Through the Portal

Upon looking around, William’s first thought was that he had run out of air and passed out, causing him to hallucinate. He wondered if he had fallen on Josie and hoped she was okay. It took him a moment to realize she was still on his back and he put her down, gently, grateful for the soft ground. He looked down at the ground, surprised by how soft it was, and he realized that was because the ground was covered in black moss. The moss was dotted with white mushrooms and showed no color.

It had been night, but now seemed to be midday, based on the light. He looked up, seeking the familiar blue sky for comfort, but even it was strange. Instead of a pure blue, it was made up of every color, fading from one end to the next, as though covered by a giant rainbow, except that they wavered, reminding him of an image he had once seen of the aurora lights. There were no clouds or other familiar sights to be seen.

“You must be kidding me.” Katherine’s voice sounded exasperated.

He looked over, expecting to see her looking as dumbfounded as everyone else. Instead, she just looked irritated, as though someone had made a mistake, somewhere.

She caught his gaze and sighed. “Alright, you have questions. Let’s start with the basics. No, you are not dreaming. Yes, that is black moss. No, we are not in Asheville anymore. We are also not in Oz, Neverland, Middle Earth, Wonderland or any other fantasy world you are likely to have read about. What’s next?”

He opened and closed his mouth several times, having forgotten how to speak. After about a minute, he cleared his throat and managed to string a few words together. “Where are we?” He was relieved to note he had gotten them out in the right order.

“Well, presently, we are on the Black Hills.” She replied. “However, in broader terms, we are in Mirra.” She smiled and held out her arms. “Welcome to my home.”

He nodded, dumbly as though that had explained everything. His mind no longer seemed to function as he stared at the ground, which had too little color, and the sky, which had too much. He thought he may throw up and wondered if it would be the normal color.

“How did we get here?” Meredith demanded, having regained control of herself faster than the older boy. She realized he wasn’t going to get much information, so it was her turn. “And what do you mean when you say this is your home?”

Katherine looked at the girl, dropping her arms to her side. “We stepped through a portal which father prepared. I call this my home because it’s where I live.” She looked around at the open field and frowned. “Well, not here, specifically.” She sighed. “It’s going to be quite a walk to get to my home.”

“So, you live in Mirra.” Meredith nodded, starting to understand, a bit, even if she was pretty sure they were mass hallucinating. She remembered hearing about there being drugs on some money and wondered if they had touched a contaminated bill. Either way, she was going to go along with the scenario until they came to their senses. “But you don’t live on the Black Hills, so where you do live?”

“The Blue Palace,” Katherine replied, simply. She hoped this wasn’t going to take too much longer. “Listen, I’m sure you have more questions, but can you ask them as we walk? We have quite a bit of ground to cover.” She looked around and sighed, again. “Father doesn’t always bring up the portals where he means to and we’ll have to walk for several days to get to the palace.”

“The Blue Palace?” Meredith clarified. “We are going to your home. Why?”

“Why are we here, at all?” William had finally regained control of his mental functions, as well as his voice. “You say your father opened a portal and I take it that you led us through there, intentionally, so you must have a reason, right?”

Katherine frowned and looked at him for a moment, before nodding. “It would be best if you could wait to get to the palace before everything is explained. It will be easier there.” She didn’t like the idea of trying to explain the situation out in the open.

“I think we could use an explanation, now,” Meredith replied. “I have no intention of moving until we get one.” She crossed her arms, defiantly. The others took a cue from her and turned to Katherine, making it clear that they were on Meredith’s side in the argument.

Katherine looked at the group, realizing they were all waiting and knowing they probably wouldn’t follow her without more information. She opened her mouth to speak, but, just then, the ground started to tremble. She looked down and her eyes widened. “We have to move.” The rest of the group registered her fear and lost their resolve. She quickly started walking and they followed. The tremors grew stronger and she picked up the pace. “Run!”

William lifted Josie onto his back, once more, his strength renewed by the sudden adrenaline. He didn’t know why they were running, but he knew he didn’t want to find out.

“What is it?” Meredith shouted over the sound of running feet mixed with shaking ground. It was getting harder not to fall, but they kept going. Even if it was a hallucination, nobody was eager to be killed.

Katherine never had time to answer Meredith’s question. A crashing sound echoed over the hills as a giant, red serpent burst up through the ground. Josie screamed and squeezed her eyes shut, clinging to William more tightly. The creature lunged at her, but Katherine stepped between them. She thrust out her hands and light shot out of them, sending the beast back. It hissed at her, but she kept her hands out, threatening another hit. It seemed to consider her for a moment, before slithering back into the hole it had created. The ground trembled as it moved under them, but the tremors grew weaker, telling them that it was moving away.

When the ground was still, again, Katherine hit her knees, taking several breaths. She looked pale and weak, now.

“What was that thing?” Henry asked, staring at the giant hole it had left behind, scarcely believing they had really seen such a thing.

“A ground wyrm.” Katherine’s voice shook. “It must have been nearby and heard us. They’re not supposed to be in this territory, but they sometimes get lost and wind up here. It was probably hungry and just wanted to eat you.” No one cared to point out that there was nothing “just” about being eaten, but they all thought it. Katherine took a deep breath. “We have to keep moving. This place is safe for now, but we can’t stay here too long.” She stood, but her knees shook and she dropped to the ground again.

William set Josie down and walked over to Katherine, kneeling beside her. “I don’t think you’re going anywhere for a while. If this place is safe, we should probably rest here for a bit and let you recover.” He wasn’t sure how magic worked, but it seemed her spell had taken a lot of energy and he wasn’t about to let their guide pass out, now. It took all his will to appear calm as he spoke while his brain was screaming that they had just been attacked by a giant snake and were probably going to die very soon. The fact that their guide was able to shoot light out of her hands wasn’t as much comfort as one might think.

She frowned, knowing he was right. “I’m sorry. I used too much power, getting rid of it. It’s made me weak.” She sighed. “Give me a little time to catch my breath and we’ll continue on our way. We need to get to the palace as soon as possible.”

“Alright.”

At this point, no one was going to question her. They were in a strange land with giant snakes that popped up out of the ground and she seemed to be the only one among them who knew anything about it. There was no way they were arguing with her, now.

He gave her a concerned look, instead, since he feared she was about to faint and leave them completely unprotected. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Yes. I just need a bite to eat.” She reached over and picked up a mushroom, biting into it and feeling a little better as she did. “It’s nice to have real food, again.” She looked at the group who were staring at her like she had lost her mind. Half of them thought she might have, but, then, most of them thought they all had. She offered them a smile. “Sorry. The food from your world is fine, but it just isn’t the same.” She took another bite, then plucked a mushroom from in front of William and held it out to him. “You should all eat. We’ll need our strength.”

He took the mushroom, gingerly, staring at it. “Um…are you sure these aren’t poisonous?” It was abnormally white for a mushroom, and had black speckles across the top. It seemed likely to William that he would die if he ate it.

Katherine laughed. “Of course they aren’t! There are no poisonous mushrooms in the Black Hills.” She realized that may have sounded condescending and frowned. “Sorry. I guess you all have a lot to learn about Mirra.” She indicated the mushroom William was holding. “Take a bite. It’s fine.”

He looked back at the group for advice. One of the twins shrugged and he sighed, lifting the mushroom to his mouth and taking a small bite. He stared at it with wide eyes. “It tastes like…banana.” He took another bite.

“Banana…” Katherine stared off and nodded. “I remember bananas. Yes, this does taste a bit like those.” She looked at the rest of the group. “You can help yourselves. Just don’t eat any plain white ones. They’re not ripe and might make you a bit sick.”

The others still seemed uncertain, except for Josie, who wasted no time in picking a speckled mushroom and taking a large bite. “It’s good!” She finished it and picked another.

At her encouragement, the others shrugged and started eating, as well. They were all hungry from running so hard and their only other options were some cold cans of food in their backpacks. Banana-flavored mushrooms seemed preferable to that. They pulled out their water bottles and made a picnic. William shared some of his water with Katherine, since she didn’t have her own. Before long, they all were feeling much better, despite the insane circumstances. William started to smile as he looked around. He always loved stories about adventures and other worlds. Now, he was in one. He realized it would be foolish to be upset about getting the thing he’d always dreamed about.

“That thing with the light was cool,” Henry commented, feeling chipper, now that his belly was full. “How did you do it?”

Katherine shrugged. “It’s a bit hard to explain, really.” She paused, trying to find the right words. “It’s almost as though there is a kind of…energy inside me and I can direct it out in certain ways.” She crinkled her nose. “I guess that’s not very helpful. I’ve never really understood it. I’ve just learned to control it.”

“How long did it take you to do that?” Meredith asked, having always had plenty of questions about the workings of magic, but never expecting to be able to talk to anyone who had first-hand knowledge on the subject. She was starting to believe that she wasn’t hallucinating, which made this a rare opportunity.

Katherine smiled at the girl, her blue eyes seeming to sparkle. “A while.” She stood up and looked around. “We should get going, soon. We’ll lose the light if we don’t and it’s not wise to travel at night. Too many shadows.” Somehow, she made the word sound scarier than it should have been.

The children looked around, nervously, half-expecting some new monster to come jumping out at them. William was about to ask about what happened at night, but he looked at Josie and decided that nobody really needed to know. He looked up at the sky and realized the colors were not as bright as they had been. It wasn’t like he was used to, where the sun turned the sky different colors as it set, then the world went dark. This sky just seemed to dim, slowly. He realized the colors were growing closer together, so he started to see black on the edge of the rainbow. The group stood, dusted themselves off and slipped half-empty bottles back in their bags, before following Katherine. She still seemed a bit tired from the fight, but they hoped she would be strong enough to defend them if anything else came up.

They walked for a few hours before Josie started complaining that her feet hurt. William considered lifting her on his back, but he knew he could only carry her for so long and he didn’t know how much farther they had to walk. He looked up, seeing more black sky in the distance, moving closer. The colors shimmered overhead, seeming brighter, now that everything else was growing dark.

Katherine heard Josie and smiled at her, kindly. “Just a bit further, little one. We’ll make camp, soon.” She didn’t want to push them too hard, but she knew they needed to move as quickly as possible. They wouldn’t be safe until they reached the palace.

The answer seemed to satisfy the girl, who yawned at the thought of laying down for bed. William heard a sound like running water up ahead. It grew louder as they drew closer and he discovered it was a small stream. At first, he thought it must be running very fast because the water seemed white, but, as he looked, he realized it actually was white. It looked like milk and he wondered if it would taste the same.

“We can set up camp here.” Katherine announced. She walked over and dipped her hands in the water, scooping some out and drinking it. She hadn’t wanted to admit how thirsty she had been. It was her job to look after them, not the other way around. Besides, the water from their world tasted odd. Her thirst quenched, Katherine looked back at the group. “The running water will provide enough energy for a protection spell, so nothing will attack us while we sleep.” She knelt beside it and made a few motions with her hands.

William thought he saw a dome of light surrounding them for a moment, but it faded quickly. He watched her, wondering if that had been the spell.

Katherine stood back up and turned to the group. “Be sure to stay near me. The spell can only spread so far and I can’t protect you if you wander off.” They all nodded, having no desire to leave her side. She smiled. “Alright, then. You can refill your bottles in the stream, if you want.”

She sat down and plucked a mushroom, still needing to refuel after using so much magic on the wyrm. She had hoped to avoid that, since she knew she wasn’t at full strength. She cursed herself for not being able to keep them away from the danger to begin with, and she cursed her father for opening the portal so far from home. She sighed and lay down, knowing she was being too hard on him. She stared up at the sky, happy to be out of the loud city, at least.

Curious, William headed to the stream. He drank what was left of his water and used the bottle to scoop out some of the white stuff. He gave it an experimental sniff and took a swig. It tasted slightly of cinnamon and apples. He drank some more, then refilled his bottle, shaking his head as he thought about it. He lay down and stared up at the sky. The colors now lit only a small portion, reminding him again of the aurora lights. Most of the sky was black, but it was dotted with stars. As he looked, he realized the stars weren’t quite right, either. Instead of the white lights he was used to, he now saw golden ones shimmering down. He sighed, wondering if anything in this place would be the same as what he knew.

Josie lay down beside him, feeling safer that way. “The sky is pretty, isn’t it?”

“Sure is.” He smiled and ruffled her hair. “You were very brave, today. I’m proud of you.” Even though he wasn’t really related to Josie, William thought of her as his sister and loved her as one. He thought of the others the same way, but Josie was young and needed to be taken care of, more.

She giggled and pushed his hand away. “You were brave, too. I knew you would protect me.” She scooted closer and closed her eyes. “You always take care of me.” She was asleep within a minute.

The twins slept side-by-side, as always, and Meredith lay by herself, needing some space, so she could process everything that had happened that day.

Before long, the soft moss bedding and gentle gurgling of the stream had them all sound asleep, despite their racing minds. Everyone just hoped that the next day would not be quite as exciting.