Realmwalker

by Jonathan Franks

“Yeah,” Herron answered. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  “Okay,” Hope said. “If you ever do...”

  “I don’t,” Herron said, not quite as quiet as before.

  “You don’t what?” Ivy asked, sitting down next to Hope.

  “Nothing.”

  Ivy shrugged, but smiled at him. “Okay.”

  Herron stretched out on the bench across from them and lay down, putting his arm over his eyes.

  Ivy twisted around to say something to Hope, but saw that her eyes were closed, too.

  How in the world can you two sleep? She wondered. Then she stood back up at the porthole and continued to stare outside in fascination as they descended deeper and deeper into the depths.

  Eventually, she saw the bottom. It was a vaguely bluish, sandy floor with a long pier, much like the beach above, except this pier wasn’t made of wood. It seemed to be made from several strips of a long, rough-looking material, not quite like stone, but almost. It was hard to tell through the distortion of the glass and the odd color everything had looking at it through the water.

  The chamber shook as it touched down. Hope opened her eyes and Herron sat up.

  “Before I open this door,” Herron said, “I need to warn you that this will be scary. The water is going to rush in. The collars should help us from floating away, but if you do start to float a little, you can use your wings to push you back down. Don’t worry. You’re not going to drown. Just breathe normally. Okay?”

  Hope nodded. Ivy nodded, terror rising in her stomach. She felt around for Hope’s hand and clutched it tightly.

  “Okay, here we go.” He looked at Ivy again. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

  Ivy’s eyes were wide with fear, but she nodded.

  “It’ll be okay. It will only feel scary. You can breathe just fine. Just like normal. The first couple of turns are to open the valves to let the water in, then the door will open.” He turned back to the door, took the wheel in his hands, and turned it.

  Water began to raise from the floor of the chamber. Ivy had expected it to be freezing cold, but it was a very comfortable temperature. The water continued to rise. Ivy was doing okay until the water came to a little bit above her waist.

  “I don’t think I can do this,” she said. “Maybe we can go back up. You could drop me off there, you two could just go without me.”

  Herron stopped turning the wheel and the water stopped. “You’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be fine. What if mine doesn’t work? This might be a bad idea --”

  Hope yanked Ivy closed and kissed her hard. Ivy felt her make a waving motion with her hand before Hope reached up and snaked her fingers into Ivy’s hair. The water rose higher and higher. Hope continued to kiss Ivy passionately. When Ivy felt the water tickle against her neck, she opened her eyes and tried to pull back but Hope pulled her tight against her body and held Ivy’s head with her hands. Hope’s mouth was sealed tight around Ivy’s as Hope explored Ivy’s tongue with her own. Hope’s two minute long kiss had completely taken Ivy’s breath away.

  Ivy opened her eyes. Her heart was pounding, she was terrified and exhilarated and, she realized, completely submerged. She met Hope’s eyes, then realized that she was breathing.

  “Wow,” she said.

  Hope raised an eyebrow at her. “Wow, what?”

  Ivy traced her finger over her lips and her eyes drifted closed with the memory of Hope’s kiss. “Mmm, that.” She opened her eyes slowly. “And that we’re underwater! This is amazing!”

  Hope winked at her and led her by the hand through the open door.

  Ivy gazed all around her, agape with wonder. The water around her was nearly clear, and didn’t bother her eyes at all like it did when she swam. Looking above her, it went on like the sky, on and on as far as she could see. There were fish swimming above her, small crabs and rays were skimming the river’s floor.

  They walked up the pier and were met by four figures. Ivy assumed they were Mer. They had a slightly bluish tinge to their skin and they had webbing between their fingers. They wore loose-fitting black robes that flowed around them in the current and they each had shiny, jet black hair. There were three noticeable slits in each side of their necks, presumably gills. They had no wings, but they had long, lizard-like tails that reached the ground and curved upward, ending in blunt points. Their tails and their exposed skin looked slightly scaly, and Ivy wanted desperately to touch one of them.

  The four Mer stared at the three fairies blankly, their faces completely expressionless.

  Herron spoke first, just as Ivy was opening her mouth to say something. “Herron, from The Sky. Ivy, from The Meadows. And Hope, from The Winter Kingdom,” Herron said.

  “Lin,” one said.

  “Kol,” said the second.

  “Het,” said the third.

  “Dess,” said the fourth.

  Lin said, “You were expected. You will follow us.”

  Kol tilted his head and regarded Hope closely. “You and I are of the same line.”

  “Pardon?” Hope asked, surprised.

  Kol said, “Our blood ancestry on the human side, the energy from which we were created: yours and mine are the same.”

  “How do you know that?” Hope asked.

  “It is something we sense. Presently, it no longer happens as often as it used to. There was a time, many years ago, when several Mer often came of the same line. Is this not something you can sense?”

  Hope shook her head.

  Kol tilted his head and looked at Hope again, much the same as he did earlier. “Please turn around.”

  Hope’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. She turned around, then looked at Kol again.

  “Thank you.”

  Hope looked at Ivy and they both shrugged, then laughed.

  “Curious. I welcome you in kinship, Hope of The Winter Kingdom, to The Deep,” Kol said.

  Hope and Ivy shared a look. Hope shrugged. Ivy smiled.

  The four Mer turned and led the three fairies into their city.

  “This place is amazing,” Ivy said. “What do you call it?”

  Het slowed to walk next to her and answered, “This place is The Deep.”

  “I mean the city.”

  “It is The Deep.”

  “The Realm and the city are both called The Deep?” Ivy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh. Okay. Do you get a lot of fairy visitors?”

  “No,” Het said.

  “Do you get many other kinds of visitors?” Ivy asked.

  “No.”

  Herron said, “Ivy, I think that might be enough questions for now.”

  “Oh,” Ivy said, disappointed. She said to Het, “I’m sorry. Was I asking too many questions?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, good,” she said. “Do you mind if I ask more?”

  “No.”

  Ivy questioned Het non-stop about what they ate (primarily fish), where they lived (in dwellings grown from coral), whether they lived together or alone (alone), what kind of crops they grew (seaweeds of various types, sea cucumbers, corals), what kind of wildlife there was (fish, octopuses, jellies, rays, crabs, shrimp, eels, among others), and whether there were dangerous monsters here (yes).

  Ivy wasn’t finished with her questions when the seven of them arrived at a large coral structure. She stared up at it. It was tremendous - at least seventeen stories. Ivy had never seen a building higher than three stories tall.

  “Wow,” Ivy said. She took Hope’s hand again.

  Kol said, “My associates will leave us now. I will remain with you. I will escort you to The Oracle.”

  Herron nodded.

  Kol opened the large double doors and escorted them inside. The floor was tiled with black glass and large, perfectly round stone columns rose from floor to ceiling. The room was lit by dozens of clusters of small, glowing fish. Kol raised two fingers into the air and two groups of fish followed them through the entrance
hall to another set of double doors.

  Kol opened these doors and led them into a vertical shaft, then he swam slowly upwards, slowly beating his tail side to side for propulsion. Ivy was amazed.

  “I get it,” said Ivy to Hope, “They don’t need stairs because they just swim from floor to floor.”

  “We can fly from floor to floor,” Hope answered. “Why do we have stairs?”

  Ivy opened her mouth, then realized she had no answer for that, and closed her mouth again.

  They all swam upward and passed five sets of doors set into the sides of the tunnel. At the sixth, Kol halted and opened the door and led them through into a round room with a flat floor and a rough-hewn ceiling. There was a large round table in the center of the room with a hole in the middle. Runes and sigils were etched into the table. A female mer in white robes stood across the table from them.

  “I am The Oracle,” she said.

  “Herron of The Sky, Ivy of The Meadows, and Hope of The Winter Kingdom,” Kol announced.

  She nodded to Kol, who left and closed the door behind him. Then she looked hard at Hope and said, “You and Kol are of the same line.”

  “He told me,” Hope said.

  The Oracle tilted her head, looking carefully at Hope. “Did he?” She continued, “Your world is in danger. Already, one Realm has been destroyed, sent to The Void.”

  “That’s why we’ve come, Oracle,” Herron said. “A seer in The Winter Kingdom gave some clues as to who might have done it, and we think we know who it is.”

  “Your former lover,” The Oracle said to Hope.

  Hope nodded gravely.

  “Do you know why he has taken a Heart?” The Oracle asked.

  Hope shook her head. Ivy put her hand on the small of Hope’s back.

  “His human counterpart is dying.”

  “How would he know that?” Herron asked.

  “This fairy’s next in command is a seer, and it was foretold. His counterpart is dying of a fatal disease - a threat that comes not of this land. He is reactivating a Bridge. A Bridge to the human world.”

  “I thought crossing to the human world was impossible,” Ivy said.

  “Long ago, the fairy Realms and the human world were connected by Bridges. Fairies interacted with humans and influenced human affairs quite often. Then humans became less superstitious and more scientific. They became more aware of their surroundings and their technology was finally sufficient to provide them answers about the world around them. The fairies of old realized that their time in the human world was at an end, and they sealed the Bridges, deactivating or destroying them.

  “This fairy requires three Hearts to connect the Bridge. One, he has already taken. Two more, he will take at the night of the next new moon.”

  “That’s only a few days away!” Ivy said. “Where is he going to go next?”

  “I know only one Realm, the second on his list. The first is unknown. Perhaps he has not decided, himself. Perhaps we are simply not meant to know.”

  “Where will he go second?” Ivy asked urgently.

  “To your home.”

  “The Meadows?” Ivy cried.

  “Yes.”

  “Can we stop him?”

  “No.”

  Ivy wondered whether the others would be able to see her tears through the water. “You mean my home is going to be destroyed? He’s going to take its Heart and there’s nothing we can do about it?” She stepped forward and put her hands on the table, leaning toward The Oracle.

  “Correct. Your Sovereign is aware of this and is making the necessary preparations to allow her fairies to survive.”

  “She’s aware of this?” Ivy yelled. “You mean Nai knows about this?”

  The Oracle nodded.

  “Then why would she send me on this journey? Why send me through all of these Realms to find out what’s going on if she already knew?”

  “To spare you.”

  “What?”

  “She wishes to spare you from the horrors of The Void. You are her successor. She values you dearly and she wishes for you to live,” The Oracle said.

  Ivy was visibly crying now. She hung her head. “How could she?”

  “Her foresight was in error,” The Oracle said.

  “What do you mean?” Herron asked.

  “She predicted that the enemy would come while you and Ivy were away, trying to get answers. She is in error. You will return before the Realm is sent to The Void.”

  “You mean, maybe we can stop him?” Ivy asked.

  “No. This is impossible. There is no way for you to stop your enemy. You will arrive after the Heart has been taken, as the Realm is being torn from this world. It will be too late.”

  Ivy stood up straight. “We have to go. We have to go now!”

  “No,” The Oracle said. “You have more that you must hear. Your enemy -”

  “Pepper,” Hope said quietly. “His name is Pepper.”

  “Pepper will obtain the two Hearts he requires six nights from now. You will arrive home near the dawn of the sixth night. It will be too late.” Ivy started to speak but The Oracle held up a webbed hand and continued. “Pepper will succeed in connecting the Bridge. Unfortunately, I do not know where that Bridge is located. I cannot help you in that regard. However, you may attempt to stop him in the human world.”

  “How can we get to the human world if we don’t know where the Bridge is?” Hope asked.

  “There is one remaining functional Bridge.”

  “Where?” Herron asked.

  “In The Caves.”

  “The Caves?” echoed Herron. “I’ve never heard of The Caves.”

  “It is a Realm long abandoned. Primitive fairies, created of the energy of primitive humans, once reigned there. Now, it stands empty.”

  “Where is this place?”

  “Over The Foothills, through The Bayou, and under The Peak.”

  “Under the -- Ah,” Herron began to understand. “The Bayou gets pretty rough as it approaches the border of The Peak. I think we can get down there without having to travel through The Bayou, though.”

  Ivy’s voice still was still shaky from crying. “Oracle?”

  The Oracle looked at her.

  “What does he want in the human world? What can he do there? Save his human counterpart?”

  The Oracle shook her head. “No. It is said that if one counterpart dies at the other’s hands, the survivor will have life eternal.”

  “I thought that when a human died, its fairy dies. And vice versa,” Hope said.

  “This is true. But if a human were to die at its fairy’s hands, that fairy would live forever.”

  “Forever?” Hope asked.

  “It is said,” The Oracle repeated.

  “Will he succeed?” Hope asked.

  “That is uncertain. Magic does not function in the human world as it does in the Realms. Shrouded in mystery is the human world.” She looked at Ivy. “I would advise you not to attempt to return to The Meadows. Instead, cross the Bridge as soon as you can and attempt to stop Pepper.”

  Ivy stood straight. “You know I can’t do that.”

  “I do. Nevertheless, it is my advice. And that is what you came here for.”

  “How do we find Pepper in the human world?” Hope asked.

  The Oracle clapped her hands. The door behind them opened and Kol swam back into the room with three thin bamboo tubes in his hands. Each end of the tube was sealed with a cork.

  “In each of these tubes is a golden arrow,” The Oracle said. “It will lead you to what you seek.”

  “How does it know?” Hope asked.

  “It will lead you to whatever you seek.”

  “So if I want to find something, and I find it, and I want to find something else, then it’ll point me to both things?” Ivy asked.

  The Oracle said, “Yes.”

  “And you’re sure these will work in the human world?”

  “Not entirely. But these are the best we
can provide.”

  Ivy turned to look at Herron and Hope. “We have to try to stop him.”

  Hope said, “She says we can’t.”

  “But we have to try. If we leave right now we might be able to make it before the end of the sixth night.”

  Hope looked at Herron. Herron nodded slowly. “She’s right. We have to try. The future isn’t always so easy to see, and sometimes it can be changed. Isn’t that right, Oracle?”

  “You are correct,” The Oracle said.

  “Okay,” said Hope. “Are you okay, Ivy?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s go.” She headed for the door. Hope and Herron followed her.

  “Ivy?” The Oracle called.

  Ivy turned around to face her.

  “I’m...” She sounded uncertain, as though she were trying to put words together in a language she didn’t speak fluently. “I’m... Sorry... For your loss.”

  Ivy started to cry again, then swam down the tunnel.

  chapter 27

  It was still dark when Gen’s mom dropped her off at school. Gen was trying out for the girls junior cross country team, so she wanted to get to school early to run with the other girls. Both of her brothers had been involved in track, so her mom was used to chauffeuring at least one kid to school early in the morning.

  “Thanks,” Gen said, opening the car door.

  Gen’s mom yawned. “No problem, sweetie. I love you.”

  Gen smiled. “I love you, too!” She hopped out of the car and jogged toward the entrance to the gym. She shoved her backpack and the bag with her school clothes into one of the lockers, slammed it shut, and locked it. Then she went outside to where the other girls were milling around waiting for everyone to get there so they could start running.

  She introduced herself to the coach of the juniors team and the assistant coach, who was the mom of a girl that Gen had gone to school with for a long time but didn’t know very well. She saw a couple of girls she knew, so she went over to talk to them.

  “Hey, Genny,” Maggie said and gave her a hug. “I’m glad you’re running!”

  “Well, Greg and George ran,” Gen explained, “and my dad kind of hinted that it would be good for me. So, here I am!”

  Her friends Patti and Melissa were ready to run, too, and when the whistle blew, the four of them set off together. Gen was delighted to find that she could maintain a steady pace and run with her friends. She hadn’t joined her junior high track team, but she had run with her brothers sometimes. They were very vocal about her slowing them down, but she did it anyway. As much as they complained, they never told her not to come.