Stories Collide - A Stuart Gibbs Story

Chapter 7 - Questions and Answers

Perspective Switch: Benjamin Ripley

"What exactly will happen?" Asked Erica.

The agent hesitated. "To be honest, we aren't sure."

"What? How can you not be sure?"

The agent sighed. "Miss Hale, this is nothing like we have ever encountered before. It is all very mysterious. In the simplest way, think of this as an evil organization. They want something to happen, and we have to bring you guys together and fight it."

"So you say, there are some kind of parallel universes with different stories on them, and now they have all mashed together? And we are one story?" I asked incredulously. I doubted that that was correct.

The agent sighed again. "I know how that sounds, but simply, yes."

"And what does the cover look like?" said Mike sarcastically. "Who is the author? How many pages are there?"

The agent answered, "This is no joke. But the author is a man named Stuart Gibbs. He is very powerful, and is likely the reason these parallel worlds collided."

"Why would he want us to be in the same world?" I asked.

The agent paused. He looked worried.

"I- I think it's because he..."

He paused again. He looked at me thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure. Though I supposed he might want you to fight to the death."

I gagged. "What?"

"I said, he might want you to fight to the death."

I looked around to see how other people reacted to this statement.

Mike looked worried, Zoe looked worried, Chip looked confused, Jawa looked skeptical, and Erica said, "You said earlier that we needed to get the team together. The CIA must have a plan if we want to get together rather than apart."

The agent smiled. "Correct, Erica. We are not sure if he wants you to fight, and if he did, we would coordinate with the others to make sure that didn't happen."

"But then what would happen if we didn't? You said he's powerful, and he won't let us not do what he wants," Zoe pointed out.

"Miss Zibbell, we do not know. And he might not want you to fight. Only probably. Anyway, as many questions as there might be, we've told you all the CIA knows. It is time for me to show you some files."

The agent walked out of the principal's office and led us down a few flights of stairs. He paused on a landing and tapped a code out on the wall with a pen. In Morse code, it read:

RZZJSI73HD7XXX3MD8JSU3X9000J4XCZVSXX

To my astonishment, the wall slid aside.

The agent stepped into the room that was revealed and beckoned for us to follow him. Everyone was still recovering from the shock of the secret room except Erica. She looked bored.

The agent walked through sections and sections of places full of desks, filing cabinets, stationary, office chairs, printers, computers, wires, and many other things (including a half-eaten baloney and cheese sandwich someone had neglected to remove from the desk several weeks before. It had a thin coat of mold covering the top). Several agents were working on computers, writing notes, on the phone with another agent, or making copies of various papers. Some of the ones we passed looked surprised that there were students in the room, but they didn't say anything. Trailing behind our agent, we were obviously there for a purpose.

We finally reached the right office. The door was labeled 'JACOB HARLAN'. Agent Harlan walked briskly over to a computer and logged in. A window popped up.

He scrolled through various files and notes until he reached one that was labeled 'New Files of Mysterious Persons".

Harlan opened it. Inside, there were five main files, all names I had never seen before. Charlotte Thorne, Dashiell Gibson, Kira Howard, Theodore Fitzroy, and Summer McCracken. Agent Harlan began clicking through each one. First, he clicked on Charlotte's.

Apparently, Charlotte is a genius, with almost as high an IQ as Einstein's. She was pretty and looked smart and adventures.

The next one he clicked on was Dashiell Gibson. I was beginning to realize these files weren't normal ones. They showed specific personality traits and more opinions on them than usual files, such as annoying as sassy (Charlotte) and who they were friends with. Charlotte apparently worked with Milana Moon and Dante Garcia, whoever they were.

Dashiell was friends with Kira Howard, (who was also a key player in the story, according to Agent Harlan). It was said Dashiell was also smart. He wasn't as confident and rambunctious as Charlotte, nor as high an IQ as her, but still, smart. And according to the profile he was very kind.

The next one was Kira Howard. She was friends with Dashiell and liked to go places she wasn't supposed to.

Then, Agent Harlan opened Teddy Fitzroy's file. Teddy's parents appeared to work at 'FunJungle Zoo'. He was educated about animals and a good detective.

And finally, we reached Summer McCracken's file. Summer was apparently a celebrity and Teddy Fitzroy's friend. Her dad J.J. McCracken had founded FunJungle Zoo because it was Summer's idea. Her family was very wealthy. Summer's photo was beautiful. She had blue eyes and long, blonde hair.

After Agent Harlan finished showing the profiles, he looked at my friends and I expectantly.

Finally, after an awkward silence, Erica said, "So, these are the people we're supposed to find?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"Does anyone?"

"Not really."

"So... when do we start?"

"Tomorrow, at 0700 hours. Here are your supplies. You will meet me at the front gates at 0630." He handed us all satchels. I opened mine. There were night vision goggles, a bottle of chloroform and a rag, a grappling hook, my junior CIA badge, a small radio earpiece to keep in touch, as well as copies of the profiles Harlan had just showed us.

"So, this is it?" Asked Mike. "We meet you tomorrow at six thirty, and then we go into the unknown, not knowing where or how?"

"Brezinski, we do know where you're headed first," said Agent Harlan. "California."