First World (17 page)

Now to find a shirt.

I moved to the casual clothes and pulled a royal purple top off a hanger. A tank top in simple cotton – ribbed and baby soft. Whatever material they made clothes from, or what they washed them in, was amazing. Dressed now, and semi-ready to marry my wardrobe, I walked toward the doorway. Just before exiting, I noticed a row of coats. New York would be freezing, maybe even snowing. I grabbed a mid-thigh trench coat. Thick and black, with a zippable lining, it would be plenty warm.

I left without another glance. For once I let my red curls hang heavy down my back. I’d tie it back later. I ran down the hallway, focused now.
Time to find Lucy.

They were already standing with their packs on. Lallielle turned at my entrance, and a dazzling smile lit her face.

“My goodness,
Aribella, you look stunning.” She took Josian’s hand. “Your hair is amazing. It’s as if you took both of our coloring.”

Considering I hadn’t checked the mirror before leaving, I wasn’t sure what I looked like. But my hair felt silky and smooth.
It was working for me today. With curls you never knew what you were going to wake up to.

Josian
disengaged from Lallielle and moved forward. Before I could react, he engulfed me in a hug. There was nothing tight or overpowering about it, despite his size. Instead it was comforting, gentle and warm. The world disappeared for a moment. I could have used this hug millions of times over the years. Shaking my head, I pulled away.

His eyes were narrowed and his brow creased as he stepped back. “Sorry,
Aribella, I couldn’t help myself. Walkers are demonstrative people, and right now you look so grown up. Just the perfect mix of Lallielle and myself.”

Lallielle
stayed back, her expression neutral. Remembering the pain she encased in her mind, I felt a strange need to offer her a token. Taking a deep breath, I stepped around Josian and walked toward her.

“
Josian had his chance; it’s only fair that you have one too.” I held my arms open. I was going for sainthood or something.

Without hesitation, she threw her arms around me. Unlike
Josian, she held me tightly; I might have heard one or two soft sobs. Another set of arms encased both of us. Josian again.

“You had your chance. Don’t be a hug-hog,” I mumbled into my mother’s shoulder.

He laughed, the comforting rumble surrounding me.

Eventually I managed to extract myself.

Brace stood near the back door, watching me. As our eyes met, I blushed immediately, reminded of the naked incident from upstairs.

His returning smile was full of heat, but the slight nod spoke volumes of his approval, l
ike I needed it.

“Okay, time to go to Earth.”
Josian moved next to me. “Picture a safe place for us to go. I’ll find a doorway close by.”

Right.
Somewhere safe in New York. Not an easy task. The alley was at least a small area that we could try and defend ourselves in. I dropped the energy encasing my mind and let images of the alley linger.

“There aren’t many places in New York one would consider safe, but this alley is generally deserted. And we might find
Quarn there.”

Josian
closed his eyes. As a little experiment I threw some energy at his mind, trying to read his thoughts. I really wanted to know how they traveled between the worlds. I slammed up against a hardness the consistency of diamond. No way was I tunnelling through that. Josian opened one eye to grin at me, before he spoke to everyone.

“Okay, link hands.”

I waited for the shimmer, but as Josian stepped back there was something very different there.

It was freaking scary.

A swirling vortex, colored a deep purple. It reminded me of the night sky with no stars to break the endless depth of the color. Like a dark tunnel and at the end I could see the New York alley. But it was contorted, as if there were millions of miles to traverse between where I was standing and where we would end up.

“What the hell is that?”
I took a step back. No way was I walking into that death trap. I prefer shimmer and sparkles, thanks.

Josian
looked up in surprise.

“It’s a doorway between the worlds,
part of the energy wormholes that connect all seven worlds.”

He gestured. “This is what the doorways look like. How did you get here,
Aribella, if it wasn’t through one of these?”

I clenched my fist nervously before shaking my head. “It was nothing like this, just a shimmery wall I stepped through from Earth into First World.”

Josian locked gazes with Lallielle. If I hadn’t known better, I would say they were communicating. Noticing my interest, Josian smiled.

“This is part of what makes Walkers so dangerous. We have the innate ability to open doorways to any part of any star system that we want. As long as we can picture where we want to end up, a doorway will open. We then traverse that distance at the speed of light, and we can take others with us.”

While I was beyond interested in learning about Walkers, I had noticed how deftly he’d changed the subject from Quarn’s unusual doorway. I let it slide for now.

Brace stepped up
then and grasped my left hand. Lallielle linked hands with Josian, and offered me her other. Taking it cautiously, I waited with apprehension.

Josian
stepped into the doorway, pulling us along.

The force sucked me through fast.

Whilst Quarn’s style was a simple and gentle transition, the trip back was a little different.

I was being sucked through a black slide. There was no pain; I didn’t bump into anything, but every particle in my body was
traveling too fast.

I wanted to climb off. My claustrophobia was starting to rear its head as the darkness encased
me.

I couldn’t breathe.

Ripping my hands free, I wrapped them around myself and tried to slow my racing heart.

I felt arms encase me as Brace held me against him. I heard words. I’m not sure if they were out loud or in my head.

“Breathe for me, Red ... breathe.”

His closeness and soothing accent were the perfect distraction. I buried my head into his
rather enjoyably muscular chest, and waited for the sensation to be over. At this moment, Walkers everywhere would be hanging their heads in shame. I was a disgrace.

There was no other noise in the
tunnel. It was a vacuum. I didn’t even know if noise could exist here, like in space there was nothing. But I knew instantly when we arrived. My cells stopped jumping around, and I could breathe freely again. The sensation was unmistakable and I wouldn’t be forgetting it any time soon.

Without a jolt, we exited
. I’d expected the worm hole to spit us out in a great jumble. Instead we were all standing, unscathed, in the alley. Brace was across from me, my hands encased in his. He let go abruptly, before rubbing his head a few times and walking away. I hugged my arms closer, before zipping up my coat. Small ice particles floated past my face.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. Walking the worlds is in your blood.”
Josian placed a comforting hand on my back. His breath came out in puffs of condensed air.

I looked around. There was trash everywhere and despite the cold the dumpsters were in fine stinking form. But it felt like I was home.

Smiling, I glanced along the empty alley. It was early morning. Light filtered throughout the dimly lit area. Lallielle looked around as well, her elegant nose wrinkled. Josian paced.

“I hate the sensation of being on Earth. I feel like I’m functioning with half my senses.
Blind, deaf, and dumb.”

I laughed. “Well, personally, I love that no one can rummage through my head. Plus everything has rules, and works the way it’s supposed to. Buildings don’t have energy I can manipulate.”

They looked at me like I was insane.

Josian
took Lallielle’s hand and pulled her close. For some reason I found it reassuring to see their constant contact. It was the feeling you got when you watched a fairy tale, all the way to its happy ending.

Brace continued to rub his
temples. “You’re just not used to the convenience of things on First World. Once you figure it out, you’ll wonder how you ever did without them.” He shook his head in a jerky manner.

Josian
cleared his throat. “That won’t help, Brace. The more energy you have on First World, the harder it is to adjust to Earth. But you’ll get used to the sensation soon.”

Brace didn’t look convinced.

Josian looked at me. “Once your powers are enlightened, Aribella, you will hate being without them. They will be comforting, your favorite warm blanket to keep you safe.” He shrugged. “And with the combination of your mother’s and my powers, we have no idea of your capabilities.”

Lallielle’s
derisive laughter trickled through the alley. “When I first was pregnant, some First Worlders and apparently a few Walkers thought we should destroy the unknown power. You are unique, one of a kind. “

Josian
stroked Lallielle’s face. “Your mother didn’t even realize at the time the extent of your enemies. She almost definitely saved your life.”

“
Come on ... why would anyone even care?” I could not comprehend the fact I had ‘enemies’; important people, and bad people, had enemies. I was neither.

Lallielle
shrugged. “I guess to them you should not have existed: Walkers cannot breed with any but Walkers.”

Josian
placed a hand on Lallielle’s elbow. “Let us walk and talk. I do not like our lack of movement.” He ushered us to the entrance of the alley.

I
stepped out onto the sidewalk and indicated that they should follow me. We needed to check out the compound first. Weapons were important.

Josian
spoke as we hurried along. “We were always warned against having relationships with any beside Walkers; but I thought that was simply a Walker superiority.”

“How many Walkers are there exactly?” At first I
’d had the impression there weren’t many, but I was starting to think I was wrong.

A calculated look crossed
Josian’s face. “Why do you ask, Aribella?”

I shrugged, watching the puffs of condensed air exit my mouth.

Josian
strode easily beside me. “I can’t be too sure. I know our clan numbers in the tens of thousands. And there are seven clans.”

He let me do the general maths. They were far less in numbers than
the population on either of our planets. But with their power, that probably didn’t matter.

As I led them through the streets, I thought of how helpless
First Worlders, and Josian probably, would feel here. People so reliant on their magic and energy. On Earth, technology was the only ‘magic’.

“You know, if you’re trying to take down
First World, and in turn all the younglings, hiding out on Earth seems like the perfect solution.” I spoke my thoughts aloud.

Josian
nodded. “I have a feeling some entity is taking advantage of the anomaly that is the dead zone of Earth.”

Brace jog
ged up to be next to me, and for the first time I noticed the form-fitted dark clothes he was wearing. Very distracting.

I hadn’t been paying attention before, but everyone
looked to be in new clothes, close-fitted, dark and perfect for running.

The streets appeared a little more derelict than when I had left. I couldn’t believe it was only three days before. It felt like lifetimes had passed. There were new burnt-out
vehicles, more buildings reduced to ruins.

As we approached the compound, w
e slowed and then came to a stop to one side of the gate. Moving the vines, I stepped closer to the security panel. I reached out a hand, fingers hovering just above the pad.

Something was wrong.

The light to indicate activation was no longer lit. I turned toward the gate. It was already slightly ajar.

I gave
it a shove.

It swung open.

Peering around the edge, I couldn’t see anything untoward in the outer gardens. Stepping through, I ran to the front door with everyone following. There was a real feeling of neglect surrounding the compound now. I tried the front door – it was unlocked. Josian stopped me from entering first. I rolled my eyes as he pushed me behind him and stepped through the doorway.

As we moved into the front hallway, a familiar voice echoed throughout.

“Well, it is about time you got back here, Aribella. I’ve been waiting for a week.”

Josian
spun around defensively as a familiar figure stepped out from the small side classroom.

Pushing
my protective giant aside, I ran forward and threw my arms around Quarn in a tight hug. He looked exactly the same and I was so relieved. He stepped back, holding me at arm’s length. It was hard to tell through his usual stoic expression, but I think he was happy to see me.

“What happened,
Quarn? Where is everyone?” I couldn’t believe he was here.

Before answering, he stepped over to
Lallielle and took her hand. He gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. Josian was at Lallielle’s side so fast he blurred at little.

“I have missed you, old friend,”
Lallielle said as she shooed the deliberately towering over them Josian.