Simon couldn’t answer because he too was being removed from the ground; he tried to free himself, but Spike had an iron grasp.
“We’re going to teach you and your girlfriend a lesson,” Spike said. “On three.” He signaled to Buz. “One… two…”
“Oh, I see you can count,” Tonya said with genuine surprise in her voice.
“Three!”
Buz and Spike launched the two kids towards the murky water. Simon hit the shallow pool with a hard thud, splashing water everywhere. He closed his eyes and moaned. After a brief moment, though, it occurred to him that he was the only one in the water. He rolled over and, to his astonishment, saw the young girl suspended above him in midair.
“What are you?” Spike shouted in disbelief. “You little freak!” He raised the two-by-four and lunged at the girl.
“PROTECTION!” Tonya exclaimed, raising her wand.
A sphere of golden light engulfed her body. She clutched her stomach in pain as yellow lightning bolts shot out of the sphere and wrapped themselves around Spike. He screamed in a high-pitched voice as the electrical ropes raised his body into the air.
Tonya went into convulsions, throwing her head back and forth in agony. She waved her wand uncontrollably. Suddenly, a bolt of red lightning ran down the alley and struck the long row of parked cars like a thread being sewn into fabric. The windshields, side windows, taillights, and mirrors exploded from the impact.
Resembling tentacles, the yellow bolts of electricity wiggled around as if they had a mind of their own. Mercilessly, they threw Spike’s body from one building to the next. Two more giant arms—both emerald green—shot from the golden globe and grabbed two parked cars near the entrance of the alleyway. Crunching sounds echoed horribly in everyone’s ears as the thick arms of electricity squeezed the cars tightly, making the hinges buckle. The awful crunching stopped for one second, and then the two vehicles rose fifteen feet into the air and smashed together with such tremendous force that when the two hunks of metal fell, neither of them even resembled cars.
Simon stood up and surveyed the destruction with eerie trepidation, but then he jumped as a lightning-entangled body descended just inches from his face.
Spike, hovering in the air before Simon, brought his head up slowly and whispered, “Help me.”
Face to face, Simon stared into the hopeless eyes of the teenager who, just a moment ago, had threatened to shut him up permanently. Simon had always been intimidated by Spike—the way he pushed people around, the way his large biceps bulged under his shirt sleeves—but now the senior didn’t seem so big anymore. Spike was just a bully—scared and pathetic. Quick as a whip, the tentacles jerked the teenager’s body back and flailed him about the alley once more.
Simon glanced at the sphere of translucent light and saw the silhouette of Tonya lying in the bubble. She might have been unconscious or even dead, but he couldn’t tell. He eased his way closer and tried to peer into the ball. Tonya’s head twitched as though she were having a small seizure.
Mustering all of his strength and courage, Simon pierced the sphere with his hand. The hot, gooey sensation made him feel like he had just stuck his fist into a bowl of warm Jell-O. He extended his arm a little farther and grasped Tonya’s hand to wake her up.
Tonya opened her eyes, and the sphere of light exploded all around them. The shock wave rippled up both sides of the two buildings and shattered every single window at the same time. A shower of broken glass plummeted to the ground, tearing through the hoods of the parked cars below. Simon shielded his face and collapsed as shards of glass whizzed by.
Dazed and in pain, he felt his vision slowly come into focus. Simon realized he was staring into Tonya’s yellow-green eyes; she had fallen on top of him.
“Wow, that was great,” she said, giggling.
Simon’s mouth fell open in amazement. Her beautiful green hair had turned pitch black from the ordeal, but she didn’t seem to notice yet.
The two children stood up and looked down the alleyway. Spike lay nearby, moaning to himself. All the cars had been destroyed, and glass was strewn everywhere. In the midst of everything stood a lone figure: Buz.
Simon limped over to the young man and saw tiny bits of glass stuck in his plump cheeks. Buz’s face and body remained motionless, but his eyes followed Tonya’s every movement. He trembled as she drew near.
“Buz?” Simon inquired.
The large boy fainted.
It was then that Simon noticed the onslaught of camera flashes coming from the entrance of the alleyway. Japanese tourists were videotaping them and taking pictures.
“How odd,” Tonya said, looking at the group of frenzied tourists.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here!”
Simon grabbed her hand and led her out of the alley and into the main street. The crowd backed up as the kids emerged onto the sidewalk.
“Wait, I need to meet up with my…” Tonya looked up at the multistoried buildings in surprise and quietly finished her sentence, “…class.”
Simon pushed her along the street, away from the cameras and tourists.
* * *
Back at the disaster site, a dark figure entered the alleyway. Slivers of broken glass crunched under his steel-tipped boots as he walked over to Buz. The dark figure tossed some handcuffs onto the large boy’s chest. Bending down, he reached into Buz’s black overcoat and pulled out a small phone.
“You know that favor you owe me?” Butch’s charismatic voice penetrated to the other end of the phoneline. “Forget about it. After what I’m about to tell you, you’re going to owe me much more than you can imagine… Yeah, I’d say it’s of national security.”
* * *
Simon and Tonya made their way up the street about as fast as fish swimming up a waterfall. Everyone in the area flocked to the demolished alley to get a peek at what had happened. An old Japanese man showed a police officer the footage he had captured of the two children running from the scene.
Farther up the street, Simon sprinted past a policeman listening to his radio. “… thirteen or fourteen years old, Caucasian, green outfit, long black hair…”
“Hold on. I see them,” the officer responded to the broadcast. He chased after the two kids, but the wall of people hindered his progress.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Simon yelled as the cop blew his whistle. “We have to hide!”
“I don’t understand,” Tonya said, gawking at the tall buildings. “Professor Gwyn said this civilization lived mostly underground. This is Marsupia, isn’t it?”
“What?” Simon asked, looking for cover.
“Marsupia? Paraworld 1423?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He dragged her to the entrance of a narrow alley between two small buildings. Abandoned shopping carts, large beat-up dumpsters, and homeless people filled the sidewalks. At the end of the street, a never-ending parade of cars zoomed by, traveling perpendicular to the alley.
“Freeze!” shouted the policeman.
Tonya continued her babbling. “So if this isn’t Paraworld 1423, then that means I’m gonna miss my test! I can’t believe I got lost on my very first field trip—Professor Gwyn will be so upset with me. I won’t even be able to see the twin moons of Marsupia. Oh, and I heard they’re so lovely this time of year.”
“You’re going to see the inside of a prison cell in a moment unless you do something quick.”
“Oh, my goodness,” she gasped, finally realizing the situation they were in. The girl waved her wand in a quick circle, and everything went black.
“Well, this isn’t what I meant,” she scolded her wand. From the smell of old fish and rotten eggs, Simon knew exactly where they had been transported to: the inside of a dumpster.
“Quiet,” he whispered.
For about a good minute, Tonya held her tongue, but then, as if receiving an epiphany, she blurted, “Wait a second! You’re not an old man. You’re just a little
runt!”
“I’m twelve years old,” Simon said. “You can’t be much older than me.”
“I’m almost fourteen years old—thank you very much. What’s your name, anyway?”
“Simon Kent.”
“Wow, you have two names?”
“Actually, I have three: Simon Theo—”
“Huh, you must be important. In my paraworld we only have one name. Well, unless you’re a duke, or a lord, or a cleric—nobility sometimes have three names, unless, of course, you’re a—”
“What do you mean by paraworld?”
“Parallel worlds,” she said bluntly, as if that was all the explanation needed.
“What do you mean by parallel worlds?” he asked.
“You know! Paa-raaa-llel wor-lds,” she said, breaking the words up slowly. “Maybe my translation spell is wearing off. It’s supposed to be permanent.”
Simon sighed. The reality of what had just happened was starting to sink in.
“Let me get some light in here,” she said. Just then, radiant beams of light shot out of her fingertips and flooded the inside of the smelly dumpster.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!”
“Sorry,” Tonya said, clenching her fist. She opened her hand, and a faint luminescent glow emitted from the tip of her forefinger. “I’m not very good at magic yet.”
“That was some pretty amazing stuff you did back there.”
“Well, I don’t know how that happened. All I meant to do was flash that boy in the eyes with some light, and the next thing I knew, I was casting spells like I was a super—” She paused. “No—an ultramage. You know, after three weeks of school, about the most I’ve ever been able to do was turn on my nightlight… Strange… I’ve never felt such power before.”
“How did you get here?” Simon asked.
“With a paratransmitter, silly!” She laughed. “You’re a funny little boy. You act as if you’ve never seen one before.” She patted the book-shaped device in her hand. “This isn’t one of those retarded paraworlds, is it? Where everyone has the IQ of a slug.”
“This is Earth,” Simon answered, exasperated.
“Earth? Earth? Never heard of it. Book, show me the coordinates of Earth.” The paratransmitter groaned as if it had just busted a sprocket. Rows of lights flickered on and off, and then the whole thing went dead. “This thing’s defective! I really… I real… I… ACHOO!” As Tonya let out a huge sneeze, she blew a large hole in the side of the dumpster. Trash flew into the air like feathers blowing in a windstorm. “Ah, nuts,” she cried.
“We better get out of here!” Simon shouted.
* * *
After seeing the explosion, a homeless man took a long swig from his bottle and watched the two children crawl out of the gaping hole. The old man took another gulp of whisky while Simon and Tonya ran down the alley.
A black shadow emerged from behind the dumpster and gazed at the torn metal in awe. The exit wound looked like some ferocious creature had ripped itself from the confines of the dumpster. The young man caressed his ivory-handled knife as he admired the damage. He turned and followed after Simon and Tonya.
* * *
Simon spotted a yellow taxicab parked at the side of the road. He opened the car door, and they both jumped in.
“Take us anywhere!” he said.
“Hold your horses, little boy. Let me see your money first,” the taxi driver said in an Indian accent. No glass or metal partition separated the driver side from the passenger side; instead, the vehicle was equipped with a digital security camera.
Simon looked at the cab driver’s name badge and said, “Come on, Abu. Help us out.”
Peering out the window, Tonya saw two policemen run by. The officers both headed down the alley where the deformed dumpster lay.
“No can do. I have seven children, three cats, two goldfish, and a fat wife to feed. Now run along before I get nasty.”
Simon opened his fanny pack and took out two crumpled dollar bills. “How far will this take us?”
“Ohhh, my golly-golly!” Abu squealed, looking at the small video game that had fallen out of Simon’s pouch. “My kids just love those things! Tell me, do you have Space Goobers?”
“Well, uh…” Simon fumbled in his fanny pack. “No, but I do have Alien Combat.”
“Oooooh, I tell you what. I’m going to Central Park to have lunch with my wife. For your Alien Combat, I take you with me. Deal?”
Simon struggled in his seat. He didn’t want to give up his game.
Still looking out the window, Tonya saw the two policemen emerge from the alley and start to walk in their direction. A homeless man trailed behind them, gesturing wildly with his hands. Suddenly, the old man stopped and pointed towards the cab.
Without hesitation, Tonya snatched the video game out of Simon’s hand and threw it to Abu, yelling, “Deal! Now drive!”
“Okey-dokey,” the cabdriver said, pressing his foot on the gas.
Both kids fell back into their seats as Abu swerved into the onslaught of traffic like a madman. Within a second, the vehicle was swallowed up by a river of yellow taxicabs.
Chapter 4
Secrets of the Paraverse
Tonya looked out the cab window in amazement. “This is fantastic!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. What do you call this?”
“Danger,” Simon said, snapping on his seat belt.
“I think some of the paraworlds with limited E.M. waves have motorized contraptions like this, but why—”
“Excuse me for listening to your conversation,” Abu interrupted, “but what are E.M. waves?”
“Electro-magical waves of energy. You know—the power source for magic.”
“Oh, how interesting. Please continue.”
Simon shot him a dirty look for interrupting their conversation.
“Are you telling me you’ve never heard of electro-magical waves?” Tonya said with obvious disbelief in her voice.
“Yes,” Simon and Abu both replied.
“Abu, keep your eyes on the road,” Simon warned as the cab veered sharply into the next lane.
Tonya looked dumbfounded. “This world is full of E.M. waves, and you’re not even aware of magic?”
“I’ve never heard of these ‘E.M. waves,’ and I doubt anyone else has either.”
At that moment, Tonya’s book gave five sharp beeps. A row of lights on the top of the device lit up. “Impossible,” she said. “There’s no way this could be charged already.”
“What do you mean?” Simon asked.
“Well, normally my paratransmitter takes all day to recharge itself, but it looks like it’s already fully charged.” A bewildered expression formed on Simon’s face. Tonya gasped. “Oh, come on! You know what a paratransmitter is, don’t you?”
Simon shrugged. He wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
“When transporting to an alternate dimension, you can’t just snap your fingers and find your way to the correct parallel world. And even if you could, you’d probably end up in an ocean somewhere, or even worse… you could emerge right in the middle of a solid object. That’s where a mobile paratransmitter comes in handy. They’ve been around for a couple years now. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of them.”
“What do they do?”
“This little magical device stores up a ton of E.M. energy so it can transport you to the correct coordinates in the paraverse. The downside is that you then have to wait for it to collect enough E.M. energy to transport you back. But, hey, it’s much faster than the old way of paratravel.”
“Oh,” Simon said, furling his eyebrows. “So what exactly are these ‘parallel worlds’ you’re talking about?”
“‘Parallel worlds?’ You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”
“There will be no leg pulling in this car, thank you,” Abu informed her, misunderstanding the idiomatic expression.
Simon ignored the driver and said, “Tonya, listen to me. We
don’t have magic on Earth, and we don’t travel to other worlds. Most people would think you’re nuts for even suggesting such a thing.”
Frustrated, Tonya spoke to her paratransmitter. “Book, give me the definition of parallel worlds.”
The book moaned for a brief second, and then strange words appeared on the little screen. A voice sounded from the book.
“Parallel Worlds: Unique, alternate worlds that share the same location in space and time. Each parallel world is linked to the other worlds by an electro-magical force that acts like a conduit from one dimension to the next. Consequently, this electro-magical energy can also be tapped into for the use of magical spells and for transportation between other parallel worlds. See also paraverse.”
Simon rubbed his eyes. “Wow, now I’m really confused.”
Tonya retorted, “Look, Simon, think of it as the road we’re on right now. We have a lane to our left and a lane to our right. Each lane is like a parallel universe. We’re all driving on the same road and going in the same direction, so each lane is parallel with the other. Now imagine that our car represents Earth. Let’s just say that the car to our right is my paraworld, Chamel. For you to go from Earth to Chamel, you’d have to jump from this lane to the next lane. And like I said earlier, without the help from a paratransmitter, there’s no way you could make the jump.”
“Okay, I think I understand,” Simon said. “It’s almost like a video game.”
“It would also be a good idea for a book,” Abu added thoughtfully.
“Abu, we’re trying to have a private conversation here,” Simon scolded.
“Alrighty, I will not be listening anymore,” the cabdriver said. “No listening from me. Nope! Not at all. My ears are shut.”
Simon turned to Tonya. “How did all of this happen?”
“Well, after creating the original world, God got bored and thought to himself: ‘I wonder what would have happened if I had done this?’ So he started experimenting and then boom, boom, boom—tons of parallel worlds were born.”
Paraworld Zero Page 4
