Chapter Fourteen
Several days later, we had traveled all the way to the port where Nick and Mya were supposed to take off for Australia months ago. I wasn't the only one crying when Nick, Mya, and Jackson boarded the little fishing boat to take off. Mya grabbed me in a hug that I really didn't expect from her.
"Thank you," she whispered. It was awkward at first; this was not in Mya's character at all.
"For what?" I asked, my awkwardness showing through. Mya shook her head, where I could see black fuzz growing on her scalp and where her eyebrows would be. Her hair would be long and beautiful again in no time at all.
"For helping us," she said, taking a deep breath, tears streaming down her face. "Not many people would be willing to do that."
"I didn't have much of a choice," I said with a wry smile. Mya grinned.
"You could have still said something about us needing to take care of ourselves," she hiccupped. I gave her a final squeeze.
"I can't stay out of other people's business, even when it nearly gets me killed," I said. Mya smiled, and let go of me. Nick gave me a quick hug as well.
"Will we see you after the war is over?" he asked. I shook my head slowly.
"Nick... that won't be for another two years! By that point, I think I'll be back in my own time," I said mournfully. I wanted to go back so badly it hurt, but I'd miss these guys!
"So this is good by? For good?" he asked. I nodded.
"I think it is," I sighed. Nick pulled me in for another hug, a very tight might one I add, which I returned.
"Then goodbye, and good luck in your time," he whispered. I felt tears trickling down my face.
"Thanks. You too. And good luck with Mya." Nick's eyes shone with unshed tears as he let me go.
"I didn't get the chance to meet you properly," Jackson said. He stuck his hand out, and I shook it. "But I want to say thank you for helping my son."
"And my sister," Indaw added. I smiled and nodded, shaking hands with both of them.
"It was truly a pleasure," I said. Nick, Mya, Jackson, and Indaw climbed onto the boat.
"GOODBYE!" they shouted in chorus, waving. I waved back furiously, and kept waving until they disappeared over the horizon.
Still crying, I got back up on top of Miss Pretty. Hilltop sat astride Hannibal already, waiting for me. I kicked Miss Pretty behind the ears to get her to start moving, and then tapped her right ear to turn her around.
"Sarae, I think I know how to get you back," Hilltop said without warning. I looked at him, hope rising in my chest.
"You do?" I said. Hilltop nodded.
"I think if you go back through the lake, you might be able to recreate the effect," he said. I felt a slow smile form on my face.
"It might," I agreed. Hilltop smiled as well, crinkling his wise old face into a series of new lines I had rarely seen.
"Then let us go," he said, kicking Hannibal into a trot.
It took us another three days to get back to the lake. It had now been almost two weeks since the mine exploded. Father must be so worried. The water was still, and looked deceptively innocent. I shivered, thinking hard. I really wanted to do this, to just try, but what if I just sat on the bottom waiting and ended up drowning?
"Hilltop?" I said to distract myself from my fear.
"Yes?" he answered. I looked at the blue water hard, forming an answer in my mind.
"I didn't understand when I first read the book you guys are in, what the author's purpose was for writing it," I said. Hilltop looked at me intently.
"And you do now?" he asked. I nodded.
"I think.... I think it was so people could understand your lives as you went through them here," I replied. "But I didn't get that until I came here. Didn't get how truly hard and painful and beautiful it is. Now I know."
"Now you know," Hilltop agreed. I took a deep breath and slid off of Miss Pretty's leathery back.
"Well, here I go," I said, gingerly putting a toe into the water. Hilltop raised a hand in farewell.
"Goodbye Sarae," he said.
"Bye Hilltop." Before I could think twice about what I was doing, I dove headfirst under the surface.
I swam further and further down feeling the black water chill me to my bones, colder and colder the deeper I went. I began to panic; why wasn't it working?! As soon as the question bubbled up in my mind, I saw it: the bright light. I didn't fight the pull this time. Instead, I helped it; I dove straight into its embrace. The pull was strong, but so was I. I swam hard, straight through the sparkling stars and suns, past times and lives and universes. In that one second I saw all. I was in between the two times. I was frozen and burning, alive and dead. Nothing and everything surrounded me, and I was drowning in it. My head feel like it was going to split open, and I wondered through the pain if I was going to die here. But I passed right through, before darkness claimed me.
"Is she waking up?" someone whispered. I felt my eyelashes flutter open. It was too bright to see anything. I squeezed my eyes shut, before opening them again. I was dizzy and I felt heavy. Indistinct shapes gradually sharpened and sounds reached into my ears. James, Haru, and my father were crowded around my bed. I was dressed in a hospital gown, something to help me breath stuck in my nose, and an IV in my arm. I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't like hospitals all that much. The left side of my body ached and burned. I reached up to touch my face, and felt a bandage above my right eye. It seemed that the injuries from the mine explosion had finally caught up with me. I had a feeling that they were going to bite me in the butt some day. I shifted my hand to my hair. My fingers went through short little pieces, not the long strands that would normally hit the middle of my back.
"What happened?" I croaked. There was dead silence, and then the two boys leapt on me.
"Oh my God, Ray," James said. "Don't you ever scare me like that again! You were missing for almost two weeks!"
"Two weeks? Sounds about right" I murmured. My throat felt like it was on fire. That was how long I had been in the past. So it must have happened. At least, it did in my mind. Was I crazy? No, Nick, Mya, Hilltop and all the others are too real to not be, well, real.
"Yeah. We were afraid you were dead," Haru told me in Burmese. My father's eyes were filled with tears.
"You're going to have some sweet scars, honey," James said. "And I like the hair." I gave him a smile. That was like James, to try and play up how I looked good even though I didn't. I wondered if Nick would be like that, if he had seen me like this in the hospital.
I could see that Haru had a cast on his leg and was using a crutch to get around and James had a few nasty burns peeping out of his shirt collars.
"You guys okay?" I asked. The boys nodded.
"Yeah, you took the most of it," Haru said.
"Too busy protecting us," James said gruffly, messing up my short hair. It stuck straight up, before falling limply back against my head. A good shower would cure that...
"Are you truly all right?" Father asked. I looked directly into those eyes that were exactly like mine. I had to tell him - someday. But for now, I just needed to tell him about how Burma needed to stay neutral.
"Father, Burma needs to stay neutral," I said. Father stood up straight.
"Sarae, this isn't the time-" he started, but I cut him off.
"Father, this is more important than my injuries! The North Korea will just suck us into their country, making Burma just a distant memory and South Korea will just profit off of us! They will take and take until there is nothing left! We won't have freedom unless we stay out of it." I was sure about this. I would follow through in my decision, all the way to the president.
"Are you sure?" Father asked. I nodded.
"We should only use the army defensively. Don't harbor people from either country unless absolutely necessary. If there is any fighting here between the two sides, we'll come in to kick them out. They will be to busy fighting with each other to expend resources forcing an unwilling people to work with them." I said confidently. Haru and James grinned.
"You'll make a great general yet," Haru grinned. James laughed, and mused up my hair again. I stuck my tongue out at them, but I was happy.
I was back where I belonged.