~1~

The wind was gone.

That was the first thing I noticed. For two days straight, my house had been battered by blowing torrents that bent tree limbs and scattered trash cans and tumble weeds. The tree outside my window had been scraping and prodding at the glass, a noise that had started to drive me crazy.

But it was still now, and too dark. As my head began to clear I noticed quite a few oddities in what should have been my room. First of all was the bed I was laying on. It was too soft to be mine, the blankets too heavy. I pushed them off me and sat up. My eyes were gradually adjusting to the dark and I could now make out unfamiliar outlines and shadows in the room. Something was definitely wrong.

I got down from the bed that was not mine and walked across the wood floors that were not there before to a window that was too large to be apart of a mobile home. Outside, the moon shone dimly through sparse clouds, but gave enough light for me to make out rows of trees, a large gravel driveway, and a perfectly manicured lawn. All from the third-story window I looked out of.

As I said before, something was definitely wrong.

My small room with the mattress on the floor and cluttered closet was gone, along with my family's mobile home rental and the green fenced-in yard in which it was built. Where was I?

I tip-toed to the door on the other side of the large bedroom and tried the knob. It easily turned in my hand, but a soft sigh from behind made me stop. I quickly turned to see the blankets on the bed ruffle as someone shifted beneath them and finally sat up.

"My dear cousin, please come back to bed," said the voice of a man, "How can I sleep if you are not here to keep the nightmares away?" I stayed silent and still. Who was this guy? How did I get into bed with him, and why was he referring to me as his cousin? The man spoke again, "Lizzie, please. It's not a time to be playing games."

Without really thinking, I turned the knob on the door and bolted through to the hallway on the other side. It was long and narrow with tall wooden doors and portraits of stoic-looking people dotting the walls. I ran to where I saw the staircase curving down at one side. I noticed that I was wearing a very white and frilly nightgown. It shimmered in the moonlight streaming in through windows on the left side of the hall. By the time I heard the bedroom door open again I was already halfway down the stairs.

"Elizabeth, what's wrong? Where are you going?" yelled the man. I started hearing other people stir within the confines of the house. I finally reached the ground floor of the stairwell which conveniently opened up to the entrance hall of the house. I slid across the marble, threw the doors open, and sprinted out, down the steps and onto the gravel driveway, rocks biting into my bare feet.

"Lizzie, wait!" The man was out the door already. Legs burning and chest pounding, I finally stopped and bent over to catch my breath. The night air was calm, but freezing and chilled my sweat right through the lace-thin gown. The man put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around. "Lizzie, what's going on?" I kept my face down in shadows. The man gently put a hand under my chin and tilted it upwards. In the moonlight I saw his expression transition from concern to consternation. I took a deep breath.

"I'm not Lizzie," I said in a low voice. His hand quickly dropped from my chin, hesitating until he took hold of both my shoulders.

"Who are you?" he asked, shaking me in angered emphasis, "What have you done with my Elizabeth?"

"Cut it out!" I yelled, violently shoving his hands away from me. He looked stunned at my blow, but I didn't care. "Just leave me alone! I don't know what's going on either," I screamed back, "I just woke up to find myself in some stranger's bed! And believe it or not, that's not a normal occurrence for me."

The man looked at me in suspicion for a second more and then crossed his arms. "Then what's going on here?"

I crossed my arms as well, trying to ward off the cold. "Hell if I know," I replied. "My name's Tori, by the way."

"Victor," came the quick reply. No, it couldn't be. Elizabeth and Victor? I turned slowly to really look at the man. Even by moonlight I could make out his wispy dark hair and brooding blue eyes. Victor caught on to my stare. "What is it?" I looked away.

"Nothing," I said quickly, "Look, can we please go back inside? I'm freezing in this thing."

Victor nodded and led the way back to the house. Sure enough as we passed through the door, the gold name plate by the door read boldly the name, FRANKENSTEIN.

I had become an incarcerated guest of the Frankenstein family. Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor's cousin and soon to be bride, was missing. And in her place they had found me, a confused young woman with no alibi, no clue, and no identity. The family was already grieving the death of Victor's youngest brother, William, and the maid, Justine. Victor's father was also very sick, and the unexplained absence of his adoptive daughter was not helping matters.

Victor clearly did not trust me. He told me to stay in the room I had been given. Meals were brought up to me. My door remained locked otherwise. Luckily there was a private bathroom and a balcony that looked down onto the garden in the back. From there I could see out over the forested valley that backed up all the way to the mountains. I leaned on the stone balustrade, enjoying the gentle warm breeze.

A knock sounded on my bedroom door.

"Come in," I called back through the double doors that opened to the balcony. The door opened and to my surprise, it was Victor. Other than that first night, I had not seen him in the three days I had been in the Frankenstein house. He had left one of the house servants to bring my meals. And even his father had come to at least look at me and ask me who I was.

Victor did not look well. His eyes now had even darker shadows around them than before and were tinged with red as if he had been crying. His clothes were wrinkled and scuffed in places, and his hair was disheveled and oily looking. He put a hand to his forehead as he languorously walked over to me.

"Look, Miss…" he started.

"Tori," I corrected, standing up straight and brushing a stray wrinkle out of the dress I was wearing.

"Miss Tori…" I stopped him again.

"Just Tori, please," I said, "This is weird enough without fancy titles." He scratched the back of his head as he paced.

"Tori. Okay, I'm not sure how to say this, but I require your help."

I crossed my arms. "In finding Elizabeth?" He nodded and came to stand by the balcony door, glaring out at the mountains.

"Something is going on here that I cannot explain." He looked back to me. "You say you have no memory of how you came to be in my house that night. If this is true, you must have been spirited away by an unknown entity and dropped here in my Elizabeth's place." He took a breath and looked down at his hands. "Whatever put you here must also be in possession of my Elizabeth."

"So how can I help you find her? I already told you I don't know anything." He gave me a meaningful look, his expression coming close to amusement, even.

"You may not know how you got here; I can trust in that at the very least. But you know more than you're telling me." He finally looked away. "Please consider telling me." He walked to the door. "I'll be leaving for a trip to the mountains in the morning. Your door will remain unlocked, so you are free to go when you like." He gave me a last half-hearted smile before closing the door.

Needless to say, I was at a loss for what to do. One choice was to get the hell out of that place and never look back. Of course, then what? Live in this completely different world with no way to get back to my own time? Then there was the option of telling Victor who I was and where I came from. He could possibly believe me, I mean, it's not like he hadn't had a strong dose of weirdness in his life already. How difficult would it be to believe in time-travel next to the successful reanimation of dead-tissue?

I thought on the issue for the rest of the night, knowing the choice I was going to make the whole time. I mean, really, was there any other possibility of getting back home without the help of a scientific genius?

I woke up the next morning and went to the door which, true to Victor's word, was unlocked. I walked down the hall to where his bedroom was and knocked lightly on the door. I heard a short bout of scuffling on the other side before it was hastily opened. His eyes had a wild look in them. It was clear he had not slept the night before.

"What is it?" he asked. I absently scratched at my head.

"I want to come with you," I said, staring down at my bare feet.

"Absolutely not." I shifted my stance and looked him in the eyes.

"I promise to tell you everything." This caught his attention. Victor thought for a moment, rubbing his eyes peevishly and looked at me sullenly. Finally he sighed in relent.

"Fine, but it's not going to be a stroll through the garden. It could be very dangerous for a girl like you." I shook my head and smiled for the first time in days.

"Just hand me over some of your clothes and a pair of good boots and I'll be fine."

Hesitantly he did as I said. I took the bundle back to my room and got ready. I tucked my thick hair underneath a messenger's cap and wrapped a scarf around my neck. I met Victor outside in the yard where a stable hand was helping him get two horses ready. Victor's was a tall male and a rich chestnut color with a thick chocolate mane. The other was a black mare and just as tall. It eyed me steadily. I warily pet her muzzle, scratching under the chin and whispering lowly to her.

"Okay, darling, please go easy on me." I had never really ridden a horse before. There were the pony rides at the farmer's market when I was little, but other than that I didn't know the least bit about riding. I watched as Victor put his foot in a stirrup and easily hoisted himself into the saddle. The stable boy held onto the reins of my horse as I clumsily climbed aboard. I took the reins from him and tried not to freak out as the mare did a couple nervous steps.

It was strange being on top of such a large animal. I could feel the power and strength of her body beneath me, along with the uncertainty and hesitation she had in regard to me as her rider. Victor's horse had the same graceful power as mine, but with his seasoned rider atop, there was confidence, even eagerness in his step. Lucky for me, my horse knew that it was supposed to follow the chestnut male, and so there was little opportunity for me to mess up. I held on and tried to enjoy the ride.

Victor remained silent until we were well on our way, past the last houses and farms, and into the start of the forest. I had stayed quiet too, not wanting to disturb the obviously harrowed man riding in front of me. His appearance had gone from bad to worse in the course of half a day.

"Tori," his voice startled me out of a doze, "Perhaps now would be the best time for you to start telling about yourself." I shifted uncomfortably in the saddle of the mare, causing her to toss her head in annoyance. I sighed and pushed a stray hair out of my face.

"It's probably best if I warn you right now, you're not going to really believe what I say. I probably wouldn't believe me.

"Just tell me. I'll try to keep an open mind." The disdain in his voice was so thick I almost choked on it. I gave a cough and began.

"Well, I'm not really from around here…"

"Obviously."

"By here, I mean, this time and place." I gestured with my hands in a wide circular shape, but almost lost my balance on the horse so I decided to just hold on and talk. "I'm from the twenty-first century. And in my life, your life is a novel, written by a woman named Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Um, and I kind of know all about you and, uh, what you did. When you went to school." A quick pull of his reins and Victor was stopped, on the ground and pulling me off my horse and into the forest. He threw me against a tree and then paced back and forth, muttering furiously under his breath. He finally looked down at me, anger, hatred and guilt flooding from his eyes.

"You know? You know about…it?" His eyes held my own, unblinking.

"If by it you mean the creature you made, then yes, I do know about him." Victor's shoulders slumped and he fell back against a tree. He covered his face with a shaking hand, his eyes closed in seeming defeat.

"Then you know of the abomination I've created. The revolting monster I've unleashed upon the world. He calls me creator, but he is no creation. He is a mistake, born of madness and pure evil."

I got up and cautiously walked over to the man. "You're going to meet him, aren't you? That's what this trip is about. He came to you, didn't he?" Victor raised his head to look at me, this time with fear.

"How do you know this? I've never seen you in my life." I tried to grab his arm to lead him back to the road and our horses. He flinched at my touch.

"And I had never seen you before that night when I first showed up. I already told you, I read your story in a novel by Mary Shelley. It's one of my favorite books, to be honest." He shook my hand from his arm.

"Prove this to me."

I sighed and looked him in the eye. "Your brother, William. He was killed before you got home. It's was blamed on Justine your family's maid and friend."

"That proves nothing," his face twitched at the mention of his brother. I crossed my arms and took a solemn deep breath.

"I know that you don't believe this. When you heard that there were large hand prints around his neck, you knew it could not be her. As much as you try to deny it, you blame yourself for William's death because you know, deep down, that it was your creation that must have killed him." I turned my head away as Victor broke down. I hated having to use that to prove what I was saying, but it was the best way I could think of.

After a couple minutes of trying to think about something other than the choking sobs coming from Victor, I turned to find that he was wiping his eyes and face dry. His normally pale face was blotchy and red, but there was a new look of determination in him. He avoided looking at me directly, but lead the way back to the horses which had taken to grazing on the flowers by the side of the road. We mounted once more, Victor pulling the horses into a quickened trot along the dusty road.

"What does this mean? Where could Elizabeth be?" I thought for a moment.

"She's probably back with my family. We probably switched places, or something." It wasn't so bad if we had. At least then I'd be able to reassure Victor that his fiancée was safe and not in the possession of some evil entity as he had first thought. Of course, there was also the matter of how Elizabeth and I had come to be displaced. Again, there were two possible conclusions. The first, it was all some random accident. A science experiment gone wrong or some botched magic spell. The second, and more sinister, was that someone had purposely removed us from our respective worlds. If this was the case, than Elizabeth could either be in my time and place or she could be in the clutches of whoever had made this happen. I hoped for the former.

"If what you are saying is true, than you know what is going to happen now." Victor glanced sternly at me and then turned back to watching the road. This was what I had been afraid of happening in the event that Victor believed me.

"I don't really know if it works that way," I started, "The course of the story's probably changing since I'm here now. And it's definitely changed now that Elizabeth is missing."

"Well you have to know something," said Victor, his voice losing the calm it had been trying to assume. He took a breath and started again. "Apparently some things are still set in motion. Like this trip. You knew where I was going and why. Can you at least tell me what happens now?" I thought for a moment.

"You and him are going to talk," I said, "Of course now that I'm here even that might change." I tried to get my horse to move up closer to Victor's. "He's going to tell you what happened after you abandoned him. It's not the nicest story, but he's honest. You should at least hear him out." Victor shot me a look of incredulity.

"You want me to show sympathy to that monster?" He turned away from me. "That thing killed my brother. You said it yourself. If you know as much as you say, then you can understand that I'm going to kill it. Not talk to it." I sighed in frustration.

"I can't tell you what to do Victor, that's up to you. But I can say this: Your creation may have been born into a monstrous form, but he didn't become a monster until you abandoned him and left him alone in a world that's intolerant of anything different. What did you think would happen? He'd just disappear?" Victor stayed silent. I let the matter rest, figuring it was better if I let him think.

We rode the rest of the day, making our way into the mountains around noon. Snow sat on all of the peaks, bright against the blue-green slopes beneath them. There was a definite change in Victor as we started to ascend the mountain. The clear air seemed to cleanse his mood and the dark aura that had seemed to possess him ever since leaving the house. He wasn't amazingly better, but I was sure I caught him smiling more than a few times at the trees and animals we passed.

The trail soon became steeper, and the trees grew sparse. We had passed a couple of small towns on the way up. At each, Victor had pleaded for me to stay at one of the inns so he could continue on his own. Each time I simply said "No". We finally reached the snowline of the mountain, and the last small outpost village. We put the horses up at the dingy little inn's stable and made sure they were fed. When the stable hand finally left us alone, Victor looked at me imploringly.

"Please just stay here. You say you haven't seen this monster yet, and it would be good of you to keep it that way. I want to face him alone." I finally relented and promised to stay at the inn and wait for him. He was going to have to hike on foot the rest of the way.

I watched him through the window of the inn's tavern, a lone figure in the light of the late afternoon sun. And so I waited.