Fractured | The Portal Series book 1

Chapter 29 - Claire

6:56 a.m. BTS – 8/28/341 U.M.

3:56 p.m. SWT – 8/28/341 U.M.

I go back over to Soria's forty-five minutes after the Leaders leave, not wanting to endanger Soria any longer than necessary. I made sure that I wasn't followed, and rush hour is beginning, so it isn't odd that I am out and about.

Soria's mother gives me the cold shoulder again, but then Soria appears and envelops me in a rib–cracking hug. When she finally lets go, I take a gasp of air and give the first smile I have had all day.

"Come," Soria says, glancing over to her mother, who is watching me suspiciously. My friend drags me up the spiral staircase and pushes me into her room and locks the door behind her. "Alright," she says, sitting me down on the carpet. She pulls the bag out of the closet and sits across from me. "I know you said not to look, but after what I heard—"

"What did you hear?" I ask, sharper than I meant.

She looks uncomfortable. "My mom's co-worker's friend's sister came over—do not ask—and she said that your sphere was being searched. She seemed... happy about it." She gives an expression of disgust.

"It's true," I tell her. I rub my face with my hands.

"So then," she continues, "I was wondering what was in here."

"You didn't show anybody, did you?" I ask worriedly.

"No," she says gravely, unzipping the bag, "But I did eat one of the pieces of gum."

I stare at her for several seconds, and she stares back with a grimace. Then, I start laughing. Soria, looking relieved that I'm not mad, starts laughing too.

"I—" I wheeze, "I thought you would be angry with me... having all this Earthian stuff."

"I was a little, at first," Soria admits, pulling out the gum and t–shirts, "But then I realized that I would not want to share this with anybody, in case they turned me in. And besides, you said that you would explain everything to me later."

"I should've told you before," I tell her guiltily, "When we were talking about Earth...."

"I have one question," she states, her face suddenly serious, "Did you go through the portal? Was Tehglo letting you go to Earth?"

I take a deep breath, and hesitate. My face is enough of an answer for Soria, and she nods.

"Was that why you were there when he was kidnapped?"

My shoulders slump. "It was all my fault, Soria. I—"

"It was not your fault," she says sternly.

I open my mouth, ready to tell her exactly why it is my fault, but then pause. It seems too much to explain.

"Do not worry," Soria says, smiling with all of her teeth, "I will keep your secret. But I really would like to know, where did you get all this? Have you kept it this whole time?"

"Some of it," I say, as she pulls out a tablet and examines it with interest. It is obviously foreign.

"Wait, what's that?" I ask. I saw plenty of tablets on Earth just like it, but I have never seen this particular one before.

"That is what I was asking you," Soria says, handing it to me.

"Well, I know what it is," I explain, "It's a tablet. Once you turn it on, everything's all the same—zeroes and ones." Is this one of my parents' tablets? I thought that they tossed theirs years ago. That's what they told me, anyway.

"Whatever. I will not judge."

I put the tablet back in the bag, and look up at my friend. "Soria, I—" I don't know what to say. Something to express the gratitude for having her as a friend, one that doesn't even care that I went to Earth.

"You are welcome," she says, before I can finish my sentence. "I told you on the day we met that I did not care that you are an Earthling. Besides. I think it is so cool that you went to Earth—that your family is from there. You get to be different."

"Huh?"

"I am the same as everyone else here," she explains, gesturing to the window, "You get to stand out. Be... not normal."

She pulls out the parrot shirt I bought and shakes it out.

"See, this is beautiful," she continues, "But it is different. This," she plucks at the one she is currently wearing, which is plain gray, "This is ordinary. Dull."

"You aren't a boring gray shirt, Soria."

"I know," she says mildly, looking like she doesn't believe it.

"You are your own person," I say, "You aren't a clone. And besides. Being different isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Soria smiles weakly, for once not showing all her teeth.

"C'mon," I say bracingly, punching her affectionately on the arm, "Let me show you some stuff I got from Earth. I'll let you have some gum!" I say the last sentence in a sing-song voice, waving a box temptingly in front of her.

This time, the smile is real.