At the Crossroads. Book 1

Chapter 9

The portal crackles. You're falling through. Your head spins, and nausea clutches your throat, but – pull it together! You whizz past several floors, hope nobody looks out of their windows at this moment. The road rushes closer and closer. Cars beep and cram in a traffic jam below your feet. Now. You've almost made it to the bottom of the skyscraper, you don't have any second left to rest. Concentrate, or you're dead. Well, smashed, but bet you won't like healing from that.

The heart of the parallel beats faintly beats in your hand, and the cooling sensation crawls under your skin. Your hands cut across the air. A portal cracks open, and you fall through. It tosses you out–

Photo by Meg Sorick

Blackness. Nothingness gnaws around the remaining pale spot. The heart chills your palm and sinks inside. A dark red head. Alice crouches in the middle, she hugs her knees to her chest and rocks back and forth. Her ribbons wrap around her body.

"Don't wriggle," you yell and topple her and through the next portal. The parallel on the other side shatters. The portal snaps shut. "Please, work..." you whisper.

You drop onto the floor and roll several steps. Darkness. Alice cries out and thrashes– elbows you in the chin.

"What, what are you...?!" She kicks you in the stomach and scrambles up to her feet.

"Ugh." A huge white chandelier hangs over your head. You know this one. Your heart thuds in your ears, and everything hazes and spins around. "The Black Castle?" you rasp.

Alice scoffs from somewhere close to you, and you sprawl out of the cold floor. You don't see her. You don't see anything but blurry dots.

"We're back," she grumbles and walks closer. White and dark red, she must be hovering over you know. "Now, give me the heart."

That's a hand. Your vision focuses on her blackened nails. Her ribbons are messily wrapped up to her elbows. No bows there. They are tattered too, some still milk-white and some smoked and torn.

Funny. You chuckle. Weird. You feel... "How about a thank you?"

Alice jerks back and straightens her back. You don't see her anymore. Only the... ceiling... Ahah. So weird. Light, as if your body wasn't there.

"Give me the heart, and maybe I'll thank you," mutters Alice.

You hum along to the thudding in your head. Numb fingers. Try moving your leg.

"I don't have it." You wiggle and almost raise your hand to your eyes. Too weak. Your palm tingles. "Guess I used it up to get us out."

Alice groans.

"If I hadn't, you'd be toast," you point out and sit up.

Alice storms off. She knocks over a vase down the corridor, mutters Goddess, kicks the wall, as if glares your way, and sprints up the marble stairs.

You don't see her for the rest of the day. Days? Hours? It's hard to tell when all you can see outside is darkness. Inside the Black Castle, it's no better. You sleep for some time, rest on the sofa, sit in front of the fireplaces... well, at least the Black Emperor left most of them lit for you.

Wish Lars was here.

The Black Emperor returns by the crack of dawn. First, you hear his heavy footsteps, and he walks into the hall. You sit up on the sofa and lower your feet to the floor.

"Ah." The Black Emperor stops in his tracks and looks at you. Blinks. "Oh, it's you, World."

Shouldn't you be? He looks confused to find you. "Hi." You pull a smile and wave. "Erm, Emperor?" Can't quite force yourself to add that black part. Does he call himself that way, or it's just what everyone else's made up?

"Sorry," the Black Emperor chuckles and runs his hand through his already messy hair. His cape's smoked on the edge. "I'm very, very tired." He sighs and kicks his boots off. Next comes the cape, it clatters to the floor because of the heavy shoulder plates. "And just Gleb is fine, don't worry about it. See you later." He turns around and strides off to the tower.

Weird. You peek at his large boots and the black cape lying in the middle of the corridor. Somebody might trip over that. Say, Alice.

You sprawl back on the sofa and drift off to sleep.

"What the–" Thud!

Yeah, Alice does trip over the boots.

You roll to your side and look up. She looks better. Not all the ribbons are milk-white, but they're neatly wrapped around her arms and eyes. Alice's brushed her hair and changed into a pale summer dress with a bell skirt. She probably owns those as much as she has flower crowns. Funny that she still wears the one Lars made. Some stems are smoked, and on the side she fixed the crack with a tiny milk-white bow.

"We are stealing Lars back!" Alice proclaims and puts her hands on her sides.

"Uh-huh," you mumble and settle back to sleep.

Alice sneers and runs–

Wait, what!?

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