signs of being sad, but then it’s hard to read what’s in someone else’s heart.”
“Does she ever talk about Rupert?”
“Not to me, and I never ask. I feel he may occupy the same space in her that Sarah does in me. Some memories are best left to settle, especially when the tiniest trigger can cause the most explosive emotional upheaval. Olivia has built up her walls over many years, and I am the last person who wants to tear them down.”
Olivia nodded. She knew about walls. She’d shared her doppelganger’s wall for years, keeping herself shielded from hurt. Rupert had carefully and gently, brick by brick, taken it apart until she was a
ble to walk out and let him be her emotional wall.
“Mom!” Ella ran into the den. “I’ve been looking for you all over the place. You left your phone upstairs, and Kellan’s been calling again and again. I answered it. He wants you to call him back right away.” Ella held out the phone.
Olivia called him back immediately. “Kellan?”
“Dr. Darley.” He hesitated. “Arizona is missing.”
Kellan’s eyes were blazing as David and I walked through the apartment door. “Where have you two been? I’ve driven all over the place looking for you. Your mom is on her way here.”
“Why?” I asked.
“You’ve been gone for hours! I had to call her, Arizona. We’ve been worried sick.”
“Speak for yourself, Kellan. I told you she was fine—I mean, duh! She was with David. You’re such a worrywart.” Ariele grinned. “Still, guys, one of you should have called us. It was pretty annoying having to wait here, especially with Kell getting all hysterical.”
“STFU, Ariele.” His face broke into a smile.
“See, I made you grin,” she said, sounding satisfied. “Now, tell us where the hell you were,” she barked at me.
I told them.
“OMG, Arizona, what the heck?” Ariele said. “Nothing’s ever… I just went shopping and forgot the time… with you. Is it?”
“Look, I have to go,” David said. “I’m already late and will have to use that excuse, Ariele.” He smiled. “Is Dr. Darley airborne, yet?”
Kellan glanced at his watch. “No, but she will be soon.”
“Why don’t you call and let her know that Arizona is back and then head home?”
Kellan nodded and got his phone out of his pocket.
David turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders leaning in so he was inches from my face. “And you, Poppet. Stay out of trouble, will you? I can only handle one of you at a time.”
“I’m the two-for-one deal if you ever change your mind,” I joked.
“Funny monkey,” he said softly and kissed my forehead. He turned to Kellan, who’d just turned off his phone. “You got her, right?”
“Always. Good to see you, David. And thanks for everything.”
Once David was gone, Kellan tapped on his watch. “We’ve got to go as well. I reached your mom just in time. Let’s head to the airport. She’ll have tickets waiting for us.”
Once we were in the cab on our way to Newark, I closed my eyes, resting my head against Kellan’s shoulder. Not because I was tired—I wasn’t—but because I really wanted some time to think through what had happened without being bombarded by the millions of questions both Ariele and Kell had for me. I would answer those on the long flight back to California. First, I needed to come to grips with the images of rotting body parts, blood, and shredded flesh that kept flashing through my mind. Who or what could have caused that? Did someone bomb the rink? Wouldn’t that have damaged the building as well? I shuddered.
“You okay?” Kellan pulled me closer.
“I think so.” I opened my eyes and looked into his. “I can’t shake the images from the ice rink.”
“That sounds horrible, like a slasher movie scene. Are you going to tell your mom about it?”
“Tell her that I dimension-hopped? No way! I am in enough trouble as it is. I’m still trying to decide whether to tell her that I saw my doppelganger.”
“I think you should. But it would probably be best to keep the wander to yourself.” He stretched back in his seat, opening his mouth as if to say something but then closed it again.
“What?”
“I was going to ask you if you’d remembered anything. You know, like did you remember anything about our last trip here?”
“Yeah.”
“What?” His eyes gleamed with hope.
“I want to say everything, but I don’t know that for sure. I didn’t say anything before because I am still trying to process it all. At the rink, just before David wandered me, when I looked at A, a lot of pictures swam through my head—seeing you in physics class, playing hockey, dancing with you at the Ball, walking about Paris with Luna. I remembered it, but it was like I was looking at it all through A’s eyes.”
“That’s awesome, Shrimp.” He beamed.
“It’s not at all clear though, just a muddle of memories. I’m not sure what happened when and can’t put the memories in context. They’re still random images.”
Kellan rubbed my hand. “Don’t worry about that. I can help you sort through those.” He hesitated again.
I nudged him. “What?”
“How do you feel? About me? Us? Are you sad to let David go?”
“No,” I said without hesitation or regret. It was like David belonged with a part of me that was no longer attached. “I love you.”
“Good grief!” Ariele muttered. “You’re going to make me hurl. If any of your gooey crap has somehow transmitted to A, I will personally come back and haunt the bejeezus out of you.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Aren’t you going to miss Ingrid?” I smiled.
“Pffft! No! Broke up with her.”
“Oh?”
“Too much of a drama queen.”
“So you’re not going to miss any of us at all?” Kellan asked.
She hesitated, looking over at Kellan. “You know I will. I’ll miss all of you. Even you, Arizona, though I get A back. I am going to miss your mushy crap, lip gloss, and all that girly stuff. I enjoyed it, but I’ll be glad to be back with Mon and A.”
I squeezed her arm.
“Here we are,” she said as the cab arrived at the airport.
We walked into the terminal, following Ariele as we’d gotten used to doing.
“Let’s go over to information to ask where we’re supposed to pick up our tickets.” She confidently strode through the teeming mass of travelers.
I mindlessly trailed her, exhausted and wanting the day to be over. I couldn’t wait to get on the flight and drift off to the hum of the engine. Just thinking about it made my eyelids feel like paperweights.
Kellan put his arm around my shoulder and steered me along. “Tired?” he whispered as we marched along.
“Beyond.” The weight of this adventure suddenly came crashing down on me.
Thankfully, the security line wasn’t too long, with only a few people ahead of us. I rested my head against Kellan as we waited, listening to Ariele’s excited chatter.
“Next!”
Ariele turned around and walked up to the TSA agent, her ticket and license ready in her hand, a smile plastered across her face.
The agent, a woman this time, looked up at her, seemingly resistant to Ariele’s charm. She peered through her glasses, her face set in a stern mask. Then she glanced down at the driver’s license, her mouth forming into a smile.
Kellan thrust me behind his back and whispered, “Go, now. Call your mom or my dad.”
I didn’t move, transfixed by what was going on at the officer’s station.
The agent’s face beamed as she looked up at Ariele again. “Ariele Moreau! I bet you don’t remember me. I’m Jill’s mom—remember Jill from the lacrosse team? Wow. Where on earth have you been hiding, honey? You’ve been missing for a long time.”
“Jill’s mom! How is she?”
“Great. I am sure she’d love to know you’re back in town, but I see you’re leaving again?”
“Yes, just for a while. I’ll be back soon.”
“Got it.” The agent paused, looking pensive. “Could you come with me? We’re holding up the line, and I just want to make sure you’re okay. After all, no one has seen you for a long time. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Well, actually, we have a plane to—”
“Don’t worry, I won’t take too much of your time.” She signaled another agent. “Bill, can you take over for a while?”
He nodded as Jill’s mom grabbed Ariele’s elbow. “Is he with you?” she asked, nodding at Kellan.
“Go now,” K
ellan muttered through clenched teeth. He smiled at the agent.
“Both of you follow me, please.”
I felt my breath leave me completely, and both of my feet were incapacitated, like they had been cemented to the spot. Kellan prodded me sharply, bringing his elbow down on my shoulder as he started moving forward. He threw me a glance over his shoulder, and I reacted, almost on autopilot, turning around and casually walking in the opposite direction, pushing through the line, whispering, “Sorry, I need to use the restroom.”
And that’s where I headed, hoping for some privacy. I barely managed to close the stall door before I vomited. I kept going until I was just retching air and sobbing.
“Hey, are you okay in there?” a lady asked from the other side of the stall.
I blew my nose and answered, “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”
She paused, but then replied, “Alrighty, then.”
Sure, I’d be fine, but what about Ariele and Kell? I took out my cell and called Mom.
“Hi! Did you get the tickets okay?” she asked. I could tell that she wanted to yell at me, but was biding her time.
“Mom, we’re in so much trouble,” I began.
“No kidding,” she replied more sternly. “But we’ll talk about that when you get back.”
“I need you to fly out here.”
“Why? I thought you said you got the tickets. Just get on the flight, and I’ll see you at this end. I am at SFO, and I’ll wait right here for you.”
“We can’t get on the flight!”
I could hear her whisper something to someone. Hopefully Kellan’s dad was there too.
“Why?” she said, back on her cell.
“Ariele got spotted at the TSA checkpoint and was told to go with an agent. Kellan went with her.”
“What do you mean got spotted?”
“The woman who was checking out the tickets seemed to know her.”
“Do you know where they were taken?”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
“Still at the airport, in the restroom.”
“Hold on.” I heard muffled whisperings—probably her updating Dr. Fox.
“Okay, Arizona. I’ll check you into a hotel nearby, one with a shuttle service, and you can wait there. Does that sound okay?”
