For Roni, the next several hours blurred by in a rush of activity. The moment Darin appeared, Elliot jumped into action. Using his cane and hand motions, he checked that Darin was unharmed — physically at least. Sweat poured down Elliot’s face as he worked, but when he finally gave Gram an affirmative nod, she said he could rest. Elliot then collapsed.
In a calm yet authoritative voice, Gram instructed Roni to go further into the caverns until she found the door marked with the number 2. Inside, Roni found two wheelchairs. She brought one back and assisted Gram in helping lug Elliot into the chair.
“Get the other one,” Gram said.
Roni hustled back to the storage room and wheeled the second chair to the group. She brought it straight to Gram.
“Not for me,” Gram said.
Roni looked over at Sully. He had been leaning against the wall ever since the book had been closed. Roni had not given it any thought, but now she saw the pasty look in his face and the stark concentration in his eyes. Sully used all his will to keep standing.
As she helped the man settle in the wheelchair, she thought how frail these people really were. They could summon tremendous strength in short bursts but nothing could change the fact that their bodies had been around a long time. Sixties and seventies were not ages for most people to be fighting off other universes.
“They’ll be fine,” Gram said, as if she could read Roni’s mind. “A good night’s sleep and they’ll be back up as if nothing ever happened.”
Roni imagined a porcupine in a tutu and then stared hard at Gram. After a moment, Gram raised her eyebrows. “What?”
“Nothing,” Roni said, hiding her relief. “Just testing something.”
“I can’t read minds.”
“How do you know that’s what I —”
“I’ve known you for your entire life. I can read your face easy.”
Roni decided to accept the explanation. “Are you sure you don’t need help, too?” she asked.
“Elliot healed me right before we started this. I’m fine. Another time might be different.”
Following more orders, Roni wheeled each man to the elevator and took them to their apartment while Gram kept on eye on Darin. For his part, Darin never moved. He barely blinked. He stared straight ahead, and never even flinched when Gram placed a robe from the storage room around his body. Even though it appeared that Darin would be no trouble, Roni hurried to situate Elliot and Sully so that she could return to the caverns as fast as possible.
When she finally rejoined Gram, part of her wished she had stayed with Sully. She had heard of the soldier’s thousand yard stare, and she had seen the glazed look of dementia patients. Put the two together and it came close to what she saw in Darin’s eyes — close but not enough.
“What do we do now?” Roni asked.
Gram looked him over. “He’s alive, and Elliot said he’s in good enough health. We’ll cut him loose. Let him decide for himself what he does now.”
“We can’t do that.”
“What do you think we should do? Hold him prisoner against his will?”
“First off, look at him. He looks out of his mind. And after what he just saw, he probably is lucky for that. Don’t we have a responsibility to him?”
“We didn’t ask him to break into our private rooms and attempt to steal from us. He did this to himself.”
“But what if he talks to people? He’s seen what you can do.”
Gram rubbed the back of her hands as she flexed her fingers. “I swear, these old hands get worse every day.”
“Gram!”
“Stop worrying. You think this has never happened before? That in centuries of these books being in existence, you think nobody has ever discovered the secret we hold? Nothing will happen. We let him go, and he’ll return to his life. Or he won’t. That’s his business. If he tells anybody what he saw, where he was, any of it at all, you know what will happen?”
Roni knew right away. “They’ll think he’s crazy.”
“If he’s lucky, they’ll think he’s joking or having a bad day or something like that. If he’s unlucky, he’ll be institutionalized in a psychiatric facility, possibly for the rest of his life. Which, I’ll point out, is not always the worst outcome. Considering what happened to him, a shrink could be exactly what he’ll need.”
Crossing her arms, Roni bumped her back against the wall. She swallowed down the bubble of emotion riding up her throat. Her voice shook as she said, “Dad is institutionalized.”
“Exactly. You know that he gets good care. If Darin’s mind can’t handle what he saw, he can get good care, too.”
“I-Is that what happened to Dad? Did he see into another universe?”
Gram’s face shifted as she put out her arms. “Honey, no. Your father never knew about this side of our life. He simply loved your mother — more than most ever love another. When she died, he couldn’t take it. That’s all. I promise.”
She hugged Roni, and for a few seconds, being smothered by Gram’s large bosom felt safe. But then Roni lifted her head and saw Darin.
“Doesn’t this trouble you?”
Following Roni’s gaze, Gram stepped back and straightened her robe. “I’m too old to worry about things that don’t matter. He’ll fall into whatever he falls into. Serves him right for meddling where he doesn’t belong.”
“That part, though. That’s what I mean. Shouldn’t we be concerned about the fact that he must be working for somebody. He obviously used a date with me as a way to gain access to the caverns. That means he targeted me specifically. I saw where he works, and I met his mother. Trust me. This man is not a criminal mastermind, and I didn’t see anything to indicate that he would be taking the time to watch me, learn my habits, confirm that I’d be able to get him into the basement, and then try to charm me into a date so he could steal a book all on his own. Not this man.”
“I’ll think on it, but you need to get used to it. A secret as big as ours is never really a secret. He wouldn’t be the first to attempt to steal a book for somebody else. As long as there have been people like us fighting to protect our universe, there also have been those who want access to these other worlds. For greed, for power, for curiosity, in some cases for religious confirmation — whatever the reason, you’ll learn that sometimes our worst fights are with other people, not the creatures living in these universes.”
“I suppose,” Roni said. Then her head caught up. “Did you say creatures?”
Gram smirked. “We’ll deal with that another time. Please escort Darin out onto the street. He’s not to be our problem anymore.”
Roni knew Gram’s tones well — the conversation was over. Without another word, Roni took Darin by the hand and walked back up through the cavern. He followed simply and quietly. Even his footsteps were quiet.
In the elevator, she watched his immobile face. Nothing. He stared blankly at the wall. More than anything, his white hair spoke volumes of the horror he had witnessed. And not just the hair on his head. His eyebrows, his whiskers, even the hair on his arms — all of it had gone stark white.
On the main floor, she led him out the front door. The sun rose to start a new day. How could that be possible? Roni had no idea so many hours had gone by. She felt tired but not the up all night tired she knew from her college days. In that cavern, there were no natural indicators of the passage of time, and so much had happened that she never bothered to check her phone. But an entire night?
She would have to ask Gram or the boys about that. For now, though, she had to deal with Darin. He stood on the sidewalk, his eyes roving up and down the street. That seemed like an improvement.
“Darin? Can you hear me?”
He turned his head towards her.
“Hi,” she said. “You’re safe now. We got you back.”
He said nothing. He only gazed upon her face with an inscrutable expression.
“That’s okay,” she said. “I’m guessing it’ll take a while for you to readjust.”
She thought about what Gram had said — that she should let Darin loose to find his own way, that he would probably end up committed to a mental hospital of some kind, and that he would be better off there because professionals could look after him. Except she couldn’t do that. Maybe an institution was where he would end up, but she had to give him a chance for something better, at least.
“Come on with me,” she said. Leading him by the hand, she walked to her car. They got in — she had to buckle his seatbelt for him — and she headed west for Lancaster. “I’m taking you home.”