by Mara Amberly
Huh? Oh – I can’t unsee that.
The guard looked like him – or it was him. She recognised his face but she noticed after a moment that he was in a clean, fresh uniform, even free of blood drips.
Either he’s got changed and possibly killed something large or this is another world’s James. Oh bloody brilliant.
She could at least be sure that the severed head hadn’t come from ‘her James’. It was big and she thought, sad-looking; its long hair matted with blood. It took her a moment to realise it was a woman’s head, but she had the look about her of something else. Like an ogre or something, only those didn’t actually exist, did they?
I shouldn’t talk to the crazy person with the giant hammer but if I don’t, how can I know for certain that it isn’t him? What if someone ordered him to do that and he did?
Nessa cautiously walked over to the man, who had climbed down and was now gazing up at his handiwork. Nessa’s stomach turned; the sight of the head was gruesome. She knew she couldn’t smell it at a distance, but her stomach seemed to think she could.
“Excuse me, umm... Sir, is your name James?” She tried to approach him in a friendly, seemingly-relaxed manner. He, meanwhile, was treating this like it was all in a day’s work.
“How did you know my name? Do I know you?” he asked.
Nessa felt a shiver run up her spine. She wondered if he’d killed whoever had owned that head by himself. Perhaps not, she reasoned, given that his uniform wasn’t stained. The head’s owner must’ve been ten foot tall. Hopefully the people of this city weren’t in the habit of chopping them off without a particularly valid reason.
“Ah, it’s nothing. There was a lady down the street who I think may have been looking for you. She mentioned your name, but I don’t know hers. She was elderly and – uh, sorry I can’t be of more help.” She inclined her head, and then got the hell out of there.
It’s not him. Holy crap, it’s not him. I knew it probably wouldn’t be but this isn’t good. It means that my James – the James I came here with – could be mistaken for that James. I hope he doesn’t find him here because that would take some explaining. This isn’t James’s world, unless he somehow wants to take over that man’s life, but I doubt it.
She hurried through the streets, keeping an eye out around her for the James she knew. She was in danger of becoming lost, and it was a long way on foot, but she was hopeful of finding him. It concerned her that he might pass her by without her seeing him. Nessa realised they shouldn’t have separated or should’ve found a way to stay in contact. Her chest rose and fell quickly as she walked and her anxiety gained a foothold. She was afraid, not just for herself but for James too. Tears formed in her eyes and she wiped them away as she remembered the old woman’s laugh. It felt almost like a nail in her coffin, but there was no coffin. They were just dark, hopeless feelings she needed to overcome. Maybe it was fate, or luck, destiny or James was on the lookout too, but down near the market street she saw him waving to her. She hurried over, almost crying with relief, and noticed he was with a small boy.
“Nessa, come here! I’d like you to meet my son, Evan. And Evan, this is Nessa. She helped me find my way home.” The way he said it was full of relief and joy – she could hardly look him in the eye. She wondered how the other James would react if he found them talking to his son outside.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Evan,” she said, completely at a loss for what else to say.
The boy grinned at her and he seemed like any other normal child. “Hi,” he said, and then looked back up at James. “Do you mind if I go back inside? Dylan’s over and I said I’d help him with some painting.”
James nodded, clearly content. “Go right ahead.” When Evan left, he smiled at Nessa. “Thank you for returning my life to me.”
Nessa felt terrible, because she had to tell him the truth and she didn’t want to break his hope... and possibly his heart. If she didn’t, then James was probably going to land himself in a lot of trouble sooner rather than later.
She was going to approach the subject gingerly at first, but then blurted it out. “That’s not your son, James. I mean, yes he’s your son, but he’s not. There’s another you on this world – it’s a different variation of the same world. Evan didn’t tell you that you weren’t away? His father’s here; I saw him.”
James looked annoyed at first – true rage bubbling beneath the surface, but then it was replaced by so much hurt.
“That’s not fair, is it? What am I going to do? Am I ever going to find my way home?” He spoke with such sadness that her heart sank.
It was a question she couldn’t answer. The truth was, if variations of worlds were as infinite as science suggested, then there was a chance he might never find his way back. Maybe she could further develop her ability with time and there were bound to be other people out there with different abilities who might be able to help her. Perhaps this wasn’t something she and James could do by themselves. “We know we can visit variations of your world. We just have to find the right one, James. Hang in there. Please.”
She looked around, glancing at the people out on the street. A man with a woollen hat gave James a wave and he waved back nonchalantly. She was relieved that he did it in a way that he didn’t draw conversation.
“Do you know him?” she asked carefully, as she could still tell he was upset.
James nodded. “Yes I do. I know a lot of these people, or at least, I thought I did. I–”
Nessa’s heart froze when she saw a familiar uniform in the distance. It was the other James walking toward them. “Time to go! Now, let’s go. He’s coming.”
James allowed himself to be led away, but it wasn’t without a quick glance back at the house. His son was inside it, and Nessa knew that to leave meant he couldn’t say goodbye – once again.
“Let’s get out of here while we still can,” she said as they walked along the lane between two houses.
James stopped for a moment. “I don’t want to leave. I have a life here and a son, but if I stepped into another me’s role, my son here would be without his true father all over again. I can’t do that to him, can I?”
She put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it away.
“I don’t need your comfort; I just need a way back. Give me that if you can. It’s all I ask.”
Nessa felt that shouldn’t have hurt her feelings, but it did. She wasn’t sure what to say. “You know what I can do right now and what I can’t. I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve, but I was thinking there might be someone we could ask who might increase our chances of success.”
His brow furrowed. “Who ‘s that?” He turned away from the street so they would at least have less chance of being recognised.
“Someone with the technology to develop my power into something bigger and probably more lucrative for them.” She didn’t like the prospect of that, but the options were limited.
An awkward silence hung in the air between them, and then Nessa turned and started back up the street. They only made it as far as the corner before James heard someone running. He pulled Nessa into a doorway, so there was less chance they’d be seen.
The footsteps stopped somewhere close to the corner and Nessa ventured a peek around the doorframe.
“Oh hell. It’s you. The other you and he looks annoyed,” she whispered to James. Nessa could feel her heartbeat quickening. She was afraid of what might happen. “What are you going to do?” she asked him.
“I’m going to talk to him,” James insisted. He pushed off from the doorway before Nessa could stop him. She tried, but he elbowed his way out of her grasp, and Nessa sunk back into the doorway so she wouldn’t be seen. She hoped this wouldn’t turn violent and that her James would be okay.
“Whoa – whoa man, what in the hell is this?”
Nessa recognised the voice as James’s, but she didn’t know which one had spoken. She cautiously peered back around the corner, watching the two men s
tanding opposite each other in the street.
“Listen – I am you, just from a different place. This crazy girl pulled me through a portal and you won’t believe me more than likely, but I thought I was coming back home. Only this isn’t home, this is some other place that looks just like my home.”
At least Nessa could tell them apart. It would’ve been much worse if she couldn’t. That said, she didn’t appreciate being called a crazy girl. She wasn’t going to get bent out of shape over it right now because trouble might be on the cards, but it irritated her.
“You really expect me to believe that? You look just like me. You came into my home and pretended to be me around my son. Is this some kind of Urghan ploy? Get a glamour spell cast on yourself and come to my house pretending to be me?” He looked angry, but also upset because James had been within reach of harming his son if he’d wanted to.
“I have no idea what an Urghan is, or what a glamour spell is for that matter, but I didn’t do it. Please, I would help you understand if I could. Almost everything here is the same as in my world. Ask me questions and I’ll answer them. Anything.”
It was unclear to what extent James was getting through to the stranger from this dimension, but neither looked comfortable in each other’s presence. It was then that Nessa remembered something she’d seen on television. Apparently if you travelled back or forward in time, and touched a double, the universe might end or implode, or at least something terrible would happen.
Maybe that wouldn’t occur, and parallel universes were undoubtedly different, but could she take the chance? She stepped out from the doorway, carefully walking over to the James she recognised as her friend.
“I’m the crazy girl who opened the portal. I’m sorry. I was trying to get James back home and I brought us here instead. We’ll be going and leave you to your life undisturbed from now on.”
She hoped this wouldn’t get her into trouble or worse, killed. They’d better not burn witches or whatever it is they’d think I am on this world.
Nessa quickly took James’s hand and tried to lead him away. He started to follow.
“Oy, wait a minute,” the other James called out.
With a grimace, Nessa turned back around, and the James she knew did too. She hoped it wouldn’t be a mistake.
“How did you do this – if what you’re saying is true?” the unfamiliar James asked.
Nessa couldn’t tell whether he believed them or not, but he must’ve been considering the idea, otherwise why would he have asked the question? He might try to arrest them; as a guard, he could do that... or rather, he could try.
“We have more technology on our world.” While it wasn’t the answer he might’ve been looking for, it was strictly true in a sense and it might save her from being burned as a witch if it came down to it.
He considered her answer, his expression interested.
“Goodbye,” she said a little abruptly and hurried away. Her friend James moved with her, staying protectively close.
That was when she heard the guard from this world call out. “Stop. I can’t let you do that.”
Hand in hand with Nessa, James sighed. “I knew he was going to say that.”
They were so alike it was uncanny, but then the world around them looked much the same too. James, the guard from this parallel world, ran toward them.
Nessa was going to warn her friend not to touch him, but she didn’t get the chance. Letting go of her hand, James turned around and punched his parallel world double in the face, knocking him backwards. In so doing, he answered a universal mystery and bruised a man’s cheek at the same time. While the guard regained his bearings, James and Nessa took off toward the gate.
Their escape felt like a blur. Nessa and James hurried into an alley, but found it was a dead end, so dashed out again. Trying to figure out just where they were, they ran between houses in the general direction of the gate they’d come through. They sidestepped rubbish on the ground, dodged washing lines and avoided any people whose paths they crossed. James dropped her hand several times and grabbed it again, so there was less chance they’d get separated.
They heard the sound of the pursuing James’s whistle as he drew attention to their escape. Nessa wasn’t sure what would happen if they were caught, but they had to make it back to the portal before the flower died. They’d more than likely be imprisoned in a dungeon if they were caught, just like she was on James’s world.
“Run, we’ve got to get to the gate. This is where we hope they’re not waiting for us or we play it cool when we get there.”
The entrance to the city was normally guarded, albeit minimally, and once the guards there became aware that something was going on, they could make it much more difficult to leave.
“You know, the walls around the city don’t look all that high,” Nessa said. “We climb over the side and we won’t need to go out the gate. We’d need to get up on one of those rooftops and it’s a way down but I brought a bit of rope just in case.”
James beamed at her. “That’s good thinking. Yes, let’s do that. I’ll climb up on to the balcony of that house and help you up, and then we ought to be able to get across.”
The balcony belonged to a blue, two-storey house. It was positioned close to the side wall of the city, and it definitely looked possible to climb from the house’s balcony up on to the wall. They just needed to do it before this world’s James and his fellow guards caught up with them.
Once James was sure the way was clear, he climbed up one of the balcony’s support poles and over its railing. He was probably quite a bit fitter than Nessa was and she marvelled at how easily he climbed. He was certainly in his element, even though there was a feeling of being hunted right now.
Nessa tried to climb up with her handbag over one shoulder, and that’s when she ran into problems. The pole was slippery and her hands were sweaty from running, and quite likely, stress. She tried to grip the pole between her shoes, but they weren’t great for climbing either. She had the distinct impression she was embarrassing herself, but at least no one except James seemed to be watching. She climbed up as far as she could then reached out to grab his hand. He managed to grab hold of hers on the second try and pull her up. She held on to the railing with her free hand as he helped her over it beside him.
There was a sudden flash of movement, and she and James turned to see three guards running down the street toward them, led by the James from this world.
“Time to go,” Nessa said.
Her friend James started climbing across to the old, crumbling city wall. A path led along it and it had a parapet between its walkway and the ground outside. There was a significant drop, but it was fortunate that Nessa had brought rope with her – provided they had time and opportunity to use it.
“Stop where you are!” a voice boomed. It was one of the pursuing guards.
James had one leg over the inner edge of the city wall when a sudden blast threw him backwards and out of sight. He must’ve fallen on to its walkway or over the outer side of the wall. There was no sound like a gunshot. It was almost silent but seemed to emit a pulse.
Nessa could only hope James wasn’t hurt or killed. Glancing down at the guards, she felt very much alone. She knew she shouldn’t hesitate – it would only give them time to shoot her too. She saw the James from this world had a large gun pointed in her direction; it was unlike any she’d seen on her own world before. It was bulky and almost the length of a rifle.
“Come down from there!” he demanded.
Nessa knew that if she did, she might not get off this world at all. She’d noticed the glass door off the balcony was open. Only some kind of screen or netting was in her way. All of a sudden, she pulled the screen back and rushed inside, afraid to hesitate for even a moment or look outside, in case the guards fired at her. She was in someone’s home, and she could hear people talking in another room. She could see in far enough to know it was a kitchen, but she didn’t think they realised she was
there. That was likely to change at any moment.
Nessa stared out through the balcony door, wondering how long she had until the guards came in through the front of the house – or would they climb up like James had done? A few moments passed and they hadn’t caught up with her, and then she saw a man walk into the room from the kitchen.
“What? Who are you? What are you doing in my house?”
Nessa was scared and she was certain it showed. She backed away towards the edge of the open balcony door, but she felt caught between two possible enemies.
“Did you break into my home?” the man asked as he approached her. He was in his twenties, tall and slim, with a hint of a beard on his chin.
“No, I was trying to get to the wall and they shot at us,” she explained as she backed away, but it sounded like a silly reason to be standing in someone’s living room. Her mind wasn’t fully on her response either. She was starting to panic and trying to figure out the best thing to do.
Nessa noticed that a woman had stepped into the kitchen doorway. She was also sure she could hear someone coming up the steps outside the house. The guards were almost certainly coming to get her.
Wide-eyed, she knew her choices were limited. There was no sign of an internal staircase and it seemed there was nowhere to go but out. She didn’t want to get separated from James if she could help it – the right James. She didn’t know if there were armed guards outside below the balcony, as there had been. She also hadn’t noticed whether all of them were armed.
There came a hard thump against the front door of the house. It was too hard to be a knock. It sounded like the guards were trying to smash their way in but they hadn’t broken through the door yet. There was another loud bang, and Nessa felt her legs turn to jelly. She was terrified and her range of options was diminishing. She looked to the kitchen doorway, where the woman was now hiding out of sight.
“No,” she heard the man say, not wanting her to go in there. Did he think she’d take a hostage? Should she?