Oliver, Shawn, and Jessica arrived in Ordinia as the sun began to set. It looked not much different than the other towns they had visited. Food stalls, businesses, people walking along the streets.
They had each taken turns riding the horse. It was a good way to rest up without any more stopping. Once in the city, Oliver slid off the horse, and let Jessica have another turn.
“So now what?” Shawn kept himself pressed between Oliver and the horse. Probably an attempt to make himself invisible to passerby, but most people barely noticed them. “Are we just asking random people if they know about any caves in Wizard’s Point? We’re not even near there anymore.”
“We can still see it from here.” Oliver pointed to the tallest mountain in the distance. But he wasn’t actually sure if it was Wizard’s Point. It could’ve been some other mountain.
“Do you not remember what I said earlier about libraries?” Jessica asked irritably.
A man walked passed them. Shawn stopped him. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about the caves in Wizard’s Point, would you?”
“Or know anyone who does?” Oliver added.
The man shook his head. “You’re better off asking people who actually live near there.”
“Do you know where there’s a library?” Jessica asked, but the man had already walked away.
“Yeah, this isn’t working,” Shawn said.
“We’ve only asked one person.” But Oliver knew that man was right. That their best bet of finding someone who could help would be someone from the town they had to run away from.
“There has to be a library here,” Jessica said. “Ask the next person where that is.”
Shawn made a face. “I’d rather not spend all day going through boring books.”
“And I’d rather not spend all day harassing people with stupid questions,” Jessica snapped back.
Oliver spotted two men on a bench. One had his arm around the other’s shoulder, holding him close. Nobody gave them a second glance. Were they a couple? The thought made Oliver feel a little safer.
The men on the bench stood up right as Oliver and Shawn approached. Oliver maneuvered to give them room to pass by. As he did so, he got a good look at the men, and froze alongside Shawn. The two men stopped to gape back at them. Jessica had to pull the horse to a stop.
It was as though Oliver and Shawn were looking in a mirror. The man in front of Oliver looked exactly like him. Except his hair was a few inches longer. The other man, standing in front of Shawn, looked exactly like Shawn. Except his hair was a few inches shorter. Aside from that, and different clothes, it was as if Oliver and Shawn had long, lost twins.
“Have I seen you before?” the man who looked like Shawn asked. “You look familiar.”
“That’s because he looks like you,” the man who looked like Oliver said. He eyed the buttons on Oliver’s shirt, then Shawn’s attire. “Bold choice. But why’s your shirt on inside-out?”
“Long story,” Shawn said. “Do you know anything about the caves in Wizard’s Point?”
“Where are you from?” Shawn’s twin asked. “I’ve never heard your accent before.”
“Somewhere far away from here,” Oliver said. “We need someone to help us navigate through the caves in Wizard’s Point so we can get home.”
“Really?” Oliver’s twin furrowed his brow. “You’re from Vustaria then? Why would you want to go back there?”
“Those aren’t Vustarian accents,” Shawn’s twin said. “I knew someone from there and it sounded nothing like theirs.”
“There’s different regions though,” Oliver’s twin said.
“That might be, but even in different regions, there’d be some similarities. As it stands, comparing their accents to a Vustarian would be like comparing our accents to a Vustarian. They’re too different from each other.” Shawn’s twin focused in on Shawn. “Now, where are you really from?”
During this exchange, Oliver noticed the streets thinning out. Merchants at the stalls were either packing up, or had already left. And yet, there was still a bit of light in the sky. Did towns in this universe normally clear out this early?
Streetlights flickered on, lit by flames. The few people still out scurried. One person ran.
Oliver’s twin swore under his breath. “Never mind that. We need to go home.”
“Why?” Oliver asked. “What’s going on?”
“Curfew,” Shawn’s twin said. “No one’s supposed to be out at night. You should go back to your inn.”
“We’re not staying at an inn,” Oliver said. “We’re just passing through town.”
Oliver’s twin shared a look with Shawn’s twin, then glanced at the darkening sky with looks of apprehension.
“You can come home with us,” Shawn’s twin said. “But hurry!”
Oliver and Shawn raced after the two strangers, Jessica following on the horse. At this point, there wasn’t a single person out. They turned down a street filled with cottages, and continued running. Eventually, they ran up to the door of one of them. Oliver’s twin fumbled with keys, and opened the door.
“What about our horse?” Jessica asked.
“I’ll take care of it. Get inside!” Shawn’s twin grabbed the horse’s reigns, and pulled him towards the back of the house.
Everyone else walked inside. Oliver’s twin held the door open, waiting for Shawn’s twin to return. In less than ten seconds, he ran into the house, panting. Oliver’s twin shut the door, and locked it.
The five took a moment to catch their breath. Oliver’s twin led them to a sitting room. There were two couches angled perpendicularly to each other, with a coffee table in the middle. Shawn, Oliver, and Jessica sat on one couch, their twins on the other.
Shawn broke the silence. “Can you tell us what the hell that’s all about?”
“We told you,” his twin said. “Curfew. It’s for our own safety.”
Safety from what?
“I think introductions are in order,” Oliver’s twin said. “I’m Revilo.”
Although Oliver had never heard such a name before, something about it unsettled him. He put aside his discomfort to introduce himself. “I’m Oliver.”
“Interesting.” Revilo appeared similarly uncomfortable by his name.
“I’m Jessica,” Jessica said.
“I’m Shawn.” Shawn’s introduction caused Revilo to jerk his head towards him.
“No way!” Shawn’s twin said. “How do you spell it?”
“S-h-a-w-n.”
“Thank Odis. I spell mine S-h-a-u-n.”
“That’s still creepy,” Revilo said.
“Wait, your name is Shaun?” Shawn asked Shaun, who nodded.
“Okay, this is too strange,” Revilo said. “You all need to explain everything right now or we’re tossing you out to the vampires.”
“The what?” Jessica’s eyes widened. Oliver’s heart pounded. There were vampires here?
“Vampires,” Revilo said. “They come out after sunset, searching for people to suck the blood of. They can’t come inside houses without being invited in first. So you’re safe- as long as you stay inside.”
“And you’re welcome to stay inside here until morning,” Shaun said, “but only if you explain everything.”
It wasn’t as though telling their story would hurt. Certainly no worse than if they were thrown out to the vampires. The problem was, would they believe them?
“Okay.” Shawn took a deep breath. “Where do you want us to start?”
“From the beginning,” Revilo said. “We got all night.”
And so, the three took turns telling the story. They started with how they met Jyri and Faye. The mystery behind those two. How they discovered they were from a parallel universe. How they came to Oliver’s world through a portal. How Oliver and Shawn found that portal, and ended up in this universe. How Jessica followed them. How they wanted to go home. That to do so, they needed to find a portal deep in the caves of Wizard’s Point.
“That’s quite the story,” Shaun said, once they had finished.
Revilo shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
“It’s true!” Oliver remembered how Jessica mentioned showing her phone to a group of women to prove her story. “We can even show you what our phones can do.”
“What’s a phone?” Revilo asked.
Oliver pulled his phone out from his pocket, unlocked it, and set it on the table. “It’s mainly used to talk to people over long distances, but it doesn’t work in this universe. It can still take pictures and play things I’ve downloaded. And the calculator should work too.”
“Calculator?” Revilo asked.
Oliver opened the calculator app. “It does math for you. See.” He tapped the 2, then the plus symbol, then 2 again, followed by the equal sign. The screen read 4.
“Everyone already knows that,” Shaun said.
“Yeah, but not everyone knows this.” Oliver typed in 1206, plus 4373, minus 36, times 98, divided by 4, then the equal sign. The screen read 135,803.5.
“Whoa.” Revilo took the phone from Oliver. “And this is… correct?”
“Every time,” Oliver said. “Tapping the C makes it go back to 0, so you can start over.”
Revilo did just that. Shaun watched over his shoulder as he punched in random numbers. “How does it… know.”
“Nobody knows,” Oliver said.
Shawn rolled his eyes. “It’s not that mysterious. It’s really just a digital circuit with binary numbers and logic gates.”
Everyone stared blankly at his words. Shawn shook his head. “Forget it.”
“And this… phone. It can do other things?” Revilo asked.
“A lot of other things,” Jessica said. “But most of it doesn’t work in this universe.”
“That’s a shame.” Revilo put the phone on the table. “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this.”
“Everyone where we’re from has one,” Oliver said. “You can’t get around without one these days. That’s how Jyri and Faye stuck out so much.”
“A parallel universe,” Shaun said. “You must be the version of us in your world. It explains why we look like twins. Even your names are similar.”
“And you’re a couple too.” Revilo gazed at Shaun. “Even in other universes, we’re together.”
Jessica let out a snort behind her hand. Shawn cleared his throat, his face as red as Oliver’s felt. “We’re not actually together… like that.”
Revilo’s face fell. “But you look so in love.”
“Are you sure you’re not?” Shaun asked.
Oliver wasn’t quite sure how to answer that without making things awkward between him and Shawn. He hadn’t thought he was obvious at all.
“We’ve been best friends since we were little kids,” Shawn said.
“We started as best friends too.” Revilo draped his arm across Shaun’s shoulders. “And then Shaun asked me to marry him about five years ago. I said yes. Best decision of my life.”
Oliver watched Shaun kiss Revilo on the cheek. It was like watching Shawn kiss him in third person. It was somewhat unsettling. He turned to Shawn to find him staring at him with what might have been yearning. Though Oliver might have been imagining it.
Shawn jerked his head back to their twins. “Congratulations.” It sounded forced. “I’m going through a breakup right now. I’d rather Oliver not be some sort of rebound.”
Oliver smiled at Shawn. “How very thoughtful.”
Shawn wrapped his arm around Oliver’s shoulders, pulling him into a side hug. “So. Do you know anything about Wizard’s Point?”
Revilo shook his head. “We’ve never even been to Wizard’s Point. You should go to one of the closer towns.”
Shawn released his hold on Oliver. “The thing is, we can’t go back to a closer town.”
Shaun raised an eyebrow.
Oliver rubbed the back of his neck. “We kind of, have police looking for us.”
“What’d you do?” Revilo asked.
“We don’t know,” Shawn said. “Some officers approached us, and we panicked and ran. They chased us. We barely got away.”
“Wow.” Revilo stared at them with raised eyebrows. “That was utterly stupid.”
“Yeah, we weren’t thinking,” Oliver said. “Have we really traveled that far away?”
“Wizard’s Point is about half a day away from here by horse,” Shaun said. “So, it’s not a place people around here visit regularly.”
“I was thinking of checking for information at a library,” Jessica said. “Do you know of any here?”
“Yes, there’s one not far from our house,” Shaun said. “We can point you in the direction tomorrow.
“We’d appreciate that,” Jessica said.
Shaun stood up. “I don’t know about you all, but I’m starving. I’m getting started on making supper.”
“Sounds good.” Revilo watched Shaun leave the room, then eyed Shawn and Oliver. Mainly at their rumpled, dirt-stained clothes. “You want those clothes washed? You can borrow some of ours while you wait. Maybe take a shower.” He looked at Jessica. “We don’t-”
“There’s showers here?” Shawn voiced the same question that shot through Oliver's head. He didn't think there were.
Jessica didn't look at all surprised. “Yeah. The girls I stayed with let me use theirs."
“Why wouldn’t there be?” Revilo asked.
“I didn’t think indoor plumbing existed here. I mean, you don’t even have electricity.” Shawn gestured towards the oil lamp on the table that lit the room.
“Electricity is for the wealthy, but almost everyone has indoor plumbing,” Revilo explained while Jessica nodded along like she already knew. “How else do we wash up?”
“Carry buckets of water to a bathtub? I don’t know what people did back then.”
“Does this mean you have a sink? Where I can wash my hands with soap?” Oliver had lost track of how many times he used a tree, unable to wash his hands after. It disgusted him every time.
“Of course.” Eyes widening, Revilo covered his mouth, as if a terrible thought occurred to him. “Have you not washed your hands since you came to this world?”
“Does rinsing them off in a lake count?” Shawn asked.
“Great Odis,” Revilo muttered under his breath. He pointed towards a hallway to the side of the room. “Go down there, first door on the left. Don’t come back until you’ve scrubbed your hands clean!”78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoGRCSMn21
and then Add to home screen.