Fall in love in a weekwe get by

– I don’t know what you like. Besides pizza and cupcakes, of course. So I chose according to my taste. The day before yesterday you didn’t mind, but… the day before yesterday you weren’t capable of it. So it's time to start. Something like “don’t put your beef on my side of the table,” for example?

I laughed. What’s strange is that I know that Dougal is capable of laughing. I remember yesterday. But now you can’t even tell from him whether he’s joking or not. Neither by face, nor by intonation. Not a muscle moved. Rusk as is. So why is it funny to me, and it doesn’t even occur to me that he was thinking of tricking me? Or even worse – insult or poke in a sore spot?

– How was your experiment?

– Successful. And it even took less time than I expected.

Meanwhile, dishes appeared on the table one by one. Ready, served. From the restaurant again? But nothing particularly tricky. Good old English cuisine: roast beef, mashed potatoes, green peas, stewed carrots. Baked beef in spicy tomato sauce. I wolfed down the food as if I hadn't eaten in at least a week. Dougal was not far behind. I suddenly noticed that he was very pale. Magical exhaustion plus experiment? Yes, a day from hand to mouth against this background is not the best solution.

When the empty plates disappeared, dessert appeared on the table. Cupcakes. Chocolate, lemon, berry. Basket with eclairs. And aromatic strong coffee.

I took the first sip with pleasure.

– Returning to the experiment. May I congratulate you?

– It's early. Full-scale tests are ahead.

– Then – good luck in the tests.

– If I say that you will become a direct participant, won’t you be afraid? And no details. Everything – later.

– Am I scared? Yes, you know a lot about how to interest a journalist. And when is “later”?

– Tomorrow. I think later in the evening, though… we'll see. Everything will depend on several factors that I cannot predict.

“I know what I’m going to die from—curiosity!”

– I like this attitude better. I can feed your curiosity with a walk around London, would you like? And you will tell us whether our London is very different from yours.

– Not bad idea. Right now?

– Why not? You've had enough sleep, I don't want to spend this night sleeping. Just change your dress. This attracts trouble – and we’ve probably had enough adventures for this week.

CHAPTER 7. Day seven: Monday

Walking around London until the morning with the person with whom you would like to spend your whole life is probably not the worst start to the day, which with a very high probability could be the last for both of you. It would even be ideal if it weren’t for the curse hanging over us. It was impossible to forget about him. “The whole life” is very little, if we don’t succeed… “If Dougal doesn’t fall in love with you, call a spade a spade!”

We did not go to generally accepted sights or iconic places. But they found a house in which I lived in my own world. Here it was the same, only opposite – not McDonald's, but a bakery with a pastry shop and a small 24-hour coffee shop. We drank a glass of coffee, looking at the not-my windows. Dark ones – whoever lived there did not have my habit of working at night.

Then I told Dougal about the witch from whom I went on my fatal astral transition, and together we found the area where it happened.

“Strong magical background,” Dougal assessed. – If it’s the same in your world, this could give an additional boost.

“There is no magic in our world,” I reminded.

“There are no magicians in your world,” Dougal corrected gravely. – But it’s not a fact that it never happened. You know about magic, even from legends. Neither knowledge nor legends arise out of nowhere. “After a pause, he added: “This could be an extremely interesting topic for research.” If only there was a chance to explore.

– But you haven’t learned how to open portals between worlds yet? – I joked sadly.

– Our science, both magical and not, does not know at all about the phenomenon of parallel worlds. You could make a breakthrough,” he said seriously.

– But I won’t.

– Why?

– They won’t believe it. I don’t like and don’t know how to prove the obvious. It’s obvious to me,” she clarified, after thinking, “after all, there is no real evidence. They'll simply think I'm crazy.

– Hardly. The presence of a world of souls and spirits is no secret to anyone. All ritualism is based on feeding power from it. Again, rituals of calling, which sometimes pull from the other side strange and unexplainable entities known to science. From all this to parallel worlds, in fact, it’s closer than from London to Panacea Academy. And you definitely weren’t the only one who saw ghosts. But it won't be easy, that's for sure. New knowledge is never readily accepted.