Chapter 26

Jake looked at the map, which was basically a set of crudely drawn lines, “I think I know where this is.”
“Do you?” Stacie asked grabbing the map from him. “Because to me it looks like a set of crudely drawn lines.”
“It is,” Jake said. “But I’ve heard rumors of this place and I think I know where it is.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Robert looked at the map, “See, here’s Rome and there’s the prison and that’s the train station.” He pointed to a spot on the map near where the railroad tracks crossed. “That’s the safe house. It shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
“So who’s going?”
‘Weren’t you ‘oing to find me a ‘ome?”
“Right,” said Robert. “ Me and John have the best connections at C.E.W.L., so we should probably take care of that.”
They decided that all of them would go to the safe house because nobody wanted to be left behind while they were looking for Jenn.
They had some trouble at the train station. “Sir, that’s an intersection. We don’t have a stop there. The closest stop is in Glass City.”
“How far away is Glass City?” asked Starr.
“About five miles,” said Jake. “We’ll take 4 blue tickets to Glass City.” They used the fake id’s to get the tickets, which bought them an empty box car.
“No seats,” Josh was surprised.
“Blue tickets,” said Stacie, poking him in the side. “Cheap passage, minimal comfort.”
The ride was comfortable if somewhat bumpy.
“How are we going to get to the safe house, if the train goes all the way to Glass City?” Starr asked.
Jake pulled out the map, “There are 3 or 4 intersections and red lights near the safe house. The train is bound to stop at one of them.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“I guess we’ll go all the way to Glass City and find our way to the safe house from there.” Almost as soon as he had finished speaking the train stopped at a red light. The four of them scramble to open the door. It was stuck. It took all of their effort to crack it open. Jake was the first one out, when the train started moving again.
“Pull me in, quickly.” He was all the way inside, when the train passed by the safe house.
“Maybe the train will stop again before we get too far,” Stacie said hopefully. It didn’t and before long they began to see huge glass buildings glittering in the sunlight.
“Wow!” Josh said. “It’s so beautiful. What is it?”
“Glass City,” Starr said.
“How do you know?"
“The glass, the buildings. And the big glittering sign that says ‘ Welcome to Glass City’ helps. Starr pointed to a huge gateway above the train.
The train was coming to a halt in front of the platform of a huge glass building that appeared to be a train station. They could see all the people inside coming and going, bustling about the station, walking running, standing, sitting or otherwise waiting. Josh, Starr, and Stacie were amazed.
“Last call for Glass City.” The call came over the intercom and the doors opened.
“Well, this is our stop,” Jake said. “Let’s make the most of it.

Chapter 25

"Okay, you win Sasha," Kelly said. "But there better not be any trouble from the boys while I'm gone."
Kelly led Jenn through a room filled with boxes, furniture, and some odd knickknacks. Jenn almost tripped over what looked like a medieval spinning wheel. "Ouch."
"Sorry," her guide apologized. "It's a bit crowded in here. A lot of them have tendency to start projects they never finish."
They walked across a short hallway to a mostly empty room where a group of people were sitting in lotus position while chanting the om. An older woman walked around correcting positions and putting oil on their foreheads.
The woman walked over to them "Kelly, I thought I told you to stay upstairs with the others."
"I know mom, but we have a visitor, and I thought.."
Kelly's mother cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Never mind. Next time it would be better to wait until we've finished with our meditations." She turned around and saw Jenn. "Hello, I didn't realize she brought you down here."
"Maybe I should take her to Fred's office."
"That sounds like a good idea."
Kelly took Jenn through the sanctuary and led her into an office where a short, bald man with more hair in the back than the top (which gave Jenn the impression that his hair was sliding down instead of him going bald) was frantically typing on a computer. "Hi, Fred," Kelly said. "This is.."
"No, no," Fred cut her off. "Let me see, Jessica, no, Daniel, Tiffany?" He struggled to remember her name.
"It's Jenn, and we haven't met before."
"Oh, that's good." Fred looked relieved. "But I'm not very good with names anyway."
"I got sent here by C.E.W.L., but nobody was around, so I just walked in and noticed fire in the kitchen so I put it out." Jenn explained this as if it was something she did everyday.
"Fire! Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, it was just a small grease fire on the stove."
"Sorry," Kelly sheepishly apologized. "I guess that's my fault. We were hungry so I decided to fry some rice, and I got distracted because Billy wanted the batteries from the smoke detector for his game man, and..."
Fred cut her off, "Well, at least no one was hurt."
"But if I hadn't broken in all of you would have gotten killed!" Jenn was amazed.
"And you came, and nobody was hurt. Remember that our father looks out for us, and he knows all. He must have sent you to save us."
But it was still really irresponsible. Jenn kept this last thought to herself, realizing it would do no good.

Chapter 24

“So now what?” Josh felt defeated. Their foolproof plan had been foiled by the one obstacle he never would have imagined. Somehow Jenn had already escaped.
“Well all we can be sure of right now is that this is no accident. So presumably she had help and is safe. And pretty much the only people who could get her out would be C.E.W.L.” Robert tried to reassure them.
“Wait, what makes you so sure?” Stacie was skeptical. “Does C.E.W.L. even have the resources to pull something like this off? How do we know she even escaped? She could have been kidnapped, or even worse- tortured and killed.”
“Red 1 to Blue 1,” Robert attempted to contact Jake, John, and Starr. “Do you copy?”
“Go ahead.”
“The subject is missing. Could you please assess the situation?”
Jake and John exchanged glances. “C.E.W.L.”
Robert turned to Stacie, “Are you satisfied?”
“Um, how is this possible?”
“C.E.W.L. has been working on operation lifesaver for a little while. As far as I know this is the first time its been used.”
“So, what do we do now?” Josh asked.
“As I was saying, all we know is that she’s safe. She’ll turn up sooner or later so the best thing we can do is go back home, and try focusing on something else. Like that homeless South ender in Jake’s apartment.”
Back at Jakes they realized they were famished, so John started cooking. Soon they were sitting down with plates of rice and brown squares stir fried with odd looking colorful vegetables.
“Mmm, this is delicious,” Starr said, digging in. “What is this?
"Pan-ager,” Robert said. “Fried bean curd, pan, shallots, and eggplants with rice and ager.”
“Well, what ever it is, it sure tastes good.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Jake was eager to get to business. “How are we going to find my lovely houseguest a home?”
“Yes, ow are we ‘oing to find a ‘ome for meself?” Bet joined in the discussion. “And where ‘ave ‘oo bein all afternoon?”
“Never mind,” Jake silenced her. “We’ll tell you later.”
“Does anybody have any ideas?” John had set up a large easel with a large pad of paper on which he had written “How to Find a South ender a home.”
“What about finding her relatives?”
Beth interrupted,” I ‘ve no idea where the are.”
“It’s a start.” John added his own, “Marry Jake.”
Jake grabbed the pen from John, “Marry John.”
“Let’s get serious,” Stacie laughed.
“I was,” John protested. “It might work.”
“Ay ain’t marryin no man Ay don’t ‘ardly know. No offence.”
“What?” Jake was shocked.
“Come on, let’s get serious,” Robert tried to direct the group a little.“What about looking for her birth papers?”
45 minutes later they had about 20 or so ideas ranging from the outright ridiculous -like overthrowing the government and make her president- to the slightly plausible. Actually only one idea was truly reasonable.
“Does anyone have any idea where this safe house might be? Jake? Robert? Stacie?”
They all shrugged. “Not really.”
“Ay tink Ay ight ’ave an idea.”
“Really?”
“Someone ’ave me tis map twile Ay wuz beggin.” She took out a wad of paper that had C.E.W.L.’s insignia on it.
“Well, what do you know?” Robert was dumbfounded.
“She’s found me lucky charms and me pot o’ gold too.” Josh started staring at it. “So is that it?”

Chapter 23

Jenn got on the same bus that she had ridden the day before. She was nervous. "What if this didn't work? Then where would she be?" Jenn looked at all the pretty purple, pink, yellow, and gold trees on the way. "I wonder what color they would be in our world? Probably just brown and green."
In order for this to work, things had to go exactly as planned. Any accident, any deviation and everything would be lost. If the bus took a wrong turn, or the train didn't make it on time. Or a butterfly fluttered his wings from across the world at the wrong time. . .
Finally they got to an intersection and stopped when the light turned green. A train drove by and Jenn jumped out of the back and onto an open car. She nearly missed but fortunately both the train and the bus had stopped. The train would take her back into town where she was supposed to go to a C.E.W.L. safe house.
As soon as Jenn was safely on the train, it started moving again. She noticed a scruffy looking man sitting in the corner of the car. He was wearing ratty blue jeans with a patch over the knees, a black shirt, and a threadbare tweed jacket. Next to him was a worn looking briefcase. He appeared to be asleep.
"I'll bet he's a hobo" Jenn thought. She watched as the train followed the tracks further out of the city. She tried to figure out where she was going, but the train was moving too fast and she didn't recognize anything she saw anyway. Suddenly the train came to a stop and her fellow passenger woke up.
"Hey, who are you?" he asked.
"I could ask you the same thing".
"Well, I asked first and I paid for this car. So I think you should answer me first".
"You paid for this car? So then you're not a hobo?"
"No, what gave you that idea? Never mind. You still haven't answered my question."
Jenn looked him up and down again. His black boots were new and freshly shined. His clothes were freshly laundered, although wrinkled from sleeping. He had a recent haircut and shave, and in his briefcase was a brand new computer, a thick envelope.
"I'm just trying to find my friends and go home".
"I guess I'll take that for an answer. But no, I'm not a hobo. My name's Douglas, but my friends call me Doug. I'm a writer, I just finished my first book".
"Really? What kind of book?"
"It's kind of a science fiction/mystery/comedy".
"Is it good?"
"I think so. Do you want to read it?"
"Sure".
Jenn started reading and soon she was rolling with laughter. "I love the idea of a depressed robot. I think he's great. But I think he should have a name".
"I know but I just can't think of one".
"What about Marvin?"
Jenn hadn't read much more when the train stopped rolling again. She looked at the map Paul had drawn for her. This was where the safe house was. Sure enough, a two story wooden farmhouse stood in the middle of a cul de sac.
"Well, this is my stop. Thanks. Good luck with your book", and she jumped off.
"You too", he called out to her. "Rats, I didn't even get her name".
Jenn walked up to the house and knocked on the door. Nobody answered, so she knocked again. "Hello, is anybody home?" Jenn looked at the instructions just to make sure she hadn't missed a secret password or anything like that. Nope, nothing. Jenn knocked again. This time she noticed laughter coming from inside. "Anybody home?" she called out as she walked into a large open foyer. To her left was a large kitchen. Smoke started pouring out. She noticed a fire extinguisher on the floor and put out the small grease fire on the stove.
"Anybody home?" Jenn called out again.
"In here," someone called. Jenn followed the voice to the room on the other side of the front entrance. Several teenagers were sitting on the couch. A tall lanky girl was sitting on a short stocky boy's lap. Both looked to be about 14 or 15. There was also a 13-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl.
"Are you the only ones home?" Jenn was puzzled.
"Nah," the boy spoke up. "There should be some other people around. Chad is probably in his office, and our parents are at the meeting in the spiritual center".
"So what they left you two here to do what? How did they expect you to entertain yourselves?"
"Uh, you're not very bright, are you?" the 13-year-old asked.
"Theo, that was very rude," the younger girl smiled sweetly. "I'm sorry, my name's Sasha. I should show you around, since no one else has the decency to answer the door“.
"Oh, come on. Kelly can do it." The stocky boy - apparently her boyfriend, pointed to the other older girl, who was sitting quietly in the corner.

Chapter 22

Josh woke up to the smell of bacon frying and coffee peculating.
"Man that smells good".
"Glad to see you're awake" John said. "Are you feeling better?"
"I'm still sore but I think I can walk on it".
Everyone else was already sitting down on the floor, waiting to eat, while John and Robert cooked.
"I hope everyone's hungry because there's enough food for a school of engineers" Jake joked.
Josh sat up. "Do I have enough time to take a shower? I really need one".
"And a change of clothes, too". Stacie cut in.
"What's wrong with my clothes?"
"I believe that is the same silly shirt you were wearing when I met you".
"Hey! The S stands for Superman, not silly, and at least it's clean".
"Yeah, it's real clean after three days of sweat and filth".
"I'll go show you were the shower is, and get you some new clothes", Jake volunteered.
"What did you find out?" Starr asked.
"I think we should wait till everyone gets back".
"Well, we've all already discussed it, so I don't think it really matters", said Starr. Jake, Stacie, and I think you might have found where she is, but that's all".
"In that case, we might as well tell you," said Robert. "We think we found her, and if we did we have a plan to get her out. But we have to all be in on it".
Josh came back from taking a shower as soon as breakfast was ready. "Mmm, I haven't had bacon in a long time", he said digging into his plate.
"Bacon?" Jake looked puzzled.
"You know, fried pigs butt."
"Why would we eat that?" Stacie was appalled.
"You know, I've heard of people eating animals before," John explained.
"Yes, there are some groups of people that used to eat animals but it has never really been practical or necessary, and there are plenty of better things to eat". Richard tried to explain this to both groups of people.
"Well, if you hadn't of told me I would have sworn it was bacon, " Stacie said.
"I wouldn't know. I've never had bacon".
After a two-hour discussion everyone was on the same page. "So how do we get Jenn out?" Starr was eager to get started.
*********************************
"Red 1 to Blue 1."
"Go".
"Everything 10-4."
"Jake, knock it off. You know this is a closed channel". Stacie was annoyed.
"Is it?" Jake persisted.
"Yeah, we're just about to enter the building ". Starr and Robert were with her. Through Robert and John's involvement in C.E.W. L. they were able to obtain false papers for Starr and Josh. They were yellow level members of the Roman police force. They also had portable voice phones. The first group, the Red team was to go in and attempt to break Jenn out. The Blue team was to be the backup.
"Officer Smith 11734 reporting". Jenn spoke to the woman at the front control as Robert had coached her. "Suspect 01783 has been apprehended and is waiting to be booked".
"That's the 1211 that was MIA?"
"Yes, ma'm".
"All right, you are clear to enter".
Starr, Stacie, and Robert walked into the brightly-lit room. Just then Stacie got a call on her phone.
"You say that inmate 01783 is wanted for questioning?" There was a pause as the person on the other end said something. "Yes, that's a 10-4. Over and out".
"I need the location for Inmate 01783", Starr responded.
“That would be Section 1017A cell 1739,” She pointed the way. "Take the first hallway on the right, turn left at the end, 3rd cell on the left".
Starr and Stacie led Robert to the back. When they got to Jenn's cell, it was empty. "I need the location for Inmate 01783", Starr called the woman at the desk.
"Her location is Section 1017 A, cell 1739".
They checked the number on the cell door, and sure enough it was Jenn's but where was she?