by Alex Getz
Opening the door to Vic’s ward, Mr. Ketling stopped and stood in the doorway. Vic sat on the bed in one full piece, safe and sound, as if nothing had happened. The station’s doctor waved his hands and explained that, suddenly, Vic regained his former appearance.
“Vic, how are you feeling?” Mr. Ketling walked up to the boy’s bed.
“A little weak, but mostly fine.”
“We have to make sure that you have enough strength to remain here in Octavia. Doctor, please measure his energy level.”
“I already have. It’s 75 percent.”
“Of course, it’s not perfect, but—how did this happen?” Mr. Ketling asked, noticeably bewildered.
Arthur, River, and Germaine stood behind him in silence. They still could barely believe that Carol’s idea worked. But, the situation was far from resolved. Florence entered the ward without warning. No one expected to see her.
“This happened, Stephan, because his sister wished it,” Florence stated.
“I don’t understand,” Mr. Ketling said in confusion.
“Carol shared her energy with Vic. The other children did the same. Thankfully to that, they helped to prevent Ortigon from finding the direct way to Octavia. But still, he was able to detect Vic’s clone, and now, unfortunately, he might know our approximate location. Ortigon is gathering his patrol to follow this trace. I hope that he will not succeed in finding us. I flew here to tell you about this in person and check on the boy’s current condition.”
After Florence’s words, everything suddenly took on a different, sinister hue.
“You must return to Octavia immediately,” Florence continued. “Stephan, take care of the children and teleport home as soon as you can. After that, please head toward the nearest border. Also, as far as I can tell, Vic is well now. He has less energy at the moment, as well as Carol. They will need to be looked after.” Disappearing into thin air, Florence teleported back to Octavia, and in a few moments, Mr. Ketling did the same with the rest.
Chapter seven
The Invisible Border
When Mr. Ketling returned to the log house with others, Chloe and Liz were not the only ones waiting for them, Grandma Doris and Grandpa Joe were there as well.
Seeing her husband, Mrs. Ketling asked worriedly, “Are you all right? I couldn’t find myself a place!”
“Everything’s fine,” Mr. Ketling said. “All who have enough energy are required to be near the border. We’ll go there together with the boys to strengthen the protective wall, which makes Octavia invisible to Ortigon. We are going there almost immediately.”
“Mr. Ketling, I won’t be of any use here, can I come with you please?” Vic asked.
“That’s risky. You are still very weak. It would be better if you will stay at home. You too, Carol. Chloe, please look after them. Germaine, River, and Arthur follow me. I hope you know how to ride a horse.”
As it appeared, Grandma Doris’s suggestion to learn horse riding came to hand.
Mr. Ketling walked up to Chloe, kissed her on the cheek, and said, “See you soon.”
Mr. Ketling and the boys headed to the stable, where each chose a horse to ride. Mr. Ketling saddled a steed with a smooth, pitch-black coat and sparkling eyes. The three other horses, which boys were riding, had a reddish-brown hair coat. A storm raged outside so fiercely that rain jackets barely protected the riders. The boys followed Mr. Ketling at a gallop. At the end of the orchard, without slowing pace, the horses climbed a hill, which dropped off to a cliff ahead. Mr. Ketling urged his horse on toward the peak without hesitation. A few meters away from the edge was a gloomy fog. River and Arthur felt their hearts drop to the pits of their stomachs. As they pushed off the ground, Mr. Ketling and his horse appeared in midair for a second before disappearing from view. Both were instantly teleported to the border. The boys repeated Mr. Ketling’s actions. Arthur thought he would fall for a too long time before smashing against the ground. But his concern was all for naught—he shot out of the air into an entirely different setting, just as everyone else did. A field surrounded them. They got off the horses.
“Try to feel around with your palms. The invisible border wall should be somewhere here.”
The boys tried to feel around, following Mr. Ketling’s example.
“There’s something here,” River said.
“I feel it too,” Arthur confirmed.
“Good. Now try to connect to the wall through your palms. Follow my lead. Focus on strengthening the wall. Davriada will help you.”
A light stream started to issue from their palms and united with the wall. The border between the two worlds became silhouetted from ground to sky. Mr. Ketling said that Octavia would remain invisible to Ortigon, and the border was visible only to them. In the distance, they could see other octavians who came to protect the wall.
Suddenly, from afar, a military helicopter flew in Octavia’s direction. At first, there was only one in the sky, but their number grew to a few within a minute.
“Here they are,” Mr. Ketling uttered.
“Dad, what happens now?”
“Keep reinforcing the wall. It looks like they are looking for a place to land.”
And, just as Mr. Ketling suspected, the helicopters landed not far from the border.
“Don’t worry, they still can’t see us,” Mr. Ketling whispered to the boys.
Ortigon’s people got out from the helicopters and walked in the opposite direction from the border. There were approximately a dozen people, all in black uniforms and carrying weapons. One of them was barking into a walkie-talkie, “There’s nothing here, we’ve flown over the entire territory―over―yes, we were there as well. Okay. It will be done.”
The man with the walkie-talkie started to move toward the border. He drew quite close, stopping about ten steps away from the wall. He raised a pair of binoculars and looked directly at Mr. Ketling and the boys. However, instead of them, the man saw only empty surroundings. He stood in place for some time before taking a few more steps toward the border. Mr. Ketling watched the man, continuing to fortify the wall through his palms. Suddenly, River inhaled sharply, as if preparing to sneeze. The others looked over at him warily. If the man heard River sneeze, he would realize that someone was near. However, the man suddenly lowered his binoculars and, spitting to the side, turned back to the helicopter. River couldn’t hold back anymore and sneezed loudly. The man turned sharply and stared at the wall. Arthur felt he might faint. Mr. Ketling raised his palms even higher, and waves of barely visible light pulsed through them. The waves pushed through the border and enveloped the man, appearing to confuse and muddle his thoughts.
“Hmm, I thought…” he trailed off before turning and walking back to the helicopters. He then barked through the walkie-talkie, “Let’s fly, there’s nothing else to do here!”
The helicopters lifted off shortly. Almost touching the very border, they turned around and flew in the opposite direction.
“They’re flying away!” River shouted in disbelief.
“I thought we were done for,” Arthur gasped.
“What if they come back?” Germaine asked.
“They will probably not reemerge near the border anytime soon. But we still must be on guard. I think Florence will come up with new protection measures. Things can no longer remain as they are. I must now confer with her and the elders regarding further actions. Sorry I am on a connection with them right now.”
Germaine explained to the brothers that Mr. Ketling is using a telepathic way of talking. Just in a few moments, Mr. Ketling turned to the boys, “Florence said we can come back home now.”
Everyone felt exhausted. Summoning last bit of strength, Mr. Ketling and the boys rode back to the teleportation point and returned to the house at the foot of the mountain.
After dinner, Mr. Ketling departed to the meeting to discuss further actions on Octavia’s protection, while others were preparing themselves to sleep. Carol wanted to talk to Vic before bed, but s
he found that he was not in a room with River and Arthur. Brothers said they didn't see him after dinner, either. The living room was empty, as well. Vic’s absence made Carol uneasy. Carol felt she had already enough adventures for one day, and prayed he would just appear safely in the house, alive and well. Carol decided to go out and check veranda. To her relief, Vic was there, sitting on the very edge with his legs hanging over.
“You are here… I couldn’t find you,” Carol said, sitting down next to him. “What are you thinking about?”
“Just about everything that happened today.”
Carol looked at her brother straight in the eyes to understand what he was feeling.
“It all happened because of me,” he said.
“Stop thinking like that. Mr. Ketling said it happened because of the Ortigon’s spell. They knew they were taking a risk.”
“Then why did they have to bring me here? I don’t fit in here!”
“Don’t say that,” Carol chided quietly.
“And now, nothing will stop Ortigon to find Octavia soon and unleash hell on the whole planet!”
“Vic...” Carol began. "Any other person could have wound up in your place.”
“Any other person could have, but only I did. How could they let Ortigon rule our world! Maybe our parents would still be alive if it weren’t for him.”
“It was an accident, Vic!” Carol let out a deep sigh. They sat in silence for a few moments. “In any case, it’s impossible to go back in time. Now, we must try to look at all this as something that should have happened. The only thing we can do is to go with the flow and do what we can to change things for the better, whenever we’re given the opportunity.”
“Thanks, Carol, I guess you are right. And sorry, I should not have mentioned that,” Vic sighed. “It is late. Probably if you hadn’t shown up, I would have fallen asleep right here.”
“Let’s go, Vic.”
Chapter eight
Day off
The next day was declared a day off. All lessons were canceled; everyone in Octavia could spend their free time as they pleased. Grandma Doris invited Carol to gather flowers and herbs, to which Carol eagerly agreed. After strolling for a few hours, they returned home for lunch. As they soon discovered, Vic, River, and Arthur went to the lake in the morning, where Germaine taught them how to breathe underwater. River and Arthur were arguing about who could hold his breath the longest.
“I was under for almost one minute. You could barely last half of it,” Arthur said to his brother.
“Well, most of the time, you just didn’t breathe. And I was trying to do what Germaine showed us, which is more difficult!”
“No one ever gets it right the first time,” Germaine said, trying to calm down the brothers. “I can’t do it for more than twenty minutes. Dad can stay underwater for almost an hour. Some people who participate in swimming competitions can last for several hours in a row. Last year’s record was ten hours. Jess Vang was the first to accomplish this. And he’s only four years older than I am! By the way, who wants to play on the swing?”
“On the swing?” Arthur asked, without much enthusiasm.
“Yes, I know you have them in your world, too. But, still, you might want to try my swing.”
After all their recent adventures, playing on swings seemed exceptionally boring to the non-Octavians. But the weather was nice, and they had nothing better to do, so they accepted Germaine’s invitation.
“It’s not far from the house, just a few minutes away.”
They cut through the orchard and soon got to the place.
“That’s it!” Germaine pointed at the tree.
The tree was improbably enormous, and a swing hung on thin ropes from one of its branches.
“So, this is a swing, right?” River clarified.
“I’ve been growing this tree for a couple of years,” Germaine said with pride.
“Holy cow! This tree is giant! Can I swing on it?” Arthur asked.
“Of course!”
“What do I do? Just hold onto the two ropes, I figure?”
“Yeah, just hold on tightly. Now, I’ll give you a push to start, and then you can continue from there.”
Settling on the small wooden board, Arthur felt his heart skip a beat. Looking upwards, for a moment, he regretted that he chose to go first. Germaine started to swing him, pushing his back. When the swing gradually gained speed, Germaine stepped aside. Arthur already rose several meters off the ground, climbing higher and higher with each kick.
“Germaine, can I do a wheel on it? It seems like it is possible,” Arthur shouted from above.
“Yeah, sure!”
“Okay, here I go…”
Arthur gathered more speed, swinging even higher off the ground. He grasped the rope with all his might, as there was quite a possibility that at any second, he could soar like a bird. “Just a little more, and I’ll be at the same level as the branch the swing is attached to!” He shouted to his friends, whose facial expressions except Germaine’s turned from delight to worry.
“Hey! Be careful up there!” River called to his brother.
When Arthur lingered longer than usual the next time he rose upward, Carol couldn’t hold back and said indignantly, “It’s not safe! He might fall—”
“He did a wheel!” Germaine exclaimed. “And don’t worry! When I built this swing, I programmed it in such a way that people could swing on it safely and avoid any injury.”
“That’s very sensible,” Carol said with relief.
Arthur rushed down, his flight now accompanied by joyful cheers. He stopped rocking and tried to halt the swing.
“That was awesome,” Arthur said, lowering himself onto the ground and approaching others with an easy swagger.
“Who wants to be next? Carl, how do you feel about giving it a go?”
“I’m thinking about it. Someone else can go in the meantime.”
“I’ll go,” River said. He settled into the swing comfortably, anticipating his share of adrenaline.
After a minute, River’s excited shouts resounded from above. The kids spent significant time around the tree, taking turns on the swing. Even Carol overcame her fear of heights and swung for a few times.
That night, they had dinner in the garden. Mr. Ketling managed to arrive home from his meeting on time.
“At the moment, the situation is more or less stable,” he shared the latest news with the table members. “Ortigon is still unable to find us. Now all forces are being directed toward strengthening Octavia. From tomorrow everything will come back to normal, so be prepared for your new lessons.”
This bit of news both gladdened and disappointed. The kids would enjoy spending more time at Ketlings, almost forgetting that they were only temporary guests. Besides, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Doris had to return home by the next day.
Mr. Ketling said that they prepared a small present for them. He stood up and sat at the grand piano. Germaine ran into the house and came back with a saxophone for Liz and a guitar for himself. From the first note, a melody, similar to jazz, resonated in the orchard. The music became more joyful, and Chloe stood up from the table and danced in place. Grandpa Joe invited Grandma Doris to dance, and the old couple forgot their years and broke into a gentle swing. Everyone started dancing, and even Vic joined the others. Mr. Ketling played the piano like a virtuoso. For a short time, everyone forgot about the recent events, utterly absorbed in the atmosphere of joy.
“I haven’t let off steam like this in ages!” Grandpa Joe wheezed, sitting back down at the table. Grandma Doris joined him, needing a small break as well.
“My feet! How am I still standing?” Grandma Doris said, puffing at her pipe.
Grandpa Joe glowered disapprovingly at her.
“I know, I know. Nothing good in this habit. Well, almost nothing.”
“Doris, if you lived here, you wouldn’t maintain such habits.”
“By the way, they grow fantastic tobacco here, but th
ey use it for totally other purposes.”
“And rightly so.”
Mr. Ketling left playing piano, Germaine and Liz also took a break. In the musicians’ absence, the elves started playing piano, and the fast rhythm changed to a slower one. Mr. Ketling took Chloe for a dance. Grandpa Joe squinted at the Grandma Doris sitting next to him.
“Doris, hmm.”
“Yes, Joe?”
“Won’t you keep me company?” he asked, offering her his arm.
Grandma Doris broke into a smile and accepted his invitation. Vic and River rushed for the table. Carol also wanted to catch her breath and sip on something cold when Arthur approached her with a not-so-courageous look.
“Carol, will you dance with me?” His cheeks were growing redder with every passing second.
“Sure.”
The two boys sitting at the table almost choked on their juice.
“What’s come over him?” River asked, astonished.
During the dance, Arthur stepped on Carol’s feet several times and cursed to himself. Carol pretended not to notice anything and tried not to look to the side where River and Vic were sitting.
“What an amazing night,” Arthur sighed, feeling that an uncomfortable silence settled between them for far too long already.
“Yeah.”
Arthur tried to think of a topic that might interest her. “Do you like rocks?”
“Rocks?”
“I collect them.”
“I don’t know much about rocks. Although, I did recently learn that there are unusual rocks on the Moon that change color depending on the mood of the person holding them.”
“Really? I’ve never heard of those before.”
“Our science teacher in school told us about it.”
“That’s interesting!”
They both glanced at the looming Moon in the night sky. The song finished, and the couples returned to the table. Everyone took a slice of the cake Chloe baked. It had several layers, was covered with a chocolate glaze and decorated with fruit from the garden. Even though everyone was still quite full from their earlier meal, no one could resist such a treat.
