LILY POV
I grabbed dark Emma’s wrist before she could touch Marcus.
The mont our skin connected, everything burst.
Pain shot through my entire body as I was suddenly pulled in fifty different directions. I could see through my eyes, but I could also see through the eyes of every other version of myself across all dinsions. There was a Lily who was a doctor. A Lily who was a teacher. A Lily who had never been born.
"What did you do?" dark Emma hissed, trying to pull away from .
"I don’t know," I said, but that wasn’t fully true. Deep down, I knew exactly what was happening. I was connecting to all forms of myself across every dinsion. I was becoming sothing bigger than just one person.
"Lily, let go!" Marcus shouted. "You’re glowing!"
I looked down at my hands. He was right. Silver light was coming out of my skin, and it was getting brighter by the second. But I couldn’t let go of dark Emma. If I did, she’d hurt my friends.
"I can’t," I said. "If I let go, she’ll kill you."
"Better than you killing yourself," Marcus said.
But I wasn’t dead. I was changing. Through the links to all my other selves, I could feel power flowing into . Not just my power, but the power of every Lily who had ever lived.
"This is impossible," dark Emma said. "No one person can hold connections to infinite dinsions."
"I’m not one person anymore," I said. "I’m all of them."
It was true. I could feel myself living in thousands of different worlds all at once. In one world, I was having breakfast with my family. In another, I was facing monsters with superpowers. In another, I was already dead.
"The anchor is stabilizing," the other said. The version of from the failed scenario was watching with wide eyes. "You’re becoming a permanent bridge between all realities."
"What does that an?" I asked.
"It ans you’ll exist in all dinsions at once," she said. "You’ll be able to travel between worlds quickly. You’ll be able to see everything that’s happening everywhere."
"That sounds amazing," I said.
"It also ans you’ll never fully belong to any one world," she said softly. "You’ll always be partly sowhere else. You’ll never be fully present with the people you love."
The words hit like a punch to the stomach. I thought about Emma, my real Emma, still standing at her bedroom window. Would I ever be able to hug her again? Would I ever be able to sit with her and watch movies on Saturday mornings?
"There has to be another way," I said.
"There is," dark Emma said with a cruel smile. "You could let take over. I could be the leader instead. Then you could go back to your boring little life."
"What’s the catch?"
"I get to remake all the asurents however I want. Starting with turning your lovely Emma into soone like ."
"Never."
"Then enjoy your new existence," she said. "Because this is forever."
I felt the links to all dinsions solidifying. It was like invisible bands were wrapping around my soul, tying to every reality that existed. I was becoming sothing that had never existed before—a person who lived in all places and none.
"Lily," Marcus said softly. "Look at ."
I turned to face him, but it was hard to focus. I could see him, but I could also see versions of him from other worlds. In one world, he was my enemy. In another, he was my brother. In yet another, he didn’t exist at all.
"Stay with ," he said. "Don’t get lost in all those other worlds."
"I’m trying," I said. "But it’s so hard. There are so many of them."
"Think about Emma," he said. "Think about your Emma. The one who needs you."
I focused on my sister’s face. My real sister. The one who was still standing at her window, probably wondering where I’d gone. That helped. It gave sothing to hold myself to.
"Good," Marcus said. "Now, can you use this power to send dark Emma back where she ca from?"
I looked at dark Emma. She was still connected to , but the link was different now. Instead of her pulling into her world, I was pulling her into mine.
"I can do more than that," I said. "I can trap her between worlds. She’ll live nowhere and everywhere, just like ."
"No!" dark Emma scread. "You can’t do that to !"
"Why not? You were going to do it to ."
"Because I’m your sister!"
"No," I said. "You’re not. You’re what my sister could beco if she chose darkness over light. But that’s not who she is." I started to push dark Emma back through the dinsional links. She fought , but I was stronger now. I had the power of endless versions of myself.
"Wait," she said. "Before you banish , let tell you sothing about your precious Emma."
"What?"
"She’s not as innocent as you think. In my world, she decided to beco like . She picked darkness. And she loved it."
"You’re lying."
"Am I? Ask yourself this—why could she see you across dinsions? Why could she hear you? Normal people can’t do that."
I felt a chill run down my spine. She was right. Emma shouldn’t have been able to see or hear . That ant she had powers too.
"So what?" I said. "Having powers doesn’t make you evil."
"No," dark Emma said. "But it makes you dangerous. And when your Emma’s skills fully awaken, she’ll have to choose. Light or darkness. Good or bad. And I can tell you from experience, darkness is much more fun."
"Emma will choose good," I said. "She’s nothing like you."
"We’ll see," dark Emma said. "Because I’m not the only bad version of your family out there. There are others. And they’re all coming for her."
I started to ask what she ant, but before I could speak, dark Emma dissolved into darkness and disappeared back through the dinsional tear.
"Is she gone?" Marcus asked.
"For now," I said. "But she’s right about one thing. Emma is in danger."
I turned my attention back to my ho world. Through my new abilities, I could see Emma clearly. She was still at her window, but sothing was different. Her eyes were sparkling with a faint silver light.
"Oh no," I whispered.
"What is it?" Marcus asked.
"Emma’s skills are awakening. And there are things in other worlds that want to use her."
I tried to reach out to her, to warn her, but sothing was stopping . It was like a wall had been put up around her world.
"I can’t get through," I said. "Soone is blocking from reaching her."
"Who would do that?"
I focused harder, trying to break through the block. When I finally did, what I saw made my blood freeze.
Emma wasn’t alone in her room anymore. There was soone else there with her. Soone who looked exactly like our mother, but with completely black eyes.
"Hello, Emma," the fake mother said. "Your sister can’t protect you anymore. But I can teach you how to protect yourself."
Emma smiled and took the fake mother’s hand. "Will you teach how to be strong like Lily?"
"I’ll teach you how to be stronger," the fake mother said. "Much stronger."
That’s when I realized the horrible truth. I wasn’t just trapped between worlds. I was stuck watching helplessly as dark versions of my family ca for my sister.
And there was nothing I could do to stop them.
Reviews
All reviews (0)