“The first breach of dimensions,” he repeated as if starting a history lecture, “is an incident which happened twenty years ago, when the barrier that separates both dimensions was torn by an astronomical amount of power, sourced from the darkest corners of each dimension. The ones responsible wanted to unite the darkness of both dimensions to overthrow the crown.”
“Overthrow which crown?” Maray clarified.
“There is only one crown in Allinan, and all lands are united under it. This is a dimension of peace, while the dimension you’re from is a dimension of conflict.” He gave her a knowing look. “Every now and then, our own demons try to disturb the peace, and if we don’t watch out, they manage to cross over to your dimension.”
“I am not certain I am getting this,” Maray interrupted, trying to slow the boy down, giving him an apologetic look.
He fell silent and smiled, understanding. “You’re not the first to not ‘get this’,” he reassured her.
“Demons? Darkness? Breach of dimensions?” Maray repeated. What had she gotten herself into by attempting to help the stranger in the tunnel? Now there was no other way but to learn as quickly as she could about the world he had brought her to and what to expect of it.
“All of those,” Heck re-confirmed with a grin, “in that order.”
His teeth were distractingly white against his skin, making it hard for Maray to focus on anything else for a moment.
“What do you mean by darkness?” She finally managed to form a question. “And by demons? What demons are there in my dimension?”
Heck’s smile widened as he noticed her stare. “Darkness—dark energy that evolves around or comes with demonic activity,” he said as if he was reading from a textbook.
His words still didn’t make sense. Maray had never heard of anything like that. Of course she knew of demons in religion and occultism, but she had never wasted even one moment believing that it could be true.
“What demons?” she repeated, tightening her scarf around her neck as she got icily cold all of a sudden despite her thick jacket. Did she really want an answer?
Her father always said, ‘Don’t ask what you don’t want an answer to, and you’ll spare yourself a lot of pain.’ Those were the words he sometimes used when Laura came up and he didn’t have the strength to ignore the topic. Was he right after all?
“Every creature that draws upon negative energy for their strength,” Heck explained, not making Maray any wiser, and as she kept waiting for him to make sense, he tried again. “They come in all shapes and sizes, sowing seeds of distrust and destruction.”
“That sounds a lot like the girls in high school,” Maray commented under her breath, earning a confused look from Heck. “Nevermind.”
“They feed off the negativity they create until they have enough excess energy to use it.”
“What do you mean, ‘use it’?” Maray interjected.
“Imagine it like magic,” Heck said with a frown. “Dark magic.”
That moment, as Maray was about to question all her beliefs, the door swung open, and Heck jumped to his feet, drawing his sword as he flew through the air, landing between Maray and the door.
“Heck,” Jemin hissed, his own sword in his hand, looking like an upset statue as he waited for Heck to lower his weapon.
It was so good to see him that Maray almost forgot how upset she was about the situation.
“We’re fine,” Heck said as he dropped the sword back to his side, waiting for Jemin to do the same.
Jemin’s glance wandered over to Maray as if to check she was still there—and still her. His face was different somehow, more guarded than before, more official.
“What did you tell her?” he accusingly said to Heck as he noticed the confused look on Maray’s face.
Heck patted his shoulder in response. “Relax, Jem,” he said and sat down on the bed again, this time closer to Maray than before he’d jumped up, his elbow almost touching her arm as he gesticulated. “Just giving her a little history lesson.” He winked at her.
“You were supposed to watch her,” Jemin scolded Heck, “not get cozy.” He leaned against the dresser and laid his sword down beside him.
“She has been taking it well,” Heck said with a grin and picked up the picture of the queen, holding it up for Jemin. “Even her resemblance to Her Majesty.”
Jemin’s face went pale from one second to the other. “You showed her?” he hissed as if Maray wasn’t there. “Are you insane?” He almost swept the sword off the dresser as he threw back his hands disbelievingly. “We don’t even know who she is. She could be a spy. Or worse—”
“Or what, ‘worse’?” Maray got to her feet. A spy? Who did he think she was? She hadn’t even known this dimension existed until earlier today. “I am right here,” she reminded both the boys and ripped the picture from Heck’s fingers to hold it up herself. “This,” she retorted, pointing at the image of herself in the crimson dress, “is freaking me out.” Even though she considered herself an even-tempered person, this was pushing her over the edge. “Apparently, there is someone running around in this dimension with my face, and no one has seen her in years.”
Jemin and Heck both watched her outburst with composure, but while Heck’s lips twitched at the sides, showing signs of amusement, Jemin’s already pale face turned white. He folded his arms over his chest and became still. As different as their reactions might have been, neither of them said a word until Maray gave up and dropped back onto the bed, picture in hand.
“How do we know you are who you say you are?” Jemin demanded.
Maray snorted. “For that, you would first have to care enough to ask me who I am.”
He shot her a chilly look. “I have.”
He was right. He had in the park … in the other dimension. And she had had nothing better to say than her name. That hadn’t been what he had asked her. He had wanted to know if she was the queen.
Maray took a deep breath, steadying her emotions. “Jemin,” she addressed him directly, speaking his name for the first time. Hearing it come from her own mouth made the absurd situation feel strangely real. “My name is Maray Johnson. I am from the other dimension. Before I ran into you, I didn’t even know another dimension existed.”
For some reason, he didn’t seem convinced.
Heck’s chuckle sounded somewhere in the background. “You two should go outside and fight,” he commented.
“Not funny, Heck,” Jemin snapped at him without taking his eyes off Maray.
“I have nothing to do with your court or your queen.” Maray ignored Heck’s comments. “All I want is to go home and forget this ever happened.” But from the look in Jemin’s bright-blue eyes, she knew that even if she ever got back home, there would be no forgetting.
Jemin
Jemin was used to the fog. He knew his way through it as if he had never done anything else in his life. One step in, one step out. In fact, he had done little more than travel between this world and his for the past six months. Before that, he had been in training like every Allinan child. He had sworn his oath to the crown, knelt before the queen regent in all her glory—her picture—and had believed her someone worthy of laying down his life. That had been before the incident.
Had he known what would happen, he would never have let Heck come along today, but would have sent him straight back to the palace where he was safe. They had been hunting the Yutu for days. It was the third one this month to cross territories. They had been losing the fight, and as they were about to retreat, the Yutu had gotten Heck. Instinctively, he glanced at his chest, inspecting the healed wound for a brief second. It was perfectly sealed, not even the slightest hint of a scar left behind. This time, it had been close for him, too. If it hadn’t been for the girl, if her presence hadn’t distracted the Yutu long enough for him to heal, the beast would have torn him apart.
Escaping from Commander Scott’s authoritarian glare—he was surprised the commander hadn’t aske
d about the hooded girl he’d been escorting—he’d delivered Maray to his bedroom and changed his armor. If it wasn’t for her resemblance to the queen, he might actually like her. This way, there was no way in hell he could stand her. Whenever he looked at her, he saw the queen’s lapis-lazuli eyes peer back at him with disdain. That might have something to do with his father, who hadn’t exactly done a great job in the first breach of dimensions; or with the simple fact that he had seen the queen—the real queen.
Hardly anyone had seen more than her portrait in eighteen years: the councilor, her hand-maiden, and Master Feris. And then there was him—Jemin, son of a traitor, who had only been accepted into the guard of dimensions because Feris had taken pity on him.
It had been pure coincidence. He had crossed the yard to the servant quarters and noticed an argument in a shady corner of the archway that enclosed the graveled space. As a soldier in training, he had noticed that something was off and wanted to help. How he wished he hadn’t acted on that impulse. It had been her—the queen—hidden in a hooded cloak, arguing with someone he had never seen before. Her face had looked the same as in the pictures he’d seen. The same beauty, the same grace, but there had been lines of age under her eyes and around her mouth.
Jemin was crossing the same yard now on his way to report back to Scott in the councilor’s office. Every time he passed that corner, his stomach tightened.
“Jemin Boyd to see Commander Scott,” he said, following the protocol of the palace as the guard at the door blocked his way with a spear, and added, as if in an afterthought, “The commander is waiting for me.”
Even though he knew almost every face of the palace guard, he never allowed himself to ignore protocol. It was expected of him, and since the incident with the queen, he was at highest alert at all times. Sometimes he even had trouble sleeping.
The guard stepped aside, granting him entrance to the blue salon, and Jemin rushed through the foyer to meet Scott under the familiar yellowish wallpaper and blue scenes from exotic places.
“We were just wondering if you’d honor us with your presence, Boyd,” Commander Scott said darkly as he entered the salon. “It was ten minutes, wasn’t it?”
“Apologies, Sir.” Jemin glanced at the ornate golden clock above the fireplace behind the cushioned, blue chairs. “Councilor.” He inclined his head at the highest in the line of the queen’s advisors and tried to forget that he was one of the few who also had seen the queen in person.
“Three Yutu,” Scott summarized their earlier conversation. “What did they want in the other dimension?” And before Jemin could respond, he said, “The councilor here thinks something must be drawing their attention.”
Councilor Unterly ran his index finger and thumb along the sides of his chin, smoothing his grey beard. “Jemin Boyd,” he said in his calm and deliberate manner. “When was the last time I saw you in these chambers?”
Jemin knew the councilor knew all the guards’ names. He also knew that the councilor was said to be a wise and just man. Seeing the elderly man in his grey and blue uniform, silver buttons decorating the front, each of them bearing the crest of Allinan, it was difficult to believe he was a councilor for peace. He looked more like someone who would lead an army into battle.
“That was thirteen days ago, I believe,” Jemin answered promptly, counting the days since he’d reported the first Yutu to Scott and Councilor Unterly, hiding whatever doubts he felt behind his official face. It was the one face that had saved him in the incident with the queen, and he hadn’t taken it off since.
“You’re a smart young man, Boyd,” the councilor said with a fake smile. “Tell us, what could it be that has drawn three Yutu into the other dimension in such a short period of time?”
“They might be hunting,” Jemin suggested, and instantly knew this wasn’t the answer Unterly had wanted to hear.
“Think, Boyd.” He sat down in one of the blue chairs and folded his wrinkled hands in his lap.
“The councilor asked you a question,” Scott pressed, piercing Jemin with a look of impatience.
“I apologize, Sir,” Jemin eyed the waist-high china vase behind Unterly to conceal his discomfort. He would rather be in his room, figuring out where the queen-doppelgänger had come from.
“It has come to my attention that there is recent Allinan activity in the Vienna of the other dimension,” the councilor announced.
Jemin lifted his head in surprise. Allinan activity? That meant there were individuals over there able to travel to this dimension the way he travelled there. Not demonic activity, but real Allinan blood.
“How is that possible?” he wondered, dropping his facade for a brief second and cursing himself the next. He had sworn he’d never let his guard down in this court ever again.
“That’s what we’d like you to find out.” Scott stepped away from the fireplace and crossed the polished wooden floor until he stood right before Jemin. He could see the pores on the commander’s nose, the blond hairs of his mustache, and a drop of sweat on his temple. “You, Jemin Boyd, will find out what is going on.” It sounded almost like a threat. “And you will not speak about this to anyone. Understood?”
Jemin swallowed, thinking of the girl he was hiding in his bedroom. He had brought Maray here from the other dimension. Had that triggered an alarm of some sort? Were they onto him? What choice did he have other than to agree? If he defied the order, they would know for sure that something was wrong.
“I do.” He focused on keeping his composed face and glanced past Scott at the councilor. “Anything else I can do for you, Sir?” Act like the soldier you were trained to be.
“That will be all, Jemin.” The councilor smiled the same suspicious smile as before and got to his feet. “Thank you,” he said before he left through the white and gold double door on the other end of the salon.
“Dismissed,” Scott barked into Jemin’s face and gave him a second to make himself scarce before he followed the councilor through the same door.
When Jemin rushed past the guard in the foyer, his stomach felt worse than before. Something was attracting the Yutu. Allinan activity. One of their own. He couldn’t help but think Maray was the only one to cause that draw for the Yutu. She looked like the queen. And even though she knew as little about Allinan as the next human from the other dimension, she had to be related to the royal family somehow. It was too much of a coincidence.
With silent strides like only one of the guards of dimensions could walk, he crossed the gravel back to the servant quarters. This time, he took a longer route so he wouldn’t pass the corner of the incident. He shuddered.
When he had seen the queen—when he had attempted to help the person in question—she had been holding a dagger to that person’s throat. It had been too late when Jemin had noticed who he was pulling his own sword against, and when he did, all she had said was, “Stand down, Boyd, or I will erase you like your father.” And when he had stared at her, hardly noticing the man in a grey suit and his wide, brown eyes, she had pointed the silver dagger against him. “That is an order, Boyd.”
Jemin pulled the collar of his armor-shirt up, protecting himself against the wind that blew through the archway cutting into his face like little blades, and quickened his pace as he glanced up to the first-floor windows. Maray was up there—hopefully—with Heck, and if he played his cards right, she would be all he needed to fulfill his task.
On the last couple of steps to his room, Jemin drew his sword, readying himself for whatever might await him behind the door. His mind was full of questions. One of them was why he couldn’t just have left the girl behind in that tunnel. But he knew the answer to it. A guard of the crown doesn’t leave someone like her behind. He made sure she was safe from Yutu, and he made sure she wasn’t a threat to the crown. He knew it, and yet he had troubles fully wanting to comply with protocol in this case. Soundlessly, he pressed down the handle and slowly pushed the door open.
“Heck,” he warned his fr
iend who had planted himself in between him and Maray, looking ready to lay down his life for her. For some reason, that upset him.
Jemin waited for Heck to pack away his heroism and his weapon before he glanced past him to search the room for Maray.
She was sitting on the edge of his bed, the side that faced the basin, and looked up at him with lapis-lazuli eyes, face unreadable. He shuddered and could almost feel the queen’s dagger at his throat at the sight of Maray.
“We’re fine,” Heck lowered his sword with an odd expression on his face. Didn’t her presence make him uncomfortable at all? What if she wasn’t Maray Johnson? What if she was only pretending to be clueless? Somehow, she didn’t look as clueless as before. Jemin had interrupted something. Something was going on—
With a quick glance at Heck, he understood that Heck must have been Heck and babbled.
“What did you tell her?” Jemin prompted and earned an eye-roll and a pat on the shoulder as if Heck was trying to show off.
“Relax, Jem.” As Heck sat down oddly close to the girl, he felt that strange sensation again. She looked like the queen in the official portrait, not like the queen looked now—or had looked that day she had threatened him. If there wasn’t a thing such as doppelgängers, there must be a blood-relation; he came back to the same conclusion. That also meant Maray wasn’t telling the truth. He eyed her carefully, as if she herself would pull a weapon at any second. “Just giving her a little history lesson,” Heck informed him without looking at him, but winking at the impostor.
“You were supposed to watch her—” he felt the urge to yell at Heck but bit back the volume of his voice to not alert the palace, “—not get cozy.”
Maray’s gaze followed him as he put his sword down on his dresser, close enough that he could pick it up in a fraction of a second if needed. There was nothing trustworthy about that girl—especially not her appearance.
“She has been taking it well. Even her resemblance to her highness.” Heck held up the queen’s portrait. It was the one he’d been keeping in his bedside table since his childhood. He had adored her—until that day a couple of months ago.
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