Beyond the Parallel: Parallelogram, Book 4

Chapter 2

2

It’s tricky, traveling across time and space.

Especially when you’re not really sure how you did it.

“How are you?” Daniel asks, giving me a friendly, platonic hug.

“Great!” I could say. “Although I’ve only been alive for about five minutes so far, so let me get back to you on that.”

Because the truth is, I’m not really sure myself.

It’s all coming at me pretty fast: the sudden sunshine through the windows, the echoing noise of the lobby, people calling to me, talking to me, wanting things from me—when just a moment ago I was somewhere dark and peaceful and warm, all by myself, and in the moment before that I remember being furious—

I kneel down next to Red and pretend I really need to pet him right away. Anything to buy myself a few extra seconds so I can think through my next move.

“My manners!” Sarah says, seeming to notice for the first time the other people standing around me. “Sarah Everett,” she tells the group, “and this is my brother, Daniel.” She shakes hands with Mr. Chilton, the man in charge of the London facility. Says something complimentary about his tie. Then she turns and smiles for the camera. “I suspect there’s a person behind those.”

The guy holding what look like big square binoculars lowers them to enjoy the sight of Sarah with his bare eyes. He offers his hand. “Bryan Stewart.”

Bryan. The history reporter Halli’s parents saddled me with for this trip. The Bryan Stewart who hounded me so hard, looking for the next great scoop on the famous Halli Markham, he ended up being the main reason why I was rushed to the hospital where I spent the last remaining week of my life. No thanks, Bryan. Not this time. I’m going to have to figure out what to do about you.

Sarah turns to the final member of our little party. “Jake Demetrios,” he says, smiling politely, but not exactly with as much enthusiasm as Bryan.

Jake. That one … is a little more complicated. In love with Halli most of his life, sort of made me fall in love with him for a little while, and now … well, I’m going to have to get away from him, too. I need to have total freedom to do the things I need to do if I’m going to come out of this whole situation alive this time.

“Where’s your cousin?” Sarah asks me. “Is she here?”

“Couldn’t make it.” I flash a look at Daniel that I know he’ll understand. He’s quick. And he, unlike Sarah, knows there is no cousin. He knows Audie is a visitor from a parallel universe. He just doesn’t know he’s looking at me right now.

But he can guess that the cluster of other people around us might be curious why his sister is asking about some cousin Halli Markham doesn’t have.

“We don’t mean to interrupt if you still have work to do,” Daniel says in his polite British way.

“Of course we mean to interrupt!” Sarah says. “Halli Markham, we are here to steal you away. We have grand plans for you this afternoon, and then I hope you know you’ll be staying with us for as long as you’re here. You can share my unreasonably tiny bedroom in our parents’ unreasonably—”

“—tiny house,” I could finish for her, but I don’t. Instead I just smile. “That sounds great.”

“Splendid!” Sarah says. She looks at Bryan and Jake and I know what’s coming, I’m just not fast enough to catch her at the start. “And of course your fr—”

No, my “friends” aren’t welcome to come along. Not this time. That won’t work for me at all.

“Hey, Jake, Bryan—can I talk to you two for a sec?” I have no idea what I’ll say, I just know I need to break up this party as soon as possible. “Let me just finish this up,” I tell Sarah and Daniel. “Then I’ll be all yours.”

“Will that be all, Miss Markham?” Mr. Chilton asks me.

“Yes. Thank you.” He looks happy to be released. As I recall, I asked him a lot of questions about the science behind one of Halli’s parents’ inventions. Mr. Chilton didn’t seem to like that.

I draw Jake and Bryan a little ways off to the side. “Listen,” I say. “I have a favor to ask both of you.”

I feel a strange vibration against my leg. I look down and it’s Red. It’s Red leaning against me and growling low in his throat. Growling, it appears, at Jake.

Jake can take the hint. Even though Bryan is right next to me, Jake backs up and stands a few feet away.

“Red, it’s okay.” But the growl gets deeper. I reach down to pet his head, but that doesn’t comfort him at all. He just keeps snarling at Jake, warning him away.

Which makes no sense whatsoever. The two of them were best buddies a few days ago, back on Halli’s parents’ island. Jake must have thrown the stick for Red at least five hundred times. That creates a certain bond.

But I don’t have time to sort it out. I have a deal to make.

“Look,” I tell Bryan, “I haven’t seen my friends for a long time.” Kind of a lie, since they were visiting me in the hospital just a day or two ago. “I’d like to hang out with them for a while, you know? Relax for a couple of days. Without …” I gesture at his camera. “That.”

Bryan doesn’t look happy. Halli’s parents promised him full access to me. He’s supposed to get the exclusive story on Halli’s new venture, finally becoming involved in her parents’ business empire.

“But I’ll make it worth it to you,” I say. The idea occurs to me in a flash, and I know in my gut it’s right. “If you leave me alone for a few days and just let me rest and relax, I’ll give you something no one else is going to get.”

“I’m listening,” Bryan says.

I glance at Jake. From his safe distance away, he’s listening, too.

I take a deep breath, like this is hard for me.

It’s not.

“You know how private I’ve been about Ginny’s death?” I start. And it’s true: Halli doesn’t even like to talk to me about her grandmother’s death. Even a year later it still feels too raw. But in that brief time that Halli and I shared a brain together—my brain, in my former body, just a short time ago—I saw enough footage in her memories to be able to piece together a pretty believable story.

Maybe a day ago I never would have considered using Halli this way—using her private memories to buy myself some time. But that was before I understood exactly how Halli has treated my own life. She didn’t worry about messing up everything I’ve worked so hard to put into place. She felt perfectly fine quitting school, quitting my job, running off in the middle of the night with some guy she just met—okay, a parallel version of Daniel, but still, it’s not like she really knew him—and just leaving without even bothering to write my poor mom a note. I begged her. I pleaded with her. But Halli didn’t care. She said she had to do what she had to do.

Well, so do I.

“I’ll give you a full hour,” I tell Bryan. “Maybe even up to two. I’ll share with you how my life has been this past year without Ginny. I’ll tell you some of my favorite childhood memories of her. Would you like that?”

Bryan smiles. I’ve got him. And he thinks he’s got me. “Monologue, or can I ask you questions?”

“Um …” That’s a little tricky, since I don’t exactly know every part of Halli’s history. But do I know enough to fake it? “Tell you what,” I say, “you can ask, and I reserve the right not to answer. You’ll edit out any questions I don’t feel comfortable answering. Deal?”

“Deal.” Bryan shakes my hand.

One down.

“Jake,” I say.

Red growls again, just at the mere word. Jake takes another step back.

“What should I tell your parents?” he asks.

Okay, well, that’s a relief. I thought he’d put up more of a fight about me not wanting him around. Last time he was pretty possessive—especially whenever Daniel was in the picture, like right now.

But Jake is right: I’m going to have to come up with a story for Halli’s parents. They might not care about their daughter, but they do care about the image she projects. I found that out a few days ago when Halli’s mother chewed me out for all my “attention-seeking” behavior like being rushed to the hospital. She was probably furious when I died—think of the publicity.

“Tell them whatever you want,” I say, sounding like Halli, but meaning it myself. “It’s none of their business what I do. I’ve been on my own a long time. I don’t have to clear things with them.”

Besides, I’m well aware that Halli’s parents can check up on me anytime they want just by looking at the tracking information sent out by the microchip beneath Halli’s collarbone. So telling them where I am or where I’m going is pointless. It’s why I’m doing what I’m doing that is entirely my secret.

“Of course, Miss Markham,” Jake says, way too formally for a guy I know I was making out with just a little while ago, every time Mr. Chilton left the room. But it’s good Jake is keeping everything looking professional. Last time, Sarah guessed right away that Jake and I had something going on. And since I made the mistake of telling Daniel last time that it was really me in here, he wasn’t happy at all to find out I’d been kissing another guy—even if I was kissing him with Halli’s lips, not mine. And then Bryan the reporter put the pieces together himself and forced Jake and me to confess, and then everything kept going haywire after that.

So if Jake wants to pretend he just works for Halli’s parents and has no personal relationship with me, I’m all for it.

“I’ll need my clothes delivered to Sarah’s house,” I remember to tell him. Last time I had to go back to the hotel first, which led to more kissing, and then that whole confrontation with Bryan … “The driver can get the address when he drops me off.”

“Of course, Miss Markham,” Jake says again. “I’ll go speak to the driver now, if you’re ready to go. He can take you and your friends.”

Good. So far changing things up this time is a lot easier than I thought it would be.

“And me,” Jake adds.