Free Your Dimension Or Mine? by Cynthia Kimball Page A

anything else, and before she knew it, she fell asleep.
    Arwen! Wake up!
    The sound of someone calling her name had her blinking her eyes open. “In the bathroom!” she called out, wondering who had called out to her. Nobody responded, and when she shivered, she realized she was lying in cold water. “How long have I been in here?”
    Groaning, she stood up and got out, quickly drying herself and throwing on her robe. Yanking out the stopper on the tub, she trotted out of the bathroom and into her living room. “Hello!” she called out. No reply. “Who’s there?” she called again, looking around.
    Still no reply.
    Confused, she checked her front door, only to find it locked and dead-bolted. How strange.
    Shaking her head to rid herself of the fluff that still seemed to linger from her impromptu nap, she went into the kitchen and poured some milk into a pan on the stove. “I think I need some hot chocolate.”
    As she turned to pour out the hot chocolate, a low thrumming in her ankle made her look down. “No!” The anklet was gone. In its place were raised criss-crossed welts exactly where the metal had been. “No, no, no!” Running back into the bathroom, she checked the tub. The water was gone and at first she didn’t see anything. Then, she spotted it. Sitting near the stopper, was a piece of golden metal. Grasping it, she yanked it up and stared, knowing immediately that it was the clasp of the anklet.
    “It dissolved?” she gasped, looking at it. She had showered every day with it on and would never have guessed that the metal would disintegrate like that. Whimpering at the loss of such a beautiful piece of jewelry, she placed the clasp, the only part of it left, on the counter and went back to fix her drink. Once the chocolate was mixed with the milk, she added an equal amount of vodka.
    Slouching into her chair, she sipped at the drink. When had this day gone wrong? It had started out okay, but somewhere along the way, it went all wonky. Sighing, she gulped the last of her hot chocolate and stared across the room at her computer. A long thrum settled through her ankle and she stared at it absentmindedly. She supposed her ankle would have some aftereffects of her allergy. Looking back up at the computer, next thing she knew she was in front of it, turning it on.
    A small voice in the back of her head said this was not like her, but while she acknowledged that was true, she could not stop herself. “Twenty-two new emails,” she muttered as she watched them fall into folders. IDS had seven. Her eyes lit up and she quickly clicked the folder.
    You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile
    You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile
    You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile
    You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile
    You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile
    You have a new message from CuriousityLemmings
    You have mail from DaringlyGauche
    She blinked at the messages. The last one was from earlier and she would look at it in a minute, but her heart sped up as she saw the five messages from Orion. It did a backflip as she saw the message from Terrian.
    “Yes,” she whispered in relief, opening it up.
    Arwen,
    That is a beautiful name. So, you live in a library as well? Well, that is wonderful to hear. Though maybe not for you. It can be a bit taxing. I thought it would be nice to tell you a little more about myself, if that would be acceptable to you. If not, read no further.
    I am a rather large sports enthusiast and wish I could spend more time engaged in them rather than watching. My favorites are wind surfing and tree skiffing. Do not spread this around, but I also have a deep love for animals. My mount Abriethon has been with me for a few decades and I swear he knows me better than anyone else. I also raise Dipthan Kivees, somewhat similar to the Orenean Brevs, but my mother and I have been striving to breed the perfect corg with a more malleable temper.
    Have you ever jumped