Bones of Salt

Jonathan

I convinced Roman to find Mira and pretend we were the version of us from fake Solima as soon as possible. I was glad he didn't try to hinder my plan, though he had every right to. Killing fake Jonathan and fake Roman might just be useless. I had no proof it was part of any simulation or trial.

But, at the same time, the two of them weren't us in a different universe, not really. I was sure of that. Alefpeneash told us there were no humans, only demonic creatures.

I started calling them demonic doubles, when we spoke of them. Since Roman had been on edge since he'd seen his demonic double throw a knife at my double's nether parts, he looked relieved we decided the pair was evil and had to be destroyed.

"Your demonic double hasn't done anything bad," Roman couldn't help but mutter along the way.

"Yet," I sped up when I noticed Mira's care home in the distance. "I have this very important rule that says that you cannot get your hopes up. Just because something hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't."

"You? You keep calm and a collected face even under pressure," Roman scowled. "You joke when you're poisoned."

"I do see the bright side, but it doesn't mean I don't know when it's just a small crack in the darkness..."

I stopped speaking as soon as I saw Mira walking out of the place. I knew what I looked like --- I still had blood on me and my white shirt was torn in a few places. Besides I'd never worn it without the jacket, in public, and it really was more like an undershirt, making me feel almost naked.

But her eyes widened. At first I thought she was looking at Roman with that expression, almost motherly, because I recalled fake Jonathan telling fake Roman how much the woman babied him. But then I realised fake Mira was looking at me like that.

Probably unaware of the blood, she caught me by surprise in a hug and exclaimed, "Jonathan! You're looking good!"

Then, she noticed the blood. Her eyebrows went up, clearly trying not to judge. She just said, "Have you been hanging out with those tourists again? Mina and Lucy?"

My smile got frozen in place. Roman was looking at me weirdly.

"Oh, but I probably shouldn't have mentioned them in front of you!" Mira patted Roman's arm. "You're always saying Jonathan shouldn't play with people."

I knew it wasn't real, not of us, anyway, but my throat felt dry and my tongue was still stuck. I could just mutter, "No, Roman would never say that..."

"Roman?" Mira asked, raising one of her eyebrows. There was something wrong. Minx hadn't recognized the Prophet by name either. Was it possible that fake Roman's name wasn't even Roman?

"I'll get some water so you can get cleaned up," Mira told me, worriedly, as she hurried inside the care home. Visually, it looked similar to the abandoned warehouse where we stayed in Solima. It was a doubt I'd had before, that the warehouse was the care home in this world, and this was how I'd been able to find it.

"Don't freak out," Roman told me after taking a look at my face.

"I never freak out," I replied, feeling a little bit like Judith and Delilah. I made a point not to argue as much, so I wouldn't have to be reminded of the two of them forever. "But Mira saw the blood and connected it to Mina and Lucy."

"You don't know that's what happened," Roman said uncharacteristically kindly. "What I meant before was, I came up to a conclusion as to why people don't know my name. My father named me after a Watcher he felt he owed a favour to, someone who saved his life in his youth. Since in this world there are no Watchers, it's obvious my father named me after something else."