by Imogen Rose
A sense of dark foreboding had overtaken Inez’s usually calm spirit. She could feel herself almost shaking with fear. What could be so disastrous to cause Constance to emit such negativity? Inez was too afraid to ask. So she just looked over at Constance apprehensively. The doorbell rang.
David came walking into the kitchen with a wide smile, which lifted the mood in the room–almost. However, he must have also sensed that something was wrong, as he stopped dead and the smile dropped from his face. “What’s going on? Mom? What happened?”
Constance stopped chewing her lower lip and turned to face both Inez and her son. “Amadea just called. She’s over at the Darley Mansion.”
“Rupert’s mom?” David asked, looking at her for confirmation. She nodded. “She wasn’t there when I left the house.”
“Was everything okay when you left?” Constance queried.
“Yeah, I guess. I mean, I know something is going on with Simla, but I’m guessing something additional is up by the look of things here. Is Simla back?”
Constance shook her head. “Arizona and Justin have disappeared.”
“What?” exclaimed both David and Inez simultaneously.
“Amadea was very brief about it. She’s heading over here shortly to bring us up to date. All I know for the moment is that both Justin and Arizona have disappeared. I don’t know anything more.”
“I’m going to head back over,” David said, backing away toward the door.
“No,” Constance ordered with authority. “Stay. Amadea will be here shortly.”
~
The drive back to the house was mostly silent. Neither Olivia nor Larry spoke at first. Larry was concentrating on getting them there as quickly as possible. Hadn’t they had enough drama for one day? Olivia sighed as she pictured the scene that had taken place earlier today.
Simla had come back to Ames looking satisfied but a little sad. This wasn’t surprising really. Leaving her dad again couldn’t be easy. Olivia had wondered why she decided not to stay with him. That had been partly explained when Simla demanded a repeat visit the following week. When Olivia had asked her for what, Simla turned into her usual evasive, defiant self. Olivia had merely shrugged. The main thing was for them both to return through the portal, as Larry was expecting them. She could deal with the demand for the second visit later. It had clearly been initiated by Raj. Simla hadn’t mentioned anything about two visits before her visit with him. Perhaps he’d sent her back for something. Perhaps he planned to return with her the next time? Whatever it was, those plans had come to an abrupt end in the portal.
Simla had simply disappeared. There was no other way to describe it. She had faded right before Olivia’s eyes. She wished that she could have reacted more efficiently–grabbed hold of Simla. However, before she’d even reached out, Simla was gone.
She had explained it–explain may have been too refined a word, spewed it out in a muddled fashion–to Larry when she transported back through by herself and he insisted on driving her straight to Constance’s house.
This, of course, had something to do with the Wanderers. Regular folk don’t just disappear, not like that. Although still not a hundred percent convinced about the Wanderers, Olivia had, with reservations, accepted that something was definitely going on, something she was unable to explain. She’d never seen a wandering take place before, if that’s what she’d seen happen to Simla–that or some kind of spontaneous vaporization. She hypothesized that the portal could have affected Simla’s physiology somehow. However, why was only Simla affected? Nothing had happened to her, Olivia thought to herself. She was still transported through normally.
The elephant-in-the-room difference between Simla and her was that Simla’s mother was allegedly a Wanderer. Had been. Erica was unfortunately no longer with them. Olivia sighed.
“What’s up, Ollie?” Larry asked. “You’ve sighed about a million times.”
“Well, I’m guessing that there is some news about Simla, which is why we’re going back. Constance sounded pretty grave; it’s got me even more worried, if that’s possible.”
“I know what you mean,” Larry agreed. “Wonder how Rupert would have received any news first?” Larry mused. “I guess we’ll find out in a moment,” he said, as he turned into the Darley driveway.
The front door opened before they even came to a stop and Kellan flew down the stairs to meet them. It was immediately apparent that something was seriously wrong. Tears were streaming down Kellan’s face as he flung himself into Larry’s arms the moment he climbed out the car.
It was a scene Olivia had witnessed only once before. Kellan had been about six then and his mother had just passed. He appeared to be just as distraught at the moment. Whatever could have happened? Rupert and Grayson–what was he doing here?–came walking down to Olivia, both appearing extremely agitated. “Rup, what’s happened?” Olivia choked out, her fears mounting.
“Ollie, Arizona has disappeared.”
“And so has Justin,” Grayson added.
Olivia took a step back, so she could properly see Rupert’s face. “Rup?” She tried to absorb Rupert’s hurried, and rather confused, recount of what had happened. Only Kellan seemed to have witnessed the act itself. She looked over at him, there was no point questioning him about it right now. She felt all the blood drain from her.
“Ollie?”
“Rup, did Kellan say how?”
“He’s not been able to say much, but he did manage to share that she turned into mist. We were all standing in the kitchen talking and then she was gone.”
“Sounds exactly like what happened with Simla in the portal,” Olivia confirmed. “Was Justin in the kitchen also?”
“No,” Grayson said. “He disappeared from my car on our way to Constance’s house. I stopped here as I was just minutes away.”
“Did he disappear into a mist as well?” Olivia asked.
“I don’t know, I was driving. I turned around to say something to him–can’t remember what now–and he was gone.”
Olivia put her face in her hands. She felt sick.
“Ollie?”
“Rup, I just need a couple of minutes to think this through.”
He nodded and put his arm around her shoulder as she leaned on his arm and tried to analyze her thoughts. There were two eyewitness accounts of the disappearances now, hers and Kellan’s. So, it was safe to assume that neither of them had experienced some kind of delusional episode. Olivia also concluded that the disappearances had nothing to do with the portal. After all, Arizona had disappeared from their kitchen. But was it correct to conclude that this had nothing to do with Wanderers? Arizona did not have any Wanderer connections. Could Wanderers have taken them? Why?
As Olivia opened her eyes she immediately caught the watchful gaze of Amadea. “Amadea! What are you doing here? Oh, I didn’t mean that to come out so abruptly. I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Hello, Olivia. I came over when I heard about Simla. Constance contacted me.”
“Why would she contact you? No offense, but how does she expect you to help in any way? With Simla?”
“I expect Constance told you about the Sigma-Ws?”
Olivia could feel herself tensing up. Not back to this again. Not only was she expected to believe that Wanderers–beings who could travel through time and dimensions–existed, but now they had embellished this with yet another phenomenon–Sigma-W. “Yes, Constance mentioned them,” Olivia conceded. “She told me that they can wanderer geographically and that they are the ruling faction. Constance told me that there’s also a subversive group that has been tracking Simla, and that this–Simla’s disappearance–may be their doing. To be honest, I don’t give two hoots about Simla or the Sigma-Ws right now. Arizona is my only concern. Please do excuse me if that sounds insensitive.”
Amadea nodded. “Of course, Olivia. I understand. However, all this might be connected.”
“How?”
“I think it would be best for Rupert to explain this t
o you. Rupert you have my permission,” Amadea said, looking over at her son.
~
They had secluded themselves in the privacy of their bedroom, leaving the others downstairs. The last thing Olivia needed at the moment was a long heart-to-heart, even with Rupert. They had pressing issues to deal with–they had to find Arizona, now! “Hon, can we talk later? I’m sure whatever it is, it can wait. I think we should contact that FBI agent–I can’t remember her name, but I have her card in my wallet–and have her help us.”
“And what are we going to tell her? That Arizona vaporized into thin air?” Rupert shrugged.
Olivia stopped short, hearing that description aloud–vaporized. That sounded so out there, to say the least. How were they going to be able to convince the authorities to help them find Arizona with that description? They had to do better. “Rupert, we need to be able to pass on relevant information to the FBI in a more coherent fashion. They’re not going to buy that, even I wouldn’t if I hadn’t seen it firsthand when Simla disappeared. And I’m still questioning what I saw. Did I really see that or was it some kind of illusion?
“Yes! It could have been an illusion of some kind! Couldn’t it? I think we can reasonably suggest that to the FBI. I mean, what I saw isn’t necessarily what happened. I’m sure the FBI has experts in this kind of thing who may be able to help.” She looked at Rupert expectantly, while she scrambled for the card. “Here it is,” she declared triumphantly. “Agent Claire Adams. Shall I call or do you want to since you were here when it happened? Shall we tell her about Simla and Justin as well? I think we have to.”
“Ollie, hold on. You really think this could be some kind of illusion? I hadn’t even considered that. Who could be behind such an elaborate undertaking?”
“Raj?”
“I doubt he has the technical abilities or the funds to orchestrate something like this. He just got hold of the prints today, so he can’t have a great deal of money. And, besides, why would he do this? Abducting his own daughter? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, do you have any better ideas? If you don’t, I’d like to go ahead and make this call to Agent Adams. She may come up with some other ideas. We need all the help we can get.”
“Olivia, hon, please give me a moment,” Rupert pleaded, taking her hands and sitting her down beside him on their king-size, whitewashed wooden bed. He gently turned her face toward him and gazed into her eyes, securing loose strands of hair behind her ear. “I do have to tell you something, and I need to talk to you about it now, because it may pertain to Arizona and the other kids who have gone missing. And if there’s even a small chance, well, you have to know. And Mother finally gave me permission to share.”
Olivia felt a slight twinge of irritation at the thought that he needed his mother’s permission to tell her anything. “Well. If it’s not wasting important time searching for Arizona, please do tell.”
“Ollie, why are you annoyed?”
“Oh, just ignore me. I’m being childish. I can’t comprehend why you would need your mother’s permission to tell me anything.”
“Because she’s the Queen.”
Olivia stood up and hurried to the bathroom, locking the door firmly behind her. It was time to call Agent Adams.
She heard a knock. “Yes?”
“Ollie, you okay?”
“Yes, I’ll be out in a moment.” When she re-emerged, she went back and sat down next to her husband.
“Did you call her?”
“Yes. But I hung up before she answered it. I’m not sure why.”
Rupert sighed. “Now, do you think you could just listen to what I have to say?”
“Are you going to go on about kings and queens?”
He nodded. “Yes, but I need you to listen,” he said firmly.
“Rupert, you’re not on drugs or anything, are you? I don’t like listening to silly talk.”
“Ollie, enough,” he said, his voice hoarse, sterner than it had ever been when talking to her.
She looked up at him in surprise. He had her full attention now.
“There are things I’ve wanted to share with you for a very long time but haven’t been able to. I didn’t have the permission I needed. Now that I’ve been given the go-ahead, please don’t ruin this by indicating that you are still not ready for me to let you into my world entirely.”
“I thought I was entirely in your world,” Olivia whispered, her eyes welling up.
“Ollie, there are things I’ve had to keep from you, but you know that. You’ve asked me many times to explain how I knew to ask you to come find me two years ago. Your patience toward me has been unbelievable and I’ve wanted to share this with you for such a long time. Well, I’m able to share it with you now, finally.”
“And this has something to do with Arizona disappearing?” Olivia asked.
“It could. Now will you listen to me?”
Olivia nodded, inwardly bracing herself, but she decided not to say a word until Rupert was done. She needed to listen to him analytically, to piece together any information that could lead her to Arizona.
“As I said before, my mother is the Queen. She is the queen of the Sigma-Ws. Constance has already explained their purpose and abilities to you. My father is the leader.”
“I guess that makes you a Sigma-W?” Olivia couldn’t help but ask.
“Ollie, try to remember back to your first visit to New York City when you were little. You were with your mother. It was Christmas. You went skating at the rink at Rockefeller Center. You wore a pink wool coat and a matching hat.”
“Gosh, yes… vaguely. Mom had a conference at a really amazing hotel in New York and she decided to bring me with her because she said that Manhattan was so very beautiful during the Christmas season. She was right. I mean, I used to love Christmas in London, but there was something magical about Christmas that year in New York. Anyway, how do you know about my visit? Did Mom tell you?”
“No, I was there with my mom. We were visiting as well, staying with Inez, who worked in the city at the time. We did all the seasonal stuff, the Rockettes included,” he smiled.
“Me, too,” she smiled, fondly remembering how happy she’d been. “So if Mom didn’t tell you, who did? We’ve got some pictures somewhere.”
“Ollie, that’s when we first met,” he said, and lightly brushed her lips with his.
“Rup?”
“You were at the Rockefeller Plaza ice rink, skating around in circles. I was immediately drawn to you. You were so careful on your skates, making sure not to make any mistakes.”
“I didn’t want to fall, being graceful was a priority with Mom,” Olivia smiled.
Rupert laughed. “Yes, I can tell that about your mother. After skating around for a while, I noticed that something fell from you. So, I skated over and picked it up. It was your Quantum necklace,” he said, touching the pendant where it now rested safely on Olivia’s neck. “I picked it up and skated over to hand it back to you.”
“That was you?” Olivia said in wonder. She threw her arms around Rupert. “That’s just amazing.”
“Well it was an amazing and life-changing moment for me, anyway. You just skated off and forgot all about me,” Rupert teased, pulling at her hair.
“Ouch, Rup! That’s not entirely true. I did tell Mom about you.”
“I told my mom as well. I told her that I was going to marry you one day.”
Olivia was speechless.
“Of course Mom hoped I’d forget all about you,” Rupert added. “She wanted me to follow my Sigma-W destiny and train for my future. And I did try. I continued to learn and train for many years, but you were inside my head, inside my heart. When the time came, I couldn’t promise to give the Sigma-W all of me. How could I, when my heart had firmly been placed with you? You can only imagine the displeasure of both my parents! As you know, I’m an only child. They had high hopes for me to take my position within the Sigma-W.”
“Rup, I don’t know
what to say,” Olivia whispered.
“Hon, I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to. My parents accepted defeat after a while and Mom even helped me track you down. Of course, it was too late. You were already married, with Arizona on the way. I tracked you for a while just to reassure myself that my time had passed, but that’s when I realized that you were utterly unhappy. So I talked to Mom about it and it was she who, after having you investigated, decided that the best course of action would be for us to have met at least two years earlier, before you were married to Dillard.
“She had Glenda, Alexander and a lot of your physics professors positioned so that you would be steered in the right direction research-wise. You were surrounded by Wanderers, some of whom you are now aware of–Erica, Grayson, Morena–all of whom have watched over you from afar and encouraged your pursuit of constructing the portal, which I will admit they have helped with, without your knowledge. Everything, including Dillard’s position in New Jersey, was engineered by the Sigma-Ws.”
“All because you wanted me?” Olivia asked, finding her tongue again. “Why didn’t you just wander me off to the right time and dimension?”
“Two reasons. The first one is that you’d have had me committed. Even after all this time you can barely take this in. Imagine your reaction if I had told you this when we first met?”
Olivia nodded, she couldn’t argue with that.
“The second is that you were pregnant. I didn’t feel like I could just whisk you away, even if by some odd chance you accepted all this. I felt like I had to let you give your marriage and your new family a go.”
“So I was surrounded by Sigma-Ws and Wanderers watching over me and helping me construct the portal?”
Rupert nodded.
“Rup, this is a mind-blowing story, one that has me loving you even more if that’s possible. I have so many questions, but the most important issue is whether this is somehow connected to Arizona’s disappearance. You seem to think that it may be. If so, how?”
“Mom and I were discussing this before you arrived. Here’s what we’ve got so far. The Sigma-W Intelligence was aware that the subversive group led by Potomal was tracking Simla. We hypothesize that was in order to recruit her. It may be that they took–if they are involved–Justin for the same purpose. Their reasons for taking Arizona are more complicated. Potomal’s objective is to overthrow the current regime, which is headed by my father. It may be that Potomal decided to kidnap Arizona for leverage.”