by Lysa Daley
"Thanks, Camille," Jax winks at her as we stand. "I'll call you, babe."
She ignores his offer with a flip of her hair.
"I suspect the oracle knew we'd be here," Jax adds as we move through the maze of tables toward the back of the restaurant.
“But… how?”
"Isn't that's sort of the definition of oracle?" he replies, making his way toward an emergency exit along the back wall. “Knowing the future and all that.”
He slows his pace, but I pass him about to push the emergency exit open. "Where you going?” he asks, now standing at a large rough-hewn wooden door with an arched top on a side wall. “You're going to set the alarm off."
"Um," I hesitate. "I swear this door wasn't there five seconds ago."
“It was.”
The new door doesn't belong in a burger joint.
In fact, it doesn't belong in this century.
The heavy wooden panels have been stained horizontally with wide black and white stripes. A rich, burgundy velvet swag hangs over the top of the door with matching curtains draping both sides.
How could I have possibly walked right past it?
This peculiar, terribly dramatic, door belongs in an old movie palace or vaudeville theater. It's stately and old fashion while still exuding an air of whimsy.
"The Gathering must be ready." Jax places a hand on the scrolled iron handle then pushes the door open revealing a small square room paneled with wood that matches the door.
He steps inside, and I cautiously follow.
"I’d say the door is a good sign." Jax smiles. "I like it when it goes retro."
"So the door isn't always like this? It changes?"
"The Gathering is constantly changing." Jax closes the door behind me. "You might want to brace yourself."
"Brace my--" But it's too late. The floor beneath my feet plummets as a bright flash of light blinds me. I struggle to keep hold of my red umbrella.
I can’t see anything, but I hear Jax yell, "It's okay. We're just crossing the boundary."
Maybe Sunglasses was right. Maybe I am Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
As quickly as the sensation of falling began, it's suddenly over. The diner is long gone. All four walls have vanished, replaced by a faint gray veil of mist.
Somehow, we’re outdoors with scraggly peaty grass growing beneath our feet. The gentle sound of surf echoes across a treeless plain.
"Shouldn’t be far now," Jax declares and starts walking in what seems like no particular direction.
“How do you know where to go?”
He points up to the sun, low on the horizon, trying to shine through the fog. “The Gathering tends to situate itself in the west with the setting sun.”
I’m about to say that’s it’s just past noon – not sundown -- but then I realize he’ll probably just tell me the Gathering isn’t in my time zone.
As soon as, I'm pretty sure that we've landed someplace like Scotland or Ireland, a small herd of grazing llamas wanders past. Maybe South America?
"Oh good!" Jax stops and points to a massive high-peaked red and white striped tent not 100 feet away. "I love circus day!"
I nod. “The circus is fun.”
He must read the utter confusion on my face because he explains, "Here’s the thing. Sometimes the Gathering decides to be a medieval marketplace or a Victorian street filled with shops. When it’s in a foul mood or the news is bleak, it transforms into a cavernous dungeon or a wet cow pasture. Not a good day to arrive. Be glad we got the circus."
"Is the Gathering… like, a person or some sort of committee?" I ask, trying to make sense of this.
He sighs. "The Gathering is the Gathering. Not everything in the universe takes a physical form. Some entities are... just different."
"But… what's the point of that?"
"What's the point of you? Or me?"
I’ve pretty much had enough of my mind being blown for one day. "Alright, Kierkegaard, how do we find this oracle?"
"We buy a ticket!" Jax marches off toward the big top.
Cheers and applause filter from inside the happy circus tent. We’ve arrived late for the show.
Jax strolls up to a tiny white wooden ticket booth where a huge yellow alien with three curled horns on his head sits squished inside selling tickets.
"Hey Gorb," Jax knows this guy. "Two tickets, please."
"Not necessary, pal." Gorb's eyes flick down to the umbrella at my side, "The lady awaits your arrival. Tickets are complimentary. But you better hurry."
“Thanks,” Jax nods.
Gorb slides two tickets over, then flips open a gold-plated pocket watch attached to a chain on his green velvet vest. "The lady doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Is she under the big top?"
“No.” Gorb bobs his horns toward a fairway filled with small shops, food stalls, and game booths next to the big top. "The bakery."
We cross the well-trodden grass toward a little white outbuilding with ornately carved red shutters that looks as if it was plucked right out of an Alpine village at Christmastime.
As soon as we're inside, a familiar aroma swirls around me. For a moment, I can't place the scent of bread and cinnamon and lemon.
But then, I take two more steps inside into the little shop with cases filled with cakes and pastries and see a familiar face sitting at a card table.
“Señora Mariposa!” I exclaim. It’s the lady who owns the Latin deli next to the karate studio.
"Hola, Miss Astrid," she grins sweetly. "So long I've been waiting for this day."
“Wait…?” Wide-eyed, Jax turns to me. "You already know the oracle?"
"I have known Miss Astrid since she was a babe in her mother's arms," Señora Mariposa explains, taking a sip of what smells like ginger tea in a delicate cup. That news is a surprise to me. "However, she has only known me for a few months."
"You look so different,” I murmur, unable to stop staring at her.
Señora Mariposa has totally transformed. It's as if someone has taken her head and put it on a different body. The once obese lady, who spends most of her time in a folding lawn chair in the back of her shop by the freezer section, is gone.
“You're so... beautiful."
"I am only unveiled," she smiles spreading her arms wide.
Here, she's a lean, toned woman with a large pair of shimmering gossamer wings attached to her back. She’s like some sort of intergalactic fairy.
“So, you’re the oracle,” I say, unsure why I’m stating the obvious.
"Just a label," she sniffs, waving a dismissive hand. "I am only an old lady who bakes and reads her cards."
Suddenly the pieces fit. "The tarot cards. This is the community service job you go to on Tuesdays and Thursdays?"
After karate class the other night, she read my cards and warned me about the eerie green light that usually proceeds the appearance of the Grail. She gave me the copper penny that saved us when the flying saucer was about to crash.
She smiles and nods. "Just a volunteer thing. I like to come to the Gathering to help the local community of resident aliens."
"But, it's Monday?"
"Oh, don't be so literal, Miss Astrid," she laughs. "Monday, Thursday, Tuesday. Who can really say what day it is? These things are not as fixed as you might expect."
"Yeah, I'm starting to realize nothing is." I add.
"Have a seat." She gestures to a pair of metal folding chairs on the other side of the card table. "Both you and your guardian."
"Oh, I'm not her guardian," Jax replies as we sit. "I'm just filling in. You know, until--"
"Until you are paid?" she finishes his sentence.
Jax nearly looks embarrassed. Nearly.
The oracle continues, "You are her guardian now, my boy. The stars have chosen you."
“Okay, but now that we’re here, my job as substitute guardian is almost done,” Jax replies.
Señora Mariposa just smiles likes she knows something we
don’t.
Then she turns to me. “I see you have your sword.”
I realize that I am no longer holding a red umbrella. Instead, BrightSky is back in my hand.
“My, my, now… She is quite beautiful.” Señora Mariposa examines my sword from her seat. “She suits you very well!” Then she vigorously claps her hands and looks up at me. “So you come for the key, child?”
“I have.”
“You are ready to go? Ready to return to your people?”
This question surprises me. Perhaps because it never occurred to me that I had any say in the matter.
Before I can answer, Jax recounts my troubles to her. “The Crimson Lord now knows Astrid’s location. He sent a pair of Grail to find her. Because her real guardian has been captured, she must be returned to the council of light.”
Again, Señora Mariposa nods. “I have heard this news.”
"Do you know anything about… my uncle?" I ask, barely able to finish my sentence.
A shadow darkens Señora Mariposa's face. "The MoonEyed Blue will be sent to the acid mines of Valdarey - a fate worse than execution. The Grail will transport him on the orders of the Crimson Lord. Death would be kinder.”
“No! When?” I ask, my heart in my throat. “When will they take him?”
"When the sun drops beneath the horizon tonight.”
“This is terrible!” I turn to Jax. “We can’t let that happen to him.”
“Astrid,” Jax sounds exasperated. "Don't you get it? This is not what your uncle would want. He wants you to be safe. You were his main priority. Always. Right, Señora?"
"He speaks the truth." Her beautiful wings gracefully open and close. "Your uncle dedicated his whole life to keeping you safe, Princessa. He would want you to cross through the Stargate."
"He's protecting you even now, Astrid," Jax softening his tone. The words he speaks are so earnest I know he means them. "He’s protecting you by letting you go."
I just nod, like their words all make perfect sense, like I’ve finally come to my senses, and I agree with them.
But I’m not. Something inside me has gone cold.
“So this key?” Jax continues.
“Child,” Mariposa points at the bakery counter. “Bring my tip jar over here. It’s next to the cash register.”
I retrieve the glass pickle jar that doubles as a receptacle for spare coins and bills, and Jax impatiently asks, “What does that have to do with the key?”
“Patience, guardian,” she snaps.
“But I’m not her – “ He lets it go.
I place the nearly full jar on the card table next to her teacup. It looks like your average tip jar from your average coffeehouse, except some of the coins and bills are unfamiliar. Along with the U.S. currency, there are Canadian bills, euros, pesos, and what must be old Chinese coins with the square cutout in the round coin.
But nearly a third of the contents of the jar looks, well, alien. There are strangely shaped coins made from unique materials, mixed with crazy-shaped trinkets that don’t look like any sort of money at all.
“Your key resides within the container,” Señora Mariposa says pushing the jar closer to me. “I have kept all seven in here.”
“How will I know it?” I ask.
“Ah, it will know you,” she says, gesturing for me to reach into the jar.
As soon as my fingertips skim the top layer of coins, something starts to glow. I pull out what looks more like a charm for a necklace, than any some sort of key. I hold out my hand to show them the seven-sided star that glows brightly in my palm.
“You now have the key,” she says. “But be warned, the Stargate can only be opened three times.”
“How does the key work?” Jax questions Mariposa.
But she doesn’t need to answer. “I think I know how it works.”
I hold the metallic charm up to the identical etched star on BrightSky’s blade. Like a puzzle piece, it snaps perfectly into place.
In less than a blink of an eye, the Stargate activates, tearing itself open with a ferocious roar. It’s as if someone ripped a hole in space and time, and we’re looking through a window into another world.
I’m not sure what I was expecting to see, perhaps some Hollywood version of sci-fi alien landscape.
But what I see looks foreign -- futuristic even -- but not exactly alien. Three moons hang in the velvet sky. One large and very close with two smaller moons off in the distance.
There’s a placid lake with a mirror-smooth surface casting a slightly lavender reflection. Crystalline highrise towers, like futuristic skyscrapers, fill the nearby horizon.
“Where is this?” I ask.
“This is your home. A small planet that orbits your birth star Asterope,” Jax replies, staring in awe at what we see before us. “I’ve heard it described as a paradise, but it’s even more beautiful that I could have imagined.”
A MoonEyed Blue guard, in full battle armor, moves toward the opening on the other end of the Stargate. It’s as if he’s been waiting for us.
“Astrid, your new guardian approaches,” Señora Mariposa explains.
“New guardian?” I mutter. This can’t be. Not when my uncle, my true guardian, is still very much alive.
“See, Astrid,” Jax smiles. “You’ll be safe now.”
When we arrived here, Señora Mariposa asked me if I was ready to go home.
No, I am not.
If being this princess, one of the long awaited Seven Sisters, means abandoning the people you love -- the guardian who has devoted his entire life to you -- then I don't want to be one of the Seven Sisters of Light.
And I certainly don’t want a new guardian.
Right then, I know exactly what I must do.
While both Jax and Mariposa are completely focused on what lies on the other side of the Stargate, I simply turn and walk out of the bakery.
Looking over my shoulder, I see no one is paying the slightest attention to me. With BrightSky at my side, I head back toward the circus big top, then, all alone, I walk east out onto the barren peaty moor.
Luckily, it isn’t hard to find the portal back to Haggerty’s.
Closing the ornate wooden door behind me, only a handful of people remain in the restaurant. Camille is gone. Her shift is probably over.
Again, no one pays any attention to me as I walk out the front door with a red umbrella in my hand. BrightSky is back in disguise.
The stolen Audi is no longer parked at the curb. Hopefully, the owner got their fancy car back.
I stop when I get to the corner, unsure of which way to go. My house and all my belongings are gone. The karate studio isn’t safe. School is out of the question.
I have several hours until sunset. Yet, I don’t exactly know where to start.
Maybe the public library. They have free wifi, bathrooms, vending machines, and a water fountain. Once I’m safely inside, I can figure out what to do next.
It feels strange to be all alone.
But, still, I’m thankful that Ruby and Chad are safe. And Jax is also free to go on his merry way.
I have my sword, and the star-shaped key is safely tucked away in my front pocket. I can still open the Stargate two more times. Hopefully, once I get my uncle back, I will only need to open it once.
Just as I’m about to step off the curb to cross the street, a shiny steel gray pickup truck with dark windows screeches to a halt, cutting me off.
Oh no. Who could have found me so quickly?
As the dark passenger side window rolls down, I grip the umbrella a little more firmly.
At first, I can’t identify the driver. His face in shadows, I see a figure in an army jacket and a black baseball cap.
Then he leans into the light.
“It’s you?” I say to Officer Fitzgerald. “How did you find me?”
“To be honest, I think I just got lucky,” he smiles at me.
“Okay, nice to see you, but I’m sort of in a hurry so--
“That was you?” I think back to the journal entries my uncle wrote about our guide helping us get settled.
And the voice — the familiar voice — arguing with my uncle in the studio the other day, when I was just regaining my consciousness after Jax hit me with the bow staff.
“Did you think it was a coincidence I just happen to show up at the mall and the house fire?” he asks.
I guess I did.
“The doll.” The only thing I can think to say is, “You brought me Barbie dolls? When I was a little girl.”
“I did. They belonged to my daughters.” He smiles. “Let me just cut to the chase. I’m part of a worldwide organization called the Eye in the Sky. We monitor alien activity here on Earth, among other things. I’m here to help you.”
“Thanks, but I don’t need any help at the moment,” I reply and start to walk away. “I’ll let you know if I do.”
“That’s too bad,” Fitz calls after me. “Thought you might like a little company when you try to rescue your uncle.”
I stop and turn around. “How did you…?”
“Because if you truly are one of the Seven Sisters of Light, you would never leave your guardian behind.” He opens the passenger door. “Get in. We don’t have a lot of time. Let’s go get your uncle.”
* * *
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon at http://amzn.to/28Yug87
Also by Lysa Daley
Now Available! Uninvited: The Dark Skies Trilogy Book Two
Coming soon: Undone: The Dark Skies Trilogy Book Three
Uninvited
Chapter 1
Crashing the spring formal dance was the last thing I thought I’d be doing tonight.
Still, I’ve got to say whoever's in charge of the decorations totally crushed it.
The usually drab school gym is now all aglow in a deep watery blue. Clusters of translucent helium-filled balloons, meant to resemble bubbles, float above cardboard treasure chests and rusty plastic anchors stuck in piles of real golden sand.