Chapter 22: Back at Home

May was staring at the sapphire necklace, she was clutching in her palm. She smiled bitterly  – Erik didn’t make it to this side of the mirror, but at least the humankind in the Callesmere Empire was safe. Without the necklace, Aedain would never lay his hands on the Dragonslayer’s Spear.

         “May?” She turned her head toward the source of the voice as if she was in trance. She saw her sister Hailey free herself from her embrace and back away, maintaining a safe distance. Equipped with a large, heavy cross, Hailey was eying May with suspicion, as though she was standing eye to eye with a vampire. “What did you get from me for your tenth birthday?”

         May blinked, surprised by the sight of Hailey in such a warrior-like stance, holding the cross like a baseball bat.

         “You threw a dog poo under my pillow,” May replied. “Easy, Hailey, it’s really me. I got my soul…”

         “Switched with the bitch who called me a simpleton. I know,” Hailey said, lowering the cross. The sacred weapon fell to the ground from her fingers as tears welled in her eyes. “You’re alive!”

         May stiffened, when Hailey trapped her in an embrace, crying her name hysterically repeatedly while laughing through the tears. May put her arms around her sister, surprised by Hailey’s emotional reaction. Never in her life had she display that much affection. May smiled slightly, but she wasn’t as happy as she thought she’d be. Even though she did the impossible – returned home from a hostile world, she couldn’t bring herself to laugh; the sorrow after failing Erik was just too fresh.

         “Look at you! You’re here again!” Hailey exclaimed gleefully, pulling back and gazing at May, as though she was the most wonderful thing in the world. She completely ignored that her sister looked like she just returned from a battlefield – her clothing dirty and torn, the hair tangled, covered in blood and dried mud.

         May smiled slightly and ruffled Hailey’s straight hair, noticing that it grew a bit since the last time they saw each other.

         “Now tell me what you did with my sister! Hailey was never that nice,” May joked, making the younger girl beam with happiness. Suddenly, the brilliant smile on Hailey’s face faltered when she took notice of her sister’s terrible condition. She covered her mouth with her hand, staring at May’s scratches and bruises with horror.

         “May, is that blood?” she whispered, seeing the red liquid all over May’s dress. “We need to disinfect this!”

         Hailey snatched May’s hand and dragged her toward the exit. May made her way between the all-present antiques and boxes of various shapes and sizes. When she stepped outside the basement, she held her breath, still not entirely believing, that she was home at last. Slowly, May made her way upstairs, looking at her surroundings. Everything was the same as the day she got transported to the Callesmere Empire, everything except her. She felt like a stranger. She had spent all her life here, but the truth was, she got used to the world on the other side of the mirror.

         May’s sister ushered her to the bathroom, ordering her to wash off the mud and blood. May thought that Hailey resembled their mother when she was bossing people around like that.

         May closed the door and walked over to a large mirror and took a good look. The sight of herself was quite terrifying. May could easily pass for a ghost now. Her hair was messy and dirty; the dress’s state didn’t need to be commented. She touched the bruises around her neck and winced. May took her clothing off and filled the bathtub with hot water. She tried to relax at last – it was the first time in a really long time since she was bathing in hot water.

         May’s thoughts were drifting. She was thinking of everything and nothing in particular. She was glad to be here again, excited to see Hailey once more, but will also miss the people she met on the other side of the mirror. Above all, she regretted not having Erik close. Knowing, that she’d never see witch Lavena, who helped her although May was only a stranger, made her feel sad. She’d like to meet the people from the Thoen Stronghold as well – her good friend Leif, the strict but caring Hilda and Duke Thoen, who treated her like a daughter. May would even miss the carrot-loving Meirch and maybe a bit Baltar. Only a tiny bit. She would definitely NOT miss Aedain.

         “Psychotic bastard,” she muttered, scrubbing her skin, careful not to mess her wound.

         The mere thought about the dragon prince infuriated her. There were times, when he was almost bearable and true, he even protected her once, but he was just plainly evil nonetheless. May dived under the surface of the water and held the breath, trying to think of something pleasant instead. She emerged, inhaling air and got out of the tub. Once dried, she examined her reflection. She looked almost like before now, as though nothing had changed. Perhaps it was so on the outside, but May felt that inside she wasn’t the same girl anymore.

         When May walked into her room, she was surprised that everything was exactly the way she left it that morning a month ago, even the stray sock was laying on the same spot on the floor. May put a plain T-shirt and a pair of shorts on, when she heard Hailey knocking forcefully. The door was half opened, so the younger of sisters invited herself in, carrying an overly large first-aid kit.

         “Sit down,” Hailey said seriously, pointing at the chair. May did so and winced when her sister began disinfecting all the scratches.

         “Mom and dad are in New York,” Hailey explained, guessing May’s question. “They will be back tomorrow.”

         “Oh, another conference?” May asked. Hailey stiffened; her hand shook a bit when she was trying to clean a particularly nasty scratch.

         “No, they’re looking for an apartment there. We’ll be moving in autumn,” Hailey said, avoiding eye contact.

         “Why?” May asked, shifting on the chair to look at her younger sister.

         “Mom… mom wants to move somewhere else,” Hailey replied, uneasiness in her voice. Then, she changed the topic. “So, how was on the other side?”

         “Adventurous,” she replied. May sighed and then told Hailey. She told her sister everything, starting with the days spent in the Thoen Stronghold. She summarized how Aedain kidnapped her, how he was searching for the legendary Spear which was supposed to grant him power to annihilate humans of the Callesmere Empire. She told Hailey about all the adventures and her great escape, saving for herself, that she brought back a souvenir – the sapphire pendant, which was now hidden under her T-shirt.

         When she finished her tale, May almost regretted telling it the first place; Hailey was staring at her with a mix of pity and terror on her face, covering her mouth with her palm.

         “But… but you managed to save the world, right?” Hailey whispered.

         May laughed lightly and touched the pendant with the sapphire on the golden chain.

         “I think I did,” she answered.

         May realized that never she has been able to speak with her little sister so freely, without arguing. Perhaps the trip to the Callesmere Empire had its bright sides, even though it was a horrible month.

         May froze with terror. Lady Maewyn must have met her parents and Hailey, more… she must have lived with them for over a month and attended school, to make the matters worse. God, maybe May could do a fairly good job posing as the Lady, but what were the odds Maewyn did so as well? What possibly a Lady from the Callesmere Empire could know about the history of the United States or equations?

         “May!” Hailey called her, concern all over her face. “Everything all right?” she asked.

         May nodded slowly, her thoughts still oscillating around the school – she play through her head already the most gruesome scenarios – being the worst in the class, failing her finals, repeating the grade, being expelled from school, not getting into Harvard. More importantly, how did her family react? She shivered, dreading mom’s reaction.

         “Hailey, where is the Lady?” May demanded, panic in her eyes. “She’s here, right?”

         She had to talk with that girl – she had to inquire, what happened here to avoid any awkward situations and had to inform the Maewyn girl, that her fiancé was probably killed, along with tons of another news.

         May noticed that Hailey was about to panic. She wriggled her fingers and stared at her feet only to suddenly get interested in the structure of the ceiling. Then, she glanced at May cautiously.

         “I guess I should tell you,” Hailey said quietly.

         May furrowed her brows, baffled by her sister’s weird behavior. What was the secret?

         “How should I put this…” Hailey was stalling.

         “Hailey, tell me already!” May urged the younger girl.

         “Err…” Hailey mumbled, avoiding answering her, but the she finally gathered the courage to look May in the eye.

         “You’re dead,” she said bluntly.

         May stared at Hailey for a longer while.

         “I’m alive,” she answered, feeling awkward.

         She was sitting here, sound and safe, and very much alive, right? So what was Hailey talking about?

         “I mean the ‘you’ here,” the blonde girl explained.

         May tilted her head, confused. She here? Then the wheels of her mind turned, and she paled as she realized what she could mean.

         “Where’s Lady Maewyn?” she asked, having a really nasty hunch.

         Hailey looked at May and bit her lower lip, hesitating to answer.

         “You see, May, she’s dead,” she uttered finally.

         “Dead?” May repeated, the information didn’t soak in.

         Hailey took a deep breath.

         “She got hit by a truck. Right after your and hers souls switched, she freaked out and ran outside. I tried to stop her, but I… I couldn’t. Then it happened. Right outside our house. I’m sorry; I just couldn’t stop her.”

         Hailey sobbed, remembering the feral morning.

         May sat still for a while, processing what her sister had just said. She managed to stay alive in a hostile magical world – the demons attacked her; she had been even kidnapped by one – and that idiot Lady managed to get herself hit by a truck? Seriously? Couldn’t she survive here even five minutes?

         “Okay,” May replied slowly, terrified by the consequences of the incident. “What now?”

         Hailey shook her head, her sobbing subsiding a bit.

         “You’re officially dead – our parents had the DNA-test performed, because the body was a mess after the accident. You got a death certificate, funeral and all, so if you just walk into the school, you’ll be like a ghost or a zombie. Not to mention when the parents see you…”

         May stared at Hailey, trying to comprehend, what it meant. Dead. She suffered so much to go back here only to discover, that she was officially deceased to this world. And to think, that she was worrying about school right now. What about mom and dad? How in Earth was she supposed to greet them and announce her parents that she’s alive, in a body borrowed from a Lady from some other freaking planet?

         “What am I going to do now?” May whimpered, resting her head on her hands.

         She felt a terrible headache approaching. Hailey sat on May’s bed and looked at her older sister helplessly.

         “I have no idea. After the funeral mom snapped, she keeps crying every time she sees your stuff, your school, your favorite movie. That’s why we’re moving,” she said. “And dad spends whole days at work, sometimes he even sleeps on his couch in the office. I think he wants to forget.”

         May hung her head, devastated by what Hailey had told her.

         “You didn’t tell them, did you?” she asked quietly.

         Hailey snorted humorlessly.

         “What was I supposed to tell them? That the girl killed by the truck is not May, but another person trapped inside her body? Do you think anyone would believe me if I told them that I think my sister is alive in another dimension? I’d get psychotropic drugs for breakfast!” Hailey drew a shaky breath, staring at May helplessly. “Only I knew you weren’t dead.”

         May walked over to the bed, Hailey was sitting on, and she hugged her little sister, trying to comfort her. Before she was so focused on surviving in the Callesmere Empire and getting home that she had no clue what effect her absence had on her family members.

         “Don’t worry Hailey, everything will be fine. Somehow,” May whispered as she began rocking her crying sister. Hailey’s sobbing was getting quieter, soon her eyes ran out of tears. When the younger girl stilled, May gently laid her on the bed and covered her with a blanket – Hailey must have been so tired of crying that she fell asleep.

         She was reunited with her sister, but despair overwhelmed her heart. How could such a thing happen? It was supposed to be okay, not worse than it was. She had the impression that the news was suffocating her. She needed air.

         May walked over to the window and opened it widely. She let the air fill her lungs and looked up at the sky. It was still early, but the moon was already up. In this world, it didn’t have any companion. Her hand wandered toward the sapphire necklace she had around her neck. She closed her fingers around the blue gem, wondering what happened to Erik after May left to her world.