Chapter 6
The gang ended up at Bryce's since he had a big collection of weapons and other helpful tools which had proven useful on a few occasions. The first had been when a dragon decided to destroy Spooksville and the other was when the vampires invaded. It seemed Bryce's material resourcefulness would prove useful a third time.
It had become apparent during the dragon raid that Bryce's sources came from the contacts he had; most likely through his father. Actually Bryce lived alone, but he admitted to them once that his father had a top secret job and even he didn't know what it was. The gang wasn't aware of any other family Bryce had other than his cousin, Leah, who had joined them on the adventure with the dragons. She had been the one to instigate the quest when she showed up at the bakery with Bryce and a treasure map.
"How's your throat?" Amy asked as Bryce entered the kitchen. She had been hiding out there because she felt uncomfortable with everyone, even Bryce. Especially Bryce.
He touched his neck gently. "I suppose it's not so bad. It is a bit irritating," he admitted. Bryce reached up into a cupboard and grabbed a couple of boxes of Pop tarts. "Actually I should probably make some tea or something," he added. His voice was raspy.
"I can make some," Amy offered. "I feel bad about not doing anything."
Bryce flashed one of his sweet, rare smiles. "OK."
It didn't take too long to boil the water or mix the honey into it, but Amy paused just before she went to give it to Bryce. Ann Templeton had made her immortal. Maybe. Amy didn't believe yet even though she had been throttled as long as, if not longer than, Bryce and her throat showed no bruises and there was no pain. She reminded herself she also supposedly had blood that could heal not only her, but others as well. The thought was a passing one; she couldn't put her blood into the tea. It was wrong without Bryce's consent. And yet, she still couldn't bring herself to tell them about the wish even though she felt bad for keeping it from them.
"Here's your tea," Amy said as she entered Bryce's room. He was pulling out a first aid kit from a trunk at the end of his bed.
"Thanks," he said as he took it from her and sipped it. For a moment Amy lingered there, but then she turned to leave. "You don't feel comfortable here, do you?" Bryce asked. She froze at his words and looked back at him. He glanced at her. "You shouldn't."
Amy forced a pathetic smile and left. Things were complicated.
In the television room, Cindy and Adam were packing the backpacks up while Sally lounged on the couch and rested her eyes.
"It's like we're going to war," Cindy commented.
Adam took a peek into a box that he was about to shove into a bag. There was a dagger inside. He stopped packing and sat beside Sally. "I don't think bringing this stuff is a good idea."
"What do you expect to defend yourself with then?" Sally asked with her eyes still closed. "These creatures will gut you and eat your insides the second they have the chance. You cannot reason with them."
"We've never had to resort to using weapons like this though," Adam argued. "We do just fine without daggers and all that."
"What about all those alien weapons?" Sally mentioned. She opened her eyes and took a glance at Adam before settling down again.
"You mean like this?" Bryce asked from the doorway to the hall. He held up a laser pistol.
Adam recognized the gun immediately. "Isn't that the shape shifter gun?"
Bryce beamed. "It's not like I stole it."
The gang had run into a shape shifting race the night before paranormality hibernated in Spooksville - the night the witch left, but not before granting them each a wish.
"You've been hiding that for four years?" Cindy asked in disbelief.
"Actually I knew," Watch admitted as he walked in from the hall as well.
"I never hid it, you just never asked about it," Bryce said.
Adam decided to take a stand. "We don't need this stuff."
"These are creatures that like to hurt, Adam," Bryce explained, trying to hide his annoyance as he pointed to the now-bandaged cut on his forehead and then to his throat. "And this time we don't have a fairy to heal us when arrows fly."
He was referring to the other time mythical creatures had invaded Spooksville. Watch had been hit in the calf with an arrow and a fairy named Sarshi had mended him with the magic she knew. Bryce had not been there, he didn't really join the gang until the dinosaurs showed up, but they had told him about it.
Amy, who stood at the entrance to the kitchen, looked down at her arm where veins pumped blood throughout her body. She was their fairy, their healer. She knew Ann Templeton must have given her the wish for a reason and she knew the witch probably knew her wish before she offered to grant it. Adam and the others were granted wishes not only to save the universe, but because they earned the witch's respect. Amy was just given it and she wondered why. She looked up and noticed Watch staring at her. Quickly she looked down again.
Adam saw this. Watch had been studying Amy all day and Adam wondered what was going through his mind. He could only guess that his friend was trying to figure out why Amy looked so familiar to them because no one else could.
"I'm not carrying this stuff; who ever wants it can carry it themselves," Adam announced. "I refuse to."
"Me too," Cindy and Tira agreed.
Watch hesitated. "I agree," he said.
Bryce and Sally looked at one another. "Fine, but I'm keeping this gun," Bryce decided.
Cindy and Adam unpacked everything and decided what to put into the bags.
"I don't think there's enough food," Tira observed. "Two boxes of Pop tarts aren't going to do it."
"Yeah," Bryce agreed, "I don't really have a lot of durable food here."
The grocery store was out of the way, but everyone thought that avoiding a little detour was not worth starving to death. They had no idea what was on the other side of the tombstone or how long they'd be there.
"These are some really weird creatures," Sally commented as a blue butterfly the size of her fluttered past.
"I'm thinking that the creatures on the other side of the Secret Path are migrating here," Watch offered. "Those zombie creatures wouldn't have left their home if they had plenty of food and shelter."
"Aren't they going to destroy our ecosystem?" Tira asked.
Adam noticed that Amy was walking behind them. He figured Bryce would be the first to notice only he was walking with Cindy. So, he stopped and waited for Amy to catch up with him.
"Hi," he said as she approached him.
She looked up. "Hello," she greeted. They began to walk together.
"How do you like Spooksville so far?" he asked after a brief silence. Ann Templeton had asked him the exact same question the day he arrived in town.
"It's nice," she said simply.
Adam kept trying. "Even after that attack?" he asked. She shrugged.
He tried to think of something else to say, but after a moment Amy spoke. "Things just aren't as I thought they would be."
Their conversation was interrupted then. "What is that?" Adam heard Cindy ask.
He glanced up and saw the reptilian squirrel that Dr. Paine spoke of, walking amongst the gang as they each backed up to give it room. It was as though it was deciding on who the prime candidate for its dinner was. Its little claws that extended from its lengthy arms clicked sharply on the pavement, its thick, stubby tail flickered as a squirrel's would. Stopping at Amy, the evil little thing got ready to pounce but Adam instinctively grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. The creature began to scream.
"Run for the grocery store!" he yelled. Adam yanked Amy with him. The squirrel was probably calling for more of his kind to come; a theory proven fact when more of the thick-hided creatures started to peek out from the trees.
The gang wasn't too far from the local grocery store so they made it inside long before the deranged squirrels could reach them. The first thing Adam noticed about the store was that it was empty. That wasn't very reassuring.
"Out the back," Adam told his friends.
Bryce, next to Adam at the front of the store, ran for the cereal aisle. "Hold on," he said as the others headed for the fire exit at the rear of the store. Adam knew he was getting supplies and now was the time to get them since everything was free. He made a mental note to tally what Bryce took and later pay the store owner back like they always did when they borrowed the townspeople's belongings.
Adam was heading for the back of the store when Cindy called out. "Adam, they're surrounding the back door."
He sighed. "At least we won't starve." Adam stopped in the bread aisle and stood there trying to figure out what to do. A minute later Watch approached him with steaks in hand and an idea. As Bryce continued to choose supplies, Adam and Watch went to the back door.
"Cindy, go help Bryce," Adam directed her as he passed her his bag.
"We need to wait until everyone's ready," Watch explained. "If we throw the steaks out, they may go after those instead."
"They may only like warm meat," Sally said darkly. Both Adam and Watch feared she was right.
"I'll be back," Adam said. He headed to the meat aisle for more steaks. As he grabbed the last of them and knelt down to lift the pile, he heard a voice.
"Are you human?" he was asked. Adam turned to his left and faced a beautiful little girl with long curly pale blonde hair and wide blue eyes that swallowed everything they saw in a childish curiosity. She poked his cheek with a finger. She couldn't be more than six.
"Yes," Adam answered, figuring she'd seen as many odd sights as they had that day. "Where's your mother?" he asked, looking around. Briefly Adam could picture a bloody corpse lying somewhere in the store. He hoped the little girl's mother had not been attacked.
She scrunched up her nose. "I'm not human," she said as though that answered his question. The little girl spread out her delicate sparkling wings that had a moment ago been hidden. "I'm a fairy," she explained proudly. "My name's Saline."
She held out her hand and Adam held out his. "Adam," he said.
Saline turned her head to the side and knitted her eyebrows together. "Are you going to feed the harbingers?" she asked, looking at the steaks. Adam assumed she was talking about the squirrels.
"Yeah," he told her.
"They're not hungry," she shook her head. She seemed to know a lot.
Watch jogged toward them then. "Adam, we need to-" he stopped once he saw Saline.
Adam glanced at Watch. "Hold on," he said to him. Adam quickly turned back to Saline. "How are we supposed to get out of here? We need to get through to your world to stop whatever's causing your world to come here."
"Oh," she said. She was surprised. "In that case they may let you out. I can go talk to them," she offered.
"They're intelligent?" Watch asked.
"Of course," Saline said. She gave Watch a funny look as though it wasn't possible that they weren't.
Saline followed Adam and Watch to the rear of the store. After brief introductions, Saline slipped out the back door.
When a few minutes passed, Adam grew more and more worried. "We shouldn't have let her go out there; she's too little to deal with those creatures."
"She's a fairy: she's probably older than we are," Bryce comforted him.
A minute later there was a soft knock on the door and Adam opened it, relieved to see little Saline unharmed. "They like you," she beamed.
As the gang walked toward the cemetery Saline explained all she knew about what was happening.
"You see," she began, nibbling on a chocolate bar that she asked Adam to open for her. "I come from a place that has humans too, but they're not very nice to other creatures," she said.
"How unheard of," Sally remarked sarcastically.
Saline continued. "They're trying to take our homes for their own uses which is why Naia helped the Lilais defend themselves."
Watch glanced at Saline sharply. It wasn't in anger, but in sudden curiosity like what she had just said was very important. Adam knew that look. "Who's Naia?"
Saline's eyes wandered and looked as a child who was hiding something would. "I'm not supposed to talk to her," she confessed. "But she's so lonely." The gang waited for her to go on. "Naia wanted to be part of the human world; she wanted a government job and wanted to change things. But then they found out she was a fairy so they banned her to the Jarethcomb area which is where I live. Then she got mad," Saline explained, taking another bite. "And the Lilais got mad too once this man tried to take their home so Naia helped them defend themselves. Now they're the harbingers."
"What man?" Bryce asked.
Saline's eyebrows knitted together. "He wants to build shops for humans to go to, but he wants to use the earth we live on. There's no more room in Aulora to build anything else, or he just likes our land…something."
They entered the cemetery and approached the tombstone. The ground was littered in flowers which looked odd with the dead and scraggly trees that dotted the grounds.
"So you're going to stop that man?" Saline asked as they came to a stop in front of Madeline's grave. "I was trying to find Naia but I have to be home soon before someone notices I'm gone. I thought she would be easy to find; she said she would come here to help the harbingers."
"How did Naia help them?" Watch asked distractedly. Once again he was lost in thought, seemingly ignoring what people were saying. Adam was growing worried.
"First they were chubby and cute and then she made them into reptile things that can control people's minds," Saline said.
Everyone looked at one another. "Control?" Adam asked.
"Yeah, so the harbingers can fight the bad man back," Saline said, chocolate smeared all over her face.
"How do they control humans?" Watch specified.
"They try to sense out people with something that can help their cause, but they also usually make sure that the person is sensitive to their controlling. Then they attach themselves to the back of their necks," Saline said. She began to lick her caked fingers.
Watch thought back to the hospital. "But they will attack someone who's not so receptive to controlling?" he asked.
Saline dropped her arms and looked at him with guilty eyes. Then she looked to the ground for comfort. "Yes," she mumbled.
"Can they kill someone they're trying to possess that isn't sensitive to their control?" Bryce questioned.
"Maybe," Saline said quietly.
Adam noticed that her eyes were starting to water. "That's enough," he said. "We're turning this into an interrogation now."
Bryce nodded in agreement and then turned to Adam. "I know you don't like splitting up, but I think we may have to; every moment her world is in ours, the more damage is being done to the environment and the rightful citizens of Spooksville. We need to find Naia, but we also have to see this business guy – one of them needs to concede."
Everyone then turned to Adam, waiting for his decision. "Fine," he nodded.
Once again it was Watch who split them up. He, Bryce, Tira and Amy would search for Naia, who Saline said liked caves and water. Adam, Sally and Cindy would go find the Van de Ryn business man beyond the Secret Path.
Before they left, Cindy and Bryce reorganized the bags again so that each group had what they needed. Adam's group received most of the food and water since their destination was an unknown one. Meanwhile, Saline explained there was a lot of forest in her world and that she didn't know exactly where to find the Van de Ryn man, but that their best bet was a long hike to a city called Aulora. It was during this time that Adam approached Watch.
He was standing by a tree that was located about twenty feet from everyone. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Adam's presence until he was tapped on the shoulder. He jumped slightly.
"What's going on? You've been like this all day," Adam said.
Watch gave him a stern look and then glanced over at Amy. "I have a lot on my mind," he said simply, a far away look in his eyes.
Adam took a look at Amy as well. She was knelt down beside Bryce and Cindy, helping them pack the last few things. "She said she was here a long time ago. Maybe you remember her." Adam told his friend.
"Even you think there's something familiar about her," Watch muttered.
"That's true," Adam admitted. "So what are you thinking?"
Watch continued to look at her. "I doubt a lot of things about her: who she is, where she came from, and that she even met Ann Templeton."
Adam studied his friend, looking for humor but there wasn't any. "You can't be serious," he protested.
"I am," Watch said. "Bryce and Cindy explained exactly what happened at the gift shop and according to their record of events Amy should be even more hurt than Bryce."
Adam still didn't understand where Watch was going with this. "Maybe they're mistaken. They were all attacked, how could they know exactly what happened to each other while worrying about their own lives?"
Watch was patient. "Their accounts are the same; Amy was attacked first and was being strangled until Bryce fought off Cindy's attacker. That's got to be almost twenty seconds of being strangled; Bryce wasn't even strangled as long."
"So what are you saying?" Adam asked.
"Think about it: Amy shows up when Saline's world meets ours. She doesn't talk much, spends her time listening to us, and she already knows us. Mysteriously, she's unharmed after being strangled. And conveniently there's a fairy that we know caused this merging of worlds who is missing."
Adam thought a moment. He didn't want to believe it, but it made sense. Why would Ann Templeton travel light years to transfer some girl here? "Wait," Adam said. "How could she know about us? And wouldn't Saline recognize her?"
"She's a fairy and a powerful one. Saline said so. If she can evolve squirrels into beasts, she can probably transform into a sixteen year old girl," Watch went on. "She can probably read our minds too, at least a little bit. At breakfast she could barely explain what she knew about us, if she even knows much at all, but she could answer our specific questions. She can probably at least pick up on little things; I'm sure everyone was thinking of the answer when they asked her a question – I was."
"Why would she want to be with us?" Adam asked, struggling to disprove his friend's theory.
"We're known in a lot of places," Watch said. "And even if she didn't know us, just picking up a few of our thoughts would cause her to believe she can use us to help the harbingers or even herself."
Adam took another look at Amy who was listening to Sally and her absurd prediction of what was on the other side. The rest of his questions dissolved; Watch's theory could explain them all.
"What are you going to do?" Adam asked, knowing full well why Watch chose the groups he did.
"I don't know. Naia may have no intention of stopping the harbingers and turning them back after they stop that man," Watch theorized. "She may use them to get revenge for herself and because she now knows our intentions she may stop us before we can stop her."
"Or she might just be doing this to help the little guys win against a tycoon," Adam reminded him. He felt that Watch was counting on the worst thing happening without giving Amy, or Naia, a chance. He paused. "Wait – why would she look familiar then?"
Watch gave him a fleeting look.
"Ready to go?" Bryce asked as he approached them and handed Adam a backpack. He then put one on himself.
"Yeah," Adam said quietly, still looking at Watch. His friend knew why Amy was familiar.
The gang got a move on since the sky was threatening to rain. The two groups said "goodbye" to one another briefly and wished good luck. Then Adam, Cindy, Sally and Saline stepped through to an enchanted realm.