Janus’ thump on the side of the engine was the nudge it needed to start. Everyone was thrown to the ground as it began rapidly spinning and emitting a shrill, high-pitched screech.
They stood up while attempting to muffle the sound by covering their ears with their hands and witnessed something incredible. They saw what could best be described as a twenty-foot tall, eight-foot-wide tear in the air. They saw a forest, a meadow, and a stream flowing inside this tear even though they could walk entirely around it.
Myrddin grabbed an old bucket and tossed it through the opening. The bucket shattered as it crashed on the floor across the room, but they saw it land in the soft grass and roll into the stream in the other world. Their view began following the bucket floating down the stream.
Myrddin shouted, “try something else!” and Janus tossed his enchanted sword through the opening. The sword reverted into pieces of wood in the cave but stuck in the ground unchanged in the other world. It soon disappeared from view as the tear’s focus continued following the bucket.
The engine was making a terrible racket by this point and was emitting tremendous heat. When Myrddin saw the opening begin to change shape and shrink, he grabbed a large bag and jumped through the rip without hesitation.
Myrddin tumbled through the tear onto the floor on the other side of the cave, and his belongings scattered, having lost all of their magical enchantments. The three girls followed him through with the same result, but the boys hesitated. The engine stopped, and the tear disappeared before they found the nerve to follow.
Merlin paused, and the others waited for him to continue. They finally concluded he was done after he sat there for three minutes staring at them.
“And?” asked Nariana.
“And what?” replied Merlin. “You asked for the talisman story. That’s the talisman story.”
“But what happened to the magic engine? What happened to you guys when you jumped through? Why wasn’t The Prophecy fulfilled? What else do we need to do?” asked Janus in frustration.
Merlin scowled at him and said, “The engine turned on again a few hours later and promptly disappeared. From what I can piece together, it would reappear someplace else, form a tear, get hot, and stop. Then it would repeat this cycle a few hours later. This went on for years. All sorts of things fell, flew, or walked into the tear from both worlds. My engine finally exploded after a few years of doing this, and the tears never appeared again.
“The tear seemed to remove all magic from anything passing through it. We were still alive, but our minds switched with our Earth counterparts. Like you, our Earth visitors used to join with Avalon hosts while dreaming. After we leaped through the tear, our Avalon selves would awaken on Earth while dreaming. I, alone, remained conjoined on Avalon because I remembered my dreams. After my transformation, I chose to recombine my two names into Merlin in both worlds.
“The girls had no idea why they were lying on the floor in a cave after they jumped. It was as though everything they had been through while conjoined had been a dream they couldn’t remember. We had some trainers take them home to their families on Avalon, and they returned to their old lives, blissfully unaware of anything which had transpired.”
“Wait, what do you mean by Avalon?” asked Versera.
“Avalon is what this place is called,” answered Merlin. “Why? What do you call this world?”
Janus answered, “We call it Mearth. It’s a combination of the words magical and Earth.”
Merlin stared at him for several seconds before muttering, “That is just wrong. What a stupid and pathetic name for such a wondrous place. Who came up with it?”
Everyone pointed at Stavius, who glared at Merlin and replied, “Hey, none of you came up with anything better. At least I realized that we needed to call this place something other than Earth. The gods seem to have no creativity and give everything duplicate names. It is utterly confusing.”
Stavius was desperate to change the topic. “But what about The Prophecy? What went wrong? Why wasn’t it fulfilled? Like Janus asked, what else do we have to do?”
Merlin sighed and said, “I don’t know. I wish I did. That was the only way those seven pieces can fit together, and they fit perfectly. I am certain we built the engine properly. Everything worked fine for a while, but you’re right, I believe that we did something wrong.”
Versera said, “It sounds like there was too much friction. Perhaps it was too tight, or perhaps you didn’t use the right lubrication.”
Merlin looked and said, “Lubrication? What do you mean?”
Versera responded, “You know, grease.”
Merlin angrily replied, “I know about grease, but there was no need. The Jewels of Luna consist of small, round beads that fit into perfectly-sized grooves in the Cradle of Terra to let the shaft made from the Spear of Mars spin effortlessly. There was no need to soil them with grease!”
Versera said, “Well, not when it was cool, but those parts will expand when they heat up. If you don’t have those bearings packed with grease, the whole thing will overheat and lock up.”
Merlin groaned, “Which is what happened. I had never seen bearings before but know all about grease. Back home, we would slather pig fat over an axel to make the wheel spin easier. I thought that these clever little balls were a way to achieve the same effect without the mess.”
Merlin looked utterly devastated and sat silently on a rock.
Eventually, Terra took pity on him and said, “It’s all right, Merlin. How were you to know? You had never seen bearings or a DC motor before. I am impressed that you built what you did and got it to work as well as it did.”
Merlin smiled and said, “Thank you, child, but I think there is more wrong than merely not greasing the bearings. I used to believe that the objective of The Prophecy was to create a permanent bridge between Earth and Avalon where magic, people, and creatures could easily pass between the worlds. I am no longer convinced that this is The Prophecy’s intent. We were so close to succeeding that there should have been more of an impact beyond a few handfuls of creatures and objects passing back and forth.
“I am convinced that the design of the magic engine is correct but that we were doing something fundamentally wrong. There has to be a more profound reason for a prophecy, which has been resounding across two worlds for millennia than creating a relatively small doorway. I just don’t know what it is.”
Everyone was depressed now. Stavius summed up their feelings when he sighed, “Merlin, you were our last hope. We have nowhere left to look.”
Merlin smiled and gently replied, “Back when I lived in Avalon, we were taught that everyone eventually faces an insurmountable problem where all hope is lost. When that happens, fools will either fail or give up. The wise, however, will swallow their pride and learn from the gods.”
“We’ve met the gods, and they are petty idiots,” grumbled Janus.
Merlin giggled, “It seems that they haven’t changed much over the years. I am not surprised. I only met them once and felt the same way as you. However, even in that brief and painful time, I learned one important lesson from them. However, I did not understand it until many decades after they left and always wished I had met them earlier to request their advice.”
“What could those fools have possibly taught you, and why was meeting them painful?” asked Stavius.
Merlin laughed, “Why do you think it was painful? I had messed up The Prophecy, and there was a magic engine popping up hither and yon randomly creating doorways to Earth. The gods were furious with me.
“Oh, and they didn’t teach me anything, but I lived far longer than normal people and began to appreciate them over time. I only lived for hundreds of years, not thousands of years like the gods, but the lesson I learned was not to grow old.”
Merlin looked at his friends and understood their confusion but laughed anyway before explaining his strange-sounding statement.
“You see, I began to get depressed when I
was in my seventies. I seemed to have endless responsibilities and pressures, and they just kept getting worse. I worried about being able to accomplish everything I needed to do before I died. And then I didn’t die. I just kept on living and not aging very much.
“The strange thing was that those pressures and responsibilities kept on increasing until I was almost paralyzed with stress. I was 130 years old, apparently destined to live forever, and had experienced virtually no joy for the past fifty years. That was when I realized that, while I hadn’t aged, I had grown old.
“I thought about the foolish gods on Avalon and marveled at how they were tens- or hundreds-of-thousands of years old and were each responsible for creating and maintaining an entire world. These ancient people with impossibly-massive responsibilities seemed happy.
“That was when I realized that while the Avalon gods might have slightly matured, they had never grown old. They lived, laughed, fought, experimented, and played like teenagers. I was never able quite to become a teenager again, but I like to think that I made it back to my twenties or thirties.”
Merlin winked at them with a twinkle in his eye but then became serious. “I never would have made it to 150 if I hadn’t learned from the example of these silly gods.”
Versera hadn’t expected a philosophical discussion, and it was making her feel like she did at her therapy sessions. She quickly asked, “And what was the advice you wished you had asked the gods?”
Merlin shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I should have asked them how to teleport. My magic engine seemed to teleport randomly every time it turned on. The gods and those vile Soul Reapers they use as physical bodies when they visit are the only sentient creatures who know how to control teleportation. You might be able to control your engine if they are still around, and you can convince them to teach you that trick.”
Merlin’s observation was so evident that everyone in the room felt embarrassed to have not thought of it.
Terra said, “Yes, the gods are here. They are apparently wintering with us and are wearing the Soul Reaper bodies.”
Merlin exclaimed, “Oh, how lovely. You don’t suppose they have a spare Soul Reaper, do you? I would love to slide this consciousness into a physical body. Being a ghost is not as much fun as it might seem.”
Chapter 14
Doctor Price
January 12, Earth
OK, I admit that telling the guys all about Merlin was great and that I have been elevated to near-god status for it. Well, at least my friends are impressed. No one else knows. As good as that feels, though, it really hurts how quickly everyone dropped the name Mearth for Avalon. I mean, I like the name, Mearth. It’s short, easy to say, and I’ve become quite accustomed to it. But everybody else seemed to drop it like a hot coal. It really stinks.
January is nasty in Cincinnati. We don’t get much snow, but it is unbelievably cold. That means that the place doesn’t look like a snow-covered wonderland in the winter. Everything is gray, hard, dead, and brittle. Even the sleeves of my coat seem to crackle when I move my arms. Oh, and now that winter break is over, we’re back in school. That means long, cold, dark walks to the bus stop in the mornings followed by steamed up glasses on a bus that smells like old gym socks and bag lunches.
Late January and February are the worst parts of the year at school too. Everybody’s depressed and counting the days until March. Kids are tardy for class because everybody’s cramming through the halls instead of taking shortcuts outside. We’re all stuck eating lunch in the cafeteria instead of out on the steps, and I swear I’m going to puke if I smell mystery meat one more time. Even worse, our math and science classes are entirely incomprehensible. None of us have any idea what they’re talking about. The people who built this curriculum must be Mearth Agents. Oh, excuse me, they’re now called Agents of Avalon. See? That doesn’t even make them sound evil!
The only fun activities we’ve been doing are researching Arthurian legends and building our science fair project. Ethan and Tyler have found texts of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s writings online and have been studying them. I tried, but they are tough to read. I don’t know how they ever became popular.
This week we finished building our prosthetic arm, and we’re at the hospital ready to give it to Candice. I can’t wait to see how well it works. Dr. Price asked us to arrive early to meet her in her office. I’m not sure what she wants, but she asked to see all of us, so Nancy and Veronica even joined us today. For once, Nancy didn’t have a conflict. It was too cold to practice outside, and a regional tournament filled all the area gyms. The only ones missing are Mr. Narwani and Ms. Datta, but we’ll fill them in later.
Dr. Price began, “Thank you for coming. The children are so excited about the hands you are building. This is a lovely and thoughtful project. I am very proud of you.”
We shuffled a little and nervously looked at each other. I liked Dr. Price’s compliment but felt a bit embarrassed at the same time, and could tell that the others had similar feelings. Our parents were usually the only adults who dished out compliments like that. This was just a science experiment, after all.
She sensed our ill-ease and continued, “But that isn’t why I asked you here early. I’ve held numerous counseling sessions with the children who came out of their comas. I am enthralled by their stories and have no doubt that all of you are experiencing something unprecedented.”
Tyler excitedly interrupted, “So you believe what we’ve been telling you about Avalon, magic, dragons, agents, and time travel!”
Dr. Price smiled and corrected, “I understand your perspective, but I have another theory which does not involve teleportation, magic, or time travel. It is not, however, any less incredible, nor any less dangerous. And, what does Avalon have to do with any of this?”
Ethan replied, “They met Merlin, or at least his memories, and he said that Avalon was what his team used to call the other world. We took a vote and decided to use it instead of Mearth.”
That wasn’t exactly how it happened, but I gritted my teeth and let it slide.
Dr. Price looked a bit sad and said, “That’s a shame. I rather liked the name Mearth.”
Is it wrong to love your friend’s mother? This was the first time I ever heard anyone say they liked that name, and I felt my hands tingle, and a warmth spread throughout my body. I was beaming. I’m okay with calling the other world Avalon now. At least one person liked the name I picked. Dr. Price was talking again, so I quickly came out of my reverie.
She continued, “And meeting the memories from long ago on Avalon fits with my theory. I believe that you are experiencing a shared consciousness when you sleep, and, if I’m right, it represents an entirely unknown type of life here on Earth.”
OK, that got our attention.
“Suppose that humans really are capable of telepathy. It seems like a useful ability, so why wouldn’t we be using it all the time?”
Crickets. The guys and I had often argued about ESP and telekinesis, and even tried to do them, but nothing ever worked. We sort of knew claims of them were hoaxes or wishful thinking, but we had always thought that they might be abilities which only special people possessed. It made more sense that all people would have these useful abilities if they really existed, which made it unlikely that they were real.
“What if the answer is that we can telepathically connect but that something is suppressing those abilities? What if a collection of interconnected minds created an independent, combined consciousness?
“Such a consciousness, let’s call it Avalon, relies on our brains and bodies but could live indefinitely. Individual hosts may age and die over time, but Avalon would last as long as our species survives.”
I saw Veronica squirm in her seat and knew why. If Dr. Price is right, then something is using us as hosts and controlling our minds. It felt creepy.
Dr. Price said, “I know what you’re thinking, and that is why I believe Avalon tries to keep itself secret. We would consider it a
parasite and would try to find a way to eradicate it. Telepathy might be a fun concept. However, human beings value individuality, privacy, and self-control far too much to give them up willingly. I think that Avalon knows it needs to hide to survive.”
I have to tell you that I am so glad that we’re calling this thing Avalon instead of Mearth. I don’t want the name Mearth associated with a mind-controlling monster!
Nancy asked, “But how do you explain the Agents of Avalon and The Prophecy? You do believe in the Agents of Avalon, don’t you?”
Dr. Price scowled and answered, “Yes, I do believe in your agents. People whom I find disturbing have visited me several times, asking about these and other teenage coma patients. I officially concluded the comas were caused by some external agent such as a virus or contact with a toxic substance. All four would have the same latency since they all occurred at the same time from the same cause. So, while it is unusual that the timings were precisely the same, it is not impossible.
“I have closed the case, except for follow-up visits with my patients. We never ascertained the cause through years of testing, and my official interest is only concern about a recurrence. My mysterious onlookers appear satisfied. Still, I will not begin any research on my telepathy idea until I am absolutely certain I am no longer being observed.”
Tyler had been tensing up as his mom talked. He bounces his legs and flaps his hands when he’s nervous or excited, and his whole chair had been rattling for a while. All his shaking stopped soon as his mom said she was dropping it until the Agents of Avalon left. We all knew that Dr. Price was as tenacious as her son and would never let this go until she had answers. But at least she has enough self-control to wait until it is safe.
Dr. Price, however, was looking uncomfortable and said, “The next part might sound a little crazy, though.”
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