Now the neighbors were coming, attracted by the commotion. Men, women, and children, staring curiously. None were hostile, but their presence helped seal this little party’s doom. There would be no way to break through them all and escape.
Provos reached the spot of bare ground. She clasped Esta by the hand and stepped forward. She disappeared.
The approaching police stared. Colene’s parents stared. Colene stared.
Then it registered: Bumshed was gone, but the anchor wasn’t. Only Colene herself could free the anchor. They could escape!
But the police were catching on that something strange was afoot. They charged across toward Slick. Provos reappeared, grasped him by the hand, and hauled him with her across the region. They disappeared.
They had made it to the Virtual Mode! But Colene hadn’t—and she was too far from the anchor to make it. The police had already crossed that region, and were converging on her. She alone would be trapped here.
Her father strode forward and grasped her arm. “Come on, honey, we’ll take care of you. We’ll get you straightened out at an institution—”
Colene had an inspiration. Her hand plunged into her purse. She yanked out the roll of hundred-dollar bills. She brought it to her mouth and used her teeth to rip off the band. Then she hurled it into the air.
The roll came apart. Bills started peeling off. They fluttered through the air, drifting to the ground around her.
“Money!” a child cried, diving for a bill.
The policemen stared. “Those are hundred-dollar bills!”
Then there was a mêlée. Amazed, Colene’s father let go of her arm. Everyone wanted the money.
Colene cranked up her legs and ran at top speed for the anchor. One of the few alert policemen made a grab for her, but she banged past him and got through. She dived for the anchor—
And everyone disappeared. She landed on green turf, alone. She was through! But still nervous, though she knew she couldn’t be followed. She scrambled back to her feet and walked on.
Suddenly the others were there: Provos and Slick and Esta. “Thank God!” Colene cried, and tried to hug all three at once.
Then she took stock. “What a pass this is! You folk probably didn’t even believe in the Virtual Mode, and now you’re on it. And I don’t know how we’re going to get you off it, because they’ll be watching the anchor.”
Esta fidgeted. Colene looked at her, realizing that she was shy about expressing herself. Thus encouraged, the girl spoke. “Do we have to get off it? This seems nice.”
“Well, this is almost just like the reality you’ve always lived in,” Colene explained. “The house and yard are the same, and most of the city will be the same. But there’s never been a shed here, so you know there’s no Colene here, and probably no Slick or Esta. It’s not your reality; you never existed here.”
“Then we could go out and establish our identities,” Slick said. “I will have no criminal record, and Esta will have no abusive stepfather. We can make it with a clean slate.”
“Why, I guess you could,” Colene said, surprised. “You won’t need to go to Mexico or anything! But won’t you have trouble getting your ID papers and stuff?”
“No, I know how to fake ID’s.” He looked at Esta. “But getting her back into school without records will be harder. We’ll probably have to move to another state.”
Colene shook her head, disturbed. “I didn’t see this coming, but I guess I should have, because now I see that Provos remembered this all along and knew exactly what to do. She brought you both through the anchor. Now that it’s happened, I don’t feel easy about just dumping you in a strange world and leaving you. Anything could happen, and it’d be my fault.”
Provos had been working with material from her pack. Now she approached Slick and proceeded to tie a length of cloth around his left arm, binding it securely to her right arm. Slick, surprised, did not resist.
“I think I have just been answered,” Colene said. “When Provos spends any time in a reality, she remembers what will happen there. It seems you are coming with us.”
Provos tossed a cloth to Colene. Colene approached Esta. “You see, you folk can’t cross realities unless one of us holds on to you. If we let go by accident, you could get stranded, and we might have trouble finding you. So we have to tie you to us, so we can’t let go.” As she spoke, she bound her own left arm to Esta’s right, so that each was clasping the other’s forearm and locked in place.
“Gee,” Esta said, intrigued. “You told Professor Felix that there was magic. Will we see dragons?”
“We may,” Colene said grimly. “This isn’t any game, Esta. There’s danger on the Virtual Mode. We are traveling a route we know, but anything can happen when we cross boundaries. Let’s get moving.”
They walked in step, retracing the route she and Provos had used. Thus commenced what would be a journey of several days. It was uncomfortable, but necessary. Provos led the way this time, though her memory could be at best spotty across the realities, and her path deviated somewhat from the one they had taken.
Colene was alarmed, but then she realized what the woman was doing: she was heading directly for Oria. Because they had been away for too much time already, and God only knew what was happening to Darius and Seqiro and Nona. Colene tried not to think about what effect that beautiful woman might be having on that man and that horse. Right now she had to concentrate on getting through the realities safely, and getting around that sea that bordered the anchor at Oria, because they couldn’t cross it. Maybe Provos had enough memory of the future to figure that out too. She hoped.
On the way, Colene talked with Esta, getting to know her better. She confided that she had mixed feelings about leaving her folks of the Earth reality. They weren’t evil, just wrong for her. So she knew Earth was no place for her to stay, but still she felt guilty about leaving.
“You’re so smart and pretty,” Esta responded. “But you feel the same as I do.”
“I guess I do,” Colene agreed. “But you know, where we’re going, there are other things. If Provos knows what she’s doing, you’ll wind up in a reality where you are as smart and pretty as you want to be.”
“But I’ll always be ugly inside,” Esta argued. “Just as long as I can remember where I came from.”
Then another revelation dawned. “Provos is taking you to her reality!” she exclaimed. “Those folk remember only the future, not the past! If you get to be like them, nothing in your past will count. And nothing in Slick’s past. It will be an absolutely clean slate.”
“And I’ll always be ugly here,” Esta said, tapping her chest.
“No, I don’t think so,” Colene said. “Because it’s a different culture. They don’t judge by the same things. And anyway, we’ll be stopping first at Oria, where there’s magic. Nona will be able to heal your scars, and then later you’ll develop and be a woman, and you won’t even remember how you are now.”
“I wish,” Esta breathed.
“We’re going to make it happen,” Colene said, beginning to believe. Things had been so complicated, and now the future was starting to come clear. Provos must have joined the Virtual Mode for this: to go to Earth and help rescue Slick and Esta, and bring them back to her own reality where they could live in peace. Provos had a spare floor; she’d probably put Slick there, and let Esta sleep where Colene had, up on the top floor. In that manner Provos would get a family, for all anyone knew a son and a granddaughter. It was a nice world, and they would surely like it. It all made so much sense, in retrospect. And Provos had seen it coming, of course. “Sometimes wishes are granted,” Colene told her. “In ways we never expected. I think you have a nice future coming up.”