Flash Fiction #392-- Lost in Elsewhere, Part 2

Welcome to the new adventures of Mark, Maggie, and Edmond the talking cat.  There are three sets of adventures on the Joyously Prolific Blog.  You can find them by searching for Surviving Elsewhere, Journey to Somewhere Else, and Saving Elsewhere -- or you can find the entire set here: Tales from Elsewhere -- and you can buy the book for $1.99 with this coupon code WN38F (not case-sensitive) which you enter prior to completing their checkout.  (Good until December 31, 2020 -- pass it around to your friends!)



The world swirled with nothing real except for Edmond, who had grabbed hold of my arm with all claws and Maggie, whom I held onto so tightly that my fingers were going numb.

Magic swept everywhere around us with rope-like tendrils of bright colors, the magic so strong that it blocked our everything.  I had a sense of movement, I couldn't say for how far or for how long.

Maggie was trying to say something, but I couldn't understand the words.  I heard the sounds, but they danced around us just like the magic in the wind. Whatever she planned, Maggie was on her own. I wanted to do something as well -- but I had just enough sense to realize that the two of us doing magic in different ways would not help.

Maggie's metal wings unfurled, caught at one strong surge of wind -- and we were moving out of the storm.

I lost hold of both of them, Edmond disappearing ahead of me, and Maggie just behind. 

I came out of the whirlpool as though something had thrown me, and I landed face-down in a layer of white that fluffed up around me.  Pretty.

Right until I realized how cold I was.

Snow.

I surged to my feet and saw snow everywhere, and more coming down, while a brisk wind stirred up clouds of the stuff so that I couldn't see the landscape.  Fear surged -- until Edmond appeared just ahead of me standing shoulder deep in the stuff.  He looked at me, his eyes huge. 

"Snow," he hissed.

I didn't see Maggie at first, but then she sat up as well, not far to my left.  Some of her metal feathers had gotten bent, and she looked stunned more than startled -- right until she put out her hand as though to make sure the falling snow was real.

"Oh, this can't be good," she said.

Not exactly the words I wanted to hear.

I was about to speak when I felt movement in my jacket pocket, and Five's small black head popped out. 

A snowflake landed on her nose as she looked up at me.  "Six is in soooo much trouble."

"So are we," Maggie mumbled as she stood and brushed snow from her clothing, as though that would work for long.

"Snow," Edmond snarled and flicked snow from his ears.  "I knew there would be snow.  Of course."

I bent and picked him up.  He snuggled half into the jacket, which wasn't made for this weather.  He felt warm.  I'd have to share him with Maggie.

Five had ducked all but her ears and eyes back into the pocket, looking like a gremlin.  I could feel her tail twitch.  She apparently didn't like the snow any better than her father.

"Why didn't you see a vision of this, Edmond?" I asked as I tried to find some landmark.

"I've had nightmares from the moment I first saw the kittens," he admitted.  "Sleeping and waking.  If I came to you with every tale of disaster that I saw unfolding, you'd have locked me up."

"Are we all bad kittens?" Five asked, her voice trembling.

Edmond sighed.  He twisted a bit and looked straight into her face.  "You are the best kittens ever.  But there are six of you, and so much good and cuteness is bound to draw trouble."

"Oh," she said, as if that made sense.

Maybe it did in cat logic.
"I'd just come in from the outside."  Maggie began digging through the pack she had still be carrying.  "I think I have something that will help."

I hoped for something useful because all I had was a light jacket, a candy bar, and a bag of cat treats that I'd brought over from the human world a few days before.

"Any idea where we are?" I asked.

"Still feels like Elsewhere," Maggie said.  She paused and lifted one hand for a moment.  "Yeah, feels like it.  That's good."

"Lord Ice's lands?" I asked.

"Most likely -- ah!  Here we are!"

She pulled out an old compass, one that I had used a long time ago (or so it seemed) to reach Elsewhere when I was running for my life.

"I had this set to lead me home -- back to your father's castle -- when I was out doing work for the Council.  Your father tends to move the building whenever he feels like it.  She snapped the compass open and held it out so that we both could see.  "Ah!  Oh."

The needle pointed one way, spun, pointed another -- and kept doing that while we stared.

"What does that mean?"

"I think we're at a nexus to possibilities," she said and sounded worried again.  "That's not good.  We want to get back to our reality, not someplace with another Maggie and Mark."

"Yeah," I agreed.  I had finally found my place in life, and I didn't want to go somewhere else and never get back.

Though if another Mark didn't get randomly thrown out into the snow...

Oh, but that Mark wouldn't have the kittens, and maybe not Edmond either.  No, that wouldn't be good.  Besides, I had Maggie with me. She'd figure it out.

"What should we do?" I asked.

Maggie looked around before she lifted her hand and tested out the magic of the place.  I knew there was magic; I could feel it in every snowflake.

"I think we should go back the way we came," Maggie said.  "We all dropped here facing that way --" she pointed ahead of us.  "So, we turn around and start walking."

I had hoped for something a little more magical, but I was game to try.  Otherwise, my feet were going to freeze in place.

So, we turned and started walking.  Nothing seemed to change, and when I looked back, even our footsteps had disappeared under the new snow.

Then I heard a piercing yowl, and something huge landed in the snow in front of us.