AnOther Alice: A Novel

Chapter 17

Leighton inspected the exterior of the mason jar in his hands before looking closely at the severed ring finger within, as if expecting there to be a switch or a trick behind how it could move on its own. Sitting on the couch in the living room of the twin's apartment after receiving a frantic call on his way out of the police station that Alice was possibly in danger, he immediately asked Adrian to tell him where they were before driving to the Gordon residence, dripping in sweat.

He looked from the finger to where Alice was on the two-seater, her legs drawn up to her chest, staring off into the distance. She was motionless for a moment, then her eyes glanced towards Adrian's laptop on the coffee table, which she retrieved. She started typing.

"This sure is a tough pill to swallow?" Leighton said.

She pointed at the jarred finger in his hand. "I wouldn't have believed any of this was happening, if not for this," Alice said, picking up her phone to show him the popular GIF of her doppleganger handling Sloane. "It's already happening like Gabriel said—this thing is already starting to assimilate itself into my life. Even though it's a doppel, there has to be a way to beat it somehow, like a countermeasure or a protective spell."

"A protective spell?" Leighton smirked. She was starting to sound like herself again with this new determination, whereas for a moment she was pale, and looked deflated. "Should we look into getting some holy water and sage too?"

Alice smiled a little at that. He sounded serious about getting them, but the situation itself was one straight out of a creature feature. "Who knows? We could try. I'm not sure about the holy water, but sage should be easy to find at the market."

He looked at the finger again for a moment before placing the jar on the coffee table and joined Alice on the two-seater. He looked at the screen, noting the long list of stories and comments related to the Otherlings. Most of the posts were from those who claimed they were the chosen "Alice" in the story, whereas others told of their encounters by being involved with an Alice, how the creature was chameleon-esque and open to going along with anything to convince the authentic Alice's circle that it was real.

They noted another post by a user named AbbySaysThings. The Otherling doesn't actually know the Alice that it's mimicking, Abby wrote. And under that post were other netizens who'd agreed, adding how it was unable to answer certain questions that the person it was imitating would have already known. Leighton thought back to that time in the cafeteria, before the other Alice confronted Sloane, and remembered how awkward things were between them. He knew now that it was because it merely looked like Alice Gordon. Whatever it really was, the creature didn't do its research.

"This could be useful," Leighton said, continuing to skim replies under the post.

"What can?" Alice leaned over to his side, not even realizing how close he'd gotten. Her eyes were trained on the screen, so she didn't realize how close their faces were, nor did she seem aware that her arm was pressing against his.

"T-The—" He cleared his throat, trying to ignore warmth spreading from her arm into his, and the sweet smell of honey vanilla when she scooted closer to him. "Where was I again?"

"Did you catch a cold?"

Leighton smiled at her question, before shaking his head. "No, it's just something in my throat."

"You were saying that something's useful? About my...this doppelganger...or whatever."

"Oh right, the Otherling..." Focusing back on the screen, Leighton pointed at the comments under AbbySaysThings post. "Doesn't have your memories, just your looks. We'll at least be able tell you apart by asking you something that we all already know to be true. Like something that happened in the past or your habits, for instance."