Chapter 23: 23. Reunited

I woke with a start, my heart racing and my eyes wide as I glanced around.

It was mid-day, the bright afternoon sunlight streamed down from above. I wasn't on the ground by the fire-pit, and I wasn't in the cottage either. I was in the atrium of my villa, back on Thera. Beneath me was that white marble lounge thing, but some blankets between me and the stone made it comfortable. And I was naked, with my horns and tail visible.

"Ah, you're awake."

I twisted around at the familiar voice, and found myself looking at demon-Mara. She was in her human guise, and apart from not having horns or a tail she looked and sounded like my identical twin. Except I was nude, and she was wearing a fancy white gown with gold and silver accents.

She was standing a pace or two away from me, and we stared at each other for a few seconds.

I finally shook my head, "I'm not awake. This has to be a dream."

Demon-Mara's lips quirked into a slight smile, "And why is that?"

I sat up and shrugged, "Because this place doesn't exist anymore? And um, you're dead? You died like two thousand years ago."

The other Mara copied my shrug, "I could say the same of you, yet here you are."

That left me confused for a few seconds, till I realized she was talking about last summer when I got run over. Which yeah, I was technically dead, but I didn't stay dead for very long before Lily reincarnated me. And it was over a year ago, so it didn't really seem like her situation at all.

Instead of arguing about that I asked her, "How'd you learn English?"

Mara replied, "The same way our mater did. She read the minds of those who witnessed your first death, and I read your mind the first time you visited me here."

"But that was another dream," I said with a frown. "All of this is just dreams, right?"

She responded with a question of her own, "If it is, then which of us is the dream, and which is doing the dreaming?"

That left me feeling confused again, and I wasn't sure how to answer her question. Or if it was even something I was supposed to answer.

"Wait, we did the ritual last night!" I gasped as it suddenly hit me. "Is everyone ok? What happened? Did we win? Is Armaros imprisoned? Where's Lily?"

The demon Mara almost took a step back under my barrage of questions, till she finally raised her hands in a sort of 'stop' gesture.

Her expression became serious as she replied, "As far as I'm aware, the ritual was a success. You followed my instructions perfectly, and I'm confident Armaros was imprisoned in the medallion our mater prepared."

I breathed a sigh of relief, then frowned again. "Wait, your instructions? I thought that was Lily telling me what to do?"

Other Mara shook her head, "Sadly no. Thanks to your quick actions our mater was unable to act or communicate. Otherwise she would have followed Armaros' orders. She would have freed him, which would have brought disaster to all of us."

That was a mixed bag of news, and I asked "Is she ok now? Or is she still trapped or something too?"

"She's fine now," my demonic twin responded with a smile. "After you imprisoned Armaros in the medallion he was effectively released from the circle, which meant his last order to our mater was carried out."

It took me a few seconds to work through all that, and I was getting frustrated that even though we looked identical she seemed to know a lot more about what was going on than I did.

"So Armaros is imprisoned, and Lily's ok?" I asked. "Where is Lily? Is she here, can I see her?"

Demon Mara shook her head, "She isn't here. Our mater is resting in a large white room with black leather furniture."

"Oh!" I grinned, "That's her apartment in our head! If I can wake up then I could get in there to check on her."

As soon as I said it I closed my eyes and tried to wake myself up. Then I pinched my arm, but that didn't work. I even tried slapping my cheek, but that didn't do it either.

When I opened my eyes I found the other Mara staring at me in confusion as she asked, "What in the world are you doing?"

"Um, trying to wake myself up?" I replied. "I have to get out of this dream. I need to go see Lily, and I have to see my girlfriends too."

Demon Mara shook her head and sighed. She gave me a sad look as she said, "It's not a dream Mara. And there's only one way out of here."

She turned and gestured towards the front door of her villa, "That's the only exit, and I haven't been able to open it. Despite all my strength and magic, I cannot open the door. Nor have I been able to leave by flying, or through magic. I haven't even been able to escape out the windows."

I stared at the door for a few seconds, then looked back at her again. "Then how'd I get here? If you can't get out with magic or strength or anything, how'd I get in?"

She still had that sad look on her face as she sat down next to me on the couch thing. She took a deep breath then said softly, "I believe that you died. Imprisoning Armaros without that protective amulet, and without our mater's magic to protect you..."

The other Mara slowly shook her head, "The demonic energy probably destroyed you. I'm sorry."

For the next few minutes I was silent, and maybe kind of numb. A lot of stuff went through my head though, like on the one hand I was pretty sure my girlfriends would all be safe since they were shielded and everything. And I knew Lily should be ok too. She was probably free now, maybe she even restored her demonic body or something. That actually kind of made sense, like that much energy would have burned away the last rune on our tattoo. That would have separated the two of us, and I'd die while Lily was completely freed.

Except the last time I died I didn't end up in ancient Greece or whatever, I was just standing on the road behind the car that ran me over. So if I was dead this time, I figured I should still be at the cottage next to the fire-pit or something. I'd be able to see my girlfriends all staring from the cottage window, but they wouldn't be able to see me.

That led to a sudden wave of sadness as I thought about my girlfriends, then my mom. If I was really dead this time they'd all be upset, and I hated to think about that. Especially mom, since she went through all that stuff last summer. If she had to go through it again now it'd crush her. Not to mention it was only a few days ago I promised mom that she wouldn't lose me.

All I could do at that point was just hope mom understood, like if I didn't act then Lily and my girlfriends would all probably be dead too. At least this way they were all safe.

I finally focused on the other Mara again and asked, "So you've been trapped in here for like two thousand years? How do you know what's going on in the real world? How did you help me beat Armaros, how do you know Lily's ok?"

She shook her head, "I haven't been here anywhere near that long. It's only been a matter of months since I found myself trapped here. And I see your world when I sleep, I dream of the place you came from."

That left me even more confused and uncertain. Like she said before, which of us was dreaming and which one was the dream.

I sighed, then looked at the door again. I finally got to my feet and walked towards it, while the other Mara followed quietly.

It was a big door, about two meters wide and three meters high. It looked like it was made out of heavy solid wood. It was painted black, and there was a big iron ring where the door-knob should be. The ring was cold to the touch, but I gripped it tightly with both hands and gave it a gentle tug.

The door didn't budge, so I pulled harder. I used all my demonic strength as I pulled, but it remained stuck tight. I kept trying for a solid minute, but it didn't move so much as a millimetre.

In the end I let go of the ring and sighed deeply, while the other Mara shook her head. "It won't open. I've tried countless times, but it won't budge."

"Yeah," I sighed again, then I slumped against the door in defeat. And I actually felt it shift slightly as I thumped into it.

"No way!" I gasped as I straightened up and looked at it again. Pulling didn't work, but pushing might? It certainly wouldn't be the first time I pulled when I should have pushed.

The other Mara looked confused as I stepped back, then I lunged forward and sort of body-checked the door with my shoulder and upper arm. And sure enough, it popped open and swung out of the way.

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I'd been expecting to see the island of Thera stretching out before us, since the villa was built on the side of a hill and everything. We should have been looking down over the village at the base of the hill.

Instead I found myself standing in Lily's apartment, at the back wall opposite the big window.

The piano was on my left, the dining table on my right, and the large leather sofa was in front of me, with the big window on the other side of that. The window was dark, like our eyes were closed. And the big door I'd just forced open was the one at the back of my demon mom's apartment.

For a few seconds I stood and stared, like I had no idea how the dream-villa was connected to Lily's apartment. On one side was the villa on an island in the Aegean, with afternoon sunlight shining down. And on the other side was Lily's apartment in our head.

Just as boggling was the idea that the big door I'd seen at the back of my demon mom's appartment ever since my first visit last summer led to demon Mara's villa. Like the door was there all along, was the villa always there too?

Thinking too hard about that kind of hurt my brain, so I stopped thinking about it and focused on the important stuff.

I walked towards the big leather sofa as I called, "Lily? Are you here?"

"Mara?!" she gasped as she sat up. She'd been laying on the sofa, probably asleep or something. "Is that really you?"

My demon mom scrambled to her feet, but before I could respond the other Mara cursed from behind me.

"I've been pulling on this forsaken door every day for four months! It opens inwards, it's always opened inwards! Why in Hades does it now open outwards?!"

My demon mom's eyes widened and some of the colour drained from her face as she looked past me to the door, which was still wide open. She gasped again, "Mara!?!"

I turned to look, as my demonic twin finally walked through into the apartment. She gave the offending door one more angry glare, then looked at Lily and in a voice that sounded way too casual for a two-thousand-year reunion she said "Hello mater, it's good to see you again."

Our big blue demon mom was looking back and forth between me and the other Mara, her eyes were wide and her face was pale. She looked shocked and confused, and like she wasn't sure what to say or think or whatever. Which I could kind of relate to.

I moved around the sofa and gave her a hug then suggested "Maybe you should sit down Lily? You look kind of pale."

She nodded slowly and slumped down onto her sofa, and I sat next to her. The other Mara joined us as well, she sat on the other side, so Lily was in between the two of us.

Lily looked back and forth at both of us again, then finally asked "Mara?"

"Yes?" both me and the other Mara responded at the same time.

It was like stereo Maras, and as soon as we did it we both giggled at the absurdity of it.

Lily almost facepalmed, but instead she wrapped her arms around both me and the other Mara. She pulled the two of us into a group hug, with me on Lily's left and my demonic twin on the right.

I wrapped an arm around her as best I could, and leaned my head against her as I hugged her back. The other Mara did the same, hugging and leaning against Lily's right side.

As we all held each other I asked, "So what's been going on out here? Are you ok Lily? What about the rest of the DLP, everyone else ok too?"

"Your girlfriends are all fine," Lily replied quietly. She gulped and added, "I thought you were dead!"

The other Mara spoke up, "I am. Or I was? Honestly I'm kind of confused at the moment."

"I thought I was dreaming," I responded. "She said I was dead. Now I'm not sure what the right answer is. We can't all be dead right? So if you're alive, then I'm alive, and she's probably alive too?"

After a moment I added, "You're alive, right Lily? Are you ok?"

She sighed, "I've been hiding in here trying to work out how to tell your girlfriends that you're gone..."

Lily stared at me for a few moments, then gave me a gentle squeeze. It almost felt like she was double-checking that I was really there or something.

She finally shook her head and asked, "How did you do it Mara? How did you complete the ritual without me?"

"I told her what to do," the other Mara said. "I saw what happened with Armaros, and I heard her asking for help. So I guided her through the ritual."

Our demon mom stared at her for a few seconds, then looked back at me again, then finally sighed once more.

She held both me and the other Mara a little tighter and said quietly, "I don't understand what's happening or how the both of you are here, but I'm not letting either of you go any time soon."

Neither me or the other Mara complained about that.

After a few moments I asked, "So what happened after the ritual was over?"

Lily sighed, "The energy released when Armaros was imprisoned was at least double what we experienced with Verothilas last December. Except this time you were the one in the body Mara, and we weren't wearing that protective amulet. You... Our body has become fully demonic, and the tattoo was totally destroyed. Our body became my body, and I am free. And I thought you were lost."

I frowned, "So Armaros and Verothilas are imprisoned, you're free, and I'm dead? But I'm still here."

"So am I," the other Mara added.

We were all quiet for a minute or so, then I asked "Wait does that mean if I step out into the body, I'll look like you? That means I'll have wings!"

"Oh! I could go flying again!" the other Mara exclaimed.

Lily suppressed a laugh, "Slow down Mara...both Maras! We need to talk first, and I'm not ready to let go of either of you yet."

She held us both a little tighter to make her point.

"Aww ok Lily," I sighed. "What do you want to talk about?"

She replied, "With the energy I absorbed after Armaros was imprisoned, I have enough power that I could create a second body. I could give you... I could give one of you your own separate body."

"But before we discuss that," she added quickly, "There's something more important we have to talk about first. We have to decide what we're going to call the two of you, because you can't both be named Mara!"

"Aww!" me and my twin responded in stereo. Then we both giggled again.

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