Chapter Text
Standing alone in the cavernous space, the detail Pacifica noticed most was the deep throbbing hum emanating all around her. Like a heartbeat, the noise constantly rose and fell. On an instinctive level she felt soothed by the rhythm. The heartbeat of the universe, she thought.
Her face was lit by the pale white-blue glow coming from the far wall, the great portal rising high above the chamber. That gaping mouth of light, almost blinding within the triangular frame, was both terrifyingly unknown and strangely mesmerising. It was like there was a hunger there, to pierce the veil and see all that lay beyond this simple reality.
She couldn’t make out anything else in this place, it was just the captivating portal and pitch blackness beyond. Around the edge of the circular aperture lights began to flash on and off. Previously washed out by the overwhelming portal glow, now she could make out symbols lining the rim. There were ten shapes in total, simple geometric lines with a meaning she couldn’t comprehend.
One of the symbols began to outshine the rest, approaching the level of brightness of the portal itself. It was towards the bottom left of the wheel, and something about that new light felt inviting. The central solid glow from the portal began to darken slightly at the edges. Amorphous shapes resolved themselves gradually into clumps of green, forming familiar outlines. Slowly, the glow became a sea of brilliant blue against green land.
Pacifica was looking down at the Earth through the ring of symbols. It turned lazily, spinning round on its axis. As she watched, darkness began to creep in around the planet. It was drifting away, leaving it isolated against the pure black. Eventually, only a pinprick of blue remained, the entire world, everything she’d ever known, compressed to a single point of light.
The image exploded outwards in a sudden burst, with all colours of the rainbow blasting out. Where before the soft blue had been hypnotizingly calming, now she could hardly bare to look. The one illuminated symbol on the edge began to move, as the rim spun around the ever-shifting portal. Faster and faster the light spun, and the colours’ intensity grew as well. Bolts of lightning were cast off from the portal, then she felt her stomach drop as she lifted into the air.
She hovered for a moment, overcome by the glare, before suddenly everything vanished. The portal, the wheel of symbols, all simply disappeared. She was totally alone in the dark now but felt relieved to be out of that chaotic tableau of colour. She tried to cry out and found her voice had deserted her along with the light.
Her silence was answered by a whisper from out of the void. “Llama?” It was gone quickly, nothing more than a distant echo. “The new life must oust the old…” More whispers from that cryptic voice. “When gravity falls and the wheel will turn, beware the ones who wish to burn…”
The words were meaningless to her. Frustrated with her lack of voice, she tried once more to call out to the voice. Still nothing. “The gathered will walk the path, across Earth and beyond, until all are joined here in this place once again.”
Finally the darkness began to fade, and Pacifica saw a dark cave. A flaming torch lit the side of the rock wall, showing a primitive painting of the same symbols she’d been able to make out lining the portal before. Within the ring there was nothing, a blank space where she logically knew something should be. The wall groaned and began to crumble away behind the painting.
For an instant, a single eye daubed in green paint became visible at the centre point of the circle. Then the whole wall fell away, leaving her outside, standing on a high cliff. Waves lapped the rocks down below her ridge, which was covered in yellowing grass.
She wasn’t alone here. She turned to see a hooded figure looking down, towering above her at 8 feet tall. This woman observing her wasn’t human. The purple skin made that abundantly clear. Seven eyes narrowed on her face as she took in Pacifica. “At last, you can see.”
Then she was gone, and a flood of visions overcame her mind’s eye. Scenes of the portal once again flaring up. A small ship on the high seas. Whole galaxies in flame. Her and two others crossing the wide expanse of the world. And those ten symbols, naggingly familiar.
The Oracle spoke out one last time, pleading across the gap of time and space that separated them. “Remember! You must remember, Pacifica!”
Her eyes flickered open and she was thrust back into wakefulness. Breathing fast, she looked around, relieved to find herself back in her bed, the snoring figure of her husband under the duvet beside her. Everything was back to normal and alright.
For a brief moment she held the full knowledge of her dream, the mission she had to fulfil stamped in her mind. Then, like a leaf on the wind, the thought was gone, and she forgot. Blinking her eyes, she laid down and went back to another restless sleep.
The next morning heralded a normal day at work for Pacifica Pines. Making sure she was at the office bright and early, she took her time going over her latest presentation for the board. Her newest clients had a lot of demands, but none of them were particularly challenging. Merely a matter of following everything they asked for to the letter, drawing up the plans with no major deviations.
Life as an architect hadn’t been a role she’d ever expected to choose when she was younger. Her initial subject at college had been a generic art and design course, partly chosen just so she could watch her parents’ heads explode in confusion. But she’d shifted the focus of her studies partway through on discovering a passion for designing structures. It satisfied her desire to use her artistic skills to make a practical difference in the world, rather than simply making ‘pointless art’.
It wasn’t always such a noble job however, as this current project was proving. She’d been hired to design a new housing complex in Trenton, a blocky functional building. It was a far cry from envisioning a glittering New York tower or working on ‘the next big thing’ in architecture, and had a lot of strict requirements. The clients were expecting a new update on her designs at the end of the week. It was doable, certainly - she could bash off the designs practically in her sleep. But her passion for the work was feeling very low.
Still, she shouldn’t complain. It was a high-paying job, which helped support the lifestyle she’d been accustomed to since childhood. Her skills with finance management made corralling the clients easy. Her parents may have done many things in her life, not all of them good, but she was thankful now for their training through her youth, that gave her a solid business acumen. Were the commissions she was taking more stimulating it would have been a perfect job.
At least, apart from the endless jokes people would make once they found out her husband’s name. Yes, an architect married a ‘Mason’, so funny, nominative determinism at its finest, yadda yadda yadda.
Finishing checking over her report once again, she rested her head in her palm. She picked up a pen and began idly doodling on the back of the report while she waited for the clients to arrive.
She’d dressed smartly, as always - a simple black suit and skirt, choosing only the finest fashion tastes in her wardrobe. Her long blonde hair strikingly stood out against the darker clothes. It was a simple look, showing her professionalism at a glance.
There was a certain lack of passion she felt in the outfit though, a sense that some more vibrant colours would improve her style. She didn’t care enough to shake things up though, lest she risk upsetting her carefully cultivated ‘look’.
Her one personal affectation was a simple silver pendant she wore around her neck. It was in the shape of a pine tree, an 18th birthday gift from Mason. She’d often found herself fiddling with the thing as a way of calming her nerves. Now instead she found more comfort in this random doodling.
She sighed. “Is this all there is?” she wondered. “Board meetings and presenting myself and endless tedious notes?” Life had been so much more interesting way back when. The things she’d used to get up to would likely scandalise most of the people she interacted with through work. Really, running around the woods and looking for magic adventures? It hardly seemed worth wasting time discussing, the very idea was preposterous.
And yet. Yearning for the past, Pacifica reminisced about her youth, those halcyon days on the West Coast, spending time with Mason and… well, those days were long past now.
Her intercom buzzed. “Mrs Pines, the board of directors are here to see you now.” Pacifica replied that she’d be there in a moment, then gathered up her documents. As she picked up the sheaves of paper, her eye caught on the small sketch she’d absent-mindedly drawn.
A circle enclosed by an upside-down triangle. She squinted at the doodle as if in deep contemplation. Then, shaking her head, she filed out of the room and prepared herself to meet and greet with her financiers.
Life would have to wait until later.
Pacifica pulled up along the quiet wooded road to the Washington Crossing Observatory. By the time she’d finished work for the day the sun had set. She knew that at this hour she’d find her husband by the main telescope.
As she got out of her car, she looked up at the night sky. These summer months meant that the stars didn't come out til well into the night, necessitating late shifts. Despite this, she smiled and headed inside the modest observatory dome. Inside she was greeted by one of Mason’s colleagues, Rajesh, an eager work assistant currently toiling over mounds of scribbled paper. “Mrs Pines, how lovely to see you this evening. After Mace, I take it?”
“Up at the main scope is he, Raj?” Rajesh nodded, and she grinned at her husband’s predictability. The telescope dominated the central room of the small facility. The skylight aperture was split open and staring through the enormous telescope up the stars was Mason Pines.
Focused entirely on his work, Pacifica crept up on him, climbing the ladder to his perch. A barrage of tickles under his arms quickly caught his attention. “Ha! Pacifica! Fancy seeing you here.”
She made a serious expression. “I had a rough day. The usual boring stuff.” Then she broke into a grin and leapt into his arms. “But it’s all better now!”
She giggled and Mason pulled her up into a kiss, then sat her on his lap. She felt warm and content wrapped up in his arms. “Aw, those new clients getting you down again? I’m sure things will pick up soon Paz. For both of us.” Mason too hadn’t planned to come into Astronomy. While pursuing photography at college he’d taken an eye to astral mapping, imaging the various constellations up above. A fitting role for a man with a birthmark on his forehead in the shape of the Big Dipper.
Pacifica sighed, feeling reluctant to talk about her insecurities. She’d always had trouble expressing her problems to others. “Aw, it’s nothing Mason. Just… I feel pretty aimless sometimes. Like I could be doing so much more.”
“Hey, it’s ok, you and I are stable right now, that’s what counts. This research project is a big coup, of course. If me and Raj can track the event… well, it could finally mean our big break.”
“Enough work talk, nerd, I need to unwind.” She smirked and bent over to the scope. “Tell me about them.”
Mason wheeled the telescope so it focused on a particular region of space. “If you look there, you’ll see that the moon is currently a Waxing Gibbous. Pretty clear look at the Mare Tranquillitatis.” She peered up, then he moved the giant apparatus again. “There you’ll see Jupiter, the moons are nice and clear tonight. And this,” he wheeled the scope one more time, “is our big break.”
Visible through the telescope was a vague orangey cloud, obscuring a cluster of stars. Mason’s current ‘project’. Following and tracking this astronomical event for the local university could give him a shot at grant money to fund further research and give the Pines a chance to hopefully escape their current humdrums. A chance at a more exciting life.
At the moment, Pacifica wasn’t too interested in whatever this unusual phenomenon moving across the sky was, so whispered into Mason’s ear. “Hmm, show me your fave, Mace.” He zoomed out of the close-up and panned the image across.
“There she is, Princess. The constellation of Andromeda. She’s still a beautiful as you are.”
Pacifica pulled away from the astronomical delights and looked into her husband’s eyes. “You always were such a romantic at heart. Good thing I’m a sucker for that stuff too.” They kissed again, but Pacifica giggled and pulled away. “So fuzzy. I still can’t believe you grew that.”
Mason’s hand went up to his hair-covered chin. “You’re still not happy with the beard? I thought it’d make me seem more ‘mature’.”
“It hides too much of your pretty face.” She kissed him again, feeling the messy hair covering the whole lower side of his face lightly tickle her cheeks.
Abruptly, Mason picked her up and started her carrying her away. “Come on, you need your mind taken off work. No late night at the observatory today. I think it’s time both of us went home together for once.”
She leant close and nuzzled his neck. “I’d like that, Ursus.” The couple enjoyed their private constellation nicknames. One of their first dates as teens had been a night of stargazing out in the desert. Further significance was derived from certain adventures they’d shared over a decade ago, back when their lives were so much different. “Let’s forget about everything else. There’s you, there’s me, and there’s nothing in our way.”
Mason woke up in a state of pure panic, hearing Pacifica scream out in fear beside him. He awkwardly got upright, throwing the duvet aside and flicking the light on to see his terrified wife. “Paz! Are you ok! Pacifica!”
She was shaking and breathing erratically. There was a fearful look in her eyes, but she found Mason’s arm and held on. “It was horrible Mason, everyone was dying. That awful laugh again, I couldn’t… and your sister was there too.”
Mason sighed. “Another nightmare? This can’t keep going on Pacifica, we have to talk about it properly.”
She pulled away from him and set her lips into a defiant line. “I’m fine Mason, trust me,” she said decisively. “I don’t need your help just cause I’m sleeping badly, I can cope.” On the sideboard next to the bed Pacifica found her journal, a pink book with a golden llama embossed on the cover. “I just need to unwind, it’s nothing.”
She’s started keeping the journal ten years before, essentially copying Mason’s passion for note-writing. She’d taken it as a challenge, to follow his inspiration and make a book that was just as detailed. She held the book close and began sketching again, anything to distract herself.
“How many times has this been now? This has been happening for weeks, I only wanna help. Why don’t you try describing what has you so spooked?”
“Don’t worry about me, it’s not important.” Pacifica was nothing if not stubborn. As she scribbled in the journal, she found herself almost unravelling the dream as her pencil moved across the page. “I saw your space thingy, that orange cloud. Only it was a different colour this time, more greenish. And moving. Then I was in your uncle Ford’s basement in the Mystery Shack. The portal was glowing like crazy.”
“Huh, that’s odd, you were never down there when it was in operation.”
Pacifica shook her head. “Like I said, it’s probably nothing. You’re always telling me to be rational. These are just bad dreams, that’s all. Just dreams.” She put down her pencil and set her book aside. “Goodnight Mason. Sleep well.”
“Night Paz. I love you.” He kissed her forehead and as he leant over he caught a glimpse of her open journal page. Every inch of the paper was covered in messy sketches. There were hundreds of drawings, all of them reflecting the same basic shape. An upside-down triangle surrounding a circle. He closed his eyes and sighed, then turned off the light.
Pacifica was redrafting her design, applying the requested changes to her sketch, when the call came in. She picked up the phone while not taking her attention of her work, continuing to sketch as she answered. “Hello, Pacifica Pines speaking, who is this?”
“Paz, it’s me! You need to come down here, right now!”
“Mason? Is that you?” There was a distinct hint of panic in her husband’s voice, but she tried to be professional. “You know I’m trying to pull an all-nighter, I need to finish these revisions. If you have something important to tell me it can wait 'til I’m home.”
She moved to put the phone down, but Mason called out again. “It’s about the dreams!”
She hesitated, her hand in mid-air. “Go on.”
“Get down to the observatory as fast as you can, there’s something I have to show you.”
She arrived to find Mason standing out in the cold waiting for her. He was pacing back and forth, but his worried expression softened slightly at seeing her. “You made it, great! Come inside.”
“What’s this all about? Did you really have to pull me away from work?” She crossed her arms and tapped a foot impatiently.
Mason began babbling wildly. “At first we thought it was nothing, just an error with the redshift or something. But then we calibrated everything, and it was definitely changing. Then it started acting completely unexpected, our readings are off the scale!”
She put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm his frantic diatribe. “Slow down Mace, back up. What’s actually going on?”
“It’ll be easier if you just see it.” He led her inside, past an exasperated Raj, who was hurrying about checking the instrumentation. In the main dome Mason gestured to the telescope. “Remember your dream last night, the one you told me about?”
“Uh, vaguely.” Pacifica tried to think back to the previous night, but most of her recollection was sketchy at best. “What’s that got to do with this?”
“Take a look.” Realising that he wasn’t going to explain more until she looked, Pacifica bent over and peered up the scope. “You told me last night that the cloud, our main observational target, had changed. Tell me what you see.”
Pacifica’s eye staring up at the sky widened. “It’s turned green! The cloud’s changed colour!” As she watched, the astronomical object drifted to the right, before leaving the scope’s view entirely.
“And it’s on the move, exactly like you said.”
Pacifica sat back in the main observatory chair, dumbfounded. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence, it was only a dream after all.” She was reaching and Mason knew it.
“Pacifica, when in our lives has anything been ‘just a coincidence’? Here’s the kicker though.” He grabbed a loose piece of paper, covered in calculations. “The velocity has started decreasing. We predict that the cloud will end up halting right in front of one specific constellation. Ursa Major.’
Pacifica’s hand found its way up to her neck, where she began fondling her pendant. Breathing deeply, she tried to take stock of the situation. “Ok. So you’re telling me that I ‘predicted’ some big spacey event? What could this even mean, is this cloud dangerous or something?”
Mason shook his head. “No no, it’s too far off for that. I think… I think it’s a message. Someone knows you’ve been having dreams of the future, so they’ve manipulated this to sends us a sign. Pacifica, your visions are real. We can’t ignore the implications of this. Please, you have to tell me what you’ve been seeing.”
“I don’t know!” She felt flustered, all of this had come upon her so suddenly. “I’ve been having crummy nights, that’s all. I don’t remember what I actually dream about most of the time!”
“You’ve been seeing the portal a lot though, haven’t you?”
“I don’t…”
“I’ve seen your journal, Paz! It’s stuck in your head. The only things you draw in there after a bad night are endless pictures of it!”
His harsh tone was getting to her, so she shot back “Oh yeah, and what am I supposed to do about that?! Sleeping pills didn’t work! And I told you, I can’t remember the details!”
He looked thoughtful for a moment, conscious of the fact he was upsetting her. “Then we’re just gonna have to tease them out.”
Mason lit the last candle around Pacifica’s body. She was laying down within the makeshift ‘wellfullness shrine’ he’d made. The waft of incense gave a very different aroma to their living room than usual. “Ok Pacifica, everything’s ready. Now lie back and try to empty your mind. That’s it, calm, gentle thoughts.”
She snapped up at him. “I don’t need a lullaby Mace, just shut up and let me concentrate.”
“Sorry, I’ll be quiet. Sure has been years since I had to apply these kinds of techniques.” Mason had been taught various effective methods of clearing one’s mind by his Great Uncle Stanford, ranging from Buddhist meditation to simple mental counting tricks. This current plan he was effecting would hopefully allow Pacifica to enter a very shallow dream state - hopefully shallow enough for her to relay something of what she’d witness.
Pacifica’s breathing began to noticeably slow, so Mason decided to prod her slightly. Whispering softly into her ear, he tried to disturb her trance as little as possible. “Tell me Princess. What do you see?”
“I see… lots of things. The triangle and circle again – the portal. Always glowing so brightly.”
“Good, that’s a start. Is there anything more substantial, a clear image perhaps?”
“I see seven eyes, watching over me and you. Several different symbols coming together.” Her face began to scrunch up. “Always the burning. There’s a pressure on my mind from beyond. I see us drifting through the cosmos, all three of us.”
Mason raised an eyebrow. “Three?”
“And I think it’s coming soon. Ah!” She cried out, but her eyes remained closed. “We have to… have to go there! Break through! Reopen the bridge- nyahh!”
“Pacifica! Are you alright? Paz!” He pressed his palm to her forehead, hoping to soothe her.
“The other side, ugh, we must travel, so far. Together, eeyahh!” Her body began convulsing.
“Pacifica!” Mason tried to hold her down, to stop her injuring herself.
“dqidixj ejusiz ptifygikl!” She spouted off the hissed chant then collapsed back. Her eyes burst open. She reached out and took Mason’s hand, gripping tightly. “I saw what we need to do! I saw! We have to go through the portal.”
Mason helped rest her head back down. He looked away. “I was afraid you were gonna say something like that.”
Still struggling to accept what she’d seen, Pacifica sat awkwardly while Mason paced around the room. After so long, could they accept being dragged back into their old lives, the kind they’d moved on from? Needing time to think, she got up, occupying herself by mindlessly walking around their spacious home.
They’d bought the house expecting that they’d someday need the extra space. Things hadn’t panned out that way. Now all the unused rooms just made Pacifica feel uneasy. It didn’t help that she had a stigma towards large houses, after her strictly enforced childhood in her parents' mansion. She lingered for a moment in one room, not choosing to turn on the light switch and remind herself of its originally intended purpose.
“Hey, it won’t do us any good to dwell on that stuff.” Mason had come up behind her. She let herself be pulled into a hug from behind. ”We should talk about the present, right?”
She sadly closed the door and looked up at her husband. “Yeah, that’d probably be a good idea.”
He led them into their bedroom, then shut the door. No distractions from the matter at hand. “Ok, so, starting out. Even if we believe in your ‘visions’, which you thought were pretty vague anyway, and which we don’t even know why you’re having them, even if we accept all of that, we still have no idea where to even begin with making a…” He swallowed. “A portal.”
“Is it really so hard? Your uncle built his portal nearly 45 years ago, surely the technology we have now could make it a lot easier. I’m pretty good at drawing technical schematics, you have a pretty broad knowledge of physics. Or, if not the two of us, maybe we could reach out to people, proper scientists.”
“You’d really trust anyone to believe the story we tell them? That we want to reconstruct a hole in space and time because of nothing more than a dream? If I hadn’t seen the portal myself I’d think it was a load of bullshit!” He sighed, trying not to get riled up. “Look, we don’t even have the original plans anymore, all of Ford’s research is gone. We tossed it away in 2012, without that we have no leg to stand on.”
He felt Pacifica’s hand on his arm. “Mason, I know you don’t want to blindly leap into anything based on so little. Dreams have never exactly been very trustworthy in the past, for either of us. We still have scars.” Mason knew what she was talking about. He’d occasionally had nightmares regarding the terrible things he’d seen in his youth, even years after the events. Multiple times he’d woken up in a sweat, thinking it had all come back to haunt him.
Pacifica looked into his hazel eyes. “But trust me when I tell you that I believe in this vision. We have to figure out what’s going on with the portal, or else bad things are going to happen. I’m not gonna just sit by and let this continue. We have to fix things. There must be something you can think of?”
She looked at his face, trying to discern his thoughts as he stared back at her. Slowly, his face broke into a small grin. “Well, if we’re really going to do this, I know where we’ll need to start.”
The study in their home was rarely used anymore. Pacifica did most of her work at the office and Mason could hardly be expected to track the movements of the stars from here. On one of the bookcases was a locked glass case. It was mostly filled with old legal documents, contracts from Pacifica’s job, university correspondence.
But at the back of the case were three leather-bound volumes. Pacifica removed her pine tree pendant and passed it to Mason. It slid smoothly into the lock and he pulled the case open. Mason never could resist little games like that, puzzle locks and clever ways to keep his property safe. As Pacifica put her necklace back on, Mason retrieved the three books and placed them out on the desk.
The books were dark blue, with a golden pine tree at the centre of the cover. Each one had a number written in black ink prominently displayed. “Gotta start somewhere. Man, it’s been so long since I…” He placed a palm on the third book along, which had a number six on the front. These books meant so much to him, and to Pacifica too.
The journals.
Journals 4, 5 and 6, to be precise, the ones Mason himself had authored. The first two books were completely full of notes, while Journal 6 was only half finished, left in that state when Mason had chosen to stop pursuing the hobby. Of course, he still kept a modest notebook, it was handy to be able to write down stray thoughts. But it couldn’t compare to the thrill he felt looking down at these books.
Pacifica knew the turmoil he was feeling. That undeniable desire to open the cover once more but held back by the trepidation of upsetting the cosy world they’d built. Inside the pages were chronicles of countless days of their lives, adventures and experiences so bizarre and thrilling that nobody would ever believe them.
This was the moment when she’d find out if Mason was committed to this new mission. It was his last chance to turn away and forget the meaning of the dreams.
He opened Journal 6 and turned the last page he’d filled in, nearly five years ago. There was no going back now.
It was a relatively mundane entry by the standards of the journals. Mason read from the page. “July 15th, 2022: We’re beginning to settle into the new house. Trenton is a nice city to make a new start, even if it is a far cry from the more exciting places where I’d once envisioned us living. But here Pacifica and I can settle down and begin to focus on… hmm.”
He skipped over a section he wasn’t interested in dredging up, then continued. “I don’t know when I’ll next have the drive to pen an entry. New Jersey isn’t exactly known for its deep-seated mysteries. I’ll have to be satisfied with a peaceful existence for now. What more could I ask for, with the woman I love by my side and our future waiting for us.”
Mason closed the cover. “Hmm, that’s kind of a sad note to end on. We never did ‘keep the flame burning’. Hunting for mysteries always seemed like something we couldn’t get around to, always had other stuff in the way.”
Pacifica took the book from him. There was a determined look in her eyes now which hadn’t been there before. “I guess it’s about time we made up for all those blank pages then.”
Their tentative plans weren’t much. A list of components they’d probably need if they were going to build a portal. Ideas for equipment they’d require if they ever wanted to survive out there in the multiverse if they really did go through with all of this. A record of as much of Ford’s research they had copies of (Mason still had some yellowing photocopies from the original Journal 3).
It was barely an outline of a plan. They had little to go on, even when combining Mason’s journals with Pacifica’s Llama book. Mason was still pondering the issues, trying to come up with ways he could possibly leverage university funding to siphon off a little for their needs.
Pacifica knew it wasn’t going to be enough. They needed more than the scraps of information they’d assembled here. They needed practical knowledge and experience of the mysteries of the world. Someone to be their guide as they figured out what to do next.
Which led her to the only person she could think of who could help them. “Mason, have you thought about contacting someone else to help us out? Sure, we can’t just call up your uncle anymore, I know that’s off the table, but we don’t have to do this alone.”
“Yeah, but who locally is gonna be able to help us? They don’t know anything about this stuff.” He gestured down at Journal 6. “This’d even go over Raj’s head, and he’s a whizz at most physics.”
“I meant more… someone from our past… I was thinking West Coast.”
“Who, mom and dad? Someone we knew from school?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know, for someone so smart it’s aggravating how dumb you can be sometimes, Mace.” He cocked his head to the side, clearly not understanding what she was getting at. This would require a gentle touch. “Who’s the one person who understands this better than anyone else? Who we can trust implicitly to support us? Your names start with the same letter and you share a last name, come on, it’s not hard.”
He started shaking his head. “No, oh no! You can’t be serious! We can’t go to her!”
“Who else can we go to then? We have to contact her, we have to go and talk to… to Mabel.”
“No! Out of the question. If we do that, then things can never go back to the way they are now. We chose to separate from Mabel for our own sakes. So that we could keep our careers and family secure.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t miss her every day though.” She glared at him, in a way he recognised from all the years of knowing Pacifica that meant she wouldn’t tolerate any flippancy or deflection.
Through gritted teeth, he responded. “You know I do. Of course I miss her. But it was her choices that drove us apart, not mine!”
“It’s been five years, maybe things are different now?”
“You know Mabel, do you really believe that? Ugh, this is a terrible idea.”
She put her hand on his cheek. “But it’s the right idea, and you know it.”
He turned to look at her, knowing that he’d already lost this debate. “Fine. We’ll talk to her. We’ll see if she’s willing to help. Don’t say I didn’t warn you that this is a bad move.”
“I won’t.” She adopted an air of seriousness. This was important, they had to do it right. “Now come on, we’ve got to pack. It’s a long journey to Seattle.”