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Ali waded through the shallows of the other world's ocean, halfhearted waves lapping at her thighs, Sid sitting on her shoulder as a wet raccoon. Her short, knee length, plaid skirt was glued to her legs, as was her off-red shirt to her chest. Her chin-length hair was clumped and sopping around her head. She was dripping wet as she finally reached the hot, sandy beach.
Sid jumped down from her shoulder on to the sand, and jumped out of the way as Ali tossed the soggy duffle bag up towards him onto higher ground. Ali reached the place where the bag had landed and picked it up again, carrying it with her until she reached the shade of a single Palm Tree, set forward from the rest of the tree line. There she planted herself on the ground, cross-legged, and dug in the sodden contents of the bag for the sandwiches.
After several aggravating seconds of removing the plastic wrap in which the sandwiches had been secured in to keep the water out, she took a bite of one of the sandwiches, and looked around for Sid. Sid, who was crab formed, abruptly changed into a sparrow and hopped over to her.
"Look!" He motioned her to look farther along the beach, about a quarter mile away. There on the beach, sun tanning and swimming, were people.
"Oooh, people!" she said excitedly, popping the last of the sandwich into her mouth, and getting up to dust herself off. Ali, who by this time was relatively dry, bent to pick up the duffle bag, and began walking towards them. Sid, catching up with her, flew to her shoulder. He fidgeted with excitement, bouncing up and down.
"Stop that!" she said irritably to Sid, something about the crowd was nagging at her. Something was missing, she decided, as they drew closer. Something like… Daemons! There were no daemons! There were no seagulls hovering over the people, no dolphins splashing around in the water next to the swimmers.
But how could there be no daemons? She thought to herself reasonably, nonetheless halting in her tracks.
"Look," she whispered to Sid, "Where are the daemons?"
He gasped, clinging to her shirt, drawing himself close to her as the realization struck him as well.
"But… Well…" he stammered, even though he knew they were both thinking the same thought. All the children at Jordan (and all over the world) had heard of the Night Ghasts, and The Breathless Ones, who were people without their daemons. It was horrid, just awful to think about. These people seemed to be alive okay though, but it still didn't stop Ali and Sid from crouching down behind a bramble thicket, wishing they hadn't come so close already.
The children seemed to be playing a game in the water, and the adults were lying on long chairs and towels, tanning themselves in the warm sun or seeking shade under large colored umbrellas. It was a nice picture, except there were no daemons. No daemons… No daemons… How could there be no daemons? Well, obviously, there weren't any, but the people seemed all right.
Ali, looked to Sid and said, "Lets go to them,"
"Go to them!" he sounded shocked at the idea, "But what about all the stories…?"
"Never mind the stories," she interrupted, "they seem all right, don't they?"
He made several protesting noises in his throat, but eventually (very hesitantly) nodded, and climbed to her shoulder. Exchanging a resolved glance, they continued towards the crowd about fifteen feet away. At first, none seemed to notice their presence at all, but eventually people began to look their way.
Ali and Sid stood there for a moment, looking right back at them, when one of the women came up to her and spoke.
"Where's your mother, deary? Is that you pet monkey?" she added at the end, gesturing towards Sid.
Pet monkey! Both Ali and Sid thought in disgust. Well, at least they learned that these people didn't know a thing about daemons. Which also meant that Sid wasn't going to be allowed to change in front of them. These people would most likely freak out if they saw him change.
"Uh… Yeah!" she lied hesitantly, then more firmly, "I'm Jessie, and this is my monkey Drake. My moms farther up the beach, she said I could explore for a while before lunch." She added the last part as a way of answering the un-asked question of why she was there alone.
"Oh, well, be careful," said the lady, "and have a nice day," she added, before retreating to her beach chair. After that, nobody seemed to be interested; they went back to ignoring her.
Ali and Sid, taking the hint, looked around at the other scenery. There was a path walled by waist-height grass, winding up towards a parking lot. They could see carts parked in the parking spaces, and a small building, which Ali assumed was a restroom facility of some kind. After following the path up to the parking lot, they saw a sign by the road, which read, "Tennerville Beach Spot" in large, block like, black lettering.
They investigated the building, which proved to be just what Ali had suspected (much to her relief, having not gone properly since they had left that morning), and continued up towards the road. Once on the road, they discovered why it was known as the "Tennerville" beach spot. A half-mile down the highway, there was a town.
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Walking down the sidewalk in the town in this other world was so incredibly different from Ali's Oxford that it was scary. There seemed to be all these confusing rules and regulations, not to mention that nobody had a daemon. Like at her Oxford, there were street crossings, but there was some invisible system. The carts would start, then stop a few minutes later to let the people pass. After the people had gone, the carts would start. However, neither Ali nor Sid could figure out any sort of pattern.
Before they had entered the town Sid had changed into a dog to look less conspicuous, for it didn't seem like many people in this world walked around with pet monkeys. This proved to be a smart thing to do, for no one looked at her in that strange way, and she seemed to pass unnoticed.
Ali approached a street corner. All the cars were stopped, and she decided to go across. Tentatively she stepped out onto the road, and when nothing happened, she stepped out further. She was about halfway across when…
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Jessica Mitford had never been a great driver. In fact, the first thing she had done when she had gotten her license at seventeen was rear end an old couple on their way to church. Now, at nineteen, she was no better at it. She had never really been taught how to drive properly, though. Her dad was a scientist who spent most of his time in the lab, and unlike all her friends, she had never received driving lessons from her "daddy".
She was now sitting in her car at the intersection of Main Street and Fairway, intently watching the traffic light. Her mom had just given back her driving privileges with the Saturn, and she was being extra careful not to lose them again. The light changed green, and automatically her foot pressed gently on the gas. She pressed gently on the gas before she looked up. If she had looked up before she drove, she would have seen a small girl in a plaid skirt and red shirt, a dog walking beside her. When she did look up, a split second after her foot hit the gas, she immediately jammed on the break, wincing at the sound of the squealing brakes, and the girls body thudding to the ground.
She sat there a moment, too paralyzed by the fact of what she had just done to move or think. When she came too, she jumped out of the car and began to run around to the front of it, when she saw something. Something that stopped her, yet again. The girl's dog had just… Well… "Changed" into a monkey. Yes, that was the only word that she could think of, "changed".
She stood there, staring, as the dog, or monkey as it was now, limped to the girl and tentatively nudged her face. Then the people started coming, none of them having seen what Jessica had, to see if the girl was all right. She watched as the girl stood up, and politely declined any help from the crowd, insisting that she was fine, and that she didn't need a ride home. Jessica was still standing there, looking shocked, when the girl looked over at her. A look of something registering on her face past briefly, and the girl looked at the monkey. Her mouth moved into the words, 'She saw you', as she gestured for the monkey to look at Jessica. It was one of the strangest things she'd ever seen. She was about to walk towards the girl when…
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Will was walking down Fairway Street. It was a great day. The weather was nice, a perfect day for a swim actually. And he had been promoted. Angela was going to flip when he told her, and considering the weather, he decided that to celebrate he would take her and the kids to go swimming. Yeah, he had it all planned out. A smile touched the corners of his mouth at the thought of how happy the kids would be, and he knew that Kirjava, who was keeping pace beside him, was thinking the same things.
That's how his life was before he heard the screech of breaks, and the thud at the corner of Main and Fairway…
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Ali got up slowly, trying to get a grip on her shaking body again. She declined the gathered peoples offers of help, repeating that she was only a couple blocks from home, and that she was fine. She waited until all the people were gone before her attention was able to stray to the cart that had hit her in the first place. She looked towards it, and the girl that now stood next to it.
She knew the moment she saw the girl that she must have seen Sid change form. The girl looked utterly bewildered. She mouthed the words to Sid, who nodded mutely, looking ashamed. She saw the girl begin to approach when…
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Will whipped around towards the sound of the commotion, Kirjava's back arched, her fur on end. He looked in time to see a small girl laying face down in the center of Main Street, several people gathered around her. There was a monkey beside her… A monkey! Yes, a monkey was holding onto her hand. People were crowding around so that he couldn't see her face. He saw her stand up and the people disperse, though he didn't know why for he was still too far away to hear their voices. Finally he caught a glimpse of her face. It was Lyra! No, no, he thought to himself, it couldn't be. The girl was far to young, and yet the similarity was enough to bring dampness to his eyes for a moment. But just for a moment.
But what was the monkey…? 'It's a daemon', Kirjava thought to him. In this perspective, everything made a little more sense. But, once again, only a little. He…
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A man walked out in front of Jessica. He walked towards the girl. Jessica, who was still too far away to hear their low-toned conversation, had the strangest feeling that something incredibly important was going on between them. But she just couldn't tell. Feeling that she was not needed, though her curiosity was completely unsatisfied, she walked back towards her car. Her driving privileges would be revoked again, she though dismally, taking a seat, and starting up the engine. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad though, she thought, as she drove away from the girl, dismissing the situation completely, thinking about what her friend Hannah would say.
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He walked up to the girl. The girl appeared to tense as she saw Kirjava, taking a minor step backwards.
"Hi, I'm Will," he said, wondering if she recognized Kirjava for what she truly was. Then, as if on cue, her monkey daemon leaned up to her, tugged her shirt, and whispered something in her ear.
"You got a daemon?" she asked in an untrusting tone of voice. "Nobody else here's got a daemon."
"Uhhh," he stumbled, wondering how he should explain himself. However, Kirjava took over.
"Yes, of course he has a daemon, I'm Kirjava," Kirjava said this to both the girl and daemon, speaking clearly. "But as you can see, we can't talk here, in the open… In this world." She added the last part on the end as a risk, thought Will. She's taking a wild guess in assuming the girl knows about the other worlds, he thought severely.
"Yeah," said the girl, "nobody here seems to know much about them here, do they?" Will noticed that the untrusting tone had still not left her voice, despite the revelation that Kirjava had just given her.
Will found his voice, "Come to my apartment, no, on the other hand, follow me. We can talk where we're going,"
With that, giving her no time to argue, he began to walk away, towards the Tennerville Pier. He had been about to bring her to the apartment, but Angelina and the kids would be there, and her needed to talk with this girl privately. There would be no one there to bother them this time of day at the pier, not to mention all the old fish shacks along the wayside. Yes, the Seaside was the place.
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Ali had no feeling or idea that she could trust this man, but he did have a daemon, and he knew about her other world. She was going to decline his offer to talk with him, but he turned on his heel and began to walk away before she could get out a word. She opened her mouth a couple of times automatically, as if trying to respond. She was, at the same time, admiring him for his tact with the conversation. What choice did she have? Ali, ignoring a warning glance from Sid, began to follow him across the street in the direction of the ocean.
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Well, what did you think? How was it? Sorry if it was a bit choppy, the way it cut off to change points of view. Well, Read & Review please.Lulu Fae: No, this was my first fiction, though I hope to write more, and thank you.