Fusion (13 page)

She shook her head. “I disagree completely. I am sure he’ll understand.”

I folded my arms in front of me. “No.”

“Let’s take a timeout and think about this. We’ll discuss it again in a few days. Take the time to really think about why you want to physically travel there, and perhaps consider other options.”

“Like what?”

“I can tell you all about him and help you fill in the bl—”

“No. I have to figure this out for myself, and we don’t have much time to waste. The Portal closes soon, right?”

“Yes, in a few days.”

“So, in reality, you don’t even have the option to talk to Dad.”

“I think it would be better to plan this for next year,” she suggested.

“No way! I can’t live like this… wondering… for a whole year. It has to be now.” I stopped and stared at the floor, having ran out of anything more to say.

She came over and put her arms around me. “I am going to consult with Larry about this. It’s not like I can do it on my own. I’d need Larry to help us.”

I nodded, relieved that she’d at least think about it.

“Now, grab your jacket, and we’ll get a bite to eat. Let’s have Ella and the others join us.”

~

Olivia tried to maintain a light mood during dinner, which got easier when Ella and Alexa joined them at the restaurant. Bruno and David had been waiting for them in the lobby at Ames and joined them for dinner as well. They enjoyed sushi while listening to Ella’s stories of how fun it was to have Alexa as her classroom assistant. Alexa clearly hadn’t been prepared for a day with twenty-odd kids and looked less put together than normal, her face drawn from pure exhaustion. Still, she smiled and laughed as Ella went through her series of mishaps, which included filing some of the class homework into the recycling box.

After dinner, David drove the girls home while Olivia made her way back to her office with Bruno.

“Bruno, you don’t really need to stay.” Olivia broke the silence of the otherwise quiet drive to Ames. “Why don’t you take Arizona’s car, and go do something fun? It must be boring having to follow me around all day.” He was so quiet that, most of the time, she forgot he was even around, but here he was, and he deserved a break. “Maybe Kellan could take you to the movies or the rink when he gets back. Do you skate?”

“No, but I’d love to give it a try,” he replied. “However, I am not allowed to leave you unattended.”

Olivia didn’t detect even the slightest note of discontent in his tone. “Tell you what. Perhaps I can ask David to stay with me this evening, while Kellan, Arizona, and you go out and do something fun. You can cover Arizona, and David will cover me. Does that work for you?”

She saw a flash of excitement in his eyes as he perked up and smiled. “Actually, that would be awesome. I’ll ask David if he’s okay with it.”

“Let me,” Olivia said firmly and then pulled into her parking space in the Ames lot.

“Do you want me to wait down here again?” Bruno asked in the lobby. “I’d prefer not to. I am supposed to be closer to you. I can wait outside your office, if you need privacy.”

“No, you can come up to the office with me. I just needed some private time with my daughter before.” She paused. “Now, I have to assume that everything you hear remains confidential, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Even from Rupert?”

“No, ma’am.”

“In that case, perhaps I could ask you to step outside my office when Larry comes up?”

“Yes, that’ll be fine.”

Olivia had texted Larry before she left the restaurant, and he was already in her office when she arrived. She nodded at Bruno, who stepped back outside and closed the door.

“Hey, Ollie! Got your text. You need to talk?” He smiled.

“Yes.” She laughed. “That ominous little phrase. Yes, we do need to talk. Let me get you a drink.” She grabbed a crystal tumbler.

“Laphroaig? This must be serious,” he remarked as she handed him the single malt.

“When isn’t it?” She sighed, dropping into the couch beside him and stretching. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a day of doing nothing… just reading and watching TV? Boy, I am hoping that, by the time Christmas gets here, we’ll all be sitting around in our pajamas and watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.”

Larry laughed. “I’ll drink to that.”

“Give me a sec to check my email. I asked security to send me the surveillance footage from the time Simla was here with Dillard. I want to figure out which Dillard was here.”

“That should be fairly easy.” Larry stepped up beside her and peered over her shoulder as she opened the email.

Olivia clicked on the video and then focused in on the image of Dillard handing his driver’s license to the receptionist. “Dillard from Leeds, judging from what he’s wearing.” She pointed to his jeans and soccer jersey. To be sure, she screen-captured the frame that most clearly showed his face and blew it up. Squinting, she focused in on it the best she could.

“That’s not Dillard,” Larry remarked. “It’s quite a good likeness, but it’s not Dillard, either of them.”

“I can’t believe it! Simla snookered me.” She shook her head, half-annoyed and half in awe that Simla had gotten one over on her.

Larry chuckled softly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, but that’s funny.”

Olivia nudged him and then laughed. “I wonder if Raj was doing the same thing: just threatening me without any basis.” She got up from her desk and sat back down on the couch. “Arizona dropped by earlier.”

“How is she doing?”

“On the face of it, she seems to be okay. She said that she had no trouble at school or anything, but she is obviously traumatized by not being able to remember anything from the past year.”

“That could be a good thing.”

“That’s what I was thinking. If she could just get back to her normal routine…”

“It’s not as easy as that, though. She’s changed, and she needs to be able to find out why and how. Even going out with Kellan. Her feelings for him seem to be intact, so it’s not like the last year has had no impact on her. It has, and even if she can’t remember all the details, she must be struggling to accept the changes. She’s like you, Ollie. She is going to need answers and explanations. I know you’re not a strong proponent of hypnosis, but that may help her remember.”

“She said that she wanted to see Dillard—her biological father.”

Larry’s eyes widened, and he stood up, pouring himself another splash of scotch.

“Yes, that was my reaction, too.”

“Wow. Well, that is a shock. What was her reason?”

“I am not sure of the exact reason. She said that she just wanted to see him for herself. I guess she thinks going back to her roots will help her make sense of her present life.”

“Well, that’s out of the question, of course.”

“That was my gut reaction as well, but telling her that will just spur her on to find a way to do it on her own. You know what she’s like.”

“Yes, but it’s not like she can zip herself through the Portal.”

Olivia nodded. “Knowing Arizona, she’d probably try. But yes, she couldn’t do that without our help. I’m worried that she’ll look into other ways… like the Wanderers.”

Larry massaged his shoulder. “That really opens up a whole new can of worms. We’ll just have to ask Rupert to order the Wanderers not to get involved with any such plan.”

“Arizona asked me not to tell Rupert about it. Besides, even if Rupert did that, there seems to be a whole bunch of rogue Wanderers around who Arizona could probably manage to round up. She is very resourceful. She may not even need to do that. David’s always been putty in her hands.”

“I don’t think David can be persuaded to go along with a scheme that hasn’t been approved by the Elders when he’s hoping to retire from his assignment. I’m just glad that Kellan’s not able to wander.”

“She’ll find a way.” That was one thing she was sure of. There was always a way. Olivia knew that better than most.

M
om shattered my plans for the evening when she told me that Bruno was going to hang out with Kellan and me. Much as I loved David, even having him around was a PITA when all I wanted was some alone time with Kellan. Still, at least the three of us had been friends forever, so we usually had fun once I set aside any plans for snogging Kell. Hanging out with Bruno would be another matter, though. He’d be a real third wheel. Still, I guess he needed a break. Hanging out with Mom all the time couldn’t be easy, so I decided to make the best of it.

Kell and I had planned to go to the movies with David. At least then we could hold hands in the intimate privacy of the darkness. However, that seemed a bit antisocial with a stranger, so we decided to go to the rink instead after Bruno told us that he’d never skated and would love to give it a try.

Open session at the rink was fairly busy with a group of figure skaters taking private lessons and a bunch of people just skating around on their own. I much preferred stick clinics. I gasped.

“What’s up?” Kellan asked, as I sank down onto the bleacher. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Lean forward, and take deep breaths. I’ll call the desk and have them get a doctor or paramedic to come over.” He brought out his cell.

“I can run over,” Bruno offered.

I waved at the boys to shush. “I’m fine! Just give me a minute.”

Kellan and Bruno sat down on either side of me, and Kellan put his hand on my shoulder. They both waited for me in silence.

I preferred
stick clinics
. The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. What the heck was a stick clinic? I closed my eyes and tried to visualize holding a hockey stick. I saw the bottom of a stick scraping against the ice. That must have been from the other day when I skated with Kellan. No, wait. Following the stick was a pair of black hockey skates. I’d worn brown figure skates when I skated with Kell. The stick raised and then slammed into a puck, and the skating came to an abrupt halt. The focus moved upward, following the puck, which zoomed toward a goalkeeper, who bent down with his stick in front of him. The puck avoided him, sliding into the goal. The focus changed to the other bodies on the ice. Hands were up in the air, and I could tell that there was a lot of excitement, even though my recall was silent. A bunch of bodies skated toward… what must be me… and the visual stopped. I opened my eyes.

“Well?” Kellan inquired. “What happened? You still look pale.”

“I’m okay. Let’s get on the ice.”

“No way. I’m taking you home.” Kellan started untying my laces. I let him. I felt the need to change into hockey skates anyway.

As soon as they were off, I stood up, making sure that I was steady. “I’m going to go use the restroom. You guys wait here.”

“I’ll walk you over,” Kellan said.

“No,” I said firmly. “I’m fine.” I threw him a look for good measure.

Instead of going to the restroom, I stopped and picked up a pair of hockey skates from the rental station. After putting them on, I returned to the ice rink, making sure to use the entrance on the opposite end where Kellan and Bruno wouldn’t see me. I stepped onto the ice and powered forward, forcefully skating faster and faster and then coming to a hockey halt in front of Kellan.

He glowered with fury. Kellan grabbed my elbow and practically pushed me toward the board. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Look!” I pointed to my hockey skates. “And did you see that stop?” I puffed up in pride.

He kept glaring at me, still overcome with anger. He glanced down at my feet. “So?”

“So? I remembered!”

“What?”

“That I play hockey!” I told him what I had recalled.

He nodded slowly. “Did you see anything else? Was I there?”

“Everyone skated toward me so fast that I couldn’t make anything out.”

“This is great. Maybe you’ll start remembering other stuff.”

“Yes. But right now, I just want to skate. Let’s get Bruno on the ice. He looks cold.” Poor Bruno sat and hugged himself.

Kellan looked at Bruno and chuckled. “Yeah, but we’re going to talk some more later.”

We skated over to Bruno and pulled him up from the bench.

“Not used to the cold?” I wondered where he was from. “Sheesh, your teeth are clattering. You must be really cold. Do you still want to skate, or do you need a hot chocolate first?”

“Skate,” he mumbled, stumbling forward.

“Whoa! Steady up first.” Kellan held him up. “Your legs are like spaghetti. Try to stand straight. Put your hands on my shoulder if you want.”

I stood back and watched them, trying not to laugh, but it was just too comical. It was like Bruno had lost all control of his legs, and they bent all over the place like a puppet’s. I had never seen anything like it before. Even little kids usually managed to at least stand in the skates.

“Do they come with two blades each?” he muttered as he managed to get a firm grip of Kellan’s shoulders.

That’s when I exploded in snorts and giggles, and my own legs turned to jelly. I collapsed on the bench, tears streaming down my face.

“What’s so funny?” Bruno asked.

Kellan stopped laughing before me and answered. “Nothing… I was just imagining skates with two blades.”