Enter a Glossy Web

by McKenna Ruebush

  “This place is incredible!” Caleb said, grinning from ear to ear. “I just had a sword fight with a real buccaneer! I’m not sure, but I think I might have won!”

  Mikal nodded vigorously, eyes round with excitement. “I got licked by a giraffe. Did you know they have black tongues? And I think I ate too much cotton candy!” He grasped his belly and lay back with a groan.

  “What did you do, George?” Caleb asked.

  “Nothing,” she mumbled. “I just kept an eye on Cavendish.”

  “Why?” Mikal asked in disbelief. “Isn’t there anything you want to play with? Or rides? Or games? I saw a princess and some fairies battling a wild dragon to defend their castle. He wasn’t a nice dragon like Hector. You could have helped them. You’d be a good knight.”

  George just shrugged her shoulders and picked at her fingernails.

  Caleb sat up and stared at her. “Seriously, George. You’ve been weird almost since we got here. What’s wrong?”

  “I just want to get going, that’s all. I don’t like it here.”

  “How can you not like it here? This place is literally a heaven for children!” Caleb said.

  “That’s why I don’t like it here!” she said, looking angrily up from her lap.

  Caleb and Mikal glanced at each other, their expressions baffled.

  “I don’t understand,” Mikal said.

  “I don’t want to be here because…” She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “Because I’m afraid I’ll find Daniel here.”

  “But you want to find Daniel,” Mikal said.

  “It’s pretty much all you talk about,” Caleb said.

  George looked at them in amazement. She jumped to her feet and stalked off furiously. “I don’t want to find him here!”

  Caleb ran after her. “George, what’s going on?”

  Mikal grabbed Cavendish and followed.

  She stopped abruptly and turned to face them. Her face was pale, and her freckled chin trembled. “This is a heaven for kids, the place they go when they die. If I find Daniel here … it means … it means he’s dead.”

  Caleb rubbed a hand over his face. “Aw, jeez. I didn’t think.”

  Mikal looked stricken. “We’re sorry, George.”

  “And Daniel can’t be dead!” she said, her voice shrill. “He’s just lost for a little while, that’s all. And I’ll find him. But I’m just so scared I’m going to find him here, because … What if he is … dead?” Her eyes were swimming in unshed tears as she gazed at the carnival lights and children playing.

  They stood in silence, each having run out of words.

  Mikal coughed and held out the green stuffed dinosaur. “I won this. I thought you might like that it matched Toad. They’re both green.” He looked miserably uncertain.

  George gave a choked laugh and tried to smile as she accepted the dinosaur and held it to her chest.

  Caleb shoved his hands deep in his pockets. Then he set his jaw and strode off in the direction of the picnic tables. “Come on,” he shouted back.

  “He has a plan. That is his I-have-a-plan face,” Mikal said, taking George’s hand and leading her after Caleb.

  Caleb walked up to some children eating birthday cake. “Have you seen Zed?” They pointed at a table across the field, and there was Zed gobbling up ice cream by the bowlful.

  “Zed,” Caleb said as he approached the little boy, “I need to know something.”

  “How can I help?” Zed asked. “Do you want some ice cream? I’ll share.”

  Mikal shook his head. “This is more important than that.”

  “We need to know if George’s little brother is in the Children’s Republic,” Caleb said. “He disappeared not too long ago, and George is afraid he might be here. His name is Daniel Snaffleharp. What does he look like, George?”

  George held out a trembling hand level with her chest. “He’s this tall, with green eyes. He has sandy hair and a cowlick that never goes down, no matter how hard you try. And he talks too much. He never stops talking.” She smiled faintly at the memory but then swallowed hard.

  Caleb and Mikal looked at Zed as he wiped his hands on his tuxedo.

  “That describes a few children we have here. I mean, look around. There are a lot of kids,” Zed said.

  “His name is Daniel Snaffleharp,” Caleb repeated firmly. “We need to be certain.”

  “I guess I could check the Endix.”

  “We need you to do that,” Mikal said, stepping forward to Caleb’s side. “Now, please.”

  Zed looked longingly at the melting ice cream. “All right, come with me.”

  He led them to a building hidden behind the circus tent. Inside were rows and rows of bookshelves, all smelling of dust and old age. Zed walked to a podium, where an enormous tome lay open. “This is where we keep the Endix. Most worlds have them. They help us keep track of who comes and goes. Your names will be added when you’ve left, but in a different book for living guests. You said your brother disappeared recently?”

  George had to wet her lips before she could speak. “About three months ago.”

  “Let’s see here,” Zed said, beginning to turn the pages. “S for Snaffleharp. Sna … Snaff … Snaffle…”

  Her breath caught in her throat.

  “Snaffleby … Snafflely … Nope. He’s not here.” Zed closed the book with a bang.

  George sagged a little, and she reached out a hand to Caleb to steady herself. “If he’s not here … that means—”

  “It means he’s alive somewhere in the worlds,” Zed said.

  “So I can still find him. He’s still out there.” George’s knees felt weak. “Thank you, Zed.” She looked at Caleb and Mikal. “Thank you,” she said, but no sound came out.

  Caleb glanced away and ran his fingers through his hair. There was a blush creeping up his neck. “No problem.”

  Mikal beamed at her. “Now can I have my dinosaur back?”

  George laughed and handed him the dinosaur.

  “I suppose I should show you to where you’ll be sleeping,” Zed said. He led them back outside and stopped before a rope ladder hanging from a redwood tree that seemed to rise into the sky forever.

  At the foot of the tree was a glittering fairy reading bedtime stories to a group of sleepy toddlers. One of the little boys started to drift off, and as he tipped out of his seat, two gnomes rushed up and caught him, then carried him away to be tucked into bed.

  “That’s where you’ll be spending the night,” Zed said, gesturing to the leaves above.

  “We get to sleep in the tree?” Caleb asked. “It’s kind of high.”

  “No, past that,” Zed said.

  George looked up the swinging ladder that disappeared into the clouds. “I’ve always wanted to touch a cloud!” Then she looked at Mikal, and her smile faded. “Actually, Zed, do you have anywhere else? Heights make Mikal a little nervous. I think he’d be more comfortable closer to the ground.”

  Mikal fidgeted as he stared up, up, up. He took a breath so deep his shoulders rose and fell with it. “I think I want to try. I think I can do it. I’m getting braver.”

  “Are you sure?” George asked. “We don’t mind sleeping down here.”

  “I’m sure,” he said, after just a moment of hesitation.

  George smiled at him.

  “You can do it, Mikal,” Caleb said. “Do you want me to go first?”

  “No. I’ll go first. It isn’t as high as it looks. Things always look taller from the ground than they really are. Once you get on with it, it isn’t so bad. The trick is to just do it.” He passed Cavendish to Caleb and the dinosaur to George, then reached up to grab the ladder. He stepped onto the bottom rung, hesitated, squeezed his eyes shut, and began to ascend.

  “Woo! Go, Mikal! You’re almost there!” George shouted.

  “Look at the little pro climb,” Caleb said with a proud smile. “I wish you could have seen him perform when we were with the circus. He was pretty incredi
ble.”

  They watched the ladder swing above their heads, and soon Mikal had disappeared into the treetop. Zed hurried after him and vanished into the branches as well. Caleb with Cavendish was next, and then George.

  They popped out into low-hanging clouds, which were cool and spongy under their feet.

  Caleb nodded his approval.

  Zed gestured toward the silvery mist floating around their ankles. “It’s not much, but it’s comfortable and safe. You won’t fall. In fact, you can only go back down by conscious choice.”

  “What about the meteor showers?” George asked. There were so many stars streaking overhead she could hardly see any darkness between them.

  “They are awfully close,” Mikal said. “Won’t they hit us?”

  “Not yet. But if you fail to open Obsidia in the morning, find the third key to Astria in the afternoon, retrieve the lost pieces in the evening, and help the Council of Seven be rebuilt by eleven eleven at night, we’ll all die horribly before the next dawn,” Zed said.

  The children exchanged a worried look.

  “How’s our countdown, Cav?” Caleb asked.

  Cavendish’s screen blinked. “The time is now nine oh two PM DWT. You currently have twenty-six hours and nine minutes until you’re burned to a crisp.”

  George rubbed at her face. “I suddenly feel very tired.”

  “I’m beat,” Caleb said. He tossed his backpack and sleeping bag down, kicked off his shoes, and climbed into bed.

  “Have pleasant dreams. I’ll come to wake you early for breakfast,” Zed said, but then he paused. “Before I go, I should probably warn you.… Tooth Fairy is on a rampage lately. She wants to meet her quota before the end of the worlds, so sleep with your mouth closed.” Zed smiled bashfully, revealing his missing front teeth once again, and disappeared under the blanket of white fluff.

  Mikal jumped up and down, springing like a kangaroo on a trampoline. “I know I should be more worried about tomorrow night, but it’s so bouncy!” Then he flopped onto his back and started waving his arms and legs back and forth. “Do you think I can make cloud angels?”

  George grinned at his antics as she settled in for the night. “Three for backpack, four for Caleb, five for Mikal, six for Cavendish. Nothing’s missing.” She rummaged through her knapsack, finally pulling out twelve for Istanbul. She began to rub the dull ball with a soft rag.

  “Whatcha doin’?” Caleb asked, folding his arms behind his head as he watched her.

  “I’m polishing one of my hikaru dorodango,” George said. “It helps me relax and sleep.”

  “Dorodango is an art form that originated in Japan,” Cavendish said, updates completed.

  “Yeah,” George said. “Basically, it’s a ball of mud that you rub until it gets shiny. There’s more to it, but this is my favorite part. This is number twelve for Istanbul.”

  “I understand the process,” Cavendish said. “But what is its purpose? It seems rather pointless.”

  “It isn’t pointless. I make them from the places I’ve been with my family. I put all of my memories of the trip inside them so I don’t ever have to worry about forgetting. They’re my … memory keepers, I guess.”

  “What memory does number twelve for Istanbul keep?” Mikal asked, yawning as he snuggled into his own sleeping bag and stuffed his dinosaur under his head.

  “Our parents were working on a dig there, and I was supposed to be watching Daniel,” George said after some hesitation. “We went for a walk in the outdoor market. We loved that place, and went as much as our parents let us. It was like a storybook, all bright colors everywhere, and people shopping and talking, and the air smelled of cinnamon and curry and lavender. The vendors were really nice too. They got used to seeing us there after a few weeks and started giving us things, figs and honeyed sesame treats. Do you know what those are?” She went on without waiting for an answer. “It’s just sesame seeds with honey, but they’re so sweet and crunchy. Sometimes we would pretend that we were living in olden times and that the rugs in the market were magic carpets.…” She glanced up and saw the boys watching attentively. She blushed and looked down at her hands. “Anyway, I was supposed to be looking after him, but I got distracted for just a minute, and then he was gone. I lost him. It was my fault. It had been raining that morning. I kept some of the mud to make number twelve for Istanbul.”

  “Were your parents mad at you?” Mikal asked.

  “No. Sometimes I wish they were. I miss them. Almost as much as I miss Daniel. I hope I can save them. By saving the worlds, I mean. And then I can find Daniel.”

  “George,” Caleb said.

  “Yes?”

  “You know how you count stuff to keep track of it? But you always skip numbers one and two?”

  “What about it?”

  “Is Daniel number one?”

  George concentrated very hard on the clay ball beginning to glisten in her hands. Then she nodded.

  “And Aunt Henrietta is number two,” Caleb said.

  “Yes.”

  They were quiet for a few minutes, and then Caleb cleared his throat. “Maybe you could teach me how to make a hikaru dorodango. I don’t have very many memories, though. Maybe it would help me keep the ones I have so I don’t forget again.”

  “I can teach you. As long as you’re patient. Just pick your favorite memory to start with.”

  “Hmm,” Caleb said. “That would definitely be the first time I discovered popcorn. It was stale, cold, and way too salty, but it was heaven. Definitely the best food I ever ate.”

  “That’s because you were hungry, Caleb,” Mikal said disapprovingly, and then looked at George. “It was when I first found him. He was hiding under some newspapers behind the big tent, stuffing himself with old popcorn.”

  “It’s embarrassing when you tell it like that, Mikal!” Caleb said, looking down at his lap and focusing really hard on cleaning under his thumbnail.

  “I don’t mean to embarrass you. It’s one of my best memories too,” Mikal said.

  “You really don’t remember anything before that, Caleb?” George asked. “Not your parents, or if you had brothers or sisters, or where you came from?”

  Caleb shrugged and rolled away from them. “Not a thing. But someday I’ll know everything. I’ve got to.”

  George nodded uncertainly and put away twelve for Istanbul. “You were really brave climbing that ladder, Mikal. Your dad would have been super impressed.”

  “I know,” Mikal said.

  George giggled softly. “You’re not very modest, but you are honest, and I like that.”

  “It’s true. My dad would have been impressed. Not because of the height of the climb, but because I was brave. He was brave too, and I want to be like him.”

  * * *

  Later, after George and Mikal had fallen asleep, Cavendish spoke in a hushed voice. “You’re not asleep, are you, Caleb?”

  “Of course not,” Caleb said. “I told you already, I don’t sleep.”

  “I get lonely when they do,” Cavendish said.

  “Me too,” Caleb whispered, and they kept each other company until the sun came up and they could no longer see the falling stars.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Zed arrived with the sun the next morning, lugging a bundle up the rope ladder.

  “Good morning! Did you sleep well?” he asked as he opened the bundle and began unpacking it.

  George yawned mightily.

  “I had the best dreams!” Mikal said as he got up and stretched.

  Zed passed a paper-wrapped package to each of the children. “We always have good dreams here.”

  “What’re these?” Caleb asked.

  “They’re gifts from the gnomes. I hope you like them.”

  The children unwrapped the presents to find a new toothbrush and a change of clothes for each of them. George had a purple dress, and there was a long green scarf to replace the one she had lost in the Land of Dreamers. Caleb and Mikal had crisp white s
hirts and black pants, and new suspenders to match their raincoats, blue for Mikal and orange for Caleb.

  “Wow, these are great,” Caleb said.

  “Thank you, Zed. I love them!” George said, wrapping the scarf around her neck.

  “We’re going to look so handsome,” Mikal said.

  “What? Nothing for me?” Cavendish asked. “Figures.”

  The children collected their belongings and followed Zed back down the ladder. It was early, and the Children’s Republic was quiet. They brushed their teeth and changed into the new clothes, but Mikal opted to continue wearing his old silver suspenders in honor of their escape from the Land of Dreamers.

  They entered the picnic field for breakfast and inhaled deeply at the scent of vanilla cream.

  They sat down to a feast of doughnuts and waffles and ate steadily for several minutes.

  “I like your dress, George,” Mikal mumbled around a mouthful of blueberry pancakes.

  “Pretty,” Caleb said, too busy chewing to say more.

  George grinned at them both. “Thank you! And you were right, Mikal. You both look very dashing.”

  Mikal blushed and looked pleased.

  Caleb just gave a cocky wink.

  “Nobody ever calls me dashing,” Cavendish said.

  “Why, Cavendish,” George said, “I didn’t think we had to tell you that. I was sure you already knew.”

  Cavendish’s screen blushed pink. “You’re beginning to grow on me, Georgina.”

  “It’s probably time for you to tell us about the emergency, Zed,” Caleb said. “We still need to find a way into Obsidia so we can get our third key, so we can access Astria, so we can find the three lost pieces, so we can find the Timekeeper, so we can rescue the Innocent, so we can rebuild the Council, so we can save the worlds by eleven eleven tonight.” He took a deep breath.

  George’s face fell. “Aunt Henrietta’s been with those awful men for three whole days.”

  “What’s our countdown, Cavendish?” Mikal asked.

  “The time is now seven thirty-five AM DWT. You currently have fifteen hours and thirty-six minutes until total annihilation.”

  Zed gulped and wiped powdered sugar off his cheek. “I wouldn’t want to be you guys. You have an awful long way to go today. Are you sure … are you sure you can do it?”