Adaptation (18 page)

Reese shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Her mom totally knew what she was talking about. “Thanks, that’s very helpful.”

But Reese wasn’t entirely reassured. Now she found herself wondering, if the NDA wouldn’t hold water in court, why had the government asked her to sign it? Were they just trying to scare her? Or had she really seen something at that hospital that was so important, it needed to remain classified at all costs?

After her mom went to bed, Reese entered the term
Area 51
into the search engine. She remembered Julian’s first assumptions upon learning where she had crashed the car, and the more she thought about it, the more curious she became. A billion results seemed to pop up in response to her query: websites, images, wiki entries heavy with footnotes and external links. She was drawn to the photos first, clicking through one after another of brown desert, pale buildings seen from above, distant mountains, and clusters of signs:

WARNING: Military Installation.

It is unlawful to enter this installation without the written permission of the
installation commander.

Maximum punishment: $1000 fine six months imprisonment or both.

The landscape in the background behind the signs did look familiar, but was that because everything in that part of Nevada was similar?

She decided to try a different tactic. She could retrace online the route she and David had driven from Las Vegas and see if it ended up in the vicinity of Area 51. She started her search at Ash Springs, where they had bought gas. The interactive map allowed her to zoom in on the image of the gas station, and then she followed the highway north until she saw the turnoff for the Extraterrestrial Highway. When she passed her mouse over a square dot on the landscape, it expanded into a sharp image of the Alien Fresh Jerky sign.

Zooming out, she followed the light gray stripe of road to the west. She didn’t know exactly how far they had driven before the accident, but the only thing between the Alien Fresh Jerky sign and the next highway—which she knew she hadn’t reached that night—was a cluster of flat-roofed buildings and a few empty airstrips. There were multiple pinpoints on the map, left by tourists eager to share their findings. The markers opened into images of a dusty road leading through the desert to nowhere. One photo showed a white truck parked on a hill. All the photos were labeled with the same words:
AREA 51
.

Was that really where she and David had spent those twenty-nine days?

On impulse, she searched for
Area 51 and PLATO
. The string of websites that resulted was dizzying, containing layer upon layer of confusing and sometimes contradictory conspiracy theories about extraterrestrial visitors. The more she read, the more she felt as if she had tumbled through a rabbit hole into a dimension in which the ordinary world was less realistic than this universe of shadowy conspiracies.

On Bin 42, she found a post detailing something called Project Aquarius, supposedly established by President Eisenhower in the early 1950s to investigate all UFOs and contact with extraterrestrial biological entities. The post provided a list of black projects associated with Aquarius. Sigma’s goal was to establish communications with aliens; Pounce would evaluate UFOs for space technology; Redlight would recover an extraterrestrial craft; Snowbird would rebuild it. But another project jumped out at her. Project Plato was reportedly established in 1960 with the goal of establishing diplomatic relations with aliens. It also involved cooperation between the United States government and the extraterrestrials to abduct humans for the purpose of biological research.

She picked up the hospital bracelet and studied the words stamped on it:
PLATO PA83 HOLLOWAY
. If it was the same Plato, that would mean, first of all, that she believed these conspiracy theories. She didn’t know if she was ready to buy in yet. Second, it would mean that extraterrestrials existed and had in fact visited the Earth, an idea that seemed too far-fetched to be plausible. How could the arrival of extraterrestrials have been kept secret for so long? Third, it raised a ton of questions about what exactly had happened to her—and David—at the hospital.

That was the part that terrified her the most, because even if she didn’t believe these websites, the fact remained that something had been done to her and David at this place that seemed to correspond to Area 51. And she had no real idea what had been done—only that it was so classified, she couldn’t even admit to having been at that hospital. A chill swept over her as she eyed the bracelet.

She suddenly remembered that she was supposed to call David back, but when she picked up her phone, she saw that it was after midnight already. It was too late; she’d have to call him in the morning. While she was holding the phone, it buzzed. She nearly dropped it in surprise. A text message from Amber came through.

> Just found out citywide curfew’s being lifted Sunday. Can I take you out on a date? Dinner and dancing, like the olden days. I will look up some places. XO, A.

It was surreal to be holding the bracelet in one hand and the phone in the other. The collision of the two worlds was jarring. Reese opened the top drawer of her desk, dropping the bracelet in and slamming it shut. Then she texted back: Yes.

Dinner at the Arens house was an island of normalcy
in the middle of an increasingly bizarre world, and Reese tried to relax into it. Daniel and Celeste Arens were great cooks, and Saturday night they made honey-barbecued beef ribs and a lemony green salad—“From our farm,” Celeste noted proudly—and roasted sweet potatoes. The ribs were delicious, sticky and spicy-sweet, but Reese still couldn’t forget about the unsettling conversation she’d had with David earlier in the day. She had told him about her mom’s assessment of the nondisclosure agreement as well as what she’d found out online. “Do you think I’m crazy?” she asked, forcing a laugh.

“No, but you might think I am.”

“Why?”

“I thought I saw Agent Menzel yesterday.”

Reese’s fingers tightened over her phone. “You mean one of those agents who brought us back from Nevada?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“Down the street from my house. But when I went to look, he was gone.” He sounded frustrated. “I swear, I’m not making this up. I’ve been feeling like someone was following me for a couple of days now, but I’ve never been able to see who it was.”

Reese remembered her sighting of the man in black at Cypress Lawn cemetery; she had never told David about it because he had left before she returned to the memorial service. “I thought I saw someone at Mr. Chapman’s funeral,” she said now. “I wasn’t sure, because I never saw his face.”

“Have you seen anyone since then?”

“No.”

On the way to dinner Reese kept her eyes peeled, but she hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. She jumped when Celeste picked up her empty plate and asked if she wanted dessert. The dining room was a world away from where she had been in her mind.

“You look like you’ve been daydreaming,” Celeste said. “Anything in particular?”

She shook her head and saw Julian give her a curious glance. “No, sorry. I’m just tired. Of course I’d love dessert.”

It was a strawberry-rhubarb crisp served with vanilla ice cream, and Reese concentrated on each bite, willing herself to focus on what she was eating instead of who might be lurking outside. The fruit had softened into tangy, tender spoonfuls topped with the crunch of brown sugar and oatmeal. As the ice
cream melted cool and sweet over the crust, Reese felt the tension in her muscles easing. By the time she scraped the bottom of the bowl, she felt almost normal again.

Julian’s older sister, Serafina, was home that night too, and after dinner the three of them retreated to the family room to play video games. Sera refused to play anything except Cannon Ball, in which they competed to shoot the most number of bubbles out of the sky before being crushed by falling cannons. With three players, it got pretty competitive, and after a few heated rounds Reese excused herself to refill her water glass, leaving Julian and his sister battling it out to the next level.

She was outside the archway to the kitchen when she heard her mom talking to Celeste. “He apologized to Reese,” her mom was saying.

Reese halted at the sound of her name.

“How did she take it?” Celeste asked.

“She seemed a little stunned.”

“Well, how do you feel about it?”

“I don’t know.” Her mom sounded upset. “I’m always going to love that man, you know. I can’t help it.”

There was silence for a while, and then Reese heard her mother sigh. Celeste said, “I know.”

Reese was about to move away from the door, feeling distinctly uncomfortable, when her mom said, “You’d think he would quit while he’s ahead. I was all set to forgive him after he told me he was going to apologize to Reese, and then he had to tell me that he still loves that other woman. Lydia.”

Celeste made a soothing noise. “Oh, Cat—”

“What is he thinking?” her mom demanded, her voice rising.
“He told me that we’re the only two women he’s ever loved, and that he wants me to understand he can love more than one woman at a time. How am I supposed to take that?” Her words were slightly slurred, and a glass banged down on the counter. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“I don’t know. Maybe for men? I don’t see how it’s possible for women. I think you love one person, and you commit to it. Honestly, you know how I feel about Rick’s various reasons. Do you think he’s making any real progress?”

Her mom groaned. “I don’t know. He’s seeing a therapist—I can tell by the way he’s changing his sentences. He’s using ‘I’ statements now. He’s trying. I just don’t know how much longer I’m willing to stick it out. It’s been so long. Twenty years?” A chair scraped across the floor. “Shit, it’s getting late. I have to get home before the curfew.”

Reese hastily backed away from the door, but she had only made it across the front hall before her mom and Celeste appeared.

“Oh, Reese, I was just coming to get you,” her mom said. She rubbed a hand over her reddened eyes. “I think we’d better get home. It’s almost nine.”

“Okay.” Reese wished she hadn’t overheard that conversation. It was like accidentally seeing your parents make out; you could never un-see it.

Celeste gave her a shrewd look. “Are you all right, sweetie?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Reese said, pasting a thin smile on her face. “Julian and Sera were kicking my ass in Cannon Ball.”

“Do you think you could drive us home?” her mom asked. “I had two glasses of wine and the cops are gonna be out tonight.”
She slid an arm around Reese’s shoulders, and Reese wobbled. It was as if she could feel her mom’s tipsiness in her own body: a kind of blurring sensation, along with a pleasant warmth in her stomach. “It would be bad news for the assistant DA to get pulled over on a drunk-driving charge,” her mom whispered conspiratorially. “Even though I’m not drunk. I just had two glasses of wine.”

“Maybe three,” Celeste said.

“
Maybe
,” her mom admitted.

“Sure, Mom. I’ll drive.”

“Oh, good. That’s one benefit of you growing up.” Suddenly her mom seemed on the verge of tears, and she squeezed Reese closer. The blurred feeling intensified, and the room briefly swam before Reese’s eyes. “You’re growing up so fast,” her mom said, her voice thickening. “I just want you to be happy, honey.”

“I am,” Reese said, embarrassed and confused. Why did she feel so weird?

“Don’t scare the child,” Celeste said. “She’s not an adult yet.”

Julian and his sister came into the hall, and when Reese’s mom saw them she exclaimed, “Julian! You’re so tall now—and so handsome. Are you growing a beard?”

Her mom left her side, and the blurriness abruptly ended. Reese took a step back, breathing shallowly as her vision returned to normal. Had she just had another hallucination, like that night David had come over?

Her mom was cupping Julian’s face in her hands, making him squirm as she praised him. “And Serafina,” she continued, moving to caress Sera’s smooth brown cheek. “So lovely. You look just like your mother.”

“Thanks,” Serafina said with a grin.

“All right, all right, let’s get going,” Celeste said, herding Reese and her mom toward the door. “I don’t want to bail you out of jail in twenty minutes when you miss the curfew. Bye now.”

“Bye, Celeste. Tell Daniel to stop working and keep you company. It’s Saturday night,” Reese’s mom said, kissing her friend on the cheek.

Julian made a face in the background, and Sera covered her mouth with her hand.

“Bye, you guys,” Reese said, taking the car keys from her mother.

But when she climbed into the driver’s seat, she realized this was the first time she had driven a car since the accident in Nevada. She was paralyzed as she flashed back to the bird’s eyes in the headlights, the screeching tires on the dark highway. Her skin grew hot as she tried to force back the memories. There was no time for this; she had to drive them home.