Chapter 2

Ellen sat up abruptly, blinking away confusion.

Had she been asleep?

She didn’t feel tired. She immediately recognized the inside of her tiny, single-pole linen tent. It had been inexpensive and lightweight, which was great for her smallish frame, but it wouldn’t stand up to a heavy rain. It was also thin enough that the afternoon sun would make the inside dim, but not dark.

The second thing she noticed was that she was very cold, and quite naked.

Her hand fumbled below, yanking up the blanket she’d awakened beneath. It brushed against the thin, cheap bedroll, warm skin, and then the edge of the cloth that she yanked up to cover herself against the biting chill.

Wait…

Warm skin?

The other girl in the tent sat up just as quickly as Ellen had, bolting upright in the cramped confines of the tiny space… and promptly cracked her forehead against Ellen’s just as the redhead turned to look.

“OW!” Two voices exclaimed at once, as stars swam in Ellen’s vision and she dropped right back onto the bedroll.

Forehead throbbing, Ellen started upward again—then stopped, so she wouldn’t accidentally bump heads once more. She could see the other girl moving, the shape sitting up and rubbing her head. Vision resolved as the dizzying impact’s spots faded, revealing…

Herself?

Two redheads blinked at one another, tucked close in around the central pole, blue eyes meeting blue eyes. Even with her head throbbing, Ellen’s pain was thrust out of her mind by the confusion of what she was seeing.

The other Ellen tugged the blanket up over her chest—almost yanking it from Ellen’s own grasp—and spoke first.

“Who… who are you and why are you in my tent?!”

That question was already on Ellen’s lips when the copy said it. She stifled her original question with a frown. This girl looked so much like her! Not exact, though. She was sure her mouth wasn’t quite that wide. But the welt of red on the other girl’s forehead was probably forming on her own, as well.

“This is my tent!” Ellen huffed and looked around, but didn’t see any sign of her clothing. She didn’t sleep in the nude, especially not when camping out in the wilderness. Where were they?

The second girl shook her head, then winced and brought her free hand to her forehead. “No, I bought the tent, you can’t just climb in and make it yours.”

Ellen wondered why the other girl didn’t consider she might be a changeling of some kind, but then she realized that she hadn’t even considered the possibility until now. Too much confusion and surprise had delayed her thinking about the possibilities. Also, the other girl wasn’t trying to hurt her, and seemed just as confused as she was.

What really worried her was that her last memory was of approaching the cave mouth she’d found. Had she hit her head or something?

Aside from the swelling knot on the forehead she’d just picked up.

It was warmer than when she’d started the hike upward, so she guessed it was early afternoon, which was around the time she’d found the cave entrance. She doubted she’d had enough time to hike back, unless it was a full day later and she’d lost a lot of time.

She pulled up her status to see if she’d gotten any experience or made any weird decisions she now couldn’t remember.

Ellen stared quietly for a few seconds, then sputtered a loud, “What?!”

The other girl gave her a weird look, and Ellen waved her status away. “Just something weird on my Status. Who are you?”

The redhead pointed to herself. “I’m Ellen, who are you?” She paused and frowned heavily before Ellen could answer. “My Status is weird, too. It’s like I decided to change Class but…”

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“But it’s set you to Level 0 instead of 5? Me too!” Ellen huffed and tried to scoot closer to the tent flap without losing the blanket. “And I’m Ellen… what’s the last thing you remember?”

The other redhead shrugged lightly. “Approaching the cave where we’d followed the goblin’s footprints. It was about noon, so I’d guess… maybe an hour or two ago?” She squinted at Ellen. “What’s your mother’s name?”

“Beatrice,” the reply came automatically. “And your father’s name?”