Fusion (17 page)

Olivia nodded. “Is she with Rupert?”

“I can’t tell, but I think I can find her. I should take a flight to England immediately.”

“I’ll ask Larry to arrange for a private plane.”

“I already did that while you were talking,” Kellan said, putting his cell away. “Let’s head to the airport, David. It’ll be ready and waiting for us.”

“Us? I thought Constance made it clear that I have to go on my own.”

“I am not a Wanderer, so I am not under Constance’s orders. And it’s my dad’s plane, so let’s go.”

S
cary movies have never frightened me. I could sit through a marathon session of Friday the Thirteenth sequels without flinching. It was all just a bunch of actors in Halloween costumes. Some of it was even funny.

So I tried to imagine myself being in one of those slasher movies, because that’s how I felt: like one of those idiot characters who has walked into an obviously dangerous place where she is bound to get hacked to death. But the
she
in the movies was a character played by some hot teen actress. She got to go home after a day of filming. Would I?

The metal door afforded me a tiny sense of safety, but it was all relative and totally dependent on what was making the abominable noises on the other side.

I glared at Cleo who, after an initial burst of acting like the demon dog from
The Omen
, had jumped back into bed, laid her head between her paws, and fallen asleep. I stayed frozen in one spot, hoping the crystals dangling from the chandelier lamp in my hand wouldn’t clink against each other and make a noise. Hopefully, whatever was on the other side of the door would eventually decide no one was inside.

The scratches, sniffs, and taps on the door continued for ages. The lamp felt heavier and heavier in my quickly-numbing fingers. I closed my eyes and concentrated on trying to hold onto it, imagining it instead crashing to the floor. I took a deep breath. I had to put it down. I started to kneel down, aiming to gently lay it down on the shaggy rug in front of the bed. The noise abruptly stopped, the tense atmosphere suddenly replaced by deathly quiet. Once again, I was too afraid to move, so I sat on the floor with my back to the bed and waited, hoping that Finna would be back soon.

~

The smell was foul, but not as disgusting as the feel of the wet, rough material wiping across my face, leaving it all gluey and gross. “Stop!” I yelled, sitting up and pushing whatever it was away. I opened my eyes and stared right at Cleo’s tongue. “Yuck, yuck, yuck! Stop that!”

She whimpered and jumped back into bed. I looked around. It was still dark, and I was still in Finna’s room, and I was still on the floor, sore from having fallen asleep sitting up.

A grunting sound suddenly broke the silence, freaking me out again. The door was still shut, and the sound was coming from the other bed. I got up, nearly falling as my feet caught under the rug, and looked over at Finna fast asleep in the bed. Sheesh, she should have woken me up and gotten me into bed.

I climbed in next to Cleo and lay back on the soft down pillow—bliss. No noises came from behind the door, and Finna’s snores were comforting in an odd way. I turned onto my side, put my arm around Cleo, and went back to sleep.

~

I woke up to a loud bell reverberating outside the room. Finna was already up and dressed in her uniform.

“Good morning, Arizona. I trust you slept well. I have to go downstairs. We seem to have visitors—impatient ones,” she said when the bell sounded again. “I’ll be back up very shortly, I promise. I am going to take Cleo for her morning constitutional, but you’ll be fine here. I’ll be back soon. Keep the door locked.”

I smiled at
morning constitutional
, guessing she meant a doggy pee and poo. “There was someone outside my door last night. Scared the crap out of me. Do you know who it was?”

“There is no need for you to worry as long as the door is locked.”

“There’s no phone in here,” I pointed out. “I should probably call Mom to let her know that I’m fine.”

“Your father will take care of that, I am sure.”

“What if something had happened last night? Phones in the rooms would be useful. Who was it, anyway? Was it a person or an animal? It sounded more like an animal. And man, was it persistent.”

“Like I said, there is no need to worry. I better hurry. Whoever keeps ringing that bell is clearly impatient.”

That was for sure. The bell was being almost continuously pressed. But if Finna thought she was off the hook, she had another thing coming. I’d ask her again when she got back.

Having slept in my clothes, I felt like yuck and probably looked like it too. I took a quick shower, keeping a vigilant eye on the door, still shaken from the night before. Just as I finished putting my clothes back on, the door opened, and Cleo trundled in and jumped on me. I pushed her off when I saw who’d come in behind her.

“Kellan!” I did a Cleo and jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist and practically biting his lips in sheer excitement.

He hugged me tight and returned my kisses. “Are you okay, Shrimp?” he asked when we came up for air.

I took a deep breath of his neck. “Yes, more than, now. How did you find me?”

“I did,” David said from behind Kellan. I hadn’t even noticed him come into the room with Finna.

“Well, this is all very nice, but a complete nightmare for me.” Finna pursed her lips. “What am I supposed to do with all of you? You can’t stay here.”

“That’s fine,” David said. “We’re here to take Arizona home.”

“Did her father send you?” Finna eyed David suspiciously.

“No, her mother did. We’ll be on our way.”

“Not so fast,” she said firmly. “I have been asked to keep her here until I hear otherwise.”

“By whom?” David asked.

“By my master. He is in touch with Arizona’s father, who will let us know what to do next.”

David didn’t look too convinced, but he nodded. “We’ll stay here with her until then.”

“It could be awhile. Are you sure all of you want to stay here, locked up, until then?”

We nodded.

“Suit yourselves. If you change your minds, just ring the bell. I have work to do, so I will check back in a little while. Cleo will stay here.”

As soon as the door shut behind Finna, and we heard the key turn in the lock, the boys turned to me.

“How did you get here?” David asked.

“It’s a long story, but it doesn’t matter. Did you track me?”

“Yes. And it does matter.”

“Shrimp! Just tell us.” Kellan pulled me over to the bed. I sat down with his arms around me. David plunked himself down on Finna’s bed but kept glaring at me. I had to keep Stan out of this.

“Ella told us that you wandered from your bedroom,” he continued.

“She saw me? She actually saw me take off?”

“Yes,” he replied. “She said that you disappeared with a blond guy.”

“Who was it?” Kellan demanded, his tone suddenly irate.

“I can’t really tell you. If I do, I could get a friend into some serious trouble—”

“A friend? A Wanderer, a Sigma-W, who? Just tell us, Arizona. Surely you trust the two of us,” Kellan said.

Of course I did. With my life. I told them about Stan.

“You have got to be kidding!” David yelled. “You’re hanging out with a Sigma-W-Pi! And not just anyone, but Potomal’s son! What were you thinking?”

“See! I knew you wouldn’t understand,” I grumbled.

“Do you blame me? He held you prisoner in the Bahamas. He worked with Raj. I’m just dumbfounded.”

I shrugged. “What about you, Kell? You’ve gone all quiet.” I pulled at his sleeve.

He tightened his grip around my waist. “The main thing is that you’re safe, and that we’re here with you now. I trust your judgment. I wish you would trust me and feel like you could tell me everything.”

I hugged him. “I do, but as David said, this was kind of an out-there thing to have to explain. I like Stan, and I do trust him. And he’s not working for his dad anymore. He’s a free agent.”

“Wanderers can’t be
free agents
,” David said, clearly irritated. “He should do the right thing and give up his powers. What he’s doing at the moment is unacceptable. Where is he?”

“I don’t know for sure.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I know how to contact him, but I don’t know where he went once he dropped me off.”

“Look,” Kellan intervened, “who the hell cares where Stan is? I know I don’t.”

“That’s because you’re not a Wanderer. We have rules and—”

“Whatever, David.” Kellan sighed. “Let’s just get Arizona out of here.”

“No,” I said. “I want to wait for Dad.”

“Why? Don’t you think he’s got enough on his plate for now?” David admonished. “Won’t it be better to just let him get on with what he’s doing rather than have him deal with this when we can take you home?”

I had to admit that it made perfect sense. To pull Dad away from what he was doing was unfair. I’d kind of hoped he’d be at Alfred’s, so I could see him without causing much trouble. But that wasn’t the case, so it was probably best to head back home and concentrate on getting to New Jersey.

“Sure. But how? Finna isn’t going to let me go until she hears back from either Alfred or Dad.”

“I’ll wander you out.”

“What about Kellan?”

“He can take care of himself,” David said.

I was about to protest when the door opened, and Finna walked in with Dad and Bruno.

His look took me back years to the sinking feeling I used to get when I had done something extremely naughty. I guessed this sort of counted.

“Arizona?” he groaned. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see you,” I said lamely.

“And?”

Unfortunately, trying to think up a somewhat sensible excuse escaped me. Wanting to see him had been kind of an afterthought, but I couldn’t very well explain that my real reason for making the trip had been to chase down Dillard and my possible doppelganger. So, I resorted to whining. “I don’t know, Dad! I’m worried about you. We all are. I just wanted to find out what was going on and make sure you’re okay.” By the change in his expression, it looked like he bought the nosy, sentimental reason.

He shook his head at me. “Who wandered you over?”

I glowered at Bruno. I guessed that he must have told Dad what Ella had seen.

“Dad, it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry to have caused a problem.” I welled up, feeling dejected that he wasn’t even the least bit happy to see me.

He immediately dropped his stern mask, gesturing for Finna to leave the room. Once I was surrounded in his warm hug, I let the tears flow. I wasn’t sure why I was crying, but it felt good to just have a moment with Dad.

“Arizona,” Dad said, his voice back to normal, “I know that it’s hard for you when I’m gone, especially right now when you are trying to regain your memory, but I am in the middle of some pretty critical stuff. Right now, I need you to go back home and stay there. I’ll call Olivia and tell her you’re here. But first, I need to know who wandered you. All Bruno told me was that the man had blond hair.”

I remained silent. There was no way I would betray Stan.

“Why won’t you tell me?” I could feel his anger rising again.

“He’s a friend, and I promised him.”

“I am certain none of my men would go behind my back like that,” Dad said. “And if they did…” He clenched his fists. “Was it one of my men?”

I shook my head.

“Which leaves the Sigma-W-Pi. Are you in touch with Potomal’s men?” he shouted.

“No! Calm down, Dad!”

“Who, then? Arizona, you’d better tell me.”

I could see that there was no way out of this. I had to tell him something. “Dad, the person is not a Sigma-W-Pi anymore, but he used to be. That’s all I can say. He is totally okay, totally trustworthy.”

“Your Highness, if I may?” Bruno whispered through the stony silence.

“Yes?”

“My best guess is that it’s Stanford. Arizona spent some time with him in the Bahamas. By all accounts, he’s left the Sigma-W-Pi and is now missing.”

“Was it Stanford?” Dad looked at me.

I held my ground.

He ran his fingers through his hair, his forehead wrinkling up with worry. “I need to talk to Olivia. Stay here. I am going to use Alfred’s office.”

Dad didn’t seem like himself at all. This new job had him totally stressed out. I wondered if he had second thoughts about taking over the reign, not that he’d had much choice.

“I sure wonder why your dad is so worked up,” Kellan said, echoing my thoughts. “Not that I blame him for being cross with what you did, but there is obviously more to it. Bruno? Know anything?”

“Come on, guys. You know what it’s like. I can’t say anything. It’s dangerous for you guys to be here, but you can tell that just by turning on the TV. You’ve been following the killings on CNN, right?”

“Yeah, the ones in London. Pretty awful with people getting shredded all over the place by some psycho.” The last one had occurred at the London Eye.

“Yes, but similar killings are being reported all over, major cities mostly—New York, Tokyo, Paris, to name a few.”

“Yeah,” Kellan said. “I was watching some of the reports this morning. The police seem to be stumped, but CNN hypothesized that it was a terrorist group, though none have come forward to claim responsibility.”