by Kim Thompson
Slipping through the disc at the other end, she breathed a little easier to be back in her own pool. As she emerged from the water, she found Belle waiting patiently for her. They hadn’t spoken since her first dip in the pool on her birthday, though Belle was obviously quite pleased about it all.
“You don’t need to be swimming in your undies, you know.”
Willa clambered out and sat on the edge. “They’re gym shorts, not underwear. And you may like skinny-dipping, but I’m not doing it!”
“Oh, heavens to Betsy, who said anything about skinny-dipping?” Belle grumbled. She had something in her lap, which she offered to Willa. It was a bathing suit, green and blue, with silver piping around the edges. Willa gave Belle a big grin.
“Thanks, Belle. I love it.”
“You should come and get me when you go for a swim,” Belle chided her. “I’ve got so much to teach you.”
Willa felt a sudden urge to share her adventures. “I went into a time hole! A dolphin came through it, and I followed him back to a beach and a jungle.”
Belle looked at her in alarm. “Did you leave the tunnel?”
“No, I wasn’t sure if that was safe.”
“Good instinct. You are perfectly safe as long as you stay inside the tunnel. Going out at the other end is risky.”
“Why?”
“Time holes are always moving around.”
Willa pointed at the pool. “These ones aren’t.”
“Yes, for some reason they seem pretty stable at this end. Even Horace isn’t sure why. At the other end, however, that’s another story. If you leave the tunnel there, you might turn around and find it’s disappeared on you, and there’s no way back again.”
“So if I went through that same one again…?”
“You’ll come out somewhere completely different every time.”
“Wow.” Willa stared down at the silver blobs. Now she could see why Belle had been so intrigued by them.
“We could take another look right now,” suggested Belle.
“No, I’ve got to get home,” said Willa quickly. She still hadn’t told Belle about her mom banning her from visiting. “But how about tomorrow?”
Belle grinned and nodded. “It’s a date.”
Chapter Seventeen
Floods, foliage, and time travel
The next day was Saturday, and it suddenly dawned on Willa that it wouldn’t be easy to sneak over to Eldritch without school as a cover.
“I’m going for a walk,” she announced after breakfast.
“Not in the pouring rain you aren’t. I heard you coughing earlier,” her mom countered. “It’s a perfect day for curling up with a good book.”
So Willa curled up with a good book … and stared at the same page for what seemed like two hours but was really fifteen minutes. She stared at the clock in disbelief. Is Tabitha affecting time here too?
Then she sat wondering where the time holes might lead, and what it would be like to go for a swim with Belle. She wondered how Tengu and Horace were getting along with the basilisk, and if Oberon and Mab were still fighting.
Looming above these thoughts, however, was the image of cool, rippling water. Willa was positively itching to get into the pool for a swim. She paced around her room, stared out at the rain, and then paced some more. She took a really long bath. Just like Belle always does, she thought, finally understanding why. Even in a small tub, the water sloshing around her was soothing. It filled her ears, beautifully muting the outside world.
And to think I used to hate getting water in my ears!
Somehow she got through the weekend and Monday at school. When she arrived at Eldritch Manor, however, she opened the front door to total chaos. The ramp to the basement was open, lined with dwarves handing up buckets full of water. Argus emerged from the kitchen with an armful of empty buckets.
“Argus, what’s going on?”
He stood at attention. “Eldritch Manor surveillance report, April twelfth. The basement is flooded. We’re bailing Robert out.” And he handed Willa a bucket.
So much for swimming, thought Willa, and got to work. The water in the basement was up to her knees. She scooped up a bucketful and handed it up the line. At the top of the ramp, Argus and Eikinskjaldi were running full buckets into the kitchen, dumping them out and bringing back the empties. They slogged away for hours, until Willa’s shoulders and back ached, but without much effect on the level of the water.
When Willa returned the next day, everyone had given up on the basement and Robert had moved into the crowded parlour. Tempers were fraying already. Robert complained about the rabbits underfoot, and Oberon resented having to share the room with someone that immense.
“He’s like a walking barnyard,” sniffed the fairy king.
Willa ducked out during the squabble that followed and knocked on Belle’s door. “Meet you at the pool!” called Belle. “I’ll just be a minute!”
It was quiet in the backyard. Tengu was walking the basilisk around on a little leash.
“Hi, Willa! We’re just out for a bit of fresh air!” he called cheerfully as the blindfolded beast walked straight into a tree.
Baz was on her hands and knees in the bushes nearby, pouncing on bugs and popping them into her mouth. Willa shuddered. Even though she knew Baz was just acting out her cat nature, it was still alarming to see an old lady crawling around eating insects.
“All those bugs can’t be good for you,” she called, but Baz ignored her. Willa breathed in the damp air and gazed around the yard. She was surrounded by new growth. Green shoots were popping up all over, tree trunks were fuzzy with moss, and the stable roof was covered with a green shag carpet.
Willa’s eyes were caught by one ropey vine, larger and darker than the rest, that emerged from the pool and disappeared in the mud and wet leaves. She walked over and kicked at it. It was heavy and very solid. Willa leaned down to brush off the leaves and began to follow it into the trees. Tengu joined her, the basilisk in his arms.
“Check out this vine, Tengu. I want to see where it goes.”
They followed it through the forest, brushing aside smaller vines and curling tendrils. The only sound was the squelching of their boots in the mud. Willa suddenly felt fearful. Just when the going got very difficult, the trees ended and they found themselves at the stone wall that ran along the back of the property. The vine ended in a mass of green growing up the wall, obscuring half of it.
Tengu let out a low whistle. “That’s new,” he said.
“New? What do you mean?”
“I could see the whole wall yesterday. That grew in overnight.”
“Impossible.” Willa stared at the growth. There was a central, thicker mass of leaves at the base of the wall.
A loud crunch made them jump. Baz had walked up behind them, chewing on a large beetle. Its waving legs hung out of her mouth.
“Ew.” Willa winced. Baz crunched the bug again and swallowed it down, grinning. Tengu took the basilisk indoors for some warm milk, while Willa paused to peer into the pool.
“The big vine is the one that’s growing out of the time hole! It has its roots in another time altogether!” Willa exclaimed suddenly. Baz’s head popped up from a bush. She looked over, deadpan.
“Fascinating.” And she dropped into the bush again.
Willa stripped down to her new bathing suit, eased into the pool, and swam down for a closer look. The vine was indeed growing out of the smaller time hole. She tugged on it. It was firmly attached.
Just then there was a sploosh, and Belle was in the water too, her pale skin glistening and fish tail curling gracefully behind her. Swimming naked didn’t seem to faze her in the least. Willa wished she could be as unselfconscious as Belle.
Willa pointed to the vine in the time hole, but Belle shook her head, pointing instead to the larger tim
e hole. They swam over to it and looked it over. Then Belle turned to Willa, holding out her hand. Willa took it, and together they swam into the silvery bubble.
They entered the dark tunnel and swam toward the spot of light at the other end. Gripping Belle’s hand, Willa could barely contain her excitement to be down here with her. Every so often they’d sail past a large mirror on the wall, and Willa would catch a glimpse of Belle’s long silver hair streaming out behind them, and herself being pulled along, pale and wide-eyed. It seemed to Willa that Belle’s image in the mirrors looked younger and slimmer the further they swam.
They came to a stop. The round portal was now in front of them, and Belle turned to her.
Remember, we’re not going out. We’re just taking a look.
Willa nodded. They slipped their heads through the disc and looked out.
The sun was low behind a desert landscape. Figures in long white robes trudged by, while others rode camels. Women carried large jugs on their heads. Everyone seemed to be heading toward a collection of tents in the distance. To their left, something very large loomed. Willa looked up at it and let out a gasp.
It was the Great Sphinx, like she’d seen in history books, but with a difference: it still had a nose, and the face was smooth and serene, free from the ravages of time.
Willa turned to Belle, her eyes wide. When is this?
Belle smiled and shrugged. Willa looked at the people and tents with new interest. As the sun sank lower and the light faded, a long line of camels approached, also heading toward the tent city. Willa gazed at the billowing robes and scarves, the swaying motion of the animals, the slow way the people walked. Somewhere in the distance a voice rang out in a strange, chanting song, and Willa felt the thrill of being present in a distant, distant time.
When it was too dark to see anymore, they swam back and climbed out of the pool into the daylight of their own time. They didn’t speak, but Willa gave Belle’s hand a squeeze as she left. She walked home slowly, the swaying camels still in her mind.
The next day they went back through the same bubble but emerged in a different, even more incredible scene.
Before them was a marshy swamp, and a large dinosaur was lying in the reeds. Her awkwardly long neck and small head reminded Willa of Dinah, only this dinosaur had stripy markings on her legs. A baby dinosaur flopped around in the shallow water beside her. Willa stared, transfixed. Enormous dragonflies buzzed lazily overhead, and the sun beat down. The mother dinosaur’s eyelids drooped, and she laid her head down for a nap.
When the baby realized she was asleep, it looked around and spotted them. Willa froze, her heart beating loudly as the little dinosaur approached, snuffling cautiously. It came closer and closer until they were practically nose-to-nose with Willa staring into its soft brown eyes.
“Just like Dinah,” said Willa. “Look at her eyelashes!”
“Shoo! Go!” Belle hissed. “We don’t want your mama after us. Shoo!” Belle waved her hand, but the little beast just head-butted her palm.
At that moment a shadow passed overhead and something very large dropped from the sky, its claws reaching out for the baby dinosaur.
Without thinking, Willa threw her arms around the dinosaur’s neck and pulled it partially inside the time hole, knocking Belle, cursing, back into the tunnel. The pterodactyl missed its prey, hitting the water feet-first.
“Watch what you’re doing!” hollered Belle.
The mother dinosaur let out a bellow as she lurched to her feet. The pterodactyl struggled to lift off from the water, finally taking to the sky with an angry squawk.
Willa hurriedly pushed the baby back out into the water, and it paddled over to its mother.
“What were you thinking?” grumbled Belle as she rejoined Willa.
“I couldn’t let her be killed!” answered Willa.
Belle clucked her tongue. “Let’s get out of here before something else happens.”
Willa waved goodbye, and the baby dinosaur watched them disappear from sight.
Back in their own pool, Belle was still shaking her head.
“We’re just there to look, not to be heroes!” she muttered.
Willa smiled. “I don’t care, I’m glad I helped her out.”
“I don’t know anything about changing stuff in the past,” Belle said with a worried look. “That might have been a really bad move.”
Willa considered this for a moment. “I don’t think so. I have a strong hunch it was the right thing to do.”
Rustling and faint whispers. The brush of leaves on her face. Willa opened her eyes. She was swimming through green again, swimming toward the leafy face, staring into the grey eyes. Once again she sent out her question—
Who are you?
Again the mouth opened and the vines burst out, sweeping Willa along backward. She somersaulted through the foliage, growing weaker as she went. The light began to fade, and she was filled with despair. Then the violet eyes appeared ahead of her, looking curiously at her.
What have we here then? they said.
Willa smiled, and she felt her sadness fall away. The eyes disappeared, and Willa struggled against the tide with renewed strength. She threw both arms around a thick vine, which pulled her along at a tremendous pace until it shot up into the open air, and all was quiet.
Willa hugged the vine as it rose into the air. All around her, as far as the eye could see, was an ocean of greenery, and still they rose, up into the white fuzz of a cloud….
Willa opened her eyes and took in the familiar confines of her bedroom.
Another weird one, she thought. These plant dreams are starting to get a little old.
Chapter Eighteen
Violet eyes
The next day, Willa found Argus in the main hall, listening at Miss Trang’s door. He put his finger to his lips and led Willa into the parlour.
“Miss Trang is stirring,” he told her. “I heard her talking in her sleep. I think she’ll be waking up soon.”
“What?” Oberon launched himself from his carriage. “The demon dragon awakes?” His rabbits, who were forever lounging about the parlour, sat up with their noses twitching, suddenly alert.
Robert looked up from his book. “She’s not a ‘demon dragon,’ you nitwit.”
“She’s really quite nice,” added Willa. “You’ll see.”
“Nice?” Oberon was beside himself. “She nearly incinerated me the day I arrived! Don’t you remember?” He looked to the rabbits, and they nodded hastily. There was a snort from above.
Mab sat in her doorway, clearly amused. “She was nowhere near you!”
“I could have been killed!” insisted Oberon.
“Mab’s right. You were all the way across the room,” said Willa with growing irritation. “Behind the sofa, covered in dust.”
Oberon drew himself up to look very nearly kingly. “She is, nonetheless, a fire-breathing dragon, and in the interest of the safety of my court and my Royal Self, I demand that she take residence elsewhere!”
Mab jumped to her feet but Willa beat her to the punch. “If anyone is going to move out, it’s going to be Your Royal Self!” she exploded. “How dare you come in here and start evicting people! Miss Trang is a member of this household, and you are not!”
Oberon was speechless. Robert began to applaud, and Argus smiled into his hand. Mab was laughing so hard, she fell backward into her nest. Oberon retreated into his golden carriage, sputtering with indignation. The rabbits glared at Willa. She decided it was a good time to go for a swim.
Belle was taking a nap, however, and Willa decided not to wake her. She wanted to go through a time hole on her own this time. She swam down to the bubbles, once again inspecting the vine coming out of the smaller one and giving it a tug. It was firmly anchored, that seemed clear. What was to stop her from just pulling herself, hand over hand, along i
t?
She reached in, grasped the vine, and with a thrill of excitement slipped through the bubble. This was a much smaller tunnel, barely big enough for her to wiggle through. It was good to have the vine to pull herself along, since it was hard to swim in such a constricted space. The walls of the tunnel were slippery and cold to the touch. She hesitated more than once, wondering if this was such a good idea, but she was encouraged by the presence of the vine and kept going.
She was relieved to finally spot light ahead. The tunnel curved upward right at the end, and she slipped her head through the disc into bright daylight.
Once her eyes adjusted, she realized she was in a large stone well. Keeping one hand on the vine, she felt the sides. The stone was smooth and cold, the same as the walls of the tunnel.
There was nothing else to do but pull herself up and look out. The level of the water was quite high in the well, so she didn’t have to raise herself very far. She was careful to keep her legs inside the bubble, so she didn’t feel it was too risky a move.
The well was in the middle of a forest clearing. A short distance away stood a simple hut with a thatched straw roof. A goat was tied to a stake outside, gazing sleepily at her. A rough broom, a stool, and a few simple iron tools lay around, and bundles of herbs had been hung on the walls to dry. There was also a large sword leaning against the wall.
Real fairy tale–style, she thought excitedly. Am I in medieval times?
A young girl came out of the hut with a fat cat padding along at her heels. Willa ducked down but continued to peek out over the edge of the well. The girl took down several bundles of herbs and began tying them together with twine. She had a wild mass of black hair and wore a rough woollen tunic over leggings and leather slippers. She looked the same age as Willa, or maybe a year younger. She was small and slight but moved about like she owned the place and wore a very determined expression.