Journey to the Parallels by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

13

That night Amber and Beetle paid careful attention to the alerts and the egg camera as they set the table, ate their dinner (smushed semolina actually wasn’t that bad), and worked on their homework. Yet again Amber breezed through it. She was relieved that she didn’t have to write any essays like “Kudos to Creationism” or “Yay, Banned Books.” The English teacher’s essay was easy, thanks to Amber’s library research. But one big assignment remained. They needed to find a way to return to their world. And soon!

Amber picked up Lion—or, at least, the parallel version, who seemed equally willing to listen—and started to pace. But the more she paced, the more upset she became. She couldn’t understand why her mother was playing by the rules. Why hadn’t Sandra just walked up to that egg camera and shouted, “No more,” then grabbed the other Amber and Beetle and run to the School Towel Service building? They could have fixed all these problems on their own side of the window, where people were still sane. Amber knew that didn’t make sense. Sandra could have been lost to them forever if what she’d said was true about no duplicates. Amber fell back on the bed and hugged Lion to her chest. She was just a kid. How was she supposed to figure this out?

“Lion, I think this calls for a family meeting. Pronto.”

Back when things were normal, at least as normal as they could be at home, they’d called family meetings for all sorts of reasons. To air grievances. Or because Sandra wanted to tell one of her stories. Or because everyone seemed low energy and a dance party might help. Amber’s complaints were almost never resolved—demands for a cell phone and lunch variety, two recent examples—but it was nice to be allowed to parade in front of her mother and Beetle as if she were in charge.

Amber found Beetle in his room. He’d also finished his homework and was performing toe taps on a soccer ball with his head and arms buried in his shirt. She held back the urge to knock him over. “Family meeting,” she said. “Sandra’s room. Five minutes.”

Sandra sat at the kitchen table, watching a video on her tablet. She shook her head and muttered, “That can’t be.” When she noticed Amber, she blacked out the screen.

“Sandra, I think we should have a family meeting. We need to get moving, right? Figure out how to get back.”

Amber heard her voice crack, all the emotions vying to push through. She wanted to throw something at the egg camera and smash the tablet that was making her mother so upset.

Sandra nodded. Everything about her seemed limp—her hair, her expression, her hands as she set the tablet face down on the table, even her voice when she said, “Yes, that’s a good idea.” There was a look in her mother’s eyes that Amber had never seen before. Amber couldn’t remember the word to describe it. Something with a D. But whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

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