Crossover

Chapter 2: Tobin

I dragged his unconscious body into the electrical room. Tobin had struggled, and in doing so knocked himself out. Hopefully when he woke, he’d be more co-operative.

I found a foldable chair and set it up in the middle of the room. Lifting him from under the arms I plopped him down onto the chair, head lolling back.

The blue flickering lights from the electrical panels lining the wall made my shadow separate into multiple pieces, and I caught distorted reflections from the shiny covers. I lifted up a few of them, and pulled out lengths of electrical cord. I wrapped it around his wrists and ankles, tying him to the chair.

He made a noise as he came back to consciousness. I pulled up another chair, and sat directly in front of him, waiting.

I watched as he slowly registered who it was that had found him.

“Kefira.” He said, groggily.  “I told you, I’m legit now.”

I rolled my eyes. “And I was done with this. But yet here I am.”

He sighed, and tried to wipe the sweat off his forehead. When his hand movement was met with resistance from the cords, he stopped and looked at me.

“You don’t trust me?” he asked.

I ignored him. “Where’s Alia?” I asked.

“You know,” he said, regaining more and more of his charm. “I keep forgetting that you have a daughter. Is she… two now? Mui cara, how time flies.” He shook his head, in exaggerated disbelief. “That makes you only nineteen, such a pretty young th…”

I reached across and slapped him, cutting him off mid-sentance. “Do you know anything or not?” I asked. “I hate wasting my time.”

“What’s in it for me?” he asked, being the greedy ijou he was.

I pulled a knife from my belt, and held it out. It had a very dull edge, but it worked well as a threat.

He looked fairly relaxed still, but could tell he was scared by the way his gaze flitted around the room. Tobin was as easy to read as he was to intimidate.

He finally looked me in the eyes and took a deep breath. “I have heard some chatter from some of the other crossers.” He said. “There have been sightings of Norami in Iritten, Luala and Lravien. But all sightings ceased yesterday.”

“She was taken yesterday.” I said. “We were in Luala. We bought a house there…” I trailed off, losing myself in the memory. It was only yesterday.

Yesterday.

And yet it already seemed like worlds away. In some ways, it was.

“Why would they do this?” I asked, my eyes welling up.

He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Look, technically you are still property of the Norami. Therefore, so is your daughter.”

I slammed my hand down on the armrest of my chair, making a loud clang. I hated being reminded of who I was.

“I have been running my ENTIRE life!” I yelled, my emotions getting the best of me. “All I wanted was to be left alone. Why did they have to come and take her?”

I stood up and paced the room; eight steps by six steps. Tobin sat quietly in the chair, staring at me.

“Do you know where she might be?” I asked, feeling like I was going to explode at any moment.

“No.” He said. “The Norami base you were kept at was in Deressa, but I’ve heard they have bases on Oria too.”

I swore. Oria was all about peace and keeping people happy, utopia style. For the Norami to have a base there, they must have ties with the government. And that would make it even harder to get in anywhere there. They'd be expecting me.

Inner turmoil took over. I felt like I could charge in there and not give an ijou about the cost. But it wasn't that simple. Alia needed me alive. What good was I to her captured again? What good was I if I was dead?

The tears began to squeeze out, blurring the blue blinky lights.

"Kefira?" Tobin asked, tugging at the cords. "You ever gonna let me out?"

I only nodded, feeling sapped of every scrap of energy and strength I had. I'd pushed myself far too hard for my first day back at this. But I wasn't going to slow down.

They had Alia. My Alia.

I pushed his chair closer to where the cords stemmed from, loosening the tangles around his limbs. It made an awful squeaking sound as it moved across the rubbery floor.

I needed to go. I shouldn't put Tobin through more than I needed to. Besides, the recirculated air in here was beginning to feel crushing.

"I'm going." I announced to Tobin. I didn't want him getting too close, or it causes drag on my crossover.

"But Kefira..." He started to say, as I began to crossover. I tuned him out after that. He was still rather tangled in the cords, keeping him in place.

I closed my eyes, and let everything melt away. I needed to be calm. Panic would drag me into the eddies of the in-between and from there into another reality, or possibly not even a reality at all. Only as the world began to distort, did I realise the cold that I had adjusted to there on Nova. In the crossover, it was body temperature, heating up as the friction from pulling myself through the layers tried to hold me back.

At some point the effort shifted from a pull to a push, now forcing my body through. My fourth crossover in the last 20 hours.

Hands outstretched, I ripped through the final layer and tumbled out onto the dunes of Deressa.

I was home.