To Outwit an Angel

16. Princess Langwidere

(A/N: Surprise! We're a little halfway through the book, so we thought you all might like a little double-feature this time around. Enjoy!)

Loretta's POV:

Long after Madame Giry had closed the book, everyone still exchanged uneasy glances. Surprisingly, no whirling confusion overtook me. My head did not spin, and my mind was shockingly clear.

 What was I expecting brought Sharlene and I here? Some witchy princess forming a pocket dimension, which we'd unwittingly entered, was as good an explanation as any.

 I could not discern how Sharlene felt, but for my part, I was completely calm.

 "I knew it. I knew we weren't dead, and something must have transported us here." I turned to Madame Giry. "We aren't dead, right? Princess Langwidere said we had to go through a near-death experience, not outright die."

 "You'd be correct. You and..." She trailed off, facing Sharlene. "I'm sorry, but I don't feel right calling you a name that isn't rightfully yours when you must have a real one. May I know your actual name, please?"

 "Sharlene," my friend supplied, "Sharlene Murphy."

 "Thank you," Madame Giry smiled, crinkling the skin beside her dark eyes, "but yes, you and Mademoiselle Murphy are certainly alive, though it's hard to know what state your old bodies are in if you suffered a near-death experience."

 "Probably being eaten by maggots in the woods." I said, shivering.

 "Pardon?"

 Madame Giry looked disturbed, so I decided not to repeat myself. I shook my head, settling a strand of hair behind my ear.

 "Nothing. Never mind."

 Raoul cleared his throat, distracting my attention from my old body's sorry state, a thing I hated to visualize.

 "Well, I'm very glad those two aren't dead in... wherever they're from, but that doesn't negate the fact we're all trapped in what appears to be a pocket dimension. Honestly, who would ever encourage something that stupid? I know Cristine was afraid, but this?"

 Madame Giry's look was scathing.

 "As a matter of fact, you would." She raised a hand before he could protest. "Listen to me before you argue. In a separate dimension, the future version of you created the pocket dimension, which this version of you currently inhabits. Technically, multiple versions of you exist, both the original one, who's long dead by now, and this reflection of him, who continues to live through the same events indefinitely. I, however, and the subject of all this nonsense are the original versions of ourselves trapped in here. Our memories don't reset with each round of events. He and I are the linchpins of this whole splinter in time. I know when he leaves because things get strange... unstable."

 She shook her head, relapsing into thought. I could barely comprehend all the funky time-logic she broke down for us in vain.

 "And I'm a duplicate as well?" Piangi asked, "just like Monsieur de Chagny, and Christine, and Carlotta until these two..."

 "Yes, the same applies to all," Madame Giry said, nodding, "as for how you two got here, what on earth was wrong with you, playing with such serious matters? I sorely hope you regret those choices now."

 I shrank back, unused to hearing Madame Giry's harsh tone used on me. Of course, Sharlene had a vastly different reaction.

 "We didn't do this on purpose! Believe me, this is the worst thing that's ever happened to us, and we're not having a jolly little time, if that's what you think."