“You know what bothers me?” Bette asked, trying to clear the clouds in her brain. “Number 3 is very permanent in all our calculations…maybe there’s some significance to it?”

“I don’t know…I’ve read before about symbolism of numbers 3, 7 and 12 but I don’t remember what they represent. I guess we have to do some research,” Tina responded, taking a drink of her Iced Tea.

“And the question still remains…if Clarice was an oracle and somehow traveled through the time portal, how did she end up in North Carolina if the entrance and exit of the portal are in California?”

“Well, if she knew who I was or at least who my grandma was then maybe Clarice is related to me somehow? And when she appeared in Orange County in 1995 she must have tried to locate my grandma…I am so lost,” Tina looked so helpless that somehow it affected Bette, who felt the fear settling in again.

“This is so creepy, T…I feel like someone is messing with our minds, sending all these clues and making us confused. I feel like something is missing…like there’s this one important piece of puzzle I have to find and if I won’t figure out what it is soon, I’m going to lose you.”

“You won’t lose me, baby, it will never happen. We just need to look at this situation by re-visiting all of the facts that we know, but we need reinforcements. Someone who’s crazy enough to think of all kind of different solutions.”

“Is there’s someone you have in mind?” Bette smiled knowingly.

“Well…Alice is really good at finding about things and she was the one who sort of started this chain of mysterious events, so she should be the one to help.”

As if on cue, they heard a cheerful voice of their friend who was coming to the back porch from Shane and Carmen’s house, “Hey lovebirds…sorry for interrupting your cozy afternoon together.”

“What’s going on?” Tina asked, looking at Bette and making sure she was okay.

“The reason we’ve gathered here, your friends and family…because we really do consider you guys a family…is to perform an intervention.”

Bette and Tina looked at each other and then at Alice, who was followed by the whole gang, including Kit. Bette hurriedly wiped away some of her tears and glanced at Kit with amusement.