Chapter 25
Winnie floated through nothingness. The dark gradually brightened to a pale haze. Sometimes she heard Kip’s British accent, speaking softly. Other times he sang. The more she heard his voice, the more she fought toward those beckoning sounds.
Finally, she returned to her body lying on a bed. She lifted her arm to touch her throbbing head. A cool hand stopped the upward motion, returning her arm to her side.
“Lie quietly, dear General,” an unknown female voice said.
Another sharp pain stabbed Winnie’s temples. She strained to open her eyes. A blurry gray blob stood over her. Her vision sharpened, turning the blob into a toad woman.
Her groggy mind tried to send a warning that giant toads wanted to kill her, but her muscles had no strength to tighten. The toad made no move to attack. Only tenderness shone from eyes the color of the Caribbean Sea. Without knowing why, Winnie felt safe.
“The pain will leave in time. You took a serious fall.”
The voga placed cold leaves on her forehead, easing the ache. Her eyelids drooped closed.
When she woke again, her headache was almost gone.
“Are you feeling better, General?” asked the blue-eyed voga.
“Who are you?”
“I’m called Cyann, Sister of Dawn and New Beginnings. I’m the oracle’s sister.”
Deep in Winnie’s sluggish brain, she remembered hearing the word oracle before.
“You’ll be pleased to know the oracle explained to the queen your special kinship to Takka. There will be no further attempts on your life.”
“Good.” Winnie yawned. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Almost five days, General.”
“What?” She sat straight up. The sudden movement made her dizzy. She fell back against the pillows.
“Mustn’t overexert.” Cyann lightly patted her shoulder.
“What about the lurkin?”
“Still no sign from the lookout post.”
Relieved by the news, Winnie fell back to sleep.
The next morning her strength had returned enough to climb out of bed. Clutching a blanket around her shoulders, she shuffled to the mouth of Cyann’s cave. She expected the scenery outside to be at ground level. Instead of grass and brush, she faced blue sky and treetops. She stumbled backward, caught breathless by the height. She pulled the blanket closer, chilled by the memory of hurtling toward oblivion. She turned from the opening to the calming scene of Cyann putting a kettle over the flames in the fireplace.
“Good morning, dear,” the voga woman said.
“Morning. Um, how did I get up here?”
Cyann moved from the kettle to the table. “You were carried by three wiggets.”
“Three? Where’d the other two come from? I only had one, and he dropped me.”
“The oracle called to them and had them bring you here so that I could cure you.”
“I do feel better. Thanks.”
Cyann smiled back. “I also had help from the Master Wizard.”
Winnie remembered his voice coaxing her from the void. A second memory pushed that one aside. “Wasn’t he supposed to catch me before I fell?”
“Some things are meant to be as they are,” Cyann replied. “With that said, the wizard came to you every day. He also made frequent visits to the lookout post.”
Just picturing Kip trying to explain binoculars to the palm almost made up for him not rescuing her.
After lunch, three wig gets flapped into the cave, carrying the wizard.
“You’re awake!” Kip raced to her, arms spread.
His gesture took her by surprise. While she was asleep, had their relationship changed? She took an uneasy step away, not sure she was ready for that yet.
He must have noticed her confusion. He halted and let his arms drop. “So.” For half a second, he looked like a bewildered puppy stuck in the rain. Then he straightened his shoulders. In a more formal tone, he said, “Feeling better?”
Why did everything suddenly feel so awkward? She forced a smile. “Much.”
“I’m glad. It’s, um, so good to see you up and about.”
“Me too. I mean good to see you too.” She let out a nervous laugh and looked away. Embarrassment heated her cheeks.
“Why don’t you two have a nice visit?” Cyann nodded toward the living room area.
Kip guided Winnie to a stuffed chair. His touch felt so gentle she blushed again.
He sat on the stool facing her. “I’m just back from the lookout post. No sign of lurkin.”
Genuine relief washed away her earlier discomfort. “Good. What about the palum? Last time I was there, they had trouble using the binoculars.”
“Same with me.” He grinned, looking relaxed. “I enchanted the binoculars to help the palm remember how to use them.”
“That worked?” She smiled with him.
“I’ve found that inanimate objects can be quite patient,” he joked.
She laughed, finally beginning to enjoy the visit. Then Cyann ruined it by sending him away so Winnie could rest.
After a nap, and Cyann’s promise that she’d see Kip tomorrow, she settled into a comfy chair. The voga woman sat nearby, a pair of knitting needles held in her knobby fingers. A ball of dark-blue yarn lay in her lap.
“Making a scarf?” Winnie guessed.
“I am, dear.”
Winnie watched her knit until boredom set in. About two minutes. “Thanks again for everything you did for me. But I probably should get back to the castle.” She still had general duties to perform.
“Don’t rush things, dear. You’ve got at least a week before you’re needed. Why don’t you take down that shiny object next to my sewing basket and see what it tells you?” Cyann nodded toward the shelving across the room.
Winnie obeyed. The golden cylinder resembled a miniature telescope and fit easily across the length of her palm. She focused it on the table. The image through the glass didn’t magnify or shrink. “What’s it supposed to do?”
“It’s not a typical spy glass. It’s a Frama-scope. Keep looking. You’ll find something.”
With a shrug Winnie pointed the lens upward. A pair of robin-egg-blue bubbles floated just below the ceiling. When she pulled the scope away, the bubbles disappeared. She put the lens to her eye again, and they reappeared. “What are those things?”
“Have you found a few blue bits up there?”
“More like soap bubbles, but yeah.”
Cyann nodded. “They’re pinpricks in the time fabric. With practice you can see through them into other worlds.”
Time fabric. Other worlds. Mikey had said those exact words ages ago. Did that mean this little device could help her see into her world? On the chance that it might, she eagerly scanned the room and found three more. One hovered above their dining table. Another two drifted beside her cot.
The following day, she found more bubbles but no signs of other worlds. During her recovery, when she wasn’t resting or visiting with Kip, she practiced with the Frama-scope. She stared at the same blue bubble, hour after hour, but nothing happened. One afternoon, a sudden downpour outside distracted her enough to let go of her expectations. The opaque bubble cleared enough to reveal a pair of human eyes staring back.
Winnie dropped the Frama-scope. “Whoa! Something just looked at me.”
Cyann smiled from her knitting. “That would be a watcher. A guardian of the veil. The space between worlds.”
“I think I saw those same eyes inside the time tear. It was kinda creepy.”
“Don’t be frightened. I suspect they were merely making certain you were worthy enough to enter our world.”
Winnie’s back stiffened at the thought that anyone, other than the queen, would doubt a warrior’s integrity. “Why wouldn’t I be worthy?”
“Take no offense, dear General. You’re not the first of your kind to visit us. Many stories have been passed down, telling of the Other’s trickery. When he first came to us, he offered knowledge we’d long forgotten. We believed he came to aid us. He stole instead.”
“I’m definitely not like that.”
“Which is why you were freed from the dungeon so quickly. The Other, however, can’t be trusted. Throughout our history, he’s appeared at random times. He stays away for many years as if believing we’ll forget so he might cheat us anew.”
“How is that even possible? Is he, like, a million years old?”
Cyann’s blue eyes stared deeply into Winnie’s. “He stole an item of ours that allows him to open time tears and travel to other worlds at a whim.”
Winnie’s mouth dropped open.
“Takka’s essence traveled to your world because the oracle foretold that the Other would return at a future time. It was hoped that Takka would grow and think as your people do and thus prevent the Other from aiding the lurk in in battle.”
Winnie shuddered. “Does that mean I’ll be fighting the lurk in and an evil genius?”
“My sister assures me that he won’t appear during this timeline.”
Winnie’s insides still churned. “What if he does?”
“He can’t. I believe that was why you were called to come in Takka’s place. If we had waited for Takka to grow, the Other would have posed a great threat. Please, General, take a few deep breaths. Remove all needless worry from your mind. I shouldn’t have distracted you from your studies.”
Winnie’s first intake of air was more of a gulp. After a long exhale and a slow inhale, she picked up the Frama-scope and tried again. This time the scope displayed a long, patterned cloth lying on a sandy beach. Winnie recognized its red-and-yellow stripes.
“Mikey’s towel. Is that possible?”
The voga nodded. “Extremely possible. Keep looking. A glimpse of home can be very healing.”
Beside the beach towel lay a mound of sand. Small hands patted it. When she tilted the scope, her view moved up small tan arms, past yellow short-sleeved pj’s, to the little boy’s intent face. “It’s my stepbrother,” she whispered.
“He’s waiting by the time tear and won’t leave that spot until you return. Victorious.”
Winnie lowered the Frama-scope. “He promised me he’d go back to the house. He’s supposed to be in the house. I gotta get home. His mom is going to kill me.”
“He couldn’t leave. He’s your anchor. And you’ve still a task to complete here.”
“How can I do anything here when the queen hates my ideas as much as she hates me?”
“General Takka might have your answer.”
“He knows how to handle the queen?”
Cyann put down her knitting. “Please come with me. I think it’s time.”