by KD Blakely
Is it really worth going through this?
I tripped as I left the tree, landing on hands and knees.
As the others emerged into Chimera, most of them didn’t fare much better. Olivia actually sprawled face first on the ground and spat out a mouthful of dirt before climbing to her feet.
Note to self — There’s gotta be a better way. Ask Ronny!
Doug asked Faith and Olivia, “What happened? Why did we have to hurry?”
“Andrew tried to follow us!” Faith panted.
“I’m pretty sure we lost him,” Olivia stated, resting her arms on her bent knees as she tried to get her breath back. “But we totally wanted to be sure, so we ran the last part.”
“Well, they can’t follow us now,” I said.
The sudden frown on Doug’s face worried me. I asked anxiously, “What?”
“They were born the same year as us. What’s to stop them from coming in here?”
Olivia’s eyes popped wide open. “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“No, no, no!” Faith shook her head and hunched her shoulders. “That would be so unfair.”
I stared at Faith, feeling queasy. “You’re right, it’s not fair. But Doug’s right too. They’ll be able to get in.”
“We can never let them see us come in here! They could do anything to us in here. There’s no one to stop them.”
“There’s us,” Doug said, standing taller.
Faith only shook her head. Her eyes looked scared, and I was pretty sure she was imagining the Rejects doing something nasty to us. I hoped she was wrong.
Knowing we only had a couple hours in here, I said, “We should find Ghalynn’s cabin, okay?”
We hadn’t gone far when the four animals approached us. The cat ran straight up to me, while the dog barked and went bounding over to Doug.
At the edge of the meadow, the fox’s bright orange face peeked above the grass. It looked like it was keeping a watchful eye on the dog. The little pygmy owl landed on the stone fence to the left of the road and hooted at Olivia.
I laughed out loud. “It’s so cool. It’s like they were waiting for us to come back.” I reached to pet the beautiful Siamese cat, grinning when it gave a rumbling purr. “And we each got our favorite animal.”
“That must just be a coincidence,” Faith said, voice sad. She glanced at the small red fox whose ears and nose twitched as it looked her way.
“No way is it a coincidence,” Doug said. “You’ve called yourselves Cat, Owl and Fox for years.”
How does he know that?
Doug snorted with laughter, making me feel stupid. He choked out, “You all look soooo surprised. What, like it’s supposed to be a secret?”
When I glared at him, he rolled his eyes. “It’s not like you hid it. You’ve called each other those names since, what, second grade?”
He laughed again. “I always thought it was ‘cause of your initials. Faith O’Keefe Xenakis. FOX. Olivia Willow Larson. OWL. Katherine Alice Taylor. KAT. But last time you said you like those animals. Well, I’ve always liked Jack Russell terriers, and look what’s here. It can’t be a coincidence.”
“It’s weirder than that,” Olivia told him. “Your name is Douglas Oliver Geller. DOG.”
“You know what? It’s not weird.” Faith shivered. “It’s creepy.”
Doug shook his head. “Oh come on. It’s totally cool!”
I pulled out my phone, and made sure it was dead, wishing I knew what time it was. “None of us know how things work in here. Maybe it is just a coincidence.”
When Doug smirked I continued, “And maybe it means something. Either way, we should get to the cabin — Ghalynn can explain it.”
“Good idea!” Olivia sounded relieved.
Faith gulped. “Ronny did say he’d help us. If we can get him to listen. Even though he’s annoying, impolite, bad-mannered and whatever else she called him.”
I grinned at her. “I think it was irritating, frustrating, rude and short-tempered.” Even though that sounded a bit scary, I wanted to get there and find out about Ronny’s mom and our animals.
As we started walking again I looked around. I’d forgotten how different everything was in here. Strange flowers, rocks, huge glistening poison apples on the trees. And how quiet everything was — our footsteps were the only sounds I could hear.
“How long’ll it take to get to the cabin?” Olivia asked, fanning herself. We’d stripped off our sweatshirts long before. Chimera felt positively hot compared to home.
I glanced at Ronny’s map. It showed the road we were on curving to the left before a short side road split off toward the hand drawn cabin. There was no way to tell how far it was. “Sorry. Can’t tell from the map.”
It felt like we’d been walking at least an hour when we came upon a small hand lettered sign.
“Can you tell what it says?” Olivia peered at the sign, cocking her head first to the right then to the left.
Doug groaned. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m barely passing Spanish and it uses the same letters as English. I have no idea what that says,” I told her.
“What’s the use of having a sign no one can read?” Faith asked.
“Just because we can’t read it doesn’t mean the people who live here can’t. Besides, what makes you think they speak English?” Doug mocked her.
Faith rolled her eyes. “Ronny said we’d be able to talk to them. So, they gotta speak English.”
Olivia rolled her eyes too. “Yeah, Doug!”
I grinned and rolled my eyes. “Duh!”
We gave each other high fives. Doug turned away, keeping his muttering about “girls” too quiet to offend us.
I pulled a pen and paper out of my backpack. “I’m gonna write down those symbols. We can ask Ronny about them when we get back.”
“Maybe we won’t have to wait ‘til then,” Doug said. “Maybe Ronny’s elf can tell us what it means.”
“One more reason to get to the cabin,” I said, stowing the drawing in my backpack.
Chapter 15
The Cabin
Even from the outside, the cabin appeared to have been abandoned in a hurry. The door was half open and one of the shutters hung at an odd angle. I called Ghalynn’s name several times, but there was no answer. Doug finally pushed the door open, over Faith’s protests, and we crowded into the opening.
The cabin was one large room, with a neatly made bed on the left and a small kitchen on the right. The space on the left was mostly tidy, except for the thin layer of dust over everything.
In the kitchen area, a plate lay on a small wooden table. On it was part of an apple and a few curled peelings. The half-eaten apple had obviously been there a long time. It was brown and shriveled almost past recognition.
Next to the plate were several crumpled papers, covered with drawings and strange words. The words reminded me of the sign near the cabin.
I had really counted on finding Ghalynn. I didn’t know how much I’d counted on getting some answers until I knew he wasn’t there. That he hadn’t been there for a long time.
Olivia stared around, and then said, “At least he wasn’t attacked.”
“How do you know?” Doug said. He really knew how to get that just-how-stupid-are-you tone in his voice.
“Duh. First, there’s no sign of a struggle. Second, his knife is lying on his plate. If he was attacked, don’t you think he’d have grabbed the knife?
Faith said, “I think you watch too much CSI.”
“You’re just jealous ‘cause your mom won’t let you watch,” Olivia shot back. “I’m right. You know it.”
“Okay. You’re probably right,” Faith told her.
Doug said, “Maybe he’s dead.”
“What?”
“He ate a poisoned apple!”
“If he died from poison, he’d be dead on the table.”
“What’re you doing now?” I asked as Olivia began looking thro
ugh the papers on the table.
Olivia said, “Look at this,” and held up one of the pages. It was a small ragged map, and it was obvious from its grimy, creased appearance that it had been handled frequently. She put the paper down on the table and pointed to some markings, “Do you think he’s gone there?”
When Olivia asked this, the cat jumped on the table and put her paw on the map while the dog gave an excited bark.
Olivia jumped at the cat’s sudden appearance, and put her hand on her chest. “Did you see the animals come in?”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“I only see two of them. Where’s your owl and my fox?”
Doug glanced out the door, “They’re out there, near the cabin. It doesn’t look like they’re gonna come inside.”
I reached for the map, and the cat moved aside. It lay down, its eyes half closed, an inscrutable cat expression on its face.
“You know, that’s a really smart cat,” Faith said, and we all laughed when it sat up and gave what sounded like a pleased meow.
Olivia pointed to the map. “I think this is the cabin, here.” She pointed at a roughly drawn building. “There’s the path to the cabin from the road. The road goes back to this tree — that’s got to be where we came in. The other direction, past the cabin, leads towards the mountains. See, it looks like it goes up to that cave.”
The map had a number of symbols that reminded me of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. They looked like they’d been strung together into words.
“I hope Ronny can read it.” I glanced quickly around the cabin. “So, what now?”
“We haven’t seen anyone, and Ghalynn isn’t here. We should take the copy you made of the sign and this map back to Ronny,” Olivia said.
I nodded in agreement. “Can you think of anything else we should do while we’re here? Since it’ll be a month before we come back.”
Doug said, “Let’s come back tomorrow. Who wants to wait a whole month?”
Faith said sweetly, “I have a soccer game tomorrow, but don’t let that stop you.”
Doug made a face. “I forgot.”
“The three of us could come,” Doug started, but Olivia shook her head, and I told him, “No way! We come together. All of us.”
Looking at Doug’s mutinous face, I added, “Let’s make a pact. We only come here together. No one comes without the others!”
“I swear,” Faith said quickly.
“I swear,” Olivia said, a little more slowly.
We turned to look at Doug, who hesitated. “Don’t you think each of us should be able to come and check things out whenever we can? There’s only a few days each month we can get in.”
“I wonder if that’s true,” Olivia said. “We took Ronny’s word that we could only get in during the week around the full moon. Maybe we can get in other times.”
“Uh, no, you can’t.” Doug looked everywhere but at us.
“What do you mean?” I asked him. I tried to keep the suspicion out of my voice but didn’t think I’d been very successful. I’d suspected he’d been up to something.
“Ronny’s mom was right. We can only get in near the full moon.”
“And how do you know that,” Olivia said. Her eyes narrowed and her brows drew together as she glared at him. Olivia could look pretty intimidating when she wanted to.
“Well, I… Um…” He took a deep breath and the rest came out really fast. “I tried to get in the week after we were here last time. I couldn’t get in.”
The three of us glared at him now. I said, “I can’t believe you tried to come in here without us!” Well, actually, I could believe it, I just didn’t want to.
“I wouldn’t have done anything.” His voice was almost belligerent. I knew that meant he was feeling guilty. “I just wanted to check it out. I would’ve let you know, but there was nothing to tell. I couldn’t get in!”
“Sure,” I said, unable to completely ignore my feeling of betrayal. It sat like a heavy lump in the pit of my stomach. “But from now on, we only come here together. Promise. All for one and one for all.”
“Just because you three want to wait doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to come when I have time.”
“I knew this was going to happen.” I clenched my hands into fists and glared at him. “You’re breaking your promise already. You promised to do what we said in here.”
“That was a big mistake,” Doug muttered. Then he sighed. “Okay, fine. I won’t come in here on my own.”
As soon as he said it, the dog barked and looked like he was grinning, his tongue lolling out. The cat began to purr.
Olivia said slowly, “I could almost believe they’re listening and approve.”
The dog barked again and his whole body quivered with excitement. I bent down until my eyes were on the same level as the cats. “Can you understand us?”
The cat stretched and climbed elegantly to its feet. It made a full circle, then sat down and meowed once.
“Do that again if you meant yes,” Olivia said, excitedly.
The cat stood again and turned in a small circle before sitting down with a meow.
“Do you belong to someone who lives here in Chimera?” I asked quickly.
The cat blinked but didn’t move or make a sound.
“Do you belong to Kat?” Faith asked.
I turned to her. “That’s a silly question.”
Faith pointed. “Not that silly.” I turned to watch in amazement as the cat got to its feet, made another full circle and meowed.
When I realized the cat had said yes, I fell into the single chair by the table. I felt all warm and tingly inside. “You belong to me?” How embarrassing, my voice actually squeaked with excitement.
The cat circled and meowed again. We laughed when the dog barked twice, trying to get Doug’s attention. Doug crouched down and patted the dogs head. “Are you mine?”
The dog gave two excited barks and jumped up and down, his body wiggling so fast he was almost a blur.
Faith moved outside the cabin, near the doorway. “You’re here for me?” she called to the fox hiding beneath the bushes at the corner of the cabin.
It moved several feet closer and bowed its head. Faith turned to us where we crowded behind her. “Did you see that?” she asked excitedly.
We all nodded. My eyes felt like they might pop out of my head. Olivia pushed past Faith to face the tiny owl perched in a nearby tree. “You’re my owl, aren’t you?” she said and the owl hooted back to her.
She quickly turned back, her face shining with excitement. “How cool is this!” she said. “I love this place.”
“Me too.” But that reminded me. “We should go back, we’ve been here awhile.” I folded the map and slipped it into my backpack, taking a last look around.
I scooped the cat up and buried my face in its fur. “I’m so glad you belong to me,” I whispered.
Note to self — Bring cat treats!
I carried the purring cat while we made our way back to the tree. I was only a few feet away when I stopped. I looked at the cat in my arms while disappointment welled up inside. “Oh no, you can’t go with me.”
The cat closed her eyes and continued to purr. “My father’s allergic. I can’t take you.” The cat continued to purr as it stretched and jumped gracefully from my arms, rubbing its head against my ankles.
Doug asked the dog, “Can you go home with me?” The dog whined and moved back a step. “I get it. You have to stay here.” The dog barked twice and grinned at Doug, tail wagging.
Faith waved toward the meadow and called, “Bye Foxy.” Then she disappeared through the tree.
“Bye Pyg,” Olivia said, and laughed as the little owl hooted at her, and she too disappeared. I’d never get used to seeing that!
“Bye, pretty kitty,” I said, looking back as I took my turn going into the tree.
I couldn’t wait for the long, cold, suffocating darkness to end. I tr
ied to hold still and kept my eyes closed tight. It felt better somehow, choosing not to see, rather than trying to see and feeling blind. It was easy to tell when to open my eyes. Santa Ramona would have felt cold under ordinary circumstances, but after the tree it felt almost warm.
I jerked my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the time. We’d been gone four hours. I told the others, “I’m going to call Ronny.” I forgot to use the speaker, and wondered what they could make of my side of the conversation.
“Hi. We’re back safe but we really need to meet with you. … No, we still don’t have any news about your mother. … No, Ghalynn wasn’t there. … No. … Ronny! We have stuff to show you. Can we get together? …Okay. …Right. See you in twenty minutes.”
I ended the call and said, “She’ll meet us at Johnny’s in twenty minutes. Let’s stop by the library. There’s a copy machine there — we can each get a copy of the map.”
Chapter 16
You And What Army!
Ronny’s smile was strained when we got to Johnny’s. “Meeting like this is becoming a custom. You must be getting tired of it. If we have to do this too often, you will begin to think the grass is always cleaner on the other side.”
It took a few seconds for me to get that one — oh, always greener on the other side. That was pretty close for Ronny, so I decided to ignore it. “I’m sorry we don’t know anything more about your mom. We still haven’t seen anyone in Chimera.”
Ronny made a choking sound. “No!”
I said quickly, “It looked like Ghalynn has been gone a long time, maybe weeks. But we have a clue how to find him.”
Doug said, “He might be dead. He ate a poison apple.”
A fleeting smile crossed Ronny’s face. “Not all apples in Chimera are poison.” She was silent a moment. “It might help me to understand if you tell what happened from the beginning.”
We took turns describing the weather, the road, the lack of sounds, the four animals. I showed Ronny the drawing I’d made of the sign outside the cabin.
She laughed and almost sounded like her normal self. “I had forgotten that sign. I used to tease Ghalynn about it. It is written in Standard and says ‘Keep Out Or Else’.” She chuckled and pushed the note back to me.
