Portal (33 page)

“Hi there, Arizona and Kellan,” Larry acknowledged as soon as we walked into his office.

“Arizona, your mother and Rupert are downstairs so let’s head over there.”

I nodded as I checked my pocket for my list and felt for the safety of the photographs, which Ariele had given to me.

“Is Ariele down there too?” I asked hopefully.

“Arizona, no. She didn’t want to come,” replied Larry as he gathered a bunch of papers from his desk. “She did give me this note for you, though,” he said as he handed me a folded piece of paper.

I was disappointed. It would have been invaluable to have had her support. I looked at the note. It was brief… it just said
stay strong
.

We took the elevator down to the basement and went through a set of heavy metal doors that slid open after Larry keyed a code into the control pad. We arrived at another door, labeled
OP: Restricted Entry
. Larry pointed his eyes towards the pad on the door, it buzzed and clicked green once the buzzing stopped. Could this be an iris scanner? I had read about these, very high tech, must be super secret. I felt like I was in a James Bond movie. The metal door slid open and we went through to an enormous space full of noisy equipment. It was like an airplane hanger. The space was filled with laboratory equipment hooked into computers. It seemed like a strange place for a talk. I wondered what they had cooked up.

I spotted Mom and Rupert sitting on metal chairs at the far corner. We walked over to them and sat down. It felt very daunting. Maybe that was the aim? We could easily have had this talk at home, no need for this noisy, intimidating atmosphere. I sat down on one of the chairs and stared at Mom for answers. Mom looked right back at me. She looked sad and worried, but her voice was unfailing, as she looked me steadfastly in the eyes.

“Arizona, I have been told that Simla was responsible for what happened to you in the girl’s restroom. Is that true?”

I was surprised by her choice of direction and decided to ignore it. I slowly brought out my sheet with my list of questions and looked at it studiously. Then I looked at her just as she had at me.

“Mom, where is Dad?”

She looked genuinely surprised. It couldn’t be at my question, though, she must have seen that one coming. It was probably because I ignored her question to pose my own. I saw her eyes narrow and her mouth form into a frown. Rupert shifted uneasily in his chair. Larry spoke up.

“Arizona, what do you mean?”

“Just what I asked. Where’s Dillard, my dad?”

“It’s ok, Larry. Let me deal with this question. Arizona, Dillard lives in Leeds,” said Mom.

“Leeds? Where’s Leeds?” I asked astounded.

Mom continued, “Leeds is in England.”

I was confused; “I know that, but why? England? When did he move back to England?”

“He’s always lived in England, Arizona. He’s never moved away from England. He moved from London to Leeds after we got divorced.”

“When did you get divorced?” I couldn’t help but digress, I knew that they had been separated for years, but I was unaware that they had made it official.

“Since before Harry was born, so almost twenty years.”

I was annoyed. She was clearly lying.

“Mom, that’s not possible.” I couldn’t believe that she was going to take to bare-faced lying! I decided to remain calm and plowed on with my questions.

“What’s Dad doing in Leeds?”

“I’m not sure exactly,” said Mom. “I understand he’s still working there. He is separated from his wife….”

I interrupted her, “His wife? You?

“No, Arizona, his third wife. I believe her name is Sarah.”

I closed my eyes and tried to absorb this information. No one spoke; I could feel their eyes staring into me.

I turned to Kellan, “Did you know this about my dad?”

He shook his head and I felt a sense of relief that at least he’d not been playing me in New Jersey. This didn’t make any sense whatsoever. I decided to leave this issue and try another approach.

I felt in my pocket for the photographs and brought them out. I looked through the pack slowly and selected a Christmas card picture of me, Dad, Mom, Ella and Gertrude and passed it to Mom. I couldn’t wait for her to see this.

“Explain this then,” I challenged.

She took a sharp intake of breath as she studied the picture and passed it on to Rupert. I could see that she was struggling to find a way to explain this to me. Larry looked at her fondly and patted her back. I felt like I was going to explode. Why was he being nice to
her
?

“Ollie, let me take over and try to explain this to Arizona. I can see that this is just confusing her more. Maybe we should tell her about the portal. It may help clarify things a bit.”

“The portal?” I shuddered in despair, once again hoping that I was in some nightmare.

Larry turned his chair to face Kellan and me.

“We’ve been involved in a really complicated project which I don’t want to get into too much. Suffice to say that behind those metal doors,” he pointed to what looked like a metal wall rather than door. “Behind those doors is a portal.”

“A portal? What’s a portal?” I asked baffled.

Larry continued, “Arizona, it’s like a wormhole, which allows transport between dimensions.”

“This is ridi….” I started to protest.

Mom cut me off saying, “Let Larry go on, Arizona. He’s trying to answer your question.”

“Like I said, Arizona. This man-made portal is like a mini wormhole. It allows us transport between time and dimensions. Your mother brought you through the portal to enable you to be together. At the moment, that portal is set so that your dad is on the other end. In fact, if you go through it right now, your life, as you think it should be, will be back to normal, but without your mom, Ella or Gertrude.”

I was horrified by what he was saying, “You mean she not only abducted us, but abducted us to a totally different life? Through a worm hole!” I was beyond bewildered. Why would she do that?

She looked sad as she said, “I guess you could call it that, but I did feel it was in your best interest.”

I tried to think back to my other questions, but my mind drew a blank. This was all totally crazy. I clearly had to head back. What about Ella, would I ever see her again or Kellan? Harry? Gertrude? Grandma?

“I have to go back, I can’t let you get away with this. It’s beyond unacceptable! And what about Dad?”

My mom looked at me carefully. “Arizona, that’s up to you. You’ve been living here with us as Arizona Darley for the past eight years. I didn’t bring you back here now; I brought you back eight years ago. And for these eight years we’ve been happy. I have no explanations as to why you are having this
switch
in your memory from your previous life. I can’t explain how you can recall Arizona Stevens from
now
. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m concerned that it could reverse at any time. You could find yourself back with Dillard, but with the reverse happening. You may wake up as Arizona Darley wondering where your life went.”

That totally blew my mind. She was basically telling me that my mind could switch back to being another person? What was the trigger?

I looked and asked her just that, “What triggered this switch?”

“I’m not sure, Arizona. I retrieved Gertrude a couple of weeks ago and I believe that’s when the switch occurred. So I am assuming that perhaps Gertrude was the trigger but I have no explanation of how that happened. We do know someone has been tampering with the portal, but we have not yet found out who or why.”

“Mom, I don’t know what to believe!”

“I can understand that, but believe me this is just as confusing for us.”

I exploded, “No, it’s not!” I shouted angrily. “
You
are responsible for this! If it wasn’t for you messing about
we
would all still be in Princeton!”

“That is somewhat true, maybe for you anyway. I wouldn’t still be there and neither would Ella,” said Mom.

I got up and stomped about angrily picking up a chair and throwing it against the wall. Kellan came over and grabbed me. He held me tightly until I calmed down slightly. Was there any point continuing with my questions? Did I really need answers when they were obviously ludicrous? Or did I just need to cut to the chase and demand that this be put right and I be transported back to Dad?

Just then, something hit me – didn’t Mom say that Dad lived in Leeds? Couldn’t this mean that I could still stay here with Kellan and also contact my dad in Leeds, and not have to go through the portal? The portal, I shivered at the thought. Was it even safe, reliable? What if I ended up with the dinosaurs!

I sat down and thought about this. This would still mean giving up on my school, my friends, my whole life. However, if I went back I would never see Ella or Kellan again. I also loved having Harry as my older brother. That was something else I needed to clarify. Harry was another mystery that needed explaining. I needed time to think.

“I’m exhausted and I need time to think. Can we continue with this conversation another time?” I asked.

Larry looked at me and shrugged, “Well, unfortunately, we have another complicating issue.”

I felt my stomach churn and I felt faint. Kellan moved his chair closer to mine and grabbed my hand.

“Another issue?” I asked fearfully.

Larry looked concerned but continued: “The portal is time sensitive, it’s normally open for a limited period during October. It was set to close on Halloween. However, someone has tampered with it resulting in energy levels that are too low to keep it open. We can’t keep it open any longer, it’s not reliable, it will close tonight.”

I closed my eyes, was he really telling me that I had to make a decision
now
? That was so beyond unfair, intolerable. I looked over at Mom.

“You can’t be serious, you can’t expect me to make a decision now?”

Mom replied quietly, “You don’t have to make a decision now. In fact, you shouldn’t. I have no control over the portal closing but it will open again next October. We can program it to open up so you won’t have lost any time with Dillard. But you’ll have to stay here for a year if you decide not to go through right now. Think about it Arizona, what do you have to lose? Stay and think about this situation for a year and then decide.”

No way, I thought! A whole year in this situation, I shook my head.

“No, if I’m being forced to make a decision now, then I am going through. But, how? Tell me what to do,” I shouted defiantly with tears streaming down my face. My body shook, I felt so agitated that I was struggling to maintain even a little control.

I could feel Kellan’s grip around my hand tighten to a vice.

“Shrimp, I’ll never see you again….”

“Kellan, I need to go back.”

“You don’t, stay.” He let go of my hand when Larry got up and beckoned me to follow him.

“You’re sure?” asked Mom falteringly. I nodded as I followed Larry towards the metal doors. Larry stopped by the computer and entered a code, which opened the doors just wide enough for us to enter. Larry went through first and waited for me on the other side.

Mom, Rupert and Kellan followed closely behind. Mom grabbed hold of me and turned me around. “Are you sure Arizona, think about it. Don’t do this just because you’re angry with me.”

I could see Kellan sitting with his head in his hands.

“I have to, Mom.”

“You don’t. You don’t lose anything by staying here a year.”

“What if you can’t reset the portal in a year? You said someone had tampered with it?”

Mom looked at me thoughtfully, “More reason for you not to go through right now. Let Larry and me work on this and figure out what’s going on. I promise you that you won’t lose any time. I know you are angry, but try to think about this logically.”

My mind was exploding. I couldn’t stay here another year, could I? It would be intolerable.

“Don’t go, Arizona,” I heard Kellan whisper.

I looked over Mom’s shoulder at Kellan. He looked beat. I had never seen him look so despondent. His eyes were blood shot. My heart felt a sharp pain cut through it.

He
was my life – how could I leave him? I ran over and launched myself at him. I pushed my face so hard into his chest trying to climb into his heart and hide there. I clung on to him; I knew I had to find a way to do both. I wanted to go through but I needed Kellan with me. He couldn’t give up his life here though, it would be asking too much. My head felt dizzy from all these thoughts. I needed time to think. Time to figure out a way to do both. Yes… time….

I could not allow myself to make a rash decision just because I was angry. There was too much at stake. Mom had assured me that I had nothing to lose, but could she be trusted, even a little bit? The sensible thing to do would be to…. Kellan interrupted my thoughts.

“Shrimp, stay with me.”

I looked up at him, into his eyes and nodded.

EPILOGUE

Dr. Sen pursed his lips into an angry line and eyed his wife furiously. Erica Sen tried to ignore him. She closed her eyes hoping to void her mind in order to regain the calm that she needed in order to function. She couldn’t shake off his negative vibes. He was becoming a pest, she was not equipped to deal with this turmoil. She would have to let the Elders deal with him. They were not going to be happy. They had, after all, warned her that his basic human instincts could be a problem.