Chapter 2

What he'd said was so starkly unbelievable, yet without a hint of jest. Between his clothes, the way he'd been speaking with Ameth before I entered the room, and the fact that a stranger would have to be mad to plant the idea of alternative dimensions for the sheer pleasure of another's disbelief, I almost believed him. Those eyes didn't help. I'd never seen eyes that shade, let alone with such devilish intensity. He looked, with little more than a glance, as if he were daring the world to test him.

"So, love, you 'ave a name, or do you just wait around until people call you what they want?" he said. Again, I was too mesmerized by his mannerism, along with the added other-dimensional shock, to answer. He had a way of swinging his hands while he spoke, like he was conducting an invisible orchestra. "'Ow about... Angel? That's what strikes me most, when I look at you."

"Oh stop torturing the poor girl, Ryen! You've just made her brain explode on account of your poor judgement!" Ameth scolds exasperatedly, finally freeing me from his constricting charisma.

"Eva," I spat out what'd been locked behind my lips for the past minute or two.

"Mmm," he considered, "No, to me you seem more of an Angel."

Finally regaining my wits, I shook my head. "I am far from an Angel..." I nearly whispered, gazing down at my trembling hands. I felt a bit of the darkness crawling back up my spine. A strong hand gripped my chin and forced me to look up into those ethereal eyes once again. They glimmered with an intensity that I could not place.

"Angel, never doubt that you are of the light. No daughter of blank space could shine as bright as the celestial glory you are." His voice was unwavering and almost seductive. He was so graceful yet so domineering. A new word has to be made for this that he is.

"Ryen! I told you not to do this around her. In this world that would be considered intrusive or... Well... Sexual? In a way. Ugh! I can't think of it but it isn't proper and you knew that coming here! Look, her cheeks are burning so!" Ameth said, slamming a book down on her desk, eyes ablaze. I do not believe he's paid attention to a single word she's said...

"Angel doesn't mind me! But I would venture a guess that she does mind you bluntly embarrassing her like that!" Ryen argued.

"Guys! Can you please just give me a chance to breathe! You are truly siblings with the way you squabble..." I exclaimed before coming to rest my forehead on my hand. This whole exchange might give me a headache...

But the two did relent for a few painstaking moments, at least verbally. They seemed to be engaging in some sort of ocular duel, complete with parries, sharp dodges, and ripostes. I used this time to stare at my shoes, breathing slow in the hopes it would take my heartbeat down with it. Around the time I decided it was pointless to try, Ameth's hand found my shoulder.

"Look, dear, I'm terribly sorry for my brother. What was it you were wandering the library for? Was it a focused purpose or the usual manner of wandering?"

"I-I'd say usual," I managed, though I had been entirely cured of the boredom that whisked me there already. Now I was more preoccupied with the sheer divide of the half-siblings in front of me and just how much a difference half a bloodline could make.

"Ah, I knew we 'ad a lot in common," Ryen said, "A good amble into the unknown is the only remedy for an aimless heart..." I took a step back when he crooked at the waist, caressing his non-existent gut, "Or stomach."

"What my brother means," Ameth filled in while rolling her eyes at him, as if part of a rehearsed routine, "Is that we'd like to take you to lunch." I glanced from one to the other, my old friend with a tender smile, her brother with his hypnotic gaze.

"I think some food would serve me well."

. . . .

I was still a bit shell-shocked from our meeting. Ry drew quite the bit of attention. Some teenagers even came over to ask about his "costume" a few seconds ago.

Although Ry and Ameth fight, they are an excellent duo. Honestly, I have no idea where I fit into any of this. I had been ready to leave again. Continue my nomadic journey across the world, trying to find my place in it. But maybe I have spent too much time disappearing. Maybe this craziness is the universe telling me that it's time to stop being a ghost.

"So... Angel... how do ya know my lit'le sista?" Ry asked leaning toward me. I could hear one of his new fangirls swooning in the background.

"That's a long story..." I replied. Ameth smiled and gave me a side-hug.

"It's a fun one though! Oh how Eva-"

"Ameth!" I shook my head. "It was so embarrassing! I swear I will never live that down!"

"It wasn't all that bad... was it? I thought it was spectacular!" Ameth exclaimed. She really never understood what others found odd. It was all fascinating to her.

-

Sure, I'd noticed the unusual woman sitting across from me at the same diner a year ago, but I'd never guessed our meeting would become a regular occurrence. How could I not notice her, with her skin like a doll's and her perfectly segmented highlights of silken black and shining blonde- with her eyes like ice that seemed to see me in a way I couldn't hope to see myself. I shook it off and helped myself to the burger I'd ordered. People had that momentary spark all the time, right? You think you connect with someone, even just by sight, then you wander away and never see one another again. Maybe it was because we'd both sat down to eat alone, but I couldn't help looking up at her again and again. Every time she sipped her tea, eyes finding me through the steam.

"Your milkshake," the waitress drawled as she plopped the spotty silver platter in front of me.

"Th-thanks," I sputtered to her back as she vanished into the kitchen. By the time I glanced again, the porcelain woman had left me to peace and the froth of my strawberry milkshake. I sighed, grasping the tall, cold glass. I wouldn't stay here long, that was for sure. I still wanted to try out the library, which had some notoriously old tomes, and seemed to be the chief attraction in this tiny brick-sidewalk town.

I enjoyed, then loathed several lonesome minutes nursing my milkshake and swiping the top layer off of it with the last survivors of my french fry armada. I lingered until my own reflection in the glass started to remind me of why I'd started running in the first place. I wasn't going to face that here, in this run-down diner. So I stood in the midst of a daring attempt to slurp down the rest of my milkshake. I had every intention of dropping it at the counter with my payment and tip when a passing body collided with mine. I came out of the exchange with strawberry milkshake plastered across my chest, glass scattered around my shoes, and an icy-eyed woman with her hand over her mouth in front of me.

"I am so sorry, dear," Ameth said, even as she flung strawberry shrapnel from her own ruffled shirt.

"Really, it's alright," I said, but she insisted and paid for the goods lost to our lack of coordination. By the time we laughed it over, sitting at the counter together, splattered with pink goop, I'd almost forgotten about the spark that'd brought her to my eye in the first place. I had no idea, then, what joys and perils that connection would bring me.

_

Ameth and I recounted the tale to her brother and we all laughed. My heart filled with something. A bright light? It felt light and heavy at the same time. How could such a feeling be?

"Honestly, Ameth is the first and only friend I've ever had." I admitted, taking a sip of my strawberry milkshake. Ameth keeps asking me why I never get any other flavour... but I just say it's because of that day. Although, that's a lie.

"Surely you jest, love!" Ryennard exclaimed. When I shook my head he sat back. "Why is it that my gorgeous Angel and beautiful Ammy seem to 'ave no luck mingling with these mundanes?! Honestly, I 'ave no clue why you stay!"

"Well I guess that's part of the reason why I'm a nomad. Sadly, I had no idea about... well... until you slipped that information to me earlier." I shrugged, stealing one of his fries. "So, Ammy! What's with the nickname?"

"You mean that stupid, childish thing he just called me? He's called me that my whole life, although I've come to loathe it. I do prefer Ameth." She sighed.

"Loathe?! You love it! I know you do!" Ry said with a smirk, like nothing she'd say would change anything. She scoffed then went back to her meal.

"You see what I have to put up with?!"

"So, what's your story?" I asked bluntly. I'd gladly prod the elephants in the room to keep my secrets in the dark.

"Story?" Ry asked. Although I wasn't looking for a question to my question.

"About your parents and stuff." I answered.

"Oh! I'll tell ya 'bout our parents. But! You'll 'ave to stick with us longer if ya want to 'ear about everything else. Ya know, all of Ammy's embarrassing childhood stories." Ryen winked at me. I couldn't help but to giggle as I agreed to hear him out on what he would share.

"But before you can understand us," Ryen began, leaning toward me with a sudden and striking gravity, "You must understand us. The many worlds we live in, you and I."

"I'm only aware of the one," I said, shrugging with a coolness that I certainly didn't feel. At this, Ryen flaunted some of his usual flair.

"Countless pasts, and as many more futures, Angel, we exist in. That I could, I'd meet you in every one," he curled a daring lock of his gold hair. I might have fallen into his captivating snare if not for the consistent eye-rolling of his half-sister. Then his tone darkened, "There is a place at the center of it. Once you've been there, everything else seems a bit... smaller. What you call the Universe, those in the Dimension call a Galaxy."

"The Dimension?" I echoed before I could stop myself.

"Ryennard!" Ameth grasped his sleeve tighter than I pictured her having the strength for. His clothes looked as though they might tear around her nails.

"She can hear it from the inside of an IDPS cell, or she can hear it from me, Ammy." A bead of sweat trickled down from the back of my neck as I glanced from my only friend to a stranger with theories of my incarceration.

"But is here the best place?" At this, Ry gave what seemed to be his first serious thought on anything since I'd met him.

"Fair enough, dear sister," he decimated the remainder of his french fries with an almost supernatural speed. "Let's find a place where you can stretch those wings, eh, Angel?" I embraced a brain freeze choking down what was left of my milkshake and checked, this time, before I leapt up to follow Ryen's coattails out the door of the diner. I caught Ameth sigh into her hand over my shoulder before we made it out.

-. -.

Ryen said that he and Ameth had a special place here in Elverwood. This being the town Ameth grew up in. It was a good bit of a walk to get to the forest's edge and an even longer walk to its, nigh, center.

We had traveled for two hours in silence. Now, a huge tree towered be for me, its silky tendrils swooped down low. The blue-green of the leaves was breathtaking and the crisp autumn air only served to enhance the experience. Every now and again, now that I think of it, you could see the red and yellow of early turning leaves.

But the jewel drenched wild bliss of the natural beauty surrounding me was beside the point. Especially when there is an Automaton-like alien bio-chemical masterpiece motioning for me to enter the cavernous tent created by the foliage of an old willow.

I gave him a quick, soft smile as I stepped inside. I was amazed to find an iron set of table and chairs inside. The intricate metal design, over run with vines that curled and clawed through it. An old picture frame was hung from a nail in the trunk of the tree, not so far from the table. I could not tell whether or not a picture resided behind its glass for it was covered in a thick layer of dust. Although, underneath the old frame, there were markings on the tree that I could read as clear as day. The young Ryen and Ameth had carved a heart with their first initials inside. It was all so whimsical and home-y at the same time.... It felt like a whole new world.

The first to clear the long silence we had shared was Ameth as she stepped inside. "So, Eva Willow Lynn, Welcome to "The Willow in the Wood"."

"Wait! This is the place from the stories you write!" I exclaimed in astonishment. "I thought it was pure fantasy..."

"Guess Again." Ameth smiled with a playful glint in her eye. The same glint she always had when I could not find or understand what was plainly put in front of my face. Not literally in front of my face, but still.

"My Ammy has always been the best at hiding things in plain sight." Ry spoke my sentiments exactly as he waltzed in after us. He strode over to where I stood, gaping at their childhood haven, and placed his hand on my lower back. This action giving me a bit of a start as it was unexpected. "I suggest you sit down for the story I'm about to recount, Angel. It is not so light as to be taken standing." He whispered in my ear, his warm breath caressing my skin and making me involuntarily shiver.

He manoeuvred me over to an empty chair and I sat of my own volition, ready to hear more.