Mr. Walters, dressed in a fine wool suit and checkered tie, showed his wife and daughter the gold ring that had been placed on his middle finger next to his wedding band. "I've been chosen," he said solemnly. "Her name's Petechia, and she'll be moving in on Tuesday night."

"Oh, my God," said Mrs. Walters in horror. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Nothing more than we've been doing," said her husband.

"But I don't want another mommy," Fern complained.

"And I don't want another wife," said Mr. Walters. "But it's either that, or prison."

His wife approached him, wrapping her arms around his hips. "I understand if you feel it necessary to…be with her," she said earnestly. "I won't hold it against you."

"Don't talk that way, Doria," said the poodle man. "I won't give in to her. I'll use any excuse."

"In that case, I won't worry," said his wife playfully, "because you're the master of excuses to not have…"

"Hey!" snapped Mr. Walters. "No need to be mean."

So we're polygamists now, Fern thought dolefully. At least the Mormons must be happy.

"But there's good news," said her father. "The Resistance has gained two new members."

"That's wonderful, dear," said Mrs. Walters. "Who are they?"

"They're right behind me." He stepped aside, and a pair of faces familiar to Fern appeared through the doorway. One was her classmate, Zeke England. The other was…

"Oh, gosh, not him!" the poodle girl blurted out.

"Why not?" Zeke asked innocently.

"Yeah, why not?" said his father, Mr. England. "I hate the Yordies more than you ever will."

Fern glared at the scruffy Pomeranian man. "You and your friends are nothing but trigger-happy fanatics," she said angrily. "I still remember when you crashed Mickie's party. You could've killed somebody."

"Take it easy now," said Mr. England defensively. "Don't pop a vein. My pals and I were only trying to correct an injustice."

"Please don't argue, Fern," said Mr. Walters. "Elbert's a wizard with a shotgun, and I'm sure he'll be very useful to the Resistance."

"I don't like him," Fern protested. "He charged into a crowd of kids, shooting in all directions."

"That was all calculated," said Mr. England. "It was never our purpose to hurt anybody—I just wanted to get my son back."

"Relax, Fern," said Zeke. "You're never safer than when my dad's standing nearby with a gun."

"Aren't the Chanels worried about you?" Fern chided the pom boy.

Zeke shrugged. "They don't care anymore. They're too busy making business deals with the Yordies."

Her objections falling on deaf ears, Fern retreated to the couch and switched on the TV. A Yordilian movie, complete with English subtitles, was airing. She had learned in school that Yordilian cinema was divided into two main periods, pre-Plague and post-Plague. Pre-Plague movies tended to be escapist fantasies, while post-Plague movies consisted mainly of probing existential dramas and chick flicks. She could tell that the current movie was a post-Plague movie, as the male roles were filled by female actors.

The doorbell rang. "Fern, will you please get that?" called her mother from the dining room.

She marched to the door, glanced through the peephole, and gasped. Standing impatiently on the doorstep was a cat girl with short curly hair, clad in a standard-issue Yordilian uniform. This isn't good at all, she thought.

"Mom! Dad!" she cried out. "It's Sue Ellen!"

A panicked hubbub ensued. "She mustn't see you!" said Mrs. Walters to Mr. England, who promptly led his son through the back entrance.

Once the house had quieted down, Fern opened the door to let in her former friend. "What do you want?" she inquired.

"I want to talk to you," was Sue Ellen's grim reply. "Alone."

"Uh, okay," said Fern, fearful of what might happen if she refused.

Having alerted her parents to the situation, she led Sue Ellen into her bedroom and closed the door tightly. "All right," she said, sitting atop her desk, "what's it about?"

Sue Ellen promptly produced from her pocket a tiny, engraved cube. "Listen very carefully," she said, very little warmth in her tone. "This device is called a Quantum Entangler. It will transport you to an alternate Earth free of Yordilian control. To open the portal, simply squeeze the cube and say out loud three words that start with the letter Z."

Fern shook her head. "Say what?"

"Take it!" snapped the cat girl, extending her hand. "I killed you once before, and I can't bring myself to do it a second time."

Hesitantly, Fern reached out to take the cube. "I still don't understand," she said, curiously scrutinizing the images drawn on the object.

"Then I'll spell it out," said Sue Ellen. "The Peace Enforcers know that you and your parents are part of the Resistance. They'll be here to arrest you at any second. I've told them all about your stone of invisibility, so they've armed themselves with body heat sensors. Your only hope of escape is to activate the Entangler and flee through the portal."

Fern began to sweat. "You," she said with malice. "You turned us in."

"It's too late to help your parents," said Sue Ellen as a dreadful knocking sound was heard, "but you can still save yourself." After the knocking came the noise of the front door being violently forced open.

"Why…?" said Fern, astonished and desperate.

"Not Y, Z," said Sue Ellen hastily. "Now go!"

"And that's how I ended up in this dimension," Fern explained to D.W.

"Omigosh," said the aardvark girl in wonder. "What's gonna happen to your mom and dad?"

"I don't know," was Fern's anxious reply. "Something terrible, I'm sure. Chernobila, the head of the Department of Peace Enforcement, is a totally evil woman. She makes videos of prisoners being tortured and puts them on YouTube."

D.W. grimaced. "I'm just glad you're not dead."

"I never was dead," Fern told her. "The other Fern—your Fern—is dead. I'm the person she would be if the Yordilians had won."

"What are you gonna do now?" D.W. wondered.

Fern put on a confident grin. "With the Quantum Entangler, and my invisibility stone, and maybe a little help from my friends, I'm going back to rescue them."

To be continued