Chapter 7
"Dr. Bellows said that he will be by to speak to me in two hours," Jeannie told Roger and Tina after she hung up the phone. He was likely on his way to tell her that NASA was going to publically announce Anthony's death. The mere thought made her stomach turn. How was she going to explain this to her children? It had been hard enough watching Benjamin's eyes fill with tears realizing that his daddy was not at his play; and it this was only a small Kindergarten performance. How could she explain to them that they would never see him again?
"That doesn't leave us much time," Roger mused, eyes locked on the images and maps before them.
"Alli and Ben get out of school in one hour," Jeannie said casting her eyes across the room to Tina, who was sitting on the couch, entertaining Josh as he colored.
"I won't forget," Tina said through a laugh, "I'll take good care of them, I promise."
She nodded. "I cannot imagine trying to explain all of this to them."
Roger shook his head. "Tony can explain it when he gets back."
"Your faith in him gives me strength," Jeannie told him, through a tearful smile.
"If this was one of us, Tony would be doing the same thing. We owe it to him."
She nodded. "I hope you are right, and we will find something that the search teams missed." She was headed across the room, so she could hug Joshua goodbye, tell him to be good for his Aunt Tina.
"Daddy's gonna come home now?" He asked, as Jeannie picked him up and settled him into her arms.
"I hope so, darling," She told him, leaning in to kiss his forehead. "Mommy and Uncle Roger are going to do everything we can to find him."
He nodded and hugged her tightly. "You be good for Aunt Tina."
He nodded as she set him back down.
"Ready?" Roger asked, giving Tina a quick hug and kiss goodbye.
Jeannie nodded, but her face gave away her apprehension. Roger handed her the coordinates and offered her a comforting nod before she blinked them away.
The sun was dropping behind the ocean, when they arrived. The tide was rising against the sand. The search and rescue teams had collected the smaller debris from the crash, but the bigger pieces of the plane lay before them. This island normally held such happy memories, ones they shared with their children. And now, it seemed to be his Anthony's final resting place.
Jeannie stood frozen, almost in the middle of her wreckage of what was her husband's plane. She closed her eyes, and squeezed them shut; holding back tears. It was almost unbearable.
Roger cleared his throat from beside her. "I know this is hard, Jeannie, but we have to do this."
She nodded, but kept her eyes closed. "I do not think I can bare it."
"It'll be alright," Roger coaxed, watching with a soft smile as her eyes fluttered open.
"What are we looking for?" She asked through a shaky breath.
Roger shrugged, he wasn't sure of anything, either. "Anything out of the ordinary, I guess. We'll know it when we see it."
She nodded and started her way around the wreckage. They both called Tony's name as they looked, hoping against hope that they would get a reply in the otherwise silent dusk air.
"There has to be something," Roger said, frustrated as they searched through the last of the debris.
Jeannie shook her head and opened her mouth to reply, when she caught sight of and object a few feet in the distance. "Roger, look…" She pointed to an area of smaller pieces from the plane.
He didn't see anything, but followed anyway. "What is it, I don't…"
She nodded, but said nothing, kneeling down as soon as she could. She moved aside a few pieces, needing the area clear in order to free the object from under the other pieces. She moved a final piece and the object, or make that objects, she realized as the pieces revealed themselves.
Roger grabbed the first piece; a small torn piece of emerald green silk. "What is this from?"
Jeannie didn't say anything, as she turned the other piece over in her hands. She would know this anywhere. "That is a piece of genie outfit, and this…" She started, holding her palm out to Roger, "is a woman's earring."
He raised a confused eyebrow at her. "I don't follow."
"My sister's earring," She pushed out through an angry breath.
"Your sister," Roger said back to her, trying to put it all together. "Your sister was here." He wasn't sure if it was a question of a statement, but Jeannie nodded. "Are you sure?"
"I was there when my mother gave her them to her," She told him, a million different scenarios beginning to run through head. Why had not put this together before? These coordinates, this island, it was a gateway between the mortal world and the genie world. All her sister had to do was stumble upon the accident scene; blink and no one would ever know any difference.
It was all starting to make so much sense.
Whatever it was her sister was up too, she was not going to get away with it.
She would do whatever she had to do stop her sister.
Whatever she had to do.
To be continued
