Charity froze, then tried to act nonchalant. This woman was definitely crazy, and unlike everyone else, she didn’t seem to have Charity’s best interests in mind. Charity was ever thankful for it.
“Yup.” She stood up, not the least bit dizzy. In fact, energy practically bounced around her body. She scarcely remembered how good it was to feel…well, normal. “Your nemesis. Tell me about her.”
“You’ll want to get dressed first.” The woman jumped from the desk with grace despite her age, then walked across the room with a strangely jerky gait, almost like she was walking for the first time. It was the oddest thing…
After dressing in loose pants that felt like cotton, a tight black shirt, and strange bands that wrapped around her middle—Charity was taking a leap of faith regarding the fashion in this place by accepting the advice of a whack-job—she followed the woman out of the four-bedroom, two-bath “bungalow,” as her guards called it. It was only temporary until they could find something “more suitable.” These people were cracked. They clearly had no idea what she’d been brought up in.
The fresh air greeted her, laden with the smell and feel of nature, which seemed to bolster the currents of her magic. Another “bungalow” was opposite hers, and more down a small lane that would comfortably fit two bicycles. If they had any.
“My nemesis has a gift unlike any other, save myself,” the woman said, affecting a sort of hobble as they turned right. She waved one of her arms over her head like an ape. “She is my polar opposite, and she will absolutely detest me. She will try to get rid of me at every turn, claiming Reagan has no use for me, since Reagan already has her.”
Charity’s blood ran cold. From what the others had said, Reagan spent hardly any time at all in the Realm, and she certainly hadn’t been to the Flush. How did this woman know her?
Before Charity could ask, the woman was already rambling on.
“The joke will be on my nemesis when she realizes she needs me. She and I will be two halves of the whole. Two key pieces of a larger puzzle. Soon, we will learn to unpeaceably coexist. She doesn’t yet know any of this. I can’t wait to see her face when she finally sees it.”
“That sounds… How did you say you knew Reagan?”
The woman held up a finger with a broken nail. Her knuckle had nail polish on it. “I do not need silly snowy balls and flashing symbols on picture cards, whatever they are. I merely need my concentration. And maybe a tea with mind alterants.”
“Ah. Hmm.” Charity was back to nodding as they turned toward a hedge with a small hole in the middle.
“Come on. We can slip past the jailers this way.” The woman straightened up, walked normally for two steps, and then wove her way into the hedge, somehow managing not to snag herself.
“You’re not leading me to slaughter or something, right?” Charity asked, jolting as a stick jabbed her. “You’re not…taking me to the elves, or vampires, or anything?”
The woman cackled. “Yes, of course.”
“Of course you aren’t, or of course you are—”
“But not until your quest vision flip-flops a few times. No, that’s not normal. Unheard of, actually. That’s why it is so fun to be alive right now. I’d tell you not to tell anyone about that, but I’ll be there when it does, and walk you through everything. Then your future will call, I’ll finally meet my nemesis, and Reagan will no longer be able to hide.”
“Umm…right.” There had been too much to unpack in all of that, so Charity went with the largest issue at hand. “About Reagan. How do you know her?”
“My, my. You are very dense.” The woman paused at the other side of the hedge. She hurried through the open space between two fences and the monstrous houses beyond, before half diving into another row of bushes.
“What the bloody hell am I doing?” Charity murmured to herself, peering out through the leaves to see if the coast was clear. Someone sauntered down the lane, singing to herself with a lovely voice. She’d soar to the top of one of those singing game shows in the Brink. Although what was the point of money and fame in the Brink when she could live here, in peace and beauty? She would have no need for money in the Flush. No need to make things