Agatha

"Are you hurt? What did you do, Norsuk?" I rushed to his side, worried. After he had grabbed the strange handles, the screen flashed with wild colors and he collapsed.

Frightened, I checked his pulse and breathing. After a tense few moments, I felt a faint heartbeat and the whisper of breath. He was alive.

Relieved, I looked back at the screen. It now showed a seedy-looking tavern entrance. A large man in a leather coat went inside.

Norsuk groaned. "Ow. That really hurt."

"Do you recognize that place?" I asked hesitantly, hardly daring to hope.

He squinted at the screen. "Yeah, I know it well." He got to his feet. "My brothers and I have gotten drunk there countless times. I must"ve been thinking of it when I touched the controls."

"Wait... Are you saying this machine reads your thoughts?"

"Seems that way. When I grabbed those handles, it was like something looked through my memories." He shuddered. "I don"t want to do that again."

I gaped at him. If Norsuk could pull up images of his home just by thinking of them, then maybe...

"Before you try it," he said quickly, "we should take precautions. Starting with getting you in that vacuum suit, just in case."

I looked at him and saw the resignation and sadness in his expression that he tried to hide. "This is how you"re going to send me home, isn"t it?"

He swallowed hard. "Only if we"re sure it"s safe. I won"t let you go unless I know you"ll make it. I promise."

Tears pricked my eyes but I nodded. "Okay. I trust you."

He sighed. "Right. Let"s get you suited up then."

It was a struggle to squeeze into the skin-tight suit. It clearly hadn"t been designed for human curves. The boots were too long, the legs too snug on my thighs.

By the time I got the suit on, I was sweating and short of breath. The rigid chest plate dug into my ribs and the high collar chafed my neck. I sucked in my stomach, trying to get some slack, but it wouldn"t budge.

"You all right in there?" Norsuk hovered nearby, looking like he wanted to intervene and just rip the stubborn suit off me.

"Just peachy," I gritted out. "Feeling like a stuffed sausage at the moment."

A brief smile flickered across his face. "Give it a minute. If it"s like our ship suits, it should adjust to your shape once it"s powered on."

Dubious, I held still while he made small adjustments to the seals. After a few seconds, the material started to give, loosening and conforming to my body until I could breathe normally.

"Better, right?" He stepped back and looked me over, letting out a low whistle. "Well now, aren"t you a sight."

Self-conscious, I glanced down. The suit clung to every curve, leaving little to the imagination.

Nervous, I turned in a slow circle and glanced at him over my shoulder. "How do I look? Think I"ll blend in with the sexy astronauts?"

His eyes darkened. "Agatha..."

The naked wanting in his voice sent heat rushing through me. But beneath it was an aching sadness, knowing our time together was almost over.

Smile fading, I turned to face the portal, a cold dread settling in my stomach. The rowdy tavern scene seemed to taunt me with everything I was about to leave behind—everything I hadn"t realized I wanted until Norsuk came into my life.

"Guess I should see what this thing can do," I said, trying to sound brisk.

Norsuk made a rough noise. "Wait, Agatha?—"

But I already moved toward the control module as if pulled by a magnet. Up close, the curves of the handles looked almost obscene.

Morbid curiosity made me reach for the left grip. But before I touched it, Norsuk"s hand clamped around my wrist.

"Don"t," he said hoarsely, something wild in his eyes. "Not until we"re sure?—"

A violent tremor shook the room, making us stumble. I staggered into his chest as he steadied us. Above, the ceiling groaned ominously, dust raining down on our helmets.

Pulse racing, I looked up at Norsuk. But he stared at the flickering screens, jaw tight.

"These quakes are getting worse," he muttered. "More frequent."

Reluctantly pulling away, I followed his gaze. He was right—the portals were strobing, cycling through landscapes too fast to follow. Forests, deserts, cities all blurred together.

"You don"t think it"s because of us, do you?" I asked, mouth dry. "From using the machine?"

Norsuk"s expression darkened. "Can"t be a coincidence. The timing..."

He didn"t finish but he didn"t need to. We both knew what it meant.

Squaring my shoulders, I met his eyes. "Then we need to hurry. Find out if it works before this place collapses."

"Ready?" he asked. "I'll grab you if you fall."

"I'm ready. Three, two, one—" I gripped the handles. Nothing happened. I squeezed harder.

Power snapped behind my eyes. It felt like the crawling plasma of a Jacob's ladder from a mad scientist movie. Crackling, itchy energy crawled across my nerves.

My knees gave out, but I didn't fall. I saw Norsuk move in to grab me. It wasn't necessary. I stepped out of the control module.

Stared at the portal.

So familiar.

I saw a scattering of buildings reflected in a calm river. My jaw nearly hit the floor.

"That's my neighborhood," I said. "My street. It's Boston. The Back Bay."

"Your Earth," Norsuk said. "Your home."

"That's… amazing. It's like I can step right onto Berkeley Street." I couldn't drag my eyes away. I saw a stray cat swagger by. A slow-moving boat on the Charles. Letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding, I stepped closer.

"Not too close." Norsuk's hand fell on my shoulder.

"It's just. I'm just. There's just." I couldn't complete a sentence.

Home. I wanted to go home. But something stopped me.

"Hang on!" Norsuk grabbed me and held on to the control module as another tremor shook the building. This one stronger than the others.

It took a few seconds for it to subside.

Still hanging onto Norsuk, I gazed into his eyes. "Is it just me, or do we get an earthquake each time we use this portal machine?"

"I'd almost say it was a coincidence. Don't forget the tremors that brought us here. Except since we arrived in this building, the only time the ground shakes is when the portals change," he said.

I faced the portal to the Back Bay. "That's what I thought."

He looked at the portal with me, at Boston. "We need to find out if it's safe."

"How?" I remembered the G'zanta, held in place, the strange motion before he passed into space.

For a long moment, Norsuk just stared at me, looking pained, his hands flexing like he wanted to reach for me.

But then his expression shuttered. Turning on his heel, he stalked over to rummage through some debris.

Confused, I craned my neck to see. "What are you?—"

I broke off as he straightened, holding a writhing lizard creature in his fist. It thrashed in terror but he just looked at it grimly.

"If we"re going to test this, better not to risk you first," he said flatly.

Then before I could protest, he turned and threw the lizard at the portal.

I shrieked, expecting a gruesome splat. But it passed through the rippling surface like a soap bubble, landing in an awkward sprawl on the sidewalk beyond.

It lay stunned for a moment before scrambling up and darting out of sight.

"Did you see that?" I breathed.

"I saw. Looked like it made it through intact. More or less."

Elation surged through me, followed by sick dread. Because if the portal really worked, then that meant...

"You just released an alien into Boston!" I rounded on Norsuk. "It could be carrying diseases or who knows what else?—"

"Agatha, breathe." His hands landed heavily on my shoulders. "One little lizard isn"t going to destroy your whole ecosystem. It"s not like I threw a G'zanta in there."

The dread eased slightly. This was still my Norsuk, no matter how much was about to change between us.

Taking a shaky breath, I stepped away from his touch, aching to just sink into him. But that would only make this harder.

Squaring my shoulders, I walked up to the portal. My city was right there on the other side. The Charles River, my old street... so familiar yet suddenly distant.

"I"d stay with you if I could," I whispered, the words catching. "You know that, right?"

"Don"t. Please." Norsuk"s voice was pained.

"You could come with me. We could make it work somehow?—"

"Agatha..."

"You"d love it there—the freedom, the culture. We could get a place in the country where no one would find us."

"And how long would that last? How long before someone noticed what I am?" He shook his head. "I"d be hunted, Agatha. Captured. You know it as well as I do."

I squeezed my eyes shut. He was right, of course. There was no happy ending for us.

"I"d find my way back to you," I said hoarsely. "If there was any chance..."

But he already gripped my shoulders, turning me toward the portal. One hand on my back, the other on my suit belt.

"Norsuk, what?—"

"I love you."

The words seared into me. I opened my mouth, a thousand things I wanted to say?—

But then Norsuk moved, sweeping me into his arms, pushing me away.

Back into my old life in a world I used to call home...