by Blair Drake
Frustrated, she got up and stood at the spot where she stepped onto the island for the first time.
Then it struck her. She turned back the same way she was standing to realize the portal was behind her the whole time. She shifted her gaze, and, sure enough, the air shimmered. She reached out a hand, but it didn’t feel any different. She took a step forward to the portal. Nothing changed. She closed her eyes, focused on Annalise, and stepped through. Then opened her eyes. Nothing.
“Damn it.”
She walked back around to her small circle and stared at the opening. “Do I need a secret password or something?”
She tried to think back on everything she’d done so far to figure out what she might have missed, but it was really hard. “So where is it that I want to go? I want to be back in my bedroom at the school.”
Part of her success so far was focusing on Annalise and the connection to her friend. She directed thoughts in that vein.
She reached out with two determined steps and stepped through the portal. A weird sucking sound followed, and the wind picked up a strand of her hair. But when she opened her eyes, she was still on the island. So that weird sucking sound was like the gate running out of battery power? That was enough to strike fear in anybody. She studied the world in front of her, closed her eyes, and said, “I want to be back in my bedroom at home.”
She stepped forward. This time the sucking sound was even weirder, stronger, but still no movement.
“Maybe that’s too far away. Maybe I can only go a little way.”
She didn’t want to dwell on the fact she went from somewhere really, really cold to land here in the Caribbean on her own. She thought of all the places she’d been in the world and those closest to home. She visited Vancouver on two school field trips, so she’d think about that and about Annalise.
“I hope you are doing fine, Annalise. I wish I was with you.” And she stepped into the portal again. “Take me to Vancouver Island.”
Instantly, wind blasted at her. She gasped, her gaze widening in shock. She flung her arms out to the side to find her balance. She stood on the edge of some kind of stone pathway with a big wall separating the pathway from the waves crashing on the other side.
Then she recognized the statue of the mermaid on a big rock in front of her. “Oh, my heaven. I’m in Vancouver. This is Stanley Park.”
She spun around in shock to realize the deserted Caribbean island was gone, and she was now exactly where she wanted to go—almost. She was in the city of Vancouver, not on Vancouver Island. Close but not quite close enough. “How did that work? What did I do wrong before?”
Had Winter successfully made the trip with her? He was no longer on her shoulder. A quick search found him in her pocket again. He seemed to like the security of being tucked away. For that reason, she left him sleeping.
He was alive. That’s what counted. It meant the portal travel didn’t hurt him. She smiled, her fingers gently stroking his back. She’d never thought to have a pet.
As for the timing of getting a pet, this was hardly the best, but she was damn glad Winter chose to stick around.
Nothing seemed to follow a pattern in her new life. She stared at the city across the harbor. This was a huge city, but…where were all the people? This was a popular spot with both tourists and locals. The traffic connecting West Vancouver to Vancouver was normally jam-packed with bumper-to-bumper commuters, but no one was around. Why? How did that even make sense? She leaned against the big stone seawall and pulled out her talisman. The circle of lit dots around the outside was missing three more lavender ones now.
She stared at the dull lights in horror. What if, in order to get home, she lost all those small lights?
But the bottom line was, she made three successful jumps through the portal—and she’d lost five of the thirty-six circles. Still, this was encouraging because now she just had to take a ferry across the inlet to Vancouver Island and catch a lift to the school.
She smiled at that idea. She might be a long way from home yet, but she was at least in the right country. And English was spoken here—if she could find anyone to talk to. She headed down the pathway, walking toward the huge bridge she could see ahead.
The Greater Vancouver Regional District held five or six million people, so she should see someone at any moment even though it was dark and stormy out. It reminded her of all the horror stories of Central Park in New York City. She picked up her pace until she was almost jogging. Why couldn’t she see people? Traffic? Even the birds or other animals? Something should be here. When she finally ran out of energy, she leaned against the seawall to catch her breath. “Am I at least on the right path? Because this is weird. It’s like I’m here, but I’m not here.”
“You are doing fine,” a voice said.
She spun around, a bright smile on her face, only to have it fall away when she realized no one was there. “You are talking inside my mind again. You must be getting better at it since you’re clearer.”
“Maybe. Or you’re getting better at hearing me.”
“Yes,” she said joyfully. “Please don’t run away again.”
“There’s that lesson again.” The voice disappeared.
Anytime she brought up the same theme, the voice disappeared. As if she were too needy. But she wasn’t, not really. It would be nice not to be alone here.
Was she in the real world? Surely she must be. Anything else was too hard to imagine. She studied her surroundings. Something was really off though. She could see Vancouver, and she definitely walked in Stanley Park. A sign up ahead confirmed it, not that she had any doubt. She’d been here before. The Lions Gate Bridge was right there. It was a well-known landmark.
The seawall was long and wide with strong ocean waves crashing up and over it. She could hear those but little else. Where were the birds, the squirrels? Where were the cars? Was this a fake world? Where was she?
She froze and turned to look behind her.
Good Lord. She’d forgotten about the portal. Where was it? She was so far away from it now, there was no way she could find it again.
And, as far as she could see, there was no way to get home either.
What had she done?
Chapter 4
“Trust in yourself and the process,” the voice whispered inside her head. She tried to discern if it was male or female, but it came across like a computerized voice without the tiny echo. And, almost as if it could read her thoughts, laughter rippled through her mind.
She shook her head and murmured, “How is it you are even talking to me, but I can’t talk to you?”
There was a pause inside her head. And then the voice said, “You are talking to me.”
She waved her hands. “You know what I mean.”
“Maybe. Are you sure you know what you mean?” it countered.
She frowned and turned to stare around her. “Of course I’m not sure. I’m not sure of anything. Look at where I’m standing,” she yelled. “I can’t see anyone alive here. All I can see is I’m in a weird flat dimension of the real world. The only thing that appears to be interested in me is that damn black cloud.”
Instantly the voice sharpened. “What black cloud?”
She pointed at the horizon where a dark storm cloud was way too close for comfort. “There. Can’t you see it?”
An odd sound reverberated in her head, almost a rumbling. She tilted her head slightly, as if it would help her hear better. “Is it one person talking to me now or two?”
“It doesn’t matter,” the voice said slowly. “How far away is this black cloud?”
“Close,” she added. “Since I’ve been bouncing through this flat world, it seems to be following me and getting bigger.” She stared at the darkness. “In fact, I think it’s closer again.”
She could feel some of her anxiety ease with the voice in her head actually understanding what was going on here. Maybe she wasn’t quite so alone. She slipped her hand into her right pocket, reassu
red to find Winter snuggled in and sleeping soundly.
“And of course that’s another part of the lesson.”
“Part of what lesson? What is this all about?”
“What have you learned so far?”
“Not much,” she said slowly, worried if this was a test, and she gave the wrong answer, the voices would disappear on her. “I have learned whatever this school pin really is, the lights are going out very quickly. I’m not sure why or how. My cell phone doesn’t work because I gather I’m in some sort of alternate dimension that doesn’t have cell service, but I’m not sure about that. I managed to go a couple hops from the ice field to the deserted island to Stanley Park, so I’m getting better at the portal creation and its use. I don’t really understand the rules and how far I can go with it.”
“Still, that’s not bad. You’ve come a long way.”
“I’m right?” she cried out in excitement. “Why is that stuff not taught at the school?”
“Because people talk,” came the response.
She frowned, not liking that answer. “Aren’t we allowed to talk? Do I have to be alone? Do it alone? Keep this all a secret?” She winced instinctively, knowing that would be almost impossible to do with her friends at school. How could she not share this with Annalise? It could easily spiral out of control if she were one of the students with a dozen friends.
“That is your lesson.”
She groaned. “You keep saying that, but I don’t know what it means.”
“Think about it. I can’t give you the answers. You have to find them on your own.”
“You do have to keep an eye on me, right? To make sure I get back safe?”
Silence again.
Instantly, her anxiety shot sky-high. “Please answer me.” In spite of her attempts not to let nerves get to her, her voice trembled.
“I’m not allowed to even talk to you, but maybe I can make it more official after they discuss it.”
She shook her head. “What do you mean, after they discuss it? How come you are still talking to me if you’re not allowed to? This is nuts. It’s hard to believe you’re talking to me like this at all.” She turned around to look at the black cloud. Instead of coming closer, it just sat there, as if looking in her direction. As if watching…
“It doesn’t appear to be moving closer right now,” she said shuddering slightly.
“Is it trying to go to a specific location?” came a sharp voice.
She frowned at the change in tone. “Is this somebody else speaking now?”
“Answer the question.”
“It’s hovering,” she said, trying to explain. “Just back a bit. It’s stopping me from going backward but not necessarily directing me anywhere. It looks and feels scary.” Then she shook her head. “No, I don’t know why I’m saying that. Because, although this might have malevolence to it, I can’t be sure it isn’t my own fear I’m sensing.”
“Interesting.”
“What is interesting?”
When nobody answered again, Melissa got angry. “Look. You know something. You know a lot about what I’m doing, the trouble I’m in, and you’re not helping. So I’m supposed to answer you when you want something, yet nobody helps me when I want something.”
She felt a shocked silence, then she winced realizing how disrespectful she sounded. Having spent a lot of years in the private school environment, she knew exactly what was expected of her and how she was to treat the teachers. “I’m so sorry. I’m just really scared and nervous right now. I don’t understand what’s going on. I want to go home.”
The voice came back, careless and casual. “That’s understandable.”
And just like that, all the voices left her mind. She walked to the seawall and sat with one leg on the other side. The ocean crashed below her foot, sending up spray, yet she couldn’t feel it.
She could see the droplets land on her shoes and arms, but no sensation was attached. It didn’t make any sense, but then so much of her current world didn’t make any sense either. She sat here for a long moment before lying across the top of the wall on her back. She rested her head in her hands and stared at the blue sky. Stanley Park was well known for its birds. It was popular with both the locals and the tourists. It’s like she was here but she wasn’t. As if she was in a picture she’d seen but not in the real place—a life in a vacuum. So bizarre. She looked into the distance of the world around her. She’d always kept herself slightly aloof, away from everybody, but it never felt like this.
The little voice inside her consciousness piped up again. “For a while it did.”
She frowned. “It didn’t feel like this though. Although I felt alone, I wasn’t disconnected.”
“You were disconnecting. You just weren’t isolated yet.”
She frowned. “One of the two voices speaking to me keeps saying that’s my lesson.”
She hesitated to say he or she when referencing the two voices. Every once in a while, Melissa thought she heard an overtone leading one way or the other. Could that be the headmaster? She would think Hettie’s voice would be warm, caring, and loving, telling Melissa to sit down to a cup of tea and have a good cry because it would make her feel better. Instead, the voice was brisk, businesslike sometimes. Other times it sounded younger.
The memories made her smile. She had to figure out where to go from here. She thought she’d been hungry earlier, but now, as she lay here, she realized hunger wasn’t exactly the right sensation. Her stomach felt empty, but there wasn’t any associated emotion or physical need.
Back to that flat dimension again. She wondered, if she did eat something, would it have any flavor or would all food be tasteless?
She could keep doing these hops, but she worried she was wearing down her talisman, using up its allotment of power. The portal-travel thing was completely cool. As she lay here, class lessons slipped through her mind. Bits and pieces that seemed to matter, yet not. She figured she’d be okay, but at what time was it too late?
She pondered her lessons about how the world was connected and how we’re all one. She remembered a brief discussion of meridian lines across places where certain towns had higher energy levels. She had to admit she hadn’t listened very hard at the time. Although interesting, it seemed too far-fetched. Now she wondered…wished she paid more attention.
Hettie often told Melissa she was nowhere near as alone as she believed, but right now that wasn’t exactly reassuring. She sat up, hopped off the seawall, closed her eyes, and created a portal. Focusing hard, she wanted to connect and see exactly where she was, but in the normal world. She stepped through, waited a second, and opened her eyes. It didn’t work. Instantly, she spun around to see the black energy much closer.
Was it attracted to her portal work, or taking advantage of when the energy was fired up—or weakest?
She swallowed hard, pulled her talisman from her pocket, and watched as the next light faded and went dim. “Darn, I should have checked.” That was a pretty expensive test. There had to be a way to connect the talisman to something to power it up or recharge it, so to speak, like her cell phone.
There also had to be a way to get back to the real world so she could get home. Did she want to return to the school within this dimension? In a way, yes, because at least it would be familiar. Maybe she’d find some clues there to show her what was going on, or maybe not, but she’d take a chance if she could. She still didn’t know if she needed to be at the same place she’d arrived, but she was willing to try anything. She closed her eyes, created the portal, thought about her school, and took a step forward.
Just as she went to enter, the darkness surged toward her.
She yelped and dashed through, trying to stay ahead of the cloud. There was an odd silence inside. She couldn’t see anything behind her. At the same time, she couldn’t see the darkness inside either. But unlike the other jumps she’d taken, this took longer. She stood in the mist, fear making her palms sweat.
That�
�s when she realized the mist was all around her. She was in a wooded area on a hillside, the fog so dense she couldn’t see the trees in the distance. The ones close were tall and thick, the moss and underbrush heavy at her feet.
She took a deep breath. Where was she this time?
And where was the darkness? Had it found her? She spun around, a chill racing up and down her spine. She wasn’t sure it could find her since she was so lost.
This was so not inside the school where she wanted to be. “Well, this wasn’t exactly what I planned.”
Stumbling in the poor visibility, she took several steps downhill. She had no idea what she did to bring her here. She’d asked to come to the school, not this wilderness.
She pulled her jacket tighter against her neck and stepped over a downed tree. Her next step sent her sliding down a slippery slope. She cried out in a low tone as her hands scrabbled to find something to grab. At the same time, she tried holding Winter safe in her pocket. Thankfully, her slide was short. Using a rock, she regained her footing and leaned against the closest tree. In this soupy mix, she couldn’t see if she should go up, down, or sit still until the weather changed.
Or should she make another portal and travel again? But at what point was she making unnecessary portals and burning through her and the talisman’s energy unnecessarily?
Still…she looked around and shivered. She didn’t want to spend the night here. Why couldn’t she get inside the school?
Then she remembered all the heavy woods around the school, over two hundred acres of land with the school sitting directly in the center. It’s possible she ended up on the grounds, not actually in the building. She hadn’t said inside the building. She spun around, looking about for the long driveway up to the school. In the distance, she could see a light shining through the clouds like the sun on the horizon. Not seeing much else beside the fog and trees, she wondered once again at the lack of birds or other animals.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught a shimmer of something similar to what she saw in a portal. Turning, she studied it, then realized it went around the hill. She raced toward it, thinking it may be a portal to enter. As soon as she came upon it, she opened her arms and came flat up against a force field that picked her up and tossed her on her butt at least ten feet away. She lay on the ground, groaning and shuddering at the shock of what just happened and starting at the foggy sky.