Jo felt a rush of anger as she stepped into Mason’s living room. Mason had tried to kill Nash! And was cheating on him to boot! But she couldn’t show the anger. Quin had promised to help—she had to trust him. She couldn’t risk Mason running off. So she shifted her face into calm and tried to focus on how much she loved exploring the other sides of the Doors. There was so much to see in the universe, so much to experience. She suddenly found herself a little jealous of Quin’s choice of careers, and thought maybe she should switch away from horticulture and find a way to work at the Globe. But she put that thought out of her head too; it wasn’t important right now. What was important was finishing up this task so Quin could go find Officer Reynolds.
“That didn’t take long,” Nash said, frowning at them. “You were only gone for about forty-five minutes. Decided not to explore, eh?”
“What happened to your clothes?” Mason asked, coming into the room from the kitchen. “They’re clean!”
“We explored,” Jo said to her dad, ignoring Mason. “It was awesome, smaller than the swamp.”
“What was it?” The expression on Nash’s face shifted from suspicious to curious and excited.
“It was a lab,” Jo replied, looking at Quin who nodded in agreement. “The last remnant of Lake Oliphant’s legacy. It had a lot of robots and these beautiful windows that looked out to different places all over the universe.”
“Is it safe?” Nash asked.
“Absolutely,” Quin replied. “Be careful with it, though. It could be dangerous in the wrong person’s hands.”
“Also,” Jo added, “looks like Lake Oliphant’s corpse is in there, and all his notes and inventions.”
Nash grinned, pleasure spreading across his face. Jo was reminded, once again, that she didn’t like her father very much. He would no doubt sell everything in there as soon as he could find buyers.
“I’m very glad to hear it,” he said. “Looks like the old lady came through, after all. And by the way, Jo, the police officer called looking for you. You should get back to her when you’re done here.”
“Fine,” Jo said. That was good. Quin could talk to her sooner rather than later.
“And now the third Door,” Quin said, pulling the other canister out and setting it up. He paused and looked at Nash. “And after this my debt is forgiven?”
“Yes, yes,” Nash said hurriedly. “Now get going.”
Jo could tell that as of this moment, Nash didn’t care at all about Quin’s debt. He only wanted whatever was on the other side of those Doors.
Quin disappeared with Jo right on his heels.
The room that spread out before them was crowded with hundreds of people. Jo’s jaw dropped. It was noisy and colorful, and aliens of all different types bustled about. There were also dozens of what looked like scientists, all wearing lab coats in and among the other people, and as far as she could see, the room was filled with row after row of Doors.
“Pepper eaters,” she heard Quin mutter next to her.
A gentleman in a lab coat and colorful tie bounced up to them.
“Oh, hey, Quin!” he said. “What are you doing here?” He looked back and forth from the Door to Quin and his face lit into a huge smile. “Did you find it?” he asked. “Did you find the place this Door lets out?”
Quin stared at the man, like a skee crab in a spotlight. “This is the Door you’re working on?” he asked.
Then the man’s eyes lit on Jo and he frowned slightly. “What is she doing here…?” His frown deepened. “Quin?” Then he grabbed Quin by the arm and dragged him away, through the crowded room. Jo hurried to keep up, trying to avoid the jostle of people that surrounded her on all sides. She had no idea what was going on, and was worried that Quin was in some kind of trouble, and that by association she was in some kind of trouble. But they had to stick together.
The man pulled Quin into a room on the opposite wall, and shut the door behind Jo. It appeared to be a conference room. A large table sat in the center surrounded by chairs, and a coffee bar took up a corner on the far wall.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded. “With Nash’s daughter?”
Jo’s eyes widened. How did he know who she was? Had he been there last night? At Pete’s Clocks? She thought back. Quin had been there, Pete, Pete’s wife, and another person… yeah, it could have been him.
“John,” Quin said, “hold on a minute. Let me think for a second.”
“Think? Think!” John was extremely upset, and Jo got the feeling that he was naturally a cheerful person—that this kind of mood was unusual for him. “You tell me, right this minute—how did you walk through that Door?”
“I stepped through and was here,” Quin muttered.
“where did you get the door?” John demanded, almost shouting.
Quin glanced at Jo, and John rounded on her abruptly.
“Tell me right now,” John said, putting his face so close to hers that she could feel his breath. “What. Is. Going. On.”
Jo shrugged. She didn’t have anything to lose, as far as she knew. “My dad asked Quin to help find out where some Doors went, and we ended up here.”
John spun around again to look at Quin. “You weren’t in the Archaeology Room?”
Quin shook his head.
“We were at my dad’s girlfriend’s house,” Jo offered.
John put his face in his hands. “Ugh, this is a mess.”
“Why?” Quin asked.
“Because,” John said. “Remember how you suggested we try to fit a very small tracking device through the Door?”
“Yes,” Quin replied.
“Well, it worked,” John said, “though now that I think about it, that’s probably only because you opened it. Anyway, a team of scientists are working with the police to set up a raid and secure the Door. Right now. This very second.”
Quin looked at Jo. “Good thing we’re here and not there.”
“It is not good!” John exclaimed. “An entire team of scientists just saw you step out of that Door!” He pointed at Jo. “With her!”
Jo looked back and forth from Quin to John. This seemed serious. She had a feeling that the consequences could end up being more than Quin just losing his job. She thought for a minute—what would be best here? Meek? Bold? Confident? Scared? She decided to go for confident and bold, and adjusted her facial features accordingly.
“Excuse me, sir,” she said, reaching out her hand. “I’m Jo Nash.”
“John,” he replied, a surprised look on his face.
“I’m really sorry to have messed this up,” she said, “but honestly, I think the easiest thing to do would be to have us go back through the Door and get caught on the other side.”
“Can’t have that,” John replied. “I’m obligated to report you! If I don’t, I could get fired.”
The door burst open. “John!” a woman in a lab coat called. “It’s starting!” Without a moment’s hesitation, she turned and left again.
“I can’t believe you did this to me,” John said, turning to stare into Quin’s eyes. His face was red, and Jo could see his hands clenched into fists, the veins in his forehead pulsing. “I thought you were my best friend, but maybe you’re too stupid to be my friend!”
Quin shrugged, looking at the floor. Jo was surprised to see that John’s words were bothering Quin. She had thought he was basically a duck—everything slid off his impenetrable calm.
John shook his head in disgust. “I guess you’ll have to come with me,” he said harshly, “and don’t do anything I don’t tell you to!” He turned and headed back out into the Door Room.
Jo was as overwhelmed stepping out into the chaos as she had been the first time. There were so many Doors! And so many people, and aliens—a thin blue scientist, who was taller than most of the Doors, waved his arms around on other end of the room. A woman in voluminous skirts was dragging a wagon full of children through the crowd. Two men with matching faces appeared to be arguing with a circle of men surrounding them, who, upon closer inspection, also had the same face as the first two.
It was mindboggling. And she loved it.
Before they made it halfway across the room, a young woman who looked rather frazzled latched onto Quin’s arm.
“I’m sorry to bother you, sir,” she said, “but there’s an old lady here to see you? She says you’re her friend and refuses to leave until she talks to you.”
“It’s no problem, Terry. Who is it?” Quin asked.
“It’s—” she began, but was interrupted by a “Yoohoo!” from across the room. A tiny, wrinkly old woman was waving frantically and trying to scurry through the crowd.
“That’s her,” Terry said, sighing. “I told her to wait, but…”
“It’s fine,” Quin said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“What is Mavis Oliphant doing here? How did she even get in here?” John hissed as she wiggled her way through a group of workers having a lunch break. “I don’t have time for this!’
Quin didn’t have time to answer, as Mavis suddenly stood right in front of them. “Hello, Quin dear—oh hello, Jo. Quin, dear, I needed to have a quick chat with you about something, probably not with Jo here to listen in, as you see, well, it’s about her father and it might get a little awkward and you do know how I dislike awkwardness.”
“I’m staying,” Jo said, crossing her arms. If it was about her dad, she wanted to hear it.
“Oh my goodness, well, yes of course, if you must, dear.” Mavis’s brow was furrowed and she kept looking around furtively, as if she expected Nash to jump out at any second. “Well, Quin, dear, you know how I have owed our good friend Nash some money for a while?” She turned to John and whispered, “He loaned me money to fix my porch roof—there was nothing untoward about it—” and then turned back to Quin, “well, I paid him off with a family heirloom and I’m afraid I might, I may, I think I should not have done that? I was hoping you could help?”
“Was the heirloom Doors?” Quin asked bluntly.
“Oh my, yes,” she said, trying to smile while glancing nervously at Jo. “I’m sure, well, you know—is there anything—?”
“We’ll take her to a conference room,” John interrupted, “and deal with this when we’re done here. I’m sure we will have plenty of questions for you.”
Terry stepped forward and took Ms. Oliphant’s arm gently. “I’ll take her to room DR-2B,” she said. “Please come with me, ma’am.”
John turned and pulled Quin and Jo the rest of the way through the crowd, to where a group of scientists huddled around a computer. One of them held a notebook and was scribbling rapidly, but the others were fixated on the screen in front of them.
“Sit here!” John ordered, dragging two chairs over.
The Door they had come out of—she assumed—stood nearby.
Then, without warning, one of the scientists shouted, “Now! Now!”
Everyone crowded around a computer screen and John wiggled his way to the front. Jo couldn’t see what they were looking at, but John began narrating.
“The team has arrived in the neighborhood,” he said. “They are taking position around the house.”
A moment later he added, “They’ve taken out one guard—he’s been captured.”
Jo felt the muscles in her neck tighten as she clenched her jaw. This was her father they were talking about! That they were trying to catch! And it was partially her fault. Of course, they would have raided anyway, but she shouldn’t have helped them. She was a terrible child. Though, to be fair, her father was a terrible father.
“They’ve caught a second guard,” John said, interrupting her thoughts. “And a third. Now they’re moving in to surround the house.”
“The lead is taking down the front door, while her second is taking down the back.”
“They’ve entered the house!”
Jo held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She found that she both wanted and didn’t want to know what was going to happen. Quin touched her arm gently.
The scientists began murmuring and muttering to each other, so that Jo couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“What’s happening?” she heard Quin ask.
Jo opened her eyes to see John turn away from the computer. “There’s no one there,” he said. “The house is empty.”
“Did you find the Doors?” Quin asked.
“Yes,” John replied, “but Nash is gone.”