chapter 19

Jenn scanned the contents of the book that Matt had given her.
"The Life and Times of Darien Mallory". Birth, Childhood, Arrival on Islanda, Travels in Rome, Mallory's Teachings and Legacy.
Jenn turned to the chapter on Mallory's Teachings and began to read, "I tell you the greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself".
Jenn turned a few pages, "In all things take the middle path. Too much or too little is trouble". She turned to another passage. "There is a time for everything and for everything a time".
Jenn flipped the pages, "This Darien Mallory character sounds like a mix between Jesus and Buddha. The east and the west".
"Who? What are you talking about?" Matt looked confused.
"Oh, they were just some famous thinkers from my world".
"Maybe they were followers of Mallory", Matt explained.
"No, I don't think so. They both died a long time ago".
Matt turned over and went back to sleep as Jenn continued to read.
Jenn turned to the last chapter. "Darien Mallory's Legacy. Darien Mallory was an inspiration to many people. He led an exciting life that has changed our world forever. He was a friend and an influence to many great leaders. His teachings were the most important things he left behind". Jenn flipped to the front cover where she found a time line of Darien's life. She found his birth, an important sermon, the date he founded his school, and many other events in his life, but she could not figure out when he died.
She looked up from the book, "This book was obviously written after his death, but I can't find out when he died".
"Darien Mallory isn't dead".
"How? Because he lives in our hearts or something?"
Matt laughed, "No, you see Darien was from another world. He traveled here from his home world, but after he started stirring up things, he began to make enemies. Eventually he learned how to return home, and he did. Many people hope he will come back, but I am satisfied with the work he did and hope he is happy at home".
Jenn was shocked, "So you mean you know about other worlds?"
"Where are you from?" Matt was dumbfounded. "I can't believe you didn't know any of this".
"Well, I have a confession to make. You remember how I said you wouldn't believe me if I told you were I was from ?" Matt nodded. "Well a few days ago my friends and I were back home on our world and we stumbled into a garden and suddenly we were here".
"That sounds crazy. Not that I don't believe you, but it must have been a crazy ride".
"Yeah, it was". Jenn studied the time line. "Mallory's arrival on Islanda. So Islanda is the name of your world".
"Uh huh. What did you think Islanda was?"
"I thought it was an island", she blushed.
"An island?"
"A small body of land surrounded by water", she recited.
"Nope," Matt smiled. "I guess that explains why Mallory always thought the name was so funny".
"Did you know him?"
"No," Matt sighed. "I almost got to meet him though".
"Really?"
"He was speaking at a rally I helped organize, but at the last minute Sarah got sick and we had to stay home. That was when it was getting hard, right before he left".
"Is that your girlfriend?"
"My wife".
"I guess you really miss her".
"She works here, but I miss being with her like we were on the outside."
"She works here?"
"Yeah, she's the red headed guard. You should talk to Paul again. I think he could really help you out".
"I will".
"I mean it."
" I said I would, so I will. Besides, he seems interesting".
For the last time Matt went back to sleep, and Jenn finally left him alone.

Chapter 18

“Do you have a voice phone?” Starr asked. She was looking forward to spending the next few hours with him.
“Yeah. I have two. One over there, and one right here.”
“So we could probably just call the hospitals and police stations.”
“The hospital, yeah,” Josh said. “But we need to actually go to the police stations. They always have unregistereds and anonymous people so they just post descriptions on the wall.”
The two of them began calling the hospitals. “I’m looking for a girl who might have come in one of the last couple of days with out any id.”
“We don’t have any Jane Doe’s. We do have an older woman, but that wouldn’t be her, would it?”
“No. Thank you anyway.”
“No problem. Have you tried the police?”
After about 15 calls like this, the two of them were about ready to give up.
“Any luck?” Jake asked.
“No, you?”
“Nope. There is one last place. It’s all the way on the other side of town and she’d have to be in pretty bad shape to be there.”
“Well, lets give it a try anyway.”
“Rome Mental Hospital,” the voice on the other end answered. “How may I help you?”
“We’re looking for a young girl who may have been brought in sometime in the last few days. She would have been unregistered,” Jake began.
“We have one. She got picked up for claiming she was from another planet.”
“Do you know her name?” Starr interjected from the other end.
“She says her name’s Jenn something.’
“Yes,” Starr and Jake waited.
‘She came in on... wait a minute, let me go check the calendar. Please hold.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Jake asked.
“Yes, but now’s not the time.”
“Your friend’s not crazy, is she?”
“No.”
“Then you mean...” before Jake could finish the question the receptionist came back.
“She came in 10 days ago, last Tuesday.”
“Thank you,” Starr said as she hung up. “Well, that couldn’t be her.”“Why not?”
“We haven’t been here a week.”
Jake looked at her puzzled.
“We’ll talk about it later. Right now we need to get to the police station and look for her there.”
Jake looked out side. The sun was setting, which meant they had about 3 hours until they had to be back. “We should have enough time to check the two closest police stations, but we probably won’t be able to make it to the orange or yellow stations.”
The police station was a large blue building. Something, something, something. Like Jake said there was a wall with descriptions of recently arrested criminals on it.
“There’s an awful lot of descriptions here,” Starr said. “Where do we begin?”
“There’s a small section over there for the ones who were arrested without any id.”
I was a small section of descriptions and they didn’t have any trouble eliminating all but the last one. “So, what does it say?”
“Let’s see,” Jake leaned in closer. “Charge: not registering.”
“That looks promising.”
“Sex :Female, Age:18-25, Height: 5’3”, rank: orange, picked up on 01,03,04- that was three days ago- in a slophouse after trying to obtain lodging using a fake credit card.”
“What does rank: orange mean?”
“It’s how we identify people’s status. Was she wearing an orange shirt or something?”
“Yeah, she had an orange tye-dye shirt on”
“A what?”
“Swirly pattern. Like your skin.”“Oh.. Yeah, that sounds like her then.”
“Can we find out for sure?”
“No, not now,” he checked his phone. “We should probably check the green station anyway.”
They quickly looked for signs of Jenn at the green police station, which was just like the blue one, except that it was a little nicer and green instead of blue. They were about to leave when Jake got a call.
“Well, who was it? Any news?”
“That was Robert and John. They’re not going to be able to make it back tonight. They said they’ll be back in the morning.” He looked at his phone again.” We should hurry or we won’t make it back in time either.” They ran all the way back to Jake’s apartment and were walking up the stairs just as the curfew alarm sounded.

Chapter 17

Josh and Stacie had checked nearly every slophouse in the area. Not a single one had heard of Jenn or any other strange girl. “How many more of these places do we have left?” Josh asked.
“I think just the one,” Stacie answered. “Don’t worry, we’ll find your friend. We have plenty of time to get back before curfew,” she said while holding him. “I think we should get up and check that last place. I’m sure that we’ll find something there.”
The last house was even dirtier and dingier than the rest. Josh and Stacie rang the bell and asked to speak to the manager.
“No, there haven’t been any unregistered girls in here lately. And believe me, I’d know.” The old man seemed to have a sinister, worn look about him.
“Are you sure?” Josh pressed.
“I keep pretty close tabs on this place. I know everyone who comes and goes, and everything that happens here. These are my eyes and ears.” He pointed to the vast array of electronics around the place including several computers and a few cameras.
“Come on Josh, lets get out of here,” Stacie dragged him by the arm.
They were about to head for the art house, when a young scruffy looking woman in a blue shirt approached them. "Did I 'ear yer say yer were 'ave a lookin' for a bloke of yors 'oo weren't registerd?"
“Did ay ‘ear you say you ‘ere looking for a friend o yours ‘oo twasn’t registard?”
“Yes,” Josh answered. “Have you seen her?”
"I 'aven't seen 'er meself but I fink I might know somewhere she's been.
“Where?”
“Over on...” she paused and thought for a moment. “I'll show yer . I 'm about ter go there meself any road."
“Thank you very much,” Stacie said.
“"No problem. Cor blimey guv! But before we go do eever of yer 'appen ter have a fag?"
Josh stared for a moment.
"Right. A cigarette right, mate. Not a queer."
“I know what a fag is. It’s just that I haven’t seen anyone else smoking in so long, I was beginning to wonder if anyone did. “
"I kow wot yer mean. Almost no bloke does, now that it's practically illegal. By the chuffin' way the bleedin' name's Bethany, but yer can call me Bet. Cor blimey guv, would I lie to you? Nearly evry bloke does."
She led them to the same delapidated slophouse where Jenn had tried to stay. It was so shoddy and unkempt that they had passed it by earlier, thinking it was abandoned.
“Man, I thought this place was abandoned,” Josh said.
“No, it ain't” replied Bet. “It’s actually nicer on the inside, if yer can believe it.”

When they walked inside, they could see that it was warmer and more inviting, but still not a place someone would choose to spend the night.
Stacie walked up to the desk, “We’re looking for an unregistered friend of ours. We thought she might have tried to stay here. Her name’s Jenn Srauski.”
“There was a girl a few nights ago who wasn’t registered.”
“Do you know if that was her?”
“No, I wasn’t on duty then. The manager would know.”
“Can we speak to him?”
“No.”
“No? Why not?” Josh was outraged.
“He’s not here. He’ll be back tomorrow about three. You can talk to him then,” the clerk explained.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to come back tomorrow.” Stacie said.
“Is that it?” Josh was surprised.
“Look, Josh, it’s a good lead, and wherever she is, she’s safe.” Stacie tried to reassure him as she looked around for Bet. “Bet?”
“Yes?”she answered.
“You don’t have to stay here.”
"I don’t 'ave any credits,” she protested.
“You helped us, that should count for something. Besides, I’m sure my cousin and his friends could find a better place for you.”
Bet followed them out. “Now what?” Josh asked. “ Off to the art gallery.”
Stacie checked her watch. “I don’t think so, its too late to go there now. We should just head back.”
“I fought yer two were datin',” Bet asked.
"What?" Stacie said.
“Yer and uh..”
"Josh."
“Yeah, right, Josh.”
"I don’t know. Maybe,” Stacie said. “Why?”
“Because yer said yor cousin and 'is chinas could 'elp me.”
Stacie laughed. "Josh’s not my cousin. Josh and his friend Starr and I are staying at my cousin Jake’s apartment while we look for Jenn.”
“Thats a bit of blokes,” Bet said. “By the way, what’s your name?”
"Stacie."