Chapter 5
Usually, a Frama-12 dream didn’t come two nights in a row. Yet here she stood in the castle, foot impatiently tapping during Polo’s boring ballad. This time, she simply hollered, “Spiders are coming!”
“That’s one way of doing it,” Mom’s amused voice spoke from nearby.
Winnie pivoted toward her. “You’re back! And you’re in my dream!”
Her smiling mother appeared on her left. “I’m in a lot of your dreams.”
“Yeah, but when you are, I don’t know I’m dreaming. This time I do.”
The castle’s ornately carved door behind them crashed open. Dozens of spiders, over twice Winnie’s height, lumbered inside. Before they completely surrounded her and her mom, a small hand touched Winnie’s shoulder. She jumped awake, disoriented. “What happened?”
“It’s time.” Mikey shook her arm. “Get dressed.”
“Why?” she whispered to an empty room. She let out a sigh and checked her watch. He’d woken her twenty minutes earlier than yesterday. She changed into running clothes. Jogging in the dark might be fun. She carried her sneakers to the kitchen area where Mikey stood in the light of the open refrigerator door. He filled a food-storage bag with fried chicken and dinner rolls.
“What are you doing, bud?”
“Helping you get ready.”
She gave a bewildered head shake. Nobody took snacks on a long-distance run. “Whatever.” She reached for the orange juice and took two swallows from the carton. The refrigerator light illuminated a pair of round canteens in canvas carriers on the dining table. They hadn’t been there last night.
She pointed at them with the juice carton. “Where’d they come from?”
“Mommy used to hike. Fill them with spring water.”
She complied. Staying hydrated made better sense than carrying a bag of chicken.
“Get the binoculars from the second drawer. You’ll need them too.”
“For what? The sun isn’t even up yet.”
“It’s up in Frama-12.”
Play along. It’s just a game. But was it? A ripple of unease rolled through her. Still, she pulled out the binoculars and draped the long black strap around her neck. She crisscrossed the canteen straps over her shoulders.
“This should last until you reach the castle.” He twist-tied the plastic bag of chicken to her belt loop. “The queen will feed you when you get there.”
She looked from her supplies to him. “This is just practice, right?”
“What time is it?”
She peered at her watch. “Four-oh-eight. Right? It’s practice?”
“We have to leave now.”
She clomped down the steps behind him. Her canteens and binoculars sloshed and clanked all the way. She felt ridiculous following a barefoot kid dressed in yellow choo-choo jam mies across the dark beach. At least none of her friends from school saw her.
Mikey led her to a wide column of static electricity, snapping and shimmering. Yesterday’s memory of the electric wall sent her skidding to a halt.
“Whoa.” She looked it up and down. The column reached from the ground to just above her head.
“In Frama-12 they know me as General Takka.” He seemed unfazed by the anomaly. “If anybody questions your authority, just tell them General Takka sent you.”
She couldn’t pull her gaze from the shimmering thing.
“I know you don’t like people bossing you, Windy, but when you get there, try to treat Queen Bogen with respect. Also, water is sacred. Offer a canteen to Her Majesty. Let’s see, what else do you need to know? Oh yeah, mel-yew are good. You can trust them. And most important, don’t forget the oracle’s prediction. When the sea is smooth, the lurk in will attack. Are you paying attention? Windemere.”
She snapped her head toward the little boy who sounded way too grown-up. “Wait. This is, like, really real? I’m doing this?”
“You’re a warrior. It’ll be easy for you.”
She chewed her lip. Her mom had given her that title because she fought adversity, not giant spiders.
She walked all the way around the glowing column. “No offense, but this looks like it could kill me. I can’t help anybody if I’m dead.”
“Time tears are safe.”
She whipped around to face him. “Are you kidding me? Last time I hit that thing, it knocked me out for an hour.”
“And you woke up again. You’ll be fine. Want me to show you?” He stepped toward it.
She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. “I’m supposed to protect you. I promised my dad and your mom. If anybody goes in, it has to be me.”
He let out a despondent sigh. “Nobody would believe that I’m Takka anyway.”
She shook out her arms and did a few neck rolls to prepare herself.
“One last thing,” he said. “Time is important.”
She stretched down, touching her toes. “How long have I got?”
“Less than two months.”
She stood upright. “What? School starts in three weeks.”
“That’s two months in Framan time, not this time. In this world the time tear will mend in about four hours.”
“Four hours? What can a warrior do in four hours?”
“You’ll be living in Framan time.”
“Uh-huh,” she said doubtfully. “And will this time-tear thing wait till I’m done?”
“No. It moves. When you’re ready to return, you’ll need the oracle to help you find it.”
“And how do I find the oracle?”
“She’ll find you. Good luck, General.”
“I’ll need it.” Louder she said, “Where will you be while I’m gone?”
“Waiting right here for your safe return.”
“I don’t think so, bud. You need to wait inside.” Thankful for a delay, she rested a hand on his shoulder and turned with him toward home.
He dug his heels into the sand. “We both have jobs to do. Mine is to wait. I’m the anchor.”
“Little kids, even with generals inside them, can’t be outside when it’s dark. Especially with this thing glowing on the beach. I promised your mom I’d keep you safe.”
“You have to trust that this is right.”
“Well, I don’t. Maybe we should go back and rethink this. In my dreams I wore a knife.”
“Then you’ll get one at the castle.”
Her insides rattled. This was wrong on so many levels, but if she didn’t enter the weird sparkly thing, Mikey might jump in ahead of her. She was a warrior after all. “You have to promise to go back home. I can’t do this unless you promise.”
“I promise.”
Winnie took a deep breath the way she did before jumping off a high dive. She breathed out, inhaled again, and plunged in.
Just like yesterday, the electric web wound tightly around her, stealing her breath. Before she passed out, she saw those emerald eyes again, watching her with that same loving glow. Then she fell into darkness.
****
Déjà vu. That’s what Winnie’s firing synapses told her during her gradual ascent toward consciousness. She recognized the heat, the warm granules prickling the back of her neck, the grit attached to her elbows and bare calves. Oh yeah, she’d been through all this before. Just like before, her head ached. Hot, bright light seared through her closed eyelids. Sound, however, wasn’t the next sense to return. This time her nose woke up first. With a vengeance. She inhaled a stink that could mean only one thing—garbage pickup day. Who knew vacation trash could reek this much? It smelled worse than sauerkraut stewing in a pot of sweaty hiking boots and dead skunks. It was enough to singe the nose hairs. Maybe the sanitation workers were on strike.
Through closed eyes she sensed a shadow blocking the sun. She guessed it was Mikey. Cozy relief flowed through her. It was just a game after all.
She slowly opened her eyes. A palomino pony’s flared nostrils snuffled at her chin. That wasn’t right. Chincoteague lay hundreds of miles south of Dad’s beach house. I must be dreaming.
She slowly raised her arm. Her fingers brushed over a velvety nose. She’d never had such a vivid dream before. The pony snorted, spraying droplets of pony snot all over her face. The hoof-steps galloped away. She sat up, wiping her face, eyes wide.
A long swath of vacant gray sand stretched out before her. Gray? When had it turned gray? And where were the joggers? Where was the old man with the floppy hat and his romping dog? The early risers, searching for shells? Something else was missing. The sound of waves splashing against the shore.
Her head pounded with a pain sharp enough to disprove the dream theory.
She stood, turning to her left where the ocean belonged. An expanse of gelatinous green-brown goo had replaced blue-gray water and rolling waves. She gasped, accidentally inhaling that putrid stink. She hacked and sputtered, clenching her eyes shut again. At least now she knew where the icky smell came from.
She turned away, facing not familiar sand dunes and beach houses, but a tangle of palm trees, oversized ferns, and stubby bushes. Where was she? And what had happened to the pony that just slobbered on her?
The rancid breeze stopped blowing from the jellied ocean. Without that overpowering stench, she could think. If this really was Frama-12, why hadn’t she landed in the castle? Every dream had begun in a castle. Where was that queen she was supposed to respect? Where was Polo?
A bush straight ahead rustled in the calm air. Winnie gripped the canteen on her right, poised to use it as a weapon.
Fat green leaves parted, revealing a pony’s nose. She instantly relaxed her grip. Now she knew where the pony had gone. A second furry head poked from the brush, followed by another and another. Dozens of golden equine faces blinked out at her. A whole herd of them stood behind the bushes.
If something was going to greet her in this weird place, she’d rather have it be horses than an army of giant spiders. She held out her hand and made gentle kissing sounds, hoping to coax them into the open. Slowly, the tallest one edged through the parting leaves. Its coloring reminded her of the palomino she’d ridden in summer camp. But it walked upright on two horse legs. Its long horse neck was attached to a human torso with human shoulders, arms, and hands, all covered in horse hair. Its long tail swished at a cloud of tiny flies.
More horse/man hybrids eased into the open. Soon males and females, ranging in height from Winnie’s knees to above her head, surrounded her. Except for their differing sizes, they looked almost identical. Only the white markings on their horse faces varied. But that wasn’t the weirdest part. Winnie recognized them from the toys Mikey had made at home.
She shifted from one foot to the other. “Are you, uh, palm by any chance?”
The two-legged horse creatures looked from one to the other. Several turned to their neighbors and mumbled. When the whispering stopped, the tallest one lowered his long neck in a deep bow. “We are indeed palum.”
“Whoa, for real? Then this really is Frama-12?”
“Frama-12,” said the leader in a clear, precise voice. “Indeed, this is Frama-12.”
“Plus, you speak English!”
“Anglish?”
“Maybe I’m speaking Framan. Anyway, I’m here to see your queen? Bogen?”
The herd bowed their heads. “Live long our Mighty Queen.”
She remembered Mikey had mentioned something about giving the queen one of her canteens. She patted the one hanging at her left hip. “I brought her a present.”
The palm raised their heads.
The leader, who stood horse-head and shoulders above Winnie, stepped into the circle with her. “You come with gifts for our Mighty Queen?”
She nodded. “Is Queen Bogen a palm too?”
The leader’s eyes widened. “Our Mighty Queen is a voga. We are but the dust beneath her feet. I am Pall, of the palum. If I may inquire, what are you?”
“I’m a person. And a friend.”
“A kind person-friend that brings gifts to our queen.”
“Except I don’t know where to find her. I think she’s expecting me too.”
“Indeed, indeed.” Pall bowed again. “Our Grand and Mighty Queen always is expecting gifts from friends. She is very well thought of.”
“I’m also here to stop the lur—” A gust of odorous wind blew past. She grimaced at the smell, then peered through the palm circle at their ocean.
“You admire our jumping sea.”
A pair of palm colts, their heads barely reaching Winnie’s knees, raced to the ocean. They laughed as they stumbled and wobbled over the surface. Several yards out, they began to jump on the jellied ocean as if it were a trampoline.
“Some sea. No wonder water is sacred here.”
The palm bowed again. “Sacred water,” they said in a reverent tone. “Good water, guarded by the Brothers Ky.”
“That’s what I brought the queen. Sacred water.”
“Indeed, indeed,” said Pall. “You are an honored friend of our Mighty Queen.”
“Live long, our Mighty Queen,” the herd chanted.
“I probably should see her now. I’m, ya know, on a timetable.”
“Indeed. A runner will direct you to our Mighty Queen’s castle straight away.”
She nodded absently, still captivated by the gelatinous ocean. It held the two colts’ weight even when they did backflips on it.
“How much weight can your jumping sea hold?” she asked.
“You wish to wait for the jumping sea?”
Winnie slipped out of the circle. She pressed a toe into the ocean’s rubbery edge. It reminded her of dirt-colored gelatin. She took a tentative step, then another. She bobbled forward, cringing with each step. If the gelatin wasn’t completely set, she might sink waist-deep into greasy sludge.
“Playmate!” The palm colts bounded toward her. The pliable surface held all three. Mikey’s warning suddenly came to mind. When the sea is smooth, the lurk in will attack.
Their sea was already smooth. If the lurk in lived on the opposite shore, all they had to do was march across to reach them. Winnie lifted her binoculars and focused on the horizon. Even though the jostling colts blurred her view, an empty expanse lay before her. The invasion hadn’t begun. Yet.
A thunder of hooves galloping closer pulled her attention to the beach. Three palm tore through an opening in the brush. “Harrik on the way!” they said. “Harrik on the way!”
“Mind the colts,” Pall ordered.
Nostrils flared. Ears pinned back. Hooves stomped the sand. The palm herd huddled closer together. Adults gripped their young. Even the colts by Winnie’s side pressed close to her.
“What’s a harrik?” she mumbled.