Chapter Three

Politely as I could, I gave my thanks to Auntie Kit, and squeezed out the irritatingly cramped front door. I swear, I don't know what that woman was thinking; putting in a door she could scarcely fit through herself. Sometimes it was hard imagining her as my mother's sister. Course, I hadn't seen me mother in years, so maybe they did look alike now…

I wandered back down the path, a few minutes until I was back at the end of the alley I had come down from. The streets were nearly deserted as I came out by a long stretch of shops. The sun had sunk very low, casting a ruddy orange glow through the street. Shuffling, I roamed through the empty street, staring up at the melting sky. The stars began to come out, glittering faintly. They were dimmer then they had been the previous nights, but still as stunning as they were the night after the White Queen had woken up. I shook my head as my thoughts shifted towards old memories. I needed to concentrate at the situation at hand.

"Torrey… what're you doing?" I whispered to the vacant plaza I walked into.

My brother was not known for pulling stunts like this. He was the good boy, mum's favorite; the good brother. He had a respectable job he didn't have to be ashamed of, good looks, a bigger tower….

That stopped my jealous brooding. If he was gone, what was going to happen to the tower? His tower was probably furious. Not a good thing.

Torrey didn't even leave a note or anything. The only way I had found out he had somehow made it to Helena's world was the strange phenomenon that Helena said she experienced, the first time I met her. She looked into windows and saw herself, only it wasn't her, it was the Dark Princess. She had stolen the mirrormask in order to escape, and took over Helena's life on the other side.

Only it was happening to me, minus the evil girl.

Except, it wasn't the windows that let me see what Torrey was doing. It was something much more dreadful and…disgusting.

I let out a annoyed sigh as I approached the mask shop, knowing the batty old nag inside was waiting for me with a boring, unnecessarily long story.

As soon as I opened the door, a menacing looking sphinx stared back at me from atop the front desk. Its' dull purple face didn't look happy to see me at all.

"Hello there…" I mumbled nervously.

The sphinx snarled at me, and hopped away.

"Valentine, dear, is that you? Have I got a story for you today!" The owner cheerfully cried out.

"Fantastic…" I replied, rolling my eyes as I stepped into the tea room.

Cynthia, as I previously learned she called herself, came into the room and chattered absent-mindedly on the couch, thinking I was actually listening.

Looking around the room, I waited a few seconds before I decided to interrupt her.

"Cynthia, do you mind if I use your restroom?

Moving her head, she abruptly ceased her story telling.

"Oh! Of course deary. Right over there to the left." She said in her warbly voice.

I already knew where the washroom was, but she nevertheless told me each time I came to use it.

My feet slowly edged into the room, and I closed the door behind me, so she assumed I was not listening and wouldn't keep talking. Reluctantly, I leaned down against the window by the toilet. Muffins, the laziest sphinx I had ever seen, was once again, curled up in the toilet bowl. Weird little creature.

"Out you go. Shoo. I need some, quality time, with your bed."

I wasn't afraid of Muffins, he was always too tired to even growl, let alone maul me.

His beady little eyes winced, and he scrambled out of the bowl in one jump. He slinked over to the sink, dripping a trail of water along the floor, and climbed inside there instead.

"Bloody thing…" I muttered to him. Peering into the bowl, the water that was left at the bottom reflected at first only my face. Concentrating, a scene began to become visible in the pool.

I could see Torrey, walking around, maskless. From his hair to his chin, he was my complete double. The only thing different about him was his height. For his age, he was on the short side. Probably the only good thing that separated me from him.

He was walking in a crowded hallway, filled with younger kids filing past him

.
One day I had come searching for Torrey at the mask shop, and when I went into the bathroom, I had stumbled accidentally onto this window to Helena's world. I knew he was in Helena's world from the time I was first able to see him in this toilet window. No masks at all, the strange clothes on everyone. It was a few views later that I also saw Helena.

She had been alone, slowly walking through a door and stood still by a long table, as the other kids around her were eating. Torrey had sat down at another table before she had entered the room, and was making friends with two other guys seated around him. He was cracking jokes, and they all laughed heartily.

Helena's usually animated face was vacant as she gazed at him, with the exception of her very large, very shocked eyes.

A thought had entered my mind, and I instantly knew what was going on. She thought Torrey was myself. And I wasn't supposed to be there. Because as far as I knew, and I think she knew too, I was not coming back. Not because I didn't want to, I knew I couldn't because I was too attached. All I wanted to do was be with her. But I saw the consequences of leaving this world, and staying in her world longer then you were allowed. The world fell apart. Violently. The time before, it shook apart, but I know it wasn't just the Princess's fault. Our world did not react well to elements coming and going from it. I didn't want to be responsible for that. Yet I couldn't allow Torrey to let it happen either. Once our world fell, everyone in it would be gone. I'd be gone, Torrey would be gone, Auntie Kit, Cynthia. And Helena. I didn't know what would happen to her, but I would never see her again. I had to bring Torrey back before it was too late.

"How…." I answered my thoughts aloud. Muffins looked up, irritated at my voice.

I stared back, and he finally went back to sleep.

Glancing back at the bowl, I went back to spying on Torrey. He was sitting in another room, at a desk, with other kids sitting around him, in identical desks. A tall, lanky looking man with a grey mustache and no hair on his head was talking, tossing his hands around sluggishly. During these glimpses, I cannot hear any sound, but what he was talking about must have been boring, because Torrey was nodding off. I saw Helena again, but she was seated farther back, by a window. She was not nodding off. Alert and very concerned looking, she looked like she was about to go to pieces. I felt helpless, and I could not stand seeing her like that.

I pushed off the ground away from the bowl, and stood up quickly. I had to go get him.