Dooley stepped up the concrete steps and pulled the latch over. He pushed against the door; it moved outward about six inches and stopped. Dooley looked out and up at the sky. He pushed the door harder and it opened another two feet, pushing debris away.
Dooley swore, and rightfully so. He stepped out, and for only the second time in his life, he began to cry. There was nothing left of the Rolling Greens Deluxe Mobile Home Park. Unless, of course, you consider piles and piles of shredded-up homes and trees “something.”
Dooley stepped out farther. He looked around, putting his hand to his chest. Not a single home remained. The other residents pushed out behind him, crying and swearing—one woman fainted.
“Saint Peter’s mercy,” Dooley whistled.
It would take more than mercy to make up for the mess that stood before them all. Sadly, for the second time in less than twenty years this particular piece of the world had been completely worked over.
Everything in the mobile home park was lost.
Of course, it would take hours for anyone to realize that the far corner lot, 1712 Andorra Court, the spot where Geth had once stood and Leven had once lived, was now just a giant crater—no debris, no topsoil, just a big hole with a huge tree stump sticking out of it. The crater was the size of the lot and perfectly round. All the residents of the mobile home park would have marveled and wondered over it if it weren’t for the fact that they were temporarily blinded by their entire lives being in shambles.
Despite their lack of attention, however, it was pretty significant that the very spot where Antsel had planted Geth and Leven had grown up had changed shape again.
In the history of time, 1712 Andorra Court was one very important address.
Chapter Nine
Divided We Ride
Geth stepped out of the bushes and looked at Winter. “Nobody’s there. I looked everywhere, but he’s gone.”
“Clover!” Winter called, the early morning air cooling her words.
Geth put his hand on Winter’s shoulder. “They’re not there. Something happened.”
“They have to be there,” Winter insisted. She pushed back into the bushes, calling Leven’s name. “Leven! Lev?” Winter whipped her head around and looked at Geth. “Where could they have gone?”
“He’s disappeared,” Geth answered. “I was right by him and I didn’t hear a thing.”
“Did he fall in a hole?”
“There are no holes,” Geth said.
“Maybe he just needed privacy,” Winter suggested. “Lev!”
There was no reply.
“Listen, Winter,” Geth said calmly, “he’s okay.”
“How can you possibly know that?” Winter asked, her green eyes as wide as apples. “We’ve been together since the start, and I’m not going to just walk off without him. Why would you have some sort of radar as to whether he’s okay? I’m the one who . . .”
Geth waited patiently for her to figure out what she wanted to say.
“Well, how would you know?” she finally said, exasperated.
“I just know I’d feel different right now if he were harmed,” Geth answered. “Leven is walking where fate wishes.”
“You lithens are . . . I don’t know a kind word that would represent the word I really want to call you.”
“We’ve been separated from Leven before,” Geth said. “He’s very strong.”
“That’s true,” Winter said, exhaling.
“Fate’s in control,” Geth said kindly.
“I hate that.”
Geth smiled. “Look what it’s done for you so far.”
“Should I list all the times I was almost killed?” Winter asked.
“If you include the fact that you’re still alive after each listing,” Geth said. “And Leven has Clover.”
Winter’s shoulders dropped. “So they’re okay?”
“I think so,” Geth soothed. “I’d be more worried about us.”
“You’re so comforting.”
“We’ll get to Oklahoma,” Geth insisted. “That’s what Leven said, so that’s what we’ll do.”
“So we just leave them?” Winter asked. “We hop back on the avalands and act like this is how it’s supposed to be?”
Geth nodded.
“You’re so infuriating,” Winter smiled. She turned around and headed out of the trees and back to the avalands.
“You want to ride on mine?” Geth asked.
“No way,” Winter answered. “I’ve always wanted to control one of these things myself.”
Winter awkwardly climbed back up onto the avaland that she and Leven had been riding. She grabbed onto the long grass growing from the forehead of the beast and yelled. The avaland took off, and for a very brief moment she was rather happy that Leven had gone missing and she was in control.
Chapter Ten
Always Something There to Remind Me
The largest sun was now up, its orange body causing the biggest moon to take its leave. The morning was quiet, and only the sound of bit bugs buzzing in the foliage could be heard. The island of Alder smelled like soap—clean and good for you. Of course, it didn’t look clean—it looked like a place that had once thrived but was now abandoned and grown over.
Leven moved carefully across a thin rope bridge. The bridge stretched out across a narrow but deep crevasse that had water running down in the bottom of it. Leven and Clover had been following the wide glass road and it had come to an end at the head of the bridge.
“Don’t look down,” Clover said.
“Great,” Leven replied while looking down. “You know it’s impossible to not look down when someone says that?”
“Impossible is not a word,” Clover mimicked Geth.
“Your impression has gotten much better,” Leven congratulated him. “I—” Leven’s grip slipped on the rope and he grabbed to get ahold of it again. As his right hand grasped the rope, his left leg slipped and he had to balance himself on the bridge until it stopped swinging and he could stand tall again.
“Are you okay?” Clover asked. “You look uneven.”
“I’m fine,” Leven lied. “My balance is sort of freaking out.”
Leven looked at his left hand and watched it shrink back to normal size. He quickly put it behind his back.
“What’s up with that?” Clover asked.
“Nothing,” Leven’s voice cracked.
“Geth said you were changing,” Clover reminded him. “Is this what he meant?”
“I don’t know what Geth meant,” Leven said defensively. “As if I haven’t changed enough. I’m already a completely different person.”
“Maybe Winter was right about that Foovian puberty thing.”
Leven wanted to argue that fact, but he was afraid his voice would crack again. They stepped off the bridge and onto a mossy knoll with white flowers and orange bushes growing all over it. Leven turned around.
“Do you hear that?” he asked.
Clover shook his head.
“I think someone’s following us,” Leven whispered.
Clover looked back at the empty bridge. “Well, there’s nobody there now.”
“Good,” Leven said, beginning to walk down the glass path as it snaked away from the bridge.
“How do you know you’re going the right way?” Clover asked.
“I don’t,” Leven answered. “I just know I’m supposed to follow this glass.”
“What if we should be going the opposite direction on that path?”
“Then we’ll probably turn around at some point.”
“We should get back to Geth,” Clover complained.
“Why?”
“Because he’s so old and wise and has a really good sense of direction.”
Leven stopped. “Can you hear that?”
“What?” Clover said nervously.
“The sound of you making fun of my sense of direction.”
“Oh,” Clover waved. “I thought you heard somebody again. Anyway, I wasn’t saying yo
u were bad with directions, I was just saying Geth was good.”
Leven smiled. “I would love to be with Winter and Geth, but it seems that fate has placed us here for the moment. Show me a way to them and I’ll take it.” He started walking again.
After some time Clover spoke up. “I never mentioned Winter.”
“What?” Leven asked.
“You said ‘I would love to be with Winter and Geth,’ but I had never mentioned Winter.”
“Well, they’re together,” Leven pointed out. “Wherever they are.”
“Still, you said Winter first.”
“Can I take it back?”
“No,” Clover insisted.
“Well, then, read into it what you want,” Leven said, frustrated.
“I think it means you were thinking about her.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Leven said. “I’ll talk about her if you talk about Lilly.”
Clover disappeared.
Twelve minutes later, still invisible, Clover said, “Winter’s changed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Leven asked, pushing through long droopy branches and tall purple grass.
“Well,” Clover said, “you’ve changed . . . and Winter’s changed.”
“You mean we grew up fast.”
“And her hair’s nicer,” Clover said. “When I first saw her it was a mess.”
“I’ve never seen Lilly,” Leven admitted. “What’s she like?”
Clover shivered on Leven’s shoulder. “She’s all white, with green eyes, and she’s real picky about who she talks to.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Clover said sadly. “I think she’s refined.”
“Are you sure she’s not just stuck—” Leven smacked into a large stone wall. It had been completely hidden by the tall trees, and its mossy covering had disguised it perfectly. “Ouch.”
Leven stepped back and ran his hands along the wall. From where he stood, he could see that it stretched on for quite a while in both directions. It was also about three feet taller than him.
“What’s this?” Leven asked needlessly.
The stone wall was covered with mossy carvings. There was a picture of a boat and a carving of what looked like a siid. Leven looked over at the nearest tree. He grabbed onto a low branch and pulled himself up into the tree. Wriggling through the branches, he crawled out onto the top of the wall. The ground behind the wall wasn’t as far down. Leven pulled out his kilve, pitched it forward, and then jumped down after it.
The ground behind the wall was spongier and covered in small brown stones. Leven picked up his kilve, accidentally striking a rock with it. The rock screamed and then flew at him, smacking him behind the right knee.
“Careful,” Clover warned. “Those are woe stones. If you can catch one, I would love to keep it.”
Leven stepped back and kicked another one. The stone screamed and flew up, hitting Leven under the chin.
“What the—”
Clover reached down and picked up a small woe stone. The tiny rock whined and jumped from his tight grip, then slammed Clover on the right side. Clover hollered and disappeared.
Leven looked around. The entire ground was covered with the rocks. He looked back up at the wall.
“What do we do?” Leven said out of the side of his mouth. “Any direction I go, I’m going to step on one.”
“I don’t know,” Clover whispered back. “You could throw me back over the wall.”
“To be honest, I’m not that worried about you.”
“Oh,” Clover said, sounding hurt. “Maybe if you walked really slow.”
Leven pushed his right foot forward, steering clear of as many rocks as possible. His toe gently brushed a fist-sized stone. The rock barked and flung itself into Leven’s stomach. Leven held his gut.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“They don’t go on forever,” Clover said from the top of Leven’s head. “I can see more glass about three hundred yards from here.”
“Where?”
Clover pointed.
“And the path leads somewhere?”
“Most paths do.”
Leven slid his left foot past his right and wove it around six rocks before he nicked another. The woe stone flew between his legs and smacked him in the back of the head. Leven stepped with his right, brushing a stone. As it launched itself toward him, he swung down with his kilve and knocked it like a baseball hundreds of feet away. The woe stone squealed as it flew through the air. Had they been in a ballpark, it would have been an easy home run.
“Wow,” Clover whispered. “You should do that again.”
Leven smiled until the sound of something screaming began to increase in volume.
“It’s coming back!” Clover yelled.
Leven looked in the direction he had hit the stone and could see a small brown spot racing toward him. He shifted his stance, and right before the rock reached him he gripped his kilve and bunted the stone down into the ground. The rock hit several other stones, and those stones dog-piled the offending stone, beating and burying it.
“Lucky,” Clover said reverently.
“If that thing had hit me going that fast I would have been dead,” Leven said in awe.
“Those stones can’t kill you.”
“Well, it would have hurt,” Leven complained. “We don’t have time for this—hold on.”
Leven leapt forward, landing on two stones. They twisted up his legs, scraping his left knee. He kept running, the rocks screaming and popping up around him like bubbling stone. Leven swung his kilve, hitting as many away as possible, but there were just too many to dodge or hit. One whacked him on the back of the left shoulder while another whacked him on the front. A flat stone with rough edges popped him in the ear as dozens yelled and whipped up against his legs.
“Run faster!” Clover screamed. “Can you see the path?”
Leven looked to his left and saw the wide, stone-free path. He kicked through a thin patch of woe stones and dove for the glass path. Once on it, he crumpled into a ball and covered his head with his arms. Tiny bits of glass dug up into his forearms as the few remaining stones finished screaming and pelting him.
Leven breathed heavily. As the onslaught ended, he uncovered his head and knelt up. “That’s insane.”
“Yeah,” Clover agreed. “Some stones don’t know their place. There must be something of value nearby.”
“Why?”
“Woe stones don’t just happen,” Clover said. “They’re pretty rare, and they’re usually surrounding something of value. I’ve only seen a few in my life, and they were protecting a bunch of birds that had just been born.”
“So what is this place?” Leven asked, standing up all the way. “I don’t see any birds.”
Leven looked around. In the distance he could see another stone wall, and near that was a two-story stone structure. It looked like a small castle with rock chimneys and a miniature drawbridge. Leven glanced down at the glass path and let his eyes trace out the direction it wound. It appeared to lead straight to the small castle.
“See that?” Leven pointed.
Leven could feel Clover nodding on the top of his head.
“What is it?” Leven asked.
“Some sort of home,” Clover answered. “It looks deserted.”
“Let’s hope it has some answers.”
Leven pushed his shoulders back and slipped his kilve over his shoulder. He walked with purpose down the path.
“Are you sure about this?” Clover asked.
“No.”
“Maybe we should sneak up on the place.”
Leven reached up and scratched Clover’s head. “Where’s the fun in that? Besides, what do we do, go back to the rocks?”
“I’m just saying that if something was out to get you, that would be the perfect place for that something to wait.”
“Let’s hope something could care less about me.”
Clover looked at h
is knuckles. “I wish I had claws.”
“You never got yours?” Leven asked kindly.
“It’s a sore spot,” Clover said. “They should have grown in when I was taking my turn guarding our shores, but they didn’t.”
“Your teeth are pretty sharp,” Leven tried.
Clover flared his gums and showed his teeth as they moved closer.
The stone structure was small and decaying in several places. The rock chimneys on top of it tilted, and a couple of them had crumbled down altogether. The wooden roof was splintered and parts of it had been torn apart or blown away completely by the wind. Moss and weeds had captured almost the entire bottom half of the building, whereas decay and rot had been working steadily on the top half.
“Lovely,” Clover observed.
With each step closer, the place looked more ugly and dilapidated.
“There’s no lights on,” Clover complained.
“It’s daytime,” Leven pointed out. “And it’s not like they have electricity.”
“I miss electricity,” Clover lamented.
They stepped closer to the castle. A large, dry moat circled the entire structure, but a thin drawbridge was down, creating a way for them to cross the moat. Leven glanced downward into the empty trench as they moved over it. Ghostlike creatures were swimming through the air in the empty moat.
“Are those fish?” Leven asked.
“No,” Clover said. “They’re spunk. They’re like fish, except they live in empty bodies of water and they’ll suck wormlike pieces of your soul out if they bite you.”
“Really?”
“You’ll end up more confused than when that one pretty lady flew over you.”
Leven moved to the middle of the drawbridge.
“Their meat is supposed to be really stringy and hard to chew. And . . .”
“And?” Leven prompted.
“And they’ll give you really awkward gas.”
“Just what I need,” Leven complained. “Maybe I should know more about Alder,” he whispered. “This place seems a little bit different from the rest of Foo. The ground is spongy, the fish swim in non-water, and it feels like I’m on a boat with the ground never staying completely still. Are we rocking?”