Shattered Dimensions

by Nicole Coverdale

“Unless you’re physically unable to perform,” the girls said, striding forward, and grabbing Jami by the wrist.

  “Hey! Let go!”

  “You’re interfering with my dreams, Jami,” the girl said, tightening her grip on Jami’s wrist. “And I can’t have that. You see, I have a dream. A dream to be the most popular girl in school. To be hoisted on top of that pyramid, and have everyone adore me. Which is why, those three spots on the squad, are for me and my friends. Not you!” She jerked Jami’s arm down, slamming it against the sink.

  Jami screamed, the sound of her wrist cracking rippling through the room. She gasped, falling to the ground, clutching her wrist as she stared up at the girl. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Naomi,” the girl said, grinning, as she spun on her heel. “I’ll be seeing you, Jami.”

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Josi asked, wincing, as Jessi stuck the needle in her shoulder, cringing as she watched the blood fill the tube. Oh, how I hate the sight of blood!

  “Of course I know what I’m doing!” Jessi cried, withdrawing the needle, and placing a band-aid over Josi’s shoulder. “Do you think I’d be doing this, if I didn’t?”

  “Well…”

  “Don’t answer that. Now, take some blood from me.”

  “Do we really need your blood, too? We already know that we’re related.”

  “True. But it’s never a bad idea to play it safe,” Jessi said, wincing, as Josi thrust the needle in her arm. “Argh. You so are not meant to be a doctor!”

  “I never said I wanted to be. In fact, I believe, that’s your dream. There. All done.”

  “Now, all we need is some blood from Jami,” Jessi said, placing the two vials inside the box.

  “Did you ask for me?”

  “Jami!” Jessi turned, her eyes widening, as she stared at the brace on Jami’s wrist. “What the hell happened?”

  “Some chick decided to try to take me out after my tryout,” Jami said, wincing, as she took the brace off. “But you guys, look at this! An hour ago, it was completely broken. Now, it’s almost all healed. This is insane!”

  “I think it’s pretty cool,” Jessi said. “Jami, take a seat, so I can take some of your blood.”

  “Good luck,” Jami muttered under her breath. “Somehow, I don’t think taking blood from me is going to be that easy.”

  Jessi gestured for her to sit, and Jami sat, wincing, as Jessi stuck the needle in her arm. Ow!

  “Dang it! You’re right!” Jessi cried, narrowing her eyes as Jami’s skin healed before her eyes. “The wound keeps closing, before I can even get a drop of blood! I don’t know if I should be impressed or annoyed.”

  “You girls finished?” Nathan asked, poking his head into the room.

  “Just about,” Jessi said, frowning. “I’m not sure how to get the blood from Jami. Her wound keeps closing!”

  “You’ll probably just have to use yours and Josi’s,” Nathan said.

  “You know, for good measure, how about I just do this.” Jessi grabbed the scissors off the counter, snipping a piece of Jami’s hair off.

  “Hey!”

  “I need something, don’t I?” Jessi asked, giggling, as she sealed it in a plastic bag. “Here. It’s all set,” She said, closing the kit, and handing it off to Nathan.

  “I’ll get it to my Dad right away,” Nathan said, pausing at the door, and looking back at her. “Jessi, are you sure you want to do this? Once you know, you can’t ever un-know.”

  “We’ve spent our whole lives wondering,” Josi told him. “It’s time we get some answers.”

  “And get an answer to this emptiness I’m feeling,” Jami added. “I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “Alrighty then. I’ll get the results to you as soon as I can,” Nathan said, disappearing out the door.

  “Do you think we can trust him?” Jami asked. “With our secret, that is?”

  “I think we can,” Jessi said. “He wasn’t freaked out at all, when he found out what I could do, and I just have a good feeling about him. That he won’t stab me in the back, or tun me into the looney bin.”

  “Looney bin?” Jodi laughed. “Well lets hope one of us has better luck with guys, because you both know my track record. I’m 0 for 1. Stupid Mark.” She sighed. “So what do we do now? Do we just wait for him?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t like waiting.”

  “I am well aware,” Jessi said, sitting on the stool in front of the microscope. “Hey, Jami, will you come here?”

  “Why?”

  “I want to take a look at your cells.” She took the pencil from Jami’s hand, scraping the cells into the petri dish, and positioning it under the microscope. “Whoa!”

  “What? What is it?”

  “Your cells,” Jessi said. “They’re regenerating like crazy!”

  “You mean like a lizard?”

  “Yes! Exactly like a lizard. Jami, this could open up a whole new world! We could cure cancer, or find a way to grow limbs… or… or…”

  “I get it, Jessi. I’m special,” Jami said, rolling her eyes. “You know, I’m not real fond of this waiting around either.”

  “Then how about we don’t?” Josi asked, walking to the computer on the other side of the room and taking a seat.

  “What are you talking about?” Jessi asked, as she and Jami followed Josi to the computer.

  “I’m talking about, getting some answers, before your boyfriend does.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend!”

  “Whatever you say,” Josi said, booting up the computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard. “But I’m done feeling like there’s part of me missing, and I’m going to do something about it.”

  “How?”

  “By hacking into our birth records.”

  “What?” Jessi gasped, stumbling back. “Josi! You know I can’t be a part of this. I could get sent back to juvie!”

  “Oh please, they’ll never even know I was in here,” Josi said as she typed.

  “How did you learn to hack anyways?”

  “From a very good friend, a long time ago,” Josi said, grinning, as she thought of her old roommate in that small house they’d lived in over in Alexandria. “Okay. I’m in.”

  “That fast?”

  “Yup, and I found them. It doesn’t have a name, but it has an address.”

  “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!”

  “This is our birth mother’s house?” Jessi asked later that afternoon, staring across the road at the light, green Victorian styled house. “It’s gorgeous!”

  “And look at those windows,” Jami said, sighing as she stared at the large, bay windows lying on the side of the house. “Can you imagine having a view like that?” she asked, gazing across the bright, green grass and to the lake lying in the distance. “Come on. Let’s go!” She grabbed Jessi by the hand, dragging her across the street.

  “Hey! Wait for me!” Josi cried, racing after her sisters, glancing at the porch swing to her left, the flowers in the pots to her right, and grazed her hand along the white porch railing. I could have lived here? In this house, instead of that crummy foster home? Who is this woman? Who is my mother? Will she like me? Accept me for… me?

  She pushed the thoughts away, turning, and knocking on the door. Startling, when it swung open.

  “Okay. That was a little weird.” She poked her head inside. “Hello? Is anyone home?”

  Silence sounded inside the house, and they all looked at one another.

  “I don’t think anyone’s home,” Jessi said, nervously glancing over her shoulder. “Maybe we should come back later.”

  “Screw that!” Jami cried. “I’m going inside.”

  “Jami! That’s trespassing!” Josi cried, but hurried after her sister.

  “Wait for me!” Jessi cried, closing the door behind her.

  “Well hurry up then!”

  Josi paused next to the table holding
various pictures, lifting the picture of the four women smiling into the camera. “Do you think this is her?” she asked, pointing to the red-haired woman in the picture. “She kind of looks like us, don’t you think?”

  “And she does look awfully familiar,” Jessi said, peering over her shoulder. Now how do I know that?

  “But who are these other women?” Jami asked, pointing to the two dark-haired women, and the blonde in the picture.

  “I’m guessing our aunts,” Josi said, flipping the frame over, and opening the back. “Josslyn, Jade, Julie, and Jasmine. Hmm. All J’s. That’s interesting.”

  “Meow!”

  The loud noise blared through the silence, and Josi jumped. She laughed, stroking the black feline as he jumped up on the table next to them. “Well, hello there. And who are you?”

  “Meow!”

  The cat let out another loud meow, purring, as she scratched his chin. Then he batted his paw at her, jumping off the table, and racing up the steps.

  “I think we’re supposed to follow him,” Jami said, hurrying after the cat. “Come on!”

  “By all means. Let’s follow the strange cat, in a strange house,” Jessi muttered underneath her breath.

  “Jessi! Will you stop being such a downer! We came here for answers, and I am not leaving until I get some!”

  “And apparently, it wants us to go into the attic,” Josi murmured, eyeing the door warily. “This is getting a little creepy.”

  “And both of you are being complete wusses!” Jami cried, shoving the door open. “And I thought I was the scaredy cat of this family.”

  The door swung open, and she stepped inside, gazing around at the old, brown couch lying in the corner of the room. The shelves lining the sides of the room, bottles filled with weird looking liquids lying on the shelves, and the old, dusty boxes that were scattered across the floor.

  “Holy crap! Will you look at this place?” Jessi cried. “There’s tons of stuff in here! Old toys. Baby blankets, there’s even a Ouija board in here. And look at these!” She passed the shelves, reading the labels. “There’s snake eyes. Spider legs. Hemlock root. Pigs feet. What is this stuff even used for?”

  “Witchcraft,” Josi said. “They’re witches. Freaks.”

  “Hey guys, look,” Jami pointed to the reign of light flooding from the window, and washing over the podium on the far side of the room.

  “What is it?”

  “It looks like a book,” Jessi said, as they crowded around it, pointing to the cover. “Look. The J’s, they’ve been separated.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, should we open it?”

  “Open a book of witchcraft. Do we really need to answer that?” Josi asked. “Come on. We should get out of here. This place blows.”

  “Josi. Wait.” Jami grabbed her by the arm. “If Josslyn really is our mother, and she is a witch, well that means that we’re witches too, doesn’t it?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Then let’s open it!” She flipped open the cover.

  “For generations, the Morgan women have been extraordinary witches, dating back all the way to Salem,” she said, reading from the book. “Each has had their own unique power, equivalent to their personality. With each generation becoming stronger and stronger. Forces of good, of white magic, who have since the beginning of time fought the forces of evil. Keeping the city they love, and their family safe from the demonic forces that walk among us.”

  “They’re from Salem?” Jessi asked, leaning forward. “That’s so cool! What else does the book say?”

  “A lot!” Jami said, as she flipped the page. “Look. This is our great-great-great-great grandmother, Gillian. She was sentenced to death in Salem, when someone accused her of practicing witchcraft. She had the power of premonition.”

  “She could see the future?”

  “Yup, and she had a daughter. Jacklyn. Before Gillian was taken, she hid her daughter, and what she did must have worked because look at all of this!” She flipped through the pages. “There are hundreds of people in here. Look. This is Juliette, our grandmother! She had the power of pyrokinesis.”

  “She could control fire?”

  “Yup! And look, here’s Josslyn.” She leaned in close. “Josslyn Morgan, is the second oldest of four… no five daughters birthed by Jillian Morgan. Gifted with the power of Aquakinesis, she’s able to manipulate water in any shape or form. A wild one, she ran away just after graduating from high school, and gave birth to triplets. Josi, Jami, and Jessi, continuing the Morgan line of good magic.”

  “Wait. We’re in here?” Jessi asked, leaning forward, excitement washing through her. “Jami! Flip the page!”

  Jami flipped the page, and a picture of the three of them appeared.

  “Whoa!”

  “Given away at birth, Josi, Jami, and Jessi have been bounced from home to home in the foster system, but when Jami and Jessi were kidnapped Josi went on a warpath to save them. Meeting her birth mother, and inheriting the power of weapon manipulation.”

  “What’s weapon manipulation?”

  “It means whatever weapon she touches, she knows how to use automatically,” Jessi said. “Josi! You have a cool power!”

  “And Jami can self-heal and you can read people’s minds,” Josi said. “Fantastic! But why don’t we remember any of this? I think I would remember you guys being kidnapped!”

  Boom!

  A loud boom suddenly sounded throughout the room, and they gasped, as the ground underneath them shook. Raising their heads, as a bright, yellow light washed over them and the world suddenly turned.

  “Something’s happening, my lord,” the seer said, poking her head into the office, and looking at Elijah. “I felt a shift in the balance.”

  “But that’s not possible,” Elijah said, rising from his desk. “When Julie and I were bound together in marriage, everything changed. The sisters were separated. Letting us do what we need to do. Feed on mankind.” He followed the seer out of the office. “Show me.”

  “But you can…”

  “Just show me!”

  “As you wish.” The seer waved her hand over the crystal ball, and Elijah smiled. Watching as the demons walked the earth. “We’re growing stronger,” he said, his eyes widening in shock, as the earth suddenly shook underneath him. “What was that?”

  “The shift I was telling you about.”

  “Where are the sisters?”

  “Still separated.”

  “Then who…” he trailed off. “My daughters.”

  “It seems they found a way to the book,” the seer said.

  “Then they must be dealt with!” Elijah shouted. “Gladiators!”

  Running feet sounded behind him, three men dressed in armor, racing into the room.

  “You beckoned, sir?”

  “Find these girls,” Elijah said, waving his hand over the wall next to him, showing them a picture of the three. “And take them out!”

  “Of course, Elijah.”

  “By sun fall, they’ll be dead,” Elijah said. “And everything will be as it should be. Julie will be pregnant with my child. The sisters will be separated, and darkness shall fall upon the world.”

  “Whoa…”

  Josi gasped, grabbing the podium, and steadying herself as the ground shook underneath her. “Is that… what I think it is?”

  “It’s an earthquake!” Jessi cried, gasping, as the bookshelf behind her toppled downward. She dove forward, just missing being buried underneath the debris. “Guys, look!”

  “What?” Jami, Jessi, and Josi turned their heads as a reign of light washed through the room. It grazed over them, and Jami drew in a sharp breath. She held a hand to her heart, staring at her sisters.

  “Oh my God! I remember!” she cried. “I remember everything!” She stumbled back, falling into the chair behind her. “I remember…”

  “Our mother. Josslyn,” Josi said, finishin
g her sentence. “I remember too. You and Jessi, you were kidnapped, by those demons!”

  “And I died!” Jami cried. “I felt that knife slicing through me! Blood, pouring from me, and…”

  “And you healed,” Jessi said, softly. “You healed. You survived. It must have altered things. Shifted the balance, because you were supposed to die. That’s…”

  Thunk!

  The loud crash sounded below them, and Jessi trailed off. “What was that?”

  “Shh!” Josi tiptoed across the room, grabbing the sword from the wall, and hovered next to the door. “I hear running feet. They’re coming up the stairs.”

  “Josi! Shh!”

  “Argh!”

  The door swung open, three men, racing into the room. They slid to a stop, their large heads looking left, then right. The metal armor on their heads clanging.

  “There they are!” One of the men shouted, his bare chest gleaming bright behind the metal straps on his chest. He pointed his axe toward them. “Get them!”

  “Eek!” Jami ducked, as the axe flew her way. She stumbled backward, tumbling to the ground, her eyes widening as the axe struck down. Hitting the floor underneath her with a loud thunk. “Oh my God! Who are you?”

  “Gladiators,” the man said, striding toward her. “Bounty hunters, and we’ve been sent to kill you. By Elijah.” He reached forward, his hand wrapping around her throat.

  “You forgot about something,” Jami said, laughing. “I can’t die. Remember?” She jerked free from his hold, wrapping her hands around his helmet, and pressed her fingers into his eyes.

  “Aah! My eyes! My eyes!”

  “Josi!”

  “I can’t do anything right now!” Josi shouted, lifting the sword in her hands. She struck it forward, the sword striking against the Gladiator’s. “I’m a little busy!”

  “We’re all a little busy!” Jessi cried, spinning on her heel and racing across the room. The Gladiator raced after her, and she turned, ducking behind the couch. She shoved the window open, and the Gladiator took a sharp right. Grabbing her by the arm, and tossing her out the window.

  “Aah!”

  She screamed, reaching a hand out, and grasping the windowsill.