Momentum by Imogen Rose Read Free Book Online Page A

subjects for study. I was assigned to you.”
    “When? Why?”
    “As soon as you moved to Mountain View. I wasn’t told why I was assigned to you in particular at the time. I’m working that out at the moment.”
    “So, what have you worked out ?”
    “I was assigned to you because of your family, in particular, because of Rupert.”
    “Dad?”
    “Yes. Rupert is a Sigma-Wanderer.”
    My head was starting to feel like it was going to explode into millions of pieces of brain goo. “Look, this is confusing. Explain the Wanderer thing again. You claim to time travel. Stan said that he wandered me over to the Bahamas. So, why can’t you do the same if you’re a Wanderer, too? Why are we taking a flight home?”
    “Only Sigma-Wanderers can travel from place to place–geographically. Wanderers like me can only travel through time and dimensions.”
    “I’m not really understanding the dimension thing….”
    “I know. It’s hard to get your head around it. We really only experience the world in one dimension. However, parallel dimensions exist. At the beach, remember how the house you were in disappeared?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, it didn’t really disappear. It’s still there. What happened was that I wandered you to another dimension. That house just doesn’t exist in this dimension.”
    “Wow, you’re blowing my mind. So what dimension are we in?”
    “They aren’t named, but we’re not in the same dimension as your family anymore. Rupert thought it would be safer not to bring you back home for now. So, although we’re going back to Mountain View, we’re going back in another dimension from your family.”
    “So I won’t see them? Where are we going then?”
    “My dad lives in Mountain View, in this dimension. We’re going to stay with him until it’s safe to bring you back home.”
    I nodded, sat back, and closed my eyes. His dad? David looked exhausted. I decided to give him a break. We were landing soon anyway.
    It was time to transfer to another flight. David took my hand and led me through the long hallways to immigration, which we passed through quickly, then headed to the next gate to fly back to the U.S. This flight would take us to New York, where we would catch a final flight to San Francisco where David’s dad was picking us up. David slumped into his seat and closed his eyes. I needed more answers, but now was not the time. I was tired as well. I had hardly slept in the last twenty-four hours. I closed my eyes and let the drone from the engines lull me to sleep. I pretty much slept through both the flights.
    “Poppet, it’s time to wake up.” David tugged at my sleeve.
    “Hmm? Yeah, I’m up.” I rubbed my sleepy eyes.
    “We’re going to be landing in about an hour. Here are a few things to freshen up with, then we’ll have something to eat.” He handed me a complimentary airline pouch, which I grabbed before heading to the restroom to make myself a bit more presentable. I gasped when I saw myself in the mirror. Whatever was in that little kit would not be able to deal with this mess. I needed a makeover! I brushed my teeth and tried to deal with my hair. I ended up putting it up in a low bun at the nape of my neck. At least it looked tidy. The tube of cocoa butter helped restore some of the glow to my face, but my eyes still looked puffy, and my lips would have benefited from some gloss. Still, I guessed it would have to do. When I got back to my seat, the tray was down, and a glass of orange juice and a turkey sandwich waited for me.
    “Thanks.”
    “It’s all they had. The flight attendant said you’d better hurry up and eat because we’re going to start our final descent soon, and you’ll have to flip up your tray. We’ll get some real food once we land.”
    I sat down and looked him over. His shoulder was touching mine; I fought not to rub up against it. How come he didn’t look as rough as I did? He looked as hot as ever; my heart somersaulted. Then I remembered my