Page 19 of The Evil Twin
It was all too much; it made my head swim.
“I mean, how would it even work?” I said. “Assuming it’s the only way. Assuming we can even get her back and convince her to go along with it. Would it be like when I eat a triple mega cheeseburger and feel uncomfortable for a few hours, then digest it? Or would she be a second consciousness inside my head?”
I definitely wouldn’t like that. Her voice was annoying enough when it was external, but at least then I could get away from it.
“I don’t know,” said Nikolai. “But probably not the cheeseburger thing.”
“I should go back to the manor,” said Althea. “Now that we have more to go on, I can ask the curator for more specific texts. And Nikolai, can you get in touch with your uncle and see if he remembers more about the ritual?”
Nikolai nodded and pulled out his phone. “Sure, but he doesn’t make a lot of sense most of the time.”
“What should I do?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “Think of a way to convince the Other-you to go along with it, I guess. That’s going to be the hardest part.”
CHAPTER NINE
I found it hilarious that the next day in English class, our discussion topic was on Jekyll & Hyde and whether Hyde was a separate persona from Jekyll or just a manifestation of Jekyll’s darkest desires. I got way too invested in the discussion and ended up yelling at Mr Porter.
“Hyde is a jerk! Jekyll doesn’t want any part of him!”
Which was stupid, because Jekyll was a bit of a jerk as well, and I didn’t even believe what I was yelling about. Hyde was obviously just Jekyll’s repressed gay side. Still, it hit a bit too close to home.
Mr Porter called for me to stay after class.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
“I’m sorry I yelled,” I said. The time when I could guarantee a good mark from Mr Porter just for keeping his secrets was long past. I had to earn my grades now, and I didn’t want to tank just because I’d had a mid-class freakout.
“It’s a stressful time, senior year.”
I nodded.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
I sighed. I couldn’t exactly tell him about the whole Other-me problem, not without explaining a whole bunch of other stuff I didn’t want to get into.
“Do you think Hyde really was a separate person?” I asked, hitching my bag up on my shoulder.
Mr Porter shrugged, then sat back on his desk. “Jekyll’s use of personal pronouns when talking about Hyde near the end of the book makes me think not. It’s really just an exploration of how the repressive nature of Victorian society made certain behaviors come out in other ways; how the human psyche can twist things, distort them if they’re not acknowledged.”
I nodded. “So, Hyde is just Jekyll’s repressed gay side.”
“That’s certainly one reading of it, but I don’t think it’s really Jekyll & Hyde that had you so upset.”
“It’s just stress,” I said, not meeting his eyes. “Senior year. I haven’t heard back from any colleges yet, that type of thing.”
“Well, it’s early days yet,” he said, even though it wasn’t, and half the class had got their acceptance letters already. “You’re a smart girl, I’m sure you’ll have no problems.”
“Thanks,” I said. “You wrote me an awesome recommendation letter. I’m sure that will help.”
But I cared less and less about college all the time. It seemed like a dream I’d had, that I’d forgotten nearly all the details of. There was only a vague feeling left. There was so much going on in the here and now that college was totally eclipsed by it.
Althea was still back at the manor. She’d messaged me a few times to update me on her research, and to tell me the curator said I’m not welcome back there after exposing his precious book to radiation from my phone. She hadn’t had any more visions. At least, not that she told me about. I took that to mean we had a little time before my father’s next move.
Nikolai had less luck. Nobody in his immediate family had heard from his drunk uncle in over a year. The last they’d heard, he’d gone to take part in a ritual in the Siberian wilderness. It all sounded super shady, so I didn’t ask for details, and Nikolai didn’t offer them. He said he’d keep asking around, maybe some of his uncle’s friends had details, but it was a long shot.
My part of the plan was going a little better. If I wanted to lure Other-me back, all I had to do was dangle the lodestone in front of her. Even if she knew it was a trap, she’d walk right into it. She was so arrogant, thought she was so much smarter than me, that she wouldn’t even think twice.
