Elaine was really unsure as to how she’d ended up here. Since escaping from The Singularity, she’d been tossed around the multiverse with a band of strangers. Now here she was with Derrick, who was some sort of shapeshifter, on some strange Earth. Kevin was nice, though. In fact, he might be the person who had been the nicest to her in her entire life, though her training with The Singularity had made memories from before blurry, at best. She did miss Kevin. He had an unassuming naivete about him that made him easier to talk to than the others. They were all full of confidence, and driven towards their goals. Elaine had the feeling that Kevin was more like her; drifting at the whims of the multiverse.
“There!” Derrick exclaimed, causing Elaine to jump. “Earth-211!” Elaine followed his pointing finger, embarrassed that she’d stopped helping, and saw a screen that was focused on a strange flying car and a pink ice cream truck. At the top of the screen, above the vehicles, was a graphic showing Cassia and Grit’s faces, along with one of an older man she didn’t recognize. The headline below them was startling. Moreng and Patterson escape with high interest prisoner in brazen prison break.
As she watched, many of the other screens began to show the same footage, with similar wording. The room seemed to pause for a second, as everyone in it recognized that major news was breaking. One of the men with a lanyard around his neck reached out and turned up the volume of one of the screens with a news anchor.
“...and Thorn. Sources are saying that the three of them were in detainment for less than an hour before causing an explosion in their cell. As of now, we have still not confirmed who the prisoner is that the three took with them, but we will update you as more information comes in.” The man turned the volume back down, and Elaine felt as if all the eyes in the room were staring at her and Derrick. There was a long pause before Derrick finally spoke.
“Look, I’ll admit my friends have a…disagreement with the IPF. But last time I checked, the Switchboard was an entity unto itself, and messages could be sent regardless of your affiliation.” Elaine was surprised at the intensity in Derrick’s voice, and his facial features somehow seemed more stern than she remembered. WIth a start, she realized that he was likely manipulating them in order to match his voice. What a useful talent.
“I am needing to communicate with them,” Derrick continued, his voice still loud and firm. “Does the Switchboard still provide messaging services?” There was another short pause, and Elaine briefly thought that the rest of the room might simply ignore him.
“For a fee,” the second man with the lanyard spoke up finally. “Although, I’m not sure our capabilities extend to an Earth as far away as 211.”
“Thank you,” Derrick said, his voice less intense. “We will need your service in a moment, assuming my friends are able to jump away from 211.” The man in the lanyard nodded at this, and slowly the room returned to its normal busyness. Elaine leaned over to Derrick.
“That was impressive,” she whispered. Derrick gave a tiny shiver.
“Thanks,” he said quietly. “I hate talking in front of people.” Elaine looked at him closer, and noticed a slight tremble to his hands. She smiled, in what she hoped was a comforting way.
“Me either,” she replied. “So thanks for doing that. Now we just have to do what? Watch the screen and see if they jump? Will we be able to follow them to another Earth?” Derrick nodded, and leaned back in his chair to get a wider view of all the screens.
“The Switchboard has some sort of closely guarded secret around how they track jumps,” he explained. “But however they do it, they pay close attention to the most newsworthy people and organizations. If they jump, we should see -” He was cut off from further explanation by a chime that sounded throughout the room.
“IPF Tracker - jump from Earth-211 to Earth-73,” an automated voice said. As soon as it finished, there was a second chime. The room quickly returned to normal. Derrick raised his eyebrows, looking impressed.
“They really have upgraded this place since the last time I was here,” he said. “Now we need to find a feed of Earth-73.”
One of the screens fuzzed for a moment, and then blinked back on to show the pink ice cream truck they had seen earlier. Right behind it was the other car, though it wasn’t flying anymore. Elaine glanced at Derrick, who looked thoughtful.
“Something is familiar about this,” he muttered, rubbing his chin. Elaine glanced back at the screen, watching the ice cream truck lead the other car.
“How does the Switchboard have cameras everywhere?” she asked. Derrick chuckled softly.
“That is a good question,” he replied. “I think you’d be surprised at everything the Switchboard can do, even if their building seems so commonplace.” He went back to his musing for a moment, then glanced back at Elaine.
“Perhaps it is for just that reason that they are able to be so effective,” he said contemplatively. He turned back to the screen, and the two of them watched as both cars turned off the road and started bouncing down a long dirt drive. Eventually they approached a small cottage, with an extremely pointed roof of thatch. Elaine heard Derrick breath in sharply, and she glanced over at him. He was staring at the screen with a stunned expression.
“I’ve been there,” he said. “I know that house.”
“You have? Who lives there?” Elaine asked, excitedly. Maybe they would be able to reunite with Kevin, and the others, after all.
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“A leprechaun, believe it or not,” Derrick replied. Elaine snorted, but then looked at Derrick’s serious face and realized he was not joking.
“Wait, really?” Elaine asked, and Derrick nodded solemnly.
“Really,” he answered. “Worst of all, I just remembered why I thought that Earth-73 was familiar.” Elaine watched the screen as Grit and Cassia stepped out of the car, followed by a man that she was fairly certain was another Elias Thorn, and a child who she didn’t recognize. They were joined by Kevin, Mel, a woman in a jumpsuit, and a large rabbit. Elaine blinked a few times, but the rabbit was still there. She realized that Derrick hadn’t finished his thought, and looked over to find him still staring unblinkingly at the screen.
“Why is it familiar?” she prompted. “And why is that the worst thing?” Derrick glanced over at her.
“Earth-73 is dangerous,” he said slowly. “Because it’s the only Earth in the Initial Hundred that has magic.”
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Grit shut his car door and apprehensively followed the others up to the door of the cottage. It looked like a house out of a fairytale. According to Thorn, they were somewhere in Ireland, on Earth-73. Strangely, they’d seen almost no other cars in the short time that they’d spent on the road after jumping. There had been quite a few sheep, though. The group reached the front door, and Anna knocked on it. Thorn had suggest coming here, and apparently the two bounty hunters had worked with the owner of the cottage multiple times. All three had insisted that it was a safe place to hide from the IPF for now, though Thorn had clammed up when they asked for additional information about either the occupant or the universe. He’d only promised to explain more later.
“Maybe they aren’t home?” Cassia asked, after they had waited for a couple of minutes. The large rabbit, whose name was Grit thought might be Gerald, turned towards Cassia.
“No way, he never leaves,” the rabbit said. “He’s probably just hiding to make sure that we’re serious.” He suddenly leaned forward and kicked the door three times in rapid succession with his back leg.
“That should do it,” he said cheerfully. After a moment, the door opened a crack.
“There be no need t’be banging down me door!” The voice inside was high pitched and cranky sounding. “Ah, it’s you.”
The door swung open wider to reveal the shortest man Grit had ever seen. He had a wide bulbous nose, and wispy red hair that was streaked thoroughly with gray. His beard was long and patchy, and he wore a faded green jacket over a dirty green button down.
“I see ye brought guests,” the man said grumpily, squinting up at the group. “Best come in, ‘fore ye be seen.” He stepped back from the doorway, into the gloom of the house. Anna and Gerald led the way in, and Grit was shocked at how big the interior of the house seemed. He could’ve sworn that the outside wasn’t nearly as big as the inside. The group passed through the main hallway and into a large dining area. The table at the center appeared to be carved from a giant tree trunk that was growing straight out of the floor. He watched Anna and Gerald settle down at the table as if they’d been there many times before.
“Bloody good ter be back, eh Gerald?” Anna said with a sigh. The rabbit nodded, or at least Grit thought that it did.
“It sure is,” Gerald said. “Thanks for inviting us in, Eli.” The short man grunted as he busted around the kitchen doing something Grit couldn’t see.
“Didn’t have no choice,” he grumbled, then returned to the big table carrying a tray loaded with cups of tea. Grit wondered how he’d made tea so quickly, but he happily accepted his cup. This place seemed to be constantly chilly.
“Are you a leprechaun?” the child asked abruptly. Mel laughed, sitting backwards in her seat. Grit nervously watched the short man to see how he’d take the question. They called this kid the Eldest, but he seemed very much like a child. When he did speak, that is. He often just remained silent. Their host squinted at the kid.
“Sure am,” he said. “What gave me away, the stature or the hair?” He suddenly burst into loud guffaws. The other chuckled in an embarrassed sort of way. The kid, however, didn’t laugh but simply blinked across the table at the man.
“Neither,” the Eldest replied in an even tone. “It was because you did magic.” The odd man’s bushy eyebrows shot up in surprise. In fact, looking around, Grit determined that the only person not surprised by this was Cassia, for some reason.
“Ye be a smart kid,” the man said before turning to Gerald. “Now tell me why I be servin’ ye tea.”
“Well, Eli, we’re kind of on the run from the IPF,” the rabbit replied, then gestured towards the Eldest. “This kid here is important to them for some reason. Something to do with the multiverse unraveling or something. Ask them about that.” He pointed towards Mel before continuing..
“All I really know is that we’ve grabbed two bounties in a row now with no extra funding to show for it. This is how bounty hunters go broke, you know.” He addressed the last comment to Anna, who just rolled her eyes at them.
“The IPF ye say?” said the man. “S’pose I can help. Wait here.” He suddenly vanished with a faint popping sound and brief flash of colors. Cassia yelped, and jumped up from the table, while Grit tried to blink away the after image of the light.
“What was that?” Cassia exclaimed. “Where did he go?” Anna and Mel were laughing at both of them, but Gerald just rolled his eyes. Or, at least, Grit thought that he did. Kevin just sat in his chair looking tired, which Grit thought was normal. Mel, though, had done less talking than he remembered.
“Old Eli loves showing off. He probably just teleported to the end of the driveway to make sure his wards are in place,” the rabbit exclaimed. Grit frowned.
“Teleported?” he repeated, as a question. Thorn nodded at him from across the table.
“The kid was right,” he said, glancing at the Eldest who was sitting next to him. “Eli is, in fact, a leprechaun. This Earth is the only one in the Initial Hundred that has actual magic.” Grit shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the information, while the rest of the room started talking at the same time. That was the problem with jumping universes. Things got sideways quickly.
“And on top of that,” Thorn continued. “He should be able to help us with Kevin. I’m increasingly certain that we’re going to need him in order to get the kid back.”
“Kevin?” Grit asked, glancing over at a very surprised looking Kevin. “Our Kevin?” Thorn nodded at him and, oddly enough, so did Cassia. She leaned forward.
“Yeah, our friend Kevin,” she said. “I’m pretty sure he’s got some sort of super power.” There was a moment of silence, until Kevin sighed heavily.
“Unfortunately, I think she’s right.”