The Hidden Worlds

by Sandra Ingerman

  In a pond beside him, dead fish floated belly up, bloated and white. Their lifeless eyes drifted on the bittersweet water. There were so many of them.

  Looking down, Isaiah saw his feet picking their way around dead birds, black and swollen, covering the ground, their red wings still. Something had killed the birds too.

  Scared of not being able to breathe at all in this nightmare, scared of the floating eyes of the fish, scared of the bloated bird bodies, Isaiah ran faster, trying to escape.

  Sudden trembling happened in the dreamscape, almost as if he had broken through a barrier, and Isaiah found himself in a forest sitting, cross legged, in a circle around a campfire with three other kids. The putrid air had cleared. His lungs no longer hurt, and he could breathe normally again. Tall cottonwoods, aspen trees and pines encircled them. The fire was shooting sparks of light around them. And the dead fish and birds had disappeared.

  The others were shimmering. It was like they were there and weren’t at the same time. He looked down at his own hands. One minute he could see right through them and the next minute, he couldn’t. The others seemed familiar, like kids at school, but he couldn’t quite name them.

  There were animals too. A grizzly standing on his hind legs. An octopus. A giraffe. A black panther circling the perimeter. They were solid. Isaiah felt protection coming from them.

  And it was very quiet. He couldn’t even hear the fire snapping or crackling, although it was burning brightly. Every so often a log would splinter into light and collapse into the center, but there was no familiar popping sound. He couldn’t even hear his own breathing.

  A loud cough interrupted his thoughts. He looked up, startled by this sudden sound. The cottonwoods had moved closer to him. They had eyes, noses, and mouths. They were staring at him. Their long branches reached around him.

  “Pay attention!” one old cottonwood tree grumbled, shaking him with a branch. “Pay attention! Pay attention!” The other trees picked up the chant. “Pay attention!”

  Chapter 3

  The Discovery

  “Isaiah, pay attention!” his teacher said. Isaiah sat up at his desk. Suddenly, he remembered his dream from last night and the trees telling him to pay attention. A kind of queasy feeling hit his stomach thinking about the dead birds and fish. “Isaiah, the bell rang, and everyone has gone to lunch. I know it’s Monday, but get with it!” Now how did he miss the bell for lunch? That was his favorite time of the day.

  Outside, a group of boys jostled him as they passed on their way up to the football field. “Yep, I’m still invisible,” he thought. “So far middle school has been no different.”

  Isaiah located the lunch monitor. Her back was turned, so he used the chance to slip through the cottonwood trees at the edge of the school grounds. He headed for the pond.

  He found his favorite log and dropped to the ground, resting against it. He wiggled around so nothing was poking into his skinny back. He lifted his pale face to the sun and sighed, running his hands through his white-blond hair. “Pay attention!” What had happened after the trees had chanted that?

  The sound of someone crying nearby made Isaiah snap open his eyes.

  George was slumped on the other end of the log, his big belly heaving with sobs.

  “Are you okay?” Isaiah asked softly.

  George wiped under his nose, trailing snot along his hand. He nodded shyly, his glasses fogged over. “My-my-my mom says someday I’ll be a swan and not to worry about my ugly duckling phase, but I don’t think she knows how mean kids can be.” He ended in a whisper. George dropped his head into his hands.

  Isaiah felt sorry for George, but at least George wasn’t invisible.

  Before Isaiah could respond, an angry shout came from inside the cottonwoods. Two girls locked in a fight of hair pulling and punching fell onto the ground near them.

  “Take it back right now!” Rose yelled.

  Magda had her hands clenched in Rose’s black and neon green streaked hair. She was trying to pull her off. “Rose, you are from China. Why does that make you so mad?”

  “Shut up, Magda!” Rose had her hands wrapped around Magda’s black ponytail, tugging. Her matching neon green fingernails wove in and out of Magda’s curls. “You’re such a butt kisser. ‘Let’s correct our math problems now’,” Rose mimicked.

  So this wasn’t about China. It was payback for their confrontation on Friday.

  “Get off of me!” Magda said. She lifted upward and twisted, throwing Rose. Magda played league soccer, so she was strong. Rose flew forward.

  She landed on her hands and knees, screaming as she lifted her right hand into the air, shaking something black and gooey off of it. She jerked and ran toward the other kids, still screaming. “What is it? Get it off of me!”

  “Here. Let me see.” Isaiah took Rose’s hand into his. It was covered in blood and black feathers. He pulled a tissue from his back pocket and wiped her hand clean.

  Magda called from the spot where Rose had fallen, “Disgusting! It’s a dead bird! You fell on a dead bird!”

  Rose started screaming again, the fight with Magda already in the past.

  George lumbered over to Magda, his tears drying. He squatted down and poked the bird with a stick. “Dead all right,” he said. He stood and scanned the area. “Whoa! There’s another dead one over there.”

  “And over there,” Magda pointed.

  The four of them spread out, searching the area, calling out as they found the birds. Isaiah felt his throat constricting with tears. All of these beautiful birds, lying lifeless on the ground. No longer riding the air currents, calling out from tree to tree, the red and yellow wings gone still in death.

  When an eagle cried, they all looked up. It was swooping around a lone blackbird which was making a struggling flight. It dropped closer and closer to the ground. It tried to land, but its wings seemed suddenly too heavy to flap. It hit the ground with a quiet thunk.

  They circled the blackbird as the eagle continued to call from above. Its side lifted rapidly up and down. One black eye looked up at them imploringly.

  “We have to help it,” Magda cried.

  Rose bent down. “We’ll take it to the vet.”

  George squatted beside her. “Hey little one, you’ll be okay. We’re here to help. Don’t be scared.” He brushed together a pile of leaves. Gently, he slid his fingers beneath the bird and lifted it onto the little bed. He ran an index finger over the top of its head and down along its back, smoothing the shiny black feathers. The bird blinked.

  Rose stroked the bird next. “So sweet,” she whispered.

  Isaiah brushed tears from his eyes.

  And then a puff of air released from the bird and its chest quit moving. The eye stopped blinking.

  A single eagle feather left its giant wing, gliding down, down until it came tenderly to rest atop the fallen blackbird.

  Like a prayer, Isaiah thought. The bird died literally at our feet. And then he remembered. “We have to go and look at the pond!” he yelled. He knew that dead fish would be floating belly up on the water, like in his dream.

  “What happened to them?” Rose asked as they stood on the banks looking at the gelatinous, unmoving bodies of the fish. The smell of rot was overpowering.

  “It looks like some type of environmental poisoning,” George announced, his brown eyes serious. “Probably what happened to all these birds too. I have read about these things before.”

  They all stared at George.

  He stammered, “I’m going to be a scientist when I grow up.” He ducked his head down. “My dad dreams of me being a professional athlete, but you can see how that’s turning out.” George smiled at his own joke. “Hey—we need to tell the lunch monitor.”

  “No frickin’ way,” shouted Rose. “We’re off the school grounds, and Magda and I were fighting. We’ll get in a ton of trouble.”

  “But someone has to do something about this,” George said.

  He just stood up to Ro
se, Isaiah thought.

  The lunch bell rang in the distance.

  Magda said, “I agree with Rose. No one tells anyone anything until we’ve talked about this more.” She turned toward the school.

  Now she agrees with Rose? Isaiah needed to think about how this chain reaction which began with a fist fight had led to the two girls agreeing.

  “We do need to get back,” Isaiah said. “Let’s meet here at lunch tomorrow so we can talk more. Then we will ask for help.” He patted George on the back, and as he hurried back to class, Isaiah noticed that his asthma hadn’t flared up when he was running around looking at the dead birds and fish.

  Chapter 4

  Recognition

  A gentle feathered-wing brushed across Isaiah’s eyes. In his dream, he opened them slowly. On a branch in a cottonwood tree, an eagle perched. He was staring at Isaiah. Isaiah felt as if this eagle had a message for him.

  The eagle looked far into a field. Isaiah followed his gaze. There was a parade coming! In the lead was a bear. Its size reminded him of Pathfinder, the six-foot tall, bronze grizzly sculpture on the college campus—but this bear was walking on his hind legs and throwing candy.

  Behind the bear were two drum majorettes carrying a sign that read ‘Power Animal Parade’. A giraffe was next. He was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Protect, Heal, Advise’. A black panther with green eyes came from the back and circled the parade, looking side to side and behind. At the end was an octopus which was scooping up the candy and launching it again. The animals from his last dream. He recognized them.

  “Power animals?” Isaiah asked himself looking again at their sign as the parade drew closer.

  “I’ve heard about animal friends,” a girl beside him said. “They live in the hidden realms. Supposedly everyone has at least one animal guardian spirit.”

  Isaiah turned around, startled. He had thought he was in his dream alone. It was Rose who had spoken! Magda and George were here too! How was this happening?

  Rose added, “I wonder if these are our guardian spirits? Let’s close our eyes and ask them to come to us.”

  Isaiah didn’t know what was going on, but he played along with the dream. “If we all do that at the same time, there’ll be a bunch of animals, so how will we know which one belongs to each of us?”

  “I think we’ll just know,” Magda said closing her eyes.

  When Isaiah opened his eyes, the great grizzly bear who had been leading the parade stood beside him. The parade had disbanded and the drum majorettes were gone. So was the candy.

  The octopus sat beside George, several of her tentacles wrapped around his shoulders.

  The giraffe in the t-shirt sat next to Rose.

  And Magda had a look of despair on her face. “I don’t have an animal.”

  “Yes, you do,” Isaiah told her. “It’s a beautiful black panther with bright green eyes.”

  “Why can’t I see him?” Magda asked.

  George said, “Can you feel a panther near you?”

  Magda closed her eyes and her smile turned as radiant as the shining sun. “I feel him circling me,” she whispered. “He’s so graceful, so beautiful!

  “Are you my power animal?” The big cat nudged her with his head.

  “Are each of these power animals?” Isaiah asked the big bear who nodded his head.

  Rose turned to her giraffe and said, “How’s a giraffe going to protect, heal and advise me? I get in a lot of trouble.”

  No answer came from Giraffe. Isaiah could see Rose’s face turning angry.

  “Rose,” Magda said, “try feeling the answer or hearing it inside of you.”

  Rose swallowed and closed her eyes.

  She jumped up a few minutes later. “Guys, it worked! I listened in a way I’ve never tried before, and I heard Giraffe say, ‘We will communicate from the inside. Yes, Rose, I’ll help you. You just need to ask.’ I couldn’t hear her before, but now I can.”

  George turned to the others holding his arms up in the air. “Why did I get an octopus?”

  Octopus wrapped all of her tentacles around George and said, “I will help you become a great scientist.” Then she lifted George right off of the ground. He and Octopus were flying!

  George yelled back, “My octopus can fly!” Then, “Things really look different from here, guys. It’s cool!”

  “Wait for me,” cried Isaiah, as Grizzly Bear gently carried him up into the air as well.

  Rose jumped onto Giraffe’s back and Magda and Panther followed.

  Isaiah felt the strength and power of this bear, his bear. What else can these amazing animals do he wondered.

  When they softly landed, he felt the love in Grizzly’s paws as he hugged Isaiah. “I’m excited to learn more about why you’re here.”

  “You’re coming of age,” Grizzly said. “You’ll need our help.” With that, the parade reassembled and moved again into the distance. Eagle, who had observed it all, nodded once and with a strong swoop of his wings, flew into the air.

  Chapter 5

  Eavesdropping

  Isaiah’s language arts teacher was reading off groups. She had matched them alphabetically.

  “Isaiah Dunfrey, Magda Duncan, George Dunrite, Maribel Engel.” So Isaiah was in a group with George and Magda. Maribel was a blonde beauty who giggled all of the time. Rose Wilson was in another group. A group with three of the guys who made comments from the back of the room.

  “There will be no changes so don’t ask. Groups will begin meeting tomorrow. With your group, you’ll choose a cause-effect topic off of a list. You’ll research it and create a cause-effect PowerPoint which you’ll present to the class.”

  At lunch, Isaiah slipped between the cottonwoods and ran to the pond. All morning in their core classes the kids had exchanged glances with each other, especially in language arts when the groups were announced. I wonder if we all know we shared the dream? Isaiah kept thinking.

  Magda and Rose were already there. Rose was poking dead fish with a stick, and Magda looked a little sick.

  “Where’s George?” Isaiah asked the girls.

  “I saw him leave when we did,” Magda said.

  Rose dropped the stick and squinted toward the school. “Here he comes! By the way, I am making a plan to get kicked out of my group so that Maribel and I can trade.”

  George ambled up, out of breath. “Where are the animals?” he asked.

  “The animals?” Isaiah said. The animals from the dream?

  “Yeah, last night I had this dream. I had an octopus…” “I had a giraffe who couldn’t talk, but I could hear her in my head!” Rose shouted. “Magda, you had a black…”

  “Panther. And I had a bear,” Isaiah said. “Magda, did you have the same dream as us?”

  Magda shook her head. “I don’t believe in dreams. Besides animals can’t fly.”

  “So you did have it!” Rose said. “My giraffe flew just fine, thank you very much.”

  “It was just a dream,” Magda said.

  “But we all had it. The same dream. Don’t you think that’s weird?” Rose said.

  “I guess.” Magda shrugged.

  “But my octopus said she’s going to help me be a good student, and I believe her,” George said.

  “We all had the same dream so that must mean something really important. The animals are here to help us,” Isaiah said. When he spoke, the others stopped and listened.

  “We have to get more than our dream animals involved in this,” George said. “We have to tell some adults about the birds and fish.”

  Just then the eagle flew over them and cried. “Let’s follow him,” Isaiah said. The eagle dipped over the small stream that fed the pond. “He wants us to follow the water. Maybe he’s going to show us what killed the birds and fish.”

  “He is!” George shouted. “What killed the fish probably came from upstream.” In his excitement, George’s right foot slipped off of the slimy side of the stream and into the water. “I hope whatev
er’s in this water won’t hurt my foot,” he said as he lifted his tennis shoe out of the mucky water. “It stinks here worse than a swamp.”

  They followed Eagle for a few minutes. Soon the cottonwood access from the school yard was in the distance. Up ahead, the stream ran under a big fence.

  “It looks like the fence is around a building of some sort,” Isaiah said, leading the group. He was surprised that he wasn’t out of breath. His asthma still seemed to be under control.

  At the back of the fence, they found a gate leading into the grounds. It seemed to be locked on the inside.

  “How are we going to get inside so we can keep following the stream?” George asked.

  Without a thought, Magda quickly climbed the fence, she swung the gate open for the others.

  “Let’s prop it open with this rock so we can get out quickly if we need to,” Isaiah said, putting a large stone in the opening. “Thanks, Magda!”

  “No problem,” she said. “I felt like I flew up and over that fence. It was strange.”

  Isaiah nodded, remembering what it was like to fly in his dream. He looked around. There was a low shed up ahead, surrounded by dirty barrels and rusted metal machinery. It looked deserted. He led the group up to it so they were sheltered from a large metal warehouse ahead.

  “I think we can make our way across the yard to get back to the stream by staying behind stuff just in case there’s someone in that big building,” Isaiah instructed. They began picking their way toward the stream.

  “Look over there where the stream goes,” Rose said. She pointed to more barrels which were stacked up by the stream.

  Eagle circled above the barrels.

  “I don’t know what’s going on inside this fence,” said George. “But one thing’s for sure. All of those barrels contain some type of poison. See the skull and crossbones on them?” He stopped. “Oh boy, we’ve got company.”

  Three men came out of the warehouse and stood behind it.

  “Cigarette break,” Isaiah said, “Get down!” He dropped behind some containers and held his index finger against his lips.