Did Reece tell her or does she have another source. I see no point lying. “Yes.”
Her eyes narrow and she leans over the table. “Did Reece ever cross over?”
Mrs. Collins’ question catches me off guard and I pause. Memories stir at the thought of Reece, but I squash them back into place. I can’t deal with fighting for my sanity while I’m trying to convince Mrs. Collins that I’m not a threat. “No.”
She notices my hesitation and turns her head slightly. “You’re sure.”
“Well... yeah.”
“You’re either sure or you’re not.”
I’m not sure what difference it makes, but her insistence that I prove that Reece has not crossed doesn’t bode well for Evan and me. “I never saw him in my world, and I don’t see how he could have crossed. Reece only had the black box for a few hours, and I was with him the entire time.”
“Black box.”
Oh, crap. I’d hadn’t confirmed what the device was. The memories are making me fuddled. I take a deep breath and imagine a concrete block wall, keeping the foreign memories apart from me. I’m amazed that it seems to work.
“And what does this black box do?”
“Dr. Whittaker made it, and Evan stole it.” A gleam of interest shines in her eyes. “But there was only one and I sent it through the portal to my world.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I needed to save Evan. And Reece.”
“So you really are Julia Phillips? In every way?”
“I’m Julia Phillips, but I’m not the girl Evan and Reece knew.”
She sucks in her lower lip, her teeth gnawing for several seconds. “Do you care about my son, Julia?” Her face raises and her eyebrow quirks.
The other Julia’s memories beg for release, pushing against the barrier I’ve created. I take a deep breath, relieved that they seem to be easier to control. “Yes.”
“What emotional attachment do you have to my son?”
I resist the urge to fidget in my seat, already on edge with my inner struggle. “I don’t understand why that’s important.”
Disinterest covers her face. “It might be more important than you know.”
Will my life be condemned if I claim my love for Evan? I refuse to lie. “He’s my friend and I care about him.”
“Do you love him?”
What difference does it make? But it obviously matters to her. “I care about him.”
“And Evan?”
“Is this really necessary?”
“Yes.”
“I care about him too.” I refuse to answer more than this, especially since I don’t know what she’s looking for.
She doesn’t press the matter and slides a notebook—made with real paper—in front of her. “I want to know more about your world.”
I cringe. I’m exhausted of answering questions about my world, and I don’t want to answer anything at all. Every piece of information makes my world enticing. Thankfully Reece’s mother asks general questions and not the detailed ones the officials in Springfield or Deacon asked, easing my guilt. When she wraps up her interview, she gives me a tight grin. “I’m not sure what to do with you, Julia.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I say in a dry voice.
A laugh escapes. “We had some concerns that the UR concocted this alternate-universe story and sent the three of you here to spy on us. But fifteen minutes with you has proven that you aren’t her.”
Despite my inner protests, I can’t resist asking, “How do you know?”
Mrs. Collins stands and places a hand on the back of her chair. “She was meek and followed authority to the letter. You’re too much like Reece for your own good.”
When she puts it that way, I find it odd that Reece was drawn to someone so opposite. But the way Julia’s memories fight for attention at the mere mention of his Reece’s name proves that she loved Reece with a fierceness everyone underestimated. Including her.
Mrs. Collins starts for the door.
I stand. “So now what?”
“Let me offer you a piece of unsolicited advice.” She pauses, her hand on the doorknob. “I know Reece and Evan both have feelings for you.”
My lips part. How does she know? Did Reece tell her?
“Be careful who you choose. Your life might depend on it.”
Then she leaves the room, and I’m left alone with my fear and the echo of my pulse in my head. What does that mean? Does she want me to choose Reece or Evan or neither? Why does she even care?
I’m left in the room for at least an hour or more before two guards appear. They lead me from the room, this time without a blindfold.
The halls are bleak and utilitarian. Apparently, the rebels are too busy doing other important things to worry about décor. They take me down multiple hallways until we stop in front of a door, which one of the guards unlocks and swings open.
“Stay in this room and don’t leave.” They push me inside. I expect to find a cell similar to the one the UR military kept me in when I first came to this world, but instead it’s an apartment. It’s sparsely furnished and far from homey, but it’s better than metal bars.
Reece appears in the hallway off the living area. “Julia?” He moves to me in three steps, crushing me in a hug before he remembers my wounds, and pulls back. “Are you okay? Where are Evan and Jo?”
“I don’t know. They were in the jail cell when the guards took me for questioning.”
He looks grim. “They just want to question them, is all. They’ll be fine.”
I feel another sense of déjà vu, again mine. Evan believed the same thing when I was held in his father’s research facility. And look how that turned out.
Reece sits on the sofa, and I sink next to him, overwhelmed with the need to be close to him. I’m not sure the feeling is the other Julia’s or my own need to be comforted. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”
“I know it looks bad, but they’re just being cautious. My mother left the UR to help the rebels improve their technology and conquer the United Regions. She may be new here, but her vast knowledge gives her more clout. She’s very interested in the existence of alternate universes and says they’ll help figure out a way to send you home.”
It’s clear from our reception, and the way they keep people outside their walls, that their reasons for helping me are far from altruistic. “What are they going to ask Jo and Evan?”
“The same things they asked us.”
“Reece, she asked me about my world.”
“She wants to know more about accessing it, and what’s on the other side. Just like Evan when he crossed.”
“What will they expect from Evan?”
He shrugs. “They’ll want to know how he crossed over.”
“I don’t trust them.”
Anger flashes in his eyes. “My mother’s not a bad person.”
I keep my thoughts to myself. Evan expected miracles from his father too. Would I be any different if it were one of my own parents? Don’t we grow up thinking they’re heroes even when we’re old enough to know there’s no such thing?
“So what happens now? You’re reunited with your mother. What happens to rest of us?” Jo was searching for her brother. Evan and I have been searching for a way for me to get back home. Reece was looking for his mother. We never discussed what happened when we found what we were looking for.
“Mom and the others will finish their questioning and let them go. Just like she let you go.”
“But she didn’t let me go. They brought me here and told me not to leave.”
He doesn’t answer.
“Reece, obviously your mom has some power here. Did you know that before?
He’s silent for several seconds. “No, but I suspected. That’s why General Ghertner knew about her.”
“And why she had weapons in a cubby in your closet.”
“Yeah.”
“So she got information about the United Regions and supplied it
to the rebels?”
“I’m not sure.” He purses his mouth.
My explanation makes sense. She was in a position to get information and handing it over could have garnered her a powerful position once she defected.
“Julia, you’ve seen the UR. They need to be stopped.”
“I know, Reece, but is a group that calls the people outside their walls parasites the people to do it?”
His jaw clenches.
I soften my voice. “Reece, I know she’s your mom, but we need to know where she falls into all of this. She obviously has power. She might be able to save us.” I put my hand on his arm, and a whoosh of emotion swoops in, bringing Julia’s memories with it before I can push them back.
Lifting my hand to his cheek, I turn his face toward me. I need him. Touch him. “Reece.” My thumb strokes his face. The need to kiss him is overwhelming but something holds me back.
His eyes widen and flicker with pain as he stares into my face. “This isn’t you, Julia.”
I lean away a few inches. “What are you talking about?”
He closes his eyes and slides my hand off his face, clutching it to his chest. “Tell me the moment you first knew you loved me.”
I smile, the memory is bright and vivid. “When I painted your portrait. At the picnic. Seeing with you Monica made me so jealous, yet I wasn’t sure what to do. Telling you that I loved you would hurt so many people.”
“This isn’t right,” Reece mumbles, shaking his head.
“How can loving you not be right?”
His eyes open. “Why didn’t you tell me? At the church, when I begged you to tell me, you refused. Admitting that you loved me may have hurt other people, but keeping it to yourself hurt me.”
A lump clogs my throat, and my voice breaks. “I know, and I’m sorry.”
He takes a deep breath and calms as he exhales. “Tell me again. I need to hear you tell me.”
My hand tightens around his, and I press it into his chest, over his heart. “I love you.”
His chest heaves as he struggles for control.
I lift my free hand to his face. “I love you, Reece Collins.”
He shakes his head, close to tears.
“Reece…” I lift up to press my lips to his. “I love you.”
“This isn’t you,” he mumbles. “This isn’t you.”
I thread my hand in his hair. “How can you say this isn’t me? I’m here. Right now.”
His eyes sink closed and his face scrunches as though he’s shutting me out.
“I’ve loved you for months and months, doodling your name on some left over art supply paper from class. I wrote his name too. Both of your names because I was so torn. I loved you both. How could I love you both?”
“Julia.” He shudders. “This isn’t real. Her memories have taken over yours.”
What is he talking about? But there’s a flutter in my head of something that doesn’t belong and panic washes through me. I have to hurry. “I followed you after you left the church because I had to find you and tell you that I picked you.”
He moans, his face contorting as though he’s in pain. “It’s not you.”
“This is me.” I kiss him softly. “This is me.”
Groaning, he releases my hand against his chest, and wraps it around my back, pulling me hard against him. He kisses me with urgency, as though he only has a few moments instead of a lifetime.
I cling to his shirt, distraught. Why am I distraught when I have what I want? A voice in my head screams, “This isn’t real.” Of course, it’s real. How can it not be real?
A sharp knock raps on the front door.
Why am I so desperate for him?
Reece’s hands are everywhere, frantic. In my hair. Sliding on my arms. Grabbing my back. “Don’t leave me, Julia. I don’t want to live without you. Please, don’t leave me.”
Where would I go?
The door opens and I pull away in surprise. Jo appears, sandwiched between two guards. Her eyes widen, then they shove her into the room and shut the door behind her. She looks paler than usual and dark circles underscore her eyes.
Reece stands, looking nervous. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” she asks. “What the hell are you doing, Reece?”
I push to my feet as confusion clouds my head. Something’s wrong, but I can’t figure out what it is.
Jo turns to me. “Julia. Where are you from?”
Has she lost her mind? “Springfield.”
“Which Springfield?”
I narrow my eyes. “How many Springfields are there?”
Spinning around to Reece, Jo shoves him in the chest, and he stumbles backward. “How long has she been like this?”
He steps backward, guilt covering his face. “I don’t know. A few minutes. Maybe five.”
“Five minutes? Did you try to bring her back?”
“I tried to stop her… but it was Julia…” His voice breaks.
She shoves him again, then grabs my shoulders. “Julia, look at me. You’re not from here. Where are you from?”
I squint as I try to understand what she’s asking. “I don’t know.”‘
Shaking me, her voice lowers. “Yes, you do. Where are you from?”
“Springfield,” I whisper. Why am I so frightened? I’m losing Reece, I can’t lose him again. Yet, as the thoughts slam into my head, I know they’re not right. I just don’t know why.
“Which Springfield?”
The answer is in the sloppy mess of emotions and thoughts in my head, but it’s buried too deep to find.
“Reece!” Jo shouts. “Do something!”
He presses his back against the wall, an array of emotions flashing across his face. “I don’t know what to do.”
A heavy blanket covers my mind, and I fall back onto the sofa, my legs buckling underneath me. “What’s happening to me?” I look up into Jo’s anxious eyes.
“Chipper.” She casts a glance to Reece. “Tell me about the accident.”
“The accident?” I know the memory is somewhere in the haze. I just can’t find it.
“Yes, the accident. You were driving the car…”
Her words trigger a thought. “Monica was with me.”
She nods. “Yes, that’s right. Then what happened?”
“Uh…” Why can’t I remember this? “Monica got angry with me. Because of Reece.”
Reece watches me in horror.
“No, Julia.” Jo says. “That’s not what happened.”
Why is she saying that? But somewhere deep inside, I know it’s not true. So then why is it so clear in my mind? “She was upset because I didn’t tell Reece that I didn’t love him, and she grabbed the wheel.”
A sob escapes Reece as he turns away. Why won’t he look at me?
“Reece, I’m so sorry.” I start to cry. “I was scared. I should have told you. I should have told you.”
Resolve hardens Jo’s features. “Okay, Monica grabbed the wheel. And you crashed?”
“Yeah…” The memory gets fuzzy. I see blood. And Reece’s anguished face. My forehead wrinkles in confusion.
“You got hurt, didn’t you?”
“Yeah…” I close my eyes. Blood is everywhere. On my shirt. In my mouth. I’m choking on it. My eyelids fly open. “I died.”
Jo shakes her head. “No. That’s not what happened to you. It happened to the other Julia. Where are you from, Julia?”
I cry harder. “How can I be here if I’m dead?”
Reece squats in front of me, his face wet with tears. “You are Julia Phillips, but you didn’t die. You were in an accident with Monica, but you didn’t die. She died. You lived.”
“No, I died. It’s there in my head.”
“Monica died and you lived. And then Evan came to find you.”
Evan?
“Evan.” Memories and thoughts shift. Evan. I cling to his name as it pulls me to shallow waters in the deep abyss in my head. “Evan came and found me.”
>
“Yes,” Reece chokes out in a muffled cry. “Evan came and found you. And you came here with him.”
“I’m from another universe.” The memories are there, almost in reach.
Reece falls back so that he’s sitting on the floor in front of me. He grabs his head in his hands and rests it on his upright knees. “Yes.” He sounds tortured. “You love Evan, not me. That was the other Julia.”
I latch onto his words, a buoy to reality as my own memories bob up around me. My eyes widen with fear as I look at their grief-stricken faces. “What happened? Why are you both so upset? ”
Jo sinks to her knees in relief and exhaustion. “You were stuck.”
“Stuck?” But snatches of the last ten minutes surface. Reece. I hurt him again. “Reece…”
He looks up at me, broken.
When will I stop hurting him?
“Where are you from, Julia?” he asks, his voice firm.
“Springfield.”
“Which—” Jo starts to ask.
“Which universe?” Reece interrupts.
“My universe. The one not touched by nuclear war.” I lay my head back on the sofa. I’m tired. So tired. Keeping my sanity is a second by second struggle, and I lost for several minutes tonight. How long until I’m mostly her and only snatches of me?
Jo stands and takes my arm. “Come on, Chipper. Let’s go to bed.”
I look at the door and panic floods my head. “Jo, where’s Evan?”
Her back stiffens. “They’re keeping him imprisoned.”
Reece takes a step backward. “Why?”
“They’ve labeled him an enemy because he refuses to tell them how to cross universes. If he doesn’t tell them within a few days, they’re going to execute him.”
Reece bolts for the door, but it’s locked. He jerks on the handle and pulls. The door jiggles but doesn’t budge.
His outburst brings Jo to her senses, and she pulls him away from the door. “Reece, that won’t help anything.”
His jaw clenches. “I’m not going to let them kill him.”
“Of course you’re not, but trying to beat down the door won’t help. We need a plan.”
Reece nods. “You said he won’t cooperate?”
“He says he doesn’t know how to duplicate the box and without the box, there’s no way to bridge the universes.”
There Page 22