Across Worlds with You, Part 6 by Kit Campbell

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Across Worlds with You, Part 6
Kit Campbell

“They’ve got to be tracking Will somehow,” Theo said around a mouthful.

They were back in Helstena. Theo had managed to close the gate before the Deathcrawler had gotten through, but it had been with shaky hands that he’d opened a gate straight back to Helstena instead of going back through all the waystations. The amulet had been put somewhere safe and guarded, and now Will found himself eating dinner in one of the nicer houses in the village, though he’d not followed whose house it was or why they were feeding him.

“That’s not good.” Destia ripped a chunk of the loaf of bread on the table in front of her, not actually seeming concerned.

Will glanced down at his own plate, where he’d only managed a few bites. What was not good was how the amulet hadn’t responded to him. If he were the one from the prophecy, and the amulets were the key to stopping the Darkness, that was a major issue.

Or he wasn’t the one from the prophecy, everyone had been wrong all these years, and they were all going to die.

He tried to muster the thought that he was having a psychotic break, just to see how it felt, but it rang empty. His brain would never have come up with all this on its own.

“Or,” Destia said, “maybe the Darkness was just lucky.”

Theo stared at her across the table. “That world was uncharted. How in the multiverse would the Darkness have known about it? And just happened to be there?”

“Maybe the Darkness was scouting it out to see if they could invade there next after they destroy us.”

“That’s not funny.” Theo sighed, running his hands through his hair again. “I think we should assume that they are tracking Will. It’ll stop us from getting surprised again.”

Destia shrugged.

That night, as Will lay in a bed that was not his own, listening to someone snore somewhere else in the house, he ran back over the events of the day. Had it really only been that morning that he’d had his final? What had Dr. Frobisher thought when he’d never come back? What had his boss thought? He was definitely fired, which was too bad, since the coffee shop had been fairly easy to do around his school schedule.

“If you’d only called to let us know you had an emergency and wouldn’t be in,” he could hear his supervisor saying.

Sorry, he thought, I had to flee worlds because creepy-ass zombie things were trying to eat me. No cell service.

His phone was still in his bag, back in Dr. Frobisher’s classroom.

He wadded the bed sheet in his hands. What in the world was he doing? This was…this was too serious to play at. He was wildly unprepared for this.

“Hey,” he said to Theo the next morning, “what is the back-up plan?”

Theo blinked at him. “Back-up plan?”

Oh. Cultural differences, maybe. “I mean, if me and the amulets don’t work out, what’s the plan then?”

“There isn’t another plan.” Theo was still looking at him like he was crazy. “It’s a prophecy, Will. They happen whether you want them to or not.”

“I’m just saying, how do we know it’s a real prophecy? This kid walks in, says some stuff, and everyone just takes it as absolute truth? He could have been talking out his ass.”

“Some kid wasn’t just going to know about the amulets.” Theo picked up his supply bag, slinging it over his shoulder. “It’s not like that was common knowledge. And he pointed to you specifically, even before you were born. If he hadn’t had the gift, how would he even know you were going to come along?”

“Lucky guess?”

Theo shook his head. “Let’s go meet Destia.”

Destia was waiting on the terrace, still dressed all in black. “About time, sorcerer. Thought I was going to have to open this gate myself.”

Theo rolled his eyes before turning to Will. “I’m going to have to do the finding spell again. If I may?” He held his hands out, palms up.

Will swallowed hard before putting his hands in Theo’s.

Theo murmured the spell, his eyes going blue and the wind swirling through their hair. “Okay,” he said, voice again echoing. “I’ve got it. Give me a minute.”

As Theo, once again crawling along, began to prepare the gate, Will hugged his arms tightly around his torso, trying to fight down the dread that crawled through his soul.

#

This second amulet was on a charted world, one Theo called Elewilde. They only had to go through a single waystation, which made the trip distressingly quick, even with Theo’s reduced speed. When they emerged out of the blue light, they stepped into the middle of a massive wildflower field. Tall mountains, not unlike those in Helstena, rose off to the west, and smoke to the east indicated the presence of people. Or so Will assumed. That’s what books always said, anyway.

Nothing looked especially weird. “Are you sure all these worlds aren’t just variations on Earth?”

Theo gave him a look, and Will’s cheeks heated. “Maybe everything’s a variation on Elewilde.” He pointed off toward the smoke. “It’s this way.”

It should have been a pleasant walk—the ground was relatively flat, and the scenery was certainly nice. Only a few wispy clouds floated through the sky. But every step they took closer to the amulet twisted Will’s insides.

Like…like he was walking toward his doom. Or like he was definitely not going to live up to the hype when the time came.

Destia frowned at the flowers as they went, as if they had personally offended her. Theo mostly stared straight ahead, as if he was focused on the amulet, even from this distance. Maybe he was. Will didn’t know how magic worked.

“Hey,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he came up alongside Theo. “How did the whole mirror thing work anyway?”

“Which part?” Theo didn’t look at him.

“Any of it.” He wished Theo would look at him. Though he much preferred Theo’s hazel eyes, he’d take the blue ones.

“Well, there is a spell to make a window into another world. So you can see into it, but you’re not there, and you can’t interact with it, nor can it interact with you. When you were near a reflective surface, I’d use it to create a window, where you saw me and I could see you.”

“But, like, were you wearing an illusion?”

“Not so much, no. It’s more of a…suggestion?” Theo frowned. “Something to make you see what you expect to see versus what’s actually there.”

So he’d been actually looking at Theo the whole time, but his brain was supplying his own reflection because that was what should have been there? “How does that work?”

“Well, theory says—”

“I hate to interrupt this fascinating conversation,” Destia said, “but I think we have a problem.” She pointed off to the north.

A dark fog rolled along the horizon.

“The Darkness?” Theo said. “But there’s never been signs of the Darkness in Elewilde before.”

“Gee, that’s sure going to stop it from being there.” Destia grabbed Theo’s arm. “Time to push up our schedule. Where to, sorcerer?”

Theo pointed, and Destia dragged.

Will watched the fog for a long moment, then followed.

Part 7
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Part 9