Doppleganger

“Litty?”
I turned to see Danny behind me. He looked better than he did just hours ago in my dream, though numerous bruises and scrapes still stood out on his skin. My leg throbbed, but it had been wrapped well and the wound didn't seem as severe as I initially thought. “What are you staring at?” Danny asked.
“Nothing, I was just taking it all in," I said.
“That’s right. This is your first time being here consciously,” he said.
“Yeah. Hey, is the body I’m in right now the one that is called a doppleganger?” I looked at my hands. They looked like mine, even the new mark was there.
“That’s right, but not all doppleganger’s look like their other half on Earth. Do you remember that part of the legend?”
“Yeah, so that means I only have a half a soul then, huh?” I wondered what the difference would be if I had a complete soul or maybe that was just a metaphor in the legend to explain the way things were, like in the creation stories of some religions.
“When most people dream what they are seeing is pieces of the life of their other half,” Danny explained.
“Hold up. If I can remember both lives won’t it be like never getting to sleep?”
“It won’t feel like it. For either of us."
“You too? But you don’t have an amulet, right?”
“No, I don’t have an amulet. There’s only one and the other seven pieces of it, none of which I have. For some reason I’ve just always been able to remember this world as well as Earth."
I nodded absentmindedly as I watched the eddy currents in the river before us. "Where's the village that we were in earlier?"
"It's pretty far from here. Maybe a couple hours by foot."
"Where are we now?"
"Right outside the village I live in."
"Then how-"
"Let’s leave that be," Danny suggested, "I want to show you around.” His face brightened a little and I felt better. Maybe, Mirror wouldn't be all that bad. Besides, who actually wants to sleep. Dreams are fun.
Danny showed me his hometown in Mirror. It was a simple town, old fashioned, but it felt so peaceful. The smells from the open market drifted with the wind. I smelled fresh bread and strange fruits as well as recently picked herbs. Danny picked up a fruit and handed it to me. It was purple, sort of. I tosses between hands, feeling its smooth skin on my finger before taking so bite. I made a face and stuck out my tongue. “What is this? It’s so bitter.”
Danny laughed. “It’s not exactly like an apple. Not everything in this world is an exact mirror image of Earth. Some things since Cantery’s time have developed quite differently. I just wanted to see your face when you ate it. Your supposed to peal it first. Now come on. There someone I’d like you to meet.”
Danny led me through winding streets and into a back alleyway. As we walked I tried my best to peal the purple apple with no luck and eventually gave up and just ate the whole thing. Danny got a good laugh out of that.
“Are you sure this is a good place to be? Does your friend really live back here?” I asked once I was finally able to redirect my attention from the taste on my tongue to the surrounding streets.
“Uh-huh,” Danny replied, “but this person isn’t really my friend. I see her around sometimes, but it’s you she has more of a relationship with.”
“Me? Who is it?” I asked, confused with what Danny was talking about, which was usually the case.
“Just be patient,” he said.
At the back of the alleyway there was a table draped in a plain, smooth, magenta cloth. A glass ball surrounded with beads and jewels sat a the center of the cloth and behind the table was a small person, veiled by barely transparent cloth and draped in a long flowing dress. “A fortune teller?” I asked. Danny nodded.
“Why don’t you talk to her,” he suggested.
“What do I say?”
“Ask for your fortune,” Danny said as if it was the most obvious answer.
I walked up to the table. It was too dark to see her face. Only her bright eyes shining dimly under her cloak were visible. “Would you like to see your future?” She asked. I was surprised. The voice was familiar. It was so familiar I knew who it was immediately.
“Kya?” I asked.
“No, my name is Kylee,” the fortune teller replied. I felt slightly disappointed. It had sounded so much like her, but what did I expect? This was a whole other world.
“Don’t look so gloomy,” Danny whispered, “Remember, dopplegangers live separate lives which means different names. I believe Kylee is Kya’s ‘other.’”
“Really?!” I said excitedly. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure what to say to my ‘sister’ from a new world. I asked shyly, “Would you read my future please?”
“Of course, please sit.” I sat and Kylee drew back her veil. She must have been at least thirty years older than Kya, but the similarities were most certainly present in her bright blue eyes and full lips. She held out her hand so I gave her mine, which she took gently between her slightly aged fingers. We looked into the glass ball. I watched as colored mist swirled around inside. A quiet humming that was barely audible was all I could hear. Mesmerized, I saw images begin to appear in the glass. At first they were blurry and dark, but as they cleared up I could easily see myself walking. Excited, I leaned closer. My image was walking through the school hallway. It was nothing unusual, a normal day at school. “Strange,” Kylee said, “I’m not familiar with this place.”
“What does it say?” I asked.
“Well, it seems you will meet someone by chance in this strange place, but after that I can see nothing. There is only a dull fuzzy gray.”
“Who will I meet? Ah, wait don’t tell me. I want to find out on my own," I said as I stood up. I nodded my "thank you" to Kylee and trotted back to Danny's side.
Kylee waved good-bye with a smile, though she seemed distracted by her crystal ball and its lack of clear images. Danny continued to show me around the town. He lived alone in a small wood and straw house. He invited me to live with him and I graciously accepted. Apparently, I had been staying wherever I could find a place, under bridges and shop alleys. I asked him why, but he wasn't sure.
“Danny, when my mother wakes me for dinner will I suddenly fall asleep here?” I asked when I had settled down on a couple straw mats in Danny's house that would serve as my bed from now on.
“Random question," Danny observed, "To tell the truth, I don’t know, if you do I’ll make sure to bring you somewhere comfortable.”
“Thanks," I said. My stomach growled. I blushed. "Must be near dinner time."
Danny shook his head. "Actually, it's breakfast time. Hours are in reverse too. PM on Earth is AM here. That, of course, relies on the fact that you remain at equivalent locations: similar latitude and longitude."
"Oh, that'll take some getting used to. By the way, do you think Kya- I mean Kylee’s readings are accurate?”
“I’ve seen her work before and they’re generally right, but with mine, like yours at the end, she can only see fuzzy gray.”

Danny and I were eating breakfast (A surprisingly good combination of food I had never seen before sporting colors I could only associate with a box of crayons) when my mom did wake me on Earth.
“It’s dinner. Are you feeling well enough to eat?” Mom asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. It was the strangest feeling, being woken when I was already awake.
I finished a light dinner and started on my homework. I was a bit nervous and excited about tomorrow. What would the person I was supposed to meet be like? How would we meet? Would I even know when I had met the person I was supposed to meet?
That night I read a book until it was time for school. I didn’t really want to go to Mirror because I wanted my body there to rest well and for some reason I figured Danny would also be awake and not in Mirror.
“See you after school,” Kya said. I nodded. I was almost going to ask her to recheck my future, but I realized she wouldn't get the joke. She and Kylee didn't share memories, or at least not consistently or knowingly. I wondered if I would soon come across Camy’s doppleganger too. It would take some getting used to.
I talked with Camy like usual on our way to class and after classes I headed for lunch. All the while I was on the lookout for someone who might stand out from the crowd, but no one did. By the time school was over I gave up. Maybe the prediction was wrong after all. My dad always told me that fortune tellers were a scam. They only showed people what they wanted to see.
I stayed after school for my usual Thursday club. It was 4:30 by the time it was over. I would have to wait another thirty minutes today because Kya needed to be picked up from a birthday party first. I went to my locker to get my English book to start homework. The halls were empty besides the occasional teacher hurrying home to start dinner or pick up kids. It was an unusual sight. The quietness made my ears ring. “Watch out!” A voice from behind me cried as I walked down a flight of stairs to the main entrance of the school. Before I had a chance to turn around something swept my feet from under me and sent my world spinning. I tumbled to the bottom of the stairs and heard quick frantic steps follow me down. I picked myself up and checked to make sure I was all in one piece. I was. “Are you all right? I’m so sorry. It was a complete accident.” I nodded and looked at what had knocked me over. It was a janitors mop bucket. Then I turned to see who it was that had sent the bucket sailing down the stairs. It was a boy no older than seventeen wearing a janitor’s suit holding a mop and a washcloth. I blinked.
“Are you-” I started.
“A janitor,” he completed. “Yes,” he answered, “and no, I’m not a drop out. This is my official part-time job. I always stay here after school.”
“That’s cool,” I said.
“You’re sure you’re okay? Luckily, the bucket wasn’t filled with water.”
“I’m sure. I’m fine,” I replied. I held out my hands to look them over. Other than a few scrapes on them, there was no damage.
“Mirror!” The boy exclaimed. I jumped in surprise.
“Where?” I asked. He must have thought it was an odd reply because he didn’t return any sort of explanation. Instead he took my hand, the one with the burn marks, and looked it over.
“Where did these marks come from?”
“It’s none of your business. Anyway,” I said and pulled my hand away, shocked that he truly meant the world of Mirror by his exclamation, “It’s almost time for my mom to be here so I better go and wait for her.” I turned quickly and walked away. My heart was pounding. How did this janitor know my secret? It was a world only Danny and I were supposed to know and remember.
“Wait up,” he called after me. On impulse, I ran.
Outside the wind felt nice. It cooled me down. I had felt the strangest sense of dread from the boy. He had a dark presence and it scared me. Fortunately, I was a fast runner, so when my mom pulled up a few seconds later the janitor boy was no where close to catching up. “You look like you’ve been running track. How was club?” she asked. I climbed into the car and greeted Kya.
“Fine,” I said.
“You have nothing to do tonight, right?” Kya asked.
“Besides a bit of homework, no.”
“Then do you want to bike down to the park?”
“Yep, I was going to ask you.” I smiled.
“Be back by dark,” Mom said.
“We always are. Don’t worry about it mom,” Kya and I said simultaneously. I started my homework on the ride home so I would be done when we got there.
The park was seven kilometers from our house and it was a great place to hang out with Kya after school. There were swings, slides, teeter-totters, a huge jungle gym, and a large open field. It usually took us about twenty-five minutes to get there. Kya and I left as soon as we got home which meant we would have about an hour. That would be plenty of time to talk, play games, and our favorite: look for secret passageways. We hadn’t found any yet, but we knew they were there. Somewhere.
The two of us talked about anything and everything from the day in general to Kya’s longtime boyfriend to the future twenty years from now. It was almost impossible to keep Mirror a secret, but it felt like a good idea at least until I knew more about it and the shadows that plagued it.
The sun set too soon and Kya and I started to return home. After we had gone about a kilometer I heard a horrible screech followed by a series of thuds and clanks behind me. “Kya, are you okay?” I asked, coming a stop ahead of her.
“Yeah,” she replied, “I’m not sure what happened though. My bike just sorta fell apart.” She was right. Her chain had fallen off and gotten wrapped around her pedals. The handle was bent and the front wheel deflated. Many of the bolts holding the bike together were lose.
“I always knew your bike was a piece of junk. Let me see what I can do to fix it enough to get you home.” The sunset quickly faded to night. Kya’s bike was not fixable and even a temporary fix wouldn’t work. We decided to leave the bike behind and make our way home on foot. Kya didn’t feel quite safe riding on the back of my bike in the dark on a bumpy road.
I heard a thumping of a large solid foot hitting the sidewalk behind us. Kya grabbed my arm. “What was that?” she said in a fearful whisper.
“Probably just a jogger,” I replied.
“After dark?”
“Yeah,” I said hoping I sounded more sure than I felt. There was no way the person behind us was a jogger. The footsteps were far too slow and they were very loud, or maybe it was just the quietness of the night that amplified the sound and made it echo through the neighborhood. I feared the worst.
I felt a strong hand grab my arm and I froze. Kya felt me stiffen and pivoted to see what it was. She stifled a shriek. “Let go!” I screamed, pulling my arm in, but failing to pull away.
“Let go of my mmpf,” Kya started to say when that person put his hand over Kya’s mouth to silence her. I wound up and threw a solid kick that sent the man tumbling backwards. What did he want from us?
“Kya! Run!” I commanded. She took a quick glance at me then took off as fast as she could. I was right on her heels, but I didn’t get far before I felt a soft cloth cover my mouth and nose. I tried to hold my breath, but it was too late. I began to feel dizzy. All of my thoughts jumble in my head. Then my mind went blank.

“You’re up,” Danny said from beside my bed.”
“Ah Danny, where am I?”
“Where else? My house in Mirror.”
“Mirror,” I muttered under my breath. “That means I’m asleep on Earth.”
Danny looked confused. “How can you not be sure whether you’re asleep or not?”
I explained to Danny what had happened. He looked concerned. “It’s alright,” I assured him. “I’ll find someway out of this. I just need to wake up.”
“Your problems on Earth aren’t your only ones. I was waiting for you to wake up so I could tell you,” Danny said, “I have heard that someone has brought a shadow to this village.”
“Meaning what?” I asked.
“Meaning it won’t be long before the shadow spreads its chaos like it’s done in other places all over Mirror. The people in this town will turn against one another and all hell will break lose.”
I shook my head vigorously, trying to shake memories from my head of what just yesterday I had thought were only nightmares. Danny understood. He put a comforting hand on my wrist and gave me a moment to refocus. "What are these shadows anyway?" I asked finally.
"They are creatures, existing since the beginning of time, that feed on the negativity within humans in order to grow strong."
"Negativity?"
"Anything from jealousy to hate to sorrow and so on."
"And then what?"
"They use those they feed on to create chaos and spread more negativity."
"There is a human in this village that a shadow is feeding on?" I asked.
Danny nodded.
“How do we help?” I asked.
“Help?”
“Yeah, isn’t that the reason I have these marks on my hand. They’re to help the people of Mirror, right?”
Danny smiled. “I guess. We’ll see what we can do.”
The first place to go was Kylee’s alley for two reasons. First, if Kylee’s health could reflect that of Kya’s then I could confirm she was all right on Earth. Second, I wondered if Kylee’s power would let her see where the shadow was and who had already been affected by it. I wondered what it was like to be affected by the shadow. How exactly did it cause the evil thoughts of a human to become so overwhelmingly strong?
I followed Danny to Kylee’s alley because I had forgotten exactly where it was. Her figure popped out from behind the table when I called for her. “Good evening,” she said, sounding just a little creepy.
“Hi,” I replied brightly, my mood lifted by the fact that Kylee seemed entirely unharmed. “I was wondering...”
Kylee cut me off. “I know what you have come for.”
“Really, so you can help me?
“I’m sorry. I can’t see the shadows, but I may be able to help you predict when a human will take action or cause harm.
“Ah really?” I said.
“Stop saying that,” Danny said pretending to be annoyed. “Do you really not believe a thing we say?”
“Sorry,” I replied, “I’m still getting used to everything.” Danny nodded in understanding.
“Lithallia,” Kylee interrupted, “I know of a way for you to save this world from the shadows.”
“Rea- oh sorry. How?”
“The chain around your neck has seven charms that attach to it. You already have one. The other six are scattered around the world. If you find them you will be able to defeat the shadows.”
“How do I find them?”
“Danny and I can help you with that.”
“Really?” I said excitedly. Danny rolled his eyes. “Oh, sorry.”
“Yes really,” Danny said.” With my knowledge of the charms and Kylee’s sight they shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
“Both of you should get some rest before we start the search,” Kylee said.
Danny and I exchanged glances. Sleep was not a luxury we could have anymore, but I did need to return Earth and fix the problem there.

Finally, I woke up. My head throbbed after being drugged. I glanced around sleepily. Kya, still asleep, lay next to me. She was bound tightly by rope around her feet and hands. It was the same for me. For the time being it didn’t seem like we were in immediate danger, so I set about searching for something to cut the rope with. It didn’t take long. The room was piled high with junk and the three barred windows let in plenty of light. When I had successfully frayed the rope enough to break it I pulled myself up to a window by stacking up a bunch of trash like old boxes and broken playground pieces. I looked out at what seemed to be unfamiliar ground. It was uneven with a few trees and shrubs scattered about. It looked like it was either dawn or evening. It was hard to tell whether I was facing east or west and I had no way of telling time either. I pulled on the bars hoping one was lose. None were. Why were we here anyway? Did it have anything to do with Mirror or was it just random? I breathed a deep sigh. I felt strangely calm.
The large iron doors of my and Kya’s prison creaked open and the man who had kidnapped us stepped in. From my perch atop the pile of broken things I watched him carefully. I was ready to spring into action if he did anything suspicious. To my surprise he passed right by Kya. In better light he didn’t look quite so scary as I had imagined. In fact, I thought he was rather cute. He was young, but still big and muscular. His eyes were bright orange, like a cat and I could hardly keep from laughing when I saw the orange, fuzzy cat ears on his head. He looked up directly at me. His ears twitched and I fell into a short fit of giggles. I knew it was mean, but I couldn’t help it. He was just too strange
“There you are,” he growled as a cover to hide his bright red face blushing with embarrassment. I wondered how it was possible for him to move his ears without touching them. They couldn’t possibly be real, but I had seen some strange things in the past few days. “Come down here,” he commanded.
“Or what?” I retorted.
“I’ll come up.”
I saw no point in arguing. I was trapped no matter how I looked at it. That fact wouldn’t change whether I was standing on a mountain of garbage or the floor and frankly, I was more comfortable on the floor. “What do you want?” I asked.
“You’re going to help me,” he replied.
“With what?”
“I want to go home.”
I had to suppress a giggle. I couldn’t help imagining this large man as a helpless kitty far from home. “Home?”
“To Mirror.”
“Mirror!” How did he know of Mirror or more importantly, if he was from Mirror how did he get here? I studied him for a brief moment. Unlike the boy from school, I felt no particular sense of foreboding from this cat man. Actually, he seemed almost friendly looking, just desperate. If I considered the situation I could even find it in me to justify his actions. In fact, I was glad my new life gave me the opportunity to help him out. “Alright,” I said, “I’ll help you on two conditions. First, you have to let my sister go home.”
“I can’t do that. I can’t allow her to tell people where you are.”
“Fine, but you don’t lay a finger on her and you have to tell us the way to the place where you first found us. Also, second, you have to tell me how you got from Mirror to here. After that, I’ll see what I can do about getting you back.”
“You don’t know how to return me?”
“What?” I asked hoping I had heard wrong.
“I can only tell you how I got here,” the cat man said.
“Alright, get on with it,” I said impatiently.
“Okay, about a day or two ago I was traveling with my friends when we found something unusual. When I grabbed it there was a flash of light and when I opened my eyes I was somewhere completely different. “
I was puzzled. How would that work? My charm allowed my memories to be transferred from Mirror to Earth and vise versa, but not my body. “I'm a little bit new to this idea of Mirror, so I'm not well informed on how something like this might occur," I told the cat man, "Oh, but Danny is. I’ll call him. I bet you he knows what happened.”
“Who?”
“He’s my friend, but I can’t find him unless you let me go.”
“I can’t do that,” he said bluntly, “You must stay here.”
“I’ll come right back. I promise. If you don’t believe me I’ll leave Kya here as long as you promise not to touch her, then for sure I’ll be back for her.” It was hard to say that I would leave Kya behind, but somehow I felt the cat man wouldn’t hurt her. He looked unsure and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then he had second thoughts and closed it again.
“Litty,” I heard Kya’s voice, “What’s going on?” Kya was standing by a mountain of trash with a mixture of fear, curiosity, and confusion on her face. “Litty, are you alright?”
“Yeah, Kya. It’s okay. Everything’s good.” The cat man’s face changed from an unsure expression to one of extreme guilt. My heart started to beat faster and suddenly I didn’t feel quite so comfortable around the cat man and I bitterly regretted even suggesting that I would leave Kya here. What was going on?
“I have to tell you the real reason you’re here,” the cat man said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“When I found myself here, there was a boy who said he could get me home. He promised to help me if I kept you here until he arrived. I don’t know what he wants, but I’m certain it’s not a party. You should get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Wait,” I said, “if we leave, besides him not getting you home right away, are you in any danger? Is that why you agreed to this?”
He shook his head, but something told me he wasn't being honest. I pressed my lips together and didn't look away until, reluctantly, he nodded.
“Then I’ll stay.”
“There’s no need. I can protect myself, so go!” He moved to unlock the door that kept us in.
“Too late!” A somewhat familiar voice called from atop my pile of junk. I wasn’t certain of who it was until I saw the light from the window shine on the blue janitor’s suit. Immediately, my heart started pounding furiously fueled by my growing sense of dread. The boy I met in the school after hours ago stood glowing on top of my giant pile of trash.
“What an ugly Christmas tree,” Kya said saying aloud my own thoughts. If I wasn’t feeling ill I would have laughed. The boy made an ugly face at Kya’s comment.
“Lithallia, I need something from you,” he said.
“H-how do you know my name?” I stuttered.
“I know a lot about you, but you’re right, we did skip the introductions. My name’s Tyreek Roma. Don’t forget it.”
“What do you want from me? I don’t want to talk to you.”
“You don’t really have to. All you have to do is hand over that amulet.”
Subconsciously, I raised my hand to my neck where my necklace was clasped. “Why?” I asked hoping to buy some time to think of an escape plan. If I got lucky maybe he would go on a long monologue about his unfortunate life.
I had no such luck.
“That’s none of your business,” he replied, “Anyway, it’s easy. Just take it off and hand it over.”
“No way should she have to do that,” Kya said.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about and this has nothing to do with you,” Tyreek growled.
“I don’t need to know what it is you’ve been going on about,” Kya retorted, “Whatever it is you want it’s not yours to have.” I saw a flash like fire in Tyreek’s eyes and I knew he was angry and dangerous. Tyreek made an signal with his hand and before I could figure it out, the cat man grabbed Kya and disappeared.
“Kya!” I cried. “Where did you take her?” I demanded.
“What does it matter, you should worry about your own situation instead.”
“Bring her back! Don’t you dare hurt her!” Tyreek remained calm and slid down the rubbish pile and walked toward me. I stood my ground. Soon, he was only inches from my face.
“Or what?” He said smugly.
My remaining thread of patients snapped and with all of the force I could muster I swung at him and hit him hard in the stomach. He didn’t even flinch.
“Is that honestly the best you can do?” His arrogance bother me and I kicked at him. He stepped to the side to dodge and caught my foot. In one fluid motion he flipped me over and grabbed my wrist to twist it behind my back. He had me in his grasp. I couldn’t move. “I’m only asking nicely one last time,” he said,” give me the amulet.”
“No!”
“Then you leave me no choice.” I felt his hand tighten around my wrist. I made a last attempt to break free, but to no avail. At first his hands were icy cold. They were so cold they made my hand tingle, but then they started to burn.
“What are you doing? Let go,” I said.
“Give me the amulet,” he repeated. I gave no answer. He twisted my wrist and his hand burned hotter. I screamed. He was burning me. I didn’t know how, but I could feel it like hot coals on my arm. I wasn’t sure how much more I could bare. My hand crept up to my neck slowly. Tyreek twisted my arm still further and I thought it was going to break. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t just take it. It would be easy. He was obviously a better fighter then me and the amulet was no more than a few inches from him. Did he need me to hand it to him or was he just being polite? I very highly doubted the latter.
My vision blurred so I couldn’t see clearly, but I spotted a pole sticking like a sore thumb from a large mass of metal near the base of my ugly Christmas tree. Summoning up the strength I had left I took a swing at it with my foot. There was the horrible sound of plastic and metal scraping up against each other as the pile shifted. Then it stopped. “What was that?” Tyreek asked. “Did you think you could get that pile of rubbish to fall on top of me. That’s dangerous.” He pulled me away from the pole, twisting my arm so that I had no choice but to follow. I started to tremble uncontrollably. It hurt and I just wanted him to stop. My will to fight evaporated. My hand closed around the amulet. I fumbled to unfastened it. Then I saw one last chance. I hoped gravity would do most of the work and I leaned back. Tyreek, who was unprepared to support my whole weight, stumbled backwards into the pole. This time it was enough to knock the whole pile over. Tyreek immediately let go of me and dived out of the way. I crumpled to the floor fully aware of the shadow of falling debris above me. “Move out of the way or you’ll be crushed!” Tyreek screamed. Why? I wondered. I doubted he cared about my life. He must need me alive to get the amulet. Either way it didn’t matter. I wasn’t ready to die, but I simply couldn’t move.

I had the feeling as if I was floating. I could feel no ground beneath me. I must have been dead because I was not in Mirror and not on Earth. There was nothing. I was surrounded by white, no, black. It was hard to tell. For a moment longer I was still, but then I started to panic. There was nothing around me, but I was feeling claustrophobic. I was lying on my back, maybe it was my face, or was I standing? It was uncomfortable and I wanted to move. I couldn’t stand sitting still any longer, but I forced myself to calm down and take a deep breath. First, I moved my finger. That was painful, but I continued with my other fingers, then my hand. Slowly, I worked my way up to the elbow and shoulder and, finally, the rest of my body was able to move. It took a while for me to realize that my eyes were closed so with much difficulty I lifted my eyelids. To my great relief I saw sky. I did a mental check. I was all in one piece, but strangely numb. “You’re awake.”
“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled. I used my hand to shield my eyes from the light of the sun and saw Danny. My head was resting on his lap. “Where?” I asked.
“Earth, Epitome fields,” he replied.
“Kya?” I asked.
“Terr, the cat man, took her home.”
“What... happened?”
“After I left Mirror I went looking for you, but it took a while before I found the hiding place because it was mostly underground and not on any map. I found it by tracking down your amulet. I arrived just in time to see some man pull you from underneath the falling junk. You must have gone in shock because you weren’t asleep, but you weren’t responding either. The man who saved you helped me carry you here.”
“A man?”
“Yep, do you know him?” Danny asked.
Tyreek, I thought, It couldn’t be. “No,” I answered.
Epitome fields. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I lay on Danny lap a little longer not really thinking just listening to the dull ring in my ear. Then I asked, “Why would someone want my amulet so bad?" I propped myself up on my elbows, facing away from him thinking about the throb in my shoulder from where Tyreek had twisted it and the raw pain from my wrist. I could see now that there were fresh burns from a cigarette lighter or something similar. Then I remembered the cat man. Terr, Danny had called him. "Danny do you know how Terr got here? Do you think we can get him home?" But, even he, as strong as he looked, was scared of Tyreek. "Do you think Tyreek will come back?" I felt my chest get tight as a horrifying thought struck me. "What if Kya gets caught up in this again? I’m not sure I would be able to hide Mirror from her. And what if next time I won’t be able to escape or you can’t save me? How-” With a wave of his hand, Danny silenced me, but more question filled my head and I couldn’t stop it any longer. I began to cry. Danny let me cry and didn’t say anything.
The sun began to die down. It was early in the evening. I was feeling a bit more relaxed now. Danny told me he would answer my questions in time and the rest I would find out on my own. Suddenly I stood up. “What time is it?”
“Five o’clock,” Danny replied.
“I need to get home. Mom and Dad will wonder where I’ve been. They'll be totally freaked.”
“It’s only been last night and today. I told your parents you were staying at my house to study.” I gave Danny a jokingly annoyed look.
“You want my parents to think that I was studying for a whole day with a six-year-old?” Danny smiled. He really was a very smart kid. I had no doubt Danny could understand things far above my comprehension level. “I guess I really should be getting home,” I said to myself.
“Stay a little longer. There’s something I want you to see.” Puzzled, I sat back down. “Stay ‘til seven,” he said.
"Two hours. What to do until then?"
Danny handed me a book. “Will you read to me?” He asked.
“Sure,” I replied. Danny could read faster and better than I could, but there was no changing the fact that he was six and he knew it brought me great joy to sit and read to him when there was nothing to break our peace.
Around six-thirty the wind began to pick up and the sun bordered on the horizon. “I guess it will happen earlier than I thought,” Danny said. “Take a look.” The sun had turned a brilliant red. A strong gust of wind swept up billions of shiny grass seeds from the field and sent them dancing in the air. They reflected the sun’s rays and made the whole sky and the air around us sparkle and shimmer. There were no words quite right to describe it. “What do you think?” Danny asked.
“This is... amazing! It’s like magic!” I could almost see fairies spreading their magic dust in the air to settled on the reddened earth.
“It’s close to magic. This field here is a place where Mirror and Earth are close. In certain situations, like special days, one can cross between the two worlds.”
“Danny, are there other ways to cross between the two worlds?”
“If you mean your physical body not just memories, then there is one other way that I know of and that is to have the transportation charms, either the Mirror or Earth charm. They are two of the charms we need to find.”
“What would happen if someone from Mirror got a hold of the Earth Transportation charm?”
“Not sure, but he would probably end up on Earth. When both charms are together one can teleport anywhere you on both worlds.”
“Did you know Terr was from Mirror?”
Danny nodded. “It’s pretty obvious that he’s not human.”
“He wants to go home.”
“Then take away what’s keeping him here.”
“What?” Danny looked up at me. “Oh, you mean the charm. We have to get the Earth Transportation charm from Terr.”
Danny nodded. “What surprised me,” he said, “was that you didn’t sense it. You should have known that he had it the moment you met him.”
"Maybe I just need practice.”
Danny looked uncertain, “Maybe,” he said.