UNSPOKEN: Undone Realms Book 3

Ch. 22: Lost and Found

(30 days after Nolan's crossing)

If it takes Oliver any longer to get through the Fold, Nolan is going to lose his shit. Even though he knows his split-self has things covered back in the authority complex, he can't help feeling anxious. The authorities may recover from the beam-gun blast, so if he can't secure the Fold quickly enough, they might follow Oliver into it.

Oliver stumbles closer, Nolan makes his move, sealing the Fold while simultaneously grabbing Oliver before he collapses.

"I told you I'd be waiting for you, didn't I?"

"How?" Oliver's voice quivers. "I just saw you..."

Nolan can't explain now. His mind is swirling with memories, his own and others simultaneously. The moment passes; he breathes, nods. "Now let's get you to safety."

To his credit, Oliver lets Nolan work without interruption. Given the awe-inspiring nature of the Fold, Nolan wouldn't blame Oliver for asking more questions. He restrains himself, though, until the moment they finally emerge from the Fold into a brand new world.

Oliver's eyes alight in wonder. Nolan watches him as he takes in his new surroundings; peaceful rolling farmland awash in the glow of a late afternoon sun.

"Where are we?"

"We call it the Dry Dock, but you might know it as the orchard," Marcella steps forward to greet them. Taking Oliver's hands in her own, she pulls him into an embrace. "Welcome home, Ollie."

She peers at Nolan over Oliver's shoulder with a nervous, questioning glance. He nods and her face floods with relief.

Nolan turns away from them and begins to meander through rows of apple trees until he is well away from the newly reunited friends. This is the first chance he's had to process fully what's happened to him. He split himself, traveled back in time, saved his lover's father, and stopped the authorities from being able to act upon the tirade of threats they'd been issuing for years. But that list of accomplishments is not all there is to the experiment which began as a Vitalist theory and ended with him attempting to answer the question nagging him for weeks:

What would happen if his split-self died?

He would consider the answer to this preposterous if it hadn't happened to him.

The moment he turned the beam-gun on himself and activated it, his body had fallen lifeless to the floor of the authority lab. But his consciousness had never ceased. One moment he was being confronted by a bevy of angry Callers, the next he was standing within the Fold, two Nolans' consciousness merging into one mind.

Nolan plucks an apple from a low-hanging branch and slides down a tree's craggy trunk to sit against its base. A moment later, he's sighing with satisfaction as the perfect tartness of the fruit hits his tongue. Marcella did a thorough job on this realm-the apple is just as tasty and crisp as any back home.

Home.

Home makes him think of Clara, and the apple makes him think about the fact that Clara can't taste or eat. It's doubtful she remembers ever having done such a thing. Her existence was never normal, growing up all alone in that strange little realm of hers, but she has endured none-the-less. The pocket realm enabled her survival all these years, but her safe harbor is in danger now. Even though she's no longer alone, she's also no longer safe.

Nolan's stomach twists. He tosses his half-eaten apple onto the grass. In the past month, his mind has opened to countless worlds, countless possibilities. He's mastered travel through alternate realities; he's been given purpose and direction; he's gained teachers, allies, crazy powers; he even has his mother back (tenuous as their relationship may be). But he doesn't have Clara. Clara belongs to the Nolan who cared more about being with her than about anything else. Now this Nolan-the realm journeyer, the time traveler, the newly anointed Vitalist hero-for the first time since leaving the hotel, this Nolan thinks he may have found a way to set everything straight.

All he had to do was die to figure it out.

#

It's Marcella rather than Nolan who ends up explaining to Oliver what happened when Nolan blasted himself with that future weapon.

Marcella is gentle. Her fondness towards him is apparent, and she hides her disappointment that he has no idea who she is.

"And Avie... do you remember a young woman named Avie?"

He shakes his head.

"Well, never mind. Let's take a walk, Oliver." They proceed, arm in arm, up to the crest of the hill.

"This... Dry Dock did you call it? What is it?"

"It resembles the place where you were first found and also the place that was lost to you. Our hope is that it brings you peace and helps restore you to yourself."

"Do I need restoring?"

Marcella sighs and turns them around so they can gaze at the length of the orchard, its curved rows of red-speckled trees laid out below them. "You do if you wish to remember the people who love you the most."

Oliver clings to Marcella's side. He might not recollect her, but her presence is a mighty comfort. "I can't... I can't think about that now. I gotta stick with what I do remember, and what I remember is seeing that Nolan kid blast his head away, and not but two seconds later, there he is, standing in that weird Fold place, telling me to follow him. That don't make no sense."

Marcella pats his arm and smiles. "This realm is already at work. You're getting your accent back."

"That ain't no answer to my question... wait... what do ya mean my 'accent?'"

"You were forced to adopt another manner of speech for a while. The fact that you're reverting back to a way that's more natural for you-that's a good sign, Oliver! As for Nolan, well that's a complicated issue. For now, what you need to know is that he's an extraordinary young man. He can divide himself while in the Fold. The Nolan who sacrificed himself is also the Nolan who brought you here. It appears that his consciousness was transferred when his duplicate body failed. So you see, he never died at all. Not really."

Oliver whistles a low, I-can't-believe-I-believe-this whistle. "But why did he do it? I could've gotten away without him having to go do that to himself."

"The plan was for him to stay behind so you had a chance to get through the Fold without being pursued. And he knew if he were to be captured by the authorities, they'd do to him what they were doing to you-torture him until they were able to get the information they wanted. Plus, he needed to know if the transfer of consciousness would really happen." She gives an apple a twist and hands it to Oliver. "He has his reasons for that."

Oliver turns the apple over in his hand. "So now he's back to being just a single Nolan."

"Actually...."

"Oh, come on! You mean there's another Nolan in some other... realm somewhere?"

Marcella laughs a throaty, joyful laugh. As hard as he tries to resist, her delight soon infects him.

Finally, she pauses. Tears stream down her cheeks. "Oliver, you have no idea how happy I am to see you again."

He swallows, trying to understand his past through the worry lines etched into the corners of her mouth.

"Tell me about this Avie of yours. I want to know everything."

A/N: Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote, my lovely Wattpadians!

Now we know: Nolan can integrate his split-selves' consciousness. But only if one of them dies. What do you think Nolan is talking about when it's mentioned that he "thinks he may have found a way to set everything right?" Does he have something planned? And as for Oliver-do you think the Dry Dock will heal him?

Today's media image is courtesy of Kevin O'Mara, Flickr Creative Commons.