When next I opened my eyes, my left cheek pressed on something hard and pointy. Everything fuzzy and gray became clear after a few minutes of blinking rapidly. Shiny silver topped table. Bunsen burner, microscope, test tubes. Lab. Whose lab?

The sight of my phone vibrating so hard it fell off the table, gave me a clue. "My lab. How did I get back here?"

I groaned as understanding came swiftly. "Of course, another memory. A more recent one." I sat up paper clips tinkling onto the table as they fell off my face. I'd fallen asleep pulling one of my all nighters. A frequent occurrence among those of us scientists who desired to find the answers to the universe. Or in my case, the answers to the elusive realm Alluvia. 

I reached down to my phone and frowned at the unfamiliar number. It had dialed my phone multiple times, too many to be a mistake. Someone was urgently trying to reach me. "I don't remember this," I said.

In my hand, the phone buzzed yet again. Same number. I swiped to answer it. "Hello?"

"Macy? Thank the blessed goddess. I have been calling you all night."

"Mom?"

"Yes, it is me."

"I don't understand. How did you get my number?"

"You told me to call you."

"Uh, what?" The events of the previous memory blasted into my mind like an explosion. I winced at the impact of what I'd done. "I told you to call me? Yeah, I did tell you that didn't I?" I'd had very little time to relay a message and the words, call me, had been the first ones to come into my head. I wasn't sure how it would play out or whether Mom would understand what I meant but finding myself here at the beginning only made me more confused than ever.

"Yes, you did. My older daughter appeared next to my younger one and told me to call you. Believe me, I wasn't going to ignore such a request."

"You said, wasn't."

"I know. I do that sometimes." Her voice jerked in pitch. Was she crying?

"Are you okay?"

"Not really. Look around you. Do you know where you are?"

"Yeah, in my lab, hours before I entered the mirror in my bathroom."

"I have one thing to say to you Macy. Don't do it. Don't go through the mirror."

Click then silence. That was all she said. What had she meant by it, I didn't yet know. This was all new territory. I had no recollection of such a call ever taking place. I'd been too dead tired to think clearly and gone home. It was after the shower that I investigated the ripples in the mirror. Would I see them again when I went home? There was only one way to find out.

I packed up my stuff and drove home. In lieu of a shower, I sat in my bathroom waiting for the ripples to start. My mind raced with the question of the ages. Should I stay or should I go? Mom had been cryptic as usual. A warning with no explanation behind it. 

When the ripples started I had seconds to decide. If I went again would it set off the same chain of events as before? "I hate temporal time paradoxes," I muttered. If I went, maybe I could do something sooner to prevent Mordok and Celia from winning. Stop her cold. Or stop my phone from recording anything. Or don't bring it with at all.

Of all things I'd expected to happen when I gave Mom Cynthia's phone, I didn't expect to be back on day one. Never crossed my mind that I'd be here. I thought somehow, the phone would be the catalyst in dissolving Celia's magic. Combining science, technology, and magic to defeat her.

So, what now? If I don't go would my magic be activated at all? Or did I always have and never noticed? I tentatively touched the mirror and it responded the same as before. I hesitated in following through.

Just a short time ago, I had been so excited at what I thought was a brand new adventure into a world I'd never known except through my dreams. I had looked at it through fairy tales eyes with a happy ending. I knew real life rarely handed out happy endings. Just lessons learned and new appreciation for the wonderful moments in life in between all the frustrations and detours.

What lesson have I learned? To never mess with magic? To not jump into a situation without fully considering the consequences? What I'd done was to go in blindly because I was eager to prove the existence of Alluvia. While Mom made the mistake of coming here I also made the mistake of revealing Alluvia to Earth. Celia had taken my mistake and ran with it.

I contemplated what to do next. I could go back to the lab and confront Celia but I vetoed the idea. The better course of action was to do nothing. With great regret and Mom's voice still ringing in my ears, I went into the kitchen and made a cup of tea with generous dollops of honey. I sat on my balcony and watched the sunrise. 

The neighborhood woke up around me and I began to recognize my neighbors stirring about. Some were going to work others just coming off the night shift. Mr. Karshan saw me and waved. 
"Good Morning!" I said, waving back.

He grinned. "Burning the midnight oil again eh?" 

"Just got home, yeah."

"Have a pleasant day Macy."

"You too, Mr. Karshan." His slight form with thinning hair disappeared from my view as he went into the adjacent apartment building.

Just on the strength of that conversation alone, I knew I was home. Believing I had made the right choice, I continued to sip and observe the waking world around marveling in the ordinary. After a lifetime of seeking something other than this existence, I felt at peace. Content in enjoying the now. The way I should have done in the first place. No more Alluvia. I'd miss Mom but I still had my best friend Cynthia.

I whipped out my phone and called her. She yawned, jaw cracking. "Late night?"

"Yeah. I'm thinking of taking some time off. Go on vacation. Want to come with?"

"Think Celia can spare the both of us?"

"She better or I'll threaten to tell the Administrator how she's been plagiarizing my projects."

"I'll start packing, come over and we'll brainstorm our vacation."

"You got it." I hung up and began packing as well. A curious lightness filled my heart, the tension of the past weeks having lifted off my shoulders. I no longer had to worry about Celia building that Portal and destroying mankind in the process. Without my videos, she couldn't proceed. 

Cynthia came over speedily while I was rummaging around my drawers looking for my wallet. "Macy, you're not ready yet?"

"Trying to find my wallet. I swear I put it in my purse but it's not there."

"Maybe you left it at the lab."

I sighed. "I probably did. I was so tired last night I could hardly keep my eyes open on the drive home."

"We'll stop at the lab on the way."

The guards weren't too surprised to see me return. We physicists worked all shifts in order to prove our theories. Cynthia and I strode toward my lab and stopped short of entering. Celia. "What do you think you're doing?" I startled her enough to back away from my computer, crimson cheeked. She'd been caught with her hands in the proverbial cookie jar. "Answer me."

"I was just checking to see if you got my e-mail," she said. An obvious lie if I ever heard one. This Celia was much subdued. Gone was the bravado I'd witnessed back in the alternate time line. Here, she was meek as a mouse.

"You're lying. You were trying to steal my work." I stalked over to my computer and yanked out the flash drive. On the screen was my schematics of a Portal. One I had postulated a theory for a couple of years ago. I'd been trying to find a way back to Alluvia by building my own Portal only to have gone there via a mirror.

"Interesting use of your time," Celia said, her voice getting stronger now. Some of her condescending tones was back.

It riled me up. I rounded on her and she flinched. "That's what passes for an apology? A snide comment about something that is none of your business?" I waved the flash drive before her eyes. "You were stealing my research. Admit it and just maybe I'll go easy on you."

"I'll admit to nothing. What you have here is garbage. It's what I suspected all along. You're useless here Dr. Gray. You're fired. Pack up your things and get out."

"I am not leaving. You owe me an apology. What right do you have to snoop around my lab? None. You've just proven to me that you're nothing but a cheat and a liar. A person incapable of thinking for herself. One who has to steal the research of others and pass them off as her own. You're the one who should be fired. In fact, I'm going to the Administrator's office right now."

Celia's green eyes changed to pure black. Now I was the one who stepped back. "You'll do nothing of the kind," she said, voice lowered an octave. Her fists clenched, power radiating from them.

Cynthia screamed and ducked behind the tables. I dropped the flash drive onto the floor in surprise. "You're not the Celia from this time frame."

"How very astute of you." Magic shot out of her fists and slammed into me. I flew backward, back connecting with a table, pain radiating up my spine.

"Uh,"I grunted more stunned by the swift change in Celia's demeanor than the pain. "What purpose would it serve for you to steal my research from this time frame? You already have a working Portal."

"You idiot. You're so stupidly blind that you don't see what's right in front of you. The phone. When you gave it to your mother, it changed everything."

"Back to normal you mean."

"Your kind of normal, not mine. I was meant to rule this world."

Oh boy. Delusions of godhood. This was not good. "Celia, don't you see the futility of trying to conquer the whole world? It doesn't work just look at past history. No one has been successful at it."

"I was successful until you ruined it for me."

"Too bad. Boo hoo." Really, I ought to shut up.

Another blast of magic and I was lifted up and thrown across the room. I landed on the table full of beakers and test tubes. I shut up after that. She meant business. This was a fight to the death and I had better get with the program.

*