Misplaced Magic (Book 8)

Chapter 14

"We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us." ― Ken Levine

--xxxxxx--

Lisa and Christina were sitting in the living room of the house. They had found some blankets to try and stem the cold and were huddled together. Lisa had started to fall asleep. Christina saw her head falling forwards and quickly nudged her back awake. 'Lise.' She said. 'You can't fall asleep.'

'I'm tired.' Lisa complained, looking at her big sister.

'I know, but you hit your head pretty bad so you can't fall asleep.' Christina reminded her.

'Okay, so....' Lisa thought. 'We know we're in some sort of alternate dimension.'

'Correct.' Christina confirmed.

'Do we have any ideas about how to get home?'

'No.' Christina admitted. She pulled her blanket tighter around her chest and looked around. As her eyes set on the back window, a figure walked past it. She turned quickly in her seat and tried to see if it was anywhere eyes.

'Chris?' Lisa questioned. 'What is it?'

'I saw something.' Christina stood up and started to move towards the window. Lisa got up and followed her, not wanting to keep much distance between them. Christina got to the window and looked out of it. All she could see was the dull green back garden and the forest beyond it. Lisa suddenly felt uneasy. She looked down at her hands and dark veins were making their way up her arms.

'Chris.' She said quietly. 'Get away from the window.'

'What?' Christina said, not quite hearing her.

'Get away from he window!' Lisa yelled, just as the window exploded inwards. Christina fell backwards and landed on the ground as glass poured down over her. She shielded herself with the blanket before looking back to the window. There was a translucent figure standing on the other side looking back at them. It was a woman. She was disheveled and frightening looking with white eyes and pale skin. Christina was pushing herself backwards along the ground as Lisa came and stood in front of her. Lisa stared at the woman, her eyes filling with black, until she turned and gracefully glided away.

'What the hell was that?' Christina asked. Lisa turned to her, eyes still dark. 'Lise?'

'I know where we are.' Lisa took some deep breaths and her power went away. Her eyes returned to their normal brown and she pulled Christina to her feet.

'Care to share?' Christina asked.

'That was a ghost.' Lisa told her.

'But I could see her.' Christina said.

'Everyone can see them here.' Lisa said. 'This is Perdition.'

'I really hope you're joking.' Christina said.

'No, I'm not.' Lisa said. 'I read a lot about it when I was researching my death magic.'

'But Perdition is where Satan sends demons who need punishment.' Christina remembered. 'It's not an alternate dimension.'

'But it is.' Lisa said. 'You've read about alternate dimensions, they're stacked on top of one another like..... like layers of a cake.'

'Yeah.' Christina agreed.

'So if the real world is structured, Heaven, Earth, Hell, in that order, then it makes sense for alternate dimensions to be that way too.'

'You're saying we're on the bottom layer of an alternate universe cake?' Christina raised her eyebrows.