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Well, that was weird for sure.
Then again, welcome to my world. Or, in this case, Quentin’s world.
After teleporting everyone back to my place, Damon gave me his home address so I could pull it up on Google Earth and use a street view photo as a target to teleport him. Lindsey is going to spend the rest of the day hanging out with Tammy at our house. It takes all the self-control she has not to immediately call her parents and tell them she’s okay. Our plan is for me to teleport her directly back into her dorm room around two in the morning, late enough to where all three of her roommates will definitely be asleep and not see me. That way, she gets back on campus without any cameras seeing her arriving—exactly as she disappeared.
She’s going to do her best to pretend not to know she’s been missing for a week, telling the police and anyone who interviews her that she simply went to sleep one night and woke up the next morning as far as she could tell. If they really push or she slips and mentions something about Quentin’s world, she’ll say it was a vivid dream and she does not believe she literally went to another world.
After all, there is no ‘rational’ explanation for what happened.
Her story is probably going to end up on several YouTube paranormal shows and unsolved mysteries. A small price to pay for being home safe.
So, yeah. We’re at my house, sitting around the dining room table playing this haunted house board game, except for Paxton, who’s still on her camping trip with Renae’s family. Wow, talk about jetlag. Felt like three or four days passed in the other reality in what amounted to four hours here. I doubt the flow of time works differently in each world. It’s more likely we did a tiny bit of time traveling on our way home.
Kingsley’s back at his place getting ready for our date tonight. I’m going there right after dropping Lindsey off at her dorm. Yes, um, a late date night. ‘Nuff said.
“Not sure her story is going to work,” says Anthony.
“Why wouldn’t it?” asks Lindsey. “No one would believe the actual truth.”
“What’s the alternative?” I shrug one shoulder, then roll the dice before moving my little figure into the next room of cardboard tiles forming the floorplan of a ‘mansion’ in the middle of the table. “Should we orchestrate a fake kidnapping and make it look like she escaped from her abductors? If so, how would we explain the supposed kidnappers managing to get her out of the dorm without being caught on any cameras?”
“Hmm.” Anthony shifts his jaw side to side.
“Worse…” I draw a card from the ‘room’ pile. Whew, no monster. I get a random item from the item deck. “If we do that, the police will waste countless hours looking for criminals who don’t exist. So, no... we can’t give them a BS story about a crime. It’s gotta be something they look at and immediately realize there’s no purpose to investigate any deeper. Sounds weird to say, but we’re better off leaving it bizarre.”
“Yeah.” Tammy nods.
“When you put it like that, ma, it’s hard to argue.” Anthony smiles and picks up the dice. “Want me to make spaghetti tonight?”
“Spaghetti sounds amazing.”
“Really?” Lindsey chuckles. “Why are you acting like spaghetti is some exotic treat?”
“You’ve never had sauce like my brother makes it.” Tammy does that Italian finger-kissing thing. “After tonight, you won’t be able to enjoy spaghetti anywhere else.”
Lindsey shrugs in a ‘we’ll see’ way... then her face drops. “Guys, it feels so wrong to just wait. Maybe I should go back right now so I don’t have to make my parents wonder any longer if I’m okay.”
“I can see where we’re going before we appear.” I close my eyes and think about her dorm room. The dancing flame appears in the back of my mind. I coax it to expand to the size of a picture frame, showing me what’s on the other side. We’re in luck. The dorm room is empty. It’s a little after five in the afternoon. “Room’s empty. Want to go now?”
“Yes!” Lindsey next gives Tammy her phone number so they can stay in contact. Once done, she grabs my hand. “Bye for now, guys. Thank you all for helping get me home.”
“Peace,” says Anthony.
“Laterz.” Tammy leans on the z.
I dive through the dancing flame as it expands to the height of a doorway. Lindsey and I appear in her dorm room. A paused video game on one of the computers suggests we don’t have a lot of time before we are no longer alone. This dorm doesn’t have toilets in each individual bedroom. Students have to go down the hall. Someone is still here.
Lindsey hugs me. “Thank you so much, Sam. I’ll never forget you.”
“Aw. I’m glad we were able to get you home safe.” I smile. “I should get out of here before your roommate comes back.”
“Okay.” Lindsey starts to peel herself out of the medieval dress. “Can’t let them see this or the questions will be too weird.”
I wave and teleport myself back home.
Hmm. I should probably call Sherbet and let him know what really happened.
Chapter Twenty-one
