by Imogen Rose
“Ella…. What’s the last thing you remember before you woke up here?”
“Going to sleep in my bed, silly! My head still hurts and I want Mom!”
“What’s with all the shouting?” Harry yawned. He put his hand on his head and made a face. “Geez, that hurts!” Then he struggled to sit up and opened his eyes.
“Where are we, Harry?” Ella yelled.
“Munchkin, please stop yelling. My head hurts,” he begged her.
“Mine too, Harry,” she whispered.
“Where are we?” he asked.
I had no idea what to say or how to stall the questions. How could I explain away all that had happened, especially to these two, sitting here with splitting headaches? However, I knew from experience that these would wear off soon.
“Harry, drink some water,” I ordered, and put Ella’s glass to his lips.
“That’s mine!” Ella yelled again, distraught.
“It’s okay, Ella. I’ll get you a fresh one. Harry needs to drink now, he’s dehydrated.”
I left Kellan with them and went off to the kitchen to get Ella some more. David cornered me the moment I entered the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” he whispered.
“They’ve woken up. They are asking a lot of questions. Both have thumping headaches. They’ll pass like mine, probably. But if you can get a doctor out here to check them over, that would be fantastic.”
He nodded.
“Stay out here for now, until I come and get you,” I said and headed back.
“Here you go, Ella,” I said, handing over the glass of water to her.
“I don’t need any more right now, but I need the bathroom,” she said, trying to get up.
“Here,” I said, taking her hand. I’ll show you where it is.” After making sure she was going to be all right, I headed back to talk to Harry before she came back out.
“Harry, what’s the last thing you remember?”
“Why do you ask? Where are we?” he responded grumpily.
“Harry!” I mumbled, frustrated. “Just answer my questions, it’s important.”
He looked up at me, surprised. “Well, the last thing I remember is heading to bed. Though, I did have a strange dream.”
“Strange dream?” I asked.
“Yup, I only vaguely remember. I was in a fight in my bedroom with some guys. I can’t really remember the rest,” he conceded.
The bruises on his face and body told me that it had been more than a dream. “Harry, we’re in New Jersey. Someone abducted us from home and brought us here. I don’t know what to say to Ella. She’s going to be terrified!”
We could hear the water running and knew our time would soon be up.
“Let me handle Ella,” Harry said firmly. “Abducted by whom? Are you sure? Are we still prisoners?”
I shook my head.
“Kellan, can you stay here with Ella while Arizona and I go outside to bring me up to date?” Harry suggested.
“Wait a minute,” said Kellan. “What am I going to say to her? I don’t think this is right. She has to know what’s going on. The people who brought you here may still be around. We may all still be in danger.”
He was right. We waited for her to come back.
“Do you have a toothbrush and some lip gloss, Arizona?” she asked.
“I do, I’ll get them in a minute. First, we need to talk,” I said. “Ella, we’re in New Jersey.”
“Why?” she asked. “Isn’t that where you and Kellan went when we visited New York?”
“Yes, that’s right,” I responded, impressed that she remembered.
“Why are we here?” she asked again.
I looked over at Harry. He took Ella’s hand and said, “Someone we don’t know brought us here when we were sleeping.”
“Well, that’s stupid,” she said. “Why would they bring us here? This isn’t even a nice hotel. The bathroom stinks.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Harry cast a sharp look at me. I ignored him.
Harry continued. “I don’t know why, Ella. We’re trying to figure that out. In the meantime, we have to stick to each other. Don’t go wandering off on your own. Now, do you think you can stay here with Kellan, while I go to the other room with Arizona for a minute? You can watch the TV.”
“But Mom and Dad are going to be so worried,” said Ella. “We should call them.”
“I will, as soon as I get hold of a phone,” Harry promised.
“Harry, why do you have all those boo-boos?” Ella asked, pointing to Harry’s cuts and bruises.
“I had a nightmare and fell out of bed,” he grinned at her.
‘You’re silly,” she said. As we left, we turned on the TV so she could watch a rerun of Hannah Montana.
“Harry, David’s here,” I whispered to him on our way to the kitchen.
“David Skoog?” he asked astonished.
“Yes, and his dad, Dr. Sanderson.”
“Why? How? Arizona, what the heck is going on?” he asked, clearly angry that I was holding things back.
“Let me get them in here and we’ll explain together,” I said, and went to get them before he could protest.
“Harry, you already know David. This is his dad, Dr. Sanderson.”
Kevin’s phone suddenly rang and he left to answer it.
“Have you called Mom and Dad?” Harry asked me.
“No. I haven’t. They can’t be gotten hold of,” I said lamely.
“What about the cops?”
David could see that I was struggling. Not just with the questions, but I hadn’t yet fully recovered myself.
“Give her a break, Harry. She was abducted as well. We’re trying to figure it all out. It’s complicated.”
Harry looked at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, Shrimp. You just seemed to know everything. So, let’s figure it out together. Tell me what you think happened and we’ll work it out from there. Right now, there are four of us in the house, so we’ll stand a good chance against anyone who decides to come back here.”
Five of us, not four, I thought to myself, trying not to get riled.
“If anyone knows what’s going on, please enlighten me,” he asked, as Dr. Sanderson came back in.
I was thankful when Kevin took control of the conversation.
“I’ve already talked to Arizona, so she knows some of what’s going on,” he started. “Harry, you and Ella were adducted from your bedrooms and left here. We have no idea why or by whom. We don’t know if you were brought straight here or were kept somewhere else first. You just appeared here an hour ago or so. Arizona appeared here a few days ago. She and Kellan were taken, together, from the lakeside. Arizona was brought here and Kellan was dumped by the roadside in Mountain View.” Kevin paused, not knowing how to continue without trying to explain the time travel complication to a very tired and confused boy. He decided not to, not for now. “There is a whole lot more to this, of course. I feel though, that for now, we should try to concentrate on getting you back to your parents.”
Harry shook his head. “I need some more answers. “What about you and David? What are you doing here? Were you taken as well?” Harry persisted.
“Look, you’ve got to tell him the whole story,” I said frustrated. “I’ll tell him!”
“Tell me what, Arizona?” Harry said decidedly worried now.
David looked over at Arizona intently. She was unaware of the Wanderers, so he wondered how she would explain the anomalies to Harry.
“Mom built a flipping time machine, Harry. She calls it a portal.”
Harry guffawed. “Oh, my head hurts when I do that. Stop, Shrimp! No time for silliness!”
“I’m not being silly,” I said defiantly, and carried on. “She really did, didn’t she, Dr. Sanderson?”
Kevin nodded an affirmation, much to Harry’s disbelief. Kevin continued, “Dr. Darley did construct a portal. The portal allows transport between different time periods and dimensions.”
“Dimensions?” Harry queried.
“Harry, think back to your physics lessons. Do you remember learning about Hugh Everett’s many-worlds theory?” Kevin encouraged.
Harry shook his head; that lesson completely eluded him. “Refresh me,” he requested.
Kevin nodded. “The many-worlds theory provides an explanation as to how more than one world, the one we see, exist. Parallel worlds exist. Quantum mechanics, your mom’s area of expertise, forms the basis for the many-worlds theory. Think back to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. You do remember that, right?”
Harry nodded. I was impressed. I hadn’t a clue what Kevin was on about. A portal is a portal. Think Star Trek and wormholes to explain dimensions.
Kevin was glad that Harry was following him. “As you know, the principle postulates that the more precisely the position is determined for a particle, the less precisely the momentum is known in that instant, and vice versa. This fuzziness forms the basis of quantum mechanics and allows the explanation of the wave nature of particles and electron jumping.”
I yawned. Seriously? He was killing Star Trek for me.
He laughed. “I can see that I’m boring you, Arizona. I’ll keep it short. Think of the world we see in terms of quantum mechanics, applying the same principles. Now consider the possibility that that every time an event occurs, the universe splits between the options possible.”
Harry thankfully interrupted. “Look, much as I’m enjoying this lesson, I can’t quite take it in. You’re basically saying that we live in a parallel universe with many different dimensions?”
Kevin nodded. It was as simple as he could make it.
“So, Mom built a portal which allows transport between not just time, but also dimensions,” Harry mused. “Awesome!”
“Geez, Harry! Never watched Star Trek?” I asked annoyed.
Harry rolled his eyes. “Where is this portal?”
Kevin replied, “At Ames. Now, I need to bring you up to speed quickly. You were abducted and brought through the portal–I assume. You are now in a different dimension. Your parents are not here in the same dimension, so we can’t contact them by phone. Do you understand this?” Kevin looked over at Harry hoping that some of this was sinking in, even if he wasn’t ready to accept it all.
“How did we end up in New Jersey if the portal’s in California,” Harry asked.
I had been wondering about that myself.
“I’m not sure. Probably in a car or van. Possibly by private plane. I really have no idea,” Kevin replied. “My main issue is how we’re going to get you back.”
“Can’t we just go back through the portal?” I asked. I knew that it had been tampered with, but if we had all come through it, it must still be functioning.
“Arizona, I did check it out. The computers have been tampered with. The access codes have been altered. I can’t gain access,” Kevin replied. “Not for now, though I will work on it when I go back.”
“Someone else is in control?” I asked.
Kevin nodded. “Yes. I’m assuming that it’s whoever abducted you.”
“That would be us,” said a booming voice from behind me. I hadn’t heard anyone enter the kitchen; I had been so engrossed in listening to Kevin. Neither had anyone else, by the looks of their expressions, for we all looked up, surprised, and petrified.
We all stared at the six-foot-five-ish, frightening-looking man. I could feel Harry and David tensing for a fight. I was sure the four of us could take him. He was big, but there were four of us. He seemed unarmed, so I curled my fist into a hard ball ready for action.
“We have Ella and Kellan already, so don’t try anything stupid. Come with me quietly or they’ll pay,” he said.
My heart sank. They had Ella and Kellan. We had no choice but to follow this moron. David reached for my hand and we followed the stranger. David’s dad was right behind us.
“David, take Ella back,” he whispered so quietly that I could barely hear him.
David nodded as we approached a black van. We were ushered in and I could see Kellan in the far corner with Ella in his lap. “Is she okay?” I whispered.
“Yes, she fell back asleep while we were watching TV and didn’t stir. I’m guessing that the aftereffects of the drugs are making her sleep more soundly than normal. She is breathing just fine and her pulse is regular,” he reassured me.
“No talking. Give me your cell phones!” the mean stranger’s voice boomed.
We handed him our cell phones reluctantly.
“Where are you taking us?” Kevin asked.
“No talking!” the stranger repeated and closed the door on us.
I could hear car doors slamming and engines starting up. There was at least one more car in addition to this van. Where were they taking us and why?
“Hurry up, David. There isn’t much time. No one talk, just do what I say and we can get Ella out of here,” Kevin said firmly.
I was mystified. Get Ella out of here? How? I had already tried the door, it was locked.
David got up and reached for Ella. Kellan handed Ella over to David carefully and I crept into Kellan’s free lap.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “How’s David going to get Ella out?”
“There’s no time to explain right now,” David said, getting agitated.
“It’s too late,” Kevin said, as the van started moving.
David sat back down holding on to Ella who was still soundly asleep. He was furious.
“David, calm down. It won’t work anyway if you’re agitated. You need to be at equilibrium for this to work. Meditate,” his dad suggested.
“What the hell’s going on?” Harry demanded.
Kevin ignored Harry. “David, meditate. Try when the van stops.”
“Try what?” Harry demanded as he got up, reaching for Ella. “Give Ella to me. You’re not trying anything with her until you explain what’s going on.”
“Harry, sit back down again. I’ll explain. No point getting Ella up by passing her around,” Kevin said.
Harry reluctantly sat back down and looked at Kevin intently.
“You know what I said about the many-worlds theory? Well one thing it doesn’t allow for is communication between the different dimensions. It’s the communication aspect that has been a compulsion for your mother. Her solution was to built a portal. However, there are some that can communicate, traverse between the different dimensions without the use of such a man-made portal.”
“They are called Wanderers,” Kellan added.
I unglued my face from Kellan’s chest and looked up into his face. “Wanderers?”
“Oh, come on!” Harry muttered. “That’s just ridiculous.”
“I know how totally ridiculous this sounds. But, please, just listen. We don’t have a lot of time,” Kevin begged.
What did we have to lose at this point, I wondered, and nodded as Harry looked at me and rolled his eyes.
“David is a Wanderer. He’ll take Ella back to her Mom and Dad. However, to be able to do that we need the van to stop somewhere safe.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, transporting himself through when the van is in motion will mean that he probably will land in the middle of the road in the other dimension. He could get run over.”
I nodded, that made sense, if you could call any of this sense.
“So we need to make the van stop. Any ideas?” I asked, and started banging on the front of the van, hoping that the driver would hear me. No such luck. He kept driving.
Ella unfortunately stirred and looked around sleepily. She reached over for Harry who extracted her from David and hugged her. “It’s okay, Ella.”
“Where are we?” she asked sleepily.
“We’re driving,” Harry said, patting her head.
“I’m hungry,” she said.
“We’ll get you something to eat soon,” he comforted her.
The van suddenly swerved and stopped. We looked at each other. Here
was our chance, maybe our only one to get Ella to safety. We had to try.
“David?” Kevin asked expectantly.
David remained silent, but reached over for Ella.
“Ella, go over to David. He’s going to take you home to Mom,” Kellan said, nodding at her reassuringly.
Ella, still sleepy, did what Kellan asked and took David’s hands. David picked her up and held her close. I could see that he was perfectly calm, perfectly at peace. His back arched a bit, like he was pushing against something, then he and Ella disappeared.
We were all silent. I was dumbfounded, flabbergasted, confused, all rolled into one. Ella and David had just disappeared. I looked up at Kellan, mystified. Harry looked just as puzzled as I felt.
“What just happened there?” he asked stunned, as the van started up again.
“David’s taken Ella back–back to the right time/dimension. He still has to get her home. He’s very resourceful and I have no doubts that he’ll do so safely,” Kevin reassured us.
It suddenly hit me that it was Kellan who had used the word Wanderer first. “Kellan, you mentioned Wanderers. How come you knew?”
“David brought me over to see you,” he replied.
“Wow, what did it feel like? I mean when you went through the dimensions? What did you see?” I asked in awe. How cool!
“It was amazing. I felt a sense of peace, of total contentment, as I went through. It was fairly instantaneous. I didn’t really see anything. The feeling was amazing, though– hard to describe.”
I looked over at Kevin. “Why couldn’t he have taken all of us?”
“He can only take one at a time, it’s pretty draining for him,” he replied.
“Can he come back for us?” I asked hopefully.
“Technically, he can. I mean he can transport himself back, but he won’t know where to find us, especially now, since we’re on the move again. Goodness knows where they’re taking us,” Kevin said.
At least Ella was safe. However, David was gone, which left only four of us to deal with whatever was waiting for us. I looked around. The temporary relief I felt when Ella disappeared was now being replaced by naked fear. This wasn’t good. We had to do something. But what? We were all silent, busy thinking.
The van kept going, occasionally swerving from side to side, like it was on a winding road. The van was definitely going sharply uphill at points. I wondered if this journey would ever end. In a way I wished it wouldn’t. Nothing good lay at the end of it.