Needless to say, when the door of the inn opened, I really shouldn't have been surprised. Not with the way my day had been going so far.
The day certainly began normal enough. I had gone to school and been bored to death, as usual. That's not unusual. But on the way home, something had felt…wrong. Like there were eyes watching my back. That's not a good feeling to have when you live in a big city. It usually means that you're the target of a mugger.
The feeling had become so strong that I'd eventually found myself speeding up my pace, until I was practically running from it. Whatever 'it' was.
Then I'd run into a dead-end alley. My sense of direction was never that great.
I'd noticed a strangely shaped metal bar lying on the ground. I'd picked it up, thinking to use it on anyone who came at me with less than amiable intentions. By this time I was hearing definite footsteps coming my way.
Then I noticed the button on the top of the metal bar. Being the insatiably curious person that I am, and disregarding the small detail of me about to be hurt or abducted or worse, I did the only thing that seemed logical.
I pressed the button.
Suddenly I was standing on a dirt path, a far cry from the asphalt of home, and I was surrounded by trees. That worried me. I was not familiar with trees. I was a city girl.
There was a growl from behind me, and I turned to see an eight-legged—yes, I said eight legs—bear thundering down upon me. This was just getting better and better.
Again, I did the only logical thing.
I screamed.
What? You really don't expect something like that to happen everyday, now do you?
Fortunately, the high pitch of my scream seemed to disorient the mutant bear, so I was able to beat a retreat down the path before is head cleared and it remembered that it wanted girl cutlets for dinner.
I realized I was still holding the strange metal rod with the button, but this time I reined in my curiosity. My brain had linked that button with the setting around me, and if I pressed it again, who knows what it might change to. I might end up in a volcano, or an avalanche for goodness sakes! After all, those moving symbols along the length might be a key to some sort of virtual reality program. But if this was virtual reality technology, it was some of the best I'd seen, and it made me wonder why it was left lying in a dirty alleyway.
Oh, well. At least it was dense enough to use as a weapon. I hung on to it.
Since I didn't know where the heck I was—if I was anywhere, I decided to find someone and ask for directions. That should work if I was in a game or experiencing real life. I mean, what harm can come from asking directions? So I began to look around for a house or inn—or information marker in order to remedy my 'lost' status.
When I finally reached this inn, the sun had almost set. I was struck by how much it looked like some medieval structure—all wood and stone and thatch. Now I was practically convinced I was in a game or an illusion world. I mean, who would leave a firetrap like that up? There was a stable attached, and from the happy horse sounds coming from inside, someone was home.
Well, I've never been a particularly shy person, so I marched right up and knocked on the door.
The kid who opened the door was roughly my own age, maybe a year or two older, and he was wearing the oddest clothes. As with the inn, I was reminded of medieval times by the tunic he was wearing. This kid also looked like he'd been around the block a few times. He had that aura of experience about him. I should know—I'm from New York, where everything is an experience.
He took one look at the metal rod in my hand and gave a great sigh.
"Not another one!"
Then, totally ignoring the fact that I was still standing right in front of him, he started talking to himself.
"It's no good. No matter what you tell people, they'll still come looking for you. All I want is some peace and quiet, and for them to have a little bit of patience. I've said I'm not retired—I'm on sabbatical! I'll be back in the public eye—eventually. In the meantime, the can just take their problems somewhere else!"
"Are you a priest?" I said.
That stopped his tirade like a vacuum seal had been placed over his mouth. "What?" he said, sounding extremely confused.
"Are-you-a-priest? Do I need to spell it out for you? You sound like one. You're speaking as loud as a TV evangelist."
"What's a…" he contorted his face as he tried to pronounce the words "tee-vee ee-vang-ee-list?"
I sincerely hoped this kid was kidding. Because if he wasn't, then this stupid metal pole really was some sort of game controller, and I had no idea how to work it. And from the look of that monster bear on the road, I could get killed here—and while it wouldn't hurt me physically, I had no wish to be dead—in any way.
I waved off the kid's question. "Where am I, what am I doing here, and who are you?" I asked him.
Curiously, the questions seemed to catch him off guard. "You mean you don't know? Then what are you doing here?"
"I don't know—that's why I asked you."
He gave me a curious look, and glanced again at the metal pole in my hand. "If you don't know what you're doing here, or where you are, how did you program the D-Hopper?"
"The what?"
"D-Hopper. A Dimension-Hopper. It allows one to travel freely from dimension to dimension. But they're rare—very rare." He paused. "You pressed the button, didn't you? You pressed it without moving the symbols?"
Silently, I nodded, confused with his talk of 'dimensions.'
He shook his head. "I don't know who you are, or where you are from, but you're not at home any longer."