Page 36 of The Other World

“She didn’t have it with her research, in that room with you, or I’d have grabbed it.”

I had no way of knowing if she’d left the compound while she’d been experimenting on me, or where she’d even go if she had. “We can check her room here,” I said. “If it’s not there or at the compound, then it could be anywhere.”

“She wouldn’t have taken it anywhere her father could find it,” Nikolai butted in.

I looked at him, surprised. Then I looked more closely. “What?” I said. “How?”

It wasn’t our Nikolai at all. It was the Nikolai from this world.

He shrugged. “We thought it would be funny to switch for a bit,” he said. “I didn’t know things would get so ugly and he’d be left behind.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “So, we have to rescue Nikolai as well.”

He shot me with finger guns. “But on the plus side, you have all the insider information you could ask for!”

That was true, he could be helpful.

“Can you get into her room and look for the sword?” I asked him.

“I can, but I’ll tell you right now that it won’t be there. She’ll keep it close, probably on her person. She wasn’t sure what it could do but she knew it had some sort of power so she wouldn’t leave it sitting around somewhere.”

That made sense, though it meant I’d have to deal with her again at some point before we could leave. I wasn’t strong enough yet, though.

“Could you tell Mrs Spencer what she needs to do to activate the portal from here to the compound?” I asked him.

“I can tell her but she won’t be able to do it,” he said. “It can only be activated by Lucy or her father and even then, it needs their fingerprint.”

I waggled my fingers at him. “Well, we have that.”

“You can’t chop off your hand!” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “Have you never watched TV in your life? We can do that thing where we make a silicon mold of my fingerprints.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “At least it’s not retina scanning, I guess.”

I felt much better with a plan of action. It only took a quick online search to find how to do it, and then we sent Nikolai to the art department to get what we needed. It would take a day for the mould to set and then another day for the fake finger, which gave us a chance to strategize, and me a chance to get stronger.

After two more days, we were all well and truly sick of living in such close quarters. The escapees were getting a bit more confident and had even started talking about what they’d do next, how they’d try to contact friends and family members to find somewhere safe for them in the long run. I questioned themto see if any of them knew anything about Hannah’s father, but none of them had any information.

Tennyson, Mrs Spencer, other-Nikolai and I were all solid on our plan. But Sam, Sam still wasn’t talking. Not to his mother, not to Tennyson, and definitely not to me. He seemed angry that I’d come to this world, angry that I’d rescued him. He was completely closed off and I didn’t know how to get through to him.

Finally, the two days passed and my fake finger was ready to go. The middle of the night seemed the safest time for it, according to Nikolai. Not-dad liked to get a solid eight hours, and Other-me thought the compound was too creepy at night, apparently. There would be guards, of course, but they hadn’t posed too much of a problem before now. The main issue would be if they’d upped the security after our escape, because we were basing our whole plan on other-Nikolai’s information. There was also the risk of other-Nikolai luring us into a trap. Tennyson and I had discussed the possibility and couldn’t rule it out. All we could do was be as prepared as possible.

I wasn’t back to full strength as we waited on the lighthouse steps for Mrs Spencer to get the portal going, but I was much better. None of my powers had returned, and it didn’t feel as if they ever would, so I tried not to think about it. That was something to worry about after all this was over, once everyone was home and safe.

It seemed to take forever after Mrs Spencer vanished. Tennyson, other-Nikolai and I waited on the steps of the lighthouse, not sure if she would be caught, if she’d be able to trigger the portal, if our plan would work. We were too tense to talk, but that was okay. We’d been over the plan a hundred times.

Sam wasn’t with us. I’d half-expected him to come, if only to try to get himself caught again. I knew it was for the best thathe stayed behind, but I wished he’d at least talk about what was going through his head. Other-Althea had wanted to come, to look for her brother, but it was too dangerous. I promised her I’d bring him back, but it would do nobody any good if she went only to get captured again. I hoped that was a promise I could keep.

Finally, the portal appeared and the three of us stood to face it.

“Okay,” said Tennyson. “You know the plan. Stay together, don’t get caught.”

Nikolai and I nodded and the three of us moved forward, through the portal and into the unknown.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Thankfully,not-dad’s office was dark and empty when we emerged through the portal.

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