by Blair Drake
And damn if he didn’t laugh. She frowned and tried to glare in his direction, so he’d really understand how pissed-off she was. “And this is funny?”
“Absolutely. You’ve come a long way in a very short time.”
And just like the voices in her head did to her all the time, now his voice disappeared.
She walked around the desk to the chair and sat down again. This time with no sensation of being on top of someone. It was infuriating to connect with his presence—which was kinda special—yet he hadn’t been any help to her.
Where did he go? She looked around but found no sense he was still here. The fact he was proud of her, the fact he thought she’d done well, was amazing.
Chapter 11
Without answers she was nowhere, Even if the headmaster thought she’d done well in a short time. And he’d been laughing, so her situation couldn’t be too dire. Right? Except she read somewhere about how men and women respond differently to the same threats. It explained how men laugh to handle danger and how men tease women in a futile attempt to diffuse their anger mid-argument. Wrong moves, guys, BTW. So, how was she to tell the difference between a man laughing at something she too would find humorous or a man laughing at something she would find life-threatening? She shook her head. Even more questions without answers, and not the most pressing of her questions.
She glanced up at the ceiling. Winter. Should she check on him? He should be safe in her bedroom, while she investigated further.
She needed to keep digging. Maybe the portal book would provide her with something.
She flipped it open and studied the table of contents, and sure enough, in the ninth chapter, it talked about the 2-D world. Eagerly she flipped through to the chapter in question and started to read. Gideon hopped up on the desk, curled into a ball with his deep engine running, and fell asleep. She loved that about him—completely content no matter where he was.
Unlike her...she was incapable of feeling at home anywhere but school...with Luke.
She settled back and stared at the big empty room around her, contemplating her concept of home. That was part of her sense of aloneness—her disconnection. Because, if she was connected to everything, then everything would be home. Instead it was the opposite. And that wasn’t good.
And another layer of stress slipped off her shoulders. She straightened. “Shit, I’m supposed to let go of all these layers, aren’t I? I need to get to the inner core of who I am and what’s important to me.”
She started to laugh. “I can do this.”
She returned to her reading but found nothing so far that was new. The 2-D world was considered a training ground for anybody who needed to learn portal travel. She could portal anywhere she wanted to within this 2-D world, and, although it was tempting to go to Paris or Rome or Cairo and not worry about tourist season, she was limited to her given energy reserves. She didn’t want to play away her time and energy and possibly end up locked on this side. She glanced at her talisman. Her heart sank as she saw yet another light had gone dark.
The next two were also fading. So, it wasn’t just the portal hops that were draining it. She’d wasted too much time sorting this craziness out. And potentially talking to the headmaster had worn one light down too. What was the chance speaking with the voices in her head were also eating away at her energy reserves?
She stared at her talisman and wondered. Was there a way to physically plug it in, to recharge the talisman? That would be the most sensible solution. She picked it up, looking at the back of it, hoping for some kind of USB connection. But, of course, that was way too modernistic.
The pins themselves looked old, very old. What the heck did anybody do, way back when, before there was electricity? Did they wind them up like old-time clocks? There was no stem to this pin, not the kind that turned and rewound those watches from decades past. So, the pins couldn’t be recharged? Maybe not here in the 2-D world. Maybe I have to be back in the 3-D world to reset all the lights again. She shook her head to dismiss those dire thoughts. She glanced around the top of the headmaster’s desk and studied the surface, looking for anything that might give her a clue.
When she placed her talisman on top of what appeared to be a cigar box, the lights on her pin brightened, as if it plugged into a power source. She lifted her talisman off the cigar box, watching the colors dim, then replaced her talisman on the box and watched in fascination as the lights brightened again. Maybe if she left it there, it would stop the lights from fading. That way she could study some of these books and figure out what was going on without eating into her time reserves.
She returned her attention to the book and quickly finished reading the 2-D chapter. It didn’t say anything enlightening.
She went on to the next chapter and read about alternate dimensions. But, after reading a few pages, she realized it didn’t apply to her situation.
She went back to the table of contents, hoping there was something about finding her way home or creating a portal, and there it was. Chapter Twenty was all about portals. She quickly turned the pages, excitement rising within. When she got to the correct page, she realized the entire chapter was missing. She stared at it with her jaw open. “Headmaster, did you take out those pages? Isn’t that cheating?”
Tears of frustration formed in her eyes. “That information should have been here for me. I found it on my own.”
Not a word came from him or the voices in her head.
In disgust, she groaned. “Okay, this isn’t fair. That entire chapter is gone. Why is that?”
Silence.
The only answer she could come up with was she wasn’t allowed to read about it—at least not now, obviously. She had to figure out the answers herself. Or she at least needed to find out more on her own, through firsthand experiences, before the super-secret rules would let her learn something by reading a book. Sigh. Although that was unfair, she took many exams where the teachers pulled fast ones, so it really wasn’t unexpected.
It was just extremely unpleasant the prize she was looking for wasn’t there. She leaned back in the headmaster’s chair and drummed her fingers on the arm. She studied her talisman that appeared to be enjoying its position, though it hadn’t powered up any of the dead lights. Chances were, it wouldn’t, because again that would be cheating.
She returned to the table of contents, shifting the open book, looking for a different level she might need, could maybe use. Surely that wasn’t cheating? She’d call it a hint.
At the laughter in her head, she realized that excuse wouldn’t work.
Fine. She stood. She’d take the book with her and go back to her room and read it there. She took one step toward the door, but suddenly the book became so heavy she could barely hold it. After just a moment, she was forced to put it down on the desk.
She glared at it. “Does that mean I can’t bring you with me?”
The book suddenly blended into the desk, so she’d take that as a yes. She’d never seen anything like it. She reached out to see if she could pick it up, her intent to reshelve it, but it was now embedded in the wood. The headmaster might not appreciate losing the tome. Frustrated, she returned to the bookshelf. She read the other titles, fascinated by the scope of the reading material. She really wanted to pour through them, but again she needed to stay focused on the problem at hand.
She walked back to the desk, realized it was normal looking again with the portal book sitting atop it now. She scooped it up and carried it to the shelf where it belonged. As she reached up to put it in its proper place on the shelf, it instantly became lighter. “Okay, message received. I can’t take you with me, but maybe I can come back and revisit you later.”
At the desk, she scooped up her talisman and Gideon, grateful he wasn’t heavy and she could take him with her, and walked out, heading for Hettie’s office. She found little bits of information with every lead she followed, but time was surely slipping away.
At Headmistress Hettie’s office, s
he pushed the door open. Hettie always had a big fire blazing, and today was no different. Melissa walked over, realizing the fire had no heat. Had there ever been? Or was this a magical fire Hettie just had for comfort? Melissa studied the chair behind the desk, wondering if Hettie was there in her 3-D world. Melissa turned her head to the side, and there again flashed the vision of the young man. She couldn’t quite catch his face this time.
“I wish you could talk to me,” she called out. “I don’t know if you’re caught or lost, but I’ll help you if I can. Maybe we can help each other.”
A weird rumble sounded in the air.
She instinctively envisioned the big tuning dial in her mind and tried to tune in to hear the student better. “Can you hear me now?”
Just more garbled noise.
She tried again. “Hello? How about now?”
That was worse.
She gave it one more shot; then realized he was gone. Tired and sad, she walked around to the chair and slowly sat down with her eyes closed, trying to feel any sense of Hettie beneath her, but there was none. In fact, the office felt empty, even cold in some ways. “Hettie, I hope you’re okay.”
Melissa stared around the room, wondering what could possibly be helpful in here. She checked the desk drawers, but again they were locked. On the desk was a notepad and the calendar appearing to be full, including today. Had Hettie attended any of the scheduled events, or was she missing too? Or was she here, living a normal existence but just out of Melissa’s view?
Compared to the sensation when Melissa accidentally sat on the headmaster’s lap, it appeared Hettie wasn’t here right now. Did that mean she went to somewhere else, or was she out helping some of the other students?
Melissa twisted to look behind her but found no bookshelves there. Hettie did have a few bookshelves on the side wall though.
Walking across the room, Melissa read the titles on the spines of the books on this shelf. They were similar to the headmaster’s. One slight variation was a book on spells and another one about magical weapons. Her fingers itched to pull that one out. What were the chances of borrowing these books when she got back to her real world?
Drawers were below the shelves too. She kneeled to see if she could open these.
They were unlocked drawers. She pulled them out and found a fancy keepsake box. In the top corner, it said In Loving Memory…no image appeared on top; no name was listed. She opened it up to find it held school papers, reports, basically the history of a male student who had been at the school: Trace Coronate.
And there at the bottom of the box was his picture.
She recognized the guy’s face—the one she kept catching sight of, out of the corner of her eye in this 2-D school world.
Stunned, Melissa turned and stared around the room in shock.
Could it be? Was this the student who went missing? She quietly replaced everything in the box, closed the lid, and put it in the drawer. Did Headmaster Austere and Hettie know Trace was here—floating through the ethers—lost to them?
Hearing a sound behind her, she spun but couldn’t see anyone. “Hettie, are you there?
No answer.
“Trace, is that you? I feel like I keep seeing you around here.”
She heard another burble in her ear. She frowned, narrowed her gaze, and studied the space around her, looking for that odd energy again.
“Can’t you get home?” What a horrible thought that would be. How long had he been missing? At least one year, she thought she’d read in the paperwork.
How could the school hide this? Surely there was a police investigation. She gave a strangled laugh as she considered what the headmaster and headmistress would tell the cops. No way would the authorities be called. That would shut down the school, putting in jeopardy whatever project they have here. It was hard to explain magic to those who were not magical.
The school policed itself because there was no other viable option.
This wasn’t getting her any further along, and if she didn’t resolve her own problems of being stuck in the wrong dimension, she’d likely join the other guy. He appeared to be lost in whatever dimensional mess he’d ended up in. Just the thought of never getting back home had her heading toward the hallway.
There was only the library left to check.
That’s when she realized she’d left Gideon behind. Racing back to Hettie’s desk, she scooped him up.
Meow, he squeaked as she crushed him against her chest. Back in the hallway, she turned in the direction of the library. She had a few options right now, and she couldn’t give up hope.
Somehow she had to find a way out of this nightmare.
Chapter 12
With Gideon in her arms, Melissa quickly made her way to the library. It was a little disconcerting to consider the face she kept seeing in her peripheral vision was the missing student. Why, if they had all this magic in their hands, couldn’t the headmaster and the headmistress bring Trace home?
More than anything, she wanted to make sure she didn’t join him. If she could get back, she could tell Hettie and the others that she saw Trace. Maybe they would help him then. Maybe being lost had layers of meaning here. It’s possible he was caught in between realities—maybe at a place they couldn’t reach.
She knew the other students wouldn’t know to do anything about him, but that didn’t mean Hettie wasn’t trying, and the headmaster was likely the more powerful of the two. Surely the headmaster could move a wand or something and bring that poor guy home. But then again, if that was the case, why hadn’t he done so already?
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, the answer popped up. Because nobody else has seen him. Nobody else knew where he was.
It’s the only explanation that made sense. It seemed all the students were thrown into a huge sinkhole, and would either sink or swim, depending on their abilities and how quickly they understood them. Prior to that day on the roof, in no way would she expect she could create a portal.
Of course, her portals were fake portals in a fake world, but she’d take it for the moment. At least it made her feel like she wasn’t completely useless. There was nothing like knowing you had a special skill to make you feel powerful, something worthy of the world around you. Which was stupid because what was the point of feeling worthy in a fake world?
Her footsteps slowed as she contemplated that concept. Was this about feeling worthy? Or was this about being in a fake world?
She’d seen movies where kids got so caught up in a video game they were sucked inside it. Could that be what was happening here? She hadn’t been much of a gamer. Sure, she played a few on her phone, and she certainly played with Annalise, but Melissa wasn’t a die-hard player like a lot of guys were. True enough, some of the girls were pretty heavy gamers too, but their homework schedule at the private school wasn’t easy. Not being an A student, Melissa had to work hard for her marks.
At the door to the library she turned around slowly. Was she being followed? She glanced at her talisman to see it looking pale and faded. The lights didn’t appear to be as bright and as vibrant as they were when she picked it up off the cigar box on the headmaster’s desk. She didn’t know if the box was an amplifier or a charger, but she’d try again later to see if she could get her talisman to brighten up and stay that way. For the moment though, she didn’t have time to waste. There was so much she had yet to learn. She’d come a long way, but it wasn’t enough.
A second glance around showed nobody, at least nobody visible on this level. She closed her eyes and then slowly opened them, looking with her peripheral vision, and sure enough, a hand reached through the air toward her. She swallowed hard. Instead of trying to touch the hand, she retreated a step. “Hello? Who are you?”
An odd ring was on one finger of what appeared to be a masculine-looking hand. She glanced at the long, thin fingers. “Trace, is that you?”
Once again she got no answer.
The hand slowly dissipated as if it was a
cloud the wind blew apart. Both were further proof she wasn’t alone—even across dimensions.
She opened the door to the library and stepped inside. Taking one last look down the hallway, she called out in a low whisper, “Hello? Is anyone here?”
There was a burble in the air, something she could sense but not hear. Unnerved, she closed the library door behind her. She had her back against the door for a long moment, studying the large space.
Meow, Gideon said suddenly, then scrambled to get down.
She watched him stroll forward a few feet, then sprawl on the floor in the middle of the room, his tail twitching in short sharp jerks. Had studies been done on a cat’s tail movements? If not, someone should. There was likely a whole language to those.
She turned her attention to the room. The library was huge. As in big enough every student could come in here at the same time and still have room for more students. It was also full of bookshelves, which made it easy for someone to hide. She walked over to the librarian’s desk and sat down. So far she’d found little bits and pieces of her new reality in every desk she went to. She could only hope this one offered just as much.
Of course it wasn’t that easy. She tried to bring up the computer, but it asked for a login. She attempted several combinations, including the school name, but nothing worked. Finally, she sat back in the chair with her hands across her lap, just absorbing the surroundings. If this room was the same as the others, then chances were different layers were here she wasn’t seeing. Maybe she had a way to unlock them. She closed her eyelids and slowly lifted them again, trying not to use her peripheral vision, but seeing what could come up on its own.
Waves appeared on the surface, almost like a wind blowing through the library, and just on the edge of her vision she could see ripples. It was so very strange. Still, she assumed as soon as she learned to unlock her vision, she’d see what was behind those waves.
And, if she could not see more clearly, maybe others could see her better. Either way would work for her.