Equilibrium (30 page)

“Ollie, how are you doing?” Larry asked, as he came into her office and sat down beside her on the couch.

“Okay, I guess.”

“Kellan just called me,” Larry said. “He’s staying over at your place tonight. That’s all right, isn’t it?” 

“You come over as well,” Olivia nodded.

“I will, later on. I’m heading over to Morgana’s house for a while. Kevin’s going back tonight, so we’re having a little get-together. I was hoping you and Rup would come as well.”

She nodded and let her thoughts wander to Kevin. She didn’t know much about him. She tried to think back to when she had first met him. It had been years ago, just before the kids were brought through the portal. Larry had introduced her to both Kevin and Inez during a dinner he had organized at his home. Kevin had not made much of an impression. In fact, he’d seemed fairly uninteresting, but sincere and intelligent. She’d been more taken by Inez. Who wouldn’t be? She emitted a special kind of warmth and Olivia had immediately been drawn to her. Years later, when she heard that they were no longer together, she was not surprised. She’d trusted that Larry had made the right decision when he’d left Kevin in charge of the portal at the other end.

“How’s he getting back? Did you find an alternative energy source? Can we operate the portal?”

“No. The portal will remain closed until next October. We did get the collider unit back on track though. Rupert’s a whiz.”

Olivia was puzzled, she would have to ask Rupert about this
talent
of his.

“Morena will take Kevin back,” Larry said, as if that was perfectly reasonable.

Olivia had known Morena for a long time. They’d become good friends when Larry and she were planning and constructing the portal. Morena had invaluable technical contacts at the SETI and had been a real support. However, most of all, they had bonded over their mutual love of high-end shopping. They had spent many an hour shopping at Hermès and Chanel. They’d had so many perfect shopping-and-champagne lunch expeditions together. Olivia missed that. Even though she felt so close to her, Morena had not shared much about her personal life. She just now found out that Morena had a twin sister! She would be sorry to see Morena go back. It would have been nice to have her stay, even just for a little while, to have some time to catch up.

“Care to tell me how, Larry? There’s another portal, isn’t there? You’ve been working on a back-up system. You can tell me, I won’t be angry at all, though I can’t imagine why you’ve kept this from me. So, how exactly is Morena transporting Kevin back?” she asked, hoping he wasn’t going to ramble on about paranormal stuff again.

“Oh, Ollie. You’re just not going to accept the Wanderers are you? Not by anything I say to you anyway. I guess we’ll eventually have to
show
you,” he laughed. “However, there is a bit more to tonight. Erica has contacted Inez and asked for a meeting. Apparently Simla wants to talk to us. When I say us, I mean the Wanderer Elders, not Rupert, you and me. But I think it’s important that we attend.”

Olivia wondered how Simla knew about the
Elders
. She sighed, not being able to buy into this. Still, a soiree of any kind would be a welcome relief at the moment. She picked up her cell and called Rupert.

“Hey, Rup! Fancy a night out?” she smiled into the phone.

“Would love to,” Rupert replied happily. “Your mom just came over so she’ll watch the kids. Kellan’s staying over, by the way. I just checked on them. Ella and Arizona are already fast asleep in their beds. Harry and Kellan are downstairs watching a movie. The feds are watching the house. So, yes, a night out with you sounds perfect. What did you have in mind?”

“Kevin’s leaving tonight, so there is a get-together at Morgana’s house. It’s more than just a social event, apparently Simla is coming. We don’t know what that’s all about, but I think we should go.”

“Sounds like fun, not sure about the Simla bit, though. Are you coming home first or shall I meet you over there?”

“I’ll ride over with Larry. See you over there.  Drive carefully, Rup.”

She turned to Larry. “Shall we drive over?” Larry had brought his Bentley, so it was a luxurious drive over to Morgana’s house. They were followed as expected. Larry grabbed a case of Champagne from the trunk and made his way up the steps behind Olivia. The door opened before Olivia’s finger touched the bell and a little dog flung itself on her.

“Down, Misty! So sorry, Ollie. My sister really needs to train her better,” Morena said, flinging her arms around Olivia. “You look great,” she said, pulling Olivia through so Larry could get in. “Great Maharani, is it new?” Morena asked, admiring Olivia’s new clutch. “I knew you would eventually become a croc fan!”

“You look pretty amazing yourself,” Olivia said, as she hugged her friend.

“Hey, Larry. You brought bubbly? Great! Park it in the wine refrigerator. So, Ollie, what’s new?” Morena continued.

“You tell me, Morena! I’m a bit confused. Why didn’t you tell me you had a sister?”

“You never asked,” she laughed. “We were always too busy shopping. Speaking of which, when did you get the croc?”

Olivia nodded happily, as she rubbed the leather of her new Maharani clutch. “It’s new, about a month ago. Don’t change the subject,” she smiled. “Your sister–tell me everything.”

“Well, you’ve already met her, but I guess you didn’t have a chance to talk shop. You’ll like her. She’s just like me apart from the whole
small-dog
obsession. But you like that, don’t you? You’ll probably like her more than you like me!” she said, as she pulled Olivia into the kitchen.

It was busy–a flurry of activity, making it difficult to focus on anyone in particular. Inez was there, cutting pita bread into wedges. Kevin was standing by a big bowl, dipping tortillas into it and chomping down. Constance was frying up something on the large stove in the corner and Morgana was bending over, concentrating on placing cucumber pieces perfectly onto her sliced brie. Grayson was helping Larry place the Champagne bottles into the cooler and Javier was standing about looking confused.

“Hey, Morgana. Come here for a sec. Javier can take over whatever you’re doing,” Morena cheekily added. Morgana lifted her head slowly and walked over to us.

“Nice to see you again, Olivia?” she smiled.

Olivia nodded and extended her hand. She was surprised at the soft touch of Morgana’s hand as she shook it gently. “Nice to see you too. You’re Morena’s sister?”

“Big sister, yes. I mean we are twins, though I was born first,” she added.

Morena laughed.

“You look identical,” Olivia said, looking at them in awe. Not just identical but breathtakingly so. One of them on her own would never fail to turn heads, but the two of them together–wow, what showstoppers. “So is it just the two of you or do you have other siblings?”

“Oh, Grayson is our brother, our older brother,” Morgana replied surprised, looking at her sister.

Morena shrugged. “Olivia is not really the type to accept the likes of us, I mean Wanderers. So I didn’t really bring it up or try to explain it. I just avoided the whole issue,” she explained.

“So, you didn’t know about us?” Morgana said astonished. “When did you find out?”

“Just recently. I mean I was just recently told about Wanderers,” Olivia replied carefully, not wanting to offend.

“What she means is that she was told, but she thinks it’s all hocus pocus,” Morena laughed.

Morgana looked confused. “You don’t believe we exist?”

Olivia shrugged noncommittally.

“We brought your kids back to you. How else do you think they got back here?” Morgana queried.

“I bet she thinks we have a portal in the basement,” Morena smiled.

Olivia smiled back, thinking of a way to change the subject. She really didn’t want to get into this. Of course they had found some means to traverse the dimensions, if not through a portal, then using some other kind of mechanism. They did work at the SETI, after all. Thankfully, Inez and the others joined them in the lounge. They brought all the food and drink with them. Rupert and Lars arrived in time for the first bottle of Champagne to be opened. Rupert went right up to Olivia and put his arms around her as he made himself comfortable next to her. She lay her head down against his shoulder, feeling perfectly at peace.

Larry got up to speak, Champagne in hand, to make a toast. “First of all, let’s toast the safe return of our children,” he said, and lifted up his flute. “Morena, Morgana and Lars, thank you for bringing the kids back. We owe a special thanks to David as well. Inez, please pass on our gratitude.”

Inez nodded and patted Kevin’s knee. “We’re very proud of him.”

“You should be,” Larry said. “He’s an amazing kid.” He turned to Kevin as he sat back down on his seat. “Kevin, are you
sure
that you should head back? I’m really uncomfortable about it.”

Kevin nodded. “I can’t hide out here forever. My life is back there.”

“You could start a new life here, Kevin,” Inez interrupted.

“No, I don’t want to. I like my set-up there. Much as I miss having David around, I have accepted and grown used to it. I need to go back. I like my work, I like working on my projects back at Ames.”

Inez nodded unhappily.

“We need to know that you’re going to be safe. After all, Inez just managed to rescue you from Raj Sen. What’s to say that he’s not waiting at your house for you?” Javier said.

“Well, we have come up with a plan,” Morena said. “I’m going back home as well. I’ll take Kevin to my place and he can hang out there until he knows it’s safe to head home. Does that sound logical?”

Javier nodded. “You’re both going to have to be very careful. Kevin, you must take every precaution, especially when you head back to work. Okay?”

Kevin nodded. He didn’t need to be warned. He had no intention of putting himself in harm’s way–he’d had enough of that.

“Are we all in agreement to let Kevin head back home and that Morena will transport him?” Javier asked, looking around the room. He was slightly amused to see Olivia nodding although he was sure it was just an automatic response to seeing everyone else do so. He was well aware of her total disbelief in them.

Olivia had stopped listening. She had drifted off, thinking about Arizona. She had to figure out how the switch had happened. It seemed fairly clear that Gertrude had somehow stimulated it. How could a dog transfer over a whole persona? Granted, Gertrude had only known Arizona as a Stevens, but she had been at Arizona’s side for the last five years. Could a bond between a human and an animal be so strong that this could occur? It seemed like transference of the very essence of that being. It seemed as nonsensical as this whole Wanderer thing.

She was startled into the present by the sound of the doorbell ringing. She saw Erica come in to the lounge with Simla hovering behind her.

“Nice to see you both, Erica and Simla. Please sit down for a moment. Help yourself to food,” Morgana offered.

Erica floated over to Grayson and sat down next to him. Simla plunked herself down next to her mother with a scowl on her face. In response to Grayson’s questioning look, Erica touched her thumb to his and let him absorb her thoughts. He looked over to her with concern and put his arms around her.

“Erica, you wanted to talk to us,” Inez said, looking gently over at Simla and her mother. They had been through a lot. What Raj had pulled could not be easy for either of them. They deserved to be treated with kindness at this time.

Erica nodded. “It’s not really me. It’s Simla who wants to talk to you. I’m very upset about what she is about to say and I want you to know that I don’t condone any of it.”

Inez was surprised and looked over at Simla. She looked fragile but defiant. “Simla?”

“I
hate
all of you,” she spluttered, hesitantly at first but then suddenly forceful. “Every one of you in this room. I hate you. You’ve taken my dad from me and I want him back. I want Mom to transport him back right now,” she demanded, and then sat back looking sullen.

Inez was taken aback. She’d been unaware that Simla had known anything about her dad’s whereabouts. “Back from
where
, Simla?” she asked.

“Don’t play stupid games with me!” Simla shouted rudely.

“Mind your tongue,” Erica said sternly. “Inez is our leader. You do not
ever
speak to anyone like that!”

“Simla, you may go. Erica, please remove her. If and when you are ready to be respectful, we’ll consider hearing from you again,” Inez said, dismissing them.

Simla got up and started walking toward the door. Then she turned around and stared at Inez insolently. “
You
are going to be very, very sorry. If you don’t get my dad back here within twenty-four hours, you are going to be
sorry
.” She then marched off with Erica running after her, throwing apologetic glances over her shoulder.

“Grayson, go with Erica. Support her the best you can,” Inez commanded.

Grayson was already on his feet and rushed off.

“So, what was that all about?” Olivia asked.

“I don’t know,” Inez replied. “She obviously knows that Raj went through the portal. I wonder if she was involved in any way?”

“She did tell the feds that she helped her dad get into Ames. Agent Adams didn’t think she was involved any further that that,” Larry offered. “That’s from what she told me. I’m sure the feds are not forthcoming with all the information they have. My guess is that they’re concentrating their efforts on Sophie. We need start looking into her background, too.”

“Well, whatever the feds know or think they know, Simla
must
know that Raj went through the portal. She must know that he is still there, which seems to indicate that they had some kind of arrangement about the time he would be back. She must know what went on.”

“I’ll get Agent Adams on the phone and ask her to question Simla again,” Larry said, getting his phone out of his pocket.

“No, don’t do that, Larry,” Javier interrupted. “Simla can’t be trusted to keep
our
secret. We need to find out what went on from her. Can her mother
read
her?” he asked, looking at Inez.