Escalation

Lydia heard Donella scribble down the formula. She beamed, grabbing the chemicals and getting ready to mix them in the beaker.

For weeks, research partners Lydia and Donella had been working on a formula that could transmute materials into other things, like lead into gold. (Lydia had tried that before - it had turned out wonderfully). Right now though, they were working with a new formula, and Lydia was excited to see what it would do. 

“Mix green and pink!” Donella said. Lydia did so. 

“Anything else?” 

It was beginning to bubble. Lydia was excited, but also nervous. What would this chemical do?

”Nope. Come stand by me, come on.” 

“Wait,” Lydia said, eyes still fixed on the solution. It wasn’t bubbling as much as it should be. 

Lydia heard Donella huff, and she groaned. The medium brown-skinned woman turned round, amber eyes watching her research partner with annoyance. Her arms were crossed.

“What?” 

“It’s fine,” Donella said, waving her hand dismissively. 

“Really? It’s fine? Then why is not bubbling like you said it would?” 

“Because I’m right. Now come on!”

The white-haired, strangely pale woman pulled Lydia towards her by the arm. Lydia yelped and stumbled, steadying herself so that she wouldn’t fall over. As she did, she accidentally wiped her hand on the board, wiping off some of the written formula. 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! Look at what you did!” Donella exclaimed.

“Me? I wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t grabbed my arm!” 

“What has that got to do with anything?” 

Lydia put her hands on her hips. When had Donella become so argumentative?

“Look,” she started. “You’re clearly annoyed, I’m clearly annoyed, so let’s just add something to this so we can get on with it and go home. Okay?” 

Donella didn’t answer. Lydia walked back to the formula, adding a blue chemical to it. Jeez, she thought to herself. 

Lydia stepped away when it was bubbling more and, satisfied, she smiled. 

“See? I was right! All it needed was a bit more tweaking and then-” 

Lydia was cut off by a haunting sound. She froze and spun round. 

Donella was laughing but...she’d never laughed like that before. Her laugh was light, airy...not something so cold that it could chill you to the bone. 

“You’re not going home.” 

Lydia tried to process the words, but only one thing came out of her mouth. 

“Wh-” 

Suddenly, Lydia felt a breeze blow through the laboratory. She spun round and gasped on seeing what the formula had created. 

A portal? 

“Donella, what did you mean by that?” Lydia asked, spinning round. 

All of a sudden, something flashed, and Donella’s shadow was, for a second, not human. 

“Donella?” Lydia asked, suddenly afraid. Her research partner grinned manically at her. 

“I told you, Lydia...you’re not going home.” 

It was all too fast. One moment Lydia was in the laboratory, the next she was being pushed with an unnatural amount of force. She couldn’t stop it, and suddenly she was lifted off her feet, and suddenly found herself being sucked into the portal. 

“No!” 

Lydia grabbed onto the edge of the device. 

“What are you doing?!” she exclaimed. 

“What I really came here for. Goodbye, alchemist.” 

Lydia’s eyes widened. The breeze blew towards her, and before she could call out for help, the breeze pushed her fingers off the edge of the portal device. With a scream, Lydia found herself tumbling backwards, into this new dimension...into nothing at all.