Fusion (22 page)

“What about her kid? Her husband?”

“I figured she’d make friends with Arizona again. And her husband is used to moving with her… Yes, it sounds lame even as it’s coming out of my mouth. I was selfish. In my defense, Glenda did accept the job at Ames, so she and her family were all set to move to California anyway—just not to a different dimension.”

Celia’s mood changed. She was no longer her usual perky self. “Wow, that’s some serious stuff.” She got up and uncorked another bottle. “So, what now for Glenda and her family?”

“They decided that they all wanted to come back, so I am going to do my very best to facilitate that. I owe them that much. I have contacts over here who can sort a job for Glenda at Ames, but the Moreaus want to get back home to Princeton, so we’re trying to figure out what to do. I will make this right. I have to.”

“Good, I am glad to hear it, and I will help in any way I can.”

“Thanks, Celia. It’s really good to connect again. I’ve really missed you. It has been so hard not being able to keep in touch via email.”

Celia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Oll, there is something you should know, and it’ll probably freak you out.”

“What?”

“You were here at my house for dinner just last week, with Ella.”

Olivia flinched. “Come again?”

“We’ve been meeting up every other week or so, depending on our schedules, ever since Greg and I moved here. I was really confused when you called me to say that you were coming over with a bunch of people, and I am not sure what to think even now. I didn’t say anything right away because Ella looked so different, and she acted like I was a stranger, so I just went along with you. I can’t figure this out.” She sat back in her chair and took another drink from her glass.

Olivia’s head spun, and not from the alcohol, but she questioned Celia’s sanity.

“You don’t believe me, do you? I can see it written all over your face. And, no, I am not drunk. Maybe a bit tipsy, but I needed to be to have this conversation with you. Hold on.” She picked her iPhone up from the coffee table and flicked through a bunch of pictures. She passed it to Olivia. “Check that out.”

It was a picture of Celia and a little girl. Olivia gasped. The little girl was clearly Ella, but she looked so different with her hair dyed red and cut into a smart bob, just like Celia’s. “I don’t understand...”

“Take a look at the next one.”

Olivia could hardly move the tab with her trembling finger. It was a picture of herself and Celia all dressed up in ball gowns. If it hadn’t been for Celia’s haircut, it could have been a picture from their years in London when they’d attended many formal events together. And she didn’t recognize the emerald dress she was wearing. “Celia, what is this?” Her voice shook.

“Well, that’s you and me at a fundraiser in Hollywood last month.”

“I don’t know what to say…”

“When you called me this morning I thought it might be a hoax, even though I was totally sure it was your voice on the phone. I called you back, just to double check. When I say you, I mean the
you
in that picture,” she emphasized with air quotes. “You—that Olivia—said that she hadn’t called me, so I assumed someone was messing with me. Probably my friend Allie, she’s always trying to punk me. Anyway, I expected Allie to show up with a case of bubbly and a big grin this afternoon. I was a little taken aback when
you
actually arrived. I wondered what you—Ollie in the picture—was up to, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t that you at all. Ella was different, and you had Arizona with you! Gosh, I haven’t seen her for years. And a son! I left you by the poolside and called Greg.”

“What did he say?”

“He thought I had gone quite potty but hurried home for dinner and saw that I was right. I told him I’d talk to you.”

“Gosh, Celia. I really don’t know what to think. This other me, what does she do?”

“She gave up science after she decided that the project she was working on—the Portal—was not something she could subject her kids to. She moved to Hollywood because Ella wanted to act and works as a writer for various TV shows.”

“But I did make the move,” Olivia said. “To be with Rupert.”

“
And
you stayed here. Without him.”

O
ne thing was clear: our parents weren’t going to help us to get to Princeton. And there was no way I would be able to talk my brother into helping, not without spilling about the doppelganger, and he’d probably think me crazy if I told him. So, it was the three of us—Ariele, Kellan, and I—sitting in Celia’s guest bedroom who would have to come up with a plan all on our own.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Shrimp?” Kellan asked. “The last trip to Princeton was a disaster.”

“Sounds like it, from what Ariele said, but this will be different.”

“
If
this is really the right dimension,” Ariele pointed out. “And that’s why we need to make the trip. To know for sure.”

“Yes,” I replied vehemently. “I have to meet
her
, my doppelganger… well at least
see
her for myself.”

“And then what?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Probably nothing. I guess we’ll just come back here and get on with our lives. I think.”

Kellan sighed. “You think? Look, we don’t even know what would happen if you two actually met. Maybe one of you would go poof and disappear all together, seeing that there is only supposed to be one of you. Maybe that’s happened already.”

“You mean the other Arizona might have self-combusted when we arrived here?” Ariele said.

“Something like that…”

“Well, that should be easy enough to check out. I’ll call her.” Ariele picked up the mock 1920s phone from the nightstand.

“Wait!” I said. “What are you going to say to her? And anyhow, neither of us combusted the last time I was here, so I am sure we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t actually meet,” Kellan pointed out.

He had a point. It would be really weird to meet myself. Unnatural, against the natural order, like Grandma would say. And honestly, I only wanted to see her, to make sure that this was real. “True, and it’s not like I want to chat with her or anything. And even if I wanted to, David would totally kill me if I revealed myself to her, so I won’t. I promise.”

“Whatever,” Ariele drawled. “We still have to find a way to get there. It’s not like we can jump on a flight to Newark or anything. We don’t have any money or IDs.”

“I think our driver’s licenses will work,” Kellan said. “It’s not like they look any different here. And I brought all my savings in cash.”

“Me, too.” I’d learned the last time not to be caught without cash.

“Do you have enough to buy me a ticket?” she asked. “I don’t think I have more than fifty bucks in my bag. I do have an ATM card though, from before. I wonder if it will work.”

“We probably shouldn’t try it,” Kellan said. “Those are easy to trace. Arizona and I have enough money. We’ll be fine.”

“Flying would be the quickest option, but we still have to find a way to get to SFO. This place is in the middle of nowhere,” I complained.

“We could take the van,” Ariele suggested.

“The Ames van? Bad idea. That van probably has some tracking device on it. Dad will haul us back before we even get close to the airport.”

“Any other ideas? We can’t exactly walk it.”

“Hold up. First of all,
when
are we going to do this?” Kellan asked.

“As soon as possible since we don’t know when we’ll be forced to go back home again,” I said.

“I get that, but we’ll have to do this on a day when our parents are busy doing something else. I figure that we at least need to get to Jersey before we can risk them missing us. Once we’re there, we’ll call them and tell them that we’ll be back soon, but there’s not much they can do then.”

“Ella said that Mom promised to take her to Universal Studios, so we know that they’ll be busy for at least one day.”

“Dad mentioned that he was coming with us. I think they think we’re all going, Kellan added.

“Us, too?” Ariele asked.

“I don’t know about that. Did your mom say anything?” Kellan said.

“No, but then we were kinda last minute.”

I got up and took a pen and a sheet of paper from the nightstand drawer. Writing things down always helped me get organized. “Okay, so we know Mom, Ella, and your dad, Kell, are going to Universal for the day. We need to find out exactly when. I have a feeling Ella expected to go today, so she’ll probably whine Mom into it tomorrow, which won’t give us a lot of time.”

“Okay, so once they’re gone—taking the van presumably—what do we do?” Ariele asked.

“We could call a cab,” Kellan replied. “But we’ll still have to get past Celia and your parents if they are still here.”

We stopped talking at the knock on our door.

“Come on in!” yelled Ariele.

Harry opened the door but remained in the hallway with Ella on his shoulders and an armful of towels.

“Are you ready for a swim?” Ella said.

“I guess.” My stomach had recovered from the onslaught of way too much food. “Aren’t you getting too big for Harry’s shoulders?” I snickered at her legs dangling down to his thighs.

“No!” She grimaced at me. “Am I, Harry?”

“Nope, not at all. I could even get Arizona up there.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve just got to get my bikini on. See you out there in five.”

“Bring some more towels,” Harry said, before galloping down the hall with a shrieking Ella.

“Right, let’s go swimming,” I said to Kellan and Ariele. “Grab your suits.”

Harry and Ella were doing laps when we arrived. Boy, she’d gotten really good at the breaststroke. All she used to do was splash around like a puppy. Now she dipped in and out of the water, swimming parallel to Harry.

I jumped off the board right behind Kell and Ariele, hitting the warm pool water. “Oh, this is nice.” I smiled at Kellan, who looked way too hot in his trunks.

“Oh, stop staring at
him
,” snickered Ariele.

“Shut up!” I splashed her and swam over to Kellan.

“Hey,” he said, sending a fresh zip of excitement through me. I could feel Ariele laughing silently at me. I turned around and stuck my tongue out at her. As I was making faces, Kellan scooped me up and threw me toward her. I hit the water with a splash, soaking Ariele, and that was it. She went nuts throwing water at Kellan and me. I lay back in the water, kicking my feet up and down, splashing her and laughing.

“Good grief, you guys!” shouted Ella, putting on a very Celia English accent. “Stop! Harry and I are trying to swim.”

I got out of the water and went around the pool to jump in right next to Ella, splashing her.

“It’s war, Arizona!” she said and joined in. Harry chuckled away until Ariele hit him with the beach ball.

For a little while, I completely forgot everything, my mind completely occupied with fun. We played until we were exhausted and ready to hit the sack. I got out of the pool and settled back on one of the lounge chairs.

“Scoot up,” Kellan whispered and climbed in beside me. My mind was suddenly overtaken by urges to turn around and melt my wet skin into his, so I did, slowly turning over to face him then wriggling up as close I could get. He pulled me even closer. Every inch of my skin tingled to the point of explosion.

Then a third skin joined us, laying right on top of us, dripping water onto my face.

“Ella!” I turned around and grabbed her, setting her down on the side. “You better dry off.” I handed her my towel.

“So, I was thinking,” she said. “Can I sleep with you and Ariele tonight? I miss Alexa and Tallulah. It’s so boring just hanging out with Mom.”

What I really wanted to do was spend some time with Kell. His hand on my leg was driving me crazy. I put mine over it and glanced over at the pool. Harry was busy swimming laps with Ariele. I always dumped Ella on Harry, and he never seemed to mind, but I guess Ella wanted girl time.

“Sure,” I said. “We’ll have a sleepover. Want to do my nails?” I held them out for her.

“Yes! I brought my favorites, but I found some awesome colors in Celia’s dressing room. She’s got a whole cabinet full of them.”

“Been snooping already?”

She pouted, looking totally guilty. “Maybe.”

“Found anything interesting?”

“Maybe.” She grinned.

“Well, stop being annoying. Are you going to tell?”

“Maybe.” She threw a glance at Kellan, who looked as if he had fallen asleep.

“All right. Tell you what. Get ready for bed, and come to our room. I’ll be there in ten minutes or so.”

As soon as she skipped off, I turned back to Kellan. He moved slightly as I touched his hair, pushing the wet strands off his forehead. I kissed him, waking his sleeping lips. As I closed my eyes, the kiss deepened and intensified, and I moved closer to him, wrapping myself around him. My throat began to feel tingly… itchy actually, and then it started to burn. I felt it begin to close up entirely, cutting off my air supply, and I panicked. Simla’s laughing–mocking–face came at me, again and again. Pushing Kellan off me, I struggled to sit up, trying to catch my breath.