The Princess and the Papoose
Chapter 4
"Rain, come on!" Bethany was growing fidgety, sitting on the hotel bed and watching her older sister pace the room.
"What can we do?" Rain questioned. Her voice was raised, but no longer rattled the furniture. After Mohinder left, Bethany's energy had waned. Yet there Rain was, pacing and standing up and sitting down like a caged animal.
"Let's go out! Let's figure out what the heck is going on!" Bethany said.
"We can't leave," Rain replied. "You heard Dr. Suresh. That Sylar guy would kill us for our blood!"
"That's the other thing," Bethany perked up. "How do we know we can trust Dr. Suresh?"
"Come on." Rain sat down next to Bethany. "Don't tell me you didn't feel that."
"Feel what?"
"That...honesty." Rain stared blankly ahead. "I've never trusted someone like that in my life."
"Yeah," Bethany conceded, slowly. "I kinda got that too."
"See?" Rain said. "And that guy that came in here was totally a bad guy, wasn't he?"
Bethany sighed. "I guess."
"Right. So let's stay here. Just until Dr. Suresh comes back! Then we'll find somewhere else."
"Fine."
The girls sat silently for a moment, before Rain stood again and resumed pacing.
"Could you at least do something constructive?" Bethany nearly shouted.
"LIke what?" Rain countered, pulling open the nightstand drawer for the thousandth time. The force caused the Bible and phonebook inside to slide, before Rain slammed the drawer shut again.
"Like talk to an attendant about getting this phone fixed or replaced." Bethany suggested. "How did it even get broken?"
"Oh yeah, I was gonna tell you-"
The room was filled with a peculiar sound that caused Rain to stop short; the William Tell Overture. It was shrill, like a cell phone ring.
The sisters exchanged looks.
"Not me," Bethany muttered, still-blue eyes opened wide.
"Well don't look at me!" Rain countered. The overture ended, but after a brief pause, began again. Rain commenced searching the various cabinets and drawers surrounding the TV stand, while Bethany checked under the beds.
The tune was on it's third round when Bethany exclaimed, "Got it!"
"Let me see!" Rain darted across the room and snatched a small, gray cellular phone from Bethany's hand. She glanced at the caller ID and wrinkled her nose. "Ice?"
"Just answer!"
Rain hit the green "accept" button, then put the device up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Rain? Honey, you promised you'd call when you got there!"
All the color drained from Rain's face, and a look of concern crossed Bethany's.
"Mom?" Rain choked.
"What?" Bethany exclaimed, in a whisper.
Rain put a silencing hand up as the peculiarly familar voice on the other end of the phone line spoke.
"You okay baby? Is something wrong?"
"Uh...yeah! I'm fine! Just...um...jet lagged. Bethany's fine, too, slept really well."
"...who?"
"Bethany, mom."
"I thought your friend's name was Mohinder.
Rain laughed, nervously. "No, I met Mohinder, Bethany!"
"Oh dear, you have so many pen pals nowaday," she started laughing, "I can't remember them all! Whoops! That's your uncle calling, I'll check up on you later."
"Uncle Thomas? Mom-"
"Bye sweetie!" Click!
The phone fell silent, and the room followed suit.
Bethany silently studied Rain's white figure.
Finally, she said, "You look like you saw-"
"Don't-...say it." Rain set the phone on the bed. "Bethany, what the hell is going on?"
As Rain and Bethany climbed into bed that night, in a strange hotel room in a strange place, they couldn't help but speculate wildly about their situation.
"What if this is like...some Christmas Carol-y thing?" Bethany guessed.
"And I'm having some crazy 'what-if' dream?" Rain replied. "About what?"
"No, I am. About how the world would be if I was never born."
"Well, if a world without you consists of me being hunted by serial killers and a mother who still trusts Uncle Thomas then count me out." Rain grumbled. She flipped off the light while her sister had a laugh.
With the darkness came an eerie quiet, both girls deeply in thought.
"Do you really believe that was mom?" Bethany whispered.
"I don't know," Rain's voice held the beginning of tears. "It sure sounded like her."
"Why do you think she doesn't know who I am?"
"That's a good question. Why are we in an expensive hotel in New York?"
More quiet.
"Rain?"
"What, Bethany?"
"What if we wake up somewhere else tomorrow?"
"We'll have to take that chance." Rain yawned. "Good night."
"Night."
"Rain?"
Rain huffed, nearly giving up on the prospect of sleep. "Yes, Bethany?"
"Sorry." Bethany cleared her throat. "But just in case I wake up in Haiti and you're in Italy...I love you."
Rain closed her eyes. "Love you too, Beth. 'Night!"
"Goodnight."
The following morning, Rain was again startled by a telephone ring. Half asleep, she snatched the hotel phone from the bedside table.
"Hello?"
Ring ring!
For a moment, Rain sat in a fatigued confusion, before it occured to her to answer the lit-up cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Rain, it's Dr. Suresh! I have something very strange on your blood samples."
Rain sat up, rubbing her eyes. "I thought you said the tests wouldn't be complete until tonight."
"Well, they're not done yet, I still have a few more to run, but the results I have so far...it's like nothing I've ever seen."
"How's that?"
"I'm not sure yet, but I should be by tonight."
"Okay, um," she glanced over at Bethany, still asleep in her bed. "Do you know of somewhere safe for my sister and I to go?"
"Yes, in fact, I've called up a Motel 8 across town and reserved a room-I hope that's alright."
"Oh, that's fine."
"It won't be what you're used to, but-"
Rain laughed. "No, this isn't what I'm used to, thank you very much Doctor!"
"Mohinder, please."
"Well thank you Mohinder." She smiled. His first name sounded kind of neat.
"I'll see you this evening."
"Alright, see you then." She hung up the phone and hefted a sigh. More weird things to be concerned about?
Bethany was sitting up in bed now. Her hair stuck out in all directions like she'd just stuck her finger in an electrical socket.
"Who was that?" She asked, drowsily.
"Dr. Suresh." Rain told her. "He'll have our results by tonight for sure."
"We're getting out of here, right?"
"Yeah. He got us a room across town." Rain stood up. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Keep the door locked."
Bethany scoffed. "I'm not stupid."
"Just making sure."
"When is Dr. Suresh supposed to be here?" Bethany asked.
The sun was setting, and the two girls were growing worried.
"He just said 'this evening'." Rain replied, glancing at the clock: 6:47. "The traffic's probably bad."
"Or maybe he can't get a taxi." Bethany said.
Rain quirked an eyebrow. "What?"
"He arrived in a taxi-and left-in a taxi."
"Oh." Rain nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe."
Before either could say anything else there was a knock at the door. Rain bounced up and off the bed, then approached the door with caution. She bent down, glanced through the peephole, then let loose a sigh of relief.
"Right on time." She mumbled, unlatching various door locks and then opening it. "Hey Mohinder. Come right in!"
"Thank you." Suresh stepped inside, but paused when he glanced back up at Rain's face. "I thought you had blue eyes."
Rain touched her face, as if that would give her a better understanding of what the doctor saw. "Not until yesterday," she said.
"Well that's peculiar," Suresh started, "but not like what I have to show you."
The three took a seat on Rain's bed, and Dr. Suresh began digging in his briefcase.
"What I found tonight I sort of expected; you both have a differentiation in your DNA that I've seen dozens of times in the past." He pulled out two recently-printed papers, each consisting of a series of small charts. He pointed to one. It made no sense to Rain or Bethany, but Dr. Suresh seemed prepared to explain.
"You each have and almost-matching code here. This is an evolved gene. I know plenty of people with patterns similar to this. It effects each person differently, and I'm not sure why yet. But," he indicated another section, "this came up earlier in the test, and I wasn't expecting it."
"You weren't?" Rain studied the chart; it still made no sense.
"No! In fact I've never seen anything like it before. Ever!" He shifted. "These strands, here and here, according to standard science textbooks-and advanced science textbooks-don't exist. In fact they go against everything I know." He looked at Rain, then Bethany, then Rain again. "According to these results, neither of you should be able to exist."
Rain sat up straight and threw an incredulous look. Shouldn't be able to exist? What did that mean?
"I'm sorry," Rain said. "But what exactly are you trying to tell us? That we're not human? That we're not real?"
"No, no!" Suresh defended. "Not at all! You're definitely human, and you're definitely real. But you're also extremely unique. If I could run a few more tests-"
"Absolutely not!" Rain interjected. "I'm sorry, Doctor, I appreciate all of this, but I don't have time to be unique! Everything has...changed. I didn't just wake up in a different place, I woke up with a different life. My mother died last year, yet I got a call from her this morning. She didn't know who my sister was, yet somehow I doubt I'd be here without her! I don't recognize my clothes, I never had a cell phone before, and-"
"Wait," Dr. Suresh cut in, suddenly. "Your mother was dead, but now she's not? And she doesn't recognize your sister?"
"No." Rain answered. "Never heard the name Bethany before."
"You're positive it was her?"
"Absolutely. I just talked to her again, an hour or so before you got here."
"Well, the blood tests prove that you two are definitely related..." the young scientist was quiet a long moment, before he suddenly turned to stare at Rain. "What if you come from some alternate timeline? Quantum physics suggests-"
"Wait," Rain interrupted. "Don't start the 'infinite possibilities' speech. I already know all that, and it still doesn't explain the-"
"DNA variation." He finished for her. "True, but what else could it be? Unless..."
"Unless what?"
Dr. Suresh's thoughts were almost visible. "What if...the same theory also suggests multiple realities, different universes. Some things would be the same in some universes, different in others!"
"Like...my mother being gone in one, and alive in another?" Rain guessed.
"Just like that." He leaned forward and glanced at Bethany. "And you not existing."
"That still doesn't make sense!" Rain insisted. "I came here with someone, and so far Bethany's the only person I've met who can shoot lightning from her fingers."
"I don't have all the answers," Suresh said, quietly. "It was just a speculation."
"Well let's assume for the moment that you're right," Rain sighed. "How do we get back?"
"I don't know, that's the problem. Until I know how you even got here, I can't be sure where you came from or how to get you home."
Rain threw herself back on the bed and groaned.
Bethany chewed her lip, staring at the floor. "We might be able to help," she said, slowly. "If you did run those extra tests, could you figure out the cause of all this?"
"I might," Suresh looked thoughtful. "But I can't guarantee anything."
Bethany looked at Rain, who promptly sat up. "Beth, you hate needles!"
"I know, but...I'm not reallly diggin' the whole 'you don't exist' thing."
Rain looked at Dr. Suresh (seeming quite hopeful) and drew a slow breath. "It's up to you, Beth." She finally said. "I'm willing to give it a shot."
Bethany gave a shaky sigh and nodded.
"One more thing I'd like to try," Suresh added. "It's obvious that you both have...an ability. If you could, I don't know, experiment a bit, try and find out what exactly those abilities are. It would help us figure out how you got here and maybe clue us in to Sylar's motives."
"I thought we already knew Sylar's motives...?" Rain half-asked.
"Well we know his basic motives, but he's 'filling up', so to speak. He only takes powers that he really wants. My guess is that the you from this universe knew what she was doing, thus the reason she contacted me."
"This is so confusing!" Rain moaned.
"Whatever you've got," Suresh said, darkly, "it must be very strong."