by Lily Webb
“Selena? Jadis? Are you here, girls?” a voice called from the dining room — Emile’s.
“Was that…?” Jadis whispered, glancing over her shoulder toward the dining room. “But how…?” she asked herself as she glanced back at Emile standing in front of us. I had no idea what was going on, but goosebumps rippled across my body. Something wasn’t right here. Emile was fast, no doubt about it, but even he couldn’t be in two places at the same time.
“We’re back here, Emile!” I shouted, keeping my eyes locked on the vampire in front of us. His upper lip curled, and he reached for the bowl of milk like he was about to make a run for it, but as soon as his hands closed around its sides, the door flew open and another Emile zoomed inside and halted beside Jadis.
He looked from me to the carbon copy of himself and back again. “What’s going on here?” he asked in a low voice.
“I have no idea,” I answered, my body vibrating with panic.
“Girls, I think you should leave. Quickly,” the Emile closer to us ordered, and neither of us objected. We hurried through the door, and as soon as it swished closed behind us, snarling and crashing dishes carried out of the room.
“Blair! Kiki! Help!” I screamed as we tore through the dining room toward the foyer. A pair of pops echoed off the walls and the two of them appeared in front of us, wands at the ready. Blair gripped my shoulder, worry flushing her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Emile, I… I don’t understand what’s happening, but there’s two of him in the kitchen. I think they’re fighting each other!”
Blair’s expression twisted. “What? But that doesn’t make any—” she started, but a piercing shriek from the kitchen cut her off. She seized my hand, and Kiki took Jadis’. “Evanesco!” she shouted, and the world around me turned into a kaleidoscope of color and sound as the rules of nature bent and my molecules scattered.
A second later, the four of us appeared in the room I shared with Jadis. Blair ushered me to my bed and forced me down onto it by the shoulder. “Stay here until we come back for you. Don’t open this door for anyone or anything that isn’t one of us, no matter what,” she commanded, then with a glance at Kiki, the two of them vanished again.
Jadis stumbled to my bed and plopped down on it next to me. I threw my arms around her, desperate to make sure she was real, and when we parted, she stared wide-eyed at me.
“What’s going on here?” she whispered.
“I don’t know, but it’s not good.”
“Who — or what — was that other Emile? It obviously wasn’t the real one. I mean, he didn’t even remember having just talked to us so—”
“It definitely wasn’t him,” I interrupted. “And the bowl of milk? Super weird.” Then a thought coursed through me like lightning as my synapses fired, making connections. “Oh my God! Jadis! Remember what Blair told us about leaving out a bowl of milk for Feal to get her to clean our room?”
Jadis stared at me as her eyes opened so wide, I worried they might burst out of her sockets. “Do you think…?”
I nodded furiously. “Who or whatever that imposter was, they know where Feal is. I think they took her, and I don’t care what Aron or anyone else says, I still think they’re keeping her in room 666.”
Chapter Nine
A knock on the door sent Jadis and me into the stratosphere.
“Selena? Jadis? It’s us, Blair and Kiki. The coast is clear; you can come out now,” Blair’s voice cooed, though based on what we’d just seen, I had no reason to believe it was actually her on the other side.
If who or whatever the imposter really was could believably pass themselves off as a vampire — complete with the same superhuman speed — then it was reasonable to think they could disguise themselves as just about anyone.
“Prove it,” I shouted without moving; though I realized the door separating us was little more than an illusion of safety, it was still better than nothing.
Silence settled over everything for an extended period, until finally, Blair started singing the chorus to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” taking me back to when I’d first learned about all her magical secrets.
I didn’t know what the limits of the imposter’s powers were, but I didn’t think it was likely they could’ve conjured up such a specific memory, so I climbed off the bed and gazed through the peephole built into the door. Blair and Kiki stood outside, looks of concern contorting their faces. Immediately, I knew something was wrong — very wrong — so I hurried to open the door.
“What happened?” I demanded as soon as we made eye contact. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”
Blair crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. “It’s Emile. The real one. He’s missing.”
“Well, technically, both of them are,” Kiki corrected, and my heart dropped into my stomach.
“What? Where did they go?”
“We don’t know,” Blair admitted. “The kitchen is absolutely wrecked; broken glass and overturned tables everywhere. We were more concerned with getting you out of harm’s way, so we missed the fight. By the time we got back to the kitchen, they were both gone.”
“But they had to have gone somewhere, right? They couldn’t have just disappeared.”
“Presumably, but we don’t know where.”
“Then it isn’t safe to be wandering around here alone anymore, is it?”
“Well, we may not know where the two of them went, but we’re reasonably sure they’re no longer in the inn, and we’ve performed a series of protective spells to make sure no one gets in or out until we know what’s going on here.”
“But what if they never left?” Jadis asked over my shoulder, and frigid dread filled my stomach like a deep gulp of water. I hadn’t heard Jadis come to the door behind me, but I was glad she had. I’d wondered the same thing, but feared I was already asking too many questions that might make me seem paranoid.
Blair and Kiki exchanged uncertain looks, and though I knew neither of them wanted to admit it, they couldn’t guarantee us that Emile and his imposter weren’t still somewhere in the inn — which meant they might have trapped us inside with the copycat.
“Take me to the kitchen,” I ordered, and Blair blanched.
“Selena, I really don’t think that’s such a good idea right—”
“I know it isn’t,” I interrupted, “but it might be the only way for us to find out for sure whether Emile and his copycat are still here somewhere.”
A hint of a smile appeared on Blair’s face, and though she still didn’t seem comfortable with the idea, she nodded. “You mean if something there gives you another vision?”
“Exactly. There’s no guarantee it’ll happen, but I dunno, maybe it’s more likely while the scene is still fresh? I mean, don’t forget, the other visions I’ve had were triggered by touching something related to the scene hours after it happened, and they’ve been riddled with holes.”
“She might be on to something there,” Kiki said. “I can’t recall much about divination — it’s been years since my time at the Starcrest Institute — but if I remember correctly, a seer’s abilities are stronger when they’re closest temporally to the event.”
“Starcrest Institute? What’s that?”
“It’s the local magic school. Don’t worry about that right now. Come on, let’s get down to the kitchen quickly. I don’t want to linger,” Blair said.
Though I wanted to know more about this magical academy, I nodded, and Jadis and I entered the hallway. Once our door was closed, Blair pointed her wand at it and muttered a spell. A sheen of what looked like golden, sparkling dust rolled across the surface like a wave and vanished. “Just in case,” Blair said. “A little extra protection can’t hurt.”
“That should stop anyone who isn’t one of the two of you getting into the room,” Kiki said, which reminded me…
“That’s good, because I think someone or something’s already done it.”
“What?! And you’re ju
st now telling us this?” Blair asked, her face as white as snow.
“Well, I thought it was the imps, but when I talked to them down in the basement, they swore that while they had been in our room and stolen our phones, they hadn’t taken the key I found them playing with on the first floor. Jadis and I didn’t move it either. So, someone else must’ve taken it, probably while we were sleeping.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
“Well, it was there on our nightstand when I went to sleep, and when I woke up, it was gone. Jadis and I had a little pillow fight that morning, but I looked everywhere, and I couldn’t find it. I don’t know where it went, but it’s definitely not in our room anymore.”
“If it’s true that we have an imposter among us, then it could’ve been them. Maybe they posed as one of us to get into the room?” Jadis suggested.
“I’d like to think we’d notice a copy of one of you roaming around the inn, but given recent events, maybe not,” Blair muttered.
“Had we not just talked to Emile before we found the imposter in the kitchen, we never would’ve known it wasn’t really him,” I said. “The disguise was that convincing.”
Kiki shuddered, and I couldn’t blame her. “But I don’t understand. Why would they go to such lengths to steal a key from you?”
“Because it could unlock the whole mystery,” Blair answered.
“Or, at the very least, it could unlock room 666,” I said, and Blair shot me a skeptical look. “I know, I know, Aron showed me the blueprint and swore it didn’t exist, but I think this imposter business changes all that.”
Blair thought for a moment, then tossed her hands in the air. “I can’t say for sure you’re wrong, Selena. Something strange is definitely going on here, and it’s all connected somehow.”
“I think so too.”
“But how are we supposed to know who’s real and who isn’t now? The imposter could literally be any of us, even one of us four,” Jadis said, glancing around nervously at all of us.
“The same way Selena knew it was me at the door,” Blair said. “As far as I’m aware, the various creatures and paranormals that can copy the appearance of others can’t also copy their memories. We’ll have to provide something only the actual person could know.”
“It’s not perfect, but I think it’s the best we can do,” Kiki said with a frown. “Anyway, we’d better get moving. We shouldn’t be out here any longer than we have to be until we know for sure it’s safe.”
“Right. Stay close to each other. Understood?” Blair asked as she pulled her wand from its pocket inside her robes, and Jadis and I nodded. I had no intention of getting any further than a foot or two away from either of them. I had visions, but I couldn’t use magic beyond that, as far as I knew — and somehow, I knew that would be the only thing that could save us if the imposter attacked us next. “Good. Selena, take my hand. Jadis, take Kiki’s. We’re going to use magic to get to the kitchen; it’ll be safer that way.”
“Got it,” I said as I slipped my arm around Blair’s and prepared myself for the soul-tearing sensation of teleportation again. At least this time I knew what to expect.
When Jadis had linked her hand in Kiki’s free one, Blair and Kiki nodded and shouted, “Evanesco!” simultaneously. Again, the world swirled around me like someone had flushed me down the great drain of the universe, and seconds later we popped into the kitchen. My head swam, and for a moment I felt like I might be sick, but I kept it down.
Shattered glass and porcelain from the dishes crunched under my feet as I took a tentative step forward, my arm still wrapped around Blair’s. She and Kiki weren’t kidding; Emile and his impersonator had completely trashed the kitchen, and one wall had an immense hole blown in it. They’d even toppled the refrigerator, scattering its interior across the floor and giving the room the sharp aroma of a mixture of vegetables and dairy. Given vampires’ superhuman strength, maybe their capacity for so much destruction shouldn’t have been a surprise.
I didn’t know where to begin. Of the few things that the vampire fight hadn’t destroyed, what in this room could lead me to another vision? It didn’t help that I still didn’t really know or understand how my abilities worked. As lucky as I’d been to find a new family in Aunt Blair and Aunt Kiki, I hadn’t been lucky enough for one of them to be a master seer.
In the other cases, coming into contact with something personal sparked my visions, but as I’d learned when I got nothing after touching Aron’s hammer, that didn’t always work. Still, I figured it was the best place to start, so I scanned the room for something that Emile might’ve used regularly. My eyes landed on a series of knives hanging from a magnetic strip on the wall across the room, and in a moment of synesthesia, I heard Emile’s furious chopping as if he were right there working. Miraculously, the vampires hadn’t touched the blades during their fight.
“His knives,” I said, pointing them out to Blair.
“Good thinking,” she said, and we carefully stepped over the sea of shards hand-in-hand. I reached for the largest of the six knives but hesitated, not at all sure I wanted to see whatever a potential vision might show me. Blair stroked my thumb with hers. “It’s okay. We need to know, even if it’s bad.”
Nodding, I gulped back my fear and held my breath as I wrapped my fingers around the knife’s black handle. I closed my eyes, preparing to transport in my mind to another time or place, but nothing happened. “No luck,” I muttered.
“Well, there might be something else we can try. We just have to keep looking.”
“Wait, what’s that?” Jadis asked, pointing at one of the smaller steel tables toward the back of the room that the vampires hadn’t overturned. At first, I didn’t know what she meant, but as Blair and I stepped over the debris, which crackled like bubble wrap under our feet, I saw what Jadis had noticed.
On the surface of the table — almost imperceptible thanks to its similar color — sat a small puddle of something chromatic. If we weren’t in a magical inn with paranormal patrons, I might’ve mistaken the droplet for liquid mercury and called the authorities to report a spill. “What is that?” I asked.
Blair squinted to get a better look from afar. “I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before, but it’s probably not safe to touch.”
I didn’t doubt she was right, but how else was I supposed to trigger a vision? I couldn’t be sure, but a feeling in my gut told me I had to try. The more I stared at the puddle, the more I realized how much it reminded me of something I’d seen recently, but I couldn’t place what.
But then it hit me: the droplet had the exact color and reflectivity of the creature I’d seen in my dreams that tried to shove me into room 666 along with Feal! “I think it came from the imposter.”
Blair turned to me, confused. “What? Why?”
“The person or thing or whatever it was I saw in my dreams — the ones Jadis told you I’d been having — looked just like that stuff, only it was in a humanoid shape. That puddle might be, I dunno, its blood or something.”
Blair’s face turned a shade of green. “Then that’s probably all the more reason not to touch it,” she said and released my hand to step close enough to the puddle to prod it with the tip of her wand. Other than shifting like liquid normally would, nothing happened.
“Well, if it didn’t make your wand spontaneously combust, I think it’s safe,” I said and moved closer.
“Selena, are you sure about this?” Jadis asked me, fear written all over her face. “I mean, we don’t know what it is or what it could do.”
“Only one way to find out,” I said, and before anyone could stop me, I jabbed my fingertip right into the center of the puddle. It was freezing cold, so cold it burned, like liquid nitrogen, but as I gasped and began yanking my finger away, the now familiar rushing sound I’d been waiting to hear washed over me, so I squeezed my eyes shut and kept my finger planted despite the pain.
The piercing crash of smashing
dishes and the squeal of metal twisting in ways that shouldn’t have been possible tore through my mind, and through a whirl of color, the world — as I saw it through someone else’s eyes — slowed so much that it might as well have come to a halt. Then I realized: I was watching the fight from the perspective of one of the two Emiles; I just wasn’t sure which yet.
A snarl echoed, and the view abruptly shifted to the right, revealing Emile, or one version of him, soaring through the air in my direction with his horrifying fangs bared and hands outstretched, ready to tear me to shreds. My host raised their hands to their face to guard and tried to sidestep the attack, but moved a beat too slowly, and another snarl ripped through the room, coming from the person whose point of view I observed.
The Emile who’d lunged went crashing through the wall the refrigerator stood against, and my Emile stumbled forward. He slammed his hand against a table — the same table I stood in front of outside the vision. When he lifted his hand, he left behind a chromatic puddle, reflecting his anguished expression back at him.
The vampiric imitation threw back his head, roaring, and the world blurred as he zipped through the hole in the wall the other Emile had created. Things moved too quickly in the dark beyond for me to follow, but a piercing shriek of pain tore through the blackness, and I recognized it instantly — it was the same shriek I’d heard before Blair and Kiki escorted Jadis and I back to our room.
When the light flared in the vision again, I recognized the staircase in the foyer. The imposter glanced down, adjusted his grip under the shoulders of an unconscious Emile, and blurred up the stairs. I concentrated as hard as I could, desperate to stay with the vision, but it had already started slipping.
I crashed violently back into my mind, shouting, “No! No, no, no!”
Blair gripped me by the shoulders. “Selena! What’s wrong? What did you see?”
I swallowed, too hard, while I tried to steady my swirling head and reconcile the imposter’s reality with mine. Thankfully, the throbbing, stinging pain in the tip of my finger gave me something visceral to focus on. I raised it to my face and blanched when I saw how blue and frostbitten it looked.
