True North

by S.M. Winter

to the lower world,” Chauncy replied.

  “How do we use it?” I asked.

  “We use ours keys,” Valerie leaned forward and showed me hers.

  It was a small silver key she kept on a necklace with chips of blue sodalite at its bow. The short length was like a skeleton key. It had beautifully crafted metalwork twisted around it like vines. An anchor hung from the side like a charm.

  “I don’t have a key,” I said.

  “You do,” Alexandar turned to me. “Every time a new Elemental is chosen the key makes its way back to its home.”

  Alexandar pointed to five tiny drawers, all in a row, to the left of the door. These too were created with the utmost care and precision. They mirrored their compass points with a tiny knob depicting the elements. I walked closer to inspect them, each had a corresponding colored gem like the one I saw in Valerie’s key. Moss agate, blue sodalite, red garnet and yellow citrine. The fifth one was obsidian, its knob depicted a dandelion. I went to touch that box and received a small shock. I pulled back quickly and stuck the injured fingers in my mouth. I heard chuckles from behind me.

  “I’d just touch your own box if I were you,” Chauncy laughed.

  “Why?” I asked. “What happens?”

  “You’re always so curious,” Alexandar shook his head. “Basically, there’s a built in security alarm. Anyone who tries to touch another Elemental’s box gets cautioned against it.”

  Frowning, I turned back to the drawers and considered trying to open the black one anyway. Shaking my head I decided that was for another day and opened my own box. There was the sound of a vacuum releasing and the feeling of the air stirring around me, as if the drawer were sealed. It opened easily and revealed a little yellow velvet bed where a key lay nestled. The yellow citrine chips winked from its head and looked near identical to Valerie’s key. The main difference between the two was that the charm that hung from mine was a single feather. When I looked into the gem the color reminded me of wind flowing through a sea of wheat. The field was endless and breathtaking. I picked up the key and it was warm, as if it had been waiting for me. A delicate silver chain was linked and unraveled as I lifted it. I immediately put the chain around my neck and closed the drawer. With one last look at the fifth drawer I took my place back in the line facing the door.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  Alexandar sighed as if he’d been holding his breath. The others looked relieved.

  “Is there something I’m missing?” I asked.

  “No,” Valerie said quickly. “We were just happy that it was there.”

  “There was a possibility that it wouldn’t be?”

  “The last time we saw it...” Valerie trailed off looking at Alexandar.

  “Was on my sister,” Alexandar finished.

  “How did it get back here,” I asked. “If none of you are the ones that returned it.”

  “We aren’t entirely sure,” Chauncy answered.

  “How did you doubt the existence of a fifth element when there was a box?” I asked.

  “We still thought it was a myth,” Valerie explained. “We’ve never seen them.”

  “What is it,” I wondered. “The fifth element, that is.”

  “Time,” Chauncy said.

  “We have competing theories about why they don’t fight with us,” Alexandar said. “The most prevalent is that they defend on a different plane.”

  “Whoa,” I said. “Now you want me to buy into different dimensions?”

  They nodded. It was an unsettling prospect.

  “How...”

  “Do you want to see your nephews or not?” Alexandar seemed to have lost patience with my endless stream of questions. I nodded.

  “Ok then,” he ran a hand through his messy hair and removed his key from under his shirt.

  Approaching the doorway, he took the key and I watched as the stones began to glow. A tiny keyhole slid open where a knot in the oak tree used to be. He inserted the key, turned it and backed away. Next Valerie did the same with the Eastern waves. An area of spray opened into a keyhole and her key glowed blue. Chauncy followed, the brightness of the garnet’s glow making the flames seem to writhe. When he’d backed away, I knew it was my turn. I stepped up to the door and watched as the key sparkled under my shirt with a soft yellow light. Removing the key from around my neck I followed their moves and watched in awe as the swirls moved like gears in a machine. They revealed my own keyhole. I inserted the key, and with one last look over my shoulder, turned it.

  I stepped away and listed as a series of mechanisms seemed to click behind the door. One by one, Alexandar, Valerie and Chauncy walked forward again to touch their keys. I took the steps needed and touched mine as well.

  “Think about your loft and specifically the doorway you want to walk through,” Alexandar instructed. “Then turn the knob.”

  I did as he asked. I thought of my loft and how dirty I’d left it. I tried to picture my front door, but at the last minute thought of my closet. The compass seemed to vibrate. The keys released from their locks as the doorway morphed. I put mine back around my neck and watched as the door changed into any ordinary entrance. It now had a knob that I immediately took in hand and turned. It swung open to reveal a messy bedroom.

  We shuffled into the room and the door closed behind us. It looked like a tornado had been through the place, beyond my normal messiness. Everything was torn apart, even my mattress was ripped. Stuffing hung out like it had been eviscerated. The pictures and paintings that were still lucky enough to be on the wall hung drunkenly.

  “What happened here?” I asked.

  “There’s no telling,” Chauncy walked to a wall and attempted to straighten a picture. The string on the back snapped and it crashed to the floor.

  “Probably Agents trying to find any clue as to where you were,” Alexandar said. He moved down the stairs.

  It was then that I realized we’d all come from my closet. I went back to open the door, but there was nothing but my clothes and shoes. The items inside were shredded and disorganized, but no magical doorway back to our labyrinth.

  “How does this work?” I asked, opening and closing the door repeatedly. “How do we get back?”

  “That’s simple,” Valerie said. “Go to any door with a lock and use your key. You will find yourself back at our Sanctuary.”

  “Even if I’m alone?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.

  “Even if,” Valerie nodded. “Only two Elementals are needed to get off the island. Though there are ways to get off on your own, they are not recommended.”

  “Hmm,” I pondered this while we went downstairs.

  Alexandar walked from the back of the town house and shook his head.

  “It’s clear,” he said. “Do you notice anything missing?”

  “It would be hard to tell,” I frowned as I looked around the destruction of what used to be my home. I walked to the front door and sifted through the pile of mail sitting under the slot.

  “It looks like whoever tossed the apartment did so almost immediately after you took me,” I said.

  “Why do you say that?” Chauncy asked.

  “The pile of mail here is almost undisturbed,” I replied. “It looked similar to this when I came home from a lecturing circuit I was on a few months ago.”

  Sifting through the mail I saw one letter addressed to me from my brother-in-law. I opened it up and my eyes widened at the date. It had been over a week since I left. How was that possible? I looked up from reading.

  “Does time work differently on the island?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Alexandar nodded. “Though just a bit slower. We think it has to do with being in the stratosphere.”

  “According to this I’ve been gone for over a week,” I said.

  Alexandar nodded.

  “What else does it say?” Valerie asked.

  I went back to reading it.

  “My brother-in-law apologizes for the way he treated me the da
y that Samantha died,” I frowned. “And that the boys need me. He says he’s been by several times to the house and my work but no one had seen me so and he’s getting worried. The funeral...”

  I trailed off and looked at a calendar I’d nailed to the wall, that nail was probably the only reason it was still there. A clock lay broken and still working on the ground.

  “I missed the funeral,” I choked on the words. “They will be heading home soon.”

  I’d left my credit card on file for their hotel so that they could stay indefinitely near the hospital. It must have been easier to just stay there rather than go home. A thought occurred to me and I rushed around looking.

  “Where is it?” I mumbled to myself.

  “What are you looking for?” Valerie asked. “Maybe we can help.”

  “I’m looking for my address book,” I said. “I kept it near the front door. Where is it?”

  They spread out to help me look but it was nowhere to be found.

  “We need to hurry,” I thought of the monsters that had tried to hurt me. “We have to get to their house. They know where my family lives.”

  I grabbed my wallet from the pile of my things near the door and rushed outside. I whistled as soon as I got to the curb to hail a taxi. One pulled over right away and we piled in. I gave the address and the taxi sped off, only to stop a block later in the famous New York traffic. I tried not to bounce in my seat but this speed was not working for me.

  “Can we go any faster?” I asked the driver. A harsh wind began to blow outside and batter the windows.

  “Tabs,” Alexandar turned from his position in the front seat next to the driver. “Calm down.