Page 34 of All My Witches
“I don’t think so, but I made note because he’s going to look different when he comes out of that room. We’ve passed him three times and each time it happens.Watch.”
As if on cue, the door opened to allow a different man to exit. He wore the same lab coat, shoes and blue stethoscope as thefirst.
“What was that?” Landon straightened his back. “Is that supposed to be the sameguy?”
I nodded. “Two weeks ago I was talking to Aunt Tillie while she watchedGeneral Hospital. She was complaining because one of her favorite characters was recast. They didn’t even announce it. He went to bed one night with one actor playing him and woke the next morning with a different actor playing him. Aunt Tillie was all worked up because she thought the woman who played his love interest on the show should’ve noticed they were two differentmen.”
“She’s watched soaps long enough to know that’s normal,” Thistle pointed out. “Abrupt recasts happen all thetime.”
“And no one thinks that’s weird?” Landon shook his head. “I don’t get it. There’s no logic in thisworld.”
“Yes, because the fairy tale world was an education on strict logic,” Samsaid.
I swallowed a chuckle as Landon scorched him with a dark look. “I don’t think the recast thing is important in the grand scheme of things. It’s just an added detail I picked up. I think Aunt Tillie has been plotting this world for a long time. There’s no way she came up with this in a night, especially on a night we weredrinking.”
“So you think she was going to shove us here no matter what,” Clove surmised. “She only did it last night because she wasagitated.”
I nodded. “I think we were always going to end up hereeventually.”
“I just want to know how many of these worlds she has planned for us,” Landon said. “She watches a lot of television. I’m guessing she enjoys doing this crap enough that she’s going to shove us in aStar Trekepisode at some point just to get a fewlaughs.”
“I’m less worried aboutStar Trekthan I am about her affinity forGame of ThronesandThe WalkingDead.”
Landon chuckled. “Every once in a while you show flashes of being an optimist. I don’t know why, but it makes melaugh.”
“I don’t know why either.” I leaned my head against his shoulder, smiling as he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “We have to find her. We won’t get out of here until wedo.”
“So I guess we should get moving, huh?” Landon slid his arm around my back, furrowing his brow when he focused on the room across the hallway. The window was open, so we could see inside. “One minute ago there was a kid in that bed. Now there’s ateenager.”
I turned in that direction, pursing my lips. “Does the kid looksick?”
“They were fussing over the smaller kid’s head, and he had a big bandage on it,” Landon replied. “From what I could tell, he didn’t have aninjury.”
“That’s not unheard of. It’s not as if they shave people’s heads when they’re hurt on soaps. They just pretend they manage to conduct surgery without ruining anyone’shairline.”
“That’sstupid.”
“You seem to be saying that a lottoday.”
“I have a feeling I’m going to keep saying it, too,” Landon said. “The thing is … now there’s a teenager in that bed. He’s wearing the same bandage – although it’s not even like the last one – and the same set of parents are sitting watch. What’s goingon?”
“They age soap kids a lot,” I explained. “Very few soap kids keep their roles for the duration. Soaps usually skip the unfortunate puberty stage. They hire cute kids and then replace them with hotteenagers.”
“I see.” Landon made a clucking sound with his tongue. “That’s a bit …extreme.”
“It’s asoap.”
“I’m sure I’ll get used to iteventually.”
“Hopefully we won’t be here that long.” I pushed myself away from the wall. “We need to find AuntTillie.”
“Yeah, but I think we lost hertrail.”
As if on cue, the giggling startedagain.
“I’m so going to bash that old lady’s face in,” Thistle muttered. “I’m going to enjoy doing it, too. I’m going to sit on her chest and poke it until she cries witch and tells the world I’m smarter and stronger thanher.”
“And I thought the people in the soap world were delusional,” Landondrawled.
