The candle on the table flickered slowly in the cool breeze drifting through Raul's small farm house. Outside, the sun was shining brightly, but it hardly had an effect on the man and teenager inside the house, as the shades were drawn to prevent any straggling passerby to happen to glance inside and witness the scene in front of them. Because of this, it was dark in the house, and the single candle was the only form of light. It cast eerie shadows across the room and made them dance, as if they were inspired by the Heath Branson's words. The effect was chilling, and it sent shivers down Raul's spine.
Raul leaned back in his hair, and focused all his attention on the young man in front of him. Though Heath couldn't be more than seventeen years old, it was plain just from looking at him he was no boy. There was a look in his eyes, a certain coldness, as if childhood innocence had been sucked right out of him. There were scars on his wrists and ankles from where his shackles had cut through the skin. Even his features were rugged, like that of a war veteran, and it was clear form his posture that he was never relaxed. His muscles were tensed, always ready to spring him into action at the smallest sign of danger, and his eyes were constantly scanning the room for any disturbances, searching out an escape plan just to be safe.
Heath straightened up and took a deep breath. "My story is long... and it goes far beyond just me. Are you sure you want to hear it? It doesn't have a happy ending, I'm warning you now."
Raul just nodded once, slightly, but enough for Heath to see. Heath shrugged, and scooted as far forward in his chair as he could go. "All right... Well, to tell it properly, we can't start with me. We have to start with where it all began. With my father. Keep in mind, none of this could be true. All I have to go on are the stories he told me as a child, and what I've gathered since his death."
Raul gestured with his hands, beckoning Heath to continue.
"Well, my father... When I was little, and I would ask him where he came from, he would just smile and say, 'Another world.' I of course had no idea what he was talking about. But I never thought he was lying. Whenever I asked him what he meant by 'another world,' he would just smile and say 'You'll learn one day.' It was similar to when I asked who my mother was, and he would tell me she was a very beautiful woman who died when I was very little. He would never tell me anything more than that, no matter how much I asked. Eventually, like conversations of the other world my father came from, I stopped asking, and it just faded away, irrelevant to our life.
"I always knew something was different about us. We were always traveling, and occasionally we would have to go into forests to hide from someone. Who, I had no idea. Looking back on it now, I know it must have been someone from the Kingdom. We would hide in forests and caves for weeks at a time. It lead to a very unstable lifestyle. We never settled down in one place, either. If we weren't hiding out in a cave somewhere, we were moving from town to town.
"My father was a very curious man. He was constantly seeking answers about something or other. He kept a journal of all his notes and findings. He was always writing in it, sometimes for days at a time. It was as if he was completely obsessed with it, like it held some sort of answer in it that he needed to know. There was one night, when he was sleeping, I crept over through his bag and took out his journal. I remember I was surprised at how heavy it was. I crept outside the house we were staying in at the time and opened it by the moonlight. I was desperate to understand something, anything that was going through my fathers mind. I wanted to fervently to be a part of this part of him that he kept to himself. But when I opened it and looked inside, it was all written in some strange code. I couldn't make sense of any of it. I scanned through a few pages and saw they were all like that, written in some strange language that my father seemed to have made up on his own; and the pages were filled from corner to corner of it, with little doodlings of strange symbols here and there. I couldn't make heads or tails of it, and just a few seconds later, my father came outside and snatched the journal from me. He didn't say a word, but I could tell from the look on his face that I had done something forbidden. The next morning, he didn't speak of it though, and he never did.
"When I was nine years old, we were going through a town market, stocking up on supplies, when one of the royal guards noticed us. He apparently recognized my father somehow, though how, I couldn't tell you. To me, it seemed like we weren't in civilization enough to possibly be recognized, but I suppose my father did have a life before I was born. Either way, someone recognized him, and they surrounded us on all sides. They seemed so determined not to let my father get away. I couldn't imagine why, I had never seen him do anything illegal. Either way, I just knew that we were in trouble. I had never seen my father so scared in his life. When they began to close in on us, he looked at me with a look in his eyes I couldn't explain. He clutched me tighter than he had ever held me before. My father was not the sentimental type, I assure you, and when he hugged me that one last time, it was as if his fear went into me, and I was terrified.. I knew that that was going to be the end, and I didn't want to let go of him. He slipped something into my hands though, and I didn't look down to see what it was. He pushed me hard, with tears in his eyes, and yelled for me to run.
"I was slight enough that I was able to squeeze through the guards and I just kept running, never looking back. It wasn't until later that evening, when I had finally stopped running, that I looked down to see what it was my father had given me. It was his journal.
"The very next day, they held a public hanging for my father. I didn't go to it though. I knew they would be looking for me there, and I had to follow my father's last wishes: to run. And I did run. I ran everywhere, for one and a half years, I ran everywhere. I lived wherever I could find shelter, and I ate whatever I could come across. It wasn't much, but it was enough to survive on, and I learned how to live on my own. I had watched my father do it for nine years, and then it was my turn.
"I followed in my fathers footsteps in more ways than one though. I too became obsessed with his journal, but whereas he was was obsessed with writing in it, I became obsessed with understanding it. When I wasn't running, I was poring over that book, trying to make sense of the strange characters, and trying to discover what they could possibly mean.
"Then, I figured it out. There was one character on each page that acted as a sort of guide to translating. If you could figure out what that one character meant, you could then translate the rest of the page. But it was very slow work. You had to find the key character, as I called it, and then you had to figure out what it meant, and then you had to figure out where it went, and then you had to start trying to decipher all the characters around it, and that was very trial and error based. The amount of time it took to translate one page was monumental. It took me four months to figure out the first page. And then you had to repeat the same process for each and every page of the the damned book, and let me tell you, that thing was filled with pages. In a year and a half of trying to figure out that book, I translated three pages of it."
He stopped then, letting the memories wash over him. Raul couldn't even begin to understand how difficult this was for Heath. How many years had he stopped himself from thinking of his fathers death? But Raul was a good audience, and he sat patiently while Heath regained his train of thought.
"So anyways, um... where was I? Oh yeah..." Heath coughed to clear his throat, then continued. "Three pages of insight into my fathers mind, into learning what he was all about. And then, they finally caught up to me. I can remember that day clearly... My last memory of the outside world before you came and busted me out. I was eleven, and I was stopping for the night, setting up camp outside of a small town near The Edge, when a member of the Royal Guard approached me. I was on edge, as I always was when around anyone from the Kingdom, but he didn't seem to know who I was. Instead, he just was stopping for some small talk. Apparently, this was back when the king was interested in trying to figure what was beyond The Edge of Earth, and I just happened to be in that area when a particularly friendly guard was on duty. He kept trying to start a conversation with me, but I cut it short every time. I think eventually he must've picked up on my nervousness and began to question me. It wasn't long before he demanded to search my tent, and I didn't have much of a choice but to let him. The only truly incriminating evidence I had inside it was my father's journal, but it was tucked away in the bottom of my pack, and I hoped he wouldn't find it
"He did though, and surprisingly quick at that. He immediately placed me under arrest and took me and the journal up to the king the very next day. I couldn't do much to fight a member of the royal guard at the time, mind you. I was pretty scrawny. I didn't get a whole bunch to eat, and I wasn't quick enough to run. I still ain't.
"I hadn't realized how far up on the wanted list I was. Surely no ordinary criminal gets put before the King. They had brought me in in shackles, and they presented the King first with me, then with my father's journal.
"As soon as he realized he couldn't read it, he demanded that I show him how. I still didn't know why they wanted to know, and I insisted I couldn't decipher it.. They didn't believe me though, and for three days they tortured me in the dungeons of the king's castle. I never talked, not once, and they decided to take me up to the king once more to decide what was to be done with me.
"He dismissed all his guards, leaving just the two of us in his chamber. I stood there, in front of the king, bruised and bloody from the torture those bastards put me through. I could tell he was pissed that I hadn't told them how to read the journal, and his scribes weren't getting anywhere close to figure out the code. He told me that if I taught him how to read it, I would be allowed to go free. If I didn't, then I would meet the same fate as my father. I told him I would be honored to die protecting my fathers secrets. That's when he brought in the girl.
"She was beautiful, with long, dark hair, and olive skin. I'd never seen anyone like her before. She was so... radiant. He called her in and had her come over to him. He said he would give me one last chance to tell, or I would receive a far worse punishment then death. Still, I was resolute. Looking back on it now, I still don't know if I'd made the right choice...
"The king stood then, and drew a dagger. At first, I thought he was going to try to torture me more himself, and I braced myself for the pain as he began walking towards me. Then, he made a change in direction, and approached the girl instead. He grabbed her by her hair, baring her throat, and put the dagger up to it.
"He offered me one last chance, and I didn't know what to do. I hesitated, trying to think of some way out of the situation, but none came to mind. Finally, he drew the knife back, slicing her throat. I couldn't believe it. I had no idea who she was, or what she was doing in the Kingdom, but she lost her life because of me. The king then called in his guards and told them that I had attacked her when she happened to walk in the room with a dagger I had hidden in my robe. No one questioned him, and I was too shocked to fight back when the guards grabbed me.
"The king told them he wanted me put into underground prison, and I was taken to Stronghold immediately, and put into the dungeons where you found me just last night. I've been there ever since."
Heath finally stopped, finished with his tale.
Raul simply sat there in awe. He had no idea how different the truth and what people believed were. It made him wonder what else the Kingdom was hiding.
He didn't have time to dwell on things like that though. He had a mission to carry out.
"What was in the first three pages of your father's journal?" Raul asked. "What was it he was studying?"
"You know that already though," Heath claimed. "The other world. The one my father came from. Isn't that why you got me out, to find out what I know about the other world?"
"Of course," Raul agreed readily. "That other world is extremely important."
"But why?" Heath asked.
"Because," Raul quickly responded, "the other world is having effects on ours. If nothing is done about it, there's rumors going around it could lead to an apocalypse. The end of the world."
"Well I didn't read anything about an apocalypse," Heath said thoughtfully.
"Then tell me what you did read," Raul demanded. "That's why I got you out in the first place."
"Well," Heath began, "I don't remember it all word for word, it was a long time ago, but I remember my father talked about how he had been walking in his world and somehow ended up walking into ours. And, um... let's see... I remember he said he tried to find his way back, but however he came in, the door seemed to be closed now. Oh! And he said that this world was much different than his old world. And, um... that's about all I can remember..."
"That's it?" Raul questioned with ludicry. "I thought you said your father was studying something that he was obsessed with, something that made the Kingdom want him dead. You're father didn't say anything in that stupid journal about how the worlds could effect each other, or about how to get through to the other world, or anything like that?"
"Not in the three pages that I read," Heath said, "but you have to realize something Mr. Mason. Those pages were written before I was even born, when my father had only just gotten into this world. For all I know, my father didn't start looking for whatever he was looking for until several years later. Maybe not even until after I was born. Three pages was hardly enough to learn what you need to know."
Raul growled, resting his head back on the back of his chair. "Ughhh..." he groaned. "So I busted you out for nothing. I'm nowhere nearer to figuring out this mystery than I was to begin with."
"Not true," Heath shot back. "You have me. Now, I don't know about all these different things that you claim to be going on and leading up to an apocalypse, but it has to do with the other world, and as of right now, I am the Earth's most top leading expert on the other world."
Raul sighed heavily. "You know," he began, lifting his head up to look at Heath. "There is a way we could get back on track and try to figure this thing out."
"How?" Raul asked.
"We need your father's journal." Raul's look was thoughtful, and Heath half expected him to laugh at his joke, but he didn't.
"Excuse me?" Heath looked at Raul incredulously.
"Well, the Kingdom has the journal," Raul said, almost more to himself than to Raul. "We could sneak in and take it, but it would be difficult."
"Difficult is putting it lightly," Heath responded. "More like impossible."
"But there's no other way," Raul said. "The Kingdom is a four days walk from here. I don't own a horse, or we would ride."
"Okay," Heath said, standing, "first of all, what kind of farm is this if you don't have a horse? Secondly, don't you think you should consider this before we walk into a suicide mission?"
"This is less of a farm and more of a desolate wasteland for the next twelve acres or so ever since that other world has been messing with our worlds climate," Raul said without really thinking. "As for your suicide mission, there's no other way. We have to have that journal. Without it, how can we hope to figure out what's going on here and try to stop it? Besides, some people would consider it a suicide mission to break into the largest prison in all of Earth and break out one of the most dangerous criminals ever known. Aren't you glad I pulled that one off?"
"You're luck can only hold out so long," Heath said, determined. "There's no way this is possible."
"Look," Raul shot back, getting angry, "I'm going there with or without you, but I would think you would be willing to come along and help, considering without me, you'd still be shacked into that tiny pathetic excuse for a cell. Don't you want to get your father's journal back? Don't you want to finally learn all the things about him you never could when he was alive?"
Heath remained silent.
"I'm going to the Kingdom," Raul continued. "And I'm going to get that journal, though without you I don't see how I'm going to read it. I'm not going to lie to you Heath. I need you in this. You're the key. Without you, I'm just breaking into the most heavily guarded building ever dreamt of, to steal a book from the most powerful man in Earth. But if you're there, we could be stealing an answer. We could save the world."
Heath looked up at Raul, who had found himself standing halfway through his little speech. Heath sighed. "When do we leave?"
***
Alex stumbled dazedly over to the fountain once more and sat on the edge of it, breathing hard. How could she have let this happen? What was her mom going to think when she pulled herself out of her drunken stupor? Oh god...
Alex shut her mind against thoughts of her mother and instead looked up at Jason and
Ben, both of whom were looking at her worriedly.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered to them.
The bush jumped up to the edge of the fountain with Alex and climbed into her lap, attempting to comfort her.
Jason just mumbled something inaudible, and Ben remained silent. Alex attempted to end the depressing thoughts by looking around her. They were obviously in a town of some sort, but there didn't seem to be any people around. Then again, it was very early in the morning. They seemed to be on some sort of a main street, with smaller alley like streets branching off of it. It did seem to be pleasant though, and she was sure that whenever midday rolled around, this street would be full of shoppers.
She turned her head sharply to the left upon hearing a noise from that direction. Someone was walking out of a house in between two shops. It was a woman, and she was wearing what looked like something that popped out of a little house on the prairie. It was a long blue dress with an apron over it, and a sort of hat thing on her head. She gave the three of them an odd look, but continued to unlock one of the shops next door to her home and go inside. Alex looked down at what she was wearing. Blue jeans and a green t shirt under her thin jacket. Back at home she would have blended in nicely, but here, she was going to stick out like a sore thumb.
She looked at Jason and Ben and saw that they were each wearing pajama pants and a jacket.
"Guys," Alex said, "we should probably get off of this street."
"Why?" Ben asked.
"Well, we're gonna stick out," Alex pointed to their clothes, "and I don't want us to draw attention to ourselves. We need to find some other clothes to change into."
"She's right," Jason agreed. "The last thing we need to do is attract attention. We're going to have enough trouble with that as it is."
Ben nodded.
Alex stood up and began walking toward one of the smaller alleys leading off from the larger street they were on. She looked down it and saw that it lead down a very long ways, with other, smaller alleys branching off from it. This town was like an interweaving spiderweb of streets, she realized. It would be very easy to get lost here.
The bush took a few steps into the smaller street and sniffed, testing the air.
"Hey! You!" The three teenagers spun around at the sound of the new voice and saw a man heading towards them. He was tall, and was wearing something that looked like chain mail, and over it he wore a bright red vest. On the heart of the vest, the letters RG stood out in bright yellow.
"Come here," the armored man demanded. "Now."
Alex looked down and saw that the bush was growling, a surprising low hum coming from it. The bush didn't trust this man, and neither did Alex. "Run," she whispered.
Instantly, a mad chase was on. Jason and Ben were leading it, with Alex behind them, the bush clutched into her arms. The armored man was behind them, moving surprisingly quick for wearing such heavy armor.
"Guys," Jason panted, "we need to split up to get rid of this guy. Let's all agree to meet back at the fountain at noon. In the meantime, find a change of clothes so we can blend in."
Ben nodded in agreement, and even though Alex didn't like the idea of splitting up, she knew it was the best plan. "All right," she agreed.
"Now!" Jason yelled, and he ducked into an alley to his right, while Ben took the left. Alex ran up a few feet and sped into an alley to her left. She didn't know who the man had decided to pursue, and she didn't chance looking back to see if he was there. Every time she could, Alex would turn into another street, until she had no idea where she was anymore, the maze of unmarked streets confusing her beyond belief.
Finally, the street she was on after running for twenty minutes opened up into a much larger area, covered in grass. Alex looked around. Had she really left the town entirely? There was only one building ahead of her. Behind her, the small alley from which she had just emerged looked shady and dangerous compared to the wide open plains out here. She allowed the bush to jump down from her arms and walk next to her as she approached the one building she could see, the rest was just blank openness from what she could see of the wide plains. The building in front of her looked like a house, with a large fenced in area behind it. There didn't seem to be anything in the fence, so Alex climbed it and headed over to a small shack leaning against the far corner of the fence.
She looked inside and saw that it was empty, save for a large pile of straw. She went inside and sat on the straw, marveling in its softness. She leaned her head against the harsh wood of the shack and closed her eyes, thinking of what to do next. However, a mix of exhaustion and anxiousness rushed over her, and with the bush cuddling into her lap, Alex drifted into a shallow and uneasy sleep.
Chapter 3 -- An Unpleasent Surprise
Alex lead Jason and Ben through the wet tree trunks. The rain had just recently begun to slow down, and the bush was scampering here and there, running in between Alex's feet, dashing ahead bit, but always returning. It never stayed too long near Jason or Ben though; each time it went close to one of them, it would zip back up to Alex's side. They were looking at it curiously, and Alex couldn't really blame them. Even though less than twenty four hours ago she had been giving the bush the same look, she had grown a strange fondness for it. It was like it was the dog she was never allowed to have. She knew that once they returned to wherever it was the bush came from, she would have to say goodbye. Really, the bush was the only reason she was trying to find the crazy other world again at all. It needed to be back in its home, it couldn't just keep coming back, eventually people would notice it, and what they would do to it, Alex couldn't imagine. Experiments, torture... and the bush had never done anything to anyone. It was just a baby.
"Are you sure this is where you found it?" Jason asked Alex from a few feet back. "I've been in these woods tons of times, and there's not any weird experiments or anything going on in here that could have made... that."
"It wasn't like that," Alex tried to explain to her friend. "I was just walking, and then it was like I wasn't in the same place anymore."
"Yes, that usually happens when you walk somewhere," Ben mumbled, loud enough for Alex to hear. Jason elbowed him in the ribs, scowling at his boyfriend.
Alex decided to ignore it and continued walking instead. "I mean I wasn't in the same... I don't know. Like I left this world and went into another one. Or maybe it wasn't a different world. Maybe it was a different dimension, or a different universe. It's impossible to explain until you're there."
"Well, it looks like we missed it this time," Jason said, coming to a stop. They had reached the other side of the woods, and it opened up to another neighborhood. The nearest street was only a matter of feet away, and Alex couldn't believe it.
"What?" She looked around. "No... this isn't right!" The bush looked up at her with it's hidden eyes and cocked its head to the side.
Alex turned and marched back into the forest. Ben gave Jason a look that clearly expressed his annoyance at the situation, and Jason just gave him an apologetic look back. Then they too began to follow Alex into the woods. The bush rushed past them to catch up with its newest friend.
Just a few minutes later and Jason and Ben were sitting against a damp tree trunk, watching the bush chase around bugs in the moonlight, making strange gurgling noises as it jumped and dashed after moths and gnats. Occasionally it would catch one and lay still as it digested its meal. Then it would continue its little game. Both Jason and Ben had to admit, it was pretty cute, and extremely mystifying, and they had no idea as to where Alex might have found such a strange creature. But as to the notion of there being a whole different world hidden in the forest right next to all of their houses... It was just too far fetched to be plausible.
Alex, on the other hand, was scrambling back and forth between the trees, searching ech trunk carefully until she let out another exasperated sigh, then continued on to the next tree and repeated the entire process. She spent at least thirty minutes doing this, and Jason was just about to tell Alex he and Ben were returning home, when an excited squeal resounded through the trees. Ben jumped to his feet, pulling Jason up with him, and the bush set off after Alex. The two boys followed close behind, and they found her smiling proudly at a tree with a large crude X carved into its dark trunk.
"What is that?" Jason asked, stretching the tiredness from his bones.
"I marked this yesterday so I could find my way back," Alex explained. "Which means..."
She left that tree and moved to another one adjacent to it. "Yes! Look, here's another one! If we follow these, these should lead us straight through!"
She moved quickly from tree to tree, and Jason and Ben had trouble keeping up with her. The bush quivered next to her ankles the entire time, as if feeling her excitement within itself.
Suddenly, Alex stopped. "This can't be right..." she mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else, but they both heard anyway.
"What can't?" Ben asked with just a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"The X's just stop. They shouldn't just stop, they should continue into the other world." She turned to face the others, and the look on her face was so defeated that even Ben had to feel sorry for her.
"Well... Alex..." Jason began, but Alex's face turned into a scowl and he took a step back.
"What Jason?" She snapped. "Are you gonna tell me about how I dragged you here into the middle of the woods for no reason and wasted your precious night for no reason? Because I already know that, and I don't need to hear it from you."
Jason looked at her with a hurt look on his face. "Actually, Alex, I was going to say that maybe for whatever reason, the way into your other world closed, and that's why the X's just stop."
Alex was silent for a few moments, and the bush nuzzled up against her ankles to try and comfort her.
"Oh..." She mumbled. "Sorry."
"Look," Ben said, "it's been a long night for all of us. Alex, so your... other world... closed itself. Maybe we can try again later, you know? But right now, the sun is already starting to come up, and I'm hungry. I say we all walk to wherever the nearest diner is and grab some breakfast. Okay?"
Alex sighed. She had been so sure that it was all real, but now she wasn't so sure. She looked down at the bush and raised an eyebrow. It was the only link she had to the crazy other world that she had visited yesterday, and she wasn't going to give up until she found her way back again and returned her bush to its proper home. But she wasn't going to make her way back on an empty stomach... Shuddering at the thought, she realized that she hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.
"All right, lead the way," she said to Ben.
Jason put his arm around her shoulder. "Come on Alex... you can tell us everything about this other world on our way, okay?"
And so, with the bush following dutifully behind, the three teenagers left the forest and headed down the street into town.
***
Raul leaned back in his chair and listened to the shower running in the next room over. He leaned over and rubbed his temples, shutting his mind against the world. He couldn't believe everything he had done in the past twenty four hours. He had broken into Earth's largest and most famous prison Stronghold, killed four of the guards on duty until he had found one with the key he needed, proceeded to descend each and every level of the prison (and there were a lot of them), and released who was considered by the Kingdom to be one of the most dangerous criminals of modern times. Once they had escaped from the prison, Raul had to get Heath Branson across three towns and a city to his farmhouse on the country side.
Sighing, he stood back up and headed into the kitchen. Why had he done it? It was completely and entirely necessary. Lately, natural disasters were attacking all four corners of Earth and everywhere in between. This wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't so shrouded in mystery. The Kingdom was trying to keep it all under wraps, as if there was something about it they didn't want to people to know. And for some reason, two things often accompanied discussions of the natural disasters: other world theories, and the name Heath Branson.
Raul snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the bathroom door opening. Out stepped a young man almost unrecognizable to the one who had went in to the bathroom just an hour before. He had cut his hair so that it was cropped short and stuck up on its own, looking elegantly disheveled. With the grime and dust off of his body he seemed to have a healthy complexion. Yes, he was pale and a bit pasty from lack of sunlight, but that was to be expected. With his hair washed it was dark blonde in color, and properly clothed, Raul didn't see how anyone could mistake this boy in front of him for the criminal escaped from prison just last night.
Heath smiled. "Surprised, Mr. Mason?"
"I think surprised would be putting it lightly," he said, returning to his seat. He gestured to an open seat across the room from him, and Heath took it. "Now, it's time to uphold your end of the bargain. I want to know all about other worlds. Everything you know about them. Every last detail. And I want to know why you were put in prison, for real. It wasn't for killing that girl, so don't give me that bull shit. Got it?"
Heath was silent for a few minutes before he spoke again. "I'm a man of my word, Mr. Mason. I'll tell you everything you need to know, but first I want to know why you went to such lengths, risking both of our lives, to find out such information from me."
Raul was prepared for this, and he had his answer ready. "Strange things are happening everywhere, and he Kingdom is trying to keep it quiet. Some details about it all have leaked through though, and all those details seem to have one thing in common -- you. You and your theories about another world. This other world that might exist -- if it does exist -- is having some sort of effect on our world. And it's not a good one. I can't explain it, and neither can anyone else around here. I think you can do a pretty good job though. You might even be able to explain all of this, and come up with a solution. They're saying that if something isn't done, it could mean the end of the world. Of both worlds, or all worlds, depending on how many there are. Now... you're information, Mr. Heath Branson."
Heath straightened himself up, feeling his back pop from lack of use. He took a deep breath, and began to plunge into his story.
***
Alex stroked the bush softly in her hands where she was carrying it. She couldn't be sure, but she thought it was sleeping. Jason and Ben were engaged in a conversation about something or other, Alex wasn't following it too well. She found it hard to concentrate on anything at the moment. Anything that didn't have to do with the other world she had inexplicably found herself in yesterday afternoon. She knew well enough now she wasn't dreaming it. If the living bush that followed her home wasn't proof enough of that, the X's on the trees were. She just couldn't explain why or how she couldn't get back. Was it because she had other people with her? Or maybe it was like in that book that she had read in the fifth grade about children who traveled to another world, and she could only get to the other world if she wasn't trying to get there. She sighed. It was all too much for her to figure out. She reluctantly pulled herself back into the present and looked around. They were on a familiar street, one that she traveled often with Jason and sometimes even her mother when she wasn't drunk or passed out. Just last week they had walked down this street together, talking and laughing like any mother and daughter would. Alex missed her mom already, and she hadn't even gone anywhere yet. She didn't know how she could live without her. She had to find some way to get her to stop drinking. She had to.
"Hey Alex, is that okay with you?" Ben called out to her, pointing to a small diner that Alex recognized as a place she had frequented with her mother when she was younger.
"Yeah, sounds good," she called back, making her voice sound cheery, when really all she wanted to do was sit alone and figure out this new mystery life had presented her with.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Alex felt it again. The feeling deep in her gut, like it was being twisted and turned into a thousand tiny knots. She stopped and closed her eyes, smiling widely. She knew this feeling, and she knew what it meant. She opened her eyes again and saw that both Jason and Ben must have noticed it too, as they had both stopped walking.
"What was that?" Jason asked cautiously.
"Come on," Alex urged. "Keep walking." She hurriedly increased the speed and fervor of her walk, and the bush, which had woken up around the same time Alex felt herself cross the invisible line into her other world, jumped down and began to walk next to her. Jason and Ben hurried after her, not wanting to be left behind. All around her, Alex began noticing the changes happening. It was a lot different than the first time she stepped into this world. This time she was paying attention, and she could appreciate the very first gust of new wind that swept her hair back, smelling fresh and clean like she had never experienced. She looked down at her feet and watched as the asphalt suddenly stopped and became rough cobblestone. All around her, her old world was fading away and becoming replaced by this new, more interesting world. The sounds around her changed, and she could hear what sounded like horses somewhere in the distance. Horses! And birds were chirping somewhere, just waking up in the first warm rays of the rising sun, so brighter in this other world.
Alex turned to face Jason and Ben, who were gazing around with their eyes wide and their mouths open. "Toldja so," she said, sticking her tongue out.
"Yeah... yeah, you did," Jason admitted sheepishly.
"Holy... shit..." was all Ben could muster.
Alex took in her surroundings. They were in a town now, much like the town she was in just a few seconds ago. The street was in the same place, and the shops were all in the same places. They were just different. Unlike in her world, however, there was a huge stone fountain ahead of them. It looked like it could have fit all of Alex's house inside of it, and then some. It was made of solid stone, and was so intricately carved and designed that is awed Alex just to look at it. Upon approaching it, she could see different coins littering the bottom of it. Such strange coins they were, some were so tiny they looked like buttons in the water, smaller than dimes. And then there were some that were the size of Alex's head, large and flat and heavy looking. They were all the same bronzy color though, and they amazed Alex.
"So, this is your other world?" Ben asked her.
"When I came in last time, I was in the forest, so I've never been in this town before. But it's definitely the same place. It has the same feel to it. The same smell. Doesn't it smell good? Fresh?"
"Yeah, it does..." he admitted.
"And the coolest part is," Alex said animatedly, turning around, "you can see where our world merges with this one, and that's how you get back, look," and she began walking back the way she came. After a few minutes, she knew something was wrong. The cobblestone road began curving slowly to the left, and Alex didn't remember any curves walking to the fountain. The bush followed her faithfully, but Alex didn't pay it any attention.
"Alex," Jason said, coming to her side, "it's the same as in the forest."
"What?" she asked, turning to meet his gaze.
"In the forest, how the way you went the first time closed, remember?" He asked. "I think the same thing happened again. The link between the two worlds closed. Only this time, we're on the other side."
Alex's heart skipped a beat. They were trapped. She looked down at the bush and realized this must be what it felt like when it tried going back into its forest and found it impossible. She gulped and took a deep breath. She looked around for any sort of sign of a way back. Sure, she wanted to find this place, but she surely didn't want to be stuck here forever. She felt tears begin to well up in her eyes and the bush rubbed itself against her ankles, the way it did when it tried comforting her. She looked at Jason and Ben who both had dark circles under their eyes from lack of sleep and fixed expressions on their faces. She knew Ben must really hate her right now, and Jason... she couldn't stand the thought of her best friend being disappointed in her.
What had she gotten them all into?
"Are you sure this is where you found it?" Jason asked Alex from a few feet back. "I've been in these woods tons of times, and there's not any weird experiments or anything going on in here that could have made... that."
"It wasn't like that," Alex tried to explain to her friend. "I was just walking, and then it was like I wasn't in the same place anymore."
"Yes, that usually happens when you walk somewhere," Ben mumbled, loud enough for Alex to hear. Jason elbowed him in the ribs, scowling at his boyfriend.
Alex decided to ignore it and continued walking instead. "I mean I wasn't in the same... I don't know. Like I left this world and went into another one. Or maybe it wasn't a different world. Maybe it was a different dimension, or a different universe. It's impossible to explain until you're there."
"Well, it looks like we missed it this time," Jason said, coming to a stop. They had reached the other side of the woods, and it opened up to another neighborhood. The nearest street was only a matter of feet away, and Alex couldn't believe it.
"What?" She looked around. "No... this isn't right!" The bush looked up at her with it's hidden eyes and cocked its head to the side.
Alex turned and marched back into the forest. Ben gave Jason a look that clearly expressed his annoyance at the situation, and Jason just gave him an apologetic look back. Then they too began to follow Alex into the woods. The bush rushed past them to catch up with its newest friend.
Just a few minutes later and Jason and Ben were sitting against a damp tree trunk, watching the bush chase around bugs in the moonlight, making strange gurgling noises as it jumped and dashed after moths and gnats. Occasionally it would catch one and lay still as it digested its meal. Then it would continue its little game. Both Jason and Ben had to admit, it was pretty cute, and extremely mystifying, and they had no idea as to where Alex might have found such a strange creature. But as to the notion of there being a whole different world hidden in the forest right next to all of their houses... It was just too far fetched to be plausible.
Alex, on the other hand, was scrambling back and forth between the trees, searching ech trunk carefully until she let out another exasperated sigh, then continued on to the next tree and repeated the entire process. She spent at least thirty minutes doing this, and Jason was just about to tell Alex he and Ben were returning home, when an excited squeal resounded through the trees. Ben jumped to his feet, pulling Jason up with him, and the bush set off after Alex. The two boys followed close behind, and they found her smiling proudly at a tree with a large crude X carved into its dark trunk.
"What is that?" Jason asked, stretching the tiredness from his bones.
"I marked this yesterday so I could find my way back," Alex explained. "Which means..."
She left that tree and moved to another one adjacent to it. "Yes! Look, here's another one! If we follow these, these should lead us straight through!"
She moved quickly from tree to tree, and Jason and Ben had trouble keeping up with her. The bush quivered next to her ankles the entire time, as if feeling her excitement within itself.
Suddenly, Alex stopped. "This can't be right..." she mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else, but they both heard anyway.
"What can't?" Ben asked with just a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"The X's just stop. They shouldn't just stop, they should continue into the other world." She turned to face the others, and the look on her face was so defeated that even Ben had to feel sorry for her.
"Well... Alex..." Jason began, but Alex's face turned into a scowl and he took a step back.
"What Jason?" She snapped. "Are you gonna tell me about how I dragged you here into the middle of the woods for no reason and wasted your precious night for no reason? Because I already know that, and I don't need to hear it from you."
Jason looked at her with a hurt look on his face. "Actually, Alex, I was going to say that maybe for whatever reason, the way into your other world closed, and that's why the X's just stop."
Alex was silent for a few moments, and the bush nuzzled up against her ankles to try and comfort her.
"Oh..." She mumbled. "Sorry."
"Look," Ben said, "it's been a long night for all of us. Alex, so your... other world... closed itself. Maybe we can try again later, you know? But right now, the sun is already starting to come up, and I'm hungry. I say we all walk to wherever the nearest diner is and grab some breakfast. Okay?"
Alex sighed. She had been so sure that it was all real, but now she wasn't so sure. She looked down at the bush and raised an eyebrow. It was the only link she had to the crazy other world that she had visited yesterday, and she wasn't going to give up until she found her way back again and returned her bush to its proper home. But she wasn't going to make her way back on an empty stomach... Shuddering at the thought, she realized that she hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.
"All right, lead the way," she said to Ben.
Jason put his arm around her shoulder. "Come on Alex... you can tell us everything about this other world on our way, okay?"
And so, with the bush following dutifully behind, the three teenagers left the forest and headed down the street into town.
***
Raul leaned back in his chair and listened to the shower running in the next room over. He leaned over and rubbed his temples, shutting his mind against the world. He couldn't believe everything he had done in the past twenty four hours. He had broken into Earth's largest and most famous prison Stronghold, killed four of the guards on duty until he had found one with the key he needed, proceeded to descend each and every level of the prison (and there were a lot of them), and released who was considered by the Kingdom to be one of the most dangerous criminals of modern times. Once they had escaped from the prison, Raul had to get Heath Branson across three towns and a city to his farmhouse on the country side.
Sighing, he stood back up and headed into the kitchen. Why had he done it? It was completely and entirely necessary. Lately, natural disasters were attacking all four corners of Earth and everywhere in between. This wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't so shrouded in mystery. The Kingdom was trying to keep it all under wraps, as if there was something about it they didn't want to people to know. And for some reason, two things often accompanied discussions of the natural disasters: other world theories, and the name Heath Branson.
Raul snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the bathroom door opening. Out stepped a young man almost unrecognizable to the one who had went in to the bathroom just an hour before. He had cut his hair so that it was cropped short and stuck up on its own, looking elegantly disheveled. With the grime and dust off of his body he seemed to have a healthy complexion. Yes, he was pale and a bit pasty from lack of sunlight, but that was to be expected. With his hair washed it was dark blonde in color, and properly clothed, Raul didn't see how anyone could mistake this boy in front of him for the criminal escaped from prison just last night.
Heath smiled. "Surprised, Mr. Mason?"
"I think surprised would be putting it lightly," he said, returning to his seat. He gestured to an open seat across the room from him, and Heath took it. "Now, it's time to uphold your end of the bargain. I want to know all about other worlds. Everything you know about them. Every last detail. And I want to know why you were put in prison, for real. It wasn't for killing that girl, so don't give me that bull shit. Got it?"
Heath was silent for a few minutes before he spoke again. "I'm a man of my word, Mr. Mason. I'll tell you everything you need to know, but first I want to know why you went to such lengths, risking both of our lives, to find out such information from me."
Raul was prepared for this, and he had his answer ready. "Strange things are happening everywhere, and he Kingdom is trying to keep it quiet. Some details about it all have leaked through though, and all those details seem to have one thing in common -- you. You and your theories about another world. This other world that might exist -- if it does exist -- is having some sort of effect on our world. And it's not a good one. I can't explain it, and neither can anyone else around here. I think you can do a pretty good job though. You might even be able to explain all of this, and come up with a solution. They're saying that if something isn't done, it could mean the end of the world. Of both worlds, or all worlds, depending on how many there are. Now... you're information, Mr. Heath Branson."
Heath straightened himself up, feeling his back pop from lack of use. He took a deep breath, and began to plunge into his story.
***
Alex stroked the bush softly in her hands where she was carrying it. She couldn't be sure, but she thought it was sleeping. Jason and Ben were engaged in a conversation about something or other, Alex wasn't following it too well. She found it hard to concentrate on anything at the moment. Anything that didn't have to do with the other world she had inexplicably found herself in yesterday afternoon. She knew well enough now she wasn't dreaming it. If the living bush that followed her home wasn't proof enough of that, the X's on the trees were. She just couldn't explain why or how she couldn't get back. Was it because she had other people with her? Or maybe it was like in that book that she had read in the fifth grade about children who traveled to another world, and she could only get to the other world if she wasn't trying to get there. She sighed. It was all too much for her to figure out. She reluctantly pulled herself back into the present and looked around. They were on a familiar street, one that she traveled often with Jason and sometimes even her mother when she wasn't drunk or passed out. Just last week they had walked down this street together, talking and laughing like any mother and daughter would. Alex missed her mom already, and she hadn't even gone anywhere yet. She didn't know how she could live without her. She had to find some way to get her to stop drinking. She had to.
"Hey Alex, is that okay with you?" Ben called out to her, pointing to a small diner that Alex recognized as a place she had frequented with her mother when she was younger.
"Yeah, sounds good," she called back, making her voice sound cheery, when really all she wanted to do was sit alone and figure out this new mystery life had presented her with.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Alex felt it again. The feeling deep in her gut, like it was being twisted and turned into a thousand tiny knots. She stopped and closed her eyes, smiling widely. She knew this feeling, and she knew what it meant. She opened her eyes again and saw that both Jason and Ben must have noticed it too, as they had both stopped walking.
"What was that?" Jason asked cautiously.
"Come on," Alex urged. "Keep walking." She hurriedly increased the speed and fervor of her walk, and the bush, which had woken up around the same time Alex felt herself cross the invisible line into her other world, jumped down and began to walk next to her. Jason and Ben hurried after her, not wanting to be left behind. All around her, Alex began noticing the changes happening. It was a lot different than the first time she stepped into this world. This time she was paying attention, and she could appreciate the very first gust of new wind that swept her hair back, smelling fresh and clean like she had never experienced. She looked down at her feet and watched as the asphalt suddenly stopped and became rough cobblestone. All around her, her old world was fading away and becoming replaced by this new, more interesting world. The sounds around her changed, and she could hear what sounded like horses somewhere in the distance. Horses! And birds were chirping somewhere, just waking up in the first warm rays of the rising sun, so brighter in this other world.
Alex turned to face Jason and Ben, who were gazing around with their eyes wide and their mouths open. "Toldja so," she said, sticking her tongue out.
"Yeah... yeah, you did," Jason admitted sheepishly.
"Holy... shit..." was all Ben could muster.
Alex took in her surroundings. They were in a town now, much like the town she was in just a few seconds ago. The street was in the same place, and the shops were all in the same places. They were just different. Unlike in her world, however, there was a huge stone fountain ahead of them. It looked like it could have fit all of Alex's house inside of it, and then some. It was made of solid stone, and was so intricately carved and designed that is awed Alex just to look at it. Upon approaching it, she could see different coins littering the bottom of it. Such strange coins they were, some were so tiny they looked like buttons in the water, smaller than dimes. And then there were some that were the size of Alex's head, large and flat and heavy looking. They were all the same bronzy color though, and they amazed Alex.
"So, this is your other world?" Ben asked her.
"When I came in last time, I was in the forest, so I've never been in this town before. But it's definitely the same place. It has the same feel to it. The same smell. Doesn't it smell good? Fresh?"
"Yeah, it does..." he admitted.
"And the coolest part is," Alex said animatedly, turning around, "you can see where our world merges with this one, and that's how you get back, look," and she began walking back the way she came. After a few minutes, she knew something was wrong. The cobblestone road began curving slowly to the left, and Alex didn't remember any curves walking to the fountain. The bush followed her faithfully, but Alex didn't pay it any attention.
"Alex," Jason said, coming to her side, "it's the same as in the forest."
"What?" she asked, turning to meet his gaze.
"In the forest, how the way you went the first time closed, remember?" He asked. "I think the same thing happened again. The link between the two worlds closed. Only this time, we're on the other side."
Alex's heart skipped a beat. They were trapped. She looked down at the bush and realized this must be what it felt like when it tried going back into its forest and found it impossible. She gulped and took a deep breath. She looked around for any sort of sign of a way back. Sure, she wanted to find this place, but she surely didn't want to be stuck here forever. She felt tears begin to well up in her eyes and the bush rubbed itself against her ankles, the way it did when it tried comforting her. She looked at Jason and Ben who both had dark circles under their eyes from lack of sleep and fixed expressions on their faces. She knew Ben must really hate her right now, and Jason... she couldn't stand the thought of her best friend being disappointed in her.
What had she gotten them all into?
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