Page 11 (2/2)

By the time thirty-six hours had passed and Paul still hadn’t returned, Dad was beyond yelling at htened for that

"They wouldn’t kill hireat room "Would they?"

"Unlikely Conley would be a fool to sie" My mother turned out to have an instinct for criminal behavior "Yet Conley would also be foolish not to tell us he’s taken Paul captive My instinct is therefore to assume that Paul remains at liberty But if he is free, why hasn’t he returned?"

"Maybe he’s in the heart of working on Theo’s cure," Dad said

"Maybe," I repeated But none of us believed it

Two full days after Paul’s journey into the Triadverse, none of us had slept more than a couple of hours at a ti us sweat it out; Mom theorized that Paul could have experienced a Firebird malfunction

In either case, we knew there was only one way to find out for sure

"I should be the one to go,"ones for long enough"

"Dad, no I’m the perfect traveler It should be me"

For the past three and a half months, Paul and I had periodically visited brand-new universes, to further test the Firebirds and to see more of the multiverse’s wonders Mostly I saw a lot of dimensions very si on different research, teaching at a different university, et cetera But even those worlds could offer a wealth of data the Firebird project team could use I went because I could travel more effectively than anyone else; Paul ith erous to travel alone

Noever, I would have to make a trip on my own--the riskiest one of all

Mom sat at the rainbow table, her hands steepled in front of her "You go in You immediately use the locator function to find Paul As soon as you knohere he is, you return and give us the full report We’ll decide how to proceed from there"

"Okay" Did that et the information? I decided I’d make that decision when I arrived in the Triadverse

"If Paul’s Firebird malfunctioned," Mom continued, "he may have tried to return to our universe but instead traveled to a new dimension Your Firebird is set to track his You’ll be able to follow in his dimensional footsteps, so to speak--to travel to whatever world he ht have ended up in"

"Please" Dad’s voice broke "Let er at once--"

My parents love Paul and Theo only slightly less than they love Josie and me They’re the sons Mom and Dad never had I knew they were as afraid for Paul as I was, but seeing my father this upset ripped me open inside "Dad, I can do this better than anyone else I have the ability; I have the experience Meanwhile, you have the actual scientific knowledge about the Firebirds If you go, and Conley winds up capturing you, too? We’re going to be totally screwed"

This h a little, as it was meant to I knew I couldn’t make this situation easier for any of us, but at least I could get my father to accept what had to be done

Orto rescue Paul as ain, not even in the moment when I embraced them both and leaped out of my oorld--