Page 31 of The Other World

Finally, we came to a stop. Tennyson pointed toward an open door.

“He’s in there,” said Nikolai.

Mrs Spencer and I exchanged a glance.

“You go first,” I told her.

I hung back, not wanting to intrude on their reunion after such a long time, but as she got to the doorway, she stopped in her tracks, looking back at me uncertainly.

“Is he there?” I asked, stepping forward.

“I’m here,” came Sam’s voice from inside the cell. It rang out hollowly.

I crept up to the doorway, hardly wanting to see whatever was going on with Sam, after seeing his mother’s reaction.

But there was nothing wrong with him. He sat on his bed in the cell, much the same as when I had been there last, except that the door was open.

“We’ve come to take you home,” I told him. “We’ve opened a doorway. To our world. It’s completely safe.”

I assumed it was completely safe, anyway. Definitely safer than staying there, at any rate.

“No,” he said.

“Why?” said Mrs Spencer, her voice full of tears. “My baby angel, why would you want to stay in such a place?”

Sam shook his head, not answering her. He didn’t even look at her. “That is not my mother,” he said.

“It is, Sam,” I said, daring to take another step into the room. “We’ve been told a lot of lies, but this is really her. She’s alive. Everyone’s fine and we want you to come home.”

He lifted his eyes to meet mine then, and I took a step back at all the hate and rage inside them.

“No,” he said.

I glanced back at Mrs Spencer helplessly. I didn’t know what to say to that, how to combat all his pain and self-loathing.

“Come on now, sweet boy,” she said, entering the room fully and taking a seat on the bed beside him. “See here, I’m as real as anything, flesh and blood. I know you want to punish yourself for things outside your control, but you can do that just as well at home, instead of some dinky parallel universe, can’t you.”

Sam shook his head, staring at his feet.

There was a noise behind me and I turned to find not-Tennyson gesturing down the hallway.

“Someone’s coming,” Nikolai translated. “We don’t have time for his ethical crisis or whatever.”

I nodded. I’d been afraid he’d be reluctant, but I knew I couldn’t leave him here, no matter what. I took out a little pouch Hannah had given me and took out a pinch of the powder inside, then turned back into the cell.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” I told him. “I hope you’ll forgive me for this.”

I blew the powder directly into his face. He spluttered for a moment, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he sunk down onto the bed.

“That poor, sweet dear,” said his mother, as not-Tennyson pulled Sam onto his back awkwardly. We’d strapped a makeshift harness to not-Tennyson in case we couldn’t talk Sam into coming on his own, but I’d hoped he wouldn’t have to use it. Because Sam was so tall, it was hard to buckle him into it without his legs dragging along the ground behind them, especially since we were in a hurry to avoid whoever was on their way, but we got it done, more or less. Not-Tennyson was so strong in his half-transformed state that he probably could have thrown Sam over a shoulder and carried him without much effort, but that would’ve made it hard to climb back up the ladder.

As it was, it was awkward enough. Sam’s feet dragged along behind Tennyson, his arms flopping around. We were in no way stealthy, that was for sure.

Tennyson led the way up the ladder, which slowed our progress a bit, though not as much as I’d expected. We went in reverse order this time, with me climbing last, but as we got near the top, I called to them to go ahead without me.

“There’s just something I want to check,” I said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Mrs Spencer hesitated but I wanted to do this without her.

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