{"id":381,"date":"2024-04-24T20:13:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T00:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=381"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:54:07","slug":"identity-theft-chapter-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/identity-theft-chapter-23\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 23"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 23\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> TCOR AU<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> T<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Gen<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> None<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> It might take a miracle for Kyra and Jack to survive Tangiers Prime\u2019s killer King Tide, or maybe just the craziest idea Jack has ever had in her life.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6aabfe6571ffb1046314508' value='6aabfe6571ffb1046314508'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6aabfe6571ffb1046314508' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6aabfe6571ffb1046314508' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6aabfe6571ffb1046314508' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6aabfe6571ffb1046314508' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">23.<br \/>\n<u>The Ocean of Elsewhere<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey MacNamera had never been afraid of the water.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Back on Deckard\u2019s World, terraformed to be a rustic back-country utopia by its planners, rivers and lakes had abounded. When people went on vacations, swimming was one of the central activities. As a toddler, Audrey had learned how to move through the water like a little fish while she was still trying to master walking on land.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But she had never found herself in the middle of an ocean before. No body of water, ocean or otherwise, had ever come to claim her like this.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cCome on,\u201d Jack told Kyra, slogging her way through the thigh-high water toward the apartment unit\u2019s outer door, \u201clet\u2019s see if we can get to the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOur cards\u2014!\u201d Kyra protested.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAll part of U1. They\u2019re safe. As long as <i>we<\/i> make it through this, they\u2019ll be waiting for us right where we left them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra splashed after her. \u201cWhat about our gear?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They had both left their bags sitting on the floor when they had hit the sack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cProbably already too late for most of the clothes and the electronics,\u201d Jack said, pulling the door open and marveling at how it and the water <i>ignored<\/i> each other\u2019s <i>existence.<\/i> \u201cThe rest\u2019ll be here when we get back. It can\u2019t pass through the walls any more than we can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe figured we\u2019d have to ditch it all if nobody in the ground crew was carrying bags, right? It\u2019s all replaceable. <i>You\u2019re<\/i> not, and neither am I.\u201d Jack found the stairwell, again finding herself surprised as the water put up no resistance against the door\u2019s opening.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Theirs was the top floor, but Jack had noticed that the stairs continued past their doorway, indicating roof access.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cPlease be unlocked, please be unlocked, please be unlocked\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">No such luck. Jack stared at the elaborate locks on the door, the overkill emphasizing that past tenants had used the roof for purposes that the landlords had taken issue with. Even if she had a really good set of lockpicks, she probably couldn\u2019t have gotten through the door.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuck,\u201d Kyra muttered. \u201cAll this way and now we drown?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack shook her head. \u201cWe can go out a window. It\u2019s late enough that nobody\u2019ll notice us floating, especially if we stay close to the building wall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJack, look.\u201d Kyra pointed at the steps below them. \u201cNo footprints. What the hell?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra was right. Under normal circumstances, their wet footprints should have been on every step.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe water\u2019s in one universe, and the stairs are in another. The only place they meet is in <i>us.\u201d<\/i> Jack shook her head, really glad that she\u2019d <i>earned<\/i> her A+ from Mr. Reilly.  She didn\u2019t think she\u2019d have managed to wrap her head around what was happening otherwise.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd our clothes, damn it. Hey, if we buy clothes here in New Marrakesh, they\u2019ll stay dry, right?\u201d Kyra started down the stairs as she talked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey should. I mean, the water\u2019ll pass right through them, so <i>we\u2019ll<\/i> still get wet, but\u2026\u201d Jack stopped talking for a second, shaking her head as she followed Kyra back down. \u201cDamn. It\u2019s just too weird to think about for long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The water had continued rising, now soaking the crotch of Jack\u2019s pants when she reached their floor again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra saw her grimace. \u201cHey, at least it\u2019s warm, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, and at least neither of us are on our fuckin\u2019 periods.\u201d She was a little amazed by that; in the past, her period had a habit of showing up at the worst possible moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>If it starts tonight, I\u2019ll know why.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShit!\u201d Kyra gasped. \u201cYou don\u2019t think there actually <i>are<\/i> sharks in these waters, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI seriously hope not.\u201d Jack opened the door to their unit again, careful about where she placed her feet. A lot of loose junk was still lying in wait in the main room, hidden by water that couldn\u2019t actually touch any of it. \u201cYou saw that little crustacean by the ramp, though, right? Something lives in this ocean. Probably a lot of somethings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Another wave rolled through the apartment, raising the water to hip level. Re-entering the bedroom, Jack moved for the nearer of the two windows, which faced south. Its view was less impressive than the west window, but more useful right then. It faced a stand of cedars that were taller than the building, cutting down on the chances that two floating girls would be seen by a midnight stroller. She shoved the screen up and leaned out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe moon\u2019s almost over us,\u201d she told Kyra, who was leaning out beside her. \u201cThe tide should peak when it is, and then it\u2019ll start to go down. We have less than an hour until it peaks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy\u2019s it so goddamn big?\u201d Kyra asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack was wondering the same thing herself. Nearly directly overhead, definitely full, and with a diameter five times as big as any satellite she\u2019d seen on Deckard\u2019s World or Helion, the moon shone balefully down on them, almost too bright to look at.  To the southeast, Jack could see two other, smaller moons, both gibbous, halfway between the huge moon and the horizon.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOh my God,\u201d Jack said, realization hitting her. She pointed at the other moons. \u201cSee those? Those are Tangiers Prime\u2019s normal moons. I mean, the two on our universe\u2019s star charts. There\u2019s no <i>mention<\/i> of a third moon, especially one this size. No wonder the tide\u2019s so high.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWait, so this moon only exists in the other universe?\u201d Kyra squinted up at it. \u201cWe\u2019re the only ones who can see it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI think we need some other way of referring to that, just in case people hear us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat, the <i>moon?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe other universe. We keep talking like that and somebody\u2019s bound to notice.\u201d Jack was nerving herself up to climb out of the window. Part of her, on some level, could sense how it was empty space below her, rather than a dozen or so fathoms of water, the same way that she\u2019d felt the empty air below her on the <i>other<\/i> side of the threshold when she\u2019d been on board the flyer. It was a vertiginous sensation. She wondered if Kyra was feeling it too; the older girl hadn\u2019t climbed out the window yet, either, and <i>she<\/i> was something of a daredevil.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo like, when we say \u2018here\u2019 we mean U1?\u201d Yeah, Kyra was stalling too. \u201cAnd when we\u2019re talking about the other universe, we say we\u2019re talking about somewhere else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cElsewhere. Yeah. We\u2019re talking about <i>Elsewhere.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cElsewhere. I like the sound of that.\u201d Kyra was exploring the brickwork of the building\u2019s outer wall with her fingers, testing for handholds. Stalling. \u201cThe reality of it? Not so much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAt least we\u2019re not on fire\u2014whoa!\u201d Jack gasped as two military copters flew low over their building, headed west at top speed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe <i>hell?\u201d<\/i> Kyra gasped. \u201cWhere are <i>they<\/i> going in such a hurry?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe hospital.\u201d Jack suddenly felt terribly cold despite the balmy water temperature. She ducked under the window\u2014realizing, as she did so, that the water had risen to the point where she had to immerse herself completely\u2014and then swam toward the west window. There was no point in walking anymore; swimming was faster. She shoved the window screen upward and pulled herself partway through the opening. Her head broke the surface of the water just as a third copter roared by.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The first two copters were closing on the hospital tower. As she watched, they turned on searchlights, illuminating the tower\u2019s roof. Only four floors of the tower were still visible; the water had almost completely engulfed the floor below them, just as it had more than halfway engulfed the apartment floor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Were there people on the roof?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i> had been a significantly larger ship than the <i>Hunter-Gratzner,<\/i> Jack recalled. Fry had mentioned that there had been forty passengers and a crew of five on board that ship. The <i>Matador<\/i> had carried five times as many passengers, plus a crew of nine. How many tower floors had they had to open to accommodate more than two hundred patients? More than the top four?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">How many of those two hundred patients were trapped on the roof now, watching the waters rise and praying that they began to recede before there was no building <i>left?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She found herself imagining what it must have been like for them, waking to the tide\u2019s arrival, calling for help from people who couldn\u2019t feel or even see the rising waters. Had they even been warned about the kind of threat they might be facing? Had the hospital staff?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The moon was almost directly overhead. Jack hoped her limited understanding of how tides worked was correct\u2014despite its abundant rivers and lakes, most of the bodies of water on Deckard\u2019s World had been too small to have active tides\u2014and that soon, very soon, the water would begin to drop back down.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra had joined her at the west window, also watching the long-distance drama at the hospital. \u201cWe\u2019re coming up on a moment of truth here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou mean, in or out?\u201d Jack, halfway out the window but still loathe to climb out completely, glanced back through its glass and into the bedroom. \u201cI think there\u2019s a real chance that this thing is going to start going down before it reaches our ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIs that a chance we should take?\u201d Kyra looked dubious.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShit. I don\u2019t know. I <i>do<\/i> know that as soon as it\u2019s safe to, I\u2019m getting the best lockpick set I can find so we can sleep up on the damned roof.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra looked like she was suppressing laughter. \u201cYou pick pockets <i>and<\/i> locks?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe it wasn\u2019t the time for such things to be amusing. Or maybe, in a moment like that, humor was the only thing left to hold onto. Jack closed her eyes and snickered. \u201cYou got me, Merc, I\u2019m a born criminal\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In that moment, it no longer seemed like such a terrible thing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJack?\u201d Kyra asked a short time later. The laughter had subsided and both of them were somberly watching the rooftop evacuation underway at the hospital.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow are we going to deal with this? I mean, high tides happen, like, twice a day, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was a sobering thought. Twice a day, every day, the tide was going to roll in and bury all of the places they needed access to under fathoms of water. Even trying to get off-world would be tricky, very nearly impossible, unless they could manage to board a ship during low tide and have it launch before the waves could return. There had been a few-hours-long window when New Marrakesh was dry in both \u2019verses, but\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Could they actually manage to chart out the tidal patterns of a three-moon world with enough accuracy to avoid getting drowned?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Or, Jack thought with sick dread, were their deaths preordained now, the way most of the <i>Hunter-Gratzner<\/i>\u2019s passengers\u2019 deaths had been from the moment it hit atmo for the last time?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she admitted. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Kyra. I didn\u2019t mean to get you into this mess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHey now. You got me <i>out<\/i> of a mess, remember?\u201d The lost look had fled the older girl\u2019s face, and her mouth quirked with humor. \u201cFuck New Dartmouth. I never want to see that shithole again. I\u2019d rather get eaten by a shark from another dimension. Least that\u2019ll give me some fun stories to tell in Heaven, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Something about that caught Jack\u2019s attention. <i>Eaten by a shark from another dimension\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">What would that meal be like for such a creature? How much of its meal would actually be substantial? What would be left behind on the other side? Gruesome as the thought was, suddenly Jack found herself wondering about the conflicting laws of physics their bodies were dealing with at that very moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They were floating in water, buoyed up by it, because it existed in one universe even as open air existed in another. The water could flow unimpeded through walls that simply didn\u2019t exist for it, but they couldn\u2019t do the same. For them, the walls and the water were both real, and somehow both sets of universes\u2019 rules simultaneously affected them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>If I finished climbing out of the window and let go, I would float, not fall\u2026<\/i> And yet a part of her could feel the gravity of U1\u2019s New Marrakesh trying to contradict that. She wondered, suddenly, if she <i>would<\/i> float, or if she would find herself not falling but sinking down to what was simultaneously street and seafloor\u2026 and drowning.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Shuddering with the thought, she pulled herself through the window and back into the mostly-flooded bedroom. She needed to test this, find out, but not somewhere where the result of her experiment could kill her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra surfaced next to her a moment later. \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI need to test something,\u201d she said, treading water. That didn\u2019t feel any more difficult than it ever had. \u201cBefore we do something that could get us killed. I need to figure out how this all works.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow what all works?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBeing in two universes at once.\u201d Jack kicked up, arcing her body so that she could float on her back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The water held her up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOh,\u201d Kyra said. \u201c<i>Oh.<\/i> Fuck, I didn\u2019t even <i>think<\/i> of that. I kept feeling like I was gonna plummet straight down but I couldn\u2019t figure out why.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLooks like we\u2019re probably safe from that, at least.\u201d Jack let herself drift for a moment. If the stakes weren\u2019t so damned high, she thought, what they were doing right then could have been <i>fun.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She mentally slapped herself. Their fellow passengers from the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i> could be dying, right that moment, and she was thinking about <i>fun?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She made herself focus on her task again. The resistance of the water was holding her up in both worlds, even though the lack of resistance in the other world should have pulled her down. And the obstruction of the walls and doors, floors and ceilings, limited her movement in virtually every direction even though none of them existed in the world of water\u2014in Elsewhere. Higher densities, in either \u2019verse, trumped lower densities and shaped the way she could interact with either world, or both of them at once. She could fly through the air of U1 by swimming through Elsewhere\u2019s water\u2026 but she couldn\u2019t pass through U1\u2019s walls as she swam.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>But\u2026 what if I could?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cIt can\u2019t pass through the walls any more than we can,\u201d<\/i> she\u2019d said to Kyra, secure in the knowledge that even if the tide caught up their meager possessions and whirled them around the apartment, it couldn\u2019t pull them out into the open water if all of the doors and windows were shut. Too much of them belonged to both \u2019verses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But earlier that day, she\u2019d held one of the recalcitrant universe-straddling cash cards in her hand, trying to will it to <i>just<\/i> exist in the universe where its strip and its chip needed to be read\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2026and it had worked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Was there a way for them to do that with <i>themselves?<\/i> Orient themselves to just one universe? Slip through walls as if they weren\u2019t there, or, alternately\u2026 stand on the ground, with a sea engulfing them on every side\u2026 and breathe air and not even feel damp?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Could she will <i>herself<\/i> back into the <i>dry<\/i> version of their unit, the one that existed in U1 alone?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Could she choose to be bound by just one world\u2019s physics?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck. I have to try. If it somehow works, we won\u2019t have to worry about when high tide is likely to be.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack swam over to the corner of the room with the grubby bed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>If I can make myself fall through the air instead of floating on water\u2026 I want to fall on something soft.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Floating above the mattress, Jack closed her eyes, concentrating on the way her body had felt as she was going to sleep a few hours earlier. Dry air on dry skin, dry clothes against her skin as well, the cool, comfortable sensation of having taken off that damned blonde wig\u2026 dry. Surrounded by air. Held down by gravity that air wasn\u2019t strong enough to resist.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I am not in water,<\/i> she thought. <i>I am surrounded by air. I am not <b>in<\/b> a world where the ocean can touch me like this. No water is touching me. No water is touching me.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Nothing happened, except another wave rolled through and lifted her body a tiny bit higher.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>The water is not part of me. No water is touching me. I am not where the water is. The water is not where I am, the water is Elsewhere\u2014<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She landed on the mattress with a hard thump.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her clothes, she realized, were still soaked. But the water\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was all around her, and yet it wasn\u2019t. Surrounding her, she could see <i>something.<\/i> Something blue-green, bright where moonbeams struck it, shading deeper and deeper the further away it was. A wild shimmer above her showed her exactly where the ocean\u2019s surface was, still roughly two feet below the ceiling. She could still see the water from Elsewhere, but\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She took a short, shallow breath, nervous that she would find herself suddenly choking on brine, but air filled her lungs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I did it. I <b>did<\/b> it,<\/i> she thought with giddy joy. <i>How the fuck did I do it?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra floated above her, suspended in the aquamarine air, arms and legs in motion as she turned around and around, looking for\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Looking for me,<\/i> Jack thought with a grin. She got up from the mattress and walked over to Kyra, reaching up and tugging her hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra immediately began thrashing, and Jack had to duck a wild kick.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Damn, she\u2019s probably thinking \u201cshark!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack climbed back onto the mattress and stood up on it. The top of her head was almost touching the ceiling. She would be visible to Kyra now.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKyra! I figured it out!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJack, something grabbed me\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSorry! Sorry, that was me. Come over here! I figured out how to make it so we can breathe U1\u2019s air even when we\u2019re underwater.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou <i>what?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGet over here and I\u2019ll show you. I\u2019ll explain everything, I swear!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou can\u2019t be serious!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra, she realized, was beginning to panic. With so little space left between the water\u2019s surface and the apartment\u2019s ceiling, that was inevitable. How could she prove it\u2014?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSmack your hand down on the water, Kyra!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFine! Fucking <i>fine,<\/i> Jack! What the fuck is going on with this <i>bullshit\u2014\u201d<\/i> Kyra smacked her arm down on the water, making it splash around her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNow! Watch me!\u201d Jack lifted her arm above the surface of the water, holding it out, and then slapping it down. Her arm passed through the water as if either it, or the water, was a hologram.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2026 the\u2026 <i>fuck?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGet <i>over<\/i> here and I\u2019ll show you how!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBecause the bed\u2019s over here! When the water stops holding you up, you\u2019ll want to land on something soft!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou think that damned thing is <i>soft!?\u201d<\/i> But Kyra was swimming over. Jack took her hands and guided her until they were both above the mattress, Jack standing on it, Kyra treading water.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFloat on your back,\u201d Jack told her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra gave her a dubious look but obeyed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cClose your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThis is some seriously freaky bugfuck shit, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI know. Close your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra released a deep, gusty sigh of frustration and shut her eyes, grimacing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI want you to think about how it felt when you were dry, earlier tonight. No water on you, just air against your skin and your dry clothes. Dry hair. Warm. Imagine feeling like that now, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOkay\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd now you need to tell yourself this. Think these words to yourself as I say them, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOkay\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI am not in the water. I\u2019m surrounded by air. No water is touching me. I\u2019m not where the water is. The water isn\u2019t where I am. I\u2019m here and the water is Elsewhere.\u201d Jack took a breath and began to repeat the mantra.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For the first time in her life, she truly understood why repetition was so important.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra joined her on the third repetition. \u201cI am not in the water, I\u2019m surrounded by air\u2026 no water is touching me\u2026 I\u2019m not where the water is\u2026 the water isn\u2019t where I am. I\u2019m here and the water is\u2014holy <i>fuck!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">With another loud thump, Kyra landed on the mattress. She gasped, staring wildly around her, and for a moment Jack thought she was going to scream. Then she burst into peals of laughter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack sat down next to her, feeling immeasurable relief. There had been a moment of terrible fear that, although <i>she<\/i> had figured out how to survive beneath another universe\u2019s waters, Kyra wouldn\u2019t be able to. That, once again, she would come through unscathed and lose someone she loved.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And when the hell, Jack thought with astonishment, had <i>that<\/i> happened?<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 23\/? Fandom: TCOR AU Rating: T Warnings: Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language Category: Gen ","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d chapter 23 by Ardath Rekha","bgseo_description":"It might take a miracle for Kyra and Jack to survive Tangiers Prime\u2019s killer King Tide, or maybe just the craziest idea Jack has ever had in her life.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1201,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions\/1201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}