Chapter 9: Friends, Old and New

Alyssa came back to the world slowly. She gradually became aware of a softness beneath her back and head, and her surroundings felt wonderfully warm compared to the winter chill she had been exposed to all night. Hoping that she was awake and not lost in a dream, she opened her eyes.

She was lying on her own bed in the safety of her own room. The curtains were all closed, making the room dim, but there was no mistaking it. She was back home again, back in the year 2003.

Sighing in relief, Alyssa slowly sat up, her eyes still drinking in the welcome sight of her own bedroom. As she lowered her legs to the floor, she looked down in surprise as something cool and hard brushed against the side of her thigh.

The blue bottle was tucked under her belt again. There was no sign of the mysterious bow, which she was starting to doubt ever even existed. She was starting to have doubts about everything she just experienced.

"Was all that just a dream?" she murmured aloud.

"Was all what just a dream?" a voice beside her questioned.

Alyssa yelped and nearly fell off the bed in surprise. Blue eyes watched her as she scooted back, and a familiar laugh passed softly between smooth white teeth. "Sorry. I seem to be making a habit of frightening you, aren't I?"

Alyssa stared, her heart pounding. "Edward? What in the world are you doing?"

Why was he in her room? And sitting on the corner of her bed, no less.

Instead of answering, the slender boy ran a hand through his pale hair and stood. "You look upset, so I'll leave you in peace."

After what she had just been through, finding a boy in her room was a shock she could recover from quickly, and Alyssa reached out and seized his hand. "Oh no you don't," she said firmly. "You're not going anywhere until you explain yourself."

"If you insist," said Edward, and sat down beside her with another smile. He didn't seem at all bothered by her demands. In fact, she was pretty sure he looked pleased she had asked him to stay. Alyssa let go of his hand and briefly glanced away, but there was a warmth in his smile that was making her feel relaxed and comfortable. She hadn't really noticed before, but he had one of the nicest smiles she had ever seen.

"I went upstairs a little while ago," Edward explained, "and I found you passed out on the floor of your mother's bedroom. I was thinking about trying to call a doctor, but you woke up shortly after I carried you in here."

"Oh..."

Alyssa felt a little foolish, getting upset like that when he had actually been helping her. She felt touched by his thoughtfulness, but at the same time the idea that he had carried her all the way to her bedroom made her heart give a little flutter, just like it had when she first met him on the stairs.

"Thank you for your trouble," she said softly, glancing down at her hands. "But I can't really explain why I fainted like that."

The memory of falling to the stage after saying goodbye to May and William was fresh in her mind, but she was beginning to wonder if all that hadn't just been a nightmare induced by the stress of coming all this way only for her mother to be nowhere around, and running into that strange man in the dining room...

"You were probably just feeling overwhelmed from your trip," Edward told her, his voice soft and full of kindness.

Alyssa nodded wordlessly. She felt kind of funny inside, knowing he could understand what she was thinking and feeling so easily. It felt strange to have someone who wasn't her mother trying to comfort her, but she kind of liked it, too. She was glad she had found a friend.

"I'm glad it wasn't anything serious," Edward went on. "I doubt I could have reached a doctor by anything other than on foot; the phones don't seem to be working for some reason."

Alyssa nodded again—and then something he said earlier finally sunk in completely. She looked up at him with a slight frown. "What were you doing in my mother's room?"

It was Edward's turn to glance away. "I..." He cleared his throat. "I was looking for you, actually," he confessed, meeting her gaze again. Even though the room was dim, his eyes seemed to sparkle as he looked at her, like twin jewels. Blue topaz, thought Alyssa.

She quickly turned away as warmth flooded her cheeks; what in the world was she thinking?

"No one else seems to be around," Edward was saying, "and...truth be told, I was growing a little lonely."

"It's all right," said Alyssa hastily. "Although..."

She got up and drifted over to the TV set, remembering how it had only shown static earlier. And now, according to Edward, the phones weren't working, either. "Do you know where they went? The others, I mean."

Alyssa turned away from the set to see Edward shaking his head. "They were around this morning, but then they all just seemed to disappear. About the time your mother left, now that I think about it."

Nodding absently, Alyssa rubbed her hands together as she thought. The house was as strangely silent as it had been before, and there was the same feeling of unease in the air. It gave her the chills.

"I'm glad you're here, at least," added Edward, making her smile in spite of herself.

"So am I."

She went and sat down beside him again. When she was close to someone else, the uneasy feeling didn't seem to hover quite so near.

"What was your dream about?" Edward suddenly asked.

"Oh, it isn't important," Alyssa said quickly.

Remembering the leering face that had been chasing her through the dark London streets made her shiver, and she wasn't sure she really wanted to talk about it.

"It might make you feel better if you tell me," said Edward gently. "Putting nightmares into words can help chase them away, instead of keeping them locked up in your head where they seem so real. That's what your mother told me, anyway."

An image of her mother comforting Edward after waking from a bad dream popped into Alyssa's mind. It made her feel a little jealous, knowing that he had grown so close to her mother in her absence, but at the same time his words made the gentle woman seem close by. She was a little worried about how it would sound to him, but she settled down and began to tell her tale, starting with what had happened in her mother's bedroom.

By the time she was finished, she was pacing the rug in the middle of the room. Edward watched her from his seat on the corner of her bed, his expression solemn. "At the time it felt so real I was convinced it was really happening, but now..."

Alyssa trailed off with a shrug, unconsciously fiddling with the bottle still hanging from her belt. Edward suddenly reached out and took her hand. "I believe you," he declared, his pale eyes bright as he looked up at her. "In my short lifetime, I've seen and heard things that can't be explained. There are many things out there that go beyond the realm of the normal—a lot more things than most people believe. And I think..."

Edward gave Alyssa's had a small tug, bringing her slightly closer to him. "I think all those strange things exist and happen for a reason, especially when they happen around one particular person. And I think you're just that sort of person."

"I'm...not sure what you mean," Alyssa faltered.

"I mean that you're very special, Alyssa," Edward told her, smiling. "And I don't think what you saw was just a dream. I think something pulled you across time and space because you needed to be there."

"But..."

Alyssa gently pulled her hand away and turned to face her dresser, unable to look directly into Edward's earnest face anymore. He looked so certain, and sounded so sincere she almost believed what he was telling her.

But it wasn't possible. People didn't just travel through time. And she wasn't anyone special. She was just Alyssa Hamilton, age fourteen—nothing more, nothing else.

"Don't you think it's a little unusual that all this is happening on the very day you decided to come home?" Edward suddenly asked.

Alyssa didn't answer. She did think was all a little too much to just be coincidence, but...

A loud banging noise made her jump in surprise. She whirled around and looked at Edward, who was still sitting on the bed. He looked just as surprised as she felt, and he was staring at the window behind her. Her heart thumping nervously, Alyssa went slowly over and pushed the drapes aside.

Her nerves vanished and were replaced with relief, annoyance, and a flood of childhood memories.

Pressed against the glass was a face framed with rust-colored hair, and an arm clothed in a striped sweater was raised to bang again. A grin spread across the boyish face as Alyssa reached to unlatch the window, and the young girl looked down at the figure lying on his belly on the brief section of roof outside her bedroom with sternness.

"Dennis Owen, what in the world do you think you're doing?"

He had grown quite a bit from the scrawny lad she remembered, but there was no mistaking the boy who had lived in the house behind her's for as long as she could remember. Obviously, he hadn't shed his penchant for getting into trouble during her three year absence.

"I'll be decorating the lawn with my insides, if you don't give me a hand," grunted Dennis as he grappled for the window ledge.

Shaking her head, Alyssa grabbed onto his wrist and started to tug. After a noisy scraping of shoes against shingles, the teen boy came tumbling to her bedroom floor.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Alyssa as Dennis picked himself up again. "We have a front door, you know."

"I tried that," said Dennis indignantly. "No one answered, so I came up here."

"But how did you even know I was home? I didn't call in advance that I was coming or something."

Instead of answering, Dennis grinned at her as he looked her up and down. "Is that all you have to say after all this time? Don't tell me you've forgotten all the fun we used to have together."

Alyssa hadn't forgotten. Growing up, any time not spent with her family had been spent with Dennis. They had done everything together, from playing hide and seek, to bug hunting in the field, to attending school together. He was quite a bit taller than the little boy she remembered, but he really hadn't changed much otherwise.

"No, I haven't forgotten," said Alyssa, smiling in spite of herself. "But I doubt you came up here just to reminisce."

Dennis continued to grin as he rocked back on forth on his heels, hands behind his back. "You're right, as usual. I have something for you—a coming home present, I guess you could say."

Alyssa was bursting with curiosity now, but she knew better than to show it; Dennis was an awful tease when he knew something got her excited. "What kind of present?" she asked slowly. "And who told you I was coming home, anyway?"

Dennis' bright green eyes scanned her room, and she could tell by the impish look on his face that he was purposely trying to keep her in suspense. "Well, it just so happens that..."

His voice, as well as his cheery expression, faded away in a hurry when he noticed for the first time that someone else was in the room.

During the time that Alyssa had been helping Dennis through the window, Edward had left the bed and was standing next to Alyssa's armchair. He wasn't leaning against it, but standing straight and tall as he surveyed Dennis with a hint of disdain in his blue eyes. For the first time since Alyssa had met him, his warm smile was nowhere to be seen.

Dennis spoke first. "Who's this? What's he doing in your room?"

There was a touch of accusation in his voice, and Alyssa felt flustered as she hurried to answer. "This is..."

"Edward," the slender boy supplied, his tone low and cool. "I live here."

Hands on his hips, Dennis took a step closer, as if he were trying to scrutinize the other boy like the fine print of a book. Although he wasn't as tall or as husky as Dennis, Edward seemed to make a more imposing figure than he did.

"A pleasure to meet you," Dennis finally said, in the most insincere of fashions.

"Likewise," replied Edward, his icy tone equally insincere.

The two continued to glare at each other, green eyes boring into blue, before Dennis abruptly turned away. When he looked at Alyssa again, his boyish grin was back in place, as if it had never left.

Feeling bewildered, Alyssa wanted to demand exactly what was wrong with the two of them, but she held her tongue. She hadn't been around any in three years, but she remembered clearly that boys had weird, unexplainable quirks, especially around each other.

"Like I said, I have something for you," Dennis declared cheerfully, picking up where he left off.

As he spoke, he pulled something from his pants pocket and held it out to her. Alyssa stared, shocked, before snatching the object up.

"The key to my grandfather's study! How did you get this?"

Alyssa practically lunged at him, ready to pin him down like she did when they were small until he talked. Dennis dodged and retreated with a laugh. "Easy, killer. Your mother gave it to me this morning before she took off in her car. She said I should give it to you right away, if you happened to show up."

This new information made Alyssa run to the open window excitedly, her eyes automatically drawn in the direction of the road. "So she did know I would be coming back today," she exclaimed. "She must have thought I would come home first thing, instead of waiting until later," she added, mostly to herself.

Her moment of excitement faded as she closed the window again; if she hadn't waited all day to read the letter, she might not have missed her.

But now wasn't the time to stop to feel sorry for herself, and a fresh burst of energy rushed through her as she hurried for the door.

"Wait, where are you running off to?" Dennis called after her.

"To my grandfather's study, of course," she replied as she opened the door.

Her mother wouldn't have left the key unless there was something in the study she wanted her daughter to see. There was something of great importance in there, Alyssa was sure of it.

"This is personal," she added as she stepped into the hall. She was about to run down the stairs when she remembered the other person in the room. She quickly turned around again to thank Edward for talking to her, but she only saw Dennis, still standing beside the window and looking puzzled. The young blonde had gone.