A World Divided

by Rebekah Clipper

  Elise was convinced that they were completely lost when they finally broke through the thick brush into a wide open plain. “Let them follow us through that mess,” said Jade, lips in a tight smile.

  “You got far too much enjoyment out of that,” said Ashley. “Did you think to bring some water with you? I’m thirsty as hell.”

  “The eloquence of your words is pure poetry,” Jade responded. “I left some water and food in that tree. Go get it if you want it.”

  Ashley took off toward the indicated tree, picked up speed and launched herself a few feet away from it. Her hands missed the branch she was aiming for by inches. Ashley swore quietly, backed up, and tried again. A pained expression crossed Jade’s face.

  It took a third attempt before Ashley was able to get herself up. As soon as her hands connected, she used her momentum to ascend the tree like a squirrel. A minute later a brown satchel fell from the branches above, followed closely by the girl. Elise clapped loudly as Ashley bowed.

  “You don’t deserve applause for that,” said Jade, sounding utterly unimpressed.

  “You try that after losing an eye. I was awesome. Get over it,” Ashley said as she bent down to search through the bag. “I take that back. You’re my hero. I will now grovel at your feet for your grand display of kindness.” Instead of groveling, she pulled out a large water skin and took a long drink from it. Wiping her mouth, she handed it over to Elise who followed her example. Ashley then divided up dried fruit and jerky.

  “How’d you know we’d be having so many guests?” Ashley asked as she stretched lazily on the soft grass.

  “I didn’t. This was supposed to last us until we got back to the training facility. The last thing I wanted was to stop at home, but we aren’t going to make it very far on these provisions,” Jade said.

  “Well, I’m glad I disrupted your plans. It’s been years since you took me to Evetin.”

  “There’s a good reason for that, and you know it.” The exasperation was evident in Jade’s voice. “It’ll take us a couple days to make it. We need to collect our strength for the journey. This area is relatively safe. We’ll camp here tonight and move again at first light.” She turned her unusually colored eyes onto Elise. “I can take you as far as Maken. After that you will have to find your own way.”

  “Where?” Asked Elise, the pit of her stomach raw. “I’m in another world, and I don’t know any of the rules. I don’t have anywhere to go.”

  “It’s going to be bad enough bringing Ashley home again. There’s no way I can just stroll in with two girls, a troggle, and that beast,” Jade said, pointing down at Chase. The dog curled his lip back at her without making a sound and slowly moved behind Elise’s legs.

  “Oh, you know that’s not true, Jade,” said Ashely, walking over to Chase and putting a comforting hand on his head. The dog lifted his head and licked her fingers gently. Then he moved to rest his weight on her leg. “They’ll let you bring in whoever you want, and you know it.”

  “It’s not that simple, Ashley. I know you think you know everything, but only a finite amount of knowledge can be imbued into your mind at the age of thirteen,” Jade said. “I can promise safe passage to Maken. I will not make a promise for anything further. Maken is filled with good, honorable people who’ll be willing to help a young girl and her beast. In fact, you’ll probably be much better off than in our company.”

  Elise didn’t like that at all. “Why can’t you get your supplies in Maken and then take me back to the training facility with you?”

  Ashley’s grin, which had been dissipating, came back in full force. “Oh, we’re wanted criminals in Maken,” she said. “They’d arrest us on the spot if we set one foot in that town. Obviously, it was all a misunderstanding, but it seems the man who owns the armory was not forgiving when some of his finest weapons disappeared without payment. Unfortunately, somehow the weapons were found on us. We had to make an escape quickly, and since they were already with us, we decided to keep them. It was only fair after the way he’d treated us the day before.” Her smile turned wicked.

  Jade frowned at the girl’s amusement. “Ashley thought her skills were as advanced as mine. She was wrong.”

  “But, aren’t you a shape changer?” Elise asked. “Why can’t you take on another form?”

  Jade turned to her, looking slightly shocked. “How did you… Never mind, I’m sure Ashley has something to do with it.”

  “Hey,” Ashley said, indignantly, “I didn’t say a thing.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “It wasn’t Ashley,” said Elise, wanting to protect her new friend. “I figured it out when you fought those guys at the wagon.”

  “Well, that was very observant of you,” said Jade. “Maybe you aren’t completely useless.”

  Elise was pained by the sting of the words, but she kept her mouth shut. When she realized that was all Jade had to say, she walked over to a large rock that protruded from the ground and sat on top. She pulled her legs up and rested her elbows on her knees. Jade and Ashley talked quietly between themselves as Aroon made his way to sit next to Elise. He touched her shoulder and said, “El---eeee…. Aaarr---oooonnn?”

  She turned her head to look at the troggle and gave him a small, sad smile. “I’m glad you’re here with me, Aroon. I know I’ll be okay if I have you and Chase. I’m just… I’m scared. And I miss my mom and dad. They would know what to do right now. Well, at least my dad would. He knows everything.” She took the troggle’s hand in hers and rested her head on his shoulder. Chase had sauntered over to the pair and lay at the bottom of the rock, below Elise’s feet.

  After a few minutes, Jade walked over to the girl as well. The hardness in her face had softened slightly. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can admit when I go overboard. It’s been a stressful few weeks, but that doesn’t mean I need to take it out on you. I still can’t make you any promises to take you past Maken, but I’ll be here to protect you until then. I know you’re just a lost and scared kid. So, why don’t you tell me how you got here.”

  Elise gave her the tale. She felt it necessary to get the full story out, including the devolution of her mother since the attack from Arthur. She felt a weight within her lift as she got out all her feelings. Elise had never told anyone how much it hurt her that she lost her mother. The woman she knew her whole life had been light and loving and funny, but the person who rose in the aftermath was the complete opposite. The coldness from her mother drained her. At times she could see a glimmer of the mother she used to know, but it disappeared so quickly Elise couldn’t be sure if it was real or not.

  As she spoke, Ashley had silently moved closer, and once again ran her fingers through the younger girl’s curls. “Wow,” she said when Elise stopped talking. “I had no idea what you’re going through. That’s pretty messed up.”

  Elise laughed a little, wiping away a stray tear. “Yeah, it’s pretty messed up,” she said.

  Jade looked Elise in the eyes and said, “You need a haircut.”

  “What?” Elise was unsure how to respond. The statement was completely unrelated to the conversation.

  “Your hair, girl. We need to cut it,” said Jade. “Unless you want to walk around with a huge chunk six inches shorter than the rest.”

  Elise raised a hand to the back of her head. The missing hair was more than she’d realized while they made their trek through the dense underbrush. A sensation of loss arose. Her mother had loved her curls. Even on some of her worst days, it always seemed to cheer her to play with Elise’s hair. She would grab a ringlet, pull it straight, and make a “sprong” noise as she released it. She told Elise she used to love doing that with Dad’s hair before he cut it short. Elise had never seen her dad with long hair in real life, but Mom would show her pictures. He looked pretty funny with her long curls. She told him more than once he should grow it back out so they could be twins. He laughed and told her, “Maybe someday,” but he never actually did it. Elise always wondere
d if maybe some of his friends made fun of him.

  “I guess you’re right,” Elise said, trying to keep the defeat out of her voice.

  “Okay,” said Jade, “scoot over so I can reach the back of your head. Ashley, grab me the obsidian blade from the bag.” Ashley retrieved the requested item and handed it to Jade. Elise did as she was told, presenting the back of her head to the strong woman. She didn’t utter her fears about being nearly bald. Jade’s hair was cropped even shorter than her dad’s was. “Now,” Jade continued, running her fingers through the girl’s hair to undo the tangles, “tell me what you think you know about shape changers.”

  “Honestly, everything I know is from my cartoon,” Elise said.

  “Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that,” said Ashley. She was sitting on a rock facing Elise. “You were going to tell me about your strong vision magic before someone rudely interrupted us.” She raised her eyebrows pointedly at Jade, who ignored her.

  “It’s not magic. Where I come from there is no magic,” said Elise. “Or at least, none that I know about. Cartoons are like stories made from moving pictures. People make them on their computers and then other people record their voices to bring the story together. We can watch them on our TV’s or tablets or whatever.”

  “And how do the moving pictures show up on your TGs and tables and whatevers?” asked Ashley smugly.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Elise. “There’s all kinds of science that goes into it. There’s Wi-Fi and satellites and stuff like that. I’m only nine you know.”

  “Magic,” Ashley said in a stage whisper, and Elise giggled.

  “It’s not time to worry about the TGs,” said Jade. Some of Elise’s hair dropped as the woman spoke. “Please continue.”

  “Okay,” said Elise, trying to pick her words out carefully, “so Monoflufee is my favorite cartoon. A lot of other kids really like it too. It’s been on for a long time, like since my mom was young, so there are a lot of next gen characters. I like the originals though. So, the shape changers are talked about a lot by the main characters, but you never really know what they are. See, they can turn into any creature or any person they want to, and they never show up in their true forms in the show. At least not in the original Monoflufee.”

  “Interesting,” said Jade. “Tell me more about these cartoons.” Elise did as she was asked, describing different plots and her favorite characters. By the time Jade stopped her she’d almost forgotten she was having her hair chopped. Jade examined her closely with a strange, intense gaze. “I find it rather… peculiar that something intended for children’s entertainment in your world hits on so many points that are historical fact from mine. A lot of what you’ve told me about is just what it’s supposed to be, entertainment, but enough of it rings true that someone would have had to have contact with our land, and I mean prolonged contact, to come up with it. Maybe going home won’t be quite so bad after all.”

  Elise was curious as well, after meeting Aroon, where the ideas came from for Monoflufee. She didn’t have an easy explanation, so she decided not to dwell on it. Besides, there had been so many other things to worry about since she woke up in the blackness of the cave. She sat and thought it over while Ashley rummaged in the sack. “I guess if we could cross over, someone else could be able to also. Maybe some people know how to go back and forth.”

  “I’ve never heard of anything like that before,” said Jade, “but I guess if you made it, it’s possible.”

  “That means,” said Ashley, walking back over to the others, “we can find a way to get Ellie home. Now take a look.” She held a polished piece of metal up in front of Elise’s nose.

  The hair in front was nearly as long as it had been before the impromptu cut. As she moved the mirror back, her hair became drastically shorter, like a wave. Her head felt much lighter than before. Smiling at Jade, she said, “Thank you. I really love it.”

  “Now it’s your turn,” Jade said, turning the wickedly sharp blade toward Ashley.

  “Nuh-uh,” Ashley said, backing up. “You keep that thing away from me. My raven locks are going to be long and glorious and the envy of all who see them.”

  “Your raven locks are so matted and dirty they would break any comb that touched them,” laughed Jade. Ashley took several more steps backward, turned, and sprinted for the tree line. Jade was in hot pursuit. Elise watched as the other two bounded between, and on, the surrounding trees. It was a treat for her to watch their playfulness. It reminded her of something she and her mom would have done not long ago, and it made her realize something about Jade. She wasn’t cold and hard at all like Elise had first thought. She was warm and full of love for Ashley, like a mother should be. Elise was curious about how the pair had come together. She knew Ashley couldn’t be Jade’s actual daughter, or at least she didn’t think so. Nonetheless, they clearly had a bond as close as any mother and daughter could.

  Suddenly, Ashley came out of the trees. “I think I lost her,” she said in triumph.

  Just then Jade jumped down from above and landed directly in front of Ashley. Before the girl had time to react, Jade grabbed her and swept her legs out from underneath her. Ashley fell back hard with Jade on top of her. “Gottcha!” Ashley struggled to free herself. Jade just laughed. “Just because you can’t hear your opponent doesn’t mean they’re not there.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” said Ashley. “I give up. You feel better about yourself? Beating up a little girl?”

  “I recall you telling me you aren’t little.” Jade got to her feet and put a hand down to help Ashley up. Instead of taking the proffered hand, Ashley pulled her knees back to her chest, rounding her back, and then, rocking forward, used her momentum to jump up into a standing position.

  “Wow, that was awesome,” said Elise.

  “I’ll show you how to do it sometime,” said Ashley. She looked up to the sky, which resembled an oil painting filled with purples, pinks, and oranges, and said, “I think it’s time for us to get to sleep. When Jade says we’re moving at first light, she’s not exaggerating.”

  Elise yawned, beyond exhausted. It had been a very long day filled with both physical and emotional toil. She couldn’t remember another day so full of excitement. Both the bad and the good kind. She hadn’t been missing her electronics at all, which really said something about her state of mind. “Where are we going to sleep?”

  “I have a shelter just beyond those trees,” said Jade. “This isn’t the first time I’ve stayed in this area.” She signaled them to follow her to a lean-to propped up against a very large tree. Underneath a bed-like structure made from branches lifted tightly-woven plant matter off the ground.

  “There should be room for the three of us,” said Ashley, dubiously.

  “Aroon, will you be okay out here?” Elise asked, pointing at the ground.

  “Arrr---oooonnn,” said Aroon. He turned to gather plant matter for an impromptu nest. When he was all set, he collapsed into it. Chase curled up next to him and the troggle put his furry arm around the dog. They were both snoring in seconds.

  The girls climbed into their bed, Elise firmly planted in the center. Soon, she was also lost in a world of dreams.

  *

  Elise woke up needing to pee desperately. It was still dark outside, and the night air was filled with the even breathing of her companions. Gently, she removed Ashley’s arm, which had been slung over her at some point, and she carefully crawled over the girl. Ashley snorted slightly, said a few nonsense words, and began breathing steadily again.

  Above her the moons shined brightly. Elise was fascinated by the two near orbs that hung next to each other, reflecting a pale orange light. Her interest waned due to the urgency in her bladder, so she looked for a spot near the camp to do her business. A tree nearby would provide her with the privacy she required without taking her too far away from the others. Chase stood and followed her. She was grateful for his silent companionship, even if she was less than twenty feet away from her c
amp site.

  Before crawling back into the shelter, she took one last opportunity to look up at the unique moons. It might be the only time she would be able to see them, so she didn’t want to take the view for granted.

  As she looked up, she noticed a strange humming noise emanated from the forest around her. She’d been hearing it since she got up, but then the sound had been much fainter. Maybe it was some sort of bugs singing their nighttime songs. She had never heard anything quite like it, but she had been having all sorts of experiences she’d never had before.

  Elise was going to dismiss the sound, but something about it made her uneasy. Instead, she sat down on the side of the bed and shook Ashley’s shoulder lightly. “Ashley,” she whispered. And then a little more loudly, “Ashley.”

  Ashley moved so quickly she was a blur in the dim light of the moons. One moment she was lying peacefully on her back and the next she had something cold and sharp against Elise’s throat. Elise sat perfectly still until the other girl lowered her arm. “Dang, Ellie. You scared the crap out of me.”

  “I’m just glad I peed before I woke you up,” Elise responded, “or else there would have been a huge mess.”

  “Sorry about that,” Ashley said. “My instincts just kind of kick in, you know?”

  “Not really,” said Elise, wondering how long the other girl had slept with a knife.

  “What’s up?” asked Ashley, nonplused.

  “Listen,” Elise said. “Do you hear that sound?”

  Ashley sat silently for a few moments. “That weird humming sound? Yeah, I do. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.” She stood up next to Elise. “Does it sound like it’s getting louder?”

  “Yeah,” said Elise. “Whatever it is, it’s coming this way fast. Maybe we should wake Jade up.”

  Ashley was looking toward the sound. “I think that’s a mighty fine idea.”