Episode 50: Found Friends and Maniacal Plans
- Crystal Crawford
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
“Does the Vorcos CEO even know you were pretending to be his daughter?” Collin asked the woman who, until a few moments ago, had looked exactly like Chloe.
“Of course,” she said, leaning toward the bars of the door that held us trapped in the orb room. “It was his idea.” She glanced toward the cell beyond the glowing orb, where Chloe still lay unconscious. “He’s wasted enough time on her.” Her lip curled. “What a disappointment. I can’t understand how she shares his blood, but lacks his sense of vision! Her father is about to become the most powerful being in this dimension, and rather than stand by his side, she threw it all away for you pathetic—-” She stopped and drew an agitated breath.
My heart lurched. “She’s in here because of us?”
The woman leveled a nasty glare at me, then her mouth curved into a sickeningly sweet smile. “Don’t fret, my pet. You won’t have long to feel guilty about it.” She stepped away from the door, then turned back. “Because I’m feeling generous in my victory…”She pulled a small, glass vial from the pocket of her dress jacket. “This will wake her. I assume you’ll want to at least greet her before you all die.” She tossed the vial toward me through the bars.
I managed to catch it without it hitting the floor and shattering, though I landed on my knees in the process.
She laughed and turned away again.
“You said Chloe’s dad is about to become the most powerful being in this dimension,” I called after her as I stood. “How?” Then the layout of this room hit me. “Wait. This orb, the tubes, the supernaturals in these other cells… This is all about him stealing power from others, isn’t it?”
She turned back with a smirk. “This is about him opening the gate between worlds, and having access to whatever he wants. It’s about getting what he deserves.”
“Oh, I can think of a few things he deserves,” Collin muttered.
The woman hadn’t really answered my question, but I was stuck on the whole opening the gate between worlds part. I gaped at her. “It’s about what?”
Trenchcoat Man had been kneeling near one of the cells, checking on the prisoners.
Now he stood and turned toward the woman. “I’m not sure that’s going to work out like he imagines. There are many worlds that touch this one, but there’s a reason there are barriers.”
I gaped at him, too, because he said it like there really were worlds touching this one.
Trenchcoat Man stepped toward her. “Do you even know which barriers you’re opening? Or what’s on the other side? You’re messing with things you may not have even fathomed.”
Assuming there actually were other worlds touching ours, he made a crucial point.
The woman smiled at him. “And you still have no idea what’s even happening here, do you?” Her chilling smile turned on me. “That’s precious.”
A door out of our sight in the corridor slammed open with a clang. It must’ve been a hatch or something, because there was a flood of sunlight, then a rush of fresh salt-air plus the chopping whir of a helicopter in the distance.
The woman spun toward the light and sound.
“Get up here!” a male’s voice yelled—it sounded like Chloe’s father.
The woman turned back with a sly grin. “My ride’s here. Have fun exploding!”
She ran off down the hall.
“Have fun what?” Collin yelled.
A moment later, the door clanged shut, and the sunlight and salt breeze vanished. The chopper sound faded quickly.
It seemed they were gone.
I turned to my parents. “What do we—”
“Let’s wake up Chloe,” my mom said. “Then we’ll figure out how to get everyone out of here.”
I nodded, then rushed over to Chloe, still clutching the vial in my hand, and knelt near her cell. I could reach her face through the bars—was I supposed to just tip this stuff into her mouth?
I looked back at my parents. “What if it’s a trick? What if this is poison?”
Jillian hurried over. “Let me see it.”
She didn’t give me a chance to object, just snatched it from my hand… but I wouldn’t have argued, anyway.
She pulled a small, flat rock from her pocket and hovered it over the vial, then looked up at me. “It’s safe.”
I stared at her. “How do you know?”
“It’s safe,” she said again. “You gonna wake her or spend all day asking questions?”
I nearly said something unpleasant about her attitude, but I didn’t want to waste time—especially if this place really was about to explode. I opened the vial and tipped the contents into Chloe’s mouth.
She coughed a little as the liquid drained toward her throat.
I sat back on my heels, watching her face. “How long do you think—”
Chloe gasped and opened her eyes.
“Chloe!” I moved toward her.
She blinked, looking dazed. “Aubrey?” She tipped her face toward me.
“I’m here.”
“Stop. No,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut again. “Go away.”
I flinched back, stung by her reaction, until Collin whispered. “Maybe she thinks you’re the shifter woman or we’re all an illusion or something.” He moved toward Chloe. “We’re real. I can prove it.”
Chloe stared up at him blurrily.
When she didn’t answer, Collin pressed on. “My first time in your lunch period at school, there was this jerk in the cafeteria. Remember? Aubrey was just trying to be nice, and he told her he didn’t want to sit with her, right in front of everyone.” He glanced at me with a look I couldn’t decipher, then looked back at Chloe. “You remember who that was?”
Chloe’s eyes finally cleared and locked on him. “It was you. Collin, you’re really here?”
He grinned. “Authentic jerk, here in the flesh.”
She exhaled, then glanced at me. “Aubrey?”
“I’m here. It’s me,” I said.
Chloe sighed in relief. “They drugged me with something, so I wasn’t sure…”
My parents slid in behind me. “We’re here too, sweetheart,” my mom said.
She looked up at them. “Mr. and Mrs. Lance?”
My mom smiled at her. “Yes, honey. Your mom will be so happy we’ve found you.”
“Are you okay?” I reached a hand through the bars. “Can you sit up?”
She nodded and took my hand so I could help her sit up, then she looked around.
“Aubrey, how did you—oh.” She saw the glowing orb, then her face flicked to me with a look of horror. “We have to get out of here.”
***
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