by Tara Grayce
“I found a how to page on the Internet that had pretty detailed instructions and a materials list.” Brett pulls out his laptop, opens it, and presses the button to start it. “I actually had it saved as a project I wanted to try on my own, once I master lock picking.”
“Lock picking? As in, picking door locks and stuff?” Erin helps herself to a few Oreos.
“I haven’t mastered door knobs yet. Just basic padlocks.” Brett shrugs, his gaze focused on his laptop booting up. There’s something to the shrug, like he doesn’t want to talk about the reasons why he’d take up lock picking. “It seemed like something cool to try.”
“That does sound interesting.” I try to sound casual as I claim my own Oreos before they’re gone and pour glasses of milk for all three of us.
Brett swigs half his milk and returns the glass to the table when his computer finishes turning on. “What’s your Wi-Fi password?”
I hesitate. It’s the automatic reaction.
Erin jumps in for me. “Averell1996.”
Yes, that. It’s one of the few references to Averell we have over here. I’ll admit to using names and places from Averell a lot in my passwords over here. Then again, “Michigan” is my code word for my mirror over there. And why not? Using words from a secret country no one else in the realm knows about makes for a better-than-average password.
Brett types it in and thankfully doesn’t ask what it stands for. I can’t tell him about Averell, and while I could say that 1996 is the year my parents met, I can’t explain that it’s also the year my mom inherited this house and a fortune from her grandmother’s second cousin, as well as—though she hadn’t known it at the time—the duties of a Guardian of the portal into Averell.
Brett pulls up the website and swivels the laptop around so that Erin and I can see. Erin leans forward, alternating between eating an Oreo and taking swigs of her milk.
She wipes a few crumbs from the corner of her mouth. “Looks doable to me. Can you print out the materials list? I’ll check tonight what scrap wood and stuff my dad is willing to let us use. The less we have to buy, the better. I don’t know about the two of you, but I’d rather not put all of my allowance into buying stuff for a school project.”
Brett frowns and stares down at his laptop. “With my family...my mom and how things are...”
I wave my hand, trying to appear casual. As if it’s nothing at all to admit my family is well off. “Don’t worry about it. I can cover buying whatever we need beyond what Erin’s dad is willing to donate. My dad has a very good job, and he would be happy to buy the supplies for a school project.”
Actually, my mom was the one with all the money on this side of the portal. Apparently, several inventors throughout the years have gotten their inventions from a great-great distant cousin whispering Averellian ideas in their ears and the royalties on patents add up when properly invested. Not to mention our expenses are rather lower than average, considering we live here less than half the time.
But it isn’t something we mention. We’re going to a local high school to get a taste of being normal teenagers, especially since Ryan and possibly me may end up living on Earth permanently some day in the future.
It’s my parents’ way of making sure we don’t grow up all spoiled and arrogant because we are royalty over in Averell. We still have chores to do at the farmhouse. My parents don’t want to hire a cleaning service, not with a secret portal in the basement, and we don’t spend a whole lot of money buying fancy cars or yachts or anything like that.
After all, things could get a little hard to explain if anyone dug into my dad’s history, only to realize he popped into existence in 1996. My parents have managed to get their hands on a few pieces of proper paperwork for him over the years—though I’ve never dared ask how—but none of us want to draw attention to ourselves.
“All right then.” Erin retrieves the printed materials list from the dusty printer on the desk in the corner. “Amy, could you do your science-y stuff and figure out the equation and calculations based on how big these directions say the finished trebuchet will be? And, Brett, can you sketch out a drawing or do it on the computer or whatever to illustrate it? I’ll work on typing out the proposal.”
I set to work figuring out the formula and doing the calculations while Erin boots up her laptop. I finish before them, probably because I have the easiest part of all of them. Setting my notebook so Erin can see it and add the calculations to the proposal, I pick up the gallon of milk. “Anyone want a refill?”
Erin holds up her glass, still typing one-handed. I fill the glass for her again, and top off Brett’s glass even though he doesn’t ask. He looks too absorbed in getting the computer to draw the correct parabola.
I cap the milk and head upstairs. Ryan still hasn’t moved from his place on the couch, but he glances up at me as I pass the family room. “Mom and Dad still aren’t back yet?”
Of course they aren’t, otherwise he would’ve seen them come up the stairs. “No. Things must have gotten tense over there.”
Even though Erin and Brett probably can’t hear me down in the basement, I don’t mention dragons or unicorns or Averell by name. It’s habit.
When I return downstairs, Erin is alone, still typing away at her laptop. Brett’s laptop sits on the coffee table. I freeze and force myself to breathe normally. “Where’s Brett?”
Erin waves at the hallway. “He had to use the bathroom. He’ll be back in a minute.”
I should be feeling funny at the thought of my crush wandering through my house. That’s what a normal high school girl would be worrying about right now, wouldn’t it? Especially since I can’t remember the last time that bathroom was given a good scrub, and it is probably embarrassingly dusty with a few strands of my hair clinging to the sink bowl and floating on the tile floor.
But my stomach sinks, and I turn to set off down the hallway. The bathroom is directly across the hallway from the door to the portal. The door I left unlocked waiting for Mom and Dad to come home.
Did Erin give him directions or did she just wave him in this direction expecting him to find it? She wouldn’t have any reason to panic. After all, she thinks the room across the hall is just a storage closet.
But the door is unlocked.
Erin glances up, laughs, and swats my seat on the couch. “He’s a guy. He doesn’t need an escort to the bathroom.”
It would look rather odd to rush after him. I sink onto the couch. Tap my notebook. Straighten the pages scattered on the table. Listen for the sound of water running through the pipes above the basement ceiling.
Two clocks tick away in my head. Too much time is passing in this realm, and even more in Averell.
He’s a guy. He shouldn’t take that long. I have two older brothers. I’ve waited my fair share to get the bathroom after them.
Something is wrong. My breath is knotted tight in my chest. My fingers tingle as if I’ve forgotten to breathe in the last few minutes. The Oreos I ate weigh as much as a boulder in my stomach.
Erin turns back to her laptop. Returns to typing. I wait until her head bends, her eyes focus, before I ease from the couch and walk casually down the hallway.
I reach the end. The bathroom door is open. The light off.
But worse is the other door. Also open. The faint gleam of the portal shining through.
No, no, no, no.
For a moment, all I can do is lean against the door. Stare at it.
This is what decades—perhaps centuries—of Guardians have existed to prevent. This is what my parents have lectured me to be careful about. I’ve grown up always keeping this door locked. Always having friends over when Mom and Dad are home. Always watching every move I make to prevent this very thing.
Brett Haverink, my high school crush, has stumbled into Averell.
And it is all my fault.
Chapter 4
I Run Off with a Unicorn
I don’t know how long I stare at the door and the porta
l. Heartbeats. Hours. Perhaps both with Averellian time speeding away in my head.
Time. How long has it been? It could’ve been only a few minutes here, but hours over in Averell. I check my internal clocks, trying to calculate. An hour. Maybe two. That’s how long Brett has been in Averell.
A lot of trouble can happen in two hours. Especially over there.
What am I supposed to do? I have to fix this. Somehow.
I nearly step into the portal but stop myself when I’m partway into the room. No, I can’t disappear too, or Erin will come looking. First things first. I have to get her out of the house, then I have to look for Brett.
I shut the door and try to stroll at a normal speed down the hallway and across the basement. Erin doesn’t even look up from her typing. Good.
My heart is pounding by the time I go upstairs and approach Ryan in the living room. Confessing this to my brother is going to stink. But I have to tell someone. “Ryan, we have a problem. Brett just stumbled through the portal into Averell.”
For a heartbeat in this world, Ryan stares at me, unseeing, uncomprehending. Then his eyes grow round, and he bolts upright. “What! That’s...you’re going to be in so much trouble!”
“I know, I know.” I clench and unclench my fingers, fighting the urge to pull on my hair or scream or something. I draw in a deep breath. “Can you drive Erin home? I have to go to Averell to find Brett and bring him back before this gets any worse.”
Any worse. I don’t even want to think about all the ways this could get worse. This isn’t like all the fantasy stories where the person gets to blithely stumble around in wonder. It wouldn’t be a story if the main character gets killed two minutes into the new realm.
Averell is a dangerous place to a stranger. Brett can easily be eaten by a dragon or anger a naiad and get drowned or something.
Even if he survives all of that, his own body could kill him. He can’t eat or drink anything over in Averell, and if he tries, he will only make himself violently ill. Since his body hasn’t acclimated to Averell the way Mom’s has over the years, he will begin to shake and hurt within a day as he literally starts to break down. Without unicorn horn powder, he will die from thirst, starvation, illness, or simply disintegration from being too long away from Earth.
It won’t come to that. I’ll find him first. He hasn’t been gone that long yet.
While Ryan fetches his keys, I tromp back downstairs and halt in front of Erin. Of all the things I have to do as the daughter of a king and a Guardian, this is the worst. The lying. I do my best to avoid it.
There are times, like now, I wish with my entire being that I could tell Erin the truth. There are so many times I daydream about bringing Erin to Averell, watching her eyes widen when she sees a herd of unicorns gallop across the hills and dragons fly overhead. I want to giggle over Averellian politics with her and watch her twirl around Largone Castle in one of my dresses, holding the skirt since she’s several inches shorter than me.
But I can’t. That’s the reality of being a Guardian. I can’t just take friends through the portal for the fun of it.
“Uh, Erin, change of plans. Brett had to leave suddenly. Family business. Ryan is going to take you home. You can text your mom that you’ll be home earlier than expected.”
Erin shuts her laptop. “I’m almost done with the proposal anyway. But I can always stay until my mom picks me up. We can hang out for a while.”
My inner clock is ticking, ticking, ticking that Brett is wandering farther and longer in Averell. “Sorry. Can’t. My parents were delayed at work, and you know how they are about me having people over when they aren’t home. I’ve already pushed it enough having you and Brett over here as long as you were.”
Blame the parents. It works every time, especially since my parents don’t mind me using them as an excuse to do the right thing. Or the necessary thing in this case.
“Okay.” Erin gathers her things. I shift from foot to foot as she slides her laptop into her backpack and gathers each of her papers from the table. She holds up my notebook. “Can I take this with me? I’m not finished typing out that part yet.”
“Yes.” I say it too quickly. I can’t help it. My chest is burning. My head is ticking with two different clocks. My feet are tapping with the urge to run down the hallway and dive through the portal.
Finally, she has all her things, and we head upstairs. No sooner does she stroll out the door, waving, and Ryan shuts the door after them with a final glance at me, then I spin and race to my room. My hands are shaking as I change into Averellian clothing, and I nearly tear my t-shirt in my haste to change.
I force myself to slow down. Trying to hurry will only cost me more time.
When I’m dressed in Averellian slacks and shirt, I tear down the stairs and dash to the portal. I stand in front of it, taking a moment to catch my breath.
Half of the portal swirls with a view of Largone Castle, its turrets rising into a purple-blue sky. The other is rolling hills and grass.
Which side of the portal did Brett go through? I’m not sure which I’m hoping for. If he went through the castle side, he would’ve gone up the stairs. Maybe he was stopped by the hidden door into Dad’s study, but he probably would’ve come back through the portal if that was the case. Or he got out and is even now wandering Largone Castle where he could cause an international disaster if he does the wrong thing when around a dragon or unicorn, especially since he doesn’t speak Averellian. Or, worse, he could be spotted by my parents and they’ll know I failed to keep the portal secret.
But if he stumbled through the other side, he is now wandering who knows how far into Averell. No way he just stayed near the portal entrance. It’s human nature to go off exploring the moment a person steps foot in an enchanted land. Since he has yet to return through the portal, he either must still be wandering and possibly lost or he has already found trouble.
I’ll check Largone Castle first. If he’s there, he should be easy to find and drag back through the portal.
If he isn’t there...I shake my head. I don’t even want to think about that option.
I reach my hand into the left side of the portal. It sucks me in, spitting me out into the dungeon. Cool, damp air wraps around me.
I run up the stairs but only make it to the first floor before I have to slow down to catch my breath. Why couldn’t I be in better shape? Once this is all over, I’m going to force myself to run up and down these stairs at least once a day until I can do it without stopping.
When I arrive at the top, I fight the sinking feeling in my stomach when I see that the landing is empty. So much for Brett staying stuck in this small part of the castle.
Peering through the peephole, I scan Dad’s study. Empty. I trigger the latch for the hidden door and step through quickly.
I don’t see any signs that Brett might have been here, but what do I expect? That he will drop a trail of Oreo crumbs to mark his path?
I hurry from the study and into the passageway. No one is in sight except the guard at the far end, leaning against the wall where this hallway connects with the next one. I stroll up to him, trying to appear unconcerned. I’m not sure I succeed.
The guard straightens. “Anything I can help you with, Princess?”
“Have you seen a boy with light brown hair and blue eyes come by this way? I’m looking for a friend of mine who was supposed to visit sometime this afternoon.” I beam a bright smile, as if it isn’t strange at all that a princess would lose a friend in her own castle.
The guard shakes his head. “No, Your Highness. No one fitting that description has come by this way since I took over four hours ago. Would you like to ask the guard who was here before me?”
“No, that’s all right. Just checking.” I smile and shrug as if it isn’t a problem. Brett has been gone three hours of Averellian time. He couldn’t have gone past the guard. “He must not be here yet. Are my parents still meeting with the dragons and the unicorns?”
&
nbsp; “Yes, Your Highness.” The guard tips his head in the direction of the great hall. As if on cue, the sound of raised voices drifts up the stairway, followed by a bellowing roar.
I wince. Negotiations are not going well today. I can’t interrupt now. It has probably been taking all of Mom’s firm-voiced reason and Dad’s patience to keep the peace at the moment. I can’t pull them away and risk the dragons and unicorns starting a skirmish.
I could wait for them to finish. But who knows how long that will be, and Brett has already been in Averell for three hours. He can’t have gone far, certainly not as far as he would go in six or seven hours.
No, I must find him myself. If all goes well, I will have him back in Michigan before Mom and Dad even finish with the dragons and unicorns. If things don’t go well, Ryan will be back from dropping off Erin in about forty-five minutes Earth time, probably around six or seven hours Averell time considering how it has been racing today. If I’m not back by then, the negotiations should be finished, he will tell Mom and Dad, and they can send out a search party.
It’s the best option I can think of right now. Yeah, yeah, I know it isn’t great. But what other choice do I have? I can’t leave Brett just wandering around Averell, and the longer I wait, the farther he’s going to get. I dread telling my parents I failed to protect our greatest secret, and surely it will be easier to confess after I have fixed this.
I turn and head back the way I’d come. Either Brett is somewhere in the family wing or he isn’t at Largone Castle at all.
I search through each of my family’s rooms and the sitting room. No one. Not even the servants at this time of day.
In my room, I stand in the center, staring out my window at the rolling hills. What am I supposed to do now? Searching for Brett myself seems like such a reasonable thing to do here in Largone Castle, but following him across Averell by myself is a different story. It won’t be easy, even if I am Averell’s princess.