Chapter 10
"Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm…" Reba chanted, rummaging around in her purse for her house keys. "Nothing is going to happen, everything is going to be okay…now where's that dang key?"
Finally she found her keys and put it in the lock. About to turn it, she groaned when the hand faded. "Well that's new," she muttered, looking at her not-quite-invisible hand. She tried to turn the key, but her hand went right through it.
Frustrated, she held out her other hand, only to have the same thing happen. "This is ridiculous!" she exclaimed. After a moment of debating what to do, she started kicking the door. "Jake! Jake!"
Just when her foot was starting to hurt Jake answered the door. Giving her a confused look, he asked, "Why couldn't you unlock the door? And…what the heck are you doing here?"
Reba held up her faded hand, at this point not really caring about her secret. "This is why! Let me in, will you?"
"Whoa…" Jake gasped, following Reba into the living room. "That's so cool!"
Turning around to glare at him, Reba replied, "No it's not! Now get the phone and call Kyra's cell."
"Okay," Jake said, staring at his mother while got the phone. "What's the number?"
Reba gave it to him. She would've dialed it herself, but her arms were still not quite there. It'd been hard enough driving home without panicking that the foot on the gas pedal or the hand on the steering wheel would disappear at a moment's notice.
After Jake dialed, she asked with impatience in her voice, "Well?"
"It's ringing," Jake told her. "Still ringing…"
Reba closed her eyes for a brief second. "Please pick up…please…"
"Hello, Kyra?" Jake asked, and Reba felt some sense of hope. Those hopes were dashed when it immediately became clear that he was not talking to his sister. "Who is this, why do you have my sister's phone…oh…well, is she with you then…you don't know where she went…two guys, okay…where are you now…why…okay then, bye."
Feeling her heart beat so fast she was surprised it didn't burst out of her chest, Reba exclaimed, "Okay then what? Who was that? And what the heck did you mean by 'two guys'?"
"That was one of the guys in her band," Jake explained, pausing as he tried to relay all the information correctly. "The band, Kyra and Nell went to a club in downtown Houston…"
"Downtown Houston!" Reba shouted in outrage. When Jake tilted his head, she took a few deep breaths. "Right, focus. Continue."
Shaking his head, Jake went on, "…for a battle of the bands. When they only came in third the guys split up, and Kyra and Nell sat at the bar. She and Nell left a few minutes ago with this bartender they were talking to and his friend. The guy I was talking to saw them leave – he would've stopped them but he couldn't reach her in time."
Reba sat down on the arm of the couch, taking the information in. "So no one knows where my daughter is."
"Mom…what's going on?" Jake asked.
Reba put her head in her hands, trying to figure out what to do. She knew her time was limited, and that she needed to get her act together soon. Okay, I need a plan…I can call for Terry, but he might not answer if he's keeping an eye on Nell and Kyra…maybe I can go down to the bar and…
"Mom?"
Startled, Reba looked up. "What?"
"I asked you what was going on," Jake repeated.
"Oh," Reba breathed, realizing that she must be making her son worry by the way she was acting. "Jake, it's…a very long story, and I just don't have the time to tell you right now. I promise once this is over I'll explain everything."
Jake nodded. "Okay. Mom…is something bad going to happen to Kyra?"
"I hope not," Reba answered, tears in her eyes. "I really hope not."
The phone rang, and it wasn't until its second ring that Reba actually realized it was ringing. "Hello?" she asked once she picked it up, grateful that her hand was solid enough to do so. "Cheyenne, honey, what's wrong?"
"You tell me!" Cheyenne wailed. "I was just sitting here with Van and Elizabeth, then the next thing I know my arms and legs start turning invisible like crazy! What did you do to me?"
"Nothing! I…oh," Reba paused, understanding what was going on. If Nell were to…vanish before Terry could send her back to the right place in the timeline, then none of her children were ever born. That meant that Cheyenne and Jake and Kyra would all start to…oh boy, Reba thought. This just keeps getting better and better
"What, 'oh'?" Cheyenne demanded
Knowing that she would now have to explain things to both Jake and Cheyenne, Reba replied, "Look, just come over here, alright? We're in full panic mode, and I could use a little support anyway."
"Panic mode? Mom, what's –"
"Never mind, just get here soon."
Minutes later Cheyenne walked in, Van carrying Elizabeth. "Grandma Reba, you look like Mommy!" Elizabeth exclaimed, pointing to the various body parts on Reba that had vanished while she was waiting.
"I can explain everything…" Reba insisted, walking over to them.
Van shook his head. "No need, Mrs. H. We know all about Terry and Nell. I just wanna know why, when I went to put my hand on my wife's shoulder, it wasn't there!"
"Well…wait, you what?" Reba said, surprised. She knew she hadn't told them, so who…
Growing impatient, Cheyenne snapped, "I knew something was up, so I bribed Kyra and Nell. Now what the heck is this?
"You…you bribed…you know what, I don't want to know," Reba sighed.
"Now come on, Mom," Cheyenne pleaded. "True, I haven't been able to see my feet for weeks, but I'd like for other people to be able to see them!"
Reba let out a deep breath. "Okay, you know how Nell is really me when I was eighteen?"
"Yeah," Cheyenne said, ignoring the gasp that Jake let out.
"What?" he exclaimed, still beyond confused.
Feeling bad for her son but at the same time not wanting to stop, Reba continued, "Well, Terry says that the only way this…invisibility thing could happen was if Nell…didn't make it back to the right place in the timeline, in which case I never exist, which means none of you three exist either."
"Huh?" Van asked, wrinkling his brow in an effort to make sense of that.
Her eyes dawning with realization, Cheyenne cried, "So if Nell gets lost or something, I never exist? So, what, I'm just going to keep fading until I disappear?"
"That's what it looks like," Reba answered.
"This is just…insane!" Cheyenne shouted, then did a double take at her brother. "Why isn't he disappearing then?"
"I don't want to disappear! I like existing!" Jake yelled, fear evident in his voice.
Van, however, remained somewhat calm. "Man, I am glad I'm not your biological son, Mrs. H. I wonder what my life is going to be like without Cheyenne in it?"
"You'll find out soon enough if you keep talking like that!" Cheyenne retorted, slapping him on his shoulder.
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Reba put two fingers in her mouth and whistled, bringing the others to her attention. "No one is going to disappear forever, okay? We're going to figure this out. We just have to find Kyra and Nell, then keep Nell under lock and key until Terry deems it the right time for her to go home."
"We know where they are!" Van told her. "When we were talking with them, they said the name of the club they were going to."
Reba frowned. "That doesn't help us. The band member Jake talked to said that they left the club, and that was a little while ago."
"Well, maybe…" Cheyenne trailed off, thinking. "Maybe we can go to the club and ask around, see if anyone saw who they were talking to. We can't call the police; Kyra and Nell haven't been missing for twenty-four hours, and they're both eighteen."
The others in the room stared at her, surprised at her outburst of information. Jake raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"
Cheyenne shrugged. "I'm pregnant. I can't help it if there's nothing on TV but CSI."
"Alright, well, that's a good idea," Reba replied, grabbing her purse and walking to the door. "Van, come with me. Cheyenne…stay behind and explain to your brother what's going on. Stay by the phone and we'll call you when we can."
When Van didn't follow her, she stared at him. "Well, come on!"
"Um, Mrs. H, don't slap me or anything but…" Van replied, not quite meeting her gaze. "Shouldn't we…um…get Mr. H and Barbara Jean? Or at least let them know what's going on?"
Reba glared at him. Now that she had a plan, the last thing she wanted to do was waste time getting her ex-husband and his wife. "And tell them what, exactly? That if they don't help us find Kyra and Nell, the four of us will cease to exist because Nell is actually me when I was eighteen?"
"Yeah," Van shrugged. "Look, Mrs. H, I know they don't know what's really going on. But…what if Kyra and Nell are in real danger? I'm only one guy, and you're…barely one woman."
Hesitating, Reba grudgingly admitted that he had a valid point. And she knew it wasn't fair to Brock to keep secret that his daughter was in danger. "Fine. But we can't tell them what's really going on. All they have to know is that Kyra and Nell are in trouble and we have to find them, got it?"
"Got it. But…how are you going to hide the fact that you're slowly turning invisible?" Van reminded her.
About to retort that she would come up with something, Reba's eyes widened when she actually did. "Be right back." With the others looking on in confusion, she ran up the stairs.
Minutes later she walked down them, covered from head to toe. She was wearing the bulky trench coat Brock had sported one Halloween when he was a detective. Leather gloves covered her hands, and combat boots were on her feet. Under the trench coat she wore a light black jacket with a hood that covered all of her hair and most of her head.
Van, Cheyenne, Jake, and Elizabeth keeled over in laughter. Clutching her stomach, Cheyenne squealed, "Please…tell me…you are not…going out like that!"
"How are you going to introduce yourself to people?" Van sputtered, then mockingly held out his hand to Cheyenne. "Hello, I'm Hart, Reba Hart."
This caused another round of giggles. Finally Jake caught his breath and asked, "What are you going to tell Dad and Barbara Jean?"
"Hey, it's either this, or explaining that my guardian angel brought my younger self back from the past and now I'm turning invisible," Reba huffed, but even she found it hard to suppress a chuckle. She did look silly. "Come on Van, we better get moving."
Nell tried to keep her breath even, as did Kyra. Both were determined not to freak out. If they lost control of their emotions or sense of logical thought, they'd loose any control they had of the situation. However, it didn't help that they were both inexplicably plastered. Her head swimming, Nell attempted to sit up from the couch, as she'd been almost unconscious. "H-how…can we…get out? I can b-barely sit up…"
"Me too," Kyra moaned, flat on her back on the opposite end of the couch.
Putting a hand to her forehead, Nell breathed, "I…don't…get it. All we…had was soda."
"Obviously…J-Jeremy drugged us…" Kyra huffed. "Must be…some kind of pill…that makes you…drunk…how could we have been so stupid?" The last part came out in a rush, since Kyra had been struggling to sit up.
Nell had been asking her the same question. "It wasn't your fault…you were upset... I…I'm stupidly naïve…"
"Don't be like that…you've had…a rough few days…" Kyra sputtered, managing to pick herself up somewhat.
Flopping back on the couch's arm, Nell stared at the ceiling. "What do you…think they're…doing in there?"
"Probably mixing up more…drugs for us…" Kyra mused with bitterness in her voice. "They might be…planning on giving us enough to make us unconscious. Don't…take anything…they give you…make the drink go down your shirt…if you…have to…"
"Well, duh," Nell retorted, annoyed that Kyra thought she might do such a thing.
Kyra frowned. "Sorry. I'm still…you know, drunk and stuff."
"Yeah. So, you have a plan…on how…to get out of here?" Nell asked, her vision becoming blurrier and blurrier. It was taking all her effort just to carry on a conversation. Within minutes she knew she'd either faint or black out, so Kyra better have a plan that didn't involve her being awake.
Several minutes passed, both of them thinking. Finally Kyra remarked, "I saw Nicholas put the keys in his pocket…if we get those, maybe we can…distract them long enough…to get out…of here…"
"That would be perfect…except we can't move…" Nell pointed out.
Kyra glared at her. "Well, do you…have another…plan?"
"No…oh my Lord, Kyra what's happening to you?" Nell exclaimed, remembering to keep her voice down just in time. All of a sudden, different parts of Kyra started to disappear.
Her eyes widening, Kyra looked down at herself in panic. Starting at her translucent hand she remarked, "We must be really, really drunk."
Gritting her teeth, Reba clenched her fists while she, Barbara Jean, Brock and Van walked into the bar in downtown Houston. "Put a cork in it, Brock. Before I do it for you."
"Seriously Reba, what's with the getup?" Brock asked, raising an eyebrow at her trench coat. Both he and Barbara Jean had been teasing her nonstop since she and Van picked them up. Though Reba supposed the teasing would've been ten times worse had they not been in such a serious situation.
Reba traded glances with Van, and he gave her a helpless shrug. Thanks a lot. "I…ah…" Reba trailed off, thinking up an excuse. "Um, I haven't been feeling well lately, so I thought I'd bundle up."
"Right," Barbara Jean remarked. "Because it gets so chilly. In April. In Texas."
About to retort, Reba was interrupted when someone called her from across the room.
"Mrs. Hart! Mrs. Hart!"
The group turned around to find two of Kyra's band members running towards them. If Reba remembered correctly, their names were Cody and Bryce. "We're here for Kyra…and Nell," Reba asked. "Do you know where they went off to?"
"We were hoping you'd know," Bryce replied. "We've been looking for her since we want to leave now. What are you…doing here?"
Wrinkling her brow, Reba asked, "Didn't one of you answer her cell phone earlier?"
"No. That must've been Skyler. He said he found Kyra's purse, but he just left with some chick a few minutes ago," Cody explained.
"Man, go Skyler," Van chuckled.
Hitting Van in the stomach, Reba ignored his groan of pain and smiled at the two teens. "Well, that doesn't help me. Did either of you see who my daughter was talking with?"
"I dunno, some guy. Looked older," Bryce answered, pausing to remember. "They were sitting over there, at the bar. I glanced over once or twice, and both times the bartender was giving them what looked like soda."
"How long ago was this?" Brock demanded.
After a moment of thinking, Bryce replied, "An hour ago, maybe?"
"Good, they haven't been gone that long," Reba thought aloud. And that's about when I started disappearing. "Did you happen to go over there at any time and get the guy's name?"
Cody nodded. "Yeah. I went to get a soda and heard some guy call him Jeremy."
"Thank you. If you'll excuse me…" Reba trailed off, pushing her way towards the bar, the others following her. "Excuse me! Hey you…"
Eventually the current bartender, a young woman, came over. "Sorry about that. What can I get you?"
"An address," Reba replied bluntly. "The bartender that was here an hour ago, Jeremy. I need his address. Now…please."
Confused, the brunette shook her head. "I'm sorry, miss. We're not allowed to give that information to customers. I suppose I could give you his cell number if it's an emergency…"
"No, I need his address," Reba insisted.
The bartended crossed her arms. "Why? If you can't get it from him, I'm certain he wouldn't want me to give it to you."
"Please, we really need that address," Barbara Jean put in, then paused, her eyes widening when she got an idea. "I need that address. Look, can we talk, woman to woman?"
Curious, the bartender came around the bar. Barbara Jean put an arm around the young woman's shoulders and went off to talk in private.
"What the heck is she doing?" Brock asked.
Reba tilted her head, wondering what Barbara Jean could possibly say to the woman that would make any difference. Sure, Reba could've come up with a lie, but if it was against the rules, it would've had to have been really good…
Moments later, Barbara Jean came back. The woman was patting the blonde on the shoulder. "I hope everything works out, and give him a swift kick in the nuts for me."
"I will. Thank you so much," Barbara Jean said, then joined the group. Once they were out of the bartender's sight and earshot, she smirked. "Got it. 24 Hooper Lane, apartment 19.'
The others stared at her in awe. "Barbara Jean, how did you do that?" Van asked.
"I told her that Jeremy knocked me up, and now he was trying to abandon me," Barbara Jean admitted, her tone indicating that she was clearly proud of herself.
Reba's jaw dropped, as did everyone else's. "You sound like you've used that one before."
"All the time," Barbara Jean confessed, glancing at Brock. "How do you think I found you at that dentistry convention?"
Laughing at Brock's bewildered expression, Reba shook her head. "Come on. Bryce, Cody, thanks for the help…"
"We want to come," Cody insisted.
Bryce nodded. "Yeah, if Kyra's in trouble, we want to help."
Sighing, Reba decided that it couldn't hurt to have more manpower just in case Jeremy had friends. "Fine. Let's go."