by Bella Street
He'd certainly been aware of her. Taking her picture, using her name as a password.
It was all so sweet and tragic.
Seffy returned to the main screen. When she saw the time, she stood, her stomach trying to tie itself into knots.
There were still places to go.
***
Fenn surveyed the halls outside his residence, saw the cracks in the walls, some in the floor, growing wider with each earthquake. And yet, at least theoretically, the earthquakes should be at an end.
Fiona joined his side, following his line of site. “It's gonna be a mess to clean up, getting all those cracks fixed.”
He looked down at her in surprise. “Fiona, there's almost no one left. Why would we fix it?”
She stared up at him from her elfin eyes. “It's the perfect time for a fresh start. Purge the old and start with new people who understand the vision. I see it as a blessing in disguise.”
Fenn wondered why he imagined she'd changed. Just because he had didn't mean anyone else would. “Can you really imagine our child running up and down these halls?”
“The school here is excellent, and we could make a better playground. Any child would be privileged to be brought up in such a well-ordered establishment.” She frowned. “Except we'd have to change the name. Fugere always was a weak choice, no offense.”
“How about we abandon subtlety and just go with 'prison?'”
She rolled her eyes. “Don't be dramatic.”
“Actually I was thinking of having our own fresh start. Somewhere else.”
Fiona raised a disbelieving brow. “Like where?”
Fenn thought of Trent's birthplace. “Say somewhere a little west of here. How about Missoula? It's at the hub of five valleys. That sounds promising right?”
She shook her head. “Oh, Fenn. How do you come up with this stuff?”
***
Seffy went to where she should've started. But her heart had gotten in the way.
She walked up the ivy-draped steps of her house and peeked through the French doors. No one was home—as no one should be.
She found the hidden key and let herself in. “Hello?” Her voice bounced off the walls.
The same leather furniture flanked the same fireplace, with the correct framed photos on the mantel.
Seffy walked into the kitchen. A mangled lemon lay in the bottom of the sink, reminding her of the lemon-water she'd had for breakfast that day nearly six months ago. And this lemon was fresh.
Then this confirms I'm in the right time.
Which also means I won't be running into the others.
In fact, there was nothing stopping her from melting into 2006 and living her life in some other town.
Nothing at all.
Or she could stay. Fenn would be sending the others back anytime. Hell, they could pick up where they left off together. Maybe not emotionally, but lifestyle-wise.
Except she'd never meet Trent because he wasn't here. She closed her eyes. How could she be sure Fenn wasn't just spouting wild theories to compel her to stop Verity?
Even if what Fenn said was true, how could she be sure she'd ever meet Trent? What if they missed each other completely?
What if Fenn's machinations—intended to bring about a specific culmination—actually spoiled her chances? She could end up with an accountant—or Michael Bay—surgically enhanced and miserable, because on some level she'd know she was meant for someone else.
Her shoulders drooped. How can I take this step with only the flimsiest of assurances? There isn't any coming back. Even Fenn's machines can't do that.
Seffy turned with leaden steps and headed to the bedrooms. In her room, she found everything exactly as she had left it—the rumpled bedding, the discarded sweats when she'd opted to wear her Juicy instead.
She peeked in the others' rooms as well. All seemed as it should be.
Returning to the kitchen, she thought for a moment. In the junk drawer, she fished out a pen and paper. Chewing on the end of the pen for a moment, she brought the paper forward and began to write.
Down but not out. See you in another time.
I hope.
S
Seffy put it up on the refrigerator with a magnet and stared at it for several moments. Was it cheesy? Would it strike them as eerie? Would they even notice it?
She decided to leave it. Maybe it would bring comfort. Or maybe they'd think it was some note she'd written when she was drunk. Either way, it made the same amount of sense.
Seffy left the house, curious about her distinct lack of nostalgia. It was as if it really wasn't her home anymore.
Then again, had it ever been?
She called a cab with Trent's phone. When it arrived, she gave the driver an address. One she knew by heart.
***
“We can't find Seffy. Have you seen her?”
Gareth regarded the grizzled face of Malone and wondered why they bothered coming to him for information. He'd always been singularly unhelpful. Not to mention he was mostly likely in a surly mood after having to deal with three bodies on his own.
However, one glance at Lani answered the question of why they were standing outside his door.
She gazed up at him, her heart in her eyes. Honestly, what was wrong with her? Why did girls always fall for the wrong guys?
“No,” Malone said, his tone distinctly bored. “I've been busy.”
“What will happen...” Addison began. “I mean, will there be a funeral like with—”
“Doubt it,” he said. “Not enough staff. Fenn is on his last leg and I'll have to bury the bodies myself.”
“God,” Addison whispered.
“Gareth last saw Seffy in the psychonautics hall,” Lani said after a moment. She moistened her lips, her expression strange. “She hasn't come back out and we searched everywhere.”
The man's face shifted slightly. “I suppose you'll find her when she wants to be found.”
Gareth sighed. So did Lani, but for an entirely different reason. “If you see her, tell her to come find us.”
“Sure thing,” he said, obviously mentally on to other things.
“I...I don't think we'll be here much longer,” Lani said. “What are your plans for the future?”
Gareth inwardly cringed. Did she enjoy his constant rebuffs?
Malone looked up at the ceiling. “Dunno. Might just stay here.”
“Living alone in an abandoned compound in the middle of the desert?” Addison said, incredulous. “Wait a minute—that's not that far off your last situation.”
He grimaced in distaste. “This place has got potential. Not my problem if you can't see that.”
“Yeah, it's definitely a step up from the safe houses you used to call home.”
“Addy,” Lani said under breath.
Malone's cold green eyes assessed the redhead. “At least you can't call me inhospitable.”
She crossed her arms and looked away.
“So, you'll be in charge of this place?” Lani asked, a pink flush staining her cheeks.
“As far as I know Fenn is still calling the shots.”
“But if you were, how would you change it?”
“Lani, don't you get it?” Addison said. “He's into the whole prisonish beige and cement thing.”
“I can imagine it would be a whole different place if the walls were painted with colors, and maybe some murals here and there,” the brunette said. “It could be more family-friendly, with each hallway leading to new adventures—”
“Instead of heart-palpitating horrors?” Addison snapped.
But Lani seemed to take no notice of her friend. She gazed at Malone with a besotted expression.
His returning look bordered on cunning and calculation.
“Ladies, we're wasting our time. Let's go ask Fenn if he's seen Seffy.”
“Yeah,” Addison said, “because he's about the only one left to ask, according to Malone.”
“He is,” Malone sai
d laconically. “Just the boss, his moll, and a few leftover staff.”
Gareth raised a brow. “How did everyone get out of here?”
“After a mob of residents demanded a way out, Fiona hired a bunch of buses. They arrived over a few days. Everyone who wanted to leave, did. And that was pretty much all of 'em.”
“Why didn't you leave?” Lani asked, breathless.
“Maybe because my work here ain't done, sugar.”
“Where did everyone go?” Addison asked.
“I heard some went to Billings. Some to Canada.”
“This is very interesting,” Gareth said. “But we've wasted enough of your time as it is.”
“Yes, you have,” Malone agreed. “I got bodies to bury.”
Addison paled at his tone. “If Fiona kicked everyone out, that means we should be able to leave soon, too, right?”
Gareth sent her a hard look. “We don't go anywhere without Seffy.”
Her expression shut down.
He felt bad, but what did she expect? He took her hand. “C'mon, let's go talk to Fenn.”
***
Seffy stepped out of the cab onto the sidewalk, staring through the plate glass windows of the salon as she shoved a twenty toward the cab driver. “Thanks,” she said, already moving away.
As the cab sped away from the curb, Seffy pushed open the door and entered the salon.
She had some of her best memories here. And had spent a majority of her money here, too.
“Oh, my God. I am offended!”
Seffy smiled shyly at Bruno, who looked up from where he was tidying his workstation between clients. Same bleached hair, same skinny jeans, and same sweetness all wrapped up in brilliant skills with shears and a dye brush.
He approached her with a big smile on his face. “I tell you you're past due to have your roots treated and you stab me in the back with some other hairdresser, then come here and rub my nose in it?” As he got closer, his welcoming smile faded. “Seffy, my God, what happened to you?”
Her smile faltered. Of course. She was thinner now, and grief and bad blood had wreaked their havoc across her face despite her best attempts to hide it with makeup. “A lot.”
He enfolded her in his arms and hugged her tight. She hugged him back.
When he pulled away, he scrutinized her face. “What happened to cause these changes in the six weeks since I've seen you?” He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. “Did you get a part in a show and now they're on you to do the whole anorexic thing?” A sigh escaped him. “I told you this would happen. Seffy, honey, you're the girl who was meant to be married and have babies and live in the cutest house in the subdivision, and you know that's not a slam, because God knows we need some happy families around here, am I right?”
She plucked at his sleeves not quite willing to let him go just yet. “I'm...I'm not in a show. I got sick.”
His hazel eyes studied her face with concern. “Are you going to be okay?”
She nodded. “I think so.”
“Oh, thank God,” he breathed, then hugged her again. “Don't scare me like that, girl!”
This time when he pulled back, he lifted a tress of her hair. “At first I was trying to figure out where you had this color done, but then I hearkened back to the first day you walked through my doors. This is your natural color, and you've done the right thing, hun, even if you went somewhere else to get it.”
“I didn't go anywhere else,” she said softly. “It just grew out fast.”
“Mmhmm,” he said, sounding unconvinced. “Well, I'm thrilled you're going au naturel because it just about killed me to cover up this color. Do you know how many girls come in here, stars in their eyes, then leave blonde like everyone else because some dememented agent or director says so?” He shook his head. “I know, I know, I do it and I take the money, because God knows I'll get the redecorating bug for my apartment again and that costs money. It's a sickness, am I right?”
Hearing Bruno's familiar banter, combined with his continual kindness, hit her hard. Seffy burst into tears.
His eyes widened. “What'd I say?”
“I...just wanted to—”
Bruno put up a hand. “Hold that thought, sweetie.” He hurried over to his station and grabbed a box of tissues. “They're tears of joy, everyone,” he said to the other stylists and their curious clients. “Talk amongst yourselves and don't mind us one little bit.”
When he returned with the tissues, Seffy took one and blew her nose. The action gave her a moment to gather her composure. But when she looked once more into his eyes, she began blubbering again. “You've always been so good to me, Bruno,” she said between hiccups. “I just want you to know that.”
He handed her another tissue. “Well, you know I love you, Seffy, but I'm thinking there's more going on here than a bout of nostalgia—not that I'm against all the adoration, you understand.”
She nodded. “I'm...also...I won't be back for a while.”
Bruno's expression fell. “Oh, well, that definitely explains things a little better. But you'll be back eventually?”
“I think so.”
He patted her shoulder. “I don't know...I'm a little nervous here. What if you find another hairdresser who is not Bruno and fall in love with him, then I never see you again?”
She hugged him tight. “I don't think that will happen.”
He returned her embrace. When she pulled away, his eyes were moist.
“Now look who needs the Kleenex box!” he said, his face darkening as he pressed a tissue to his eyes.
Seffy took a deep breath. “I know you have to get back to work. I just wanted to say thank you...not just for the great hair, but for everything.”
He nodded, still misty. “Okay, Seffy. Come by when you can. I mean it!”
“I will.”
One more hug then she turned and went out the door before she started bawling again.
It took several steps down the sidewalk before she got herself under control. Goodness, that was harder than she thought it would be.
What did it mean when her one calm in the storm had been her salon? But even that had been tainted because it was also where she learned she still wasn't good enough for Hollywood, despite Bruno's magic. She'd never been thin enough, blonde enough, slutty enough.
God knows, I tried.
What a waste of time.
Seffy walked up the street, breathing deep to keep the ever-present tears at bay.
She checked Trent's phone. She had one more stop to make but she was running out of time.
***
Fenn avoided his eyes, instead seeking out Addison's. They seemed to share some silent communication.
“I said, have you seen her?”
Fenn looked at him, his face the usual bland mask of prevarication.
Gareth didn't bother to hide his annoyance. “She went down that hall and then disappeared.”
“She's not here.”
He let out a frustrated growl. “Fenn, I'm not asking if she's in your quarters, I'm asking where she is in the compound.”
Fiona pushed past Fenn and stared up at Gareth, her face tight with ire. “If he says she's not here, she's not here. And if she's gone, good riddance. Now leave.”
“Fiona,” Fenn chided gently. He turned back to Gareth. “She is no longer here in the compound.”
“What?” Lani said, finally startled out of her Malone-fog.
“It's time for you to go back, too.”
Gareth put out a hand toward him. “Wait a minute, you sent Seffy back to 2006?”
The compound leader nodded.
“Without telling us?”
“It wasn't important for you to know.”
Gareth stepped in front of Fenn, planning to let him know what he thought of the man's opinion, but Addison grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“So, she's there?” she said. “The right one?”
“If he says she's there, she's there,” Fiona snapped.
>
“And the rest of us are going back when?” Lani said faintly.
“Today. I'll need you to assemble in the computer lab in one hour.”
Lani gasped. “What!”
“Just like that?” Gareth seethed. “You're telling us this now, after making no attempt for us to prepare?”
“What's to prepare?” Fiona asked, her lip curling. “For once just do what you're told.”
“Guys, this is good,” Addison said, tugging on his arm. “This is what we want. We get to go home.”
Gareth kept his gaze on Fenn. “I'm not leaving without Seffy.”
“Are you even listening?” Fiona planted a hand on her hip. “Seffy is already there.”
“Prove it.”
Fenn stared at Gareth in confusion. “What?”
“Prove to us Seffy is back in the right 2006. Because for all I know, you have her strapped to another table in another hidden place in the compound, doing God knows what to her.”
Fenn was silent for a moment. “I assumed she told told you.”
“Why would Seffy go without us?” Lani asked. “Why couldn't we all go together? I don't understand!”
“She went without us last time, too,” Addison said, her expression faraway.
“We have no proof,” Gareth persisted. “She wouldn't have just left. She would've said goodbye.”
“Gareth, has she thanked you for anything lately?” Addison said, her voice thick. When he didn't respond, she continued. “That was her goodbye.”
He thought of the last time they'd had a serious conversation.
I've never thanked you, Gareth.
I know...you made a lot of sacrifices.
I just wanted you to know that.
Chills raced down his arms.
“Is that why she sang to us last night?” Lani said, her voice querulous. “Oh my God, that's why she sang to us!”
He frowned at Lani's tone, still struggling with his own questions. “Why would she say goodbye that way, when we'll just catch up to her in a few hours?”
Addison tugged on his arm again, her voice plaintive. “C'mon, Gareth. Let's go.”
***
