Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Abby angrily crossed her arms over her chest when she answered the video call a few days later. She could not back down. If necessary, she would sue this woman for defamation in her sister's memory. Appearing weak was not an option.

"Care to explain this?" she demanded.

Janine Everett, a pale woman with dark hair and eyes sighed. "I was hoping you could explain it to me, actually. This is not the novel I wrote."

"Don't give me that crap," Abby hissed. "Your name is on the cover. Your photo is in the back sleeve with the 'about the author' blurb. How did you know all of this information about my sister? Why would you do this to her? And to me? I almost felt like I had her back for a moment when reading about Catherine du Pont and then you pulled something like this!"

"Miss Pullman, I never created a character named Catherine du Pont. If you would listen to me for a moment I would like to tell my side of the story."

Abby reluctantly decided to let her but did not unknit her brows. The glare would remain as long as she felt like it.

"I occasionally reread things I've written because I love my characters," Janine confessed. "They are like my friends because I've spent so much time with them. A few months ago I reread From Pastry Chef to Princess and discovered something impossible. The story had changed.

"The novel I wrote was in Alpheus' perspective but the female lead was Marcy Grandin. He fell for her because of her cheerful nature and charm. She came up with the idea to introduce commoner representatives to the court and after Prince Franz became king, she married Alpheus and they lived happily ever after.

"The entire du Pont family didn't make the final cut in the novel. Originally I planned on making Percival work with the crown prince but I went with Duke Orla's character instead. I hadn't even finalized any other family members for him because he was such a rough concept."

Janine's expression grew frantic and Abby's glare slowly settled back into a neutral expression. This woman was either a fantastic actress or she was actually insane.

Did she really expect her to believe that? And she hadn't even gotten to the part about including all of her dead sister's personal information yet. This woman still had a lot of explaining to do.

The author continued. "And the plotline about the Kanta clan? That was an idea I toyed with that didn't make it into the novel because my editor was pushing for less political intrigue and more romance. She told me to wrap it up with a fairy tale wedding instead of making it longer so I did.

"But I didn't write about Mariela's pregnancy or Duke Orla being obsessed with a woman or anything having to do with Catherine du Pont. Especially all of that transmigration nonsense! I wrote a pure fantasy story with fantasy characters.

"So you tell me. How did your late sister end up taking over my novel? Nobody remembers how it used to be except me! I tried talking to my editor about it and she looked at me like I was crazy. No other fans have messaged me about this issue before you so I don't think any of them have noticed either."

Abby blinked at her. Janine had become visibly upset. But that agitation was mixed in with genuine bafflement. She truly didn't know anything about this.

It seemed impossible…but had her sister's consciousness actually survived the crash and been transplanted inside a fictional character's? Her organs had been transplanted into other people's bodies. Who was she to say that her consciousness hadn't been transplanted as well?

"Do you think…" Abby began nervously, hardly daring to hope her sister was still alive somewhere. "Do you think it might really be her in there? That she accidentally changed your story by landing inside of it?"

Janine sniffed. "How am I supposed to know? My novel changed without my knowledge. Any explanation could be believable at this point."

But how had this happened? In the transmigration comics Abby had read at her sister's request that aspect of things was never fully explained. People sort of just accepted what had happened at face value.

If she didn't know how it had happened there wouldn't be a way to bring her back. But she absolutely had to bring her back if she was still alive.

Her plans came to a screeching halt when she remembered something. Katie had fallen in love with her husband. They went off to resettle the Kanta region at the end of the book. Would she even want to come back?

More importantly…was it even possible? Her body here had died. There was nothing for her to come back to. If Abby was going to reunite with her sister, it would make more sense for her to go to them.

She had nothing to stay for here knowing that her favorite person in the world was living her life somewhere else. She had always intended to move back to Arizona to be near Katie anyway. Was this really that different?

They had always talked about being neighbors once they got married. Raising their kids together and having backyard barbecues and such. Abby would give up anything about her life here to make that happen.

"Write a story about me going to Annalaias," Abby said fiercely.

Janine looked at her with obvious skepticism. "You really think that will work? I had nothing to do with how your sister ended up in my book."

Maybe so but it was the only scrap of a plan that she had. How else was she supposed to end up in a story book? Go die in a car accident on the same freeway that Katie had back in Arizona?

There were no guarantees. If she tried killing herself and wasn't transported to the world of the novel then she would never see Katie again for real. Wouldn't it be better to try a less potentially harmful method first?

"Please! It's all I've got," Abby pleaded desperately.

Janine's expression grew thoughtful. "The text of the book was what changed…why don't I write something about you on the last blank page in pen. It probably won't work but I'm willing to give it a try."

Tears filled Abby's eyes "Thank you."

The author went to fetch a pen and began scribbling quietly on the last page, looking up after less than a minute. "There. I wrote 'Abigail Pullman goes to the Kanta region and is reunited with her sister.' But I really don't think anything is going to happe—"

She couldn't even finish her sentence. Abby had already vanished from the other side of the computer screen without a trace.