Deceived Read online

  In fact, the correct term for what she considered herself was “Demisexual.” It had taken Caroline years to figure it out—for a long time she’d thought she wasn’t attracted to anyone of either sex at all. She watched as all her girlfriends went through numerous crushes—falling in “love at first sight” with any halfway decent-looking guy who came along and wondered why she never felt such feelings herself. Then, just when she had decided she was completely asexual, she had fallen in love with James, her best friend in high school.

  Unfortunately, James was gay and couldn’t return her feelings. He was kind though and they had salvaged the friendship despite Caroline’s intense longing for him. Eventually the overwhelming emotion had faded and they still kept in touch to this day.

  It was years and several failed relationships later when she finally heard the word that described her. A Demisexual was someone who couldn’t have sexual feelings for someone until after they had an intense emotional connection with that person. It didn’t make them sexless—on the contrary, Caroline had what she considered an extremely high sex drive. She just couldn’t seem to connect to anyone other than her vibrator in order to satiate her cravings.

  She often thought that if only she could take things slowly, she might be able to fall in love and give herself completely to a man. If only things moved at the pace they had a hundred years ago. A long, slow courtship like the kind in her favorite BBC period dramas would have been ideal for someone with her temperament.

  But alas, that wasn’t the reality of the dating scene today. It seemed you were expected to swipe right, meet up with a person, and instantly know—sometimes even before the first date was over—if the two of you were compatible.

  Caroline couldn’t move that fast. She needed time—and a man who was willing to woo her—to find love, she thought to herself. Not someone like the last guy she’d gone on a blind date with—who had decided she owed him sexual favors just because he’d bought her a burger and a beer at the local Red Robin. He had screamed in her face and called her a “fat bitch” when she declined to home with him for “a quick hook-up,” leaving Caroline trembling with tears of rage and shame standing in her eyes as he stormed out of the restaurant.

  That had been months ago and since then, Caroline had decided to just throw herself into her work and forget about finding Mr. Right. He didn’t exist as far as she was concerned—at least, not in this century. Until she met a Mr. Darcy or a Heathcliff or a Mr. Thornton, she was going to remain single.

  Of course, all this was too much to lay on new friends who she had just met so she kept things simple and hoped that Liv and Sophie and Kat would understand.

  “We get it,” Kat told her. “No trying to fix you up. Though it’s a shame, doll—you’re gorgeous. With that cloud of curls and your hourglass figure I know any number of Twin Kindred that would love to mate you. We plus-sized girls are like catnip for them.”

  “That’s really flattering,” Caroline said, smiling. “But I’m better off married to my work.”

  “Well, it looks like it’s been a pretty productive union,” Liv remarked. She walked over to the shiny brass frame of the PORTAL, which was rectangular and looked a little like an oversized mirror but with no glass in it. “Can you show us how it works or do we need some kind of protective gear to wear or something?”

  “The PORTAL generates a protective shield between our reality and the one we’re viewing so it should be as safe as opening a window in your house and looking outside,” Caroline said, walking over to stand beside her. “Would you like me to fire it up?”

  “Oh—would you really?” Sophie’s big green eyes sparkled. “We’d love to see it in action!”

  “And I’d love to show you,” Caroline said, smiling. She was glad she would have witnesses for PORTAL’s maiden run. Somehow, no matter how many scientific breakthroughs she made, they seemed hollow when she didn’t have anyone to share her excitement.

  She pushed up the sleeves of her long white lab coat, pressed the ignition button, and reached for the wheel that cycled PORTAL’s aperture open. She liked the cranking mechanism and the shiny brass trim of her machine—it looked very steampunk and Caroline had designed it that way on purpose. After all, what was the point of making a machine that could peal back the layers of reality and look at the universes underneath if it didn’t have a little style?

  “Oh—I like your tattoo—what does it mean?” Liv asked, looking at the inside of her left wrist.

  Caroline paused what she was doing and glanced down at the three tiny sparrows frozen in mid-flight. She had gotten the tattoo right after her mom and dad passed away—killed in a small plane crash.

  “That’s supposed to be me and my folks,” she said, wishing her parents could see her now and be proud of her accomplishments. “My dad loved flying—it was kind of a family joke.”

  “You said he ‘loved’ flying? Did you lose him?” Sophie asked quietly.

  Caroline nodded. “Ten years ago—him and my mom both. I wasn’t even in grad school yet.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Sophie said quietly. “Liv and I lost our parents while we were in high school.”

  “I shouldn’t have asked,” Liv said quickly. “I’m interrupting your start-up procedure and bringing you down.”

  “No, you’re not,” Caroline protested. “I don’t mind talking about my tattoo or talking about my parents. It kind of makes me feel like they’re always with me, you know?” She gave an embarrassed little laugh. “I know that’s not very scientific but I can’t help it—it’s how I feel.”

  “I think it’s beautiful, doll,” Kat said, smiling at her. “I’m sure they’d be proud enough to burst if they could see you now.”

  “I hope you’re right. My dad was an aeronautical engineer and my mom was a professor of advanced mathematics,” Caroline said. “I kind of combined their fields when I was building PORTAL. Speaking of which, I think it’s warmed up now. Should we take a look at the universe next to ours?”

  “Oh yes—let’s!” Sophie exclaimed. “I can’t wait to see what’s out there!”

  Caroline felt a zing of excitement—she couldn’t wait either. With a reckless twist of the big brass wheel, she spun open the aperture and PORTAL’s huge brass frame suddenly filled with a broad swathe of space.

  All four girls gasped, Caroline included. Bright pinprick stars twinkled in the inky darkness but what drew their attention most was the familiar blue and green planet floating in the center.

  “Oh—that must be Earth!” Kat exclaimed. “It looks just like ours.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Liv said. “Look what’s missing—there are no satellites orbiting it!”

  It was true, Caroline saw, the space around this other Earth was completely devoid of satellites or any man-made material at all, including all the space-junk that had accumulated over the years since humans had started venturing into space.

  “I see the Mother Ship, though,” Sophie said, sounding excited. “So I guess the Kindred are there.”

  Caroline looked where she was pointing and saw the sleek, white sides of the vast ship, which was about a fourth the size of Earth’s moon, orbiting the new world. She wondered if their view would be drawn there. She had speculated in her notes that the PORTAL might show an observer the exact same spot in the observed universe that they currently were in their own universe.

  But even as she wondered, the view seemed to zoom in, past the Mother Ship and down to the surface of the planet. Caroline tried to guess which continent they were going to be seeing but the scene moved too fast and too much of the planet’s surface was obscured with clouds to tell.

  “Oh—we’re going forward!” Kat breathed. “Straight down to the surface of that other Earth—that’s so cool!”

  “It’s fascinating,” Caroline agreed in a breathless whisper. The reality was just beginning to sink in—PORTAL worked—it really worked! And they were seeing a whole new universe through its rectangular brass frame.