Beyond the Parallel: Parallelogram, Book 4

1 Walk, I have to keep telling myself. Don’t run. But the urge is so strong. “Halli Markham!” Sarah shouts from the distance, and she’s already racing toward me. Across this vast, polished lobby, toward the girl she thinks I am. Walk, don’t run. Stay calm. Stay in control. I know this scene. I’ve been here before. It’s Monday. I’m in London. I’ve just spent the day touring Halli’s parents’ headquarters, and now Sarah and Daniel are here to meet me. I don’t have much time. “And Red!” Sarah cries, hugging me first, then the dog. “How are you, you handsome boy?” Red wags his tail so hard he might achieve liftoff. I look past Sarah to where Daniel is still making his slow, steady way. He’s limping a little, just like last time. So far everything is like last time. Which means by tomorrow night I’ll be screaming. My head will feel like it’s been split in two. I’ll be rushed to the hospital, pumped full of drugs, unable to think or get away. A week later, I’ll be dead. I want it so badly: to run to Daniel now, to throw my arms around him, hold him hard, and whisper urgently in his ear, “It’s me. It’s Audie. Halli is trapped inside my body, back in my universe. This is me in here. We have to hurry. I need your help. We don’t have much time.” But I can’t. I know that. Because telling him the truth right now—this day, this exact moment—started a whole chain reaction before, a chain that ended in pain and suffering and death, and I can’t afford for the any of those things to happen this time. I can’t take even one step down that same path. I have to do it all differently—everything. My life depends on it.