Free Parallel by Shana Chartier Page B

roped together with branches, and yet somehow was still surprisingly comfortable. Then again, Ava had always been an avid camper and never minded sleeping on rough surfaces. The girl with the familiar voice took a breath and rose from the table. She turned and Ava gasped.
    She was looking at herself.
    Not an exact copy, per se. The girl wore cotton trousers, like she was a peasant in some Shakespearean play, and a long white shirt with a brown corset over the front. Her long brown hair was braided back with something that resembled twine, woven with tiny white flowers. She pulled up a small stool and sat facing Ava, her expression direct.
    “Well then,” she said, staring at Ava like she was supposed to have any answers at all.
    “Where am I?” Ava asked. Her mind flooded with images of the bridge, the glowing light, fighting rapids that had appeared out of nowhere. She rubbed a hand over her eyes, hoping that when she pulled it away, she would see her own room and forget this weird daydream had ever happened. Her doppelganger sighed.
    “You got pulled into a portal gate, friend. I’m afraid to tell you that you are me, from another universe. Now I suppose it will be up to me to get you home.”

Chapter Two
    AVA STARED AT herself. She blinked. She blinked again. Her doppelganger waved a hand directly in front of her eyes, startling her.
    “Hello, are you still in there?” she said. Ava sat up, and looked down. Her clothes had been changed into something similar to the other girl’s outfit. Cotton trousers and a white top. She glanced up at the girl, feeling violated.
    “You changed my clothes while I was asleep?”
    Other Ava didn’t look the least bit remorseful.
    “Well, if you’re anything like me, you don’t like sleeping in wet clothes, right? Besides, it’s basically like you changed yourself.” The girl tried to look guileless. Ava wasn’t buying it.
    “Why do you look just like me? Where am I? What’s going on?”
    “Why don’t we take a seat at the table, fill your belly, and I can do my best to explain? You’ve been out cold since yesterday afternoon. I imagine you’re quite hungry.”
    After a pause, Ava nodded, following the girl to the table just across the room. It was a very small house, but it felt comfortable. Ava tried to relax. She needed answers. She needed to find Mason and get back home. But hysterics had never solved anything and the girl clearly wasn’t in a hurry to provide information. Ava folded herself into a kitchen chair and watched in silence as the girl set copper plates and misshapen silverware on the table, followed by some kind of meat pies and two cups of what smelled like sweet mead. It reminded Ava of some of her mother’s brewing projects from back home, which was oddly comforting. Her mother loved experimenting with beer and mead, and she wasn’t afraid to sneak Ava a glass every so often, even though she was just seventeen. Still, after falling off a cliff and nearly drowning, Ava was somehow too parched to consider alcohol.
    “Do you have any water?” she asked. The girl nodded and brought over a pitcher, filling another copper cup. Ava drank three before she looked up to find the girl seated across the table, staring at her.
    “What’s your name?” Ava asked. The girl’s eyebrow lifted.
    “Avalon, same as yours, right?”
    Ava blushed. She’d always been self-conscious about her weird King Arthur inspired name. Her parents were some odd ducks.
    “Um, yes, but I go by Ava.”
    “Then eat, Ava, and I will tell you what I know.”
    Ava took a bite of the steaming meat pie, which was too hot, so rather than spit it out she tried to subtly move it around in her mouth until she could stand to swallow it. She blew on the pie before taking her next bite. Avalon took a sip of mead before launching into her tale.
    “I assume before now you’ve never realized that multiple universes exist, all at once. The only reason we know this is because the portal