Entangled With Faeries

by Lynn Donovan

  “… We don’t know.” Abbie mumbled. Joseph shot a reprimanding look at her. She shrugged. “We don’t. She deserves to know the truth.”

  Hope filled Amelia’s face. “Yes, please! Tell me the truth.”

  Joseph drew in a deep sigh. “Everything that happened is classified top secret. We-we are under strict orders— but what they said to you es verdad— is true. There was an incident, and Zeke… was involved. We honestly do not know what happened to him.” Joseph jammed his hand in his hair, his eyes darted across the floor as if the right thing to say was there somewhere.

  “He… he just vanished.” Joseph lifted his eyes to meet Amelia’s. “That’s all we know. But we are working diligently to figure out what went wrong and what happened.” He turned to Abbie, as if presenting her. “This is Dr. Abbie Crossan. She’s a geologist here. She and I have been tasked to investigate the… results of the incident.”

  Amelia leapt to her feet. “A geologist! Why would a geologist be needed to figure out what happened to my Zeke?” She shook her head vehemently. “I just don’t understand!”

  Joseph continued, easing her back onto the stool. “We have core samples and…” He glanced at Abbie. His eyes widened.

  Then he turned back to his friend. “Amelia, go home!” he spoke gently. “Trust me. We are working on finding out what happened. I know it’s hard to wait.” He looked around and found a small spiral notepad. “Here, write down your number. I will personally call you the minute we know something.”

  Amelia stared at the pad. “If all this is classified, how can you—?” She turned to Abbie. “How could you not know?” As if in a trance, she lifted the pen and wrote her number. “How could he just disappear? Did he blow up into that pink mist? I saw that happen on Scrubs. This guy was carrying a bomb… and he… just… blew up.”

  Sobs heaved her forward. Her shoulders lurched. Just as suddenly, she gained composure and lifted her face. “Did he get blown into oblivion or something? What really happened?” Tears poured down her chapped cheeks.

  Empathetic tears filled Abbie’s eyes. “I’m sorry. We honestly don’t— there was no pink mist. I promise.”

  Joseph glared at Abbie.

  “Well! There wasn’t. She deserves to at least know that!”

  Joseph nodded. “Look, Amelia. You’ve got to go home. You cannot get caught impersonating the sandwich vendor. You’ll get in big trouble. We don’t want that. Go home. I swear on my grandmother’s grave, I’ll call you the minute I know something. In the meantime, have faith. We are doing everything we can to… get Zeke back.”

  “Back? Back from where?”

  Abbie glared at Joseph. “I’m telling you. We don’t know. That’s all we can say about it. We’re not keeping anything from you. We honestly DO NOT know where Zeke— what happened to Zeke.”

  Knuckles knocked on the lab door. “Dr. Crossan?”

  The three jerked. Abbie sighed, “Oh no!”

  “Dr. Crossan, it’s Frank.”

  Abbie looked at Joseph. “What do we do?”

  “Go answer the door.” He turned to Amelia. “Be cool, stay calm.”

  She nodded, but worry filled her eyes.

  Abbie opened her door. “Hey, Frank. What’s up?”

  “Is the sandwich vendor in there? I was on my way to QuIET Lake for a lunch break—”

  “Yes, she’s in here. Sorry, she’s an old friend and we were just catching up.”

  Frank looked past Abbie to Amelia. “Sorry, ma’am. You’re not allowed in the labs. You’re supposed to stay in the halls.” Concern wrinkled his brow. “Are you alright, ma’am?”

  “Oh.” Amelia slid off the stool, wiping her face with her sleeve. “I-I’m fine. We were just talking about old times. I get emotional.”

  Frank waited until she joined him in the hall. He bent to look at the shelves in her cart. “You got a corned beef on rye?”

  “Yeah.” She sniffed and cleared her throat. “I’ve got one of those.” Fumbling through the bee’s wrapped sandwiches, reading each label to find the right one, she handed Frank what he had asked for. “That’ll be five dollars.”

  He handed her the bill and took the sandwich. “Thank you. Wait!” Frank considered her face. “I know you… you’re the AT&T representative in town— hold on. You’re Zeke Callahan’s girlfriend! You can’t be here, ma’am!”

  Amelia’s color drained from her face. Her knees buckled. Joseph rushed to catch her by the shoulders. “Take it easy, Frank.” Joseph supported Amelia. “She’s just desperate for answers. You would be too.”

  “Sure. But—” Frank looked her over. “She can’t be here!”

  “We know!” Abbie and Joseph said at the same time.

  “Look.” Frank took her arm. “Let me help you to your car. You leave the premises now and I won’t report you were here.”

  She nodded. “Okay, but I have to take the cart. It belongs to Java the Hut.”

  “Fine. I’ll help you take your cart, too. I’ll report that the sandwich vendor… was ill and had to leave.”

  She nodded. Tears spilled over her lashes. “Okay. I’ll go.” She turned back to Joseph. “You promise?”

  He jerked a nod. “You’ve got to trust me.”

  She sighed, stiffened her knees and back, and pushed her cart toward the front entrance of the QuESO building. A woman called out for a sandwich. Frank hollered over his shoulder. “Not now, Ling. She’s not feeling well. Go to the cafeteria.”

  Abbie and Joseph watched as Frank walked with Amelia through the doors. Abbie turned to Joseph with wide eyes. “Poor Zeke!”

  “Yeah. Let’s get going. The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can, maybe, get him home to her.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  With the faeries safely delivered to Abbie’s temporary apartment, she and Joseph leisurely strolled to the Quantum Labs building. Joseph took her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. “What’s on your investigative agenda this afternoon?”

  “I really want to measure everything. The diameter of the scintillation, the width and length of the fissure, the volume of the fog.”

  Joseph nodded. “I think I’ll take a look at what’s left of the QuEST and measure the blast marks.”

  Abbie nodded. “Sounds like a good plan.”

  She smiled as she released his hand just as they entered the Quantum Lab Array Building. Sarge scanned their badges and exchanged their cell phones for a locker key. “Thank you, Sarge.” Abbie slipped the keys in her pocket.

  “More analyzing Lab One’s incident?” Sarge’s eyes filled with concern.

  “Yes.” Abbie shifted the tools bag on her shoulder. “I want to see if anything has changed since yesterday. Are Ashton and Sharp still working on the containment cage?”

  “Yep.” Sarge scanned the floor. “I suppose it’ll take a few days to complete that project.”

  Abbie walked a few steps. “We are counting on it taking some time, so I can get some more data from that wall before it’s impossible to get up close.”

  Sarge saluted with two fingers. “Well, good luck, Doctors.”

  Joseph tipped his head back. “Thank you.”

  He led Abbie, although she knew the way now, to the back of the Labs Array. They presented their badges at the final entry checkpoint and entered Lab One. Axel and Rick, had the framework to the containment box assembled and were working on a gate. Abbie drew in a deep sigh. “Afternoon, gentlemen.”

  She crossed the lab floor, heading straight to the absent concrete wall. She sat her tool bag down on the ground and lifted the clipboard. She measured the features of concern while Joseph took out a carpenter’s measuring tape and measured every scar and burn mark from the explosion.

  Axel’s drill and cutting saw filled the silent void as everyone worked at their own task. Abbie turned from the wall to consider the fog. Even with a box fan blowing into it, the fog did not dissipate. How odd. She took another sample of the moisture, then stood back from
the mist to determine its size. “Joseph. Help me measure the height, width, and depth of this… fog.”

  “Sure.” He zipped the carpenter’s tape closed and walked to where she stood. Handing her the tip of the tape, he backed up from her. They both walked to what looked like the outer edge of the dense moisture. But every time she held her end of the measuring tape to what looked like the border of the fog, it seemed to contract away from her. “Hmm. I can’t seem to get the exact outer measurement. Can you?”

  “Well, no. It seems to be… undulating.”

  Abbie giggled. “That’s a good way to describe it. Undulating fog. Just give me an approximation. It’ll have to be good enough.”

  Joseph read her the measurement. She wrote it down and moved to measure the adjacent distance. Then she looked up toward the top of the mist. “You suppose we could get on a ladder to measure the height?”

  Joseph craned his neck, I’d say its height changes just like its width, but I’d call that ten or twelve feet. What do you think, Ashton?”

  Axel continued working. Joseph glanced at Abbie and pointed at his ears. Axel had earplugs in and couldn’t hear them speaking. Abbie smiled and walked over to the Chief Mechanical Technician. She touched his shoulder. “Hey Axel.”

  He jerked and turned to see what she said. “Huh?” He pulled the orange cords from his ears.

  “How high would you say that fog is?” Abbie pointed.

  He looked over at the cloud of dense moisture. “Ten to twelve feet, I’d think.”

  Abbie chuckled. “Joseph said the same thing. Let’s go with that. Would you say it changes? Like does it seem to be affected by us moving around in it or around it?”

  Axel tilted his head. “You know, now that you mention it, I have noticed it… pulsing and… I don’t know, maybe contracting when we are running the cutting tools. The fan doesn’t seem to have any effect on it, at all.”

  Abbie nodded. “Interesting. I’ll make note of that and if you see anything more unusual about the fog, will you let me know?” She pulled out a business card and wrote on the back of it, then handed him the card. “This is my cell phone number. If anything involving that wall or… whatever, in here, don’t hesitate to call.”

  He nodded, but something in his eyes gave Abbie the impression he had something else to say. She waited, but he said nothing more. “Okay?”

  “Sure.” He glanced up.

  She looked deep in his eyes, willing him to speak. His eyes darted toward Sharp. Ah. Maybe she could catch him outside of the lab and have this talk. She nodded and walked back to where Joseph stood. “So… now what?”

  Joseph opened his mouth—

  “How’s it going in here?” Stettler strolled in. The four looked at him in surprise.

  “Good.” Joseph slipped the carpenter’s tape into his pocket.

  Stettler walked up to Abbie, but his cautious eyes remained on the fog and the scintillating wall sparkling through the dense vapors. “You getting enough data to give me an update, Doctors?”

  “We’ll have a written report for you tomorrow, Director.” Abbie glanced at Joseph.

  “Good. Listen, uh, Sheriff Spotted Wolf has been nosing around. I’m happy to work with her, but we got this under control, don’t we?” Stettler glared at Joseph.

  “Well, I—” Joseph glanced at Abbie. “I don’t know, Director. We still can’t tell you what happened to Callahan, and no one knows what happened to that big—”

  “Ah.” Stettler waved Joseph’s response off. “I think we are safe to say that was just a bear.”

  Joseph stared at Stettler. “I think we all know it wasn’t just a bear, but if that’s what you want the public to think so there’s no panic… I get it.”

  “Well, we gotta keep our business local to the site. What we got going on out here is on a need-to-know basis. And frankly, I don’t think that sheriff needs-to-know. You understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yes, Director.” Joseph swallowed.

  Stettler turned to Rick. “I know you two have been hard at this containment build, why don’t you let me take over guarding the wall, you take a four or six hour break?”

  Abbie’s eyebrows lifted, but she resumed her placid expression. “Yeah, we were just finishing up, also. I’ll have that report for you tomorrow before noon.”

  He nodded and turned back to Sharp and Ashton. “Come on. That’s an order. You two take some time off and go get some rest.”

  Axel removed his safety goggles and put away his tools. Rick sluggishly wrapped electric cords around the power tools and set them against the far wall. Abbie glanced at Joseph. He moved a slight nod of affirmation.

  She lifted her tool bag and joined Joseph at the door. “So, we’ll see you gentlemen tomorrow.”

  “Oh.” Stettler spun around to face her. “You have more to investigate?”

  Abbie’s eyes darted to Joseph’s. “Well, I’ve been measuring a progressive and slight change in the… evidence.”

  “I see.” Stettler puckered his lip in thought. “Well, I would think that is important. So how much change have you seen?”

  “Some.” Abbie lifted one eyebrow. “It’ll all be in my report.”

  “Very well.” Stettler turned his back on her. Essentially dismissing her and Joseph.

  Joseph pulled her elbow. “Come on. Let’s go have dinner.”

  “Yes. And I’d still like to go—” She glanced at Stettler. “To… that new restaurant in town. Talula’s isn’t it?”

  “Great idea.” Joseph pulled her into the hallway. He leaned in close to her ear. “You mean Holly, right?”

  She nodded and they walked swiftly away from Lab One.

  Abbie yawned as they walked toward the entrance to the Quantum Lab Array Building. “Let’s swing by the QuESO so I can put these away and then go check on things in my temporary apartment.”

  Sarge exchanged the locker key for their cell phones and bid them goodnight.

  “Okay,” Joseph put his hand on her back to guide her toward the exit. “Then I’ll head into town. My apartment is just fifteen minutes from VEIL. After I take a shower and get cleaned up, we can see if Holly is home.”

  Abbie sighed. “Uh. I’m exhausted. I’m sure you are too. Why don’t you just take an apartment next to mine and save on all the time driving back and forth. I have extra towels and linens.”

  Joseph yawned. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. It’s what they are here for. I have some clothes in my office. Let’s drop by there and I’ll get those.”

  “Sarge?” Abbie turned to the guard before leaving the building. “Could you arrange for Dr. Assad to get an apartment?”

  “Oh sure.” He talked on his shoulder mic and by the time they entered the apartment building, a guard was holding a key for Joseph.

  They took the elevator up to her floor. Abbie unlocked the door and stepped inside. “I need a shower too.”

  Joseph smiled. “You want to meet me at the elevator in, say fifteen minutes?”

  “Make it twenty, and yes.”

  Their eyes met and for a moment they were lost in each other’s gaze. Joseph leaned closer to her. She closed her eyes anticipating his kiss.

  “Excuse me!” Another security guard bounded down the hall. Abbie jumped back from Joseph. The guard looked exhausted.

  “Get a room.” The guard growled as he strode past them, continuing down the hall.

  “I did, actually.” Joseph called out to his retreating form. Abbie laid her forehead against Joseph’s shoulder and giggled.

  Twenty minutes later, Abbie hurried down the hall. Joseph looked up as she approached. “You look better.”

  “Better?”

  “Not as dusty.”

  “Oh.” She smiled. “Let’s go see if Holly’s in her apartment.”

  They rode the elevator down to the first floor and turned to their left to Holly’s apartment. Joseph knocked. “I’ve only been here once. She had me pick up some Entanglement text book she h
ad been quoting all day.” He chuckled. “She co-authored with Dr. Cooper from my alma mater.”

  “She co-authored a text book with a prof from The University of Texas?”

  Joseph’s brow rose. “Yes. It was the basis for a lot of her ideas she dreamed up here.”

  Abbie pursed her lips. “Interesting.”

  Joseph knocked again, but the door opened against the pressure of his knuckle. He looked at Abbie, then peeked around the door. “Holly?”

  Abbie looked past him. “Holly? You alright?” She stepped in, still looking around. Joseph looked past the bar separating the kitchen from the living room. “She’s not in the kitchen.”

  Abbie hurried to the short hall and looked in the bathroom and the bedroom. “She’s not over here either.”

  “Where could she be?”

  “I don’t know.” Abbie looked around. “It looks like her apartment was ransacked.”

  Joseph chucked. “No. It looked this way last time I was here.”

  Abbie nodded. Just then a sound caught their attention, they turned toward the door.

  “Oh. Axel.” Abbie sighed. “Is Holly with you?”

  “Yes.” Axel stepped back into the hall and drew Holly into her apartment. “What are you two doing here?”

  “We came by to see how Holly was… and the door was open.” Joseph stepped around Abbie. “Is anything missing, or…”

  “I don’t think so.” Holly swept the room with a confirming look. “No. Nothing looks out of place.”

  “Really?” Abbie followed Holly’s sweep. “Well. Why was your door open?”

  Axel turned to Holly. “Did we leave the door unlocked?”

  Holly shrugged. “I thought you would get into trouble if you talked to me.”

  “Frankly, we don’t care. We’ve got questions and only you can answer them.” Abbie flopped down on the sofa.

  Holly’s brow raised. “Alright. Let’s talk.”

  They reviewed what Abbie had found in her discoveries. Joseph talked about what he suspected with the explosion marks. Axel and Holly shared what they suspected. Abbie couldn’t shake the feeling they were not telling her and Joseph everything, but then again, she didn’t tell them about her faeries or what the girls had said about the rock wall on their side of the dimensional veil.