by S Breaker
Laney looked at her like the answer was perfectly obvious. “Because it’s a stupid question.” She cringed. “And I don’t want some stranger picking my brains trying to figure out the underlying meaning of some random dream.”
“Fine. Have it your way.” Darla sighed. “So, this dream of yours with Jake Donovan, tell me, are you two like, making out like crazy in it? ‘Cause, sister, please, I would totally be on that like, well, me on him,” she suggested, wiggling her eyebrows.
Laney shook her head in mirth. “Darla,” she chided. “Of course we weren’t. I think we were just talking or something. Or we were working on a project together…something like that.” She waved dismissively, unable to recall any clearer.
“Oh yeah, working on getting it on!” Darla started dancing in her seat. “Man, if only I could have your dreams.”
Laney laughed and turned her attention to the Zamboni cleaning the ice.
Darla elbowed Laney again, her eyes glued to someone else sitting in their row, or more accurately, someone else’s snacks. “Ooh, look. They have chili fries today,” she noted.
“Didn’t you eat after band practice?”
“Not chili fries.”
Laney gave her an amused look as Darla was looking at her expectantly. “Something on my face? Or is that you assuming that I’m the one who’s going to go get the food?”
“Hey, you’re the one that took forever to get here.” Darla shot her a stubborn look, motioning for her to go.
Laney chuckled, then she sighed in defeat. “Fine.”
As Darla stood up in the aisle to let Laney move past, she happened to look up over Laney’s shoulder and her eyes lit up. “Oh, hey, Thomas!”
Laney glanced over and recognized their friend from the debate team. She gave him a short nod in greeting.
“Hey—” Thomas did a double-take when he met her gaze. “Laney?” He looked surprised as he came up to them. “How did you get here so fast?”
Laney shot him a look. “What are you talking about?”
Thomas looked puzzled as he gestured aimlessly behind him. “I thought I just saw you at the walkway by the gym on the other side of campus.”
“What?” Laney wrinkled her nose.
Thomas tilted his head. “I could’ve sworn it was you,” he said. “I thought you even waved hello at me. I mean, I wanted to ask what you were doing with those weird orange cones, but you seemed to be busy, so I thought I’d leave you to it.”
Darla and Laney exchanged looks then Darla peered up at Thomas. “Orange cones? You feeling okay, Tom?”
Laney gave him a look. “Tom, I’ve been here with Darla since ‘Go’ time.”
“—thirteen minutes and forty-five seconds past ‘Go’ time,” Darla interjected.
“—thank you, Darla,” Laney quipped dryly before continuing to Thomas. “Either way, I was here.”
“Whatever. Never mind then,” Thomas dismissed with a wave as he moved around to stand beside Darla. “I must have been seeing things. Wouldn’t be the first time,” he added with a laugh.
“I’ll bet,” Darla said knowingly and she and Laney laughed.
“Oh, there he is,” Thomas piped up as he looked up past Laney’s head.
Laney turned toward where he was looking and spotted the cute blonde guy walking up toward them. He was carrying two popcorn boxes and big soda cups in a carton in one hand, and a heaped cardboard plate of chili fries in the other.
“Hey Tom,” the blonde guy greeted with a small wave.
“Hey,” Thomas replied, before gesturing to Laney and Darla. “You guys know my man Kevin, right?”
Darla’s forehead was creased. “Whitfield?” she prompted before nodding. “I think we had World History together last year.”
Kevin’s eyes lit up in recognition. “I think you’re right. Darla, isn’t it?” he guessed with a smile before his gaze settled on Laney. “And…?”
“Eleanor Carter,” Darla supplied before Laney whacked her arm.
“Laney. It’s Laney—Carter,” Laney corrected pointedly. “Nobody really calls me Eleanor.”
That made Kevin laugh. “Alright then,” he replied with a nod. “It’s nice to properly meet you, Laney Carter.”
“Likewise.”
A loud cheer rocked the stadium as the second period of the game started.
“Hey, you guys want to join us to watch the rest of the game?” Darla offered, even as she openly eyed the plate of fries that Kevin was holding.
“Sounds great,” Kevin replied with a chuckle, glancing over to give Laney an enchanted look.
And she smiled.
Again
Today
“So let me get this straight.” Rui shot Laney a no-nonsense, slightly incredulous look.
“You’ve only arrived in this world five days ago. And already, you’ve been chased down the street, had your life threatened twice, offended the President and Prime minister, recovered lost memories, been kidnapped by some bad guys, almost got killed by some god-awful machine, and spent nearly an entire day in the hospital to recover?”
Laney looked up from her half-eaten plate of waffles to give Rui’s prompting gaze a straightforward look. “Sounds terrible when you put it that way.”
“Well, technically,” Maia interjected, holding her own fork up to make her point. “The bad guys didn’t kidnap Laney. They just brain-jacked her to get her to walk over to their HQ on her own.”
“Aaand now it sounds worse,” Laney quipped.
Rui was still staring at her. “And now you’re what? Waiting here at the dockside café for Dr. Vermillion’s submarine to arrive from Geneva so that you can go ahead and put your life at risk all over again? Man, you’re brave.”
Laney tilted her head. “Brave? No. Stuck? Yes.” She gave Rui a once-over and gestured to the several bags hanging off her shoulders, rolling suitcase on the floor by her feet, ticket in her hand. “Are you going to miss your flight?”
Rui snapped to attention almost in a panic, squinting up in the setting sun’s glare to see through the giant skylight windows of the red brick building that served as the hub for the ships that arrived at and departed from the capital city, but she was put at ease upon sighting the top of the huge airship that was still docked at the waterfront.
“I’m sure I have a few more minutes,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m almost sorry I have to go back to Singapore this evening. I would have wanted to stick around and see what else would go down. As you might have guessed, not much happens in our biosphere laboratory.” Her face brightened. “This is all so exciting and you are seriously amazing!”
Laney put her hands up. “Hey, but you’re talking about it like I’m doing everything on my own.” She gestured beside her. “Maia was the neuroscience expert who helped me recover my memories.”
“You’re welcome, by the way,” Maia mumbled through her mouthful of food.
Laney went on, gesturing behind her. “And Noah’s been burdened with the unfortunate task of keeping me alive, which as it turns out?” She wrinkled her nose in bitterness. “Not as straightforward as one would think.”
The three of them looked up across the platform, toward the open deck that wrapped around the façade of the building, where a tall, broad-shouldered guy was leaned against the balcony, a guarded expression on his face as he kept a lookout for the sub.
“Wow, the brilliant Dr. Noah Donovan,” Rui said almost reverently. “I mean, I’d heard about him—about as much as I’d heard about you, but I had no idea he was so hot,” she remarked, her voice lowering on her last statement.
Laney began to let out an exasperated sigh. “He’s not that—”
Maia cleared her throat pointedly, loudly.
Laney stopped and rolled her eyes.
One of the things that Laney had learned so far about interdimensional travel was that often, nothing was what it seemed. Certain people, she’d discovered, could even go as far as to look completely different and yet stil
l potentially be the same.
Dr. Maia Chambers was a case in point, as, to Laney, she felt like she was her oldest best friend from her own world. Even though Laney was pretty sure that there was no way her redheaded friend Darla Addleton would ever get away with Maia’s dark alt makeup, twisted high ponytail, and the shell tattoo she sported on her collarbone.
On the other hand, despite the resemblance between Noah and Jake Donovan being incredibly uncanny, there was absolutely no denying that Noah was a hundred percent not Jake Donovan.
With his heavy flight jacket over a pair of worn, faded jeans, instead of preppy jock clothes, not to mention the hair, it wouldn’t take more than a few seconds to tell them apart on the outside.
Jake Donovan was a popular, chatty, arrogant, probably spoiled, but otherwise normal teenager. Whereas Noah had forgotten even the mere basics of social conventions. He had absolutely no idea how to deal with other people. He was unfriendly, standoffish, and then there was the constant brooding, which Laney figured probably came with the Special Forces training and having grown up in this particular alternate world.
He’s a good kisser though.
Laney blinked quickly to halt that train of thought, even as her stomach already fluttered in the recall of certain still-vivid memories. She scolded herself. She wanted to blame Eleanor again—their Laney. These weren’t really her own feelings. She was convinced that these had been just Noah’s late fiancée’s feelings bleeding through her. They had to be.
And given what Laney had discovered that Noah might have a connection with the people who had tried to erase her, needless to say, whatever she was feeling and whoever’s feelings they were, one thing was clear.
Noah was off-limits.
Maia was still looking at her expectantly.
“Alright, fine.” Laney threw up her hands in resignation. “He’s totally hot. But you know what? He’s super unfriendly and rude and sneaky and deceptive.”
Maia and Rui laughed.
Noah glanced over as though sensing that the girls were talking about him, but he only met Laney’s gaze briefly before turning back to look out the water.
“Whatever. Props, man.” Rui put her hand up to give Laney a high-five. “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have half the stones to deal with whatever all that is you’re dealing with right now.”
Laney chuckled and obliged.
“So would you like to join us?” Maia motioned to Rui. “Laney’s ordered enough food here to feed a battalion.”
“Yeah, they serve waffles all day here,” Laney informed her, her eyes almost scandalous.
Rui gave her a curious look as though it was a well-known fact. “Um, of course they do?” She noted the table covered with what looked like every kind of brunch food in the world and laughed again. “What, you don’t have food on your world?”
“Not for free we don’t,” Laney quipped as she reached for another pastry from across the table. “And I can’t believe you guys have cronuts here, too! Seriously, I’m in heaven right now.”
Just then, a flying drone zipped over carrying another box of food which it effortlessly deployed onto the last empty spot on the table.
“Oh,” Laney murmured in delight. “Food delivery by drone. I love it,” she said, already reaching into the box of pastries to direct an entire profiterole straight into her mouth.
Maia watched her, amused. “Tell me again about this tired notion of ‘home’ you have and why you can’t just quit while you’re ahead—nay, alive,” she pointed out. “And stay in our awesome world with us?” She leaned back then paused as if feeling the need to qualify. “World-wiping, apocalyptic cascade bomb aside. Which technically was over sixty years ago.”
Laney’s chewing slowed as she looked around.
If she didn’t already know that more than ninety-five percent of the rest of the world lay in ruins, she wouldn’t be able to tell from where she was sitting.
From across the balcony, on the horizon, she could see a couple of airships hovering in the burnt orange sky above the darkening blue harbor surrounded by rolling green hills, dotted with quaint bungalow houses; the backdrop for the contrasting combination of new and also well-preserved colonial structures of the cozy central business district that still sparkled in what was left of the daylight.
It really was beautiful.
She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it.
Laney sighed as she turned back to Maia. “I think you’re forgetting a certain group of people who’ve already tried to kill me once before, who’ve also promised to try again for as long as I remained here.”
“Yeah, yeah. The Alliance,” Maia supplied, offhand.
Rui’s eyes popped open in shock. “Maji de?”
Laney smacked Maia’s arm.
“Ow!” Maia yelped.
Laney gave Maia a pointed look. “Nothing. Nobody.” She waved her hand to dismiss it.
The Alliance was a secret organization whose mission was to safeguard science—but only the science that they deemed acceptable. And unfortunately, Laney with her weird extra-dimensional condition had not made the cut.
The people in this world only believed the organization to be a myth. And even though Laney obviously knew otherwise, divulging of or confirming their existence was totally forbidden. But after only having met Maia five days ago, she’d already found out that Maia was terrible at keeping secrets.
Maia made a face, rubbing her arm before she reached for some more food.
Laney gave Rui a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that.”
But Rui grinned. “Hey, I understand. In the plant world, we have secrets too,” she teased with a wink. “Did you know that the coneflower, more commonly known as Echinacea, is said to have amazing healing properties?” She paused, pursing her lips. “Well, I guess that’s not so much of a secret.”
They both laughed.
“Can I just say I think it’s amazing that you’ve maintained speaking your native Japanese in your family,” Maia noted to Rui, even as she was concentrated on picking out the sprinkles from her donut to eat them first. “It’s such a shame that some of these beautiful cultures are lost forever.”
“Hey, maybe Laney can teach you to speak Japanese too,” Rui suggested with a confident nod.
Maia was trying to keep a straight face. “Right.”
Laney fidgeted in her seat, not willing to get into that any further, and instead, changed the subject. “Hey, so, pull up a chair.” With her toe, she nudged one of the chairs out from under the table for Rui.
“It’s alright. Simon from my team should be by soon to—oh, there he is.”
Laney and Maia looked over to see both Simon and Kevin walking over to them. Simon’s gaze seemed to be distracted off to one side. Kevin’s hand was already raised in greeting.
“Hi girls,” Kevin greeted with a smile as the two of them came up to the café.
“Hey, Kevin,” Laney replied then she looked over at Simon. “Hey Simon, how’s it going? Are you guys leaving today too?”
Simon cast her a wary look and his smile looked forced. “Hi. Laney.” He glanced up sideways furtively and Laney realized he was trying to watch out for Noah from across the platform as though making sure he wouldn’t see him.
Laney watched Simon curiously, but Rui spoke before she could press on.
“I think we haven’t met yet,” Rui said, putting her hand out for Kevin to shake. “I’m Rui Minato.”
“Oh.” Laney’s eyes lit up. “This is Kevin Whitfield, my b—” Boyfriend! she was about to say. She faked a loud cough to cover her slip. She wanted to kick herself. Not this Kevin! “Oh, wow.” She mocked slapping her chest to clear her throat. “Those pastries are a total choking hazard.”
Maia didn’t even flinch. She slid a glass of water across the table which Laney immediately grabbed and bottomed up.
But Kevin just grinned and looked over at Rui, extending his hand. “Kevin Whitfield. Nice to meet you.”
Rui nodded. “Likewise.”
“Kevin’s joining our team for a few weeks,” Simon explained, still fidgeting in his stance. “He’ll be going to Singapore with us to help study the southern rata.”
“It was endemic to this region before the cascade bomb,” Kevin informed Laney. “We thought it was extinct but somehow there have been new sightings of it up near the equatorial territories. We’re hoping to bring back some samples of it to see if it thrives again in temperate conditions.”
“Isn’t that amazing,” Maia remarked. “What a stubborn little plant. It must have somehow adapted through the years to be able to grow outside its usual climate, against all odds.”
“Yes, and if we can determine how it’s evolved this way, we might possibly be able to apply the process to re-cultivate other plant species that were lost,” Simon explained with a small shrug.
“Not to mention its implications on our efforts on genetics research in general,” Maia put in, her eyes bright.
Kevin chuckled as he recognized the look in Maia’s eyes. “Someone stop her before she starts quoting from her world-famous paper again.”
“What? I’m just saying the breakthroughs to be made in this area of study are infinite and the potential impact could be global,” Maia argued.
“That’s right though!” Simon spoke up then he winced slightly as though he hadn’t meant to sound so excited. “I mean,” he went on, his voice lowered. “We’re only barely scratching the surface here, but if we’re even a small percentage successful, it’ll already be worth the shot.”
“It’ll certainly be a great step toward regenerating our world,” Rui said with an eager nod.
“See?” Maia prompted Kevin with a self-satisfied look. “That’s what I meant.”
Kevin simply shook his head in mirth.
Then Maia noticed Laney’s bored expression. “Hey, Laney,” she said, elbowing her. “What does Rui’s team do again?” she asked, her tone teasing.
Laney gave her a flat look then she put a finger up. “They’re dendrological geneticists,” she said, emphasizing her enunciation.