Quantum (16 page)

“Rup, I don’t know what to say,” Olivia whispered.

“Hon, I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to. My parents accepted defeat after a while and Mom even helped me track you down. Of course, it was too late. You were already married, with Arizona on the way. I tracked you for a while just to reassure myself that my time had passed, but that’s when I realized that you were utterly unhappy. So I talked to Mom about it and it was she who, after having you investigated, decided that the best course of action would be for us to have met at least two years earlier, before you were married to Dillard.

“She had Glenda, Alexander and a lot of your physics professors positioned so that you would be steered in the right direction research-wise. You were surrounded by Wanderers, some of whom you are now aware of–Erica, Grayson, Morena–all of whom have watched over you from afar and encouraged your pursuit of constructing the portal, which I will admit they have helped with, without your knowledge. Everything, including Dillard’s position in New Jersey, was engineered by the Sigma-Ws.”

“All because you wanted me?” Olivia asked, finding her tongue again. “Why didn’t you just
wander
me off to the right time and dimension?”

“Two reasons. The first one is that you’d have had me committed. Even after all this time you can barely take this in. Imagine your reaction if I had told you this when we first met?”

Olivia nodded, she couldn’t argue with that.

“The second is that you were pregnant. I didn’t feel like I could just whisk you away, even if by some odd chance you accepted all this. I felt like I had to let you give your marriage and your new family a go.”

“So I was surrounded by Sigma-Ws and Wanderers watching over me and helping me construct the portal?”

Rupert nodded.

“Rup, this is a mind-blowing story, one that has me loving you even more if that’s possible. I have so many questions, but the most important issue is whether this is somehow connected to Arizona’s disappearance. You seem to think that it may be. If so, how?”

“Mom and I were discussing this before you arrived. Here’s what we’ve got so far. The Sigma-W Intelligence was aware that the subversive group led by Potomal was tracking Simla. We hypothesize that was in order to recruit her. It may be that they took–if they are involved–Justin for the same purpose. Their reasons for taking Arizona are more complicated. Potomal’s objective is to overthrow the current regime, which is headed by my father. It may be that Potomal decided to kidnap Arizona for leverage.”

“Leverage?”

“Well, she is the granddaughter of the most powerful Sigma-W,” Rupert explained.

“But, we don’t even know your father!” Olivia protested. “I had assumed that you didn’t know him either; you’ve never mentioned him before. Neither has Amadea for that matter. Besides, Arizona is not his biological granddaughter anyway.”

“True, that does have us confused. I can only imagine that their Intelligence is less than perfect. We did have Arizona’s birth certificate changed to list me as her father. Not that it makes a difference anyway. Dad would think of her as his granddaughter, biological or not.”

Olivia shook her head. “What a mess! What are we going to do now? How are we going to find Arizona?”

“Ollie, Mom and Dad are working on this. Let’s head over to Constance’s house for an update. Mom and everyone else are over there already.”

“What about Ella? We should go and get her from Sally’s house.”

“Ollie, Sally’s mom is a Wanderer, she’s keeping an eye on Ella. Let’s collect her on the way back from Constance’s house. No point in waking her up.”

“But what if she gets
taken
as well?” Olivia shuddered. “I’d rather pick her up now.”

Rupert nodded.

M
uch as I hate to, I have to admit that the turning knob scared the living bejeezus out of me. We weren’t dealing with wimpy Raj-like humans anymore. Paranormal malevolence was a whole new can of worms I didn’t particularly want to dive into and we now had one about to slither through the door. Except she didn’t
slither
, but walked into the room with jaunty, light steps.

Simla, Justin and I stepped back into the room to give her space. She was about five-foot-five and very slender. Her pale skin was covered in all black–a turtleneck dress that stopped just above her knees and a pair of black leggings underneath. I couldn’t help but notice her large silver pendant–looked like two Ws. It looked very familiar, but I couldn’t place it. She was wearing a sensible pair of black Tod’s loafers and slung over her arm was a black coat, which she then placed on the chair beside her. A sharp blonde bob, finished with straight cut bangs just above her big, blue eyes, accented her angular, pixie-like features. She looked harmless enough. Besides, there were three of us.

“Hello. I’m Luna. Welcome to my home. I’ll be your host while you’re in Paris. I hope you’ve been comfortable.”

We nodded. I couldn’t place the accent. Definitely not French, more Italian.

She continued in her soft-spoken voice. “You are, of course, confused as to why you’re here.”

We nodded, again.

“Let’s go into the conference room and I’ll explain.” She turned and we followed her into the room with the big table, assembling at one end. I could see the pendant more clearly now as she sat opposite me. It appeared to have a
W
and a
∑
shape. Gramadea wore a similar pendant, only hers was smaller.

“So, why did you abduct us?” I asked.

“You’ve not been abducted. You’ve been brought here so we could make you an offer.”

And pigs fly, I thought to myself. How was this not abducting?

“You are the guests of the esteemed Potomal.”

“Who?” Simla and Justin asked. I guess I was a step ahead, having already heard all about Potomal. I let Luna update them, watching them gawk. The only new thing I learned was that this subversive group called themselves the Sigma-W-Pi. Pi for the
p
in Potomal–go Greek everyone… I wondered if they had their own sorority house, I guess this was it.

“So, we are hoping that you and Justin will train with us,” Luna concluded, looking at Simla. “However, you’ll be told more about this in the next couple of days and have some time to make up your minds. In the meantime, please keep an open mind and enjoy the process.”

“What about her?” Simla queried, glaring at me. “Why bring her?”

“Potomal has other plans for Her Royal Highness. But he has asked that you all spend the first few days here in Paris with us. The training here will not be specific, but more of a preparation for things to come.”

“Her Royal Highness?” Simla snorted. Justin was killing himself guffawing and, truth be told, I was on the verge of collapsing into a heap of giggles myself. But something about the way Luna looked at me prevented me from doing so. I bit down on my cheeks to maintain control.

Luna stood up, clearly irritated. “Calm down! My colleagues Madison and Olivier will be here soon. You have been assigned Madison, Simla. Justin, you have been assigned Olivier. Your Highness, I will remain in your service for now,” she said, looking over at me.

I wanted to kill Simla when yet another snort escaped from her overactive proboscis.

“Make yourselves comfortable. I will return shortly with Madison and Olivier to take you out for dinner. I have put a selection of outfits for you in the wardrobes in your bedrooms.”

After she left, as expected, Justin and Simla turned to me. “What the heck?
Your Highness
?”

I shrugged and rolled my eyes. Not a clue. “Beats me. But I kinda like it. Please feel free to call me that as well.” I smirked.

“Get stuffed, Arizona!” Simla spluttered. “Why would she call you that?”

“Sheesh, I don’t know! Maybe I smell
royal
? Unlike you.”

“Eat shit,” Simla muttered. “Get the heck out of my room, I’m going to get dressed,” she said irritably.

I was happy to head back to my room, the only one of the three with a view of the Eiffel Tower. I must be special. Strange that I should feel so elated by the mere reference to anything hinting at being a princess, boy, it must be that Darley spirit. Too bad Ella missed this, she was the epitomy of everything princess. I squirmed. What was I thinking? If there was one spark in this whole, weird situation, it was that Ella wasn’t here. She was safe back home–I hoped from the very bottom of my heart. I opened the wardrobe door and stared at the small, but neat array of outfits in front of me. Now, I could really have done with some Ella help. What’s a girl to wear out to dinner in Paris with her captors? It might have been prudent to ask Luna whether we were going to McDonalds–for a Burger Royal, a la Pulp Fiction–or somewhere less casual. The selection of outfits in the wardrobe strongly hinted at the less casual, not a pair of jeans in sight. I selected a black and violet Chanel dress, laid it down on the bed and plunked myself down beside it.
Royal?
Why would Luna think I was royalty?

One thing was crystal clear. I was
not
royalty. I knew that for a fact, after having had to do that mind-blowingly boring family tree project at school. However, even if I did have a sprinkling of royal blood from hundreds of years ago in me, so what? And how would the Sigma-W-Pi know anything about it anyway?

I tried to remember back to the earlier conversation with Gramadea and Rupert. Gramadea had admitted to being a Sigma-W. She’d said that Rupert had pretty much kissed his wanderer life goodbye when he opted to be with Mom. Yup, but that didn’t help explain why I was here or why I was being referred to as royalty. However, that couldn’t be a bad thing–I hoped. It should ensure better treatment, I thought, looking out at the Eiffel Tower in wonder. I decided that I would do what I usually did–go along with this situation the best I could until an opportunity presented itself to get the heck out of here. Well, unless I was presented with a French castle and Prince Kellan was there waiting for me….

I sighed. Enough with the ridiculous daydreaming. I had been
abducted
! By aliens, practically! I needed to conduct myself very carefully. As harmless as Luna appeared, she was undoubtedly dangerous. I just knew that. After a quick wash in the shower suite–think ten showerheads coming at you from all directions, cool!–I stepped into the Chanel dress. I sat down opposite the ornate dressing table and applied some lip gloss after I had blow-dried my hair. As I was considering playing with some of the makeup in front of me, the door behind me opened and I could see Luna walk in. She smiled over at my refection. She had also changed. She was still wearing all black, but her outfit now consisted of a plain shift dress, a cropped cardigan and pumps. She was still wearing the pendant–I would have to ask her about it when the time was right.