Eternity's Edge

  The window shattered. Mist crawled up the wall and streamed through the jagged opening. The floor trembled. Cracking sounds popped all around. The entire room seemed to spin in a slow rotation, like the beginning of a carousel ride.

  “Nathan!” Dr. Gordon shouted. “He's creating a dimensional hole! He'll take us all to his domain!”

  “How can he? There's no mirror!”

  “He can stretch one of the wounds that already exists.”

  The spin accelerated, drawing Nathan toward the window. “How do we stop him? He's electrified!”

  Dr. Gordon staggered toward Nathan, fighting the centrifugal force, but he managed only two steps. “Neutralize his song!”

  Nathan leaned toward the center of the room but kept sliding away. “I don't have my violin!”

  The outer wall collapsed. Fog rolled out and tumbled into the expanse, six stories above the ground. The floor buckled and pitched, knocking everyone to their seats. While Nathan pushed to keep from being spun out of the room, the nurse's body slid across the tile and plunged over the edge with the river of red mist.

  Too weak to fight, Nathan slipped toward the precipice. He latched on to the partitioning curtain and hung on with all his strength.

  Mictar took a quick breath and sang on.

  The bed's side table bumped against Nathan's body. The pen fell, bounced off his shoulder, and disappeared in the fog. Still hanging on to the curtain with one hand, he looked up at the wobbling table. The radio! With his free hand, he shook the supporting leg and caught the radio as it fell. With a quick twist, he turned the volume to maximum.

  Now playing a Dvořák symphony, the radio blasted measure after measure of deep cellos and kettle drums. Trumpets blared. Cymbals crashed. Violins joined in and created a tsunami of music that swept through the room.

  As if squeezed toward him, the mist swirled around Mictar's body. His song weakened. He coughed and gasped, but he managed to spew a string of obscenities before finally shouting, “You haven't seen the last of me, son of Solomon!”

  The mist covered his head and continued to coil around him until he looked like a tightly wound scarlet cocoon. The room's spin slowed, and the cocoon seemed to absorb the momentum. Mictar transformed into a red tornado and shrank as if slurped into an invisible void.

  Seconds later, he vanished. Everything stopped shaking. Nathan turned off the radio and crawled up the sloping floor to where everyone else crouched. Dr. Gordon latched on to Nathan's wrist and heaved him up the rest of the way. His voice stayed calm and low. “Well done, Nathan.”

  Kelly threw her arms around Nathan from one side and Clara did the same from the other. “Don't ever leave me alone again,” Kelly said, “not for a single minute.”

  Sirens wailed. An amplified voice barked from somewhere below, but Nathan paid no attention to the words. He just pulled his friends closer and enjoyed their embraces.

  Tony, sitting on his haunches in front of Nathan, clenched his fist. “Now that's what I call taking out the trash!”

  2

  GHOSTS IN THE VORTEX

  Nathan slid into the backseat of Dr. Gordon's Town Car and collapsed his umbrella, shaking it for a moment before pulling it in and closing the door. “Whew! It's really pouring. Earth Yellow must be having a monsoon.”

  “That would be my guess,” Dr. Gordon said from the driver's seat. “I apologize for the lack of curb service. The police wouldn't let me drive under the portico.”

  “No wonder.” Nathan used his sleeve to clear the side window. From the parking lot, the elephant-sized hole in the sixth floor made the hospital look like the victim of a missile attack. Kelly's room and the entire wing had been evacuated to secure that part of the building. One casualty was already too many. But only a day after the disaster, the rest of the hospital seemed back to normal.

  “Did you get her new room number?” Clara asked from the front passenger's seat. She sat with a pencil poised over a notepad.

  “Three fourteen. There's a guard at the door, so she should be okay.”

  Clara printed the number in neat block numerals. “How was she when you left?”

  “She was pretty upset. She didn't want to be alone. Her dad's there, but he had already conked out. After they put his arm in a cast and gave him some painkillers, he refused any more treatment and sacked out in her room. They were both sawing logs when I finally left.”

  Dr. Gordon started the engine and flipped on the windshield wipers. “Your description of Kelly's interpretive skills is quite remarkable. She is a valuable asset to our cause, but with her handicap, she would become a liability if she were to accompany you, and that's to say nothing about her wounds.”

  Nathan banged the heel of his hand against the window. “Don't say that word.”

  “What word?” Dr. Gordon looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Wounds?”

  “Never mind.” Nathan slumped back in his seat. Dr. Gordon's mention of “handicapped” was innocent, of course, but it called to mind the slur Mictar had used as a dagger.

  Dr. Gordon shifted the car into reverse and rolled it out of the parking space. “I will try to remember this peculiar aversion.”

  “Don't worry about it.” Nathan scanned the backseat area. “Did you bring Mom's violin?”

  “Yes.” Clara motioned toward the rear. “In the trunk. It's —”

  Something slapped the back of the car. Dr. Gordon slammed the brakes. “What was that?”

  Nathan spun in his seat. A person hobbled to the door and pulled the handle, but the lock had engaged. He opened the door, revealing Kelly standing in the pouring rain, still in her hospital gown and clutching a small duffle bag.

  “Slide over!” she barked.

  He bounced to the other side, while Kelly, soaked to the skin and her hair dripping, stepped in, plopped down on the seat, and slammed the door.

  “Oh, my goodness!” Clara said. “Dear child!”

  While Nathan stared at Kelly's pain-streaked face, Dr. Gordon stripped off his jacket and handed it to her. “I will raise the temperature,” he said, reaching for a button on the dashboard.

  Nathan swallowed down a lump. As Kelly put on the jacket, the deep furrow in her forehead told him his first words had better be a stroke of genius.

  “Uh … I guess your plan worked,” he said.

  She buttoned the jacket, her frown easing. “My plan?”

  “Right. Wait until your father's asleep and I'm convinced that you're asleep, too. I leave to find Dr. Gordon's car. You sneak past the nurses, catch sight of me when you get outside, and get here just in the nick of time. That was a …” He paused, reaching for the right words. “A stroke of genius!” He settled back and let out a long breath, watching her with a sideways glance. “Good thing we took our time,” he added. “I'm glad I don't have to go on this adventure without you.”

  At first her furrows deepened. Then her expression transformed from skepticism, to anger, and finally to resignation. She let out a sigh and stared at him through her glazed-over eyes. “I told you never to leave me again, Nathan Shepherd, not for one minute.”

  Nathan reached for her hand, now resting on the seat. It slid away, but only a few inches. He reached farther and grasped her fingers. “I'm sorry,” he whispered. “I didn't want you to get hurt any worse.”

  As Dr. Gordon drove out of the parking lot, Clara made a “tsk, tsk” sound and shook her head. “You poor, pitiful, hardheaded girl. I admire your spunk, but you do realize we will have to notify your father.”

  She drooped her head and nodded. “I really was asleep. I saw Mictar in my dreams again, and when I woke up, I was scared. I didn't want to wake up Daddy, and Nathan was gone. I told the guard about my dream and asked him to check the other hallway. I assumed Daddy would be safer if I left, since Mictar's after me and not him, so I sneaked past the nurses. I knew no one would believe that Mictar was still around, so I had to find the only people who would.” She looked at Nathan, her wet eyebrows arching.
“That is, I hope they still believe in me.”

  Nathan opened his mouth to reply, but Dr. Gordon spoke up first. “My belief in you is actually enhanced by your tenacity. Virtue shines through our outer layers by means of our deeds.”

  Gesturing with his thumb toward Dr. Gordon, Nathan whispered, “What he said.” He enclosed her hand with his. “I believe in you.”

  She winced and rotated her shoulder. “My bandage is going to need changing. I brought some fresh ones in my bag.”

  Dr. Gordon nodded ahead. “My lodging is on the way. We can stop there.”

  A few minutes later, they pulled into a Holiday Inn Express and parked under the motel's portico. Dr. Gordon held up a key card. “I suggest that Clara escort Kelly into my room to take care of her needs while Nathan and I stay out here to go over our strategy.”

  Clara took the card and helped Kelly get out. A few seconds later, Nathan sat alone in the backseat with Dr. Gordon staring at him from the front. Nathan tried to settle back, but his muscles tensed. The two dark eyes peering out from under two darker eyebrows made him feel like the next victim of a diving eagle.

  Dr. Gordon's stare eased, and he rested his arm on the top of the seat. “Daryl is staying with friends of mine outside of town. She will meet us at the observatory in order to assist me, or, alternatively, she may accompany you on your journey to Earth Blue. Although Kelly's determination is admirable, and her interpretive skills are extremely important, her wounds … excuse me … her injuries are very real. I would never allow her to go unless her father approves and you are willing to shoulder the risk of taking on this extra burden.”

  Nathan let his muscles relax. Dr. Gordon's gentle tone worked wonders, and his mention of Daryl brought memories of her unique humor to mind. Since she was an academic genius and had studied under Dr. Gordon, her technological prowess had made her indispensable, but her knack for funny, oblique movie references seemed even more valuable at times. She was always able to break the tension. “Kelly's not a burden at all. I wouldn't want to go without her. Besides, won't Clara and Daryl Blue be there? They can help, too, can't they?”

  “Yes, of course. Daryl Blue is already waiting at the Earth Blue observatory to secure your arrival there, and Clara has the surviving camera and mirror piece. They also have Nathan Blue's cell phone, which might come in handy.”

  Nathan pulled out his own cell phone and looked at the display. Since his old one sat at the bottom of the river in Chicago, this newer one wouldn't be any good on Earth Blue, since his replacement number wouldn't be activated there. The other Nathan never had to experience that cold, dirty swim, so he got to keep his original phone.

  He punched in a number. “I'll see what Tony has to say. I hope he doesn't mind me waking him up.”

  “I think not. He would want to know where his daughter is.”

  The ringer sang out twice, then a roar blasted through the earpiece, the sound of a cheering crowd.

  “Yeah!” Tony yelled over the racket. “What's up?”

  “It's Nathan.” He raised his voice to compete with the noise. “Kelly decided to leave the hospital early. Is that okay with you?”

  “The leaves are hostile early? What are you talking about? Wait!” The roar grew deafening. Tony's voice piped over the others. “Touchdown! All right!”

  After a few seconds, Tony's voice returned, calmer. “Say it again, buddy. I turned down the volume.”

  “You're watching a game on TV?”

  “Yeah, I'm still in Kelly's room. She just called me a couple of minutes ago and told me that she skipped out. Figured I'd watch the game while I'm gathering the stuff she left behind.”

  Nathan took in a breath and let it all out in one long sentence. “Kelly wants to go with me to the Earth Blue dimension to look for my parents, and I need her, because she's the music interpreter, and my parents might die if we don't work together to find them, so we're asking your permission to go, even though she hurt her shoulder and her eyes aren't working right, but since Clara is taking care of her, she should be fine, and I'll take good care of her, too, I promise.”

  He drew in another breath and held it while waiting for Tony's reply. He'd say no at first, of course, but maybe he could be persuaded to —

  “Yeah.” Tony's voice echoed. “Sure. That's fine. Just be careful.”

  Nathan caught Dr. Gordon's eye. “It's okay?”

  “That's what I said. She's a tough girl. Comes from good stock. Just let me know when you get back.”

  “Uh … okay. Sure. We'll let you know.” Nathan closed the phone and slid it back into his pocket. “That was easy. He said it was fine.”

  “Very well. Now we can rest while we wait.” Dr. Gordon reached for the car stereo. “I have a CD in my player that you might find interesting — Haydn's String Quartet Opus 77 in G Major — performed by my own group.”

  “You play an instrument?”

  “Yes. Viola. You are not the only accomplished musician in this car.”

  “Cool.” Nathan settled back again. “Let's hear it.”

  He closed his eyes and listened to the quartet, a highly skilled group, but the amateurish recording made them sound a bit distant. Still, it was a great rendition, enhanced by a lively style that the piece required. Before it was over, the opening of the car door interrupted his reverie. Kelly hopped in, her hair clean and brushed and her clothes dry. She sported fresh blue jeans, blue Nikes, and a gray Newton High School sweatshirt. A thick white bandage protruded at the neckline and made a lump over her shoulder.

  Kelly touched the cardinal logo on the front of her sweatshirt. “I thought a red bird would be good for traveling to Earth Blue, sort of like a passport saying where I'm from.”

  “Good idea,” Nathan said. “I called your father, and he—”

  “You called my father?” she asked, pointing at him.

  “Yeah, just a couple of minutes ago. He said—”

  “But I called him as soon as we got into the motel lobby. I told him that I left the hospital and asked him if he'd let me go with you to Earth Blue.”

  “What did he say?”

  “At first he said no, that he wasn't about to risk losing me, but I talked him into it.”

  “Really? How?”

  “I told him how proud I was of him when he attacked Mictar and that I wanted to learn to be a hero, just like he was.”

  Nathan raised a thumb. “Good for you!”

  “What did he say to you?”

  “Just that you're tough enough to handle it.” Nathan looked past Kelly. “Where's Clara?”

  “She's getting something for me at the coffee shop. My pizza kind of took a nose dive yesterday, and I checked out before dinner came today.”

  The hospital room scene flashed in Nathan's mind— the poor nurse getting her eyes burned out and her body sliding over the edge. Nausea churned his stomach as he pressed a hand against his abdomen. “I was hungry, but not anymore.”

  When Clara arrived with a steaming cup of soup, they headed for the observatory, an hour-long drive into a rural zone northwest of Chicago. After Kelly drank the soup, she settled back and rested.

  Watching the countryside through bleary eyes, Nathan pondered the scene of their next adventure — Interfinity Labs, the company that built the cross-dimensional travel platforms. Every time he thought about the huge curved mirror on Interfinity's observatory ceiling, the word Quattro came to mind, his father's code name for the technology that allowed the use of certain mirrors for seeing into and traveling to distant places or even other dimensions. And now he was about to use that mirror again to make a quantum leap.

  Since Gordon Blue was in jail, and his henchmen were either dead or no longer in the picture, the Interfinity Labs' observatories in both worlds would probably be safe. The two Daryls had changed all the security codes, so only Gordon Red, and whomever else he trusted, could get in. Still, Mictar posed the most obvious threat. Who could tell when he might show up again?

&nbs
p; Nathan looked over at Kelly leaning against the window, sound asleep. That was good. With the dangers that lay ahead, she needed all the rest she could get. She had been pounded physically and emotionally, and the latest assault must have been a drain.

  Letting his gaze drift, he surveyed her thick sweatshirt and loose-fitting jeans — warm, secure, and modest. He took a mental snapshot. This was how it should be. This was the portrait of Kelly Clark he wanted ingrained in his mind, not the one that was stamped there when she wore that thin hospital gown and Mictar called her a —

  He jerked his head away. No more thoughts like that. They were hurtful, vulgar, and … He sighed. And troubling.

  After Dr. Gordon parked next to the main door, Nathan retrieved his violin case from the trunk, and all four made their way through the observatory. Since only two people could fit into the service elevator, Nathan and Kelly rode up to the telescope level first. When the doors opened, Daryl jumped up from the computer desk at the left edge of the enormous domed room. “Well, if it isn't Beauty and the beast!”

  Laying a hand on Kelly's back, Nathan led her out onto the tiled floor. With her eyesight still blurry, this dim room would be almost impossible for her to navigate. “I guess you're right,” he said. “Beauty and the beast fits.”

  Daryl jogged toward them, passing through the shadow of a huge telescope that stood on a pedestal at the center of the floor. Her red hair still bouncing when she stopped, she spread out her arms, and a wide grin stretched her freckled face. “But which one is the beast?”

  “That would be me,” Kelly said, raising her hand. “I feel pretty beastly.”

  Daryl gave Kelly a gentle hug, then peeled back her sweatshirt at the shoulder, cringing as she exposed more of the bandage, now tinged with blood. “Forget the beast. Are you auditioning for a zombie movie?”

  Kelly shrugged. “If they need a victim, I'm their girl. I feel like I have a bull's-eye painted on my forehead.”

  “Not good, Kelly-kins, not good at all.” As the elevator door closed, Daryl's grin contracted, giving her an uncharacteristically serious aspect. “I was searching for signals on the radio telescope,” she said, nodding toward the computer desk, “and I picked up some weird stuff.”