Otherworld

Chapter 7 -- The Travelers

2008-05-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

In years to come, Heath would have no idea what made him approach the girl sitting on the fountain, trying to avoid his gaze. Something about her made his skin crawl, as if he knew there was something about her that was abnormal. He felt a strange connection between them, and he couldn't explain it. It was like a pulling towards her.

Nevertheless, he found himself walking towards her, and Raul stopped for a second before changing directions as well.

"Heath -- where are we going?" Raul asked him. "The edge of the city is that way."

But Heath remained silent, instead continued towards the girl and the boy she was sitting with, and... Was that a hedgehog in her lap?

"Heath, really, I wanted to make it out of the city to set up camp, I'm not paying for a hotel,
" Raul continued, following Heath regrettably.

"Hello," Heath said as he reached the girl and boy at the fountain.

Ben looked up, noticing him for the first time. "Hi," he said. "Can we help you?"

"You're guess is as good as mine," Raul said in an annoyed tone.

The hedgehog trembled slightly in Alex's lap. "Who are you?" she asked the two men, looking first from the older, more handsome to the younger scrawny one that reminded her of someone so much.

"I'm Heath," the younger one said. "And this is Raul. And you are..."

Alex looked at him suspiciously for a moment, before replying with her own name. "I'm Alex. And --"

"I'm Ben," he snapped forward, mistrust in every syllable.

"And who's this?" Raul asked, gesturing to the hedgehog.

"Um..." Alex said slowly. "He doesn't have a name. At least, not one that I know of."

"Anyway," Ben said loudly, "can we help you in any way, or did you come over just to chat?"

"Can two strangers not stop for a chat on a beautiful spring evening?" Heath replied in mocking tones, a large, fake smile displayed on his face. And then it clicked.

Alex realized who the boy reminded her of. Back at home, there was a picture in black and white, of a man Alex didn't remember. He had dirty blonde hair, and it was tousled, much like the boy in front of her now. And the fake smiles, they were exactly the same. Alex stood slowly, staring straight at Heath, not believing it was real.

"Who are you?" Alex asked, peering at him through squinted eyes.

"I already told you," he replied. "My name is Heath. Heath Branson, if for some reason you need to know --"

But Alex had stopped listening. Dizzy, she stumbled forward between Heath and Raul and into the wide open courtyard of the city center. It was nearly empty now, as the sun was steady sinking below the horizon line, and Alex could feel the cool wind of the night against her flushed skin.

He has the same smile as him, Alex though to herself. And we have the same last name. It can't be a coincidence. Who is he?

"Alex?" Ben called after her. "Are you okay?"

"What's her problem?" she heard Heath mumble to Ben, but he was ignored.

Blindly, Alex looked around her, taking in none of her surroundings. All her life she had wondered about the mysterious man who was her father, the one her mother hated to talk about, and now here she was in a whole different world from her own, and she suddenly meets this much younger version of the very man she had been trying so long now to remember? No, it was too much for her. It couldn't be true, none of it could. Then again, she couldn't possibly have just walked into another world, could she have?

Alex leaned against a stone wall and breathed heavily, looking down at the ground. He glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose and threatened to fall off, but she pushed them back
into place.

Suddenly, a loud roar disrupted her thoughts and forced her to look up. From beyond the tall buildings across from her, a large shape was rising higher and higher. It looked to be roughly the same size and shape of an ancient looking pirate ship. It even had old, tattered sails flapping violently in the rough wind it was creating. In the harsh glare of the setting sun, Alex could just barely make out dozens of propellers spinning rapidly beneath and behind it. On the front of the ship was a gigantic symbol. A large fist, raised dauntingly above a castle. It gave Alex the chills.

The huge ship began to move, slowly at first, but then quicker, forwards. It passed over Alex, the roar of it hurting her ears, and continued on in the direction that Alex thought the Endless Plains were in.

Once the roars became a distant buzz, Alex could hear the boys at the fountain speaking again.

"...the Kingdom's airship, taking todays load of new prisoners over to..."

But the rest of what he said was inaudible to her. Alex just leaned her head back further until it rested on the wall and closed her eyes. Somewhere off in the distance, she could hear children screaming and laughing. Then, just seconds later, a woman yelling indistinguishable phrases at them. Alex sighed. Who was Heath? She had to know. In thought, she reached her hand into her pocket and wrapped her fist around the small grubby package she had taken from the store earlier. No one knew she had it, and it made her feel safer to have at least one secret in this place she knew nothing about.

Sniffing at her ankle, Alex felt the hedgehog brush against her gently, trying to comfort her. Alex let out a distressed laugh at the animated bush's attempt at comfort. She looked down at him and smiled. "Thanks buddy, but I don't think --"

But just then, her mind erupted into flame and smoke. Trouble. Pain. Confusion. The fire quickly turned to bright red glow, but not from fire, from pain, from pure, unadulterated pain. Pain so deep Alex could feel it resonating deep within her. The unicorn, Nightshade was communicating with her again. The red pain glare was replaced with a large red fist, raised above a smaller red castle, and it was poised, poised to smash down at even the smallest hint of trouble, and then it did, it went crashing down, destroying the red castle, destroying everything...

"Alex!" Ben yelled, shaking her hard. "Alex, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Alex looked around and saw Ben above her, a worried expression on his face. The hedgehog was poised on his shoulder, quivering violently. Behind them, Heath and Raul stood there, perplexed looks in their eyes.

Alex tried to stand, but Ben pushed her back down. "Maybe you shouldn't..." he began, but she moved his arms and forced herself up.

"Nightshade," Alex gasped.

"The unicorn?" Ben asked her, bewildered.

"A unicorn?" Raul asked, his confused look only getting deeper.

"Yeah, she was telling me... there's trouble." Alex looked around, trying to get her bearings. "A lot of trouble. I think... a fire? Or was that a metaphor? I don't know... I need to go to her." Still trying to figure out which way was the right way, Alex peered through the dusk and headed towards the nearest alley at a run. The hedgehog leapt off Ben's shoulder and followed her.

"Wait... Alex!" Ben called, heading after the bush through the dark, narrow alley.

Heath looked at Raul.

"No!" Raul said sharply. "We can't afford to waste any more time. I don't even know why we talked to them in the first place, but we should have had camp set up by now! I refuse to go after them."

"Look," Heath pleaded. "That girl, there's something about her. I don't know why, but I felt... a connection. Like I knew her from somewhere. I can't explain it. And I think she knows me from somewhere too. She acted really weird when she found out my last name, and I can't just ignore that!"

"May I remind you," Raul said slowly and deeply, "we are supposed to be retrieving your fathers journal in order to figure out what is going on in the world. We are not supposed to be chasing down girls, no matter how pretty they are."

"Look, I --" Heath stopped. "You think she's pretty?"

Raul rolled his eyes. "Even if I did --"

"Look," Heath said, "we have to go that way anyway! That's where the Endless Plains are, and it's the quickest way to the Rafredore Mountains! So let's just follow them, and then we can set up camp when we get outside the city, okay?"

Raul sighed, rolled his eyes, and began running at a slow pace down the alley, trying to follow the footsteps he could still hear coming from somewhere ahead of him.

***

Alex stepped out of the shadow of the tall buildings and into the glare of the large fire, consuming what was left of Marissa's beautiful cottage. Her eyes glistened with disbelief in the flames glow, and her mouth hung slightly open.

"Marissa!" she called loudly, not knowing if she wanted to hear a response or not. There was no sound of a human cry over the cracking and roaring of the flames, so Alex just shielded her eyes against the harsh glow and looked around for her friend from earlier. Off in the distance, speeding away over the Endless Plains and skirting past large, white mountains whose tops were hidden above the clouds, was the airship from earlier, the roar of its engines inaudible above the loud fire. Alex crossed her arms and bit her lower lip, not sure of what to do. From behind her, she could feel a hand grab her shoulder. She spun around, only to see Ben standing there, out of breath.

"What's going on?" he yelled over the fire. "Who's house is that?"

"Marissa's," Alex replied. "The unicorn lady. I don't know where she is."

They were soon joined by Heath and Raul, who looked to be as out of breath as Ben was, and just as confused. Alex ventured closer to the blaze and tried to peer through it, attempting to see any movement of life coming from inside. There was nothing.

"Ahh!" Ben yelled, and Alex spun around quickly. Ben was hiding behind Raul, who had a long, very sharp looking sword drawn, as did Heath. Alex struggled to see what had the boys so terrified, but could see nothing in the night around her.

She heard it before she saw it. The sound of heavy footsteps being taken in the soft grass all around her. Then, from the darkness mere feet from Alex, the unicorn stepped into the fires glow.

"Put down your swords," Alex called to Heath and Raul. "She's friendly!"

Warily, the they did as Alex bade them to, and Ben stepped fearfully from behind them.

"Where's Marissa?" Alex asked the unicorn, not sure if she really wanted to know.

The airship. Its image floated through Alex's mind for a mere second.

"The... airship took her?" Alex struggled to understand.

Nightshade nodded slightly, her wise eyes never leaving Alex's.

"Why?" Alex asked desperately. "Did the airship do this too?" She motioned wildly to the rising flames consuming the house and everything in it.

This time, the unicorn did not send any images into Alex's mind. Instead, it looked to the sky, now hidden behind the thick ceiling of smoke.

"Why did they take her?" Alex called out again, once again to no reply. Frustrated, she stumbled back to Ben and the others and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. Ben knelt on the ground next to her but never moved his eyes from Nightshade.

"We have to go after her," Alex said.

"Excuse me?" Ben replied incredulously. "After that big ship thing? I don't think so. Besides," he added. "I'm not going anywhere until we find Jason."

"Who's Jason?" Raul asked, kneeling as well.

"My boyfriend," Ben replied. "And Alex's best friend. We lost him earlier when we were running away from this guy, he --"

"He was a member of the Royal Guard," Alex finished for him, remembering suddenly. "He was chasing us." She lifted off the ground to eye level with Ben. "Ben, think about it. If that guard didn't chase after me, and he didn't chase after you, he had to have gone after Jason."

Ben was silent, allowing Alex's words to sink in.

"What if Jason didn't get away?" she asked. "What if they captured him." She spun around to face Heath. "You, earlier you said that ship was taking prisoners to the Kingdom, right?"

"Uh," Heath stammered, thrown off by being so vivaciously yelled at. "Yeah, but I mean --"

"Well then," Alex concluded, "the airship probably has Jason!"

She felt a surge of warmth and knew Nightshade was congratulating her. She knew she was right.

"You can't know that," Ben said. "We have no proof that Jason isn't still in the city somewhere."

"If he was," Alex said, "don't you think he would have met us at noon like we agreed?"

Ben was silent.

"You know," Heath said suddenly, a sly look on his face. "We're going to the Kingdom ourselves."

Alex stood up, looking at him. "Why? And what is the Kingdom anyway?"

"Where are you from?" Raul asked her cautiously, standing as well. Ben followed suit.

"Why do you want to know all of a sudden?" she asked, not wanting to reveal where she and Ben were from.

"No one in Earth could possibly not know what the Kingdom is. No one," was Raul's reply. "Where are you from?"

Ben looked at Alex warily. Alex looked around for Nightshade, for some sort of sign as to what she was supposed to do, but the pitch black unicorn was nowhere to be seen.

"Um..." Alex said softly, trying to bide time. She bit her lower lip. "You're going to think we're insane," Alex finally managed.

"Try us," Heath said, his arms crossed.

"Wait," Ben interrupted. "We shouldn't stay here. The fire is going to attract attention eventually. We're all going to the Kingdom, so we might as well go together, right?" There was no answer, so Ben assumed they were all in aggreance. "I mean, Alex and I have to go to rescue Jason, and her friend. And you two are going for... Well, for whatever reason. Either way, we may as well stick together for now. But do you two know which way we need to be going? Because Alex and I have no idea."

"We have a general idea," Heath said. "There are one of two paths we can take. I'm going to ask you two a question, and you need to answer quickly and honestly, got it?"

Alex and Ben both felt a little perturbed by being spoken down to by someone obviously younger than them, but they hid their shock.

"Would you rather take a safer course and get there in longer time, or a much more dangerous path that would get us there in just a few days?"

"How long are we talking about when you say longer?" Alex asked.

"Could be up to a month," Heath replied quickly.

"That's too long," Ben said. "Who knows what could happen in that time."

"But how much more dangerous is the short path?"

"Well, it's definitely life threateningly dangerous... Not a lot of people have ever taken this course and lived to the other side. But as long as we don't get lost, we'll make it to the Kingdom in three, four days at the most."

Alex and Ben looked at each other, each one contemplating the same thing. Simultaneously, they replied, "We'll take the shorter course."

"The Endless Plains it is," Heath said, shifting his backpacks weight, hiding his sheathed sword beneath his tunic.

"Come on," Raul chirped and headed behind him. "We're not going to get any camping time in tonight, so we may as well walk all tonight and tomorrow, and sleep well tomorrow night."

Ben and Alex traded glances, and Alex bent down to pick up the hedgehog into her arms. Here they were, setting off on adventure with two people neither of them had ever met, and they didn't have a choice. Together, the four of them set off into the vast nothingness that was the Endless Plains, the tall mountains off on the horizon to their right.

From behind them, Nightshade watched for a few moments, then she dashed off into another direction entirely. There was work that needed to be done.

***

"So," Raul said softly, startling Alex out of her reverie. "What's your story?"

"Huh?" Alex asked suddenly. She looked around. They were in what looked to be the middle of nowhere. The four of them must have been walking for about three hours now, and the sky above was littered brilliantly with brightly shining stars, and swirling purple nebulas. It was a beautiful sight to see. A few yards in front of her, Heath was leading the group. Seeing as he had the most traveling experience out of the four of them, no one argued when he naturally took the lead. Off to the left Ben walked steadily in his own little world, probably in a state of half sleep much like Alex was just a few minutes ago.

"You said you would tell us about where you came from," Raul persisted, and Alex felt her stomach squirm.

"Oh yeah..." she recalled, feeling the dread inside her at having to relay the story of how she came to be here.

"So, are you gonna start, or what?" Heath called over his shoulder, and Alex was shocked to discover he was completely alert. She didn't see how he could be, but then again, he seemed to be used to this nonstop walking, and he did seem to be very alert and aware of his surroundings.

"Well..." Alex struggled to find a place to start. "I'm not from... here. Ben and I... we come from another... dimension. Or another world, or something like that."

Though the four of them kept walking, Alex could almost feel the gaze of Raul burning into her.

"I know it sounds crazy," she continued, "but it's true."

"I believe you," Raul said, and Alex chanced a glance at his face, lit dimly by the moon and stars above. He looked serious, and his eyes held no secrets. For a moment, Alex just gazed into his moonlit eyes and dreamed, but then she was snapped out of it when he turned his head.

"So," Alex said, "we were just walking along, you know, in my world, and we somehow ended up here... I don't know how, and I can't explain it. We were going to look for a way back, but we got separated. We can't leave without Jason."

Raul walked in silence for some time afterward, and Alex's head swam with thoughts. Why wasn't he responding? He said he believed her...

Finally, Raul took a breath. Alex looked at him hopefully.

"I think our paths may have been destined to cross," he said slowly. "You say you come from another world? Well, Heath and I are on a little adventure of our own. We have reason to believe that Heath's father may have had some sort of knowledge of the other worlds, and was murdered for it. He kept a journal, however, and it might hold... some sort of a key to figuring out this whole other world business."

"Why do you want to know about the other world... my world... so badly? Is there some sort of personal involvement?" Alex's voice rose with interest.

"In your world," Raul began softly, "were you experiencing any natural disasters? Any strange climate patterns?"

"Well, yeah," Alex said suddenly. "There's global warming, and it's throwing everyone's weather out of whack. Why? Is that happening here too?"

"Sort of," Raul replied. "But we don't call it... global warming you said? We don't really have a name for it. But it is messing up our climate patterns, causing earthquakes and volcanoes, fierce winds... It's a disaster. We think that it may be because of your world and our world are effecting each other somehow."

"But... how?" Alex asked.

"That's what we intend to find out," Raul said with a smile. "But you must be wondering about our world, I couldn't imagine the questions you and Ben probably have. But it'll be sunlight in about an hour, and that's when the real trouble will begin. So, tomorrow night, when we make camp, I'll try to answer any questions you have."

Alex yawned, and smiled. "Thanks," she said. And the four of them headed forward, the rising sun casting an eerie glow on the plains.

Chapter 6 -- Playing Witness

2008-04-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Johanne decided to search Alex's room one more time before calling someone. She had woken up from her drunken stupor this morning, ashamed and disgusted with what she had done yesterday. If Alex really had run away, who could blame her? If Johanne had ever seen her mother act like this, she would have been out the door faster than you could count to three. But it just wasn't like Alex to take off with no notice and leave all of her things behind. Johanne just refused to believe it.

She opened Alex's bedroom and scanned it one more time. There were her bed sheets, still damp from the night before. Her cell phone still lay on the bed where she apparently left it last night, leaving Johanne with no way to contact her daughter. Everything was just as it was every time she'd checked her daughters room that day, and she had checked it a lot, hoping each time that she would open the door to find Alex lying there in bed, still asleep. Each time, however, she was disappointed to find that Alex was gone, missing, away.

Frustrated and worried, she picked up Alex's phone and looked at her recent call list. If course, Jason was the first on her list... and she had called him at 3:38 AM! Johanne put the phone to her ear and hit the send button, calling Jason's phone. It went straight to voicemail, and she listened to Jason's voice talking to her.

"Hey, this is Jason, sorry I didn't pick up, but if you leave me a message, I might get back to you. Later!" There was a loud beep, and Johanne spoke, her voice cracking.

"Jason, this is Johanne, Alex's mother. If you could give me a call as soon as you get this, that would be great. Thanks..."

She shut the phone, listening to the line disconnect. She slumped down onto her daughter's bed and cradled her head in her hands, feeling the hot tears come spilling out.

***

Heath and Raul walked steadily side by side in the hot spring sun, feeling its warmth on their skin. As they crossed open field after open field, Raul began to get bored.

"So do you know the quickest way to the Kingdom?" he asked Heath.

"Our first stop will be Engimous," he replied. "After that, we could go one of two ways. We could either go directly through the Endless Plains, which would be much quicker, but is also much more dangerous, or we could go around them, taking the immensely longer but substantially safer route over the Rafredore Mountains. Either way, once we get on the other side, we'll need to hire a boat to ferry us across to the other side of the Great River, and then from there it's a straight shot to the Kingdom."

"How long is all this going to take?" Raul asked, his happiness from being on the road quickly diminishing at the news of the distance and time this was going to consume.

"We'll reach Enigmous by nightfall," Heath said. "If we go through the Endless Plains, it'll
take two days to get through to the Great River. Going over the Rafredore mountains would take probably close to three weeks to get across." Raul's mouth dropped open at the sudden news of a three week journey through the coldest part of Earth. "From the Great River to the Kingdom is only about a day long hike though."

"So," Raul reasoned, getting his bearings. "This could only take about three or four days?"
"If we go through the Endless Plains," Heath said, annoyed at the constant chatter. "Taking the mountains means it could take over a month. Personally, I'm a little more partial to the mountain idea myself. I spent much of my childhood there, but I've never set foot in the Endless Plains."

"Why not?" Raul asked. "I mean, I know it's easy to get lost in there, but as long as you have a guide you should be fine, right?"

"Wrong," Heath said after a moment. "There are other things to worry about besides getting lost. Poachers, for one thing, after unicorn horn. They kill anyone who catches sight of them. Then you've got to worry about the natural predators, like the buffalo, or the Wendigo."

At the word Wendigo, Raul's face paled and his eye widened.

"Then there's always the tribes people that live out there," Heath continued, "they hate people trampling all over their land."

"Is it really their land?" Raul asked. "Isn't it the Kingdom's land?"

"It would be if the Kingdom wanted it," Heath replied, "but would you want to own anything that had the Wendigo living there?"

Raul thought about this, and saw his point. He also heard the annoyance in the way Heath had snapped, and so he dropped his chatter, and continued on in silence.

This lasted for a total of about thirty minutes, until Raul spied something on the horizon that struck him as strange.

"Look at those birds," he said, pointing. "Do you see how they're flying?"

"What," Heath asked, "like all towards us and everything?"

"Exactly," Raul said. "Do you have any idea what kind of bird that is?"

"It's too far away to tell," Heath replied, looking at them curiously.

"They're eagles," Raul said assuredly. "They usually travel in total isolation, but the recent natural disasters are driving them from their typical nesting grounds. Soon all the other animals will be doing it as well. Before you know it, even humans will be migrating."

"Migrating to where?" Heath asked. "Where are we supposed to go?"

"Anywhere but here," was all he could guess. "Maybe to your other world."

"My father's other world," Heath corrected. "I've never been there. I'm from this world."

"Either way," Raul said, hitching his large, heavy bag up higher on his shoulders. "Soon, we may all have to go there. If this world is deteriorating like I think it may be, it's only a matter of time before we'll need to find somewhere else to go."

Heath didn't say anything to this, but instead lost himself in his thoughts, ignoring Raul's constant chatter.

***

Alex sat on the edge of the fountain, watching the townfolk walk by, no one giving her a second glance in her new clothes. She watched as a man, looking too old to still be alive, hobbled over to a small, rickety looking shop and enter, looking around cautiously before he shut the door behind him. She watched as a woman dressed in long, flowing emerald green robes swept through the crowd of pedestrians, her abnormally long neck allowing her to tower over everyone else. She watched as a short, pudgy man with a stubby nose and thick, fuzzy eyebrows lumbered past her, muttering something about the price of beetle wings. Delightedly, she looked up toward the sky and watched as odd looking birds flitted through the clouds. They looked to have four wings, their second pair situated above the first, making them look like little X's flying through the air. She looked back down again to see her hedgehog -- yes, she had begun to think of him as her hedgehog -- sniffed the city streets cautiously.

Everything in this new world fascinated her. She knew she had to get back home eventually, but other that that fearsome giant bush, and the Royal Guardsman from earlier, Alex had to say she was enjoying herself more than she thought she would be.

"Hello, Alex," said a voice as a boy sat down next to her. Alex looked at him curiously. He was wearing a blue coat looking thing, but it had a hood which was drawn up tight, casting his face in shadow.

"Jason?"

"Nope," he said, pulling his hood back. "Try again."

"Oh, Ben!" Alex exclaimed. "Where'd you get the clothes?"

"I found them hanging on a clothesline across the street, you know the ones high in the air?" he asked excitedly. "I stole them. What about you? What's up with your dress, it looks like you made it yourself... and not very well at that."

"Shut up," Alex snapped, ignoring his question.

"So where's Jason?"

"Not here yet," Alex said disappointedly. "You think he's okay?"

"Yeah, probably," Ben said, looking around. "He probably can't find his way back."

"Probably..." Alex mumbled, thinking of how much she hoped Ben was right.

"How long have you been sitting here?" Ben asked.

"Just about fifteen minutes," she replied. "I found this little cottage outside the city earlier though, and I met this woman... she was so nice."

"Really?" Ben asked, interested.

"Yeah," Alex replied. "She was taking care of this unicorn, and it --"

"A unicorn?" Ben asked sardonically.

"Yeah," Alex said. "But it looked more like a mix between an elephant, a deer, and a wolf. But it was really smart, and it could like, talk to you through your mind, I swear!"

Ben looked at her with raised brow.

"I'm not even playing," Alex said. "It was really weird... And it told Marissa -- that's the woman -- that she was supposed to help me, and it knew something about me, it was so weird."

"Wow..." Ben said, looking off into the distance. "That really happened?"

"Yeah," Alex said, "and I figured out that the bush is really a hedgehog. It's a plant, not an animal."

"That would make sense... I... guess..." Ben said to himself, thinking about it, then giving up, deciding it was too confusing. "Well you had a more interesting morning than I did. After I realized that guy wasn't chasing me anymore, I just sort of wandered around, looking for clothes to change into. When I finally found them, I went into a few shops and looked around. I saw some pretty crazy stuff... But I couldn't buy anything, because I don't have any money from this world... or our world either for that matter. I left my wallet at Jason's house."

"Speaking of Jason," Alex said, squinting her eyes as she looked up to the sun. "He should have been here by now. It's past noon."

"Well, I don't really wanna just sit here..." Ben muttered under his breath, almost too low for Alex to hear him.

"We can look around," she said, stretching her legs as she stood up. "We just have to keep an eye out for him, and not leave this area."

"Cool," Ben said. "There's some shops around here I wanted to check out."

"After you," Alex said, gesturing for Ben to choose one. She was curious to see what kinds of things these shops had inside them.

"I don't know where to go..." Ben said, looking around. "You choose."

Alex exhaled sharply in annoyance. She hated it when no one else would make a choice about something. Then she stopped.

"That one," she said, pointing to the small, run down looking shop the ancient man had
entered earlier.

"Why that one?" Ben asked, stupefied. "It looks shady. Is it safe?"

"I don't know," Alex said. "But you wouldn't choose, and that's the one I want to go to."

Ben grimaced. "All right, fine... See if I ever let you make a decision again."

Together they headed over to the old building, and Alex realized it looked more like a large shack, with several stories on top of it, like most of the other buildings in this city. Unlike the other buildings, however, which looked like they were made of stone, or fine, expensive wood at least, this one looked like it was crafted from random sticks and twigs.

Shrugging at Ben, Alex stepped forward and tugged on the door handle, pulling the door open. A warm blast of stuffy air hit her like a brick wall, and a strange odor was emanating from inside. Ben wrinkled his nose and took a step back. "Alex..." he said slowly, looking at the place with a look of disgust.

"Oh, come on," Alex urged, grabbing Ben by the strange shirt's collar and dragging him in after her. The door shut behind them, and the tinkling of a bell sounded throughout the store. Alex looked around and peered through the smoky haze that filled the entire building.

Shelves were strewn about the store as if by no means of any sort of organization whatsoever, and they were piled precariously high with what appeared to be an assortment of the most strange and random objects Alex had ever seen in her life. The walls of the store were lined with piles of junk as well, strewn about with no care to see what was what, and what went where. It was enough to drive Alex insane, but her curiosity overpowered her sense of caution, and she stepped further into the shop, looking around for any signs of life. Behind her, Ben was following closely, examining some of the things for sale from a distance.

Suddenly, Alex heard laughter coming from somewhere. It was an old, wheezy laugh, and it sent shivers down her spine. Though she didn't know why, Alex was sorely tempted to keep as quiet as possible as she crept across the floor and around a few piles of junk to peer around the corner of a shelf. Behind a low, wooden counter sat a very obese man, his rolls of ft folding over each other, coming to rest on the floor on either side of where he sat on a low, uncomfortable looking chair. He was completely bald, and looked to be sweating profusely in the shops immense heat.

On the other side of the counter stood the ancient looking man Alice had seen enter the shop earlier. Up closer, she could see that he did indeed look like he should be dead. His skin hung loosely on his bones, and was so wrinkled it was almost grotesque. He had no hair on his head either, but a thick beard that hung down low to the ground. He wore glasses like Alex, but his looked primitive and awkward, too large for his shrunken face, and Alex couldn't fathom how they could possibly aid his vision in any way. The robes he was wearing were black and filthy, covered in grime and dirt, and they trailed behind him, obviously much too long for him. It was this man who Alex had heard laugh, and he was still laughing at something the fat man obviously didn't find funny.

"You're off your rocker, Bartles," the fat man said, pushing something across the counter towards the old man. Alex hadn't noticed it before, as it was barely noticeable in the dimly lit store against the dusty counter. It was a small package, wrapped in brown paper as filthy as the old man.

"Come on," the old man beckoned, pushing it back towards the fat man. "It's a rare bargain, all I'm asking is twelve silver for it."

"There's no way I'm paying more than five silver for something that could get me arrested," the fat shopkeep insisted. "Do you have any idea what the Royal Guard do to people who try selling stuff like that?"

"Oh, come on," Bartles said slyly. "Do you honestly think they'll find it amidst all this junk? You want to buy it from me, I can see it. Besides," the wrinkly man continued, "do you have any idea how much gold you could sell this for to the right customer?"

"I said no, you old coot," the fat man groaned, leaning back in his chair, and Alex was shocked that it didn't collapse beneath him. Below her, Alex felt the hedgehog nudge her ankle, but she ignored it, paying close attention to the scene playing out before her.

Bartles glared furiously at the fat man. "You know what I could do to you?" he threatened.

"Ahh, you don't scare me," the shopkeep chuckled softly. "You ain't got no tricks I don't know about, and you can't do nothing to me that you'd get away with."

The old wrinkly man's hand darted into the front of his robes, and he was in the process of pulling something out when he stopped suddenly. He retracted his empty hand from his robes and reached instead for the crummy package lying on the counter. He fingered it slowly in his hand, a strange look on his face.

"I don't want no cursed things in my shop," the fat man said, putting his final word on the argument. "Take that damned thing elsewhere."

Bartles glared at him, but let his arms drop to his sides. "Fine," he said, defeated. "I thought you might know a good business investment when you see one, but apparently not."

"I'll see you the same time next week?" the shopkeep asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," Bartles mumbled, heading away from the counter, and directly toward Alex, Ben, and the hedgehog.

Silently, Ben backed up quickly, ducking behind a large pile of junk. Alex bent and scooped the hedgehog into her arms, heading for the nearest pile, making it behind just in time. The old man turned around the shelf she had been looking around just seconds before, and he saw nothing.

He headed for the door, and Alex held her breath, knowing he would have to pass her pile to reach the exit. He was just a few feet away... almost there... and then he was practically upon her, and Alex hoped desperately the hedgehog would be able to stay quiet for these next few seconds.

But then Bartle's stopped. He looked down at the pile Alex was hiding behind, and he got a strange expression on his face. Alex couldn't believe it. She was sure he could see her, she could reach out and touch his robes.

Luckily, however, due to the hazy smoke in the room, or the lack of light, or his bad eyesight, or a combination of any of the above, he didn't seem to see Alex. Instead, he tossed the brown wrapped package onto the pile, smiling to himself.

Then he continued out the door, letting it shut behind him. Quickly, without letting Ben see her, Alex reached out and picked up the package. It was small, about the size of a ring box, and it was heavy. She put it in the only pocket in her dress, and felt its weight against her.

Then, a split second later, Ben was at her side, grabbing her arm and pulling her to the door. She allowed herself to be led out, and was shocked by the harsh sunlight and the fresh air.

The hedgehog jumped from her arms and ran around, reveling in its sudden freedom, and Ben headed back over to the fountain, where Jason was nowhere to be seen.

"That was stupid Alex," he said angrily as Alex approached him. "We could've been killed! That one guy was trying to do some sort of illegal drug trade or something, and we were almost caught!"

But Alex just stayed quiet, taking the yelling silently, feeling the weight of whatever it was she had taken in her pocket, not sure why she wasn't telling Ben she had grabbed it.

As if he could read her mind, Ben steered the conversation in that direction. "What do you think the old guy... Babbles? What do you think he was trying to get that guy to buy?"

"Bartles," Alex corrected. "But I don't know what it was."

"I wish we could find out," he said in though, leaning back farther over the water of the fountain. "Do you think it was really cursed?"

"Why not?" Alex asked, stroking the hedgehog in her lap. "Everything else seems possible here, why not curses?"

Ben just shrugged, then looked around the crowds of people. "I'm scared."

"What?" Alex looked at Ben as if she had mishear him.

"I'm scared," he repeated. "I have no idea where Jason is, and I hate not knowing... it scares me. I want him to be okay... I would give anything to make sure he's okay. And what happens if we find a way back into our world again, and we still haven't found Jason? I hate this. This place... It's like everything I've dreamed of, what every kid's dreamed of... But without Jason, it's like living in hell."

Alex just looked at him curiously. She had always regarded Ben with a sort of polite disregard. She was her best friend's boyfriend, but they had never really connected, or even talked in any way, and it shocked her that he was opening up to her now.

"I'm... I'm sorry," Alex said softly, feeling awkward, not knowing what to do to help. "But we'll find Jason. I miss him too... I'm sure you two were closer than he and I, but he was my best friend, and I love him too. We'll find him."

Ben looked down at the ground, and sighed heavily. The hedgehog stepped down from Alex's lap and brushed against Ben, surprising Alex. The hedgehog had never approached another human from what she had seen, and it touched her to see it... him rub comfortingly against Ben. Alex smiled.

From somewhere in the distance, the ringing of clock bells were heard, and Alex looked up. The sun was beginning to set already, and the clock bell rang six times before resting silently once more.

Alex looked around and saw the swarms of people were thinning out, and the setting sun cast an orange glow on everything, making it all seem surreal. Then a certain man caught her eye.

He was cute, but in a rugged sort of way, and the way the sun struck his bronze skin
made her eyes dazzle. The way he carried himself made it look like he was trying not to be noticed, but Alex found it impossible to not notice him. He looked like he was a few years older than her, maybe twenty-two. Alex didn't normally find herself attracted to older men, but something about this man was different.

Then her eyes moved over to the boy he was walking with, a boy who looked about sixteen or seventeen, definitely a little bit younger than her. As soon as she saw the younger boy, her jaw dropped open, and she lost her breath.

He looked so familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had seen before. She was puzzling this when suddenly, he felt her gaze on him and looked over to see who was watching him.

She dropped her eyes a second too late, and she knew the boy had seen her looking at him. She cursed herself in her mind, then glanced back up at him. He and his older companion were walking toward her.

Chapter 5 -- Hedgehogs and Unicorns

2008-04-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

Alex woke up groggily, and realized instantly she had tossed and turned a lot more in her sleep than she usually did. She was also covered in a cold sweat, and she took off her glasses to rub the sleep from her eyes. As she rubbed her eyes, the dream she had been having came back to her, Calling it a dream was a bit of a stretch, it was more like a nightmare. A terrifying nightmare. She wasn't sure exactly what it had been about, but she did remember a bright light shining onto her, and it burned, and all around her was destruction, and pain, and sorrow...

But that was all that would come to her memory, and she slipped her glasses back on and looked around. Instantly, she had to force herself to stifle a scream that almost escaped her throat. Standing just a few feet away from her at the entrance to the little shack was a creature unlike any she had seen before. It was comparable to a deer, but it was unlike any deer Alex had ever seen before. Its shoulders were about six feet off the ground, setting its head much higher than Alex's. Where a deers nose would be though, was a long trunk, stretching almost down to the ground. It looked very strong, Alex thought, as she could see the muscles in it tensing and relaxing periodically. It did have antler on its head, like a deer, but the antlers emitted a small silvery glowing light. Alex didn't know if the light was coming from the antlers themselves or was just a reflection of the sunlight off the shiny white bone, but it was an eerie sight to behold. Its eyes were a dark blood red, but they didn't look mean. They almost looked curious. Unlike a deer's chestnut fur, this creatures fur was jet black, and glossy. It had a long, swooshy tail as well, and all in all, it was a terrifying sight to see to someone who wasn't expecting it.

It was staring directly at Alex, as if it was trying to figure out what she was doing in its home. Alex backed away from it as quickly as she could until she felt the hard wood of the wall behind her, and she looked around for any sign of the bush. Remarkably, it was nowhere to be found, and Alex found its absence to be disconcerting. The bush had been with her ever since she had stumbled into this strange new world, and without it, she felt even more alone than she truly was.

But there were more important matters at hand right now. Like a strange deer elephant hybrid that looked possibly deadly with its strangely powerful looking trunk. It took a step toward her and Alex pressed herself even closer to the wall, if that were even possible. Then, the strange creature's ears perked up, and it looked around. It turned and ran back out the open door it had come through, and Alex felt herself relaxing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then slowly forced herself to her feet. By her feet, she felt some wriggling in the straw she had used as a bed, and she jumped, but it was just the bush emerging from where it had been hiding before. Alex smiled at its familiarity and bent down to pick it up, breathing in its soft freshness.

She approached the archway leading to the rest of the fenced in area she had climbed into earlier, and peered outside into the bright sunlight. She could see the small house still, just about twenty yards away from where she was now. Beyond the house was the same blank emptiness she had seen earlier, the great green plains stretching on forever as far as Alex could tell. On the far side of the fence, close to the house, the odd deer elephant with glowing antlers stood, its head bowed low to the ground, grazing on the green grass, and being pet by an old
woman.

The woman had red hair, in the process of being faded to grey, and deep wrinkles in her aged face. However, she had a happy, blissful look about her, as if she could think of nothing she would rather be doing then standing here today, petting a freakish looking deer. She was wearing a long dress, like the woman Alex saw earlier, only this woman's dress looked more traditional and colorful, and the apron was missing.

"I see you met Nightshade," the old woman spoke to Alex without looking up at her, and Alex felt the bush wriggle in her arms to jump down and play in the grass. Well, if the bush trusted her...

"Is... that its name?" Alex asked, approaching the woman.

"Her name," she corrected her, but not in a derogatory way.

"She's beautiful," Alex commented, and in the bright sunlight, Alex was surprised to see she was telling the truth. It's sleek black coat glistened in the crisp spring air, and its antlers still gave off that same hazy glow. Up close, Alex saw that unlike a deer, this thing didn't have hooves, but instead, it had large paws, similar to a large wolf. Its mouth was positioned under its massive trunk, like an elephants, but it didn't seem to be using its trunk to eat like an elephant does. It was grazing like a horse, its trunk lying on the ground, but still flexing its muscles occasionally, and Alex knew it was prepared to strike.

"Yes," the old lady responded happily. "She's the last of her herd. Maybe even the last of her kind. No one else has seen a living unicorn in ages."

"Unicorn?!?" Alex gasped. "That's not a unicorn."

The lady looked at Alex for the first time, a piercing gaze, and Alex found herself being picked apart by the woman's emerald green eyes that Alex found mystifying.

"And what makes you say that this isn't a unicorn?" She asked Alex, again, not in a way that made her sound superior, but in a way that made Alex feel like the woman was genuinely interested in her answer.

"Well..." Alex tried to explain herself. "Unicorns are supposed to be white, not black for one thing. And they're supposed to have one horn on the top of their head, and this thing has antlers."

Just then, Alex saw the creature raise its head and look at her with the woman, both of them staring her down, and it gave Alex the distinct impression that the creature could understand her.
"And I suppose you've seen a lot of unicorns in your day, have you?" the old lady asked
seriously.

"Well..." Alex began. "Not in person, but in books and movies and things like that."

The old lady stared at her just a bit more, then turned back to her unicorn, resuming her petting.

"Well, I'll tell you right now, this is a unicorn," the woman said. "I don't know where you heard that unicorns are white, but that's a load of bull if I've ever heard one. Unicorns come in all sorts of colors, not just white. And as for the horn, Nightshade here has got a horn. If you'll look a little closer, you'll see that what you thought was antlers is a horn. Their connected."

Alex did steal a glance and saw that the woman was right. Where the antlers connected to the head, they did indeed come together. So those weren't antlers, they were horn.

"Oh..." Alex said thoughtfully, then gasped as she realized what this meant. "This is a unicorn? A real, live unicorn?"

"Maybe even the last unicorn alive," the lady replied. "I can't be too sure about that one, but I know they're an endangered species, and this one here'd be dead if it weren't for me. I went out and rescued her myself from the fields out there where her herd lived. Poachers, after their horns. It's a terrible deed to cut off a unicorn's horn. Their awful wise creatures, unicorns, and they can be very vengeful. That's why whenever one gets their horn cut off, their usually killed too, so the unicorn won't come after them for revenge.

"But enough about unicorns," the lady said, spinning around to face Alex. "Are you going to tell me why it is you're sleeping in my barn?"

Alex debated. She could tell the woman the truth, but who knew what that would bring. Lying would be easier, and safer, but Alex couldn't think of any lie this woman would believe. She was out of her element in this strange world. She decided to go with the truth, but not all of it.

"I was lost," Alex said slowly. "Running from a man in armor. He scared me, so I ran, and I got lost. I came here and I saw your... erm... your barn, and I went in just to rest for a little, but then I fell asleep."

"And what were you doing to make a member of the Royal Guard come chasin' after you?"

"I don't know," Alex said truthfully. "I was just walking around and he began chasing after me. I panicked and ran."

"A good thing you did too," the woman responded. "The Royal Guard doesn't play around. I would imagine it was probably you're strange attire that attracted his attention, if you really haven't done anything wrong."

"I haven't," Alex insisted. "I don't even really know where I am. I got separated from my... my friends, and I'm supposed to meet them back in town around noon."

"Noon, eh?" The lady replied. "Well, you've got about an hour and a half before that rolls around. How about you come in and have some breakfast, and we can discuss what I'm gonna do about you breaking and entering onto my property."

Alex blanched at the thought of that, and her head immediately swiveled around to find the quickest way to the gate.

"Runnin' won't do ya no good," the lady said, smiling. "Ain't never was a human that could outrun a unicorn."

Alex looked back at the woman and tried to figure out what she was playing at. She didn't seem hostile, or even the smallest bit upset at her for sleeping in her barn, but didn't she just threaten her?

The lady headed towards the back door of the house. "Come on in. I'm Marissa by the way."

Alex swallowed and followed after her, eyeing the unicorn warily. The bush stopped playing in the grass and followed Alex inside. Marissa shut the door behind them.

"Now," Marissa said, sitting down at a table already set for two. "There are a few questions I'd like to ask you seriously, and I expect you to answer them honestly. I'll know if yer lyin' too, so it won't do you know good to try."

Alex didn't know why, but she believed this strange lady. Instead of answering though, Alex picked up a fork and began eating the eggs in front of her. She knew she wasn't supposed to eat anything given to her by a stranger, but she was starving, and it smelled delicious. Surprisingly, it tasted delicious as well, and Alex finished her plate in just a few minutes.

"You ready to answer some questions now?" asked Marissa, seeing that Alex had finished her plate.

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Alex reluctantly agreed.

"Good," was Marissa's reply. She stood and took the dishes over to a sink with a window over it, providing a beautiful view of the gently sloping plains outside. "Where are you from?"

Alex snapped out of the daze she had entered upon staring out the bright window. "Huh?"

"Where are you from?" Marissa repeated, turning to face Alex.

"Oh..." Alex's heart sunk. The one question she didn't want to have to answer. "Look... Marissa. You seem very friendly and nice, and you have a very beautiful home, and I told you I wouldn't lie, so I won't. But I can't answer that question. For one thing, it's a very complicated
story. For another, I doubt you would believe the truth."

There was silence for a few moments, and Alex held her breath, hoping Marissa would accept her answer.

"All right," Marissa finally agreed, and Alex let out her breath. "I believe you. Now, where did you find that hedgehog?"

"Hedgehog?" Alex repeated slowly as the bush jumped into her lap. "What are you talking about?"

"The hedgehog," Marissa said plainly, sitting down again. "The one in your lap."

Alex looked down. A hedgehog? That's what this was?

"Don't tell me you don't know what a hedgehog is?" Marissa said, dumbfounded. "Hot damn girl, you've had that thing with you since you got here, and you didn't even know what it is?"

"I told you," Alex said bitterly. "I'm not from around here." There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, and then Alex decided to ask a question. "So... what is a hedgehog? Like, what all do you know about them?"

Marissa smiled and held out her hand to the little green fuzzy bush in Alex's lap and let it sniff her. "I know a lot about them, my family used to grow them."

"You... grew them?" Alex clarified.

"Of course," Marissa replied. "They are plants, you know. They live, and breathe, and move, and eat, but they're still plants. When a hedgehog reaches maturity, it begins shedding its berries, which then fall to the ground and, if buried and tended, will grow into a new, baby hedgehog. When a baby hedgehog reaches early childhood, it detaches itself from its roots and begins to move around. When a hedgehog's last berry falls, it dies. I'd say the one you've got there is about a year old. How you got it to go around you, I have no idea. Normally hedgehogs are very territorial and defensive against intruders. They're excellent judges of character though, and can easily tell a good person from a bad one. And it's not just limited to people. They can immediately tell when something is good or bad. That's what makes them so useful to adventurers, they're able to discern traps, or bad situations without even trying. They usually stay in their natural habitats though... Where did you find this one?"

"A forest," Alex replied. "I'm not sure where it is, but it was a beautiful forest. It followed me out, and when I tried to bring it back, I couldn't find it again."

"Well, it doesn't seem unhappy, so whatever you're doing with it, it likes you, and that's a great accomplishment from a hedgehog.

Alex smiled inwardly and rubbed the bush, feeling its warmth.

"So..." Marissa said, breaking the silence. "Nightshade is telling me there's more to you than you're letting on."

"Nightshade is... telling you?" Alex questioned.

"I told you unicorns are wise. They can communicate through a sort of telepathy. It's hard to explain, but a unicorn has to really trust you before it lets you enter its mind. But Nightshade keeps telling me there's more to you than either you or I know, and she refuses to let me know anything else."

"Oh," Alex said, thinking of nothing else she could say to that.

"There's some sort of prophecy that has to do with you," Marissa said, looking at Alex curiously. "Something you're to play a part in. Me too. She says I'm supposed to help you."

"Help me?" Alex asked, not quite following what Marissa was saying. "How?"

"I don't know," Marissa said wearily. "Do you need help?"

Alex opened her mouth to say no, then shut it again. "Actually..." she began, "I could use some clothes to help blend in. And directions back to town."

Marissa stood. "Well, follow me then. I might have something that will fit you. I doubt it will be in style, but it will fit and you won't be so conspicuous."

Alex followed her through a hallway and into the back of her house, where they entered what looked like a spare bedroom. It didn't look to be used very often, anyway. Marissa opened a drawer and took out a dress. It was long and plain, a dark grey color. Alex took it from Marissa's outstretched hand and draped it over her clothes she was wearing already. She thought it made her look like something out of TV Land, or maybe a pilgrim, but it did its job and made her look normal... well, compared to the rest of the people in this world.

"Thank you," Alex said to Marissa once they had returned to the fenced in back yard.

"You're welcome," she smiled kindly. "I think I would've helped you even without Nightshade's persistence. You do seem like a very kind young woman. And even though you won't tell me your story, and I don't know what's to come for you, I have this distinct feeling that this isn't the last time we'll meet."

"I know what you mean," Alex replied. "You've been very helpful, I'm really glad to have met you. Um... I'm Alex by the way." She blushed, realizing Marissa still didn't know her name.

"Same to you. Now, do you see these plains?" Marissa gestured outward toward the great green broad fields stretching out for miles, ignoring Alex's embarrassment at her rudeness. "These are the Endless Fields. They're called that because no one who's ever gone into them without a map or a guide has ever returned from them. The endless plains cover almost all of Earth, and you'll want to avoid them at all costs. Remember that, as it's the only knowledge I have to give you besides the way back into town."

Alex nodded and looked at the beautiful plains, but this time with apprehensive fear.

"The city you came out of is Enigmous, the largest city in Earth. Its street system is nothing but a large grid though, so getting anywhere in it is ridiculously easy. All you have to do is walk in a straight line from any of the outer edges of the city and you'll eventually reach one of the two main streets, follow either of them to reach the center. Sound easy enough?"

"Yes," Alex said thoughtfully. "Thank you again so much for your help."

For some reason, and Alex didn't know why, but saying goodbye to Marissa made her sad. She'd only met her an hour ago, but she was the first person she'd met in this world, and she was so friendly and helpful. She wanted to give her a hug, but thought that would be a bit strange, so instead, Alex waved as she turned and began walking away.

She climbed over the fence and stepped up to the street from which she had emerged early that morning. She felt a sudden strangeness in her mind, like a tingling, and images flashed through her mind briefly. Green fields, wide trees, crisp, clear skies. For some reason, the resulting message Alex received from them was 'good luck.'

She turned around and saw that Marissa had gone back inside, but Nightshade was watching her carefully. Alex didn't know how she knew, but she could tell it was the unicorn that had just sent her the message, and she felt a warmth in her heart from it.

Together, Alex and the hedgehog entered the street and began walking to meet Jason and Ben.

Chapter 4 -- The Story of a Murderer

2008-04-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

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?

Chapter 2 -- A Proposal

2008-04-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Alex awoke with a start, hearing the sound of heavy raindrops pounding the roof of her house. She looked around blindly for a few moments, unable to see anything but strange blurs in the light of her bedroom, until she found her glasses beneath the mountain of blankets on her bed and slipped them on. It was close to three in the morning according to the red numbers on the display of her alarm clock.

She closed her eyes tightly and rubbed them beneath her glasses, trying to get the last of the sleepiness out of them. She had been having the strangest dream... It involved a bush that could come alive, and a fairy, and a much bigger living bush that had tried to eat her! Such a foolish dream, she thought to herself. And yet, still, it fascinated her. It had seemed so, so real. She could remember everything in such vivid detail, not like most dreams where the details start to fade away as soon as you wake up. She could remember smells, and sounds, and even the taste of the air around her...

She sighed heavily and stood up. This wasn't getting her anywhere. She had things she needed to do, she needed to check on her mother. She couldn't just sit around all night wondering about a fantastical dream. She began walking towards her bedroom door, but stopped when, without warning, all the lights in the house suddenly flashed off.

Alex stood completely still for a few moments, trying to regain her bearings. She changed direction and instead made her way through the piles of clothes on her floor to the only window in her room. It gave her a view of the street, and upon raising the blinds and looking through it, Alex saw that it wasn't just her house, but her whole street that seemed to be out of power. She sighed again. At least it wasn't her mom forgetting to pay the bills again.

Alex once again headed for the door, only almost falling twice. She wrenched it open and stepped into the pitch black hallway, and began her way into the living room.

"Mom?" Alex called, hoping her mother was alright. Of course, when she entered the living room, there was her mothers silhouette, still slumped over on the couch, bottle in her limp hand. Alex begrudgingly walked over to her and took it away from her, hearing the last few sips sloshing slowly around in Alex's hand. She looked around, trying to find something to do with it in the dark house, but stopped when she heard a strange noise. It scared and surprised her so badly that she dropped the bottle, and it crashed as it broke against the thinly carpeted floor. Alex held her breath, hoping she wouldn't wake her mother, but Johanne slept like a rock, oblivious to the world around her.

Alex spun slowly on the spot, trying to find where she thought the noise was coming from, and she at last stopped facing the front door. The noises were strange, as if something were scratching against the metal of the outer screen door. Alex held her breath and slowly approached it. She reached out to open the front door and stopped when she felt the cold smoothness of the brass handle beneath her fingers. For some odd reason, she was surprised by it in contrast to the the soft warmth of the bush from her dream. It had seemed so real... Alex could even remember exactly how it had felt to her. She had never had such a vivid dream in her life, especially not one that she could remember how something felt in it.

Shaking the thought aside, she twisted the door handle and swung the front door open, just as a deafening boom of thunder shook her to her bones, and a giant web of lightning spread across the sky. It illuminated the whole street, and Alex saw everything in harsh detail. It made her squint her eyes, and then all was dark again. The sound of scratching could still be heard above the pounding of the rain, and Alex hadn't had time to look down and see what it was when the lightning had spread across the sky. Alex had never seen such lightning before in her life though, and it both thrilled and amazed her. It was beautiful.

The scratching sound persisted and Alex was brought out of her reverie by it. She looked down through the screen door and squinted, trying to make sense of anything in the darkness. There was definitely something there, but what it was Alex couldn't be sure.

"Hello?" Alex asked, hoping that her voice would scare whatever animal was there away, but on the contrary, her voice only seemed to make it scratch harder and more ferociously.

"Stop!" She cried. "Shoo, go away!"

But the creature refused, and Alex fell back, because she realized that the screen door was bending inward from the force this thing was applying to it.

It must be a wolf or something like that, Alex though, and she made a hasty move to reach for the front door so that she could slam it shut. Before she had time to even contemplate it though, there was a loud snap as the screen door bust open, and Alex could feel the rain being splattered inside.

She closed her eyes, terrified for whatever might happen now...

And was surprised when a soaked but still warm, soft, fuzzy little object leapt onto her chest, quivering and shaking as if it was freezing cold.

Alex knew what it was before she had a chance to look at it, just from the way its... fur? Leaves? From the way its covering felt against her skin. It was the same feeling from her dream... Or was it a dream? Alex wasn't so sure now.

Slowly, she stood up, cradling the bush in her arms. She shut the front door, covering the broken screen, and took the bush back into her room. She set it on her bed, and it moved quickly around, finally settling in one spot and staying still.

Alex fumbled around in a few drawers for several long minutes, finally withdrawing a book of matches and a tall candle. She placed the candle on her bedside table and struck the match, causing a pop and a sizzle, then a flame to sprout. She moved it to the candle wick and lit it, cautiously blowing out the match. Then she finally turned to her bed, and the bush from what she was now sure was not a dream. She sat next to it and it scampered over to her, cuddling up into her lap where it curled up, now looking more like a green fuzzy ball with berries than a bush.

"Did you follow me here?" Alex asked it, to no response.

For a second, Alex wondered if that meant that the older, more larger bush could have followed her, but she didn't want to worry about that just now.

Alex sat there, absentmindedly stroking the strange creature, and then she had a thought.

She picked up her cell phone from the bed where she had dropped it the night before and punched in Jason's number. She put it to her ear and listened to it ring.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Four times.

"Hello..." With the groggy way Jason answered the phone, Alex could tell she had woken him.

"Hey! Jason!" Alex chirped brightly into the phone.

"Alex?" He asked. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, but listen," she said, "I have the most amazing thing to show you."

"Can it wait until the morning? I just go to sleep..."

Alex was slightly put off by Jason's disinterest in the subject. "Jason, trust me, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Jason sighed. "But Alex, it's raining..."

"I know that," Alex snapped, annoyed. "So wear a jacket. Look, can you meet me at the forest in twenty minutes?"

"The forest?" Jason asked, still not understanding.

"You know," Alex continued, "the one by my road. It's not really a forest, but it's a bunch of trees all stuck together. You know what I'm talking about?"

There was silence for a little, and then, "Yeah, but Alex, do I really have to, I mean..."

"If you don't, you'll wish you did," Alex said, then hung up. She looked down at the bush, and it seemed to look back up at her. "You wanna meet Jason?" She asked it, not expecting an answer.

She stood up, scaring the bush off her lap, and she ran to her closet, grabbing a thin wind breaker. It wouldn't do much against the cold or the rain, but it was all she had.

So, with the bush following her faithfully behind, Alex blew out the candle and left her house to meet Jason at the forest.

***

Raul set down the cold, stone passageway, his cape flowing at his ankles, his hood drawn up to hide his eyes. It was late, so most of the inmates were asleep by this hour, but he heard an occasional mumbled or growl coming from a rusted iron cage. In his hands was the master key to the lower levels of Stronghold Prison, and on his hands was the remains of what he had to do to get it. Blood. By now it was dried, and Raul would certainly have to clean it off later, but right now he had a job to do, a job that stretched much further than even he knew.

Lately there had been some strange rumors flying about of occurrences happening all over the world. Natural disasters and what not. But what scared Raul the most wasn't the talk of natural disasters. It was the discussion of the apocalypse which was surely soon to come if nothing was done. So, Raul decided to take matters into his own hands. He knew where the one person who would know what to do could be found. It was only a matter of getting to him, and then getting him to talk. So, Raul had to kill the prison guard, the only one on duty in fact. It had been far too easy, and it terrified Raul that all was going so smoothly. He had expected to be captured by this time.

He turned down another corridor and ignored the cat calls he was hearing more of now. Apparently the prisoners down here didn't sleep quite as quietly as Raul had hoped, and they were making quite a scene at the sight of this unknown man prowling their hall, covered in blood.

Finally, Raul reached the end of the hall. There was a very heavy metal door in front of him labeled Maximum Security -- Solitary Confinement. Shaking, Raul inserted the key and twisted it, hearing the the gears inside turn and rotate, until a final loud click could be heard, and he removed the key. The door opened on its own, allowing Raul to step through. As soon as he was past the door way, the door slammed shut behind him, and Raul heard it click itself locked again.

Raul saw a narrow spiral staircase leading even lower now, and he descended it begrudgingly. He was already several miles below the earth, how much further down could he possibly go? After a few minutes, the stairs opened up into a wide corridor. Placed at regular intervals along the corridor were heavy looking metal plates, only about the size of a brick, which had words inscribed into them, and a small hole, large enough for a key. Those plates didn't look anything like doors to Raul, but he decided not to dwell too long on the minor details. He still had to find the proper cell.

He headed straight for the nearest metal plate and read,

Jonathan Siloquy
--
Cold Blooded Murder of Sixty Seven Children

Raul moved on, looking to the next plate. It seemed like with each one, the offenses each criminal had committed became more and more vile and terrifying.

Simon Green
--
Cannibalism of His Own Parents and Thirteen Other Individuals

And then...

Samantha Samuels
--
Created and Killed an Entire Cult Devoted to the Worship of Sheep

And after that...

Catherine Ellis
--
Slow Prolonged Torture of Innocent Children

And so it continued, for at least fifty metal plates, until at last, after an hour of reading about such legendary criminals as Tolstoy Demitriov, whose plate was significantly larger than most, and Gabriel Grey, whose plate was purposefully vague about the particular offenses he committed, Raul came upon the plate he was looking for.

Heath Branson
--
Cold Blooded Murder and Other Offenses Against the Government

Raul licked his chapped lips and took a deep breath. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he inserted the key into the hole in the plate and twisted it. There was silence for a moment, and Raul removed the key in confusion. Upon the keys removal however, there was a loud grinding sound, and Raul jumped back several feet in surprise and shock. The ground beneath his feet had moved!

He stood back, watching in amazement as the ground in front of the metal plate bearing Heath Branson's name began to rise. In shock, Raul realized that the rising ground was the cell, and he couldn't believe it. This was far from humane... did anyone know about this? Yes, these were bad people, but still... no one deserved to live in that tiny space. It looked to be about the size of an average shower, and looked a lot less comfortable than that.

As the cell finished rising, Raul slowly regained his breath back.

There, standing before him, was Heath Branson, the boy that had been spoken of so often in the past few weeks.

In the tiny cell, there was a boy, who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, maybe older, but not much. There was a chain around each of his ankles, pulled tight because he was suspended in the air by two similar chains around each of his wrists. He wore nothing but a pair of ragged underpants that ranked of piss and shit. He was extremely dirty, and looked about starved to death, but Raul could tell that he was once very handsome, even if it was hidden beneath years of imprisonment. He had hair that hung down past his back, and it was a filthy, greasy thing, matted down by years of neglect. His skin was pale and pallid, with deep purple bruises beneath each of his eyes. His fingernails were yellowed and obscenely long, at least four inches each.

However, five years locked in this tiny cell had obviously not robbed Heath Branson of his spirit, as he was leering at Raul with a look of mockery and superiority.

"You're not the usual guard," Heath said with a sick grin. "You're not supposed to be here. You don't look like a guard at all."

"No..." Raul began. "I'm not. I've come to make you an offer. A deal, if you would."

"And what do you possibly have to offer me, Mr. ..."

Ignoring his request for a name, Raul continued on with his proposal. He held up the key he had with him and did his best to smile back. "Your freedom."

Even in his chains, Heath seemed to straighten up. Raul could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"Surely you jest," Heath accused. "You think just because you have a key means you can bust me out of here?"

"I got in, didn't I?" Raul protested.

"No offense," Heath said boredly, "but this is a prison. Getting in en't the problem. It's getting out you got to worry 'bout."

"Look," Raul said, now annoyed with how this conversation was turning out. "Either take the offer, or don't."

"What are you looking for in return?" Heath asked seriously, his grin gone. "You want me to kill someone? Nah, that en't it. From the look of your clothes right now, you don't need anyone else to kill for you. So what exactly is it your looking for?"

"Information," Raul said. "Here's the bargain. I'll spring you from your chains, take you up to the surface, get you some clean clothes, a bath, anything I can do to make you look more presentable to society. In return, you tell me everything I want to know. Got it?"

Heath was silent for a bit, thinking it over. "You know I'm a murderer, don'tcha? What is so important to you that you need to put a convicted killer back onto the streets to know?"

"You and I both know you didn't mean to kill that girl, Mr. Branson," Raul said slowly. "That's not why they locked you up in here. They locked you up for the same reason I'm breaking you out."

"Ahhh..." Heath's eyes glistened in recognition. "So, you want to know about the other world then, don'tcha?" He laughed. "Talk about it too much and you'll end up where I am, you know."

"This is necessary though," Raul ensured. "The fate of both worlds lie in what you know about all this mess."

Heath was silent once more, and he seemed to be thinking things over. "Alright," he said finally. "I agree to your terms. Now just get me the hell outta this contraption."

Raul held his breath so as not to breathe in any of the fumes emanating from Heath Branson, and leaned forward to insert the key into one of the shackles around the prisoners ankles. It clicked open immediately, and Raul could hear the sound of every joint in Heath's leg popping as he moved it around for the first time in five years.

Raul moved quickly and expertly, until Heath fell a few inches to the ground beneath him. Instead of supporting his own weight however, Heath crumpled as soon as he touched the stone floor.

Raul ran forward and lifted him up, surprised at how little he weighed.

"We're going to have to get you something to eat while we're at it," he mumbled, more to himself than to Heath.

Heath just laughed, causing Raul's gag reflex to kick into overdrive.

"By the way," Heath said suddenly as he was lead down the long corridor lined with other prisoners plates. "What's your name?"

"Raul," he replied. "Raul Mason."

***

Alex stood as Jason finally arrived. She had been sitting beneath the shade of a tree, avoiding the rain for at least thirty minutes now. She was shocked to see that another figure was walking next to Jason. When they got closer, Alex could make out who it was. Ben, Jason's boyfriend, was accompanying him to the small forest. Alex frowned a little in disappointment. She knew that Jason and Ben were desperately in love, but she didn't always like to be around them together. They had a habit of making her feel like something of a third wheel. She knew it wasn't on purpose, but it still bothered her.

"Hey Jason. Ben," Alex greeted them.

"Hey," they both replied, yawning. "I hope you don't mind Ben came," Jason said. "I was staying the night at his house when you called, so I figured I basically had to invite him."

"Oh, no," Alex ensured. "It's fine. Guys, I want you to see something amazing!"

They looked at her skeptically. "Um... where is it?"

She stepped to the left and gestured to the ground next to her. Sitting there was a bush.

Jason and Ben looked at her like she was crazy. The occasional raindrop that wasn't stopped by the treetops above hit their heads, and it only fueled their aggravation.

"Alex Madison Branson," Jason said slowly. "If that bush doesn't do something really cool, I am gonna be so pissed."

"Just watch," Alex said, and she knelt down by the bush and began petting it and whispering to it. Jason turned to Ben and gave him an exasperated look.

"Babe, I am so sorry," he said. "I thought she really --"

"Jason," Ben said, a look of amazement on his face. "Shut up and look at the bush."

Jason turned around and stared at what appeared to be a normal bush, only it was walking around Alex, who was now standing up straight again, smiling triumphantly at them.

"Oh... my..." Ben began. "Alex, what is that thing?"

"I'm not really sure..." Alex said, her smile fading. "It's like a bush, it even has berries... but it's also like... I don't even know. It has six legs. And it followed me home yesterday."

"Followed you home from where?" Jason asked slowly.

"Come on," Alex said slyly. "I'll show you."

Chapter 1 -- Discovery

2008-04-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Alex looked up from the book she had her nose buried in at the sound of her name being called. She peered through through her glasses, scanning through the thick crowd of high school students jostling their way through the narrow halls around her. After several minutes of searching, she spotted a figure looking at her, waving.

Alex broke into a smile and looked down, carefully marking he spot in the book and shutting it. She stood, walking over to her best friend Jason. It took a few minutes before she could make her way over to him due to the extravagant amount of people swarming around her. The bell to signal the end of the school day had rung just a few minutes before, and it was of no surprise to Alex that the entire student body of John Williams High School was locked in an epic battle to get through the large double doors that led to the student parking lot as soon as possible.

Eventually, she was able to reach Jason and was pulled into a warm, comfortable hug. He grabbed hold of her hand and kept it held tightly, not wanting to lose her to the violent flow of students all around them. She was tugged out a small back door none of the students used, because of its lack of usefulness. It led to a small grassy fenced in field, and was about as far from the student parking lots as possible.

"So," Jason looked at her with a grin on his face, "ready for the weekend?"

Alex laughed, relishing in the fresh spring breeze. "Oh, yes!" she cried, throwing her hands up and letting her dark brown hair get lifted up in the wind. "You have no idea. With all my AP tests coming up, and the deadline for all those scholarships to Yale are almost here, I could seriously use a break from life. Please tell me you have something unbearably fun lined up for me."

"Yeah," Jason promised, "tonight. But there's a few things I need to check up on first. Are you up for a party?"

Alex smiled widely. "Am I up for a party? Of course! But it's gonna be safe, right?" She looked at Jason warily. She loved her best friend, but his fun loving and free spirit had gotten them into trouble on more than one occasion.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Of course. It's at Hannah's house. You know Hannah, right?"

Alex sighed in relief. Hannah was one of her good friends. They had drifted apart lately, upon entering their senior year, but at least it was someone Alex knew. That made her feel safer.

"Good," Alex smiled at Jason. She opened her mouth to say something to him, but his phone rang at that moment.

He had it opened and held up to his ear in one swift moment. "Hello?"

There was silence for a few seconds, and then a bright smile spread across his handsome face. "Oh, hey babe!" He turned to Alex and mouthed the word 'Ben,' and Alex understood.

She left Jason to talk to his boyfriend, and she turned and began to take the four block walk home. She enjoyed the walk, it gave her time to think. And what with her busy life, thinking was something she didn't often get to do.

She let her mind drift, feeling the cool breeze drift through her, as if she wasn't even there. She thought of her mom, who was struggling with an alcohol addiction and had just gotten through her third week dry. She thought of her dad, who had died when Alex was just a baby, too young to remember, but she had built a castle of memories about him from the stories her mom has told her when she was sober. She thought of Jason, who seemed to always be there for her when she needed someone the most, but she could never be the most important thing in his life. She thought of her graduation coming up soon, and how college was just around the corner. She thought of her own true love who had yet to show up, but who she felt at night when she laid in bed, right before she fell asleep.

Sighing, she forced herself out of her reverie and looked up at her one story house. She had lived here all her life, from the day she was born. Nothing about it had changed from the way she remembered it as a little girl. All the rooms were the same, the yard was still the same brownish yellow color, unkempt and weed ridden. It wasn't much, but it was home, and it was the only place that Alex ever felt really truly safe. She climbed the three steps up the concrete block porch and opened the screen door, stepping through. She listened to it bang shut behind her and smiled in its familiarity.

"Alex, is that you?"

She heard a shuffling sound coming from the kitchen and Alex walked around the corner to see her mom straightening back up from the below the sink cabinet. She hastily shut it with her foot and put on a smile.

Alex looked at her mother suspiciously. She knew that smile all too well, it was the same look she wore when the neighbors would nosily come over for something to gossip about to each other, as it was common knowledge that when it came to dysfunctional families, the Branson residence was at the top of the list.

"Hi honey," her mother chirped, keeping that fake smile plastered tauntingly on her face. "How was school?"

"It was... fine," Alex responded. "Mom, what's under the sink?"

"The sink?" Johanne Branson questioned innocently, but Alex saw her smile falter slightly, and her eyes darted quickly to the cabinet, then back to Alex again. "Oh," she said laughing a little too loudly. "Right, well, um, there was a leak, and --"

But before she could finish her sentence, she swayed to the side and had to grip the sink firmly to keep herself from falling over. She let out a small, child like giggle, and instantly her free hand shot up to her mouth, unable to cover the sharp peals of laughter that were now escaping from her lips.

Alex strode determinedly to the cabinet and whipped it open before her mother could even react. Furious, she yanked out a large bottle. It wasn't clear, but by shaking it, Alex could hear that it was almost empty. There was very little sloshing around inside.

Alex just looked at her mother, and waited patiently for her to get over her fit of drunken hysterics. When the last sounds of laughter were done echoing around the linoleum cage, Alex opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She changed her mind and shut her mouth, deciding to take a different tactic.

She set the near to empty bottle gently on the counter and looked away from her mother.

"Baby, look, I --," Johanne began, but was cut off by the look Alex shot at her. It was a look of pure venom, with underlying disappointment. A look Johanne knew all too well. She hung her head.

Alex just shook her head. She hated how the roles in her home were reversed, the child looking over the parent. It pained her more than anything else in the world to see her mother behaving like this. With no idea of what else to do, Alex turned and walked slowly out of the kitchen, leaving her mother alone. She walked out the front door and purposefully slammed it shut behind her, making an echoing snap that resounded throughout the neighborhood. She sat on the middle step of her porch and sunk her head into her hands, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. She heaved a great sigh and finally looked up and around, not knowing what she was supposed to do. She could call Jason, but she sort of just wanted to be alone at the moment. Begrudgingly, she stood and began running. She had no idea where she was supposed to go, but it had to be better than where she was now. She could hear the slapping of her shoes on the pavement beneath her, no other sound could reach her ears.

Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap.

She refused to hear anything else, listening only to the sounds she was making, as if she was the only one in the entire universe.

She turned down another road, and then after several minutes traveling in a straight line, she leapt over the curb and began running on the grass. She could feel the tall weeds whipping at her ankles and making shallow, itchy cuts, but she couldn't care less. She just continued running. She saw a forest ahead of her, and she angled herself towards it. She had been in the forest hundreds of times before, and it was a small thing, only about 50 yards long, and even shorter than that across. Even calling it a forest was a bit of a stretch as it was really more of a small cluster of trees, huddled together against a larger world, always closing in on them.

When she finally stepped into the shade of the trees, she allowed herself to slow and stop. She was completely and totally beyond catching her breath, and she had to lean against a tree for several minutes before she was able to stand back up straight again. Her legs felt like jelly, and she was surprised they could hold her up. For the first time since she left her home, she realized there were tears running down her face, and she didn't know if it was from the sharp wind biting her eyes as she ran, or from the recent events with her mother. Either way, she wiped them away and took a deep breath. She was feeling a little better already, but the shelter of the overhanging trees gave her comfort, and she was in no hurry to leave.

She walked slowly through the familiar trees, feeling the rough bark under her finger tips. It was like another world in here. As long as you didn't peer to hard through the trunks, you had no idea that the rest of the world was just a stones throw away.

In the tranquility of the small woods, Alex thought back to her mother. She had been so proud of her for staying sober for three weeks... but had she even been sober for that long? It's possible that her mom and hidden it from her for that entire time, and she had only just discovered it today. No... Alex refused to think that. She didn't think that her mom could keep that a secret for so long. One thing Alex didn't inherit from her mother was her ability to be deceitful. Alex could lie about anything and have almost anyone believing her. She could keep up a facade for months, smile brightly in her worst depression spells, and fool even Jason into believing her life was satisfactory. Her mother on the other hand couldn't get a blind man to believe what color shirt she was wearing. She was terrible at hiding things, and was never able to keep a secret for long.

Alex must have gotten her sneakiness from her father, though if it was true or not, she had no idea. Just the very thought of her late husband brought Johanne to tears, and Alex hated seeing her mother like that, so they often avoided the subject at all costs. Sometimes, when she allowed herself such fantasies, she would imagine her father was a spy for the American government, the best one they'd ever had. That must have been where she got her ability to lie, from her father. She allowed herself a small smile at entertaining the thought, then tossed it aside.

The fact of the matter was, no matter how long her mom had been able to stay sober this time, now it was over, and she would have to start over from square one. If she even decided to start over. After so many failed attempts, how many more times could her mother afford to fail? It was hard on her. Going on fifty, her resolve was already weak. Alex remembered from her childhood when her mother used to be strong and brave, always smiling and laughing about something. But over time, a mix of age and depression overcame her, and she stopped trying. She was once very beautiful, and you could tell by looking at her. She still had a thin frame, but the soft curves that once inhabited were gone, replaced by harsh angles. Age had not been kind to Johanne Branson.

Alex stopped suddenly, looking around. She had been walking straight ahead for close to thirty minutes now. Surely she should have reached the other side of the trees by now. All around her, she noticed small things that made her skin tingle. Like, how the forest was completely silent before, but now it was busy, with the sound of bugs flying, and birds up ahead were chirping occasionally. Straining her ears, Alex even thought she could hear the bubbling of a small stream or brook. There was definitely no stream in this forest, not that she could remember. It even smelled differently now. She tried to smell the distant city, or the pollution from the nearby highway, or even a faint whiff of the landfill just a few miles from where she lived, but there wasn't a single trace of any of it in the air. Instead, she could smell stranger things. Having never been further from home than the city tenty minutes away, she couldn't be sure what the new smells were, but it did smell... fresher. More clean. As if the air was fresh from being blown off of a tall mountain peak capped with ice, or as if the wind was coming from endless green plains. Looking up, she could see the tree tops themselves looked differently as well. Where there was once pine trees and the occasional spruce, now it seemed as if the trees were much greener, and taller. She couldn't say exactly what kind of trees they were, but they grew so thick together that it was impossible even to see the sky above her.

What was going on, Alex had no idea. She looked back behind her and was shocked. She could clearly see familiarity behind her. The trees behind her were made of pine, and she thought she could even make out the neighborhood through the trees. Turning, she looked ahead, and was amazed at the difference. Ahead and behind her were two complete opposites. She glanced around her curiously. She should head back... this was clearly not natural. Yet, there was a part of her that wanted to go forward, to try to make sense of what was happening. Surely, as long as she could still see where the trees became normal again, she could find her way back. After all, it wasn't as if she had anywhere else to go, not yet anyway.

Still... her cautious nature told her to at least have a safety net. She looked down for something she could use, and bent to pick up a small rock with a pointed end. It was native and barbaric, but it gave Alex a thrill that here she was using nature, as they did so long ago, before electricity or machines.

She turned to the nearest tree and carved a large X into it. After she was done, she took a step back and admired her handiwork. She wasn't going to be winning any art contests, but at least she could tell it apart from the other trees now. She smiled inwardly and turned, facing the unknown ahead of her. She continued onward, pausing every few trees to make another mark, ensuring she wouldn't get too lost.

After several minutes of this, Alex began to really enjoy her surroundings. The air here just seemed so much clearer, as if there were no foreign pollutants or any toxic poisons made from cars or factories. The constant sound of nature made her grin; the humming of unseen insects doing their jobs, the chirping of birds soaring above the treetops. The wind whistling through the trees even made its own contribution to the sound of the apparently immense forest. The only unnatural sound she heard was her own scratching of the tree trunks to mark her way back.

And the color! Vibrant green bushes crowded in the small spaces, dark green moss growing on the deep russet brown of the tree trunks, glowing almost red in the green light that filtered down from the treetops. Even the grass that covered the forest floor was foreign to her. Instead of a weed ridden dead lawn, it was the color of spring, deeply green, but spattered here and there with wildflowers that blended in perfectly with the deep grass. It came up to her mid ankles, and it was soft, almost like walking through a cloud.

Then, there was a small rustling sound heard from near her feet. Alex jumped back, dropping her rock. She looked down at a small bush with strange looking berries growing on it. She was almost tempted to pick one of them before she remembered it had just moved. She watched it carefully, waiting for it to make some sort of sign of life again, but it remained stubbornly silent. Just when she was beginning to think she had imagined it, it rustled again, but instead of it moving as if there was something inside of it as Alex had originally thought, it moved as if it was on its own, as if the bush itself had life, and a purpose.

Alex blinked several times, not believing what she had just seen, but even as she tried to deny it, it moved again, this time towards her. The bush itself was unlike any bush Alex had seen before. It looked soft to the touch, as if instead of being made of leaves, it was made of the same kind of grass that covered the ground. Alex knelt down and held out her hand to it. The bush paused hesitantly and quivered, as if debating on whether or not it should continue to the stranger in its forest. It was about the size of both of Alex's fists, placed side by side. Its berried shook as it quivered, and Alex was once again tempted to reach out and pick one off, but she restrained herself out of politeness. She continued holding her hand out for it, and eventually, the small bush plucked up enough courage to scamper over to her outstretched hand. It stayed very still, only about two inches from Alex's hand, and Alex had the distinct feeling that it was sniffing her, seeing if she was a threat. Only curiosity and disbelief stopped her from reaching out and touching the strange creature. Finally, the bush must have decided that Alex meant it no harm, and it touched one quivering end to the tip of her index finger. It only stayed like that for a split second, before it dashed back to where it originally sat, but Alex would never forget how it felt as long as she lived. It was softer than anything she had ever felt where she came from, and it had a constant vibration to it, as if the bush were actually breathing very quickly.

Alex stood back up and looked down at the living bush and even though she could see no eyes in it, she could tell it was watching her.

"Hey there!" Alex smiled warmly at it. "You're just adorable, aren't you?"

For a second, she felt very foolish for talking to what appeared to be a bush, but then it jumped from the ground and landed again. It stood up then, on what appeared to be hind legs, and Alex could see that underneath the soft fuzzy green and berried exterior, it actually had legs. Six of them, and they were thick and stubbly. It stood on its two hind legs, with its four fore legs waving at her. No face was visible, but Alex had the impression that if there was, it would be smiling at her with its tongue hanging out.

Then, suddenly, it dropped back onto all six of its legs, and began scampering away.

Curious and dreamlike, Alex followed the strange bush. Though it appeared to be running, its short legs made it easy for Alex to keep up with it, and together, they paused outside a small clearing, with a brook running through it. It was a beautiful sight to behold, with the break in the trees casting a warm looking light onto the sparkling blue water. The wildflowers grew more thickly here, and Alex thought she had never seen a more beautiful sight in her entire life.

She looked down at the bush and saw that it appeared to be watching something in the clearing intently. Alex followed where she assumed its gaze was, and looked for anything that it could be watching, but saw nothing. She knelt down next to her bush and placed a hand on its back, feeling its soft warmth beneath her skin. The berries grew sparsely, she noticed, and when she touched one, the bush seemed to breather quicker, as if agitated. Cautiously, Alex decided not to pick one. After all, she had no idea if it could hurt the little bush.
She let her eyes drift back over to the small clearing once more, and stopped in shock. There, right where the bush was staring, was the most impossible thing Alex had ever seen. More impossible even, then the living bush.

By the brook, bending down to get a drink, was the most tiny person she had ever seen in her life. It was a male, and he had pale skin, paler even than the most pale person Alex had ever seen. He had light golden hair, and it flowed down his back, in between a pair of thinner than paper, see through gossamer wings. He only looked to be about three inches tall, and was wearing what looked to be like a robe of some sort crafted from a leaf. Around its waist was a brown belt, and Alex thought she saw a tiny knife attached to it. Her mouth hung open, and Alex didn't notice it, but she had stopped breathing. With a deep gasp, air rushed into her lungs once more, and she came back to reality. There was no way this was possible, but there it was, right in front of her. A fairy.

Beneath her hand, she felt the bush quiver violently, and then it launched itself through the air. It landed on top of the fairy, pinning it to the ground with one of its stubbly legs. Alex could hear some sort of sounds coming from the fairy, and it sounded like a voice, but it was both too high pitched and too soft for her to understand, and it was speaking very quickly. To Alex's astonishment, a hole opened up in the front of the bush, and it lowered itself to the fairy. Alex tried to shut her eyes, but couldn't being herself to do it, and instead witnessed as the bush bit off the head of the tiny winged man. It stopped struggling and laid lifelessly on the ground beneath the bush, and Alex sat silently, waiting for the bush to finish its meal.

As the last of the fairy disappeared inside the hole, Alex rose up off the ground, about to enter the clearing and learn more about this bush, when a loud, low rumbling sound came from the forest on the other side of the clearing. The small bush looked up towards the sound, and Alex was surprised to see that it didn't run. She wanted to reach out and grab it and pull it into safety, but before she could react, whatever made the sound pushed through the trees and into the clearing as well.

Alex stared in amazement, just out of sight. A mirror image of the tiny bush that she had befriended stood next to it, but much, much larger. The bush that made the rumbling sound was huge, at least the size of a mini van, maybe larger. Alex could tell instantly that the larger bush was the parent, or at least the guardian of the small bush. The picture of the small bush devouring the helpless fairy remained fresh in her memory, and then she realized sickeningly that she would be about the size of the fairy to the new bush.

Slowly, Alex began backing up, taking it one silent step at a time, holding her breath, but then a new sound pierced the air.

From her pocket, her cell phone was blaring Jason's ringtone. For a split second, there was no movement all around, and the whole world seemed to stay still, save for her phone which continued ringing loudly. Then, just as she feared, the mammoth bush leapt forward, directly toward her.

Without thinking, relying only on instinct, Alex turned and ran, trying not to listen to the sound of the six heavy feet pounding the ground behind her. She ran blindly, not knowing where she was going, until she saw something that made her heart stop. A large X carved into a tree stood before her, and behind it, another.

Not knowing if the bush was still following her or if she was alone, Alex forced her exhausted legs forward and onward, desperately seeking safety, until finally, Alex felt something change. It was a tangible change in the air, and it made her stomach twist, but Alex welcomed it. She could smell familiar smells again, and the sound of nature was gone, replaced by a far off car alarm going off.

Still, Alex kept running, not stopping until she reached her house. She rushed in, not waiting to hear the screen door slam behind her. She finally stopped when she noticed the form of her mother, passed out on the sofa, an empty bottle held loosely in her hand. With disgust, Alex realized that the bottle was different from the one she had found earlier.

Completely and utterly exhausted, Alex made her way to her room and collapsed onto her bed, trying to catch her breath. Slowly, she pulled her cell phone out and looked at the one missed call message flashing at her. Rolling her eyes, she dropped the phone rolled over, welcoming sleep.