by Imogen Rose
“Where am I?” I whispered, with my eyes still firmly shut. I listened with my ears wide open, at least that’s how I imagined them to look. I could hear faint sounds, mostly the sound of engines–cars. A muffled undertone of chatter could be heard through the sound of the traffic. I listened for a response to my question and when I felt like I had waited long enough, I opened my eyes to the world. I was immediately blinded by the rays of the sun coming through the skylight above me, so I shielded my eyes with my palms, turning away from the light to face the large window that dominated the wall to my right. The window was trimmed with heavy auburn velvet and gold tassels–for whatever reason they reminded me of Grandma, she was fond of tassels. I quickly scanned the room, I was alone. The room itself was fairly large and decorated with old-lady furniture–heavy, dark fabric on dark polished woods, ornate mirrors and oil-on-canvas paintings of country scenes. I had been placed in a large four-poster bed, trimmed with the same velvet and tassels as the window. My head must have hit one of the posts on my descent, hence the pain. I moved over to the luxurious pillow and slumped down on it, looking over to the window. I could make out the dark outline of something through it, but couldn’t make out what it was. So, I got up and walked over. The Eiffel Tower. Well, it clearly didn’t look or smell like Vegas, so, good grief, I must be in Paris after all! But how?
I had a good look out the window. I was clearly on the north side of the Seine, I could spot the river, which was fairly close and the Eiffel Tower was slightly to the left of me. Beyond that, I had no idea where I was. I turned around and headed for the door situated on the opposite wall. As I was about to turn the gilded knob, something clicked and then it turned. I made my way to the opposite side of the room and waited.
The door opened slowly to let a familiar face through, Well two, actually–Simla and Justin. I wasn’t entirely jaw-down-on-the-floor surprised to see Simla, but the sight of Justin walking through that door, well my jaw did hit the floor, metaphorically, of course.
Both of them walked in with their fingers over their lips and closed the door quietly. They waved at me to follow them to the couch at the far end of the room, while making it clear for me to hush, which I was less than thrilled about. However, I decided to give them a chance to explain before I bit–can’t imagine where that rabid thought came from–them or whatever.
Once we were huddled together on the couch–which had a nauseatingly strong smell of cigarettes–Simla looked me up and down and then spoke.
“Where are we?” she whispered.
“Where are we?” I hissed right back at her.
She nodded.
“You don’t know?” I snapped. Beyond incredulous.
She shook her head.
“Do you know?” Justin whispered.
“Well, yes. Duh. We’re in Paris.”
“In Paris?” They both exclaimed in unison. “How? Why? How do you know? Are you sure?”
“Well, yeah. I’m sure,” I said, pointing to the window.
They both got up and walked over and gazed outside. I could hear them gasp.
“Sure it’s not Vegas?” Justin whispered, as he walked back to the couch.
“Yeah. I’ve been here before. Not here, as in this room, but here in Paris. Besides it totally smells of Paris.”
“What are you? A sniffer dog?” Justin mumbled. “What do you mean it smells like Paris? All I smell is that disgusting smell of tobacco or whatever.”
“Oh, never mind,” I said, shaking my head. It was so typical of him not to be able to concentrate on the nice aromas instead. “What are you two doing here? How did you get here?”
“Well we obviously don’t know what we’re doing here or we wouldn’t have asked you,” Justin replied sourly.
“Well, do you know how you got here?” I persisted.
Justin shook his head. “Not really. I was in my dad’s car, listening to my iPod when I felt something pull at my shoulders. Then Dad began to fade and I felt like I was wandering, but it was different somehow. It took much longer for one thing and I was cold. The next thing I knew I woke up in a room, similar–but much smaller–to this one but on the other side of the apartment.”
“We’re in an apartment?”
“Yeah, quite a nice one, too. It’s huge,” Simla added. “I was delivered to the room beside Justin’s. I must have gotten here first. I heard a commotion through the wall and went to investigate, and found Justin in there on his own.”
“I understand that you were taken from the portal?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yup, I’ve already told Justin. Did your mom get back okay?”
“Well, she did come back through. I haven’t spoken to her yet. She went over to Constance’s right after she came back. They are trying to figure out what happened to you.”
“Where were you taken from?” Justin asked me.
“From home. I was taken from the kitchen. Your dad had just arrived and was telling us how you disappeared when I felt some kind of pressure to my shoulder and then everything faded.”
“Did anyone see you fade?” Simla asked.
“Yeah. Kellan saw, but the others–Rupert, Grayson and Rupert’s mom–were busy talking.”
“What did he do?”
“Do? There wasn’t much he could do, it all happened so fast. He tried to grab hold of me, but I seemed to fade right through him.”
“Shit.”
“Yes, no kidding,” I agreed.
“Anyone got any ideas? Why we’re here?” Simla shrugged.
I shook my head. I had no idea whatsoever. “Did you guys search through the rest of the apartment?”
Justin nodded. “Yup. The front door is locked. In addition to the three bedrooms we have, there are another three bedrooms. One of them is locked, so I guess I don’t know for sure if it’s a bedroom. The two that are unlocked are empty. We did knock at the locked one, but there was no reply. There’s a kitchen with lots of food–I’m kind of hungry. There is a huge room with a big conference table in the middle with seating for at least twenty people. Then there is a living room with comfy seats, huge TV and game station. And the usual, bathrooms and all,” he added.
“No other people, other than us?” I asked.
“Not as far as we can tell, but let’s be careful and quiet. We didn’t get here on our own,” Simla responded.
“Well, I need some grub. Let’s head over to the kitchen.”
I nodded. Whoever brought us here had locked us up. They left us in an apartment that seemed fairly respectable. So it was probably okay to get some food, best to keep our strength up while we waited for someone to come to us with an explanation.
Justin opened the door to my bedroom hesitantly and peered into the hallway. Then he turned and beckoned to Simla and me to follow him. We followed him through the apartment to the kitchen, which was unexpected. I had expected an old-fashioned, dark-wood kitchen with a large, old cooking range. The stainless steel vision took me by surprise. This was a high-tech, gadget-overloaded, sci-fi kitchen. I made my way to the triple door fridge/freezer and couldn’t help but smile as I opened it–none of that fancy-schmancy French stuff. Pastrami, cheese, burger meat, fruit, veggies, a nice selection of Starbucks Frapuccinos, Coke, you name it! This was full of real food. In the middle, there was a huge strawberry cake, which I rescued and placed on the stainless steel counter. I immediately dug in, as did Justin.
“What’s up, Simla? Dig in!”
“Naw, I don’t like strawberries,” she explained, and pulled out sour cream and onion chips.
I helped myself to a handful of those as well and washed them down with Coke. Whatever the three of us felt about each other, for now we had to remain united. So I decided to share a bit of what I knew.
“It’s got to be the Sigma-Ws,” I announced.
“Say what?” Justin mumbled, as Simla looked over questioningly.
“The Sigma–Ws,” I repeated, thinking that these two were really ignorant for half-Wanderers
–if that’s what they are called.
“Yes, I think you get it. We don’t know what you’re talking about. ‘Splain,” Simla snapped, clearly irritated.
“You’ve never heard of Sigma-Wanderers?”
“No!” Justin practically hollered at me.
“Okay, okay, keep your pants on,” I soothed. “The Sigma-Wanderers, as you can tell by the name, are a type of Wanderer.”
“I thought there were just the Wanderers,” Justin grumbled, looking over at Simla who nodded. “How many types are there and how do you know?”
“Well, I don’t know how many different types there are. I just know about the Sigma-Ws because Rupert’s mom told us about them.”
“Rupert’s mom? What’s she got to do with it? Anyway, tell us what you think they are first.”
I couldn’t help but catch that little snide comment–what I think. Gah. “Well, unlike regular Wanderers, Sigma-Wanderers can travel geographically, as well as through time and dimensions. That’s why I think they are responsible. I mean, we are in Paris!” I concluded triumphantly.
“Why would they take us and then bring us here?” Simla inquired.
“Well, it’s not them, per se… it’s the baddie Sigmas,” I said.
Justin cracked up. “Baddie? What are you? Five?”
“Oh, shut your face, you know what I mean!” I really needed to give up on Ella’s lingo. “Anyhow, the not-so-nice bunch,” I continued, grimacing at Justin, “are led by a Sigma called Potomal.”
“Silly name,” Simla remarked, rolling her eyes.
“Yup,” I agreed. “Potomal wants to seize power and control of the Sigma-Ws, who, if I understand this correctly, rule the Wanderers. Don’t know why he wants control.”
“Well that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it, airhead?” Justin scowled. “Everyone wants power!”
“Not so sure about that,” I said. “Anyhow, if you shut your mouth, I’ll continue. That’s unless you don’t want to know what I know.”
Justin nodded, so I continued. “Apparently Potomal has been watching you for some time,” I said, looking over at Simla.
“Me? Why?”
“Because he thinks that you will be easy to recruit to his cause, since you seem to hate everyone. So that’s probably why you’re here. Maybe he’s been watching you, too, Justin and you’re here for the same reason. I can’t for the life of me understand why I’m here, though!”
“Rupert’s mom told you all this?” Simla asked thoughtfully.
“Yes.”
“How does she know? Is she a Sigma-W?” Simla asked, her eyes narrowing.
“Yeah.”
“What about Rupert, is he one as well?”
“No.”
“So assuming Simla and I are here as potential recruits, which would explain the nice lodgings, we still have you to contend with. Why do you have the nicest room? Maybe they took you by mistake. Maybe they were after my dad or Rupert’s mom,” he mused.
I guess that was possible. They could, in fact, have been after Rupert. He was a potential Sigma-W, after all. I guess we would know soon enough. In the meantime, we had everything we needed here. “So what are you two going to do if Potomal wants to recruit you?”
They both shrugged.
“Sheesh, I don’t know. I guess I’d have to know a lot more before I make a decision of any kind,” Justin said. “Show me the money!”
“Oh, don’t be an ass,” Simla responded. “If it means that they’ll teach us both to wander, well… then it’s a no-brainer. I mean, our own type has practically abandoned any intention of accepting us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Justin said. “My dad thinks that they’ll let me wander–eventually. I just have to prove myself.”
“And how are you going to do that, Justin? Pretend to suddenly become a good citizen?” Simla asked sarcastically.
“Actually, yes. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ve been putting in a lot of community service hours and haven’t been in any trouble for a whole year! So unless the Sigmas are offering something really sweet, I’m not interested.”
“They may teach you to wander geographically,” Simla mused.
“Still not worth it, I can hop on a flight anytime.”
“Guys, we know we’re in Paris, but have you two wondered when we are in Paris?”
They both looked at me like I had asked the most profound question ever.
“Not until now, Arizona,” Justin replied. “Well, there are no dinosaurs outside, so it must be post-dinosaur age anyway. When was the Eiffel tower built?”
I shrugged as Simla perked up and replied, “1889. Had to do a report on it last year.”
I was impressed that she remembered. The food in the refrigerator was from this decade, but if we were in the past perhaps it was brought here from the future. I went and looked out the window again. The cars were all small. No Hummers in sight, however, this was Europe, so that wasn’t unusual. Even if we have been relocated in time, it was not drastic and we wouldn’t be able to tell if we were in a different dimension or not, so there was no point speculating.
“Simla, are you really thinking of defecting?” Justin asked her again.
“Sheesh, it’s not defecting, I have nothing to defect from! Mom’s gone and so has the chance of me ever being able to wander.”
“That’s not true. You’ve been living with Dad and me for a year. I’m sure he’s noticed that just like me, you’ve stayed out of trouble. I’m sure he’ll vouch for you eventually. Give it some time.”
I couldn’t help but snort.
“What?” Justin exclaimed grumpily. “What now?”
“She’s hardly been staying out of trouble,” I laughed.
“Yes she has. We’ve both been clean for a whole year. We haven’t even gotten detention!”
“So, blackmail is okay, is it?” I asked, looking at Simla intently.
“What you talking about, Arizona? Blackmail?” Justin asked bemusedly.
“Shall I tell him or would you like to, Simla?”
She sighed and looked over to Justin with obvious resignation, her shoulders slumped forward and big sad puppy eyes in full action. “Justin, I had no choice.”
“No choice?”
“I had to do it for my dad.”
“You’re in contact with your dad? How?”
“Last year before he took off through the portal, we planned that if he didn’t make contact with me to tell me otherwise, we would meet up in a planned spot at a planned time. I was to get the blueprints for the portal off Olivia and give them to him. We planned to meet earlier today, in the Stevens dimension at a cottage.
“Last year, after Halloween, I decided to extract the blueprints from Olivia and have her transport me back to my dad, as he asked me to do if I didn’t hear from him. I obviously had to use leverage to get Olivia to give me the prints.”
“Wow, I’m not even going to ask you what you did, I don’t want to know,” Justin sighed.
“I do,” I said.
Simla shot me the evil eye. Nice. “It’s not important right now. Anyway, I did go back and he has the prints,” she practically spat at me.
“And you’re not winning any good-behavior points, I can see that,” Justin shrugged. “Was getting him the prints really worth ruining your chances to wander? Really, Simla. Even I’m disappointed in you.”
“I don’t care what you think! There was no way the Elders were ever going to let me wander, no matter what you think. So stuff you. I wanted to help Dad. He’s all I have left. Can’t you understand that?”
Even though Justin was shaking his head in disgust, I could empathize. Our dads may not always be perfect, but they are family. I couldn’t really blame Simla for wanting to help her dad. I probably would have done the same. I mean I probably would have gotten the blueprints. Since she didn’t say how she got them, however, I couldn’t condone or disagree with her methods, though blackmailing my mom was absolutely unforgivable and it m
ust have been pretty serious leverage.
Simla stomped out of the kitchen back toward a bedroom that I assumed was hers. Justin and I followed her in, closing the door behind us. Simla plunked herself on the bed. She was clearly sulking.
“I hope it is Poto or whatever his name is, and that he wants to recruit me! I’d join him in a heartbeat,” she said sulkily.
“Simla, don’t do anything rash,” Justin said softly. “I know you don’t want to admit it at the moment, but you know that you’ve been happy living in my house with Dad and me for the past year. We’ve had some fun times together. Everything seemed so relaxed and uneventful. Don’t get yourself into an untenable situation just because you’re angry. Weigh out all the pros and cons carefully. Not just for yourself, but also for your father. Think of how your decision to join some kind of subversive paranormal group may affect him.”
“It would probably afford him the power that he really wants,” Simla suggested.
“Maybe, but you don’t know that. You don’t know what Potomal wants from you or if this even has anything to do with him and the Sigma-Ws. After all, Arizona could’ve just made that up.”
“Why would I do that, you idiot?” I asked, irritated. “Anyhow, looks like we’re going to find out soon. Or perhaps another person has been taken and brought here. I can hear noises from the hallway.”
“Shush!” Simla hissed at me as she went over to the door and put her ear to it. Justin and I followed and did the same. We could hear footsteps approaching, so we stood back and waited. The doorknob turned and the door creaked open.
All hell had broken loose at the Darley mansion. Constance turned to Olivia, Inez and Larry, as she carefully put the 1960’s telephone receiver back in its cradle.
“Olivia, you’re needed back home. You should go as well, Larry.”
“What’s going on?” Olivia asked, immediately sensing that something was horribly wrong.
“Olivia, Rupert will explain as soon as you get there. Larry?”
Larry nodded and gently took Olivia by the arm and led her out of the house.