QUANTUM

by Imogen Rose

  “Nope,” replied Ariele. “She doesn’t hang out with us, though. Justin might know where she is, but he is on the ice at the moment, I think. What do you want with her?”

  “I just need a quick chat. Has anyone seen her today?” she asked the group. There were at least eight girls there; surely one of them had a class or other activity with Simla. They were all shaking their heads. “Would you happen to have her cell number?” Another round of shaking heads. She sighed. This was going nowhere. She’d need to get Justin off the ice and ask him. He’d at least have her cell number.

  Claire walked down the bleachers–wishing she’d changed back into her sneakers, these heels were killing her–and got the coach’s attention.

  “Ma’am?” Coach Stanislaw muttered.

  “I’m Agent Claire Adams. I need to have a quick word with Justin Weeks. I won’t keep him long.”

  “He didn’t show. I have no idea where he is, but if you find him, tell him he’s benched from next weekend’s game.”

  “Any idea where I might find him?”

  “Nope. Kids!” he frowned, and turned to go back to his players.

  “Hold on, let me talk to the rest of the team, someone must know where I can find him.”

  “Look, lady. Do you have parental permission to speak to any of these kids? If not, I suggest you go and get some. Well?” he challenged.

  “Look, Coach. I’ll be frank with you, but this is highly confidential. We have a serious problem. Dr. Raj Sen, Simla’s dad, was possibly–and it’s just a possibility–sighted earlier today. If it was him, it’s quite likely that he will try to make contact with her. He’s a dangerous man, we need to warn her and provide her with protection. We’ve been unable to locate her so far, so any information you or the kids have may be crucial,” she pleaded.

  Coach Stanislaw blew his whistle bringing the skating to a sudden halt. Another sound of the whistle resulted in the skaters assembling in a group in front of Coach’s box. Claire was impressed.

  “Kids, have any of you seen either Justin or Simla today?”

  Claire was once again presented with the, now expected, shaking of heads. One boy perked up. “Coach, he wasn’t in any of his classes today. I’m in all his.”

  “Has anyone got Simla in your class?” Claire asked, trying to identify the faces behind the helmets. It was impossible.

  The same boy who had spoken before nodded. “Yeah, she wasn’t in class either, but I only have one class with her.”

  “Anyone else?” Claire tried. There was a shuffling, but otherwise all remained silent. “Thanks, Coach. If you hear from them, please call me,” she said, leaving her card with him.

  “What do you make of all this?” she asked Agent Pitt once they were outside again.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. It could have been Raj Sen at the cottage. We don’t know that for sure. Those ladies are fairly old. We can’t go by that identification a hundred percent. Still, it could have. As for Simla and Justin? They’re seventeen. There are a hundred different explanations why we can’t locate them at this moment. I say we stake out the house and head over to the school tomorrow morning.”

  Claire nodded. She needed some time to look through the files, anyway. Putting out a search for Simla right now would be an overreaction. It wasn’t like anyone had reported her missing. In fact, for now, they didn’t really know anything.

  ~

  Raj watched the FBI agents talking outside the ice rink from his borrowed Corolla, which he had acquired when he dumped the Impala. How had the FBI gotten on his case so fast? He did expect Lizzy and Annie to call the police when they discovered their stuff and car missing, so he had dumped their vehicle as soon as he could. He certainly didn’t expect the FBI to get involved so quickly. They obviously knew it was him, why else would they be looking for Simla? And where was she, anyway? Could she still be with Potomal? If so, why had they dumped him here where he was in danger? Why was he being punished? Had Potomal alerted the FBI, like he said he would? What had Simla done?

  Kellan looked majorly hot in his Sigma-W protective shell. I was wearing one, too. I bet I looked pretty awesome, as well–I could tell by the appreciative glance from Kellan. All black leather–surprise, surprise–with the Sigma-W logo on the front, red epaulettes, and black biker boots, which I was hoping to get to keep. We were ready to transport out to rescue Simla and Justin.

  We, Kellan and I, had not been privy to the planning aspect of this mission–very 007. We’d spent the short time it took the Sigma-W council and my parents to come up with a plan catching up. My biggest surprise? When my boyfriend told me that his mom had been a Sigma-W.

  “Get out!”

  We had been sitting out in the backyard with Harry and David munching on strawberries while Ella went for a swim with Alexa. Alexa and Ella really hit it off. Or rather, Alexa was an expert at keeping little girls happy. They had been playing with makeup and doing mock fashion shows. Ella was having a blast. She was now reluctant to remove her tiara to go for a swim, nearly opting out of it just so she could keep the tiara on her head, until I offered to take care of it for her until she came out of the pool. I put the tiara on my head and decided to wear it while Ella swam.

  “Kellan! Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me before? Or did I know, but forgot when I changed?” I still couldn’t recall much from my Darley life before last October, so there was a possibility I had known this all along about Kellan’s mom, who had passed away when he was about six.

  “Shrimp, no. You didn’t know,” he reassured me. “I only found out about it recently, as in after you were taken by Potomal’s group.”

  “Wow, your dad kept it from you this long. Why?”

  “He didn’t know either,” Kellan explained.

  I was flabbergasted. “How could he not know? Being married to a paranormal being… that’s ridiculous!”

  “Is it?” Harry asked. “She lived an ordinary life, not one as a Wanderer.”

  “I guess, but still….”

  Harry hunched forward looking at me intently. “You do realize that Dad has latent Sigma-W abilities, don’t you?”

  I nodded. Seeing that both Rupert’s mom and dad were Sigma-Ws, it would be odd if he didn’t. “Can he actually wander?”

  “No,” Harry replied. “I guess he could, if he wanted to. He would need to release his abilities. He chose not to when he opted to be with Mom.”

  “Why couldn’t he do both?” I asked, out of real curiosity.

  Harry shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but from what I’ve been told, the privilege of becoming a Sigma-W comes with responsibilities and duties. I think it would make it difficult for Dad to be a regular husband and dad, which I guess is what they wanted.”

  “What about you, Harry?”

  “I have latent Sigma-W abilities, as well,” he smiled.

  So I was sitting in the company of two potential paranormal beings and David. Freaky. And not freaky. They were my brother, my boyfriend, and my–I couldn’t define my relationship with David. The word friend didn’t fully describe our closeness. So I was the only regular person here. How boring–for me. “Wow! What does this mean for the both of you?” I asked, looking in turn at Harry and then Kellan.

  Kellan shrugged. “Not a lot for now,” he said. “I mean, we have the ability, but that doesn’t mean we have to do anything with it. I haven’t known about this for all my life, so I’m not going to worry about it now. What about you, Harry?”

  “I don’t know. I want to spend some time with Gramadea and Granddad learning more about it, but I’m not prepared to buy into this lifestyle–though I don’t know exactly what that entails–right now. It is kinda awesome, though.”

  Sheesh. I was starting to feel a bit jealous. “So, is wandering the only thing the Sigma-Ws can do, or do they have other abilities as well?”

  “Only?” David laughed.

  “Oh, you know what I mean!” I smiled. “Can the Sigma-W make themselves invi
sible? Walk though stuff? Breathe fire? Superhuman speed–that would be cool for hockey….”

  Harry chuckled “No! Well, I don’t think so. It would be cool if there were other things we could do. I guess we’ll have to ask Gramadea.”

  “Right at this second, you’re both as useless as I am in the wandering department, right? It’s only David who can wander.”

  “That’s right,” Harry replied. “It would be useful for us to be able to wander, especially to help out with the rescue mission. As it is, we’re going to have to be babysat.”

  “Is there a way they can temporarily switch on your abilities, just for this mission?” I asked.

  “I wish,” Harry sighed. “I did ask. There’s no possible way of doing that.”

  “Too bad. Kellan, are you all right with all this? Were you upset to learn about your mother?”

  He shook his head. “No, not the least bit, once I knew that they hadn’t even told Dad. He’s a bit upset and it’s no wonder. Knowing Dad, I’m sure he’s reassessing his whole time with Mom now, wondering if there were any signs. I need to get back to talk to him soon. I’ll bet he’s freaking out about me. We didn’t have any time to talk things through before I left with David. I guess, in a way, I feel a bit more unsure about myself. I’d stay on here, with Harry, to learn more, but I’m concerned about Dad. Besides, I’m not letting you head off on your own,” he said, coming up and kissing my forehead.

  “Cut it out,” Harry muttered. “We get it, you like each other.”

  We stopped chatting as Ella came bounding out to retrieve her tiara. She was still wet, wrapped in a huge pink towel.

  “Why are you wearing it?” she sulked.

  “Sorry, safest place,” I grinned, as I took it off and handed it to her.

  “Kids, can you all come in now?” Gramadea asked, coming up behind Ella. “Ella, go and get changed. Alexa asked if you wanted to play Guitar Hero with her.”

  “Awesome! See ya later, alligator,” she said, and took off.

  “Right!” Gramadea said, beckoning us.

  After a short briefing where we were basically assigned babysitters–Gramadea was mine and someone I never met before was going with Kellan–we changed into our protective gear. I thought we looked like cool superheroes; I had to stifle a giggle. Harry was going to stay behind. He wasn’t the least bit pleased, but… tough cookies. He was of no use without any abilities and, unlike Kellan and me, he had never seen any of Potomal’s lot, so he couldn’t even help in that aspect.

  So, there we were, Kellan and I dressed up in our Sigma-W gear. I felt good. A team of sixteen Sigma-Ws, including Gramadea, met us in the conference room. There were no signs of Granddad, I guess he was too important to go on rescue missions. I didn’t recognize any of the faces. These weren’t the same people we had been introduced to when we first got here. This must be their SWAT team, or whatever. Mom and Rupert came to see us off.

  “Arizona, now remember… do exactly what Gramadea says. Do not go off on your own. Right?”

  “I won’t, I promise,” I reassured them, waving them off after a group hug.

  Gramadea stood behind me and put her hand on my shoulder and we transported off. The journey was short and we landed right outside the building where I had been held. It was pitch dark. I guess we had moved in time, as well. There were no people around, so I guessed it must have been very late into the night, maybe early morning.

  It was surreal, like being in a sci-fi movie. The SWAT team took their places in front of us. The four of us–Kellan, his minder, Gramadea and I–stayed at the back. We went to the main entrance of the building, armed with the building code so we could get in–thank goodness for Intelligence. Turns out that we didn’t need it. The front door was unlocked, the lobby empty. The security guard was not at his station and the lights were off–weird.

  “Top floor?” Gramadea whispered to me. I nodded and we made our way to the stairwell. It was decided that this would be the safer option. Safer maybe, but I was pooped by the time we got to the top. The door was gently pried open by one of the Sigma-Ws in front of us. He went first and then beckoned us through. The hallway was as I remembered, except deathly quiet and dark apart from the beams from our flashlights. Had Potomal’s group transported off? We searched the floor, systematically, room by room. We finally came to the room I had been held in.

  Light escaped from under the door, but we couldn’t hear any sounds. The room itself was big; I knew that from my stay there. It could hold a small army of people, certainty more than there were of us. It was possible that on the other side of this door a team of Potomal’s group were waiting to take us out.

  Gramadea ushered Kellan and me back along the corridor to an empty alcove, where we remained out of sight. We could hear a lot of commotion, angry voices and running around. One of the Sigma-Ws finally appeared at the alcove to update us.

  “There are a boy and girl in there. The girl is going nuts. The boy is trying to calm her, but she won’t let up. She is completely hysterical. What do you want us to do?”

  Simla and Justin. I ran through the hallways toward the room and burst through it before Kellan or Gramadea could stop me. Simla was weeping hysterically while Justin looked helplessly toward me while trying to restrain her. The Sigma-Ws were looking uncomfortable, shuffling around.

  “Everyone, leave,” I shouted, taking charge, while Kellan and Amadea arrived in the room. They stayed as the rest of them left. I went over to Simla and grabbed her hand. “Shut up! Pull up your big girl panties and shut up!” I seethed through clenched teeth. “Get hold of yourself!” She looked startled, by my lack of empathy I guess, and turned angry.

  “You stupid… troll!” she yelled, and clenched her fists.

  “Troll?” I snorted.

  She came at me. I stood back as Kellan and Justin grabbed hold of her.

  “Nice going, Arizona! What were you thinking?” Justin gasped as Simla was spewing obscenities at me.

  “Well, it worked! I had to do something to get her out of her Bella Swan despair. Look! No despair now,” I declared proudly.

  Kellan shook his head. Well, it had worked. All we had to do now was wait for her to simmer down and then she’d be good to go. It didn’t take long. She looked at me long and hard and then started chuckling. She either thought the situation was funny or she’d completely gone bananas on us.

  “Simla?” Justin queried, letting her loose.

  “Oh, never mind. Let’s get out of here,” she said.

  “Wait a minute,” Gramadea said, walking up to us. “I take it you’re Simla and you are Justin?” she asked.

  They nodded at her.

  “I am Amadea, we’re here to take you back home. Can you first tell us what happened? Where are Potomal and his group? You two seem to be the only ones here.”

  “Are you sure?” Simla asked, here eyes welling up again.

  “Yes, the team has now searched through the building. It’s empty.”

  “You didn’t find my dad?” Simla asked, clearly upset again.

  “Your dad? Raj Sen?”

  “Yes,” she sobbed.

  Gramadea frowned. “Simla, why would you think your dad was here?”

  “I saw him. He was brought here when I tried to escape, as leverage to get me to go along with their plans.”

  “Do you know where they were keeping him?”

  “No.”

  “Do you have any idea what happened here? Where is Potomal?”

  Justin shrugged. “All hell broke loose when Arizona disappeared. Potomal gathered all of us for deployment to one of his other residences. Simla said that she wouldn’t go without her dad, so Potomal just shrugged and left us here. They just disappeared on us, all of them. They seemed to be in an awful hurry, like they were expecting you to arrive.”

  “Do you think they took Dad?” Simla whispered.

  “No, I can’t see any reason they would do that,” Gramadea mused. “How exactly did Potomal threaten
you with your dad?”

  “He said that if I didn’t do what he asked, he’d deliver Dad to the FBI,” Simla said, barely breathing. “Do you think he would really do that? Why?”

  “Because he said he would. Potomal usually does exactly that. I have no idea where your father is, though, or if Potomal even had time to carry out a plan like that. He couldn’t just walk into the Bureau with Raj beside him. It’s more likely that he dumped him somewhere, to get rid of him. We’ll get our Intelligence on it, though your father is very resourceful and knows how to avoid being discovered when he wants. I’m not even sure that your dad is someone we want to get involved with other than the fact that you’ve been inadvertently involved in this because of us. Our council will make a decision. Will you both need help to get back home or have you learned to wander?”