The Passage to Mythrin 2-Book Bundle (15 page)

Ike poked Simon in the back. “She's cocooning,” he whispered. “Is she through with the book? Can we have it?”

She did look like a cocoon. “Um, Mara? Shouldn't you be someplace warm?”

A green glint opened in the curtain of her hair. “Go away.”

“At least put the coat back on!”

Mara growled like a dog. Simon took that as a no. He backed up against Ike, who hissed: “The book!”

“Take the Book of Lands,” said the muffled voice. “Take the firebird coat. Go!”

Ike hung up the phone and stepped out of the booth. “It's okay. My dad says I can stay for supper at your place but I have to be home no later than eight. Can you beat that? I tell him we've discovered another world and he says, ‘That's great, kid. Just make sure you're home no later than eight.'”

“Like he'd believe you,” Simon said.

“Well, he'll have to now, won't he? Now that we've got proof.” Ike touched a corner of the book. Simon was holding it against his chest with both arms wrapped around it.

They'd had to walk west on Hill Street, a block out of their way, to find a phone outside a Mac's Milk store. Even the milk store was closed, and the streets were deserted. At five-thirty on New Year's Day every-body was inside, behind closed curtains and decorated windows, having dinner.

McNairn Street was brighter, with its rows of lit-up store windows. Simon stopped and held the book down where they could both see it. Proof, he thought. A book bound in the green, scaly skin of some other-world creature, with the family emblem of some alien ruler pressed into the cover. “A book of doors,” he said. “Or windows?”

“Windows,” Ike said.

“Right. Your mind goes through, so you can see, but not your body.”

“It must be like a really, really interactive CD.”

“Looking into a different world. Maybe a different universe.”

“And it's ours!”

Simon took a deep breath. “This is going to change everything.”

They exchanged excited grins.

“What really gets me is the time,” Ike said. “How long d'you think Ammy was in that underwater place? From all she said, it had to be more than a few minutes, right? But how long was it on our side?”

Simon thought back. “A few seconds. And when we went though the passage? It felt like we wandered around that museum for an hour.”

“More.”

“Say eighty minutes. But when we got back it was only eight minutes. That's a difference of ten times.”

“It must be a quantum thing. We'll experiment.”

Simon clutched the book closer. Yes, everything would change once this came out. Not just for him and Ike. For the whole world! Every time he thought of that it made his heart jump.

They crossed McNairn. Not a car in sight. Then, to avoid another detour, they cut through the parking lot next to the school. The glow of the streetlights faded behind them.

Ike laughed suddenly. “We'll be famous. You realize that?”

“That's right. Everybody will want to see it.” Simon frowned. “Suppose they try and take it away from us?”

“We'll need help. Somebody who's really big in physics.”

“Somebody we can trust.”

“If only Carl Sagan was still alive!”

Simon suddenly thought of Mara and Ammy, both of them miserable. It almost seemed unfair he should be so happy. He didn't even care that he'd lost a bit of his memory. That bit about the blue flare, and whatever came after it, that seemed unimportant. Which was odd, when you came to think of it.

“Now, that's funny,” Ike said. He pointed. Behind them on the right, the school was a long black silhouette against the glow of streetlights on McNairn. “What's that up there?”

Simon looked. The flat roof of the school changed shape as he watched. Not by much, but something was up there, all right.

Ike kept staring. “There, it moved again.”

“Nothing to worry about.” Simon pulled at him to get him moving. Whatever it was, it was big. The roof had taken on a strange, humped outline. He didn't like it.

“We ought to get back to the street, where it's bright. But...”

“But we'd have to pass it.” Ike blew out a cloud of breath. “Let's get going.”

They set off across the school grounds, a sheet of unmarked snow that seemed to stretch forever under the black sky, like an Arctic waste. A row of buildings on Queen Street, on the other side of the grounds, looked far away and tiny.

Simon's legs itched. He wanted to run, but he knew better. Running would open the door to fear. Right now, the door was barely closed.

To their left rose a high fence, with a row of houses behind it. To the right, more open snow and the dark bulk of a church. Not a living soul in sight, except for them. And no sound except their own breathing and the squeak of snow under their boots.

Simon gasped and whipped around.

“What?” Ike yipped.

“Thought I felt something.” He started to sweat inside his parka. There was nothing there, of course. Just snow and darkness and the faraway lights.

“Don't get me started.” Ike looked back over his shoulder and all around.

Simon laughed. “Nerves!”

“Never thought you had any.”

Before they'd taken two more steps, it was there behind them. This time for sure. Simon knew it before he felt the wave of air on his cheek. Ike started to turn.

Then, darkness — sudden, warm, thick — closed down from above. It spread out hugely on both sides and folded them in.

§

When the darkness lifted Simon was lying on his back in the snow. The town hall clock was striking six. He scrambled up, stiff and cold, but ready to run. There was nothing to run from.

Ike struggled to his feet beside him. “You okay?”

“Yeah. You? What was that?”

They were alone. The only sign that anything had happened was the prints of their two bodies, like badly done angels in the snow.

“Simon, the book?”

“It's gone.”

As Simon stared down at the ground he noticed something. “Look!” A neat trail of tracks led back through the parking lot. Two sets of boot prints, side by side. His and Ike's. Nobody else's.

“And there.” He pointed a shaking finger. Footprints — different ones, not from boots — were spotted around the body marks.

“Like the ones outside the cave,” Ike said. “The ones with the crampons.”

“But where did they come from? The sky?”

“Well...” Ike pointed. The strange prints led away — one, two, three — then none. The snow beyond that last one lay clean and perfect.

Ike and Simon backed away, turned, and started running. They didn't stop until they reached the Hammer Block.

§

“Ammy? I wish you'd open up.” Simon leaned on Ammy's door. He was fed up with trying to talk through it. “I think you're wrong about Mara. I feel like we weren't fair to her.”

“She's evil,” came the muffled answer. “Look what she can do to people's minds! Remember the mall? The espresso machine eagle?”

“That's just what I mean. If she could do that, she could've made us forget everything we've found out. She could have turned you back into her best friend, like you were at the start. But she didn't.”

“She doesn't care. She's got what she wants.”

“I think she does care.”

“You're wrong.”

Getting tired of this....
“Something stole the book. We got mugged, Ike and me.”

The door opened. Ammy looked him over. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Ike's dad came in the car and picked him up. But the book —”

“Who cares about the book?” The door slammed.

“And now nobody will believe us,” Simon said to himself.

§

Mom, Dad, never mind what I said last time. Please let me come to Peru now!!!! Please! It's urgent! I hate it here and I miss you so much. Hugs and kisses, Amelia.

§

“Ammy? Message from Celeste. She says you should eat.”

“I'm not hungry.”

“There's hot milk in the kitchen. And oatmeal cookies.”

“Go away!”

§

Hi Silken. Sounds like you've had a great holiday so far. I wish I was there with you. Everything here is awful. I hate everybody.

Amelia thought she would never sleep. Her chest hurt too much. Could this be a heart attack? Could it kill you, this kind of pain?

Not that she cared if Mara was a monster and a liar. Not that she cared one bit.

She dreamed she was soaring over a fantastic city, all points and pinnacles. It was sunset, and the glowing red spires were striped with their own long shadows.

Huge figures sprang from the towers and arrowed up at her.
Climb!
snapped a voice in her head. She beat her wings and surged upward. The pursuers fell away. The city shrank to a carpet of ruby needles.

We are too swift for them,
said the voice, smugly. It was familiar, but not...

“That's not my voice.”

No, it is me.

“Mara? What are you doing in my dream? Can't I even dream without —”

It is my dream.

“Uh?”

My dream, that you share these three nights. I dream of home.

“Well, that makes a weird kind of sense. Except, why am I sharing your dreams?”

I can dream you the answer. For the Urdar, dreams are truth.

“Go right ahead,” Amelia said. “It's only a dream. Nothing that happens here is real.”

You are wrong. It is more than real.

The far-below landscape tilted and lifted. The pinnacles swept past, and then a wind-blown plain that glistened red in waves, where the sunset light caught the bending grasses. Ahead rose a long mountain crowned with a ridge of bare cliff, and in the cliff was a gate with stairs leading up between pillars.

Screams broke out behind. They had a gloating sound. The dream sped up. Rows and rows of library shelves whirled past. Behind, more screams, and the clatter and crash of things falling off shelves. Heavy feet battered the floor, closer, closer. Ahead, a blue door. Then a tunnel of blue light. And then...

Terror.

“You? Afraid? I don't believe it.”

This world, it was the demon world of the old tales.

“Wait a minute. Demon world?”

Many ages ago the Urdar departed this world. The tales say it was overrun by demons. We took the new world and called it Mythrin, our world. We set a watch on the gate so that none of the demons could pass through.

“Demons. Brother!”

And so I — yes, I — was afraid.

The blue light died, the passage closed. Alone, and safe, but... The demon world was dark and cold and smelled of danger. Minds whispered all around — distant, but unguarded. And one nearer. Something watched from across an abyss. A demon! Two, three demons! They saw! They would call the other demons!

“But that was us! Simon and Ike and me!”

I was afraid. I did a coward thing.

Reached for the watching minds to muddle the memories. Too late, felt a mind like leaves and fog that tore at a touch. Blundered, felt its pain and fear. The two others, close by — touched them too, but gently now, delicately. Sealed off the memory. Shame. No honour in that, harming creatures so weak. Watch them, then. Follow them, leaping through the black skies from roof to roof.

“This is true, isn't it? I think I saw you following us.”

Lying is not possible in the dream.

The demon world was strange. The buildings short and fat and covered with crusty white stuff, the stars so bright they hurt the eyes. Everywhere, the whisper of demon minds.

I was afraid. I wished I am home.

“You never showed it. You were so brave.”

I sit down then and dream of Mythrin. In my dream, I am not alone. I have a friend.

“That was me. I guess our minds got a little mixed together then, eh? You knew I had the ring.”

I knew but I could not claim it. You would begin to guess about me, and then you would hate me. The way your ancestors hated my ancestors. I did not want you to hate me. And so I put on your people's shape. Like costume. And then I wake up, and you are there.

“But you forgot the clothes.”

I did not understand clothes.

“Why didn't you just look around in my head until you knew what was what?”

I am no Assassin!

“And you didn't
make
me like you?”

Anger. Hurt.

“Okay! Okay! I believe you!”

Happy.

“Well, I'm confused. Are we still dreaming? Or are we remembering?”

Yes.

“Mara? Do you have to go home? Can't you stay here?”

I must go. Here is a sign that I am true. A sign for you to hold, and to give back. I go tomorrow at noon.

“What sign? What do you mean? Mara?”

§

“So then I woke up, and I was in my bed. And this was in my hand.” Ammy unzipped a hip pocket in her jeans and pried out something that winked red in the morning sun. She held it out on her palm.

“The ring!”

“The ring of the Urdar chiefs. Probably the most important thing in her whole world. And she gave it to me to keep for her, till she leaves. To show she trusts me.” She pushed it down deep in her pocket and zipped the zipper.

They had just climbed down out of Founders Tower. That had been the first thing Ammy wanted to do when she woke up, even before breakfast — go and check on Mara — but they couldn't have rushed off like that without a lot of hard questions from Celeste.