Between Two Worlds

“So, what exactly are we looking for?” I ask as the wind blows my hair out of my face.

“Let’s see...” Kat says pulling a crumbled-up sheet of paper out of her pocket. “The final clue says, I’m hunting you while you search for clues, if you don’t follow the rules, you’ll end up dead. A tooth, a hair, or a claw, bring a piece of me or lose it all. I’m thinking it’s one of those creatures.”

“Creatures? You are going to have to fill in the blanks, my mind isn’t completely back to normal, yet.”

She doesn’t seem to be paying me any attention and instead walks away and talks to herself. “We need to find a way to get a piece of it. I would think a piece of its hair or fur would do...”

“Uh. Kat?” I question.

“What?” she asks stopping and looking at me.

“Did you hear anything I said at all?”

“That would be a no.”

“I asked what creature you were talking about.”

“The creature I told you about, the one I saw on that disastrous away mission. The breeding experiments Altair was performing. The thing that was in our camp the other night? Does any of that ring a bell?”

“No.” But even as the words leave my mouth, I remember the smell of sulfur and the faint metallic smell indicating blood. The feeling of hot breath on my face as it sniffed my hair. Fear flowing through my body, screaming for me to run but knowing that if I did, I would more than likely die. And then the feeling of relief when it stopped sniffing me, lifted its head in a direction away from me, and took off running. “Yes. Yes, I do. I remember it. I also remember that something drew its attention away from us that night. Which means we can draw it to us to get what we need from it.”

“Yes, I’m sure we could. But the problem is what noise drew it away? Did you hear anything out of the ordinary that night?”

“No, not really. As far as I can remember it was just the ordinary sounds of the night; bugs and birds, you know that sort of stuff. But honestly, I was too busy hoping and praying that it wasn’t going to be my last night alive. I really didn’t pay attention to anything else.”

“Your memory isn’t exactly the most reliable right now.”

“That’s true.”

Kat sighs, “What we really need to find is its nest. That would be our safest bet. The creature’s nest would be full of its fur.”

“But wouldn’t its nest be outside of the city?”

“What do you mean?” she asks. She’s mumbling to herself so I’m pretty sure she’s only half listening to me.

“That first night. The one where you convinced me to go outside at night. Harmony had said something about making sure the gate was shut behind her and that nothing followed her in before she turned on the force field.”

“Huh?”

“I said...”

“No, stop. I heard what you said. Did you hear yourself? You remembered something that happened without any kind of clue from me. Your memory, I think it’s back!”

“I think you are right.” The fog seems to have lifted from my mind and I finally remember who I am.

“Back to the creature. It’s been here, on this side of the force field for a while now, so it has to be sleeping somewhere. We just need to find out where.”

We are silent for a long time neither one of us saying anything. Thought after thought fills my mind, whereas before there wasn’t anything. “Here’s the thing. Now that I’m back, or the fog is gone, or however, you want to put it... I’m asking myself one very important question.”

“What’s that?” Kat asks.

“Do I really want to go through with this? Do I really want to become a full-fledged member of the Dini?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Because I am fairly certain or should I say, I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Altair is not whom he pretends to be. He is a very dangerous man.”

“What made you arrive at this conclusion?”

“You disagree with me?” I ask.

“No, I fully agree. I’m just wondering what happened to make you change your mind about him. You seemed completely head over heels for him before you went into the lake.”

“I remember sinking deep into the lake water, thinking I was about to die, and then darkness took over. When I awoke, I was in an alternate reality. Things happened and... basically... one of Altair’s men killed me.”

“Wow.”

“I think, and I could be completely wrong on this, but I think as I was dying, he yelled at his men for ruining his plans. And then when I overheard him in this reality...I think that Altair can travel between realities, just like I can. Or could? I guess since I died in that one, I can no longer travel between them.” Kat is silent for so long that I turn to look at her. “Are you going to say anything?”

“I’m sorry, I’m thinking. If what you suspect is true, then my job just got a whole lot harder.” Kat replies.

“What do you mean?”

“I was sent here to stop him from forming that army and destroying all the planets that he destroys. But if he can travel through realities...”

“Then killing him will be the only way to stop him?” I ask.

“That may not be enough. If he can travel through realities, then he is the one whom I read about in the files. The one whom the files refer to as ‘it hasn’t happened in ten years’. If he’s been at this for ten years, then he knows more about this reality travel than you do. Which means, killing him might be impossible. He may figure out how to bring himself back. Oh, man. I’m starting to think that this whole thing is way over my head.”

“If that’s true...how will we stop him?” I ask.

“I don’t know.” Kat says, “I just don’t know.”