by Beca Lewis
“And the creatures he built are the Shrieks?”
A single tear dropped down Aki’s perfect cheek. “The Shrieks serve the monster Abbadon built called Shatterskin. He and the Shrieks are the first ones you must defeat at the Riff.”
I was sure I didn’t correctly hear what she said, so I sat there waiting for the rest of the story. Maybe I would wake up, and all of this would be a dream. I would be home in Earth waiting for my brother Ben to wake up so we could play together with mom and dad.
There was no way I could face monsters like Shatterskin and his shrieking minions. Besides, I still didn’t know what they did other than scare the ziffer out of everyone.
“No, it’s not a dream, Hannah. And no, you won’t be waking up from it. Yes, there is more to this story, but that’s enough for now. I can tell you that you will have the ability to do this. Besides, you will be with people that can, and will, help. You aren’t alone, and you won’t be alone at the Riff.
“Take another sip of tea so you can sleep tonight, and tomorrow you’ll be going into the village for a meeting of your team.”
I had too many questions and fears to question what Aki wanted me to do. I took another sip of tea.
It was the last thing I remembered that day.
Shatterskin Seventeen
It was a bit weird that we hadn’t been to the village before. Dalry was so close I could see it when we trained outside the walls. We practiced outside every day no matter what kind of weather, so sometimes the town would be hidden from view by the thick fog that often surrounded the castle. Other days it would be sparkling from the sun glinting off some of the rooftops.
I yearned to visit. I had asked about the village more than once, but I had been ignored. Being ignored was the typical response for most of the things I wondered about. People would pretend they hadn’t heard me, or look directly at me and then turn away. It was something I had come to expect.
However, ever since I learned that we would be going to the village, the anticipation was making me crazy. The meeting with Aki had faded into the background. I had a feeling that Aki had somehow dulled my memory so that I could function. Although a vague sense of dread remained, the excitement of seeing the village I had wanted to visit since the first time that I saw it took over. The problem was it felt as if everyone was dragging their feet. They were walking slower than the proverbial turtle. By everyone, I meant Zeid, Suzanne, Ruta, and Beru.
For the last few weeks, I had rarely seen Ruta or Suzanne. However, Beru was my daily companion, and I had grown to treasure the time with her. She looked tiny and sweet, almost like the elves I used to think I saw playing in the forest back home in Earth. However, she was as tough as steel if crossed. Although I had questioned Beru countless times about her people—who were they, where did they come from—those were questions she always ignored. Sometimes she answered, “You’ll see,” but mostly it was silence. After weeks of bugging her all the time, I finally shut up and accepted what she was giving to me: kindness, companionship, and guidance. She was my faithful guide around the castle, and now she guided us to the village.
I couldn’t believe we walked. I half expected to fly or be picked up by that bubble that had brought us to the Castle. Or ride something. Not that I had seen anything to ride.
“First, young lady,” Suzanne said. “It’s not necessary to ride to the village. Second, people need to see you as someone they like. They walk. You walk. Third, you need all the exercise you can get.”
At least she hadn’t called me “little one.” The fact that even when Earl showed up, he had stopped calling me that gave me some hope that perhaps something about me made them think I was growing up. I did feel much stronger and faster after all these weeks of training. My magic skills still sucked though. Or, as Professor Link kept pointing out, “It’s not your magic skills that suck Hannah. It’s your use of them.”
Yeah right.
“Don’t worry, Hannah. You will have lots of real-time practice soon,” Beru said.
Was that supposed to encourage me? Make me feel better? I looked at Beru, and she smiled. I guess it was.
The village was further away than I thought, especially walking as slowly as we were. It was a pretty road, lined with trees, and paved much like the roads at home that were out in the country. We had walked about a mile before the fact that it was paved finally struck me. Paved? Paved with what?
Did paved roads and castles go together? Until then I hadn’t thought about it. We had power of some kind, there were indoor bathrooms, all the comforts of home, but since I hadn’t seen cars or planes, I had not thought about what year it was. Was it the same year as in the Earth dimension?
“The answer is yes, Hannah,” Beru said. “Although here our time is not counted the same way, and our technology is more hidden than yours. And no, we decided not to use trains, cars, or planes. We have other means of transportation.
“People on Earth would think of them as magic, we think of them as nature-friendly.”
I was ready to ask more questions, but we had just crested a small hill, and the village lay before us. It looked like my picture of a quiet English village untouched by time. It was my picture only because I have never actually been to England let alone seen a quiet English village.
Suzanne led us to a building that looked like a cross between houses I knew and a hobbit house. A wooden sign that said “The Tavern” hung above the door, squeaking in the wind. There was no one on the streets. I had a suspicion it was because of us. Were they afraid or respectful, I wondered?
“Both,” Beru answered and pushed open the door. It was not at all what I was expecting. I thought we would be entering a dark little space, but instead, the door opened into a spacious and well-lit room with booths around the outside and tables in the middle. Once again, I had no idea how there could be light everywhere. There weren’t lamps or light switches. It was like the Castle. Was it electricity? How were they doing that?
Everyone looked up as we entered, and all the happy chattering stopped. In the silence, Suzanne led us to one of the larger round tables set for nine. Being stared at is not my favorite thing, but at least no one bowed. And if they had weapons, they were well hidden.
Suzanne waved us towards the table and directed us each to a seat. There were two empty seats beside Suzanne and me. The door opened again, and Aki and Niko walked in.
We all stood as they walked to the table and I whispered to Beru, “How come they didn’t walk with us?”
She nodded at the door and said, “They chose to come with them.”
Standing in the doorway were two beings. I whispered to Beru, “Are those dwarfs without beards?”
Beru pinched my leg so hard tears came to my eyes as she said, “For zound’s sake don’t ever, ever, ever call them that.” She paused and smiled as the two came towards our table. “They are the Ginete, and it took us years to get them to join us.”
Everyone at the table and in the tavern rose in unison and bowed their heads as the two people with little bodies, big heads, and eyes that took up a large part of their face moved to our table. I felt a silent collective sigh of relief that followed in their wake. Was it because they were afraid of the Ginete or grateful for them?
Once again, Beru answered, “Both, Hannah.”
Shatterskin Eighteen
“We have heard of your return,” one of the Ginete said, turning its huge golden eyes my way. The other one swiveled its head towards me too. It felt as if two lighthouses had turned their beams on me.
I looked around. Were they looking at me?
The Ginete turned to Suzanne. “She does not yet remember? Ah. I see. You want us to conduct a remembering ceremony?”
“We do,” Suzanne answered.
If Beru had not given me one of her evil eye looks, I would
have spoken up in protest or fled the room. Not sure which one would have come first. But there was nowhere to go, and I knew I had no say in the matter. I was sure they had the wrong person. I had nothing to remember, at least nothing important enough to have a ceremony.
“There is a full moon tomorrow. Can you do it then?” Suzanne asked.
The two Ginete looked at each other and turned back to Suzanne. They answered in unison, “We can.”
“Great,” Zeid said, “Let’s eat!”
I was furious. They were all in on it. Every one of them, including Zeid. Why didn’t someone tell me?
Zeid leaned across the table in my direction and said, “It will be epic, Hannah.”
I whispered back, “Is that supposed to comfort me?”
Everyone at the table laughed, and I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. It felt as if everyone in the restaurant knew what our table was laughing about and joined in. Really and truly, I was screwed.
*******
Everyone acted as if the world wasn’t over and started chatting with each other. A basket of bread appeared on the table and was passed around along with a bowl of butter. Seriously? This is what they did after scaring me to death. Eat? Apparently so.
No one had ordered anything, but within minutes Zeid said, “Ah, our food.”
Instead of metal toadstools serving us the way they did at the Castle, each person at the table took turns getting up and getting the next course that had been laid out on a ledge in the back of the room.
I could see hands putting it there but nothing else. I could only assume there were cooks back there somewhere preparing the food.
In any case, a bell would ring, and someone at the table would get the food and serve each person. Even though none of us had placed an order, somehow each plate put in front of us was perfect, although none of them were the same. But I was in such a daze I barely noticed what everyone was eating. I nibbled at my food and tried to listen to the conversations.
They didn’t sound that much different from conversations I had heard at restaurants back home in Earth. Talking between friends, renewing bonds. Words were weaving in and around, making a kind of music as each one joined in, bringing their unique voice. Of course, I was hoping to hear more about the Remembering Ceremony that the Ginete said they would hold. But nothing more was mentioned.
Aki had taken a seat on one side of me, and Niko sat on the other side. The bell rang, and Aki got up to serve. It suddenly occurred to me that I might be supposed to serve next.
Inside my head, I heard Beru’s voice say, “Yes, you are next. I’ll tell you what to do.”
I was so happy to hear her I almost burst into tears. I used to be able to hear people talking to me in my head but had lost that ability when we arrived in Erda. People heard me, but I didn’t hear them. Now, for the first time, I heard someone. I prayed that meant some of my skills were returning to me. It was even more wonderful because it was Beru who was guiding me as she had been since I first met her.
Across the table, Beru smiled that smile that lit up everything around her and then wiggled her slim fingers on the table. It had become our secret sign of solidarity and never had it meant more to me than at that moment.
The bell rang, and I got up as if I knew what I was doing. I did because Beru walked me through it all.
She told me what plates to put in front of what person, serving myself last. Relief flooded through me. Whatever the Remembering Ceremony was going to be, I knew Beru would be with me.
Then the most amazing thing happened. I heard everyone’s voice.
Suzanne, Aki, Niko, Zeid, Beru, and even Ruta said, “Hannah, we will be with you. We are your team.” The two voices that chimed in next sent a shiver of both anticipation and joy through me. The two Ginete said in unison. “We too travel with you.”
I smiled at everyone at the table and silently answered them. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Suddenly I was hungry. Everyone laughed and dug into their food, including me. Whatever was going to happen tomorrow night was not happening at that moment. I realized that it might be the last time I had a chance to sit at a table and eat a proper meal.
That night as I lay in my bed, I heard a voice I hadn’t heard for many months. It was a voice that I loved and trusted with all of my being while living in the Earth dimension. But Sarah’s husband Leif had stopped coming back to Earth to visit long before I traveled to Erda.
My expectation of seeing him in Erda had faded since I hadn’t heard from him, or Sarah. I assumed I wouldn’t because Sarah had not come through the portal with me. But there he was, in my head. It was as if a door opened in my mind while we were at dinner, and I could hear voices again.
Leif’s voice stole over me, like the blue haze in the dreams I had weeks before. “Sleep well, little one,” he said, and I realized he had been there all along. It was me that had been missing.
Perhaps the Remembering Ceremony wasn’t going to be so bad after all. With that thought, I slept. I had a feeling it would be a while before I was able to sleep so soundly again.
Shatterskin Nineteen
Sun was streaming into my bedroom when I woke. Someone had come in and opened the curtains but had not made me get up. Every other day, Beru had shaken me awake in what felt like the middle of the night. It worried me. Was something wrong?
And then I remembered. Tonight was the ceremony. I fell back into the bed and pulled the covers over my head. Maybe it would all go away. I kept expecting someone to grab the blankets and tell me to get up and stop hiding. No one did. Which felt worse than having Beru berate me for being lazy.
When I realized that I couldn’t sleep and that I was curious about what was going on without me, I dressed and headed to the atrium hoping to find someone, anyone, who would tell me what we were doing. Was I supposed to go to class? Were they expecting me?
Thinking they were probably all waiting for me, I hurried through the halls. I knew my way now. I could see the numbers on the doors but rarely had to use them. I didn’t meet anyone in the halls. I tried to look in Aki’s room, but the door was locked. So was the entrance to Niko’s training studio.
I was getting worried. Although the Castle had very few people living in it, I always saw people strolling through the halls or sitting in the gardens, or working in what looked like offices. They never spoke to me or looked at me, but I hadn’t realized what a comfort it had been to see them. Today, no one was anywhere.
When I reached the atrium, there was one place set at the table and one metal toadstool with a platter on its head filled with food that I like. Although I had never heard the metal toadstool speak, I was desperate. “Where are the others? What’s going on?”
Metal guy put my food on my plate, pointed to it with its one finger and said in a metallic voice, “Eat.”
With nothing else to do, I ate. A lot. I ate so much food that after a while metal man took my plate away and said, “Stop!”
I was grateful for the command. With no one to talk to, nothing to do, and no idea what was going on, I think I could have continued to stuff food in my face just to fill up the space. I dropped my forehead to the table and tried to keep myself from burping out loud. I still didn’t trust that there was no one there, and I have enough pride to try and keep noises like burps to myself.
When I looked up, I was alone again. No metal toadstool, no food, nothing. Slowly it dawned on me that perhaps this was a test of some kind. Like a treasure hunt. Maybe I was supposed to figure out how to find them. Would they want me to search the castle or did they want me to do something else?
A light bulb went off in my head. None of my teachers would want me running around looking without any sense of direction. They would want me to listen. The Hannah that I was in the Earth dimension was an excellent l
istener. It was a skill that had enabled me to be places I needed to be and know what was going on with all my friends, often before they did.
I realized that instead of thinking of myself as two people, Hannah there and Hannah here, I had to start being one person. I had to remember what I already knew and merge it with what I had learned since coming to Erda and training at the Castle.
Suddenly it made sense. I had been thinking that the Remembering Ceremony was something that happened at night. What if it started this way? What if I was responsible for beginning to remember on my own?
They had given me a clue at dinner the night before. I heard them speak to me telepathically, just as I had been able to do before. Perhaps my job was to put myself together again, before whatever ceremony was happening that night.
I was clear. That was what I was to do with my time. Within me, I could feel a tiny flame burning. An awareness was beginning to stir. Listening to my feelings, I realized that I was afraid. I had been fearful from the moment I had stepped through the portal. I was scared of what would be asked of me. I was worried I couldn’t handle it. I was afraid of the responsibility of being myself.
Yes, I was terrified of the Shrieks and Shatterskin. But I couldn’t even begin to defeat them unless I faced my fears about myself. I might as well go back to bed and pull the covers over my head. It was tempting. But I knew it was impossible. That monster would still come for me, and those beings who had told me that they were on my team and would stand by me.
They were willing to be afraid and still do what they needed to do. Whatever I was going to remember at the ceremony would make me even more afraid. Was I willing to do what needed to be done anyway?
Admittedly, I mumbled to myself, I didn’t really have a choice. Just because I started to feel more grownup didn’t make me feel any less snarky about my situation. I wanted to blame someone, but none of that was going to help me not get shattered by Shatterskin. I had no idea what that guy did. Shatterskin what? I headed to the library. It was time to learn everything I could about those zonking shrieks and their controller.