by Abby Smith
“Yeah, I guess I’m not sure I can do this. In fact, I may be pretty sure I can’t do this,” I replied with a nervous laugh. Professor Theopolous harumphed and folded his arms across his chest.
“That’s why we’re going to cheat,” Vala said. “I can’t release you from having to go through the trial, but I can give you helpers.”
As if on cue, Bob appeared, leading the alpacas. The alpacas, with small day packs made from the same material as their funeral outfits draped across their backs, picked their way across the lawn delicately. I wasn’t sure what the packs were for—presumably nothing too heavy since alpacas aren’t normally pack animals.
Vala held out a hand, and Suzy approached it, sniffed it delicately, then hummed softly. “Each alpaca knows the way through one of the secret dimensions. They can’t get through the Gateways between them without you, but they should be able to lead you to them.
“Pettikin.” Pettikin’s weight shifted on my shoulders. “I also have a job for you. Once you are in the initial dimensions, I need you to translate what the alpacas are saying for Allie.”
I looked up at Pettikin, surprised.
“You can understand what the alpacas are saying?”
Pettikin sounded almost horrified.
“You can’t?”
“She can’t, so it would be very useful if you would help her to understand. I also need you to guide her once you’re on the other side of the secret dimensions in the higher worlds, and to help her adjust to some of the complexities of interdimensional travel. Keep her grounded so we don’t lose her. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” Pettikin said immediately. “I will help her. I promise, Guardian. I won’t fail you.”
I made a mental note that this was probably the way I was supposed to be addressing Vala. No wonder Professor Theopolous and Mrs. Widgit were always so appalled by my behavior.
Vala took a few steps toward me and spoke so softly that I wondered if anyone else could hear. “And I will help you, Allie. Since you don’t have enough power yet to open and enter the dimensions, I am going to have to hold them open for you while you’re on this journey. It’s hard to explain how it’s done, but I won’t be able to go with you physically and do that at the same time. But just know that, even if I’m not there physically, I am always with you, and if you need my help I will help you.”
For a long time Vala looked into my eyes and then lowered his gaze. When he raised his head again, his eyes were faceted jewels that flashed in the sun.
“It’s time for me to initiate you.”
12
Everything was happening so fast, I didn’t have enough time to think things through. Actually, I wouldn’t even know how to think them through since I basically had no idea what was going on.
“Pettikin,” Vala gestured toward the ground a few feet away from me. “Stand here just for a second, I’ll do you next.”
Pettikin zipped from my shoulders and stood in the spot Vala indicated.
Golden and white light radiated out from Vala, swirling down and around his body. I could feel him from where I was standing—a wall of warmth and light, a silent presence.
“Come,” he said, smiling sweetly and holding out one hand.
I froze like a baby rabbit, heart pounding. Why was I so afraid?
“It’s OK, it’s OK!” He beckoned me forward with his outstretched fingers.
Somehow, I put one foot in front of the other until I was standing right in front him.
“Bye bye,” he said, putting the palm of his hand on my forehead and closing his eyes.
I closed my eyes and felt … nothing.
The best nothing I had ever felt. The fear I was feeling just seconds before was gone. Everything inside of me—thoughts, emotions, breathing, heartbeat suddenly became absolutely still. I waited for something to happen.
“Excellent,” Vala said, lifting his hand and stepping back.
I opened my eyes. That was it?
And then I gasped.
White and blue light surrounded Andie, Dad and Professor Theopolous, like a soft haze. Bewildered, I spun around. Pettikin was a little orb of sunshine standing on the ground.
“What the…” I took a few steps back. The trees were glowing. Soft blobs of white light floated through the air between them, bouncing off one another like soap bubbles. In the sky, flashes of white light would appear out of nowhere and then disappear, like beams from unseen lighthouses. The ground was a maze of glowing interconnected lines stretching out to the horizon.
“Whoa.” I eased myself down to the ground, worried that I might faint.
Andie rushed over. “What’s wrong? Is she OK?”
“She’s fine. I just opened her eyes a little bit more than she’s used to.” Vala watched me, smiling.
My mind seemed to be adjusting to its new state, so it didn’t feel quite so overwhelming. As the initial effect faded, everything returned more or less to the way it was before, just a little brighter and more alive. If I focused my mind, I could still see the blobs of light in the sky and, also, the light around all of my friends, but if I relaxed my focus and just thought about everyday things, I didn’t notice it so much.
Andie pulled me up to my feet.
“Things look a little different?” Vala asked.
I nodded, not sure what I should say.
“OK, the first part’s done then.”
“First part?” There was more?
“All I did so far was give you enough power to be able to see and enter other dimensions. I still have to give you the keys to the secret dimensions around Earth. Otherwise, you won’t be able to find your way through them any more than anyone else here can.”
“OK,” I said again and waited for him to hand me the keys.
Vala gave me a funny look, and Dad chuckled softly behind me. Professor Theopolous covered his eyes with one hand.
“I should probably explain that I’m using the word keys metaphorically,” Vala said. “They’re not physical keys like keys to your house or something. They’re internal.”
“Oh,” I wondered how much redder it was possible for my face to get.
Vala took a couple steps toward me. He held one hand up to the height of his shoulder, then looked at me apologetically.
“I have to touch you again, is that OK?”
“Uh, sure…” Since he had already touched me twice, I wasn’t sure why he was asking this time.
He didn’t look into my eyes as he bent his fingers and pressed the heel of his palm to my stomach, just a little below my navel.
Ah. Yeah. So that was weird. I tried not to flinch instinctively. He still didn’t look in my eyes as he very quickly moved his palm to the center of my chest, being incredibly cautious about where he placed it. I tried to pretend I was completely at ease with this, and definitely not hyper aware of exactly where his hand was, or the fact that my dad was watching. Again it seemed he waited only as long as necessary before he quickly moved his palm to the center of my forehead. That at least was starting to seem normal. His hand felt warm. I closed my eyes and golden light stretched in front of me for as far as I could see.
Vala dropped his hand, and I opened my eyes. The whole process only took a few seconds.
I almost laughed at the expression on Andie’s face, which said, what the heck was that?
“Three keys, three dimensions,” he said. “That’s how many you have to navigate through to get to the other side.”
“But, I mean, I don’t get it. What exactly are the keys, and how do I use them?”
“You have to figure that out yourself,” Vala said, “It’s part of becoming a Gatekeeper.” Pettikin sat in the grass a few feet away petting a sparrow that had hopped up next to him. Vala knelt down next to him and touched his forehead without nearly the ceremony he had needed with me. Even without concentrating, I could see the light inside of Pettikin shine out more brightly.
Socrates came bounding up, startling both the sparrow, who f
lew away, and the alpacas, who bounced up and down like popcorn kernels, honking their annoyance. Bob tried to calm them as Mrs. Widgit hurried toward us carrying two large grocery bags, both stuffed to capacity, and three rolls of paper tucked under her arm.
“Sorry it took me so long,” she called out, plopping the bags and paper rolls down near the alpacas, a little out of breath. She put both hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. “You look good, Allie!”
“I do?” It hadn’t occurred to me that I would look any different. I glanced over at Andie for confirmation.
“You look…brighter, or something,” Andie said, “I don’t really know how to describe it.”
“Oh.” I guess the Pettikin effect also happened to people.
“Well, let’s pack up the alpacas then!” Mrs. Widgit said. I peeked inside the grocery bags. They were filled with dozens of smaller bags of cookies.
Bob undid the first pack on Suzy’s back and held it open while Mrs. Widgit hummed and arranged several bags of cookies in it. “Next!” she called out, and they proceeded to the other side and then the next alpaca, until each one’s carrying packs were filled with cookies.
“That’s it?” I asked. “Just cookies? No water bottle or anything?”
Mrs. Widgit looked at me like I was deranged. “I hardly think you’ll need one,” she replied.
“But I need six day packs full of cookies?”
“Is six enough Theo?” Mrs. Widgit actually seemed to be considering this. “I thought it seemed like plenty but it has been awhile since I’ve done this.”
“Six should suffice, as long as she follows Vala’s instructions and doesn’t do anything stupid or get completely lost, which of course we can’t know for sure.”
Andie grabbed two fistfuls of hair on either side of her head, “Oh my God, how is that even helpful?”
“I was merely answering a question and not, in this instance, trying to be particularly helpful.”
“Seriously, Theo,” Dad broke in. “Maybe not the best time.”
“Where do you want me to put your maps?” Mrs. Widgit asked him, holding up the rolls of paper she had brought down.
The two of them argued about this and finally settled on unrolling the maps, folding them, and putting one map in each alpaca’s day pack. Vala stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of the old beech trees again, striding purposefully this time, not meandering. A couple of times he paused and gazed into the woods or up at the sky, his eyes narrow, as if he were watching or listening to something. Finally, he stopped in front of the two trees.
“Are you ready?”
A rush of adrenaline made me light-headed, and my heart started pounding. My brain dredged up a memory of my biology teacher explaining that this was your body’s way of preparing itself for death. Pettikin raced over to me and climbed up to my shoulder.
“OK, everyone who’s going through the Gateway, stand over here.” Vala pointed to a spot next to him. “That would be Allie, Pettikin and the alpacas,” he clarified when I didn’t move.
Pettikin pulled on a lock of my hair, and I moved forward to the spot Vala indicated. Bob led the alpacas over to me and handed me their leads. “Good luck Allie,” he mumbled.
Taos hummed and pressed his nose against my cheek. I patted the poof of curls on his head. My hands were shaking.
“Andie.”
Andie startled when Vala called her name.
“I understand you had a run-in with Mr. Cutter here the other night?”
“Oh, uh, yeah...” Andie said carefully, as if she were trying to determine how much she should admit to or whether she was in Big Trouble.
“I have to keep the Nexus Gateway open for Allie while she’s in the other dimensions, since she’s not strong enough yet. To do that I have to take a form in this dimension that limits what I can do here. If I get too distracted, Allie could get lost in the void.”
“I could what, now?” I asked.
Vala ignored me. “The Gateway will also be vulnerable because I’m holding it open. We don’t want anyone or anything else to get through it, so I need you to be on the lookout for Mr. Cutter, and if you see him, do whatever you need to do to keep him away from the Gateway.” He gave her a significant look. “Do you think you can you do that?”
“Yes.” Andie said, although she appeared to be wondering exactly how much Vala knew about her previous encounter with Mr. Cutter.
“Dan, Theo, Viola—”
“Of course Vala,” Dad answered before Vala could finish. “We’ll help Andie keep everyone and everything away from the Gateway until Allie returns.”
“Well then,” Vala said, “this should be interesting.”
He faced the two beech trees, closed his eyes and rubbed his palms together. Then he held his arms up and out at angle, palms forward. White light shot out from his hands, and he started growing taller. His physical form dissolved into a solid mass of golden and white light. He kept growing until he became a luminous, ghost-like figure, like the one on the book we had read last night, almost as tall as the trees themselves.
I have got to start rethinking my relationship choices, I thought.
In his new form, Vala touched first one beech tree, then the other with a ghostly, arm-like appendage. Light shot down both tree trunks to the ground and then ricocheted back up, spreading out through every branch and twig until they were all glowing white. Then he waved an arm first to the left, then to the right. Two arcs of light formed in the sky and then dissolved, the particles descending slowly, and accreting like ice crystals on an unseen lattice, until a densely woven web of golden light appeared in between the trees. It was humming like a strong electric current or magnetic field.
Andie looked as terrified as I felt.
Ghost-Vala gazed down at me. I felt like he wanted to tell me something, but without a mouth, he couldn’t speak. I wondered what I should do.
Pettikin yanked on my hair. “Go Allie, go! He wants you to go!”
“Oh, right!” Trembling and stalling for time, I looped the alpacas’ ropes tighter around each hand. Mrs. Widgit, Professor Theopolous, and Bob stood close together, Mrs. Widgit with her hands clasped under her chin like she was sending her first child off to college. Dad was standing next to Andie twisting his cap in his hands.
Pettikin gripped tighter around my head. I took a deep breath, scrunched my eyes closed, and plunged forward through the Gateway.
13
Red.
That was my first thought when I opened my eyes. Not fire engine red, but red like the sandstone rocks of the Grand Canyon, or the deserts of the southwest.
We were standing on a bed of rust-colored sand that stretched on for miles. A range of purple and red mountains cut a jagged silhouette against the horizon, their peaks lit up every few seconds by silent flashes of heat lightning. The sky was dark lavender on the horizon and black overhead where dense clusters of stars formed unfamiliar constellations. I couldn’t see a moon, but everything around us was illuminated somehow—bathed in a pale white glow from some unseen light source. Towering plants that reminded me of saguaro cacti, some more than ten feet high, were interspersed with lower, shrubbier sagebrush-like plants.
It was a twilight desert world.
I had a feeling of dissolving and re-materializing when I jumped through the Gateway, but I hadn’t seen light or felt the peaceful emptiness that I had when I traveled to Vala’s world. It felt more like being in a void—a darker kind of nothingness.
Pettikin slid down from my shoulders and dropped to the ground. He sank into the sand past his ankles. My feet had also sunk into the ground more than I would have expected. I lifted one foot and set it back down tentatively. Instead of coarse grains of sediment, this sand was made of small, round beads with a rubbery, gel-like consistency. The beads rolled to the side when I set my foot down, creating a deeper indentation than ordinary sand would.
“What is this place?”
Pettikin shook
his head as he turned around, scanning the landscape.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been to this world.”
The air felt cool and somehow thick or electric—as if I could feel the individual molecules against my skin. It gave me goose bumps. A shooting star streaked across the sky and then disappeared into the darkness. I thought I saw a pair of glowing, white eyes peeking at us from behind a cactus, but they quickly disappeared.
Taos hummed and pulled on his rope.
“Easy, buddy,” I said reaching up to pat him. “What’s wrong?”
“He wants us to follow him.” Pettikin climbed up to my shoulder. “This is his world—he knows where we need to go.”
“Oh.” I thought about this for a second, then reached up and unhooked the alpacas from their ropes. I assumed at this point they weren’t planning to run away from us. At least I hoped not, because if they did, we were kind of screwed. I unzipped the day pack on Taos’ back and saw the map Mrs. Widgit and the Professor had placed inside.
“Should we take a look at this?” I asked, pulling out the folded square of paper and tucking the alpacas’ ropes into the pack.
I unfolded the map, and Pettikin reached forward to hold one corner while I held the other. The page was covered with dozens of long, straight lines, some intersecting in crosses or stars, and groups of concentric circles. We stared at it in silence for a few moments.
“Does this mean anything to you, Pettikin?” I turned it ninety degrees, then a full one hundred eighty. “Which way is north? Is there even a north here?”
I wadded up the map and stuffed it back in Taos’ pack.
“Let’s just follow Taos if he knows where to go.”
Taos hummed and took off at a speed I’d never seen an alpaca run on earth. He glided over the sand, barely touching the ground with each leap, heading for the mountains in the distance. My heart sank when it seemed like he really might be planning to run away from us, but then he stopped and waited, humming impatiently. I didn’t need Pettikin to translate that.
