by Donna Wagner
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“I thought that at first too, but I’ve read it too many times to count now. It’s all I had because I thought you weren’t coming. But you’re here now, and you helped me figure it out. I know what it means!”
“Well, spit it out!” Tim said immediately.
Anna stood there, gathering her thoughts. “Those who come before us and have a lot to teach us are obviously our grandparents and we’ll need our powers to be able to get to them-”
“Well we don’t know what our powers are do we?” Tim interrupted.
“You do,” Anna said quietly, “You can go through the wall whenever you want. I- I can’t do that. That’s your power, Tim. No one else can do that, but you.”
“Oh,” Tim thought a minute, “Then what can you do that no one else can?”
“I don’t know yet. But hopefully, your power will help us right now, because I think we’ll need it, if I’m figuring out this note right.”
“What else?”
“You can probably take me with you through the walls. That’s why I can’t leave your side. The last part, I think, means, we should figure out something that’s on both sides, which I also have an idea about. We just have to get there, because there will probably be another doorway to Snillotia there. If we come through outside the castle, we can go wherever we want!”
CHAPTER SIX
Anna grabbed Tim’s hand and started pulling him behind her as she ran past all he recognized as the same as his house. They were once again in the hallway with the pictures of his father, but she still didn’t stop. At the end of the hallway was another door. It appeared to be another house, and it was set up a lot like his, but there were small differences here and there. They went up the stairs and into a girl’s room. There was a mattress on the floor in the corner. “Is this-”
“Yes, this is the mirrored room of my own room. I moved the crib out and pulled the mattress in. This is where I’ve been staying.”
She pulled him over to a large window seat on the other side of the room. “Before I came here, I used to sit on the widow seat in my room every day and dream about what Snillotia was like. My parents had told me it wasn’t much different then where we were living, but I couldn’t help but wonder. I would make up stories, based on things I could see from my window, pretending I was looking out at the kingdom.”
Anna pointed out the window. “Do you see that small building up on the hill past the trees?”
Tim nodded. “I could see the same building when I sat in my window. It was in a park that wasn’t too far from my house. In the stories I made up, I made it an old fort, where the Snillotian army would protect the land from any foreign invaders. Now that I see it, here, for real, I think I was right. I don’t think I made up my stories. I think I was remembering the past,” Anna said quietly.
“Maybe that’s your gift!” Tim said excitedly, “Maybe you can remember things about other things, just by looking at them or something.”
“Maybe,” Anna shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal, “but right now, we need to get to that building. We need to go through the wall, go to that building in the park, and see if we can get back through while we’re there.”
“Let’s try it then.
Anna got up and led the way to a small office off the kitchen. “This is where I came through,” she said, pointing at a corner of the room, “On the other side, is my school room,” she paused, “I never went to a real school. My parents thought it best if they taught me themselves.”
Tim thought that explained a lot about how Anna acted. He held out his hand. “Okay,” he said, as Anna grasped his hand, “Let’s do this.”
They ran toward the wall. Then tumbled to the floor on the other side. Anna jumped up and looked around. “It worked!” she exclaimed.
Tim looked at her, confused. “It was your idea and now you tell me you didn’t think it would work?”
Anna spun around, with tears in her eyes. “I never thought I’d be here again. Mom! Dad!” she yelled as she ran from the room.
Tim followed as Anna ran through her house, searching for her parents. The house was empty. “I wonder where they are.” Anna said to herself.
Before Tim, could even respond, a voice sounded from behind him. “How?”
Anna nearly knocked him over. Standing in the doorway, was a very large man Tim could only assume was Anna’s father. The two hugged for a very long time. Tim began to get uncomfortable. “Dog ym ho!”
Suddenly, a woman appeared and joined in the hugging. Eventually, Anna remembered Tim. “Oh! Mom, Dad. This is Tim. He finally showed up- but it wasn’t his fault. His-”
“We know honey. We heard what happened. It’s why we haven’t been staying here since you left. It’s not safe here.” Anna’s mother said, before she could finish.
“Then why are you here now?” Tim couldn’t stop himself from asking.
Anna’s father smiled sadly. “It’s her gift. She always knows where she needs to be. I just follow.”
“Oh,” was all Tim could think to say.
Anna’s mother looked at Tim. “I’m sorry for your loss, sweetie. We did try to help. We talked to Social Services and told them we’d take you in. They said no initially, since we weren’t relatives, and before we could figure out another way, they told us you’d run away. We could only hope that meant you’d found your way home.”
Tim nodded, again, not sure what he should say. Anna, however, was not at a loss for words. She started explaining to them how they had returned and why. Her mother interrupted her. “Not here, honey. It’s not safe,” she said again, “Into the car.”
They piled into Anna’s parent’s car and her father started driving. Anna continued with her explanation. When she was finished, neither of her parents said anything for a moment. Then they both smiled, as if they had just realized something good. “We can go with you now. Tim can take us all back to Snillotia, and we can help defeat the Rebels. It’s exactly what they were trying to prevent when they, um, when they-” Anna’s father stopped abruptly.
Her mother took Tim’s hands in her own. He felt tears form in his eyes as he remembered his own mother doing the same. “The Rebels killed your parents, Tim. We don’t know how they passed through to this world, it was thought only royals could do that, but it seems as if they’ve found a way.”
Tim didn’t say anything. It really didn’t matter who had killed his parents. They were dead either way. He felt numb, but at the same time he felt the same darkness he had felt when he had first been taken by Social Services. That darkness is what urged him to run away; to know he had to stay with his house. Now he knew why. He had to defeat the Rebels, at all costs, and restore the kingdom his parents had died to protect.
CHAPTER SEVEN
As they drove into the park, the sun had begun to set. Anna led the way to the building, which, Tim saw, was the same as the one he had seen from the widow of Anna’s mirrored room. As Anna reached the door, her mother blocked her way. “We shouldn’t be here. It isn’t safe.”
She motioned for them to move back into the trees behind the building. Just as they reached the trees, Tim heard the squeal of an old hinge. “Someone opened the door!” he whispered.
“Shh!” Anna’s mother hushed him.
Two people appeared suddenly but ran right passed them. They were running in the direction of Anna’s parent’s house. Tim saw something fall from the hand of one of them. As it landed on the ground, it glinted in the setting sun. Tim took off, knowing he had to get to whatever it was that was dropped, before the person realized they had dropped it. He raced over and grabbed it off the ground and retreated to the trees as quickly as he could. Once he was safely back in the trees with the others, he took a breath and opened his hand. It was a disc, just like the one his parents had left him. Anna’s mother gasped. “This must be how the rebels are coming through to this world. I wonder how they got a portal key and how they can activate it.
Only the touch of someone with royal blood can activate a portal key.”
Tim looked at her strangely. He couldn’t believe this woman was supposed to have been a ruler with his father. “Does it really matter how they do it? It only matters that they are doing it and that it let them kill my parents. I think those two were sent to kill you,” he said, pointing in the direction of her house and the way the people had run.
“We should try the door now.” Anna said from behind her mother.
They left the safety of the trees and walked back to the door. When they reached it, before going inside, they all looked at Anna’s mother. “It’s ok. It’s safe now,” she said.
Tim started walking around the edge of the room, pushing on the walls, waiting for his had to go through. Anna’s dad stopped him. “You don’t need to do that, son,” he said, pointing to the far corner of the room.
Tim did a double take. Glowing on the wall were the words “The Way”. He looked as Anna’s dad, surprised. “It’s what I do,” he said shrugging, “I can reveal things that can’t be seen.”
Tim went to the corner, the glowing words fading as he got closer. He reached out toward the wall and felt the sort of familiar tingling sensation on his arm. He pulled his arm back and held out his hand to Anna. She took it and then held her hand out to her parents, who were already holding hands. “Are you sure this will work?” her mother asked.
“No,” was all Tim answered.
She nodded and took her daughter’s hand. Tim led the way and through the wall they went.
The room on the other side, although the same, was set up like a meeting area. There were tables and chairs, and a few chalk boards scattered around the room. Tim looked at one of the boards. It was a crudely drawn map. As he looked at it he realized it led the way from the building to his house. He looked at another board, which also showed a map and led the way to Anna’s house. “This must be where the Rebels met to discuss killing my parents,” he said angrily.
He was so mad, at the thought that someone planned to kill his parents, that before he could stop himself, he picked up a chair and threw it at the chalk board. The chair clattered against the board, and then crashed to the floor. The sound echoed off the stone floor of the old building. “We need to get out of here now,” Anna’s mother said.
With that, they heard footsteps, running towards the room. Anna’s father pointed to a door behind him. “Through there!” he yelled.
They all ran through the door. Tim was closing the door behind him when he said the first person enter the room. He gasped. It looked just like the Social Services man who had been leading the searches for him. He spun around to tell Anna and her parents this new detail, but they were nowhere to be found. “Tim!”
Anna’s head popped up from outside a window across the room. “Come on! Hurry!” she yelled.
Tim ran to the window and leaped through it, just as the door was opening behind him. He kept going, following Anna’s parents, who were leading the way. They seemed to know where they were headed, which made sense, since they had grown up in Snillotia. After running for what seemed like forever to Tim, who was out of breath and desperately wanted a drink of water, they reached the edge of a village.
Anna’s parents stopped behind a small building. “This was a friend’s house when I was young. I hope she still lives here, or we’re in trouble!” Anna’s mom said, as she started banging on the door.
The door opened quickly. “What?” the woman who opened the door seemed annoyed, then her eyes widened, “Get inside now!”
She rushed them all inside. “It’s you!” Anna exclaimed, then she looked at Tim, “She’s the one who gave me the note!”
The woman looked at Anna. “Yes, I did, and you figured it out. You brought your parents back with you, as I hoped you would figure out you could.”
She looked at Tim. “I’m so sorry about your parents.”
Tim looked at the ground, nodding his thanks. “Einna, Tre,” she said looked at Anna’s parents, “It’s so good to see you again.”
“I thought your name was Anna, well like Anna,” Tim said to Anna’s mother, confused.
She smiled. “It is. I’ve always been called Einna so I wouldn’t be confused with my mother. It’s a nickname. I used it in the backwards world as well. I was called Annie there.”
“And I was called Robert in the backwards world. My name is Trebor. Here everyone has always called me Tre.” Anna’s father added.
Tim started to get it. All the names were backwards. “So, my mom’s name was Ellen. That means here, people knew her as Nelle?”
The woman nodded. “You are Tim, but here, really your name is Mit, just like your father and his father and his father, and so on.”
“I’d rather be called Tim,” he said.
“That’s your choice,” the woman said, “And I am called Asilla. Now that all the introductions are out of the way, we need to go. There is much to learn, and they are waiting.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Asilla led them through her small house. As she was about to open the front door, she paused. “The four of you will be recognized immediately,” she said, looking at Einna and Tre, “Yes, I still recognized you the moment I saw you, even though you are much older than me now. I can tell more years have passed for you than they have, here. It’s been just five years since you left, but five years is more than enough with the Rebels in control. They’ve destroyed everything! They will tell you everything, but first, we need to change your appearances for the time being.”
She left them and went to her kitchen and brought back four small vials of pink liquid. “Here, take this. It will alter your faces so no one will know who you are. It shouldn’t last long, but we should be where we need to be before it wears off.”
Tim took the vial from Asilla, and without question, drank it. It tasted slightly like cherries. Asilla watched as they all did as she said. She looked at everyone, then seeming satisfied, said, “Okay, we can go now.”
She opened the front door and led them into the village. After so many twists and turns, Tim knew he’d never remember the way back, they stopped in front of a small shack. Tim looked at it doubtfully. It didn’t look big enough to hold the five of them, let alone have other people already inside. Asilla opened the door and motioned them inside. She stopped in the doorway. “I go no further. You will know where to go from here.”
She stepped back and closed the door of the shack, leaving them in darkness. Before Tim could question the point of standing in a dark shack, the walls seemed to shift, and he felt like he was moving. In the next moment, everything stopped, and the lights turned on. Tim was facing a wall that looked very familiar. He was back in the secret room! He looked at Anna. She recognized the room, as well. They both jumped up and ran from the room, Einna and Tre following them. “How did we get back in the castle?” Anna whined, “Everything we just did was pointless!” she stopped, seeing her parents, “Well, except that you guys are here now too. But I don’t understand how we’re supposed to find our grandparents now if we’re right back where we started!”
“You never had to find us. We’ve been here all along. You just had to be shown how to see us.”
Tim and Anna spun around. Behind them, sitting calmly in a room Tim hadn’t seen before, were eight people. Einna and Tre ran past them. Four of the people stood up and embraced them. Anna and Tim looked at each other. Einna was crying and hanging onto an older woman who looked very much like her, and very much like Anna, Tim realized. An older man was standing behind them both with his hands on their shoulders. Tre was also still greeting an older man and woman. Tim realized they were his parents as well. Tim had only been expecting Einna’s parents. Her parents were the royals- not Tre’s. Einna called Anna over and introduced her to her grandparents. They smiled happily and hugged her, then Tre’s parents also did the same. Tim stood where he was, looking away from the happy scene in front of him. Instead, he shyly looked at the other four pe
ople still, seated in the room. “I guess you’re my grandparents?”
One of the women, who Tim saw looked like an older version of his mother, started crying. Soon the other woman started crying as well. The two men looked uncomfortable and didn’t move to comfort the women. No one answered Tim. The room slowly grew silent. “Mit! Cire! How dare you treat that child that way!” the woman Tim assumed was Einna’s mother admonished the two older men.
She came over to him and smiled warmly. “Hello, Tim. I’m the last crowned Queen Anna. You may call me Grandma An, even though we’re not actually related. I’m very sorry for the way they are acting,” she said, gesturing to his grandparents, “They only recently found out about your parents and are still in shock.”
Grandma An’s comment about Tim’s parents seemed to wake one of the women up. She stood up and rushed over to Tim and grabbed his face in her hands. “You look exactly like my boy,” she whispered.
Tim could see the tears starting in her eyes again. Before he could respond, the other woman was also there, looking closely at him. “Yes, he looks like Prince Mit, but his eyes are Nelle’s. He has my daughter’s eyes.”
Both women started crying again, but instead of retreating, they hugged Tim, as tightly as they could. A loud cough echoed through the room. The women let go of Tim. One of the men stood up and came toward him. “I’m sorry, my boy. I’m your Grandpa Mit. Welcome home.”
Tim didn’t know what to say. The four people surrounding him, as the other man had also stood up at this point, were complete strangers to him, but he knew they were also the only family he had left. One by one they introduced themselves and gave him a hug.
His father’s mother was Grandma Amme.
His mother’s mother was Grandma Aras and his mother’s father was Grandpa Cire.