Page 23 of The Other World

I expected to be in a cell in my not-dad’s compound, or maybe hiding out in the forest. I did not expect to wake up, tied to a chair, being glared at by my own face. I could recognize the library in the Golden House, even with all the changes. The layout was basically the same, just the furnishings were more of a Victorian Gothic aesthetic than the classic elegance I was used to in that house. It seemed more a grey house than golden, but that might have been because of the heavy drapes that covered the windows, blocking any light and making everything a dull monochrome. Or it could’ve been from the cracking pain in my skull.

Other-me poked me in the cheek, not gently.

“She’s awake,” she said.

Nikolai was sprawled in his usual wingback chair, affecting an air of unconcern. Tennyson and Althea were there too, but they sat huddled together on a chaise lounge, looking out of place and uncomfortable. It was a world away from my pack being all together, literally, and yet something felt right about seeing the four of them together.

“Who are you?” Other-me demanded. She scowled at me, and then pinched the end of my nose, wiggling it as if she was trying to pull it off. I shook my head to get out of her grip.

“What are you doing?” I asked her. “I’m not wearing a mask.”

She stepped back and folded her arms, staring at me. “So, what? You’re like Nicolas Cage inFace Off?”

I don’t know why, but it was somehow reassuring to know that this world had its very own Nicolas Cage. Things couldn’t be so very different here after all.

“No,” I said. “And if I were,you’dbe the Nicolas Cage.”

She scoffed, but I ignored her. Had I always been this annoying?

“I’m from a parallel world,” I told her.

She rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes right back at her. “My friend fell into this world by accident, so I came here to bring him home.”

“That’s who you were trying to free, back there?” Nikolai asked, even though he knew this. I’d told him. Was he playing dumb for Other-me? Or was he playing some other game? Either way, I didn’t know the rules.

I turned to him, as much as I could while tied to the chair. “Did you see him? Did he get out?”

Althea snorted. It was such an un-Althea noise that it startled me. “As if he’d know. As soon as he had the chance, he ran away, back through the teleportation door, or whatever it was. Leaving us with that butcher like the traitor that he is.” She spat. I decided to never, ever tell my Althea that I’d seen her spit. “We followed him through and ended up back here.” She sneered as she looked around the library.

“And in the process, ruining all our carefully laid plans,” said Other-me. “It tookyearsfor my father to begin to trust Nikolai. He barely trustsme, probably not at all now.”

She turned to Nikolai. “Do you think I could turn her over to him? Tell him she’s some sort of spy and that you were working under duress?”

Nikolai shifted in his chair, hooking his legs over the arm. “You’d have to get close enough to him first, and that might be a problem.”

Other-me paced back and forth in front of me, with her arms folded across her chest. It was so surreal to watch, this mirror-pack trying to work out their problems.

“Hang on a second,” I said. Other-me spun to glare at me, but I turned toward Nikolai. “Didn’t you say that your whole big plan was to taser not-dad and lock him in his own dungeons? That’snot exactly the most foolproof plan in the universe, you know. Did it really take you years to come up with that?”

Nikolai and Other-me exchanged a glance.

“So that wasn’t the whole plan,” I said. “What was the rest of it?”

Nikolai opened his mouth to speak but Other-me held up a finger to stop him.

“We have no proof that you are who you say you are,” she said, imperiously. “We’re not about to tell you the details of our plan. If, in fact, we have a plan at all.”

I sighed. It was fair enough, but still annoying. I turned to Tennyson and Althea.

“I helped you both escape,” I said. “Do you think you could get me out of here?”

Tennyson got to his feet. Other-me raised her finger at him this time, as if trying to get a disobedient puppy to sit, but he ignored her and came over to cut the ties around my arms with a flick of his claws.

“Thank you,” I said.

He nodded, then went back to sit next to Althea.

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