Chapter 10
In the Beige Universe, Rick, Will, and Holly were sleeping as peacefully as possible when they suddenly were jarred awake by an earthquake. Thinking as fast as he could, Rick ordered his children to take cover under their beds. They quickly did as they were told, while Rick rushed to his very frightened daughter and shielded her with his body. Holly begged her father to make the tremor stop, but Rick could do nothing except comfort her as best as he could.
When the quake ended, Rick ushered his children out of the cave before the aftershocks could start. The first one began just as the family was heading outside. They ducked for safety near a boulder at the base of the cave. When the tremor finally stopped, Rick helped Holly through some minor queasiness and the Marshalls began to clean up. Will was upset that a homemade water piping system that the family had worked on for the past two weeks was damaged. He asked his father if he thought that the quake was controlled by the pylons. Rick shrugged his shoulders and checked the bamboo pipes. He assured his son that the damage was minor. Will agreed and plotted out a strategy to repair the damage, all while hoping to himself that rest of the day would be fairly uneventful, or at least as uneventful as possible in the Land of the Lost. However, his calm demeanor quickly turned to concern as he saw a strange, fuzzy apparition in the bushes.
In the Black Universe, after S'Latch activated his machine, Holly felt disoriented. At first, she thought that nothing had happened, because nothing seemed to change. But upon a further examination, she saw that both S'Latch and his machine were gone. As she gained her bearings, she focused her mind on her mission. She also realized that she was floating.
Floating was definitely a strange experience for the 12-year-old. Somehow, she could simply control where she wanted to go almost like a swimmer under water or a bird flying. She found that she could even pass through solid objects, which made her wonder if she was even alive. But she had to be alive, because if she wasn't, then no one would be able to help her family.
Noticing her mind starting to wander, Holly decided to head toward High Bluff as quickly as possible. If this universe was truly identical, then the cave would be the first place to look for her double. On the way through the forest, she looked at the vegetation and remembered a time back home when she picked apples on the way to her Aunt Ruthie's house. She thought of how worried her mother would have been while waiting for them. The memory of her mother snapped Holly back to the present and cleared her head as she continued on her mission.
She arrived at High Bluff and immediately saw what appeared to be her father and Bill examining some damaged bamboo water pipes. Seeing these doppelgängers shouldn't have come as a surprise because of what had happened at the Moongiver Pylon. Nevertheless, she was still taken aback by the amazing resemblances.
She stared for a moment at Bill's counterpart, reminding herself that his name was Will. The two men both seemed identical to her family, except that they were wearing different clothes. Holly continued to look for her double, but found that she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly she noticed that Will was staring directly at her.
"Hey!" Will said, alarmed. Holly tried to smile, but the disorienting feelings started again, and when Will turned to his father, she decided to continue searching for her counterpart.
Rick walked over to his son, to investigate. "What's the matter, Will?" he asked. "Are you all right?"
Will saw that the entity was gone and said, "I guessing I'm seeing things."
"What are you seeing?" asked Rick.
"I thought I saw . . . a face, in the bush," Will replied.
"What did the face look like?"
"It was all in pieces, up and down." Will sighed, "Well, that's what it looked like anyway."
Meanwhile, Rich's Holly suddenly spotted her double and began to float toward her with determination. The only way to help Rich and Bill was to get a message to Rick, and the only way to get a message to Rick was to communicate through her double.
Will saw what was happening and Rick followed his son's eyes until he too spotted the apparition floating toward his daughter. Rick's Holly was cleaning up and did not notice anything. "HOLLY!" Rick warned.
Rick's Holly looked up and saw the floating girl. She stepped away in fear. The action also frightened her double, so Rich's Holly backed off. Rick's Holly quickly retreated to the cave to hide, while Rick and Will discussed what they had just witnessed. But the conversation quickly ended as they heard their Holly scream.
The Marshall men ran up to the cave to find a terrified Holly staring at the apparition floating above her. "Daddy, make it go away," she begged, "make it go away Daddy!"
Rich's Holly could see that her counterpart was afraid. She would be scared too under the same circumstances. But she felt the pull of her own universe and she was having trouble concentrating. The only way to communicate was through her counterpart, and although she would have liked to have asked for permission, time was running out, so she decided that with or without consent, she had to speak to Rick and Will immediately. As Rick's Holly moved toward her family, Rich's Holly floated right inside her counterpart. The two Hollys spoke as one as Rick and Will looked on in amazement.
"Help me! Please! Help me," said the Hollys. At that moment, Holly from the Black Universe floated up and over the heads of the confused Beige Universe Marshalls.
Rick and Will rushed toward their Holly. Rick waved his hands and ordered the hovering girl to move away. Will asked who made the comment, while Rick checked on his daughter. Holly explained that the entity was inside of her. Up until that point, Rich's Holly had not appeared recognizable to Rick's family, but the contact somehow made her more visible. For the first time, the Marshalls could see Rich's Holly clearly. Will suspected a Sleestak trick, but something about the link made his sister realize that their visitor was not bad. "Dad, she wants to get inside of me," said the 12-year-old.
Rick addressed the floating Holly. "What do you want?" he demanded.
Unable to speak, Rich's Holly pointed to her mouth. Rick was always an intelligent man and immediately figured out that Rich's Holly was trying to communicate. He convinced his daughter that the double would not hurt her, and once again, the two Hollys merged.
Rich's Holly wasted no time as she spoke. "I'm weak, I can't hang on much longer," she said, as the Marshall men watched.
"Where are you?" asked Rick, "Where are you Holly? We can't see you very clearly. You must be someplace else. Where are you?"
With her concentration failing, Rich's Holly struggled to continue. "Halfway through," she said, "we're halfway through." As she relived the nightmare, she screamed, startling her audience. "Help Will and Daddy, help Will and Daddy, help Will and Daddy," Rich's Holly pleaded as she floated out of her double. Rick's Holly collapsed into her father's arms.
When Rich's Holly sensed her double was a little stronger, the two girls merged again and the visitor continued her story. "The black Sleestak," she said, "the black Sleestak, we're going home. Don't trust him." Rick and Will did not understand and Rick speculated that she was talking to someone else. Will noted that the Sleestak are not black, but Rick focused on his daughter, and asked the right question.
"Holly, where are you?"
Holly started at the beginning. "I'm in the mountain. I can see the road down in the valley. I can see cars on the road."
Will was excited. "DAD! She can see some cars!" he repeated.
Rick ignored his son and concentrated on the problem. "Help us find you Holly. Tell us, where are you? What can you see? Where is this mountain?"
But Rich's Holly was having difficulty maintaining contact with her counterpart. "Oh help Will and Daddy, help Will and Daddy," was all she could say as she felt herself pulled out of her counterpart's body. With her last bit of energy, she said, "the green stones…I can't hang on anymore. I'm slipping. I'm slipping." Rick tried one more time to ask where she was, but Rich's Holly floated away, leaving one final important message, "Don't touch them. Don't touch them. Don't touch them. Don't touch them."
Rich's Holly knew that if these Marshalls were anything like her own family, they would help. She spent the last few seconds trying to communicate the location of Bill and Rich to her counterpart. Finally, she blacked out and awoke to find herself back with S'Latch.
Her efforts were not in vain. Rick's Holly did indeed get the message and somehow, a temporary lingering link between the two Hollys enabled Rick's Holly to lead her family to Rich and Bill. Realizing what they had to do, Rick and Will followed a dazed Holly as she led them on a quest to help their troubled counterparts.