*Sasha*
Lucas and I packed what few things we had at Maeve’s house to head back to the Light Realm. Maeve gave the past orb back to us, and I rembered that in this reality we hadn’t found the future orb yet. I focused on it but felt nothing.
“We’ll figure this out, Sasha, I promise,” Lucas said. He took the orb from and tucked it into a small pocket in his backpack. It was safe and secure there.
Before I could reply, I heard my mother’s voice downstairs.
“What is she doing here?”
I headed down to greet her. Both my mom and Lucas’s mom were chatting happily like they were old friends.
“Oh, Sasha, I’m so glad to see you awake.” My mom rushed to and pulled against her in a hug.
“I’m glad to see you too.” I hugged her back.
Tears pricked my eyes, and a sudden wave of emotion swept over .
Even though I’d seen my mom in other realms, those weren’t my mom. I didn’t know how much I missed my own mom until I was back in my tiline, hugging her.
“You look good, healthy.” She held at arm’s length and examined .
I nodded and looked down, placing my hands on my empty stomach.
“Mostly....”
My mom frowned and put her hands on mine. “I didn’t want to believe it when Maeve called. My poor grandchild... lost sowhere in limbo.”
“We don’t know if the baby is in limbo. Probably with my real body in another tiline,” I explained.
My mom sighed and shrugged. “Either way... it is unsettling. You’re sure that you’re the Sasha of this tiline?”
“I’m sure, Mom. Just... in the wrong body.”
I opened my mouth so she could see my tooth had never been replaced.
Gasping, she stepped back. “Well, I suppose I should be used to strange things like that by now.”
“Claire, in your experience with magic, can you think of anything that would make this last jump of theirs so... different?” Maeve asked.
Lucas ca downstairs with our bags. He saw the three of us comfortably chatting and raised an eyebrow.
“Shouldn’t we get going?”
“In a mont, Lucas. We’re still brainstorming about this unusual reality shift.” Maeve waved her son off.
I bit my lower lip and patted the couch beside . Lucas joined and slipped his arm around my shoulders.
“I’m afraid I’m not all that familiar with jumping tilines. But I’d say sothing would have to be different in the last tiline to affect the jump so much.” My mom folded her hands in her lap, twisting them together.
Lucas grunted and I looked over at him. He seed pale.
“Lucas?”
“Sasha, I marked you in the last tiline.” He took my hand and squeezed. “Do you think that could have caused this?”
“I don’t know... it’s possible, but....”
“It is the only thing I can think of that was different in this jump.”
“That’s not true. There were a lot of things that were different. In one reality, my mate bond had been suppressed. Not to ntion, the first jump we made was different. It didn’t automatically switch us back after a day. Everything from the ti we left the Lycenna temple was different.”
“That’s true.” Lucas nodded.
“Besides, you two are mates. You were in the other reality too, right?” Maeve asked.
We nodded in unison.
“Then I don’t think marking your mate would cause such a deviation. It’s what is expected in each tiline where you are mates.”
I thought back to the orb tucked away in Lucas’s backpack. There was sothing else that was different about the last reality we were in.
“Maybe it is because other people were using the orbs,” I suggested.
Lucas, Maeve, and my mother all looked at .
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? Stone was ssing around with the future orb. What if he botched sothing?”
Beside , Lucas growled. I knew he was reacting to Stone’s na. He clenched his fists and I could feel the tension rolling off of them.
“Yeah, he was using it to ss with my life!”
I put a hand on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. Lucas grunted but after a mont his fists eased.
“You can puml him all you want the next ti you see him, I won’t stop you. Just wait until after we figure all of this out.”
He smirked. “Deal.”
“He was only using the future orb. Who knows what kind of damage that could do, not using the orbs together?”
“That could account for why things were different when we got into those realities.” Lucas nodded.
“Right, but probably not for the body swap. I used both the orbs when we ca back to his reality. It should have worked. I think... with the power in Morianne’s staff and both orbs together, I didn’t have complete control over that power and things just didn’t work out.”
“What are you going to do, then?” my mom asked.
“By now, the other Sasha has to know sothing went wrong. Even if she doesn’t, the alternate Xander and Lena will know sothing’s not right.”
Lucas perked up. “You’re right. If the Sasha from their world shows up pregnant, or comatose, or doesn’t show up at all, they’ll know sothing happened.”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “They’ll be working on a way to fix this.”
“You can’t know that,” Maeve interjected.
“I hope they are. We have to hope they are.” I took Lucas’s hand and squeezed. “They’re very knowledgeable and have all their mories from different tilines. At least, Lena does, and she can keep Xander inford.”
“I agree with Sasha. Lena wanted to get us back to the right tiline. She knew how important it was to set things right. If they’re still wrong, she’ll do everything in her power to correct it.” Lucas entwined our fingers and gave an adoring look.
I nodded. “Right now, the best thing for us to do is get this orb to Lena and Xander in this reality for safekeeping. They can keep the orb safe for us until we can figure out what we need to do about all this.”
I motioned to my body.
“Alright, I’ll get everything packed. If we want to make it back to the Dark Realm, we need to get moving.”
“Sasha, can I have a word with you out back?” My mom motioned to the back patio.
I followed my mom outside. What could she want to talk to about? I knew she was worried about the baby, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that at the mont.
“What’s this all about, Mom?”
“Are you really planning on returning to the Dark Realm with Lucas?”
I creased my brow. “Yeah, of course.”
“You know, you don’t have to run off again. Reality and ti travel, orbs, all this danger you keep putting yourself in–you could just co back ho with .”
She took my hands in hers and gave a soft smile.
“I appreciate that, Mom, but I still have a lot to do. While those threats are still out there, our entire tiline and existence is at risk.”
She sighed and bowed her head. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”
Though she’d never say it in so many words, I could tell my mom was worried about sothing. About ? About the baby?
“What’s wrong? Why are you so worried?”
My mom pursed her lips and arched an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’m worried?”
I laughed. “You get this look in your eyes. It is the sa look you had when you realized my bracelet was broken all those years ago.”
“I thought I was better at hiding it.” She shrugged. “Well, I’m concerned about the impact so much ti in the Dark Realm could have on you, especially without your powers.”
It was my turn to be confused. I furrowed my brow and crossed my arms.
“I don’t understand. I’ve spent all kinds of ti in the Dark Realm, and you always wanted to suppress my powers anyway.”
“True. But now that they’re gone and you don’t have them... things are different. I’m not sure how vulnerable to Lycaon’s influence you will be over the Dark Realm.”
“Why is that a concern?”
“I had a source when you were younger who told a lot about your powers but also about your soul.”
I sniffed. “My soul?”
“Yes. He said your powers would go strong but the concern for you turning dark had to do with your soul... a past life.”
I thought about Anna but shook my head. Nothing could make believe there was anything wrong with my soul. I was certain anyone who put such ideas in my mother’s head had ulterior motives.
“Are you talking about The Immortal? You do know that he’s been trying to kill , right? How could you ever let soone like that help ?”
My mom opened her mouth, but I wasn’t done yet.
I hadn’t realized how angry I was over the fact that she let a man like that anywhere near . I threw my arms in the air and groaned.
“He’s been after in all the tilines. He thinks I’m evil and that I need to be ended or I’ll destroy everything. But you know what? I can choose what I do with my life, with or without my power.”
“You can... but there is so concern, especially if you spend more ti in the Dark Realm around Lycaon’s legacy that it will affect you.”
“It hasn’t happened yet. In the other tiline, I lost control of the power and it horrified , what I could do... but I stopped it and I prevented anything like that from happening again. I know I won’t turn dark.”
My mom nodded. “Still, you don’t have your powers in this tiline. There were people after you before your coma, as you said. You’ll be safer if you stay here.”
“I won’t get attacked if I hide out here, but I also won’t be able to fix this problem of not having my real body or my baby. Lucas will protect .”
“I trust Lucas to keep you safe, Sasha. But you don’t always like to follow soone else’s lead. Promise that you won’t run off and do sothing dangerous.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I will try really hard not to.”
My mom rolled her eyes. “Good enough.”
“Can I ask you sothing, Mom?”
“Anything, sweetie.” She touched my cheek warmly.
“The Immortal–why do you believe him? You do know that anything he says can’t be trusted. He wants dead, and all the things he said about going dark could be completely fake.”
“The Immortal helped in a very complicated ti.”
“Right, he used my tooth to protect from my father’s pack.”
My mom nodded. “Yes. He never held back the truth from , but he’s done more to protect you and keep you safe than anyone else in your life currently.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “He tried to kill in this tiline and another... recently. There’s no way he’s trying to help or protect .”
“Co now, Sasha. You must know that in a world with multiple tilines, there are multiple versions of ourselves.”
“Yeah, I know that but–”
“Well, the immortal being that helped protect you is different from the one who tried to kill you in this tiline. There are different versions of him.”
Great, there would be more immortals to deal with.
“Wait,” Lucas jumped in. “Do you think there may have been two of him here at one ti?”
“Anything is possible,” my mom answered.
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