Fusion (9 page)

I had no idea what she was talking about and shook my head.

“Hang on.” She got up and rushed off.

“What’s that all about?” I whispered to Kellan.

“Wait a sec, and you’ll see.”

Ariele returned with a handful of photographs. She handed one to me. It was a pic of me standing on the ice with a hockey stick. I had no memory of it. I guessed it must have been from last year. Before I could ask, she handed me another picture. It was the same as the last one, except I had removed my helmet. I gasped. My hair was brown. I looked exactly like the memory Gertrude had shared.

“Wow.” I looked at both Ariele and Kellan, waiting for an explanation. Instead of saying anything, Ariele handed me the rest of the pile. I looked through the ten or so photographs, getting more and more confused with each one. There were pictures of brown-haired me at Christmas time with Ella, Mom, and a strange man, a few with Ariele and a bunch of other girls and boys at a party, and one of Ariele and me lying on a bed making silly faces at the camera.

“Who is she?” I asked Ariele. It was clear that she knew. No wonder Kellan had wanted me to talk to her.

“I thought it was you,” she said. “But now, with what you’re telling me, I guess you have a double.” She looked sad. “So, where did she go? She was the one who was here last year, right, Kellan? She had to be. She knew me from New Jersey. Where did you come from?” She looked at me with venom in her eyes.

I found myself boiling over again and felt Kellan grip my arm.

“Ariele,
this
Arizona was here, has been here all the time.”

“Bullshit,” she said scornfully. “This is the Barbie Arizona who went missing last year, not my friend.”

“Stop!” he growled. “You’re wrong.”

“Whatever. Think what you like. I want to know where
A
has gone.”

“Is that what you called her?” I asked.

“Yep,” she said coldly. “I guess your mom zapped her through the Portal once you reappeared. Where did you go when you disappeared last year?”

“She didn’t.” Kellan’s tone was insistent, but even I had doubts.

“Well, there is only one way to find out,” she said.

“Yes, we can ask David about
A
. He seems to know her,” I said.

She waved her arm. “Like he’ll tell us anything! Nope. I want to find her myself.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Kellan asked. “If, and that’s a very big if, there is another Arizona, we have no idea where she could be.”

“Seems pretty obvious to me,” Ariele retorted. “David’s been hanging out in New Jersey.
A
is home, and that’s where I’m going.”

“We already did that,” he said. “Remember? Totally pointless venture.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but Ariele replied before I had a chance to ask.

“I totally agree. She’s not here, in this dimension.
A
is home in New Jersey in the other dimension. I need to go home through the Portal.”

O
livia was the first one to arrive at Constance’s house. After hearing that Rupert was stopping by, she’d not been able to concentrate on anything else, so she arranged for Bruno to drive her over early to help Constance get organized. Platters full of colorful canapés now adorned the oversized buffet table in Constance’s family room, which also doubled as her meeting room. They’d worked hard all afternoon getting the little sandwiches and vol-au-vents ready, the dips prepared, and drinks chilled. All there was left to do was wait for the others and then for Rupert. Olivia hoped that he was coming back to debrief them, and that things would then return to normal, but her gut told her that this would probably be a fleeting visit, that Rupe would be gone as suddenly as he would appear. Still, any time with him was better than none, and she hoped that she would get some answers.

After Bruno dropped off Olivia, he drove away, leaving her in the care of the leader of the Elders. Constance kept the conversation light and impersonal while they’d worked away in the kitchen. Although Olivia had hundreds of questions, Constance’s formal demeanor had kept her from probing. She was happy when the other Elders finally arrived, full of smiles and chatter. Although Javier, Lars, Morgana, and Inez nodded formally at Olivia—a reminder that she was the new sovereign’s wife—they quickly settled back into relaxed banter. Once Bruno, Larry, and David arrived, Constance passed around the food while they waited for Rupert.

A hush filled the room when three shapes appeared by the window. Rupert emerged, sending Olivia’s pulse racing. She rushed over and jumped into his outstretched arms, peering over his shoulder at the two women who’d come with him, recognizing Alexa at once. She was taken aback by the other woman, who stared at her with eyebrow-devoid, large blue eyes. Olivia’s own eyes were momentarily drawn to her blue-streaked hair but came to rest on the woman’s abnormally long arms, which extended all the way to her knees. She forced herself to look over at Alexa and smiled at her. Rupert held on to her waist as he turned to the group.

“Constance, thank you so much for getting everyone together. I’d like to introduce Trina, my assistant, and this is Alexa, who most of you have met before.” He turned to the odd-looking lady by his side. “Trina, this is my wife, Olivia. You already know Bruno. And these are the Wanderer Elders of Mountain View—Constance, their leader, Inez, Morgana, Lars, and Javier. David is Inez’s son and Arizona’s guardian Wanderer, and Larry is a family friend.”

“Nice to meet you.” Trina’s voice took Olivia by surprise. She certainly did not expect the deep baritone with the Texan twang.

“I haven’t got a lot of time, so I’ll get to the point,” Rupert said. “We have a critical global issue that threatens our international paranormal infrastructure. Add to that several missing sovereigns and a complete breakdown of some of the city councils. I have to do what I can to help restore stability before this affects the human population any more than it already has.”

“What exactly is happening?” Olivia asked.

“We are still trying to figure that out, Ollie. It’s a mess.”

“Does it have anything to do with the boy who came to fetch you—Jagger?”

“It does, but he’s only a small, yet important, part of this. Right now, Trina and I are meeting with all the leaders and assessing exactly what’s going on, so we can formulate a strategy.”

“Is Potomal involved? Raj? Simla?”

“Yes, Potomal is involved, but I don’t know about Raj and Simla yet. However, even if they are, they won’t be a concern. We have them in our custody.”

“Rupe, please tell us what exactly is going on,” Olivia beseeched.

He looked at her thoughtfully, as if struggling with the decision whether to tell her anything.

“Please. I am your wife, and it’ll be better for me to know what’s going on, so I can take care of things at home.”

He sighed. “That’s true. I don’t have time to fully explain it or even give you time to absorb it at the moment. It may be better to leave it at this for now, and let me explain when I come back home.”

She shook her head. “Give me the short version. Just something. I promise not to question it, not now.”

He looked over at Inez, who nodded, then he pulled Olivia into Constance’s study and sat her down. “Ollie, you’re going to get a very short version. I really have to get back. And I know your reaction will be one of disbelief, but that’s okay. This is going to be hard to swallow, especially all at once.” He waited for her to signal him to go on.

She nodded.

“Each major city in the world houses a paranormal council made up of representatives from the different paranormal groups. An objective of the councils is to maintain secrecy from the human population. Each representative is responsible for maintaining order within his or her group.”

“What kind of paranormal groups?” Olivia asked. “Different kinds of Wanderers?”

“Actually the Wanderers are a group that doesn’t require much control. Thus, I am the global leader, and there are no individual city leaders. I travel around and attend meetings where I am needed.”

“Okay, so what kind of other paranormals?” she persisted.

“I was hoping not to get into that at the moment.”

“Why? If there are other types of paranormals, I feel like I need to know.”

“Okay, well, there are witches, demons, va—”

Olivia burst out laughing. “Oh, be serious, Rupe! Don’t make fun of me.”

Rupert smiled widely. “Hon, I knew that would be your reaction. So, let’s just leave it at paranormal groups for now.”

Olivia started to protest, but she was laughing so hard at the thought of pronged creatures sitting around a table making policy decisions that she couldn’t get a word out.

“Do you want me to go on?” Rupert asked.

She nodded, trying to stifle her giggles.

“The councils maintain global peace among the paranormals. Our well-structured order, this well-controlled peace, is in danger from a group of subversive paranormals threatening to replace key councils and take control of not just the paranormal, but possibly also the human, population. For example, you know the recent killings in London… that was the responsibility of this subversive group. They are creating havoc and terror.”

“Gosh, yes! Those were awful. Is Potomal the force behind the subversive group?”

Rupert shook his head. “No, but he is part of it. How involved he is, I don’t know yet.”

“Do you know who is responsible?”

“We know who the key players are.”

“Well, tell me.”

“Ollie, you’re just going to laugh again, but here goes. All evidence points to the demon King of London’s daughter, Katarina.”

Olivia shook with laughter. She wasn’t sure whether it was mirth, nervous terror at the possibility that her husband had lost his mind, or the possibility that she was actually living in an HBO show.

“Ollie, don’t even try to absorb this right now. You wanted to know, so I tried to explain, but even as the words left my mouth, I could see how ridiculous it all sounded to you. Let’s go back to the others. I have assignments to hand out before I head back.”

She stood up, grabbed his outstretched hand, and walked back to the family room. All eyes were on them, glowing with anticipation.

Trina leaned into Olivia and brought her lips to her ear. “Did he tell you fairy tales about vampires and witches?” She cackled as Rupert shot her a look. She rolled her eyes at him.

Ignoring Trina, Rupert turned to the group. “I am going to ask you to watch my family while I am gone. Bruno, please stay on here until I get back. Morgana, thanks for keeping an eye on Ella while I was sorting things out. Alexa can take over now. Harry is going back to college for now, so I have arranged cover for him there. David, as always, I appreciate you looking after Arizona.” Rupert smiled kindly at David.

Olivia noticed David’s lack of eye contact. That was very unlike him. He was usually so forthcoming, happy, and warm. She glanced up at Rupe and saw that he’d noticed that something was up as well.

“David?” Rupert said. “Are you okay? You seem a million miles away.”

David finally looked up and met Rupert’s gaze. He shifted in his chair. He finally threw a beseeching look at his mother.

“Inez, what’s going on?” Rupert demanded, his patience clearly tested.

“David has asked to be relieved from his Wanderer duties.” Her voice shook.

Several gasps were heard around the room, and everyone glared at David in shock and confusion.

Constance was on her feet. “Your Highness, I am so sorry. I would have dealt with this before your arrival had I known.” She shot Inez a harsh glance. “I am shocked, having had no inkling that David was in any way considering leaving us. David, what are you thinking?”

David looked at the floor ahead of him, clearly dismayed and unable to speak.

Constance was unyielding. “David, look at me,” she demanded.

David jerked and brought his face up. All color had drained from his skin, and his pallor made Olivia worry that he might pass out. She wanted to tell Constance to go a bit easy on him, but from the leader’s expression, it was clear that this was her domain and no one dared interrupt or interfere. As if to confirm this, Rupert squeezed down on her hand, pulling her half a step closer to him.

Constance’s face had softened a bit, but she still stood firm with both hands on her hips. “David, I—all the Elders in this room—have known you since you were a baby. Many questioned your decision to become a Wanderer so young, but you were so persistent, and your mother was convinced that you were ready. We haven’t doubted our decision for a moment. You are without reproach. Your loyalty to Arizona has been unwavering, even after what she put you through last year. And now, when she probably needs you the most, you’ve decided to forsake your calling. It makes no sense, and you certainly do not have my permission to do so. You will carry on with your duties as required. Is that clear?”

He nodded silently.

“Good.” Constance looked across to Rupert. “My apologies, Your Highness, please continue.”

Rupert remained silent for a moment and then turned to Inez. “A word, please—in private.”