The Void Hunters (Realmwalker Book 2)

by Jonathan Franks

  Jim shrugged. “Okay.”

  She went first up the stairs and closed the door behind them. She positioned Jim at the side of his bed and pushed him slightly to indicate that he should sit down. She took two cassette tape cases out of her pocket. She put one on Jim's nightstand, then opened the other, took the tape out, and put it in Jim's stereo. She pushed play, then went to the middle of the room, standing in front of Jim. She kicked off her shoes, revealing mismatched socks. Pink on one foot and orange on the other.

  “You didn't like the first song we played together, so then I put on this one. And now we've listened to this song a lot while we kiss and make out, and it makes me think of you,” she said. Pretty in Pink by The Psychedelic Furs began to play. She locked eyes with Jim. “Promise me you won't laugh.”

  Jim's brows came close together as he furrowed his brow. He was still confused. “I promise I won't laugh.”

  “I'm nervous enough. And if you laugh or freak out I'll just die. I know it.”

  “Don't die,” Jim said. “I won't laugh.”

  She went back to the tape deck and rewound it to the beginning of the song. The guitar started as she returned to where she was standing. She began to sway back and forth to the music and closed her eyes and danced. She took her coat off and tossed it aside. Instead of her customary flannel shirt and t-shirt, she was wearing a tight cable knit sweater that went down to the very tops of her thighs. She swayed and rocked her hips in circles and her shoulders back and forth. She spun around and swung her hips from side to side. While she was facing away from him, she popped the two buttons on her jeans loose and slid her jeans down over her hips and down her legs. She stepped out of them and stood up straight, all legs under her gray sweater.

  She was timed to the music as looked over her shoulder at Jim and reached behind her to flip the tail of her sweater up above her butt, showing tight and tiny pink panties. “She's…. pretty in pink… Isn't she… Pretty in pink…” She dropped the back of her sweater and turned around to face Jim again. She continued to dance and her eyes were closed again. She bent from side to side and put her arms up. She pointed her elbows slowly from side to side, then slipped the sweater up over her head. She wore nothing underneath the sweater except for her pink panties. With her eyes still closed, she continued to writhe from side to side until the end of the song.

  She opened her eyes and slid her panties off. INXS's “Never Tear Us Apart” began to play as she stood in front of Jim, completely naked and desperately resisting the urge to cover herself. Jim watched her. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open. He was watching her intently. She opened the cassette case on his nightstand and handed up a three-pack of Trojan condoms. She crawled onto Jim's bed and turned to lay on her back next to him.

  “I want you,” she said. “If you're ready. I'm ready and I want you.”

  Jim looked at the condoms in his hand and immediately looked back to the beautiful naked girl on his bed. He nodded quickly and began to take his clothes off.

  “Happy birthday, Jim.”

  -

  After a full day of, “Happy birthday,” and, “Wow, someone's in a good mood today,” school was finally over. Jim and Portia got to his house at 3:50. He brought her inside and she went straight to his room. She'd left her tape here yesterday, and she hit rewind on his tape deck. Jim sat on his bed awkwardly. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. All day, he'd felt like he as the king of the whole world. Now that they were back in his room together, he felt much less confident.

  Portia pressed play and “Pretty in Pink” played again. She sat down next to Jim on the bed. “Calm down.” She teased, “You were plenty relaxed yesterday.”

  “Not at the beginning!”

  Portia conceded the point. “No, that's true,” she laughed. “But we still have one of those condoms left, and, by my calculations, about an hour and a half before you have to start worrying about your dad coming home.”

  Jim was surprised. “Are you sure you want to?”

  Portia nodded eagerly. “Definitely. If I tell you something, will you promise not to freak out or get judgy or jealous or anything?”

  “Of course.”

  “It is way better with you than it's ever been with anyone else.”

  “Anyone else? You told me you've only ever been with one person.”

  “I don't mean just that part,” she said. “I mean all of it. Even when we're just kissing or touching or when you're… you know…” She licked her lips. “Having an oral exam.” She giggled. “Nobody's ever made me feel so good. So, yeah, I want to. Again.”

  Portia left, reluctantly, at five. She kissed him hard at the door. “Mmm,” she purred. “My legs are all wobbly. Good boy, Jim. And for real, happy birthday. And for more real, I really do love you.”

  “I love you, too.” He kissed her again. “That was amazing. You're amazing. I really do love you, too.”

  “Good.” She winked at him. “I'll have to get some more of those, then.” She grinned and kissed him one more time. “Okay, try to have fun with your dad. And if you can, call me before you go to bed, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Larry got home a few minutes after six. He went upstairs to Jim's room and found him on the computer, playing a game. Larry frowned in concentration for a moment and sniffed the air in Jim's bedroom, then abruptly shook his head and said, “Happy birthday, kiddo. Come on, let's go out and celebrate.”

  “Okay, dad.”

  He got his coat and they got in the car and headed to Ristorante Farfalla, which used to be one of Jim's favorite places when he was little because the waiter would take his order and say in a thick Italian accent, “It's-a spaghetti for-a dis one!”

  “Have you decided what you want for your birthday yet?” Larry asked.

  “Um, not really. I mean, you just got me that Amiga. I guess maybe there are some games for it I'd like.”

  “Sounds good. Just give me the list.”

  “Sure, dad.”

  “How was school?”

  “Pretty good. The new teacher taking over Mrs. Gates class started. She was still way better, but Mr. Voigt is okay, I guess. How about work?”

  “Good. Busy. We still haven't filled the position of the VP who passed away, so I'm running my division plus personally running that department. I'll find somebody soon enough.” He looked at Jim carefully, tilted his head from side to side, and looked him up and down again. “Something's different about you. Did you get a hair cut?”

  Jim shook his head. “No…” Does he know? Oh, god, he figured it out. He knows about me and Portia. Oh, god. I'm in so much trouble. “I don't think anything's different…”

  Larry shrugged and went on about work for a while. They ordered, ate lots of bread, and finally their entrees arrived.

  “Are you still doing your computer club? Who are you hanging out with at school?”

  “I am. It's going pretty great. I'm having a lot of fun doing it. And I'm glad I get to bring my computer. Thank you, again.”

  Larry squinted at Jim. “You didn't answer the second question. Who are you hanging out with?”

  “You know,” Jim shrugged. His cheeks were getting hot. “My friends.”

  “Who?”

  “I've been hanging out with Charlie, and this girl, Portia, and—”

  “Portia.” Larry laughed. “That's what it is. Wow. Good for you. Congratulations.”

  Jim's face lost its color and went slightly slack.

  “It's written all over your face, kid. When did it happen?”

  “When did what happen?”

  Larry smirked at Jim. “Don't play coy. I'm your father and I know these things.”

  My father? What the hell do you know? Jim thought. He decided he may as well tell the truth. “Yesterday.”

  “For your birthday? That's sweet,” Larry laughed.

  “And again today.”

  Larry looked impressed. “She's coming back for more. That must mean you did oka
y.”

  Jim's shoulders hunched slightly and he started at his lasagna. “I guess.”

  Larry shook his head. “Sorry. I'm sorry. I don't mean to make you feel embarrassed. It's okay. You don't have to tell me. Don't tell me. It's just, you know, we finally have something to talk about. I do know a little something about women.”

  “Dad…”

  “It's okay, son. I'll drop it. Good for you. Happy birthday.”

  They finished dinner. Larry talked more than Jim had heard him talk in years, but he didn't ask Jim anything more about Portia. After the entrees were cleared, the waiter brought out a tiramisu with a candle and they all sang Jim an Italian happy birthday song.

  Jim's cheeks continued to burn in embarrassment for most of the night, including the car ride home, which, somehow, didn't feel quite as awkward as usual. Once they got home, Jim was about to head up to bed but Larry stopped him.

  “I know I don't say it often. Fuck, I don't ever say it. Dr. Ramsey says I should tell you these things more…”

  “You talk to Dr. Ramsey?” Jim asked, shocked.

  Larry nodded. “I see her once a week, too. In the morning.”

  Jim didn't know what to say.

  “I'm proud of you and I'm trying to figure things out. I want to talk to you, Jim. I do. I'm figuring it out.”

  “Okay, dad. Thanks for dinner.”

  “Happy birthday, kid.”

  Jim went to bed.

  When Jim woke up in the next morning, a 36-count box of condoms sat on Jim's nightstand. Jim stared at it and shook his head. “Geez, dad…” He couldn't wait to tell Portia.

  chapter 36

  “There!” Hope saw a beach of brilliant purple sand ahead. To her right, the shore continued unbroken for as far as she could see. To the left, it was disrupted by a tremendous brown rock formation. The rich brown of the intruding rock was a dark, earthy, fertile color, very much at odds with the washed-out scenery of The Void. This was definitely alien: a piece of the Realms dropped here, uninvited, unwelcome.

  Shae stood next to Hope on the turtle's shell and looked over the sea at the broken mountain of stone. She turned to Gen and said, “He says this is it. Well, we knew that, but I mean, this is where their beach was. They come back to this same beach every season to mate and lay their eggs. He says that mating season isn't far off and they would be eternally grateful if we could take these new rocks away.”

  “Tell him we'll do our best, and thank him very much for coming to our rescue.”

  “He can hear you himself, Gen,” Shae said in a you-should-know-that tone of voice. “But he says thank you.”

  “We're grateful,” Herron said to the turtle.

  Shae looked down at the craggy crystal shell beneath her feet. “It's okay. You don't have to haul yourself up on the beach to let us off. We'll fly from here. Thank you for saving my life!”

  The four fairies flew to the beach and landed on the hard-packed purple sand. They turned back toward the turtles and waved.

  Gen looked up at the tower of brown rock. “We need to find a way in.”

  Herron pointed to one side, “You and Hope take that way. Shae and I will scout the other.”

  Gen shook her head. “We stick together. We aren't that pressed for time that we can't afford to go all the way around it as a group.”

  Herron frowned. “Fine. Let's go, then.”

  They flew clockwise around the mound. The Caverns took up nearly three miles of beachfront and no entrance was apparent. They continued to circle it and found that it extended away from the shore by roughly the same amount. What remained of the Realm wasn't a regular, circular shape, but an irregular, roundish shape with a diameter of, Herron guessed, four or five miles. It took about an hour for them to completely circle it. They didn't see any way in around the circumference so they flew above it and searched the top.

  “Over here!” Hope pointed to a hole in the rock. It was wide and opened into a shaft that led down into the mountain.

  Shae peered over the side. “I wonder how deep it goes.”

  “This is the only way in we've found,” Herron said. “Let's find out. It looks wide enough to fly down, single file.”

  “We don't know how deep it goes,” Gen said. “I don't want another trial of strength that could wear any one of us out.”

  Shae started to apologize, “I'm so sorry—”

  Gen put her hand up and shook her head. “No. Don't. Really, it could have happened to any one of us. I wasn't fishing for an apology or trying to make you feel bad. I'm sorry.”

  Shae shrugged, not knowing what to say.

  “We don't have any decent length of rope,” Herron said. “We don't have any climbing gear. What do you suggest?”

  Gen's tone was snide. “I don't know, Realmwalker. What's a safe way to get four fairies down a vertical stone shaft of unknown length?”

  “You were so cocky and quick to take charge, I assumed you must have a plan,” Herron said.

  Hope interrupted the argument. “This isn't getting us anywhere. You two need to calm down. Let's try flying down and scouting it out a little. Let's see what's down there first, before we start worrying about how to deal with something we don't know. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Gen's expression softened. “Herron, I'm sorry.”

  “It's fine. Let's go.” He flew down into the tunnel.

  Gen and Hope exchanged a look. Hope looked concerned. Gen shrugged apologetically, then Gen, Hope, and Shae followed Herron into the shaft. One wall of the shaft was covered in crusty, dead moss and the other side was smooth rock. They descended for ten minutes or so, nearly straight down, then the passage turned sharply at a nearly right angle and led off in front of them. They touched down on the stone floor and started walking down the tunnel ahead. It changed direction several more times, then opened into a tremendous cavern. The floor sloped at a steep angle, sloping downward to the left and steeply upward to the right. The floor of the cavern glowed with an eerie, dim reddish light. Patches of glowing red moss clung to the stalagmites that towered from the floor.

  “Skies above,” Herron swore as he looked up to the ceiling of the cavern. Thousands of stone buildings hung upside down from the top of the cavern. “It's Firemoss. The entire Caverns was dropped here upside down!”

  They gazed up at the city suspended from the ceiling of the cavern high above them.

  “Why didn't the houses fall down here?” Gen asked.

  “Firemoss is a cave city. It's well known for its stoneshapers. Pretty much all of the buildings were shaped or formed from the stone of the ground - or the ceiling, now. They're part of the stone, not separate pieces like a built house.”

  “I guess we should fly up there and try to find everyone,” Gen suggested.

  They flew up to the ceiling and peered inside one of the buildings. It was a shop of some sort. The inventory from the shelves was scattered and smashed on the ceiling - now the floor - of the shop. They checked several more buildings and saw the same sort of thing - buildings effectively flipped upside down, so everything in them was heaped on the ground. There was no one around.

  “Let's get to the city center,” Herron said. “That's where I'd start. Plus, with it like this, I'll need to start from the center of town to get to the Chamber.” He had trouble keeping his bearings, navigating through the city upside down, but they found the large stone circle that hung from the ceiling and the large towers that jutted downward at regular intervals above the wall.

  The stone walls of the towers were cracked and broken. Several of the towers had broken away and the shattered pieces of them were visible on the floor beneath them. Several large patches of darkness dotted the glowing floor where buildings and rubble smashed into the moss.

  “Hello?” Shae called. “Anybody here?”

  “Where is everyone?” Hope asked.

  “I don't know,” Herron said, “but we don't have time to search the entire city. Let's get to the Chamber and let Gen do her thi
ng so we can go home.”

  “But don't you want to know what happened to everyone?” Shae demanded. “What if they left? You can't just abandon them here!”

  “If they left,” Herron began, “where would they have gone? Not the direction we came from. So they'd have had to go up through whatever tunnels actually led out of here and go the other way. If they did leave, we can't find them all. And if they're still here somewhere, then we'll find them when we go back to the Realms.”

  Shae pouted. “That just feels wrong. We're here to help them. That's what we should—” She stopped talking abruptly. “Oh.” She looked into one of the towers and saw bones - piles of them.

  “There must be a couple hundred skeletons in there,” Hope said, “stripped clean to the bone.”

  Gen looked down at the shattered towers far beneath them. She spoke quietly. “I'd guess there are lots more in those ones, too.” She sighed heavily. “Herron's right. Let's get to the Chamber. Lead the way.”

  Herron led them. He made a few wrong turns, not recognizing landmarks or turning from habit when he saw them, but his familiar directions were reversed with the city hanging upside down. Eventually, they reached a circle of stone monoliths. Each stone slab was a perfect, sharp-edged prism, a rectangle twice as tall as it was wide, roughly ten feet by five feet and a foot thick.

  They flew to a house nearby and went inside. The stone above them - the foundation of the house - was cracked and uneven, but the structure seemed solid.

  Herron looked out the door at the stone circle. “Normally, I'd walk around it. It should work if I fly. But clockwise...” He held his palm upward and traced a circle on it, clockwise, then tipped his hand upside down and traced a circle going the same direction. He nodded. “Still clockwise.”

  “Why do you have to do that?” Hope asked. “We didn't do that at The Marsh.”

  Herron explained, “Every Chamber is a little bit different. The fairy rings behave in all kinds of different ways. Some of them just open. Some of them are a little trickier. Most of them, you just need to walk nine times around in a clockwise direction and they'll open.”