I was getting really used to having Rachel around. Not in the lame ‘it was so natural’ way, but in a comfortable way where I could see her hanging around a lot longer. I wanted her to hang around longer. It had been ages since I’d wanted anyone new around. Most of my friends in college I’d made simply out of necessity.

But Rachel was different in a way I couldn’t really describe. I spent the rest of the walk back to my house watching her look at things. She was awed by everything, which in turn made me want to find something more than the mundane. For the first time in years I wanted something beyond survival.

“Cars have changed.” She pointed at a large SUV that drove by. The windows were rolled down, and loud music spilled out before it disappeared from view.

“Yeah? I guess I haven’t noticed much of a change, but I don’t really remember what they looked like thirteen years ago since I was seven.”

“Well, they look different to me.” She looked the other way, her eyes roaming over the large, historic homes that lined St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District.

“Are there no cars where you live?” I asked. “Or they just looked different?”

“We had something similar, but different.” She didn’t offer any more details, and I let it go. Instead I kept us on St. Charles a block longer than we had to before turning down a far more narrow street with houses a fraction of the size of those mansions.

Once we reached my street Rachel took the lead. I even noticed she skipped the defective step. She was already getting used to things.

I tried the knob. It was locked. I messed with my key and pushed open the door. “We’re back.”

No one answered. Evidently Dale had left too.

“Do you think they’re still in class?” Rachel walked around the living room, peeking into each little corner as if they held secrets.

I set my bag down on the floor. “Who knows where Dale is, and Angie doesn’t live here, so technically she doesn’t need to come back.”

“But she probably will.” There was something hopeful in Rachel’s voice. Was she worried about being alone with me? Or did she just want Angie’s help?

I nodded. “Yes. She’s my big sister. She worries.”

Rachel turned to me, her brown eyes locking on mine. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Hurt me? I’d just been thinking she’d been worrying about the opposite. “I know.” There was something hypnotic about her gaze, a warmth or something. At first it felt good, and then it freaked me out. I pulled myself away and walked into the kitchen. I tried to forget the sensation—the way it felt like she was seeing into my soul or something. Instead I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and finally replied to her. “I’m not going to hurt you either.”

“I know.” She accepted the water from my outstretched hand. Her fingers brushed against mine, sending another jolt of warmth my way. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be standing here.”

“You’ve got good self-preservation skills, huh?” I tried to make a joke of things. It was easier than questioning the way she made me feel.

“I just don’t see what you’d gain by hurting me. You could have done it earlier, or if you didn’t want me around you could have rid yourself of my presence at the park when I offered.”

Rid myself of her? I recoiled at the thought. “I don’t want to get rid of you.” I wanted exactly the opposite. I wanted to pull her into my arms and keep her there forever. Okay. That was it. I was losing it. I barely knew this girl. Rachel wasn’t the only one who needed Angie to show up.

She smiled. “I’m glad because I don’t want to be gotten ridden of.” There was such honesty in her words. Most of the girls I knew were either overly confident and pushy or lacked confidence and were self-deprecating. Rachel was neither. She sipped her water. “This water is amazing.”

“Oh. Glad you like it.” And she was so happy with the little things. Maybe I needed to try that sometime.

“It’s so much better than the water we have back at home. It has this horrible aftertaste. I had to force myself to drink it.”

“That’s annoying. The tap water here isn’t great either, hence the bottles of water.” I gestured toward the fridge.

“It can’t be as bad as the water we had. You never knew what color it would be, and whether it would taste sour or salty. It was usually one of the two.”

“Neither possibility sounds good.” I opened my own bottle.

“They weren’t. But you do what you have to do to survive.” She looked toward the window.

“I agree completely.” I’d been living my life on auto-pilot for a while.

“Why didn’t you sleep last night?”

Her question jarred me. “How do you know?”

“I didn’t either so I heard you tossing and turning.” She perched on the arm of the couch. “Your bed was very comfortable, but my mind was racing. Is that what happened to you?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” I couldn’t admit I was thinking about her all night. I refused to come across as a stalker or something.

She glanced down at the black watch she wore.

I’d never seen that type. “Is that some sort of GPS watch or something?”

“It’s not sold here.” She studied her water.

“Can I see it?” I walked over to look, but she pulled her arm away.

Then she moved it back toward me. “Please don’t break it.”

“I won’t break it.” Normally I’d have snapped at someone for that comment; I wasn’t a klutz or anything. But there was no accusation in her voice, only concern. It was pretty much the only item she had, so maybe it held some sentimental value.

“Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I can’t lose this.”

“Okay.” I gently took her wrist. “You’re right. I’ve never seen anything like this.” I looked up at her. “I take it’s all a touchscreen? But what’s that circle thing on the side?”

“It’s newer technology.”

“Now I really need to know where you’re from.” I released her wrist. If she didn’t want to tell me more about the watch, she didn’t have to.

She let her arm fall to her side. “I’m not sure you’d believe me.”

“Try me.” I wondered if I could pull off the same eye trick she did. The puppy dog eye thing where the thought of saying no to her left me feeling gutted.

“Like I said. You’d never believe me.”

“And like I said, try me.” I was looking for a safe balance between being pushy and a pushover. I knew she needed to have her secrets, but I needed something from her. She couldn’t remain a complete mystery forever.

“It’s called Andrelexa.”

“Pretty name.” But I’d never heard of it. I ran through all the places I’d heard mentioned before. “Where is it?”

“I gave you a name. Isn’t that a enough?” She set down her empty water bottle on the rickety side table.

“Can I at least get a continent?”

“How do you know it’s on a continent?” She put her hands behind her back.

“Are you saying you’re from an island then?” That technically made sense. It explained how out of touch she was with things, but weren’t most islands really pretty? Why was she so moved by the little nature we had in the city?

“Not exactly.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, not at all surprised to see it was a text from Angie. Call me now! She rarely used exclamation marks in texts, so I assumed it was important. I glanced at Rachel. “I’ll be right back. Feel free to take anything from the kitchen.” I hurried down the hall to my room and closed the door. I was doing that entirely too much.

I called Angie. She picked up on the first ring. “What took so long?”

“It’s kind of hard to slip away.”

“But she’s still with you?”

“Where else would she be?” Did Angie think I’d lost her or annoyed her so much she ran off?

“I found something.”

“What is it?” I waited, feeling jittery.

“She doesn’t seem crazy to you, does she?”

I bristled. I didn’t like anyone saying that about Rachel. “No. Confused maybe, but not crazy.”

“Yeah, that’s my impression.”

“Okay, what did you find?” I didn’t bother to hide my impatience.

“Well, the first thing is I found her aunt.”

“Okay. That’s good news.” We were making progress.

“I mean I found evidence of her aunt. But it can’t really be the aunt she’s talking about because she’d have died before Rachel was born.”

“Um…” Was there something I was missing?

“That’s why I wanted to make sure you agreed with me. If she’s not crazy, she’s either really confused or lying to us.”

“She’s not lying.” I didn’t need to think before those words came out of my mouth. It was a fact.

“I’m wondering if I should tell you more or talk to her first. I feel kind of guilty having this conversation without her.”

“Then come over here.” I wanted more details, but then again I didn’t want to hear anything that was going to make things weird with Rachel. I’d rather have her as a mystery than not have her at all. And I knew that was bad. Really bad.

“I’m already on my way.”

“Is Dale with you?” I couldn’t really believe he’d gone to class.

“Yes. No comment on that.”

I laughed. “That great of a time, huh?”

“We’ll be there soon.”

I pocketed my phone.

“Noah?” Rachel called down the hall. “Is everything okay?”

“Sorry about that.” I walked out, hoping I didn’t look guilty.

“Are you all right?” She’d moved from the arm of the couch to an actual cushion. She was sitting on the edge of the couch stock straight. She had completely perfect posture, like a dancer or something.

“Yes. It’s fine.” I sat down on the couch, trying not to slouch quite as much as I normally did.

“You’re lying.” She barely blinked as she called me out.

“No.” I shook my head. “It’s fine. Angie is on her way here so we can all talk.”

“Talk about my brother? Did she find him?” Rachel’s face glowed.

“She didn’t tell me much. She wanted to talk to us at the same time.” I didn’t mention the aunt that died before she was born. I was sure there was some explanation there. Two people with the same name or something like that.

“Okay. Will she be here soon?” Rachel’s lower lip quivered, making me wonder if she was somehow afraid.

I decided to change the subject and dig for answers. I kept going back and forth on how much I really wanted to know. “Would you tell me more about Andrelexa?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Where it is…” I tried to sound really nonchalant.

“That’s hard to explain.”

“I’m not going to pretend I’m amazing at geography, but I can probably follow.”

“You’ll never believe me.”

“We’ve been over this.” I scooted a little bit further away so I could turn and look at her. “I really want to help you.”

“Thank you for that.”

“But I need more. I need to understand what’s going on here. You want to know what’s wrong? It’s that I know nothing about you.” There I’d said it.

“You know my name. You know I left here thirteen years ago. I’m searching for my brother. What else do you need to know?”

“Who was it who took you? Who adopted you? Where did he take you? Where is Andrelexa?”

She let out a slow breath. “Do you believe in the unexplainable?”

“The unexplainable?” I asked for clarification.

“Yes.” She put her hands in her lap.

“Like ghosts?” I tried to follow.

“Kind of. Not exactly.” She looked down.

“I can believe some of it.”

“Can or do?” She met my eyes.

“I don’t know. No one has ever asked me to before. I mean since I was a kid losing teeth or waiting for Santa.” Back then I’d believed it all. I was the kid who still believed in Santa in fifth grade. My mom had to break it to me. It was a rather embarrassing situation.

“I’m asking you now.” Her voice quivered ever so slightly. Was she nervous?

I wanted to give her the answer she was looking for, but I didn’t want to lie. “I’d like to believe.”

“That’s not enough.” She turned away.

“Fine. I believe.” I pressed my hands into the couch. “Okay? Don’t give up on me. You can tell me.”

“Please try to keep an open mind.”

“I’m here with you, aren’t I? I haven’t kicked you out or anything. Shouldn’t that count for something?” My words sounded weak even to my own ears, but I was struggling.

“Do you believe the people of Earth are alone?” She brushed more hair behind her ear, putting her strange earring on display again.

“Alone?” I tore my eyes from the earring. “In what way?”

“In all ways. Do you believe the people of Earth are alone in the universe?”

“Oh. Wait. You’re talking whether there’s life on other planets?”

She didn’t blink. “Yes.”

“I believe there’s life on other planets. With so many galaxies there has to be. Now what that life looks like is another story.” I was a bit of a space nerd as a kid, and it never quite wore off. My brother had been convinced I’d make it to Mars one day, but he had a warped view of me sometimes. He had always thought I was far smarter than I actually was.

“Okay, that’s a start.”

“A start?” Then something clicked. “Are you trying to tell me you’re from another planet?”

“No. I’m not saying that exactly.” She ran her fingers over the frayed edges of the arm of the couch.

There were many things I wanted to say. “Okay. So how are you not exactly from another planet?”

“Are you sure you’re ready to hear this?” Her leg started to bounce.

“Yes. I promise to be open-minded.”

“All right.” She closed her eyes.

The door burst open and Angie and Dale walked in. “Hey, you guys are still here.”

“Should we have been leaving?” Rachel’s eyes flew open.

“No.” Angie shook her head. “Of course not. I meant you guys didn’t go anywhere.”

Bad timing. Really bad timing. Or maybe not. I had no idea what Rachel was about to tell me nor how I’d handle it.

Angie walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Ugh. You guys have nothing in here.”

“Don’t look at me. I’ve been out of town. I had no time to shop.” Dale sat on the edge of the only other chair in the room.

“What’s your excuse, Noah?” Angie pointed the top of a water bottle at me. At the rate we were going I’d be adding another forty pack soon.

“I don’t have one,” I replied unapologetically. “Other than not making time.”

“Somethings never change.”

“You could always shop for me.” I grinned. I couldn’t help myself.

She laughed dryly. “Don’t hold your breath.”

“So Angie, you found some information, didn’t you?” I saw no reason to put this part of the conversation off.

“Yes.” Angie walked over and sat down in the chair, elbowing Dale to give her more room.

He grimaced but moved a little.

“I was able to get into the records for this house. Someone by the name of your aunt did indeed own this house.”

“Really?” Rachel’s eyes lit up. “That’s good news. A start.”

Angie exchanged glances with me. I didn’t envy her for being the one to drop the other piece of news. “But there’s a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Rachel asked.

“The person by that name died in 1960.”

“So she is gone…” Rachel looked down at her lap.

Angie tugged on her black hair. “If your aunt died in 1960 there’s no way you ever knew her.”

“I knew my aunt.” Rachel straightened. “She took us in.”

“I get that, but the only person by that name who owned this house died in 1960.”

“Who bought it afterward? Did it go to the next of kin or something?” I thought of a logical explanation. “Maybe she named her daughter the same name and that’s the aunt you knew.”

“It passed to her next of kin, and this is where it gets interesting.” Angie leaned forward in the chair.

“Interesting?” I wasn’t sure if that was going to be good or bad.

“At her death the house passed to her nephew.”

No one said anything for a moment.

Angie continued. “His name was Benjamin Miller.”

“My brother!” Rachel practically jumped off the couch.

“Your brother who was eight when you were adopted, yet was alive in 1960? No. Not a chance.” Angie’s voice was soft, but I knew the words would still crush Rachel. “Maybe you’re remembering things wrong because you were so young. Maybe this is all a story about your mom, and your adoptive parents told you it was about you. I’m not blaming you at all…”

“My adoptive father told me nothing of my family. All I knew was that my parents were dead.” Her expression darkened.

“Did he sell it to another Ruth? Is that what happened?” I struggled to make sense of this.

“No. He sold it outside the family later.” Angie put her hands in her lap. “It hasn’t been owned by a Miller since.”

Rachel stood and removed her sweatshirt. “I will find a way to repay you for the rest of these clothes and the treat later.”

“Rachel, wait.” It took me a moment to realize what was happening. “You can’t go.”

“I can tell you don’t believe me. There’s no reason to stay.” Her eyes were dark.

“It’s not that we don’t believe you. It’s that we think you might be confused. Sometimes traumatic experiences can—” Angie started.

Rachel shook her head. “I didn’t suffer a traumatic experience.”

“You were separated from your family at a young age. That in itself is traumatic… but if you were taken in an underhanded way that would make it even worse.”

“I need some air.” She hurried to the door and walked out.

Without hesitation I followed her out, clutching the discarded sweatshirt. I couldn’t let her wander around the city by herself. “Rachel. Wait up.”

She kept walking.

I caught up. “Come on. You can’t just walk away.”

“I’m not making this up.” There was something raw in her voice.

“No one ever said you were.”

“None of this makes sense. I know I lived with my aunt and my brother. And those were their names. Not all the memories are back, but I know that much.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“And why do my memories not match?”

“What do you mean?” I walked beside her.

“The cars are so different, the dress. None of it fits except for the house. That hasn’t changed all that much.”

“Thirteen years is a while.” But I knew what she meant. It wasn’t that long. “Will you finish telling me what you were going to tell me before we were interrupted?”

“You don’t believe me about my family, yet you believe I was raised somewhere other than Earth?”

“So you were abducted?” The question sounded utterly ridiculous, but it didn’t feel ridiculous for whatever reason. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“Can we talk about something else?”

Wait. What? That was it? Angie was right. There was some serious trauma going on. Maybe something was breaking in Rachel, and she’d be ready to face the truth soon. Until then I’d try to at least make her more comfortable. “What else?”

“Anything.” She took the sweatshirt back from me and slipped it on.

“Want to walk with me to technology services? I need to check on my laptop.” I hadn’t been planning on doing it now, but it was an excuse to go somewhere.

“Laptop?” She furrowed her brows.

“My computer.”

“Oh. Okay. Sure.”

“Good.” I led the way back toward campus, trying to pretend that any of this was normal.