A Midnight Mind

Chapter 33: Mister Westbrook, Stay Here

"Yeah. We might." He sighed. "I just don't think we should be taking any chances with other people's lives."

"Just our own," Violet sighed too.

"You didn't have to come. You still don't."

Violet scowled at him. "Shut up, Mur-dock. I chose to. And I'm in this now." She folded her arms and looked at her feet. "Fine. I'll go in the real world, since I can also drive us there. You go in the Worldmind. And keep that stupid forget-me-sword in your hands. Don't drop it like Neil did."

"I won't."

"And don't fade my car! I wouldn't want to forget it while I'm driving."

Ethan looked at the fadeblade briefly and only looked away when his eyes started getting that photo-flash blind spot. "Uh, I don't know if I can hold this inside the car without fading it, or one of us..."

Violet hummed. "I guess I'll just roll down the window and you can, like, sit in the same place you're sitting in the real world? And just hold the fadeblade out the window?"

It was the best idea they had, so Ethan agreed. But there was also the problem of how to ride in a car that was only an impermanent memory in the Worldmind. It might just pop in and out of existence and Ethan would fall right through it onto the street.

If only he could go back to his physical self, just for the car ride....

Actually, he thought, maybe I can--just not in the real world.

Thinking aloud, he said, "Every time I go into the Worldmind and step out of my physical body, there's this weird sensation, like a magnetic pull that I'm dragging my projection away from. But if I can use my physical body as, I dunno, a vessel? Maybe it could just carry my projection along."

Violet tilted her head like a confused puppy. Ethan explained his plan further, specifying that he isn't completely sure the car won't disappear in transit, so if he can attach himself to his body somehow he can ride in the car without needing to leave the Worldmind.

"If you think that'll work," Violet said doubtfully.

Ethan shrugged. "Unless your car is psychic and I can ride its astral projection, I'll just have to ride myself."

Violet kept her expression even. "Ride yourself?"

"I... yeah. Ride my... Look, just... like, shut up." Ethan felt his cheeks burning. He was just as embarrassed by his dimwitted reply as he was by the fact that his own mind was probably giving his projection a red face.

Violet was kind enough not to tease him. She just gave him a thin, pitying smile, and patted him on the shoulder. He hung his head.

"Anyway," she changed the subject, "did everything go okay in Ms. Stafford's house? No BDSM dungeons or shrines to Cthulhu or anything weird like that?"

"Uhh, nooo," Ethan said. He didn't laugh, thinking about what he really did find.

But how was he supposed to explain that he met Stafford's imaginary friend--and Greek goddess--who gifted him the fadeblade from a box in a dusty basement? He wasn't even sure he believed it himself, and he was still holding the fadeblade as evidence.

"Too bad," Violet said with a smirk. "She's too buttoned-up to not have some juicy secrets. Other than being psychic, I mean."

Ethan chuckled. "I know, right?" He resolved to tell her about Athena later. Ideally after learning more about Worldmind beings from Kara or someone. "Well," he said, "I guess we better keep moving...."