Then Kat tries to open the gate and bonks into some invisible forcefield.
“Ow.” She rubs her forehead.
“Hmm,” Sarah says, peering at the yard, even though, as far as I can tell, there’s nothing to see. “Maybe we should have gone inside the house before we opened the portal.”
Maybe, but we had no way of knowing if we’d even be going to the right house or not. Coming through a portal into some strangers’ living room might not have gone over very well. And if the Mistress of Mayhem and the Red Demon do live here, I didn’t want to show up where they might have the upper hand. I mean, we’d have the element of surprise, I guess, but having no idea what to expect didn’t exactly make me feel good about it.
“Maybe forcefields are normal here,” Riley says, glancing at the neighboring yards.
I reach toward where Kat ran into the invisible barrier. There’s a clicking sound when my hand makes contact with it, followed by a beep, and then the forcefield disappears.
“DNA scan,” Sarah says. “It’s letting you in.”
Riley nods. “This must be the right place.”
I don’t know if that’s reassuring or terrifying. But it doesn’t matter, because there’s no way we’re not going in, and we don’t have time to just stand here. The four of us hurry into the yard and up to the front door. I’m getting out my key, just in case it still works, and Kat’s already shapeshifting her hand into lock picks when Sarah tries turning the knob. It gives, and the door opens, totally unlocked.
“They don’t need to lock it,” Sarah explains. “Because of the forcefield.”
“Or they just forgot.” Which sounds like something Mom would do.
Nobody comes running at the sound of their door randomly opening. I take a deep breath and exchange a look with Riley. He nods. I push the door the rest of the way open, ready with my lightning, but nothing happens. I mean, the door swings wide, and we all cautiously step inside, but other than that, there’s nothing.
This is definitely their house, though. I can tell from all the framed photos of them—Mom, Xavier, and Taylor. I guess without me around, she must have met him a lot sooner. There are all sorts of sappy family pictures with Xavier at various ages in them. There’s even one of him and Katherine at what looks like Prom. She’s even wearing a pink dress eerily similar to the one Kat wore.
Kat gapes at it. “This is too weird,” she whispers. “And also, I really like this frame. We should get one like that for our picture.”
“It is really nice,” Sarah agrees, keeping her voice down.
“Everything in here is really nice,” Riley whispers. “And look how white the carpet is. I feel like we should have taken our shoes off.”
“Everyone’s shoes stay on,” I tell him. “And this place might be nice, but it doesn’t look like anyone actually lives here. I mean, where’s the TV?”
Sarah picks up a remote control from the immaculate glass coffee table and presses a button. A door opens up on the wall facing the couch and a whole entertainment system comes out. She presses it again, and it goes back inside.
“Okay, fine, so there’s a TV. But Riley’s right—nobody’s carpet is this spotless.”
“It’s obviously their house,” Riley says, gesturing to the pictures on the walls. “Right?”
“Yeah, but it’s too perfect. There’s—”
Something dings on the far side of the dining room. It sounds like an elevator. Then there’s the sound of doors opening.
Crap. I motion for everyone to hide in Mom’s room—I mean, Other Marianna’s room—and we all rush inside.
“Mom?” Xavier calls. “Did you just get home? Mom?”
The front door opens and shuts. Riley, invisible, peers into the living room, then says, “He’s gone.”
All four of us make a run for the elevator.
Okay, this looks more like Mom’s place. There’s a whole underground lair beneath the house, which is obviously where they actually live. The carpet here is beige and has definitely seen its fair share of spills over the years. There’s also an overflowing laundry hamper in the hallway and a couple of cartons of abandoned Chinese food sitting on the counter in the kitchen. The second kitchen, I mean, since there was one upstairs, too. But this one looks like people actually use it, even if it’s just to reheat leftover takeout.
“Wow,” Kat says, turning away from a pair of lacy black underwear that are just sitting on the arm of the couch. “I guess some things never change.”
“Are you sure?” I raise my eyebrows at her. “You’re assuming those are Other Marianna’s, but what if…?”
She gasps. “Don’t even say it.”
Sarah comes over and peers at the pair of underwear without touching anything. “These look like the under garments of an older woman. But then again, from everything we’ve heard, Katherine sounds more sophisticated than you. So it’s hard to tell.”
“It really is,” I agree. “What do you think, Perkins?”
Riley’s standing off to the side, looking uncomfortable and obviously trying to avoid having anything to do with the underwear. “Shouldn’t we be finding Other Damien? Xavier could be back any second.”
“Good point. We’ll have to come back to the underwear debate.”
“Or not,” Kat mutters.
We head down the hallway, opening doors as we go. We pass by the bathroom and what’s obviously the master bedroom. The bed’s unmade, and clothes litter the floor. Except for what must be Other Taylor’s side of the room, which is tidy and neat.
“We found Xavier’s room,” Kat says as she and Sarah open a door down the hall.
I can tell from her voice that Other Damien’s not in there, but I peer inside anyway. There’s a bulletin board on the wall covered in newspaper clippings detailing the exploits of the Red Demon. There are also photos of him and Katherine, including the Prom picture we saw upstairs. There are pics of them at various dances and fancy events around town, and ones of them just goofing off together. She looks so much like Kat, but her expressions are off. There’s a line on her forehead and a slight tightening of her jaw that makes her look worried all the time, even in the pictures where she’s supposedly enjoying herself.
“This is so creepy,” Kat says, taking a step back.
“Do you think they’re really in love?” Riley asks.
“Yes.” I turn away from the wall of pictures and newspaper clippings. I quickly take in the rest of the room, but there’s nothing else important. A video-game system, a couple band posters on the walls—thankfully not of Superstar—and a red and black spandex outfit that must be his supervillain costume.
We get out of there and continue down the hall. As we get closer, it becomes apparent that there are muffled sounds coming from the room at the end.
Sarah puts a hand in her purse, where I know she has the portal device, but probably also a raygun of some kind. Kat gets a determined look on her face. Riley just looks like he’s ready to get this over with.
I make electricity spread across one hand while I turn the knob with the other. I’m not sure what I think is going to happen, because we already know Xavier’s upstairs. But still, we have no idea what we’ll find, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Or to, like, accidentally blast a hole through the wall when someone—a.k.a. Riley—suddenly coughs really loud right behind you.
I don’t actually lose control and blast anything, but I do turn around and glare at him.
He holds up his hands. “Sorry, X. It just happened.”
I grit my teeth and turn the knob. It’s locked.
The muffled sounds inside get louder, like someone’s trying really hard to communicate with us, but can’t.
Kat steps up, holding out her hand, but I shake my head. We don’t have time for her to pick the lock. I use my lightning to melt the knob instead. Molten metal oozes down the sides of the door and drips onto the carpet.
Riley sucks air in through his teeth. “Good
thing this wasn’t upstairs.”
Sarah nods, looking really serious, as if we actually care about the state of their carpets.
There’s a bed inside the room. Other Damien’s hands and feet are chained to it. He also has a gag over his mouth, hence the muffled sounds.
The chains rattle as he struggles against them, trying to say something. Riley pulls the gag off of him while me and Kat inspect his restraints.
“What the hell are you guys doing here?!” other me says.
Sarah puts a finger to her lips, motioning for him to keep it down.
I look him over real quick. I don’t see any obvious signs of injury. “Are you okay?”
He nods, once. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Neither should you.” I turn to Kat. “I’m going to blast the chains off. We can worry about unlocking them later. Unless you see the key lying around?”
“Nope.” She shakes her head.
I lift my hands, but Other Damien jerks away from me, his expression horrified. “You’re going to what?!”
“Do you want to get out of here or not?”
He swallows, his eyes darting down the hall. “The Red Demon’s going to be back any second. You guys need to leave.”
“We didn’t come all the way to another dimension just to turn around and not rescue you. Hold still.”
He flinches, then visibly forces himself not to move. “That focal point thing he was talking about? He’s dead set on finding it. I don’t know what he’s going to do to me to get it. And if you guys are here when he—”
“You mean this?” I take the crystal out of my pocket and hold it up so he can see.
Other Damien peers at it, and then he gasps. “You idiot! You actually brought that here? What the hell is wrong with you?!” He looks around at all of us, like he’s not sure how the others could have let me do this.
Sarah clears her throat. “It’s the reason he kidnapped you, isn’t it? You couldn’t give it to him. You didn’t even know what it was—”
“I could guess.”
“—so if we didn’t come here, it was only a matter of time before he…” She trails off, not finishing that thought.
Riley nods.
I toss the crystal a little ways into the air and catch it again. “I thought we might need leverage.”
Other Damien’s eyes go wide. “What you guys needed was to not come here in the first place!”
“Shh,” Sarah says, frowning at him.
“And what, just let him kill you?” I stuff the crystal back in my pocket. “Hold still. For reals this time. That means no talking.” I hold up my hands and take a deep breath. I survey the situation and decide to err on him having to drag around some extra lengths of chain for a while rather than risk accidentally blasting off his arm or electrocuting him or something. I mean, he has lightning now, so he could just turn that on and I wouldn’t have to worry so much about it, but I don’t think he’s there yet.
He cringes as I use my electricity to blast the chains apart and free him. Then he stares at his hands, like it just dawned on him that he might actually get out of here. “I can’t believe you—” He cuts off, his eyes suddenly going wide at something behind me. “Watch out!”
I turn to see Xavier coming toward us. I hold up my palm and zap him hard enough to make him crash into the wall. And to, like, not use his power on us. “Run!” I scream.
Everybody makes a run for it, pushing past Xavier in a mad dash to get to the elevator. I hang back a little, wondering if I should stay to keep him from following the others, but then Kat shouts, “Damien! Come on!”
I run.
Kat and Sarah make it to the elevator first and push the button to open the doors. They hurry inside. I don’t see Riley, but I’m assuming he’s there, too—he must have turned invisible.
Then Other Damien cries out behind me.
I stop in my tracks and turn around, my heart leaping into my throat.
Other Damien’s on the far side of the living room, frozen in place. Xavier’s behind him in the hallway, obviously using his power on him. There’s a knife spinning unsteadily at Other Damien’s throat, like it could cut him any second.
“Damien!” Kat calls out.
“Go!” I tell them, not taking my eyes off of the situation in front of me.
Other me swallows, the knife blade so close to his skin. “Just get out of here.”
Xavier’s mouth is pulled taut. He looks pissed. He takes a step closer.
I hold up my hand and let sparks fly across my fingertips.
“Give it up,” Xavier says. “You zap me again, and I kill him.”
“You kill him, and you get electrocuted. End of story.”
“If you’re going to do it, then do it.” He takes another step closer to other me. He’s close enough now that I’m not sure I could zap him without hitting Other Damien in the process, if I ever even could have.
Electricity flickers along my arms. I make eye contact with Other Damien, trying to silently communicate that he needs to turn on his lightning power so he’ll be immune and I can blast this guy.
He shakes his head just slightly, and I can’t tell if he’s refusing to use his power or completely not getting it. “Just go,” he says.
“I’m not leaving.”
“Neither is he,” Xavier says.
“Why? Because you think he has this?” I make my lightning die down, at least in one hand, and take out the crystal again. I hold it up so Xavier can see.
Recognition flashes in his eyes. Recognition and desperation.
“No!” Other Damien shouts. “You can’t! You don’t know what he’ll do with it!”
I ignore him and address Xavier. “We each have something the other wants. Let him go and you get the crystal. Otherwise…” I let electricity creep partway up my hand, the one holding the crystal.
“Don’t!” Xavier reaches out like he’s going to protect it, despite being too far away. He grits his teeth, anger reddening his face. “You have no idea what that’s worth!”
Other Damien’s life, hopefully. I make more sparks fly across my arms, moving toward my hands. “Let him go.”
He lets the knife drop to the floor, but he doesn’t free him. “Set it down.” He motions toward the coffee table.
I put the crystal on the table. Slowly. Cautiously. Never taking my eyes off of Xavier.
He lowers his hand, the one controlling other me.
Other Damien stumbles forward a step. “You idiot!”
Xavier uses his power to pull the crystal to him. It goes flying through the air. As soon as it’s in his hand, he smiles. It’s a dark, menacing sort of smile that makes a cold feeling slither up my back. It also kind of makes me think we should have been running, like, really fast. In, you know, the last two seconds, which is apparently all the time we had to escape.
Other Damien lurches forward, only to be dragged back again as Xavier raises his hand. He slams both of us into the floor. I try to lift my arm in a desperate attempt to zap him, but it doesn’t budge. He’s got us both right where he wants us, and he has the crystal.
I can’t move. I can hardly breathe—I feel like I’m being crushed.
I’m definitely going to die down here. In an alternate version of Mom’s house. With my interdimensional twin. Killed by a capable-but-still-insane Xavier.
And then there’s a commotion and Xavier cries out. There’s a loud thump, and suddenly I can breathe again. I can move.
I look up, trying to figure out what happened, but I don’t see anything. Then Riley turns visible in front of me and shouts, “Come on!”
Xavier’s on the floor where Riley must have tackled him, knocked down but still moving. I zap him for good measure to buy us some time as the three of us hurry onto the elevator.
Chapter 26
WE ALL HANG BACK a little while Other Damien goes up to Other Sarah’s door. Kat already took the chains off his hands and feet on the way here, since he said he di
dn’t want to worry Other Sarah. I mean, he just called her Sarah, but that’s who he meant. And then I said that it couldn’t be worse than disappearing for two weeks, and he gave me a really nasty look and said he wasn’t talking to me.
But now we’re at her house, and he’s lifting his hand like he’s about to knock, except he looks really nervous, and he pulls back at the last second. He turns and stomps down from the porch and pushes past us, running his hand through his hair. “What the hell am I supposed to even tell her?”
Kat gives him a confused look. “How about that you got stuck in another dimension, where you didn’t have phone service, and then got kidnapped by your worst enemy?”
“Kat, seriously,” I say. “Do you even hear yourself? That sounds crazy.”
Other Damien glares at me. “I’m not worried about that part. Of course she’ll understand that. But…” He swallows. “The last time she saw me, I was all hero.”
I roll my eyes. “No, you weren’t.”
“Close enough. I didn’t have a”—one side of his face twitches—“villain power.”
I clench my fists. I know we just rescued him and all, but hearing him say it like that makes me want to zap him. Really hard. “It’s not a disease.”
He sighs in this really put out way and frowns at his shoes. “I can’t keep this from her. But if I tell her the truth, she’ll never look at me the same way.” He glances up at Sarah when he says that.
“Well,” Sarah says, “Damien having lightning has made things more…”
“Interesting,” I say, since she seems to be having trouble coming up with the right word.
“Difficult.”
“Chaotic,” Riley says at the same time.
“Complicated,” Kat adds.
I glare at them.
“But if I can be okay with it,” Sarah says, “then Other Sarah should have no problem.”
Other Damien doesn’t look convinced. “She’s going to be able to see it on my face that I’m not the same person I was when I left. And I just… Whenever I think about putting it into words…” He presses his palms to his forehead. “I’m not sure I can bring myself to say it.”
The Rivalry of Renegade X Page 20