* * * * *
“She will be like this for a day, Harold, maybe two.”
I tried to force my eyes open as words in my voice but not said by my lips were whispered close.
Harold.
My Pop.
“She’s okay?”
Oh God. Yes. My Pop!
I tried to open my eyes and turn toward his voice, a voice I never thought I’d hear again, but I just could not fight off the sleep.
“She is…” a hesitation, “fine.”
“Circe, darlin’, if you haven’t got that you can’t hold back with me…” Pop’s warning trailed off and I heard a sigh.
“I’m sorry, my beloved father, they are weak but my senses tell me she’s with child.”
I heard my father suck in a hard, rough breath.
Then I was out.
* * * * *
“Are you with me, my love?”
My eyes slowly opened and I saw my bed and then, beyond that, my bedroom.
In Seattle.
Holy crap!
I turned to my back and looked to the side of the bed. Sitting in one of my dining room table chairs was me.
Or… the other me.
“Circe?” I whispered and she smiled.
“Sit up, my twin,” she whispered back, moving off the chair bent toward me, she helped me pull myself up and arranged pillows behind me.
I stared at her in shock.
Totally me. The spitting image. Wearing my clothes but having had a haircut in the last few months.
She sat back down and scooted a bit forward, taking my hand.
“You know I am not you?” she enquired.
I nodded.
“You know who I am?” she continued.
I nodded again and she smiled.
“You worked out what happened,” she whispered.
I nodded yet again and she nodded back.
“How are you?” she asked.
Flipped out was how I was. Totally.
“Um…”
“Still tired?” she went on.
I nodded.
“Are you thirsty, hungry?”
I shook my head though I was. I was both.
“How…?” I started and she shook her head this time.
“I do not know. Though you clearly have powers, like me. That said, Harold tells me you never did and, indeed, he told me no one in this world does. But he is wrong; those holding power here are smarter than we at home. They keep it guarded, the most guarded secret. This is wise. Nevertheless, it is clear from your extreme exhaustion that you discovered how to spirit yourself out of that world to your home. I felt the same when I…” she hesitated, her face going soft yet cautious, “spirited myself.”
