Undone (11 page)

“It’s fucking awful here.” Eli shook his head as he said it. It was ironic to think how hard we had worked to get here, and now we were completely dissatisfied with everything. That whole metaphor about trying to push a square peg through a round hole. That was us. We’d been round when we left, but we’d been over there too long, and somehow that had sharpened our edges.

“It’ll get better,” I said. I didn’t necessarily believe that, but it was what he needed to hear.

“I just can’t believe my mother. She’s a completely different person, cleaning the house and cooking every meal. It’s like she’s out of some 1950s sitcom, and those kids . . .” He leaned into me. “I’ve done the math. She must have fallen into bed with this guy days after my father was shot.”

I’d also done the math. Not just for his mother, but for my father, too. He’d at least waited a little longer, but after losing us and after everything here went to hell, they’d both chosen the same coping mechanism. They started over. They left every bad memory, including us, behind.

“She wants to send me to some prep school up north and enroll me as a
freshman
so I can go to Officer School when I graduate. She thinks that my becoming an officer in the city guard would have made my dad happy. Can you believe that shit?”

I could believe that. His mom was right. It would have made his dad happy. He was all about military service. I was also pretty sure it would make the new prime minister of the Republic of California happy. Society here was stable, but people weren’t exactly prosperous. I doubted it was just Derek musing about what it would be like if it went back to the way things had been before Eli disappeared, and now that he was back, who better to step into the shoes of his father. Eli falling in line like a good soldier would keep him alive.

“It’s not going to happen,” Eli said. “I didn’t even go to class during my first three years of high school at Eastview. I’m not going to fucking start over and go to some prep school full of dipshits.”

“So don’t. Talk to her. Tell her what you want to do instead.”

He shook his head, but then he turned away and looked out the window.

“What?”

“I want to go back,” he said, turning to look at me.

“Go back . . . ?”

“I know it’s bat-shit crazy,” he added. “But don’t you miss it? It was the three of us against the world.”

“But there’s only two of us now.”

Eli shook his head. “There’s Janelle,” he said quietly. “Look, I’ve been meaning to tell you I’m sorry for all the shit I gave you about her. She came through in the end. Don’t you miss her?”

“Of course I do.” My voice came out harsh, but I didn’t care.

“
I
even miss her,” Eli said. “Not like you do, but I miss the normalcy of Eastview and the anonymity of everything. I miss the parties and being able to go wherever we wanted and not having to worry about the city guard or the fucking reporters. I even miss Roxy.”

That made me laugh. “All you ever did was complain about how clingy she was.”

“Maybe I don’t miss her exactly,” he said. He frowned and picked at his fries. He didn’t look at me. “Or maybe I do. I don’t know.” He kept talking, trying to puzzle out his feelings, but I was distracted. A lone guy came into the diner. He sat at the table closest to the front door, facing me. He ordered a cup of coffee but didn’t drink it. Something about him looked familiar. Like maybe I’d seen him before somewhere else.

I purposely dropped my napkin and leaned down to pick it up. Then I leaned into Eli. “They’re here. Directly behind you by the front door.”

“What are you, some kind of fucking spy?” He laughed, but he looked behind him anyway. He shook his head. “It’s a guy having coffee.”

“Look at his shoes. They’re military issue.”

“Maybe it’s one of the city guards on his day off,” Eli said, leaning back. “Who would want to follow you? Tell me that and I’ll stop thinking you’re a paranoid freak.”

“What if it’s IA?” That was the only thing I could come up with.

“They’d be following me, too,” Eli said. “Besides, what would they want with you? They got their man.”

I didn’t know. That was the problem. “Let’s get out of here.”

Eli stood up. “Will you think about what I said? About going back?”

I nodded. I didn’t need to think about it, not really. I wanted to go back. I just needed to figure out how to tell Derek and my mother that I wasn’t going to stay. “You should give it some time,” I said. The last thing we needed was to go back and have him change his mind.

“I’ve had three fucking weeks inside a house with my mother and her new family to contemplate it,” he said. “I want to go back.”

“Then we’ll go back,” I said, and I meant it. “I just need some more time.”

We walked out. As we passed the guy with his untouched coffee, I recognized him. He’d been at the bar where Derek had taken me. I’d bumped into him on my way out.

I made a split-second decision and pitched my weight forward and stumbled. I had to reach out and grab the corner of his table to keep from falling.

“Sorry about that,” I said.

“What the hell was that?” Eli said.

“I tripped,” I said as I stood up.

I followed my best friend outside. I didn’t tell him about the way the guy’s hand had reached into his jacket almost instinctively as I’d fallen toward him. Probably for some kind of weapon.

I had to figure out who was following me and what they wanted.

And if they were a danger to the people I would leave behind.

W
e went a week before I saw the man again. I wasn’t any closer to figuring out who was following me. At least not with any kind of concrete evidence.

The phone Eli gave me buzzed against the coffee table, waking me up. It was 3:47.

I grabbed it. There was a message from him.

MEET ME?

I though about saying no or even just not answering and pretending I slept through it. I was tired, and I had to work in a few hours. But I knew it could be important. I texted back:
WHERE?

His reply was instantaneous:
PLAYGROUND.

I knew what he meant. There was an old playground behind the elementary school we went to as kids. We used to all go there all the time: me, Eli, Reid, and Ian. Sometimes our moms would take us and stand around and talk. Sometimes we would go by ourselves. It wasn’t far. I told him I’d be there in about fifteen minutes.

I kept my head down when I left the apartment building. I pulled my jacket tightly around my body even though it wasn’t that cold. The night was eerily quiet. The street was empty. Buildings I passed were dark.

I made it four blocks before I heard them.

A set of footsteps behind me.

I didn’t look back. They were a distant echo, the kind of thing I could only hear because everything else was so quiet. But when I reached the intersection, I stayed straight instead of turning left toward Eli and the playground.

I kept walking. I didn’t change my pace, and judging by the sound of the footsteps, neither did whoever was following me.

I walked for two more blocks until I saw the gas station in front of me. It was lit up like some kind of beacon, and there were a few cars parked in the lot. I wasn’t sure exactly what my plan was, but I headed toward it.

Filling up his car with gas was a guy from the city guard, still in uniform. He’d probably just gotten off duty.

I went inside. My first thought had been maybe there was a back door I could leave through. Maybe I could sprint down a side street or something, cut through some yards and backtrack to the playground. But after I walked down an aisle to the rear of the store, I realized there wasn’t another exit.

There was, however, a kid leaning up against the cash register reading a book. He was probably a year younger than me, but he was about my height.

“Hey, you work here?” I asked.

He looked up at me like I was some kind of idiot because of course he worked there.

I leaned over the counter. He had a red baseball hat and a jean jacket back there. I made my offer.

He stared at me. “You’ll give me fifty dollars if I walk around back to the bathroom and lock myself inside for five minutes?”

“And we switch jackets,” I said.

He shrugged.

I moved around the counter, away from the window, and took off my jacket. He put it on.

“Just keep your head down,” I said.

He held out his hand, and I gave him the money.

When he was gone, I put on the jean jacket and his hat. I bent the rim so that it curled around my face and shaded my eyes, then I went outside. I walked right to the guy from the city guard.

“You like your job?” I asked.

He stood up straight, like he was sizing me up. He was blond and probably Derek’s age. His arms were as thick as my head.

I tried my best to stand in a way that said nonthreatening. “I’ve been thinking about enlisting,” I added, remembering what Stacee had said about Ian.

The guy relaxed. “The six to three shift isn’t the best one, but the job has nice perks.”

“Oh yeah, like what?” I said.

I didn’t listen to his answer. A tan sedan pulled into the lot, and a guy stepped out of the shade and got into the passenger seat. The car idled there.

They weren’t watching me, though. They were facing the bathroom.

“Thanks, man,” I said to the guard, cutting him off. “I’ll definitely look into it.”

Then I left. I didn’t walk back the way I had come. I took the long way, cutting down several different side streets to make sure I was alone.

When I finally got to the playground, Eli was waiting. He was sitting on one of the swings. “What took you so long?”

“Someone was following me. I’m pretty sure I lost them,” I said, looking around.

Eli rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you did.”

I pulled out my phone. “Check the pictures,” I said.

He reluctantly took the phone from me. “What, you’ve taken pictures of Derek’s apartment? That’s great,” he said as he scrolled through the gallery.

“No, I—”

“You look like perverts,” Derek said, coming up around the jungle gym to the bench we were sitting on.

“Good job losing Derek,” Eli said.

“What are you doing here?” I asked my brother.

“Checking up on you. Obviously.”

“How’d you know we were here?”

“You left a note, dummy. I’m serious,” Derek added. “It’s almost five a.m. and you’re checking out a kiddie playground. You look like perverts.”

“There aren’t any kids here,” I said, turning back to the phone. I scrolled through the pictures. “I’ve been taking pictures of everything in the apartment before we leave for work, and then I check it when we come back. See how stuff has moved?”

Eli looked at the phone. “Maybe you’re taking them from a different angle.”

“Thank you,” Derek said. “He’s been agonizing over this all week.”

“I think it’s IA,” I said. It was the only thing that made sense.

“Who’s IA?” Derek asked.

I swallowed and looked at Eli for permission. If it was IA, I’d need to tell Derek what happened.

“Go ahead,” Eli said.

“We didn’t tell you everything about how we got back here,” I said.

“No shit.” Derek leaned against the metal jungle gym, clearly waiting for the real story.

“It’s long.”

“Let’s get breakfast,” he said. “On me.”

We ended up at another diner, in a booth near the back. We got eggs and toast.

“Ready now?” Derek asked. We had all been silent on the way here.

I told an abbreviated version but a complete one. I didn’t leave anything out.

“Okay, so why would this Interverse Agency be following you if you’re back home now? Have you been opening any more portals?” he asked when I finished.

“No, of course not,” I said.

“So what would they want with you? Maybe they’re just trying to keep an eye on you, make sure you don’t.”

Eli shifted a little but didn’t say anything. I couldn’t tell if he agreed with Derek or not.

“I’m going to go back,” Eli said suddenly.

Derek started coughing. “Back?”

Eli nodded and looked at me. I knew he wanted me to tell Derek now, but I couldn’t. “It doesn’t feel like we fit here,” I said.

“So you’d go back? After everything?” Derek pushed back from the table. “I can’t even believe you’re considering that.”

“If we did, it wouldn’t be like before,” I said. “You’d know where we were. We could figure out some way to come and visit.”

Eli’s look told me he thought that was a ridiculous thing to say. And I knew it wasn’t exactly possible right now, but we’d figure it out.

Maybe I could ask IA.

“You’re serious, then?” he asked. “You’re considering going back?”

“Not right now,” I said. “Maybe someday.”

“I’m going back,” Eli said. “Not someday. I’m going back soon.”

I didn’t say anything else. I focused on my food. Eli had never been easy to argue with, and who was I to say he wasn’t right? No matter where he was, he’d need to start over and build a life. Maybe that would be easier for him if it wasn’t here.

We’d spent the last seven years of our lives in another world. The majority of our memories were from there. As hard as it was to admit now, it was that world that had shaped who we were.