“I took a sneaky shot when he wasn’t looking,” said Sam. “Figured it was more than a coincidence.”
“Wow,” said Yas, impressed. She wasn’t sure she’d have had the presence of mind to do that.
Sam opened the picture on his phone and showed them both.
“I don’t recognise him as a regular,” said Janine, after taking a good look. “Was he aggressive to you, Sam?”
“Just grumpy, really,” he replied.
“Hmm, okay.” She seemed to reach a decision. “I think it’s worth filling out an incident report, just so we have it in case we need to take it any further. Delete the picture though, you didn’t have his permission to take that. We can pull footage from the security cameras if needed.”
“Sure,” agreed Sam.
Yas marvelled at how much the relationship between him and Janine had changed. To say it had been frosty initially was understating things. Janine had started working at the library a few months ago and had rented a room at Sam’s dad’s house, as she was new to the area. Initially, she’d tried to keep him out of the realms and was hostile towards him when he asked for her help in trying to find his dad who had disappeared. It then turned out that his dad had asked Janine to protect Sam, while he was gone. Now, there was more warmth between them. Yas was happy for him.
“You ready to go?” Sam asked.
“I think so,” Yas replied. She paused. Now the moment had arrived she was reluctant. She knew she had to do it though. She stood up. “Let’s get this over with.”
“I’ll wait here until you get back,” said Janine. “Just in case…”
“Thanks,” replied Yas. She stepped next to Sam.
“Okay,” said Sam, grabbing her hand and rubbing his thumb over hers softly. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.”
Yas nodded, then closed her eyes to picture the Forest Realm. She’d been there many times since first falling into it. It was a memory now that she recalled, which allowed a feeling to arise within her. The dice pendant on a necklace around her neck grew warm. It was a magical pendant that enabled her to sense when she was near to a doorway. She had been given it as a gift from her former employer and it had turned out to be her late grandpa’s. She had discovered soon after that Sam also had one, a gift from his mother. That was a key moment to their developing friendship and subsequent relationship.
She waited. There was a familiar ‘whoomph’ and gentle breeze. She opened her eyes to see what she expected. In front of her stood a floor to head height doorway, with a yellow outline and a rippling middle. She looked at Sam. She was quite at home with stepping through a doorway into a magical realm, but meeting her adopted brother again, that was nerve-wracking. Holding hands, they stepped through.
In another realm, it was night. A train station platform stood deserted and still. Shops and cafes were closed, and a clock overhead ticked methodically to mark the passage of time. Only a train, sitting patiently at the platform, indicated any sign of life, its steam gently hissing upwards to the train station ceiling, high overhead.
A magical doorway opened, and two people tumbled onto the platform. They rolled apart and stood up, taking stock of each other. Both were tired and exhausted.
“You’re crazy!” shouted Raelinn, a dark haired strikingly dressed vampire.
“I did what I had to,” said Detective Wheeler, getting to his feet. “To save my son.” He shook his head in disbelief. There it was again. That vague sense that this had happened before.
“Yeah, well. You’re going to pay for that!”
“No, wait,” shouted Wheeler, trying to buy some time. He remembered a room which had seemed to defy the laws of physics. His son, Eddie, was there too, he knew. That wasn’t a dream. There had been a battle, he remembered that much. He’d pulled himself and Raelinn through a doorway to this place to save Eddie and stop the Controllers using him for their own gain. He’d made a sacrifice. He just hoped he wouldn’t live to regret it.
Raelinn opened her hand, palm upwards, and magically pulled a luggage cart towards her. It started to unknit, shredding and forming tiny suitcases which she directed at Wheeler. He threw up a shield and deflected the shots sideways at first, towards a shop, then changed to send them back they way they’d come. With his other hand he formed a word ball and threw it at Raelinn. She sidestepped at the last moment but was surprised. It was enough to halt her shots.
Wheeler seized the advantage and charged at her, still with his shield raised. Raelinn saw him coming and sidestepped again, launching a kick. Wheeler knew that it was coming, dropped his shield, and blocked the kick with his forearm.
“I think we’ve done this before,” he said.
Raelinn ignored him.
The two of them traded punches and kicks, each trying to gain the advantage over the other. Wheeler pulled on the fabric of the realm to unknit the platform under Raelinn’s feet. She struggled for balance, but sent tendrils flying towards Wheeler, pulling herself to him. Then she punched him, knocking him backwards to the floor. Wheeler instinctively used magic to roll the platform up under him, returning him to standing. He grabbed Raelinn’s arm, twisting it behind her and subduing her, but hadn’t reckoned on her vampire strength. She turned and grabbed Wheeler, throwing him over her shoulder. He fell onto the ground and slid towards the gap he had unknitted. He threw a word net to Raelinn, catching her around her legs. He pulled, to prevent himself falling over the edge of the hole and upended her. Then the two of them, tired from the exertion, struggled back to their feet.
“Don’t you remember,” continued Wheeler, breathing heavily.
“I don’t believe you,” Raelinn said, rushing towards him.
Wheeler sidestepped, but he remembered where Raelinn would go next. At the last second, she changed direction. She moved right, onto the train.
“No, you can’t go on there!” Wheeler shouted. He leapt sideways and managed to grab Realinn’s jacket. It tore away in his hand.
“Damn it!”
“You!” Raelinn shouted from the doorway and she threw fresh word balls at him. Wheeler was confused, still looking down at the jacket in his hand. He knew he had done this exact thing before.
“Wait!” he called, but it was too late. The word balls hit him and he slid backwards, skidding off the other side of the platform.
The train started to huff, in preparation for moving out of the station. He knew he had to prevent her leaving, or they would just go around in circles again. The train started to move.
Exhausted, it took him some moments to get back up. He struggled back onto the platform and ran after the train. Raelinn was watching him from the carriage door. He couldn’t get to where she was, the train gathering pace now, but he managed to grab at a door that was further back. With a final burst of speed, he was able to step onto the ledge of the train and pulled himself inside the carriage.
“What are you doing?” shouted Raelinn from the end of the carriage. She started to make her way down and was incensed. “Just let me go!”
“No!” he said, exhausted. “We’re just going in circles, repeating the same story!”
“You’re lying!”
The train was accelerating out of the station. The lights of the station moved behind them and it was pitch black outside. The windows reflected the interior of the carriage.
“Why would I?” retorted Wheeler. “Don’t you see? It’s the Void?”
‘The Void,’ Raelinn thought in her mind. That rang a bell. A distant memory of a battle. Then it faded and she saw the face of the man that had tricked her and brought her here. He needed to pay.
“Orfeo told me to keep an eye on you!” she seethed. “For Index! He said you were not to be trusted!”
“So, why don’t you hit me some more then. Fly at me in rage, like you usually do about now!”
Raelinn flew down the carriageway, arms extended, with her fangs bared. Wheeler knew what to do. He dropped down, catching her and rolling her over his head. He got ba
ck on his feet quickly.
“You said I was important,” Wheeler said, watching Raelinn and playing along with what he remembered having happened before, to see if it jogged her memory.
“Yes,” she replied, hissing. Then she stopped for the merest of moments and looked confused. “This?” she asked. “I remember something.”
“Yes,” Wheeler replied. “It’s taken you a while, but what do I know? As you said at the Battle for the Peacekeepers, I’m just a simpleton!”
His words seemed to jog a memory for Raelinn. She observed him for a moment.
“You’re messing with my head!” Raelinn shouted. She moved towards him firing word arrows.
Wheeler sighed and created a shield, deflecting the word arrows. They penetrated the walls of the carriage and it started to unknit.
“Okay, we’re on this version of events, then. The one where you jump out over the river?”
“River?” Raelinn said, as if something jogged her memory. The carriage was creaking around them, the carriage roof and walls unknitting to leave them exposed to the night air. A full moon shone down from above and the wind whipped and whistled around them.
Wheeler held up his hand. “Look,” he shouted. “You need to believe me. We’ve been around this loop so many times. We need to help each other.”
“Help!” Raelinn laughed. “You must be getting desperate, to ask me for help.”
“Then jump off the train and see where that gets you!” Wheeler shouted back angrily. “For someone so smart, you’re acting really dumb!”
“I’m going to jump,” she decided, eyeing him, moving her head from side to side. Something more primeval seemed to be playing within her. Wheeler remembered that too. It was something to do with the night air and the moonlight.
She stepped towards the side of the train.
“No goodbye speech?” asked Wheeler. He started to move towards her, slowly. He knew he had to grab her as she fell. That way the story would reset and they’d both tumble back onto the station platform again.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” Raelinn said, staring at him angrily, from the edge of the train. “What are you expecting me to say?”
“You know,” said Wheeler, playing for time. “How I’m a fool. How I don’t know why I’m important and why this Index you keep going on about needs me alive.”
“He needs you alive.” acknowledged Raelinn, looking up at the moon and then the landscape that was rolling out in front of them.
“Yes, but why?” asked Wheeler. Jeez, this particular replay was feeling like too much hard work. He moved closer to Raelinn. “Come on! tell me!”
“He needs your abilities,” said Raelinn, looking out at the countryside. She looked ahead to a river that they were approaching.
Wheeler followed her gaze also. This part always gave him nightmares. That river was a long way down.
“What abilities?” he shouted, trying to make her say something that would answer the question he’d had all these replays. “I don’t have any!”
“If you don’t know, then you’re a fool!” she shouted back at him.
“Yeah, yeah!” replied Wheeler, continuing to advance towards her. “Tell me something I don’t know!”
Raelinn made to jump and Wheeler was ready. He leapt out after her, grabbing her round the waist. She screamed, her planned flight away from the train being disturbed. She tried to kick at him, but Wheeler had anticipated that too and was able to twist himself to avoid her legs.
They fell.
Yas and Sam stepped onto damp grass, encircled by trees. Ahead of them was a much taller tree, the Great Oak. It was the Custodian of the realm who had provided Yas and Sam with valuable help and advice on their previous visits. Yas smiled up at it. This was the first realm she’d visited, and the one that had started her adventures with Sam. She’d initially not believed his stories of visiting realms with his dad on vacation, preferring to think instead that he was coping with the shock of his dad having disappeared. She looked up, remembering how she had fallen from the sky. In that visit she had learnt about the Great Oak that was present in this realm, the Custodian, along with its helper, Red.
“You’re back again,” said a small voice next to Yas. “Ready for the big meeting?”
“Hello, Red,” she said, crouching down and rubbing the grey squirrel affectionately on his head. “I think so.”
“Gerr-off,” he said, irritated. He ducked his head down and stepped away to avoid her. She couldn’t help but smile at him.
“How have you been?” she asked. She waited for his next reply. Red wasn’t one for chit-chat, although he cared, in his own way.
“I think I preferred it when you didn’t know who I was,” he said snarkily.
“Why is he always like this?” asked Sam. Sam and Yas had raced through this realm when they were trying to escape the Controllers, just before the Battle for the Peacekeepers. He’d also visited with Yas since.
“I think he’s just being protective,” she said, standing back up and looking down at Red. He returned the look with suspicion.
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea to invite your brother here,” he said. “It’s never a good idea to invite someone into your domain.”
“We’ve been over this,” she reassured Red. “He couldn’t easily meet me anywhere else.”
“Yeah, well don’t come crying when this goes pear shaped!” he added, throwing his little paws up.
She looked at him. He was right, she knew, and it didn’t help her own feelings on the matter. In truth, she didn’t know if she was inviting a friend or foe here today.
“Remember, this is your own sanctuary, Yas,” replied a booming voice, into her head. Sam also heard it.
“Sanctuary?” asked Sam.
“Yes, Sam,” replied the Great Oak. “We each have a little pocket of a realm formed from our favourite early stories. It’s a place we can return to anytime we need to make sense of the world.”
“Like an escape?” asked Sam.
“More like a place to call home,” answered the tree. “Where there is guidance for those that want it.”
“Yeah,” added Red. “And we don’t share easily.” He looked up at Sam. “You’re in the club for now, but we’re watching you!” He used his paws to indicate a military style ‘I’ve got my eye on you’.
“Aww,” Yas said affectionately, reaching down to rub Red behind his ear. “See! You do care!”
“Yeah well,” said Red, moving away slightly. “It doesn’t come easy, I can tell you that!”
Yas stood back up and spotted the boundary to the realm that she had noticed when she had first visited. It was like a fog or wall. It made more sense now. This was a realm that she had created in her mind’s eye. It explained why she had never seen any other actors here or ethereal readers moving around.
A breeze whispered through the trees. Yas looked up and breathed in deeply. She felt at home here. She was safe.
“Speaking of safe, Yas,” the Great Oak said. “The doorway we create today will not open fully into this realm. It’s up to you whether you allow that or not.”
“How do you mean?” she asked. “Like a video call?”
“Yes,” answered the tree. “You’ll see him, but you won’t be able to touch.”
“Yeah, don’t go letting in any old Tom, Dick or Harry,” added Red.
In front of them, the image of the Great Oak started to ripple. Small at first, it increased to about three feet in height, hovering at chest height. Yas wasn’t sure what she was seeing at first. She moved her head slightly and was able to see a pulsation, occurring between her and the tree. Waves moved out from the center of the rippling disturbance.
“Is this Akoni?” she asked.
“Yes,” replied the tree. “It looks like he’s requesting a doorway.”
“What do we do?” asked Sam, stepping forwards ready to protect Yas. On reflection, he wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to do that.
“Just touch it,” replied the tree. “It will connect you.”
Yas looked at Sam. He nodded to give her support, then she reached forward and tentatively touched the centre of the disturbance. The rippling waves halted, in response to her touch, and a light started to shine from the centre that expanded outwards. Yas stepped back again, wondering what would happen next.
“Hello?” called Akoni’s voice. The light had expanded to fill the circle that the disturbance occupied, but there was no image.
“Akoni?” called Yas in response.
An image of Akoni appeared in the circle for a moment, then disappeared. He spoke, but they could only hear occasional syllables.
“I don’t think much of your wi-fi,” quipped Sam. “Is there a better connection we can use?”
Yas looked at Sam. He could be so literal at times, but he was right. It felt like an awkward video conference call where technology issues were interfering.
“I’ll create the secure doorway now,” said the Great Oak.
The circle expanded and disappeared, a breeze moving past them.
“Hello?” echoed a voice. An image followed. Akoni appeared in front of them, the realm that he was in was vaguely visible behind him. He was wearing a hoodie and jeans and looked tired.
“Yas?” he asked. It seemed that he could see her.
“Akoni,” Yas replied. She had been dreading this moment. The last she remembered of him was when he left the house after a massive argument with her mom. The emotional chaos she felt that night and then when he’d never returned stayed with her. She thought that she had moved past it all, but it resurfaced. She squeezed Sam’s hand.
“You okay?” he said quietly to her.
She tried to say yes but couldn’t without risking emotion flooding her voice. She nodded awkwardly and Sam understood where she was at.
“It’s good to see you,” Akoni said.
Yas nodded back, stiffly. She was still struggling. This was affecting her more than she had expected.
Akoni tried to move forwards but bounced off an invisible surface. He looked at Yas, confused.
“I’m in a cage?” he asked.
The Word Guardians: and the Twisting Tales Page 2
