The Return (Alternate Dimensions Book 5) Read online

  The messaging part of the site loaded, and I stared at it a moment. Its title was ‘subject’ and it was from username ‘0’. That certainly wasn’t a telling lead in.

  I clicked on it, and a very simple message popped onto my screen.

  I have the answers you seek. Come to 225 Crestwood Circle.

  And that was it.

  I stared at my screen uncertainly. Was this it? Had I found grand encyclopedia? …but what if this was a trap? I had no guarantee that Genesis wasn’t on earth, and this would be the perfect way to kill me off.

  It wasn’t like I had abilities anymore here. I had tried a couple of times in the hospital, but I couldn’t even call up so much as a crackle between my fingers. As far as I was concerned, I was just a regular human again.

  Well, a regular human who had spontaneously risen from the dead. There was always that.

  The way I looked at it, I had two options. I could sit here and play it safe, perhaps never finding a path back to the new home I had carved out of the evil hide of Genesis himself, or I could grab life by the possibly murderous horns and get back to my family.

  I grabbed my keys and went right out the door, pajamas be damned. I barely managed to grab my envelope full of spending money that Officer Iaccabucci had given me and headed straight for my car.

  I stopped dead in my tracks when it came into view. It seemed after so long of sitting idle, my tires were completely flat. Well that was obnoxious.

  I looked at how much I had. Just a little under a hundred. I could take the bus, but I had no idea of the right route and I didn’t exactly have a smart phone anymore.

  Or I could call a cab. It would be exponentially more expensive, but it would get me there much faster. And hey, if it turned out to be a trap, then I would be dead and wouldn’t have to worry about the trip back.

  “Right. Cab it is then.”

  I couldn’t exactly call one, but there was a fairly busy street about three blocks away. If I could force myself to make it there, I could probably hail one.

  I nodded to myself. I could do this.

  I set off, my body already complaining about ten steps in. After all my high flying, running for my life, and general saving the world shenanigans, I had gotten used to some intense athletics in my soft and squishy body. It sucked that I had lost all that in what -to me- just seemed like a short nap.

  Sweat started dripping down my brow at the end of block one, and I desperately wanted to take a break. But I couldn’t. I knew if I stopped, I would be huffing and puffing for a while and I couldn’t afford to lose that kind of time.

  By the second block my heart was squeezing painfully and my breathing was more like wheezing. Was I getting a blister on the bottom of my foot? Because I was pretty sure I was getting a blister.

  And then finally, the end of the third block.

  I stood there a moment, panting and wiping my face, before shuffling to the edge of the sidewalk and waving down the yellow splotches in the oncoming traffic.

  Less than two minutes later, I was in seated and headed towards my answers.

  The cabbie kept trying to make small talk, but I couldn’t concentrate enough to understand his words. After a few polite, but stilted responses, they figured out that I wasn’t here for small talk and fell quiet.

  My eyes were glued to the window and my thoughts were a million miles away. Could Jyra feel that I was still alive? Was she grieving for me as I had done for Angel?

  Dammit, we had just found each other, and now we were ripped apart yet again. It was like the universe had a vendetta around us, and I was just not down with that. The last time Jyra had been searching for me she had ripped through the very walls of the dimension itself. But would she do that again if she thought I was dead?

  Unsurprisingly, I didn’t have any sort of revelations in the cab, and I felt my mood grow even more churlish. By the time the vehicle arrived at my destination, I was solidly in irritated territory, and I handed the driver his fare plus tip then headed up the walkway.

  The house was nondescript. It was pretty, and middle class, with a well-kept lawn and single car garage. The painting was a pale blue, instead of the stereotypical white, and royal blue shutters hung on the windows. I could see ivory curtains handing just within, wafting gently in whatever temperature controls they had within.

  Was Genesis an air conditioner kind of guy? I felt like not, which meant maybe I wasn’t walking into my own death.

  The walk ended and then I was at the door. I looked around for a doorbell, and when I couldn’t find any, I settled for knocking.

  And nothing happened.

  My life needed to work on its dramatic timing. Sometimes it was right on the beat, and sometimes it worked me up for a whole lot of nothing. I stood there, wondering how long I should wait, when the door finally cracked open.

  It was the author, just as I had seen her on the cover. Her hair was pulled back, just like Jyra’s, and her eyes were both wide and haunted.

  “Verdandi,” She said quietly. “It’s good to see you again.”

  “And you are?” I asked, eyebrow raised so high that it was practically levitating.

  “My birth name is Guinevere,” She answered, opening the door further. “But you are most likely used to calling me Jyra.”

  “Jyra?” I asked. I needed to stop doing that. Repeating the same word back to people was not the same as asking them to clarify.

  “Unless I’m mistaken. But you are the Verdandi from the Genesis fold of the dimensional rift, which means that your searching for a Jyra.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Perhaps you would like to come inside? I’ve got fresh lemonade and cold water.”

  I nodded and walked in after her. The house was just as lovely on the inside as the outside, but it had that same sort of cookie cutter soullessness to it. There was no personality in this place. If I didn’t know better, I would think it was straight from a catalogue.

  “Have a seat,” She said almost listlessly. I complied, and she walked away -I assumed to the kitchen to get that lemonade and water she spoke about. My eyes surveyed the room while she was done. There were no mementoes of actual existence anywhere. No pictures. No mess. No evidence that this was a real home. For all I knew, she was Genesis in disguise and he was about to close in on me with fangs bared.

  Not that the cloud had fangs, but it was a metaphor. My old English teacher used to go crazy about a good metaphor.

  “Cold water, with ice and no lemon if I remember correctly.”

  I looked to the open entrance to see the woman standing there. She looked so suburban, standing there in a navy turtleneck and brown slacks. How could this woman hold all the answers I needed? And why did she say to call her Jyra?

  “Thank you,” I said, taking the drink she offered.

  “I’m not Genesis.”

  I almost choked on the liquid. “Come again?”

  “That’s what you’re thinking. That I could be that being and I’m just waiting to kill you. But I can assure you that I am not.”

  “No offense, but that’s exactly what an evil cloud bent on universal domination would say.”

  She laughed lightly and it reminded me so much of Jyra that it was hard not to believe her. “There’s that sense of humor. I missed it.”

  Alright, if I wanted to get anywhere, I was going to have to suspend my disbelief and roll with the idea that this woman was exactly who she said she was.

  “So, you wrote the books about Jyra’s dimension.”

  “I wrote the book about your Jyra’s dimension, yes.”

  “Why?”

  “That is a long, complicated answer.”

  “I’m not in a rush.”

  “That’s not true.” She tilted her head, eyeing me studiously. “You want to get back to her as quickly as possible. That’s why you’re here.”

  “Well, you’re not wrong, but a little backstory would be nice. Like how a game about your book could have caused
me to hop dimensions and kick off this whole party.”

  “There is no game.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That game, or whatever it was you saw, was just this universe’s manifestation of your Jyra’s desperate reach for you. She broke many rules to find you, and the fabric of reality tried its best for format it in the least damaging way.”

  “But your books are real?”

  “My books are… different.”

  “I’m going to need a more solid explanation than that. I’ve run around the universe not knowing what I was or why I was there or even what was real. I’m tired of not knowing.”

  “Fair enough.” She took a small drink of her lemonade. “My books are chronicles of the visions I have. They are to make sure nothing is lost.”

  “Visions? So that’s your Stranger gift?”

  “No,” She answered calmly. “Because I am not a Stranger. And neither is you or Jyra.”

  “What!? What do you mean we’re not strangers? We go to the Meeting Place! We have the dreams every now and then.”

  “And you also can meet outside of that dark space, can’t you? Something that the Strangers have repeatedly told you is impossible.”

  “…yeah.”

  She took another drink. “It’s not their fault, they do not know anything other than themselves, so they assumed you were what they know. But the truth is that you, and me, and every other version of us is something else entirely.”

  “Every other us? What are you saying, that just like there are multiple dimensions, there are multiple versions of us?”

  “Exactly.”

  “But, it’s not supposed to work that way.”

  “How can you say that when you don’t even know what you are?”

  “Well then what am I?”

  “You are… something else.”

  “Oh my god, did you take a class on cryptology? Because honestly, it’s more annoying than it is cute.”

  “Do you remember, when someone first explained to you the origin of Genesis?”

  “Yeah. The dimensions were all doing their thing when suddenly this ancient cloud guy starts coming and giving them impossible tasks so when they failed, it could devour them whole. That went on for ages and tons and tons of dimensions fell, until suddenly this other great cosmic entity came along and gave the dimensions a way to fight back. That was the Strangers, and the tide turned enough until Genesis was forced into slumber. A few thousand years pass, and then boom, for some reason the Great Choices come back and since the Strangers are all rusty, dimensions start falling again. Oh, and the Strangers are being picked off one by one.”

  “Yes. And no.” One more small, tidy drink, and then the glass was back on the table and she was leaning forward intently. “You already understand that there are countless dimensions, all layered within and stacked upon each other for infinity. But what if I was to tell you that there is a completely separate existence besides that?”

  “What?” Was all I could say, my mind not being able to wrap around whatever the hell she meant.

  “Think of it as a pair of houses. All the dimensions that are interconnected and layered atop each other are one house. They exist on their own and have everything they need. They are a system unto themselves. However, next door, there is another house. It’s not the same, different rooms, different bills, but it’s still a house.”

  “So you’re saying that even though there’s a countless amount of dimensions in existence, there’s another one, disconnected from us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, even if I was to believe that, what the hell does that have to do with the price of ice in Denmark?”

  “It is fundamental to you understanding what you are, and why we’re here. You see, in the beginning this bundle of dimensions belonged to Genesis. It was where it was born, where it lived out its days absorbing cosmic energy while it floated through the layers of reality.” She made a circular gesture with her finger. “All of this? This was its home.”

  “However, in the other dimensions, there was a different entity entirely. One made of light and creation.”

  “Really? You’re telling me there was a whole two sides of the coin, Yin and Yang thing going on from the dawn of all existence?”

  “The Universe, in all its infinite forms, does seem to prefer dualities. But this being of light, it was lonely, so it populated its dimensions with children. Some took, some did not, but they eventually flourished until the entirety of reality was teeming with life.”

  “Sounds great, a real happy ending. Relevance?”

  “While the entity was so surrounded by joy and creation, it could sense a void just beyond the great patrician. So it sent a piece of itself through the emptiness between the two, hoping to spread that same happiness there.

  “However, the great being did not realize just how arduous navigating the gap would be. It took everything within it not to be ripped to shreds, and when part of it did finally arrive in Genesis’ home, it was nearly powerless. There was not much left it could do, so it sewed the very first seeds of creation.”

  “Bacteria?”

  “Matter.” She said with an excited breath. “Genesis didn’t know what to make of the strange being of light, or the physical particles that now existed in its space, but it pressed on nonetheless. Eventually, the journeying light spent through what little energy it had, and faded from existence, leaving its main body in a recuperative slumber.

  “Eons passed, millions and millions of years. And with each moment, more and more matter began to interact with each other, creating new elements, new creations, until the first star was born.

  “However, since the being of light was in slumber, his own set of dimensions began to crumble at the edges. His creations found war, and genocide, and began to tear each other apart.”

  “Took a page right out of the human handbook there, didn’t they?”

  She gave me a half smile. “You make more sense than you know.”

  “So what happened yet? I take it Genesis wasn’t too happy about their new night light?”

  “I do not know what they thought, only that they made no move to alter the star. However, as time passed, it was only inevitable that the celestial creation collapsed, and spread its gift of life through the dimensions.”

  “Really? So you’re saying it really was a big bang that caused all of our universe as we know it?”

  She nodded. “And thus life began to form. This, Genesis was not pleased with. They watched, observing these strange new parasites that were usurping its home without permission. It was patient at first, observing, seeing if they could coexist, and eventually it grew curious. In interacting with the primitive lifeforms, it found it could influence them, even possess them. It didn’t take long for it to revel in its power and spin that dimension into utter chaos and devastation. Once the transformation was complete, it absorbed the dimension and found itself that much more powerful than before. It was in that moment it developed a taste for the light that was in each molecule, and it began its reign of terror.”

  “Yeah, this part of the story I’m familiar with.”

  “Yes, you are. You know that the great being of light came and provided the Strangers What you don’t know is that it had just awoken from its slumber to see what had become of its original creations. And it was devastated. Everywhere it looked, instead of paradise, there was turmoil. Instead of unity, there was hatred. Its heart was broken, and it knew it must repair what was broken.

  “But at the same time, it heard the cry of its new creations in the void that it had left so long ago. And so, it was faced with a choice. It could save one, but not the other. Did it abandon us to the void it had created us in? Doomed to be absorbed by the entity who’s very home we were encroaching on? Or did it save its first children, who had turned their back on its teaching while it locked itself away.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a great choice either way.”

  “
No, I do not envy it. But in the end, it found another way. It split itself in half. One stayed within its own dimensional range and put the entire expanse of creation into slumber. Frozen in time and existence, they wait for a signal that I do not understand.”

  “And the other half?”

  “The other half fought through the void once more. It was harrowing, and dangerous, and when it made it through to our side there was so little of it left. It could not take on Genesis directly, as it had intended, so it created the Strangers instead. These children, born with the power of his light within him, had the ability to see the plots that Genesis wove, and circumvent them. That was all that the light could do, unable to even return home, so it buried itself into the fabric of our reality and slumbered.

  “But as the millennia passed, more and more dimensions saved themselves. And slowly, the light found itself becoming more powerful. Eventually, Genesis had diminished so much, and it had grown, that it was able to face it directly.

  “It was a great battle. One I don’t understand even though I have seen it hundreds of times. But I do know that Genesis fell and was forced to lock themselves into some pocket of existence and sleep.”

  “Yay!” I said, giving her some enthusiastic jazz-hands. “Look, I’m really understanding now why you’re an author, but I still don’t understand what this expansion of the original story I was told is doing for us.”

  “It is laying a foundation so you can understand what we are.”

  “Yeah, how is it we’ve been talking for about ten minutes and you still haven’t gotten to that part?”

  “Because, as usual, you insist upon inserting your rather sarcastic quips into my narration.”

  “Huh. That is a bad habit, I suppose. By all means, continue.”

  “Thank you.” And now she was drinking more lemonade. How thirsty was this lady? “Although the light was gaining power again, it new it couldn’t navigate the void. It was trapped in this new world it created, but it desperately needed to return and save its other half.”

  “So what, it tucked itself in and readied for a really long nap?”