HOURGLASS

CHAPTER FIVE - Meanwhile, in a Parallel Universe 20:00

Zephyras transported us back into Lexicon. We stood back in the room that we had left only a few minutes ago, but it looked like another universe considering everything we had just learned. There are multiple universes. There are MULTIPLE universes.

My entire reality was shattering around me, and what had Zephyras said about me? That I'm a master of creating perfection out of hell? What does that even mean? My mind was running about a million miles an hour, but I couldn't figure out how to comprehend a single bit of anything.

Nessa who was standing next to me seemed to be experiencing the same emotions. She didn't say a word, but her eyes were flickering all over the place and her mouth trembled ever so slightly.

Before my entire life became obsolete in my eyes and my mind actually exploded, I had to stop thinking. I pushed everything out that I had just been enlightened to in the last five minutes. I sighed loudly and put my arm around Nessa. I might have been able to calm myself down, but Nessa definitely couldn't. I tried to make her breathe properly, tried to help her think, to calm down.

I turned Nessa so that our noses were touching. "Nessa, look, we'll be ok. We just have to make a plan to avoid doing what Zephyras wants. We-we can make our own ening! We will re-write this twisted story that she wants to be a part of. No, no look at me!" Nessa was trying to struggle out of my grasp.

I released her her, and she leaned to my ear and hissed, "Be quiet. She might be listening. We'll talk in the car." She stood up, feigning superiority. "Alright, Zephyras, we want to help you. Chaos, unless it's controlled, is a disease that must be cured."

The amber-eyed monster swiveled from her position next to one of the black clad cultists and practically ran over to us. "You want to? Oh, joyous! I was positive that I was going to have to kill you. Oh, I can not wait until we all will see the fruit of our labors. A perfect world." She sighed and flopped into the nearest person's arms. She smiled into the hood and whispered something that Nessa and I couldn't make out.

"Um, Ze-uh, Lady Zephyras? May we go home and rest for a while? We've just been through a lot, and we'd like to sleep and eat....if you'll allow it." I tilted my head down towards the floor and looked at her through my lashes. I was trying to play the part of reverent servant, so I kind of mimicked a dog. Zephyras smiled at us, her teeth showing. We hadn't seen them before, so we were more than a little shocked when we saw her pristine white teeth with the razor sharp points pressing into her ruby lips.

"Of course you may leave, I would not want for my new friends to be unhappy, would I? Now, come back here at ten o'clock tomorrow evening. Twenty hours is enough time for you to relax, no?" I glanced at my watch and oogled at the time. It was already one in the morning? Time really flew when you were transported to other dimensions, I guess. Nessa nudged me and we nodded at the creature in front of us.

We walked back to the parking lot, escorted by Charlie who had popped out from a coffin in the cult room. He smiled at us and opened the car door. Nessa got into the driver's seat and started the car. I got in the passenger's side, but before I could sit down and close the door, Charlie grabbed my shoulder.

"You know that she's not what you think she is, right? Zephyras doesn't want a perfect world, not exactly. She wants a dollhouse farm. She isn't human, but she loves the taste. I'd watch your back, mate. If you want to talk more, meet me here in two hours." He handed me a paper with address on it and waltzed away. Nessa stepped on the gas and we got out of the parking lot as quickly as we could.

We got to Nessa's house in record time, and I called my dad to tell him that'd I'd be staying over for a day or two he agreed, probably assuming that Nessa and I were doing one of our forty-eight hour seances again, which was a tradition we had started in sixth grade. I went down to the Adesso's kitchen and grabbed a bunch of snacks as quietly as I could so as not to disturb the rest of the family.

I returned to Nessa's rainbow of a room and we sat down on her fluffy carpet. Glancing at each other's nervous expressions, we began talking about our plan of action. We decided to go meet up with Charlie in a bit and talk with him, since we had no idea what to do.

We needed to know. And fast.

Our time was running out.