Thank you for the reviews!
LovelyReader: Thanks so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it! So flattered about what you think of me!
CaptainAmerica: Thanks! this is my first one ever, so I'm happy you like it. I've actually written a lot, but am waiting to put each chapter up.
6
"The boys described what happened, and what it looked like, and that's how I found it." Bobby explained to the ground, probably realizing by now that he wasn't very accurate in guessing where I was actually standing.
"It says here that the feather is the first symbol that signifies the first and simplest phase of permanently entering into an alternate universe. " Zach said glancing over the text.
"Yep." Bobby said. "That's what it is, right there."
"What, the alternate universe thing?" Dave asked.
Bobby gave a nod in response.
"No way," Dave said almost getting a kick out of the preposterous story.
"You guys, it says here that she's going to get more along the way." Zach said.
"Yikes." Dave said making a face. "That's not going to be pretty."
"You're right about that," Zach replied. "'Each one will be more painful, and last longer than it's predecessor'."
"If you read on," Bobby said, "It gives you a good idea of what to look out for."
Both Dave and Zach's eyes traveled down to the page.
"'Be careful!'" Dave read once finding the excerpt that mentioned what could lead to my demise. "'Your very presence in a new world will rewrite your life path of your first universe. Whatever extreme alteration with you occurs along your quest it will affect the new storyline of your changed path in the world you initially traveled from'." Dave took a deep breath. "Wwweelll, that sucks." Dave added. "I hope your life sucked Cru, because it's never going to be the same again."
"Dave," Zach admonished.
"What? It's true." Dave replied defensively.
"You haven't really said much," Zach pointed out, diverting his attention to me. "Are you okay?"
While everyone eagerly began telling me that I was, in fact, wrong about my entire reality, I just stood there not even trying to deny these outrageous theories. At first, I thought my silence was due to the fact that I was so shocked about my brains ability to make some things in my dreams make sense. After a while I decided, maybe it was because I was so accepting of the fact that this wasn't a dream, and I was actually somehow living my favorite television show. Then I realized that it was partially my acceptance, by mostly my anger of being forced into some mess I was too frightened to really understand.
So, no, I was not in any conceivable way, okay.
"I'm fine." I lied making my way to the brothers to read over their shoulders.
"Ella-" Zach tried.
"I said I'm fine, okay?" I snapped. The moment I saw the contrite look on his face I felt incredibly bad. "I'm sorry." I half-heartedly apologized. "I didn't mean to snap. I'm just really frustrated right now."
"That's understandable." Zach responded.
"I don't think you can understand what I'm going through, and I'm not trying to be rude when I say that, it's just no one other than you two can see me! I'm stuck here, forced to go follow some quest, and I don't even know what that is! I don't know who I am or where I'm from, or why my hair is half white and half black!" I touched my face near my eyes. "Or where my glasses went!"
"They're upstairs." Dave added.
"Whatever!" I cried. "This is not what I pictured being with you guys would be like. I mean you guys didn't even trust me after I helped you! And you," I said pointing to Dave. "You shot me! I helped you guys, and you didn't even trust me so much that you thought it would be okay to just shoot me! And it hurt. Not as much as my shoulder but it stung pretty bad." I rubbed my head in frustration. "I thought you were on my side!" I yelled out to God in some weird form of desperation. "I thought you were making everything awesome for me for once, but it doesn't seem that way. Sucking me into a TV show was not my idea of happiness! This is not what I meant when I said I wanted Dave Savage's children!"
"Whoa," Dave said. "No one's sinking their paws into this fine piece of meat anytime soon."
"Dave," Zach cautioned.
"What is she like 16?" Dave tried pointing out.
I just sighed and buried my face in my palms, wanting to disappear.
"Ella," Zach said softly. "Maybe we should be getting back on track. We might find more answers for you."
I looked up at them and nodded.
"You're right." I said taking a deep breath. "As much as I want to, I can't just mope around and hope for some kind of miracle. Sorry for freaking out."
We focused back on the obscure scripture, looking at the other symbols that were gateways to each so-called phase. After the feather was a scroll, a different ring of symbols engraved around it. Then a candle that had the cryptic signs carved into the wax. Following the candle was an image of three scars with more script lightly underlining each of them. Lastly was simply a five-pointed star.
Each stamp was approximately the same size, aside from the three scars, and the star. The scars took up the same amount of space as an actual life sized attack from some beast, while the star was no bigger than a dime. Each symbol also had a name:
The Entrance Feather, The Scroll of Truth, The Revealing Candle, The Battle Scars, and The Completion Star, all titled each marking that was to be seared into my skin.
"So after the fifth one I get to go home?" I asked, hopeful.
"I think it just means you've fully entered the alternate universe." Zach explained. "Who knows how long you might have to end up staying here?"
"That's reassuring." I said helping my self to a seat.
"There isn't much more information." Dave said. "At the end of every little paragraph it keeps telling me to 'Refer to the Realms Manual'. Bobby would you happen to know where one is?" Dave asked.
"The trouble is that there's only one manual, son." Bobby said pouring himself out a drink. "And you have to be a lot more important than me to get your hands on it."
"Well that's just great." Dave said, slamming the book shut. "How's Cru supposed to get back home?"
"I'm not." I replied.
"You can't just stay here," Dave pointed out. "You have to get back to where you came from."
"She's right, Dave." Zach regretted to say. "She's here for a reason. Maybe it's to help us."
"We can't just let her stay!" Dave argued. He turned to me. "Ella, you have to return to your friends, family—your freaking people—back home!"
Frustrated I stood up.
"I'm staying. Even if I thought I should go back home, I wouldn't even know how, and I'm not about to waste your time looking for a manual that may just tell me the same thing that I'm already sure of. I can't go back." I made my way to exit the room but paused for one final word. "And I don't have… people… back home." I said walking out.
After leaving the kitchen I opened the front door to the porch to take a seat on the stairs leading up to the house.
Okay, so it turned out that it wasn't all a dream. But it had to be. I woke up after that time Dave shot me. If I wasn't dreaming then that was an awfully strange way to travel between alternate universes. On the other hand there was a scar scorched into my shoulder blade, and that kind of pain wasn't something someone could simply dream about. I just wanted things to make sense.
The front door opened behind me causing me to lose my train of thought. Zach smiled, taking a seat next to me. I placed the jacket that was in my arms into Zach's.
"Thanks, again." I added leaning against the wooden rail.
"No problem." He replied.
We sat there for a little bit in silence. I was still trying to connect the dots in my head, and I assumed Zach was doing the same.
"Can I ask you something?" He asked gingerly. "Something personal?" He wanted to clarify.
"Sure," I replied. "If I can remember."
"Right, well that was kind of what I was referring to." He started. "I mean, if you cant remember where you're from or even what your name is, how do you know you don't have anyone back home?"
I shrugged.
"I guess I kind of just feel it." I told him. "I realize that sounds silly, but I remember not having any parents or siblings or any real family."
"Do you remember how old you are?" He asked.
I nodded and told him, "18 but I turn 19 in the spring I think."
"You're young." He pointed out. "You couldn't have been by yourself all this time."
"I think I had some relatives that shipped me off to a boarding school after my parents died. And my uncle… I think I called him Mr. Williamson. He had a farm." I explained. "At least, that's how I remember it."
"You didn't go to college?" Zach wondered.
"I just started." I told him naturally, which caught me by surprise. "Yea, I think I just started college and the dorms I live in are right next to a train station." I explained to him.
"You seem to be remembering something."
"Not enough." I said. "I don't even know my own name."
"That must be rough." Zach said with a sigh. "I mean I've been alone for a while, but," He faced the house for a moment. "I've always had family."
"I know," I said with a grin.
"Right." Then he turned to me. "So you completely accept the fact that this is an alternate reality to yours?"
"I guess," I replied. "At this point, I think I've accepted that this isn't a dream. And I don't think I got sucked into a TV show." I laughed at the thought.
"So you aren't sure?"
"There isn't really much else of an explanation." I said. "So for now, I accept that version of the story, and I always will until I'm told another one that makes sense."
"That seems fair." Zach said.
"My main concern is the thing about the scorch marks. " I told him. "I mean, considering they're supposed to be stamped into my skin. Anything else I should know about them?"
After thinking for a bit Zach remembered.
"Yea, right after you left, we read that they come a while after the door officially opens." He said. "So like entering our world was the first door, but you didn't get the scorch marks until a couple hours after you came." He explained.
"Wait," I stopped him. "I don't even know what the other doors are, so I'm not going to know when I'm going to start having my skin burned?" I questioned.
"Uhm, I'm sure we can figure something out." He reassured me.
"Like what?" I asked standing up. Zach followed after. "I can't go through that again without preparing myself. And it's supposed to get worse!" I cried.
"Look," Zach said, grabbing my shoulders and looking at me intently. "You're going to be fine."
"You don't know that."
"Yes I do."
"How?"
"Because," he said, "me and my brother will make sure nothing bad ever happens to you. I can't promise you wont get hurt, or that there aren't going to be a few cuts and bruises along the way. But you helped us, and you saved my life, more than once, I'm sure, and I've only known you for a day. So I'm going to make sure that whatever you do while you're here, we'll be right with you. I promise you it will get better, and I promise we won't let you get hurt."
"Never?"
"Not ever." Dave's unexpected voice said from behind. He had a beer in his hand and was leaning against the threshold of the front door. He stood up straight and took a swig of his drink, walking towards Zach and me. "I know I haven't been particularly trusting up until this point, but things are going to be different from here on out."
"Thank you." I said. I was relieved, although you wouldn't have been able to tell by looking at my straight face.
"We owe you that much." Dave replied. "Although I'm not entirely sure how accurate that shooting you story is."
"I wouldn't dwell on it." I advised.
"I wont." He assured me, taking another sip. We stood there for a little bit in silence until I decided to tell them why I thought I was there.
"I watch this TV show all the time," I started. "Most of the time, I'm yelling at you guys for missing something so obvious like the zombie we forgot to kill off. And I think I'm here to actually stop you guys from screwing up."
"Do we screw up often?" Zach asked.
"Kind of." I replied. "But some of your major screw ups I can't seem to remember, and I think it's because I'm not supposed to change those ones."
"Why not?" Dave wanted to know.
"Because they must be vital to the storyline." I explained. "Add to some character development or something."
"So you're here to help us do our job right?" Dave asked.
"Not your job. You're good at your job." I replied stating the obvious. "Everything else you suck at."
"I'm good at taking care of my brother, or at least making sure he lives." Dave said.
"Well that's your job." I pointed out. "I think I just see the trouble in certain things, and I can help you with that."
"Well it looks like you know your quest, then." Zach said.
"I don't know." I replied. "Maybe. It's just a theory. I'm not really sure."
Another silence befell us until tears started stinging my eyes as the sudden realization that I no longer had a real home, or the fact that I wasn't at all prepared to go through the pain that was going to be inflicted upon me slowly weighed on my shoulders.
"I'm scared." I told them, letting a tear fall. Ashamed, I quickly wiped it away another one quickly falling out.
"You don't have to be," Zach told me close enough to wipe the other tear away.
"It's gonna be scary at first, Cru." Dave said. "But you'll be fine." He took a step closer to me.
"Do you want…" Dave made a face. "…I dunno, like a hug?"
I just scowled at him. I don't know why. Maybe because he was Dave Freaking Savage and he w=as offering to give me a very reluctant hug.
"You don't have to do that." I said to him.
He laughed and seemed taken aback, like he was surprised that I new him that well. He outstretched his arm leaning in to rub my shoulder like he did Zach when Jessica's photo was missing.
I accepted this gladly with a smile. I think it was because his outstretched arm meant that he more than trusted me. He was grateful that I helped him and more importantly his brother. He valued my presence, and the fact that I knew them so well.
And being hugged or having my tears wiped away made me realize I did after all have a home here. More of a home than I ever had anywhere else. I had a home with the Savage brothers.
I pulled away and dried my eyes, and smiled at them.
"Now what is this about you wanting my children?" Dave wondered.
I laughed quietly to myself.
"It's kind of a figure of speech." I explained. "At least where I come from."
"You guys have weird figures of speech," Dave said looking at me dubiously.
"That was kind of weird." Zach added.
"What, you think I'm bad?" I asked my mouth slightly ajar. "You should see some of the other girls back home. You're lucky you ended up with me and not some freaky slash girl."
"Slash girl?" Zach wondered.
"What's a slash girl?" Dave questioned.
"A girl who writes slash fanfiction." I explained.
"Slash what?" Zach asked.
"What is this slash business?" Dave asked growing frustrated.
I laughed.
"It's where people write or draw about two guys being together." I said.
"Two guys? What two guys?" Dave asked.
"Uh…Dave," Zach said with a nervous laugh.
"Oh don't tell me," Dave started.
"Yea." I finished for him.
"I thought they know we're brothers." Dave said.
"Oh, they know." I said. "So be thankful."
"Oh, come on! That's a whole new level of gross!" Dave exclaimed as we went back into the house.
Not long after Bobby, who was holding his phone in his hands, stopped us, wearing a concerning expression on his face. In his other hand were a few newspaper clippings, and articles printed from the Internet.
"You boys," He paused and looked around. "And girl—ready for a hunt?"