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?

Chapter 21

Jenn woke up with the book still in her hand. "I guess I fell asleep reading". She looked around. Her breakfast wasn't here yet. 'It must be too early she thought, as she notice Matt was already gone. "I wonder where he goes every morning?"
Just then Matt walked in, "Well, hello Jenn. I see you're up early this morning".
"What time is it?"
"It's 6:00".
"That's too early".
Matt laughed, "I brought you breakfast".
"That was nice of you".
He laughed again. "I don't know about that. It's my job. I work in the kitchen".
"Is that why you get up so early?"
"Uh huh. 4:45 every morning".
Matt left and she ate her breakfast. It was the same slop every morning. At least this time it was warm. When she finished she went back to sleep until the guard came in. She and Matt both asked to go to the Arboretum.
"Hey Jenn, ready for another game of waggle?"
"I've been waiting all day". As they set up the pieces Jenn steered the conversation. "Matt loaned me a book about Darien Mallory".
"He's an interesting
guy, isn't he?"
"Who, Matt? He's kind of quiet though. I really don't know".
"Well, yeah, but I meant Mallory".
"Oh, sure. He sounds a lot like some guys from my world".
"Your world?" Paul was shocked.
"I thought you knew about other worlds? Your move".
"Come on 6. Darn." He moved a blue piece 3 spaces. "Sure I've heard of other worlds. I've never been to one but yeah. It's just that I never thought I'd meet someone from his planet".
"I didn't say he was from my planet. I've never even heard of him. Move my orange piece 8 spaces forward".
"You're almost home".
"I wish".
"No, I was talking about the game".
"Yeah. I guess I am".
" I always suspected Mallory got his ideas from other people".
"Really?"
"Yeah. I went to see him speak one time before he left. I liked what he had to say, but he seemed to be borrowing ideas from other people. It was like he copied a speech from them and didn't even bother to put it in his own words. But I think he did at least understand what he was talking about".
"Yeah, I thought so too. But I wouldn't worry too much about it".
"Why not?"
"The guys he stole his ideas from are real famious and real dead".
"How famous? How dead?"
"Let's just say that when people want to say that something is real old, it was before he was born and when a famous rock band said they were more famous than Jesus, their album went from 1 to 1000".
"Damn". Paul rolled the die. "Looks like we're both about to win. Your move".
"So you said you knew a way I could get out of here?" She moved her last piece home.
"I think so. You're not from this world, right?"
"Right".
"So if I said that I knew a way to get you out of here, but you could never come back to Rome, it wouldn't be a problem?"
"As long as I can go home".
"I don't know if I can get you home but, yeah, I can get you out of here".
"Mark told me you could help me get home".
"I don't know about that, but I can do something".
"Like what?"
"I can get you out of here."
"Mark was already doing that."
"Mark was going to get you out sometime this lifetime I can get you out tomorrow at the latest".
"How?"
"It's simple." He started writing down instructions. "Memorize this and then flush it. Don't let anyone know and don't let anyone think anything is different".
"What makes you think Mallory got his ideas from other people?"
"I saw him speak one time. He knew what he was talking about, but he wasn't that smart. Come on, let's finish the game".
"I got a four. Yeah!" Jenn move her piece closer to home. "Are you sure you can get me out?"
"No problem".

Chapter 20

Jake and Josh collided in the hallway outside Jake's apartment.
"Watch out man" Josh shouted, rubbing his nose.
"You watch out. You ran into me". Jake turned to Stacie "I knew you should have never let him in".
"Now boys stop arguing or I'm going to have to throw you outside." Stacie retorted.
"Of my place!" Josh protested.
"I'm not gonna be the one to explain to the cops why two dead men are lying on the floor".
"Who said anything about killing anyone?"
"If you don't shut up I'm going to have to shoot you".
"Who's she?"Starr asked, referring to Bet.
"ello, the name's Bet".
"And I'm Starr. But who are you?"
"Ay said the name's Bet," she was practically screaming now.
Stacie cut in, "You mean she's not the friend you were looking for?"
"No".
"Darn. I guess we're going to have to go and look again".
They went inside and Josh tried to explain what happened when they went to look for Jenn and how they met Bet.
"We didn't find Jenn, and we think we just missed her. But Bet was outside and offered to help us find her. So we offered her a place to stay".
"Again, in my place!" Josh was annoyed.
Bet began telling her story. "Well, Ay just moved 'ere from Glass City. Me family 'ad to leave after ta revelution and Ay lost 'em. Me best mate wuz wif me but Ay lost er. Ay ended up 'ere, but Ay 'ave no mates and no family so Ay 'ave no credits".
"Doesn't your government have a way to take care of you?" Josh asked.
"Where have you been?" Jake was puzzled.
"Bet's one of the people who fell through the cracks because of the revolution.
Josh scanned the apartment. "Where are we supposed to sleep?"
"I hadn't thought about that. I usually sleep on the couch, but all I can offer you is the floor". Jake thought for a moment. "I have some sleeping bags".
"It'll be fun. Like a sleep over", Starr said excitedly.
"Ay don't mind. After ta revolution me family and Ay spent many nights asleep on sidewalks. ay 'ould 'ave bin 'appy for a roof over me 'ead".
"Me too", Stacie chimed in. "I didn't have to leave my home like you did, but I've spent a lot of time traveling. There have been many nights when a warm sleeping bag, let alone a roof and a warm floor would have made me feel like a princess".
Josh went to the closet. When he opened it to get the sleeping bags, a pile of stuff fell on him. "Help! I think I've broken something".
"Yeah, you broke my skate board".
"No, I think I broke my ankle".
"Well, let's take a look at it".
Stacie and Jake carried Josh over to the couch.
"Careful, that hurts".
"I can leave you on the ground if you like," grumbled Stacie.
"No, I'm fine,"Josh winced.
Stacie knelt down beside Josh. "Let's take a look at that foot of yours".
"Don't you think we need to take him to the hospital for x-rays" Starr asked?
"After curfew?" Josh laughed.
"They don't have an emergency room?"
"No, besides, my cousin Stacie is as good as any hospital or nurse in this town".
"She's that good?" Josh smiled, "why didn't you tell me you were a doctor too?"
"No, they're that bad". Jake laughed, "but all B.S. aside she's taken enough First Aid classes that I'de trust her to take care of a broken ankle".
Stacie started feeling around Josh's ankle. "Tell me if it hurts".
"The whole thing hurts".
"Well, tell me if it hurts worse".
"Okay. Ow!"
"Okay now, try to move your ankle back and forth".
"Ouch!"
"It's not broken, but it's probably sprained. Jake, do you have an ice pack?"
"Here", he threw it to her.
"Keep this on it".
"I guess we don't have to worry about sleeping arrangements since we already know who has the couch", Starr said.
"I get to sleep on the floor in my own place", Jake complained.
"You'll get over it", Stacie teased.

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."

Chapter 16

After showing the guards her papers, Jenn was told to get on one of the buses outside the prison. Everyone on the bus was completely silent, and after her experience at lunch the previous day, Jenn quickly decided it would be in her best interest to keep quiet and just do as she was told. Jenn watched as the bus took a short drive out of the city and onto what appeared to be a country road.
“All right! Off the bus!” one of the guards barked, and all the prisoners walked in an orderly fashion, row by row.
“These prisoners are remarkably well behaved,” Jenn thought. “The guards must have an awful lot of power over them.” Jenn soon learned that the prisoners were expected to pick up all the litter on the side of the road. It wasn’t difficult work, but it was hot, and Jenn was soon exhausted. Unfortunately the only break she got was at 1 pm when they stopped for 20 minutes for a lunch of what seemed to be mostly bread and water. Not particularly hearty fare.
Around five o’clock they got back on the bus, and rode back to the prison. The ride was as uneventful as the entire day, until they were almost back at the prison.
A car ran out in front of the bus and the driver of the car ran out screaming and shouting. The bus stopped, which caused just enough commotion for one of the passengers in the back to open the back door and jump out. With all the commotion hardly anyone seemed to notice. "At least, " Jenn thought, "nobody said anything that would indicate that anyone else noticed." But Jenn didn't say anything either. When everything was back to normal the bus started moving again, and they were on their way back to the prison. As soon as they got off the bus they were herded back to their cells. “I’m so exhausted,” Jenn sighed as she lay down on her cot.
“You’re in luck,” Matt replied. “You’re just in time for dinner.”
“I hope I don’t waste all my time filling out forms and then completely miss dinner,” Jenn said snarkily.
Matt laughed. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Fortunately you only have to do that once.”
“So, what did they have you doing all day, Jenn?” Matt asked.
“I had to pick up trash in the hot sun. Fun.”
“You’re lucky.”
“How so?”
“There are a lot worse jobs you could have than picking up trash.”
“Like what?”
Before he could answer her a guard walked in. “Don’t worry about it, you’ll find out soon enough.” Matt quickly finished.
“Dinnertime,” the guard announced. “Please follow me.”
Jenn was beginning to get used to being led everywhere she went. She was even getting used to the constant supervision. The lack of privacy while going to the bathroom was starting to get to her though, and she was hoping that she would soon be able to change her clothes or at least take a shower.
After her third day, things were starting to feel a bit routine. She followed the lines through dinner, and ate in silence at her table like she had the previous day. For Jenn, meal times were normally full of conversation and friends. It was now, at dinner, that Jenn began to really miss them.
When Jenn arrived back in her cell, Matt was already there. He was reading a book.
“Hi Matt,” Jenn said. “You got here quickly.”
“Oh, not really.”
“So, what are you reading? Something good?”
“Just a novel.” He continued reading, then stopped. “But actually, I think I might have a book you might be interested in. Have you ever heard of Darien Mallory?”
“No, should I have?”
Matt’s eyes widened. “You haven’t?” he stammered, unable to contain his surprise. Then he thought for a moment and laughed it off. “You know, I’m not really surprised about anything you say anymore. I think I might actually understand if you told me where you came from.”
“I doubt it.”
“Well, at any rate, I think I have a book you might be interested in.” He reached over and tossed it to her.”
Jenn looked at the cover. The Life and Times of Darien Mallory. “What a creative title,” she thought. “I hope the rest of the book can live up to it.” With that she settled in and began reading.

Chapter 15

Jake, Starr, Stacie, and Josh were sitting around Jake’s apartment reading the Roman Times while waiting for his friends to show up. Suddenly Josh spoke up “I think I may have found her.” “Go ahead, we’re listening.” Starr and the rest waited for him to continue.
“ ‘An unidentified female was apprehended early yesterday morning, in the orange district. She was booked and charged with trespassing on private property and traveling with out identification. The suspect is described as being a young female between the ages of 18 and 25. She claims that ..’ Oh never mind that can’t be her.”
“Why not?“ Starr asked. “That sounded like a pretty good description of her.”
“Well the girl says her name is Mary Cooper. Not Jenn Srauski.”
“Oh, well,” Starr looked a little dejected.
“We’ll just have to keep looking,” Stacie said cheerfully, “We’ll find her eventually.”
The four of them went back to waiting and reading the newspaper. Just then they heard a knock on the wall. Jake‘s neighbor yelled through the door. “Somebody at the fire escape is looking for you.”
“Coming.” Jake yelled as he went to go get them. When he got up Starr started to get up and look around the room. “So, does anybody have any idea how Jake‘s friends are going to help us?” asked Josh.’
“No, not really. Following Jake is like being in the military except that the job actually gets done and he doesn’t shoot you for asking questions. It kinda helps to be related to him.” Jenn answered.
“Yeah, well that‘s not going to do us much good.”

Jake looked at the poster on the ceiling. “Those people look awfully familiar,” he thought. “Sure wish I could read what their shirts said.” He stared at it for a moment and gave up. “Boy am I hungry,” he said aloud. Just then, Jake came back in, followed by two other guys, both of whom had brought pizza. One was tall and looked to be in his early thirties, the other was roughly college age. The former was wearing a blue shirt and khaki pants, and the latter was wearing a green shirt with the phrase “There is a Bob” much like the one Jake was wearing.
After everyone got some food and started eating, Jake introduced everyone. “This is John,” Jake said, referring to the older one, “and this is Robert. John and Robert this is Starr, Stacie, and Josh. “So, we should probably get started looking for Jenn.”
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. Robert and John sat down. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone to do something. Finally Starr spoke up. “Does anyone have any idea how we are going to find her?”
“Well,” said, John “ Jake told us that you were looking through the paper. Did anybody find anything?”
“I thought I did, but no.. nobody did,” Josh answered.
“Yeah, I didn’t think that would get us anywhere.” John said.
“Did you talk to any of your contacts at C.E.W.L, Robert?” asked Jake.
“Not yet, I did post a message on the message board at M.L.C. and asked if anyone had heard of a girl wandering around without proper I.D.”
After this the group began to open up and soon learned a few things. First of all Robert was John’s uncle. The whole discussion sort of digressed into a discussion about how ridiculous and improbable this was. But, never the less it was true. They did learn that Robert had found two leads, one who was last seen in the slop house district and the other who had been thrown out of an art gallery in the orange district. John also had some contacts at C.E.W.L. that he was going to try to get a hold of.
“So, everyone’s clear then, John and Robert will go track down his contacts, Stacie and Josh will check the slop houses and art gallery, and Starr..” explained Jake.
“Yes?”
“You and I will check the hospitals and police stations.”
“When should we be back here?” asked Starr.
“John, Stacie, and I have phones so we’ll all keep in touch that way. If anyone finds anything, they need to immediately let the others know. As you know curfew begins at 11 so we don’t have much time.”
Josh looked at the clock and realized that it was already 6:30. “That clears up Star’s question,” Josh thought.
“Hmm, a curfew,” thought Starr. “I don’t think I’m going to like this town much. But Jake, very interesting.”
They split up and went on their separate ways.

Chapter 14

Jenn was once again startled awake. Someone was opening the cell door. She looked up and saw that it was just breakfast being delivered. It was breakfast, if that’s what you want to call it. Jenn longed to be back home. Even if just to have something edible to eat. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She was lost, alone in a foreign land and alienated from her friends. She wondered what had happened to them. If they had fallen to a similar fate. She hoped not. She hoped that whatever had happened to them that they were safe and sound.
Jenn ate her breakfast. Quickly. It wasn’t too bad. At least it didn’t make her sick. She had her cellmate, Matt, to keep her company. He had even gotten her a lawyer. Although she wasn’t quite sure what good that would do her. Speaking of Matt, where was he? She didn’t see him on his bunk. Was it possible he had already been released? If so, good for him.
Just then, Matt was led in. “You’re quite the early riser, aren’t you Matt?”
“It’s 9 AM.”
“It is?”
“How would you like to meet some people?”
“Seeing as how I’m going to be here for a while, I don’t see why not.”
“In a few minutes a guard is going to come with some activity forms. Ask for the form for the arboretum.”
“Hmm. That’s not dangerous, is it?”
“Why would it be?”
“No reason.”
“Well, it’s not.”
Jenn waited and in a few moments a guard came in. “Do you need any activity forms?” he asked.
“I’d like the one for the arboretum.”
“Here you are.” He handed her a small stack of papers. “When you’re done filling them out, you can give them to the next guard who comes by.”
Jenn sat down and got busy filling them out. There were a few release forms, a change of area form, and a field trip permission form. “That’s a lot of forms to fill out,” Jenn remarked to Matt.
“That’s Rome for you.”
She finished filling out the forms just as the second guard came back. “I see you’ve requested to visit the arboretum.”
“Yes, sir.” Jenn replied.
He took Matt’s form and looked at it “You also have requested to visit the arboretum.”
“Yes, sir.”
“A guard will be along shortly to escort the two of you to the arboretum.”
When he left, Matt turned to Jenn. “This might actually take a while, so you should be prepared to wait.” They sat there waiting and after what seemed like forever (but was only about 20 minutes), a young redheaded, female guard unlocked their cell. “Hi, Matt,” she said. She smiled sweetly. “I was told to take you to the arboretum.
“Hi, Sarah. It’s nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to see you too, but you probably shouldn’t be calling me by my first name right now.” She led them down the long corridor. She opened one of the doors to a courtyard filled with many colorful trees and plants. Inside the courtyard were benches and tables. Several inmates were lounging around and talking. Some were playing games, and some were walking around. Jenn sensed that although the mood was not exactly relaxed or casual, it was much freer than in the rest of the prison.
Sarah walked over to a group of guards and sat down with them. Matt called over to one of the other inmates, “Hey Paul, come over here.”
A young 20 something man with short black hair, strolled over. He was wearing a blue shirt that read: There is a Bob. “Yo, what’s up, Matt?”
“This is Jenn, she’s new here and she could use a little schooling.”
Paul and Matt exchanged a look between them. “Sure, no problem. I’d be happy to help out a friend.” He led her over to a table stacked with games. “You play waggle?” he asked her.
“Maybe you could teach me.” “That’s what I like to hear.” He grabbed a box and sat down at a table over in the corner, away from everyone else. He opened the box and motioned for her to sit down. He took out a board that looked like it was for Chinese Checkers. “Start setting out the pieces.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Here, separate them into different colored piles.” He handed Jenn about twenty different pieces shaped like brightly colored broken stones. Roughly half of them were various shades of orange-yellow and half of them were shades of blue-green. She looked at him again. “Blue green in one pile, orange-yellow in the other.”
As she was separating the stones he began to talk. “It’s easier to talk without arousing suspicion if we’re doing something else. So what brings you to (name of the Roman Prison), Jenn? For that matter, what brings you to Rome?”
“I don’t know, it’s a long story that doesn’t make much sense. How do you know I’m not from Rome?”
“Not everyone knows how to play waggle, but most people have at least heard of the Roman national pastime.” Jenn had finished separating her stones. “Count out 15 orange-yellow pieces and 5 blue-green pieces. Then give me the rest.”
“Set your pieces on the white diamond near your end. The goal is for you to get all your pieces home and me to get my pieces home. Then we win.” Paul explained.
“You mean whoever gets their pieces home first wins.”
“No, we both win when all the pieces are home. The orange-yellow ones have to move to the orange or yellow home, and the blue-green ones to the blue or green home.”
“What a weird game,” Jenn remarked.
“Yes, it is,” agreed Paul. “But it is the national game of Rome, so to play it is patriotic.”
Paul took his turn and rolled the dice. Then he moved an orange-yellow piece towards Jenn.
Jenn thought for a moment and then took a move. “I don’t understand what the appeal is to a game that has no competition.”
“Well, for one thing,” Paul began to answer, while taking his turn again, this time rolling a low number and moving a blue-green piece. “There are only a certain number of rolls each player gets. But you have a point.
“This game was designed as a method of propaganda, to teach children how the Roman government is supposed to work.”
Just then a bell rang, and the inmates began exiting the arboretum. “What’s that?” Jenn asked.
“Work time!” a voice echoed over a speaker, answering Jenn’s question.
“Come back tomorrow, and I’ll teach you some more,” Paul said.

Chapter 13

As the trio walked towards Rome they noticed that the houses were getting closer and closer together. There were fewer farms and fewer trees as they continued walking. The houses closer to the city were less colorful than those outside the city. They continued walking on, hopeful that they would be able to find Jenn and leave Rome before the day was over.
“So what are we gonna do when we get there?” Josh asked.
"I have some friends. We’ll find them and go from there,” Stacie said.
Soon they came to a large city. This was apparent from the tall buildings and large “Welcome to Rome” sign they encountered on their way in.
“My friends live in the blue district on the south-east side of town,” Stacie pointed to the left of her. “Jake’s apartment is a short walk this way.”
They came to a tall building that was covered with a mural done entirely in various shades of blue. Stacie walked to the side of the building and started walking up the fire escape. “It’s quicker this way,” she said. Josh and Starr followed her. When they lived in the dorms they had used the fire escape to get in and out of the building, although usually so they didn’t have to talk to the R.A. on duty.
When they got to the third floor, Stacie knocked on the door. “Hey, Julia, will you go tell Jake that Stacie’s here?” An older woman’s voice echoed from inside. “You kids. Why can’t you come in the front door like everybody else?”
“Julia!”“All right. “I’ll go get him.” They heard her knock on the wall. “Jake some of your loser friends are here.”
A few moments later a well dressed young man in a red suit coat, black tee shirt that said ‘there is a Bob’, blue jeans, and a blue-green tie opened the door. “Hello, Stacie,” he said. “I see you’ve brought some friends. Do you know the password?” The latter was directed towards Josh.
“Password?” Josh was taken aback.
“Oh so sorry. I’m afraid I can’t let you in, kind sir.” He ushered the girls in and slammed the door in Josh’s face.
Josh pounded on the door. “Let me in.” He stopped after he heard laughter coming from inside.
“Do you think we should let him in girls?”
“I don’t know, he hasn’t been particularly useful so far.”
“From what I’ve seen, you seem to think he has some pretty interesting uses.”
“Is that so. I knew there was something shaky about him. I’m definitely not letting him in now.”
At that the door swung open, hitting Josh in the face.“Ow!”
“Aw,” Stacie said. “Is my little Joshy-washy hurt?”
“I’m fine, no thanks to you.”
“Well, no harm done, lets go inside. I‘m sure your hungry. I have some soup on the stove.”
They followed him into a sparsely furnished, brightly colored room. It was a large spacious room with separate eating, sleeping and living areas. Jake showed them the kitchen area and they each took a bowl. Then they sat down on a couple of milk crates.” I like what you’ve done with the place,” Stacie remarked.
“So who are your friends. Some riff raffs you picked up off the street?”“This is Starr,” she said.
“And the scab next to you?”
“This is Josh,” she smiled. “Like I told you there from.. somewhere else. They’re looking for their friend Jenn. Like I said she was last seen in Rome.”
“Well, that’s quite an interesting dilemma.”
“Jake, what’s with the mural on the building?” Josh interjected.
“You like it?” Jake asked. “A friend of mine did it.”
“Yeah. But why is it all blue?”
Jake looked at him, dumbfounded. “Of course its blue, I live in the blue district. I am a blue person.”
“Remember what I told you about the credit system in Rome?” Stacie explained.
“Yes.”
“Well, in Rome they color code things so that everyone knows what your level of credit is.”
“Oh.”
“One more thing. Who is this guy?” Josh smirked. “Your boyfriend?”
Jake and Stacie laughed. “Jake is my cousin.”
“But, when did you tell him about us?”
Stacie pulled out a small thin device that looked like a flat cell phone. “I sent Jake a message using this. How did you think I knew he would be home?”
“But, I didn’t hear you use that. Did you, Starr?”
Starr had been strangely silent this whole time. “No I didn’t hear her use it either”
“Text phones don‘t make any noise. How could I afford a voice phone?”
The four of them had a lively discussion which basically boiled down to two points. 1) On Stacie and Jake’s world everyone could afford one,(service was free) because no one had spent much time developing voice technology. 2) This was the fundamental difference between Stacie and Jake’s world and Starr and Josh’s world. Or rather, the desire to do the best for all people was the difference. After this lengthy discussion the four of them finally settled down to business.
“So, do you think we can find Jenn?” Starr asked
“I can call a few friends and see if they know anything. We should probably check the papers for unusual arrests. This would be a lot easier if your friend had bothered to register.”
“Jake” Stacie protested.
The three of them started cleaning up while Jake checked in with his friends. It didn’t take long before everyone was finished.
“Well?” Starr said.“Well, what?” Jake smiled innocently.
“Do you think your friends know anything about Jenn?” Starr finished.
“Oh, that. I think so, but we decided it would be better if we all met here.
“When?” Josh asked, eager to get something done.
“Most of them are working right now, so we’re going to meet for dinner.”
“But that’s several hours from now,” Josh protested.
“Well, don’t worry so much. We can check the papers while we’re waiting, and besides this is Rome. Where ever she is, she’s safe and well fed.” Jake reassured them unconvincingly.
“Jake has a point,” Stacie continued. “Even if we don’t find her today, she’ll be o.k. and we probably couldn’t do anything immediately anyway.

Chapter 12

“Howard Higglebottom is here to see you!” A loud voice shouted with all the finesse a prison guard could muster.
Jenn awoke with a start. Matt wasn’t here. “I don’t know any Howard Higglebottom.”
“His papers say he’s your lawyer. I suggest you get up and go talk to him.” The guard was dressed in an orange chef’s uniform and carrying a large ring of multicolored keys. She motioned for Jenn to follow her down a corridor to an empty room.
There was a man in a multicolored shirt standing on the opposite end of the room. He turned around and faced her as she came in. “Hello, you must be Jenn.”
Great, Jenn thought. I’ve got a kook for a lawyer. He’s staring out an imaginary window. “Yes, I’m Jenn. You must be Henry Higglebottom. Do you think you can help me?”
“I think so. I’ll file a few motions. Considering that this is your first offense, you should be out of here in no time.”
“Matt said a couple of weeks.”
“Well, that’s pretty good, considering the paperwork.
I’d say its pretty short, considering.”
Jenn was floored, literally. She sank down to the ground. “Do you think we maybe could get some chairs in here, or maybe a table?”
“I doubt it, there’s a stockroom full of them down the hall, but its takes weeks to fill out all the paperwork, plus there’s some kind of legislative hold, blah blah blah blah.”
“Well, anyway. What can I do to get this whole thing started?”
“First we can start, by answering a few questions.”
“O.k.”
“Where were you on the night of March 2nd?”
Jenn was a little startled. On March 2nd, she had been busy drunkenly writing on an ex-boyfriend so that he said “Your girlfriend is my girlfriend”. Not exactly her finest hour, but she didn’t think anyone else knew about it either. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m sorry, I was looking at the files from the wrong case. Can you tell me why you haven’t registered?”
“I didn’t know I had to.”
He looked at her quizzically. “You know the insanity defense was thrown out years ago.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“How is that possible?”
“I’m from out of town.” He looked at her again. “ Way out of time.”
“I guess that isn’t going to help us much. O.K. So how did you get here then?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t really make sense to me. I don’t see how that’s going to help.”
“It’s not. I’m just curious. O.k. Name?”
“Jenn Srauski”
“Age?”
“20.”
“Documentation?”
“Huh?”
“I said, do you have any documentation?”
“Oh,“ Jenn took out her wallet and tossed it too him. “Will any of these do?”
He rifled through it. “Interesting.” He stopped at a picture of her and her friends. “They have funny skin.”
“Well, they‘re not from around here.”
He continued looking through her wallet. He looked up.
“This is all pretty much useless.”
“Pretty much?”
“Well, completely, but I didn’t want to say that.”
“So, is there anything we can do?”
“Of course. I can get those motions filed and we can get you out of here. I just need to you to sign a few documents first.” He took out a stack of papers about an inch thick.
“I have to sign all that?”
“Uh no, surprisingly, its much easier,“ he tore off one of the sheets of paper and handed it to her:
I the undersigned, do declare that I am not registered as a citizen of Rome. I understand that
I am not entitled to any of the privileges afforded to citizens of Rome, specifically the right to a job, to vote, to participate in government, to hold or campaign for office, or the right to trade or barter goods or services while on Roman soil. I am however entitled to all the privileges of a non-citizen including but not limited to the right to have goods and services traded and bartered on my behalf with my approval and the right to full legal status of an minor child. As a non-citizen I will be treated as a minor child in all matters legal, judicial, and economic. If I attempt to contest these matters a second time, I understand that I will be prosecuted fully under the law.
_____________
After Jenn finished reading the document, she felt a little dizzy from all the legal jargon. “That’s pretty clear,” she said when she recovered.
“That’s the Roman way. Clear and thorough.” He reached in to his briefcase. “I forgot, I do have one more paper you have to sign. This one just says that I answered all the questions you had and answered them satisfactorily.”
Jenn looked at the paper he handed her, and it did in fact, say just that. “If I sign this, I won’t be in trouble
anymore?”
“Yes.”
“And I won’t have to leave Rome?”
“No.”
“And I won’t starve to death or die of exposure.”
“If you like I or any one of my colleagues at C.E.W.L can be your own personal liaison.”
“One last thing? How much is this going to cost me?”“Cost? I don’t understand.”
“Money? Credits? Dinero?”
“We barter and trade here. But you don’t have anything I need and your not allowed to do that anyway. Besides this is my job.”
Jenn signed the papers. “How long should this take?”
“With any luck we’ll be in court next week.”
“Court? I thought you said this was a sure thing.”
“It is. Don’t worry. But we do have to go through the proper channels.” He rang a bell, and a guard came to take her back to her cell. By the time she got back it was late, and she went right to sleep.

Chapter 11

Stacie, Josh, and Starr woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and rested, but hungry. They walked out of their bedroom to discover a table of food set out before them. The table was set with porridge, breads, and fruits. Once again Josh noticed the lack of animal products, but dismissed it.
Their host came out to greet them. “Oh, good” he said. “You’re awake. I was just going to get you so we could eat.”
“Did you make all of this for us?” Starr asked, slightly bewildered.
“Of course. I love having guests. Unfortunately I don’t have very many and they never stay very long.”
They sat down to eat. Starr and Josh discovered that the porridge was quite hearty and good and not at all what they expected. It was creamy, rich, and flavorful. “What is this?” asked Starr.
“Bean porridge,” Stacie said. “This is almost as good as my grandmothers.”
Josh spit out some of what he was eating. ”Yuck! I hate beans!”
“Not anymore,” laughed Starr.
“They continued to eat. They were eager to find out what had happened to Jenn, but they were hungry from all the walking they had done, and didn’t say anything further until they had finished eating.
“Do you know how to find our friend, Jenn?” Josh broke the silence as they cleared the table.
“Of course. I thought you’d never ask,” the wise old man replied. He continued clearing the table and didn’t say anything else.
“Well, how do we find her?” Starr asked, unable to stand this silence any longer.
“That’s an entirely different question. In Rome, if you don’t know the rules, it’s very easy to get in trouble. Since your friend doesn’t know the rules she probably found herself in trouble.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Josh sank down on the floor where he had been standing. Stacie sat down next to him and put her arm around him to comfort him.
“It’s not really as bad as it sounds,” she said. ”I’ve been to Rome before, so I know how to get around. But..”
“But?” Starr and Josh said, anticipating what was coming next.
“But once somebody gets in trouble it can be hard to get them out of it,” she finished.
“Hard how?” Josh asked.
“It can be complicated and it often takes a long time.”
“But its doable?”
“Usually, yes.”
“Do you know how to find Jenn?” Starr asked the wise old man.
“Yes,” he answered and once again didn’t say anything further.
“So, how do we find her?” she asked.
“I would start by looking for any reports of someone who has been arrested for not registering or by checking with C.E.W.L.”
“Do they really exist?” Stacie asked. “I would think they would be pretty much unnecessary.”
“Yes, C.E.W.L. is real, and yes they are needed,” the wise man smiled, knowingly "There is a Bob.
Starr, thought about this for a moment. “Before we go, is there anything else you feel like we need to know?”
“I know many things, but I don’t know anything that is important for your endeavor.”
The three loaded up on provisions and said their goodbyes. “Thank you for keeping an old man company.”
“Thank you for helping us find our friend.”
“I only wish I could help you more,” he said. “Hurry so that you can be sure to get there before it gets dark.”
They walked out his door, and down the road towards Rome. It was a beautiful day. Bright, but not too sunny, with a nice light breeze. It was the perfect day for a long walk. ”Is Rome really all that bad?” Josh asked.
“No,” Stacie said, “It’s just not somewhere I would go for a vacation. I want to stop at a stream about a mile down the road, and when we get there, I’ll tell you all about it.”
The three of them continued walking down the path. It was a narrow path with few trees, unlike the area they had come from. On either side of the path were farms. After about a mile, as Stacie had promised, they came to a stream.
They sat down and rested.
“You said you would tell us about Rome and the group called C.E.W.L.” Starr reminded Stacie.
“Yes, I did,” Stacie said as she sat down. She took a sip of water before continuing. ”Roman society is based upon rank calculated by credits obtained by doing favors for people. In Rome, the most important organization is the Roman Senate, which has all the power. Because the city is so large and so strictly regimented everything moves slowly in Rome. Without documentation you cannot hold credit, and without credit you cannot eat, sleep, or hold down a job.”
“Wow, that sounds really harsh,” Josh said.
“It can be,” Starr replied. “But it apparently works for some people.”
“So, how does C.E.W.L. fit in?”
“The system doesn’t work for some people, or at least not as well as it does for others. Some people are trapped there for years, despite the revolution. C.E.W.L. is a
legendary underground organization trying to change all of that. I don’t know very much about it, I thought it was a myth. C.E.W.L stands for a Community of Elitists Without Registering.”
“Is it dangerous?” Josh asked, thoughtfully.
“No, I have some friends who live there. We can stay with them if we have to, but we shouldn’t be there long.”
As soon as they were refreshed and ready the three of them continued down the road to Rome.

Chapter 10

“Well, Jenn” Matt said. “Would you mind telling me how a beautiful, intelligent girl like you ended up stumbling on Rome and all its complex eccentricities?”
“I kinda would. I don’t think you’d believe me and I’d end up sounding either crazy or stupid.”
“Try me.”
“Let’s just say I have an unprecedented ability for stumbling on things unexpectedly.”
Just then an officer in a yellow uniform walked in. “Matt your lawyer is here to see you.”
“Got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Matt got up out of the cell and followed the officer, who was presumably taking him to see his lawyer.
Jenn sat there trying to figure out what kind of cruel world she had stumbled on. It didn’t make any sense. The man on the stump didn’t wear orange, yellow, green, or purple. Maybe he was an outcast of some sort, like CEWL. Or maybe he lived somewhere where those rules didn’t apply, or maybe...
Before Jenn had a chance to finish that train of thought, another officer appeared. She noticed he was carrying a lot of official looking papers. “Lunchtime,” he announced.
“What are all those papers?” Jenn asked.
He looked at her quizzically. ”Those are your lunch forms. You have to fill them out before you can eat. There would be more forms, but your not registered, so all we need you to do is sign a few release forms, a form to receive an assigned lunch seat, a meal request form, and diet request form.”
Jenn was little stunned, but she followed the orange officer to a small room with a desk but no chair where she was asked to sit down in the seat at the desk and begin filling out the forms. After a few unsuccessful attempts she squatted and went to work. About 30 minutes later she was finished. The officer came and took them from her. “I’m afraid your late. Your lunch shift already started. Your going to have to fill out this request for change of lunch shift form.” he said as he handed her another form.
Fortunately that form only took a few minutes, and he led her to a mess hall where inmates were being divided into groups and seated at tables. An officer in green walked up to her. “Designation please.”
Jenn was startled, ”What?”
“Designation please.”
“oh, 1017a -1739.”
“Yes, I have your approved papers right here."
She stepped into the cafeteria, and another officer in a purple uniform approached her. “May I see your table assignment please?”
Jenn looked through the forms she had received on her way in and found the form he was looking for.
“Uh, yes C-3. Third table on your right, seat closest to the window.”
Jenn sat down at a table full of people with orange shirts. There were three men and a woman. The woman was in her mid-forties, one of the men was much older and the other two men were Jenn’s age.
Jenn turned to the man on her right, “Nice place, huh?”
An officer walked up to her and sternly reprimanded her. “Inmates are not allowed to engage in conversation during meal shifts.”
Jenn sank slowly in her seat. “How am I supposed to know what to do?” she thought.
The woman across from her smiled as if reading her mind. “Just follow me,” she mouthed. Jenn was relieved. Momentarily the entire table stood up and got in line single file. Jenn made sure she was behind the woman. As they went through the line they were further sorted by dietary plan. Each person was given a generic meal consisting of some sort of protein, drink, and side dish. Once herded through the line they sat in their assigned seats.
They ate quickly and silently. Jenn barely had enough time to chew the bland tasteless food products on her tray. When an officer walked up to her table and annouced, "Dismissed." At this the entire table stood up and walked to a line of wash basins and trash cans. They scraped their plates off and then stacked them in the soapy water.
Once they were finished they returned to their cells. As Jenn walked down the corridor, she felt overwhelmed. What had she done to deserve such treatment? Where had she gone wrong? Jenn sank into her mattress and stared at her pillow trying to figure it out. She didn't have any answers, just questions. Hopefully Matt would be able to help her get out of here and find her friends.

She looked up and saw that Matt was already in the cell. “You said you thought your lawyer could help me?”
“I talked to him this morning about you. He said that he could probably get you out in a couple of weeks if you're lucky.”
“A couple of weeks!” she was taken aback. How long have you been in here?”
“I’ve been here almost two years now, and I’ll be in here until the revolution is over.”
“For not registering?”
“Well, this is my 7th or 8th offense. If I registered I could get out of here in a few months. So, you see, a few weeks isn’t really all that long.”
Jenn thought this over. There had to be some other way. She couldn’t bare the thought of being stuck on this strange planet in a lonely jail cell for such a long time. By the time she got out of here her friends would
be long gone. She might never find them again. She would be all alone on this planet. Far away from the people she knew. All because she wanted a little adventure. It was late and she had missed dinner. There was no sense fretting about it all night. Jenn sank into her pillow, praying that this was all a dream, and when she woke up she would be safe at home.

Chapter 9

Starr looked at the boy she had met the previous night.
“Hello, again,” he said.
“So, you’re Joe’s grandson. But what is your name?”
“Joe, I was named after my grandfather. If you want to meet your friends we have to get out of here.” Joe began to lead Starr back through the forest they had come through. “How did you like your stay with the ‘travelers’?”
“They sure are interesting. But I have no idea who they are.”
“Like I said neither do I and I've been living with them for a while.”
The two of them came to a stream. “I don’t remember this before,” remarked Starr.
“You probably didn’t go this way. It’s a little shorter, but you can’t cross this stream with something on your back. Be careful and step on exactly the same rocks I do.” Joe made sure to step on the rocks with pink backs.
Starr followed him, barely missing a purple rock. When they reached the other side of the stream Joe breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s wrong with the other rocks?”
“They're not rocks- they're snapping turtles and they don’t like being stepped on.”
“You should have told me!”
“Would you have come this way?”
“Uh.. maybe.”
“Yeah.”
Starr gave in and they continued their walk through the forest. The walk back was a little harder that the one there. At a few points Starr and Joe nearly missed falling off a narrow ledge and falling into the ravine below. Soon they came to the spot where Starr had met the “travelers”.
“Well, here we are,” said Joe. “Now where were you supposed to meet your friends?”
“Uh, I don’t know” she stammered.
“How are you supposed to meet them if you don’t know where?” he teased.
“I know where, I just don’t know where. It’s that way” she pointed in the direction of the town. “If you want, I’ll show you.”
“Well actually, I was planning to go to town anyways, so I can go with you and wait for a little while.”
Joe and Starr walked toward the city, back through the same path she had taken before. As before, Starr noticed how brilliantly colored and unusual the trees and plants were.
Soon they reached the gate where Starr and her friends had come in the day before. Stacie and Josh saw Joe and Starr come out of the forest.
“Hello,” Stacie said. “Nice to see you again, Joe. And you must be Josh’s friend.” “Hello, Stacie,” Joe said. “And you must be one of Starr’s friends.”
“I’m Starr,” said Starr. “Nice to meet you Stacie. I guess the two of you already met so I don’t really need to introduce you to someone I just met.”
“Well, I guess I oughta introduce my self” said Josh. I’m Josh. It’s nice to meet you Joe. Starr, Stacie is from around here and she will be coming with us.”
“Joe,” said Stacie. “do you think you’re ready to come with us this time?”
“No, not now. I have some things I have to do” he said. “Maybe when you come back.” With this he headed off to Club Nuevo.
“Well I wonder where Jenn could be?” Starr asked.
“We don’t know. We were thinking of maybe going to look for her when we met up with you” said Stacie.
“What if you met up with her first?” asked Starr.
“Well, then we would have left without you, of course” teased Josh.
“You’re such a nerd” rebutted Starr.
“Do we know where she went?” asked Stacie
“Yeah, she went that way.” Starr pointed to the east to the rugged path through hills and valleys.
The three of them set off. It was slow and tedious and they soon became tired. “Are you sure she went this way?” complained Stacie.
“Yeah. I saw her go this way” said Josh, suddenly not sure.
“Oh look!” said Starr. “There’s one of her bracelets.”
“See, I told you,” Josh smirked. They continued on their way with a renewed sense of purpose. They continued walking and began to get very tired. When they could go no further they came upon an old man sitting on a stump, whittling.
“Have you seen our friend?” Josh called out.
“Well, now doesn’t anyone say hello anymore?” the old man complained. “All anyone does is ask questions and expect answers.
“Hello, I’m Josh.”
“Hello Josh, who are your friends?”
“I’m Starr.”
“And my name is Stacie.’
“Well as to your friend, I don’t know if she came by here. This is a well traveled road. What does she look like?”
“How did you know our friend was a girl?” Starr asked.
“I guess I don’t know,” he chuckled. “But the only person to come by here was tall girl with long hair, who was about your age.”
“That was probably her,” Josh said. “Was her name Jenn?”
“I don’t know. She was in an awful hurry. She wanted to get to the next town.”
“How far is it?” asked Starr.
“Oh, just a few miles that way,” he said, pointing further down the road.
“But Rome is the nearest town in that direction,” protested Stacie. “We can’t stay there overnight.”“You didn’t ask me where you could stay; you just asked me where your friend went.”
“Do you know of a place we could stay?” asked Jenn.
“Why yes,” the old man replied. “There is a little farmhouse up this path.” He got up from his whittling and led Josh, Stacie, and Starr down a short path and to a simple and accommodating farmhouse. After finding them a room to sleep in he left them alone, and they quickly fell fast asleep.

Chapter 8

A tall middle aged man who seemed to resemble both Stacie and Mrs. Lamont walked into the room. He smiled sweetly. “Hello Stacie,” he said. “I see you have brought some friends. Would you be so kind as to introduce us?”
“Of course, but you must know I don’t have much time. Josh and I have to meet some friends shortly.” Stacie said in a curt manner that was out of character.
“Of course, of course,” his smile faded. “Always in a hurry, places to go, people to see. And your friends?”
“This is Amber, and her little boy. I brought her here because her son is sick, and she needed a good doctor.” Dr. Lamont took out his stethoscope and began to look at the little boy.
“And the boy?” prompted Mrs. Lamont.
“Well, I haven’t named him yet,” laughed Amber.
“I meant Josh.”
“Yes, well. Father, this is my friend Josh. I met him a little while ago at Club Nuevo. Josh, this is my
“Father,” thought Josh, “then, Mrs. Lamont must be her mother or grandmother.” He wondered why there seemed to be so much tension in this little family. What had happened and why was Stacie so eager to leave them?“I’ll need to take him into my office,” said Dr. Lamont to Amber and motioned for the two of them to follow him. They left and there was a lull in the conversation.
Mrs. Lamont broke the silence. “Will you be staying for lunch?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Stacie said quickly. “Josh and I are in a hurry. We have to meet some friends.” At that she stood up to leave. Josh and Stacie said goodbye to Mrs. Lamont and left the little house.
When they were outside Josh stopped. “My friends probably won’t be back for a few hours. We could have stayed.”
“I’m not ready yet,” she said. Josh didn’t press the issue any further.” We can wait for your friends over there.” Stacie pointed to a group of trees beside the gate that Josh, Jenn, and Starr had come through.
“That would be perfect,” said Josh. The two of them walked over and sat down. Stacie pulled a couple of apples that she had saved from that morning’s breakfast. “Here, catch.” She tossed one to Josh, who caught it.
While they were eating Josh turned and looked at the gate. It looked just like the one back home. “What is that gate to?” he asked.
“It’s a garden.”
“Have you ever been in there?”
“Sure. Hundreds of times. Wanna see it?” He nodded and as she grabbed his hand to pull him up she fell forward into his lap. They stared at each other and Josh brushed her hair back and kissed her. She smiled and then she got up, this time pulling Josh up with her.
They opened the gate and walked into the garden. Instead of being whisked away into another world, they walked into the most beautiful garden Josh had ever seen. There were flowers and trees of every imaginable shape, size and color.
Stacie led Josh over to a flowering bush with brilliant blue and gold buds. “This was my favorite as a child. I used to sit here for hours and watch it bloom.”
“Watch it bloom?” Josh was started. When he looked again the buds were opening.
“Yes,” said Stacie putting her arm around his waist. “The flowers on this bush bud, grow, bloom, and die in less than an hour. When I was younger I could sit here all afternoon and watch them grow, die, and bloom.” Stacie continued to lead Josh around the garden, pointing out various plants and flowers.
“This one is a spiny root.” She pointed to a plant with a long stem and fibrous leaves. “Its roots don’t grow deep but they have sharp thorns with poison designed to ward off predators.”
“You know a lot about plants.”
“Well, I used to want to raise and study them.”
“And now?”“I don’t know. Let’s just wait for your friends.” Stacie led Josh out of the garden to the trees near the gate. They sat down and waited for Starr and Jenn.
After a while Josh began to get impatient. “I wonder where they could be.”
“I’m sure they’re fine, they’ll be here soon.” reassured Stacie.
They continued to wait. Still they didn’t come and Josh grew impatient again. “Where are they?”
“Well, do you know which way they went? Maybe we could meet them halfway.”
“Starr went that way,” he pointed north to the path through the forest she had taken. “And Jenn went that way.” He pointed east to the path through the mountains.
“Well all we can do is sit here and wait until one of them comes back.” So with that they continued to do so.

Chapter 7

Jenn woke slightly confused. "I'm in a rainbow colored jail cell," she thought."This must be some dream No, wait a minute. This isn't a dream, I'm in jail on a weird planet that my friends and I got transported to, walking through this mysterious gate we found in our backyard. Wait, that can't be true. I must dreaming. I don't know. It doesn't really matter.""

"Hi," said the guy sitting on the bunk across from her.
"Who are you?" asked Jenn. "This guy's pretty cocky," she thought.
"I'm CEWL," he said. "But more importantly you are the greatest. I can't believe they put you in here with me."
"Cool?" asked Jenn.
"Of course I am. If you need proof.."
"No, that's ok."
"You're so amazing. I can't believe you've been able to stand up to them for so long.".
"What do you mean?"
"Well you're one of the yellows. It takes quite a few years to become one of those. And without registering you'd have to stand up to them an awful lot in order to avoid getting arrested."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're yellow. And you're one of us, so obviously..."
"I still have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Quit playing games. You can't be from around here and have just innocently stumbled upon this. Nobody just wanders into Rome. Most travelers avoid this place, no matter how inconvenient."
"Well, I did.
"What?"
"I just wandered in here. So you better tell me what'sgoing on."
"Oh boy," he sighed and looked around the room. Then he took a good look at Jenn again. "It's kinda complicated."
"I need to know."
"In Rome everybody has a ranking."
"That explains why I thought there was a caste system,"she interrupted.
"A what?"
"Never mind."
"Anyway, you earn points based on favors you do for people. You store these points on a credit card. Then when you have enough points you can use them to get other people to do favors to you."
"Like money," interrupted Jenn.
"No! Anyway you're rank is based on how many points you have. Orange is the upper 4th, yellow the second 4th, then blue, then green. In order to keep and use thesepoints you have to register with the town office. It's almost impossible to live here without any points or rank and it's even harder to gain them without registering."
“So, basically this is a place where people's value is based on how much money they have? Some paradise."
"No! It's about earning goods and services by helping others."
"Whatever," she paused and let this sink in. "So if not registering is suçh a hassle why do you think so highly of it ?"
"Because when we register, they can keep tabs on everything we do. Who our friends are, what our beliefs are, where we work, pray, go for a cup of coffee, what we eat for dinner, etc.
"So?"
"If they decided they don't like us or they find something we did they don't like, they have all the power and we have none."
"Maybe. I don't know. This is all kinda new to me. Who is this "They" anyway?"
"The Roman Senate, of course," he looked at her, puzzled.
"Where did you say you were from, anyway?"
"I didn't," she leaned back against her bunk and lookedat her cellmate. He was about average height- 5'9" or 5'10"- with long shimmering hair. Like all the people she had seen so far he had rainbow colored skin. His shirt (which clashed with his body) was a yellow, orange, blue, and green striped shirt with a big black question mark on it. He was also wearing faded khaki shorts. Now she understood his weird shirt.
"What kind of name is cool, anyway?" she asked.
He laughed. "CEWL is not my name. It's the name of the organization I'm a member of. It stands for Community of Elitists Without Licenses. My name's Matt.”
"I'm Jenn."