by Winter, Eden
“He may be harmless, but there is still something very strange about him. I wish I could explain further.” Veri tried to be casual as she walked from one photograph to the next. They were mostly of trees. She did not understand the concept of artistic beauty in the form of photos.
“Why do people enjoy seeing trees as pictures and not as trees?”
“Sometimes it’s nice to get into the artist’s mind, to be able to see what it is that they see in that moment. Like this one,” Jesse said, pointing to a large photo that had taken up an entire section of wall. “We will never see the trees exactly like this ever again.”
He appeared mystified. He eyed every inch of the piece, pausing at some points to admire what appeared to be textures in the artwork. Veri rolled her eyes.
“The same can be said if we see the trees for ourselves. The wind blows, the leaves grow or fall, and we are more drawn to the natural art of life rather than this dead… What is this called? This work that the trees are on? This rectangle?” Veri asked.
“Are you kidding? It’s paper.”
Veri blinked at him. She was not at all closer to knowing what he was talking about.
“Paper is…” Jesse paused, scratched his bald head for a moment and adjusted his glasses. “Paper is made from dead trees.”
“You kill your trees in order to make this?” Veri’s eyes widened. Her voice was raised, and someone nearby shushed her. She flashed the person a dirty look until the person decided it was better to move onto the next piece rather than start a fight with a woman who looked like she could kill with her eyes.
“You don’t have paper where you come from?”
“We do. But we share with our trees. We take what we need and nothing more. Surely, you see the madness and the irony of this photograph. He wants us to see the beauty of life while placing that same beauty on the dead remains of the very trees that he is showing us!” Veri was speaking wildly now. She didn’t understand anything about this world. When she jumped into the portal, she was expecting something peculiar, but she certainly wasn’t expecting this. What if she had to live in this place? It was dismal and loud and smelled terrible. But it was also kind, curious, and full of lights and beauty at night.
“Are you some kind of tree activist?” It was Mark. He was now standing behind them with a drink in his hand. He didn’t take his eyes off Veri.
“No, but I am concerned. And the irony…” Veri said. Her eyes darted back and forth between the photo, Jesse, and Mark. Jesse was busy shaking his head, and Mark was eyeing her with shifty eyes.
“Where did you say you were from, Veri?”
“I didn’t say,” Veri said. She was no longer thinking about the life cycle of trees in this place. She was now just as focused on Mark as he had been on her.
“Come, Jesse,” she grabbed him by the wrist and led him away. “I need to speak with you privately.”
Veri glowered at Mark and walked as far away from him as she could. Luckily, it was a large gallery. There were twists and turns, almost like a maze. She waited until there was basically no one around them.
“Well, that was rude,” Jesse said when they stopped.
“I don’t care. I’m telling you that he knows something about me—something that no one in this place should know, and I’m…” Veri’s voice trailed off. It was as if time stood still. Her voice caught in her throat, and she looked over Jesse’s shoulder. It was like she was seeing beyond him and seeing beyond anything in this entire place.
“What is it?” Jesse said when he turned around. “Oh, wow.”
Behind him on the opposite wall from where they were standing was a giant black and white photograph of what appeared to be three moons. This must have been the photograph that Adam had taken the night that Veri confronted him in that secret pasture.
“This is beautiful,” Jesse said as he slowly walked toward it. Veri was still unable to move.
“I know this place,” she said. A single tear flowed down her face.
“What are you talking about? There’s nowhere that has three moons, Veri.”
“Yes, there is,” Veri said when she was finally able to walk. She stood beside Jesse. It had only been two days, but she missed her world so dearly. She missed the people in it. Who knew how much time had passed now that she had come to this place? What if this photograph was the last piece of her world that she would ever see?
Jesse turned to face her.
“Remember how I wasn’t able to tell you anything about myself? I didn’t think you could ever believe me. But this photograph is…”
“Nothing but photo manipulation. Adam did something while he was in the dark room, and he found a way to put three photographs of the moon onto one piece of paper,” Jesse said. He had been trying to have a reasonable explanation for everything, but now was not the time for that. Now was the time to listen. If Veri was going to remain in this place, she needed to have allies. Someone had to know the truth about herself and her situation. Jesse had been nothing but kind since the moment they’d met. He was probably someone she was able to trust with a secret like this one.
“This photograph is in black and white because Adam wouldn’t be able to explain why these moons are different colors. This moon in the front is Mwezi. She is the largest and the brightest. She is white like your moon, but she doesn’t appear as far away as yours does. The second moon is Hënë, she is pink. There are some months when we do not see her in the sky at all because she comes in alignment with Mwezi. The smallest of the moons is Volana. She is normally not close to the others. She is a bright yellow and is the most distant of the three. We have three suns as well. And...”
“Veri, what are you talking about? Are you feeling okay?”
“You think that I’m crazy, that I am making this up. But I swear to you. I come from another world.”
“And what? You’re here to save us from a worldwide virus? You’re a part of the future?” Jesse asked. He was becoming indignant, fueled by the logic of this land.
“No. I know nothing about this world. I’m not supposed to be here. Look! There is a photograph of me!” Veri said. She moved so quickly that she nearly fell. She still had not gotten used to such high heels on shoes before. There was a picture of Veri looking angry and wide eyed but still beautiful. She remembered when she had confronted Adam before plummeting through the portal and into this place. He had taken out his black box and flashed a light in her face. She realized now that it was because he was taking a picture of her. Veri stared at the photo with so much anger in her eyes. She resisted the urge to grab it from the wall and to tear it into shreds.
“Jesse. You must believe me when I say that I had no idea that this was a photograph. I saw Adam with a box, and I thought he was going to kill me. I followed him here.”
“What, so you’re like an alien?”
“I don’t have any idea what that is. There isn’t much time. I have to find Adam, and I have to go back to my own world. The man that I love is in grave danger, and I need to be with him.”
Jesse looked at her with pity in his eyes. He was starting to believe that she really was crazy, and she sounded more like it as the moments went on.
“I cannot explain in the way I would like, but I am a queen. Where I come from, I am a queen, and there may soon be war in my land. The man I love is a king, but we rule separate sides of our world. Adam is going to do anything to keep me away from him. Try to believe me, even if for a moment. I just need to see that you believe me.”
“I don’t know what to believe. Right now, I feel like the Jeffrey Goines to your James Cole.” Jesse removed his glasses and covered the bridge of his nose with one hand. He looked almost as if he was in pain.
“Who?”
“Those are Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis’ characters from that movie that came out last year. Twelve Monkeys?”
Veri was more confused than ever. She didn’t know what a movie or a Brad Pitt was, or what that had to do with whatever mon
keys were.
“You don’t know anything about movies, do you?”
“I told you,” Veri said, exasperated. “I know nothing of this place. And I just need a friend to believe me when I say that Adam is not to be trusted. I have to find him, and I have to go back.”
Jesse stared into Veri’s eyes. He was having a battle inside himself about whether any of what Veri had said made sense to him or not. Had he really become friends with a crazy person? She seemed normal aside from the fact that she didn’t know any words or phrases, or how anything worked where they were. But that could have been amnesia. Still, amnesia would mean that she forgot some aspects of her life; it didn’t mean that she created an entirely new life where she was a queen and she lived in a land that magically had three moons.
Jesse couldn’t deny that Veri was very convincing. He asked her some questions, and instead of changing the subject, she finally opened up to him. She had an answer for everything that he asked, and she didn’t skip a beat. If she was lying, she was one hell of a liar.
“What’s going on with you and Adam?” That was Jesse’s final question. He knew that Adam was apparently responsible for why Veri was now in New York, but that didn’t account for the fact that Veri said it was unwise to trust him.
Veri opened her mouth to respond, but right as she did, a group of people came into view, and in their midst was Adam himself.
*****
Adam hadn’t yet spotted Veri. He was standing in the corner of the room entertaining several people. They had drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces. Some were walking around the large white space, and they stopped by each picture. They analyzed what they saw and debated about how it was that Adam was able to portray what looked like three suns in one of the smaller photographs. No one was paying much attention to the woman who had been featured in a few of the photos. Veri remembered that Adam had taken her photograph before he had created the portal to this world. She had no idea what the camera was or what it had been for, but now that she saw what the camera could do, she felt very strange about having her photograph up for anyone to see. Veri was still transfixed by the fact that there were pictures of her, of the suns and moons of her world, and other signs of life from a place she desperately wanted to return to. It was possible that no time had passed in her own realm, or it could have been months or even years. She had no concept of how time worked between the two worlds. She wanted to get back to Kainen, but Adam was too busy living a different life in his own world.
The small crowd that had been gathered around Adam had dispersed somewhat. A few of them decided to leave the gallery while the others went to inspect the art on the walls. There was only one person who stayed with Adam when everyone else left—a young woman with short hair. It had been shaved not too long before, but it was long enough now for the bright blonde color to be visible. Her hair was almost as light as Veri’s. In fact, if it were possible to see the entirety of her face, Veri could have sworn that this young woman was someone who could have been mistaken for her if not for the hairstyle and the difference in height. Veri was taller, but not by much.
“You gonna just stand there?”
Veri had almost forgotten that Jesse was with her. His sweater had different colors and patterns on it, and it was a bright contrast with the gloomy photos around the room they were standing in.
“I am waiting for him to see me. He has nowhere to run,” Veri said. Her voice was calm. For some reason, now that neither of them had powers, Veri had regained her confidence. She was not afraid of what could happen. She knew that she could overpower Adam, and maybe that was true in her own time and place as well. She had nothing to worry about when it came to Adam; an incubus could not kill a queen.
Adam was laughing with the woman who had the short hair. She rested a hand on the crook of his arm. Veri couldn’t hear their conversation from where she was, but even from a million miles away, she would have been able to understand what they were saying. This woman, whoever she was, was very fond of Adam. It was strange to see Adam be so… human. Was he reciprocating those feelings? Veri wasn’t sure. She didn’t know how long Adam had even known the woman. If they had just met, it was very easy to fall victim to the wily charms of a beautiful woman with blonde hair. But if they had known each other for long, and if Adam did in fact have feelings for the woman, he had no right to claim Kainen for himself. Veri’s world was not his world in which to manipulate the feelings of those who lived in it. With this woman, either the feelings were genuinely there or they were not. He needn’t rely on any magic spell or incubus charms to have someone fall in love with him.
Adam and the woman found something particularly humorous, and they started laughing. The woman threw her head back as she laughed.
“Wow, you two look like you could be sisters,” Jesse said.
“I already have a sister,” Veri said. Adam heard the sound of Veri’s voice and looked up. Every part of his face sank once he saw her. Veri moved away from Jesse and walked toward Adam. She didn’t need Adam to know that Jesse had been helping her. She didn’t know how safe that was.
“You okay?” the woman next to Adam said. She shook his arm, but he simply stood and stared at Veri.
“So, you did come,” he said when Veri was within earshot. The woman he was with frowned when she saw Veri. She was beginning to realize that there was a striking resemblance between them, but her skin was not as pale, and there were markings up and down one of her arms. There was a dragon, a smiley face, and many different symbols that Veri did not recognize. Veri also realized that the eyes of this woman were grey while her own were a dark brown.
“Yes. And I plan on going back. Tonight,” Veri said. Veri spoke very plainly. There was no way that she could fall for his charms in this world.
“Would you excuse us for a second?” Adam gave his companion a sweet smile and kissed her on the hand. She didn’t say anything. She flashed Veri a dirty look, nodded, and walked away to join a few other people in the area.
“You used my likeness and my world to share with these people,” Veri spat. “You have been called an innovator and an artistic genius, when really you are nothing but a cheat. You are a liar in my world, and you are a liar in your own.”
Veri was expecting him to smile and brush off her words. When they were standing in the secret clearing in her own world, he had so much confidence. He had the upper hand then. He had laughed at her accusations and was bold enough to take a photo knowing that there was no way she would rip his throat open and drain him of his blood. He knew it because she was still in love with Kainen. If he ever found out that Veri had hurt Adam, Kainen would never forgive her, and she was still trying to win him back.
But Adam didn’t do any of those things. In fact, he sank further into himself when she spoke.
“I’m a fraud to everyone around me.”
Veri blinked and her gaze softened for a moment, but she thought better of it and stood firm.
“Your tricks and manipulation don’t work on me here. You are nothing but a human.”
“And so are you, Queen Veri.”
Jesse walked by just then.
“Good to see you, Adam,” he said. He gave Adam a quick hug and looked at Veri. He was checking to see if she was okay.
“Is this your girlfriend?” Jesse asked. Veri breathed a sigh of relief. Jesse had figured out that they weren’t supposed to know each other.
“No, no… not at all,” Adam said.
“Hmm, funny. I just thought I heard you call her your queen.”
“Just a term of endearment, Jesse. Grab a drink and take a look around. I’ll come and hang out with you in a bit,” Adam flashed a fake smile. To anyone else it would have seemed genuine, but Veri knew better. She gave Jesse a look and nodded. He returned the nod and walked away.
Now Jesse knew better too.
“How were you able to come into our world?” Veri asked when Jesse had moved out of sight.
“The portal
,” Adam said. He had regained some of his snark, but one look from Veri told him that that wasn’t something that he should try again.
“Someone told me about it. Someone said that there was a world where people like me had powers and abilities—that it was a world that we could go back to since that world used to be ours.”
“Who said this?” Veri asked.
“I don’t know. I only received letters and emails from that person. I didn’t believe it at first. It’s crazy, right? A parallel universe with mythological beings? The letters just came out of the blue. Then, one day I got a video in my email. They told me to meet them at a location, so I did. They said they had a mission for me…”
“What mission?” Veri cut him off. This was already too much to take in.
“They needed me to go into the portal,” Adam said. A few people walked by them, and he smiled at them and entertained each for a moment.
“What for?” Veri whispered. She looked around to see if the people were still around them, but they had moved on.
“Reconnaissance.”
“What?”
“They knew the portal existed, but they had never been through it before. They needed someone to take a look into our world and see if it was safe for us to come back.”
“Our world? You play no part in my world. You’re nothing but a spy,” Veri said. She was getting angrier as she spoke, but she kept her voice as low as possible. She didn’t need any eyes on her.
“At first, yes. But then I fell in love with the land, and then I fell in love with…”
“Kainen.”
Adam nodded.
“We were wrongfully banished. We went to take back what was ours.”
“Nothing belongs to you. You’ve already found your way in this world. Isn’t that enough? As far as we all knew, your kind became extinct eons ago.”
“No,” Adam said. “In the past, each realm had a council, and they would all meet. No one liked us. You all voted us out of what was rightfully our land.”