by K. R. Bowman
“So, how are you doing so far?”
“Uh, I’m definitely overloaded right now with information.”
She laughed. “I bet! We’ve never had a new groundling drop in alone before. You are quite the talk of the camp. I’m so jealous,” she shook her head in wonder, “every guy will be wondering your name and story. So, where are you from?”
“Oh, Colorado Springs. You?” What did she mean by every guy?
“L.A.” She had this very confident air about her. She stood straight and tall. Her chin slightly lifted. Her big hazel eyes met mine with openness and excitement.Very self-assured, which I didn’t mind, maybe it would rub off on me.
“Considering how you got here, you might have a choice about this life. Will you stay or leave?”
“I need to get home. My mom is probably losing her mind.”
“There’s a portal that can take you back, but the Leader is about the only one who knows where it is. I’m sure Brand will take you to him in the morning, then you can get home.” Ashlen said assuredly.
“A portal?” I asked.
Ashlen nodded, “Yeah, we use it to go between the two realms.”
I felt like I was going to have permanent wrinkles on my face from all the frowning. I leaned forward and put my hands on my head, gripping my hair, and pulled on my scalp, hoping to ease some tension. “I really hope I wake up in my bed.”
“Hey, listen, just breathe. Now you know there is more out there. More than just the world you went to sleep in. It’s a lot, but you have to admit it’s pretty exciting and it’s cool. I’ll try to explain as much as I can.” She took a deep breath, “Where to start? Okay, let me think.” She slapped her hands together. “All of us here are eighteen. On the day you turn eighteen, you are transferred to one of the campsites in the Night Realm to finish your training. Back in the Norm at the Realm Department, there are portals connected to this world. That’s how we all came here. I believe there might be a few more portals sprinkled around the globe, but those are all mandated by the Norm Defense. My parents work there now.” She looked to make sure I was still following. I nodded my head as I took it all in.
“Usually, your parents teach you about our history and mission to get you prepared. My father, who wasn’t one for books, began my teachings with weapons.” She smiled, her eyes looking past me remembering. “But we all begin true training together. The training goes for about six months. Then we go through the field test. The field test is a beast. They discovered when we were tested that our abilities appear, so by the end of it, we can officially call ourselves Watchers.”
So far, I gathered that I would be wielding weapons, killing things, putting myself in danger, while living in the stinky woods so in six months they can test my powers, and I would be whatever she had called them. Are these people insane? Poor Ashlen. She certainly drank the Kool-Aid. I sure as Hell wasn’t about to do that! My mind was spinning. I stared at her. My hands shook. I tried to hide my anxiety, but I’ve never been good at hiding emotions. My chest tightened.
She started speaking again, “See if this sounds familiar before you completely write me off as crazy. A few months before I turned eighteen, I would get these colossal headaches, and my eyes would cross, blurring my vision.” She paused, taking my silence as an answer. “I don’t know why it happens like that. I don’t know if it’s because our bodies are preparing us to move to another world or maybe because our abilities are coming to their full potential, but once we come here, the headaches stop. Not everyone becomes a Realmer. My brother works at the Defense Department in the Norm. Not to be judge-y, and it’s not like I’m going to report them for doing a shit job at preparing you, but who are your parents?” She asked.
“My mom’s name is Anna. She’s a teacher, and I’m pretty sure I would know if she was some sort of warrior.” I frowned and rested my chin on my palm. “I never met my dad. He left before I was born.” I sat straighter and looked at Ashlen.
“Hmm, well, he must be the key to you being here, but I still don’t understand.” She looked off in space. “You see, your parents bring you to the headquarters so you can travel to the Night Realm. We can’t come here by ourselves. You have to have a key to get in. Groundlings don’t have keys.”
“Umm… so what if you didn’t use a key?”
She cocked an eyebrow and shrugged, “I have no idea. I’m sure Brand will figure this out tomorrow. Come on. I’m going to get ready for bed. The bathrooms are this way if you want to follow me. There should be extra toothbrushes and toothpaste for you.”
“Thanks.” I followed her. The bathroom area was in a smaller tent about ten feet from where we slept. The bathroom had buckets of water for sinks, a leveled dirt floor, and empty buckets to use for our ‘special’ business with a shovel propped in the corner. Another white-blue bulb emitted light from the corner.
“What’s with the weird lights?” I gestured to the bulb.
Ashlen stopped and glanced at it. “Oh, it’s for vitamin D since we don’t have sunlight here. You know we don’t want scurvy. That would suck.”
I nodded and frowned, never having heard of bulbs that gave you vitamins. I wasn’t quite sure what scurvy was either but with a name like that I didn’t think I wanted to find out.
“I guess you’re wondering why the primitive lifestyle?” Ashlen asked.
I eyed the shovel and mounds of dirt. Gross.
She chuckled, “This is one of our temporary campsites for our training. We have to move every few weeks so the Nightlins won’t find us so easily. The barriers they put up are supposed to keep us undetected, but it’s an extra precaution.”
Hmm, okay, made sense. My mind was in creative mode tonight to dream this place up. I picked a strange place to get stuck in.
“Anywaysssss, when our powers transcend, we will be able to protect ourselves.”
I froze, “Like superpowers?”
She glanced over her shoulder and nodded, “Yeah.” She smiled, “Oh, I should have said we get powers.”
My mouth hung slightly open, “Superpowers are for comic books or movies – not real life.”
She laughed and shook her head, “It’s going to be fun, watching you discover everything. Where do you think the people who wrote comics or movies got the ideas? The creators were all Realmers. I guess it’s kind of cheating because they didn’t use their imaginations, but with the money they've made, we are able to supply the Night Realm and protect the Norm. Granted, it’s not like living at the Hilton, but it helps.”
I stared at her. “I could wield fire?”
“Ha, no, you probably won’t. Usually, it’s only the guys who get fire, so lame. There aren’t many who’ve been lucky enough to get that ability.” She scrubbed her face with a cloth, she leaned down to the bucket and wrung the water out, laying it over a piece of string stretched across the tent. She turned back with one hand on her hip, “I would love that skill.” Her other hand clenched in front of her, “It would be amazing. Can you imagine?” She wriggled her fingers as if fire danced across them.
I shook my head because I couldn’t imagine anyone with superhuman powers. Not in real life. Trying not to disturb the gash on my scalp, I wrung out my washcloth and patted my face. Most of the blood wiped away.
“I’ve had my whole life to wrap my brain around everything, and you’ve only had a few hours.” She tied her hair back.
I pulled a stool over and sat to tend to my feet. Small bruises were appearing and cuts dotted across every inch. I tried to wipe them but ended up sticking my feet in the buckets of water.
“Dang, girl. You really weren’t prepared.” She frowned.
I grimaced as I touched a tender spot.
“Come on, I’m spent, so I’m sure you are. I’ll find you something to sleep in.” She peered closer at my head, “I’ll grab some ointment too.”
Surprisingly, they had extra pajamas. The clothes fit with the military motif, starting with dark green cotton pants and a short-s
leeve grey cotton shirt. They fit pretty well. They even had some slippers.
The trees loomed over us as we walked between the tents. Everyone acted like they wanted to ignore me, which was better than them staring at me, so I wasn’t going to complain. The beds were surprisingly comfortable. The mattress was thin, but it molded to my body. The brown and sticky ointment she gave me had a pleasant herbal aroma, like lavender, which soothed my mind as well.
Information overloaded my mind and body. I was already exhausted from my day in the Norm, that I couldn’t rummage through my brain with these new events. Before I knew it, I was asleep.
3
“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday dear Sloooane, happy birthday to yooooouuuuuu!!!”
With my eyes crusted with sleep, and my mind not attached to my body yet, I didn’t know what to expect. Why would someone be singing to me? The light overhead flicked on, and I was blinded for a moment.
“Sloane! Wakey, wakey eggs, and bakey! Get up! You need to blow out these candles before I burn the house down.” A short pause, “Sloane?”
“What are you talking about? How’d you know…? Mom?” I came fully awake. I sat straight in my bed and examined my surroundings. My mom, as our yearly custom, had come in at the asscrack of dawn to give me my birthday cake. The candles were lit, while the wax dripped, mixing into the icing. I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up.
That had to have been the most convincing dream I had ever had.
“Mom… you really outdid yourself this time.” I gazed around my room, double-checking for creatures and that my walls were intact. Everything looked normal. I leaned over to blow out the candles.
“For a second, I wasn’t so sure you were on this planet with me.” Mom set the cake on my desk, cut out two pieces, and placed them on a couple of plates. She handed the biggest to me. “So, how does it feel being a grownup now?”
“Yeah, I think I’m ready to retire and start collecting my social security check.” My mom rolled her eyes and ate her piece.
“Don’t wish your life away just yet,” she said.
The cake had two layers of chocolate sponge with raspberry filling, and fudge drizzled on top, so awesome. “Mmmm. This is amazing.” I licked my plate and fork several times, then asked for another slice.
“Mom, you will never guess what I had a dream about last night…” A piece of cake fell onto my pants, that’s when I noticed my pajamas. My hand stopped with the fork halfway to my mouth. I still had on the grey cotton shirt and green pants like the ones I had fallen asleep in at the camp. My fingers played along the bottom edge of the shirt. I quickly ran my hand across my scalp. The skin was smooth. Weird. No scrape.
“Really? Hmm… tell me.” She hadn’t noticed I had stopped. She sat perched on the edge of my bed, dressed in her pajamas. Her pajamas consisted of a faded pair of plaid flannel pants with colors of blue, red, green, and pale yellow. She does change her shirt, though. Sometimes, it’s an old high school shirt, hockey playoff shirt, or a shirt she and her friends from school had made in the old days. Today, it was a shirt from high school that read, ‘Class of ’85! So excited to be alive!’
“It was so… strange. I was transported to another world, no realm, where it’s always night. There were these terrifying dragon-like beasts, and I met some fascinating, but different people. A Scotsman named Brand helped me. Everyone called me a groundling. Although I thought I had been dreaming, I’m wearing different pj’s than when I went to bed.” I glanced up to see my mom’s face frozen. Her eyes were so wide. I could see the white all around her eyes.
“Mom?”
“You went there?” she whispered.
“Yeah… wait. You know?”
She dropped her head. She lifted her hand to the spot between her brows, and her arms shook.
“Mom? What is it?”
“Sloane, you can’t go back there.” Fear held her. “Promise me you won’t go back.”
“I. Mom, I can’t promise. I… don’t even know how I got there in the first place. I won’t know how to stop from going back.” I set my plate on the nightstand and pulled the covers up around me. “Are you telling me that place is real? How would you know? Wait, are you secretly a kick-ass warrior?” Did I really not know my mother at all?
My mom took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly, and stood wearily, “Follow me.” She led me down the hall to her room and to the back of her closet. She lowered to her knees, pulling out a dark wooden box hidden under a pile of clothes. The wood had intricate carvings etched along the sides and topped with gold inlaid into the carvings. A tiny latch kept the top secured. She undid the latch and carefully lifted the lid.
I sat on the floor next to her and peered in the box. A beautiful gold necklace and dagger were nestled in plush red velvet. The chain was thin and delicate. At the end of the chain was what appeared to be a compass, it was round but came to a point at the top and bottom. An intricate design decorated the gold metal that encompassed the needle. The needle spun frantically around and around. Mom reached in, pulled the necklace out, and handed it to me. The moment it settled in my hands; the needle slowed then stilled. I glanced at mom, but she had her eyes fixated onto the now resting compass.
“Well, there’s my answer.” She peered up at me, fear and sadness pouring out of her. She had aged twenty years within the last ten minutes.
“What?” Stirrings of a headache threatened to take over. “What is that supposed to mean? You can’t go all Yoda on me, ‘There’s my answer’ and just stop.” My temper rose. I didn’t feel like controlling it.
“Honestly, I was hoping it wouldn’t do anything for you.” Her now sad eyes were soft as she watched me. “I found this after your father disappeared. I don’t think he meant to leave it, but I thought it might be meaningful since you came along.” The corners of her mouth tugged up slightly, but the strain around her eyes stayed.
“So, what exactly are you saying? Dad was some kind of mercenary or….” I waved my hands in the air trying to come up with some sort of word, “Ugh, I don’t know. All these years, you’ve been keeping this from me?”
“I wanted to wait for the right time… I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to show it to someone, but I had a feeling I would know when I needed to show you. And well, it worked out that way. Listen, I would have told you before I died.”
“Wow. Thanks, mom. It makes me feel so much better.”
“Yeah, I know it was awful for me to keep it from you, but I’m not going to just pull out a knife for my child to play with.” By now, she was glaring at me.
I merely rolled my eyes. “I just want to know what’s going on. Okay?”
She shrugged, her eyes remaining focused on the dagger, “Sure.”
“So, did dad say anything about a separate night realm with creatures?”
“Ha. No.”
“He never mentioned another world or realm? At all?”
“Of course not. He had secrets like everyone does…”
“No, mom, he didn't keep a normal secret from you. Those are like you paid off a stack of parking tickets, or you hate the only food your wife knows how to cook. Not, I work in a secret, dangerous night realm.”
Exasperated, she continued, “Are you finished? Obviously, he wasn’t going to tell me about some other world. He would have known my reaction. I would have thought he was crazy. I do remember him talking on the phone a few times and mentioning Watchers, Hunters, and Protectors, though. Those are words someone cannot forget especially, in the context he would use them, but he never said anything about a separate world. It’s not like we had a lot of time together.”
True. Six months isn’t very long for a relationship. Then again, she wouldn’t have been very focused on those little details, especially if she found out she was pregnant, right after her love disappeared. I slipped the necklace over my head and stood. Mom closed the lid to the box and handed it to me. I ran my hands over the smooth wooden box. My fingertips delicately t
raced the gold designs; it hummed softly, but I think I was the only one who could hear it. Mom was silent as she watched me. I turned around to see the clock on my mom’s dresser. I was going to have to leave for school soon.
“I’m not going to get any real answers while I’m here, so I might as well go to class and try to think about this later. You know, while I was there, I only wanted to get home to you. I never wanted to go back to that hole in the woods. I was scared, but more importantly, I was so worried about how you would feel if I was missing. Now, mom, there is so much I need to know, and you can’t, or won’t tell me. Hopefully, I can go back tonight, and they’ll give me the answers I need.”
“I can’t tell you because I don’t know, Sloane. Do you think I spent all that time pregnant and looking for your father if I knew there was a chance he would be in another world? No, I’ve mourned him for nearly nineteen years. Or what is almost worse than mourning is the fear that he made the choice to leave. That he left me because I wasn’t enough.”
Shit. She was pissed and hurt. It was kind of my fault, but I’m not letting her completely off for this one.
“And now you’re telling me you are planning on going back?”
“Mom, I have to. At least, I’ll try…” I decided anger was not the route to go right now, “I have to. I need to find out what this stuff means, and I want to know what happened to dad too. Don’t you? Don’t you want to know for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he didn’t leave us because he wanted to?”
She continued to stare up at me from the floor. Her eyes were scared and tired. She nodded once. “You know I looked for him, but there was no evidence of him even being alive. It’s like he never existed. I don’t even have any pictures, so the cops couldn’t help me. I knew he had a brother but had no way of contacting him. I was stuck. Then you came along shortly after, and you became my world.”
