"Some people need a good, old-fashioned sock to the jaw," said Sam. He massaged his hand with a satisfied smile.
Emmett flapped like a sheet in the wind, then faded. I thought he was agreeing with Sam. I realized what was wrong when the remaining walls of the double-wide fell away into the pounding sea outside. The Bellum, with his long staff, stepped onto the floor of the double-wide. His footsteps creaked toward us.
"We've got to continue the séance!" I shouted to Emmett, "What next? We could see if he's in any prophecies or try to contact his ancestors." I stalled. Nothing was coming to me.
The Bellum stalked around our circle, hissing. But he did not breach it.
"Let me take the finale!" Emmett drifted his hand through mine, then bowed to Oskar. "I will try to contact your spirit self, Oskar. What some people might call your soul."
"Whatever you think is best." Oskar nervously eyed the circling Bellum.
"It's a snap." Emmett stretched his hands over Oskar. "I'm in touch with yours already. We knew each other in the spirit world, around a hundred and ninety years ago. You weren't a person of much prominence, but you had stand-out style. Then, ninety years ago, you were a storywriter in the prior world. You're a youngish spirit, only two hundred fifty years old. Modern. New-fangled, but not quite space-aged. Very hip. Sort of an outsider, although I can't say I fault you for that. Always wished I didn't have to play politics myself. The name I knew you by, in Dead Town, was Oz."
"Oz—like the wizard of Oz? That name does have a familiar feel," said Oskar.
"I imagine you've had other names in your lives that were variations of that. Had I more time, I could track down the people you've been," said Emmett. He tapped his head. "Say—didn't you write a lot of books? You were an author."
Oskar leaned back on his cushion, stunned. "It's kind of coming back to me. Telling the stories to children . . . writing . . . the plays and tours . . . I think I'd better lie down." Oskar leaned against Trenton, laughing softly to himself.
"Uh oh. I think Oskar's had enough," I said, as the Bellum swooped closer, reaching out his staff. It zinged off the perimeter of our circle.
Emmett started to flicker around.
"Don't panic, Em! Oskar's father gave me a clue. If this works, it'll get us all out of here. No—no." I held up my hand as Emmett fished a shiny black spider out of his pocket. "No spiders. Arachna-location won't work trans-dimensionally."
"I was only going to use the spider to get to the bus. Maybe, if I fight him like he wants—" Emmett's face screwed up in worry. "You mortals can escape while he's distracted."
"Yessss," hissed the Bellum. "Release him to me."
"Why does he want to fight you? Did you do something to piss him off?" I said.
"I have no otherworldly idea," said Emmett. "Something I did in a past life? Why, oh, why, did I have to be such a charming bastard? I probably stole his girl. Or his heart. Perhaps he's in love with me."
I stared at Emmett's pale face and dark eyes, my heart pattering. "Perhaps," I said.
"You mortals will need a boat." Emmett waved his hands wildly.
Sam shook his head. "There's a moon buggy."
"Let me help!" I said.
"No, I must protect my protégée! Sam—you've inspired me to fight! I'll take on the Bellum! You mortals can escape in the moon buggy!" said Emmett.
"Moon buggies don't float," I informed him.
"Oh—it sounds like something that would float. Perhaps with enough spectricity—anyway, if we could simply ascertain how he changes things—" said Emmett.
"Fight me!" said the Bellum, in his creepy voice that held a thousand whispers and echoes.
"I know how he does it." I shouted. "Bellum's changed this place. Reality is flexible here, if you know how. It took a massive quantity of spectricity, too. The whole place was completely dry, earlier." I took a deep breath. "I'm going to get you all out. Emmett, take my hand. Everybody grab on."
"What? How?" Emmett fizzed around madly in circles, panicking as the Bellum swung his staff. It penetrated our circle this time, and we all ducked. "Please—what are you going to do?"
"Just watch," I said. There was one thing we needed, but could I create it? I was going to try. I raised my hands high, concentrated on the image in my mind: a portal to the spirit world.
Chapter Ten
The All
I held my hands to my temples, concentrating. I could do this! I had to, for Emmett, for us all to escape unharmed.
I experimented with the air currents, whirling my arms. I imagined in my mind's eye the portal I wanted to create.
The séance's effects were fading. Oskar and Trenton huddled on the couch cushions below me, along with Sam and Lily, the bat-Chi's, and unconscious Bruce.
Emmett watched me work, forming small whirlwinds of air. The Bellum struck out again with his staff and penetrated our circle. He smiled, showing his long, thin teeth.
"Aether," he said.
For the first time, we could hear him! The séance really was wearing off. And he was calling my spirit name!
My arms shook with the effort, but I didn't heed Bellum's summons. The séance had not quite faded . . .
"Everybody hold hands!" I shouted. To Emmett, I said, "You're coming with us!" I gripped his hand tightly.
Bellum opened his mouth to call me again.
"Spirit passage from one world to the next!" I shouted in my loudest voice. "The gray tunnel! The gyre between realms!"
A brilliant glow grew over our heads, making us shade our eyes. The air around us snapped with energy. A whirling crackle became a large gray funnel. I invoked the portal with every word I knew.
"The connection! The bridge! The cross over! The door to the spirit realm! The spirit portal!" I shouted at top volume.
Wind whipped at our hair. The funnel expanded, taking up half the living room space, its suction pulling on everyone's clothes and hair.
I tensed for the jump, holding onto Emmett's hand.
"Everybody go!" I said, struggling to keep it whirling with one hand. It edged out, grew even larger. How big was this thing going to get?
"Oskar!" yelled Trenton. "Hold onto Emmett!"
All the mortals struggled for a grip on each other as the portal raged in furious motion above them. Bellum swung his staff and the portal sucked it from his grip.
Scowling, Bellum boomed in his loudest voice, "Aether of Esperance! I sum—"
His words died in an explosion of light and sound that shook the double-wide's foundation. A rip of blinding light tore open the center of the room. My feet lifted off the ground and I was swept into the portal's furls, drawing Emmett and a line of mortals after me. I could only try to navigate now. There was no hope of exit.
Below us, I saw Oskar lose his grip. He grappled in panic and latched onto Emmett's completely solid foot. The portal spun wildly, enveloping everything I could see, rampaging out of control.
The ruined double-wide reverberated with a thunderclap, like the largest rubber band of all time breaking. Four of us hurtled into the rip of light. Me, then Emmett, then Oskar holding fast to Emmett's boot, and finally Trenton, clinging to Oskar's hand. I strained to see the others, but could not. The four of us spun together, a tangled mass of humans and spirit, up into the light.
I cracked my eyes open. White, nothing but white. For a second, I believed I'd gone blind. I sat up, rubbing my eyes until my sight cleared.
Oskar groaned next to me, shifting his arms and legs. Trenton lay still, clutching Oskar's hand in his.
I caught a flash of black above us: Emmett, floating in the white nothing above.
"Where are we?" I croaked.
"Mortals!" Emmett flapped like an old, holey curtain. "What in the name of the All are you doing here?"
My body ached all over, now that I could feel it. I said, "We're here?"
Slurring his words, Oskar said, "I don't feel here, if you want my opinion." He pushed at Trenton to rouse him. Trenton's eyes popped o
pen. He gasped in and out, like a stunned fish.
"Ugh," moaned Trenton. "We're all here because we're not all there." He laughed in a sickly way that ended in a cough.
"Great All! That's brilliant!" said Emmett. "Tense, you're quite the wiz with words!" He whirled and drifted off, muttering to himself, "Genius! Excellent! Such perspicacity!"
Trenton dragged himself up, bemused. "He must have missed the sixties. I wonder if he knows 'god' spelled backward is 'dog'?"
"Why did he call you 'Tense'?" asked Oskar.
"It's my spirit name," said Trenton. "I just know. Don't ask me how."
"And I'm Oz," said Oskar.
They regarded each other.
"It must be because we're in the spirit world," said Oskar. "Trenton, Heather, I hate to bring this up, but why are we here?"
I scanned the horizon. White clouds stretched off in every direction. We lay on a flat, white plain. Above and below us, nothing but clouds.
"The portal swept us into the spirit world," I said. "But where in the spirit world?"
"Water, water, everywhere. And not a drop to drink," said Oskar. I squinted when the clouds washed up and down. Like water.
"Those are clouds, not water," said Trenton.
"Ha! Technicalities," said Emmett, swooping down from nowhere.
I tried messaging Sam. He must be back in the double-wide, with Lily and the bat-Chi's, facing the Bellum. I shivered, thinking how he said he wanted to fight. He'd get his wish. Every message I sent fell flat and dead.
"I can't reach Sam," I said.
"Let me try." Emmett called Sam's name three times. Only silence answered. "Where is he? We should be able to reach him from any level, with our combined power. Unless . . ." Emmett gaped, then faded in and out, gritting his teeth.
"What? What is it?" we all asked.
"Mortals, we might be in the Lexiverse," said Emmett, going transparent.
"Okay," I said to Emmett's quivering outline. "No reason to panic. Just explain."
"What's the Lexiverse?" asked Oskar.
"Since I discovered the thing last Thursday, I don't really know," said Emmett. "Suffice it to say, there are small dimensions scattered all over the spirit world. Pockets of broken up bits of universes. The Lexiverse is one of those—based on words."
"What?" Trenton made a skeptical face. "Like a big word will walk up to us and start talking?"
"More like a realm of pure meaning," said Emmett. He floated up and raised his finger to lecture us. Behind him, a cloud bank piled higher and higher, like a giant white ice cream cone. "Words harness the meaning. But my own ability to manipulate it is sadly limited.
Trenton gave Oskar a wicked grin, and Oskar smiled fondly back.
"Oz, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Trenton.
"Yes, Tense, I am," said Oskar. "Between the two of us, we can handle this place." Grabbing Trenton's hand, he held it high. "Oz and Tense will claim this Lexiverse as their own!"
"Crux, yeah!" Trenton pumped his fist in the air.
"All help us," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Pleading to the All does not help," said Emmett. "If they think they can manage it, they must try! I can get almost nothing to manifest here. It is rumored to be the realm of the Bellum."
"Show us," said Oskar. "I might know what you're doing wrong."
Emmett said, "Words manifest reality here. So, I summon thrice: Samhain d'Espers, Samhain d'Espers, Samhain d'Espers."
Clouds roiled on the horizon, but nothing else changed.
Emmett's shoulders slumped. "It works everywhere else in the spirit world."
"When you pontificated before," said Oskar, "Clouds mounded up behind you."
"Really?" Emmett whirled. "Why should that be?"
Behind him, cloud mounds were melting back into the cloud plain. Emmett scratched the stark part in his hair.
Oskar stood to his full height, looking handsome and debonair as he planted his feet firmly on the clouds. His coat whipped around him in a sudden gust of air, and his auburn hair blew back. He said, very clearly, "Emmett's tuning fork appeared before us in the Lexiverse."
A cloud drew up from the plain, vaguely shaped like a staff. A thrill ran up my spine—it worked!
"How?" Emmett was baffled.
"I can do better!" Oskar held his hands aloft. "Give me the name of that giant, two-pronged thing Emmett carries around."
The clouds twisted and reformed, taking shape. The staff this time had two prongs, but remained amorphous, fuzzy, like it might disintegrate with the lightest puff of air.
"It's working!" I said with glee. This was like in the double-wide, when I created the portal that brought us here. Reality could be morphed with a word, a thought, an incantation.
"Quick!" said Oskar. "What's it called?"
"Oh!" said Emmett. "Ah! Ahem." He held his hands up, with much dignity. Then he let them drop to his sides. "I can't remember."
"Come on, Emmett!" said Trenton. "This is no time to flake out. Sam and Lily need us!"
Emmett cleared his throat and furrowed his brow, releasing a sound like a thousand rusty-hinged doors slamming shut.
"Not a Sordid Sound!" said Oskar. "The name!"
"The name," said Emmett, "Of that particular object is . . . it's . . . on the tip of my brain . . ."
"Come on, Emmett!" said Trenton and Oskar together. "You can remember!"
Emmett frowned furiously.
I made prayer hands. Come on, come on, Emmett.
"Yes!" said Emmett. "Yes! Perhaps I can. The name of that thing is . . . " There was a long pause. We mortals held our breath.
"No, I can't," said Emmett.
The clouds forming the staff shape slipped back into the flat plain. Oskar groaned.
"He's hopeless," said Trenton.
We stood around, kicking clouds in disappointment, until a wide grin spread across Oskar's face.
"Great All! I've got it! Check this out," said Oskar. He began to narrate. "Then Emmett got a giant burst of memory, assisted by his friends, Trenton and Oskar and Heather, and he remembered the name of his weird, two-pronged implement."
Trenton's mouth fell open in amazement, while Oskar leaned back and basked in the glow of his own cleverness.
"That's brilliant!" I said.
A golden glow lifted from our bodies, drifted through the air, and settled on Emmett's ectoplasm. Emmett lifted up, immediately altered and bathed in golden light. His confused brow cleared and his black eyes opened wide.
"I remember!" he shouted. "How could I have forgotten that? It's called a bident. It's a traditional tool of demons. I took it from Plouton, when we had to invade his realm that time." He scrutinized the clouded plain. "Heavens! I've been here before."
"Aha! Emmett's largest bident appeared before us in the Lexiverse," said Oskar, his smile smug and very handsome. Trenton cheered.
The clouds once again piled up, shaping, refining, taking on color and detail. We all waited, breathless, to see what would emerge.
Balanced on its tip in the clouds, the silver bident spun, each prong twisted on the end, like the horns of a bull. Emmett cruised down to it, waving clouds and mist away. He took the tool and brandished it over his head.
Trenton and Oskar hugged each other and cheered. Emmett sped upward, the bident held before him, like some sky Neptune, until he was only a black mote in the white expanse above.
"Where's he going?" I shaded my eyes, watching him. "At least now, you two have this Lexiverse thing under control."
"Completely!" said Oskar. Trenton gave me a thumbs up.
"Now we can locate Sam and Lily," I said.
"Of course. Let us just try this one thing," said Trenton.
"Let's make sure we know what we're doing," said Oskar.
Half an hour later, Oskar and Trenton were having a marvelous time while I worried about Sam and Lily's fate. They'd designed themselves a lovely summer home, had a rousing fight with a multi-headed dragon, and now, they were bo
arding a ship—christened the OzTense—to ferry them to a distant cloud island. Oskar, in pirate gear, shouted to Trenton, wearing a ninja costume, to "weight the anchor."
Trenton crossed his arms as the anchor plummeted headlong into the cloud sea. "Do you have a good grasp of nautical terms?"
Oskar grimaced. "Sadly, no. We can probably get around it if I recite poetry."
Trenton's face lit up. "Do some more Coleridge!"
Oskar balanced on the bow of the ship, hands clasped behind his back. He shut his eyes and spread his arms wide. "Oz and Tense went to sea, in a period Lexiverse boat. They took ruminations and much imagination, wrapped in an anchor that floats."
"I don't know what that was, but it worked," said Trenton. The anchor had risen to the surface and he had to grab hold of the rigging, so quickly did the ship move across the sea.
"It wasn't Coleridge. Let's call it efficacious, and never mention it again," shouted Oskar over the roar of the wind.
I stood on the cloud shore, watching them sail swiftly away.
"We'll find Sam and Lily!" Trenton called back.
"We'll pinpoint our location!" promised Oskar.
"For the love of All!" I shouted. "Get back here!" The Lexiverse's power had surely gone to their heads.
"It's not as easy to control as they thought," I said. I tried again to get a message to Sam, but it fell dead, like all the messages I'd sent from here.
I was so worried. Did Sam and Lily get flung up here with us? Were they still in the mortal junkyard, facing off against the Bellum, with only bat-Chi's for protection? I leaned against a cloud bank, my head in my hands. Why, in the space of these two worlds, did Sam always manage to be somewhere I could not reach him?
On the pearly horizon, I glimpsed the OzTense ship docking on a cloud island in the center of the cloud sea.
"Left us in the lurch," I said.
"I can get them if you like," said Emmett, bobbing down next to me. He speared his bident into the clouds.
"Emmett! You're back! Where did you go?" I said. He looked mussed, blown about by the flying. Funny. In Dead Town, he told me he was afraid to fly.
Portals Heather Page 8
