One (One Universe)

heat.” She used her firm tone of voice, the one that told me the conversation was over, even though I still had more questions. I had no choice but to follow her into the house and ignore the fear already twisting my insides into knots.
    *~*
    “Lexie, your Dad’s on the phone,” Mom called from downstairs later that night.
    I tugged my headphones off with a frown. The music was the only thing keeping me from freaking out about what had happened at the mall. Now Dad was on the phone? What the hell was going on?
    “What does he want?” I called back.
    “I don’t know, just pick up the phone.”
    I sighed and stared at the phone beside my bed. I hadn’t talked to Dad in over a month. He’d been away on some sort of top-secret research trip to Japan. And before that, he had been busy at work. Talking to his daughter had never exactly been a priority. Why would he choose now, of all days to call?
    A sudden lump formed in my throat. Even worse, what exactly was I supposed to say to him? About Mom? The gun? Or that weird flash of knowledge I’d had?
    Even worse, that hadn’t been the first time I’d felt that strange zap in my brain and had a weird surge of knowledge. It had happened just a few months ago, while I was taking a math test. All the answers popped into my head without even having to work at them. Yeah, it had freaked me out then too. But I thought it was a fluke. Now I wasn’t so sure.
    I pushed aside all of that and took a deep breath. “Hey, Dad.”
    “Lexie, honey. How are you?”
    I ignored the surge of homesickness I felt at his warm, familiar voice. “Fine. How was your trip?”
    “It went really well. I think Quantum Technologies is going to be opening a new branch in Tokyo.”
    My stomach clenched and I clutched the phone in my suddenly sweaty fist. “Are they sending you over to open it?”
    Dad let out a surprised laugh. “Oh no, that’ll be someone else’s job. I just went to scope out the location and talk to some of their scientists.”
    I forced my hand to relax. I barely saw Dad now, it wouldn’t really matter if he moved to Japan. Much. “Cool. So, um, what’s up?”
    “I wanted to see how you were doing.”
    “I’m fine.” Mostly. If I didn’t think too hard about what had happened today.
    Oh my god. Was what he was calling about? Had Mom said something? But that was unlikely, she never talked to Dad if she could help it.
    “Your mom said you’d been having some headaches lately. Are you still taking your ADHD meds?”
    Well evidently she’d told him something . “Yeah, of course. It’s nothing, I’m sure it’s just the heat.”
    “Just make sure to tell your mom if they get worse, okay? I worry about you.”
    I frowned at the mouthpiece. Mom had basically said the same thing earlier when she explained about the gun. My skin erupted in goosebumps. “Why are you guys so worried about me all of a sudden?”
    Dad paused, then said softly, “We’re your parents. It’s what we do.”
    “Not like this. It’s like you guys are watching for something. What, am I suddenly going to develop magical powers?”
    “Of course not. There’s no such thing as magic.”
    “It was a joke, Dad.” I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wondered if the job description for rocket scientists had a no sense of humor requirement. “Just forget it. It doesn’t matter. I’m fine.”
    Another awkward pause stretched between us. “So how’s that little project of ours going?”
    I gritted my teeth. The little project wasn’t so little, especially after he’d abandoned me to work on it alone. “It’s just fine. No thanks to you.”
    “Sweetie, I’m sorry. You know how crazy it gets here at QT.”
    “I know that you dumped some circuit boards and project plans on my desk six months ago and expected me to take care of it. Well you know what? I did. The quantum sensor is up and running, I attached the thermometer to the heat sink, and it’s ready to start reading the gamma ray spectra of nuclear materials. If I had access to any. Look at me, I’m a freaking genius for figuring it out.”
    Dad cleared his throat uncomfortably. “What did you do about the infrared sensitivity?”
    “I re-designed the bolometer to measure the electromagnetic radiation.”
    “Wow. I’m impressed. That’s really advanced work.”
    And I’d figured it all out on my own. When he suggested the project, I’d thought finally we might have something to work through together. Something in common.