by R E McLean
He turned the disc on her. She flinched.
“No interfere!”
“Pip, I’m not interfering. If you’ve got family to be with here, then maybe you won’t need me. You won’t need a friend.”
“You bad friend! Rubbish friend!”
He flicked his wrists. The pink discs hurtled at her. She screamed.
The pain was like a flash of lighting in her side. She collapsed to the ground.
“Now look what you’ve done, stupid boy.”
Phil’s voice faded as she slipped out of consciousness.
39
Engagement
Alex pulled herself up, but was stopped by Sarita’s firm hand on her arm.
“We have to help her.”
“No.”
She glared at Sarita. “Look at her. She’s injured.”
“I can see that.”
“So why won’t you help her?”
“It’s complicated.” They were hiding behind one of the abandoned cars on the bridge; the family hadn’t spotted them.
“Try me.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. But we can’t interfere.”
Sarita nodded toward Lacey. She was lying on the ground, Pip standing over her. The woman was bent over Lacey, trying to revive her.
“This is ridiculous.” Alex shook Sarita’s hand off. She breathed in then started walking.
“Alex Strand, if you go over there now, it will be a direct violation of orders.”
“Whose orders?”
“Mine. Monique’s.”
“Monique told me to rescue Lacey. That’s my mission. And you’re not my boss.”
“Alex, you still haven’t been properly sworn in. When you are, you’ll learn about the MIU rules of engagement.”
“What rules of engagement?”
“You should have been given them before the Claire Pope case. I told Monique but she wouldn’t listen. Things were moving too fast.”
“I said, what rules of engagement?”
“You don’t interfere in the affairs of other worlds.”
“This isn’t the affairs of other worlds. This is Lacey’s safety. She’s from San Francisco. It’s my job to bring her back. And besides, we did plenty in Silicon City.”
“Silicon City is different. They’re the hub world.”
“I thought it was your job to get her back too,” Alex continued.
Sarita sniffed. “Look at them. This is a Point Zero family. You go in there, you get between them. You interfere.”
“Maybe sometimes interfering is the best course of action.”
“No. There are wider consequences. Unforeseen. Not just in this world, but in ours too.”
Alex crouched to bring her eyes level with Sarita’s. She felt like a kettle that someone had filled with water and left boiling for hours, years, maybe centuries. None of this made sense.
“Sarita, what aren’t you telling me? What’ll I learn when I do the initiation?”
Sarita said nothing.
“Well?”
Sarita put a hand on Alex’s arm. She shook it off.
“Don’t touch me. I’m going over there, I’m helping Lacey. You’re a monster, leaving her to him.”
Sarita was looking ahead, avoiding Alex’s eye. Alex fought an urge to hit her.
A crack of thunder pealed above them.
Sarita came out of her trance and looked up. “This is bad. You need to calm down.”
“Calm down? You do realize the best way to get someone to calm down is not to tell them to calm down, right?”
Sarita looked at her. “Please. I’m sorry. I just need you to take some deep breaths.”
Another peal of thunder rumbled above their heads. Lacey was staggering to her feet. Pip was backing off, looking at Alex. He started running toward them.
“What happened?”
“He heard you,” said Sarita.
40
Reno
Lacey shuffled away from the bridge, wondering where they would take her. Pip was heading away from them and the family didn’t seem to be about to investigate what had distracted him. Phil had a hand under her arm and was dragging her with them.
She warmed at the thought of these people having a roof over their heads. Food, maybe. She took a deep breath, hoping she’d made the right choice.
She felt something in her pocket, something that hadn’t been there before. She fished it out.
She held it in front of her, puzzled.
It was a tiny plaque, the sort of thing you’d buy in the kind of gift shop her dad adored but her mum scoffed at.
On its front, painted in slanting green letters, were the words Home is Where the Heart Is.
She dropped it, confused.
Jackie’s hand tightened on her arm and she turned to look at her.
“What’s that?”
“It was in my pocket.”
“Where did you get it?”
Phil stopped and bent to pick it up.
“Home is Where the Heart is,” he read. “Nice.”
Lacey wrinkled her nose. Another man with bad taste.
“Where did you get it?” Jackie asked again.
She shrugged. “Dunno.”
“You must have got it somewhere.”
“Jackie, love. Leave it.” Phil had a hand on his wife’s shoulder. She shrugged it off.
“Where, Lacey? Where?”
“It was in my pocket. It appeared there.”
“You didn’t bring it from your own world? When Pip grabbed you?”
Lacey thought back to their morning at Fisherman’s Wharf. There had been a shop selling tacky gifts but her mom had kept Dad out of it. And even if he had found his way in there, he wouldn’t have put something like this in her pocket.
Would he?
Phil turned it over in his hand. “This isn’t good.”
“What?” Jackie looked worried.
“Look at the back. It’s happening again.”
Lacey leaned in to see but there was nothing on the back of the plaque. It was white, shiny and bare.
“What’s happening again?”
Jackie looked at Phil then at Lacey. “Nothing. Just put it back in your pocket and ignore it.”
Phil handed the object to Lacey. “Here. It’s yours.”
She took it. It was cold and smooth. It didn’t feel like it had spent the last two days in her warm pocket. Maybe it had got wet.
She shook her head. It was just an object. No point worrying about it.
“Come on,” said Jackie. “We need to get indoors.”
They stopped at what looked like an apartment block. It was bright orange, and festooned with string lights.
“Nice place,” she said. “Tasteful.”
“Yeah, well,” said Fred. “It’s stuck in party mode. But at least it’s watertight.”
“I took them down every night for three months,” Jackie said. “They came back every morning.”
Phil took a key from his pocket and Lacey heaved a sigh of relief. At last, some normality.
Except the key looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland. It was large, and shiny, and had a red ribbon tied around it.
Phil turned it in an ornate lock and pushed the door open. Inside, the hallway was brightly lit, painted in shades of blue and green. Lacey realized it was a seascape, the kind of mural you might see on a kid’s bedroom wall.
“Home sweet home,” said Phil. “Come on in.”
He led them to the end of the corridor and used the same key to open another door. This door was heavy and red with a shiny letterbox in the center Lacey wondered if any mail was ever delivered through it.
Phil stood back to let Lacey in. She nodded and went through, hoping that whatever she found on the other side would be more welcoming than this world had been so far.
Fred was behind her. Phil and Jackie had hung back in the corridor.
She looked round the apartment. It was furnished with heavy wooden furniture. The walls were co
vered in floral wallpaper and the curtains were as heavy as the furniture, in a busy floral pattern. The couch was covered in another fabric. It all clashed; reds fighting with greens fighting with yellow being puked all over by shades of orange.
“It stuck like this on the day of the quake,” said Fred. “It used to be minimalist. Blond wood, pale fabrics.”
“Oh.”
“I prefer it like this. The stains don’t show up.”
He pushed past her and slumped onto the couch. He grabbed a remote control the size of a house brick and pointed it at a 14 inch TV in the corner.
She frowned. “You’ve got TV?”
He turned to her. “Rigged it up myself. Got the world’s biggest antenna up on the roof. It picks up a signal from Reno.”
“Reno?”
“In Nevada.”
She joined him on the couch. He’d flicked to an episode of Seinfeld. “I know where Reno is. So is all of California like this?”
“Most of it. There’s some land down near San Diego that wasn’t affected.”
“Wow.”
She heard a commotion behind her. Phil was pushing on the door to the apartment, trying to close it. Another hand, whose owner she couldn’t see, was trying to pull it open.
She stood up, tugging at her sleeve.
“I said no,” muttered Phil. “You’re not welcome here.”
She gasped. Pip?
The door started to open further. Lacey watched it, horrified. Pip’s chaos, in the sanctuary of this apartment. She put a hand to her side, where his missile had hit earlier. More bruises.
The door jerked once, twice, and then slammed into the hand that had been pushing it open. Lacey heard Jackie shout something.
“Is everything OK out there?” she called. She turned to Fred. “I think your parents might need help.”
He jumped onto the seat of the couch and looked toward the door. “Not again.”
“He’s been here before?”
“Not for a while. Wait.”
He bounded over the back of the couch and headed into the kitchen. He emerged carrying a walking stick.
“What’s that for?”
“It used to be a crowbar. It’s still strong.”
“You’re not going to hit him with it?”
“He snatched you from your world. He attached you. I thought you’d want me to give him a walloping.”
“He’s your brother.”
Fred approached the door. Lacey hung back. He put a hand on the doorknob. It didn’t budge.
He took the stick and wedged it into the doorframe. The frame splintered.
“I see what you mean,” said Lacey.
He tugged on the stick. The frame buckled.
“Is that a good idea? I mean, you don’t want to wreck your front door.”
“We have to get out there. We’ve got no idea what he’s doing. Besides, it’ll fix itself. Everything reverts to how it was on the day of the quake.”
She nodded and watched him take another tug. The door came crashing open.
They ran to the doorway. Phil was lying on the floor, bleeding from a gash in his knee. Pip and Jackie stood next to him, deep in conversation. Jackie had the look of a desperate woman, someone who’d do anything to get what she needed.
“What happened?” asked Fred. He knelt next to his father and started prodding his knee. Phil winced.
“Oh my god.” Lacey could feel her head lightening. Dots swarmed in front of her eyes as she struggled not to faint.
Fred looked up. “Help me. Put pressure on his leg while I get a tourniquet.”
She crouched next to Fred and put out her hand. Phil’s knee was twisted and torn, blood oozing out of a gash that made her think of spaghetti marinara. She gagged and took deep breaths.
“Go on then,” said Fred. Put your hand on it.”
She tugged the sleeve of her jacket over her wrist and placed it in the wound. It felt soft and warm, and she could feel it pulsing. She nodded.
“Good. Now don’t move.”
41
English
The family staggered off with Lacey held between them. Alex couldn’t be sure if they’d taken her hostage.
Pip turned to shout after them. He made a motion as if tossing a ball, a disc of fire flashing from his hand. It headed for the family but then stopped moving in midair and dropped to the ground.
“Did you see that?”
Sarita nodded. “We need to steer clear of him. Of all of them.”
“But we don’t know where Lacey’s going. We have to follow her.”
“We wait here. She’ll be back.”
“How can you know that?”
Sarita sighed. “Because this has happened before.”
“What? You’ve seen this before?”
“Not me. One of your predecessors. You’ve seen the list in the foyer of the Hall.”
Alex nodded.
“Was it a cop, or a scientist?”
“A cop. Harry English. He came through on a mission to save a boy four years ago.”
“Pip’s done this before?”
Sarita gave her a look of resignation. “This is the fifth time.”
Alex slumped to the ground. “Why didn’t Monique tell me?”
“You needed to see it for yourself. You needed to understand what this world is. You’ve helped me make more sense of it. You’ve helped Mike. He’s never been here. It’s a world we avoid.”
“Have you been here before?”
Sarita’s face darkened. “No.”
“You have, haven’t you?”
“You saw me after that jump home from Silicon City. Do you think I make a habit of this?”
“You seem to be doing remarkably well this time.”
“I’m doing my best.”
Alex looked Sarita up and down. Her protective suit was grubby now, torn at the shoulder. The fabric hung down, making her look disheveled. Her hair was a tangled mess and her face was pale and tired.
“I don’t know when to believe you.”
Sarita peered at the bitbox and gave it a shake. “Believe what you will.”
Alex shook her head. She wondered what Mike was doing. If he’d be able to join them. She longed for his straightforwardness. Grumpy cop beat untrustworthy materials scientist any day.
“He’s on the move,” said Sarita.
“Let’s follow him.”
“We can use the bitbox. We’ve got his signal.”
The bitbox was pulsing again, two dots on its surface. One was still and the other was moving.
“He’s heading straight for Lacey.”
“I know.”
“So? Please tell me we can at least follow him.”
“I know how this turns out, if we let him get near his family. It’s not pretty. We could get caught up in the anomaly.”
“And what about Lacey?”
“Sorry, Alex. You have to wait.”
“Hang that.”
Alex snatched the bitbox from Sarita’s hands. Sarita lunged for it but Alex had it behind her back. Her hands were damp with sweat and it was a struggle to hold onto the smooth object.
“I’m going to help her.” She stood up.
Sarita grabbed her leg. “No. Please.”
Alex kicked out, sending Sarita tumbling away from her. “Either help me, or wait for me.”
42
Pigtails
Fred dashed back into the apartment. Lacey kept pressure on Phil’s wound, but couldn’t bring herself to look at it. She hoped that it would reset itself, like the apartment.
“Pip, sweetheart. I know it’s hard on you,” said Jackie, her pigtails bobbing.
“No sweetheart me.”
“Sorry. I know you’re all grown up now, but you’re still my boy.”
“Didn’t think that when you abandoned me.”
“We were scared. Of what you could do.”
Lacey held her breath. Phil shifted beneath her. The wound pulsed beneath her
wrist. It was all she could do to keep her hand there.
“Scared too, Mom. Want come home.”
“I know. I want you to come home, too. But you can’t.”
Pip lifted his chin. There was a wound on his cheek, a thin line that oozed blood. It was like something from a Hallowe’en costume, perfectly symmetrical.
He narrowed his eyes and roared. Jackie pulled back, her eyes reflecting the red in Pip’s.
Lacey looked down at Phil. He was coughing, trying to sit up.
“Shh. Stay there,” she said. “Fred’ll be back in a minute.”
“You don’t care ‘bout me!” Pip was advancing on Jackie now, looming over her. He seemed to have grown six inches. She cowered in a corner, her hands in front of her face.
“Please, Pip. Don’t hurt me. It’s me, it’s Mom.”
“You think Pip don’t know that? You the mother what abandoned me, left me there to rot!”
“I’m sorry. Please, you need to go now.”
“Not going anywhere!”
“I’m back.”
Lacey turned to see Fred next to her. He had a first aid box; small and green and remarkably normal. He eased her to one side and pulled out a bandage.
“I’d get inside if I were you,” he muttered. He looked at Pip through lowered eyelashes.
“I want to help.”
“Fair enough. It’s up to you.”
“Fred? Fred what are you doing out here? Get back inside! It’s not safe.” Jackie was gesturing for him to go back into the apartment.
“It’s OK, Mom. I’m just sorting Dad out.”
His ringmaster’s hat had slid down and he still looked faintly ridiculous, but his face had hardness now, a determination.
Pip turned to him. “You! Everyone’s favorite! Always in the way. Go away an’ leave this to us!”
Phil raised his head. “Don’t talk to your brother like—”
Pip shot out his hand and shot a pulse of quivering air at his father. Phil slumped onto the floor again.
“We have to get him back inside,” said Fred. “Help me drag him.”
“Pip! You just apologize to your father!” cried Jackie.
Pip laughed. “Not till he apologizes to me! I know was his idea. I heard you talking. Plot. Plan. You knew where you were gonna dump me. Had it all worked out, knew I loved the city. Even ruined, ’s better than this dump.”
