Chapter 41

Just when I thought things couldn't possibly get any weirder...

Christine and I had just spent a really energetic time getting each other up and motivated towards our respective days – somewhere nearby, I knew there was a really big ball of energy, or maybe two, waiting to be pushed across to the other side, where they could dissipate safely on their own – when Jamie suddenly left. I assumed she was running off to wake up with Allison, something she had been doing a lot lately, but that wasn't the case; apparently, something had caught her attention.

"Jimmy!" She called moments later, suddenly sounding alarmed.

"What's up?"

"You better get out here," she said. "We've got a problem."

"What kind of problem? Do I have time to dress?"

"That would probably be a good idea," she said. "Doreen may not take it well if you run around the patio naked."

"Okay," I said, sliding out of bed and grabbing the pair of running shorts I kept close by just in case. "Are you going to tell me what the problem is, or do I have to guess?"

"Trust me," she said. "No way are you guessing this one!"

She didn't sound angry or afraid, so I figured it couldn't be that bad.

"Do I have time to make coffee?"

"Jimmy! Get your ass out here!"

"Okay, okay. Jeez, sis, what could be so..." about that time, I opened the front door and saw the dolphin in the swimming pool.

Okay, for starters, it's not even possible. The logistics of getting a full-grown bottle-nosed dolphin into a residential swimming pool would be insane. And, even if you got it there, it would sink like a stone and drown because fresh water isn't dense enough to provide the kind of buoyancy a dolphin needs to float. Sure they could swim and stay up, but a residential pool really wasn't big enough to let them move laterally, so their effort would amount to tail-standing in order to tread water, and the amount of energy they would need would wear them out fairly quickly. Still, there it was, sort of...

He was twelve feet long, probably weighed 600 pounds, and, judging from his antics, he was happy to see me, or rather us, since Jamie had been petting his snout until I came out, at which point he became somewhat more enthusiastic about expressing himself. It was weird watching him leap in and out of the water without so much as rippling the surface.

"Oh shit!" I whispered.

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too," Jamie said. "If you listen really closely, you can hear sort of an echo of the splash; that's what got my attention. You know that really quiet time when you were just laying there listening to each others' hearts beat? I thought I heard something, so I came to check it out."

Meanwhile, Zeus was waiting patiently for me to acknowledge his presence. I felt more than a little weird kneeling down at the edge of the pool and stroking his nose, and I couldn't help wondering what Doreen would think if she picked that moment to look out the window. Fortunately, Christine was headed into the shower, so at least I didn't have to worry about her coming out, for the moment. This was too weird...

I knew she was going to kill me, but I really needed to talk to Allison, so I retrieved my secure phone from the living room and made the call. At the last minute, I grabbed the regular phone and took it with me back outside as well.

"This had better be important," Allison's sleepy voice answered.

"There's a dolphin in my swimming pool," I said.

"Very funny," came the fuzzy, though obviously irritated reply. "You woke me up for..."

"It's Zeus," I said, interrupting her.

"What?" she asked, all hint of sleep suddenly gone from her voice. "You're not kidding, are you?"

"Nope," I answered.

"Physically there," she confirmed, "in your swimming pool, right now?"

"I don't think physically really applies – this is more like when Walter runs around in the daylight hours – but otherwise, yeah."

"Jimmy, you're sure he's really there?"

"I touched his snout, does that count?"

"Holy Shit!"

"Well," I said, "I guess it's unanimous; that's pretty much the same reaction Jamie and I had."

"Okay okay, give me a second and ... Call Walter, see if he sees him too."

"Ooh! Good idea!" Jamie said. "Walter!"

It only took a second before the shadowy figure appeared around the side of the apartment, trotting towards me on all fours. Suddenly he staggered and fell over as if he'd been shot.

I resisted the urge, barely, but Jamie screamed, "Walter!" and rushed to where he lay unconscious on the patio.

I heard something and realized it was Allison screaming into the phone. Had she somehow heard Jamie? This was getting out of hand fast. Her screaming like that was guaranteed to wake up my parents.

"I'm back," I said into the phone, trying my best to keep my voice as level as possible, so I didn't attract more unwanted attention myself. The last thing I needed right now was Doreen or Christine coming out wanting to know what all the shouting was about. "Allison, something seriously weird is going on here, and..."

"Hold on," she said. "It's okay dad; I'm fine. I'm talking to Jimmy, and something weird happened. I don't think it's dangerous, but it distracted him, and I was trying to get his attention again. I'm sorry for waking you up."

I could picture my dad shaking his head as he closed the door and headed back to the bedroom to reassure my mom.

"Okay, I'm back. Jimmy, what the hell is going on?"

"I have no idea," I said. "That's why I called you, remember? Now, Walter showed up, and, about half way to me, he just keeled over. I'm going to hang up for a second, so I can try and see what is going on; I'll call you back."

"Jimmy, we need help," Jamie said. "I can't tell what's wrong with him."

"Well what the hell am I supposed to do?" I asked, completely at a loss.

"Why don't you start by calling Lizzy and seeing if she's free? Maybe, if we shift all the way to the other side, she'll be able to see something."

I made the call and got her voice mail.

"She didn't answer," I said.

Suddenly my phone gave a chirp, signaling a text message had arrived. I looked, and it was from Lizzy, just a question mark.

I sent her back a short message – '910' – signaling that it wasn't an emergency but serious, and asked if she could get someplace 'quiet'. Thirty seconds later the phone rang.

"Hi," I answered. "I don't know what's going on, but there is major weirdness happening here in sin city, and now something is wrong with Walter. Can you get somewhere where it's safe to nap and meet us?"

"Wait," she said. "Slow down. What happened to Walter? Is that why Jamie is so worked up?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what's wrong; I called him to see if he could see what I was seeing, and..."

"What do you mean?" she interrupted. "What were you seeing?"

"Zeus in my swimming pool."

There was silence for a second, and finally, "Did you just say... ?"

"Yes," I said, the absurdity of the situation suddenly pulling a half chuckle out of me. "Zeus is in my pool; I'm seeing him the same way I see Walter when I'm, you know, here. I called Allison, and she suggested calling Walter to see if he could see him, too, only, when he showed up, something happened, and now he's passed out on the patio. Jamie is sitting with him; there's no sign of injury, but we're not exactly in a position to judge, you know, so she suggested calling you and moving the whole scene to where you can get a look at him."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," she said. "He may not be like you and me, but there's still the risk that moving him could make whatever it is worse." She paused. "Can you come and get me?"

"What?" I asked, shocked. "You mean, like, in person?"

"Yes, come and get me; take me back with you."

"How is that going to help?"

"I don't know, but I'm wondering if I'll be able to see them the way you do. We've never tried it, but I've thought about it ever since you started seeing Walter in the day time. We probably should have thought to have me try before, but ... Can you?"

"Shit!" I said. "I don't know if ... damn, hold on." I put my hand over the phone and said to Jamie, "She wants me to bring her here. I mean really bring her." Then I realized how stupid it was to cover the phone to talk to Jamie. Talk about losing it in a crisis!

"Well, we have to do something," Jamie said. "He's out cold and barely breathing."

Naturally that's when Christine showed up at the front door to see what I was doing.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, standing in the doorway, in a light robe. "You didn't make coffee this morning, and you always make coffee."

Shit! This just kept getting worse. I took a deep breath and spoke to Lizzy first, "Find a safe place; let me know when you're ready."

I disconnected and walked to the door.

"I was talking to Lizzy; she said to give you a kiss."

As our lips touched I 'woke up' the real Christine. She was startled at first but then just sort of leaned into the kiss, if you know what I mean.

"Mmmm," she said when she finally pulled back. "Nice way to wake up. What's up? Why am I here?"

"Something is going on, and I need you to take over for a little bit – finish getting ready and stuff – but stay in the back until I tell you it's safe to come out. I'm going to be doing things you – and especially the other you – can't know about. I figured it would be easier to tell you what I need rather than try to make up something plausible for the other one."

"Okay," she said seriously. "Come get me when you're through, but don't take too long, I have to get to school. I'm already running late so I'll just hit Starbucks on the way."

She gave me a peck on the cheek and headed back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Lizzy had apparently already found someplace that she felt was secure enough, and I could feel the image forming in my head.

"Jamie..." I began.

"Just go, Jimmy; I don't want to leave him here by himself. What if he fades out while we're gone? I don't know if we could find him again."

I closed my eyes and got a clearer picture of the image Lizzy was showing me. For a moment, I was distracted by the fact that she was still the only one it worked this way with. For anyone else, I would have had to have already been on the other side.

With the image clearly in my head, I opened the door to the apartment and took the two steps – one into, and another out of, dreamspace – into a small utility room 2000 miles away.

Lizzy stepped in close to wrap her arms around me from behind, kissing the back of my neck and giving me a good squeeze before releasing me again.

"How is he?" She asked.

"No change that we can see," I answered. "Jamie wanted to stay with him just in case he faded out or something. She was afraid that we wouldn't be able to find him again."

"Would you?" She asked.

"I don't know," I answered. "I've never tried before, so I didn't argue with her. I'm pretty sure I could, but ... better safe."

"Right," she agreed. "Are you ready?"

"Sure, whenever you are." Picking a line in the tile to use as a threshold, I turned us both around so we were facing the door and asked Jamie, "Is Doreen up and looking out the back window or anything?"

"No, all clear here."

Then – with Lizzy in front of me – I pictured the view looking out the door from the apartment and took two quick steps – one in and one out – through dreamspace.

It's a good thing I was stepping quickly, because, immediately upon arrival, we both collapsed to our knees at the sudden onslaught of sensation. Glancing over, I saw Jamie laid out on the patio next to Walter and knew that whatever had hit us had once again been passed to those closest to us. I was still trying to catch my breath when my phone rang again.

I knew without looking that it was Allison, but I checked anyway before answering. I was planning to skip the pleasantries anyway, but I hadn't even really answered before I heard, "What the hell are you doing back there? I thought you were trying to help Walter, not..."

"Stop!" I said. "I don't know what happened; I just brought Lizzy over to see if she could help with Walter, only..."

"You what?" she demanded. "You brought her ... there ... with you? Are you crazy? You..."

"Shouldn't be discussing this on this phone," I interrupted.

"Oh! Right! Sorry, but ... well, you did it again. You better check on Christine; she's probably wondering what the hell just happened. At least I knew what it was. Are you guys okay?"

"Recovering is more like it. That was like ... instant overload. No foreplay, no buildup, just..."

"Total release," Allison finished for me. "Like something stuck wires in all your pleasure centers and set them all off at once."

"Yeah, like that," I agreed.

"How's Lizzy?" She asked.

Good question, I had crawled away and left her lying on the patio when I answered the phone. Now, I turned to check on her and found her kneeling, staring at me with her hands over her mouth and tears streaming down her face.

"Elizabeth!" I cried urgently, moving toward her. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

I could hear a steady buzz of questions coming from the phone again, so I took a moment to reassure Allison. When the phone was close enough, I heard "Damn it, Jimmy, talk to me! What's wrong with... ?"

"I'll call you back in a second," I said, and I shut the phone off.

It probably wasn't he most reassuring thing I could have done, and the last thing I heard was, "No! Don't you dare... ," and the line went dead.

I set the phone on the ground and – kneeling in front of her – took Lizzy into my arms.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

Before she could answer, the phone was ringing again. She sort of giggled through a sob and picked the phone up.

"I'm okay, Allison," she said. "I'll tell you about it later, I promise. No, really, I'm okay. It's just going to be a little hard to explain. Right now I need to see about Walter ... Okay, love you too."

Allison would never take that from me, but ... Lizzy just turned the phone off and set it down, and then took my face in her hands and kissed me tenderly; on the cheek of course, we had enough problems without ... you know.

"I'm okay," she said. "It's just..."

"What?" I asked.

"You have the prettiest eyes," she said with a smile.

I could feel my jaw drop.

"You mean you can ... see – really see – my eyes?"

She bit her lip and nodded shyly, then burst into tears again. They were happy tears though.

I was still in shock as she stood and reached for my hand. "Come on let's ... holy shit!"

That pretty much made it unanymous. I followed her gaze as she stood frozen staring at Zeus. Suddenly, she spun around to face where Walter lay next to Jamie, who was at least sitting up again.

"Ooh, not good," she said, moving forward. "Girlfriend, you look like hell; go home, we'll take it from here, okay?" She leaned in and kissed Jamie, and suddenly she was gone, and I felt her come back to me. Then Lizzy turned her attention to Walter.

"This is un-real!" she said and turned to me. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you and Christine had breakfast in bed?"

My face fell again. "You're kidding?"

"Nope," she said, shaking her head. "I have no idea what is going on, but he is like ... surrounded by your little love bomb. It wasn't keyed was it?"

"No, I was just going to push it over to the other..." the light came on, and I turned to face the pool. "Oh my god."

"Uh-huh!" She said, nodding her affirmation. "My guess is that someone has been playing catch with those sparkly little balls you've been leaving floating around, and either he caught a big one, or eventually that energy built up. I'm going to need to take a look at the others as soon as possible."

"What about Walter?" I asked.

"Same thing," she said. I don't know if he walked into it, or ... actually, from what you said, it sounds like it was drawn to him the way the first one was to you when we were experimenting; I'll have to ask Allison. Widget was likely playing with the one that got hers, but this sounds like it was drawn to Walter's energy; which is simpler, but still very similar to yours. The good news is that, while I don't know what it's doing, it doesn't seem to be hurting him."

"Should I try to pull it away from him?" I asked.

"No," she said shaking her head. "For one thing, I don't think you could – well, you probably could, but it's keyed to him now and seems to be merging with his pattern."

"You mean like what happened with Widget?"

"Yep, just like Widget. Jimmy, regardless of what Walter was or could do before; his pattern is simple compared to a regular person. Like I said, I can't really tell what's happening, but this is much bigger than what tagged the little fur ball, and, just like with her, I don't think you could pull them back apart without destroying them. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. As for our little friend, 'Flipper', over here..." She turned and walked back towards the pool.

Out in the water, Zeus made a strange noise then splashed water toward Lizzy; which must have taken real effort since he hadn't even made a ripple jumping in and out so far. Of course, the pool still didn't move, but somehow you could see water appear out of nowhere and disappear again.

"Oooh, someone doesn't like the nickname," Lizzy laughed. "It's a good thing the water he's actually touching isn't any more real here than he is.

"Wait a minute," I said. "What do you mean he doesn't like the nickname? Are you saying he understood what you were saying?"

That stopped her! I actually saw her tense slightly before she turned a curious eye to me. "I ... I don't know," she said, "but when I called him that, I saw a flash of anger before he tried to splash me. I wonder..." She turned back to the pool, "Zeus?"

In the water, the great dolphin powered up to his tail, chittering loudly.

"He clearly understands his name," she said. "We're going to need to talk to Allison about all of this. Meanwhile, I better get back inside before your landlady spots me and wonders when and how I got here. Is there any coffee left?"

"No, sorry, but Jamie hustled me out here before I got a chance to start it this morning. What about Walter?" I asked as she turned towards the door.

She stopped and shrugged. "I don't think there is anything we can do for him. You can try to move him inside if you want, but I don't really see how it would make a difference."

That actually made sense.

"Okay," I said, "but we're going to have to get you back to school before someone wonders where you disappeared to."

"David, it's college; no one cares if you walk out of class. Now if I'm not back for a meeting or some specific, scheduled event – like practice – then they'll ask questions, because they're paying for me to be there for that; otherwise everyone will just assume I didn't feel like showing up today."

"What do you mean they're paying you for practice?" I realized it was a stupid question, even as I said it, and corrected myself. "Duh! Scholarship; they're offsetting your school costs. Sorry, tough morning, but I still think we should get you back."

"Well, we're not going anywhere until you've had a chance to rest. I'm surprised you don't feel it, but your energy is way down; has been ever since we got here. You're going to need to be careful of this in the future, because I think at least part of what happened to Jamie, is that you stole energy back from her to move me. Don't worry; it wasn't that bad, and, if not for the rest of it, she probably would have been fine, but we need to keep an eye on it. Your energy is coming back, but I'd guess we've got at least an hour to kill before we should risk anything like that again." She got a sexy smirk on her face. "Amber is going to be sooo disappointed when she gets home and finds you in her room napping while you recover from bringing me home. I guess we shouldn't be surprised; you were unconscious for hours after getting Allison off that ship."

"Damn," I said. "What about Christine? She's in the bathroom getting ready for school, and she has to leave soon."

She waived it off.

"No problem," she said. "Just go in and close the door to the bathroom for a second, and I'll hide under the bed until she's gone."

The mischievous grin told me this wasn't the first time she'd had to do something similar. I think it was the raised eyebrows that gave away what I was thinking, because suddenly she grinned and said, "I'll tell you about it after she leaves."