by KT Webb
She wasn’t one of the evils that directly injured humans and didn’t generally infect them with her brand of crazy, but she was having a blast making everyone a winner in Sin City. Every casino was in upheaval as they tried to determine how they would stay in business if they had to pay every gambler in the place.
Nora knew they would have to destroy her when they caught her, but this was one Malady she didn’t fear. If she was being honest, she actually thought Chaos had a certain flair that she found quite amusing.
“Mommy!”
Nora heard Keira yelling for her from the backyard where she had been playing all morning. Something about her tone caused Nora to rush to her daughter’s side. She didn’t think Keira was hurt or scared, but something was different.
She found Keira standing in the middle of the yard. She was alone, but appeared to be looking at something with great interest.
“What is it, baby?” Nora asked as she knelt down next to her child, trying to get the same perspective Keira had.
“Mom! I saw Hadley out here but she couldn’t hear me. She came from there,” Keira said, pointing to the tall reeds near the pond at the edge of the property.
“What would Hadley be doing there? Are you sure you saw her?” Nora asked her with interest.
Keira rolled her eyes in exasperation. It was such a grown up response that Nora had to keep herself from laughing at the little girl.
“Yes, mommy. She came out of the tall grass and looked around like she was lost, then she went back in the grass like she didn’t know she was even out,” Keira told her with concern in her voice.
Nora was a little troubled by this information. She didn’t know what Hadley would be doing out there. Hadley hadn’t left her room much since her experience in Chicago.
“What are we looking at?” Hadley asked behind her.
Nora nearly jumped out of her skin, and Keira yelped in surprise.
“How did you get over here so fast?” Keira asked as she launched herself at Hadley for a hug.
“I came down to the kitchen to get something to drink and saw you two out here staring off into the distance. I thought maybe you needed my help,” Hadley replied with caution in response to the looks she was getting from Nora and Keira.
“But you were over there, and you looked lost. Hey! You changed your clothes too,” Keira said in a small accusatory voice.
Hadley looked at Nora and shrugged her shoulders. “I haven’t been outside at all today. And this is what I put on after I showered this morning. No wardrobe changes for me.”
Nora looked at Keira with concern. They began walking toward the reeds.
“There you are again!” Keira cried out pointing at the same spot she had claimed Hadley was moments ago.
Nora and Hadley looked at each other in surprise. Hadley was walking right along beside them. Keira was still seeing her in the distance. There was only one person who could be mistaken for Hadley, and they both knew it.
“Keira, can you take me to the other Hadley?” Nora asked her little girl.
Keira nodded firmly and took her mother’s hand. The three of them began running toward the reeds near the pond. It was a beautiful day in late August. The heat wasn’t as intense at it had been only a few short weeks ago. The South Dakota fall was quickly approaching, but they still had a few more weeks of fair weather before everything began to prepare for the winter months.
When they arrived at the reeds, Hadley pulled them apart and poked her head inside.
Hadley pulled back and gave Nora a look that clearly told her there was nothing there. Perhaps Keira’s abilities were layering the past with the present.
“There’s no one here, honey. Are you sure this is where you saw the other Hadley?” Nora asked carefully.
“Of course it is.” Keira furrowed her eyebrows and gave both her mother and Hadley a look that told them she was confused and frustrated.
Keira was the type of girl that had to look for herself. She took a step forward and looked in to the reeds. She let out an exasperated sigh and looked back at Nora and Hadley. Nora smiled at her little girl as she looked back in to the reeds and took a step forward trying to get a better look. She was nothing if not thorough.
“I don’t get it,” Keira said. “She was here. She was right in there.”
Keira pointed to the pond. A moment later, she screamed in shock and surprise, and disappeared into the reeds. Nora leapt through in search of her daughter, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Hadley and Nora began frantically calling out to Keira, but were greeted with silence. Her daughter was gone.
Chapter Sixteen:
Keira
“Mommy?” Keira asked tentatively as she poked her head back out through the tall grass.
Her mom and Hadley were gone. She was all alone. She looked around and saw that the pond looked the same as it always had, but it didn’t seem as bright. It was almost like when her mom made a copy of a picture and the colors weren’t quite the same. It was dull and quiet. There were no bug sounds, the wind didn’t blow, and there were no birds calling to each other. Instinctively, she knew she was only in a copy of the world she lived in.
“Hello? Other Hadley?” Keira called out.
“Who are you?”
Keira turned around to see a girl who looked just like Hadley standing by the edge of the pond. Her long blond hair was flowing freely around her upper arms. She wore a pretty white sundress and no shoes.
“My name is Keira. Are you Hadley?” she asked the girl.
“You know Hadley?” the girl asked Keira.
“She’s my aunt, kind of,” Keira told the girl. “But you look just like her.”
“I’m Whitley,” she replied.
“No. You’re wrong. Whitley is dead. Everyone still misses her,” Keira said sadly.
“I’m not dead. I’m lost. I can’t find the house. I’m sure they think I died, but I didn’t. I jumped at Hadley, then woke up here,” Whitley replied.
Keira shook her head. “Are you crazy?”
Whitley laughed and knelt down so she was face to face with Keira. A look of recognition crossed her face as she looked at Keira.
“Oh my gosh. Are you Nora’s baby?” she asked in disbelief.
Keira had been studying Whitley, unsure of what to make of her and the situation she found herself in. Hadley told her about her twin many times, always with sorrow in her voice. Keira knew she was gone and that there was no way to bring her back. Hadley had been trying.
“Yes,” Keira responded to her question.
“But how can that be? How are you so big? Just yesterday you were in your mommy’s tummy. She was barely pregnant.” Whitley was desperately trying to rationalize the existence of the little girl in front of her.
“That wasn’t yesterday. Whitley, you’ve been gone for almost five years,” Keira told her gently.
“No. That can’t be right. I was only with them this morning.” Whitley looked shocked and afraid.
Keira didn’t know how, but she knew she needed to help her. She knew Whitley wasn’t a ghost; ghosts weren’t real. But memories sometimes left an impression on the world. Maybe Whitley was a memory.
“You said you’re lost?” Keira asked.
Whitley nodded her head and bit her lip. If Keira could help her find her way, maybe she wouldn’t be lost anymore and she could go to heaven.
“Let me help you find your way,” Keira told her.
Whitley took Keira’s hand and stood up, trying her best to look brave, but Keira could see the fear and uncertainty etched in her face.
“You need help finding the house, right?” Keira asked her.
“Yes. I remember this pond, and these reeds, but every time I think I’ve found the way out, the house isn’t there,” Whitley replied.
“Let me take you there,” Keira told her.
Keira held Whitley’s hand and led her through the tall grass. It was strange to come out on the other side and see the l
awn and house look so empty. As they walked toward the house, Whitley gripped Keira’s hand tightly. She smiled a little when Whitley gasped as the house came into view.
“You found it,” Whitley exclaimed as she began to press forward, keeping a firm grip on Keira’s hand.
As they neared the back door of the house, everything started to get brighter. Keira watched with curiosity as the copy of our world seemed to snap back into place. When she opened the back door, she felt a slight resistance and realized Whitley seemed to be struggling to cross the threshold. Keira furrowed her brow and gave her a firm tug. Whitley came through with a pop that only Keira seemed to hear.
Her mom and Hadley were standing in the breakfast nook with Dorian. They looked up in surprise as Keira seemed to materialize in front of them. It was only then that they registered who had come with her.
“Whitley?” Hadley asked in awe.
Keira hadn’t helped Whitley move on, she had brought her back.
Chapter Seventeen:
Whitley
She stood in the kitchen with her sister and Nora. Dorian rushed off to call the others. Hadley nearly collapsed in her arms after taking a few tentative steps toward her.
“Has it really been five years?” Whitley asked.
“Yes. You saved Hadley’s life at the cost of your own,” Nora told her.
“So does that mean I’m your little sister now?” Whitley asked.
She didn’t know if she had aged while she was in Hadley’s mind. She couldn’t even remember being there. Every time she tried to remember, she would start to feel nauseated. Hadley and Nora took turns filling her in on everything that had happened since the day they fought Absalom. She was still struggling to wrap her mind around it all when Nora abruptly told them she would be back, and disappeared.
“She went to get everyone else. They were in Las Vegas dealing with Chaos,” Hadley told her.
Whitley didn’t know what to say. So much had changed since she’d been gone. Whitley smiled at her sister. She had so many emotions whirling around inside her. She was so happy to be back and to be part of their lives again, but she was so overwhelmed by all the things that had happened since she was gone. The idea that the evil beings that had been contained within the sphere were out and walking around in human form was a lot to take in. Their mother was in danger, Keira was a four-year-old powerhouse, and Thatcher had lost his marbles.
“Do you think me coming back had to do with you dying? It can’t be a coincidence that this all happened so close together,” Whitley told her.
“I don’t know. But I do remember one of the Old Immortals telling me that the rules that can’t be broken are always changing. I wasn’t supposed to die that day, so I came back. Maybe you weren’t supposed to die either?” Hadley said with uncertainty.
“Then why have I been gone so long?” Whitley asked.
Hadley didn’t seem to have any answers for that, she just reached over and took her sisters hand. Whitley didn’t want to become a concern for her family. She was alive, she was here, and she just wanted to live and be here and not worry about the why and how. “So, Thatcher went nuts and killed you. How’s that impacted your relationship?” Whitley asked her with only a hint of sarcasm.
“Well, I forgave him the moment I woke up. I knew he thought he was seeing Absalom. He didn’t know he was hurting me. The problem is, he hasn’t forgiven himself,” Hadley told her.
“I’m sorry, Had.” Whitley could practically feel the pain radiating from her sister.
“Me too. You have no idea,” Hadley replied sadly. “But, I’m glad you’re here. I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you!” Hadley pulled her sister into a tight hug. “I never gave up hope that we could bring you back.”
Whitley didn’t respond, she just held her sister as they both shed a few tears. She knew she wasn’t going through the same emotional reunion her sister was experiencing. No time had passed for her, but Hadley had endured five years without her sister.
Nora must have brought everyone back with her in a different room because Whitley could hear voices coming from the foyer. One of them was her mother. She looked up, releasing Hadley in time to be attacked by Tahlia.
Her mother held her close, touched her face, hair, and arms, then held her hands. She had never seen her mother so happy. It was a lovely sight.
“I don’t understand it, but I’ll take it,” Tahlia told her.
Kerr and Romulus were discussing something and gesturing toward Whitley. They seemed troubled by something, but didn’t appear to be ready to share it. Whitley was starting to get tired and longed to lie down in her bed. A thought hit her that hadn’t occurred to her before.
“Do I still have a room?” she asked.
Everyone laughed in response and assured her that she did still have a room. Hadley insisted on keeping everything as it was in case she found a way to bring her sister back. Whitley loved being with all of them, but she wanted desperately to be alone to process everything she’d been told. She didn’t want to leave the house for fear she wouldn’t find her way back.
She had been thinking a lot about how she managed to find the house. Before Keira showed up, she had been getting frustrated. She didn’t know how the little girl had done it, but she firmly believed that Keira was the reason she was standing with her family now.
Whitley looked over at Keira. The little girl had been silent since she reunited Whitley with the family. It was clear that she was just as confused about her involvement in bringing her back as Whitley was herself. No one had brought up the logistics of her return, but she knew it was something they needed to discuss.
“Let’s go sit down,” Whitley said, gesturing toward the library.
Everyone filed down the hallway, talking excitedly amongst themselves. Whitley noticed that Thatcher hung back, looking nervous about joining everyone. Whitley had hardly been back an hour and she was already tired of the mopey Thatcher.
“Hey you,” Whitley said, poking him in the arm.
“What?” Thatcher asked her defensively.
“Knock it off. Seriously. I haven’t been here to deal with it, but Hadley and Nora filled me in. She knows it wasn’t you. So quit being so stupid,” Whitley told him.
Thatcher looked at her for a moment, clearly surprised by her words. He started to say something, but Whitley decided she wasn’t finished.
“You killed her. You killed her because you thought you had to kill Absalom all over again. Guess what? The bad guys were screwing with you. You need to be Thatcher again and stop acting like you have to pay for what happened,” Whitley said with finality.
Thatcher pulled her into a quick hug then drew back to look at her. “I’ve missed you.”
Whitley laughed and punched him in the arm. He had become a brother to her and she hated seeing the tortured look on his face.
“But seriously, you need to talk to Hadley. You guys love each other, and if you keep wandering around like this you’re going to lose her,” Whitley told him, before walking past him to enter the library.
Whitley took a seat in between Hadley and Tahlia, allowing each of them to take her hand. Dorian was pacing the library while everyone watched him, waiting for him to say what was on his mind. To her surprise, Kerr was the first to break the silence.
“Whitley, we have something to tell you,” Kerr said, gesturing to Romulus. “From the moment we saw you, we knew something had changed.”
“Spit it out, Kerr,” Whitley told him impatiently.
“Neither of us can sense any power coming from you,” Romulus told her.
“Okay,” Whitley replied in confusion.
“You don’t have any abilities. You’re still Hadley’s twin, you’re still a descendant of Tahlia, but you’re no longer one of the Evolved,” Kerr told her gently.
“But can I still be in your club?” Whitley asked in her best valley girl accent.
Everyone laughed loudly at her response. Kerr and Romulus seemed relieved
that she wasn’t upset or concerned. Quite honestly, Whitley didn’t care if she had power or not. When she had it before, it didn’t feel like it was hers. She didn’t understand it at the time because it was all so new.
“I don’t need abilities. I think all that power was supposed to be Hadley’s anyway. As long as I don’t have to leave, I couldn’t care less,” Whitley told them.
“I think we have a few things we need to discuss. Thatcher, can you please take Keira out to play?” Dorian asked.
Thatcher nodded and reached for Keira’s hand. The little girl smiled widely and took his hand, allowing him to lead her from the room. Once they had left, Nora and Kerr took a seat on the couch opposite the one Whitley, Hadley, and Tahlia were occupying. Dorian sat in one of the oversized armchairs and began stroking his beard.
“Keira brought me back,” Whitley said aloud. “It was the strangest thing. I couldn’t find my way out of the reeds. I was frustrated. I was scared. I finally gave up and sat down on the edge of the pond. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get out. It felt hopeless.”
Her family seemed enraptured by her explanation, so she continued.
“As soon as I decided I wasn’t going to find my way out, I heard a little girl. When I turned around, I saw Keira standing there. She had appeared out of nowhere. Her presence was so soothing, it made me feel like if anyone could help me, she could,” Whitley told them. “As we walked across the lawn, it was like the house appeared out of the mist. But when I tried to come into the house, it felt like trying to walk through Jello. Keira pulled me through, and suddenly everything seemed to right itself.”
Dorian leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. He looked at Whitley for a moment more, before glancing at Kerr and Nora. His eyes finally landed on Tahlia.
“It is as I thought. As the Evolved come closer to ending the Present Era, the spirit of hope must find a new vessel,” he told them.
Dorian went on to explain the theories he had shared with Tahlia about how she came to be and how the new hope would be chosen.