*Truth be told I'd been wondering exactly that. I could only think of one thing that made sense. "Maybe she's right," I told him. "Maybe you are just in my head."
"You know I'm not."
"I don't know what the hell I know right now."
"Look deep down."
I did. Part of me knew he was right; knew it with every fiber of my soul, but it was still so impossible. Presumably I'd gotten a hold of some kind of magical, wish-granting rock and I'd fucked it up royally.
"Do you even know how ridiculous that sounds?"
Malcolm looked at me and nodded, "You know it's true though. I'm betting you've been having strange dreams too "
"Fuck you," I said, suddenly full of rage. How dare he bring that up! Without thinking about, I pointed the gun at his chest and fired. Behind me, Michelle screamed.*
I watched in shocked surprise as Malcolm looked down at his chest, down at the very spot where there should have been a deep bullet wound. He was remarkably untouched. I didn't know how to react and between my shock at how the bullet had passed right through him, and Michelle's loud screams, the gun slipped from my fingers landing harmlessly on the floor. All I could do was stand there with my mouth open in shock. I shot him! For an instant I thought maybe I'd missed, but no. He was only a few feet away, and my grip had been surprisingly steady. There's no way I missed. Maybe Michelle's right, I started to think. *Maybe I am imagining this. Maybe I did * I sagged to my knees as the thought hit me like a ton of bricks.
*Maybe I did kill him *
"Now that we've gotten that out of the way " he started, and I looked up at Malcolm. I was filled with an odd combination of fear, rage, and confusion and I didn't like it one bit. I was so out of it that I didn't even hear Michelle move. Nearly jumping, I almost reached over for the gun again when I felt her hand on my shoulder.
"It's okay," heard her whisper. I shook myself away and stood up, walking right up to the man who by all rights should have been lying on the floor dead right now. "Natalie?" I didn't pay her any attention. Either this asshole was a figment of my coked up imagination, or he was real and what he was saying was real. As unbelievable as his story had sounded, and as much as I wanted to dismiss his ludicrous claims, I had my doubts and I needed to be sure.
"I shot you," I told him.
"No, you weren't even aiming at me," I heard the soft voice of Michelle say.
I turned toward her and instantly the guilt began to set in. I'd just put her through several minutes of pure hell and there she was trying to comfort me and make me feel better. Still, my rage was starting to die down a little. The more I thought about his story and about the stone, the more I began to wonder. Taking her hand, I did my best to offer a reassuring smile.
"Not you," I said. "Him," and I turned and pointed toward Malcolm.
"There's nobody there honey," Michelle pleaded. "You're talking to the air."
I shook my head. "No, he's there." I bent down and picked up the gun. The black woman took a step back, the fear reemerging in her eyes until I slowly handed it over to her. "Put this somewhere safe. I don't think I need it anymore." The deep breath that she exhaled could have blown a sail boat across the Atlantic Ocean. She took it from me and walked over to a drawer, where she placed it for safekeeping.
"Now," I said, turning back toward Malcolm. "You're going to give me some answers."
He nodded, "Nothing would make me happier."
Before I asked about the people I'd ran into earlier, there was one thing that was preying on my mind. "Why can't anybody else see you?"
"Because, I'm only allowed to interact with you. That's the deal," he cast what I thought to be a rather resentful glance upward. "When it comes to everybody else in the world, I'm completely non-corporeal."
"Non-cor " after a moment I gave up. "Speak English."
"It means I don't have solid form unless I'm dealing with you, and you're the only one who can perceive me. It's as though I'm locked between dimensions, but I can use you as a window of sorts. Your connection to the stone, and your destiny has turned you into kind of a conduit for my essence."
"Um I didn't understand any of that," I told him honestly.
For a moment he stood there. A sigh escaped his lips. "Think of me as a ghost," he told me. "A ghost that's haunting you. It's not the best explanation, but it paints a fairly accurate picture."
I wasn't sure why, but I resented that a little. "I'm not stupid you know," I told him.
"I said nothing of the sort," He offered back kindly. Before I could ask my next question, he continued. "Those people we ran into earlier, they're after the wishing stone because it's not just a wishing stone. I told you at one point that the stone, when combined with its counterpart," he paused when he saw the look on my face, "kind of its other half," he amended, "It can open a gateway and release the Gods from their self imprisonment. Natasha and her cronies are descendants of the family lines sworn to bring the two stones together when the time is right."
"And the time is right?" I asked. "You know this just sounds more unbelievable the more I let you talk."
"Are you okay over there?" I turned and saw Michelle leaning on the counter. She was setting her shot glass down and watching me as I appeared to have a conversation with thin air. She nodded and poured herself another glass.
"I have an idea," he said. "I don't know if it'll work, but it's certainly worth a try. He was looking me over the same way a guy did when he was trying to decide whether I was worth the bill or not. Trying not to blush, I realized I didn't mind. Finally he spoke. "Natalie, I want you to look directly into my eyes. Like I said, I don't know if this is going to work " Without thinking about it, which I later realized was a little reckless, I looked directly into his eyes. "I'm going to flash the image of someone into your mind, and I want you to concentrate on one word. Concentrate on the word Jon."
Malcolm's eyes began to sparkle and for a moment it seemed as though nothing was going to happen.
Then it did.
I dropped down to my knees again, groaning as my temples began to throb. Strange visions began to float around my mind. I saw visions of my family, my sisters, my brother, and my parents. They weren't exactly mine though. Images of others, slightly different then the way I remembered them, continued to bombard me. I held my head and began to cry out loud. Once again I felt Michelle's hands on my shoulders, trying to offer solace. It felt like an eternity of pain, but in reality I stood up after another minute and glanced at Malcolm.
"What did you do?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure yet. Your other memories are gone. I'm hoping we'll be able to get them back with the stone, but until then there's nothing we can do about it but "
"Jon " I said.
"Who's Jon?" Michelle asked frantically.
I gently pushed her away and smiled softly. "It's alright," I told her, taking her hand. "I'm fine now." I turned back toward Malcolm and I did know him, at least in so far as it was possible to know him. "The dream," I whispered as I remembered back "That's weird," I added. "I can remember things that don't fit. Like up until a few days before that dream, I remember being a guy and then..."
I thought I'd been confused before.
He nodded.
During the dream, when Jon had apparently wished himself into oblivion with the stone, which I found I was all too familiar with now, I hadn't heard the wish, hadn't known exactly what he'd done. Now I knew that he'd wished for me to at least retain his memories "and because Karyn's wish was directed at me and not Jon, and because she couldn't contradict Jon's wish " I paused for a moment as the pieces continued to fill themselves in. "Jon's memories remained locked away." I paused for a moment and something else occurred to me. "I think that explains the dreams too..."
Malcolm smiled, once again nodding his affirmation. Hey I know what affirmation means, I thought. Jon's personality was still gone, but I could remember everything he remembered now, including everything that he and I he and the other Natalie, had learned up to the point where he'd made the dream wish.
"He really made a mess of things didn't he " I thought about it for a moment and realized that I wasn't blameless either. "I mean, we made a mess of things."
"Couldn't be helped," Malcolm said. "At least now we can concentrate on the matter at hand. We need to stop Karyn, who incidentally has gone completely off the deep end these last six months "
"Six months?" I echoed.
"Yes. I know you've been here three years Natalie, but she made that wish six months ago and in that time " He paused, shaking his head. "Well, it hasn't been pretty. It took me this long to track you down. Once we stop her we need to find that second stone and stop Zeus and his minions from returning."
Now it was my turn to nod. "Agreed, but how can we get to the rock. As soon as Karyn sees us coming she'll just make another wish. How can we hope to compete with that?" I walked over and sat down on the bed. As Jon's memories continued to assimilate with my own it made my head throb a little.
Michelle sat down beside me. "Are you okay?" she asked for like the hundredth time. "You're making even less sense now."
"I'm fine," I told her. "It's just hard to explain." I glanced back at Malcolm. "Any thoughts?"
"As a matter of fact, I think we can use Natasha and her minions to our advantage."
"How so?"
"Their clothing was covering them, but each of them was wearing a protective amulet, a jewel with the power to protect against the power of the stone."
"Like a shield?" I asked, intrigued.
"Kind of," he said. "The protection isn't unlimited though. Think of it like a radiation shield," he offered and I nodded. "And think of the wish's effect as radiation. When a wish is made, this reality is merged with a reality where that particular wish had already happened on its own through the normal course of time. Thus both individual realities cease to exist, giving birth to a new hybrid reality. Everything in that new reality, aside from the wisher and anybody who hears the wish is altered so that it's excepted that this new reality always existed."
I nodded.
"Well, these amulets prevent you from being altered along with everything else. There is a drawback though. Their power is fairly finite, and fighting the effects of a wish made directly toward the wearer completely drains their power."
"In other words," I reasoned, "Once Karyn realizes I'm there, I'll have one chance."
He nodded.
"Better than nothing," I said casually.
"Who's Karyn?"
I looked at Michelle. "It's not important."
She wasn't having any of that anymore though. Michelle stood up. "No, that's not good enough. From what I'm hearing I'm assuming you're Natalie so Natalie what the fuck is going on here?" She crossed her arms over her generously endowed chest and made it clear that she wasn't moving. "You're acting bat-shit insane."
"It's hard to explain," I told her. At least that much was true. "But I need to go now." I stood up. "Thanks for being there for me Michelle. I'm gonna miss you." I leaned in and gave her a hug.
She shook her head. "Not getting out of this that easily. You're going somewhere, that's fine, but I'm coming with you."
"Not a good idea. I've seen too many people hurt because of this." The idea of putting someone else in danger while I dealt with the consequences of my own careless actions wasn't an appealing one. "It's better if you stay here where you're safe."
"Ha, safe! Last night some dumb bastard got himself shanked right outside my door. I'd hardly call this safe." I was about to argue when I caught the look in Malcolm's eyes. "Besides," she continued, "with Christian gone, there's not really anything left for me here."
"Let her come," he said. "Besides, in a moment you're not going to have a choice. Before we can go after Natasha and her flunkies there's something else you're going to have to deal with."
"What are you " I heard the sirens an instant before the door burst open. Two officers burst through the entrance, guns drawn. They were pointed at Michelle and me."
"Freeze!" They shouted. "Hands in the air!"
I obeyed on instinct.
"What's going on here?" Michelle asked. The officers glanced at me. "Earlier this morning, a woman matching her description was seen fleeing the scene of a homicide." He pointed at me. "We're taking both of you in for questioning "
