by Donna Wagner
Tim agreed. As they reached the front desk, they saw a police officer walk through the door. The desk clerk saw them standing there and asked the officer to wait a moment. “I just wanted to let you know that it looks like someone tried to break into my storage locker. I don’t know if they got in or not. I stopped as soon as I saw the marks.”
The police officer overheard what Tim was saying. “That’s why I’m here, son. I’m Officer Abbott.”
Tim looked at the officer, warily. “No offense, but how did you know to come, if I just discovered it five minutes ago?”
“I saw someone sneaking around on the cameras about an hour ago, trying to get into different lockers. I called the cops as a precaution.”
“Oh.”
“Well son, since your here, let’s start at your locker. I’ll take a look at the marks and then you can open it and tell me if you think anything’s missing,” said Officer Abbott.
He followed Tim and Anna back to Tim’s locker. When they reached the door, the officer motioned for them to stand aside. He shined his flashlight on the lock. “Yes, this definitely has been tampered with.”
Anna looked at Tim and rolled her eyes. Officer Abbott continued inspecting the door. “It doesn’t open, so it appears to still be locked. Can I have your key?”
Tim handed him the key. Officer Abbott unlocked the door and pulled it open. He handed Tim the key back. “Please check and see if you notice anything missing.”
Tim just nodded, not bothering to explain that he’d never been in there before, so he technically wouldn’t know if anything was missing. He spotted his mom’s messenger bag on top of one of the boxes. He checked inside, quickly. There was a laptop in the bag. “It looks like everything’s here.”
Officer Abbott nodded. “I’ll note that in our records. Have a good evening.”
After the officer left, Anna relaxed. “I can’t believe you found your mom’s laptop that quickly!”
Tim opened the bag again and pulled out the laptop. He tried to turn it on, but of course the battery was dead. He reached into the bag again, but his hand came out empty. “Laptop, yes. Power cord, no.” They looked through a few of the boxes and couldn’t find the power cable.
“Of course, it’s not that easy. We’ll have to order a replacement online and hope the laptop even still turns on. It’s old and it’s sat for a few years without being touched!” Tim said.
“Let’s go. I’m still a little creeped out that someone decided to try to break in here just when you decided you wanted to check it out. It seems like too much of a coincidence,” Anna said with a shudder.
Tim shoved the laptop back into the messenger bag and threw it over his shoulder. “Well, look on the bright side. At least we weren’t already here when that person came around and since the laptop doesn’t work right now, you have more time to work on your assignment!” Tim exclaimed, the last part with mock enthusiasm.
“Haha, very funny,” she replied, bumping Tim’s shoulder with hers.
As they walked back to the car, lost in their own conversation, they didn’t notice the person, who stepped from the shadows, with fists clenched tight. Tim suddenly felt a sharp tug on his shoulder as the messenger bag was ripped from his arm. He spun around and stumbled. He righted himself ready to use whatever power was necessary to protect Anna, only to find Officer Abbott pinning the person to the ground.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Officer Abbott pulled their attacker to his feet and Anna’s face went white. “Jason!” she gasped.
“You know this boy?” Officer Abbott asked.
“Unfortunately, Officer,” she answered, glaring at Jason, “he’s my boyfriend. For now.”
Anna was livid. Tim could feel her anger and knew she had to calm down soon or both he, Jason, and Officer Abbot would be just as angry and that wouldn’t be good. Calm down!
“What do you mean, “for now”, Anna? Do you think you can just dump me for him?”
Tim’s gaze flew to Jason’s face. “If I decide to dump you it’s my choice and it’s for whatever reason I choose!”
Anna wasn’t paying any attention to Tim and Jason was getting just as mad as she was. Officer Abbot looked confused.
“Wait just a minute here. You!” he said, pointing at Jason, “Did you break into the lockers?”
“What lockers? I came down here because I wanted to catch this lying, cheating-”
“That’s enough!” Officer Abbott cut him off.
“I didn’t cheat or lie!”
“You never have time for me anymore Anna. You’re always with him.”
Tim felt Anna’s anger dissolve in an instant. “That’s cause Tim’s my-”
“You’re what?”
“My friend. Tim is my friend. When your friends need you you’re there for them.”
“What about when your boyfriend needs you to be there, huh?”
“Then my boyfriend should just talk to me and not yell and accuse me of things!”
“Okay, kids,” Officer Abbott cut in, “Clearly this situation has nothing to do with the break-ins. This isn’t the time or place for this.”
Tim was still standing there silently. He had picked up the messenger bag that Jason dropped immediately after pulling it from his shoulder. “He’s right. Anna, Jason, you two need to talk and work stuff out. I’m going home. Anna, go with Jason and figure things out.”
“No! I don’t want to go with him. Why should I talk to him after the way he just acted! He could have hurt you! He would have hurt you if Officer Abbott hadn’t stopped him!”
Tim threw his hands up and headed for the car. Tim got in the driver’s seat and Anna slid into the seat next to him. He could hear Jason begging her to go with him. Last chance.
I just want to go home.
As soon as Tim pulled away from the storage facility, Anna’s cell phone started ringing. She silenced it and didn’t say another word, out loud or in his head. The short ride back to their house did not go as quickly as the trip there. As Tim pulled into the driveway, Anna finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry."
Tim turned toward Anna as he shut off the ignition. "Why are you apologizing to me? You have no reason to!"
"Tim, I put you in the middle. I told myself nothing was more important than figuring out how to defeat the rebels and that was why I had to spend all my time with you. Jason is right. I did ignore him. It just seemed like we were always fighting every time I did spend time with him and rather than deal with it, I just started avoiding him. The fact that I was always with you didn't help. Jason's always been jealous of you."
Tim snorted. "Jason's popular and has always hated me, even before you met him, Anna. He's not jealous. He's just a jerk."
"No! I'm telling you, he is. He was always bringing up the fact that we live in the same house and asking me what you did when you were at home. Always wanted to know if we hung out every night or if I let you into my room."
Tim didn't know what to think about that. "Well, uh, that doesn't sound jealous. It actually sounds kind of stalker-like and all sorts of creepy."
"Tim!"
"Well, doesn't it?"
Anna stared at him for a moment, then cracked a smile. "Okay, fine! It does. That doesn't mean it's not true!"
"Well, let Jason stalk away then. I can take care of myself if he tries coming after me again. I'm not going to stop talking to you, just to make him feel more secure."
"I would never ask you to do that! You were right. I need to sit down and have a serious talk with him. If he can't accept that we're friends, then it's not worth staying with him, not anymore."
Tim chose not to say anything at this point. He actually thought that if she was accepting the fact that she shouldn't stay with Jason in specific circumstances, then she should just be done with him, no matter what. Instead, he just nodded, as if he agreed with her. "Come on. I want to see if I can find a charger for this online that I can order before bed. I'm really curious to know what is on he
re now."
As they got out of the car, Tim noticed the curtain in the living room window fall back in place. He wondered which of the many people in the house had been watching them. When they got inside, there was no one around. Tim chalked it up to air from the vent or something and went to the office to start his online search. Anna had gone to her room but joined him a few minutes later. "Any luck?"
"Yeah, I found one. Luckily, I still had the gift card I got for my birthday. It's kind of expensive, but it should be here by the end of the week."
"Okay. Are you done with the computer, then? I had an idea for my chapter I wanted to type up before we find the real story!"
Tim shook his head. "Always so pessimistic, Tim!"
Tim shrugged. "I just don't want to be disappointed."
Anna laughed and nudged him out of the computer chair. "Okay, then. Let me get some of this typed up before I completely forget my idea!
“Care to share with me? Maybe it’ll give me some ideas for the assignment.”
“No! I don’t want to influence you in any way. I still think you should think about it. You may remember your mom’s ending. If it is on her laptop, we’d be able to know if you actually do or not at least.”
“But it wouldn’t matter, if it’s on the laptop. I can’t hand in the actual truth.”
“Well, no one would actually know it’s the real ending. Plus, your mom’s ending is a whole book, not just a chapter. It’s not like you’d write your mom’s story word for word, more like a summary.”
Tim frowned. “I’ll try to think about it, but I don’t think she ever told me “the end”. The plots of some of these books seemed totally new to me. I didn’t remember Ire or Intimidation at all,” he said, naming a few books in the middle of the series.
Now it was Anna’s turn to frown. “That’s interesting, since Ire is the first book with fighting. I would think that would stand out to a little boy.”
“I guess I wasn’t like most little boys. I was more interested in the underlying story. I always wanted to know if Eimaj would ever make it back home to her own time and finally be happy, of if she would choose to stay with Alexander in the backwards world. At least I know by the end of my mom’s last book that she made it back- she saw her mom.”
Anna smiled. That was exactly what she liked about the books. The subplots were engaging, but it was the overall story that kept her reading. Before she could comment, however, the door to the office suddenly flew open.
CHAPTER FORTY
“What’s going on?”
Tim rolled his eyes at his cousin’s rude entrance. “We’re just talking about the books.”
Peter’s eyes lit up. He’d become sort of obsessed with the books, and never missed an opportunity to talk about them. Tim didn’t know if he just really liked the stories or if he was homesick. “Are you working on your chapters? I’ve already finished mine! After Eimaj followed her mom, I decided that-”
“Don’t! I don’t want Tim to be influenced!”
Peter looked at her, slightly annoyed. “I don’t think my cousin will steal my idea. I trust him, even if you don’t.”
Anna took a deep breath. “That’s not what I meant. I just had a thought earlier. If Tim’s mom told him these stories, long before she wrote the books, then it’s possible he actually knows how the story ends, even if he doesn’t realize it. I told him to think about it and then just right whatever comes to mind. He’s agreed to try.”
“But how-“
“Yeah, I questioned that too,” Tim said, before Peter could even finish the question, “We have my mom’s laptop now, so after the new charger comes in the mail, we’ll see if there’s any version of her last book on here.”
Peter was so excited; he didn’t even question where Tim had suddenly gotten his mother’s laptop. “I could be the first person to read the final book!”
“Well, Tim would be actually.”
Peter wasn’t listening. “Mrs. MacDonald will be thrilled! What an exclusive event!”
“You cannot tell Mrs. MacDonald. You cannot tell anyone for that matter!” Anna snapped.
“Why not? All the fans have a right to know it exists.”
“Besides the fact that we don’t even know if there is a copy on the laptop, or if the laptop will even work still after we get the charger, Tim just can’t give out the story. If it’s there, I think he needs to give it to his mother’s publisher. They can release it. Tim’s mom did have a contract with them, so there would probably be some legal issues if they found out he released it.”
Tim was amused. He hadn’t even thought about that. It seemed like once again, Anna was a step ahead of him. “Okay, well, seeing as it’s almost 10 o’clock. I think I need to get started on my homework. We do have school tomorrow.”
Tim headed for the door. “Tim, wait.”
He turned around to find Anna right behind him. “I, uh, just wanted to say I’m sorry again.”
Tim shook his head. “I told you before you don’t have anything to apologize for. Friends, remember?”
Anna nodded. “Thanks,” she said, quietly, as she gave him a quick hug, then hurried from the room.
Tim stood, stunned for a moment, until he realized Peter was standing their staring at him. His cousin didn’t look happy at all. “Well, on to homework. Good night, Pete. See you tomorrow.”
He left Peter standing in the office. Once in his room, he pulled out his schoolbooks and finished his math and science homework as quickly as he could. It was only as he was putting his books away that he realized he left the laptop and the messenger bag in the office. He felt silly, since he trusted everyone in the house a hundred percent, but he couldn’t stop himself from going back to the office to get it. When he opened the door, he saw Anna had returned as well. She was sitting at the computer chair, but she wasn’t looking at the computer screen. She was staring at something in her hand. “Hey, I just came to get the laptop. I forgot I left it in here.”
Her head shot up. “Tim! You need to read this. Right now.”
“What is it?”
She didn’t answer. She just handed him what she had been looking at, which was a piece of paper. As soon as he looked at it closer, he saw it was his mother’s handwriting. “Where’d you find this?”
“Just read it.”
“Dear Eimaj,
I just wanted to tell you the latest book has been a success. I called this one “Incognito”. I hope you’re doing well. The young man you sent with your last letter reminds me so much of my son, I couldn’t believe it. I know what you told me all those years ago, that we’re all connected, but I wish we could meet in person, once more before Tim returns. I can’t believe his birthday is next week. I want more time with him. I want to prepare him as much as I can, but I still don’t understand it all. I’ve turned everything you’ve told me over the years, plus what I learned on my own, into these stories. I’ve told Tim these stories over and over. I hope when his time comes, he’ll understand the message, better than I do.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon. Hopefully, at that point, Tim will have found you and you can tell me how he’s doing.
Love,
Nelle”
“What is this? Where did it come from? How did my mother talk to anyone from Snillotia? Is this even real? Wait, Eimaj? The character from her books? She’s real?”
Tim’s questions flew one after another. When he was finally quiet, Anna took a breath. “I know. I have the same questions. As to where it came from, it was in the messenger bag.”
“The only thing in there earlier was the laptop. Remember? I took it out to look for the power cable. Nothing else was in that bag.”
Anna nodded. “I remember, but it wasn’t in that main part. There’s a smaller compartment, here on the flap,” she explained, pointing to a zipper Tim hadn’t noticed.
He reached his hand in. There was nothing else there. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know.
I don’t know if she’s writing to someone she named the character after, or if the stories are actually true and she’s writing to the character, herself. I don’t think we can find out from here, either. I think we need to go back.”
“Back to Snillotia? We don’t even know where to begin looking, or what we’re even looking for.”
“Well, we can start by looking for Goldie.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
After a few minutes was spent debating whether or not they should contact Fey or trust one of the portals, they decided on a plan. Since they didn't know when they would arrive back in Snillotia, they decided to chance using the portal in the secret room. It was the closest portal and a way back they could use without alerting anyone else of what they were doing. They each went to their own bedrooms to pack a few things they thought might be useful. When Tim had finished filling his backpack, he found Anna in the kitchen also packing some snacks. "We don't know how long we'll be gone or if we'll be able to find food."
Tim nodded and grabbed some bottles of water from the pantry and added them to his bag. When he looked up, he saw Anna fold a piece of paper and leave it on the counter where someone would see it. "I'm not telling them where we're going or what we're doing, but just letting them know we left together and that it's important. I don't want them to worry."
Tim nodded again. "Ready?" he asked.
It was Anna's turn to nod as she walked towards the secret room, with Tim following close behind her. After unlatching the hidden door, they both paused before going through. “Are we doing the right thing?” Anna asked.
Tim started to answer, but before he could Peter appeared. “What are you two doing now? Why do I always find you together, locked in some secret conversation?” he asked, rather unhappily.
Tim looked at his cousin. “Why do you always appear when we are having a private conversation?” Tim asked, answering his question with a question.
Peter looked slightly offended, but recovered quickly, and laughed. “Geez, I was just making a joke. Lighten up, Tim!”