The Beginning

Chapter six: Trip to the Other Side

Ambrose laid asleep in his bed, the suns were shining through his window. He turned over trying to stay asleep when he heard the door open and then heard his mother going through his clothes. Before he could say anything or complain he was pulled, as usual, into a sitting position and his pajama shirt that his father had put on him the night before was pulled off. The young inventor groaned and shivered as a small breeze came through the window that his mother had just opened.

"Mom it's Saturday...." He looked at the clock noticing it was only 5:30 in the morning. "And it's not even eight o clock, you're INSANE!" He shouted before laying back down and covering his head. Carry watched him and put her hands on her hips. "Ambrose Rylenjahull Avery get up!" She snapped walking over to her sons bed and pulling the blankets off of him and once again pulling him into a sitting position. "Mom!" The inventor complained as she gently forced a brown t-shirt over his head. "Put your arms in and get your pants on...." She said in a stern voice before turning and walking out of the room.

As soon as he heard the door close Ambrose regretfully stood up and pulled the shirt off grabbing his black and red striped shirt and slipping it on and putting the same clothes on that he had worn to his birthday party the day before and ran down stairs. He ran into the kitchen not surprised to see his breakfast already sitting on the table. "Where's dad?" He asked looking at his mother before taking a bite of his food. "He'll be here later, had to run to the Tin Man Department and pick up a few things before we leave....." His mother said with a smile as she joined her son. "Leave? Leave where?" Ambrose asked looking at his mother with a worried expression.

"Your father got time off work, so he's taking us to the Other Side...." Carry said as she swallowed her food. "What?! We're coming back right?" Ambrose said looking at his mother with a worried look. "Of course Ambrose, we won't be gone forever...." Carry said looking at Ambrose with a smile. Ambrose sighed and pushed his plate away. "I've suddenly lost my appetite...." He said standing up and running out of the kitchen. "Ambrose!" His mother said as she watched her son run off and wasn't surprised to hear the sound of breaking glass. "Oh dear!" She said as Taylor walked in the front door also hearing the sound of breaking glass. "What's wrong with Ambrose?" He asked as he walked to his wife and kissed her. "I told him you were taking us to the Other Side for vacation...." Carry said hugging her husband back. Taylor sighed and walked out of the room and into a room full of broken glass and broken, busted walls. He didn't say anything as he watched the young inventor pick up a beautiful china plate and smash it against a table angrily.

Taylor sat down and just watched Ambrose carefully making sure he didn't hurt himself. Ambrose just glared at his father and took a broom handle and hit a glass lamp shade causing it to shatter and fall to the ground. "Why didn't you tell me? What about Lavender?" Ambrose snapped turning, still holding the broom in his hands as he glared at his father. "Ambrose it'll only be for...." Ambrose put a hole in the wall with the broom handle causing his father to stop talking. "It's only for a month and then we'll be back...." He said as Ambrose grabbed a china cup and threw it against the shelf. "I'm not going! I'll stay with Lavender...." Ambrose snapped as he once again grabbed the handle and smashed it against the teapot sitting on the shelf. "You can't stay with the princess Ambrose...." His father replied still watched Ambrose throw dishes and break the walls. "Yes I can! I'M NOT GOING!" Ambrose shouted grabbing a small chair and throwing it against the wall causing a big dent in the wall and breaking the chair. Taylor sighed and rubbed his forehead and walked out of the room without saying anything as Ambrose fell to the floor. He pulled his legs up so they were against his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees. 'It's not fair.' He thought as he just sat there for a while.

After a while Ambrose got up and walked out of the room and into the kitchen. He tripped over his feet and stumbled, but caught his balance before he could fall over. Talyor and Carry both sat at the table not saying a word as he came out. Ambrose looked at them and started wringing his hands. "I'm sorry dad, but I just met the pirncess and made new friends and I guess I was a little angry because now we're leaving...." He said looking at his father with an apologetic expression. His father took a deep breath and set his mug down still looking at his son. "Son I'm not angry at you, I understand how you feel right now but it's only for a month... Stop it!" He said in a polite voice and at once Ambrose stopped and put his hands to his sides. "Yes sir...." The young inventor said looking at the floor. "It was wrong of me to yell at you and I'm sorry...." He said walking over to his father and giving him a hug. Taylor smiled and hugged his son back and kissed him on the head. "So will you come with us? I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun...." Taylor said looking at his son with a kind smile. Ambrose nodded and sat down at the table before Taylor finally noticed the blood on Ambrose' hand.

"Oh Ambrose!" His mother chimed in with a worried voice as she stood up and turned her sons hand over to see a deep cut from no doubt breaking glass. "It's just a scratch...." Ambrose said as his mother lead him over to the sink. "It's just a scratch...." He repeated as his father walked over to his family and watched them. "You're repeating yourself again son...." Taylor said in a calm voice as he watched Carry cleaning the cut on Ambrose' hand. "S-Sorry...." Ambrose muttered as he looked at his mother while she washed his hand and sterilized it so it wouldn't get infected. When she poured the alcohol on his hand he flinched and yelped in pain, but Carry didn't seem to notice. She took some medical gauze and tape and wrapped it as gently as she could around his hand. "There we go, and we'll clean it before you take a shower...." His mother said smiling at her son. Ambrose smiled back and jumped off the counter and ran to his room until his parents shouted that it was time to go. He ran down the down stairs, and stopped when he reached the front door. "Wait, who's gonna take of Moritanium and Chester and Artax?" He asked as the two dogs sat on either side of the front door.

Taylor came from the kitchen and looked at Ambrose. "That's already arranged. Captain Jareth will come and take care of them, he loves dogs and I'm sure he'll take good care of Artax, now come on let's go. We have to go out to the country to catch the travel storm. We should arrive in New York...." Taylor said holding the door open for his son and wife. Both dogs seemed to bow their heads in a respectful way as Ambrose, Carry and Taylor walked out of the house. It was sprinkling but that didn't bother them. "We're meeting Jareth at the gate, and he'll ride back to the house...." Taylor said lifting his son onto the giant chestnut horse before climbing on himself. Ambrose held onto the hump of the sattle as his father held onto the reigns trapping Ambrose in between his arms so he wouldn't fall off. Carry walked over with a white horse and climbed onto her back as well. Taylor and Carry both in unison gently kicked the horses sides and at once both animals started walking in the direction of the gate.

Ambrose sighed and laid against his father's chest slowly drifting off to sleep waiting to reach the gates of the Shining City. He opened his eyes just as they passed the school and wiped a small tear from his face. "I didn't even get to say goodbye...." He said as Datrid and his friends played ball in the school yard. They all looked at Ambrose and smiled as they waved. Ambrose waved back before once agian closing his eyes.

Once they reached the gates, Jareth, a man with pitch black hair and brown eyes who was a little under six feet tall met them. "Ah, Taylor you made it. This must be Ambrose, I've heard so much about you...." He said as Taylor jumped off the horse and pulled Ambrose down as well. "Pleasure to meet you sir...." Ambrose said in a little louder than a whisper. "Wow, you've done a fine job indeed Avery. The boy knows respect...." He said smiling down at Ambrose who nodded in a friendly way. "He's only the best sir. Oh could you do me a huge favor and take good care of my dogs and Artax sir. It would be greatly appreciated...." Ambrose said in a hopeful voice. "No need to worry son, I'll take only the best care and pay as much attention to them as I can...." Jareth said in a reassuring voice.

Before Ambrose could resist they were out in the country. Taylor waited for the travel storm and smiled as he saw it coming. He took Carry's hand and grabbed Ambrose, who wasn't paying attention, gently by the collar and pulled him over before realizing that he was choking him. "Sorry son...." He said letting go of Ambrose' trench coat and pulling him by the arm. Ambrose looked at the storm and was about to say something but he was sucked into the cyclone with his father still holding onto him tightly. Ambrose felt a sudden lurch in the pit of his stomach but was immediately thrown to the ground landing on a bunch of trash bags. Taylor and Carry had both landed in the grass in front of a nice white house. The man smiled as he stood up and brushed himself off. "Exactly in the right spot...." He said as Ambrose also stood up and brushed himself off. "Is this Uncle Jay's house?" The young inventor asked looking around. "Yep, we've lived here since the day we were born...." Taylor said smiling at his old home.

Taking Carry's hand Taylor lead his family to the front door and didn't bother to knock as he walked inside. He looked around and saw a boy around Amrbose' age just staring at them. "Dad Uncle Taylor's here...." The boy shouted and ran up the stairs. When he came back down he was followed by a man that looked so much like Taylor, only a little older. He hugged his brother and Carry before turning to Ambrose. "Well so this is Ambrose. He looks so much like you. Let's feel that firm OZian grip...." He said as Ambrose shook his hand. The boy who had called to his father ran past them. His father grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Dude two words, manners...." He said pointing to Ambrose. "Oh sorry, hey you want to come play basketball or something?" The boy asked as his twin brother stood by the back door. Ambrose tilted his head looking confused and then looked up at his father who pushed him toward his cousins. "Go on...." He said.

Ambrose hesitated before finally following them out of the house. "What's basketball?" He asked as one of the boys tossed him the orange and black ball. "How can you not know what basketball is? It's only the best game in the world...." Jeremy said looking at Ambrose and then at his brother. Ambrose shrugged his shoulder and threw the ball back. "We don't have basketball in the OZ...." He said as he watched Jeremy throw the ball into the net. "I don't even know your names, that's kind of disturbing...." Ambrose said looking at the two boys and once again tilting his head. "Oh sorry, duh!" Jeremy said smacking himself on the forehead. "I'm Jeremy and that's my twin brother Jordan, but we know who you are. You're Ambrose...." Jeremy said with a smile as he started dribbling the basketball.

Ambrose watched him and tilted his head as Jordan changed the song on his iPod. "What's that?" The young inventor asked looking at the small device with a confused expression. "It's an iPod, you put music on it and you can listen to it...." Jordan said handing him the iPod. Ambrose looked at it and turned it in his hands. "I could make one of these easily...." He said handing the iPod back and shrugging his shoulders. Jordan and Jeremy looked at each other with matching confused expressions before both, in unison, looking back at Ambrose and shrugging their shoulders.

"Ambrose you wanna have some fun? Come with us...." Jordan said as he nodded at Jeremy and winked at him, but Ambrose didn't notice. "Ok...." Ambrose said as he followed his cousins down the street. "Shouldn't we tell our parents we're leaving?" Ambrose asked looking back at the house, but Jordan stopped him and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, we'll be back soon...." He said leading Ambrose toward the corner of the street. Ambrose looked back as the two boys pulled him along. They walked past a really old looking building. "Come on, it'll be fun...." Jeremy said as they lead Ambrose farther away from the house, walking past houses and small stores. "Where are we going?" He asked looking at Jordan, then at Jeremy. "It's a surprise...." Jeremy said winking at his twin brother. Ambrose sighed and followed them as he kept looking around at all the weird buildings and things around him. There were people sitting on the streets by a can of fire, they were so filthy.

There were strange lights that turned from green, to yellow, then red and back again. Weird lights that glowed under the strange lights that showed a small white person, but then would change to a red hand and blink several times. "What are those lights for?" Ambrose asked looking up at them with a confused expression. "Those are street lights, hard to explain...." Jordan said as he lead Ambrose further down the busy street. "Yea we'll explain later...." Jeremy said looking around. He kicked a can that was on the sidewalk as they continued walking. Ambrose noticed it was starting to get dark out and was feeling a little worried. "I think we should go back guys, it's getting dark out...." He said looking around, but the boys ignored him. "Uh, he-hello.I, I think we should head home now...." Ambrose said a little louder as the boys lead him to a store. "We wanna welcome you to the Big Apple...." Jordan and Jeremy both said in unison as they walked into the city. Ambrose looked around at the tall buildings with a great interest. "Big Apple?" He asked looking back at the boys and tilting his head. "Yea, kind of a nickname to New York, forget it. We'll explain later...."

They walked over to a deserted building and walked inside pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Ambrose come here, I want you to try something...." Jeremy said lighting the cigarette and handing it to Ambrose. "Suck a little and blow...." He said handing the cigarette to Ambrose. The young inventor did as he was told and started coughing. Jeremy laughed as he lit one for himself and blew the smoke out. "That's a cigarette, but you haven't tasted the good stuff yet...." Jeremy said as two girls and a boy walked in the door. "This is Rachel and Monica, and that's Gabe...." Jordan said holding the cigarette in his hand as a boy walked in behind the two girls. Rachel walked up so she was close to Jordan, leaning against him and pulling the cigarette from his hand. "Rachel and Monica are their girlfriends...." Gabe said looking at Ambrose. Jeremy hit him on the chest as he kissed Monica. "I'm Ambrose, my father is their father's younger brother...." Ambrose said still holding the cigarette in his hand. "Take another puff Ambrose, go on!" Gabe said lifting Ambrose' hand so the cigarette was close to his face. "I, uh, nah!" Ambrose said handing the cigarette to Gabe. Monica walked over to him and blew the smoke from the cigarette in his face. Ambrose once again started coughing and turned away. He sighed and sat down watching Jordan play tonsil tag with Rachel. "What's that?' He asked as Gabe pulled out a green bottle and handed it to him. "Try it...." Gabe said holding the bottle toward Ambrose, but he pushed it away. "I'd rather not...." He said looking at Gabe with a worried expression.

He watched the three boys drink whatever was in the bottle and tilted his head. He closed his eyes and heard a weird noise, and saw a flash of red and blue lights coming from the windows. "Gotta run!" Gabe said running through the kitchen and out the back door. Jeremy, Jordan, Rachel and Monica followed. Monica ran back and grabbed Ambrose' hand. "Run!" She shouted as someone kicked the door open. Ambrose started running behind the two girls and followed Jeremy and Jordan. He ran past the people on the streets. "Stop those kids!" The police officer shouted and before Ambrose could stop running someone grabbed his arm. "Hey! Let me go, please. Let go! Let go!" Ambrose shouted as he watched Jeremy and Jordan keep running. He had burned his hand on the cigarette when Monica had grabbed his hand. The police officer gently took his arm and looked at the burn mark. He could smell the scent of the cigarette on Ambrose' clothes. "Turn around son so you're facing that way...." The police officer said and at once Ambrose did as he was told. "Are you a tin man?" He asked looking back at the police officer as his hands were pulled behind his back. "A what?" The man asked looking at Ambrose with a confused and angry expression. "A cop, a tin man...." Ambrose said as he felt a pair of handcuffs close over his wrists. "Yes I'm a cop, and you... Well you're in big trouble...." The officer said as he lead Ambrose back over to the police car. He helped Ambrose get into the back and got in the driver seat before driving away with the siren on.

Ambrose looked out the window and sighed. "What's your name son?" The man asked looking at Ambrose through the rearview mirror. "It's Ambrose...." Ambrose muttered as he saw Jeremy and Jordan turn the corner, still running. "I'm Officer Curt, do you have a last name Ambrose?" He asked once again looking at Ambrose through the rear view mirror. "Ambrose Avery...." Ambrose muttered again as Curt pulled into a police station. "My dad's a tin man...." Ambrose muttered, but Curt didn't hear him seeing as he had got out of the car. He opened the back door and helped Ambrose out, leading him into the door and to a front desk before removing the handcuffs. "Put everything from your pockets on the desk Ambrose...." Curt said tapping his hand on the table and, of course, Ambrose as he was told. He pulled out a few platinums, some keys to the lab, his house and his locker at school, a small note written in weird writing and a tiny box.

"That's everything sir...." Ambrose said pulling his pockets out showing that there was nothing left. Curt nodded and lead Ambrose into an office and closed the door. "Ambrose when's your birthday?" Curt asked taking out a sheet of paper and writing Ambrose name at the top. "January 27, just turned 12 yesterday...." Ambrose said standing next to the door looking at all the pictures around the room. "And what's your phone number?" Curt asked holding the pen on the paper. "Phone number?" Ambrose asked tilting his head. "What's a phone number?" He asked looking at Curt still. "Never mind, what's your address?" Curt said moving to the next line. "I live in Central City...." Ambrose said sitting at the desk. "You know forget the paperwork. Come with me...." He said standing up and walking out of the office, back to the front desk.

Curt pulled a small weird looking thing over and put a paper over it with five small boxes before pulling a box with a black pad over. "Give me your hand...." He said and Ambrose held his hand out. Curt took his hand and pushed his fingers, one by one, against the black pad. Ambrose was surprised to see that his fingers come back with black stuff covering them. He watched as Curt pushed his fingers against the paper in the boxes before writing his name on the top and setting it in a paper folder. "Do you know why you're here Ambrose?" Curt asked him as he lead Ambrose to the back toward the jail cells. "Well you're a tin man so I assume I did something wrong...." Ambrose said looking up at him. Curt nodded and held up a cigarette similar to the one Ambrose had earlier. "Oh yea, I had one of those...." Ambrose said pointing to it. "Exactly, you said you just turned 12 yesterday?" Ambrose nodded. "Well these, they're cigarettes, and they're for adults only. So since you had one you broke the law...." Curt said in a kind voice holding the cigarette up so it was in front of Ambrose' face once they reached the jail cells.

Ambrose let his hand fall into his lap and sighed. "I, I didn't know. I'm sorry...." He muttered looking down at the ink that was still on his fingers. He started wringing his hands together and bit his lip. "Stop that, it's not good for your hands...." Curt said grabbing the inventors hands so that he couldn't wring them together. Ambrose stopped and nodded again not saying anything. It was a set-up. He thought as he took a deep breath.