When he turned around, the man was gone.

  “Where’d he go?” Rahim whispered.

  “He went down the hall. But Iago made it into the house. We’re all set.”

  The two of them headed back toward the foyer.

  When they got to the foyer, they stopped.

  “Oh no,” Rahim mumbled.

  The man was standing there, arms crossed. Next to him was a young Black woman with beaded braids. And next to them were the three hooded robots from the empty lot.

  “I told you,” Rahim whispered to Kasia.

  “We had to take the chance,” she whispered back. “We needed our phone.”

  “Take them to the attic,” the young woman said.

  The man shook his head. “We already have someone in the attic,” he said.

  “I know that, obviously. But they’re small. They’ll fit.”

  “That’s not what I mean. I mean, do you think it’s a good idea for them to be with the person in the attic?”

  “It’ll be fine, R,” the woman said.

  “Okay-kay,” the man said. But then Rahim figured out he was saying “Okay, K.” K as in Kasia? R as in Rahim?

  “This is mega weird,” Rahim mumbled.

  “Little boy, you have no idea,” K said.

  * * *

  The three robots herded them upstairs to the attic. The heat was almost unbearable. There was a lone ceiling fan, but all that seemed to do was move the hot air around. The robots climbed back down, locking the door before they pulled the ladder away and folded it up.

  “Those robot guys are strong,” Kasia said. “I was trying to fight and they didn’t even notice.”

  “Where’s Iago?” Rahim said.

  “He’s on the floor below us. I told him to hide out for now,” Kasia said.

  “I guess you two are my new roommates,” a gentle voice said from the shadows. Rahim and Kasia both jumped as a beautiful Black woman wearing a light tan sundress came out of the darkness.

  “Roommates?” Rahim said. “No, we’re being held here for … Oh, I understand. You were kidnapped, too?”

  The woman gave him a weak smile.

  “It would appear so. I’ve only been here for a few hours, though. And the man and woman don’t seem to want to harm me at all. They’ve been nice. They had one of their robots bring me ice water a little while ago.”

  “Ma’am, can I ask you something?” Kasia said.

  “Sure.” The woman had picked up a stray piece of paper and had folded it into a fan to wave in front of her face.

  “Why aren’t you more shocked by the robots?” Kasia asked. The woman’s smile widened.

  “Robots aren’t the craziest thing I’ve seen in my life.”

  “You look familiar,” Kasia said.

  Rahim thought she looked familiar, too.

  Kasia touched the temple of her glasses.

  “Facial comparison, searching, found, Dr. Evelyn Jackson,” Kasia said.

  The woman’s face opened wide with surprise. “Yes, I’m Dr. Jackson. Have we met?”

  Rahim put his face in his hands. Rs, Ks, Dr. Jacksons, robots, rocks. “What is going on here?” he mumbled.

  Dr. Jackson explained to them how she had found herself in the attic.

  “My husband, Nat, demanded I take a break from the institute. We decided to take a vacation to Hawaii. I went for a walk on the beach and then those three just snatched me up. One of them lifted me like I was as light as a flower. That one carried me to a car, while the other two ran alongside us. I wish we had never come to the island.”

  “But they might have kidnapped you no matter where you were.”

  “It’s not just the kidnapping. This is a beautiful place. It’s like a fantasyland in some ways. But I fear we, the tourists, are not good guests. We treat the islands like they are here for our entertainment, or to make us feel better. But do we really think about what the place needs, or what it is?”

  “It’s like when tourists come to Philly for football games,” Rahim said.

  “You children are from Philly, too? Now, that can’t be a coincidence, can it?” Dr. Jackson said. “I’ve told you what brought me here. Now, why don’t you tell me who you are, and how you know who I am.”

  “I’m Rahim Reynolds,” Rahim said. “This is Kasia Collins, my best friend.”

  “Hi,” Kasia said.

  “We know you because last year we got caught up trying to save the world and you helped us,” Rahim said.

  “Last year?” Dr. Jackson said.

  “Well, our last year,” Kasia said.

  Dr. Jackson leaned forward.

  “You have my full attention. Please continue,” she said.

  “Our last year hasn’t happened yet. It’s in the future. We’re time travelers.”

  Dr. Jackson didn’t say anything for a few moments.

  “This is all starting to make a little more sense,” she said finally.

  “More sense?” Rahim said.

  “Do you know about the Philadelphia Experiment?”

  They nodded. It was an event back in 1943, where a merchant marine claimed to have seen a ship disappear without a trace. Some people said the story was fantastical or exaggerated. Rahim and Kasia knew better.

  “Well,” Dr. Jackson said, “in the years since the Philadelphia Experiment, the government has been trying to replicate it for military use. It wasn’t just a teleportation attempt. It was also a venture into time travel. Teleportation and time travel are inexorably linked like space and time are linked. The math is complicated—”

  “I could understand it,” Kasia said.

  “I don’t doubt that. But let’s stay with the story. It sounds like you are telling me that at some point in the future we perfected time travel. That we understood and harnessed the forces that were unleashed during the Philadelphia Experiment. I am pleased to hear that. Moving toward that goal has been my life’s work. It’s been maddening, exciting, and in many ways frightening. To hear you say that we eventually reach that goal is … quite something.”

  “When I say we, I sort of mean me,” Kasia said. She had a tiny little smile on her face.

  “Fascinating,” Dr. Jackson said. “Maybe one day we can have a long conversation about it. But now there are more pressing concerns. Perhaps this traversing through the time stream has had unintended consequences.”

  “It’s more than may have,” Kasia said. “It’s definite.”

  “Dodo birds running up and down Market Street,” Rahim said. Dr. Jackson squinted at him. “Never mind.”

  “We’ve seen some of the strangest things,” Kasia said. “But we’ve managed to set them right.”

  “But it’s more than that,” Dr. Jackson said.

  “What do you mean?” Kasia said.

  Dr. Jackson picked up the piece of paper she had made into a fan. She unfolded it and held it up in front of Rahim and Kasia. “Let’s pretend this piece of paper is on a notepad,” Dr. Jackson said. “When you write on it, the pages underneath pick up an image of the top sheet, an imprint, and it stays even when you tear off the top sheet. That’s one of the ideas about time and space, that there are many universes next to one another, like sheets on a notepad. For a long time, I’ve been concerned about the nature of time and space and what teleportation and time manipulation do to the sheets underneath ours. Think of them as multiple dimensions.”

  “I wish the notepad was a prescription pad,” said Rahim. “Because all of this is giving me a huge headache.”

  He looked at Kasia to see if she had liked his joke, but there was no smile on her face. There was an expression of intense concern.

  “Dimensional degradation,” Kasia said in a low voice.

  “Yes,” Dr. Jackson said. “That’s my concern exactly. The more we move through space-time, the more we may change not only our universe and time stream but also all the universes that may possibly exist. Current theories on quantum physics tell us multiple dimensions are not just possible but probable. But that’s just one of my concerns at the moment. You know the people downstairs?”

  “The ones who have kidnapped us?” Rahim said. “Yeah, I know them.”

  “I heard them talking,” Dr. Jackson said. “And their names…”

  “We heard that, too,” Rahim said.

  “Yes,” Kasia said. “She called him R and he called her K.” Rahim hadn’t realized that Kasia had clocked the names, too. “Are they another pair of us, like our future selves?”

  “Future selves?” Dr. Jackson said. She shook her head. “You can tell me about that later. No. His name is Rashad and hers is Kenta. Still, they resemble older versions of you. You see that, yes? The young woman has the same kind of hair. The young man has some of the same gestures. They have the same first initials. Could that be a coincidence?”

  Rahim sat on the floor.

  “My dad likes to say there are no coincidences. Just things that happen when they are supposed to. My mom calls it fate.”

  “Science has other words for those same ideas,” Dr. Jackson said. “But your parents aren’t wrong.”

  11

  Professor reynolds sipped tea from a mug as Agent Brown and Agent Green went through Rahim’s room. They’d already searched Kasia’s room. When they hadn’t been able to catch up with the kids—or the versions of them who had leaped out the window of Mr. Alves’s place—they’d come back to the houses. The police had taken a report about Rahim and Kasia going missing. Agent Brown came downstairs, followed by Agent Green.

  “We are trying to track the two figures who were pretending to be your son and his friend,” Agent Brown said. “In the meanwhile, if you hear from your son or his friend, please contact us immediately. It is very important that we find them and our director.”

  “Agent Brown, what do you mean when you say ‘figures’? What are they? And where do you think my son is?” Professor Reynolds said.

  “It’s not where I think he is, sir. It’s when,” Agent Brown said.

  “You think he’s traveled through time with Kasia,” Mrs. Reynolds said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Agent Brown said. “I do. We think wherever they are they may be in danger. Those two figures may be our only hope for finding them and in turn finding our director. We believe the two figures may be androids that are impersonating your children.”

  Professor Reynolds put down his teacup.

  “Say that again,” he said softly.

  Agent Green said it again, which made Agent Brown frown.

  “I know that sounds fanciful,” Agent Brown said. “But to be honest, it may be the least shocking thing you’ll hear this week.”

  * * *

  R-2 and K-2 found an abandoned warehouse near the airport. They both sat down cross-legged on the floor as their eyes began to glow. Soon a holographic image of Future Rahim and Future Kasia appeared in front of them.

  “We have been compromised,” R-2 said.

  “What? How?” Future Kasia asked.

  “That is unimportant. What is the current status of Rahim and Kasia?” R-2 said.

  Future Kasia and Future Rahim looked at each other.

  “Well,” Future Kasia said. “They haven’t reported back in yet.”

  “We await future orders. The existence of the Aevum depends on it,” R-2 said.

  “Yes,” K-2 said. “The Aevum has contacted us directly through our mainware. They wish to know if the two children have located the director. They sense that it may have in fact occurred.”

  “The Aevum talked to you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why haven’t they messaged us?” Future Kasia said. She seemed nervous.

  “They have indicated there will be no direct contact,” R-2 said. “They will work through us.”

  “Please determine if the two have located the director,” K-2 said.

  “Wait,” Future Kasia said. “We don’t work for you.”

  “The Aevum said that you would say that. The Aevum told us to tell you that in fact you do work for us, in that we represent the Aevum’s wishes.”

  Future Kasia nodded.

  “But—” Future Rahim said.

  “There is no room for contradiction. Thank you for you cooperation,” R-2 said.

  His eyes stopped glowing. He severed the connection.

  * * *

  Professor Reynolds got up from his chair. He went to his wife, who was sitting on the couch with her chin on her fist. He took her hand and looked into her eyes.

  “I can’t sit here anymore. I’m going to go get Kasia’s dad and look for Rahim and Kasia, or whatever those beings are … Even if they are robots or androids or whatever, they may be our only way of finding Rahim. You stay here in case he comes back.”

  “Professor Reynolds,” Agent Brown said, “I strongly suggest you leave that to us. You have no idea what you are dealing with.”

  Professor Reynolds turned to face the agents. He straightened his tie and smoothed down his blazer.

  “Frankly, gentlemen, it doesn’t seem like you have a better grasp of the situation than I do. All I know is my son is missing. You’re telling me he and his best friend have been replaced by robots or whatever, and that Rahim is traveling through time. That concerns me, but my only real aim is to find my boy. So, if you want to stop me you should probably handcuff me right now,” Professor Reynolds said. He held out both of his wrists toward the agents.

  Agent Brown looked at Agent Green, then back at Professor Reynolds.

  “Put your hands down, Professor Reynolds,” he said. “We aren’t going to arrest you. Maybe if we work together, we can find these things.”

  “We have some experience with … objects like this,” Agent Green added. “They were most likely programmed to think like your children.”

  “So, assuming your theory is correct, if they were programmed to think like our kids, they may go to places that our kids like,” Professor Reynolds said.

  “I’m glad to see you’re coming around to accepting the reality of this situation. It takes most people a lot longer,” Agent Brown said.

  “Like when we were in Roswell,” Agent Green said.

  Agent Brown looked at him and arched his eyebrows. Agent Green mouthed the words “I’m sorry” back at him.

  Professor Reynolds shrugged.

  “I don’t know if you heard my wife mention it, but a few years ago Kasia made a pair of working X-ray glasses for Rahim,” he said. “That made for an interesting trip to the emergency room. So, gentlemen, I don’t think there’s much that little girl can’t do. Besides, Arthur Conan Doyle said that when you eliminate all other possibilities what is left has to be the solution, even if it seems unbelievable. I think that Mr. Collins and I have things to do and places to go.”

  12

  Rahim was lying down on the floor of the attic when he heard a scratching at the door near his head. He sat up and nudged Kasia.

  “I think Iago is at the door,” Rahim said.

  Kasia touched the temple of her glasses. A small screen appeared in her right lens.

  “Yeah. It’s a simple lock, but that’s not what we should be worried about. We are gonna need a distraction for those three robots.”

  “Is Iago a friend of yours?” Dr. Jackson asked.

  “You could say that,” Rahim said. He started looking around the attic. It was pretty sparse. There were only a few light tarps and a couple of boxes of Christmas lights. He went over to the tarps and picked them up. They were really more like bedsheets, light blue with some red, green, and pink paint stains on them.

  “I think I got an idea,” Rahim said.

  * * *

  Rashad was coming back from the kitchen with a sandwich when he saw the ghost.

  Well, at first he thought it was a ghost. It was a pale-blue sheet floating in midair. He stopped, nearly dropped his sandwich, and called out for Kenta. She came into the hallway with the three faceless robots. Without warning the pale-blue sheet took off down the hallway.

  “Go after it,” Kenta said. The three robots took off after the sheet. Kenta and Rashad walked behind them and watched as the blue sheet floated up the stairs.

  While they watched their robots chase after the ghost, Rahim, Kasia, and Dr. Jackson made their way out of the attic. Iago had been able to open the lock on the attic door rather quickly. Then Rahim had thrown one of the tarps over his floating metallic body and sent it flying down the hall. Now while Kenta, Rashad, and their robot henchmen were chasing it, the three of them made their getaway

  They walked quickly but quietly to the door. Rahim glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t see Kenta or Rashad or the robots. He tried not to breathe as he turned the doorknob and eased the front door open. Kasia gently pushed Dr. Jackson out the door before exiting herself. Rahim pulled the door close to the frame but didn’t shut it all the way.

  “Run. Now,” he said.

  All three of them took off down the driveway. Rahim noted that Dr. Jackson was surprisingly fast. They were at the end of the driveway and turning onto the sidewalk when he heard an angry voice behind them.

  “Get them! Don’t let them get away!”

  Rahim pointed down the street toward the intersection.

  “This way!” he yelled.

  The three of them pounded down the sidewalk. He heard footsteps behind them. He took a quick look and saw the three hooded robots right on their heels and gaining.

  If we get out of this, I’m not running for a month, Rahim thought.

  When they got to the intersection, Dr. Jackson jumped in front of one of the cars waiting at the red light. She waved her arms and went to the driver’s window.

  “Help us, please! We are being chased by some people who want to hurt us!” she said. The driver, a large man with long shaggy black hair, leaned out of the window.

  “What ya say?” he said. “Somebody’s trying to hurt you and your kids?”

  Dr. Jackson nodded.