Two Minds

Zack Bishop jolted awake, looking around the weird, shadowy field that he found himself in. Beneath him was grass, but it was black rather than green, and a heavy blue fog hung in the air.

“What the hell?” Zack groaned, rising to his feet.

There was nothing in his surroundings, no structure or any sign of life, just more black grass and azure fog.

The last he could remember he was… he had just entered the living room, right? Back at the House Bishop medieval manor?

He had his aunt Louise on his arm, and he’d seen Heather, he was SO close to finding another one of his friends, and then he’d… he’d what, blacked out and woken up in this weird field?

Medieval times were closely associated with witchcraft, but magic wasn’t real. Then again… it was pretty damn magical how Zack had arrived in the medieval world. If the Knight Club was some kind of… magic nightclub, it stood to reason that magic had to exist on this side of the portal, in order to bring them through. Right? Did that make sense?

With nothing to do in this foggy field but walk and think, Zack set off walking, hoping that eventually he would appear back in the medieval world. Zack didn’t want to be back in the real world, not without his friends. He’d rather be stuck in that weird, medieval world with his close friends than be home without them.

As he walked through the seemingly endless fog, Zack pondered over what he had left to do in the medieval world.

Heather was a princess, so, not hard to find, but also probably not that easy to access, and she couldn’t stay close, she’d have to go back to the castle frequently.

Zack had yet to locate Brandon, but he and Ashley had found that medieval Brandon worked at House Woodsen before Zack and his friends got dropped into the bodies of their medieval selves. But sometime before they arrived, medieval Brandon ran away from House Woodsen after medieval Damon Woodsen (Ashley’s father) beat him, apparently.

Zack had saved Skye from his medieval father’s creepy little dungeon, and then she’d gone off to find Lisa while Zack and Ashley had gone after Chloe.

Speaking of Chloe, no word had come about Chloe getting back to the McRose manor and she hadn’t showed up, so who knows what’s going on with medieval Chloe?

Ashley was safe at House Bishop, but Zack knew she couldn’t stay for too long without raising suspicions.

As for Trent… well, Zack wasn’t very close with him, but he did know that there was a House Thornton, thought it was a very minor house, according to Monica.

Zack pondered how to find his friends for a little bit longer, and then he bumped into some kind of invisible **** field.

The azure fog was bouncing off of the shield. Zack put out his hands and touched the invisible wall, and slowly moved closer to it, until his face was pressed against the **** field.

He tried to peer through the **** field, squinting. It was a little hard to see because of the swirling azure fog, but Zack was pretty sure he saw Heather laughing.

It was like some kind of first person view, so Zack saw like, a screen with Heather on it rather than seeing her in person.

Zack saw on the screen Heather stand up and lean in to plant a kiss on the cheek of whoever’s eyes Zack was seeing through.

Then, she walked away. The azure fog began to clear, and then the **** field dropped and Zack staggered.

A person appeared in front of Zack. The person was the medieval version of him, so he was twenty, muscular, and wore medieval clothes.

Zack was eighteen, lean, and in cargo shorts and a T-shirt.

“So. You are the person who came and took my body from me.” the medieval version of Zack said in a pretentious voice.

“Who are you?” Zack asked, blinking.

“Lord Zachary of House Bishop.” the medieval version of Zack said snobbily.

“Right. Well, uh, my name’s Zack. I’m not from your world. I don’t know how I got here, and I really didn’t mean to take over your body, I just… I guess I landed in your body.” Zack sighed.

“You are from another world?” Zachary blinked.

“Yes. It has all the same people as in this world, but it’s different. There’s these, uh, futuristic inventions, like carriages that go really fast, or ways to talk to people from vast distances so you don’t have to send letters. I don’t really know how I got in this world, and I just want to get my friends and go back to my world.” Zack pleaded.

“I have seen you consorting with that seductive thief my father had prisoner, along with Lady Ashley of House Woodsen, but they were not behaving normally.” Zachary confessed.

“Wait, you’ve been watching me?” Zack blinked.

“Yes, I have.” Zachary said shamelessly.

“Well, yeah. Skye and Ashley, they came to this world with me. I also came with Heather Ravers, Chloe McRose, Lisa Rivera, Brandon Cole, and Trent Thornton.” Zack explained.

“So… Princess Heather, she also has an invader in her mind?” Zachary frowned.

“I don’t know. You talked with her. Did she seem any different?” Zack asked.

“No, she did not. However… the ring on her index finger, I saw a flash the exact same color as its’ gemstone when I was put back in control of my body.” Zachary admitted.

“What, you think the ring kicked me out of control?” Zack asked.

“It is possible. I have never seen the princess wear such a ring, but I am also not close friends with her, so it is possible the ring is not new.” Zachary stated.

Zack rubbed his forehead.

“Alright, so if the ring she’s wearing got rid of me, odds are that the Heather from my world isn’t in control. Maybe she’s never been.” Zack said, “But I can’t get close to her and get the ring, so… can you help me with that?”

“You want me to pilfer a ring from the princess of Azure Rocks?” Zachary asked in disbelief.

“Oh, so this area is still called Azure Rocks? I was expecting it to have some kind of fancy medieval name.” Zack grinned, “But, I dunno, I saw her smiling and laughing at whatever you were saying, so I don’t think it would be that hard to just ask for the ring.”

“How are you confident that I will not keep the ring so you can’t ever come back and take control of me?” Zachary questioned.

Oh. Zack hadn’t thought of that.

“I mean… I have to hope that you’re a nice enough guy to not screw me over like that, I guess. And if you do this, it’ll speed up me leaving your body for good.” Zack appealed. Zachary considered that.

“I see. I’ll do what I can to take the ring. But if you came to this world by magic, it might be hard for you to be able to undo it. If it goes on too long, what say you we split time in control, so that I am not stuck to wander this dreary field?” Zachary suggested.

Zack nodded.

“Yeah, alright. You get that ring and get rid of it, and we can start splitting time in control.” Zack agreed, relieved.

“I’ll do my best to acquire the ring. How far do I need to take it so that it no longer has an effect on you?” Zachary asked.

“I have no clue. I only lost control once I walked into the same room as Heather, so I doubt it’s got too big of an area of effect.” Zack answered.

“I think I understand. I’ll give it to one of the carriage drivers and tell them to take it over to the neighboring town. It shouldn’t give you or your friends any trouble from over there.” Zachary said.

“Alright. Thank you, Zachary.” Zack smiled.

———

Zachary jolted back to reality, and he saw the retreating form of Princess Heather. If he was going to get that ring for the younger version of him who had taken up residency in his head, he needed to act fast.

“Princess Heather!” Zachary called, and the beautiful princess turned, her blue eyes curious.

Zachary strode forwards, and took Princess Heather’s hand, lifting it up.

“This ring is very beautiful.” Zachary smiled, touching the azure ring.

“Oh, thank you. I’ve only had it for a few weeks, but I like it as well.” Princess Heather smiled at Zachary.

“Princess Heather, I hope you do not mind my asking, but could I have that ring?” Zachary asked. The princess looked a little confused.

“Why?” she asked.

Zachary hesitated.

“My sister.” he blurted, “She would love that ring.”

Princess Heather looked a little surprised, but she smiled.

“It’s sweet you care about your sister so much.” Princess Heather said softly, and slid the ring off her finger, placing it in Zachary’s hand.

“Thank you.” Zachary smiled.

The princess smiled and walked away, and Zachary turned and ran as soon as she was gone. He reached the carriage driver quickly and gave him hurried instructions on what to do with the ring, and then ran back. He hadn’t ran far when he gasped.

Zack was back in control. He flexed his fingers and blinked in confusion.

Do not forget our bargain, Zachary said in Zack’s head.

I won’t, Zack thought back.

Then, he ran back towards the manor, and he got back to the room where Zachary and medieval Heather had been talking.

There, he found Heather waiting, looking dazed.

“Heather?” Zack asked warily.

“Zack! It’s me. The real Heather.” Heather smiled, and she ran forwards. Zack was absolutely floored when Heather threw her arms around him. Heather Ravers wasn’t much of a hugger, but then again, she had probably just spent the last day and a bit in that foggy field, alone, with no idea of what was happening.

Zack hugged Heather back, mostly out of reflex.