The Void Hunters (Realmwalker Book 2)

by Jonathan Franks

  Mrs. Summers crossed her arms and regarded Jim harshly. Her face was tight with anger and fear. She pressed her lips together into a thin line.

  “She said you would believe me. That if I gave you the password, you'd believe me.”

  “How did you make her tell it to you? Did you torture her or something? Did you drug her?”

  “No!” Jim was terrified by Mrs. Summers and horrified at the thought that she suspected him of doing something terrible to Gen. He was crying hard and said, “I would never hurt her! Think about when you would read The Wizard of Oz to her, or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Or Stand By Me, the movie. Those stories were about kids who went off by themselves and had their adventures, or did whatever they did, and they all came back, right? She'll come back. I swear I didn't do anything, you have to believe me!”

  “Where is she, Jimmy?” Gabrielle said quietly, coldly angry.

  “I'm telling the truth. Gen told me once that when she and her dad were watching Doctor Who, the one with the white jacket with the celery on it, she asked, 'Daddy, if the Doctor ever came and I could go with him, could I?'“

  Gabrielle closed her eyes and tear fell down her cheek. “He said of course she should. That she should never pass up the chance to see the stars and do things regular people never do.” She opened her eyes and looked Jim in the eye again. “Look me in the eye, James Clark, you look me straight in the eye and you tell me that what you're saying is true.”

  “I swear,” he said. “And I can prove it.” He opened his backpack and took out a squeeze bottle - the wide-necked water bottle that went on his bike - and popped the top off. He gently tipped it into his hand and out slid what Gabrielle thought were two action figures. When she looked closer, she could see that they were the bodies of the fairies that Jim had been describing.

  “Oh my god,” she said.

  chapter 4

  Gen woke up alone. Sunlight shone in her face, let in by the skylight set into the angled ceiling. She tried to remember Hope getting out of bed. She couldn't. With the dreams she'd had the night before, she wasn't sure whether Hope had actually gotten into bed with her or not.

  She kept her eyes shut, sleepily enjoying the patterns of spots her eyes played after the closed them. The negative of the window was fading into the dull reddish light coming through her eyelids. She scooted to the side to get her face out of the sun and turned her head. There was a soft, sweet, familiar scent on the pillow. Maybe Hope did visit me last night, she thought.

  There was a knock at her door. “Mmhm,” she groaned at it.

  Shae opened the door and sat on the bed next to her. “Wake up, Genevieve. It's breakfast time.”

  “Still sleeping,” Gen murmured.

  “No, you aren't,” Shae said. “You'll be awake and eating breakfast in twenty minutes. You won't be finished when Herron gets here, so maybe if you get up now, you'll be able to finish your breakfast.”

  “Wha… How do you know all of that?”

  “I'm a seer, remember? That's why Vexehel is training me to be the new Oracle. The last fairy Oracle, well, you know, he died.”

  “I didn't know. Who's Vexehel?”

  “The Mer Oracle. The one you spoke to yesterday.”

  “Oh,” Gen said. She sat up. “Wait, Herron is coming in twenty minutes?”

  Shae shook her head. “No,” she said, sounding very condescending. “I said that you would be eating in twenty minutes, and that while you're eating, he'll arrive.” She added cheerfully, “He'll be feeling much better, but he'll still need to stay here for a couple of days before we leave for The Void.”

  “Before we leave?”

  “Yep!” Shae said.

  “You're very bubbly and cheerful in the morning. Are you always like this?”

  “No, not always. But I'm going to be for a while!”

  Gen groaned and flopped back onto her pillow. “I'll go the other way,” she said. “I'll eat after he gets here.”

  “Suit yourself,” Shae said, and she flew out of the room. She left the door open behind her.

  Gen groaned and flailed her hand at it, then did her best to enjoy dozing for the next twenty minutes.

  -

  When Gen did get up, she got dressed. Hope had given her some clothes yesterday, including the nightshirt she had slept in. It was tight across the chest this morning. Gen swore it was too loose when she went to bed. Looking over her body in the mirror, she realized that she had changed. Her breasts were larger, her curves more pronounced. Her cheekbones were slightly sharper, too. She looked much more like Ivy than she did yesterday, but her hair was the same length it had been before.

  “I guess the Oracle was right,” she said to her reflection. “You are gaining Ivy's… maturity.” She slipped the nightshirt off and looked at herself in the mirror. She twisted around to get a better look at where her wings joined her back, just inside her shoulder blades. She flexed them, moving them forward and back, amazed. The new muscles in her back were sore from all of the flying she did yesterday.

  She heard a noise and looked in the mirror at the doorway. Hope was standing there, gazing at her.

  “Uh,” Hope stammered. “Good morning.” Then Hope realized she was staring and dropped her gaze to the floor. “Sorry.”

  “It's okay,” Gen said.

  “Do you want me to go?” Hope asked.

  “No, it's okay.” Gen dressed in form fitting, skin pants and a brown soft leather top that crossed her chest and fastened in the back under her wings. She glanced down, then looked in the mirror. She stared at her cleavage. “It's a little low-cut, don't you think? I used to wonder what it would feel like to be a grown-up,” Gen said. “I wondered if it would feel different. If I would be different. I think you're supposed to grow up a day at a time and you don't really notice it. But this was literally overnight. My body does feel different. My mind does feel different. I'm not the same girl I was yesterday.”

  Hope shook her head. “No. You're not.”

  Gen threw herself on the bed. “Oh, Hope, what am I going to do?”

  Hope kneeled on the floor next to the bed and stroked Gen's hair. “What do you want to do?” Hope asked.

  “I don't know. My gut reaction is to yell and scream, 'I want to go home!'“ She rolled onto her side to face Hope and propped her head up with her hand. “But you know what? I'm not really sure I do. I mean, who gets the chance to really make a difference? The Oracle said that I can save those Realms, save all those people! Back at home, I'd just be going to school, doing the same thing day after day, going off to college, getting some meaningless job. I could really make a difference here.”

  “Won't you miss the people you love? The people waiting for you?”

  “I will. I do. I miss them.”

  “Then you should go back to them.”

  “I can't, even if I wanted to. The Caves collapsed. There was a huge cave-in. I can't get back to the Bridge. I'm stuck here.”

  “There's another Bridge somewhere. Pepper used it. We can find it,” Hope said.

  “I guess we could. Is it wrong if I want to stay?”

  Hope shook her head.

  “Is it wrong if I want to go?”

  Hope shook her head again. They were quiet for a while, then Hope stood and headed to the door.

  “Hope?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you ever forgive me for what happened?”

  Hope looked into Gen's eyes from across the room for a long time. “I love Ivy. You didn't take her away from me. You brought most of her back to me. I'm grateful for that.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I forgive you.” She closed the door behind her as she left the room.

  -

  Gen took a clean plate and took spoonfuls of interesting looking fruit, sausage, and an egg the size of a football. It was very warm to the touch and it was sitting upright in a small metal holder. She balanced it carefully and brought her plate to the small table in front of the sofa. She sat down a
nd examined the egg.

  Shae giggled. “You have to crack it. Not like that,” she said before Gen had even moved. “I'll show you.” She reached over, snatched a spoon from Gen's plate, and smartly rapped the tip of the egg. It cracked. “Now just peel the shell off.”

  Gen started peeling the shell off. “It's like a soft-boiled egg, only gigantic.”

  “It is soft-boiled,” Shae said. “Oh, here,” she handed Gen a napkin.

  Gen took it and put it on her lap, then started eating the egg. She cut through the soft top of its dome with her spoon and ate it. The yolk underneath was like a creamy yellow bisque. “This is delicious!”

  Shae handed Gen another napkin. Gen looked at it, puzzled, then put it across her other leg, when the front door opened and Herron limped in.

  “Herron!” Gen jumped to her feet and bumped the table, sloshing yolk over both napkins. Gen looked down at the stained napkins, then at Shae, who was fixedly staring at Herron. Gen shook her head quickly then rushed to him and hugged him.

  “I'm so glad you're okay! We were so worried!” Gen said.

  “I'm okay,” Herron said. “The healers tell me I have you to thank for getting me there just in time. I didn't have much longer left in me, they said.” He looked her up and down. “Wow, Gen. You look just like her. And your wings… Skies above, what a sight.”

  Gen twisted around, first to her left, then to her right, to look at her wings, too. “I know! I'm still totally amazed by them, too.” She straightened and said, “How much do you remember?”

  “I remember everything.”

  Hope walked up behind Gen and put her hand on the small of Gen's back. Gen turned to look at her, surprised. Hope pulled her hand away and Herron nodded. The corners of his mouth turned down slightly.

  “I don't want to rehash anything, then. But I remember. You're a very brave person. And it wasn't your fault. None of it was.”

  “Thanks,” Gen said. “Really.”

  “You're Herron,” Shae said, suddenly. “I'm Shae.”

  Herron glanced at Gen. Gen gave him a, “What are you gonna do?” kind of shrug. He looked back at Shae.

  “Pleased to meet you. I'm Herron, and—”

  “And you're a Walker. Yep! I know.” When Herron looked at her in confusion, she said, “I'm a seer. I'm in training to be the new fairy Oracle, but now I'm going with you guys to bring the Realms back from The Void.”

  “What?” asked Herron.

  “Yeah,” Gen began, “The Mer Oracle was here and told me that since I have this new power or whatever that I can create a Heart for each of the Realms that were sent to The Void. There are three of them. The Meadows, The Marsh, and—”

  “And The Caverns, I know,” he said. “You can create a new Heart? How?”

  “I don't know,” Gen said. “The Oracle told me that once I'm in the Chamber that I'll be able to just, I dunno, do it.”

  “No fairy has ever returned from The Void,” Herron said. “This is a dangerous thing you're talking about.”

  “I know,” Gen said. “But those fairies… Nai said that she sent a bunch of the fairies from The Meadows to The Marsh. And all of those fairies in The Caverns were taken completely by surprise. We have to help them!”

  Herron looked at Hope. She nodded at him.

  “What about Jim?” Herron said. “What about your parents?”

  “The Caves collapsed,” Gen said. “I can't get back to the Bridge. I'm here. I can't get home. And I can help these people. So that's what I'm going to do. And I really need your help. I really need you to come with me.”

  “Of course he'll come with us,” Shae said, then she added, as Herron was beginning to speak again, “I'm Shae. I'm going to be the new Oracle. I'm from The River.”

  “Who are you?” Herron was in the middle of asking. “Where are you from? And did you really just answer my question before I even asked it?”

  “I already told you,” giggled Shae. “And, yeah, I guess so.”

  “That is unnerving,” he said.

  “I knew you were going to say that,” Shae laughed.

  Herron frowned and shook his head. “I'm not sure you did.”

  -

  The four of them occupied the Walkers' residence for the next few days while Herron regained his strength. Hope and Gen went out every day, exploring The Peak, getting to know the residents and helping out with odd jobs here and there when they could.

  One night after they ate dinner together, Herron asked, “Gen, can I talk to you?”

  “Of course,” she said.

  Herron went outside and Gen followed. She looked back at Hope, who shrugged.

  “There was something that I wanted to apologize to Ivy about.”

  “Oh, Herron, you don't need to apologize to her for anything. And besides, why tell me?” Gen asked.

  “Because I see so much of her in you. I'm sure you're tired of hearing that already. But it's true. And there was something that we… We didn't exactly argue over it. But she tried to do something she thought was nice for me and I lost my temper. I snapped at her.”

  Gen remembered. “She wanted you to find your human.”

  Herron nodded.

  “Oh, it's nothing. She didn't dwell on it or anything. It's okay.”

  “No, it's not. I need to explain. A long time ago, I met someone who said he could see the other side - the human world. His claim was that he could tell you who your human was, what kind of connection you had, what influence you had over each other.”

  “Really?” Gen asked. “That's amazing. Was he right?”

  “I don't know. I was afraid to find out. I didn't want to know.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “He told me,” Herron said, “that my human was a cripple. That he's disfigured, maimed. He can't walk. He can't move much on his own. He told me that the reason I'm a Walker, the reason I always feel the need to keep moving, keep traveling, keep going, is because I have the mobility for both of us. He - my human, I mean - wishes he could go places, that he could run and run and go places, but he can't. So I do, and since I'm his counterpart, my wandering, my Realmwalking, helps soothe that need in him.”

  “And if he was crippled or disfigured, you didn't want to see him,” Gen said.

  Herron nodded. “I wanted to tell her but I never got the chance.”

  “Well,” Gen said, “you got the chance now. Thank you for telling me that. My feelings weren't hurt, I was just worried about you.”

  Herron cocked his head and looked at her. “Your feelings weren't hurt?”

  Gen blinked and shook her head. “Sorry. I got a lot of Ivy's memories and feelings. Sometimes it's hard to separate them, to separate Ivy's memories from my memories - to remember who actually did what. Like I remember you telling me - well, telling her - about the stars at night while we traveled. But I remember it like I was there.”

  “That must be confusing.”

  “It's not, really. Well, that's not true. It is confusing. But it doesn't bother me. If I just take it all in, and I don't try to separate them out and I just think about it like it was always me, it's a lot easier. If I try to sort it out into what was Ivy and what was Gen, it feels like my mind is fighting itself. It's hard to explain.”

  “I get it,” Herron said. “I'm glad I got to tell you, then.” He turned to go back inside, but stopped and looked at Gen. “I hope this isn't too personal…”

  “Not at all,” Gen said.

  “Are you and Hope…?”

  “It's complicated,” Gen said. “Ivy loves her very much.”

  “What about Jim?” Herron asked.

  “Gen loves him very much, too,” she said.

  “But you're Gen.”

  “And I'm also Ivy. More than a little bit. It's hard, that's for sure. Especially since I don't know if I can ever get home. And Jim is Hope's human, did I tell you?”

  Herron nodded.

  “They feel so alike. They have similar smells, too. Their
eyes look exactly the same. It's confusing and I don't know what to do.”

  “If you ever need to talk about it,” Herron offered, “I'm always here.”

  “Thank you.” Gen smiled at him. “You never know, I just might.” She tapped her temple. “There's a lot going on up here,” she laughed.

  chapter 5

  “Daddy, do you have a minute?”

  Wes smiled at his oldest daughter. Laura was home for the weekend from school. It was Halloween weekend and their family threw a huge Halloween party every year that was not to be missed. She and her boyfriend, George, drove back home from the University of Illinois that afternoon. Dinner was over and George was helping Wes's wife, Anne, with the dishes.

  “Of course I do, sweetheart.”

  “Can we go outside?”

  Wes looked skeptically at Laura, then glanced quickly in the direction of the kitchen, then back at Laura with his eyes wide. “Oh, Laurie...”

  She was having trouble keeping her smile under control. “Just, come on! Please, dad?”

  “All right, all right,” he said. He flipped the wheels locks free and spun his wheelchair around toward the door. Laura came up behind him and pushed him to the patio door. He reached forward and slid it open, then she pushed him outside. It was a smooth operation - they'd done it hundreds and hundreds of times since she was little and they went to play together on the deck. When she was little, he would let her “push” him, and he would covertly roll himself with her standing behind him, pushing with all her toddler might. When she was older, she actually pushed him for real. They used to joke that most kids got to be pushed in a stroller by their parents, but Wes was so lucky that he had his kids push him around, instead.

  As soon as she closed the door behind them, Wes said, “All right, let's see it.”