The room continued to spin as Claire stumbled trying to find her footing on the ever swaying floor. She tried to gain control over herself, but the thick feeling air made it difficult to breathe let alone focus. Realizing she was sitting on the floor, she tried to stabilize herself against the wall, attempting to box breath as her vision started to come into focus. She recognised her room, the paintings covering the walls, her desk and books. She had attempted to only go a little ways into the future - almost a full day, so seeing her room exactly as she left it didn’t surprise her.

  Her breath and heart started coming back to a normal rate as she looked around her room when she saw her. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to scream, or move or stare at what she saw. The girl sitting in her chair, in her room wearing her clothes and glasses looked at Claire in a silent reflection of her own surprise. Every detail of the other girl down to the freckle was the same. Her mirror image didn’t quite follow her gaze, but she did mimic her shock.

  The other Claire’s eyes widened, also trying to figure out how to handle the sudden intrusion and physical impossibility of her existence. Tension and fear radiated between them, reflected perfectly in the other Claire’s startled gaze. Claire watched amid the background of her still revolting stomach as the other Claire tentatively reached out, stopping just before she reached Claire’s shoulder. She didn’t pull away, but instead accepted the oddly grounding and reassuring touch.

  “I… didn’t realize I could be visited too. Where are you - I mean, when are you from?” the other said in a trembling whisper.

  Claire’s lips parted as she tried to speak, the words wedged heavily in her throat, she had thought about this as a possibility - seeing herself - but actually seeing her felt completely different than she imagined.

  “I … uh, yesterday. For you, I mean.”

  “Interesting,” the other relaxed a little, turning to write in her notebook almost as a reaction, she scribbled across the page asking a few other questions about the nature of the visions that Claire couldn’t answer.

  “It’s only my second time doing this - so really I don’t know anything more than you do.” Claire hoisted herself onto the bed leaning against the wall allowing her stomach to settle further, “we’re only a day apart, remember.” Claire groaned as she wobbled her way to the bed, plopping down and scooting back leaning against the wall. Her intestines were in knots and actively protested as they unknotted themselves with snake-like writhing.

  The other thought for a moment before gathering a couple notebooks, a handful of highlighters and pens and sat right in front of Claire. She sat crisscrossed before dumping the supplies between them. They began slowly at first, comparing memories, each finishing the other’s thoughts as they passed through birthdays, friends, teachers, inside jokes and experiences that slowly wove themselves into a shared tapestry. Each shared memory felt like a stitch that brought them closer together, until last night. Claire had come here and the other had gone to sleep, it was the only difference they had found and even though it was a minor detail it felt like a gulf between them.

  “So, you just went to sleep?” Claire asked, feeling somewhat guilty, though she wasn’t sure why.

  “Yeah, fell asleep like the other times, went to school and I was going to try again tonight.” That made Claire wonder if her other could enter a vision like this? If that were true, would she meet her other, and then she would meet her other and on and on…

  “There’s something strange” Claire focused, realizing she had lost herself in thought.

  “I mean, it’s strange that I know I’m me - and I’m assuming you know you are you. We’re different, but also the same, I feel like I should know you - but I don’t in a way.” She could tell that the other was nervous. What would happen to her when Claire returned? She may never know the answer to that, but for now it might be best not to think about it.

  The other had a point though, Claire had noticed subtle differences too, she was more hesitant, more cautious in her response. She felt responsible for this, all of this, even if this world did exist before she came here, the other Claire could have existed just fine without her, but now - she couldn’t decide if she felt good or bad about barging into her world.

  “I don’t think it’s a matter of there being a real world or a - I guess fake world.” The Other answered Claire’s question about how real the visions were.

  “It’s like Aubrey said, if you think of time as a field, an infinite amount of timelines or universes and we are simply walking over to other points - other timelines. So this world is as real as any other - it’s just not the one you are from.”

  Claire didn’t believe that, but it sounded important to her other, so she didn’t argue, “Maybe, but this definitely isn’t my real body.” She felt better saying it. It should have felt stranger than it did being in a body not your own.

  “It’s just as likely that whatever is doing this - whatever controls this - whatever you want to call it - that thing could be protecting you. It brings you here, but doesn’t want you to be in danger. Like Daniel and the lion’s den.” the other retorted,

  “I wouldn’t start assuming things just because we don’t understand it, all we know is that we don’t feel pain and that we can’t cut our hair. I’m just saying, it seems like it would be easier to protect a body like that instead of migrating a whole consciousness to another body.”

  “I suppose.” Claire didn’t want to argue about it anymore, it sounded like it would be easy to test, so she didn’t feel the need to discuss it hypothetically any longer. They continued talking about different experiments and theories, each writing extensive notes, charts, and drawings. They agreed that one of the first things they could test would be to change something in their collective past and report back to this exact moment in time to see how it affected the timeline.

  “I won’t even notice - you can go back and do something small - maybe take a painting down from the wall - and then come right back. We’ll still need for you to check on your own timeline to see if it affects that, but I wouldn't think so.” The other explained.

  Claire knew she could do it easy enough, but hesitated as she only recently got her stomach to stop flopping around. She had an idea that transitioning slower out of what they had coined “her ethereal state” might make it easier on her body, but the risk of feeling that miserable again did not appeal to her.

  “Ok, let’s give it a shot.” Claire took a deep steadying breath. The now familiar feeling of stretching and slowing, of dissolving into the thick cold night welcomed the blue tint as time slowly peddled backwards. A shiver ran down her spine as the boundaries of her body became hazy with the physical infinity of the expanding universe. Her target time ticked into place, allowing the blue color to fade away.

  She waited a moment, taking in the scene around her. She could remain like this - invisible and ethereal in this world. She had chosen a time when the other Claire would be at school, but she could tell that time ticked on at its regular pace even though she existed somehow outside of it. She had no body in this form, but she could still see her room. She could see in all directions, she realized, but not through walls. And she dare not move from this spot.

  She allowed the blue to completely dissipate before willing herself to take a step into her corporeal body, trading temporal motion for physical control. Allowing her body to take shape as she stepped into it like a pair of pants. The solidifying sensation slapped in from the boundless reaches still upset her stomach, but nowhere near as bad as it had done before. She walked on the ground drunkenly holding onto the bed for support.

  Claire straightened herself, looking around for a target. She didn’t think it really mattered, but still took her time choosing something to take. She didn’t have a large attachment to any of the art in particular, so with a shrug, walked over to her bedside wall and untapped a blue and white octopus. It had long tentacles that squirmed over the page and sported an overly happy anime style face. Something about it called to her in this moment, and it would do just as well as anything else. She folded it up and put it in her pocket.

  As she placed the art in her pocket, she pondered if she would get to keep it when she went back to her own time. She took her clothes with her here, so it stood to reason that she would get to take something back, but something told her that she wouldn’t be so lucky. She couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but she felt like things were just making more sense, the whole thing was getting easier for her to control and to understand. It felt natural somehow, despite its otherworldlyness.

  She stood up straight before red-shifting the world back to the exact moment she left, making sure to allow herself a little time to transition out of her ethereal form. She looked on as her other jotted notes as she emerged from the red hue. She took a graceful step into the physical world, bracing her stomach as she did. It hardly complained.

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  “Wow, I’m back. I also learned a really neat trick - plus I -” she trailed off seeing the look of terror and confusion in her other’s face as she fell out of her chair in an effort to back away from the sudden interruption.

  “What?- I - I didn’t think I could uh.” her other fidgeted with her fingers as she stammered to get the words out. A cold knot started to form in Claire’s chest as the gravity of her actions started to become apparent. This was a different timeline. This Claire had never been visited before. Claire looked over at the missing painting by her bed.

  “Where’d your octopus painting go?” Claire asked, sitting on the bed and trying to push down the knot that wanted to well up inside her.

  “It just - I don't know, it disappeared. I - I couldn’t find it.” Her other still sat awkwardly half on her chair, half curled up in a ball. Claire knew she had scared her, but it slowly dawned on her that that wasn’t quite true - her other was scared of her. Claire caught herself counting her own fingers as she looked at her shaking hands. She cleared her throat, pushing the knot down which had risen to her throat and threatened to make her cry. She would never talk to that first Claire again. She couldn’t prove it, she didn’t even know how she knew it - but she did. She knew what happened to her, but didn’t want to admit it let alone say anything out loud.

  “So -” her voice squeaked a little, “um, we were going to do another experiment. Do you think you can help me with it?” She reached over slowly, mimicking the way her other had gently touched her on the shoulder, and left her hand there for a long moment before helping her all the way onto her chair.

  “Then, we’ve met before. I mean - you’ve done this before?”

  “Yeah, well this is my second time, we came up with this experiment - to change the past like that. I - we - didn’t expect it to go this way though.” The little pang of guilt she had felt about causing the only difference in their otherwise identical lives now felt like a crushing stone. She had done this.

  “But,” Claire continued, “we could do the other half of the experiment - I’ll red-shift to tomorrow morning and see if you still remember this. We were going to originally set out some playing cards and see if mom and dad would randomly draw the same ones when I go back to my … timeline, I guess. But, I get it if you don’t want to do any of that.” Her other contemplated the overwhelming amount of information for a moment before nodding.

  “Sure, I can do that.” Her voice had a small tone of defeat in it, or maybe helplessness. She had some agency still, but not as much as she had a few minutes ago. Claire handed her her notebook outlining the experiment and without saying anything else red shifted a few hours forward, watching as her other went to sleep, woke up, and strode out of the bedroom before returning writing her results. Claire stepped back into the world.

  “So, how’d it go?” Claire asked, trying and failing not to startle her other who reacted with a jump.

  “I knew you were coming this time and you still surprised me.” Claire felt her tension lessen once she saw that her other recognized her.

  “I fanned the cards on the table, like it said to do, mom picked first and got the three of clubs. I had dad shuffle the cards and he picked the king of hearts. Though I think for this kind of thing, it might be best if you weren’t in the room. You might present things in a different way that might affect the outcome.” Neither Claire nor her other other had thought about that. She had a point though, if Claire tried to replicate this in her time, she would have to do it exactly the same, which might prove difficult. She wrote the results in her book.

  “Thanks for doing that, by the way. I was considering hanging out at the library for a bit before heading home - if you want to ditch school I mean.” Claire had never ditched school, and didn’t expect her other to take her offer, she couldn’t explain why but she felt an almost compulsion to go. Something waited for her there. Something called for her.

  “I can’t,” her other said, snapping Claire back to the conversation, “thanks, but I’m still going to school. I have to assume that my timeline or whatever will continue after you leave.” Claire nodded as she waited for her other to get ready. As a thought, Claire changed her clothes after her other got dressed. She looked down at the pink and black skirt her gran got for her. Even though it was hers, it felt weird to have it on, like she had borrowed it from a friend.

  Other Claire peeked down the hall, creeping out as an advance scout before waving Claire though. Claire ran through the house as fast and quietly as she could before her other followed. She didn’t want to get caught up in explaining this to her parents, what could she even say? Her other had started warming up to her as they walked the familiar path down the street and past the church on the hill.

  Upon seeing the church Claire repeated the same conversation she had had before about the night their memories diverged. The night where her other fell asleep and Claire had come here. The night directly proceeding her praying in that church.

  “I don’t want to think it was God.” Claire said flatly, “but what choice do we have? I’m still hoping that it’s a coincidence - but…”

  “But, what else could it be?” her other finished the sentence. They walked in silence for a while after that, neither satisfied with their conversation. They walked up to the street corner containing the greenhouse looking library before stopping, realizing this would be the last they would see of each other. Claire liked her other, she felt like a friend or maybe a sister she never had. She would visit again, she assured herself, but still the goodbye felt harder than she expected.

  “Well.” Claire said, not sure what else to say.

  “Yeah. Until we meet again.” Her other quoted their gran, who always said that. She never said goodbye.

  “Until we meet again.” Claire smiled, hugging her twin tightly before letting her cross the road, free again. She watched her walk down the block toward their school for a while, until turning back to the large double doors of the library. The calling had only gotten stronger, something pulled on her thoughts, turning the slight nag into a shouting voice.

  She pushed on the door, surprised by its resistance until she noticed the wooden sign that hung on the door. Closed for renovations. Hmm. She pushed the door again to make sure it was indeed locked. She walked around the building, examining it from the outside. She had never been behind the building before and needed to satisfy her curiosity. The round building curved much like she expected leading to a small garden hidden from the street. There were two lines of planted leaves and a small greenhouse containing a few other potted plants. Claire would have to get her aunt down here to tell her what they were, vegetables maybe.

  She noted another door leading into the back of the library and after considering it, checked if it was locked. The door wouldn’t move. The feeling drawing her in hadn’t gone away, but as far as she could tell there wasn’t a way to satisfy it apart from breaking in. She kicked a rock as she wandered another quarter turn around the building. She stopped, looking up suddenly awash in blue light. At first she thought she had accidentally blue-shifted the world and had to take a minute to realize her feet still touched the ground.

  One of the wedges of the glass dome capping the library now held a large blue stained glass figure who stretched all the way to the unseen top of the dome. Claire had to take several steps back to make out what it was. If she looked at it from an angle she could mostly make out the face of the stained glass woman. She looked like she had emerged from the depths of the ocean with pale blue skin and dark navy hair that spiraled through the crystal waters and around her coral crown. Her dress was covered in hundreds of overlapping seashells that gave an impression of armor, but she carried no weapon - only a golden hourglass filled with bright blue sand.

  Her presence felt powerful and intimidating, her magnetic presence pulled in Claire’s gaze not allowing her to look away. This is what brought her here she realized, not to the library, but here, this place. This time was her domain, her control. Akva, Claire read in gold letters across the bottom of the figure. Claire expected it to talk, to command her - something to explain why she had been brought here. The stained glass had a slight glow about it as the sun hit it, Claire wondered if it would step down from the dome. She looked alive.

  Had this Akva heard her prayer and answered it despite it being addressed to a different god? Claire looked through the dome trying to get a better view of the figure feeling filled with wonder and dread, like the figure could snuff her life with a thought. Claire took another step back, deciding she had had enough and allowed herself to flow up and out of this place, her body dissolving before floating like a thought back to her bed at home.

  She awoke with a cold sweaty face. Her clock read 4:31AM. Huh, she thought to herself as she sat up looking around her dark room. She had come back later than she thought she would - she had expected to wake up either in the morning or right when she left, this implied that this timeline marched along at its normal pace while she visited the other. She thought of her other, her twin, how was she - how were they doing - she corrected herself.

  She glanced at her wall, squinting to see the octopus painting on the wall. So, that settled it; she would change the past in the vision, but not in this timeline. That made sense, she supposed, she couldn’t undo what had already been done making these experiences exactly what she told her other - they are visions. It is an interactive movie that can not affect the real world. She shook her head, she shouldn’t call it that.

  Remembering, she checked her pockets for her notebook and octopus painting, finding neither. She gathered that she couldn’t take things back with her like that, but what about her clothes? She still wore her pajamas instead of the pink and black skirt she had changed into, but why could they go with her but not the other way around? She didn’t mean to complain - as if that wasn’t the case she would be stark naked, but still the seeming inconsistency of it bothered her.

  She would complete the card experiment with her parents tomorrow, and see if Akva was still there. Akva. She could still feel the cold calculating presence of the ocean queen. What did she want with her? Maybe it would become clear with time, for now she rested her head back on her pillow, suddenly feeling like she just woke up in the middle of the night. She closed her eyes reliving the past few hours over and over quickly falling back asleep.