by R. L. King
Once again, Stone remembered Calanar, and the Nexus. “So have I. I wouldn’t doubt it.” A sudden thought struck him. “Daphne—these people who helped you. Did they have gray skin, greenish hair, and black eyes?”
“No.” Confusion tinged her voice. “No, they didn’t look like that at all. Why do you ask?”
“Just—curious. I encountered some extradimensional beings who looked like that once. I know it’s farfetched, but I wondered if you ended up in the same place.”
“Wow. You have come a long way from when we used to be together.”
“Sounds like we both have. But please—finish your story. Will you answer my questions? How did you get back?”
She sighed. “Neil’s…gone. He really is. We spent the last—I have no idea how long—trying to figure out how to return home. It felt like years. I did it in secret, whenever I had free time. I’m not sure why I didn’t tell our new friends, except that I didn’t think they could help, and I didn’t want to offend them by implying that I wanted to leave. Eventually, I figured out a way to build a portal so we could come back here. But…”
“But it didn’t work properly?” Stone asked gently.
“No…it did. But before we could finish building it, Neil got sick. So sick that even our friends couldn’t help him. They tried so hard, but…” She shook her head, and Stone heard a faint catch in her voice. “He kept wasting away, and finally he…”
“I’m so sorry, Daphne.”
“Thanks. I know you and Neil weren’t the best of friends, but…”
“He was a good man, and he made you happy. That’s all that matters. I’m glad you two found each other.” He wanted to ask about Jeremy, but didn’t feel it was the right time.
She seemed to pick up on his thoughts, though. “By then, we’d had Jeremy. I wasn’t lying about something else I told you—it turned out I was pregnant before we tried the experiment, but didn’t know it yet. Naturally I was terrified at the thought of having a baby on another dimension, but our friends helped us with that too. They didn’t understand human biology, but they did understand magic, and offspring. It was a little rough for a while, but we all made it through okay.”
“Did these friends have a name? Did they call themselves something?”
“Not…really. They had individual names, of course, but they just called their species ‘the people.’ They weren’t technologically advanced. More like…this isn’t even close to right, you understand, but it’s the closest I can come up with—they reminded me a little of an old Native American society. Very communal, lived off the land, and they had their own kind of magic.”
Stone pondered. A few years ago, he’d have dismissed her story as another lie. But after he himself had traveled to Calanar, spent time there, and discovered it was possible for humanoid beings to live on other dimensions, it didn’t seem so farfetched anymore.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “So you’ve got no idea how long you spent on this other dimension, but now you’re back. And I’m guessing you popped in at Decker’s Gap because that was the coordinate you knew about?”
“Exactly. We spent so much time working on the project that the location of that cave was burned into my mind. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”
“But the cave’s gone. There’s nothing left.”
“Our calculations must have been off a little. Thank God for that, or we’d have ended up in the middle of solid rock. As it was, we popped in out in the woods behind the church.”
Stone stood and paced around the small office. This was a lot to take in. “Why didn’t you just tell me this when you saw me? It would have made a lot of things easier.”
“I told you—I panicked. I didn’t expect to see you there. Why would I? I mean, what are the odds anyone, let alone somebody I know, would be there at the exact same time I showed up?”
But not the exact same time…
A small lightbulb went off in Stone’s head. Now that he had all the facts, things made more sense. “Actually, fairly good.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Remember I told you what I was doing there? Looking for signs of an energy surge my colleague detected?”
“Yes, but—oh!” Her voice lit up as she got it. “I see where you’re going. Your friend must have detected the energy of the portal we came through. It didn’t stay up long after we popped back—definitely less than a minute.”
“Which means, for something that powerful, the energy could easily have hung about for ten minutes, which is how long my friend said he could pick it up. Seems odd that that level of energy didn’t stick around longer, but—”
“Maybe it did, but it dropped below the level he could detect it. Portal energy drops off fairly quickly, remember.”
“Good point.” Stone remembered how fast the energy had dissipated at the site of the New York City building collapse. He grinned. Despite all these new problems with Daphne, at least it sounded like he’d arrived at a satisfactory hypothesis to explain Kolinsky’s mysterious energy surge. He could give the dragon the highlights without supplying the details, then move on without feeling guilty about keeping Kolinsky out of the loop.
That left another question, though. “Okay, so, now it looks like we’ve solved my problem, but that still leaves yours. What do you want me to do? How can I help you if you won’t let me see you?”
She sighed. “I…don’t even know. I’ve been through three vehicles since I took your Jeep. Right now, Jeremy and I are in a motel where they didn’t ask any questions. I lied a little when I said I didn’t do anything illegal—I had to use magic to steal some money. I remember where, though, so I’ll put it back when we get back on our feet.”
“You need money? That much I can help you with, if you can work out a way I can get it to you.”
“That would be a big help. I promise I’ll pay you back—”
He chuckled. “Daphne, don’t worry about it. Trust me. A few things have changed since we last talked, and one of them is that I’m now what’s colloquially called ‘filthy rich.’ I won’t miss the money. But that still doesn’t help me figure out how to get it to you. I assume you don’t have a proper mobile phone, so I can’t send it through PayPal or something.”
“Right now, all we have are a few clothes I bought us with the money I stole, another stolen vehicle, and a couple of empty McDonald’s bags. Those were a mistake—the burger upset Jeremy’s stomach. He’s not used to food from this dimension yet. I’m calling from a pay phone—I didn’t believe how hard those things to find these days.”
Stone thought about it. All the solutions he was coming up with required her to tell him at least her general location, and he didn’t think she’d be willing to do that. “Let me think about this for a few minutes. Is there anything else you need? Are you planning to tell anyone you’re back?”
“No. I hate that—what you said about Mom makes me feel horrible—but I don’t want to go through everything I’ll have to go through if I do. Please respect that, even if you don’t agree.”
Stone did respect that. He knew better than she did what kind of media circus would ensue if a woman who’d been missing for eleven years suddenly popped up with a child. Even if they came up with a rock-solid cover story for where she’d been all those years, her face—and Jeremy’s—would be plastered all over the internet before the day was over. He didn’t wish that on anybody. “I promise, I won’t give away your secret. I might tell a couple of trusted friends, though, if you give your permission.”
“Trusted friends?”
He didn’t miss the fear in her voice. “Very trusted friends. Fellow mages, or at least heavily mage-adjacent. I promise, their discretion is beyond question. They won’t reveal anything.” It didn’t matter what she said, of course, since he’d already told Jason, Verity, and Amber about Daphne. But having her permission would make him feel better about telling them more.
There was a long pause. “Fine. If you think it
will help. But only tell them what they need to know. I don’t think anybody can find me. I—”
Someone knocked on Stone’s office door.
“Oh, bugger. Hang on, Daphne.”
“I have to go anyway. We’ve been here too long, and I think somebody’s getting suspicious. I’ll call you back.”
“Wait! Let me give you a better number.”
Another knock. “Dr. Stone, are you all right in there?”
Laura. Damn it, why now? “Fine, Laura. Give me a moment! On the phone!”
“I’ll call later,” Daphne said, sounding even more nervous. The line went dead.
“Bugger!” Stone muttered under his breath. He stalked over and flung open the door. “What is it, Laura?”
She took a step back, her whole face lighting up with shocked fear. “Uh—Maddie Nguyen is here to see you. She says she has an appointment.”
Stone forced himself to calm down. None of this was Laura’s fault. “Sorry, sorry. And she does not have an appointment. Tell her she’ll have to come back tomorrow—I’ve got to leave now.”
Laura still looked perplexed, but she nodded. “I’ll do that. Sorry to bother you.”
“No, it’s no bother.” Actually, it’s a huge bother, but who’s keeping score? “I’ll have to skip the meeting this afternoon, too—something came up that I can’t avoid. Oh—and Laura?”
“Yes?” She turned warily back toward him.
“The woman who called earlier—the one you said sounded nervous?”
“Yes…?”
“Would you recognize her voice?”
“Uh…maybe. Probably. Why?”
“If she calls again, can you give her my mobile number and tell her to reach me there?”
The admin didn’t even try to conceal her confusion. Stone had always been known for being more than a little odd, but combined with his frazzled response to her knock, this was pushing things even by his standards. “Uh. Sure. Of course.”
“Brilliant. Thanks, Laura.” He swept past her and down the hall, where a tall, athletic young woman with shiny black hair and a Kappa Alpha Theta sweatshirt was waiting near the reception desk.
“Dr. Stone—” she began.
“Sorry, Maddie—we both know you didn’t have an appointment, and I’m on my way out. If you want to improve your grade, try showing up to class now and then. Cheers.”
12
Stone didn’t feel up to sparring with Kolinsky just yet, so instead he drove home. On the way, he called Verity. “Got something I’d like to discuss. More about the situation I told you about yesterday. Up for meeting again?”
“Of course. You know more? Did you go back there again?”
“I do know more, but I didn’t go back there. Call Jason and Amber, will you? If they’re willing, pick a place for dinner and text it to me. I’m buying.”
“Why don’t you come to my place? I don’t have anything going on today, and I’ve been itching to make something complicated and decadent. Maybe I’ll try a nice jambalaya.”
“Sold. See you tonight.”
“You okay, Doc?”
“I’m…confused. But that’s nothing new.”
Stone took the ley line to San Francisco that evening, half-expecting to end up in another lake or similar inconvenient spot. To his relief, he popped into the familiar alley two blocks from Verity’s apartment. He definitely must have been tired or distracted when leaving Morgantown.
“Jason and Amber aren’t here yet,” she told him when she opened the door. “Probably fighting with traffic. Must be nice not to have to.”
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t.” He sniffed. “That smells wonderful, by the way. I will never turn down an offer for your home cooking.”
Her eyes sparkled. “It better. I’ve been working on it all day. Usually I don’t have time for something this complicated, but today I figured I’d go all out.”
Jason and Amber arrived a few minutes later. After they, too, had complimented Verity on the delicious aromas of her cooking, they set the table and everybody set about demolishing the jambalaya.
“So, what’s the latest?” Jason asked. “V says you found out more about what was going on with Daphne.”
“I did. She called me today.”
“From where?” Verity looked surprised. “I thought she didn’t want you to know where she was.”
“She doesn’t. She still won’t tell me. But she needs help…and it turns out most of the story she gave me when I was there was a lie.”
“What the hell?” Jason frowned. “She lied to you, but she still wants your help?”
“Well, she owned up to the lie, and after you hear the real story, I think you’ll see why she did it. Sit back—this one’s going to be long and strange.”
“When are your stories ever not long and strange?”
“Hush, you. Do you want to hear it or not?”
Jason grinned. “Lay it on us.”
By the time he finished telling them what had truly happened with Daphne, they had all forgotten about their food. They were staring at him in various attitudes of astonishment, shock, and amazement.
“Wait,” Verity said. “So…she’s been in another dimension for eleven years?”
Stone shrugged. “Give or take. She says she doesn’t know exactly how long it was—dimensional time can be frightfully tricky.” He shot her a significant glance; he’d told her about the time difference between Earth and Calanar, but hadn’t shared anything about Harrison’s dimension with Jason and Amber yet.
“And now she’s back with her kid and she’s…sort of a fish out of water,” Jason said.
“Yes, exactly. I mean, eleven years isn’t as if she’s arrived here from the Middle Ages or anything. They still had things like mobile phones and the internet back then, so she’s not completely out of her element. But she hasn’t got any identification, she’s using magic to steal money and vehicles, and she doesn’t have anywhere to go.”
“What about her mother?” Verity asked. “She’d take her in, wouldn’t she?”
“She doesn’t want to tell her mum. She thinks it would be cruel, and she doesn’t want to take the chance of anyone else finding out. I can’t say I blame her for that.”
“Me neither,” Jason said. “A woman who disappeared eleven years ago and turns up without a trace? That might not make the front page of CNN, but it would definitely be hard to contain if it got out.”
Amber nodded. “Even if the authorities left it alone—which they probably won’t—all the amateur internet busybodies would have their noses buried in her ass before she realized what was going on.”
“I wouldn’t put it quite so…scatalogically,” Stone said with an arch smile. “But essentially, that’s what I’m afraid of too. I don’t think she even realizes what she might be in for.”
“So, what are you going to do?” Verity asked. “You said you were going to help her, but how?”
“I can’t do anything until she calls me back. Laura knocked on my office door today at the most inopportune time possible, and scared her off. The only number she has is my office phone, so I told Laura to give her my mobile number if she calls back.” He sighed. “I don’t like the idea of her out there on her own, with a young boy. If she really has been away from Earth for eleven years, she’s got no idea what she’s dealing with.”
“You said she was smart,” Jason said.
“She’s brilliant. Plus she’s got magic, and she’s good at thinking on her feet. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that she has no ID, no good way to get any, and is afraid to talk to anybody else. I’m not worried about anyone catching her, but I am worried about them finding out about her.”
“I know you said you wouldn’t look for her,” Verity said. “But maybe that’s what you need to do. If you found her, you could give her some money, help her out, something.”
“Yes, except if I broke my word to her, she’d probably disappear and I’d never see her again
. She still knows where the portals are. If she gets to one, she could end up in Russia, or China, somewhere in Africa, or somewhere else I’d have no chance of ever finding her again. Plus, I don’t have a tether object for her anyway.”
“Yes, you do.”
He frowned. “I do?”
“Yeah, of course. Unless you got rid of them, you’ve still got her notebooks, don’t you? I can’t think of anything more personal to her than those.”
Stone didn’t smack himself in the head and say “D’oh!” like Homer Simpson, but he felt like he should. “Bloody hell, Verity, you’re right.” He sighed. “But it doesn’t matter—it probably wouldn’t work anyway.”
“Why not?” Jason asked.
“Because mages can guard against being tracked.” Verity shook her head. “Forgot about that. And especially if she doesn’t want anybody finding her, she’ll be doing that.”
“Exactly.” Stone sipped his wine. “It seems I’m stuck until, or unless, she calls me again. I haven’t got the faintest idea where to start looking for her. If she were smart—and I know she is—the first thing she would have done was drive to the nearest portal and go somewhere far away from West Virginia, just in case I did break my word and try hunting her down.”
“I hate to think of them out there all alone,” Amber said. “Especially her son. If the kid has never known anything but living on another dimension, this must all be pretty overwhelming for him.”
Jason covered her hand with his own and squeezed.
“We’ll sort this out,” Stone said. “Hopefully she’ll call back and I can convince her to let me do something.” He topped off everybody’s wine glasses and looked at Jason and Amber. “In the meantime—I almost feel like your news got a bit overshadowed by this Daphne situation. I didn’t even ask you when the baby was due.”
Jason chuckled. “I’m not surprised. We love you, Al, but we also know what you don’t know—or care—about babies would fill that giant library of yours.”
