by Mara Amberly
“Bring your tray to the edge of the dais then. Can you place it on the floor?” Pandora asked, stepping closer.
“No, I don’t think so.” Her grandmother brought the tray as close as she could, until it was only a few inches from Pandora.
Emily looked up into Pandora’s eyes, and her own seemed bright and childlike with wonder. She was much older, likely in her nineties. Pandora recognised the dress she wore as the dark robe of the council. They guided the settlement and the futures of its citizens.
Pandora couldn’t move closer without stepping off the dais, so she stayed where she was and looked down over the tray. It held several bottles and jars. One was a scientific vial with a small quantity of light green liquid at the bottom. It held crushed leaves suspended in a solution of some kind. A sealed bottle looked like one that contained Herbalist Maura’s medicines and creams. She wasn’t a doctor but her products were used by many people, Pandora included. There was a tumbler with swirls of blue and orange patterned through the glass. It was beautiful though erratic, and Pandora didn’t understand what it might mean. In between these larger objects was a small six-sided box covered in cloth fabric. It was blue-grey in colour, and it had a clip on the front of the box with a bright blue jewel. Pandora could see that the stone was smooth, rather than faceted.
She wasn’t sure what the other items meant. They could symbolise careers perhaps, because that was what they brought to mind, but the box was different somehow. It didn’t seem connected in quite the same way to the others. She reached out to touch it and found her hand moved easily over the tray without issue. She felt a pull toward the coloured tumbler, but it was not as great as the box. Her fingers hovered above it, poised to touch it.
“Are you sure that’s the right one?” her grandmother Emily asked.
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” Pandora answered so quickly and easily that she surprised herself.
Her fingers closed on the box and she lifted it off the tray.
Her grandmother smiled and Pandora sensed that she had chosen well, but as she gazed fully into her grandmother’s eyes, she noticed Emily was crying.
“You wanted to know if I’m really your grandmother. In all ways but blood, I am. We are family, Pandora. The box is yours to bear but you mustn’t open it unless you’re left with no choice or the time finally comes for its end. That may not be during your lifetime, but if it is, you will know. The box contains the most beautiful and terrible powers in all existence. Don’t take it lightly and don’t hand it to another person until the end of your time approaches. They should be an heir; if not by blood then by heart. You must protect it and above all else, don’t open the box unless the time is right and you’re certain beyond all reasonable doubt of the fact.”
Pandora gazed down at the box, which was at once simple and mysterious. Her grandmother’s warning was stern and she didn’t take it lightly. She would do as her grandmother asked, because she had good common sense, and the box had been entrusted to her care. She didn’t want to let her grandmother’s spirit down, nor any others who protected the box during the course of their lives.
“So what’s in the box?” she asked. She understood there were powers, but Pandora wasn’t quite sure what that meant.
Emily sensed Pandora’s curiousity but she couldn’t answer her question in the way she wanted. “I have no idea, but I know the risk it carries. The burden and the honour are yours now. You carry on our family’s purpose. Don’t screw it up.”
There was no ‘I love you’ or ‘it’s amazing to talk to you’, just ‘don’t screw it up’. Pandora was miffed, even in her dream. She had a temper on occasion so perhaps that was seeping through.
“I know this is a dream, but is that all it is? Please, can you tell me more about Lucy?”
“It is not...” her grandmother said, her voice and physical appearance fading.
“Oh no, you don’t,” she said. “I have questions that need answers.” Pandora knew she was being disrespectful to her grandmother but family did things like this to each other all the time.
“Lucy’s your sister. You will find the box or it will find you. It’s the way of things,” Emily said.
With that, Pandora snapped awake and gasped a long, sharp breath.
It may have been the shock of waking up so quickly but it seemed like she’d been holding her breath. Pandora wasn’t sure for how long, but she felt wide awake now. She stared at the ceiling, then rolled over on to her side and groaned. The room was still dark and she wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
Her dream had seemed so vivid with a meaning so clear that she accepted that it might be more than just a dream. It brought to mind the box, which she hadn’t yet found in her waking life, and Lucy. She felt more strongly than ever that Lucy might in fact exist. Could her parents have had a child who was still out there somewhere alive? Was it possible that Pandora wasn’t the only child her mother had brought to the settlement? Before she would’ve thought there was no chance a child might’ve survived in the wilderness, but this rumour about people outside the domes made her wonder. Could there be more at work here than she realised?
There were other cities – settlements a lot like Terania Settlement, but they were far distant. Only important persons like council members had used the underground railway, but now no one did, so far as she knew. Emily was a council member, which made Pandora wonder if she’d ever had reason to use the rail system. She would likely never find out. Now there were all-terrain vehicles for travelling the wastes – the terraformers used them, but most civilians in the settlement didn’t have reason to.
I wonder how old Lucy would be. She has to be older than me or I suppose not much younger if she was born to my parents, but she was young in my dream – just a small child. That doesn’t make much sense. If she came to the settlement the same time as me, she might even have another name. Could I know her and not even realise she’s my sister?
There was nothing more to do about it tonight. Tomorrow she could ask around or do a bit of digging at the library when she had some free time. Until then she would sleep. Pandora wondered if she would dream as she had before. She closed her eyes and turned on to her back, comfortable with the soft pillow beneath her head. Pandora pulled the blanket up over herself, yet low enough down to keep it away from her face and neck, and let herself fall asleep. It brought no dreams this time, only darkness and oblivion until she woke again the next morning and had to get ready for work at the lab.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Visited Dimension;
Derin, Loretta – 11:10 p.m.
Nessa smiled in the darkness as they walked. James was going to help her, and she had a real hope of ‘finding her missing bracelet’, which was to say, ‘finding the portal home to her own realm’. Nessa intended to close the portal quickly once she was through it, but she wanted to ensure James didn’t find it first. If he was going to help search the hillside, there was a chance he might stumble upon it, or worse, through it. She would try to avoid that scenario, so if she could encourage him to stay back a bit, she would. The portal would be hard to see at night, especially as it would be night in her own dimension on the other side, or so she assumed.
“You’re not used to being told no by people, are you?” James was enjoying the fact he was sneaking through a field more than he’d like to admit. He should be leading Nessa straight back to the highway.
“Not really,” she said after a moment’s thought. “I don’t ask for all that much so people don’t have reason to tell me no.”
James wasn’t ordinarily coerced into undertaking foolish actions like these. It was an attempt to be gallant, and at the same time, a pleasant escape from the drudgery of the city guard.
It didn’t take long to reach the fence and climb it. It was a simple wooden fence, hardly more than waist-height. The valley was only a short distance from there. Nessa gazed off in the direction of the hill, but she saw no immediate signs of the
portal. She needed to get her bearings, so she had a clearer understanding of where it was. There had been a hand-sized rock by the entrance, but there were many pebbles and stones mixed in among the grasses and fragrant wildflowers. Finding the rock in the dark might be like finding a needle in a haystack, but Nessa had one thing going for her and that was her persistence. She just hoped they wouldn’t be interrupted before she could find it. She looked over at James, wondering if she might’ve been better coming back alone later. She didn’t want him finding the portal and not just because it would take some explaining.
“Do you know where you dropped the bracelet? It’s hard to see out here, but the moon and stars are out, and that helps.”
The meadow was beautiful in the darkness, but it wasn’t on either of their minds.
Nessa tried to remember just what the hillside looked like in the day. The scent of flowers was wonderful, even though the hour was late. She eventually identified the part of the hill where she thought the portal was. “It was up here, I think,” gesturing near the place she recognised, but a bit off to the side. “Why don’t you stay here and I’ll have a look.”
James stopped her there. “No, I think I’m going to stay close. Our odds of finding it are better if both of us look. I have some matches on me, but I’m reluctant to create a light source in case it’s seen. I’m just not sure you have much hope of finding it right now.”
“It’s possible it may have fallen around here too,” Nessa said. She drew on her charm as best she could; her voice hopeful, if a little frustrated, and her tone sincere. “It was where the riders stopped me – about where we’re standing now. “I’ll search there if you’ll search here.”
James sighed, giving her a careful glance in the darkness that revealed few details to his vision. “Why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?”
Nessa tried to reassure him with a comforting tone. “I don’t know. Let’s just look for my bracelet, alright? I’m not sure how long we’ll have.”
She set off up the hillside in search of her portal. She tried to give the impression she was searching the ground when she was truly looking for signs of the portal’s presence. It was possible some light from Katy’s house might find its way through, but she saw no sign of it in the darkness. There was a tingle of energy in the air that suggested the portal was nearby, and she knew that if she found its event horizon, that tingle would be magnified many times.
James searched the ground for a minute or two, and then trudged through the grass toward her. He searched the ground as he went. He kept looking up at her, likely because he intended to fulfil his duty, and didn’t want to have to chase Nessa in the darkness. He seemed reluctant to follow her request of staying in the same place for the moment. He obviously sensed she was up to something, but Nessa saw no way of telling him now what she was truly looking for.
Nessa breathed in the scent of flowers and walked back and forth along the hillside, searching as she went, but also sensing for any shifts in the energy. Glancing down at the valley, it looked a lot like the Valley of Derin she’d visited when she was young. The portal should be close. That was unless it had already closed, but she was certain she’d know if it had. She sensed its connection and she still had the flower in her pocket.
“Anything?” he asked, looking around as if he expected his superiors to come charging toward them, perhaps on horseback.
“Hmmm no, not yet,” she said, giving up the pretence of searching the ground for a moment as she looked around her.
The change provoked James’s curiousity and he made his way toward her.
“Just a moment,” she said, as she felt her hand tingle with the portal’s energy. She’d found it!
She saw that James was only about twenty paces away. It was time to go. She hurried through the portal and the moment she was through it, she retrieved the flower and crushed it in the palm of her hand. She didn’t want James to follow, so the only way to make sure was to close the portal quickly.
Nessa breathed a sigh of relief when the flower broke apart in her hand and she saw the wavering drift away. She was safe and it was done... and then all of a sudden, it wasn’t. James was there, standing in the event horizon of the portal.
“No! Get back!” she shouted, but he didn’t listen or respond fast enough. It was a disturbing sight, like he was being pulled in multiple directions at once. For a fraction of a second she considered trying to hit him and knock him back, but where would he end up? She assumed the way back was closed. There was no more time to think if she was going to have any chance of saving his life. If she didn’t do something, he would be torn apart. He seemed incapable of getting out on his own. He struggled and didn’t seem to understand what was happening to him. Nessa grabbed him and pulled him out of the event horizon. It wasn’t easy – it felt like something had a hold of him. She didn’t know if it was gravity or tidal forces, or something else entirely.
She tried to catch him as he fell but James hit the ground hard, then he started shaking.
“Oh God no, James?” Nessa gasped, but he didn’t answer. She could see the shock in his eyes at what he’d just been through. She didn’t understand it. She knew he’d been stuck, but she didn’t know what it did to him. The portal drifted away within moments and she’d dropped the flower somewhere on the ground. It didn’t seem important now. James was.
James eventually sat up, while Nessa knelt down beside him.
“Are you alright?” she asked, a bit afraid. She wasn’t afraid of him, but of what she might have done to him. He could’ve died and it would’ve been her fault. The thought upset her greatly. It also occurred to her that if she’d pushed him back, she might have spent her life not knowing if she’d killed him. This lovely man who’d actually chosen to help her!
“I’m better now,” he said, catching his breath. “What happened to me? That hurt a lot, like someone or something was trying to draw and quarter me.”
Nessa blinked away tears. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it to happen to you.”
His voice was still shaky. “It’s alright... I think. Where are we?” He looked up at the house, momentarily confused. He didn’t know how he got here.
Nessa climbed back up to her feet and bit her lip, unsure of what to say. She knew she had to. James had to know where he was. Oh God, that he’s stuck here... maybe.
“Well?” he asked, getting a bit frustrated with her.
“You need to know that this is another world. The one I’m from,” she said, wincing. Nessa wasn’t quite sure how to explain it apart from that. “By world I mean dimension. This is a different one.”
James didn’t look like he believed her. “Did you eat one of the mushrooms in the valley?” he asked.
“No, James.”
He examined the details of the house, which was notably different from those on his world. “Are you sure I didn’t either? It would explain some things.”
Nessa hesitated, not sure what to say to that. Things would’ve been far simpler if mushrooms were responsible. “I left through a portal and you got stuck in it when you followed me through. I tried to close it quickly before you could reach it, but obviously I wasn’t fast enough.”
His thoughts turned inward, remembering the details. “I was hoping that was a dream. When I saw you disappear, I ran toward you.”
She sighed, “It’s not a dream.” She thought he was taking it well but he didn’t know all of the facets of the situation yet.
James wasn’t quite ready to climb to his feet just yet. His legs felt like jelly and his arms ached, like one too many hours spent at archery practice. He wasn’t expecting to be comfortable over the next few days. “I’m stuck here then?” he asked. There was a note of anger in his voice but his sense of desolation was stronger.
“Not exactly but... in some ways,” she said. It was a more cryptic explanation than she wanted to give him. “The portals I’ve opened haven’t led to the same place twice. They
go somewhere different each time.” Nessa wasn’t sure what to make of the look James gave her. It made her feel horrible.
“Do they lead to different places in the same world? I mean, are you sure? I could walk back home or find transport.” His voice trembled slightly when he spoke.
Nessa folded her arms and looked around at the garden. It was dark and there was no sign of her aunt, Katy. “They were different dimensions, I think.” She spoke more quietly, but loud enough for James to hear her.
“Well that’s not good enough,” he said unyieldingly.
“I’ll try but I don’t know how to do it... or if I can. I’m sorry.” Tears streamed down Nessa’s face.
James climbed to his feet and gazed at Nessa coldly. “So you’ve taken everything from me. Everything. I can’t deal with this right now.”
He walked off around the side of the house, leaving Nessa standing alone in the garden.
She didn’t know what she could do or change. Maybe he needed time alone. She wanted to put everything right but she didn’t know how. Nessa walked over to the gate and glanced over it. There was no sign of anyone out there, just trees.
Nessa considered going upstairs to check on Katy, but she knew her aunt would want to know what was wrong and she just couldn’t explain. She wanted a bath and fresh clothes, and a proper meal because she was starving. James was suffering though and it was her fault. She’d stolen him away from his world and now this was her problem to fix, if it ever could be put right. He’d offered to help her search the valley and he didn’t deserve to suffer in return. As much as Nessa felt like going upstairs, she went after James instead. She couldn’t see him at first, but she heard him taking long, deep breaths in the darkness and she felt truly rotten when she heard him cry.
CHAPTER EIGHT