Life Lines

45: Three Little Words

Chapter Forty-Five

We walked the next couple of minutes in silence until I saw the familiar outline of the cottage looming in front of me. The old thing looked sad, dark, and lonely.

"You can't see it right now but it looks completely different from the last time you saw it."

"How do you know when the last time I saw it was?"

"I live here." His double popped through, giving me a smile. "I think I would've noticed if you stopped by."

"Do I have a double?" I blurted out suddenly.

"Um...no."

"Why not?" We walked up to the door. "I'm Elite..."

"You haven't chosen a side. How the double looks all depends on which side you're on. Remember when I told you the Assarion's features are sharper? When you look at my double..."

"You look pretty much the same. Why are there sides?" He reached in his other pocket and pulled out a set of keys. "Why do we have to choose one?"

"Actually the only one who gets to choose is you." He stuck a key in a doorknob that I definitely remember not being there before. "But there's always been sides, dating back to the Greeks and Romans. Each side, of course, represents one side or the other."

"Why does that matter exactly?"

The lock clicked and he opened the door. "Considering you're a vat of useless information, I figured you would already know the answer to that. Come inside."

I didn't walk in far, too afraid I might run into something because it was so dark.

"Um...Ce?"

"Yeah, yeah. Give me a second." He closed the door, making it even darker and then ran into me from behind.

"Ow!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry." He rubbed his hands across my shoulders. "You ok?"

"Yeah but you're bonier than you used to be." He snorted and disappeared. "Ce..."

The sound of a match striking from somewhere to my left made me turn and look. That little pin point of light started moving and creating other points of light as he lit what I would assume were candles.

"I'm not going to light that many since we're not staying long."

"How am I supposed to see what you've done to the place if you don't light more candles? This is why people have electricity."

"I like it the way it is, thank you." He lit a few more but stopped after that. The small space was thrown into a battle of light and shadows, the few pieces of furniture casting a strangeness that I couldn't quite put my finger on. "I'll be right back. Get reacquainted."

"Where are you going?"

He maneuvered around the area with ease, heading in the direction of a doorway I didn't remember being there before either.

"Agora. You need water if you're going to mess with my face, correct?"

"I think Schylar's the one that messed with your face. I'm just cleaning up his handy work."

"Still. You need water for that."

He took another step but stopped when I said, "You're just goin' to leave me here?"

"It's not that bad, Tally." He opened the door and the faint light from his room in Agora shinned through. The shadows were promptly chased away, giving the space a lot more light then the few candles he lit. It made me relax a bit more, putting my mind at ease that nothing was going to jump out at me. "I'll leave the door open, how about that?"