10:30, The Day Before Yesterday

Book 1 Chapter II - New York

Chapter 2 - New York

Dani, currently ignorant of the fact she would have an uninvited guest along on her trip, went to Enniskillen Library as soon as she left the Browns' home and started searching the newspapers for any and every mention of the murders in New York. Jackson was right; most of the newspapers drew a veil over just how horrific the girls' injuries were, but what they did say showed that the murderer deserved the "Jack The Ripper II" nickname he or she had been given.

She left the library feeling like she'd just watched a particularly gruesome horror movie, and she really did not want to think about what sort of nightmares she'd have tonight.

Seriously, you faced a zombie army made of the remains of aborted babies and a psychotic vampire who kept replacing herself with a robot, and you got a scythe through your stomach saving David, but you're frightened by news reports? a little voice in her head said incredulously.

When all that happened, I was sort of busy with trying to save my life so I didn't exactly have time to think about everything that was happening, she retorted, even if that wasn't strictly true.

She returned to her temporary home in a not exactly peaceful state of mind, having imagined murderers lurking in every shadow, to find Richard and Legina, her brother and sister, having sandwiches while listening to the radio.

Dani was in the process of making herself a sandwich when she heard something on the radio that caught her attention instantly.

"Jack The Ripper II, the terror of New York, has struck again," said the news reporter - rather melodramatically, in Dani's opinion. "This time, the victim, who had disappeared some time before and cannot be named for legal reasons, survived the attack, and has been taken to the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital that also cannot be named to protect her and her family's privacy." Surely not even mentioning the name of the hospital was taking "protecting privacy" to extremes.

"The victim was conscious enough when she was found to repeat "10:30, the day before yesterday", but the meaning of this phrase is currently unknown."

At this point, Legina leaned over and turned off the radio.

"Is it just me or has the news lately been nothing but murders, robberies and kidnappings?" she complained. "I'm sick of hearing that depressing stuff."

"Why, exactly, is Mr. Brown sending you to New York?" Richard said suddenly, looking at Dani.

Dani froze with her sandwich half-way to her mouth. But alas, since the radio was switched off there was no way she could pretend not to have heard the question, and now both Richard and Legina were staring at her.

"I... um... I wanted to go," she said, somewhat lamely. "Because I've never been to New York..."

Her brother gave her a look that made her wonder if perhaps Jackson had told him all about InGEN and why she was really going there. "It might be dangerous, with this killer wandering around."

Luckily, no one said any more about it, and Dani was relieved when supper, such as it was, was over.

The next few days consisted entirely of packing, realising something had been forgotten, unpacking and re-packing, deciding that something really wasn't necessary, unpacking and re-packing again, and Lacey going through her suitcases just when Dani thought everything was finally sorted out.

"You are not taking five extremely heavy suitcases with you," Lacey said as she surveyed Dani's luggage. "For one thing, you'll never be able to carry them all. For another, where on earth do you plan to put them on a plane?"