by Lee Bacon
But we didn’t come here to inspect Desmelde’s inventory. We came for that—
The door.
The miniature wooden door.
Leaning down, I grab the handle and give it a sharp tug. Nothing. The door doesn’t budge. It never does. Because of course, the door must be opened by someone from the other side. Someone from Urth.
“It appears as though she is running late,” the healer says.
“You know how it is for Urthling children.” Xyler rolls his eyes. “Always in the middle of a million different activities. School, sports, homework. Not to mention gumpooters—”
“Computers,” I correct him.
To be honest, I wouldn’t mind having some Urth technology right now. If only we could send each other an email or a text. Believe me, we’ve tried. I borrowed a “tablet” from her world (which looked nothing like the tablets we have in Heldstone). But as soon as it crossed through the miniature doorway, the screen went blank.
CLICK!
The sound comes from the other side of the door. The handle twists and the door opens.
Kara has to hunch as she steps over the threshold. From her world to mine.
She pushes her hair out of her face, surveying our strange group. Me and my parents. A blind wizardess. And two different talking animals.
Just your average trip to Heldstone.
“Hi, everyone.” Kara waves. “Who’s ready for a burger?”
It’s like Fred and I are enrolled in some kind of inter-dimensional foreign exchange program. Sometimes he visits me. Sometimes I visit him. We hang out in his world—or mine—for a few hours. Then we go back to our lives.
That’s been our status for the past month. Sure, it’s a hassle to arrange our schedules around these little meet-ups, but what other option do we have? It’s not like they have Skype in Heldstone.
But let me back up for a second.
After defeating the Sorceress and bringing Fred’s family back to the throne, Dad and I had just one thing on our minds: getting back home. After saying our goodbyes, we charted a quick course back to the Chamber of Wizardry. The miniature wooden door. The portal to Earth.
Except…when Dad and I stepped out of the walk-in refrigerator, I had no idea where we were. There was no sign of Legendtopia. Not the cheesy fantasy-themed restaurant where I first went for a field trip or the dark castle the Sorceress had transformed it into.
This was another place entirely.
Dad and I emerged from the walk-in fridge, blinking dazedly at our surroundings. We were outside. An early-morning chill clung to the air. The first rays of sunlight had just begun to pierce the darkness.
We were in the middle of a dump. Literally. All around us were huge mounds of trash. Deflated tires, broken electronics, stained mattresses. I pinched my nose, but it didn’t do much against the smell. Rot, decay, garbage. It was everywhere.
Welcome back to Earth.
Dad stumbled over a detached car door, his eyes scanning the area. “This looks like the Shady Pines Landfill and Recycling Center. I used to come here all the time.”
“Hold up. You’re telling me you used to hang out at the dump?”
Dad nodded. “It was a great place to find supplies. Old electronics and scrap metal. I could build all kinds of things with the stuff people throw away.”
Throw away. The words sparked an idea. “That’s why we’re in the middle of a landfill. The walk-in fridge must’ve been thrown away.”
Dad turned to face me. “Why?”
“The explosion in Legendtopia. It destroyed everything. Would’ve killed me and Fred if it hadn’t been for the refrigerator. After that kind of damage, I’m guessing all that was left of Legendtopia was rubble. Whatever they couldn’t salvage or resell would have ended up here.”
Sure enough, as I inspected my surroundings more closely, I began to notice other artifacts from Legendtopia. The smashed and charred remains of a suit of armor. A stuffed ogre that looked like it had been barbecued. A unicorn’s horn, blackened and twisted.
The Sorceress’s army, reduced to trash.
“We should be just on the outskirts of Shady Pines. About a half hour from”—Dad’s voice cracked. He took a deep breath. “A half hour from home.”
Emotion filled Dad’s features. He dropped to sit on an old microwave, head resting in his hands. I could only scratch the surface of what he must’ve been feeling. It felt like I’d been in Heldstone for ages, but it’d actually only been a few days. Dad had been gone a few years. Away from his family. Away from the life he’d known on Earth. And now, after all this time, he was back.
Home. At last.
Or: almost. We still needed to figure a way out of this dump and back to the house.
Opening my purse, I started to reach for my phone. My hand froze at the sound of muted scuffling inside the inner compartment. The owl. Still flapping. Something else that wanted to find its home.
I no longer needed the magical navigation system. It had served its purpose. And so I opened the compartment. This time, rather than grabbing hold of the necklace like a leash, I allowed the little silver bird to flap freely into the air. It flew a few feet, over a landscape of garbage, and found the person it had been seeking after all this time.
Dad.
He held out his hand, breaking into a smile as the owl perched on his finger.
“Do you remember what you said when you gave it to me?” I asked.
Dad nodded. “If you keep this necklace with you…” His eyes sparkled with tears. “It’ll bring you closer to me.”
“It worked,” I said.
Dad traced his thumb across the owl’s metallic head and wings. “It certainly did.”
“You should keep it. It’s just gonna spend all its time trying to book a flight back to you anyway.”
Dad gave this some thought. “Maybe you’re right. Tell you what—I’ll get you a new necklace once we’re back home.”
And speaking of home…I reached back into my purse and grabbed my phone. This time, when I swiped a finger over the screen, the thing lit up. I let out a happy whoop.
“It works!”
I’d never been so excited about technology in my life. I opened my contacts and clicked on “Mom.” She answered before the first ring.
“Kara? Kara? Is that you?”
Desperation clung to her voice. It had been days since I disappeared without a trace. Mom must’ve been devastated. First her husband, now her daughter. All of a sudden, I felt like the worst person in the world.
“Hey, Mom,” I said. “It’s me.”
She burst into sobs. A wave of emotion spilling through the phone. Relief and joy and love.
After several seconds, Mom took a deep breath and spoke in a half whisper. “Are you okay, Kara?”
“I am now.” I glance up at Dad. “And I brought someone back with me.”
For most people, the dump wouldn’t be the best spot for a family reunion. But for us, all that mattered was being back together again. Mom and my little brother, Neal, pulled up in the car a half hour later. There were a whole lot of group hugs and grateful tears. Then came the ride home. And the questions. Sooooo many awkward questions.
Where have you been all this time?
A magical portal? Inside a refrigerator?
What’s a fwarf?
Dad and I tried to explain, but I could see Mom’s and Neal’s faces scrunch with bewilderment. Our experiences sounded unbelievably insane and insanely unbelievable. The kind of stuff you’d read about in an old fantasy book or see in a blockbuster movie.
The truth was going to take a while to sink in.
I also had questions of my own. I hadn’t seen my mom or brother since the Sorceress transformed our town, unleashing her fantastical foot soldiers into the streets and brainwashing the population of Shady Pines. But the more I prodded at the subject, the more I realized: Mom and Neal had no idea what I was talking about.
“It’s kinda weird,” Neal said
. “A bunch of stuff in town got damaged and destroyed, but nobody knows how it happened. Police tried to check video footage, but guess what?” Neal’s eyes widened. “All the security cameras had malfunctioned. All of them. Freaky, huh?”
“Super-freaky,” I said. And also super-unsurprising. I’d seen what the Sorceress could do to electronic equipment. It was the same thing she did to people’s minds. Infiltrating them like a computer virus. Brainwashing people, causing gadgets to malfunction. And now that her reign of terror was finally over, the town of Shady Pines was left with a case of mass amnesia and a lot of property damage.
The more I questioned Mom and Neal, the clearer it became that the Sorceress’s spell had been lifted when she returned to Heldstone. The magical minions, the talking animals, the killer playground equipment…all back to what they’d been before.
Ordinary animals and lifeless objects.
On the way home, we drove right past Legendtopia. Or what used to be Legendtopia. As the car approached, I jumped forward in my seat, staring out the window.
There was the shopping center. But in the place where the fake fantasy castle once stood, there was only a crater. A massive dent in the ground. Rubble and dirt and ashes. Nothing more.
So long, Legendtopia.
Over the next few weeks, we had to figure out how to be a family again. It wasn’t always easy. When Dad left the room, Mom’s entire body would tense up. As if she was afraid he’d go missing again as soon as he left her sight. Neal had been six when our father disappeared. Sometimes he’d peer across the dining room table at Dad like a stranger had just joined us for dinner. In some ways, Dad was a stranger. So much had happened in our lives over the past years. We had a lot of catching up to do. I looked forward to every second of it.
Other than Mom and Neal, I haven’t told anyone else about what really happened. That includes my best friend, Marcy. Although she’s starting to get suspicious. On the day I’m supposed to meet with Fred, my phone keeps buzzing with new texts. And they’re all from Marcy.
I stare at the screen. With all my secrets and sneaking around lately, I totally understand why she’d jump to that conclusion. But the truth is, I’m not ready to think about the b-word. Not yet, anyway. My otherworldly long-distance friendship with Fred is complicated enough already.
But if there’s anyone who deserves to know the truth—about Heldstone, about Prince Fred, about the adventures we shared—it’s Marcy. She’s not only my best friend. She’s also the biggest fantasy fan I know.
Tapping the screen, I text Marcy back.
I open the back door and jog across the grass. Up ahead, hidden from our neighbors by a tall wooden fence and half shielded by overgrown bamboo plants, is something you wouldn’t normally find in a backyard: a char-blackened, heavily dented steel box that my family brought back from the landfill, strapped to the roof of our car.
I open the door of the walk-in refrigerator and climb inside. Making my way across the cramped, dim room, I duck underneath a shelf. Along the way, the walls change from metal to brick. The darkness is pierced by a duo of flaming torches. Between them stands a miniature wooden door.
I twist the handle and push it open.
There’s a whole crowd of people (and a couple of animals) waiting for me on the other side.
“Hi, everyone.” I wave to the group. “Who’s ready for a burger?”
It’s a perfect night for a party.
In one corner of the backyard, my dad’s giving barbecue tips to the King of Heldstone. Between them, food simmers on the grill. My brother tosses the Frisbee to Robbie.
“Great catch!” Neal yells to the dog.
“Awesome throw!” the dog yells back.
At the table, Desmelde is adding her own magical topping to the potato salad. Nearby, my mom is showing her phone to the queen and Xyler.
The queen tentatively swipes a finger over the screen. “How utterly marvelous!”
“Do you mind if we watch another cat video?” Xyler asks.
From the porch, Marcy stares at this scene. Her mouth hangs open, showing off a gleaming set of braces.
After pinky-swearing her to secrecy, I told Marcy everything. But now that she’s seeing it for herself, I can tell she’ll need some time to adjust to the unreal reality on display.
Her gaze shifts slowly across the yard. When she speaks, her voice is full of wonder.
“This. Is. Epic!”
I let out a laugh. “I know it’s not what you expected, but I figured you—of all people—deserve to know the truth.”
Fred stands beside her. The last time they met, we convinced Marcy he was an exchange student from England. She thought he was impressive then. Now she’s completely blown away.
“So, you’re a prince?” she asks.
Fred nods.
“Like, a real prince? Of a real kingdom?”
Fred nods again.
“And in your world,” Marcy continues, “you have magic and dragons and trolls?”
“Actually, one of our closest friends is a troll!” Fred replies.
“His name’s Groo,” I add. “I wanted to invite him, but he’s too big to fit through the portal.”
Marcy blinks. “Your friend…is a troll?”
“A vegetarian troll,” I say. “With free-range chickens. You’ll have to meet him sometime.”
A grin forms on Marcy’s face. “Okay, that’s officially the coolest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
Grabbing a seat on a bench, I gaze across the yard. The king and queen are laughing with my parents. Neal’s trying on Prince Fred’s robe, strutting across the yard like royalty. Marcy looks like she couldn’t be more excited to share a table with a wizardess and two talking animals.
“I’d say the party is a success.” Prince Fred lowers himself onto the bench beside me, his paper plate piled high with food. “Although I’m still getting used to the idea that my plate is made of paper.”
“Right.” I roll my eyes. “As if that’s the weirdest thing about tonight.”
He gives me a closer look. “Remember what you said to me back in Heldstone? The night we met Gerta? When we were having a picnic outside the stable?”
I try to recall our conversation. “You’ll have to remind me.”
“You said maybe someday we could just be typical kids. No evil witch chasing us, no danger hanging over our lives. You know, normal.”
Fred’s voice brings the memory back into my mind. Leaning against the stable wall, gazing up at the seven full moons.
“Well, the Shadow Queen is gone,” he says. “The grand duke’s soldiers aren’t chasing us. And we’re here—enjoying dinner with family and friends. Just like typical kids. You got what you wanted.”
He’s right. I mean, sure, we still have to meet up in a magical refrigerator whenever we want to hang out. But that doesn’t seem to matter. Not now. Not on a night like this.
Our situation may not be everyone’s definition of “normal.” But for me, it’s close enough.
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