Out of Time (Collectors Cross-Over)

Chapter 14

Emily – Alternate

The day had been long. Yet more of the same of not really being able to do much of anything. Ian had taken Sean home earlier, and Brody P. had ridden with them. I was left alone to surf the web under the guise of checking for demon issues. I answered some emails of people requesting help. I put them off for a couple of weeks, hoping their problems wouldn't get worse, and that we'd actually be able to help. Since Charles was beginning the preparations for the ritual, we had to stay close in case we needed to go somewhere to do something.

Mostly, I went down to the basement gym and took out my frustrations on the punching bag.

After lunch, Ian and Brody P. were back, and they suggested I sit down and watch a movie with them. I agreed, hoping that it would distract me. Sean called and said he and Nate wanted to bring some food over and hang out with us. They all wanted to chill before they had soccer practice again next week.

And I had a suspicion that if Sean had been right, and Nate had been out the night before, he was probably laying low.

We were sitting in the media, in the usual spots we'd claimed, and Ian found a movie for us. He'd just started the movie and gotten comfortable and was just about to put his feet up when I realized it wasn't Ian that was sitting in the chair. It was someone who looked exactly like me. Like other Emily like me.

She looked around, and her eyes stopped on Brody. He was sitting in the chair closest to Ian's room, and I was on the couch. She was in the chair opposite Brody. "Where am I?"

"Ems!" Brody stood up and pulled her into a hug. "What the hell?"

"I have no idea," she wrapped her arms around him.

"This must mean that damn demon switched her and Ian," I looked up from the book I had been flipping through. "Oh, shit."

"See if you can call your brother," Brody looked at me. "Stop him."

"Hey, guys!" Sean yelled. My heart sank for the other Emily. Sean and Nate were about to walk into the room. "We brought pizza."

Sean walked in and dropped the pizzas onto the table. He gave Brody a look, then turned to me and pointed to the other Emily, his eyebrows raised.

"I have drinks," Nate walked into the room. "Finn really won't care if we eat in here?" He sat them down on the table. "Shit, there's two of you?"

"Hush," I hissed at him, but it was too late. The other Emily had seen him and burst into tears. She slumped against Brody P., looking like she wanted to slide all the way to the floor but he was holding her up, stroking her hair, and turned her so she couldn't see Nate.

My heart went out to her. First of all, I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be Matched, and now to be this far away from him and not be able to see him. Her heart had to be breaking.

Yeah, I missed Brody, and felt bad that he wasn't around, but my heart and soul weren't bound to him like hers were to her Nate. I know they can be separated and all that, I mean, they make it through school and such, but this was different. She wouldn't be seeing him tonight. And I wasn't really sure how much longer they'd be apart. From what little I understood about Matched Pairs, and what Brody P. had told us, she couldn't feel him now, and that had to be killing her.

I pushed Sean and Nate into my bedroom and closed the door. I trusted Brody would know how to calm her down and what to say. "It seems that Ian and the other Emily were just switched."

"Shit," Sean said. "Just now?" I cheated and read his aura. I got the feeling that he was thinking what I was thinking: his vision of two of me was telling him she was about to be sent over here.