“Well, why did you come if you think it’s so stupid?”
“What, and miss out on all this food! And since when have we ever done anything separately? Of course I’m going to come. Doesn’t mean I won’t complain the whole time I’m here.”
“Well do us a favour and give our ears a rest,” said Jane.
Luca grinned and moved his guitar into a more comfortable position over his shoulder, then rearranged the backpack to balance the load.
Jack just shrugged and dived on top of Luca, wrestling the boy to the ground.
“Hey, watch the guitar, you idiot!” Luca complained.
Anna looked over at Jane. “You believe Harry, don’t you?”
Jane shrugged. The summer holidays had just begun, and the six friends were more than happy to be out of school for a few months. Climbing a steep cliff in the middle of a hot summer’s day had seemed like a good idea last night. But they were only halfway up the hill and Jane was already wishing they’d just gone swimming instead.
Anna was slowing down again and once more they waited for her to catch up.
“Back on the subject of exactly what we’re doing here,” she said gasping for breath, “am I correct in saying that we’re going through this hell because of a dream?”
“I guess,” Jane pondered. “We’ve all had the same dream, haven’t we?”
“Many times,” Luca offered softly.
“Coincidence,” Mia called back to them.
Mia had missed Jack stealthily creeping up behind her. He lunged at his girlfriend and pinned her to the ground, her arms above her head. He began to tickle her mercilessly, laughing an evil laugh. Mia screamed and struggled.
“Luca, help!” she yelled.
Luca just laughed and walked on, leaving the pair struggling on the grass.
“So how did you get past your mum today, An?” Jane asked.
Anna’s face was red with the effort of climbing in the sun. She shrugged. “I snuck out.”
“Ooh, a rebel in our midst,” Mia panted as she struggled to her feet.
“Your mum won’t let you do anything lately,” Jane said. “Honestly, what’s the problem with going to the beach in the middle of the holidays?”
Anna frowned.
“Why is she suddenly so protective?” Luca asked. “She never used to be.”
“I don’t know, just drop it okay. I’m here now,” said Anna.
Jane and Mia exchanged a look of concern.
“Hey, is everyone going to the party on Saturday?” Mia asked brightly.
Jack grinned dangerously. “I’m definitely going.”
“What have you got planned this time?” Luca sighed.
“Let’s just say the birthday girl won’t forget this birthday.”
Mia slapped him a high-five, and the others decided they didn’t want to know what the pair were planning after all.
“So what do we do if Harry’s right?” Anna asked. “About the portal, I mean.”
“Guess we miss out on the party,” said Jack with a straight face. “Come on, Anna. Harry’s lost his marbles. Too much pressure from the olds. Or maybe the summer sun’s making him loco.”
“But if he is right ... do we go through? There could be anything on the other side,” Anna continued.
Jane shrugged. “I am curious. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“That’s a rather reckless response from you, Miss Responsible,” said Luca.
“Well, if it’s scary we can just come straight back through,” she reasoned.
“Oh for God’s sake,” Mia sighed. “You’re all losing it.”
“No harm in fantasising,” said Jane.
“That’s exactly what Harry’s been thinking his entire life and look where it’s led him. We all know how much of a space cadet he is,” Jack murmured.
“I love that Harry’s a dreamer,” Jane argued.
Luca agreed with her, as much out of loyalty to Harry as to anything else.
“You know I can hear you all!” Harry shouted back at them. “Sound travels up, apparently.”
They exchanged guilty looks.
“Sorry, man,” Luca called out.
“You’ll be sorry when you see how right I am!”
“Trust me, I’ll be more than sorry if this head-case turns out to be right,” Jack muttered.
“Oh, shut up, Jack,” Anna snapped.
“You all right?” Luca asked Anna. Her face was still flushed, even more so than before, and she was usually not so short with people.
“I’m fine,” she snapped. “I just need some water.”
Luca paused and dropped the pack, passing her the bottle. The group took the chance to have a breather and a mouthful of water.
“Don’t stop now! We’re nearly there!” Harry yelled.
“Hitler up there needs to relax,” Jack mumbled.
Jane couldn’t help but laugh. She ran a hand through her hair and looked around at her friends, all so different, but after such a long time together, so similar.
Luca waited patiently for everyone to finish drinking so he could repack the backpack. His olive complexion looked right at home under the bright sun.
Anna’s blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, making her thin frame appear taught and tired, her face drawn. When exactly had she got so thin? Jane made a mental note to check that her friend was okay when they got home.
Jack and Mia were passing the water between themselves and Jane smiled at the way they read each other so well. Mia’s bright red hair was drenched with sweat and plastered to her face. Jack reached out and gently brushed it back for her, a gesture of softness he would never have made had he known someone was watching him. His thin frame and brown hair made him look a little odd next to his attractive girlfriend.
“Here, pretty girl,” Jack said, turning to Jane and passing her the water bottle.
Jane smiled and took it, gulping thirstily.
“I told you!” they heard from above them and they all looked up to see Harry waving wildly for them to hurry up. He’d reached the top.
“Yep, he’s finally snapped,” Jack muttered.
Mia reached Harry first and, standing a safe distance from the edge, peered over the cliff and into the water below. “What on earth are you talking about—?” she began. Then something caught her eye.
The others arrived at the top of the cliff, puffing and sweating under the hot sun. They crowded around and gazed over the edge.
“What are we looking at?” Anna asked.
“There!” Harry snapped, pointing.
And then they all saw it. A shimmer of light, glistening in the air above the ocean, moving gently as if with the wind.
“What is that?” Jack asked.
“It’s exactly what I said it was,” Harry said, a smile on his lips.
They looked at him. “How do you know it’s a portal?” Mia asked. “Are you sure it isn’t just a trick of the sun in the hot air—that happens you know.”
“Look at it,” he said simply, “and tell me if you think it’s a trick of the sun.”
They could almost see colours and shapes within the glimmer of light.
“I’ve been researching it,” said Harry. “All through history there have been reports of things like this. Scientists and philosophers say if such a thing ever did exist, it might be a crack in the space/time continuum.
“Speak English,” growled Jack.
“Does that mean we could go back and forward in time?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know. It could be that, or it could be a crack between alternate realities. I think that’s what our dream has been telling us.”
They looked at the shimmering haze.
“So what do we do?” Mia said.
“We take a photo and head back down for a swim,” Jack said cheerfully.
“I think we should go through,” Jane said.
The crashing waves echoed around them.
“You’re kidding, right??
?? Jack said. “Go through that thing? How are we supposed to do that?”
“Jump,” Luca offered.
“What? We’d die! Look at the rocks below!”
“But we won’t fall into the ocean—we’ll fall through the portal,” Harry argued.
“You’ve all gone completely nuts.” Jack shook his head.
“Stop it, Jack,” Jane said. “Just be quiet for a minute. Let’s think about this logically. If there isn’t anything there, or if it’s just not something that we can physically enter, then it would be a long way to fall. But I think we’d be okay.”
“I don’t know if I want to risk something like that,” Mia said.
“No, I think Jane’s right,” Luca said thoughtfully as he peered over at the drop. “If we jumped right out we’d miss the rocks. We’d have to jump when the waves have just crashed against the cliff though, so we’d be carried out and not smashed back against the rocks. Then if we swam out a bit further and followed the cliff around to the safe bit of surf we could easily make it back to the beach.”
“You might be able to do that!” Anna exclaimed. “But I highly doubt that I could!”
“You’d be fine,” he assured her. “I’ll jump with you, if you like.”
The six of them gazed down, contemplating the risks. Curiosity had always been the seventh member of their gang, and it had gotten them in trouble before. It seemed that common sense was about to be overridden again.
There was something about that cliff, and the ocean, and the space in-between, that called to them. The jaunty air of friends on a picnic was now charged with an electrifying edge. Something shifted, something about the way they looked down at that drop. A subtle change, but there nonetheless.
“We’re going to do it, aren’t we?” Jack breathed, a hint of awe in his voice.
“Jump,” Harry whispered.
Harry didn’t know how long the portal would be open, but in that moment, he didn’t really care. There was a force that he couldn’t name or recognise pulling him towards the edge of that cliff. It pulled them all.
And so they jumped, one after the other. They each fell through, in a leap of pure faith, into the world of Paragor.
Chapter 2
One of the first things Jane noticed when she woke was the heat. Her skin was filmed in sweat and her hair felt oily. Jane heard a soft sound. Whistling.
Just an idle tune, but it was familiar, and she didn’t know why.
The whistler came closer and then a hand was on her forehead, brushing back her hair. Her eyes snapped open and she saw that it was a man. He pulled his hand away apologetically, but the sight of him made the breath catch in her throat. Something shifted inside of her—a very distant recognition.
He was the strangest human being she had ever laid eyes on. And, as a later, less welcome thought, the most beautiful because of it. He had intense, pale grey eyes and she was startled by the depths in them.
His dark, curly hair looked scruffy as though it had never been brushed. He had the beginnings of a beard from what she suspected was a pure neglect for physical appearance, and he had an overall roguish look because of it. She could not say what it was that was strange about him, but it was there. He was not like anyone she had ever seen.
A beautiful black mare stood behind him.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, and when she didn’t answer, he repeated the question.
“What? Oh ... no, I’m fine.”
In fact, Jane had a lump on the back of her head that was giving her a headache. She looked around and took in the rocky cliffs and the wide expanse of red sky which told her it was daybreak, and far below her was the gushing water. She was on a high ledge about a third of the way up a cliff face. She had no idea how she had come to be there, or where it was, and she suddenly felt frighteningly disoriented.
Slowly, realisation dawned on her. She gasped, covering her mouth in shock. “It worked!”
The man frowned at her.
“Where are the others?” she asked, looking around frantically for her friends. He shook his head.
“Where am I?”
He smiled a little. “You are, right now, halfway up the Cliffs of Amara, lady.”
This didn’t help much to ease her confusion.
“What is your name?” he asked.
“Jane. My name is Jane,” she said. “I’m not from here.”
“That much I know. No one lives here—it is too far from Sitadel. May I ask how you got here? We are a long way up. Did you have a serving man bring you?”
“A serving man?”
He looked her up and down and smiled slowly. “Surely you did not climb up here all on your own.”
She looked at him a moment. Was he mocking her? Jane frowned. “Did you climb here by yourself?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“Then why couldn’t I?”
Her question amused him, she could see. “Because, Jane, you are on the highest cliff in Paragor,” he said with a laugh. “And you are...” he gestured at her.
“A girl?” she asked.
“Yes. You are a girl,” he replied, eyebrows raised.
“And that means I can’t climb?” she asked.
“No.” He shrugged. “You are quick to judge, Jane. I know plenty of girls who would be quite capable of climbing this mountain. I would fathom a guess, however, that you have done little in the way of climbing in your short life.”
Jane stared at him, lost for words. Why was he being so rude? She folded her arms and glared at him. “Sure I’m small, but maybe you shouldn’t judge people by their appearances. You might be surprised.”
He smiled slowly, seemingly amused. “I daresay you are correct, Jane. But to the matter at hand, may I ask how you did get up here? Did you climb?”
“No...” she murmured, feeling the colour come to her cheeks. His smile widened a little. “But I could have. I ... I don’t really know how I got here. I think I fell through a portal. When I said I wasn’t from here, I meant that I’m not from here.” Jane couldn’t stop the shaky laugh that escaped her lips—it sounded ridiculous.
Jane expected him to laugh along with her, but instead his eyes widened and he nodded.
“You are a Stranger,” he said, as if this settled everything, his grin wide. “That explains your clothing.”
“I’m not really sure what I’m doing here. There was a portal ... I can’t believe it actually worked! I thought we would fall straight through into the sea...”
“Where?” he asked sharply, his smile vanishing.
“Where what?”
“Where is the portal?”
She frowned at the sudden change in his tone. Craning her neck she looked above and around them. “Well, I assume it must be somewhere around here. This is where I woke up.” Jane wondered how she would ever get home.
The man stood up and looked around for while, trying to spot something in the air, but eventually sighed and shook his head.
“Alas, no portal,” he told her, smiling again. Why did he smile so much? Jane found it unnerving. Was it arrogance? He certainly seemed to be very amused by her.
Suddenly she realised just how much danger she could be in. She was alone on a cliff with a strange man. She pulled away from him and struggled to get up, but the blinding pain in her head sent her falling straight back down into his arms. As he caught her, she saw his ears under his hair. They had a pointed tip.
“Are you well?” he asked, all trace of amusement gone. “I’m not going to hurt you. I could take you to my home and make sure you weren’t harmed by the crossing?”
Jane pushed him away and stared at him, breathing hard. “Your home? I don’t know who you are!”
The man smiled gently. “It’s all right,” he told her. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just a traveller who happened upon a beautiful girl and wishes to do his duty. Strangers in Paragor are welcome. I would consider it a great honour if you’d let me help you. You must have a thousand questi
ons about where you are.”
Jane was breathing hard. She looked at the steep dirt track on either side of her. They were completely alone. What choice did she have? If she was going to find her friends, there was no doubt she needed help.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
He grinned and gave a small bow. “Fern, lady. My name is Fern.”
Jane met his gaze and very slowly she nodded.
“Good girl,” Fern grinned and helped her up.
They descended the cliff slowly. She had refused to sit on the horse like a lame person, when she was just as capable of walking as he was.
***
Fern didn’t regret taking the Stranger with him. He couldn’t have left her on the cliff to die, but he was becoming annoyed at her pride. She wouldn’t sit on the horse, and she insisted on helping with the campsite even though she had a lump the size of a fist on the back of her head which she thought he didn’t know about.
“It’s going to get dark soon,” he told her. “We’ll need to make a fire.”
“We’re going to sleep out here? Isn’t there a hotel somewhere around here?”
Fern stared at her. “We’re halfway up a mountain.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “Okay fine. Do you have a tent?”
He shook his head. “I like to sleep under the stars.” Quickly he laid out his cloak for her to sit on, and started gathering kindling for a fire. Then, he pulled from his pack what little food he had and handed it to her. There was bread, cheese, an apple, and a flask of dark red wine.
“Aren’t you having any?” she asked.
He smiled and shook his head. “I’m not hungry. Go ahead.”
Jane looked at him a moment. Then she broke off half the bread and handed it to him. Fern shrugged, took it and chewed hungrily.
“We have been searching for this portal for a long time,” he explained. “The Strangers that came before were not able to tell us its location. Are you alone?”
“I’m not sure. Some of my friends tried to come across, but I don’t know if they made it. We found it by accident.”
Fern looked sideways at Jane. Put simply, she was beautiful. On awakening, her big brown eyes had looked up at him in shock, taking his breath away, and he was not a man who was easily shocked. He had known his fair share of beauty. What he had really wanted to know, was why in the gods’ names he had never met her before.