Man, this sucks. :(
And they finally did get the widgets put up on the NaNo site, so I can show everyone exactly how MUCH it's sucking.
But, it doesn't do to give up. Who knows, maybe I'll have a sudden burst of inspiration and have two 3k days? That would fix my problem very nicely.
I've just passed the 10k mark. I've passed my first(of 6) plot points, and am rocketing towards the second. I feel great about the writing itself, just not so great about the deadline, haha.
I totally wrote my first(well, first and a half if you count the opening scene as a waking up scene) waking up scene in this book. When I realized what I'd done, I went "oh, shit!". That's one of the things I told myself I absolutely wouldn't do this NaNo. I hate how I keep writing those stupid waking up scenes! Argh!
I'll post another chapter or two tonight when I get home.
Chapter 7 - research in the library
“How can you find your way around this place?” I said, gesturing wildly with my arm. “I was lost for like ten minutes this morning, just trying to find the stairs down.”
“You never did have a head for directions,” William said, not even looking up from the book he was reading. “Like that time you came running into my office because you couldn't find the stairs down, even when they were the ones you'd come up. That coffee smells good, did you bring me some?”
“No!” I said emphatically, not liking to be reminded of my freshman stupidity. “And I only did that once. Well, twice, but the second time doesn't count because everyone gets lost in that other building.”
“You know, you're really charming when you first wake up.”
“I am not a morning person.”
He chuckled. “No need to state the obvious. I'm finding the most fascinating information!”
I looked around at the mounds of books. “How long have you been here? Did you even sleep?”
“Of course I slept!”
“Okay, let me rephrase that. Did you sleep in your bed?”
“Yes I did. Thanks for putting my stuff in there. And to answer your question, I've been here for three hours.”
“Three hours? When did you get up?”
“I came down here at seven. It's nearly ten now. How do you manage to sleep so late?”
Ten o'clock? No way it could be ten o'clock already, I didn't even get to sleep all that late. “You're lying.”
“No, I'm not.” He held up his watch and I walked closer to inspect it. Sure enough, it was ten already.
“How did I sleep so late?” I said, shaking my head in wonder.
“Might have had something to do with the fact that you barely slept at all the night before last. No need to get upset over it, rest is good for you. Want to hear what I've found out? It's amazing! Just pull up a chair, there's one over there.” He pointed.
I pulled the chair over to sit beside him, and took another sip of my coffee. “Okay, what did you find out?”
“There's some very interesting information on the elements and how they affect people. You do know the classic elements, right?” He looked at me expectantly.
“Earth, wind, fire, water, and heart?” I hazarded.
He gave me a funny look. “Heart?”
“Er, spirit? Is that not one of them? I'd thought it was.”
He continued to look at me a bit oddly. “I think you've been watching too many children's TV shows. The classic elements are earth, air, water and fire. Spirit is rarely listed with them. Anyway, what I've been reading about is how women who've studied it say that everyone – magic user or not – is aligned with an element, which influences their personality. It's fairly interesting stuff. This book also details which spheres a magic user are likely to be talented in, though I need to read more about the spheres. Apparently, there's five of them-”
I cut him off. “Can you start explaining from the beginning? Jumping around makes my head hurt.”
He chuckled. “Alright. So, back to the elements.”
“The first one, Earth, is strongly associated with stubborn, loyal people. They're not likely to back down, and will stand by the side of those they love. They're attracted to spheres of Healing and Protection, though oddly enough not Battle. Perhaps there's a gentle nature that isn't elaborated on much in here that makes most people attuned to Earth seek protective rather than offensive arts. At any rate, Fire is like a more aggressive form of Earth. They're less stubborn, but very loyal and can be aggressive at times. This book says they can also be skilled in Protection, but lack the touch for Healing, and so favor the Battle sphere.”
I wondered what battle sphere he was talking about. Healing and Protection sounded like types of magic, but Battle? That was something you did with swords. Perhaps he simply meant aggressive magic, such as fireballs.
He continued. “Air and Water are more gentle elements. Water shares a bit of Earth's stubbornness. While they tend to be go with the flow type people, if the need arises they can assert themselves very well. They're usually skilled in Healing or Seeing. Air is the most unique of all the elements. They're rather distracted and dreamy people, the sort that you might describe as walking about with their head in the clouds. They tend to be quiet and shy as well, so they're likely to go unnoticed among the rest of the stronger elements. Much like in the real world, actually. How often do you ever notice air, until there's a lack of it? Their skills are in Battle and Seeing.”
“So,” I said. “Are these like star signs? Like if you're born in spring you're an Air, if you're both in winter you're an Earth, and so on? Or is it more complicated, like phases of the moon? No?” William was shaking his head.
“It's not like a zodiac horoscope at all, in that when you're born determines your sign, and so your personality. I think it's actually backwards. Your personality determines your element, and so your talents. The elements seem to just be a name for a set of personality traits that influence talents anyway, at least as far as I can tell. There's still so much about this that I haven't been able to figure out – it could take years!” His eyes were lit up with excitement, like a kid in a candy store.
I flipped through a few pages of a volume he had sitting on the edge of the table. It was old, and the pages were covered with cramped handwriting. It seemed to be discussing talents, like the spheres William had mentioned. I decided to ask him about them, at the risk of becoming a victim of another long ramble. “What about those spheres you mentioned before?”
“Well, I know even less about them then I know about the elements, but I can tell you what I know so far. There are five of them, called Battle, Elemental, Seeing, Protection and Healing. They're very aptly named, at least on the surface, so there's not much explanation really needed. A magic user has one sphere that they're very talented in, and usually one or two others that they can use but aren't very skilled in. The main talent is almost always one that's aligned with their element, but there's been cases where they aren't.”
He stopped talking. I'd been expecting a long oration, but I guessed this was it. It was actually somewhat disappointing. “Sounds like you've been busy.”
“You wish you were still in bed.”
“I wish I was still in bed,” I agreed, nodding my head and taking another drink of coffee. “Unfortunately, I'm not. So I guess I'd better make the most of it.”
“Did anyone say when we'd be able to see your daughter again?”
“No,” I replied. “I don't think anyone did. I was pretty far gone last night though, so maybe they did.”
“Why don't we find someone who might know? Jenna, or that girl who was in charge of the room, what was her name?”
“Allison?” I supplied.
“Yes, her. Why don't we go find one of them?” he said, closing the book he was reading and setting it back. “Well, help me put these books away first.”
I agreed, and after a few minutes we had the books put back in their proper place on the shelf.
“Alright, let's get going,” he said.
I retrieved my mug and we started walking out of the library. As we reached the door, I heard a voice from behind us.
“Excuse me.”
“You never did have a head for directions,” William said, not even looking up from the book he was reading. “Like that time you came running into my office because you couldn't find the stairs down, even when they were the ones you'd come up. That coffee smells good, did you bring me some?”
“No!” I said emphatically, not liking to be reminded of my freshman stupidity. “And I only did that once. Well, twice, but the second time doesn't count because everyone gets lost in that other building.”
“You know, you're really charming when you first wake up.”
“I am not a morning person.”
He chuckled. “No need to state the obvious. I'm finding the most fascinating information!”
I looked around at the mounds of books. “How long have you been here? Did you even sleep?”
“Of course I slept!”
“Okay, let me rephrase that. Did you sleep in your bed?”
“Yes I did. Thanks for putting my stuff in there. And to answer your question, I've been here for three hours.”
“Three hours? When did you get up?”
“I came down here at seven. It's nearly ten now. How do you manage to sleep so late?”
Ten o'clock? No way it could be ten o'clock already, I didn't even get to sleep all that late. “You're lying.”
“No, I'm not.” He held up his watch and I walked closer to inspect it. Sure enough, it was ten already.
“How did I sleep so late?” I said, shaking my head in wonder.
“Might have had something to do with the fact that you barely slept at all the night before last. No need to get upset over it, rest is good for you. Want to hear what I've found out? It's amazing! Just pull up a chair, there's one over there.” He pointed.
I pulled the chair over to sit beside him, and took another sip of my coffee. “Okay, what did you find out?”
“There's some very interesting information on the elements and how they affect people. You do know the classic elements, right?” He looked at me expectantly.
“Earth, wind, fire, water, and heart?” I hazarded.
He gave me a funny look. “Heart?”
“Er, spirit? Is that not one of them? I'd thought it was.”
He continued to look at me a bit oddly. “I think you've been watching too many children's TV shows. The classic elements are earth, air, water and fire. Spirit is rarely listed with them. Anyway, what I've been reading about is how women who've studied it say that everyone – magic user or not – is aligned with an element, which influences their personality. It's fairly interesting stuff. This book also details which spheres a magic user are likely to be talented in, though I need to read more about the spheres. Apparently, there's five of them-”
I cut him off. “Can you start explaining from the beginning? Jumping around makes my head hurt.”
He chuckled. “Alright. So, back to the elements.”
“The first one, Earth, is strongly associated with stubborn, loyal people. They're not likely to back down, and will stand by the side of those they love. They're attracted to spheres of Healing and Protection, though oddly enough not Battle. Perhaps there's a gentle nature that isn't elaborated on much in here that makes most people attuned to Earth seek protective rather than offensive arts. At any rate, Fire is like a more aggressive form of Earth. They're less stubborn, but very loyal and can be aggressive at times. This book says they can also be skilled in Protection, but lack the touch for Healing, and so favor the Battle sphere.”
I wondered what battle sphere he was talking about. Healing and Protection sounded like types of magic, but Battle? That was something you did with swords. Perhaps he simply meant aggressive magic, such as fireballs.
He continued. “Air and Water are more gentle elements. Water shares a bit of Earth's stubbornness. While they tend to be go with the flow type people, if the need arises they can assert themselves very well. They're usually skilled in Healing or Seeing. Air is the most unique of all the elements. They're rather distracted and dreamy people, the sort that you might describe as walking about with their head in the clouds. They tend to be quiet and shy as well, so they're likely to go unnoticed among the rest of the stronger elements. Much like in the real world, actually. How often do you ever notice air, until there's a lack of it? Their skills are in Battle and Seeing.”
“So,” I said. “Are these like star signs? Like if you're born in spring you're an Air, if you're both in winter you're an Earth, and so on? Or is it more complicated, like phases of the moon? No?” William was shaking his head.
“It's not like a zodiac horoscope at all, in that when you're born determines your sign, and so your personality. I think it's actually backwards. Your personality determines your element, and so your talents. The elements seem to just be a name for a set of personality traits that influence talents anyway, at least as far as I can tell. There's still so much about this that I haven't been able to figure out – it could take years!” His eyes were lit up with excitement, like a kid in a candy store.
I flipped through a few pages of a volume he had sitting on the edge of the table. It was old, and the pages were covered with cramped handwriting. It seemed to be discussing talents, like the spheres William had mentioned. I decided to ask him about them, at the risk of becoming a victim of another long ramble. “What about those spheres you mentioned before?”
“Well, I know even less about them then I know about the elements, but I can tell you what I know so far. There are five of them, called Battle, Elemental, Seeing, Protection and Healing. They're very aptly named, at least on the surface, so there's not much explanation really needed. A magic user has one sphere that they're very talented in, and usually one or two others that they can use but aren't very skilled in. The main talent is almost always one that's aligned with their element, but there's been cases where they aren't.”
He stopped talking. I'd been expecting a long oration, but I guessed this was it. It was actually somewhat disappointing. “Sounds like you've been busy.”
“You wish you were still in bed.”
“I wish I was still in bed,” I agreed, nodding my head and taking another drink of coffee. “Unfortunately, I'm not. So I guess I'd better make the most of it.”
“Did anyone say when we'd be able to see your daughter again?”
“No,” I replied. “I don't think anyone did. I was pretty far gone last night though, so maybe they did.”
“Why don't we find someone who might know? Jenna, or that girl who was in charge of the room, what was her name?”
“Allison?” I supplied.
“Yes, her. Why don't we go find one of them?” he said, closing the book he was reading and setting it back. “Well, help me put these books away first.”
I agreed, and after a few minutes we had the books put back in their proper place on the shelf.
“Alright, let's get going,” he said.
I retrieved my mug and we started walking out of the library. As we reached the door, I heard a voice from behind us.
“Excuse me.”
Chapter 6 - A quest for coffee,
I woke up to sunlight streaming across my face. Apparently, I'd forgotten to draw the curtains last night. Were there even curtains? I dared a peek through slitted eyes, to minimize bright light damage. Yes, there were curtains. They were a lovely deep red that would have done an excellent job of darkening the room so that I could sleep. I shut my eyes again, rolled over, and tugged the comforter over my head in an attempt to shut out that irritating sunlight. Which didn't work, because now I couldn't breathe. Muttering angrily to myself, I threw aside the blanket and rid myself of any notion of getting more sleep. I found my clothes from last night and tugged them on, then flung open the door – which I had forgotten to lock last night – and stomped off downstairs.
Which was a lot harder to do than it sounded. Stomping off was easy, and something I was quite adept at prior to my first cup of coffee. But managing to do it on the way downstairs was where the problems came up. At first I just stomped down corridor after corridor, then after a while I began to simply walk, then finally I had to admit to myself that this was the fifth time I'd passed the door marked “Women's Bathroom”. I was lost.
It was remarkably easy to retrace my steps to the room I'd came from, so I went back there and knocked on William's door. He was reasonably competent with directions, and a morning person besides. He'd be able to help. That is, if he ever answered his door. After a few minutes I came to the frustrating conclusion that he was either dead or out. I sighed, and tried to remember how we'd come in last night. We came down the hall, I recalled, and the room I stayed in was on our right. I turned around so that my door was on my left, and looked down the hallway. Astonishingly enough, it happened to look just like every other hallway I'd seen that morning.
Maybe it would help if I approached the problem from the same angle I had last night. I turned around so that I was facing the opposite direction – the same view I'd seen coming down the hallway last night – and began to walk backwards. This wasn't much better than my previous attempts, but being the stubborn person I am I was determined to find my way downstairs. I reached a corner, walked backwards around it, and slammed into someone. We both fell to the ground.
“Augh!” I yelled.
“Augh!” She yelled too. “What are you doing?”
“I'm looking for coffee!” Then a thought hit me. “Wait, you do have coffee here, right?”
“Yes, of course we have coffee here!” she said, standing up and straightening her skirt. “But why were you walking around backwards?”
“I was lost,” I explained pathetically.
“I don't understand,” she said, giving me a very confused look.
“Er,” I said, waving my hand around vaguely. “It's like...just never mind, it's a bit complicated.” I got to my feet awkwardly. “Can you take me to where you guys have the coffee?”
“The kitchen? Sure, follow me.”
She led me down a hallway I could have sworn that I'd traversed already, and then down the spiral staircase. We went into the busy dining room, and then through a wooden door into a kitchen area. I smelled coffee.
“Thanks,” I said to the girl who I'd collided with, but she was already gone. Not that I blamed her. If I were me I wouldn't stick around myself in the morning either.
“Eric!” A familiar voice came from the other side of the kitchen. “Want some coffee?”
“Yes, please,” I said to Lynne, and took the proffered mug. “Mmm, that's good.”
“Anything else you need?”
“Have you seen William?”
“Your friend? I think he's in the library. Want me to take you there?”
Which was a lot harder to do than it sounded. Stomping off was easy, and something I was quite adept at prior to my first cup of coffee. But managing to do it on the way downstairs was where the problems came up. At first I just stomped down corridor after corridor, then after a while I began to simply walk, then finally I had to admit to myself that this was the fifth time I'd passed the door marked “Women's Bathroom”. I was lost.
It was remarkably easy to retrace my steps to the room I'd came from, so I went back there and knocked on William's door. He was reasonably competent with directions, and a morning person besides. He'd be able to help. That is, if he ever answered his door. After a few minutes I came to the frustrating conclusion that he was either dead or out. I sighed, and tried to remember how we'd come in last night. We came down the hall, I recalled, and the room I stayed in was on our right. I turned around so that my door was on my left, and looked down the hallway. Astonishingly enough, it happened to look just like every other hallway I'd seen that morning.
Maybe it would help if I approached the problem from the same angle I had last night. I turned around so that I was facing the opposite direction – the same view I'd seen coming down the hallway last night – and began to walk backwards. This wasn't much better than my previous attempts, but being the stubborn person I am I was determined to find my way downstairs. I reached a corner, walked backwards around it, and slammed into someone. We both fell to the ground.
“Augh!” I yelled.
“Augh!” She yelled too. “What are you doing?”
“I'm looking for coffee!” Then a thought hit me. “Wait, you do have coffee here, right?”
“Yes, of course we have coffee here!” she said, standing up and straightening her skirt. “But why were you walking around backwards?”
“I was lost,” I explained pathetically.
“I don't understand,” she said, giving me a very confused look.
“Er,” I said, waving my hand around vaguely. “It's like...just never mind, it's a bit complicated.” I got to my feet awkwardly. “Can you take me to where you guys have the coffee?”
“The kitchen? Sure, follow me.”
She led me down a hallway I could have sworn that I'd traversed already, and then down the spiral staircase. We went into the busy dining room, and then through a wooden door into a kitchen area. I smelled coffee.
“Thanks,” I said to the girl who I'd collided with, but she was already gone. Not that I blamed her. If I were me I wouldn't stick around myself in the morning either.
“Eric!” A familiar voice came from the other side of the kitchen. “Want some coffee?”
“Yes, please,” I said to Lynne, and took the proffered mug. “Mmm, that's good.”
“Anything else you need?”
“Have you seen William?”
“Your friend? I think he's in the library. Want me to take you there?”
Chapter 5 - and a home.
“Rarely do I find people that dream as loudly as you do,” Sarah was saying to William, cutting her food. “I'd been scrying for girls who had been Chosen by the Goddess, and then I found myself in your dream. It took me a moment to realize that you were someone close to a girl, not the girl herself. I was surprised you took my message seriously, most people wouldn't.”
“Well,” he replied. “I've had an encounter with a group of the Order before, so I recognized what I saw.”
“Oh?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
“When I was a student, at Oxford,” he explained. “I was there studying Philosophy. I had a theory about alternate realities that ran parallel to our own, and I was testing it out, and I supposed I managed to cross halfway over because I followed one of your members back to where she was staying. I was sent back by another woman, who I believe tried to erase my memories of it, but didn't succeed very well.”
“Sorry about that,” Sarah said. “We're not much good at deception, as it runs contrary to our very nature. I suppose it's a good thing for us now that she did a lousy job of it though.” She laughed. “Destiny. It's a funny thing.”
“That it is,” William agreed.
Silence fell on the table while the four of us ate quietly. After a while, Sarah spoke. “Eric?”
“Yes?”
“I understand you're Elizabeth's father?”
“Not by blood,” I clarified. “She's actually my brother's daughter, but he died with his wife in an accident when she was only an infant. I was the one named in his will to take care of his children if anything happened to him, I don't know why. But anyway, that's how it happened.”
She nodded. “Okay. Well, you're still her legal guardian, at any rate. You're the one who we have to convince to let us have your daughter.”
“You're going to let me decide? I was under the impression that you were going to take her, like it or not?” At least that was the impression that William had given me, with his story. Was there another option that he hadn't known about?”
“Well, we're not going to take her from you, as you put it, like it or not. That would run contrary to our nature and our laws. Of course, you have free choice. But realize that as her Transformation grows nearer – think of it as puberty, it comes at around the same time – she's going to be in more and more danger. Almost all girls who undergo Transformation without protection are killed by the Dark.”
“What prevented them from kidnapping her years ago?” I asked. “Don't tell me they can't somehow feel that she's one of the girls who are going to be transformed, if you can.”
“We don't understand it completely, but they used to try that. What happened was, the girls who were taken by them never underwent Transformation. Perhaps the taint of the Darkness was too strong, and the Light couldn't touch them, we don't know. But the end result is that they watch them until the day they undergo Transformation, and then they kill them and feed on their magical energy.”
“So why don't you hear about girls being killed left and right over this? You can't find every one, I'm sure. And what about the ones whose parents are strongly religious or something, and wouldn't give up their daughter to a pagan society?”
She looked pained, and I wished I could take back my words. “Do you know what the suicide statistics are for teen girls?”
“Uh,” I said, taken aback. “I'm not too familiar with them. Why? Is that what...” I trailed off, not really wanting to finish my phrase.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “The attacks are seen as suicides. Whenever you see someone talking about a girl who was reported as killing herself, and you hear them say something like 'But she was so happy, she'd never do something like that!', well, she wouldn't. But something else would.”
I looked at Elizabeth. She was only seven. Was it true that in a few years she could become such a target for an attack?
“I'm not trying to fear monger you,” Sarah said suddenly. “Please don't think that I am. It's not a fate set in stone, and I'm sure there are girls who have survived. But it's very unlikely, and the odds are low.”
“So, if she joins you here now, she's stuck here for the rest of her life?”
“No, of course not. I haven't gotten to explaining how it works, but when she comes of age in our society – which may or may not be eighteen, it depends on the girl – she can go do whatever her calling is in the Order. Most stay with a temple to serve, teach or defend, but some find other callings such as traveling to disaster areas to heal or studying lore at one of our libraries. So no, she wouldn't stay here forever, just until she's reached a level of maturity that she can defend herself fully.”
I nodded. “Funny thing is, a day ago I was packing my bag and thinking I would humor an old friend by spending the afternoon sitting in the park. And now I'm here, being told about all sorts of danger and reality-bending concepts. And I don't want to accept it. I want to just reject it all and go back to living normally. But it wouldn't just hurt me to do that, it would hurt other people. So you've kind of got me on that one.” I sighed. “Would she have to stay here alone?”
“Novices – girls who have just arrived – live together in a dormitory, supervised by some of the older girls. So you wouldn't be able to stay with her. But we have guest quarters in the main temple where you can stay for as long as you want, until you feel comfortable leaving her alone. Most parents aren't okay with it at first, and for some it takes years of weekend stay-overs until they feel comfortable.”
“So what's the exact requirement for the coming of age you mentioned?” I asked. “Just so I know, because it sounds pretty different from how normal society does it.”
She chuckled. “I love how you call the government normal society. But anyway, our coming of age. Well, it's easiest just to explain the five ranks of organization. The lowest rank, as I mentioned earlier, is a Novice. All girls start as Novices, and stay there until they finish their training. They may or may not undergo Transformation while they're a Novice – most do, but some who have it late and come to the temple early become an Initiate before they've gotten their wings.
“The second rank, Initiates, are responsible for helping to teach Novices, helping to perform temple duties, and generally just assisting full Sisters and the temple Mother. The Sisters, formally called Senior Sisters, are girls who have come of age. The exact process is actually fairly simple. The girl has a vision, and then the temple Mother dreams of them that night. Then she is promoted to a Senior Sister, and can carry on with whatever her calling is.”
“If you don't mind me asking,” William butted in. “What's their vision of? Can it be of anything, or is it of their calling?”
“No,” Sarah said, frowning. “It's actually...” she trailed off, pausing for a second. “Of how they'll die.”
Well, that was morbid. “So,” I said into the deafening silence. “All adults in the Order know how they'll die?” I regretted asking it as soon as it left my mouth. It was probably a bit of a touchy subject for most of them. I couldn't imagine knowing exactly how and when I would die, or what I would do if I knew I was in my last weeks on the Earth.
There was another long silence. “Yes,” she said eventually. “Though traditionally,” she added, almost defensively. “We don't discuss it with anyone.”
“Of course,” I said quickly. “I understand that. Um, what were the other two ranks you spoke about?”
“Council Leaders and temple Mothers, chosen from the temple Mothers and the Senior Sisters respectively. The council is made up of temple Mothers and any independent Sisters in the region. They're our government, as far as we have one.”
A bell sounded, and she looked up. “Ah, evening bell. Did you have any other questions?”
“You said in my dream for us both to pack clothes,” William said. “But you only mentioned Eric staying. Does that mean I have to go home, or...” he trailed off.
“Of course you can stay,” she said, smiling again. “I want to talk to you. You're also welcome to our library.”
“You have a library?” he said, brightening up.
She laughed. “Yes. But not tonight, tonight you should sleep. If there's nothing else, I'll call Jenna to come take you to the dormitory to get Elizabeth settled in.” She turned to Elizabeth. “Are you doing okay? You're not too talkative.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I'm okay, just nothing to say.”
“Alright.” Sarah stood and twisted a piece of paper into a bird shape, then whispered something into it and held it out of the window. I didn't see it take flight, but I assumed it probably had.
A few minutes later, a knock came at the door. “Come in!” Sarah called.
A teenage girl opened the door. She was tall with long, straight light brown hair and a few freckles on her face. “Yes?” she asked, bobbing her head slightly in what I supposed was a sort of informal bow.
“This is the new Novice, Elizabeth,” Sarah said, putting her hands on Elizabeth's shoulders and pushing her in front of herself. “And this is her father, Eric, and a friend of the family, William.” She turned to us. “This is Jenna, an Initiate here.” She turned back to Jenna. “Will you take them to the Novice dormitory, and find a place for her to stay?”
“Sure,” she replied, smiling at us. “Come on.”
We left her room and went back down the hallway and the staircase. When we reached the bottom, we turned left back into the big room. It was filled with women and girls now, most of them eating, but we didn't stop in there. We went through the room and out through glass double doors in the wall of windows on the far side. The gardens were very tranquil, lit by a few hanging globes, the almost-full moon overhead and some ambient light from the main building behind us. The sound of conversation was abruptly cut off as the door shut behind us, and the result was almost claustrophobic in its stillness.
There were two houses across the gardens from us. They looked identical, but Jenna led us towards the one on our left. “This one over here is for the Novices and Initiates. The Sisters get to live in the one to the right, and they get single or double rooms. The rest of us have to live like dormitories. It kinda sucks.” She laughed. “I mean, it's not really bad, but it's sometimes hard to get time to yourself when you're sharing a room with three or more other people, you know?”
We reached the front door of the house – which on closer inspection appeared to be the back door of a house facing the street – and she pushed it open. “It's an old house, so the hallways are a bit cramped, so why don't you guys wait out here while I ask and find out which room you'll be staying in. I'll be right back!”
She dissapeared inside, and true to her word she came right back in about thirty seconds. “Alright,” she said. “You'll be upstairs in the big room, under Allison. She's really nice. Pretty, too.”
She led us in the back door and through a hallway and then up a flight of stairs. “This used to be the master bedroom,” she said, rapping on a door. “Your bathroom is that door right to my left.” The door was opened by a young black girl. “Hi Kianna,” Jenna said. “Allison's here, right?”
“Yeah,” Kianna said. “Allison!” she turned around and shouted deafeningly. “Jenna's here with some other people. I think she's got a new girl!”
“A new girl? Where?” I heard another girl's shout from within. A second later, the door was pushed the whole way open by another teen girl. She had her blond hair pulled back, and smiled at Elizabeth as she opened the door.
“Hi! I'm Allison, I'm in charge of this room. What's your name?”
“Elizabeth,” she said.
Allison pushed a stray bit of hair back behind her ear. “Alright. Thanks Jenna, I can get this organized now. Did Sarah send a trunk down with her?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Okay, I'll find one later then. See you later.”
I bent down and gave Elizabeth a hug. “See you soon.”
She hugged back. “See you tomorrow?” It was phrased as a question.
“Sure,” Allison said. “I'll make sure you guys get plenty of time together tomorrow. You won't start classes for a few days, anyway.”
“Okay.” Elizabeth brightened up some. “See you later alligator!”
I grinned, and shot back the usual reply. “After a while, crocodile.”
We walked in silence back to the main building and back up the spiral stairs. This time, however, we only went up one floor, though if I hadn't been counting I wouldn't have been able to tell this hallway from the last.
William echoed my sentiments. “Is the possibility of your enemies getting hopelessly lost your first line of defense here?”
Jenna laughed. “It's pretty crazy at first, but you get used to it. Most of it, at any rate. Even most Sisters won't wander around the underground levels alone. Here, you guys are staying in these rooms here. See, they've got numbers on them, so no getting lost.”
“I can see the numbers on them,” William chuckled. “I'm more concerned about finding my way here than walking into the wrong room. Oh, speaking of finding my way around. Sarah said something about a library, if I'm not mistaken?”
“Oh, yes, I'll show you where. Eric, are you okay? The door's unlocked, and you can pull a deadbolt for privacy once you're inside. The bathroom is down the hall if you need it.”
I nodded. “Yes, I'm fine. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” they said, and I entered the room.
It wasn't a tiny room, but it wasn't as large as Sarah's room either. It contained a dresser, a wardrobe, a full bed, a desk and a window overlooking the street out front. I supposed that William's overlooked the garden, as his was on the opposite side of the hall from me. I dropped the duffel bag that I'd been carrying around all day on my bed, then realized that I'd forgotten to give William his things. I quickly sorted through it and removed my items from the bag, then slipped across the hall and put the bag in his room. As I'd suspected, his window showed the gardens out back, but otherwise our rooms were identical. I went back into mine, and put my few changes of clothes in the dresser. I found my toothbrush and toothpaste, and went down the hall to use the bathroom.
It was odd that the bathroom didn't have any showers. They must bathe somewhere else. I hoped they'd let me in on the secret tomorrow, or else I'd start to smell bad if all I could do was splash some water on my face and brush my teeth. I changed into a t-shirt and boxers – standard bedtime apparel – turned out the light, and slipped under the covers. I only realized how exhausted I was once my head hit the pillow, but didn't have much time to reflect on that sudden insight because I was out like a light.
“Well,” he replied. “I've had an encounter with a group of the Order before, so I recognized what I saw.”
“Oh?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
“When I was a student, at Oxford,” he explained. “I was there studying Philosophy. I had a theory about alternate realities that ran parallel to our own, and I was testing it out, and I supposed I managed to cross halfway over because I followed one of your members back to where she was staying. I was sent back by another woman, who I believe tried to erase my memories of it, but didn't succeed very well.”
“Sorry about that,” Sarah said. “We're not much good at deception, as it runs contrary to our very nature. I suppose it's a good thing for us now that she did a lousy job of it though.” She laughed. “Destiny. It's a funny thing.”
“That it is,” William agreed.
Silence fell on the table while the four of us ate quietly. After a while, Sarah spoke. “Eric?”
“Yes?”
“I understand you're Elizabeth's father?”
“Not by blood,” I clarified. “She's actually my brother's daughter, but he died with his wife in an accident when she was only an infant. I was the one named in his will to take care of his children if anything happened to him, I don't know why. But anyway, that's how it happened.”
She nodded. “Okay. Well, you're still her legal guardian, at any rate. You're the one who we have to convince to let us have your daughter.”
“You're going to let me decide? I was under the impression that you were going to take her, like it or not?” At least that was the impression that William had given me, with his story. Was there another option that he hadn't known about?”
“Well, we're not going to take her from you, as you put it, like it or not. That would run contrary to our nature and our laws. Of course, you have free choice. But realize that as her Transformation grows nearer – think of it as puberty, it comes at around the same time – she's going to be in more and more danger. Almost all girls who undergo Transformation without protection are killed by the Dark.”
“What prevented them from kidnapping her years ago?” I asked. “Don't tell me they can't somehow feel that she's one of the girls who are going to be transformed, if you can.”
“We don't understand it completely, but they used to try that. What happened was, the girls who were taken by them never underwent Transformation. Perhaps the taint of the Darkness was too strong, and the Light couldn't touch them, we don't know. But the end result is that they watch them until the day they undergo Transformation, and then they kill them and feed on their magical energy.”
“So why don't you hear about girls being killed left and right over this? You can't find every one, I'm sure. And what about the ones whose parents are strongly religious or something, and wouldn't give up their daughter to a pagan society?”
She looked pained, and I wished I could take back my words. “Do you know what the suicide statistics are for teen girls?”
“Uh,” I said, taken aback. “I'm not too familiar with them. Why? Is that what...” I trailed off, not really wanting to finish my phrase.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “The attacks are seen as suicides. Whenever you see someone talking about a girl who was reported as killing herself, and you hear them say something like 'But she was so happy, she'd never do something like that!', well, she wouldn't. But something else would.”
I looked at Elizabeth. She was only seven. Was it true that in a few years she could become such a target for an attack?
“I'm not trying to fear monger you,” Sarah said suddenly. “Please don't think that I am. It's not a fate set in stone, and I'm sure there are girls who have survived. But it's very unlikely, and the odds are low.”
“So, if she joins you here now, she's stuck here for the rest of her life?”
“No, of course not. I haven't gotten to explaining how it works, but when she comes of age in our society – which may or may not be eighteen, it depends on the girl – she can go do whatever her calling is in the Order. Most stay with a temple to serve, teach or defend, but some find other callings such as traveling to disaster areas to heal or studying lore at one of our libraries. So no, she wouldn't stay here forever, just until she's reached a level of maturity that she can defend herself fully.”
I nodded. “Funny thing is, a day ago I was packing my bag and thinking I would humor an old friend by spending the afternoon sitting in the park. And now I'm here, being told about all sorts of danger and reality-bending concepts. And I don't want to accept it. I want to just reject it all and go back to living normally. But it wouldn't just hurt me to do that, it would hurt other people. So you've kind of got me on that one.” I sighed. “Would she have to stay here alone?”
“Novices – girls who have just arrived – live together in a dormitory, supervised by some of the older girls. So you wouldn't be able to stay with her. But we have guest quarters in the main temple where you can stay for as long as you want, until you feel comfortable leaving her alone. Most parents aren't okay with it at first, and for some it takes years of weekend stay-overs until they feel comfortable.”
“So what's the exact requirement for the coming of age you mentioned?” I asked. “Just so I know, because it sounds pretty different from how normal society does it.”
She chuckled. “I love how you call the government normal society. But anyway, our coming of age. Well, it's easiest just to explain the five ranks of organization. The lowest rank, as I mentioned earlier, is a Novice. All girls start as Novices, and stay there until they finish their training. They may or may not undergo Transformation while they're a Novice – most do, but some who have it late and come to the temple early become an Initiate before they've gotten their wings.
“The second rank, Initiates, are responsible for helping to teach Novices, helping to perform temple duties, and generally just assisting full Sisters and the temple Mother. The Sisters, formally called Senior Sisters, are girls who have come of age. The exact process is actually fairly simple. The girl has a vision, and then the temple Mother dreams of them that night. Then she is promoted to a Senior Sister, and can carry on with whatever her calling is.”
“If you don't mind me asking,” William butted in. “What's their vision of? Can it be of anything, or is it of their calling?”
“No,” Sarah said, frowning. “It's actually...” she trailed off, pausing for a second. “Of how they'll die.”
Well, that was morbid. “So,” I said into the deafening silence. “All adults in the Order know how they'll die?” I regretted asking it as soon as it left my mouth. It was probably a bit of a touchy subject for most of them. I couldn't imagine knowing exactly how and when I would die, or what I would do if I knew I was in my last weeks on the Earth.
There was another long silence. “Yes,” she said eventually. “Though traditionally,” she added, almost defensively. “We don't discuss it with anyone.”
“Of course,” I said quickly. “I understand that. Um, what were the other two ranks you spoke about?”
“Council Leaders and temple Mothers, chosen from the temple Mothers and the Senior Sisters respectively. The council is made up of temple Mothers and any independent Sisters in the region. They're our government, as far as we have one.”
A bell sounded, and she looked up. “Ah, evening bell. Did you have any other questions?”
“You said in my dream for us both to pack clothes,” William said. “But you only mentioned Eric staying. Does that mean I have to go home, or...” he trailed off.
“Of course you can stay,” she said, smiling again. “I want to talk to you. You're also welcome to our library.”
“You have a library?” he said, brightening up.
She laughed. “Yes. But not tonight, tonight you should sleep. If there's nothing else, I'll call Jenna to come take you to the dormitory to get Elizabeth settled in.” She turned to Elizabeth. “Are you doing okay? You're not too talkative.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I'm okay, just nothing to say.”
“Alright.” Sarah stood and twisted a piece of paper into a bird shape, then whispered something into it and held it out of the window. I didn't see it take flight, but I assumed it probably had.
A few minutes later, a knock came at the door. “Come in!” Sarah called.
A teenage girl opened the door. She was tall with long, straight light brown hair and a few freckles on her face. “Yes?” she asked, bobbing her head slightly in what I supposed was a sort of informal bow.
“This is the new Novice, Elizabeth,” Sarah said, putting her hands on Elizabeth's shoulders and pushing her in front of herself. “And this is her father, Eric, and a friend of the family, William.” She turned to us. “This is Jenna, an Initiate here.” She turned back to Jenna. “Will you take them to the Novice dormitory, and find a place for her to stay?”
“Sure,” she replied, smiling at us. “Come on.”
We left her room and went back down the hallway and the staircase. When we reached the bottom, we turned left back into the big room. It was filled with women and girls now, most of them eating, but we didn't stop in there. We went through the room and out through glass double doors in the wall of windows on the far side. The gardens were very tranquil, lit by a few hanging globes, the almost-full moon overhead and some ambient light from the main building behind us. The sound of conversation was abruptly cut off as the door shut behind us, and the result was almost claustrophobic in its stillness.
There were two houses across the gardens from us. They looked identical, but Jenna led us towards the one on our left. “This one over here is for the Novices and Initiates. The Sisters get to live in the one to the right, and they get single or double rooms. The rest of us have to live like dormitories. It kinda sucks.” She laughed. “I mean, it's not really bad, but it's sometimes hard to get time to yourself when you're sharing a room with three or more other people, you know?”
We reached the front door of the house – which on closer inspection appeared to be the back door of a house facing the street – and she pushed it open. “It's an old house, so the hallways are a bit cramped, so why don't you guys wait out here while I ask and find out which room you'll be staying in. I'll be right back!”
She dissapeared inside, and true to her word she came right back in about thirty seconds. “Alright,” she said. “You'll be upstairs in the big room, under Allison. She's really nice. Pretty, too.”
She led us in the back door and through a hallway and then up a flight of stairs. “This used to be the master bedroom,” she said, rapping on a door. “Your bathroom is that door right to my left.” The door was opened by a young black girl. “Hi Kianna,” Jenna said. “Allison's here, right?”
“Yeah,” Kianna said. “Allison!” she turned around and shouted deafeningly. “Jenna's here with some other people. I think she's got a new girl!”
“A new girl? Where?” I heard another girl's shout from within. A second later, the door was pushed the whole way open by another teen girl. She had her blond hair pulled back, and smiled at Elizabeth as she opened the door.
“Hi! I'm Allison, I'm in charge of this room. What's your name?”
“Elizabeth,” she said.
Allison pushed a stray bit of hair back behind her ear. “Alright. Thanks Jenna, I can get this organized now. Did Sarah send a trunk down with her?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Okay, I'll find one later then. See you later.”
I bent down and gave Elizabeth a hug. “See you soon.”
She hugged back. “See you tomorrow?” It was phrased as a question.
“Sure,” Allison said. “I'll make sure you guys get plenty of time together tomorrow. You won't start classes for a few days, anyway.”
“Okay.” Elizabeth brightened up some. “See you later alligator!”
I grinned, and shot back the usual reply. “After a while, crocodile.”
We walked in silence back to the main building and back up the spiral stairs. This time, however, we only went up one floor, though if I hadn't been counting I wouldn't have been able to tell this hallway from the last.
William echoed my sentiments. “Is the possibility of your enemies getting hopelessly lost your first line of defense here?”
Jenna laughed. “It's pretty crazy at first, but you get used to it. Most of it, at any rate. Even most Sisters won't wander around the underground levels alone. Here, you guys are staying in these rooms here. See, they've got numbers on them, so no getting lost.”
“I can see the numbers on them,” William chuckled. “I'm more concerned about finding my way here than walking into the wrong room. Oh, speaking of finding my way around. Sarah said something about a library, if I'm not mistaken?”
“Oh, yes, I'll show you where. Eric, are you okay? The door's unlocked, and you can pull a deadbolt for privacy once you're inside. The bathroom is down the hall if you need it.”
I nodded. “Yes, I'm fine. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” they said, and I entered the room.
It wasn't a tiny room, but it wasn't as large as Sarah's room either. It contained a dresser, a wardrobe, a full bed, a desk and a window overlooking the street out front. I supposed that William's overlooked the garden, as his was on the opposite side of the hall from me. I dropped the duffel bag that I'd been carrying around all day on my bed, then realized that I'd forgotten to give William his things. I quickly sorted through it and removed my items from the bag, then slipped across the hall and put the bag in his room. As I'd suspected, his window showed the gardens out back, but otherwise our rooms were identical. I went back into mine, and put my few changes of clothes in the dresser. I found my toothbrush and toothpaste, and went down the hall to use the bathroom.
It was odd that the bathroom didn't have any showers. They must bathe somewhere else. I hoped they'd let me in on the secret tomorrow, or else I'd start to smell bad if all I could do was splash some water on my face and brush my teeth. I changed into a t-shirt and boxers – standard bedtime apparel – turned out the light, and slipped under the covers. I only realized how exhausted I was once my head hit the pillow, but didn't have much time to reflect on that sudden insight because I was out like a light.
Chapter 4 - a separate reality
“I asked one of the Initiates to set out candles,” Lynne explained, pocketing her keyring. “I figured you guys would like to see what you're walking in to, and this front room is only lit by the sun in the late evening. The rest of the time, it's rather dark. Watch your step over the threshold, there's a metal ridge there for some reason and people who are new here always trip over it.”
I stepped into the small front room, careful to avoid the ridge she'd warned me about. A few candles were scattered around, giving a bit of light, but it was still rather dim. There were benches against the walls, and cloaks like the one she was wearing were hanging on hooks above the benches. She took hers off, revealing a pair of wings, and hung it on an empty peg. She turned around and saw my very confused expression, and smiled. “They're enchanted to look like they lay flat on our backs, as if we didn't have any wings. Make sense now?”
“Ah, yes,” I said, nodding, then looked to William for my cue. Was there some sort of magical world etiquette I should be observing? He was just smiling around eagerly, hungry to learn about this world he'd dreamed of seeing for over thirty years.
“You can come in this way,” she said, with her hand on a door on the opposite side of the room from the one we came in. “It leads to our front hall. There's lighting inside, don't worry.”
As we stepped into the hallway, I had to stop for a moment to blink my eyes, which had become accustomed to the darkness of the entrance. As I got used to normal lighting again, the first thing that jumped out at me was the brightness of the decorations. The walls were crimson and creme, with gold accents. “Let me have a look!” William said impatiently from behind me. “Mind not blocking the entire doorway?”
“Oh, sorry,” I said, not having realized that I was blocking them from getting in. I stepped into one of the many doorways leading off of the hall, and let them pass me. Elizabeth had been unusually quiet since we met Lynne in the park, and though she seemed to be fine I was still a bit worried. “You okay, Lizzy?” I asked, using my pet name for her.
She looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, I'm cool.” She noticed my expression, and smiled reassuringly. “Don't worry so much.”
“We're going this way,” Lynne called from the end of the hallway. We walked down it, and it soon opened up into a large room. Ahead of us, there was a glass wall with a door in it looking out onto walled gardens with two houses visible at the back of the lot. The other walls were paneled the same way as the hall had been. The room contained several round tables, as well as some open space. There were several women and girls seated at the tables or doing things in the open spaces.
Lynne led us to a table. “Stay here for a minute, I'm going to go try to find out what I should do with you guys. Feel free to walk around the room or talk to someone if you want to, but don't go wandering off anywhere weird. This building has a lot more twisting hallways then it looks like, and there's a lot underground. I don't feel like playing hide and seek today.” She smiled, then headed off towards another door in the wall we came in through.
We sat down, and there was silence for a few minutes while we were all trying to think of something to say. William spoke first.
“This is amazing.”
“That's one way of putting it,” I said, watching a winged teenager carrying something large wrapped in cloth run through the room. “I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment, to be honest.”
“As am I. It's just so refreshing to know I wasn't wrong. You know, it was always at the back of my head all those years, that what I thought I remembered was only a hallucination dream brought on by being dehydrated during a hot summer day. But now I know I really experienced it, and hopefully I'll have the chance to complete my studies. Are you holding up okay?” That last question was addressed to Elizabeth.
“Yeah,” she said thoughtfully. “So I have to stay here?”
I'd been thinking the same thing. If all of this was real, then did it mean that she wasn't human? The thought was completely alien to me, and I couldn't reconcile it with how I knew her. But that's what everything seemed to be telling me.
“Yes,” William said. “As I understand it, all members of the Order live in communities, at least until they're older. It's for their own protection, really, as any of the Dark ones could easily kill a girl. It doesn't seem like a bad place though. I wouldn't mind living here.”
“I know you wouldn't,” I couldn't resist saying. “All your research is right here in front of you. You're in your idea of heaven.”
He grinned. “True, that.” His eyes focused on something over my shoulder. “Where are we supposed to be going now?”
I turned and saw that Lynne was back. “You're supposed to go up to the Temple Mother, Sarah's, room now. You'll eat dinner there, and then you'll all be shown to where you'll be staying. So if you'll just follow me, I'll take you there.” We stood up and followed her out of the room, then through one of the doors in the hallway. There was a spiral staircase inside, and we went up two floors before exiting. We were in another hallway, and she led us down a few twists and turns before we reached the end of the hall and a door. “Okay, this is it,” she said, and knocked.
A short black woman not much younger than me opened the door. “Thanks Lynne,” she said, smiling at her.
“Bye!” Lynne said, waving at us before she left the way we'd come.
“Hello,” Sarah said to us. “Come on in and get something to eat. I understand you've been walking for quite a while this afternoon.”
I stepped into the small front room, careful to avoid the ridge she'd warned me about. A few candles were scattered around, giving a bit of light, but it was still rather dim. There were benches against the walls, and cloaks like the one she was wearing were hanging on hooks above the benches. She took hers off, revealing a pair of wings, and hung it on an empty peg. She turned around and saw my very confused expression, and smiled. “They're enchanted to look like they lay flat on our backs, as if we didn't have any wings. Make sense now?”
“Ah, yes,” I said, nodding, then looked to William for my cue. Was there some sort of magical world etiquette I should be observing? He was just smiling around eagerly, hungry to learn about this world he'd dreamed of seeing for over thirty years.
“You can come in this way,” she said, with her hand on a door on the opposite side of the room from the one we came in. “It leads to our front hall. There's lighting inside, don't worry.”
As we stepped into the hallway, I had to stop for a moment to blink my eyes, which had become accustomed to the darkness of the entrance. As I got used to normal lighting again, the first thing that jumped out at me was the brightness of the decorations. The walls were crimson and creme, with gold accents. “Let me have a look!” William said impatiently from behind me. “Mind not blocking the entire doorway?”
“Oh, sorry,” I said, not having realized that I was blocking them from getting in. I stepped into one of the many doorways leading off of the hall, and let them pass me. Elizabeth had been unusually quiet since we met Lynne in the park, and though she seemed to be fine I was still a bit worried. “You okay, Lizzy?” I asked, using my pet name for her.
She looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, I'm cool.” She noticed my expression, and smiled reassuringly. “Don't worry so much.”
“We're going this way,” Lynne called from the end of the hallway. We walked down it, and it soon opened up into a large room. Ahead of us, there was a glass wall with a door in it looking out onto walled gardens with two houses visible at the back of the lot. The other walls were paneled the same way as the hall had been. The room contained several round tables, as well as some open space. There were several women and girls seated at the tables or doing things in the open spaces.
Lynne led us to a table. “Stay here for a minute, I'm going to go try to find out what I should do with you guys. Feel free to walk around the room or talk to someone if you want to, but don't go wandering off anywhere weird. This building has a lot more twisting hallways then it looks like, and there's a lot underground. I don't feel like playing hide and seek today.” She smiled, then headed off towards another door in the wall we came in through.
We sat down, and there was silence for a few minutes while we were all trying to think of something to say. William spoke first.
“This is amazing.”
“That's one way of putting it,” I said, watching a winged teenager carrying something large wrapped in cloth run through the room. “I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment, to be honest.”
“As am I. It's just so refreshing to know I wasn't wrong. You know, it was always at the back of my head all those years, that what I thought I remembered was only a hallucination dream brought on by being dehydrated during a hot summer day. But now I know I really experienced it, and hopefully I'll have the chance to complete my studies. Are you holding up okay?” That last question was addressed to Elizabeth.
“Yeah,” she said thoughtfully. “So I have to stay here?”
I'd been thinking the same thing. If all of this was real, then did it mean that she wasn't human? The thought was completely alien to me, and I couldn't reconcile it with how I knew her. But that's what everything seemed to be telling me.
“Yes,” William said. “As I understand it, all members of the Order live in communities, at least until they're older. It's for their own protection, really, as any of the Dark ones could easily kill a girl. It doesn't seem like a bad place though. I wouldn't mind living here.”
“I know you wouldn't,” I couldn't resist saying. “All your research is right here in front of you. You're in your idea of heaven.”
He grinned. “True, that.” His eyes focused on something over my shoulder. “Where are we supposed to be going now?”
I turned and saw that Lynne was back. “You're supposed to go up to the Temple Mother, Sarah's, room now. You'll eat dinner there, and then you'll all be shown to where you'll be staying. So if you'll just follow me, I'll take you there.” We stood up and followed her out of the room, then through one of the doors in the hallway. There was a spiral staircase inside, and we went up two floors before exiting. We were in another hallway, and she led us down a few twists and turns before we reached the end of the hall and a door. “Okay, this is it,” she said, and knocked.
A short black woman not much younger than me opened the door. “Thanks Lynne,” she said, smiling at her.
“Bye!” Lynne said, waving at us before she left the way we'd come.
“Hello,” Sarah said to us. “Come on in and get something to eat. I understand you've been walking for quite a while this afternoon.”
Chapter 3 - an angel,
It was a hot and humid afternoon. I readjusted the duffel bag containing the clothes that William had insisted we bring, to sit better on my shoulder. We'd been sitting out here for ten minutes, since he had insisted on arriving early, and my patience was beginning to wear thin. I loved my friend, but enough was enough.
“Will,” I said, exasperated. “Nobody's going to come. We've been here for ten minutes already.”
“We got here early,” he said anxiously. “It's barely a few minutes after two. Have patience, Eric.”
I shook my head, but stayed quiet. I'd give it five more minutes, but no longer. I craned my head to try to find Elizabeth, and saw her perched on another bench about ten feet away.
“You know,” William said, watching my gaze. “Children are very sensitive to the supernatural. The ability to sense changes in reality is something we lose as we get older. I wonder if I can even sense it now, outside of dreams.” He sighed.
I looked at him, and felt bad about my impatience. He looked so sad at that thought. In his late 50s, he had certainly left childhood behind a while ago, and I could imagine how he felt about that. I tried to catch his eye to apologize, but he was looking past me.
“Elizabeth!” he said. “Where are you going?”
I turned around and saw her halfway to the field already. She had stopped, and turned around to look at us, puzzled. “What?”
“We're waiting here,” I said. “Where are you off to?”
She shook her head. “We're on the wrong side of the park, she's waiting for us over there.” She pointed to the bathroom shack.
I looked in the direction she was pointing; there was nobody there. But William leaped to his feet and exclaimed, “What was I telling you? Children can see stuff that we can't. Come on!”
Elizabeth was still standing there, completely bewildered, arm still outstretched. “I don't get it,” she said.
“That's fine,” William, said sprinting up beside her with more energy than I'd expect for a guy his age. “Where is she?”
“You mean you can't see her?” she said, frowning.
“I might just need a little help. What's she wearing, and where exactly is she standing?” He knelt down beside her and stared intently where she was pointing. I couldn't see a thing, but I stood behind them anyway and watched.
“She's wearing a long white coat with a hood,” she said, squinting. “I can't tell what else, it's really long and she's pulled it around herself, and the hood is up. She's standing right under the tree, on the mens' side of the bathrooms.”
William stood up again, and turned to me. “See! I still can't see it quite, but she described exactly what the woman was wearing in my dream. And you can't say it's the power of suggestion, because I never told her what the woman was wearing! Remember?”
I looked at him in astonishment. That was entirely true. And Elizabeth's interpretation of a hooded white cloak was likely to be a long white coat with a hood. But why couldn't William or I see it too? Was it really what he was saying about only children being able to see into other realms?
Elizabeth looked back as us uncertainly. “Can't you guys see it? Is it okay?”
William turned back to her. “It's fine,” he assured her, grinning. “Lead us there, okay?”
“Alright,” she said, slowly starting to walk across the field, looking over her shoulder occasionally to make sure we were following.
I resettled the bag on my shoulder, and walked quickly to catch up to her and William, who were already several steps ahead of me.
When we reached the bathrooms shack, I looked around. “Okay,” I said. “I still don't see anything.”
William looked frustrated. “Me either! Wait-” He stared at the tree intently. “I know what she's doing. She's only projecting herself halfway, so that those who are looking can find her, but everybody else won't be able to. So, we don't have to fully go into the other reality – yet – but only halfway. Once we get halfway, she can probably help to bring us the rest of the way over.”
“Wait!” I said. “Once we get there, can we get back?”
William blinked. He clearly hadn't given that possible consequence too much thought. “Well,” he reasoned. “That woman sent me back before, so I'd imagine that something like that could happen again. So there's really nothing to worry about from that end.”
Well, that did make sense. Time to work out how to get there in the first place, then. “So how am I supposed to see this?”
“Okay,” he said. “The way I did it before was like one of those 3-D picture cards, where you have to sort of cross your eyes and look through the picture. Do the same thing you do for those, except instead of through the picture you're looking through the world.”
“Like this?” I crossed my eyes and tried to stare through the tree in front of me. Elizabeth burst out laughing – presumably I looked ridiculous – and William stifled a snicker.
“Er,” he said. “You don't have to cross your eyes. Sorry.”
“Oh.” I uncrossed them. “You should have said.”
“Yes, sorry.” he said again, distracted. I abandoned my headache-inducing attempt at seeing through solid matter and watched him as his eyes slid out of focus.
Suddenly, he said, “Ah! I can see it, she's right there!”
“Right where?” I said, looking around. “I still can't see anything.”
“She's bringing us through,” he said. “Oh, you fool!” He grabbed my arm, and I felt a surge of nausea as the world doubled and floated about in front of my eyes. Before I could get used to this new sensation, there was an abrupt jerk and they both zoomed off in entirely different directions. I fell to my knees, trying not to throw up at the disorientation, and shut my eyes. I'd never been good with boats or planes, or even carsickness, so this was an ordeal.
After a few moments, an unfamiliar voice spoke. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Um, I presume so,” William said uncertainly. “Eric?”
“Dad?” I heard Elizabeth's voice, and felt her shake my arm.
I said something along the lines of “Nnungh,” and lifted an arm to push hers away. The shaking felt bad.
“Did I hurt you?” William sounded concerned.
I mustered all the effort and coherency that I could, and managed force out one word. “Sick!”
“Ah, yeah,” the woman's voice spoke again. “That can happen to some people. Sorry. I guess we'll just wait here until he's feeling better. It's daylight, so there's no danger, and I told them not to worry unless we're not back by dinner. It's quite a walk, but even so we can afford to wait a few minutes for him to recover.”
A short while later, I regained enough control over my body to open my eyes. The world was blissfully steady – at least the patch of grass that I could see of it – so I tried raising my head. William and Elizabeth were seated on the grass under the tree, with the woman. She was indeed dressed in a white cloak, though she'd pushed the hood back to show her head. She looked much younger than me, perhaps in her early twenties, and she had straight mousy brown hair that was cut just at her shoulders. “Are you feeling better?” she asked me.
I nodded, as I didn't fully trust opening my mouth yet.
“That's good.” She smiled. “My name is Lynne, I'm a Senior Sister at the temple we're going to, though you'll usually hear us referred to as just Sisters. We serve under the temple mother, who was the one who entered into William's dream, and because she has to oversee the temple she sent me to come meet you. Can you stand?”
I nodded, then decided to try my voice. “Yes, I think so.” I put the palms of both hands on the ground, and when I was satisfied by its solidity I pushed myself to my feet. William rose with me, and stretched out a hand in case I lost my balance, but I shook my head and he withdrew it. I was fine now.
Lynne stood up as well, and beckoned to Elizabeth. “Let's get going.”
We set off into the suddenly eerily empty city streets, following the woman in white.
“Will,” I said, exasperated. “Nobody's going to come. We've been here for ten minutes already.”
“We got here early,” he said anxiously. “It's barely a few minutes after two. Have patience, Eric.”
I shook my head, but stayed quiet. I'd give it five more minutes, but no longer. I craned my head to try to find Elizabeth, and saw her perched on another bench about ten feet away.
“You know,” William said, watching my gaze. “Children are very sensitive to the supernatural. The ability to sense changes in reality is something we lose as we get older. I wonder if I can even sense it now, outside of dreams.” He sighed.
I looked at him, and felt bad about my impatience. He looked so sad at that thought. In his late 50s, he had certainly left childhood behind a while ago, and I could imagine how he felt about that. I tried to catch his eye to apologize, but he was looking past me.
“Elizabeth!” he said. “Where are you going?”
I turned around and saw her halfway to the field already. She had stopped, and turned around to look at us, puzzled. “What?”
“We're waiting here,” I said. “Where are you off to?”
She shook her head. “We're on the wrong side of the park, she's waiting for us over there.” She pointed to the bathroom shack.
I looked in the direction she was pointing; there was nobody there. But William leaped to his feet and exclaimed, “What was I telling you? Children can see stuff that we can't. Come on!”
Elizabeth was still standing there, completely bewildered, arm still outstretched. “I don't get it,” she said.
“That's fine,” William, said sprinting up beside her with more energy than I'd expect for a guy his age. “Where is she?”
“You mean you can't see her?” she said, frowning.
“I might just need a little help. What's she wearing, and where exactly is she standing?” He knelt down beside her and stared intently where she was pointing. I couldn't see a thing, but I stood behind them anyway and watched.
“She's wearing a long white coat with a hood,” she said, squinting. “I can't tell what else, it's really long and she's pulled it around herself, and the hood is up. She's standing right under the tree, on the mens' side of the bathrooms.”
William stood up again, and turned to me. “See! I still can't see it quite, but she described exactly what the woman was wearing in my dream. And you can't say it's the power of suggestion, because I never told her what the woman was wearing! Remember?”
I looked at him in astonishment. That was entirely true. And Elizabeth's interpretation of a hooded white cloak was likely to be a long white coat with a hood. But why couldn't William or I see it too? Was it really what he was saying about only children being able to see into other realms?
Elizabeth looked back as us uncertainly. “Can't you guys see it? Is it okay?”
William turned back to her. “It's fine,” he assured her, grinning. “Lead us there, okay?”
“Alright,” she said, slowly starting to walk across the field, looking over her shoulder occasionally to make sure we were following.
I resettled the bag on my shoulder, and walked quickly to catch up to her and William, who were already several steps ahead of me.
When we reached the bathrooms shack, I looked around. “Okay,” I said. “I still don't see anything.”
William looked frustrated. “Me either! Wait-” He stared at the tree intently. “I know what she's doing. She's only projecting herself halfway, so that those who are looking can find her, but everybody else won't be able to. So, we don't have to fully go into the other reality – yet – but only halfway. Once we get halfway, she can probably help to bring us the rest of the way over.”
“Wait!” I said. “Once we get there, can we get back?”
William blinked. He clearly hadn't given that possible consequence too much thought. “Well,” he reasoned. “That woman sent me back before, so I'd imagine that something like that could happen again. So there's really nothing to worry about from that end.”
Well, that did make sense. Time to work out how to get there in the first place, then. “So how am I supposed to see this?”
“Okay,” he said. “The way I did it before was like one of those 3-D picture cards, where you have to sort of cross your eyes and look through the picture. Do the same thing you do for those, except instead of through the picture you're looking through the world.”
“Like this?” I crossed my eyes and tried to stare through the tree in front of me. Elizabeth burst out laughing – presumably I looked ridiculous – and William stifled a snicker.
“Er,” he said. “You don't have to cross your eyes. Sorry.”
“Oh.” I uncrossed them. “You should have said.”
“Yes, sorry.” he said again, distracted. I abandoned my headache-inducing attempt at seeing through solid matter and watched him as his eyes slid out of focus.
Suddenly, he said, “Ah! I can see it, she's right there!”
“Right where?” I said, looking around. “I still can't see anything.”
“She's bringing us through,” he said. “Oh, you fool!” He grabbed my arm, and I felt a surge of nausea as the world doubled and floated about in front of my eyes. Before I could get used to this new sensation, there was an abrupt jerk and they both zoomed off in entirely different directions. I fell to my knees, trying not to throw up at the disorientation, and shut my eyes. I'd never been good with boats or planes, or even carsickness, so this was an ordeal.
After a few moments, an unfamiliar voice spoke. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Um, I presume so,” William said uncertainly. “Eric?”
“Dad?” I heard Elizabeth's voice, and felt her shake my arm.
I said something along the lines of “Nnungh,” and lifted an arm to push hers away. The shaking felt bad.
“Did I hurt you?” William sounded concerned.
I mustered all the effort and coherency that I could, and managed force out one word. “Sick!”
“Ah, yeah,” the woman's voice spoke again. “That can happen to some people. Sorry. I guess we'll just wait here until he's feeling better. It's daylight, so there's no danger, and I told them not to worry unless we're not back by dinner. It's quite a walk, but even so we can afford to wait a few minutes for him to recover.”
A short while later, I regained enough control over my body to open my eyes. The world was blissfully steady – at least the patch of grass that I could see of it – so I tried raising my head. William and Elizabeth were seated on the grass under the tree, with the woman. She was indeed dressed in a white cloak, though she'd pushed the hood back to show her head. She looked much younger than me, perhaps in her early twenties, and she had straight mousy brown hair that was cut just at her shoulders. “Are you feeling better?” she asked me.
I nodded, as I didn't fully trust opening my mouth yet.
“That's good.” She smiled. “My name is Lynne, I'm a Senior Sister at the temple we're going to, though you'll usually hear us referred to as just Sisters. We serve under the temple mother, who was the one who entered into William's dream, and because she has to oversee the temple she sent me to come meet you. Can you stand?”
I nodded, then decided to try my voice. “Yes, I think so.” I put the palms of both hands on the ground, and when I was satisfied by its solidity I pushed myself to my feet. William rose with me, and stretched out a hand in case I lost my balance, but I shook my head and he withdrew it. I was fine now.
Lynne stood up as well, and beckoned to Elizabeth. “Let's get going.”
We set off into the suddenly eerily empty city streets, following the woman in white.
Chapter 2 - a legend,
“At the beginning of time, there was a light and a darkness. Perhaps these were created by supreme beings, or beings rose up out of the magical energy to seize control over the power – we'll never know. But we do know there was a Goddess of the Light, and a Lord of the Darkness. As life arose as we know it, the Goddess attempted to imbue it with her Light, at the same time as the Lord tried to corrupt it with his Darkness.
“The legends aren't too clear on exactly what happened, but at some point the Goddess put her Light on the Earth, to be protected by a group of women who she would choose and set apart from the population. They were charged only with preserving the Light, by any means that didn't involve giving in to the power of the Dark. The women have been described in several accounts as being winged figures with magical powers, much like angels. Some have been rumored to have the ability to shape shift into animals, such as Mermaids. These women mostly live apart from the rest of the world, so there's not very many stories about encounters with them.
“The Darkness, however, is not so subtle. Of course the Lord of Darkness would have agents on the Earth as well, to constantly attempt to destroy the Light. And those agents would need to leave their solitude in order to feed, so there are many legends about them. I'm sure you've heard of vampires, werewolves, zombies, and all the other creatures of the night used to frighten children into being home by nightfall. Once, those stories were very true.
“I believe that both the agents of the Light – the Order of the Light, I've seen them referred to as – and the agents of the Dark, who as far as I know have no name describing them, exist in realities parallel to our own. Perhaps it's the same reality, or different ones, but the accounts of them that we hear are from people who have stumbled into other realities. Or during a rare trip to our own reality. Dreams, Eric, are a gateway between worlds. That is why I believe my dream is true, and that we must listen to it.”
“What dream?” Elizabeth piped up, looking at him curiously. “You always have interesting dreams. They make much more sense than mine do.”
William looked at me. “Can I tell her?”
“I'd rather you didn't yet,” I said quietly, glaring at him. Why had he brought that up in front of her? Not that I didn't respect her and her right to know things, but you just don't tell a seven year old that she's going to go live in a world of angels.
“Eric, come on,” He pleaded. “I know you still don't believe me. But at the end of the dream, she gave me instructions. She said that she would cross into our reality in a week's time, and that if we were in Hyde park at ten in the morning, she could come meet us.”
“Who?” my daughter asked, beginning to get impatient. “What are you guys talking about?”
I looked from William, to her, and back again. “Well, it's definite and easy to prove then. We'll go to Hyde park a week from today, and if she meets us there then great. If not, then it was just a dream.”
William looked like he was going to say something else, but then he just nodded. “Okay. Can I tell her, at least?”
“Tell me what?” she demanded.
“Go ahead.”
As he began his recounting of the dream, I wondered what good it would do to give a child fantasies like that. But there was really no changing it now, what's done is done, and I'd just have to deal with the aftermath when it turned out to be false.
“The legends aren't too clear on exactly what happened, but at some point the Goddess put her Light on the Earth, to be protected by a group of women who she would choose and set apart from the population. They were charged only with preserving the Light, by any means that didn't involve giving in to the power of the Dark. The women have been described in several accounts as being winged figures with magical powers, much like angels. Some have been rumored to have the ability to shape shift into animals, such as Mermaids. These women mostly live apart from the rest of the world, so there's not very many stories about encounters with them.
“The Darkness, however, is not so subtle. Of course the Lord of Darkness would have agents on the Earth as well, to constantly attempt to destroy the Light. And those agents would need to leave their solitude in order to feed, so there are many legends about them. I'm sure you've heard of vampires, werewolves, zombies, and all the other creatures of the night used to frighten children into being home by nightfall. Once, those stories were very true.
“I believe that both the agents of the Light – the Order of the Light, I've seen them referred to as – and the agents of the Dark, who as far as I know have no name describing them, exist in realities parallel to our own. Perhaps it's the same reality, or different ones, but the accounts of them that we hear are from people who have stumbled into other realities. Or during a rare trip to our own reality. Dreams, Eric, are a gateway between worlds. That is why I believe my dream is true, and that we must listen to it.”
“What dream?” Elizabeth piped up, looking at him curiously. “You always have interesting dreams. They make much more sense than mine do.”
William looked at me. “Can I tell her?”
“I'd rather you didn't yet,” I said quietly, glaring at him. Why had he brought that up in front of her? Not that I didn't respect her and her right to know things, but you just don't tell a seven year old that she's going to go live in a world of angels.
“Eric, come on,” He pleaded. “I know you still don't believe me. But at the end of the dream, she gave me instructions. She said that she would cross into our reality in a week's time, and that if we were in Hyde park at ten in the morning, she could come meet us.”
“Who?” my daughter asked, beginning to get impatient. “What are you guys talking about?”
I looked from William, to her, and back again. “Well, it's definite and easy to prove then. We'll go to Hyde park a week from today, and if she meets us there then great. If not, then it was just a dream.”
William looked like he was going to say something else, but then he just nodded. “Okay. Can I tell her, at least?”
“Tell me what?” she demanded.
“Go ahead.”
As he began his recounting of the dream, I wondered what good it would do to give a child fantasies like that. But there was really no changing it now, what's done is done, and I'd just have to deal with the aftermath when it turned out to be false.
Chapter 1 - Once there was a dream,
I stumbled blearily down the steps towards the front door. Who could it be at this hour of the morning? The doorbell rang again.
“I know,” I muttered angrily to myself. “Stop ringing already! There's no reason why whatever this is couldn't have waited until a decent hour.”
I reached the bottom of the stairs, and angrily wrenched the door open.
“You!” I exclaimed.
“I've had the most amazing dream!” William, my old college professor and now friend, said – too cheerfully. “You need to hear this!”
I stared at him blankly.
“Look,” he said, apparently realizing his mistake. “I know you're not too much of a morning person, but really, I would have called except I didn't think of it before I left. I really did wait a long time, I've been awake since two thirty thinking about this and finding all the mater-”
I cut him off. “You came hammering down my door at seven AM on a Saturday morning to tell me about a dream you had.”
He looked flustered. “But it was the most extraordinary dream!”
“Seven AM,” I said bluntly. “On a Saturday. Are you out of your mind?”
“Er, sorry.” He looked around awkwardly. “Really sorry about that. But you really do have to hear this.”
I couldn't believe this. “Can I at least have some coffee first?”
“Oh, of course!”
A short while later, as we were sitting at the kitchen table sipping our coffee, I asked, “So, what's this dream that's so important that you couldn't wait until a decent hour to tell me about it?”
“I still maintain that, given the circumstances, this is quite a decent hour,” he said stubbornly.
I waved my hand dismissively. “It's all relative. Just talk.”
“Okay.” There was a long silence while he studied his coffee intently.
“Well?” I said impatiently. “What was this dream about?”
“I'm not quite sure where to start,” he explained awkwardly. “It's a bit complicated.”
“How about starting by telling the dream?” I suggested, rather more patiently than I felt. One cup of coffee wasn't enough to make me into an entirely agreeable person, apparently.
He nodded. “Okay. The dream.”
“I was dreaming like normal. Can't remember what exactly it was about, perhaps something with tea, I'm not sure. Anyway, I was minding my own business and a messenger appears. She was a member of the Order of the Light, and carried the spear of the Guard. She seemed surprised to see me, but she said she was looking for a little girl. She asked me if I knew of a little girl. I asked her what the girl looked like, and she said that she was in first or second grade, short for her age, with brown hair and brown eyes. I said that I did know a girl who looked like that, she was my friend Eric's daughter. And the messenger was surprised. She told me she had an important message to deliver through me. Are you ready?”
I blinked at him. One cup of coffee had definitely not been enough to wake me up properly. Well, I decided to humor him. “What's this message you're supposed to pass along to me?”
“She said that your daughter is one of the girls chosen by the Goddess to serve as a member of the Order of the Light, to protect the Light against the forces of Darkness. Oh will you stop that? I'm not mad, really!”
I set the coffee down so I wouldn't spill it, and tried to suppress my frantic coughing laughter. “Let me get this straight. You come here at practically the crack of dawn to tell me that you dreamed that Elizabeth was chosen to be a member of an ancient order that fights evil? It's a pretty funny dream, but...” I trailed off, noticing his expression. “You're taking this dream seriously. Why? It can't be real, it doesn't make any sense.”
“Eric,” he said patiently. “Not everything that exists has to make rational sense. This is why I said I didn't know where to start.” He sighed. “You know I've been working on research for a long time now. I started when I was still a student at Oxford, you know. I've been researching a woman I saw one day. Oh hell, I still haven't started at the beginning, have I?”
He'd lost me, at any rate. All of his stories from when he was a student tended to lose me. “What's the beginning?” I asked, hoping to steer him out of his confusion.
He grabbed onto my question like a drowning man. “Yes, the beginning! Well, as a student, I had a theory. It had to do with parallel realities, and how you can project yourself into different ones. They're very like our own, except they're not populated by our mundane world but by other beings. And I was trying to devise a way to think myself into crossing that border.”
This was totally something I could see a twenty year old William trying to do. “Did you make it?”
“Yes, I believe I did.”
There was silence while I tried to think of something to say to that. He believed in the occult, meanings in dreams, and so on, but to claim to have visited another dimension – the realm of science fiction – wasn't something I'd heard come out of his mouth before. “You're sure?” I asked finally.
“Well, I don't actually remember it too well. I believe they sent me back to the normal world and modified my memory slightly so that I wouldn't remember them. But I remember some of what I saw. A cloaked figure and a woman with wings, and a house they lived in. It was stuck in the back of my brain for the longest time, and one day I decided to research what I'd seen and see if anybody else had reported seeing anything similar.”
“Did you find anything?” Despite myself, the story intrigued me. He was an avid scholar of myths and legends, and the tales he brought back from the libraries were always enthralling.
“Yes, I did.” He stared at me, perhaps trying to read my expression, I wasn't sure.
“Eric, I know you think this is just another legend. But can you please just try to suspend your disbelief while I explain this?”
“My disbelief is suspended,” I replied. My disbelief was always suspended when I listened to his stories.
“No, it's not. You've suspended it like you're reading fiction, where you'll sit up at the end and say 'Well, that was an enjoyable story. Now it's time to go get a cup of tea and get on with my life.' I need you to listen to this and, just for the time it takes me to tell it, to entertain the possibility that it could be real. Can you do that?”
I took a drink of my coffee to buy time for my response. He was asking a lot. I was a deeply rational person, and while he had every right to believe in whatever he wanted, I preferred to stick with things that could be proven. Footsteps on the stairs gave me a welcome respite from the pressure of having to answer.
“Dad? Mr. Garrett is talking too much again, he woke me up.” Elizabeth peeked into the kitchen through the banister poles on the stairs. “Can't you two talk outside so I can sleep?”
I laughed, and so did William, breaking the tension between us.
“Good morning,” he said to her. “Sleep well?”
“Until you started talking,” she said grumpily. “It's Saturday!”
“Aren't you on summer break?”
“It's still Saturday!” She climbed down the rest of the stairs and onto the reading char in the corner of the kitchen. “It's too early to have to be up, even for watching cartoons.”
“I agree,” I said devilishly, grinning. I'd lost my annoyance at William for waking me up so early – he obviously was completely overexcited, and it was best to talk it out with him.
“Well,” William said, “I was about to tell your father a story. Do you want to come listen too?”
I looked at him suspiciously. “What are you going to tell?”
“Just about my research. Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal her from you.” He looked vaguely wounded, and I felt bad.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that,” I apologized.
“It's okay, I know what you meant.”
While we'd been talking, Elizabeth had come over to us. “You're going to tell a story?”
William smiled. “Yes. Okay, everybody ready? Here's what I found.”
“I know,” I muttered angrily to myself. “Stop ringing already! There's no reason why whatever this is couldn't have waited until a decent hour.”
I reached the bottom of the stairs, and angrily wrenched the door open.
“You!” I exclaimed.
“I've had the most amazing dream!” William, my old college professor and now friend, said – too cheerfully. “You need to hear this!”
I stared at him blankly.
“Look,” he said, apparently realizing his mistake. “I know you're not too much of a morning person, but really, I would have called except I didn't think of it before I left. I really did wait a long time, I've been awake since two thirty thinking about this and finding all the mater-”
I cut him off. “You came hammering down my door at seven AM on a Saturday morning to tell me about a dream you had.”
He looked flustered. “But it was the most extraordinary dream!”
“Seven AM,” I said bluntly. “On a Saturday. Are you out of your mind?”
“Er, sorry.” He looked around awkwardly. “Really sorry about that. But you really do have to hear this.”
I couldn't believe this. “Can I at least have some coffee first?”
“Oh, of course!”
A short while later, as we were sitting at the kitchen table sipping our coffee, I asked, “So, what's this dream that's so important that you couldn't wait until a decent hour to tell me about it?”
“I still maintain that, given the circumstances, this is quite a decent hour,” he said stubbornly.
I waved my hand dismissively. “It's all relative. Just talk.”
“Okay.” There was a long silence while he studied his coffee intently.
“Well?” I said impatiently. “What was this dream about?”
“I'm not quite sure where to start,” he explained awkwardly. “It's a bit complicated.”
“How about starting by telling the dream?” I suggested, rather more patiently than I felt. One cup of coffee wasn't enough to make me into an entirely agreeable person, apparently.
He nodded. “Okay. The dream.”
“I was dreaming like normal. Can't remember what exactly it was about, perhaps something with tea, I'm not sure. Anyway, I was minding my own business and a messenger appears. She was a member of the Order of the Light, and carried the spear of the Guard. She seemed surprised to see me, but she said she was looking for a little girl. She asked me if I knew of a little girl. I asked her what the girl looked like, and she said that she was in first or second grade, short for her age, with brown hair and brown eyes. I said that I did know a girl who looked like that, she was my friend Eric's daughter. And the messenger was surprised. She told me she had an important message to deliver through me. Are you ready?”
I blinked at him. One cup of coffee had definitely not been enough to wake me up properly. Well, I decided to humor him. “What's this message you're supposed to pass along to me?”
“She said that your daughter is one of the girls chosen by the Goddess to serve as a member of the Order of the Light, to protect the Light against the forces of Darkness. Oh will you stop that? I'm not mad, really!”
I set the coffee down so I wouldn't spill it, and tried to suppress my frantic coughing laughter. “Let me get this straight. You come here at practically the crack of dawn to tell me that you dreamed that Elizabeth was chosen to be a member of an ancient order that fights evil? It's a pretty funny dream, but...” I trailed off, noticing his expression. “You're taking this dream seriously. Why? It can't be real, it doesn't make any sense.”
“Eric,” he said patiently. “Not everything that exists has to make rational sense. This is why I said I didn't know where to start.” He sighed. “You know I've been working on research for a long time now. I started when I was still a student at Oxford, you know. I've been researching a woman I saw one day. Oh hell, I still haven't started at the beginning, have I?”
He'd lost me, at any rate. All of his stories from when he was a student tended to lose me. “What's the beginning?” I asked, hoping to steer him out of his confusion.
He grabbed onto my question like a drowning man. “Yes, the beginning! Well, as a student, I had a theory. It had to do with parallel realities, and how you can project yourself into different ones. They're very like our own, except they're not populated by our mundane world but by other beings. And I was trying to devise a way to think myself into crossing that border.”
This was totally something I could see a twenty year old William trying to do. “Did you make it?”
“Yes, I believe I did.”
There was silence while I tried to think of something to say to that. He believed in the occult, meanings in dreams, and so on, but to claim to have visited another dimension – the realm of science fiction – wasn't something I'd heard come out of his mouth before. “You're sure?” I asked finally.
“Well, I don't actually remember it too well. I believe they sent me back to the normal world and modified my memory slightly so that I wouldn't remember them. But I remember some of what I saw. A cloaked figure and a woman with wings, and a house they lived in. It was stuck in the back of my brain for the longest time, and one day I decided to research what I'd seen and see if anybody else had reported seeing anything similar.”
“Did you find anything?” Despite myself, the story intrigued me. He was an avid scholar of myths and legends, and the tales he brought back from the libraries were always enthralling.
“Yes, I did.” He stared at me, perhaps trying to read my expression, I wasn't sure.
“Eric, I know you think this is just another legend. But can you please just try to suspend your disbelief while I explain this?”
“My disbelief is suspended,” I replied. My disbelief was always suspended when I listened to his stories.
“No, it's not. You've suspended it like you're reading fiction, where you'll sit up at the end and say 'Well, that was an enjoyable story. Now it's time to go get a cup of tea and get on with my life.' I need you to listen to this and, just for the time it takes me to tell it, to entertain the possibility that it could be real. Can you do that?”
I took a drink of my coffee to buy time for my response. He was asking a lot. I was a deeply rational person, and while he had every right to believe in whatever he wanted, I preferred to stick with things that could be proven. Footsteps on the stairs gave me a welcome respite from the pressure of having to answer.
“Dad? Mr. Garrett is talking too much again, he woke me up.” Elizabeth peeked into the kitchen through the banister poles on the stairs. “Can't you two talk outside so I can sleep?”
I laughed, and so did William, breaking the tension between us.
“Good morning,” he said to her. “Sleep well?”
“Until you started talking,” she said grumpily. “It's Saturday!”
“Aren't you on summer break?”
“It's still Saturday!” She climbed down the rest of the stairs and onto the reading char in the corner of the kitchen. “It's too early to have to be up, even for watching cartoons.”
“I agree,” I said devilishly, grinning. I'd lost my annoyance at William for waking me up so early – he obviously was completely overexcited, and it was best to talk it out with him.
“Well,” William said, “I was about to tell your father a story. Do you want to come listen too?”
I looked at him suspiciously. “What are you going to tell?”
“Just about my research. Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal her from you.” He looked vaguely wounded, and I felt bad.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that,” I apologized.
“It's okay, I know what you meant.”
While we'd been talking, Elizabeth had come over to us. “You're going to tell a story?”
William smiled. “Yes. Okay, everybody ready? Here's what I found.”
NaN #1 - I aten't dead yet!
So yeah, I'm finished form 1 of my novel and clocking in at about 7.5k. That's 2.5k behind, for anyone keeping score. >_<
The widgets haven't been posted to the NaNo site yet, and I'm beginning to wonder if they'll show up before November is over. There was one I liked on the page on the Neil Gaiman site, but it doesn't work for some reason, which is frustrating. All the rest I can find are so wide. Does anyone know a nice narrow wordcount widget that I can fit into the lefthand sidebar here?
I'm going to post all 5 chapters for form 1 tonight when I get back from school. Then I'll try to keep this updated as I write.
Onward!
The widgets haven't been posted to the NaNo site yet, and I'm beginning to wonder if they'll show up before November is over. There was one I liked on the page on the Neil Gaiman site, but it doesn't work for some reason, which is frustrating. All the rest I can find are so wide. Does anyone know a nice narrow wordcount widget that I can fit into the lefthand sidebar here?
I'm going to post all 5 chapters for form 1 tonight when I get back from school. Then I'll try to keep this updated as I write.
Onward!
Form 1 - The meaning of dreams
"Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."
"I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it."
- John Updike
"I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it."
- Garrison Keillor
Changing Light
This year's NaNoWriMo is dedicated to Zy,
because he should totally try to write his book.
because he should totally try to write his book.
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