When All is Null and Void

Chapter Four

Rhea waited patiently, probably very aware of the battle occurring on Caleb's face.

"So if I say yes..."

Rhea raised an eyebrow.

"What about the nightmare's people have?"

Rhea sat back in her chair, crossing her legs once again. "That has been remedied. Nightmares no longer occur."

"Oh," Caleb said. "Well, I guess..." he didn't know why he was accepting this insane story of time and space travel, but hadn't he seen it with his own eyes? Titus had disappeared so suddenly. Alex and Jacob had appeared in the same way. Rhea James herself had faded into nothing and arrived at his shoulder. "I guess it can't hurt."

Rhea smiled brightly. "I knew you'd come around." She stood to her feet in one long, smooth motion. "Shall we?"

"Shall we what?" Caleb asked, suddenly regretting his decision. She was looking at him with a vigor that made him nervous.

"I'll administer the test now."

"Er—" Caleb said. "Okay."

He stood and followed Rhea from the garden. She didn't speak with him as they walked up large, stone steps to a small back door. She kept quiet as they walked through the pristine kitchen, which was large and bustling with activity, and into the large foyer Caleb knew so well. He'd seen it for years on the Holos when her Galas had been broadcast. The marble was grander, the stairways more sweeping. This was a palace, not someone's actual home.

They passed through the foyer to a hallway on the left side, and the sudden change of décor was shocking. Not only was this hallway unadorned, it was small and darker. Caleb wondered if he was at the James Estate any longer, as they had entered into what seemed to be a hospital wing. They came to what Caleb thought to be a broom closet, but when Rhea James opened it, they were faced with a set of cement stairs. Another chill snuck down his spine. The idea of going into a basement with a woman he'd barely met, for tests, seemed like a surefire way to be murdered. He followed her, thoughts of money and a ring on his mind.

At the bottom of the stairs, they were faced with another door, but this one was heavy metal, so different from the gold of the rings and Museum's towers. This was a drab, gray hunk of a door that did nothing to help the tiny stones which had taken root in his gut. Rhea James placed her palm against a wall, and the door opened with a tiny pop. "After you," Rhea said, and though the words filled Caleb with an odd discomfort, the head of the Museum spoke kindly and was smiling. It wasn't an evil scientist smile either, just a normal, human one. As if thiswere perfectly normal.

Caleb stepped into a room with garish white lights evenly spaced on the ceiling and spotless, stainless steel topped metal tables. "Um," he said, when the door to the lab closed and Rhea stepped past him.

"I know," she said. "It seems a little intimidating, but I promise you're completely safe with me." The heels she wore clacked against the shining, clean tiles. Somehow Caleb was calmed by her promise, even if someone with murderous intent would say that. She seemed too sincere, and Caleb was far too easily manipulated.

"I'm guessing these tests don't have anything to do with math, or science?" he asked, following after Rhea as she walked through all of the tables and medical equipment so clean they couldn't have ever been used before. She walked into a small room on the far side of the lab. In this room was a plush, creme colored carpeting, a comfortable looking settee in the corner.

"It's a little more complex than that," Rhea said bracingly. "If you'll wait here, I'll be right back." And then she was gone, the door to the room left ajar. He could see the lab through the crack, and while this room was lit with comfortable yellows, the sliver of white light flashed into his eyes and made him squint. Caleb sat in silence, fingers jittery and nervous against his thighs.