by Kate O'Hearn
“Is this your father?” Jake asked. He continued to move the picture around, fascinated by how the subjects’ eyes followed him.
Tryn looked at the photo. “Yes. That was taken on my birthday.”
“You look like him—I mean, except for the silver skin and all. But you have the same eyes and hair.” Jake pointed at the strange animal. “What is that?”
“That is my manicox. Her name is Fiisha. I really miss her. I mean, I miss my family, but Fiisha and I used to spend all our time together.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it before. Is she dangerous?”
“Is a manicox dangerous?” Tryn laughed. “They are the gentlest creatures in the universe, although they do drool a lot. But they’re very loyal and loving. I’m really worried about her. Fiisha loves me absolutely, but I wasn’t allowed to bring her to Titus with me. I hope she’s all right.”
“Can’t you call home and ask?”
Tryn frowned. “How?”
“You know, with a cell phone or something.”
Tryn’s frown deepened. “I don’t know what that is. But if you are talking about some kind of communication device, it wouldn’t work. Xanadu is too far away.”
“How far is it?”
“Light-years.”
“What?” Jake cried. “What do you mean, light-years? Where is it?”
“Xanadu is almost at the other end of the universe. Even using the Solar Stream to get there takes ages.”
“You mean it’s like, another planet or something?”
“Of course. What did you think it was?”
“I—I don’t know, I thought it was another country.” Jake shook his head. “Wait, Astraea said this was Titus. I didn’t ask, but does this mean . . .”
“Titus is a planet far from Earth.”
“But—but that’s impossible. I can’t be on another planet!”
“I understand how difficult this must be for you,” Tryn said sympathetically. “My father told me about Earth and how the farthest you have voyaged is your moon. Believe me, my people have been traveling in space forever. We had many worlds in our system and used to fly between them all the time. At least we did before our sun went supernova and destroyed everything.”
Jake’s heart was racing. Astraea and Zephyr had done their best to convince him this was real—everything about it felt real, but expecting him to believe in space travel was just asking too much. “Would you do me a favor?”
“If I can.”
“Would you hit me, please?”
Tryn gasped. “I couldn’t do that. My people are opposed to violence.”
“It’s not violence if I ask you to do it. Please. I need you to slap me really hard.”
“Why?”
“It’s an experiment. Just do it.”
“I don’t understand—”
“You don’t have to.” Jake stood up and walked over to Tryn. He leaned his face forward and shut his eyes. “Go on, slap me really hard.”
“I have never struck another living being in my life, and I am not about to start now.”
Jake could see the genuine horror on Tryn’s face. “All right, you don’t have to hit me.” He walked over to the closet. He opened the door, put his hand on the inside of the frame, and then slammed the door shut on it.
“Ouch!” Jake howled and jumped around, rubbing his painful hand.
Tryn ran over to him. “What did you do that for?”
Jake was rubbing his bruised hand. Finally he looked into Tryn’s silver face, and his shoulders slumped. “You’re still here.”
“Of course I am. What were you expecting?”
“I was hoping the pain would wake me up.”
“Jake, you are awake.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Jake looked around the strange room and sighed. “Molly missing, space travel, alien boys with silver skin, and girls and horses with wings . . . I really wish it were a dream.”
“I am so sorry,” Tryn said. “This isn’t a dream. Someone has really taken you from Earth and deposited you here on Titus. The question is why.”
He walked over to one of the bookshelves and pulled down a tray of ambrosia cakes. “Here, eat something. It might help.”
“Cake for dinner?” Jake asked. “I’d rather have pizza and soda.”
“I’m not sure what those are. But here, this is food. The Titans and Olympians need to eat it to stay healthy. I like other things too, but ambrosia isn’t bad.”
Jake reached for a cake square and took a bite. His mouth was flooded with sweetness. “Wow!” he cried. “This is awesome.”
Tryn nodded.
As the two ate, they discussed their lives. Jake told Tryn about living in LA, how his parents were divorced and his mother and stepfather were about to have a baby. Then Tryn told Jake about his life on the wild world of Xanadu, and how he had a little sister who he missed very much.
Within a short time, they discovered that despite their different origins and appearance, they had more in common than they would have ever expected.
Jake was calmer than he had been, but now anxiety set in. He rose and started to pace the room. “You guys want me to hide, and I probably should. But how can I while Molly is still out there on an alien world? She’s all alone and has got to be so frightened.”
Tryn handed Jake another ambrosia cake and a cup of nectar. “I do understand and would feel exactly the same if it was my little sister. The best thing you can do for her right now is drink a lot of nectar and keep eating ambrosia. Humans have a distinctive odor—it’s not bad, just distinctive. If you eat a lot, the food may cause it to fade, and then you might pass as a Titan and can go out looking for Molly.” He frowned and rubbed his chin. “Though you will need to change your clothes. Titans don’t dress like that.” He rose and walked over to a pile of clothes, then pulled out a clean white tunic. “Here, put this on.”
Jake’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding, right? You really think putting on a dress will help me find Molly?”
“It’s not a dress, it’s a tunic, and it’s how all the Titans and Olympians dress. If you want to stay safe, you will need to wear one too.”
Jake accepted the garment. Tryn was wearing one, and apart from looking like he was from a gladiator movie, it wasn’t half-bad. “Well, this is your world, not mine. If you say this is how they dress, then that’s how they dress.” He started to get changed.
“This isn’t my world or how I normally dress,” Tryn said. “But I have found it is often easier to go along with everyone instead of causing trouble.”
When Jake finished changing, he pulled his baseball cap on again. Tryn looked at it and frowned.
“You can’t wear that here.”
“What? No way!” Jake held up his hands. “This is my lucky cap. You tell me that everyone here wears a dress and that I have to wear one too—that’s cool, I’ll wear a dress. But if you expect me to give up my cap, you’re in for a big disappointment.”
“If you wear it, you will stand out.”
“No,” Jake said. “I will be outstanding! Maybe I can teach you guys how to look rad.”
“From a prison cell?” Tryn asked. “Because if you are seen like that, they will lock you away.”
“Look, I have lost my sister and woken up on this crazy world where horses have wings—”
“Zephyr isn’t a horse.”
“I know!” Jake cried. “Astraea keeps telling me. But give me a break. Everything I’ve known is gone. I can’t lose my lucky cap. You got that? End of discussion.” Jake reached for his pack. “Now are we going or what?”
Tryn shook his head and gathered together bedding and a pillow. He packed up extra ambrosia cakes and a bottle of nectar and handed them to Jake. Then he kneeled down, reached under his bed, and pulled out a sealed bag. “You remind me of my father.” Tryn stood up and walked to the door. “He is just as stubborn as you.”
They left the room and walked farther down the empty corr
idor. Tryn held up his hand. “Wait here. I’m going to make sure no one is by the doors or walkway.”
He ran a few paces ahead and looked around. “It’s all clear.”
Jake ran forward and paused when Tryn kept walking. “Wait, aren’t we going outside?”
“No,” Tryn said. “I’ve been on my own for several days now. I’ve found all kinds of interesting things here. Come, it’s this way.”
Jake followed Tryn through the enclosed walkway that connected the dormitory to Arcadia Two. They stopped before the school doors, and Tryn grinned. “My father was with the CRU back on Earth and taught me a few tricks for getting through locked doors.” He put down the bedding he was carrying and pulled a small tool kit out of a pocket in his tunic. “I keep this with me at all times.” He removed a pick from the kit. “This is called picking a lock. It’s actually a lot of fun.”
“What’s the CRU?” Jake asked.
Tryn stopped. “It was called the Central Research Unit. It was a secret agency on Earth that looked for extraterrestrials and anything strange. My dad was an agent with them for years until he met Emily Jacobs and Pegasus. After that, he joined the Olympians and helped my people leave Rhean. When he met my mom, he didn’t return to Earth. But I think the CRU is gone now.”
Jake frowned. “Who is Emily Jacobs? I kinda know the name Pegasus from movies—he’s like a flying horse too, isn’t he?”
“He’s not a horse either,” Tryn said. “Back on Earth, the CRU captured him and made a lot of clones of him. One of his clones is called Tornado Warning—he’s not smart like Pegasus and can be very vicious and wild. He can’t talk, either, but he’s Zephyr’s father. So, technically speaking, Pegasus could be considered her father—just don’t ever tell her that, because she’s as fiery as Tornado Warning and hates it when people compare her to Pegasus. She even started a fight this morning when a centaur said Pegasus was her father.”
“Good to know,” Jake said. “And Emily Jacobs?”
Tryn shrugged. “She’s about our age. She’s from New York, but when she met Pegasus, that all changed. Now they’re always together. They live on Xanadu with Emily’s father, aunt, and friends. Emily helped to save my people.”
“So there are humans who came here and didn’t go back to Earth?” Jake asked.
Tryn nodded. “A few. We even have a teacher at Arcadia who was also a CRU agent, but then he got turned into a sphinx and now lives here.” He went back to picking the lock.
“A real sphinx?” Jake asked. “Like, part person and part lion, like they have in Egypt?”
Tryn nodded. “But they have wings, too.”
“Really? Whoa, they must be awesome to see.”
Tryn paused and looked at him. “Actually, they are.”
There was something so bizarre about watching the silver-skinned boy in a tunic breaking into the building. It didn’t look right, just like seeing a dog playing tennis. It was wrong on so many levels. But within seconds, Tryn had the door open and was slipping through.
“Wow,” Jake said softly, following him into Arcadia Two. “You gotta show me how to do that.”
“It’s easy once you know how.” Tryn ran though the darkened halls of Arcadia Two. “Stay close. It gets dark from here.”
“Gets dark?” Jake cried. “I can barely see anything now. How much darker can it get?”
“A lot,” Tryn said.
The school reminded Jake of his own back in LA. Long halls with classroom doors lining both sides. But soon Tryn was leading him to the stairs, and when they descended, everything went black.
There was no light anywhere, and Jake had to hold on to Tryn to keep from walking into things. “I need a flashlight,” he whispered.
“I’ve got something better. It’s what I use when I go exploring.” Tryn stopped and opened the bag he was carrying. “Here, just hold on to some of this.”
“Some of what?” Jake asked. But before he could speak further, he saw a golden glow coming from Tryn’s bag. “What’s that?”
“Luminarus moss,” Tryn said. He leaned closer, and his silver skin glowed golden in the light. “I brought it from home. It grows in some of the caves of Xanadu. I’ve always loved exploring, and this stuff is amazing for giving light when you don’t have anything else. It never runs out of energy, and all you have to do is water it from time to time to keep it alive.” He pulled a clump out of the bag, and the whole area was brightened. “Here, take some.” Tryn paused. “But don’t eat it or you’ll start to glow. I made that mistake when I was a kid and glowed for ages. Oh, and try not to hold on to it too long with your bare skin, because it will make your hand glow, and the warmth from your body will make it glow brighter.”
Jake received a clump of the moss and held it up. “This stuff is sick!”
“No, it’s healthy. I watered it a few days ago.”
Jack laughed. “No, I mean it’s cool, great.”
“Sick means great?”
“Yeah, sometimes. It’s an expression.”
Tryn nodded. “I’ve not heard that before. But I like it.”
With the lighting problem solved, Tryn led Jake into the bowels of the school. At the end of one corridor, they turned to the right and entered another. “Be careful while you are down here. This is a large labyrinth, and you could very easily get lost.”
Jake’s eyes were huge as he took in the vastness of the area. “How big is it down here?”
“Too big for it to just be a school,” Tryn said. “I am certain there are tunnels that connect all the buildings together, but I haven’t found them yet. I can’t figure out why they built it. I haven’t seen anyone down here, so it seems illogical to have all these tunnels and hidden rooms. Up ahead, this corridor splits off into more tunnels, and there are lots of small rooms. At first I thought perhaps some night dwellers lived down here, but they don’t. It’s just big, empty, and mysterious.”
The area had a really creepy feeling to it, and the last thing Jake wanted to do was spend any time down here—especially alone. “Are you sure I can’t stay in your dorm with you? This place gives me the creeps.”
Tryn stopped. “I wish you could, but there are cleaners who come in every day, even though I ask them not to. If you were to stay with me, you would be found. This is the only place I can think of for now. But I promise, I’ll look for somewhere else tomorrow.”
“So it’s just for one night?”
Tryn nodded. “I hope so.”
Even one night down here felt too long, but under the circumstances, what choice did he have? “All right, I guess one night won’t kill me. . . .”
They continued deeper into the labyrinth beneath Arcadia Two. After a while, Tryn stopped before the entrance to a particularly narrow corridor. “I found this last night. It’s really narrow, so not many Titans or Olympians can fit through it. At the end it opens up into two rooms. You can stay in one of them.”
When Tryn said it was narrow, he meant it. Jake was tall and lean, but even he had a hard time fitting through the passage. “Do they have earthquakes here? I’d hate to be in here if that happens.”
“Earthquakes?”
“Yeah, you know, everything shakes because the plates beneath the ground are moving? LA gets them all the time.”
Tryn stopped. “I’ve never heard of them happening here or on Xanadu.” He paused. “Wait, yes, we do on Xanadu, when Emily and Riza are enlarging the planet or making a new continent. Then the whole planet shakes.”
“Wait, two people can’t make continents. That’s impossible.”
Tryn shook his head. “It’s not impossible for the Xan.”
None of this made any sense to Jake, and it didn’t help ease his discomfort while they were moving through the narrow passage. Finally it widened at the end, and they stepped out into a kind of antechamber that spilt off into two different rooms.
“Here we are,” Tryn said. “I’m sure you’ll be very comfortable.”
“That’s not
the word I would use,” Jake said as he investigated each room. They were small, dark, and unfurnished. They also didn’t have doors. But at least they were private. He picked one of them and put his things down in the corner. Holding up his hand with the moss, he saw the roof was high above them.
“What is going on here? I doubt even the biggest school back home would have all this beneath it.”
“I don’t know,” Tryn said. “But I can’t ask anyone, as no one is allowed down here. I’m sure I’d get into trouble if I were caught.”
“At least they wouldn’t lock you away because of what you are,” Jake said as he started to put Tryn’s bedding down to build a sleeping area. “I still can’t believe what’s happened. I’m in danger just for being me.”
“I know,” Tryn said. “I don’t understand it either. I might try to find out more tomorrow.”
“Just don’t get into trouble,” Jake said. “If anything were to happen to you, I’m really stuck. You’re the only one who knows that I’m down here, and who knows the way out.”
“I’ll be careful,” Tryn said. He started to walk out of the room. “So, you have food, something to drink, and a place to sleep. Get some rest. I’m going back up to try to find you somewhere better to stay. For now, just keep quiet and don’t go wandering around. It’s too easy to get lost. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
As Tryn started to leave, Jake trotted to the doorway. “Hey, Tryn,” he called. When Tryn turned, Jake tilted his head. “Thanks for everything, dude.”
“You’re welcome. Maybe tomorrow you can teach me how to skateboard.”
“After we find my sister, you can count on it.”
Tryn turned and disappeared back down the passage.
Alone in the small room, Jake sat down. Tryn had left him half the bag of glowing moss, so he did have some light to drive back the darkness. But it was the silence that disturbed him most. He could hear his own breathing and the beating of his heart, because there was nothing else to hear.