“Katie,” Kellie said, looking at the college age girl. “Why don’t you tell your fiancé why you came here the first time.”
Adult Katie paled as she looked at her teenage mother. Kellie couldn’t be serious, could she? That kind of information could cause all sorts of problems for both of them. “Kellie can I talk to you for a moment? In private.”
Kellie nodded as the adult Katie now took her arm and quickly walked into a side room out of earshot. Spinning the teen around she now glared down at her. “Okay what the hell are you doing,” she hissed.
Kellie narrowed her eyes as she glared at her daughter. “Listen,” she grumbled. “This kind of information was bound to come out eventually, especially if you brought your fiancé here. Both of them are entitled to know the truth.”
“You mean the truth where you erased me and Lisa from existence or the story about how you died giving birth to me and was reborn here.”
Kellie glared at her daughter. Katie knew it was the second one and was just being petty because she was uncomfortable sharing that secret. Fortunately Kellie had a trump card. “Actually was thinking about the truth of how you were originally a seven year old girl who aged herself up before making her mom her teenage best friend.”
“You wouldn’t,” Katie gasped.
“Of course not Katie,” Kellie hissed. “And you know damn well I meant the story about dying giving birth to you and then making a mistake to be displaced from reality. Now stop being so damn petty, I know I raised you better than that.”
“Okay mom,” Katie sighed. “it’s just....this is going to get really weird for the others. I mean your Katie is going to find out your a lot older than 16 and Kellie will worry that she’s my mom or something.”
“Just leave it to me Katie,” Kellie said calmly. “I think I have an idea.”
As Katie and Kellie now returned they gazed at their respective doppelgängers. Both girls sighed before glancing at each other, this was about to get very uncomfortable.
“Sorry,” Kellie sighed. “Katie and I needed to talk.”
As the two sat down Adult Kellie gazed at them suspiciously. “That’s okay,” she said. “But I want to know what you two were talking about?”
As Adult Katie went to say something, Kellie raised her hand to quiet her. “Kat let me handle this okay?” Katie nodded quietly loweringg her head and dreading what was coming.
“Kellie,” Kellie said. “Do you mind if I call you Kel? The fact we’re dealing with doubles is making this harder than it needs to be.”
“Kel is fine.”
“Perfect, So the reason Kat was visiting me the first time was because of what happened with you, Ann and Lisa. That thought you were their sister right?”
Kel nodded as she continued to gaze at her teenage self. Kellie took a deep breath as she looked at the three girls. “My understanding is those two mistook you for their sister Kellie. I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of her it’s kinda spooky huh?” Kel once again nodded, still unsure where this was going.
“Here’s the thing,” Kellie sighed. “Years ago I had the Ring of Age. I was in a situation where I was confronted with a situation where I used the ring selfishly. I erased someone from existence and it resulted in me not only destroying my reality but kicking me out of it as well.”
Katie, Kat and Kel gaped at the teen, shocked by this admittance. Katie closed her eyes, fearful the whole truth would be revealed. She now silently prayed that her mother knew what she was doing. “Who did you erase,” the teen Katie whispered.
“Katie’s birth father.”
Katie’s eyes flew open as she stared at her mother. She was thinking on the fly, at this point she needed to play along with the story.
“Wait no one knows who Katie’s dad is,” Kel huffed. “He disappeared after knocking her mom up.”
“Not exactly,” Kellie said. “Let me tell you the story.”
The girls listened intently as Kellie told a story about how Katie’s parents were going through a divorce at the time. Both wanted custody of the child and were unwilling to compromise. When Katie’s dad tried to forcibly take the infant Katie, Kellie wished him out of existence.
“Wait,” teen Katie said. “That doesn’t make any sense. How would you know this. You weren’t their. You weren’t even born yet.”
“Actually I was,” Kellie sighed sadly. “You see...I made that wish against him because.....I was Katie’s mom.”
The others jaws dropped as the stared unbelievingly at the teenage girl. It made no sense to them. Teen Katie couldn’t believe the girl in front of her was old enough to be her mom while Kel couldn’t wrap her Mind around the fact this teen was her fiancés mother.
“That’s crap,” Kel huffed.
“It isn’t,” Katie whispered to her fiancé. “Kel, it’s true. The ring...it told me my mom was alive in another timeline. It brought me here. That teenage girl in front of you IS my mom. When she erased my dad she got herself kicked out of the timeline. That’s why everyone thinks she died in childbirth. When she made that wish, she essentially killed herself.”
“So how come you look like a teen then,” teen Katie asked. “I mean aren’t you like an adult?”
“No I’m really 16,” Kellie said. “You see the wish kind of aged me down to infancy and made me forget about my adult life. I was just a regular kid. I didn’t remember any of this until I found the Ring of Age 10 years ago. Since then Merlin and I have been jumping from reality to reality. So you see I may have adult memories but my body, my soul, their only 16 years old.”
The group now sat in stunned silence. No one knew exactly what to say. “So you see,” Kellie said sadly. “I am well aware of the dangers of reality alteration. There are things you can and cannot do. The consequences are severe, my actions cost me a chance to raise my daughter. That’s the lesson I want you all to take from this today. So does anyone have anything they want to ask me?”
Katie, Kat and Kel werent quite sure what to say. Their were so manny questions at this point it was a matter of who would be the first to ask.