Pettikin

by Abby Smith

  The Gateway pulsated above our heads.

  I felt a pressure in my forehead from somewhere behind my eyes. Suzy gazed at me for a long moment and then flicked her ears.

  “I guess we just try again, Pettikin. What else can we do?”

  Pettikin floated over to me and grasped the leg of my phantom jeans. I swallowed and shifted my focus to the ceiling, willing myself to move toward the Gateway. We ascended, slowly at first, Pettikin being towed along after me. The higher we rose the lighter I felt, like the molecules of my being were being dispersed. I closed my eyes.

  I was suddenly in a completely different world, as if I had gone through a Gateway or fallen asleep and entered a dream instead of just closing my eyes. I was standing in a vertical tunnel of light, and, to my surprise, Vala was standing above me in his familiar, human form. He held out his hand.

  “Come with me.”

  I reached my hand up and his fingers closed firmly around mine.

  He gave my arm a strong tug and pulled me after him, flying upwards faster and faster until everything became a blur. Golden light rushed past me, and I felt like it was washing away everything in me, layer by layer—all of the fear I had felt, all of my thoughts, all of my hopes, all of me. At every point when I thought there could be no way to go any higher, nothing more to be washed away, Vala pulled me even further into a blazing, blinding silence. It was nothing, but it wasn’t the cold, black nothing I feared, but a bright white light beyond anything I had ever known, something else, another side, another time, something I had forgotten long ago.

  A strange feeling of release, and a flood of light more overwhelming than anything I had ever experienced rushed through me. My mind dissolved into a million gold and white sparks, drifting for one endless moment until they disappeared forever in the current of light.

  22

  I stood on top of a hill overlooking a green valley. Two suns, one about the size of ours and a smaller one to the right and slightly below it, shone in a vivid blue sky. Fluffs of clouds tinged with cotton candy pink drifted above us. Creatures about the size of chubby cows with long, lavender fur dotted the hillside, snorting as they chewed their grass. The air was clean and cool, and the only sounds were the occasional chirp of a bird or whir of an insect.

  I felt different. Strong and calm, as if some ethereal connective tissue inside of me had been reinforced with diamond-like hardness. Allie 2.0.

  Pettikin let out a squeal that reverberated painfully against my left eardrum and scrambled to the ground. He ran along the hillside, his arms outstretched, then stopped and spun in a slow circle, raising his arms into a gnome V for victory.

  “Allie, you did it!”

  “So is this Arcorn, Pettikin?”

  “No, we’re on Semba. But I know this world, and I know where the Gateway is that will take me home.”

  He ran over and wrapped his arms around my leg like a tiny tourniquet. He was happy in the blue dimension, but he seemed different here—more at home. I felt a small twinge of sadness that he wasn’t able to feel this way on Earth. Earth must have been as pure as Semba once.

  The steep hill on the other side of the valley leveled off into a broad road with a pine forest on one side. On the other side, a white stone castle with round turrets perched on top of another hill. A tall stone wall encircled the castle grounds.

  “So, where is this Gateway of yours, Pettikin Periwinkle of Arcorn? If I recall, it is my duty to accompany you there.”

  Pettikin leapt up and grabbed my hand with both of his, then pulled his way up my arm to my shoulder. He grabbed my braid and gave it a gentle tug.

  “I’ll show you. Forward march, Allie Thomas of Earth!”

  I set off at a trot down the steep slope of the hill, arms out for balance, my hoodie puffing up around me. Some of the purple cow creatures raised their heads startled, huffing or mooing their surprise.

  “I assume those things are friendly?” I paused mid trot.

  “Those are fluffermus,” Pettikin said.

  “You’re kidding.”

  I held out my hand to the aptly named creature closest to me on the hill. Its head was rounded, and it had a wide pink muzzle more reminiscent of a hippopotamus than a cow. It stared at me with large blue eyes and flicked its ears. When I didn’t move, it ducked its head, pawed the ground once, and lumbered toward us.

  Up close, its lavender fur was caked with mud at the ends, and threads of mucous dripped from its nose. It stretched its head cautiously toward my outstretched hand and blew a blast of warm, moist air on my palm. I scratched the bridge of its nose, and when it didn’t complain, I reached up to rub its head in between the ears. It closed its eyes and swished a long, thin tail with a lavender puff on the end.

  “They’re so cute. Does someone take care of them?”

  “Yes, there are people on this world, but not very many. They are a little…different from the people on Earth.”

  I scratched under the fluffermu’s chin and gave its neck a good clap before setting off again down the hill.

  We reached the bottom and started our climb up the slope on the other side. The tall weeds and wildflowers reminded me of the milk thistle, Queen Anne’s Lace, and buttercups we had at home. I wondered if everything in the universe was made from standard templates that were housed somewhere. Maybe in the gold dimension.

  “Are we heading for the castle, Pettikin?”

  “No. If you go toward the forest, there’s a small bridge that joins to the stone wall of the castle grounds.”

  “An overpass?” I shielded my eyes with my hands.

  “Yes, you can see it from here. The Gateway is on the other side of the bridge, in the castle wall.”

  “I see it. Just think Pettikin. All this fuss and worry, and now you’ll be home in just a few more minutes.”

  We crossed the road. A few hundred yards from the edge of the forest, just as the ground began to level off, a dark figure emerged from the trees and walked toward us.

  I froze.

  “Is that…it can’t be…” I said, and then my voice trailed off.

  It was a man in a black business suit. His head bent toward the ground as he walked, and a black smoke or haze hung in the air around him. I felt a strange throbbing in my throat and a wave of nausea. He stopped a few feet away from us and raised his head. It was unmistakably Mr. Cutter.

  “Allie Thomas. You’re making this so easy for me.”

  Pettikin whined and tightened his grip on my braids.

  “What…what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in church.”

  Mr. Cutter laughed, and the black haze around him darkened. His voice reverberated within it, so it sounded like different voices laughing with him and echoing through the air.

  “That’s priceless. Is that what your idiot father thinks? That he’s protecting you?”

  As much as I didn’t like Mr. Cutter at home, I preferred him infinitely to whatever version of him was standing in front of me now. He seemed deranged, like he wasn’t completely in control of his own mind.

  “How did you get here? How did you get through the Gateway dimensions? There’s no way—”

  I took a step backwards, but the ground seemed to rise up and catch my foot too quickly, throwing me off balance.

  “How? We came with you, Gatekeeper. Thanks for the ride.”

  Allie 2.0 experienced a major fault, and my brain was rapidly downloading and reinstalling Allie 1.0.

  “No, that’s not—” I felt a sudden jerk in my throat, an invisible rope or cord tightening, cutting off my air supply. I clutched my neck.

  “Allie, what’s wrong, what’s happening?” Pettikin screamed.

  I tried to answer but couldn’t speak. Mr. Cutter dropped his gaze to the ground again, his eyes half closed, concentrating. The cloud or haze around him grew darker and began rotating around him in a counterclockwise motion.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and strained with my whole being against whatever was in my nec
k. The strangling sensation gave way enough to let me breathe. I inhaled and let out a kind of low growl that finally dissolved it. I opened my eyes, panting a little.

  My brain flashed through our last journey through the Gateway dimensions—the shadows I had seen in the red world, the dissonance in the blue world, the uncomfortable feeling in my neck in the gold world. Had I carried the sslorcs with me somehow, ever since that moment when they attacked me in the void? Had I really brought them here?

  The cloud around Mr. Cutter was swirling and growing bigger. Small black flecks appeared in the smoke and morphed into bat-like creatures.

  “Allie!” Pettikin was hysterical.

  I scanned the area around us desperately. The bridge to Pettikin’s Gateway was only about fifty yards ahead of us to the right. If nothing else, I had to get him home.

  I clamped his legs down against my shoulder with one hand. “Hold on.”

  I sprinted past Mr. Cutter toward the bridge. He laughed a sickening, mocking laugh that echoed through the expanding cloud around him. I willed my feet to run faster.

  By the time we got to the wooden beam bridge, my heart was racing, and I was completely out of breath. I stopped in front of it and bent over, sucking in huge gulps of air. On the other side of the bridge, a rusty metal gate in the stone wall led to the castle courtyard.

  I checked behind us. Mr. Cutter hadn’t moved, but new creatures had formed next to him, the dinosaur shaped creatures Andie had described, only less developmentally challenged.

  I grabbed Pettikin and set him down on the bridge. I knelt in front of him holding his shoulders.

  “Pettikin you have got to go—as fast as you can.”

  “I’m not leaving you Allie,” Pettikin wailed in between sobs.

  I gave his shoulders a small shake. “Pettikin, you have to….”

  Something on my wrist caught my eye. My charm bracelet slipped out from under my sleeve, and the summoning stone was glowing. I flipped my hand over, catching the stone in my palm. It glowed brighter and started to pulsate.

  “Pettikin, this is it, I’m sure of it. Vala said this stone is a powerful, protective talisman. I don’t know how I know, but I’m certain it will protect me. I’ll be fine, but you have to go now.”

  Pettikin hesitated, tears streaming down his face. The orb of light emanating from the summoning stone began to grow, first to the size of a baseball, then a grapefruit. A horrific roar behind us made me cringe.

  “Pettikin! Go. You have to go. Go, and I’ll come and visit you soon. I am the new Gatekeeper after all…” I broke off because I was crying, tears streaming down my cheeks, snot dripping from my nose, the whole works. I laughed at myself, a choky, sobby laugh, and wiped my nose with the sleeve of my hoodie.

  Floppy Santa hat, snow white hair and beard, and big blue eyes awash with tears. I could barely see him through my own tears. He lunged forward and hugged my arm, pressing his face against me.

  “I love you, Allie.”

  “I love you, too, Pettikin.”

  He released my arm, turned, and ran across the bridge. As he approached the Gateway, the metal suddenly came to life. An electric blue light that started in the center travelled through each metal bar until the whole Gateway was illuminated.

  “Goodbye Allie!”

  The blue lines of the Gateway became briefly transparent. On the other side, instead of the castle grounds, I saw a faint glimpse of a different world—blue sky, green grass, and Pettikin standing next to a light brown mushroom with white speckles. He was waving at me.

  I choked back a sob. I raised my hand to wave back, but the picture had already faded, replaced by a rusty metal Gateway in an old stone wall.

  Another roar from behind me. I stood up and placed myself squarely between the bridge and the approaching mess of sslorcs. I held the summoning charm out in front of me, praying it would be enough.

  Mr. Cutter walked toward me slowly, an army of bat creatures swirling in a vortex around him. Three grotesque creatures, maybe eight feet tall, standing upright on powerful back legs, followed behind him. Their arms were tiny but their heads were large, with red beady eyes set deep in their foreheads. Gray, pus-like drool that smelled like rotting compost oozed out of their gaping mouths, which seemed to be perpetually unhinged.

  I raised the growing sphere of light from the summoning charm higher, hoping it might intimidate them.

  “It’s too late Mr. Cutter! Pettikin is already home!”

  My arm was shaking.

  “Pettikin?” Mr. Cutter cocked his head to one side and laughed. “Wow, you really are dense aren’t you? And you’re supposed to be the smart kid.”

  I scowled at him and set my jaw.

  “We don’t care about the gnome. The only thing we care about, besides having access to all of these wonderful resources in all these wonderful worlds—” he waved his hand in an arc encompassing the pristine landscape, “—is killing you.”

  “But… but why? Why would you want to…”

  Mr. Cutter’s eyes narrowed. There seemed to be nothing left of the Mr. Cutter I knew. This was the Contractor, and whomever or whatever he had made a contract with was talking through him.

  “Eliminating a Gatekeeper here, in the higher worlds, is the ultimate triumph. It was never possible while that old hag was still alive. She was much too powerful. But you’re nothing. It will be easy to overpower you, and once you are gone, not only will this world be ours, but the secret Gateways and Earth as well. It won’t be a shadow world, it will be a shadow realm.”

  I felt sick. It was everything Professor Theopolous had feared. If Aunt May were still alive, none of this would have happened. If Vala had simply left the Gateways closed, all these worlds would have been protected. This was what they had planned all along.

  The summoning stone blazed in my hand, my last and only hope. But the orb of light around it had stopped growing. Why had I been so certain it would protect me? Vala himself had said the charms were unpredictable. It certainly hadn’t saved Aunt May’s life when she was in trouble.

  Mr. Cutter, or rather the Contractor, also observed the stone, and must have come to a similar conclusion. He raised his hand up over his head in a fist with only his index finger extended.

  “Die, Gatekeeper.”

  He swung his arm down and pointed directly toward me. An army of screeching bats left the funnel cloud around him and flew at me.

  My mind went completely blank, cold, emotionless, and my body moved on its own. I crouched down and raised my right arm over my head, palm facing out, using the summoning charm like a shield.

  A blinding white light poured forth from the charm, arching up and over me like a dome. It was acting like a shield. The bats beat down on it, some igniting when they hit the light and burning into cinders, others bouncing off it and fleeing away, shrieking. I could feel the blows reverberating through my joints and braced my right arm with my other hand, gritting my teeth.

  The light poured forth for several seconds until there were no more bats, at which point it started to sputter. The remaining light emanating from the charm swirled into a violet colored vortex which spun in the air for several seconds before it dissolved completely. An object clattered to the ground in front of me.

  It was a small knife, no larger than a kitchen cutting knife, carved from a crystalline substance like a lavender quartz. It glowed softly.

  I looked up at the hulking, stinky sslorcs drooling behind Mr. Cutter, then down at the tiny knife.

  Really?

  Mr. Cutter raised his arm again, then swung it down to point at me. The three sslorcs behind him roared and lumbered forward.

  I lunged for the knife. As soon as my hand closed around it, I felt a percussive blow, like someone played a bass note with the subwoofer turned all the way up, and everything around me shifted into photonegative, the way it had when Vala changed the color of the cottage. I could still see the forms of the sslorcs and Mr. Cutter, but now they were white strea
ks against a black sky. A series of glowing purple lines tethered each sslorc to Mr. Cutter’s hand, and, more sickeningly, a thinner purple line, more like a thread or hair but definitely there, extended from Mr. Cutter’s hand to my throat.

  The first sslorc was almost on top of me in all of its creepy, photonegative glory. It roared and droplets of foul smelling pus rained down on me. I brandished the small knife in front of me, praying it might suddenly transform into a sword or perhaps a chainsaw, but it didn’t appear to have any magic powers other than making me see funny, and it didn’t deter his progress.

  A terrifying noise rang out from behind me, like the roar of a thousand angry lions echoing off the walls of the universe. Something flew over my head, and I cowered. Twelve knarren arrayed themselves in a semi-circle in front of me, beams of photo-reversed dark light streaming from their eyes, halting the sslorcs, driving them back as they screeched and flailed their arms.

  I whirled around. The Gateway which had glowed blue for Pettikin glowed red, and the towering figure of a warrior stood in front of it. In photonegative he was even more terrifying than usual, ghost white hair pulled into a sleek ponytail, his eyes gaping silver holes, his headband a black swath with a shining crescent moon on it.

  He leapt up in the air, clearing the small valley easily without using the bridge, and landed a few feet in front of me. He locked his gaze on Mr. Cutter and drew his sword.

  “Contractor.”

  I had never heard the warriors speak, and the sound was almost more terrifying than the sslorcs. It was airy but loud, as if the word were being carried into this world on a howling, icy wind from some ancient depth of the universe, each syllable drawn out for almost a full second.

  The expression on Mr. Cutter’s face would have been comical if I hadn’t been so scared myself. He turned to run, but the warrior overtook him easily. Mr. Cutter put his arms up to cover his head and screamed in a hilariously feminine falsetto. The warrior grabbed him roughly by the neck and yanked him about three feet off the ground. As Mr. Cutter kicked the air and clawed at the giant fingers around his throat, the warrior’s hollow silver eyes locked on mine.