The Return (2 page)

It had taken a few trips for the building to finally reveal a secret. Watching from a wooded hill, just out of sight, Tim could see a large door open as a black car approached. The car went through it and the door quickly closed. Once shut, there was no sign a door was ever there.

Tim knew he had to go back there. He had to talk to Canary.

“Tim, what are you doing?”

His mother eyed him curiously from the bottom of the stairs.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah mom, fine. I'm running late though, so I have to skip breakfast.”

“But Timothy, I made your favorite; you have to eat a few bites.”

Looking past his mom into the kitchen, he could see it was indeed his favorite meal on the table, toasted grasshopper. He grabbed a few for the road, gave his mom a peck on the cheek, and headed out the door to school.

“Be careful!” he heard his mom call after him.

As he turned to wave, a Meganeura buzzed right over his head, knocking his cap clear off. The annoying gigantic dragonflies were everywhere this time of year. He picked up his hat, hopped on his skateboard, and rode past rows of red and purple trees down the hill to school.

Max was waiting for him at the bottom.

“You're going to make us late, man,” he scolded.

“Sorry, my mom made me breakfast,” Tim replied, holding out a few of the tasty critters for Max to sample.

“Hey, thanks, dude!” Max said as he grabbed the goodies and popped them in his mouth. “Your mom makes the best hoppers in town.”

The two friends arrived at school within minutes of the final bell.

“See you at lunch,” Max called out as he disappeared into his classroom.

Tim barely made it to his class on time, plunking down in his seat just as the teacher, Mr. DeLuca, closed and locked the door. There was no excuse for being late to his class. Arriving after the door closed meant an automatic trip to see the principal, Ms. Leavitt.

“Glad you could join us,” Mr. DeLuca said looking directly at Tim.

DeLuca's geography class moved at an excruciatingly slow pace, and the clock seemed to move backwards each time Tim checked it.

Today's topic was the ocean and waterways of their planet.

Indus was made primarily of water with only about 10 percent land. There were four land regions. Each had its own town: the Falls, River Bend, Shoreland, and Briny Deep. Each was separated by vast oceans. Travel between the regions was limited to those with a credential for passage, something difficult to get approval for—and expensive. Tim's father had a credential, and so did Luke's dad who traveled between regions for business a lot.

Of course Tim wanted to see what the other towns were like, but what he really dreamed of seeing was the sub-aquatic city of Nomad. It was a sprawling underwater domed metropolis where thousands of scientists, explorers, and researchers lived and worked. It was also home to Vantage 5, the intergalactic fleet of spacecraft and their pilots.

The ships were launched into space on the far side of Indus from the deep waters near Nomad where no land existed.

Tim's eyes wandered across the room at the empty chair where Luke had sat. He thought about the other regions and Nomad—where was Luke? He couldn't be in Briny Deep anymore; the search for the kids had been extensive. So that meant they had to be in one of the other towns or in the underwater city. But why would anyone want to take them?

“Tim, do you hear me?”

“Uh, sorry, Mr. DeLuca,” Tim stammered as he was jolted back to the present moment by his teacher.

“Well, can you answer the question I posed?”

“Sure, but can you repeat it, sir?”

The teacher looked at Tim for a moment and then, perhaps feeling a bit sorry for him, calmly repeated the question.

“What is the distance between Briny Deep and the Falls if you are traveling on the underwater network?”

He had no idea. He knew there were thousands of miles of underwater travel tubes leading to all the towns and Nomad, but he couldn't remember the exact distance to the Falls. Luke would have known the answer. He loved this kind of stuff.

Tim began to open his mouth, about to admit he hadn't a clue, when the bell mercifully rang indicating the end of class. The other kids bounced up from their desks and out the door like a herd of animals, and Tim managed to disappear in the middle of them out into the hallway.

As he headed for his next class, he felt a sudden pang of anxiety. He didn't care how far it was from here to the Falls, he just wanted to know was how far it was to the place called Earth.

The lunchroom was noisy, crowded, and had a weird smell.

As Tim made his way across to the food line, he couldn't help but notice all the kids staring at him. He assumed they were curious about his experience with the stranger—the one who was now called Canary. The authorities had questioned Tim at length about the brief encounter while he was still in the hospital, and then again once more after he had returned home. He had told them about finding the necklace, the bracelet, the pictures, and the list of names that included his. They seemed very interested in the paper he found that contained what he could only describe as some sort of code. The men really wanted him to try and remember anything on that sheet. But he could not. It was a blur now. They also made him recount the conversation he had heard Canary have with someone on the phone before authorities had arrived. Tim was injected with something that had made him very sleepy, but he did hear Canary tell someone about “being ready for transport” and that something was “unavoidable” before yelling “Abort!” into the phone.

After relaying the whole story to them, Tim had asked about the photo, about Earth. They had no answers for him. But after staring at him for some time, one of the men had asked, “What do you think it is?”

“A place I never heard of,” Tim had answered. “But the man said it was my home.”

“Well, that's clearly a lie,” the man had answered. “Briny Deep is your home, and there is no such place as Earth.”

Tim spotted Max at their usual table. Nina and Emily were there, too. Luke's seat remained empty.

Perusing the choices for lunch, nothing in the trays looked appealing. Hearing an annoyed sigh from the kid behind him in line, he settled on the cicada soup thinking it might help settle his stomach.

Emily looked like she had been crying again. Her sister Isabelle was one of the missing, and she was devastated. As Tim passed behind her to take his seat, he put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and smiled.

Max was devouring his lunch while Nina just picked at hers.

“Slow down, Max,” she said “It's not going anywhere. Then she looked at Tim.

“Tell us more about what the man said to you.”

“He said he came here to rescue me . . . to take me home to Earth.”

“Never heard of it,” Max managed to say through a full mouthful of fried beetles.

“What do you think it means?” Nina asked staring directly at Tim.

He shrugged his shoulders, “Don't know, but I'm going to find out.”

Max stopped eating and looked up slowly from his lunch. “Then we need to come up with a plan.”

They all turned to face him, and Tim slapped his hand on the table in a sudden burst of excitement.

“Yes,” he practically yelled. “We do need a plan, Max. I have to find a way to talk to that man again, the one they call Canary.”

Nina took his hand and calmly squeezed it.

“Tim, that just isn't possible.”

•••••

Ms. Duvall sat by the first floor window of her two-story home, watching. She was aware of her reputation for being a snoop. Some people in town, mostly children, regarded her as a loony bird. They would walk by her house giggling and pointing; others ran, fearful she might snatch them and throw them in her oven for dinner.

The authorities had even paid her a visit after the disappearances, knocking at her door to ask questions about where she was on such and such night. But after coming to greet them in a wheelchair, they had realized the old woman certainly couldn't have anything to do with anyone vanishing.

They did ask about her second floor. Why did she have one if she couldn't access it?

She had thought the question was ill-mannered and meddlesome. After all, it really was none of their business. But she reluctantly explained she hadn't always been in a wheelchair. An accident when she was a younger woman had taken away her ability to walk, confining her to the wheelchair for years now. She had told them that the home was originally her father's, and he had left it to her after his death. She had everything she needed downstairs, and if guests came to stay, there were three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs for them to use. She had someone come in once a week to help clean, and they took care of all the dusting up there for her.

The large, cumbersome men had looked at her with pity for just a moment before apologizing for wasting her time and being on their way.

If there is one thing the people of this town should not feel for her, it was pity.

Watching them walk back and forth out her window, she knew more about everyone than they would ever know about her. They often would stop and talk right in front of her window, unaware she was even there.

On this day, she had enough of sitting by the window. Her limbs felt stiff. She reached for the curtains with both hands and closed them tight. She wheeled her way into the kitchen and checked the window curtains there, and they too were all shut. She liked her privacy. Over the past few years, she had managed to keep to herself for the most part.

Secrets ran deep in this town, very deep. And she knew almost every single one the residents here had hidden away, including the most important one of all.

After being sure all the windows and doors in the downstairs area were secure, Ms. Duvall rose from her chair and ran up the stairs, two at a time—she had work to do.

The cabin that had once served as a hideout was empty now except for a few chairs, a table, and one couch.

Tim had to work hard to convince the others that they should go there to take a look around now that the authorities were through tearing the place apart for clues. Nina was especially resistant, but Emily had convinced her.

“Please, we have to go,” she had urged. “I have to know what happened to Isabelle, Luke, and the others.”

“I know, Eme,” Nina said looking at her best friend warmly. “I just don't think that's the place to find them.”

Emily looked ready for tears again.

“But,” Nina quickly added, “If it's really important to you, of course I'll go.”

The group made their way past the Eller home and into the woods. Tim hadn't seen Rusty since his night in the cabin. Apparently he was still away. The house looked dark and empty. He really wanted to see Rusty. To tell him how sorry he was about Luke and how much he missed him.

After a long walk through the woods, the kids finally arrived outside the cabin. Tim wasn't sure at all what he was looking to find. He knew the place was probably swept clean by authorities, but he had to see it again. Maybe, just maybe, he might remember something that could help find his friends.

Max walked ahead and climbed the stairs to the front porch. Reaching slowly for the door, he gently turned the knob and opened. The others followed him inside.

Tim thought it looked a lot different in the daylight as he nervously eyed his surroundings. He walked into the front room and placed his phone on a small side table.

Nina remained close to the front door. Tim reached out his hand to her and she shook her head. She wasn't moving from that spot.

“They could come back,” she said in a whispery voice.

“No, they would never risk it,” Emily said calmly as she walked over to her and gently took her hand.

“Eme's right,” Max interjected. “Besides they caught the main guy and he's locked up for good.”

Tim couldn't help but wonder who Canary was talking to on the phone that night and just how many others were involved. But he felt as certain as Max and Emily that whoever it was would never show their face in this cabin again.

And then he heard it.

It was almost indiscernible, but he was sure he heard the ceiling creaking.

There it was again!

Footsteps.

He looked at his friends and could tell immediately they all heard it, too. Everyone remained frozen in place.

Creak . . . creak . . . creak . . .

Someone was upstairs.

Upon hearing it a second time, Nina sprinted outside, followed closely behind by Emily and Max.

Tim couldn't move.

The footsteps were heading down the staircase now. The girls were already down the front porch when Max realized Tim wasn't with them.

“Tim!” he yelled toward the house. Getting no response, Max turned around and went back inside.

Tim could see a man's legs descending down the stairs.

“You shouldn't be here,” the man called towards him. “But I'm really glad you are.”

The red crop of hair was unmistakable. It was Rusty! He opened his arms to embrace Tim, who gladly went in for a hug. Max sighed with relief and then waved to the girls to come back inside

“When did you get back?” Tim asked.

Rusty motioned for the boys to sit down on the couch as he sat in a big oversized chair.

“Mr. Eller!” Emily called out as she and Nina re-entered the house. “We thought you were out of town.”

“I got back about a week ago, but since I've been back, I've been spending a lot of time at the Reef helping them sort though some information.”

Tim realized that was the same building he had seen years ago. The same place they were keeping Canary. Rusty went on to explain that the authorities had named his part-time groundskeeper and handyman, Mr. Kull, as a suspect in the disappearances.