Page 7 of The Other World

“Are you sure you have time for this?” I asked him as we hurried toward the helicopter.

He nodded but didn’t say anything else until we were in the air.

This is important, he said.We need to save Sam. And…

Even through our bond, I could sense his hesitation.

And I need you to know that you can trust me. With anything.

I reached out and took his hand. In the washed-out light of the late afternoon, he looked exhausted. I decided then and there that we wouldn’t go back to school that night. He needed a night off, away from school and the pack and everything else.

Sam’s mother did not look surprised to see us, but she did seem pleased.

“I know why you’re here,” she said, before we could even say hello. “You’re going to rescue my Sam, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question. “But you’re a bit fuzzy on some of the details. Well, lucky for you, I’m the leading expert in interdimensional travel in the state, if not the country.” She shot me double finger guns.

Tennyson and I glanced at each other from the corners of our eyes. She could at leasttryto seem trustworthy, I thought. But at least she had the nutty part of nutty professor down, at any rate.

“Do you have the sword?” she asked.

“Sword?” I asked.

Tennyson didn’t look nearly as confused as I felt.

“The sword you manifested. During one of your ascensions.”

I hadn’t told her anything about that, I barely remembered it myself, and I didn’t need to see the look of surprise on Tennyson’s face to know he hadn’t mentioned it to her either. He wouldn’t.

“You’ll need it,” she said. “To open the portal. There are other ways, of course, but they take either a comprehensive knowledge of metaphysics, or an exceptionally centered mind, preferably both. No offense, sweet girl, but you don’t have either, so the sword will come in handy.”

I nodded. Tennyson’s mother had been having the sword tested, hopefully someone in the pack would know where she’d sent it, and the tests hadn’t done anything weird to its power.

“During the next phase of your Becoming, the metaphysical stuff will all come to you naturally anyway. You should hurry that along if you can.”

I wrinkled up my nose. “I would if I had the first clue how.”

Which was a bit of a lie. The whole spirit thing was a step I wasn’t sure I wanted to take. I liked my physical self. I liked eating and sleeping and the way that sometimes when Tennysonheld my hand, he’d run his thumb slowly over the back of my knuckles.

She tapped her finger against the tip of her nose a few times, thinking. “You had dreams, correct? Dreams of a temple?”

Tennyson drew in a sharp breath. He’d shared dreams like that with me before.

Mrs Spencer didn’t stop to hear my response. “That temple is real but it exists in a dimension beyond this three-dimensional reality, you follow?”

I wasn’t sure I did follow, but I nodded anyway.

“We all visit that dimension whenever we dream, but what you need to do is to travel there while you’re still awake.” She gave a little shrug. “Like an out-of-body experience, if you like, or astral projection.”

That all sounded a little woo-woo to me, but then, we were working on the theory that Sam was in another dimension, or reality or whatever. And I was part of a werewolf pack, so woo-woo was probably a few miles back at this point.

“Assuming what you say is correct,” said Tennyson, “Lucy can’t even focus her mind to meditate for more than a few minutes at a time.”

“Oi!” I said, though it was a fair point.

“I’ve been in your mind, I know what a mess it is,” he said.

Mrs Spencer waved her hand in the air as if batting the thought away. “Then you will be part of the ritual, to help her focus her mind. It will be easier that way.”

I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea. “I don’t want Tennyson in any danger.”

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