by Abby Smith
I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. I guessed that moving upwards might not be all that different from moving forwards, but I guessed wrong. No matter how hard, I strained I couldn’t will myself to move upwards instead of forwards. I opened my eyes. Pettikin had reached the ceiling and was barely visible, his body surrounded by an orb of soft white light. When I heard his thought in my mind it was very faint.
“I can’t go any further without you Allie. You have to open the Gateway.”
I swallowed and closed my eyes and tried to concentrate again, but nothing was happening. If anything, I now felt so agitated that I wasn’t sure I could even move forward anymore. Frustrated, I opened my eyes.
The Guardian nearest me beckoned to me with one arm. I somehow managed to float over to her. She leaned forward and gently touched the center of my forehead.
A wave of light washed down me so powerfully that I felt scared. Unlike the warm, happy light I felt when I was thinking about Vala, this light felt like a power jet that was washing out everything heavy in my being and pushing me upwards. Wave after wave of light rushed down me, making me feel lighter and lighter, pushing down into the ground. I began to sail upwards.
With each passing wave I felt simultaneously lighter and more terrified. It was happening too fast. I knew that soon there would be nothing left to wash away, nothing left of me, only this light.
“Stop, wait, I can’t do this…”
A strange voice in my mind, not Pettikin’s. The Guardian’s? It wasn’t talking in words, but I felt it sending me waves of reassurance and peace, saying that everything would be OK.
I was almost to Pettikin. The Gateway loomed above me and, as I drew near it, suddenly came alive, as if someone flipped a switch and all its filaments glowed. My body was almost gone, only a faint white light, like a mist, remained.
The Guardian’s voice telling me to let go.
“No wait…”
After a blinding flash of light and a sudden rush of energy, I felt myself pulled up through the Gateway, and I dissolved.
I saw nothing, only darkness extending in every direction. Where was I? I felt some type of consciousness returning, some semblance of a body around me. I opened my eyes. I was drifting through darkness. I couldn’t see anything.
“Pettikin?”
“I’m here Allie.” His voice sounded distant and hollow.
“Where are you? I can’t see you. I can’t see anything—where are we?”
“I think…” Pettikin’s voice trailed off. I had the uncomfortable feeling there was something he didn’t want to say.
In the distance, a small circle of light appeared.
“Pettikin do you see that light?”
“I see it Allie!” Pettikin sounded relieved. “We need to go there.”
The light grew larger, whether because we were moving toward it or because it was moving toward us I wasn’t sure. I could see Pettikin’s form next to me now. It was faint but growing stronger the closer we came to the light. I could see my body returning as well.
Relief washed over me, and I focused as hard as I could on the light. I felt a sense of urgency, like we needed to get there quickly.
“Hurry, Allie,” Pettikin clearly felt the same, which worried me.
From my left a dark shadow, darker than even the blackness of the void around us, flew past my face. I recoiled and put my hands up to my head.
“What was that?”
“Allie…” Pettikin sounded scared, and now I was, too.
From my right, another shadow and a cold and clammy wind whipped past my face. Something brushed my cheek. A bat?
I flailed my arms and screamed.
“What are they? Get away!”
Another one from the right, another from the left. Like rips in the ether, I heard a noise like distant thunder, growing louder and louder until it became an ominous roar. Thousands of black bats came spiraling down toward me in a great cyclone of icy black wind that engulfed me. I could feel the bats tearing at my face and arms as I tried desperately to beat them away.
Pettikin shrieked.
“Pettikin!” I stretched my hand out toward him, tiny scratches appearing on my arms as the bats whipped past. He reached for me, but before I could grasp his hand, I felt an icy stab through my neck. I screamed.
It felt like something reached through my skin and was wrapping itself around my throat—an icy blackness with an iron grip unlike anything I had ever felt.
“No, no! Get it off me!” I shrieked.
“Allie!” Pettikin’s voice sounded desperate. I caught a glimpse of him through the whirlwind of void bats. He had his palms pressed together again, and his eyes were closed as if in deep concentration. A soft orb of light blue energy surrounded his body. The bats beat down on it, but the sphere deflected them, shooting off tiny sparks of electricity each time one touched it.
The thing in my neck pulled tighter. I reached up my hands to pull it off, but there was nothing to grab onto. Was it completely inside me? This was so gross. More bats dove toward me, tearing the skin on my cheeks and arms. I tried desperately to fight them off, but each time I moved, the thing in my neck pulled tighter, shooting icy hot flames through my body. I wasn’t going to make it.
“Vala!” I screamed desperately. The being tightened its grip on my throat so I could barely speak. “Vala, help!” It pulled so tightly that I could no longer speak or breathe. I felt my consciousness starting to fade.
And then light.
Brilliant white light pierced through the darkness, lighting up every corner of the void. The bats emitted a hideous, high pitched shriek as they withered and dissolved in the light. The thing in my neck loosened its grip, and I could breathe. The light swirled around me, and I felt whatever was in my neck withdraw. My eyes grew heavy with exhaustion. I thought I saw Vala in his human form, felt human arms around me. In the distance I saw Pettikin. He was OK. I heard him calling for me, but I couldn’t answer. I closed my eyes, and everything went dark.
16
I was lying against something hard, voices talking softly around me. My head pounded and my body felt stiff and sore. With enormous effort, I pried my eyes open. Everything looked as if it were under water. I blinked until my vision cleared. I was lying on the ground. Familiar Ohio grass and mud. I pushed myself up to a sitting position like an ancient, arthritic dog. From the corner of my eyes I saw a dim flashing.
“Allie!” Andie came running over. “Are you OK?”
“What happened?” I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my hand. “Where’s Pettikin?”
“I’m here, Allie.” Pettikin appeared from behind me, wringing his hands. Andie, Mrs. Widgit, and the Professor were standing in front of me. I tried to orient myself. We were in the yard next to the cottage, just in front of the Gateway. The faint flashing continued.
Pettikin put his arms around my neck and hugged me. “Oh, Allie, are you OK?”
I closed my eyes, pulled him tightly against my neck, then set him down on the ground. “Yeah, I’m OK. Are you OK?”
His eyes welled with tears. “Oh Allie, I used a protective charm, and I was able to hold them off, but I couldn’t keep them from grabbing you.”
“It’s OK, Pettikin. I’m supposed to be helping you not the other way around,” I said ruefully. “Although maybe you should teach me that protective charm,” I added, rubbing my neck, which still felt cold. “Where’s Vala?” I peered around anxiously.
“He’s right over there.” Andie pointed toward the Gateway, but Vala wasn’t there. “Hey, where did he go?”
I felt a horrible stab of guilt. I had totally failed. He probably didn’t even want to talk to me. The Nexus Gateway was dark and silent again – two old beech trees in Ohio, nothing more.
“He’ll be back soon,” Mrs. Widgit said quietly.
I felt miserable. Pettikin edged closer to me.
“We failed, Allie,” he whispered. “We failed the Guardian.”
I hun
g my head and stared at the ground. The strange flashing from the corner of my eyes continued—blue, red, blue. I turned my head toward the main house.
“Is that a police car?”
Andie’s voice was grim. “You think you failed. We totally blew it.”
I had been so caught up in my own drama that I hadn’t even registered what was going on around me. Now I saw that Andie’s hair was a wreck, and a small scratch trailed down her left cheek. Mrs. Widget’s hair was also disheveled, and Professor Theopolous’ monocle was missing. Socks was lying under one of the Gateway beech trees panting, as if he had been running. A police car with its flashers on was parked in the driveway up at the main house, and my father was leaning through the driver’s side window talking to the officer inside.
“What‘s going on? What happened here?”
Andie took a deep breath. “OK, here goes. Everything was going just fine for a good five minutes after you left. We were all just standing around, bored, waiting for you. Then, suddenly, that cop car pulls into your driveway with its lights flashing. Your dad swore, some minister by the way, and started running up toward the house. While he was running, he yelled something up at Vala, and Vala did something that I think kept the people at the house from being able to see what was going on down here.” Andie glanced at Mrs. Widgit for confirmation.
“That’s right dear—he put up a shield around us. You can still see it if you look closely.”
I squinted my eyes. I could see just the faintest ripple in the air extending in a dome-like shape around us, the Gateway, and the cottage.
Andie continued. “So, even we don’t know what’s going on up there at the moment because, almost as soon as your dad left, Mr. Cutter appeared. Only, he wasn’t like normal creepy Mr. Cutter, he was like some über-creepy Mr. Cutter, with this black haze around him and kind of a… a…possessed aura I guess.”
I stared at her.
“I know. It gets weirder. This haze or fog around him, it started to...to materialize or something, like these creatures started growing out of it. They were sort of like, miniature dinosaurs or something, that’s all I can think of to describe them. Like turkey-sized black velociraptors with red eyes and claws, which doesn’t sound that bad until you’ve suddenly got four or five of them attacking you.”
Pettikin was squeezing my arm so tightly it was cutting off the circulation.
“So I’m trying to get to Mr. Cutter so I can get rid of him, but instead, I’m covered in miniature dinosaurs…”
“Sslorcs, dear,” Mrs. Widgit interjected.
“OK, fine, I’m covered in sslorcs, so I start yelling ‘Please go away’ at them, and it worked, but I could only dissolve one at a time that way, and Mrs. Widgit and the Professor were being attacked, as well. Fortunately, Vala was able to dissolve any that got too close to the Gateway just by directing his attention toward them, which I think is something you might want to keep in mind for the future, by the way. But I got the feeling that it was hard for him to do that while trying to keep the Gateway open for you, and that it would have been better if we could have handled the situation. Unfortunately, it seemed like Mr. Cutter could regenerate the sslorcs almost as fast as I could dissolve them, and one of them started running directly toward the Gateway. Socks started chasing it, and I yelled up at Vala for help. Vala dissolved the sslorc, but poor Socks had too much momentum and went right through the Gateway.”
At the sound of his name Socrates’ ears pricked up. His eyes were half closed as he panted.
“At that point Vala changed into his normal—well his human—form and jumped through the Gateway to go get Socks, but that left the Gateway unguarded except for us. So now, all of the sslorcs that were left made a beeline for it. It was a madhouse. I sounded like a complete moron shouting ‘Please go away, please go away’ over and over, Professor T was beating sslorcs with his umbrella, and I swear I saw Mrs. Widgit put one in her purse at one point.”
“Oh, thanks for reminding me!” Mrs. Widgit unslung her tote bag, grabbed it by the handles and slammed it back and forth repeatedly into the ground. Then she jumped up and down on top of it until the bag gave off a tiny burp, and a puff of black smoke wafted up from it.
“Hmph!” Mrs. Widgit nodded with satisfaction and re-slung the bag across her shoulder.
Andie shook her head. “So despite being the not-ready-for-primetime crew, we actually stopped most of the sslorcs, but unfortunately, one of them got through the Gateway just as Vala returned carrying Socks. He obliterated the sslorcs that were left, at which point I managed to get rid of Mr. Cutter before he could create any more. But at that point, the damage was done, and the Gateway seemed to be losing power or flickering or something. Vala said, ‘I have to go help Allie,’ and jumped through just before it went completely dark. He returned with the alpacas, you, and Pettikin just a couple minutes ago. Bob’s down at the barn with the alpacas now.”
I put one hand up to my head, which was throbbing. My neck felt stiff and sore.
“But all that sounds like it only took a few minutes. Why are you all still here? Why is the police car still here? What day is it?”
Andie glanced at Mrs. Widgit and the Professor. “It’s still Saturday, Allie. You were only gone for a few minutes—less than an hour.”
Less than an hour? How could that be? It seemed like we had spent days in the other dimensions.
Andie was watching my face. “What happened to you in there, Al?”
I opened my mouth and then shut it again. My throat felt dry. “It’s a long story,” I said finally. “But obviously the fact that Pettikin is still here means I totally failed, and I’m not going to be a Gatekeeper anytime soon. We never should have gone.”
Andie shifted her feet nervously. I lay down on the ground and stared up at the sky. Normal blue sky, normal clouds. No rainbow slides or trampolines. Pettikin sat down in his tri-pod stance next to my head.
Professor Theopolous eased himself down with some effort on my other side. Was he going to gloat? Tell me how he knew from the start this would never work? He crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap, resting his forearms on his knees. For a long time he didn’t say anything.
“Do you want to know who you really are, Allie?” he asked finally in a low voice. His eyes were fierce and dark and made me want to look away.
“Whenever you have failed, when you are lying on your back in the mud, completely and utterly defeated—”
I sucked in my breath.
“—you are the person who gets back up.”
He stared into my eyes for a moment without smiling. Then he pushed himself up stiffly and started walking to the cottage. I exhaled slowly and watched his retreating figure.
Mrs. Widgit smiled at me sympathetically, then followed him.
“Well come on, Allie!” Andie came over and held out her hand to me, sounding a little desperate.
Pettikin rested one hand lightly on my forehead without saying anything.
“OK,” I said finally. “Let’s go back.”
I grabbed Andie’s hand and let her pull me up. Pettikin climbed up to my shoulder, and we walked back to the cottage together.
17
I excused myself to the bathroom because it was the one place I was sure I could be alone for a few minutes. I closed the door behind me, sank back against it and closed my eyes. I could hear the clatter of dishes and everyone talking in the kitchen. I took a few deep breaths and walked to the sink. My hair was a disaster. I had small scratches on my face and a kind of crazy expression in my eyes that didn’t seem like me somehow. I pushed my sleeves up, turned on the cold water faucet, and splashed handfuls of water on my face and throat, rubbing it around to the back of my neck. I straightened up and let the water run over my hands and wrists for a few seconds, then rubbed it up to my elbows. Worried this was going to turn into a full on sponge bath, I turned off the faucet and groped around for something to dry myself off with. I rubbed my face and arms with a rough
hand towel that was hanging next to the sink, then ran my fingers through my hair a few times. I put my palms on the counter and leaned toward the mirror to check my reflection again. I hadn’t washed off the crazy expression, and now, my cheeks and skin were bright red as well. I sighed.
I left the safety of the bathroom for the kitchen. Mrs. Widgit was brewing coffee in an old French Press she found in Aunt May’s pantry. Cookies were set out on a plate on the kitchen table, but I found I no longer had any appetite for them. Professor Theopolous sat at the table perusing a book he had taken from the living room. Andie sat next to him, her hands wrapped around a mug. Socrates was lying in the corner of the kitchen, and the tip of Pettikin’s hat was visible from behind the bulk of his body. Bob was nowhere to be found, and I wondered if he was out at the barn with the alpacas.
The front door banged open, and Dad came rushing into the kitchen.
“Allie, are you back? Are you OK? What happened?” He walked toward me like he wanted to hug me, but then stopped short, unsure.
“I’m OK, Dad. We’re both back,” I pointed toward Pettikin, assuming that information was enough to let him know that I had failed.
“Ah. Well, with everything that went on here, I didn’t figure it was going to be smooth sailing for you either,” he rubbed his neck, glancing at me curiously, but didn’t say anything more.
I was grateful that he spared me a load of Parental Concern. I didn’t think I could handle it on top of everything else.
“What was going on up at the house, Dan?” Mrs. Widgit turned briefly from rinsing dishes in the sink. Professor Theopolous closed his book and set it to the side.
Dad groaned. “Oh it was just Mr. Cutter. Apparently, he went to the police to press assault charges against you two.” He pointed a finger at me and then Andie, peering down his nose at us with mock severity.
Andie and I protested at exactly the same time.
“Assault charges?!”
