He headed out the door and Marina drew the dead bolt. Her heart clenched for the strange man from another world, who would be sitting, invisible, in a box, while a stranger held his life in the balance. Cut off from his world, he didn’t even have the ability to make final declarations to his loved ones.

She couldn’t even begin to imagine how he felt.

Everything she cared about was at risk as well, but it was all at her fingertips. She could pick up the phone and call Avery just to hear her voice. She could be at her sister’s house in ten minutes, drinking wine and bitching about her day. She could sit in her recliner, watching television and scratching Snooze’s head.

She wasn’t alone.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Halcyon stared at Marina, then pinched her own arm. She frowned and walked up to Marina and put her hand on her forehead.

“What are you doing?” Marina asked, batting her sister’s hand away.

“I’m trying to see if you’re running a fever.”

“Why would I be running a fever?”

“Maybe you’re ill?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

Halcyon leaned in and studied her face closely. “Show me your boobs.”

“What? No! What the hell is wrong with you?”

Halcyon took a step back and crossed her arms across her chest. “I don’t believe you’re my sister. Those gods have taken the real Marina and replaced you with something else. You have a birthmark below your left boob. I figure they wouldn’t get that detailed with a clone. So…Mardi Gras up. Show me your boobs.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Marina said, and yanked her tank and bra up so that Halcyon could see the heart-shaped birthmark under her left breast. It used to be right below her left breast, but after the day gravity happened, it became underneath.

Halcyon gave the birthmark the side-eye.

“What’s your favorite food?” Halcyon asked.

“I tell everyone it’s pizza but it’s really Reddi-wip, straight out of the can.”

Halcyon’s jaw dropped and she sank onto a stool. “It’s really you.”

“Of course it’s me.”

“But you showed up at the crack of dawn and told me I have to help you with clothes because you have a date tonight. Do you realize how that sounds?”

“You thought I was an imposter because I have a date?”

“Marina, this is you. You and Harold sort of fell into a relationship in high school without any romantic dancing beforehand. As far as I know, you’ve never been on an official date in your life. And now, you waltz in here and tell me you’re going out with a man you met a couple of days ago and you need something to wear.”

Halcyon threw her hands in the air. “I had an easier time believing the magical ring story.”

Marina considered. “I guess it is a bit out of character.”

“More like out of this universe.”

“I thought you’d be happy.”

“As soon as I get over being dumbfounded, I’m going to be ecstatic.”