“Why?”
“Because of the lake portal. Maybe—I don’t know, maybe she figured if she didn’t build the portal, there would be no dark world to mix with ours.”
Robbie nodded.
“Except . . . except that wouldn’t save you. Her whole plan was to save you from being hit by the train. She must have changed something else too. But what?” I wracked my brain, trying to remember details from that beach. But suddenly it was like every image I had retained from that trip all those years ago started to fade. One second I could vividly recall the white billowing curtains, the red bathroom, then suddenly the memories were gone. I shook my head. More of the pictures disappeared. It was almost like they were being . . . erased.
“I loved that trip,” Robbie said wistfully. “That woman Sage gave me chocolate ice cream every day while we were there.”
Piper smiled at Robbie’s memory, but I felt a chill run down my spine. “No, Robbie, you weren’t there, remember? You stayed home. You had Little League or something.”
“No, you stayed home, M. I was there with Mom, but you stayed with Dad.”
I got up and started pacing. “Oh my God,” I mumbled to myself, my breaths coming faster as I walked. “She brought you instead.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She brought you to Portland. Instead of me. Because you’d be safe there.”
“What do you mean, safe?” Robbie asked. “It was years before the accident.”
“She wasn’t planning on bringing you back,” I explained gently.
“You mean, keep me in Portland? Raise me there?”
“It would keep you away from the train track.” I nodded. “And that way you’d never have had your accident.”
Suddenly all those images in my brain of the trip to the hotel were replaced with new ones: Dad and I playing with puzzles; Dad tucking me in, my heart beating too fast. The house feeling too empty with just the two of us left behind.
Robbie nodded slightly, weighing the repercussions of what I was saying. “If I was raised in Portland, I wouldn’t have grown up with you.”
“And we never would have met,” Piper added, her hand clutching Robbie’s.
“But I do remember growing up with you,” Robbie continued. “Mom and I came back from that trip.”
“That’s how I remember it too,” I said. “So then she must not have gone through with raising you there. If she had, we’d both remember it that way. Something must have gone wrong with her plan.”
“What?” Piper asked.
I looked towards the window, to the world that was now overrun with the deranged reality from under the lake. “I don’t know.”
“So what can we do?” Piper asked.
“We’ll follow her, all of us. We’ll stop her from building the lake portal. And we’ll make sure that . . .”
“Marina?” Robbie asked, his voice timid.
“That she does raise you there, Robbie. That you are kept away from the train tracks.”
“No.”
“The world we come back to should look just like our old one, but with Robbie alive in Portland.”
“I said no. Not if I won’t remember you,” Robbie insisted.
“It’ll be okay,” I said. “We’ll all go in together. When you leave DW, you always remember everything from before, right? As long as we’re together, we’ll remember each other.”
Piper and Robbie sat with my words for a moment. Piper smiled, but her bottom lip was trembling.
“When we get back, you two can go. You can live wherever you want.”
Robbie looked at me, a question lingering on his face. “Wherever we want?”
I smiled. “Piper said you wanted to live by the beach.”
“We’ll get a little place with an extra room,” Piper said with a nod, the plan all set in her mind. “Marina will live with us.”
“Yes,” Robbie agreed. “When she finishes high school.”
“Hold up,” I said, trying not to laugh. “Don’t plan my whole life for me. I’d like to do a few things first. I’m still learning how to drive.”
“I’ll teach you,” Piper said. “I guess I’d better teach you both, huh?” she added, turning to Robbie. “I don’t want to be the chauffeur for you two forever.”
Robbie laughed, always seeming a bit lighter when Piper tried to cheer him up.
Kieren and Scott returned a moment later, their faces flushed red and their hair windblown. They had clearly biked back at full speed, still a bit out of breath.
“Did you get them?” I asked.
Kieren opened his hand and showed me two flattened pennies, which I tucked securely into my pocket. “Don’t lose those now,” he joked.
“Promise.”
“Do you know where we’re going?”
“Yes,” I said. “I just need to run to my house and get something.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kieren immediately offered.
“Stay,” I insisted. “I’ll be fine. Why don’t you help your dad upstairs? I get the feeling he wants to talk to you.”
Robbie looked up from the floor where he had been whispering with Piper. “You sure you’re okay on your own?”
I smiled. “I promise to look both ways before crossing the street,” I said, and I finally got a bit of a smile out of Robbie. “I’ll be right back.”
Outside I hopped on a bike and started pedaling for home. It was close to noon. Scott had explained to us that the front part of the school was still being used for lessons during the week, and sports events were still being hosted in the auditorium on weekends, though the place would be heavily guarded. They always ended by 4:30 so that everyone could be home by the curfew of 5 p.m. There was a basketball game that afternoon, in fact.
Of course, the boiler room was in the military part of the building.
The plan was to go to the basketball game with everyone else. As it was a Saturday and most of the military staff were off for the weekend, we figured this was our best bet to sneak down the hall towards the boiler room. There was a locked door in place now between the school part of the building and the military section, but Scott knew
