Chapter 5

Destiny was the only one at the table who did not jump as a man stepped right out of the air. She felt like she had been waiting for this masked man. Even with his ominous red eyes and the large, heavy chain in his hands the stranger had a friendly feeling about him. Dangerous, true, but still friendly.

Taking a closer look at him, Destiny could see that the man's features were blurred. His skin was a shifting, black shadow. But he had not been that way when he entered the room. That was curious.

Jace, the young man that followed her sister Miracle around like a love-sick puppy shouted, "Where do you just come from Wayminder?! Why are you here!?"

As she shouted, he threw his enchanted rope at the man. The same one that the hero Cole had done such magnificent wonders on. It snaked itself around the man, pinning his arms to his side.

"Of course you'd be here, Jace," the man laughed. "The boy with a chip on his shoulder and a pretty princess to show off to. How I wish Brandon had murdered this particular, little Darling!"

The rope itself turned into a snake!

Its body and head appearing in Jace's hand and biting him. Jace fell like a sack of potatoes to the floor, out cold. Mira screamed as the man got loose of his bindings and with a wave of his hand sent the guards and servants flying up into the air. He then made a shushing gesture, and their cries were instantly muted.

The stranger walked over to the family, Harmony rising up to step between him and her kids. He jumped with little more than a spring in his step over her and landed lightly on the table. The man plopped himself down cross legged and tore a leg from one of the steaming chickens at the table.

After taking a hurried bite, he said, "Ouch! Of course, it's hot!"

"What do you want with us," Harmony asked angrily.

Destiny saw her sisters, all of them preparing to use their powers if necessary to defend themselves. They had been attacked by their father and by his treacherous counselor Owandell; they would not be taken again. The man regarded them and laughed.

After taking another chunk out of the leg, he asked, "If I could open up some doors between the Outskirts and Earth, make it to where people would not lose their memories, what would you think?"

The question caught everyone off guard. All except for Destiny that was.

"Next you will ask Mira if she would want to see Cole again, correct?"

A bright, jagged grin appeared across the dark face, and the red eyes lit up even brighter.

"Exactly. An intriguing proposition, right?"

Miracle went pale, then red. Destiny would have been amused, but there was work to be done. She had felt, had seen that something was coming. But it was difficult to say for certain. She had seen three forces collide and shatter a world. And there was this man.

"Who are you?"

"I have not been doing a good job of introducing myself today," he chuckled to himself. He reached out a hand and said, "Serpent. You can call me Serpent."

"But that's not your real name," Destiny corrected.

"No. No, it is not," he admitted. "If you want something else to call me in the meantime, call me the Last Tscheapwhetzar."

"And you make Doors."

He nodded at her words. "Nice emphasis there, Destiny. Yes, I create Doors. Not just any old doors, but real, lasting portals between worlds and stories. The ability to blend together the things that nature and greater minds deemed unworthy of mixing. I corrupt and bend the very fabric of worlds to my will!"

He withdrew his sword, red lightning pouring along the length of the blade. He rammed it into the table, and for a split-second Destiny felt as if a force had just been thrust through her very soul. It was as if Serpent had just become a part of her.

"This part is always tricky, especially when dealing with a powerful mind and Star like Brandon Mull's," the Tscheapwhetzar said. "But I do love a challenge! Luckily for me, I already know the best cracks which to widen in order to get myself right where I need to be, and I already got my foot through the door with the little switcher-oo I just pulled!

"Now, Destiny… Would you mind taking man hand?"

He finished the chicken leg, bone and all. Then, after wiping his hand clean on a napkin, which he also ate, the Tscheapwhetzar reached out his hand to her.

"Destiny!"

"What are you doing," her mother and sister hissed at her.

"Destiny, it's not worth this to get Cole back," Mira said, sounding shaken and a little emotional. "I'm not sure what is going on here, but no man who does this can be trusted."

"Sorry, but you're wrong. I feel right about this," Destiny said, taking Serpent's hand. "Will you tell me your real name later?"

"Sure thing," he said with a wink. "Now, I'm going to ask you to lend your powers to me for a small moment. I want to open a way right into a slipstream. Right into the heart of the homesong itself! And once we have done that, there is something I want you and your family to read."

"It is a message explaining what is going on here," Destiny said. "You should really thing about opening up with that next time."

"Maybe you're right. But this does make for a more enjoyable and less exposition heavy tale!"

He took out a thick, almost bulging envelope and handed it to her. Destiny let Serpent touch her powers. A beautiful song filled the air, cutting off more protests from her family. The Tscheapwhetzar sighed and faded into mist. She could still feel his hand in hers, even though it wasn't there anymore. A kind of lifeline.

She immediately tore open the envelope and took out the lengthy letter.

"Destiny, what is going on," Honor asked.

Destiny just read further, handing one page of the letter after another to her sisters and mother when she was done reading them. She did understand everything that was written on them. No one in the Outskirts probably would. Maybe with the exception of Trillian. She heard gasps from the others as the Truth began to sink into them from what they read.

For Destiny, it was an entirely different experience. It was not just the words she read, but the images that came with them. Friends, family, enemies, lovers, strangers, comrades, and more. They marched beneath the starry sky through inky blackness to a multitude of floating islands. And before them floated a dead, black sphere. Eight symbols rose before her, and a king walked out from between them.

Then something roared, snapping Destiny out of the vision.

"Tessa, what did you see," Mira asked her, looking scared.

She looked over at her sister and whispered, "The Outskirts will go to war. And we will follow the man who takes death for a prize."