The Case for Return
“You have to send me back,” said Tess. “You have to send me back to my universe. I can feel it calling me. That’s why my anxiety and OCD got so much worse, isn’t it?
And that’s why the island was puling me.
Because my universe was approaching. I don’t belong here.
I’ve never fit in here and I’m potentially a danger to the human race. You have to send me back.”
“It’s too dangerous,” said Vivian.
“You don’t know what this is like,” said Tess.
“And now I finally understand why. I understand why my own mother hates me. I understand why I never made friends at boarding school or adjusted to college. I understand why everything about this universe stresses me out or depresses me and why a string of therapists so long I’ve lost count of them haven’t been able to help me.
You have to send me back. Back to where I belong.
Where my biggest worry is tapping doorknobs or stacking catalogs.
Where my mother might actually welcome me with open arms. Where Harry—”
“Don’t even dare to think it,” said Vivian.
“Where Harry might still be alive,” said Tess. “Please. You know how, Aunt Vivian, because you were there the last time, and you know what Harry did wrong. And the alignment is just a few hours away. The timing is perfect.”
“It’s too dangerous,” said Richard.
“If you aren’t going to send me back, then why did you even agree to come here?” said Tess.
“Because it’s safe,” said Richard. “Vivian and Marie are the only people in the world who know where this island is, Harry made sure of that. Pilgrim 3 will never find you here.”
“Why would Pilgrim 3 want to find me?” asked Tess.
“The purpose of the Paradox Club,” said Richard, “even its very existence, has always been, by careful design, a secret. But Pilgrim 3 wants to change all that. She wants to go down in history as the person who made contact with another universe, with high schools, institutions, hell, even awards named for her.”
“She doesn’t just want to use UFOs to make contact with our sister universe, she wants to do it in a very public manner,” said Vivian.
“And she knows her best chance of success lies with the two most powerful, most connected UFOs in our universe,” said Richard.
“One of them she’s known about for years, but she only just discovered where it was hidden,” said Vivian.
“The radio,” said Richard. “When you turned it on the big board at the club lit up like a Christmas tree.”
“And what about the other powerful UFO?” asked Tess. “Where is that?”
“Pilgrim 3 just learned about the other one,” said Richard. “The most powerful, most connected UFO anyone at the Paradox Club has ever known, and likely the only one that could guarantee contact with our sister universe.”
“What is it?” said Tess.
“You,” said Vivian. “Which is why we need to stay here and lie low.”
“Oh my God,” said Tess. “I see it now. I see why you brought me to the island. It’s not just to hide from Pilgrim 3. This is my quarantine, isn’t it?”
“It’s a bit late for that,” said Richard.
“Though I did keep you isolated for the first few weeks you were here,” said Vivian. “That’s why you missed Harry’s funeral.”
“You expect me to live out my life on this island,” said Tess, ignoring Vivian, “so I won’t be a danger to humankind.”
“We only want to protect you from Pilgrim 3,” said Vivian. “Now that she knows you’re still alive, she will always be a threat.”
“And staying on the island isn’t the worst idea,” said Richard.
“It is the worst idea!” said Tess. “Have you ever been here in the winter? There’s not enough firewood in the world to keep this place warm. Besides the house is gone, in case you hadn’t noticed. And what about supplies? Am I supposed to live on fish and blueberries?”
“These are solvable problems, Tess,” said Richard.
“Yeah,” said Tess, “and you can solve them by sending me back. Besides, if keeping me safe is so important, why did you ever let me off the island to begin with? Didn’t I pose a threat to all humanity?”
“We talked about it,” said Vivian. “I stayed here with you for a few days, and then we holed up together at a rental cottage down the road. I even drew your blood while you were sleeping and had it tested for foreign viruses. But I couldn’t leave you here.
You were twelve years old.” Vivian, choking back a sob.
“And your mother had just rejected you. I couldn’t. ”
“Sure you could have,” said Tess. “You could have left me here to die. It would have been the responsible thing to do. After all, I was nobody to you.”
“You were Tess,” said Vivian. “I couldn’t leave you here because you were Tess.”
“I still am Tess.”
“Look, the most important thing right now is keeping you safe from Pilgrim 3,” said Richard.
“Other than Richard, the only living people who have ever set foot on this island are your family and me,” said Vivian. No one else knows where it is. No one can find us. You’re safe here. That’s what matters.”
“The alignment is only four hours away,” said Tess. “If you send me back, we only have to hide out here until then. Then you can go back to your lives.”
“We don’t even really understand how to do it,” said Richard.
“Vivian does,” said Tess. “She knows what Harry did. She was there in that circle of trees with him.”
“Four hours isn’t enough time,” said Vivian.
“Then when is the next time?” asked Tess. “When is the next time Harry calculated the two universes would align?”
“The math is very complicated,” said Richard. “No one but Harry understood it and Harry is gone.”
“But he told you, didn’t he,” said Tess. “I can see it in your eyes. He told you about October fourteenth, 2015, and he told you about the next alignment. When is it?”
After a long silence, Richard spoke.
“Eighty-five years from now.”
“So, this is my only chance,” said Tess.
“You could die, Tess,” said Vivian. “Last time Harry did die.”
“I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life trapped on this island or even trapped in a universe where I don’t belong. If I die, then I won’t be a threat to humankind anymore.”
“It’s just not safe,” said Richard.
“Jesus!” said Tess. “Do you honestly think this is safe? You really think they won’t find us before the alignment?”
“No one knows—” began Richard, but Tess shouted back at him.
“Marie knows! How have you not figured that out? Marie knows how to get to the island. Do you honestly think she’s not going tell Montag 5 when he starts pulling out her fingernails or puts a gun to the temple of her new husband?
Marie knows and she hates me. She’d be more than happy to give me up. ”
“Christ,” murmured Richard. “That’s why Montag 5 went to see Marie. And it’s why he stopped at the airport. He wasn’t going back to New York; he was picking up Pilgrim 3. They know they need Tess and they’re on the way here.”
“Tess is right,” said Vivian. “Now that Pilgrim 3 knows she exists, she’ll never be safe here. She’ll never be safe anywhere in this universe.”
“Finally you’re talking sense,” said Tess. “So you’ll send me back?”
“There’s one problem,” said Vivian.
“God, I wish there was only one,” said Richard. “But which one are you thinking of?”
“It’s what Harry said, isn’t it?” said Tess. “What he said in the circle of trees about needing all of them. What was he talking about?”
“The Maxwell Island UFOs,” said Vivian. “All the untethered foreign objects that have appeared on the island over the years. Harry realized that to control the portal he needed to bring them all back into the circle.”
“And I’m one of them,” said Tess.
“You are one of four that we know of,” said Vivian. “There could be others—sticks or rocks that we never recognized. But there are three besides yourself that we need if we’re going to try to send you back.”
“Then you’ll try?” said Tess.
“I’m not sure we have much choice,” said Richard.
“But I don’t think we have a chance of success without the UFOs, and I don’t know how we’re going to get them in four hours,” said Vivian.
“What are they?” asked Tess.
“Two are books,” said Vivian. “One is called Gatsby the Great. It’s a favorite of Pilgrim 3 and lives in her office in the Paradox Club in New York City.”
“Which will make it impossible to get here in time,” said Tess.
“And another was a book in Harry’s library,” said Vivian. “The Descent of Man by Charles Darwinn with two ns.”
“I saw that book,” said Tess. “It’s in your house with all the others I unpacked.”
“But we can’t make it to Madison and back before the alignment,” said Vivian. “It’s hopeless.”
“Not entirely true,” said Richard. “I hesitated to say this, because I still think trying to send Tess back is incredibly dangerous, but I have taken the precaution of securing both of those books. They should be arriving at the island shortly.”
“How?” said Vivian.
“As president of the Paradox Club, I still have allies. In this case a young member called Valentine 6.”
“But even if we get both books to the island in time,” said Vivian, “that still leaves the third UFO. It’s a turquoise-and-gold pendant…”
“Set with emeralds and sapphires,” said Tess.
“You know where it is?” said Richard.
“Yes,” said Tess with a smile.
“We both do,” said Vivian.
“Would someone care to enlighten me about the location of this pendant?” said Richard. “Harry never told me anything about it.”
“Marie,” said Tess. “Marie’s pendant is the final Maxwell UFO. That’s why Harry said she had something I needed. We’ve got to find a way to get her to bring it here.”
As her words died in the cold night air, a pair of bouncing headlights appeared on the road to the boat landing.
“We’ve got company,” said Richard.
“Montag 5 and Pilgrim 3?” said Tess.
“Judging from the time on Nemo 7’s last text, they shouldn’t be here yet,” said Richard.
“Your friend Valentine 6 then?” said Vivian.
“She’s coming in your minivan,” said Richard, holding up the binoculars. “That’s a sedan.”
The headlights had come to a stop and the faint sound of a car door slamming drifted across the water.
“Let me see those,” said Tess, taking the binoculars from Richard. She peered through the lenses, then handed them back to Richard. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she said, and before Richard or Vivian could stop her, she had run to the canoe and was pushing off the shore.