Page 11 of The Other World

“It will be worse if he thinks you’re ill,” Nikolai said. Which was interesting. “I can make the report. I’ll just tell him you got caught up researching for the project, at least that’s something he’ll understand. You go on upstairs and get some rest.” He gave me another strange look. This one seemed worried, though that didn’t seem a natural expression on his face. “Just let me know if anything else changes. We can’t be too careful.”

I shrugged. What would Other-me say to that? “You just want to take credit for my work.”

The worry slipped from his face, replaced with a much more familiar smirk. “Of course.”

It was tempting to follow him and eavesdrop on his meeting with my not-father, but if Other-me was meant to meet them there, it was too dangerous. Better to snoop around the house a bit with them distracted.

Without thinking, I headed straight up to Tennyson’s room. The layout of the house was the same, even if the vibe was more Addams Family. At least there were no severed hands creeping around. At least, that I could see. Though, that wouldn’t be nearly as bad as my creepy father creeping around.

Tennyson’s room was not actually Tennyson’s room in this world. It was very obviously Other-me’s room. There were selfies pinned up of me all over one wall, of me with Nikolai, me with one or other of the Stephanies, and a bunch of other people that looked familiar but I couldn’t place. That jerk Astor was inmore than a few though, gross. And in them all, I was making an insufferable duck face. It made me want to punch myself.

The room itself was very frilly. Not so much of the goth princess vibe as actual princess. This me really thought a lot of herself. There was a rack of dresses where Tennyson’s bookshelf should be. A giant vanity instead of our favorite loveseat. A stack of fashion magazines beside the bed andewI was on the cover of at least the top one, looking all pouty and pretentious, and about thirty years older than I actually was. I couldn’t imagine a version of myself that was into all this stuff.

Though, I could imagine a version of myself that was into that bed. And that version was me. That bed looked so soft, with giant pillows and silk sheets. I flopped down on it and within seconds, I was out.

And I was back at the tree.

I said another bad swear.

CHAPTER SEVEN

For a momentI thought it was another Groundhog Day situation like when I’d been stuck in that time loop, but this definitely wasn’t that other world, it was my own. It was my magic tree, and I was surrounded by Tennyson, Althea, Nikolai, and Hannah.

“She’s awake,” said Hannah.

I wasn’t sure who she was telling, as everyone was already huddled around where I was slumped against the tree trunk, but after a moment, Mrs Spencer pushed Nikolai and Althea aside and took my arm, feeling for my pulse.

“Tell us everything before you forget,” she said, dropping my arm and placing the back of her hand against my forehead.

So, I told them everything, ignoring Nikolai’s sniggers at the parts about him.

When I’d finished, I had a few questions of my own. “What was that?” I asked. “A dream? A hallucination? And how did I get here, we were back at the Manor. How did you even get back so fast?” I looked at Tennyson. It took a few hours to travel back to school from his house and I surely hadn’t been out that long.

“It’s been a day and a half,” he said, and now that I looked, I could see the strain on his face, the shadows under his eyes and tension in his jaw. “You were unconscious the whole time. I thought maybe the tea really had been poisoned.”

He shot a look at Mrs Spencer and I wondered why he hadn’t locked her back up if he thought that.

“Youwere fine,” she told him, more snappishly than I’d ever heard her speak to anyone. “If I was serving up poisoned tea, I’d make sure it took you out first.”

From her tone, it seemed like she and Tennyson had not been on the best terms while I was out.

She turned back to me and smiled. “Your physical body was here but your astral body went to that other world. We didn’t have the sword, so I guess that’s why the rest of us got left behind. If we’d had it, we could’ve made a bigger door for us all to fit through, but only you could travel through the spirit realm, so you had to go alone.”

Nothing that she said lined up with what I’d read about quantum physics, but it did seem much easier to understand, so there was that.

“When you return to that world, we’ll keep someone here guarding your body to make sure you stay safe. Although in that world, you’re really only a spirit, you’ll seem just as real as you are here. And since youlookreal, your body will react as if it’s real while you’re there. If you get hurt, you’ll feel it, and it could even cause your real body back here to get injured, so don’t go acting crazy while you’re there, or you’ll pay for it back here.”

I nodded. “LikeNightmare on Elm Street,” I said.

“You were right to stick close to that version of Nikolai,” she continued. “There will be parallels between the two worlds, they’ll be the biggest clues to finding what you need.”

“Sam?” I asked. “Or the relic?” I hadn’t found any clues that might lead me to either, though I’d barely been there five minutes.

She gave me a sad smile. “Or a way to defeat your father.”

“Okay now,” said Tennyson, moving to help me up. “That’s enough. She doesn’t need to go back there unless she wants to, and I’m still not convinced Sam is even there.”

“She’ll have to go back. When she falls asleep here, she’ll wake there, and the same there to here. That is, until we find that sword and can fix what went wrong.”

---