Beyond: Snillotia Trilogy Book One

by Donna Wagner

  “Uh, Peter,” Anna cut in, “we really are having a private conversation here. I’d appreciate it if you could leave us alone, for now. I promise I’ll talk to you later. You can tell me all about your chapter for English class.”

  Peter’s eyes lit up at the mention of the assignment, but then darkened slightly as he eyed the bags both Anna and Tim were carrying. “Why do I get the feeling you’re just trying to get rid of me? Don’t worry. I get it. I’ll leave you to whatever you’re doing,” he said abruptly and stalked down the hallway.

  “How much do you want to bet he’s going to tell everyone we’re up to something the second he finds them?” Tim asked.

  “I agree. We need to go. Now. Good idea or not.”

  They both turned and walked into the hallway behind the hidden door. Tim pushed the door closed behind him. “Let’s leave the light off. If Peter tells anyone he saw us going in here, if they open the door and see the light is off, maybe they’ll think we changed our minds.” Anna suggested, as she made her hand glow.

  Tim smiled slightly, as he responded. “Good idea.”

  Anna started towards the secret room and Tim followed close behind so he could see. They stood in front of the corner of the room that was the portal. “You ready?” he asked, echoing his question from the kitchen.

  Anna nodded and grasped Tim’s hand. Tim knelt down and pushed his hand through the wall. “Here we go!” he said, pushing the rest of the way through, pulling Anna behind him.

  The room in the castle side of the portal was dimly lit, so Anna let her light go out. She glanced at the window. “It looks like its early morning here. The sun is coming up. I wonder what time we’re in,” she said softly.

  Tim let the way towards the area of the castle that had been destroyed. It would be a solid clue if they were in the past or not. They didn’t have far to go. Tim started to notice cracked and crumbling walls. “We’re either in the present time or the future. I don’t know how we’d figure that out unless we actually talked to someone.”

  “You can talk to me!”

  They spun around at the sound of a voice behind them. Peering out of the shadows was a little girl. Her eyes widened after seeing their faces. She glanced toward the hall filled with his father’s and Einna’s childhood pictures, then back at them. “Oh wow! I never thought I’d get to meet you! We all thought you were dead! Wait till I tell everyone!”

  She turned to go, but Anna stopped her. “Please wait. We could really use your help.”

  The little girl stopped, conflicted with sharing her discovery or helping the prince and princess. “What’s your name?”

  “Yma,” she said softly, “Yma Notlaw.”

  “Hi, Yma. I’m Anna, though I think you already knew that. This is Tim,” she said.

  Yma looked at Tim, confused at first. Then her eyes brightened. “Your name is backwards!”

  “I like to be different,” Tim said, with a smile, and then continued. “How old are you, Yma?”

  “I reached my seventh year. I’m half way to my eighth!” she told them, proudly.

  Tim and Anna looked at each other. It was possible the girl could possibly help them pinpoint when they were. Anna thought for a moment then asked, pointing to the ruined part of the castle,

  “Do you know how long ago that happened?”

  Yma nodded, enthusiastically. “Yes! I was just in my fifth year, then. I remember because it was very loud. Xela cried. She was just a little baby then. We couldn’t come here before then. There was no way in. Now we can go right through the wall!”

  “That’s wonderful! Thank you, Yma. You’ve been very helpful,” Anna told her, as she glanced at Tim.

  Tim had a frown on his face. “Yma,” he bent down so he was level with the child, “Do you live here?”

  Two years had passed in Snillotia since their encounter with Aaron and Tim was wondering what had been happening since then. Yma looked at him, like she’d done something wrong. “I know it’s your castle, but it was broken, and no one was here. Derf came exploring and saw lots of food in the kitchen and warm places to sleep and-” she broke off and started to cry.

  “Hey now, calm down. You’re not in trouble. We understand,” Anna said, giving the girl a hug.

  “Really?” Yma asked, tearfully.

  “Really. Right, Tim?”

  “Oh, yeah, of course, it’s okay. Who’s Derf?”

  “He’s my big brother. He’s in his tenth year. Xela is our baby sister. She’s in her third year now.”

  Tim and Anna looked at each other, once again. “So, you and your brother and sister live here all alone?”

  Yma shook her head. “Kram and Nevets stay with us too. Oh, and Woof, too.”

  “How old are they?”

  “Kram is in his ninth year and we think Nevets is in his fourth year or fifth year. He’s bigger than Xela and smaller than me. Kram found him last year. He doesn’t say much. Woof talks a lot, but we don’t know what she’s saying.”

  “You don’t know what she’s saying? How old is she?”

  Yma laughed. “I don’t know! She’s not a person, silly! Come with me! I’ll show you!”

  What do you think? Tim’s voice appeared in Anna’s head.

  It’s a better plan than wandering around on our own.

  Tim nodded and they started walking in the direction Yma had run off in.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  “Which way did she go?” Tim asked as they came to the end of the hallway with the pictures.

  Ahead of them was the door that led to the mirrored version of the house Anna grew up in. Off to the right was another hallway which led to a section of the castle that Tim didn’t think he’d ever been in. “They must be living in my house,” said Anna, nodding down the hallway, “That’s the way to the throne room. It’s just a very large room with, well, two thrones in it.”

  The door in front of them swung open. A scrawny boy stood there in front of them, with Yma peeking out from behind him. “I told you, Derf! I told you I found the prince and princess! I am not a liar!”

  Derf looked from them to the pictures in the hallway behind them. His eyes narrowed. “I don’t know who you are. Why did you lie to my sister? You can’t steal our stuff and we already claimed this place as ours. So, you should just get out of here,” he told them, with his fists clenched.

  Anna looked back at the pictures on the wall behind her, realizing that Derf was looking at their parents’ wedding pictures and saw that they weren’t that old. “We didn’t lie to your sister, Derf. I’m Anna and this is Tim.”

  “Tim?” the boy asked, letting his guard down in his confusion.

  “His name is backwards! He likes to be different,” Yma chimed in.

  His sister’s voice reminded Derf to be tough and his expression hardened again. “We aren’t that prince and princess,” Tim explained, “Those are our parents. That’s why we look like them. But Anna is a princess, and I’m a prince, technically.”

  Derf still didn’t look ready to believe they weren’t there to steal from him. Before he could say anything else, from behind him there was movement and before Tim knew it, he was on the ground, underneath a wriggling ball of fur. “Woof! Woof! Woof!”

  Yma laughed. “That’s Woof! I told you she talked a lot. But we don’t know what she’s saying. Or what she is!”

  “Goldie!” Anna exclaimed. She bent down and picked the gup up from Tim’s chest. “Oh, Goldie, we were so worried about you!”

  Tim stood up brushed the hair off his clothes. “What happened, Goldie? How did you end of here? We’ve been trying to reach you!”

  “Woof! Woof! Arf! Woof! Arf!”

  “You know her? Do you know what she’s saying?” Yma asked.

  Derf stood off to the side, slightly more relaxed than before. “Come inside before anyone hears us and realizes we’re here,” he said disappearing through the door.

  “Yes! Come with me!” Yma exclaimed, taking Tim’s hand and pullin
g him after her.

  Anna smiled at the sight of Tim with the little girl and, still holding Goldie, followed them inside. Once through the door, Anna was met by ten curious eyes, who were staring at her. “Um, hi everyone. I’m Anna.”

  “Woof never let me hold her like that,” mumbled a boy with bright red hair.

  “That’s Kram,” Yma informed her, “He found Woof and brought her with him back here. She was over near the same place I found you and Tim today. She kept trying to escape from him, but Kram could tell she needed some food, so he didn’t give up till he got her here.”

  Tim and Anna exchanged a glance. Do you think she was trying to get to the portal?

  Anna nodded, slightly. Would the portal even work for her?

  Tim shrugged and turned his attention back to Yma, who was watching them curiously. “Why do you do that?” Yma asked them.

  “Do what?”

  “Talk in your heads.”

  Tim raised his eyebrows. “How do you know that’s what we’re doing?”

  I can do it too.

  Tim heard Yma’s voice in his head.

  “But no one can ever answer me, except out loud,” she added.

  Tim was even more surprised. “Anna did you hear that?”

  “Only what she said out loud. Yma, could you hear what we were saying to each other?”

  Yma shook her head. “No, but I could still tell you were doing it.”

  Can you hear me, Yma?

  Yma’s eyes turned back to Tim and she started jumping up and down. “That was so cool! Do it again!”

  You are the cutest little girl I’ve ever met!

  Yma’s eyes widened again, as she turned to look at Anna. I can hear you too!

  “I could hear both of you!” she exclaimed, even more excited than she was before.

  The other children had silently watched this exchange, but Derf had finally had enough. “So, you share my sister’s power. Big deal. That still doesn’t explain why you’re here and what you want.”

  Tim recovered his shock over a seven-year-old having a fully developed power, as quickly as he could. “Well Derf,” Tim said, pointing at Goldie, “You’ve already helped us more than you could ever know. We were looking for her and now our search is over, much sooner than we thought it would be.”

  “The whole reason you’re here is for Woof?” Yma asked, a frown forming on her face, “So you’re gonna leave us now?”

  Anna smiled at the girl. “Sweetie, unfortunately we have to, but we’ll come back and visit.”

  “So, you show up and steal from us?”

  Anna turned to look at the red-headed boy. “Kram, is it? What are we stealing from you?”

  He pointed to Goldie. “I found her. She’s mine.”

  Goldie made a very annoyed barking sound. “Oh sweetie, Goldie isn’t something you can claim as yours. She’s not a thing.”

  “What is she, exactly?” Yma asked.

  “Oh! Goldie is a gup!”

  Derf left out a laugh. “Seriously? First of all, gups aren’t real. Second, they’re supposed to be horribly ugly and monsters.”

  “Well, that’s what everyone thinks, but that’s just because no one’s ever met one before.”

  “Then how do you know she’s a gup, or that her name is Goldie?” Derf asked, interested now.

  “That’s a very long story,” Anna tried to explain.

  “Can you tell us? We love stories!” all the children chimed in.

  “Uh, well, I don’t know,” Anna stammered, trying to figure out what to tell them without scaring them.

  “Don’t worry, I got this, Anna,” Tim said taking over, “You all know about the Ymedaca and storage where the rooms are kept after kids finish school?”

  They nodded, halfheartedly. “Okay, well this should explain what you don’t know, just keep in mind, that if you have a room in Storage you can always copy it, by magic, when you leave the Y. My mom did that and Anna and I were in her copied room one day and this happened.”

  He sent each of the children and Anna the memory of his and Anna’s brief adventure at the Y and their meeting of Goldie. After the memory was over, there were a few seconds of silence then all the children started talking at once.

  “That was awesome!”

  “Can you make me see anything?”

  “How come Goldie could talk then, but not now?”

  “Tim Tollins.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  At the sound of his full name, Tim set his gaze on the very small boy who uttered it. He was dark haired, and olive skinned. “That’s Nevets. He doesn’t talk much,” Yma announced for them.

  “Hi, Nevets. Can you tell me how you know my full name?”

  Instead of answering him, Nevets turned and scurried from the room. Even the other children seemed confused by his behavior. They all followed him. He had stopped in the other room, by a pile of blankets in the corner. In his hand, he clutched a tattered notebook. He held it out to Tim. “Nelle makes pictures in Nevets’ head, too. Nelle’s son is Tim Tollins. Tim looks like the pictures in Nevets’ head of Tim Tollins. Tim Tollins must listen to Eimaj Relle.”

  The children were all starting at Nevets with their mouths hanging open. “What’s wrong, Yma?” Anna asked.

  “Nevets has never talked that much! We didn’t know he could even talk in sentences!”

  Tim was staring at the book in his hand. It was one of his mother’s journals. From the dates on the cover, it seemed to be from when he was about 5 years old. It’s one of my mom’s journals.

  Anna looked over at Tim. I know it’s a link to your mom, but look at it, Tim. Nevets seems very attached to it. We can’t take it. Then we really would be stealing from them.

  Tim nodded in response. I need to read it, though. He said I need to listen to Eimaj Relle. Eimaj didn’t have a last name in my mom’s books. Whoever that is must be who my mom was writing that letter too.

  “Nevets, can I read this?”

  He nodded. As Tim went to find a quiet place to read, he could hear Yma still wondering why Goldie couldn’t talk and Anna explaining that she didn’t know. After finding a couch to sit on, he settled down and looked at the journal in his hands. On closer inspection, it wasn’t even a whole journal, just the front cover and a few pages. The confrontation with Aaron had happened so close to the room the books and journals were in that it just dawned on Tim that they probably hadn’t survived intact. In his hands was proof of that. Tim tried to remember his mom when he was five years old. Nothing stood out. From the years the books were published, he knew that that was around the time his mother had decided to write his bedtime stories down. He had vague memories of his mom typing for hours on end as he played with his army men or his little toy cars on the floor nearby. He opened the cover to the first page and was immediately thrust into the past as images of himself as a child started appearing in his mind.

  “More time passed; another journal filled. As I stare at the blank pages in front of me, I can only wonder what the pages of this journal will show when they are filled. It’s only fitting that this first entry be today. This wonderful, wonderfully sad, day. It was wonderful as we celebrated yet another year of my darling boy. Tim has reached his fifth year. He’s so bright, such a joy, and as he grows older, I know he’ll be a wonderful man. I can picture him clearly grown, since I know he’ll look exactly like my love. He’s Mit in miniature and will only grow to look more like him as the years pass. Though he’ll be known, not as Prince or King Mit, but Tim Tollins. In a way, I think it will help him, being raised not knowing he’s royalty.

  I say today is also sad for the same reason. My baby is in his fifth year. Only seven more years until I must let go of my son, my baby. I know he and Anna are the future of our world. I know probably more than anyone how they will be able to change the future of Snillotia. I know what I haven’t even shared with Mit, what I haven’t decided if I will share, even with Tim. I’ve told him the stories and I will keep te
lling him as long as he’ll listen. He loves it each night when we sit on his bed and cuddle and I tell him story after story of my world. I know he doesn’t realize everything is real. But when the time comes, I can only hope he remembers them.”

  Most of the entry after that was too smudged to read. He flipped to the last page and found legible writing again.

  “After what I discovered and finding Eimaj again, and listening to her confirm my suspicions, it makes it even harder to celebrate Tim turning older. The stories will help him find Eimaj. Eimaj Relle has the answers and Tim must find her. He must listen to her. She is-”

  The entry cut off before ending. Tim had to take a minute to absorb not only what his mother was saying in the entry, but from seeing her thoughts in his head, so clearly. The girl who appeared in his mind as his mother wrote of Eimaj looked very familiar to him, but he couldn’t remember why. He re-read the entry until he felt he had it memorized, then stood up and rejoined the others. “Nevets, thank you for sharing this with me. I know it’s important to you.”

  Tim handed the journal pages back to the boy. Nevets was nodding. “Nevets likes to see Nelle hugging Tim Tollins,” he said, hugging the pages to his chest.

  Tim gave the boy a quick hug. “I like that part too, buddy.”

  Tim looked up to see Anna watching them. She was sitting on the floor with the smallest child on her lap and Yma was chatting away. How can we just leave them here, alone?

  Tim frowned. He looked around until he spotted Derf, who was off by himself in the kitchen. As he walked over to him, he determined how to best bring up this subject with the boy who seemed to be in charge. “Hi, Derf, can we talk for a minute?”

  The boy looked up from what he was doing and looked at Tim, warily. “I guess so.”

  “Look, from what I can tell, you’re the one taking care of everyone, am I right?”

  Derf immediately became defensive. “I don’t need help from you. We’re fine.”

  “Calm down! I just want to make sure you guys are safe before we leave. You have enough food? Has anyone tried to take this spot from you?”