Portal (29 page)

I hugged him tightly and ran off to get Ariele. Maria and Harry were in the room with Ariele and Ali when I got back. Ali looked much better, but had decided to take it easy and laze at the hotel for the day.

“Good call, Ali, you have to be ready for the
Rocky Horror Picture Show
in the Village tonight,” I reminded her.

“I will be,” she promised.

Maria looked over at Harry and then asked, “Do you guys mind if Harry and I hang out today? We’ll stop by and check in with Ali regularly.”

“That would be great,” I said, “We’ll see you guys at dinner? Harry, call me as soon as you hear from Ella.”

He nodded. Ariele and I gathered our things and headed down to the lobby.

“Ariele, Kellan’s coming with us.”

“Oh,
wonderful
,” she muttered in disgust.

Kellan was waiting in the lobby with a packed breakfast for Ariele which she took gratefully as we walked toward the waiting limo. As we drove through the streets of Manhattan back toward the Lincoln tunnel there was an uncomfortable silence. I looked over to Ariele who was sitting with a hard expression resolutely looking out the window. Kellan was sitting next to me staring out the window too. I nudged his arm and he turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s up with the two of you? This is really awkward. What happened?”

Kellan and Ariele looked at each other, shrugged and stared back out the windows again.

This time, I pinched Kellan’s arm and grumped, “Tell me!”

“It’s nothing, Shrimp. Is it, Ariele?” he asked her pointedly.

She nodded, clearly revolted. However, I decided that since they were not going to be cooperative, I would have to let this drop for now. We had other things to concentrate on. The chauffeur asked where we were headed to first. I wanted to head over to the high school before it closed, but since we were making good time, I decided to stop in New Brunswick first to look my dad up.

“Could you take exit nine and take us to George Street in New Brunswick first?”

The driver nodded and we headed through the tunnel onto the Turnpike, south this time. Everything looked familiar, the airport, Ikea, Toys R Us. It was good to be going home. Ariele looked over and smiled at me warmly, she was excited as well. We took exit nine off the Turnpike and drove into New Brunswick asking to be let off near the State Theater. We walked over to Dad’s office from there. I had butterflies in my stomach and my heart was beating so fast I thought I would collapse. Kellan kept me steady with an arm around me.

We reached Dad’s office. What used to be my dad’s office, anyway. I was shaken to find that his office space was a hair salon. I was confused. I couldn’t possibly have come to the wrong place, I had been here innumerable times before. It was the right space, but my dad’s office was gone.

“This is strange, Ariele, isn’t it? We’ve only visited my dad here a thousand times before, haven’t we?”

She nodded, “Let’s go in and ask.”

I followed her in and she asked the girl at reception if they had just moved in. Turned out that they had been here for the last three years or so. We went back outside and looked at the location again. Dad’s office had definitely been here.

“This is really strange. I don’t understand….”

Kellan took my hand and squeezed it. He looked puzzled, “Let’s walk up a bit and see if you recognize anything.”

A few stores looked familiar, but I didn’t see anyone familiar to ask about Dad. We decided to head back to the limo and head down to Princeton. I would stop at the house first, hopefully Dad was home waiting for me. We headed south on Route 1, everything looked comfortingly familiar. We passed the Regal cinema complex where Ariele and I had spent many a Friday night with the gang. I pointed these sites out to Kellan, but he seemed to be deep in thought although he did nod as if he was paying close attention. We drove down Nassau Street through Princeton. We went past Hamilton Jewelers, my mom’s favorite place to buy those silly little trinkets. I looked at the University regretfully as we passed it, no chance of getting in there. We eventually turned into my street and stopped by the house.

“Here we are, Kellan, this is my home,” I said excitedly.

“Let’s go inside, I can’t wait to show you my room. It’s full of hockey goodies!” I jumped out and ran toward the house with Ariele and Kellan following closely behind. I rang the doorbell but there was no reply. I decided to let myself in with the spare key in the garage. As I went to enter the combination to open the garage door, I noticed that the door color had been changed, it was black instead of the white it had been since we’d moved in. I wondered why my dad would change the color. That was so unlike him. I tried the combination but nothing happened.

A blue car pulled into the driveway and a middle-aged man got out. It wasn’t my dad.

“What are you doing, kids? Can I help you?” he said sternly, clearly having noticed me trying the garage combination.

“I’m looking for my dad. I live here.”

The man looked puzzled as he walked over, putting his hand in his pocket and bringing out a cell phone.

He said, “This is my house, has been for years. Who are you kids? I’ve never seen you in this neighborhood before. I don’t want any trouble so I suggest you leave before I call the cops.”

Kellan steadied me as my legs gave way beneath me and led me back to the limo. We sat silently looking at each other, totally puzzled. How could this be? Where was Dad?

“Ariele, can we stop by your place?” I asked.

She hesitated but nodded. We couldn’t find it; her development didn’t exist.

“What do you think is going on?” I asked Ariele.

She shrugged tearfully, “I don’t know, but I don’t think I want to go back to the high school. I bet we never existed there either.”

She was right, that would be more than we could bear. The high school had been our lives. To not have ever existed.…

Kellan looked at us and sighed, “Let me go and check out the high school. I can go in and find out if you are students there. I can try anyway.”

“That’s a good idea and very sweet of you, thank you,” I said gratefully.

Ariele and I waited in the school car park dumbfounded. She looked at me suspiciously.

“Arizona, have you spoken to your mother yet?”

“No, but I will when I get back. I was kind of hoping to bring Dad back with me for support.”

“There is something very odd going on. How can this be? It’s like we never existed, yet I have all the photographs to prove that we did. We do exist! Let’s bring them along to your Mom. Did Kellan say anything to you?” she asked angrily.

“About what?” I asked

“This situation. Have you guys discussed it recently?

“No, not really. I guess we’ve been too busy with hockey. I suppose I was putting it off until we came here as well. You know, to prove to him that I have a life here. So much for that!”

Ariele looked like she needed to tell me something, but she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Kellan opened the door and climbed back in shaking his head wistfully. We headed back to Manhattan in silence.

I received a call from Harry just before we entered the Lincoln Tunnel.

“The munchkin got the part! She’s here, she wants to tell you herself….” He stopped short as the phone was obviously yanked from his hand and Ella burst into excited babble.

“I made it, I made it! When are you going to be back?”

“Congratulations, little star! We should be there in about twenty minutes and then we’ll go and celebrate.”

“Yay! Hurry,” she shouted as she turned off the phone.

I turned to Kellan and Ariele, “Well, let’s put our happy faces on. Ella needs to celebrate. She deserves us to be happy for her. We’ll have to put this mystery on hold for now.”

The rest of the New York trip was fantastic. We took Ella and Jonas out to Fright Fest at Six Flags in Jackson. At least that hadn’t changed. Ali had recovered enough to join us but stayed off the rides. Ella turned out to be a roller coaster addict and went on every one she was allowed to. It was nice to be able to relax with Kellan, to just laugh and have fun. I was a bit sad when we left for Newark the next day. It had been an enjoyable visit in some ways although I was left hollow by the realization that I had not existed here like I thought I had.

I wasn’t sure what to do next. I knew that I had to talk this over with Mom, who was sure to have some answers. It would have been easier with some proof, though. Then I remembered: Ariele’s photographs.

Olivia checked her watch, she had another couple of hours before she had to head out to the airport. It had been a particularly frustrating two days. Most of Larry’s and her theories were severely flawed. They had worked non stop since their talk with Kellan and his revelations about Arizona. Larry had, as promised, talked to Kellan and shared as much as he could with him. He had kept the details as vague as possible, but Kellan had nonetheless been traumatized. He hadn’t even said good bye to his dad before heading off to Manhattan.

She hoped that he would have the sense to not share what he knew with either Arizona or Harry. Olivia didn’t feel ready to deal with this yet. There were too many inconsistencies without reasonable explanations.

There was a sharp knock on her door and Larry walked through and sat himself down opposite her with his hands clenched in his lap.

“Ollie, Ollie, Ollie,” he murmured somberly as he studied her face. She was his very best friend, his confidante, and since his wife had died, a mother figure to Kellan. He loved her dearly.

“Larry?”

“Ah Ollie, Kellan called. It’s not good news.”

“Everyone’s ok?” she asked, suddenly anxious. She’d spoken to Rupert before they boarded the flight. “I spoke to Rupert before take off, everyone seemed ok…,” she said hopefully.

“Rupert doesn’t know.”

“Doesn’t know what?”

Larry looked worried.

“Larry, come on. Just tell me!” She demanded frustrated. “I’m sorry, Larry. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She very rarely did, without Rupert by her side. They were almost never apart, their nights were spent in each other’s arms as should be and it was almost unbearable to lay in bed alone. So, she had watched the bedside clock turn 3 AM, 4 AM and so forth.

“Kellan called me late last night. It was an awkward conversation. We didn’t part on good terms, as you know. Arizona and Ariele planned to head over to see Dillard while they were over there. Kellan found out and insisted on accompanying them even though he and Ariele are at odds with each other.”

Olivia stiffened; it didn’t take her by complete surprise. After all, she had feared that Arizona would try to pull something like this. It was only natural. All the same, the fact that she actually had could present frightening consequences.

Larry continued, “Kellan hired a limo to take them down to New Brunswick first where they found no signs of Dillard ever having existed. They similarly found no signs of their own past when they visited the house and school.”

Olivia nodded. That was no surprise to her or to Larry, but must have been a momentous revelation for the kids.

“How did the kids react? Are they devastated?”

Larry shrugged, “Kellan had been sort of pre warned, although he had not taken this permutation into consideration, but I think he was able to deal with it knowing some of the background. Arizona and Ariele, on the other hand, are confounded. Neither of them ‘freaked’ out to the extent that they could have. They didn’t have it out with Rupert. They didn’t even mention it to him. They’ve apparently decided to wait and have it out with you.”

“Perfect!” Olivia said, shuddering.

“Are you going to tell Arizona that her dad’s living in Leeds with his wife and four children?” Larry asked.

Olivia rolled her eyes, “He’s moved on. He left her a while ago. Didn’t I mention it?”

Larry shrugged, “You may have, I can’t remember. In any case, you could, if you wanted to, put her in touch with Dillard.”

“Yes, but he wouldn’t know her. It would be painful for her. She would be so much better off letting this go. Larry, how much did you tell Kellan? What was his reaction?”

“Not a lot. I did tell him about the portal and how we had transported you back to Rupert and then reunited you with your daughters. I was very vague but upfront and I admitted to him that I had no idea what was going on at the moment. I told him that we would work on it while he was in New York and I would try to make sense of it. He was furious about the portal. I didn’t tell him that we’d come through as well….”

Olivia looked thoughtful.

“I can’t even begin to think of how I am going to explain this to Arizona, even less to Harry.”

Larry got up, “I’d better go. Can you bring Kellan home? I have some things I have to take care of here. We do need to talk again soon.”

He turned toward her again as he was about to head out the door. He stared at her hesitatingly.

“Ollie, I didn’t want to mention this and add more things for you to worry about but.…”

“Larry, just spill. I can handle it… I think.”

“Ollie, the energy source for the portal is diminishing, we have to close it earlier than planned. It’s set to close on the 20
th
now.”