by Jack Heckel
I pulled the key from my pocket and held it so they could see. The teeth had vanished again. I can’t tell you how disturbing the implications of that are. The code to controlling a world’s pattern is embodied in the specific number, shape, and arrangement of teeth. If the teeth could change, it meant this key had the potential to be a kind of universal reality construct, which I wasn’t even sure how to comprehend. I decided not to mention the oddity, because I was afraid of the questions that would be raised, and the possible solutions to the questions that would be proposed.
“So, that’s a reality key,” Dawn murmured in wonder, and put out a hand to stroke its surface.
“Not just any reality key, but the reality key,” Eldrin said with a mixture of excitement and irritation. “The reality key I’ve been asking Avery to try and get out of that idiotic box for months now.”
“To be fair, I didn’t open the box. Harold did.”
“Where is Harold?” Dawn asked.
It was only at that moment that I realized Harold was not in his usual place on my shoulder. There was no sign of him, and nowhere in the room where he could hide. He was simply gone.
Eldrin asked, “Was he with you when you went through the circle?”
“I don’t know,” I said as I tried to remember the chaotic moments before we transported. “I think so.”
“Maybe he jumped off at the last moment,” Dawn suggested.
“Do you think he’s been captured by those hooded men?” Sam asked.
“Poor little guy,” Ariella said sadly. “We should go back for him.”
“We are not going back for an imp,” Eldrin barked.
Dawn let out a shocked gasp of protest, and the dark color from her right eye bled over into the white of her left eye so that she really was giving him a black look. I’d never seen the phenomenon myself, but Eldrin had obviously experienced this change before and knew nothing good ever came of it, because he immediately held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“What I should have said, is that the imp . . . Harold,” he amended as the dark color in her eyes began to solidify, “is fine. If he was in any danger Avery would have felt it. That is the nature of the link between magus and imp.” He turned to me. “Do you feel anything when you think of Harold?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Impending doom?”
I thought about Harold. I knew he wasn’t dead, but the only feeling I could identify was hunger, and perhaps the desire for a nap. “That figures,” I muttered.
“What?” Dawn asked.
“He’s a little hangry.”
“See . . .” Eldrin said to Dawn, and I watched the black in her left eye fade to a somewhat smoky gray.
“Can we talk about the key?” Ariella asked. “Is it the same one you used in Trelari?”
“No,” I answered, and then realized that I was doing what I hated in others: not giving a complete answer. I tried again. “Well, it’s the same kind of key, sort of, but it isn’t tuned for Trelari.”
“What world is it tuned for?”
I wasn’t actually sure. My hope had been this one, because in Eldrin’s office the only guidance I had given the portal was to take us to Griswald’s world. I had been working on the assumption that Griswald’s key would fit his world, but something wasn’t right. If this key was tuned to this reality I should have been able to feel the magical force of the world flowing through me. I did not, or no more than I had back in Mysterium. As a test, I concentrated and tried to make a chair appear, which would have both proved the link between the key and world, and also given me a place to sit. I was pretty tired. Nothing happened. “It’s funny. I can’t bend this world’s reality, but the key brought us here.”
“No key of any kind should have given you the power to rip a dimensional gate this far into subworld space unguided,” Eldrin said irritably. “At minimum, we should all be dead, and at worst we should have been permanently folded into five-dimensional origami before being killed.”
There was a lot of truth to what Eldrin said, but I had no answer to his underlying question of how I did it. I gave the simpleton’s answer. “Well, it did work.”
Eldrin ground his teeth and hissed, “I don’t like sausage. I don’t like casseroles. And I won’t eat anything with a secret sauce. How do you think I feel about being subject to magic that even its caster doesn’t understand?”
Of course Sam chose that moment to put me even deeper in the soup. “Don’t worry, Mr. Eldrin. He’s done it before.”
Sam said this in his most reassuring voice, which was about as reassuring as when the spotty teenager running the roller coaster that’s about to launch you down a track and through a loop at one hundred miles an hour tells you everything’s been fixed now. “He has?” Eldrin asked in disbelief.
Sam gave a big smile and nodded vigorously. “Of course he did. He cast the same spell back at his house when we were first attacked by the guys in the hoods.”
“You were in New York?” Dawn asked me, and added the logical follow-up, “If you managed to get them safely there, why bring them back to Mysterium again?”
Too late I saw the danger of this line of questioning as Sam responded, “I don’t know where this ‘New York’ is; Avery took us to his place in Mysterium.”
Dawn and Eldrin turned to stare at me. I had no idea what to say or how to justify what I didn’t know. Only the full and complete truth would forestall even more damning questions. “He’s telling the truth, but I have no idea what’s going on.”
The two came to some silent agreement. “Fair enough,” Eldrin said.
“Should I continue?” I asked uncertainly. They both nodded. Relieved, but unnerved at how little pushback they were giving me, I turned my attention to my own interrogation of Sam and Ariella. “What are the two of you doing in Mysterium? How did you get accepted? Why didn’t you tell me? And why did I get a note from the Administration to turn you over to Security?”
Sam said, “I thought we went over all that while running . . . and running . . . and running . . .”
“We get it, Sam,” I said.
“. . . and running . . .”
“Sam!” Ariella shouted.
“It was quite a lot of running,” he said with an expressive sigh.
“The point is, there was a lot of running and not a lot of answers,” I said. “And until we have the answers, I don’t want the two of you in Mysterium.”
“I still think you’re jumping to conclusions,” Dawn said, her brow wrinkling.
Eldrin nodded. “Dawn’s right. Moregoth aside, there is no reason to believe Sam and Ariella are in any more trouble than any other students short on their tuition payments.”
“We paid!” Sam shouted. We all drew back and looked at him. He blushed and whispered, “Well, we did.”
“Maybe there is nothing going on,” I admitted. “But in the last year two people connected to Trelari have disappeared. First, Vivian returned to Mysterium and was never seen again, followed closely by Professor Griswald, who had to make a run for it. Now we have highly trained Mysterium assassins on our trail.” I let this sink in before turning back to Dawn. “On Earth, you asked me why I was skulking around New York. Why I was teaching an intro-level class when I was being offered invitations to speak at all the finest institutions of magic in the innerworlds. Why I was letting other people take credit for my work.”
“It’s because you’re modest,” Sam said earnestly.
Eldrin almost managed to contain his snicker. Almost. I shot him a narrow-eyed stare before turning back to Sam. “Nice of you to say, but the truth is that I’m afraid. There are powerful people who are upset by what happened to Trelari, and rightly or wrongly—but, on balance, probably more wrongly than rightly—they blame me. Give them an excuse and I’m afraid they’ll lash out at me and anyone close to me. I just want to figure out the Administration’s intentions before handling Sam and Ariella over.”
“Seems r
easonable, but what do we do with them in the meantime?” Dawn asked.
“Yes, what do we do with them?” Ariella said, clearly annoyed at being plotted over without any consultation.
“Why not stay here?” I asked. “It seems perfectly safe. Plus, there is the added benefit that we can get back from anywhere.” I held the key up and gave it a little shake.
“I don’t know,” Eldrin said, looking about. “We know nothing about this place? Where is it? Why is it? Why would Professor Griswald give you a key that would bring you here?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” I said, waving away his objections. “We’ll find out a bit more about this place before leaving, but if the computers—”
“The mad computers?” Eldrin interjected.
“Fine. If the mad computers are right and this ship has been flying along for eight billion years without apparent incident, there could be no safer place in the multiverse. We will only be gone for a few hours, maybe a day at most. No one else comes here, and the computers seem programmed to serve . . .” I noticed that the pink glow in the floor had been quietly sneaking its way toward us. I glanced over and said, “Even if they are a bit overbearing.” The glow vanished.
Everyone considered my plan before Dawn said, “I have concerns.”
“So do I,” I agreed. “I also have concerns about what returning to Mysterium with them would mean, and there is no way to transport into Trelari without going through the path in the university, and you know they’re going to be waiting for us there, and—”
“No,” she said, interrupting me. “I have concerns about how we are supposed to get any of our questions about them answered. Have you tried to get any useful information out of the Administration about anything? Last year it took some serious bribery to get the registrar to admit that Vivian even existed.”
I shrugged. “That is a problem we will simply have to face back on Mysterium. In the meantime . . .” I turned my attention back to the computers. “EDIE?”
The pink light instantly turned on. “Yes?”
“Should we be worried about leaving a couple of our friends here?”
“Of course not. I will take perfectly good care of the two of them, er, if you were thinking of leaving two people behind, not that I would know. How could I?”
“Apart from the sleeping people, no one else is on board?”
“No.”
“Or is expected?”
“No,” EDIE answered.
“Perfect,” I said with an authoritative clap of my hands. “We have a plan.”
“Which neither Sam nor I like, or will agree to,” Ariella said, folding her arms equally authoritatively across her chest. “We will not wait safely behind while you all do whatever it is you are going to do.” Sam nodded his agreement with as stern a glare as his thin eyebrows would allow.
A flare of irritation rose in me, but I fought it back. Of course they wanted to come. These were not ordinary first-year students, but hardened adventurers who, a few months prior, had stood side by side with me as we prevented the destruction of their world. Having said that, little of what they knew would translate on Mysterium, and I had a suspicion Moregoth would be better prepared this time. By now, he probably would have instituted a campus-wide warding to alert the Sealers on Sam or Ariella’s return. I put a hand on each of their shoulders and told them exactly that, adding, “If I honestly thought we were going to be doing anything more dangerous than grappling with Mysterium’s bureaucracy, I would take you with us, but the truth is, I think the only thing that could put us in danger will be your returning. At the moment, Moregoth probably assumes you slipped back to Trelari. If you go back to Mysterium he will be on us before we have any chance to find out why he wants you. Please, give us a little time to find out if I’m being paranoid, or if they really are out to get you. Trust me when I say the last thing I want right now is go back. I’d much rather stay here, have a few drinks, and talk about what’s been happening on Trelari.”
They shared a look in silence, and then turned back to me. “Fine,” Ariella said with an expressive sigh. “But you better come back soon.”
“Thank you,” I said, hugging them both to me. “We will take no more time than we must.” I stood and addressed EDIE. “Is there a place Sam and Ariella can stay?”
“Certainly. We have a lounge where they may overindulge in food and drink until they are sick, spas where they will be endlessly pampered, entertainments and games to ensnare their senses, and beds where they can be put to sleep for millions of years!”
“Disturbing,” Dawn murmured.
“Great!” I said before she could start in with more reasons why this was a bad idea. “Sam, Ariella, we will be back shortly. Hopefully with some answers.” I wrapped an arm around Eldrin and Dawn, and began drawing them away.
We’d only made it about five feet when Eldrin hissed, “This is a terrible idea, Avery. You haven’t the first idea where we are, or, if I’m reading the subworlds right, even when we are. What’s more, we have a very limited sample of behavior from EDIE and ED to draw the conclusion that they aren’t dangerous. Those are very disturbed computers. Maybe not dangerous, but certainly not entirely sane either.”
Dawn nodded her agreement to each of his points. “And what if something happens while we’re gone? There would be no way to know it happened until we returned.”
“Name one thing that could happen on a world that apparently has existed since the beginning of time?”
“But you’re making an assumption that the eight billion years the computers have lived are the same as eight billion years in Mysterium,” Eldrin snapped. “What if the timelines are grossly out of sync and a day in Mysterium is a thousand or ten thousand years here?”
I rubbed my face in frustration, because they were right. Still, I didn’t see a better alternative. If we took them back, it was as good as handing them to the Administration, and I had a really bad feeling about that. “If only we could keep tabs on them,” I said under my breath. “Then we could be sure the timelines aren’t getting screwed up, and that the computers aren’t being weird . . .”
“What about those coins you and Eldrin used when you were in Trelari?” Dawn suggested.
Eldrin and I looked at each other, and I saw my own sheepish grin mirrored in his face. “That should work,” he said.
I laughed. “That’s perfect. Dawn, you’re a genius.”
“Naturally,” she said dryly.
We turned Eldrin’s subether, temporally shifted, extraworld . . . let’s agree to call it a “communicator coin” over to Ariella and explained its use. Once we were sure their magic would activate it, which it did with marvelous, even surprising, ease, Eldrin, Dawn, and I gathered together. I drew a new circle. As before, the key morphed and folded and stretched under the guidance of my magic. I saw Eldrin studying the action of the key with a serious frown, and knew harder questions about the magic I was using were coming. I also knew he would not accept “I don’t know” as an answer for long. With an electric hum, the portal activated. “Avery . . . ?” Eldrin started to say. To forestall his interrogation, I bowed to Dawn and gestured to the gateway. “Ladies first.”
As she stepped into the circle, Dawn said, “Beam me up, Scotty!” Eldrin’s mouth dropped open and she gave him an impish grin. “The cute Scotty, with the little monkey sidekick.” She was gone.
I clapped Eldrin on the shoulder. “It would seem she is the perfect woman, Eldrin.”
He shook his head and muttered, “She’s not perfect. Scotty’s sidekick is a Roylan, not a monkey.” Still muttering to himself, he stepped through the circle after her.
Turning to Sam and Ariella, I said, “As soon as we get to Mysterium we will try and communicate with you. If a long time passes before we call, then the timelines are out of sync. Put yourselves into stasis if you need to, and we will come right back.” They both looked nervous at this idea. I laid a hand on each of their shoulders. “We will be back soon. I promis
e!”
“Good luck, Avery,” Sam said. “Sorry to cause so much trouble.”
“This is not your fault, Sam. Someone is to blame, but it isn’t you. Understood?”
He nodded, and I stepped backward into the circle. Whatever happened on Mysterium, I promised myself I would find a way to make it right.
Chapter 9
Time Bandits
My portal worked. Mostly.
We were back in Mysterium, but had appeared nearly five feet up and the same distance to the left of our target. This wouldn’t have been great under any circumstance, but I had also miscalculated the relative reality speeds. As a result, we crashed through a wall and into a heap on the floor of the cubicle next to the cubicle that served as my office. Technically, the wall crashed into us, but let’s put the sticky wicket of reality physics and subether momentum vectors aside for the time being.
The four of us lay tangled together in a mutual state of shock. I had Dawn’s shoe in my face, Eldrin moaning beneath me, and Harold wheezing atop my back. With a chorus of curses, we disentangled ourselves. We were in the process of dusting the fabric and fiberboard remains of my cubicle off our clothes and out of our hair when the realization struck that Harold was back. “Harold!” I cried. “Where did you go?”
I thrust the now-featureless key into my robe, picked up the imp, and set him atop a nearby desk. He looked at me mutely and glanced to his right. We were not alone.
A bearded dwarf with broad shoulders sat on a half-dozen books stacked on a swivel chair. He wore green professor’s robes and held an enormous mug of coffee in one hand. He took a sip and grumbled, “Not your best work, Professor Stewart.”
“He’s right. That was rubbish.” Eldrin gave an un-elven grunt as he used the edge of a nearby desk to pull himself upright.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Dawn asked as she brushed little bits of wall off of her pants.