by Lynn Donovan
They seated themselves with their legs crossed at the ankles and waited, like a chorus line of Rockettes. “Good. Now—”
She disrobed and climbed in the shower, letting the water run until it was warm enough then pulled the lever that made the shower head spray. The faeries wiggled with excitement. “It’s like the waterfall in Velona.” Aura flew out to inspect the water flow.
Abbie backed into the stream and applied shampoo.
“Oooo.” Aura dashed toward Abbie’s hair. The others followed. “We like these, white things. What are they called?”
Abbie shook her head. “I thought you agreed to stay on the curtain rod.”
“Bubbles are fun!” Diamond giggled as she dove under the frothy foam.
Abbie considered how Diamond had found the answer to her question. They must be able to hear Abbie’s thoughts. Obviously. When she first encountered them, they did speak directly into her mind.
Aura flopped onto her back as if swimming across the shampoo using the back stroke. Amethyst cackled a laugh that made Abbie laugh too. “Yes. I suppose they are. But I need you to go back to the rod. I have to scrub my head, and I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.”
Abbie acknowledged another oddity. She knew what they were doing even though she couldn’t see them. It was as if their minds remained connected… like the beehive she had compared them to earlier.
The faeries reluctantly returned to the rod. Tiny bubbles clung to their crystal shards of hair and wings.
“We like shampoo!” Aura squeaked. Diamond’s legs swung from the curtain rod. “Fun, fun, fun!”
Another faerie almost fell from the rod, giggling. Her wings dashed out to save her balance. “Bubbles fun!”
Abbie laughed with them as she finished her shower. With her hair dried and her clothes changed, she sat down at her desk. The faeries landed on the blotter. They sparkled after the bath. Abbie smiled, then turned her attention to the door and sighed.
Would Karole find Joseph? Would he agree to come to her office? Abbie chewed her lip as she waited. A knock with a series of raps startled the faeries and they all zipped into her hair to hide. The pattern of the knocking told Abbie it was her sister at the door. She always knocked to the rhythm of Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits. “It’s alright. It’s just Karole.”
She called out, “Come in!”
Karole opened the door and stood back, letting Joseph enter first.
“Joseph!” Abbie leapt to her feet. Faeries lagged behind her swift movement, they caught up with her and dove into her hair.
Joseph’s eyes went wide. “I see those things are still… with you.”
“Yes.” Abbie turned slightly away from him. She had showered and changed clothes, hoping she looked less disheveled. “I convinced them to give me a little space so I could clean up. It worked for the most part.”
“For the most part? What do you mean?” Joseph jerked his gaze to Karole as she walked past him to sit on a stool. He seemed to have been startled by her. Had he forgotten she was still there? Abbie smiled. “Well, actually it’s kind of a funny story.”
He smiled but worry lingered in his eyes. “Are you alright?”
“Oh. Yes. We’re fine.” She almost patted her hair but remembered the faeries were there and awkwardly put her hand down. “They are just scared for the most part and feel safer when they are… on me.”
He nodded, examining her hair.
Aura rose up above Abbie’s curls, with a handful of strands in each hand— what was she doing, braiding Abbie’s hair?—and Aura smiled sheepishly. Joseph exhaled a chuckle. Aura dove back down.
Abbie shivered. “Burururur. They tickle.” She giggled.
“Are you sure they are… safe?” He continued to look at her hair as if he were observing maggots.
“Joseph. Yes. They don’t want to hurt me… or you.”
His eyes darted to hers. “Then how do you expl— I don’t know what happened out there?” His face reddened as if he were getting angry. “I felt my temper twist into something beyond my control! I think they had something to do with… manipulating my mind.”
Abbie turned her thoughts to the Faeries. Are you doing this?
“Not us.” Aura responded in Abbie’s mind. “But he doesn’t trust us.”
“Well! Can you blame him?” Abbie lifted her gaze to Joseph. “Back outside of Lab One, where we saw the faeries come out of the fog, they had just crossed over… from their world.” She paused to see if he followed.
His eyes hardened, but he didn’t say anything.
She continued. “They did manipulate your emotions.”
“See! I knew it. We need to do something… to protect ourselves. You shouldn’t have them swarming your head like that—”
Abbie chuckled. “What do you want us to do, put aluminum foil on our heads?”
He stiffened. “You’re laughing at my mind being manipulated by an alien. Look—” He turned to Karole. “I don’t care how cute you may think they are. They’re dangerous!” He jerked back to face Abbie. “¿Comprendo?”
Abbie stepped up to him, gently taking his hands into hers. “Joseph. I know they are… different. But it’s not like they’re from Jupiter and invading our planet. Please listen to me.”
Aura and Diamond lifted out of Abbie’s hair. “We sorry.” “We not know.” “Making mad is our normal.” “Abbie told us we do not have to.” “Please, for-give.”
Joseph jerked back from her touch, staring at the two faeries, his jaw slack. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were honestly sincere in their apology.”
“They are sincere.” Abbie stepped closer.
“But— how do I know that? How do I know they are not… influencing my mind to believe I can trust them?”
Abbie took a step back from Joseph. “Joseph, I’m trying to say we caused this. They are here because of what we did in that Lab One experiment.” She considered his anxious expression. “How about this— Girls! Front and center.”
Every faerie flew out and above her head then swooped down to hover between her and Joseph. “Girls, explain to Joseph why he can trust you.”
Aura began, “We love love.”
The others continued. “You have love.” “Mother Righteous not here.” “She make us squash love.” The littlest faerie smashed her tiny fist into her hand.
“We want to … study love.” Aura finished.
“Love?” Joseph turned his gaze to Karole, then Abbie. “But, we aren’t—”
Abbie smiled. “I know, of course not, but my conclusions are that whoever this mother righteous is has set a precedent for the faeries to use their… talents… to suppress happy emotions. Now that they have escaped to our world, they have come to their own conclusions that they are no longer bound by her demands. They did what they did to you because they didn’t yet know it was okay not to. I believe we can trust them, because they are just as fascinated with our emotions as we are with their existence.”
Joseph rubbed the back of his neck. “This is not quantifiable.” He collapsed in an office chair. “I just don’t think I— what is this other world you keep speaking of. How is that even possible?”
Abbie shrugged. “You know the projected effects of quantum entanglement better than I. It seems you and Doctor Teak accomplished something far beyond your expectations. You, somehow, entangled two dimensions. And I think that quartz wall in the mountain just outside Lab One is the portal.” She squeezed her eyes closed. “That, or it’s the fog, I haven’t really figured it all out yet. I need to get back in there and examine that quartz.”
Karole leapt to her feet. “You can’t.”
Abbie turned to look at her. “What? Why?”
“She’s right.” Joseph nodded. “At the facility-wide meeting Stettler told everyone he’s shut down operations in Quantum Lab One until further notice.”
“He can’t do that!” Abbie swirled to glare at Joseph. “Can he? How are we going to figure out what happened? Ho
w is Holly—”
Her eyes darted around the swarm of faeries flying above her head. “Is Holly alright?”
“I don’t know.” Joseph shrugged. “I haven’t seen her or Axel since… you know.”
Abbie followed the switch back flights of the faeries. “We can’t let anybody know about these… faeries.”
Joseph stood. “No! Proper protocol states that unknown findings must be reported within twenty-four hours of discovery.”
“Well, that’s tomorrow. For now, I don’t want to tell anybody about them, until I have a better understanding of who they are and where they came from… and how we caused this to happen.”
The faeries blinked as one, as if cued by some connected mental thought.
A slight grin lifted on one side of Joseph’s mouth. “They seem to be connected in thought, a lot like our entangled photons. When one moves, the other moves. Interesting.” He floated his eyes over each faerie, taking in the similarities and differences among them. “They really are fascinating.”
“Ah!” He jumped back. “How do I know if that’s my own thought or them projecting that idea into my head?”
Abbie’s eyes widened. “I don’t know. You just… have to… believe.”
Should she tell him the story of Tinker Bell and how Peter Pan had to believe in order for the little faerie to recover from the poisoning?
“One thing I do know.” Joseph shook his head, as if to clear faerie dust from his mind. “I might agree with you to keep this quiet for now. It’s not standard operating procedure, but— and I don’t think you should leave the facility. I assume you live in town, not in the temporary apartments, like Doctor Teak?”
“Right.” Abbie nodded. “I have a rental in Loville. Karole does too.” Abbie tilted her head, processing what he had said. “Holly still lives in the temporary apartments?”
Joseph looked at Karole then Abbie. “Yeah, she’s been so focused on making all this happen that she never took the time to find a place in town.” He shrugged.
Abbie slowly moved her head, absorbing this insightful information about the intense scientist. “That actually explains a lot.”
Joseph continued. “Well, I heard Stettler was letting anyone who wanted to stay on-site take a temporary apartment. It’s just a matter of requesting one. No questions asked.” He looked at Karole as if he were checking for concurrence.
Karole nodded slowly. “That’s probably a good idea, Abbie. That way you minimize the probability of exposing these little creatures to real people. ”
“They’re not creatures!” Abbie turned angry eyes on her sister. “They are faeries!”
“Okay!” Karole held up a hand of surrender. “Now, how do we get you out of here and across the facility to the apartments without them being seen?”
Abbie snapped her fingers. “I have a hoodie. If they hide in my hair and I put the hood up… maybe.”
“I guess it’s all we’ve got. You have to look as natural as possible. Not like we can throw a blanket over your head and try to pull that off as nothing-is-wrong.” Karole tapped her chin. Her thinking pose. “I can go to your house and get your things, say… enough for a week?”
She glanced at Joseph. He nodded. “And I’ll go get you some groceries.”
“What!” Abbie jerked back to him. “No. You don’t need—”
“I want to.” Joseph smiled, then frowned. He glared at the faeries. “At least I think I want to.”
Chapter Nine
Joseph helped Abbie slip into the grey hoodie. He leaned away from the swarming creatures. Constantly analyzing his own feelings to monitor if he thought they were affecting his thinking. Gingerly he lifted the hood and Abbie took hold of the top edge, easing it over the parasitic addition to Abbie’s hair. She turned to him. “How do I look?”
He feigned approval. “Like you have your hair in some kind of body-building curlers.”
Abbie chuckled. “What do you know about body-building curlers?”
He shrugged. “Seven sisters, remember?”
“Ah.” She tipped her head back.
Karole lead the way. Joseph took Abbie’s elbow. Abbie tucked a laptop computer under her arm. Joseph lifted his cell phone to call security. “Yes, this is Doctor Assad, Dr. Abbie Crossan would like to accept a temporary apartment for tonight. I will be escorting her to the buildings. Can someone meet us there to give her a key?”
He nodded. “Good. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
They walked to the parking lot between their two buildings. Joseph put Abbie in the passenger side of Karole’s car.
“Give me your locker key, I’ll go get your cell phone.” He trotted off to his car.
The guard handed Joseph the cell phone without question. “Thank you. With all the excitement, she forgot all about this.” He tossed the phone in the air and caught it.
Rushing back to his Jag, he caught up with Karole who drove just under the speed limit around to the other side where the apartments stood. “Good. Don’t call any attention to yourselves,” he muttered as if they could hear him.
His eyes remained on the grey hoodie on the right. He really liked this woman. She was smart. The equation she had written on Teak’s white board was very impressive. She obviously had a level of understanding about quantum physics that he wouldn’t expect from a geologist. She had a unique perspective on life. Who would dye their hair pink otherwise?
He’d spied her in the cafeteria over the last few weeks. Everyday at lunch, precisely at eleven-fifty, she and her sister entered. He had made sure to arrive at eleven-forty, so he could watch for an opportunity to introduce himself. Then it was the bold sister who pranced across the eatery to make sure Abbie was introduced to him. He chuckled at the memory.
Was that just today? So much had happened since that quiet but engaging encounter. He still had the “prescription” in his pocket with Abbie’s phone number. Karole had written, “Please call her,” and scrawled the number. Just like a medical doctor’s illegible script. He had intended to meet her for a drink at The Oasis, as her sister had said, then if that went well, he had hoped to ask her to go out to dinner. Take it slow and easy. Get to know her, she get to know him.
Then the accident. Out of sheer instinct he found himself covering her body with his. The adrenaline rush and the warmth of her body under him left a brand on his heart. His emotions were accelerated and he now found himself longing to be with her. To see that she was alright, safe. Then those… creatures—
Now he wasn’t sure if what he felt was real. What strange little aliens they were. Some sort of telepathic enhanced hive mentality in such a small brained animal.
He stiffened. Were they animal? Or humanoid? How could he shield his mind from their influence?
He pulled into the parking area behind the temporary apartments and rushed over to open Abbie’s door. She eased out of the car while he held her elbow. A flood of emotions swamped his heart. He wanted to take her into his arms and tell her everything would be alright. He would protect her.
She smiled wryly. He leaned toward her intending to tenderly kiss those uncertain lips.
Wait! Joseph jumped back
Is this the faeries’ doing, again? He looked closely under her hoodie. There was slight movement. “They have got to be absolutely still for this to work,” he whispered.
Abbie nodded. The movements slowed down and stopped. Had she spoken to them in her mind? The way they had spoken to both her and him when they first came out of the fog? He had heard them in his native language. It was mind-blowing!
With her hood not looking like a sack filled with mice, he walked her to the entry door of one of the apartment buildings. The guard had said to come to the south building. Joseph exhaled and opened the door for Abbie.
She walked in ahead of him and smiled at Frank. “Oh. Frank. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, Dr. Abbie.” He stood next to a metal box on the wall and handed her a card key, like a motel. He looke
d tired. This was probably going on thirteen hours for his normally eight-hour shift. “3-G, stairs are there”—he pointed like the airline steward— “elevator is across the hall, third floor, and down the hall about halfway. Let us know if you need anything. The apartments should be fully equipped with everything you need, except food and your clothes, of course.”
“Right. Thank you.” She took the key and turned to Joseph. “Stairs or elevator?”
“Let’s take the stairs.” Joseph took her elbow again, casually blocking Frank’s view of Abbie just in case the parasites decided to wriggle around, and walked her across the hall.
Abbie nodded and tucked the key in her pants pocket. They climbed the stairs in that same cadence, like when they had entered Lab One’s Observation Area before. Karole followed silently behind. Abbie lead the way down the hall. She unlocked the door and walked in, Joseph and Karole with her. Abbie let out a huge sigh.
“That went well.” Joseph understood her relief.
She looked around the apartment. “So. This is home away from home.”
“Sí. I lived here for a week, when I first came onboard. Once I found an apartment in town, I moved. Most everyone did. Except Dr. Teak.” Joseph chuckled.
“Yeah, you mentioned that earlier.” Abbie pushed the hood off her head.
Joseph walked into the kitchen, opening cabinets. “I figured it would be better than you trying to sleep on a cot in your office.” He let his eyes rove over the Ikea furniture. “I suppose I was right.”
Abbie walked into his arms, he automatically wrapped them around her, hoping she couldn’t hear his heart speed up.
“Thank you.” Her voice was muffled against his chest.
“You’re welcome.” He rubbed her back and pulled her away from him. “Now, I’ll be back in thirty minutes, forty at most. What do you want to eat?”
Sadness filled her eyes. “I don’t care, really. Whatever you choose is fine with me.” She glanced at the little kitchen.
