The Lost Witch (5 page)

"And those who don't?" Carole said, totally confused.

"Ah well, those students who fail thereafter affectionately refer to the Celestial Nexus as
Point Puke. But most recover within three or four days."

"Wait a second! A minute ago you said failure at The Hub was inconceivable, and now
you're saying all kinds of kids fail. So which is it?"

Melodious bent his chin upwards, scratched the tip of his nose with his beard, and
cocked his head to peer sideways at Carole. "Obviously in this situation it's both. A perfectly
sound explanation. Understand?"

"Understand?" Carole jumped to her feet, feeling an incredible urge to tie his eyebrows
into a granny knot. "Understand? First you tell me that my parents are alive but I can't see them
because they just happen to be living in another dimension with a bunch of weirdos like you, but
apparently that's not as important as a school full of barfing kids who never fail but fail anyway.
Are you bonkers? Of course I don't understand. You're not making any sense!"

Philamount's eyebrows shot up his forehead to hide beneath the white bush of his hair.
"Calm yourself Miss Sylphwood. I know this all seems rather confusing, but allow me the
opportunity to explain further. And please, sit down!" The last was very much as a
command.

Carole found herself sitting without even realizing she'd moved.

"Now then, just because students fail the transdimensional jump test, doesn't mean they
themselves are failures. It only means that they're not jumpers. A fish is a creature that swims, a
bird is a creature that flies, but is a fish a failure because it cannot fly? Not at all. It is still a
perfectly good fish. And likewise at Hub Central, these students are not failures, they're simply
not jumpers."

"Well why didn't you say that in the first place? Now I understand perfectly. They're
pukers, not jumpers."

He snorted menacingly, but before he could respond further, she said, "Wait a second.
Does this have anything to do with those ghosts I saw last night?"

"Indeed it does, Miss Sylphwood. A brilliant deduction. Last night you managed a
transdimensional jump...of sorts. Technically speaking it wasn't totally successful. You sort of
wedged yourself between the two dimensions, but it was a valiant effort nonetheless, considering
you've had no formal training whatsoever."

"I did? It was?"

"Yes, you did. Probably accidental on your part, more likely you stumbled over, but you
still managed a successful landing between the two."

"Between which two?"

"Why, this Monobrain Universe and the Ghostly Spirit Realm of course. It was only a
lucky coincidence that I happened to be visiting with some ghostly colleagues, when the two
dimensions collided. A dreadful experience, was it not? Definitely not the way transdimensional
travel should feel. I myself was quite disoriented for a time. However once I realized what had
happened, I took a few readings and discovered that a dimensional connector was close
by--extremely close. And since the monobrain connector is the only one still missing from the Hub,
well it was obvious which dimension had crashed into us. So, I jumped over for a quick peek, but
was unable to locate the connector. Instead, I found you."

"Wait a sec," Carole said, chewing on her bottom lip, "I think I get it. You mean the
spook world and my world somehow overlapped, and that's why I could see the gravestones but
not actually touch them. They were only partially here."

"Those 'spooks' prefer their dimension to be known as The Nightshade and Ghostly
Spirit Realm, if you please, but yes, your assessment is basically correct. It was also fortunate
that you didn't jump completely into the Ghostly Spirit Realm last night, for multitasking is not a
thing to be taken lightly these days. Certainly not since The Great Conundrum."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you not hear the werewolf?"

"That thing really was a werewolf!?"

"Howling, hungry and hunting for you. Had you been silly enough to jump totally into
the Nightshade Universe, I'm quite certain the creature would have found you, and that my dear,
would have unquestionably been your first and final transdimensional jump!"

He peered down at Carole, who had become very still. "I do not say such things to
frighten you Miss Sylphwood, only to warn. It is through no fault of your own that monobrain
schooling is not up to snuff when it comes to real knowledge, but there is little we can do about
that now except fill in as many gaps as possible. May I continue?"

Carole opened her mouth, but before she could speak her ears popped and the world
whipped violently off kilter.

Carole pitched face first into cold, slimy muck. "Ew, gross!" She pushed herself to all
fours and spat the foul sludge out of her mouth. "Disgusting!"

Thankfully, the world had stopped spinning. Unfortunately, it was now totally blanketed
in a gray mist. "Professor, are you still here?"

There was no answer.

"Professor Philamount?" She jumped to her feet and let out a small sigh of relief. The
mist came only to her knees, but, along with the fog, she was now surrounded by a murky tangle
of shriveled and misshapen trees. Most had only a few leaf-like globs stuck to their sparse
branches. Oddly enough, they all seemed to be pointing in her direction.

She inched towards the nearest tree. It resembled a stunted apple draped in gooey black
moss, or was it folds of rotting flesh? She crinkled her nose. The air certainly smelled bad
enough.

As she stood staring, the mist began to flow around the tree.

Strange, she didn't feel any breeze.

She glanced over her shoulder. The fog was perfectly still. She looked down. Again, no
motion. There only seemed to be movement around that one tree.

It wasn't the mist at all. The apple tree was moving.

Heart pounding, she backed away, while looking wildly about. There was nothing but
forest in all directions. The tree suddenly lurched her way, revealing a small patch of light in the
gloom.

Carole dashed for the opening, but a thick root snaked across her path. Diving over, she
flipped a perfect handspring, fought off a branch that grasped for her throat, and kept running.
Seconds later she burst free of the forest and sprinted across open ground, not stopping until
she'd put at least a hundred yards between her and that sinister wood.

Breathing hard, but satisfied the trees were no longer following, she examined her wrist.
Blood was dripping from a long, thin gash that had begun to sting. She squeezed the cut with her
other hand, and looked around, only to realize that she was now standing in a field strewn with
familiar looking gravestones.

"Not the Spook Realm again!" She kicked at a headstone, expecting her foot to pass
through and started in horror as her toes smacked against solid rock. The headstone toppled over
and shattered. A shadowy form rose up, shrieking, from the rubble and sailed towards the forest.
Carole strode quickly away.

Once out of the graveyard, she took stock of her situation. What had appeared almost
bright from within the forest, turned out to be a bruised-looking sky. The air was definitely
colder out in the open, but at least the putrid damp didn't extend beyond the trees.

She climbed a nearby ridge and looked over into a narrow valley that stretched
towards an ever darkening horizon. Wide hollows, probably marshlands, were already shrouded
in fog, but partway down the slope she could make out a winding trail. It led towards a squat,
warped structure with light shining from its tiny windows. The building was less than a mile
away. There were other buildings too, farther off, some with lights in their windows, others dark,
but all were perched midway between the valley floor and the ridge.

She chewed on her bottom lip. Obviously she'd managed another transdimensional jump
into the Spook Realm, only this time it looked as if she'd crossed all the way over. She had no
idea what was normal in this world, or more importantly, what was safe. For all she knew, that
building could even be some creepy crawler's home.

She didn't know how long she'd be stuck in this realm, but it was going to be dark very
soon. Wouldn't she be a lot warmer spending the night indoors? She didn't think it likely that a
nasty creature would live in a house, especially one with lights, and she certainly didn't want to
be anywhere near that mobile forest once darkness fell. Besides, the countryside below
looked
almost ordinary.

A sharp sting on her foot made her look down. Misty tendrils were wrapping around her
ankles. When she spun around, she saw waves of fog pouring from the forest like an incoming
tide. The graveyard was already engulfed.

She poked at the mist. It felt different from just minutes ago; somehow rougher and
thicker, and it seemed to stick to her skin as she pulled her finger away... No, not stick,
cling.

"It's alive!" The mist was everywhere and getting deeper by the moment. She stared into
the valley. The mist was everywhere except there!

She tried wading through the now knee-deep mist, but the harder she pushed the more it
resisted, gripping her ankles and binding her legs. Suddenly her calves began to burn. With a
yelp, she leapt on top of the mist and started gliding for her life. That was when she heard faint
whistling, like a boiling tea kettle. Instinctively she knew the sound was an alarm, a warning that
dinner was escaping.

By the time she was close to the edge of the hill, the whistling had grown louder and
shriller and the mist beneath her feet was almost boiling hot. She gave two more quick kicks and,
crouching like a skier, flew over the crest. As she did so, something caught at her head, yanking
loose strands of hair.

Stealing a quick glance behind, she saw thick coils stretching after her like the arms of a
giant octopus. By then she was out of reach and racing downhill at an ever increasing speed.
Soon she'd left all traces of the fog behind, and had flashed past the trail. She was in danger of
gliding into the mist pooled at the bottom of the slope.

Leaning back, she dug her heels into the ground. Instead of stopping, she was catapulted
forward another twenty feet before landing on her belly.

"Uhh!"

High above, the hilltop swarmed with dozens of misty tendrils swirling about in an
angry dance. Close to where she lay, the valley mist remained flat and still.

Wincing slightly, Carole got to her feet.

The sky was now twilight dark. Realizing she had little time left before daylight totally
failed, Carole set off. The trail was easy enough to follow, if not well traveled. She had little
difficulty understanding why. No one in their right mind would want to walk this countryside,
day or night. Of course Professor Philamount had said that the Ghostly Spirit Realm was his
specialty, but then again he wasn't exactly normal, either.

Despite her brisk pace, darkness soon overtook her. She tried not to be overly
concerned, as she could still see the building's lights flickering in the distance and there hadn't
been even a trace of fog along the trail. Still, when a full moon crested the horizon, she broke
into a run. She didn't stop until she was leaning against the front door, gasping for
breath.

The door was made of huge, roughly-hewn planks bound together by thick tongues of
metal that snaked out from two enormous hinges. Overtop, a small window spilled enough light
to illuminate the entranceway, but it was much too high for Carole to reach.

The building was fashioned from unfinished split-logs stacked together at odd angles,
with a few crooked windows set high above the ground. Despite the crude design, everything fit
perfectly together, without leaving so much as a crack to peek through. Carole circled the
building twice, but found no way to see in, no way to get in.

If she wished to get out of the night, she had no choice. Taking a deep breath, she
stepped up to the door and rapped her knuckles firmly against the wood.

Slapping the side of a tree would have been as effective. "Guess I don't have a choice,
unless I want to sleep outdoors," she muttered as she pressed the latch and pulled on the heavy
door.

The door swung open with a groan, revealing a narrow, dimly lit hallway, out of which
wafted the pungent smell of cat pee and burnt soup.

"Achoo!" Rubbing her nose, Carole looked down to see a pair of green eyes peering up
at her in the half-light...then two pair...then four pair...then six... finally more than a dozen sets of
eyes.

The cats, looking rather amused, sat there staring silently. From behind them, she heard
laughter and the general racket of what sounded to be a party.

Well, if whoever lives here likes cats, they can't be all that bad.

When she moved, the cats vanished back into the building. Within seconds the sounds of
merriment died away. "Guess I've been announced." She brushed herself off and stepped through
the doorway. "Best not keep them waiting."

Inside, the smell of cat pee was a hundred times worse, forcing her to hold her nose and
blink away the tears that sprang to her eyes. She took a few seconds longer to adjust to the
brighter light at the end of the corridor. When she did so, she found herself looking into a large
hall, lit by dozens of sputtering candles held aloft by three round chandeliers. On the floor,
seated in a semicircle and preventing her from stepping any further into the building, were the
cats.

Even more impressive was the group of women standing behind them. The women, all
sizes and ages, were dressed in similar clothing, black satiny fabric that sparkled in the candle
light. They didn't look mean, but they didn't look exactly friendly either. And as they were
obviously waiting for her to make the first move, Carole cleared her throat.

"Ahem. I wonder if you could help me?" She addressed both the cats and the women.
"You see I'm sort of lost. I jumped... That is I fell from... Ah, this is rather difficult to explain."
She scratched her nose while wondering if these people even knew about different dimensions. It
would probably be best to leave multitasking out of her explanation if she could.