Take Me To Your Reader: An Otherworld Anthology

by Amy A. Bartol

  Beneath me, Travis laughed. "It worked," he said.

  "You thought it might not?" I asked, getting to my feet. He hopped to his feet and then out of the cartoon hole. He reached down for me and hoisted me up.

  "I hoped," he said. He looked up at the sky, a weird green and white blinking light rose higher and higher into the clouds before it straight up disappeared.

  "Where did it go?" I asked.

  "They reached the county line," he said. "Their Jedi only worked that far. Anyone else would be able to see what just happened, so they had to use the invisibility by the time they hit the county limits."

  "Travis, does this mean . . . Can you not go home now?" I asked, realizing what he'd offered me.

  He shrugged his shoulders, naturally. "There was not much for me to go home to," he said. "I have a friend here. Right?"

  He reached for a fist bump, but I bear-hugged him. "Right," I said.

  We walked back to Maple Street slowly. Travis had some minor burns. I'd fallen ten thousand feet. We were a little beat up.

  When we got to the cul-de-sac, the house at the end of the street was now just a giant hole in the ground with a fence leading up to it. Abandoned cars still lined the streets.

  "What are people going to think?" I asked him.

  "That they were invaded by aliens," he said, his face sober.

  "Really?" I asked, shock and surprise and a weird amount of relief overcoming me.

  He laughed. "Nope! But it was funny to see you think that's the case. You'll still be alone in what you know."

  I shrugged this time. "Not alone, man. I've got a friend."

  And so, you can still hear the screams. It's weird, and who knows how long it will last, but these weird electronic alien noises mixed with people-screams still echo right when you get to the county line.

  Am I traumatized? Yes. Sure. Can I believe it even happened? Pretty much no. Do I wake up every morning with the sinking feeling that it was only the beginning? You bet I do.

  But do I have someone to sit with at lunch every day, who, using his Jedi mind powers, is sometimes pretty good at getting nice girls to sit with us?

  Yeah, I do.

  And all it took for that miracle to occur was the total alien invasion and eventual desolation of the house on Maple Street.

  The Force

  By Heather Hildenbrand

  For information on other titles

  Visit the author's website: http://heatherhildenbrand.blogspot.com/

  Chapter One

  My cheek slipped sideways from my arm to the bare mattress, jarring me awake. I looked down and grimaced at the pool of saliva that coated my skin. Did all humans drool in their sleep or was it exclusive to the male body I'd been issued? Gross.

  I pushed myself onto my elbows and surveyed my surroundings. My eyes closed and opened again slowly. Maybe if I blinked enough, it would look different. It didn't. The suite we'd booked was trashed.

  The bedroom floor was covered in a pile of sheets and blankets where I'd thrown them aside in my unconscious state. From my view through the open door, the common area looked worse. The couch was overturned, the curtains ripped from the rod, and the sliding door that led onto the balcony hung open. Cartons of takeout littered the beige carpet. Several of them were tipped on their side, noodles and chopsticks spilling out. Discarded clothing—jeans and a T-shirt that I remembered seeing on Dieben last night—left a trail from the balcony door to the second bedroom at the other end of the suite. The door was closed. I assumed he must still be passed out. I looked around once more and found my room empty of any other occupants. Bone must be in with Dieben.

  I sat up, trying to piece together the previous night's events or how I'd ended up in this bed wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, but the details were lost. My head pounded with every movement. I slowed, carefully positioning my legs while pressing my palm against the thudding in my skull. This body didn't handle hangovers very well. Hopefully Dieben and Bone were better off.

  Time to wake them and find out.

  I made it three steps when my communicator beeped. Why did mothers always have the worst timing? A sixth sense, definitely. I hit the button and an image of her face projected itself outward, hovering three inches above the handheld device. On her end, an image of my face did the same.

  "Hi, Mother," I said, running a hand through my hair at the last second. I couldn't even remember what my features looked like. Hopefully everything seemed normal in my expression. It was hard to hold a poker face when the face didn't belong to me to begin with.

  "Hello, Axel." She gave me a tight smile, her smooth skin creasing at the edges of her mouth. It was strange to me how human-like our appearance seemed when our behavior was so different.

  "Is everything okay?" I asked.

  "Of course, I just wanted to say hello. How is your Rumschpringe experience?"

  Rumschpringe. A one-week vacation where we could get away and not answer to anyone. A time to let loose before we went home and took up the life of a responsible adult of Panmera. During my time here, I'd learned the humans had something similar, called spring break.

  Panmerans could choose any planet we wanted for Rumschpringe, but my best friend, Bone, and I had chosen Earth as sort of a personal challenge. It was the planet with the largest number of deserters. Our kind came for Rumschpringe and never went home. In our world, they called it the Force. The invisible thing that sucked us in. Made us willingly give up a home filled with higher technology, fewer diseases, and longer life spans. For … this. Earth. Being human. And every imperfection that came with it. No one knew what the Force was. Anyone who truly experienced it never returned to explain.

  Deserters were considered the lowest of the low. Worse than criminals, not that we had many of those. Deserters were traitors. Even if they ever did try to return, Panmeran society wouldn't have let them. Only in death … and even then, it'd been luck more than anything that had brought my older brother Colryn's body home to its final resting place last year.

  I wanted to show them all I was strong enough to resist the Force. I'd spent six days here, enjoying myself in the barbaric way only humans could, by over-indulging on food, drink, and whatever else this planet had to offer an eighteen year-old alien stuck in a human male's body, and soon I'd return home. Willingly. In one piece. With my friends. Nothing resembling a Force had shown itself thus far.

  Even if it did, I would face it. I'd planned for this all year. When my tutor had asked which planet I chose for Rumschpringe, I'd answered "Earth" without hesitation. Because more than anything, I wanted to understand and actively resist the invisible Force that took more and more of our people each year. For peace of mind. For my parents. For Colryn.

  It would help if I could remember what had happened last night.

  The hologram flickered. My mother awaited an answer. Humans were obviously prone to daydreaming. "I'm having a great time," I assured her. At least, I thought I was.

  "And the others? They are faring just as well?"

  "Bone and Dieben are having a blast."

  She frowned. "What is a blast?"

  "It means 'a good time,'" I explained. "It's just something I picked up from my host."

  "I see," she said, although her confused expression said otherwise. My mother had never inhabited a human host. I didn't expect her to understand.

  "They're waiting for me in the other room. I have to go, Mom."

  Her mouth tightened. I knew she wanted to ask me about what we were doing, but she didn't. And she wouldn't. It was against the rules. Thank goodness, since I didn't have an answer anyway. Human brains were a lot weaker than I'd expected. Why the heck couldn't I remember anything?

  "I'm glad you've enjoyed yourself this past week. Your father is making preparations for your return. I'll contact you tonight with the pickup location," she said. "Be well, Axel."

  "Be well, Mother," I returned. The hologram flickered and disappeared. I pocketed my communicator and went
in search of my friends.

  I stepped over a chair with two broken legs and zig-zagged around half a dozen overturned cartons of noodles as I crossed the common area. At Dieben's bedroom door, I turned the knob but nothing happened. I pushed harder and it gave a couple of inches then stopped.

  "Dieben?" I called. No answer.

  I shoved hard, putting my shoulder into it, and was rewarded when it gave, slowly, as something heavy on the other end slid aside. I entered and found a small writing desk overturned on the floor near the door.

  "Dieben?" I called again.

  I couldn't tell if it was a sleeping body underneath the mound of blankets lying in the center of the bed or just a balled-up sheet. I went over and poked it and it shot up. "Wha …?" Dieben blinked and looked around, his almond eyes scanning the room before landing on me. His dark eyebrows crinkled. "Axel?"

  "This is me."

  "Ugh. These bodies are weird. I can't tell them apart." He shoved the blankets aside and climbed out of bed, almost tripping when his foot caught on the edge of the sheet. "How long were we unconscious?"

  "They call it sleeping."

  "Whatever," he grumbled. Dieben was always grumpy in the mornings. His temperament didn't improve much in the afternoons or evenings, either. I tried to ignore it when I could. The only reason I'd brought him was for the numbers. Rumschpringe was always spent as a trio. We'd needed a third.

  "Where's Bone?" I asked.

  Dieben shrugged. "How do I know? I was sleeping."

  I frowned, ignoring Dieben's sarcasm. It was against the rules to go out alone and Bone didn't have the smoothest host body to work with. His human was clumsy and awkward. So was Bone.

  I tried using my communicator to call him, only to remember Bone had dropped his in the pool days ago and it shorted out. I tried instead on my cellular phone. We'd each purchased one when Bone's communicator had stopped working. There was a long pause and then, without ringing, his voicemail came over the line. I hung up. "He must've stepped out," I said, worry making my forehead crease. "We need to go look for him."

  "Why would he leave? He knows better. Did you check the bathroom? The balcony?" Dieben took a step toward the door.

  "Uh …"

  I didn't have time to mention the mess in the common area before Dieben caught sight of it. He stopped and stared around the room before regarding me with wide eyes. "What the hell, Axel?"

  "It was like this when I woke up. Do you remember anything about last night?"

  Dieben cocked his head to one side in thought and then shook his head. "No," he said finally. "Why? Did I do something to Bone? Lock him out or something? If I did, it was just a joke …"

  "No, I mean, maybe. I don't know. I can't remember anything either."

  We shared a look. The limitations on the human brain were frustrating. And my alarm was growing. Number one rule of Rumschpringe: stay together. If anyone found out I'd lost my best friend, I'd be better off deserting than returning home.

  We dressed quickly, Dieben forgoing his usual half hour in front of the mirror in favor of a quick hand-smoothing over his ruffled hair. Our true bodies had manes of hair twice as thick as our current hosts. Maybe Dieben had deemed this one manageable. Or maybe he actually gave a shit about Bone. You never could tell with Dieben.

  The hall outside our suite was empty. I tried not to let the disappointment get to me. I'd half hoped Dieben's assumption had been correct, that Bone had just been locked outside as a practical joke, a habit Dieben excelled at. But he wasn't there, nor was he in the lobby when we arrived downstairs.

  I waited while Dieben asked the front desk clerk for information. Females responded better to him, in either form. Something that always grated on me, mostly because of the way Dieben lapped it up and brushed them off when he was done. "Rude" was a trait he'd made intergalactic. While they chatted, I tried calling Bone again. Straight to voicemail. His phone was off.

  "He has bright red hair, freckles on his face, skinny legs," Dieben said, describing Bone to a pink-cheeked young woman with too much paint on her eyes.

  "I saw him leave with you last night," she said, smiling up at Dieben through her clumped lashes. "But not this morning when you came in."

  We got back this morning?

  Dieben ran a hand through his hair and the girl giggled. I rolled my eyes—this body's most common reaction to my self-absorbed friend.

  "Did we happen to say where we were going?" I asked her.

  She blinked, appearing to notice me for the first time. "No, sorry," she said, directing her answer at Dieben. She looked genuinely disappointed that she couldn't help. Dieben thanked her and turned away.

  "What now?" he asked.

  I felt the girl's eyes on us as we walked. Dieben either didn't notice or didn't care. "I don't know." I huffed out a breath and looked around, hoping for some idea or direction.

  "Hey, what's that?"

  "What?"

  Dieben pointed at the left side of my pants. "That."

  I looked down. Something metal protruded from my pocket. I pulled it out and turned it over in my hand, inspecting it.

  "What is it?" Dieben asked.

  I probed my host's mind for the answer. It took a moment, but I found it. "It's a ten-millimeter wrench."

  "Why do you have it?"

  "No idea." We stared at each other, both searching for memories that wouldn't surface. "Ugh. It must have something to do with last night. These are the same pants …"

  "What does it do?"

  "It's a tool. It … opens things." I cocked my head. "Your host doesn't know this?"

  He shrugged. "They say you're given an appropriate match. I think this guy was more of a people person than a tool."

  Something in my host's brain found that funny. I smirked as the joke dawned on me. "For once, the match was off," I said.

  "Huh?"

  "Nothing. Check your pockets. Maybe there's something else."

  We both stuffed our hands into our pockets. My left hand closed around something small and hard. I pulled it out and held it up. "A bolt," I said, examining it. "You?"

  Dieben squinted at a small scrap of paper in his hands. "A phone number. Score."

  "Does it have a name or anything else?" I asked.

  "Jane. Huh. This guy thinks she sounds plain," he said, tapping his finger against his temple.

  Dieben's reference grated on me. I didn't particularly enjoy the way we invaded our host, mind and body, and then detached ourselves so suddenly upon exiting that our humans were left with short-term amnesia along with various other side effects. Panmerans, as a rule, didn't concern themselves with the damage we caused. The attitude was that since we didn't kill our hosts, we weren't wrong. My opinion on the matter felt a little grayer, though I'd never say so.

  Still it was a shame Dieben's host didn't offer him an extra set of manners. I resisted the urge to hit Dieben—and his host. "Can I see it?" I snatched the paper when he held it out and sure enough, the name Jane and a seven-digit number were handwritten on one side. I turned it over. On the backside were several words printed in red, block letters. "Egg drop soup, four ninety-five," I read. I looked at Dieben. "It's part of a menu. A place called The Golden Noo."

  "Golden Noo?"

  "I can't read the rest of the word. Noo is short for something."

  "Noo…" Dieben muttered, clearly at a loss.

  Using both my host and my own knowledge database, I searched for possible words that began with Noo. "Something with food," I said. I stared at the piece of paper in my hand.

  When nothing came to mind, my thoughts wandered back to the mess in our suite upstairs. Would they list something like that on our check-out statement? We'd have to clean it up so my parents didn't hear about it. And all those cartons of food … "Noodles!" I said.

  "Noodles?" Dieben repeated.

  I looked back at the menu, read the full name aloud. "The Golden Noodle. That's the place. We must've been there at some point last night. Co
me on, we'll start there."

  I pocketed the wrench and bolt and headed for the door with Dieben close behind. A uniformed man with gray hair sticking out from underneath his navy blue cap nodded and held the door for us as we exited. I made it as far as the edge of the sidewalk, pedestrians parting around us as they passed, before jogging back to the man whose only purpose seemed to be to open and close a door all day. "Sir, can you tell me where The Golden Noodle is?"

  "That Chinese place? Hang a left at the corner. It's about two blocks down. Right next to the vet's office." He chuckled. "Gets me every time."

  "Thanks," I told him and motioned for Dieben to follow as I walked in the direction the man had pointed.

  Progress was slow. The streets were crowded and the machines—cars—on the pavement just beyond didn't stop for anything. A heavy woman with a small, furry animal sticking out of her bag shoved me aside as she hustled past.

  "Do you think he's there?" Dieben asked.

  "I don't know, but it's the only place I can think of to look," I said.

  Dieben's communicator beeped.

  "What's that?" I asked.

  He read the screen and then pocketed the handheld device. "A message. The shuttle home has been scheduled."

  Worry for Bone spiked. I needed to find him, before anyone knew he was missing. Before something bad happened. Bone wasn't good in new places. He wasn't even that good in familiar places most of the time. He'd only come to Earth because of me. Because he knew I'd wanted to meet the challenge it represented to our kind, and to me. If something happened to him, it would be my fault.

  We made the left, sticking close on the heels of the two men in front of us, trusting the machines to remain stopped while the little white light signaled it was okay to cross the street. At the next block, I craned my neck over the heads of those in front of us, trying to see the place advertised on Dieben's scrap of menu.

  "Do you see it?" Dieben asked.

  "Not yet. Come on."

  A yellow sign with the words "Golden Noodle" typeset in bold red letters floated into view above the heads of the couple in front of us. I skirted around them and perched on the edge of the curb with Dieben beside me.