1 1 Eva no more

With each step up the creaking staircase, a wave of nausea crashed into Eva, intensifying the pain in her empty stomach and aching joints — the aftermath of a day spent scrubbing the filthy floors of the pub.

One more step, just one, and she would reach her room.

Eva squinted at the blurry door handle. She was so close. If she could just reach out and open the door...

Her wishful thinking vanished along with the strength in her legs, she staggered backwards. Her calloused fingers desperately reached for the banister, but she could not grasp it in time. The rotting wood ceiling swivelled into view, too weak to even scream, she silently fell.

Her head collided with the floorboards with a sickening crunch. In her final moments her frightened eyes were filled with regret. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't able to do anything for her family.

Everything went dark. There was a moment of peace in the darkness but it was short lived.

Squinting because of the bright light, her eyes fluttered open. She found herself standing alone in the center of a magnificent library. The bookcases were as tall as the ancient trees of Vergand forest, each giant shelf was filled with hundreds of beautifully bound books, it would be impossible to count them all. Her father was once one of the most successful merchants in Ardenshore making him one of the few commoners to own a private library. That's why Eva knew how expensive books were. She shuddered to think about how much this place a was worth.

Eve peered down one of the aisles between two bookshelves and gulped at the never ending pathway. She threw her head back, looking upward. The glass dome ceiling was so high up, it reminded her of the great hill the royal palace was built on. There were long desks too, with writing materials neatly placed in the middle, all of which was untouched. The paper was so white, she wondered which craftsman could have made such beautiful paper.

She tentatively stepped forward, "Hello?"

The faint echo of her voice traversed the endless space.

"Is anyone there?" Eva called out again.

She gulped nervously. Her mother used to say that after death, every devout person would be welcomed into the realm of the angel they worshipped. Those with a sincere and devoted hearts would be cherished in the afterlife. Insincere people would be put through certain trials before being given eternal peace.

Was this the realm of the angel Raziel her family worshipped? She frowned, this was nothing like the paradise her mother described. Of course, the library was filled with wealth that maybe not even the royals possessed, but other than that, there was no holy singing, or reuniting with the deceased followers of the angel. Perhaps her lack of devotion brought her here. A lump formed in her throat, this could be her trial... Maybe all the books were for her to study and become more religious before she could meet her mother and father in the angel's embrace. She looked around the massive library with a worried expression. How long would it take her to read all this? She never liked reading much and would use all manner of excuses to skip her lessons. She was often scolded for not being studious enough, but as the third and most unremarkable child of the Hartley family, no one expected much from her. Most of the time they let her be.

Eva spotted a desk with an open book on it. She had been too nervous to take a book off a shelf, but this was perfect. She could just take a quick look inside to see if it was a religious book about the angel Raziel. If it was, she would know that she was sent to this place as punishment for never making sincere offerings.

With that thought in mind, she nervously walked to the book.

Leaning over the edge of the table she squinted at the tiny letters on the page. Not only were the letters small, but she couldn't understand the script. It was written in a different language. A terrible thought occurred to her - on top of relearning Raziel's lore, she would have to learn about him in other languages too. A pit formed in her stomach.

Eva leaned in close, her fingers grazing the page. Her father used to trade with people all across the empire, although she had always been lax in her studies she should at least be able to recognise a few words. As her finger tips made contact with the page, the words glowed with a dazzling golden hue and moved on the pages like thousands of golden ants, transforming the words into a flurry of shimmering motion.

Frozen, Eva was unable to pull her hand away. She could only gasp as the golden letters surged through her fingertips and crawled up her arms, racing towards her head.

She screamed as a powerful energy ignited within her mind. A torrent of sensations, memories, and foreign experiences from another consciousness engulfed her, overwhelming her senses until she cried out in distress. Still she was unable to break free from the inexplicable force keeping her hand plastered to the page.

With a final burst of light, the book suddenly snapped shut, violently propelling Eva backward. Dazed, she tripped over her shaky legs and landed hard on the floor. gasping for breath she lay on her back, staring wide-eyed at the library ceiling. The sky beyond the glass dome overhead was full of twinkling stars and wisps of clouds.

She raised her trembling hand, expecting to see the words of the pages tattooed on her skin. However there was nothing on her pale skin. Her gaze returned to the open book.

Mustering up all of her courage and strength, she pushed herself off the floor and approached the book  again.

Facing the foreign letters a second time, she found that she could read them. This book was written in 'English', the language of the woman whose memories had been implanted in her. It was a language from another world called 'Earth'. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, her new ability to read this foreign language was real, just as real as the memories swirling around in her head.

Eva leaned in even closer, thinking that her eyes were playing tricks on her. It looked like new words were being added to the last line of the book.

She read the words out loud, "With a perplexed expression, Eva Hartley leaned in to read the latest lines of the book."

Her heart raced as she realized the book was chronicling her actions in real-time. It was simply too creepy.

An idea sparked in her mind. She cautiously reached out and touched the book again, this time without any golden light or surges. Only a few more lines materialized on the page.

"Eva cautiously touched the book to test its response."

The eerie sensation unsettled her deeply, but driven by a mix of fear and curiosity, Eva scoured the pages, finally stumbling upon a passage.

"...Eva Hartley inadvertently merged her essence with that of Katherine Clark, becoming one of the few vessels in the universe to house two souls. She absorbed the life and consciousness of Katherine Clark, a recently deceased university student from Earth..."

Reading those lines, Eva's head throbbed. Those visions she saw were Katherine's memories flooding her mind. She now had knowledge and experiences, spanning two decades, right up until Katherine committed suicide. An explanation, even one as fantastical as this, gave her solace. At least she could put a name to the millions of thoughts crammed into her head.

Her eyes flitted to the thousands of books neatly perched on shelves. Did each book hold a similar power, what would happen if she touched all of them?

Her curiosity was cut short by the feeling of hands grabbing her shoulder's and her sister's voice desperately calling her name. Eva awoke with a gasp as Charlotte crouched down beside her, shaking her shoulders and shouting at Eva to wake up.

Eva was back in the narrow creaking staircase where she had fallen.

Seeing that Eva woke up, Charlotte sighed in relief. Charlotte must have heard Eva fall and came out to help her, only to find Eva unconscious on the floor.

Charlotte had been ill for months, her non-stop coughing made her voice raw and raspy, "If you're fine come inside quickly, we don't want Mrs Quim to complain about the noise."

Their dreaded neighbour who rented the the room above them, was a mean elderly woman, who despite raising a flock of noisy pigeons in her rented room, always found the strength to make her way down the stairs on her wobbly legs to complain about the noise the girls were making.

With a thin shawl tightly wrapped around her shoulders, Charlotte helped Eva up and into their small room.

Their rickety bed was pressed up against the wall, next to which a line of washing hung on their makeshift rack of discarded wine barrels - collecting them was the one perks of her cleaning job at the pub.

"Lie down for a bit." Charlotte straightened out a patch on the bed where she had been lying down.

Eva was tempted to believe that the giant library and what she had seen was all a dream, but the memories of Katherine's life were still fresh in her mind. She couldn't lie to herself, she knew what she had experienced was real.

"How did you fall?" Charlotte gestured for Eva to lay down.

Eva complied with her older sister, even though she didn't feel the least bit tired, instead her mind and body were buzzing with energy and more questions.

"I was just tired from work." Eva's expression darkened as she thought about the pub and the fishy stench of sweat surrounding the customers who worked at the harbor all day. She was too young to be of any interest to them, but some of the other girls had problems with the fishermen taking the chance to pinch their backsides.

In Katherine's world, such people who harassed underaged girls could be charged, but in Ardenshore they were just commonplace grievances that she as a lowly girl would have to put up with.

Eva suddenly remembered that Charlotte had left the house on an errand today. "What did uncle say?"

Charlotte sneered, her sunken eyes filled with bitterness. "He told me that he would keep the money safe since two young girls like us might spend it on frivolous things."

Ever since their brother Gabriel had been forced into the military, as his immediate family, Eva and Charlotte were meant to to receive 1 silver mark every month as compensation. In the past, when the family was well off, that amount of money could be spent casually in a single day, but now that amount of money could be the difference between them having shelter or being kicked out onto the streets.

With that compensation money, Eva wouldn't have to work in the pub. Her and Charlotte could move into better lodgings and buy proper food. More importantly they could easily save up to see a doctor. However, the compensation money was consistently intercepted by their uncle, Mr Fink. The same uncle who used to grovel on his knees in front of their father and beg for financial support. Back then, when their father was financially supporting them, Mr Fink would unrestrainedly curry favour with Eva and Charlotte, but now that their father had been executed, Mr Fink had completely changed his tune. Instead of paying back the favour, he would collect the compensation money and withhold it from the two girls.

Of course Eva had gone to the magistrate to report this problem, but no one wanted to get involved in such a petty family drama. As long as the money was handed over to a family member, the magistrate did not want to get involved. Even more annoying, some of the officials agreed with Mr Fink, saying that young girls like them shouldn't be in charge of their own money.

It was laughable. Apparently they were too immature to receive that money but were not too immature to work for a living and pay rent.

Charlotte hunched over as she coughed. Eva was now well acquainted with the disturbing sound of a her heaving chest.

Charlotte's once beautiful head of blond hair was now dry and straw-like, her gaunt face and sunken eyes were all the result of this illness that urgently needed to be treated. Charlotte patted her chest in circles, trying to relieve some of the tension. "That man is putting Gabriel's earnings to good use. You should have seen Myrtle and Morgan's new spring dresses and shoes..."

Myrtle and Morgan were their cousins, the daughters of Mr Fink who was the husband of their paternal Aunt, Mrs Fink.

As angry as Eva was that their compensation money was being used on needless extravagances for their cousins, Eva wouldn't say anything more about it to avoid riling up Charlotte. She didn't want her sister to go into a coughing fit again.

Eva simply lowered her gaze and pressed her thumbs into her palms.

Before, Eva thought that sticking with her job at the pub was enough. However, with her measly pay of 7 shills a week which would total to 28 shills by the end of a month, they barely had any money to spare after paying the rent of 22 shills per month. The remaining shills had to be used sparingly on food for the two of them. At most, Eva managed to spare a shill every two months.

After six months of working at the pub she only saved 3 shills.

However a good doctor would cost at least a silver mark, which was worth a hundred shills.

In other words, it would take them more than thirty years to be able to afford a doctor at her current rate. Eva blinked in surprise at her quick mental math, since when was she good at sums?

Before, she had been terrible at mathematics, however Katherine had studied for the majority of her life and had gone on to obtain an engineering degree. Eva marvelled at the images of those monstrous machines: cars and trucks speeding down the smooth blue-black roads. Katherine's world was incredible, and completely different from Eva's. Thanks to Katherine's mind melding with hers, Eva could see a great many things clearly now. Particularly that she needed to earn more money and quickly.