Peppermint

Chapter 35 - still feel.

***GABE***

I'm afraid to ask Elliot...well...anything. He's not particularly inviting with his paranormal floaty-lightning thing going on. I don't care if he currently looks like my cousin; I still don't want to talk to him if I can avoid it. But I'm going to have to if I can get him to open up about what the hell he's got in mind.

Like, for instance, "Where are we going?" Which I ask.

Or, "How do you remember this shit and I don't?" Which Kensi asks.

Elliot gives no answer. Instead, he leads us deeper and deeper into the basement, down another two floors. Just how many floors of basement are there? Peppermint must have a shit-ton of research projects going on. Or maybe they just needed all the storage space for those time-viewing meteorites. Which might explain why they just let us go with a sample of them earlier, if they had more than enough to make up for what would be missing.

It's at the end of the third basement floor's main corridor that Elliot stops short in front of another door. "What is it, boy?" I ask. "You smell something?"

"I'm kinda insulted you compared him to a dog, frankly," Kensi says with a snort. "He's so much more a cat kind of person."

"Who are you talking about?" TJ's voice sounds like it's come back, but maybe still a shade lower. Unless it's Elliot imitating him to try and fuck with us? "I am a dog person! I swear to God!"

"Welcome back, TJ," I say, only to look down and see that he's still floating off the ground. Not as much as he was, say, five minutes ago. Now he just looks like he's standing on an invisible scale. And clearly, I spoke too soon.

"What?" he asks. "Oh wait, you thought I was my twin...wait. I'm in a straight boy's body? Oh my God, help!" He hits the floor, bouncing around on the spot and spinning three hundred and sixty degrees like he's trying to shake off some evil spirit. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"I like this one better," Kensi says. "Can we keep him?"

"NO!" I cry at the same time that not-TJ-and-also-not-Elliot does.

"Come on, are you kidding?" Kensi points at us both, one after the other, while she belly-laughs. "I mean, you two are both yummy as hell gay boys - um, you're gay now?"

"I'm supposed to be," says not-TJ. "When I'm in my own body, which right now this guy Elliot's borrowed from me for some reason. Uh, I'm AK, by the way. TJ's twin brother. Identical in every way that matters except two."

"One of you being gay and the other being straight?"

"Mm-hmm," AK says. "That, and he's got glasses while I don't." AK adjusts those glasses, then pulls them up and says, "Yeah, that's...not good. Ow. Owwwwww! What a fucking headache!"

"Why would you take the glasses off?" I ask.

"I'm not used to having eyesight this bad! I just wanted to see for myself!" He pauses before adding, "Um, pun not intended?"

"Well, what the hell are you doing here?" I ask. "Aren't you supposed to be in Prime?"

"I was!" he cries. "I was there with Alex, and then that Elliot dude, he took my body, but now he's put me here for some reason..." He shakes his head, probably hoping to clear himself out of it, but it doesn't work. "I swear, Elliot's a troll."

"You can say that again."

Kensi passes both us boys and reaches out to open the door. "What do you think's on the other side?" she asks. "Our friends?"

"Do you remember exactly where you came from?" I ask her.

"No, but this is sort of that general area...?"