Werifesteria

• || seven || •

That broke Logan's mental focus. He leaned backwards so far that he toppled off the bed, landing on the carpet with a loud THUD. Penny and Kasey both rushed over at grab him, hauling him back up and wrapping their arms around him.

"A forest that connects worlds?" Kasey repeated. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Like an alternate universe, perhaps," Penny suggested, pointing at the screen. The words were slowly fading away, but not fast enough that they were still there.

"That's impossible," argued her girlfriend.

"I mean, some person named Melissa is talking to us through Logan's computer and claims to be from beyond Everland." Penny raised her eyebrows. "Anything is possible."

Kasey turned to the computer screen. "Are you an FBI agent?" she asked bluntly. Logan wanted to reach over and smack her, because he knew what the answer was going to be. He remained silent as the girls chattered over him. Was this even real? Was it a dream? Was anything actually real?

i answer to logan. At that, Kasey scowled.

He frowned, a chill going down his spine. "How do you know so much about me?" he asked. Then he added, "Melissa."

your computer easy hack, she responded. The words were quickly replaced by, need your help too.

"Why?" Logan wanted to help this girl, if what she was saying was true, but he also wanted his answers. Get back on topic, he silently told himself. Find out where Everland is.

scary man trapped me.

"In Everland?"

in everland without escape.

Logan glanced at the girls. "What do you want me to do?" he forced himself to ask. He realized how his entire body was frozen, his hands white from clenching his knuckles so hard.

save me, Melissa said. ryder too.

—

Fifteen minutes later, Logan had all the information he needed. Kasey had scribbled down the whole conversation with computer-hacker-Melissa-from-an-alternate-universe.

"We're going to Everland soon, my trusty colleagues," he announced the next day. "We're going to save Melissa and find Ryder."

—

Kasey was still skeptical of Melissa—she was convinced that the hacker was a government spy—but Logan tried to have faith in her. In this situation, Logan had to go completely against his personality and trust a random stranger. Even if Melissa was leading them to their deaths, he knew that on this mission he was going to get some answers. And he wouldn't stop until he knew for sure.

They had some answers about Everland and Melissa at least. If what Melissa said was true, she was a 24-year-old college girl from Earth (even though Melissa also said she came from a world with magic). She said she lived in a country called Vanos (which obviously didn't exist on Earth) and was one of the few Vani people in her country who spoke English, which was a dead language on their Earth.

Melissa didn't know Minnesota or America or Europe or anything that existed on Logan's Earth. She claimed to be from an alternate universe of sorts, which made no sense to Logan.

Logan didn't believe in magic. He found the multiverse theory interesting, certainly, but he never. actually believed in an alternate world. Other planets, yes. But not other worlds. He and Penny grew up with strict Catholic parents, but neither of the two siblings believed in an almighty god. The two were logical and had a deep appreciation for science.

Well, Logan did, at least. Penny liked philosophy and history and learning about what happened long ago. Logan loved the universe and the Earth and learning about everything and everyone.

So when Melissa said she was from an alternate universe, Logan knew the chances were slim of it being true. Every scientific and logical part of his brain screamed at him that she was lying. But there was still a possibility that she was telling the truth, and that Everland really was a forest that existed in every universe and linked them all together.

Maybe it was also true that Everland moved across each universe every day and found a new home, and that it only returned to the same place every thirty years, following the same routine for three decades over and over again. And maybe, thirty years ago, Ryder Hemingway saw something he shouldn't have and was forced into hiding in Everland.

And maybe, just maybe, on the first day of December, only two months from now, Everland would return to where it was when Ryder entered it, and Logan would be able to find him.