Chapter 1 – On the Other Side
Running…running. There’s something behind me, I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s bad. The trees around me are a blur. I barely notice almost twisting my ankle on a stone. My whole mind is focused on one single thing.
Run.
Breathing’s getting harder, breath’s catching in my throat. I feel like I’ve been running forever. Legs burning, lungs gasping for air. And yet it’s still chasing me, still after me.
Then it happens.
I sprawl onto the ground, legs tangled up in a thorn bush. Panicking, I struggle to get to my feet. It approaches, closer, closer. I can’t get away. I can’t get up.
I open my mouth to scream as an explosion of light comes for me…
“NOOOOOO!!”
Gasp, wheeze. Oh my god, where am I?
My mind slowly clicked as I looked around in a blind panic. Bunk bed, small bookcase, a large closet, clothes that don’t belong to me strewn everywhere. Somebody on the bottom bunk stirred; it was Kristiana, my sister-in-law. Oh yes, I was home, not racing through the forest anymore. I’d been having that dream for the past few days now, but I’d put it down to stress about my parent’s impending divorce and having to stay with my brother and his family.
The explosion of light, though. That was new. And it made me wonder.
I sighed and slumped back onto my pillow. I’d never told anybody what had happened to me eight months ago, nor why I and two of my best friends had vanished from October to February. If I had, I think I would’ve been committed to a loony bin.
But surely traveling through a mystical door in a library to a medieval village, gaining magical powers, and fighting in a rebellion against an oppressive feudal lord isn’t that fantastic. Is it?
Because that’s what Philipia, Alye, and I had done. We’d stepped into the village of Glovebern and had discovered the most amazing powers. Alye received incredible swordsmanship (scary, trust me); Philipia learned how to become any animal she wanted.
And I discovered that I could wield magic.
But now all that was over. I’d found a way back and had come home, and my powers had vanished . Philipia and Alye stayed in Glovebern; I guess they just felt more attached to the village than I had been. Not a single day went by without me thinking about them, wondering how they were, whether or not anything bad was happening.
A snore from Kristiana jerked me out of my reverie. Stop it, I fussed at myself. You’ve got to let it go. There’s no way you can go back. Mom and Dad were torn apart by your disappearance and you can’t cause any more damage.
Besides, I continued as I punched my pillow into a more comfortable position, you need to keep up that story about being kidnapped along with your friends by a psychopath and suffering from amnesia. Vanishing into a fantasy won’t help.
I fell asleep arguing with myself.
Ugh.
Another early morning and I could not get back to sleep. Kristiana had already left to take her son to daycare and go to work. I couldn’t hear Nathan moving around so I assumed he’d gone as well. For now, at least, I was by myself. As I crawled out of bed (cursing my internal clock), I suddenly heard a heavy thump. Quick check to make sure I hadn’t tumbled off the ladder without noticing. “Cassie?” Oh, wait, my cat was at my parents’ house. What the heck was that noise? Rubbing my forehead, I decided it was a figment of my sleep-deprived brain.
But something rustled inside the closet.
“Snap,” I hissed, seizing the alarm clock from the nightstand. I’d always hated that thing anyway. Stepping forward very slowly towards the closet, I could hear something breathing inside. Without waiting another second, I wrenched the door open and brandished my alarm clock.
Oh.
My.
God.
No. Freaking. Way.
A girl with a waist-length dark brown braid and royal blue eyes stepped out unsteadily. “Hullo, Tanya,” she stuttered swaying on her feet. “That was…odd…never gone through a portal before.” She looked down at her tank top and jeans with a puzzled expression. “These clothes are awfully uncomfortable.”
Then Lunae passed out on the carpet.
And I started screaming.
Finally, my voice completely gave out and I was left staring at a person I’d never expected to see again. Lunae, best archer in Glovebern, was lying on my carpet. How the bloody heck had this happened?!?!?
Apparently, my hollering was pretty loud because she stirred and slowly opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. “Oh my…” she sighed, pushing herself up off the floor. I reached out a hand to help her up and she broke into a smile when she saw me. “Hullo, didn’t expect to see me, did you?”
“What…are…you doing here? How? Why? Brain exploding!” I burst out, shoving her over to the bottom bunk and sitting down next to her. I kept pinching myself; I was so sure I was hallucinating.
Lunae laughed faintly and rubbed her head. “That’s a very long story.” Abruptly, she grew serious. “Unfortunately, there isn’t time to give details. Tanya, we need you back in Glovebern as quickly as possible. Philipia and Alye would have come themselves, but since according to them they’re supposed to be missing in your world…it would complicate things too much and might make getting back much harder than if I or someone else came.”
“But…but Lunae! I can’t!” I gasped, running my hands through my hair. “I’ve only been back four months! If I disappear again…I CAN’T disappear again!”
“You have to,” she interrupted, putting a hand on my shoulder and forcing me to look her straight in the eye. “Something is wrong with Glovebern and we need your help. If you don’t come…I don’t know what’s going to happen but it can’t be good. I know this probably isn’t going to be easy…” she trailed off.
I sighed and stood up, staring at the closet door. This couldn’t be happening…I couldn’t hurt my family any more. And yet…a niggling doubt started to surface. What was happening in Glovebern that was so bad they’d sent someone to find me? Torn between my family and the people I’d lived with, fought with for months. Lunae was still waiting but I didn’t know what to say.
“Tanya…” she said softly, “I know this is hard for you…but we’re depending on you. We need you, desperately. People are vanishing, getting attacked, and we don’t know how to fight it, whatever it is. Please…don’t make me go back and tell them you can’t help us.”
That did it. I turned around slowly to face her. A long silence stretched between us. Finally, I broke it. “Alright.”
Her mood instantly changed from worried to gleeful. “Excellent! How soon can you go?” She looked around the room with a grin.
“Um…Lunae? If you’re looking for the portal, it’s not here.”
Her smile faded a bit. “Where is it?”
“It’s at a library.”
“Oh. Well then, let’s go!” She jumped up from the bed and promptly stumbled over her heels. I noticed suddenly that her shoes were high-heeled and remembered that she always wore soft leather flats back at Glovebern. “How do you walk in these things?” she asked, staring at her footwear.
It was a good thing it was summertime or else there was no way I would’ve been able to sneak out, what with school and all. Seizing my bicycle, I dragged it out the door and checked the tires. Everything was alright and I was ready to go. Lunae stood on the porch, staring around with a bewildered expression.
“Tanya…what are those very thin trees? And what is this grey thing I’m standing on?” she pointed to the ground and I had to suppress a smirk.
“It’s a sidewalk, Lunae, lets people get around easier. And that ‘very thin tree’ is a telephone pole.”
“A what?”
“Never mind,” I sighed, giving the front tire one last glance before climbing onto the seat. “Come on, you have to sit behind me.”
Lunae approached slowly, looking dubious and more than a little freaked out. Wincing as her heels nearly tripped her up again, she barely managed to fit herself onto the small rubber seat. “It feels…ugh…” she muttered, gripping my waist tightly.
“Hold on, this is way different from horse riding,” I warned her. She nodded and I started pedaling. Unfortunately, I forgot to warn her about cars.
“WHAT IS THAT THING?!” Lunae yelled as I pedaled down the sidewalk and transitioned to the street. A car was zipping by, something I took for granted.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s just like a super-advanced cart,” I replied, trying to focus on steering. Still completely stunned, Lunae remained silent the rest of the ride. When I glanced backward to check for oncoming traffic, I noticed she had her eyes tightly closed. At one point, as I had to swerve around a car that unexpectedly decided to turn without a turn signal, I felt Lunae’s grip on my waist tighten hard enough to cause breathing problems.
“Lunae…release…death grip.”
“Oh…sorry.”
Thankfully, the library was not at all far from my house and I finally rounded the last turn. A combination of nervousness and anticipation rose in my stomach. Going back after four months to the strangest experience I’d ever been though…I couldn’t decide if I dreaded it or desired it.
As I made the turn, my tire suddenly caught on a loose block of sidewalk and Lunae and I went flying, slamming onto the concrete with a smack that whooshed the air from my lungs. “Ow…” I groaned, conscious of ouch everywhere. My khakis had rips at the knees so my kneecaps dug into the uneven sidewalk. “Lunae, you okay?” No answer and I looked up, seeing her picking herself off the ground with a shocked expression. “Lunae?”
“Tanya…are libraries supposed to have rubble and large yellow things with huge…shovels on them?”
“What in the heck are you…” I started, getting to my feet and stepping forward. Numb shock spread through my body and I couldn’t string a single word together. No way was this happening. No bloody way.
The rattle of bulldozers, shouts of workmen, and a constant smell of dry dust.
They were knocking down the library.
“No…” I gasped, taking a horrified step forward. The walls were scraped clean and there were chunks of brick everywhere. Busily tearing and knocking down the place was a huge team of people. They were so busy with their task that they didn’t notice the two of us standing there like stunned goldfish.
“What are they doing?” I burst out, catching the attention of one of the workmen, who glanced at us suspiciously and came over, his boots stomping up clouds of dust.
“You kids need to get out of here, this ain’t safe for you,” he said hurriedly.
“Why are they tearing the library down?” I managed to ask in a stricken voice.
The man scratched his forehead and looked puzzled. “Didn’t you hear about those three girls and that old guy that vanished from it?” We nodded; I knew only too well but I wasn’t about to tell him that. “Well…ever since then, nobody wanted to come here…so the city decided it wasn’t worth the upkeep and hired us to tear it down.” He gave what was supposed to be an encouraging smile. “There’s plenty of other libraries, y’know.” Then he turned away to get back to work, leaving us to stand there with horrified expressions.
Lunae backed up a couple steps and stared at what still remained of the library. “Tanya…the door is in there, am I right?”
“Yep,” I replied, rubbing a bit of dirt from my cheek.
A determined expression crept over my friend’s face and she smiled faintly. “Then it’s no harder that a bit of running and dodging.” She seized my wrist and dragged me past the construction site to a part that wasn’t quite as busy. “Lead the way,” she laughed, shoving me forward.
“Oh geez,” I breathed. This was not going to be easy.
We slipped under the yellow tape that screamed DANGER CONSTRUCTION ZONE. Like anyone ever listened to that. This section of the library was still fairly intact and we hurried through the hole that had once been a door. Lunae was having a ton of fun (not) stepping over rubble in her high-heeled shoes; I breathed a thanks for putting on my sneakers. Slowly, we made our way through a crumbling corridor with a skeletal ceiling. A thump from behind me told me Lunae had kicked off her ridiculous shoes. I could hear workmen and loud rumbles everywhere.
“This way, I think,” I whispered, hurrying past a small room that had apparently once been a study area. We stepped through another doorframe and found ourselves in a wide-open room, far bigger than any of the others we’d seen. Obviously, this was the place where all the books had once been kept. Fighting down more nervousness, I stepped forward and we quickly raced along the right wall.
Abruptly, someone yelled, “Hey! What are you kids doing?!”
Snap.
“COME ON!” I shouted, breaking into a full run. It couldn’t be that far, surely. Wasn’t it past this small partition?
And there it was. A rich brown door with red and green marks and an old-fashioned latch. Frantically, conscious of the hollers of the men behind us, I wrenched the latch open and the door burst outward. I could smell fresh grass and hear the faint singing again. As the footsteps drew closer, I grabbed Lunae’s hand and we tumbled through.
The colors swirled and the singing grew louder. I couldn’t see, felt a force tugging me down and up at the same time, moving me forward and resisting the pull back to the door. Everything grew brighter…brighter…the hues blended to a flashing white while the singing reached incredible levels.
Then everything went black.
The men raced down the broken hallways, boots clomping on the floor. “C’mon, they went right down this way!” one yelled, pointing to the small alcove. Swiftly, they pounded through the corner and then stopped abruptly.
There was no one there. Not a trace of movement. Only blank wall and dust.
“Where’d they go?” someone asked.
“There’s no way out! Where’d those girls go?”
A bewildered silence fell upon the group. Someone swore. “Not again!” another one exclaimed. “Again with the vanishing kids! I swear this place is cursed!”
General nodding and a horrified quiet smothered any talk. Then one man spoke up, “We’ll have to report this. I ain’t working at a place where kids just up and vanish! No way!”
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