Chapter 19
Around 3:30 P.M., at the police station, Emma Burthardt waited patiently in an interrogation room with her head resting in a napping position across her arms.
Emma stood 5' 7" with dark brown eyes and long dark brown hair that reached her waist, and like Kelly Burthardt (Nick's mom) her hair was naturally curly.
Nick, Hank and Erica peeked in on her from the opposite side of the two-way mirror before Nick proceeded into the room.
When the door to the room opened, Emma sat up and looked towards Nick.
"Nick?" Emma questioned in a New York accent as he entered.
"Are you seriously asking me if I'm Nick?" he questioned.
"I'm here to see Detective Nick Burthardt," Emma replied. "So, are you him?"
"You told my captain that you are my sister," Nick began before noticing that Emma had the same shade of brown eyes as his mom. "So, shouldn't you have known what I look like before you claimed to be related to me?"
"Perhaps I'm your fraternal twin and we were separated at birth," Emma pointed out. "After all, I was also born on June 18th, 1982. Oh, and I'm also a Grimm."
Erica's attention and Hank's attention were piqued at Emma's confession of being a Grimm.
"I don't know who you are, but I do know that you are not my fraternal twin sister," Nick replied.
Emma amusingly chuckled before saying, "Run a DNA comparison between us. It will show us as immediate family members; although, I'm certain that it will also leave the lab technicians scratching their heads."
"Why is that?" Nick asked.
"Full siblings share approximately fifty percent DNA with one another; however, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the DNA that you and I share will be around seventy-five percent… give or take a few percentage points," Emma replied. "Hell, we might even share as high as ninety percent of the same DNA."
"What you say is not possible," Nick quickly replied.
"Actually, it is possible, because I'm you, Nick, if you had been born a girl," Emma replied.
Nick thought for moment before asking, "Excuse me?"
Emma slightly chuckled before saying, "If you haven't figured it out yet, Nick, I'm not from this reality. I arrived here—to this reality—by accident. I have a good idea on how to get back to my reality, but I'll need your help to do it."
"Hold up," Nick requested. "Let's back up a moment. You are telling me that you are me, but from another reality."
"Correct," Emma replied in a tone as if she was explaining something to a child. "In my reality, one of Dad's tiny swimmers made it to Mom's egg first, but not the same swimmer that had produced you in this reality. So, you and I share the exact same set of DNA from our mom, but a different set of DNA from our dad, and you were named after Dad's dad while I was named after Mom's mom. It was the deal they made when Mom got pregnant. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I have Mom's brown eyes and curly hair, while you apparently got Dad's gray eyes and hair. Anyway, can we move past that I'm the female version of you and you help me to get home?"
"Assuming that you are telling me the truth and you are a female version of me, but from a different reality, how did you get here?" Nick asked.
"Well, I was working my assigned shift and patrolling the Black Forest…" Emma was only able to get out.
"Are you a forest ranger in Germany?" Nick questioned.
"Oh, right. First, I should give you a summarize history lesson about Grimms from my reality," Emma replied. "That way you will be less confused when I tell you something."
"Fine, tell me about Grimms from your reality," Nick replied as if to play along before sitting down, across from Emma.
Emma took a breath before saying, "During the Fourth Crusade, in my reality, the seven knights in service to the Seven Houses plundered Constantinople. The knights seized control of a valuable artifact that was said to possess incredible powers. Not only did the knights feared the artifact's power, but they also feared what the future would be like if the Seven Houses got hold of it…"
"Emma, that happened here as well, so I know about the seven knights burying the artifact, the map to the artifact's location and the seven keys," Nick told her.
"Map?" Emma questioned curiously. "There's a map that will pinpoint the location of the Artifact?"
"There is, but someone will need at least five of the seven keys to get the map," Nick replied.
"Okay, well, I don't know what happened in this reality, but in my reality, the Seven Houses have had all seven keys since 1801, but there is no map," Emma replied.
"So, in your reality, the artifact is still buried?" Nick questioned.
"It is," Emma replied. "So how do I find the map?"
"Trust me, the artifact needs to remain buried," Nick replied.
"You know what the artifact is, don't you?" Emma asked.
"I do," Nick replied. "In fact, I'm the one who found it in this reality, but I won't tell you where I found it or how I got the map."
"Fine," Emma replied. "I might as well continue with the history lesson of my reality and how I got here."
"Please do," Grimm replied.
"Okay, well, as I previously stated, the Seven Houses obtained all seven keys in 1801," Emma reiterated. "Did that happen here, in this reality?"
"No," Nick replied.
"Did a Zauberbiest named Thaddeus Alexander cast a spell on all the Grimms and their blood relatives in this reality?" Emma asked.
"If he or another Zauberbiest had, I'm not aware of it," Nick replied.
"Yes, well, in my reality, soon after the Seven Houses had obtained the seven keys, every Grimm on earth and their blood relatives were captured and spelled by Thaddeus. And once a Grimm or a Grimm's blood relative had been spelled, he or she was free to go back to his or her life as before. But of course, the Grimms were forever at the Seven Houses' beck and call."
"What would happen if a Grimm failed to obey?" Nick questioned.
"It's impossible to disobey a direct order from the leader of the Seven Houses, or anyone he or she had assigned as the Grimm's handler," Emma replied.
"Has anyone tried?" Nick asked.
"You don't get it," Emma began. "In my reality, King Alfred Bartell is the current leader of the Seven Houses, and four weeks ago, he called me on the phone and directly ordered me to get to John F. Kennedy Airport, meet with a man named Phillip Heusinger and obey Phillip as if he was him… him being King Alfred. Before I even hung up the phone, it was as if I was a prisoner of my own body. I watched myself hang up the phone, grab my purse, hail a taxi, get driven to the airport, pay the fare and search for Phillip Heusinger. I couldn't even form a thought that would allow me to deviate from my orders. In fact, the taxi driver attempted to make small talk with me, and all I could tell him was that I wanted to go to John F. Kennedy Airport. Anyway, lucky for me, I found Phillip somewhat quickly and when I did, I was no longer a prisoner of my own body.
"When I was again in control of my actions, I quickly demanded to know what had happened. Phillip's response was that I had been activated and he was my handler. He and I were to join seven other Grimms and their handlers in Germany. Something odd had been happening in the Black Forest during the past several years and I had been activated to help deal with the problem."
"What was happening in the Black Forest?" Nick quickly asked.
"Undocumented and uncivilized Wesen were emerging from the Black Forest and creating havoc with the locals," Emma replied. "Several Grimms, including me, were sent to the Black Forest to contain the situation before the Wesen world got exposed to the entire world. Anyway, when Phillip told me that I was heading for Germany, I started to give him a list of reasons why I couldn't leave New York, but before I could finish my list, he commanded me to board a private plane and sit quietly, and again, as if I was a prisoner of my own body, I boarded the plane and remained quiet during the entire flight from New York to Germany."
"So, how did you end up in this reality?" Nick questioned.
"Okay, well, I was patrolling the Black Forest—as me and not as a mindless puppet," Emma began. "I promised Phillip that I would follow his instructions without needing to be directly ordered to do so. Oh, and it was around 1:00 P.M. local time and I was carrying a sword. It was sheathed and strapped to my back. Anyway, as I was patrolling the Black Forest, I—for my seventh day in a row, since I arrived to Germany—stepped into an unnaturally formed clearing."
"What do you mean by, 'an unnaturally formed clearing?'" Nick asked.
"Well, the clearing itself is about fifty yards in diameter, and the ground has a petrified stone feel to it," Emma replied. "And within the clearing are indentations to where a Druid temple once stood."
"If there are only indentations, then how do you know that the indentations are from a Druid temple?" Nick asked.
"Prior to my last trip into the clearing, I didn't know," Emma replied. "But as I was making my way across the center of the clearing on my last trip through, my entire body began to tingle as if I had hold of a live, low amp wire. I stopped moving forward and looked in every direction. As I was about to decide that the sensation that I was feeling was my imagination, I began to hear an odd sound… a buzzing sound—a sound one would hear when standing next to an electrical item with electricity jumping from one pole to another pole.
"At first, the source of the sound was invisible to me, but then the air around me shimmered. The odd sound grew louder, and ghostly images of a large Druid temple with many stone pillars, two live fully woged Blubaden and a dead looking, fully woged Blubaden that was resting on a stone altar slowly materialized before my eyes. The pillars were arranged around the altar, and eight thin lines of electrical strands stretched out from the altar and erratically pummeled eight of the pillars. From those eight pillars, electrical strands jumped from them and onto most of the remaining pillars.
"I was close to the altar and when the tingling I felt began to increase in intensity I dropped and rolled away from the electrical strands. The two living Blubaden became aware of my presence when I rolled onto my knees; however, they acted as confused as I was, so they didn't attack. As the altar and pillars grew more solid with each passing minute, all three Blubaden remained as ghostly images to me. Then once the altar and pillars became completely solid, the thin lines of electrical strands stopped pummeling the pillars, and the Blubaden faded completely from my sight. The tingling I felt had stopped as well, and after a moment of gazing about as far as I could while on my knees, I got back onto my feet.
"Prior to my thirtieth birthday, my goal in life was to become an archaeologist, but the farthest I went with that goal is learning everything I could on past archaeology finds. Oh, and my paying job in my reality is… or it was four weeks ago, a museum tour guide at the New York History Museum. Anyway, I was intrigued that I was inside a Druid temple, and I examined every inch of it. I didn't find anything noteworthy though. However, I did notice that each pillar had its own unique symbol carved in it. When I first began examining the temple, five of the symbols had blood smeared into their grooves, while the remaining symbols didn't, and as I went back to get a better look at those five symbols, the blood smears were gone. However, just in case I was wrong about which pillars had the blood smears within their symbols, I examined each pillar again. After being satisfied that the blood smears were no longer there, I headed off in the direction of the boarding house. Oh, uh, all of us Grimms and our handlers were all staying at a boarding house that wasn't all that far from the Black Forest."
Nick nodded as if to acknowledge her.
Emma took a breath before continuing with, "Anyway, I probably got about three-fourths of a mile from the temple when I heard the collective howls of Blubaden. The howls were a good distance away, but my mission was to locate Wesen and do what I can to prevent them from leaving the Black Forest. So, I drew my sword and went towards the howls. The howling stopped after another three minutes, but I kept going. After walking another five minutes, Otto Fischer jumped out in front of me and rattled off something to me in German. Of course, at the time, I didn't know his name, but when I verbally and in English threatened to slice him open with my sword, he threw up a surrendering hand gesture, and in a barely understandable English, he introduced himself to me.
"I quickly learned from Otto that he too is a Grimm, and that we were no longer in Germany. Oh, and I was about five minutes away from walking into a Blubaden village… or den when he jumped out at me. Anyway, Otto and I were in some kind of Wesen dimension, and Otto had crossed over into the Wesen dimension three years before I did, and in the same way as I did. Otto also didn't have a clue on how to get out of the Wesen dimension, and even though I didn't know either, I knew that the way to leave that place was back at the temple.
"Otto was certain of that too, but confessed that he couldn't figure it out and gave up trying after his first year there. Although, when he arrived there, he didn't see any blood smears on the symbols as I did, and that was the clue that got us out of that dimension.
"The Wesen in the Wesen dimension—although as primitive as Neanderthals… and apparently are stuck in their Wesen form—believe in an afterlife. Their religious factions are even built around that belief, and the temple is how they would get their deceased into the afterlife. However, to get the deceased into the afterlife, at least one living loved one… or volunteer has to escort the dead there. Oh, and I should add that Otto and I learned from the local humans, that prior to seven years ago, the Wesen were blocked from sending their dead into the afterlife by a creature described as the devil, and they had been blocked by the devil for several centuries.
"Anyway, each Wesen community in the Wesen dimension has their own belief of what the afterlife is like and where it is located. Although, some of the dominant Wesen will herd some of the lower Wesen into their afterlife as livestock. Anyway, I also learned from the local humans that each symbol represented either a constellation or a group of stars from their sky. So, for Wesen to get their deceased into the afterlife—and what Otto had failed to see during his time there—the escorting Wesen smear blood across the symbol of eight pillars. The Wesen in the Wesen dimension believe that was what they had to do to enter the afterlife; however—not meaning to sound like a character from a science fiction show from my reality known as Stargate: SG-1—the eight symbols represent an address to another reality. Of course, I didn't realize that there were multiple realities until I found myself in the wrong one, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Anyway, anyone standing on the temple grounds when the pillars are activated will cross over into one of the many realities, and anyone standing within the clearing of the specified reality will be pulled into the Wesen dimension. Like what happened with Otto and me. So, after figuring out how to get out of the Wesen dimension, all we needed was the address to the afterlife, and since it had been two Blubaden that caused me to be there, I felt that I had a better chance at getting home if I used the address to the Blubaden's afterlife.
"Since Otto and I were both Grimms, I expected all we had to do was to capture a Blubad and get the address from him or her. Which is what we did; however, the Blabaden have two religions and depending on which faith they were, determined which afterlife they go to. I did manage to get my hands on both addresses though, and not knowing at the time that each address would send Otto and me into different realities, we simply chose an address without giving it any thought of where it would take us."
"And that is how you… and I'm assuming Otto as well, had ended up in this reality," Nick commented.
"Correct," Emma replied.
"So how long were you in the Wesen Dimension?" Nick asked.
"Two weeks," Emma replied.
"And how long did take you to learn that you were not in your reality?" Nick questioned.
"Over twenty-four hours," Emma began. "As soon as I got out of the Wesen dimension I went back to the boarding house while Otto went to go find his family. It was around 11:00 A.M., when I got to the boarding house, but Phillip and the others were nowhere to be found. I found someone at the boarding house to translate for me, and I asked the proprietor where they had all gone, but he looked at me as if I had grown a second head. According to the proprietor, Phillip and the others had never been there. I had definitely returned to the right boarding house… and puzzled.
"Soon after leaving the boarding house, and confused on how to proceed from there, I was approached by a German police officer for carrying a sword. I attempted to tell him that I was a sword collector, but he couldn't speak English, so I was taken into custody and the sword was confiscated.
"After being at the police station for about thirty minutes, I met with a German detective who could speak English. The detective began by asking me my name and where I'm from. After I answered him, he asked me for my passport. Phillip had a passport created for me the day I stepped foot in Germany, but I didn't have it with me. However, I told the detective that all of my belongings, except for the clothes I had on and the sword, were stolen. When I brought up the sword, he asked about it, and so I told him that I was a sword collector, but that I was looking to sell it. I don't think he believed me about why I had the sword though.
"Anyway, the detective asked me a few more questions about my identity, and once I answered him, he left the room. I didn't know what he was doing outside the room, but when he returned a few minutes later, he brought Colonel James Adler in with him. Colonel Adler worked at the American Embassy, and he happened to have been at the police station to smooth over a situation that one of his men had caused.
"Anyway, I repeated what I told the German detective for Colonel Adler to hear. I then answered a few questions about myself. He and the detective then left the room. Colonel Adler came back about an hour later and informed me that he couldn't verify my identity. Also, the social security number that I gave him was for someone else. I argued slightly that the social security number was mine and the information I gave him was accurate. I then began listing other helpful things about myself; however, I didn't get very far before he stopped me. When he finally got me to shut up, he told me that he was going to help me to get to New York even though I couldn't prove that I was from New York.
"Apparently, I greatly reminded him of his late wife, and his late wife was also from New York. So, with Colonel Adler's help, I got to New York by 3:00 P.M. the following afternoon. He had even given me five hundred dollars to get around on so I wouldn't be penniless as I get my situation under control.
"From the airport, I took a cab to my apartment building and that was when I realized that I wasn't in my reality. The apartment building that I live in is less than ten years old, and it was erected in the same location where another apartment building was completely destroyed in a fire. When I got to the apartment building, the old apartment building was there. Also, I personally knew three people who died in that fire, and all three were alive and well; however, not one of them knew who I was. I was a stranger to everyone I knew, so I assumed that I either didn't have a counterpart in this reality or my counterpart's life had gone in a totally different direction, and I wanted to know which. So, I took another cab to the main library and began my web browsing on Reed and Kelly Burkhardt.
"I was surprised to find a 1994 newspaper article on Reed and Kelly Burkhardt's fatal car accident. In my reality they are still alive and well and enjoying retirement in Bangor, Maine. Anyway, in the article, it mentioned that they had a son who wasn't with them at the time of the accident. I continued my search for other things on Reed and Kelly Burkhardt and their son, but the article on the fatal car accident was the only thing I could find. So, I decided to go about this another way; however, I needed an ID. In my reality, I knew a forger by the name of Randy Weisman. He's also a Mauzhertz, and in my reality, he hung out at the Strong Oak bar, and so, I left the library and caught a few buses until I was at Strong Oak bar.
"For the most part, Randy's past in this reality is the same as in my reality… except for the fact that he and I have never met. Also in my reality—because of Granddad—the name Kessler is well known within the Wesen community. Oh, and Granddad was well respected by the Wesen community, as well. So, I took a shot that it was the same in this reality and I introduced myself to Randy as Emma Kessler. I then told him that my driver's license, birth certificate and social security card were all destroyed in a fire and for me to have my birth certificate and social security card replaced, I needed a photo ID.
"For whatever reason, Randy got it in his head that I was an uncover police detective. I couldn't convince him that I wasn't one; however, our conversation did grab another customer's attention. After wasting a few minutes of my time while trying to convince Randy that I wasn't an undercover detective, I got up and started to leave.
"Redd Kolt, the customer who was listening to my conversation with Randy—and a Steinadler—called for me by name before I could reach the door. He woged just to see if I was a Grimm and then asked me if I was related to a Marie Kessler. In my reality, mom did have a sister who was named Marie. But she was killed by a Blutbad before her nineteenth birthday. So, I took a chance and told him that I was her second cousin once removed. Redd then informed me that his brother Farley had dated my cousin prior to her sister's death. He then told me that my cousin and her nephew moved to Portland, Oregon soon after that.
"As subtle as I could, so I didn't sound like a scam artist fishing for information, I asked questions about Marie Kessler and her nephew. Redd didn't know much, but he did know your name; plus, the year when you were born. So, with that new piece of information, I went back to the library and began a search for Nicholas Burthardt in Portland, Oregon, birth year 1982. As soon as I hit enter with what I had in the search field, all kinds of stuff about you popped up. No pictures though, which is why I didn't know what you look like. Anyway, I learned that you were a detective for the Portland, Oregon Police Department, and a lot of your cases fell in the realm of bizarre. So, from that I deduced that you too are a Grimm and the cases you had worked on had to have been Wesen related. Also from your social media page, I learned that your date of birth was the exact same as mine. That was when it hit me that you are my counterpart in this reality. But of course, you were born a boy and not a girl.
"As I continued to check out what else I could find out about you from your social media, I followed a link belonging to Diana Schade-Renard, and there—on a page for fantasy art—I saw a sketch of the Druid temple. So, after seeing that sketch, I knew that someone you know had been to the Wesen dimension. And I need to get back to the Wesen dimension in order to return to my reality. So, I used what was left of the money that Colonel Adler had given me and bought a bus ticket to Portland. Anyway, is that a police rule that you can't put photos of yourself on your social media page?"
"It's not a police rule," Nick replied. "Since I had become a Grimm, I have pissed off a lot of people, including people I haven't met, like members of the royal families. So, I don't post pictures of myself or of my family because I don't want people—people who I haven't met—to be able to identify me or my family once we are in their line of sight."
"You sound like a man who has been targeted a few times," Emma commented.
"More than a few," Nick replied. "Anyway, back to you. Before we proceed in any direction, I'm going to take you up on your offer."
"What offer?" Emma asked curiously.
"I'm going to run a DNA comparison between you and me," Nick informed.
"Okay, sure," Emma replied eagerly. "I'm curious to find out how much more than fifty percent of DNA that you and I share."
Nick nodded before standing and saying, "Just sit tight and someone will be in shortly to swab your cheek."
"Yes, well, until you decide to help me… or not, I have nowhere else to be," Emma replied.
Nick nodded before leaving the room.
As Nick was joining Erica and Hank in the hall, Hank asked Nick, "Could she really be a female version of you, but from another reality?"
"Beats me," Nick replied with a shrug. "Her story sounds legit, though. In fact, I believe that she believes that she's a female version of me. But before I can believe it, I have to see it in a medical report that she and I share more than fifty percent of DNA."
Hank nodded before saying, "I'll have someone collect a cheek swab from her and then run against yours. We should have the results back in about ninety minutes or so."
"And while we are waiting for the results to come back, I would like to take a ride to Costumes-Year-Around," Erica informed.
"Do I want to know why?" Hank asked.
Erica shrugged before saying, "Well, as you know, my sister Angelica has been MIA for about three months, and I found out today that there's a Balam who works there as a saleswoman. So, I would like to find out if saleswoman is Angelica."
Hank nodded before saying, "Go."
"Thanks," Erica replied before she and Nick stepped away.
In Twin Falls, Trubel waited until 4:00 P.M., to call Seth.
Trubel began by asking if he was Seth Sommers who lived at a certain address.
"I am," Seth confirmed. "Who is this?"
"I'm Theresa Rubel," She began and pretending that her cover story wasn't blown. "I work for Schade-Burthardt Law Office, and you, sir, are a hard person to get a hold of. I talked with three other Seth Sommers before I got a hold of you?"
"Ms. Rubel, why are you calling?" Seth said in a slightly cold tone.
"Ah, yes, right to it," Trubel replied. "Someone you know has passed away recently, and you are in the man's will. So that you can collect what the man had left for you, you and I need to meet. I can suggest a time and a place for us to meet."
"Before I agree to meet with you, who died?" Seth questioned.
"Actually, I'm not allowed to say any more about this until we meet in person, and I can check your ID," Trubel told him.
Seth was quiet for a moment before telling her to meet him in the lounge at a certain hotel at 9:00 P.M.
"So, I can recognize you, described yourself to me," Trubel requested.
Seth gave Trubel a false description of himself as he told her, "I'm 5' 8". I have light brown hair and brown eyes… and truth be told, I could stand to lose a few pounds. Now it's your turn to describe yourself to me."
Thinking that Seth may already have a description of her from Terri, Trubel honestly described herself to him. She then continued, "Anyway, I'll see you at nine. Bye,"
"Bye," Seth replied before hanging up.
Trubel googled the hotel, and after learning where it was and how to get there, she put her phone away, brought her motorcycle back to life and rode in the direction of the hotel.
To be continued.