Lovespell

Chapter 4

A/N: Yes, my muse is finally returning! We see real action picking up here, but the rating may end up needing to go to K+ based on what happens in the next two chaps. Review replies first:

Exocontinual protocols: Glad you liked it, and glad it's actually at least somewhat similar to the books (I haven't read them in like a year). Don't worry, how could I write a N/K story with no kissing scenes? There will be plenty of that later on

Simba McCloud: Wow, you thought it was good? Yay! It makes me feel accomplished to be complimented by such an amazing writer as you gives you infinite poptarts

Disclaimer: YWDiane Duane

Chapter 5: Atin

Blackness surrounded her.

She knew it was a rather cliché thought, but she wondered if this was how dead people felt. Her eyes were open, but they were unable to penetrate the void. Her ears were ringing with laughter—the Lone Power's, she knew from long experience…

…and then she was in her bedroom.

Or what amounted to being her bedroom in the alternate New York she'd entered. The lights were ten times dimmer then the sun-loving Nita ever allowed them to be. The covers of the bed she sat on had turned from faded blue to deep black with silver flames on them. The books on "her" bookshelf were no longer the harmless fantasies she liked to indulge in, but dark gothic-looking novels with titles like Embracing the Dark Side or Demons at Midnight.

And in Nita's formerly blue favorite armchair (now black with silver chains on the arms) sat a figure that she both knew and did not know…

Herself.

The tall, brown-skinned girl whose eyes met hers from the armchair had the same medium length auburn hair and large, soft eyes as Nita, but her clothes were of the type the young wizard wouldn't be caught dead in. She had on a long black leather jacket that vaguely reminded her of something her old flame, Ronan Nolan, would wear, black jeans, and a black necklace with silver spikes on it. Silver chains hung from the belt of the frayed pants, and she wore little skull-shaped earrings and a looping tattoo just visible on her right shoulder.

"Y…you're me," Nita stammered.

The black-clad girl frowned and shook her head sternly. "No, I'm not. My name is Atin. Yours is Nita," she said, her voice a hollow, flat imitation of Nita's own.

This weird girl—my alter ego?—is the only human being I've seen around here. Might as well ask her to help. "Well, um…Atin," she said, trying to keep calm as the unchanging gaze of the other seemed to bore into her flesh, "I'm looking for the kernel of this world. I've never operated in a dark world before, and I'm having trouble sensing it."

This was true, Nita now realized. Every world and planet she'd visited since learning how to work with kernels had possessed a joyful, strong "humming" she could feel even through her skin. It was the sign, she had learned, of a happy, healthy kernel. This world was "empty". The humming could not be felt.

"And? Your point is?" Atin inquired in her dull monotone.

"I was…wondering if you would help me. Seeing as you live here…and there doesn't seem to be anyone else here…could you help me find the kernel? I…need to save the guy I like. His life depends on it."

The gothic girl studied her for a moment longer, as if contemplating. Finally, she replied, "Yeah, I guess. There's nothing much to do in this dimension anyway. It will be interesting."

Nita tried to keep a friendly smile on her face. "Thank you, Atin. Do you know where the kernel is?"

Atin nodded. "It's not hidden. You can see it with your eyes. You just can't sense it. It's right on top of the Statue of Liberty."

Nita tried to hide an expression of shock. A kernel you couldn't "feel" with your innermost being? How weird. "Why…why can't you sense it?"

Her alter-ego shrugged. "It hasn't got much work to do, being the heart of an empty world. There's really no reason to sense it, I guess. It's really just kind of a public exhibit. People go to see it all the time, because it's pretty to look at. There's a tour at three. We can make it if we hurry."

With that, Atin led the wizard from the bedroom through a maze of narrow, twisting streets, heading in a direction Nita knew from her own New York to lead to the Statue of Liberty.

As Nita looked around her, she realized there were other people. There was something—strange about them, though. You couldn't really focus on them for long. If you looked at them, they'd kind of just meld into the scenery, sliding into their surroundings like gray Jell-O. It was really creepy…

As they turned into yet another twisting alley, indistinguishable from the last 42 or so they'd just been through, Nita noticed the crowd of "people" thickening. More and more pairs of black-shod feet joined theirs, all heading in the same direction, like a crowd of businessmen returning home from the office for dinner.

"It's touring-time," Atin said when she inquired as to the growing crowd, "They've not got much to do, so they're going to see the kernel. They do it almost every day, really. Boredom doesn't exist in this world."

Nita nodded, wondering why the Lone Power would have bothered to create such a dull world—if indeed this was his creation, as she suspected. All the worlds of his she'd been to so far had been inhabited by either monster cars, weird bug-warrior creatures, fierce sandstorms, or other malevolent presences. This one was just so—bland.

"Here we are," Atin announced flatly. Juanita looked up and saw they were indeed at the base of the Statue of Liberty. But how different she looked from the one back home! This Lady Liberty was of a gray-black stone, and the fire in her torch was not gold but deepest ebony, wavering in the slight wind as though it were real flame.

The "people" were congregating here, but there was not the flow into the stairwell door that Nita was used to from home. Here, the people just seemed to walk up to the base of the statue and—disappear.

"How are they getting up?" she asked incredulously. "You said the kernel was on top."

Atin nodded. "They're flying," she stated, as if it were the most commonplace thing in the world. "Everyone here can fly by just thinking about it. Come, I'll take you up."

Her alter-ego's version of flying was like nothing Nita had ever experienced. She kept her arm tightly around the black-clad girl as they shot straight up into the air at an intense speed, like a bullet, passing swarms of the gray-black people as they ascended.

After only a moment or two, the pair arrived at the crown of the immense monolith. It was set up like an exhibit in a museum, with a large roped-off glass display case in the middle from which a familiar copper-gray light emitted.

"We've got to wait until the touring-time is over before we even attempt to get any closer," Atin informed her. They landed with a demure "plop" on the gray stone, amid a veritable swarm of the funny disappearing "people".

Despite the fact that they were nearly at the back of the crowd, Nita had a perfect view of the kernel, seeing as the people in front of her melted into the people beside them as soon as she glanced at them. What she saw was what she expected to see: a small golden orb surrounded by motes of light. No different from the kernel of any other world she'd entered.

After deciding there was nothing special about the kernel, she observed the people—she found that if she peeked quickly out of the corner of her eye, she could sort of see what they were doing. It surprised her. Nobody seemed to be paying much interest to the display case. They were reading newspapers or more of the black-bound books she'd glimpsed in "her" bedroom, or writing in journals, or talking among each other (they emitted no sound when they spoke).

"They come to see the tour every day," Atin explained, "So there's nothing new to them. The touring-time's almost over, then will be our chance to get closer."

The other girl's words held true. In a few moments, the people began disappearing—she supposed they were descending the same way they'd ascended—until only Nita and Atin remained standing by the display case.

"There are no guards? For a kernel this publicly displayed?" the Earth wizard questioned incredulously.

Atin shrugged nonchalantly. "There's no use. The people wouldn't even think of doing anything about it. Creatures of habit, these folks. Follow a daily set routine, they like to. Fiddling with the kernel isn't even thought of. Now come on." With that, she guided Nita up to the glass case.

"Um…do we break the glass?" she asked, unsure.

The gothic girl shook her head. "No need too. It's only simulation glass, to create the idea of a museum. Makes the touring-time more interesting, apparently."

The Earth human nodded and reached her hand toward the case. A thrill shot through her body. This wasn't so hard at all. Pretty soon Kit will be saved—and I'll be his hero. Maybe when he finds out all I did for him, he'll even kiss me…

But Nita was roused from that happy imagining by a feeling of dreadful foreboding. Something's not right…She turned to the girl who had been her guide, suddenly feeling alarmed. She searched Atin's flat brown eyes…and saw a flash of something quite familiar.

"You're overshadowed!" she gasped. True, she'd taken it for granted that she was in one of the Lone Power's worlds. But…this girl was herself…she'd never assumed that anyone who was her could be overshadowed…

"Good work, wizardling. You're smarter than I thought," said the Lone Power through Atin. "Never suspected that I had a powerful agent helping me—you. Thank you for your help, child. It will be rewarded, of course…" With that, the Lone Power/Atin's voice faded into mocking laughter.

Nita fell to her knees, tears bursting from her eyes. No, it can't be. Not me. Oh, Kit, what have I done……

A/N: Cliffie! R&R if you want to know what happens.