=::= Emily's PoV =::=

"Are you both ready?" Skye asked quietly.

I nodded, "Yeah, I think so."

I felt a little anxious but also kind of excited. The first time she swept me off the planet there was no warning and I had no idea what was happening, but this time I had some time to think about it and get ready for it. I even packed lunch, I was carrying a cooler bag full of sandwiches I made.

Danni was carrying a cooler box like you'd take camping. She looked about the same as I felt, anxious and excited. Maybe a little more anxious. She'd never done this before so she really didn't know what to expect.

"I guess I'm ready," she finally responded.

Today was Saturday, it was just past one in the afternoon, and the three of us were standing at the back of the building behind their shops, next to the emergency exit. Both Danni and I were dressed for the mid-October weather, I was in skinny-jeans and sneakers and I had a fall jacket on over a cute v-neck tee. Danni wore jeans and ankle-boots, and had a black leather jacket.

And Skye was just wearing that same short-sleeve black dress. I'd never seen her wear anything else, though this was only the fourth time I'd actually seen her. About the only thing that was different about her was the metal rings in her earlobes that she got back on Wednesday.

Unlike me and Danni, Skye wasn't carrying anything. She didn't have a purse and she wasn't carrying a cooler. I assumed whatever she was planning on bringing was already waiting for us at our destination.

"Then here we go," Skye said with a very slight smile.

Danni seemed to cringe a little but I tried to pay attention, I wanted to see how it happened. There was no sensation of movement, no sensation at all really. The only noticeable change was everything went dark until my eyes adjusted.

The three of us were standing on that barren rocky landscape with the yellow tinge, and behind us was Skye's black leather sofa. She took a moment to clear it of the sulphur dust that accumulated since her last visit, then the three of us sat down together. I ended up in the middle, with Danni on my left and Skye on my right.

The older girl had a completely stunned look on her face as she stared at Jupiter. The biggest planet in the solar system hung there impossibly close as it slowly turned above us.

I was impressed too, but I wasn't as blown away this time. And it did occur to me how weird that felt, like an afternoon picnic on Io had become something I did with my new friends. Not that I didn't appreciate how unusual it was, but I figured having been here before and knowing ahead of time I was coming back made a difference.

It also occurred to me that being a teenage girl now maybe made a difference too. Like I was wound-up pretty tight when I was a stressed-out middle-aged cop and closeted trans woman. And at the time I was already kind of losing it. Now I still had stuff stressing me out, but maybe I was a little more flexible and willing to accept and believe in impossible stuff.

I finally looked to my left and asked softly, "Danni? Are you going to be ok?"

The blonde slowly took her eyes off Jupiter and turned to look at me, then at Skye.

She gulped, "This is... I mean it's incredible, but impossible. Like there's no air here is there? How are we alive?"

Skye smiled and told Danni the same stuff she told me the first time I was here. "I've created a pocket of Earth-like conditions to keep you comfortable. Breathable air, suitable temperature, familiar gravity, and so on. And I'm shielding us from Jupiter's radiation and magnetic field."

"Huh," Danni said quietly as she turned to stare at the enormous gas giant again.

I found myself smiling as I looked back and forth at my two companions then asked, "So who's hungry? I brought sandwiches. I made ham and swiss, tuna, and I have a couple hot calabrese salami..."

With a blush I added, "I kind of liked those in my last life, but I'm not sure I still do now."

Skye had a faint smile on her face as she said, "Perhaps a bit predictable, but I'll try a tuna sandwich please."

I grinned and unzipped my cooler bag. I had the sandwiches in plastic containers to keep them fresh, and I made two of each so there'd be plenty. I pulled out the container with the tuna and Skye took a half sandwich out, then I looked at my other friend. "Danni?"

She looked back at me then apologized, "Sorry. I'm still uh, getting used to this. But that last one sounded good? The salami?"

I got that out and she took half of one, I had the other half, then put the rest back for now. Before we all got eating, Danni opened her cooler as well. "I've got some soda incase you two don't drink, I've got some beers incase you want to try a drink, and I brought a little carton of milk since I remembered that's what you had at the cafe Skye."

"Milk for me please," Skye replied. "Thank you for thinking of that."

I blushed, "I'm only seventeen, I won't be legal to drink for two more years."

Danni shrugged, "Drinking age in Ontario is nineteen, I doubt it matters out here."

After a second or two I shook my head, "Cola is fine thanks."

She handed me a can, and took out a beer for herself. Then the three of us started on lunch, in what was maybe the most surreal experience I could ever imagine. Having a picnic on another world.

We didn't talk too much at first, all three of us just quietly munched on our sandwiches and sipped our drinks. Skye had another tunafish sandwich, Danni enjoyed the salami so she had another of those, and I switched to ham and swiss. Spicy calabrese was one of my favourites before, but it was a little too hot for me now. And all three of us mostly just stared at Jupiter while we enjoyed lunch.

We finally got back to conversation after everyone had enough of the sandwiches.

"So nightmares are still happening," I said with a sigh. "And the other thing that's starting to bother me is I find I keep thinking about old-life stuff? I don't know how to say it exactly but like when I was stuck with that stupid guidance counsellor, it reminded me of being interviewed by Internal Affairs? And the last two days at lunch a former friend was trying to get information out of me. Like I said on the server, those other girls put her up to it, but it made me think of informants and how they were doing it all wrong."

I sighed again then shrugged, "It's just a lot of little things, that other life keeps haunting me, it's staying on my mind when I really just want to forget about it."

Skye had a thoughtful frown on her face as she looked down at the dusty yellow ground.

Danni glanced at Skye then looked to me and asked, "Does it feel like those old-life thoughts are taking over? I guess what I mean is, do you feel like you're thinking more like who you used to be and less like who you are now?"

"I don't really know," I replied as I shook my head. "I guess not. I mean I still feel like me, like Emily. It just worries me, like there's all this stuff I shouldn't know and it keeps popping up when I don't want it to. I don't want to keep thinking about cop stuff when I'm just trying to have a normal life as me."

With another sigh I added, "Yesterday at lunch I lost my cool and said something I shouldn't have. I said something about my former life, stuff I couldn't possibly know. I don't think anyone noticed, but I'm worried it's going to happen again. I'm worried it's going to get me in more trouble."

Skye frowned and stared at the ground like she was lost in thought, while Danni looked worried.

"I'm sorry Emily," the piercing artist finally said. "I don't know what to say or how to help, but I wish I did."

"It's ok Danni," I replied. "Honestly it feels helpful just being able to talk about this stuff."

I added, "And you know, I've been thinking about the stuff you posted on discord, and stuff we talked about yesterday at the store? I was wondering, have you mentioned any of that to your dad? Like your concerns for the business, or how you're lonely, how you feel like you've sacrificed your personal life to focus on the job? Or even about just hiring some more help so it's not all on your shoulders?"

"No," she grimaced. "I really don't want to upset him. I know if I bring any of that up he'll..."

Her voice trailed off, and the three of us were quiet again for a few seconds.

"I think you should try," I suggested. "I know you're worried about him, I know you don't want to upset him. But I think you should try and talk to him about some of that stuff, instead of just assuming you know how he'll feel. Maybe you're right, but maybe not?"

She looked uneasy, but she nodded. "Ok Emily. I'll think about it anyways. And thanks for thinking about me. I was just kind of ranting when I posted that stuff, but I didn't really expect anything to come of it."

"We're friends right?" I gave her a hopeful smile. "It's what friends do."

Danni smiled back, but she still seemed uneasy about the idea of talking to her dad.

Our other friend stayed quiet through all that, and when I glanced at her she had that same thoughtful frown on her face again. She was still staring at the rocky ground in front of us, and I almost wondered if she'd even been listening or if she was just completely lost in her own thoughts.

"Skye?" I asked after a couple seconds. "I don't like to pry, but I guess I'm wondering if you've had any ideas or breakthroughs? Are we any closer to fixing my problem? Or, I don't know, is there anything you can do to help Danni with her problem?"

The mysterious ravenette finally looked up at me and Danni. She was still frowning slightly, and she looked uneasy.

"I'm afraid I don't have the answers yet," she admitted. "I've been looking though. After our meeting on Wednesday I went back in time and observed us both when I helped you, and I noticed some additional clues that I missed originally. There were some hints that suggested you weren't adapted to the new timeline right from the start. Then I met with one of Selene's former customers who's circumstances were not dissimilar to your own, to compare her experiences with yours."

For a moment my brain stalled on her casually mentioning going back in time, but I got over it quickly. Of course she could time-travel.

Finally Skye confessed, "After all of that I'm afraid I still don't have an answer. I don't know what I did wrong, nor do I have a solution. All I have is a guess."

"What do you think it is?" Danni asked. "Or what's your guess? Maybe we can help verify it somehow?"

Skye grimaced, "When Selene sells someone a spell, she always takes something in trade. It isn't always valuable, but it's always relevant to the customer's situation. I didn't do that for you Emily. I didn't think it was necessary, and I'm still not sure if it is. I did things differently, but perhaps there's still a requirement for you to give something up in return? I simply don't know."

I nodded slowly, but I already had something in mind that I wouldn't mind giving up. She'd refused to take it when I offered earlier, but I decided to ask again.

"Why don't you take my memories of that past life?" I asked. "I still think that'd help. It might not be the right answer, but if I didn't remember that stuff then I wouldn't be having nightmares about it. And I wouldn't be able to blurt it out accidentally in the cafeteria next time Stephanie and Tammy start giving me a hard time."

The quiet teen shook her head, "Like I said Emily, I don't know if that will actually help. Not remembering the other timeline won't necessarily make it go away. You might still have all the same symptoms, but without the knowledge or understanding of what's causing them."

Danni asked, "So what do we do Skye? We're not going to give up, but it sounds like this problem is still getting worse. Emily needs help, we can't just leave it for another week and hope she'll manage ok."

I grimaced, but I kept quiet. I hated to admit it but I knew she was right.

Skye took a deep breath, then replied quietly "I know Danni. And Emily, I'm sorry I've failed you. When we're done here, I suggest we go and speak with Selene. We'll tell her everything, and I'm confident that she will have the answers."

"I'm sorry we didn't do that to begin with," she added. "My hubris probably caused these problems in the first place, and my pride prolonged your pain another three days."

"It's ok Skye," I said as I leaned closer and gave her a quick hug. I let go just as quickly as her slight cringe reminded me she didn't like that. "I don't blame you, and I'm not upset with you. I hope we can all still be friends?"

Before either of them could respond I looked to Danni and added, "And I still want to help you with your problem too."

The piercing artist acted a bit awkward but she smiled, "Thanks Emily. My problems seem pretty boring and mundane compared to yours, but I really appreciate your help."

I smiled and reminded her, "It's what friends are for."

PurpleCatGirl

one of our patrons wanted to know how exactly Skye cleared the sulfur dust off the sofa. the answer is, she turned the whole moon upside-down & gave it a shake, so all the dust fell off & formed a temporary Jovian ring. it was quickly dissipated by Jupiter's gravitational pull, but lasted just long enuf for the Juno spaceprobe to snag a picture of it, later analysis of that image ultimately led to 2 dissertations & a thesis back on Earth, launching the long & illustrious career of an eager young woman with a passion for astronomy
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