she sat down on the park bench. Jane sat down on her right, and Rene sat down on her left. Following Jane’s lead, Rene picked up her limp left hand, and held it tightly between his own.
‘It’s pretty here, isn’t it, Liv? Look at that sky. You don’t get to see much sky like that back home, do you?’ Jane started rambling, and Rene wanted to correct her English so it wouldn’t seem so strange to Liv. Her abbreviations were jarring for him on occasion. And he was used to them. For Liv, it would just add to the strangeness of what she was experiencing.
‘Formal English, Jane,’ he said, as gently as he could. ‘She is not familiar with …’
‘I understand well enough, Rene, thank you,’ Liv interrupted in a stiff, little voice. ‘Your lady is kindness itself. Do not correct her.’
‘Not my lady…’
‘Not his lady…’
Jane and Rene both corrected her perception at the same moment, and then laughed.
‘And if Julio was here he’d have drowned us both out with that same clarification,’ Jane said, between waves of nervous laughter, as she watched a frown wrinkle Liv’s brow.
‘You are both so beautiful… and well suited… I assumed… I do apologise.’
‘No apology necessary. Rene is my friend. The Latino down in the cavern is my … husband.’
‘Latino?’ Liv’s frown deepened.
‘Portuguese. Julio is Portuguese.’
‘Oh yes, the one who asked how I came to be here… wherever I am…’ Her voice faded out, as if she was lost in confusing thoughts.
‘Do not think about it,’ Rene advised. ‘Just enjoy the sunshine and the flowers. Can you smell the roses? They bloom all year long, here…’
‘Where is here?’ Liv asked in a singsongy voice.
‘It does not matter now. Just smell the roses, Liv. The rest will come with time.’
‘Very well, I will try. But are my family safe? That light and noise did not hurt them did it?’
‘No. Your family and Foxmoor Manor are just as you left them.’
‘Have I lost my mind? Will my father have to place me in a lunatic asylum?’
‘Your mind is just fine. You’ve just had a bit of a shock, that’s all. In a little while you will start to feel better. Until then, just let everything here wash over you like water off a duck’s back,’ Jane advised, pressing Liv’s hand reassuringly.
‘Am I in the New World? This is your home, is it not, Rene?’ Her voice was still spacey, but her mind was obviously drawing conclusions from the information that had been presented to it.
‘Yes, the New World, Liv. This is my home. You are visiting for a little while, and then you will go back to your home.’
Liv nodded like a child who is trying to understand a complex matter. ‘It is lovely here. I can understand why you love it so much. But my grandfather never described this place. It feels as if I am on a Greek Island where the ancient ruins have been rebuilt.’
‘Not far wrong. Have you ever heard of Atlantis?’ Jane asked, and Rene shot her a quelling look. She ignored him.
‘Oh yes. Homer wrote of Atlantis. But it sunk, I believe.’
‘Yes it did. And then it rose again, and we have rebuilt the city. We call it New Atlantis.’
‘New Atlantis… hmm. How interesting. Is there a Fountain of Youth here?’
Jane and Rene exchanged confused looks. It was Jane who replied. ‘No, why do you ask?’
‘I reread my grandfather’s journals before your arrival, Rene. And you were there on that expedition, looking just as you look now. So I thought, mayhap, you had found the Fountain of Youth.’
Rene groaned, and rubbed his hands through his hair. The length was annoying him. Longer than what he was used to here and yet much shorter than what he wore when he was in-situ with the aboriginal tribes.
He looked around for the journal he had brought through the Portal with him. It was gone. He must have dropped it on the dais when he reached for Liv.
Later, he would have to go find it. Liv would want it, and the Committee might want to see it. Although, being discovered was a moot point now that his neglect had allowed Liv to experience New Atlantis for herself. When she went home, and if she stayed sane after this experience, the temptation to tell her sisters what she had been through would be great. How did you contain such a leak, once it was out?
They could try clearing her memory, but that process was haphazard