by Stuart Jaffe
Elliot pecked at the sand with his cane. “I find it amusing that you speak as if you have a say in the matter.”
“I’m still the leader of this team.” Gram stepped in front of Elliot and spoke in a harsh whisper that Roni and Sully could hear even easier than the previous conversation. “We are here because of Roni, not you. All of your issues with this place are a side matter that I am happy to see you address, but that is not the mission.”
“Not for you.”
“Elliot, please don’t do this. Don’t start making poor decisions because you feel guilty.”
“It was my poor decision that cost me —”
“I know that. But you are not alone here. This isn’t all on your shoulders, and it isn’t about you. Sully is here. I’m here. You care about us, right? And most importantly, Roni is here. I know you care about her. Are you willing to put her at risk just so you can feel better about something so far in the past that you’re not even that man anymore?”
Elliot puffed his chest and gazed over Gram’s head. “I do not expect you to understand, but I must do this. Roni has her own mission, one that I can help her with, but even if she decides against, I will still go.”
Brushing sand from her hands as she stood, Roni presumed a dark cloud would form over her head when she said, “Go where?”
Gram turned around with such shock on her face that Roni stepped back. Elliot also looked at her like she had mushrooms growing out of her nose. With the top of his cane, he bumped the book in Gram’s arms and said, “In there, of course. We go into the book.”
Chapter 13
If Roni had eaten anything substantial in the last day, she would have thrown it up twice over. She paced the sandy isle while Elliot sat near the pedestal. With his eyes closed, he meditated. During the entire trip, she had assumed she would reach into the book with one hand, grab the kyolo stones, and that would be it. Never did she think they would physically enter the books. Why didn’t anybody tell her? She wanted to shake Elliot, yell at him, get him to smile or get some words of confidence from him, hit him, hug him, anything to shock the energy out of her system. She paced faster.
During these minutes, Gram and Sully conferred near the raft. Roni’s attention volleyed between them and Elliot and the book. It had a tattered cover of red and black circles. Two holes remained from where the original chains had kept it bound to the pedestal.
Roni could picture the thing opening. The horrors she had seen when gazing through a book flashed in her mind. Yes, she knew that Waterfield’s journal described it as a paradise. And yes, Elliot would not be jumping into a book that led to a nightmare. But those points of reason did little to assuage her growing unease.
“We’re ready,” Sully said as he walked towards the pedestal.
Elliot snapped awake and jumped to his feet. He gave a slight bow toward Sully, then Gram, then Roni. “I thank you all for helping me in this endeavor.” Before Gram could speak, he raised his hand. “I know you believe that you are doing this not for me but for the Society. Perhaps that is true. Perhaps you are, and I am being naive. But I thank you anyway.”
Gram flicked her wrist and chain fell from her sleeve. And it continued to fall. The non-stop ringing of metal on metal as it piled at her feet sounded like coins dropping from a slot machine. When it finally finished, she handed the end to Sully. He wrapped it around himself and used the teeth-like clamp on the end to secure it. Elliot pulled out the other end of the chain and offered it to Roni.
The cold metal weighed more than she anticipated. Gram must be worried about the strain. Roni refrained from making any comment — she didn’t need the Old Gang knowing her fearful thoughts, and any word from her might betray the shaking in her legs. As she locked the chain around her waist, she could hear it jangling in her hands. To hide the sound, she asked Elliot, “What about you?”
Gram released another chain. This one, though equally thick, was much shorter. She handed one end to Elliot, and as he secured it, she clamped the other end to Roni’s chain. “You two will have to take care of each other.”
Sully shoved one foot into the sand, then the other. He closed his eyes, mouthed a few words, then leaned back slightly. Roni knew he could summon the strength of a golem to root himself to the ground, but she had no clue how long it would last.
As Gram settled the book upon the pedestal, Elliot nudged Roni’s arm with his cane. “Time for us to go.”
They walked towards the pedestal, and Roni’s throat tightened. She wiped her palms against her sides. Brushing the chain, she felt its weight tugging behind.
“Listen close,” Gram said. Her voice took on the same tone she used years ago when laying down the rules for a sleepover. Only with this, if Roni broke a rule, serious consequences would follow — not a grounding or a loss of television privileges, but injury or death. “You are to tug on the chain three times every five minutes to let us know you’re okay. If you fail to do so, we will yank you right back here and that’ll be it. No going back in.”
“Hold on,” Roni said. “Do you mean tug on it three times in a row at the end of five minutes or three times throughout a five minute period?”
“I mean three times in five minutes. What’s so hard to understand?”
“I don’t want you pulling us back if we’re not ready.”
Sully forced out a laugh. “Okay, you two, keep this simple. Three times in a row roughly every five minutes. Clear enough?”
“Thank you,” Roni said.
Gram shot a harsh glare at Sully before continuing. “If you run into trouble, just keeping tugging over and over as fast as possible. Is that clear enough? It will be to us. Roni, you get in there, grab your kyolo stones, and wait for Elliot. The less you interact, the safer for you and for that universe. Elliot, do what you must but don’t you dare put Roni at risk.”
“I would never put her at risk.”
“You already have by bringing her here.”
“I am only going to talk with them. Nothing more. There is no risk to be had.”
“Nonetheless, you know what to do if you have to.”
Elliot nodded. “Of course.”
“Good luck,” Gram said and rested her hands on the book. She gripped it tight. Roni got the distinct impression that Gram considered throwing the book into the lake. But her shoulders dropped with a sigh. “Good luck,” she whispered and opened the book.
Roni flinched, but all remained still. Nothing but quiet. A thick mist rolled over the edges of the book, and with it a strong smell of thyme.
Reading the confusion on her face, Elliot said, “Not all universes depressurize when a book is opened. Some are close enough to our world — or in this case, to the world of this cave. It is no more than opening a door.”
“So, we can walk in and out without any trouble?”
“Exactly.”
Putting words in action, Elliot stepped toward the book. Roni did not wait for the chain to pull her along. She hurried up to Elliot’s side and clasped his hand. His excitement vibrated in his fingers, and the corners of her mouth lifted. Several stones had been piled into a small step. Together, they climbed up.
Though the book looked about the width of a library dictionary, Roni could not see how they would fit in. But when Elliot placed his left leg inside, the rest of him smeared as if his image flickered on ruined film. He didn’t scream or show any sign of pain. The colors of him ran together and poured into the book.
Roni followed — had no choice with the chain connecting them — and to her shock, she felt nothing. Despite the bizarre picture she had seen, experiencing the effect caused no sensation at all. She simply walked into the book.
She did her best to hold back any expectations, yet her mind kept thinking, this isn’t what I expected. They had entered the center of the town Waterfield described so vividly. The fountain, the trees, the buildings — all of it stood before her.
Except all of it had died.
The town lay in ru
in. The colors of paradise had vanished. An overcast sky lent a gray filter over the place, muting the air with its somber pall. Bare trees and crumbling buildings abound, each one forming its shape through a thin veneer of gray fog like shadow puppets. A chill wind picked up dead leaves and spread them across the chapped ground like a careless vagrant. Even the once beautiful fountain had been toppled over, and the stagnant water in its basin smelled foul.
Elliot let go of Roni’s hand as he walked further. She looked in the windows and down a few alleys, but she did not see signs of people. Not even a sound. Only the clinking of their chain.
She glanced back to see the chain stretching right into a ragged opening in the air as if a child had cut out part of the world with dull scissors. Inside the opening, Roni could see the forms of Gram and Sully but as if viewing them through gauze.
Turning back, she walked further into the town. One house, its front door hanging askew, caught Roni’s attention — it looked official with two pillars out front and papers attached to a board standing to the side. Symbols on the papers did not match any language she knew. As Elliot came up behind, he pointed to one paper with the writing in large, bold script.
“It is a command to evacuate the town,” he said.
“You can read it?”
“I spent a long time here once.” He rubbed his eyes and sniffled. “I learned the language.”
“Does it say why they had to evacuate? Where they went? Do they give anything to say what happened here?”
“No. And it would not. The people of this world would simply gather their things and start walking until they reached another town.”
“And the other town would take them in?”
Elliot’s voice cracked. “They were good like that.” His legs wobbled and he lowered to the base of the nearest pillar. With his head in his hands, he tears flooded and his shoulders shook.
Roni stood next to him. While she waited, she gazed at the ghost town. In particular, she looked at the dusty ground. Stones of various shapes and sizes littered the area. Which ones were kyolo stones?
After several minutes, Elliot showed no sign of calming down. Roni rubbed her hand along the back of his shoulders. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “I’m sure they followed the evacuation order.”
“I doubt it.” He dabbed at his eyes, his voice shaking, and he forced a long inhalation. “I said that the people of this world would pack up and go, but not the people of this town. They were different. They put their souls into making this place as perfect as they could. I don’t see how any of them would leave.”
“Something bad must’ve been coming. A plague, maybe, or a terrible storm.”
“They would have stayed. They would have faced whatever calamity came their way.” Using his cane, he stood. “Do you understand? They stayed, and they stood their ground.”
Roni’s eyes widened. “And they lost.”
“Yes.”
“The whole town?”
“It appears so.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said. She lifted the end of the chain and yanked three times on it — that would appease Gram for five minutes. “What do these kyolo stones look like? I was told they’re everywhere.”
Elliot paused with a disapproving glare.
“What?” she said. “I came here to fulfill a mission.”
“And you found something else. We cannot ignore the tragedy that happened here.”
“I’m not suggesting we do. But we should grab the stones we need first. That’s our main reason for being in this place.”
“Only for you. And you know that to be the case. You know that I came for other reasons, yet you never once bothered to ask me why I want to be here.”
Roni’s face flushed. “I was being respectful of your privacy.”
“You did not want to burden yourself with the concerns of others. You think I do not see what you have become this last year? Sully and I have ears. We have eyes. You think that we did not notice how all of our breakfasts helped you avoid your grandmother? After all, when you and Gram fight in the bookstore, we know it.”
Trying to hold back her desire to scream at him, to tell him that she had spoken the truth, that she respected him and that it hurt to think he doubted her sincerity, she gritted her teeth. Because no matter how much truth she spoke, he also spoke the truth. Attempting a calmer tone, she said, “We’re here now, and we’re alone. Please, tell me what happened.”
Elliot leaned on his cane and squinted into the fog. “Do you remember my wife at all?”
“Of course. I loved Auntie Janwan.” An image flashed in Roni’s mind — Auntie Janwan standing in a kitchen, her body firm and strong, her dark skin glistening with the summer heat. She was baking cookies and she coated the whole house in a sweet, lovely aroma. “She made the best lemon snaps.”
Rubbing his belly, he said, “I must have lost twenty pounds after she died.”
“It was cancer, right?”
Elliot kicked at the ground. He eyed her as if she had said something profound. “Pancreatic cancer — that was the story we told everybody, but not the entire truth. The real reason she died was because she was a living relic in our world.”
Roni glanced at the town buildings. “Auntie Janwan came from here?”
“Oh, yes. This land and our world are closely compatible, but it turns out, that after decades of exposure, her system finally overloaded and shut down.”
“Another lie.” Her face scrunched as she held back her tears. “She was one of the few memories I could trust, and now you’re telling me it was all a lie.”
Elliot’s hand snapped out fast, smacking Roni upside the head. “Do not ever call my wife a lie. She was one of the most beautiful creatures in any world — inside and out. And she loved you. Are you still so childish that you cannot understand the need to perpetuate an untruth when we must protect the secrets of the Parallel Society?”
“Of course not. I’m sorry. It was just a gut reaction. I didn’t mean it like it came out.”
“Pay attention and maybe you will learn.” Rolling his shoulders, he pressed more onto his cane as if he needed it to help him hold the weight of his memory. “When I was thirty-four — which seems like lifetimes ago — back then, I was impulsive and a bit reckless. I had yet to learn more than a few simple tricks I could perform and a few general healing principles, but I thought I had harnessed the greatest forces of the universe. I had not been with the Society long, yet each day brought such wonder and excitement that I grew impatient to learn more. And of course, like you, I was kept away from all the action that I was sure went on without me. Gram had me taking care of the bookstore’s ledgers while I also helped keep guard over her office and Sully’s workshop. You can imagine how I felt about bookkeeping and guard duty.
“I complained to your grandmother once. After she lectured me for an hour, she showed me the Grand Library. We had a librarian back then — Lydia Schuck — and I was permitted to check out one book at a time. A few months in and I discovered Gerald Waterfield’s journal. His descriptions of this paradise world would not leave my mind. Our world was no Utopia, especially for a black man, yet in this journal I read of a world that sounded unreal to me. Unreal and wonderful.”
“Yet you went, so part of you must’ve believed it was real.”
“Certainly. According to Gram, no book that makes it into the Grand Library can contain lies. So, I began stocking supplies and a year later, I was ready. My night finally arrived, and I waited for Sully and Gram to go to sleep. Then I snuck into the caverns and used Waterfield’s maps to find my way here. When I entered the book, I saw a paradise that made Waterfield’s descriptions no more than a braggart’s poor rendition of another man’s achievements. I could describe this place for months, and still, I would not adequately convey to you the incredible, unimpeachable beauty this world possessed.”
Elliot shuffled several steps over. “That fountain was the heart of the town, pumping life into every m
oment. Its waters could heal people, and it radiated an energy that people craved. An energy of love and kindness. Every town in this world has such a fountain, and as a result, they did not have wars or power grabs or oppressive regimes.”
Roni could see that Elliot had become lost in a memory, but she also had an uneasy sensation crawling along her arms — as if someone spied on them. She wanted to get her kyolo stones and leave. “Is that when you met Janwan?”
“Right over there. Next to the fountain. She was with some of her friends, laughing and smiling, and I was taken. I ended up spending the next year here — falling in love and earning her love.”
The air around them shifted, and Roni’s nerves spiked. She heard something. An animal, perhaps, only it sounded unlike any animal she knew — a throaty breath like a stallion forcing air through its nose followed by a series of clicks.
As she scanned the gray surfaces surrounding them, she said, “Please tell me you know what that was.”
Elliot gripped his cane in both hands like a warrior’s staff. “I have never heard that sound before.”
“We should go.”
“Not until we learn what happened here.”
Again that horrible combination of breath and clicks.
Roni edged towards the opening that led back to Gram. But if she jumped back in there, Elliot would be left alone. She edge closer to Elliot. But if she stayed, she had no special powers to help him. She would be in the way.
“Please,” she said. “We have to go. If you must come back, we can regroup and come in with some sort of plan.”
Strong legs thumped against the ground in the distance — a lot of strong legs. Elliot stepped forward, towards the fountain, towards the sound.
Roni grabbed the chain connected to him and yanked him back a step. “You can’t go that way. It’s my life you’re risking, too. Now, help me pick up a few kyolo stones, and then we’re leaving.”
“We have to know what happened.”
“Whatever’s out there making that sound, that’s what happened.”
Elliot’s eyes closed as he offered a single, gentle nod. “You are right. You need the kyolo stones. They are smooth and crimson.” He smiled at a memory. “They always make me think of gumdrops.”