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  Karina took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

  She realized she had no idea how they would “travel” and wondered if a door would open in her room, if her mirror or window would become a portal, or if a spaceship would appear outside.

  Cayla smiled, looked at Karina and asked, “What about the shoes?”

  “They’re here, do you want to see them?”

  “No!” Both girls said at the same time, as if the shoes were made of some kind of infectious material.

  “Fine.” Karina felt a little offended and thought they were exaggerating, but at the same time regretted having ever touched them.

  Cayla walked to the window and put one of her hands on it, holding her sister’s hand with the other. Ayanna extended her free hand to Karina, who turned off the light then walked carefully to where the girls were and took the younger girl’s hand.

  “Close your eyes and hold tight,” Cayla told her.

  Both girls had their eyes closed, but Karina kept them slightly open, just enough to try to see what was happening in spite of the darkness. But nothing was happening yet. Again she wondered if it was a big scam, but what would be the goal of it if they didn’t even want the shoes?

  “Now close your eyes and relax,” Cayla said.

  Karina closed her eyes a little more so that even her short eyelashes clouded the small horizontal slit from which she tried to see something incredible.

  “Can you close your eyes please?” Cayla insisted, this time sounding annoyed.

  Karina looked at Cayla, figuring she would be staring at her, but no, her head was down. Since the girl insisted and nothing was happening anyways, Karina shut her eyes.

  Immediately she lost balance and almost fell. She would have let go of Ayanna’s hand if it weren’t for the girl’s firm grip. Through her eyelids, she felt strong flashes of light and didn’t dare open her eyes. Her body felt no movement other than her first loss of balance. Maybe the older girl was pulling the light trick again, but a lot stronger, like daylight at noon, except that it flashed. After a few seconds, the flashes stopped, and just the feeling of being under direct sunlight remained.

  4

  Where?

  Karina heard footsteps and, for the first time, started to believe she had actually traveled. Ayanna let go of Karina’s hand and she assumed it was safe to look. In spite of the daylight, they were indoors, in a very tall but not very large, circular empty room with dark blue walls. Blue, not like painted blue, more like marble or rather some opaque blue stone she didn’t know the name. The walls were smooth, with no apparent division between blocks. Sunlight came through a whitish, semi-translucent ceiling.

  A blonde woman came running in from what seemed to be a hallway. “My girls!” She hugged Ayanna and Cayla, each with one arm. “What took you so long?”

  “We were there for just a few minutes,” Cayla answered. “The time gap is bigger than we thought.”

  “I see. I was so worried.”

  The woman didn’t seem very happy to see Karina. She wore a loose dress that was not loose enough to hide her big baby bump. She looked too young to be the girls’ mother, but then, perhaps people in this world aged differently with all the time difference and stuff.

  A tall, thin, bald man with a long gray braided beard, wearing a long robe, came in the room. He had wrinkles, so people aged, and yet, there was something youthful about him. Odd.

  He turned to Karina and the girls. “Follow me.”

  They walked through a hallway with green walls and that same whitish translucent ceiling. The floor seemed to be made of wood, but it was greenish instead of the usual brown tone Karina was used to. Ugly abstract paintings with colored lines and circles decorated one wall. Karina’s poor understanding of art seemed to be universal. When they got to a big, green wooden door, the bald man led them into a room.

  When the girl’s mother was about to enter, the man blocked her—“Not you.”—and closed the door.

  “Nia’s pregnant,” Cayla whispered, as if it wasn’t obvious and as if it explained why she was left outside.

  Karina shrugged.

  Cayla continued, “She can’t have strong emotions.”

  Karina nodded, not sure if she understood. She looked around to make sure she was really in a room, not a roller coaster. Fine, it was a room in another dimension, which was super awesome. For her, not for the pregnant woman left out.

  They all sat at the table. The bald man asked them, “Do you have the shoes?”

  Karina took a second to realize that the question was for her, and then she nodded while a shiver ran down her spine.

  “Can I see them?” he asked.

  Karina took a deep breath. She hadn’t really given much thought to the fact that destroying the shoes was the price for her otherworldly visit. She opened her backpack, took out the small purse, and opened it.

  As she was about to take out the shoes, the bald man interrupted. “That’s fine. They are real.” He looked at the girls. “Well done.”

  Awesome. Karina was the one giving up unique shoes and the opportunity to make a weird wish, and the girls were the ones getting the credit.

  The bald man with the long braid coming out of his chin then turned to her. “What’s your name?”

  Some attention at least. “Karina.”

  “I am Odell. I teach Ayanna and Cayla. You are a very brave girl to come all the way from your world to help us. We appreciate this very much.”

  That was getting better. She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “No need to thank us. Now, you’ll need to rest. You’ll set on your journey tomorrow.”

  Did Karina hear right? “Journey?”

  “To destroy the shoes.”

  That sounded exaggerated, but she didn’t want to protest because going on a journey sounded cool.

  Odell looked at all girls attentively. “You’ll travel at night, and you’ll go on foot, it’ll draw less attention.”

  Cayla squinted. “That’ll take days.”

  As much as Karina didn’t want to ask, she had to, because she wasn’t following the conversation. “Where exactly are we going?”

  Odell looked at Cayla. “You didn’t explain to her?”

  “You told me to bring her as fast as possible. That’s what I did.”

  “You took hours,” he said.

  “It’s the time difference. We were there for about fifteen minutes only.”

  Odell raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

  His surprise seemed somewhat fake, to the point Karina again started to think that they were all actors fooling her. But if that was the case, at least the production was first class.

  “That’s even better then,” Odell continued. “I’ll redo my calculations.”

  They seemed to have forgotten Karina’s question, so she had to repeat it, “And… Where are we going?”

  “Of course. You haven’t been told.” Odell turned to Karina. “Those shoes were made by Lylah, and only her magic can destroy them. You’ll have to go to her dwelling.”

  “So we’ll need to bring the shoes to the scary witch who seems nice—the one who can’t have the shoes?”

  “Yes,” Odell replied, a weird smile on his face. “But all you’ll have to do is throw the shoes in her fire, and that can be done very quickly.”

  Karina thought she had heard something like that somewhere. “Fire? You mean like the crater of an active volcano in her land?”

  Odell stared at her as if she was crazy. “That would be very hot—and dangerous. But no, it’s nothing like that; it’s her fireplace. That’s where her magic is.”

  Karina almost face-palmed herself. Of course a volcano crater would be incredibly hot. Now, where was she getting those ideas? The real plan made a lot more sense.

  “We can’t waste time,” Odell continued. “You’ll leave tomorrow afternoon. I’ll provide you with supplies.”

  “Who’s coming with us?” asked Cayla.

  “We cannot com
promise this mission. Nobody can know about it,” Odell replied.

  Cayla asked, “So I’m going alone with Karina?”

  “I’m going to go too,” Ayanna said.

  Odell nodded. “Yes, you three are going.”

  Cayla exhaled. “I’ll have to take care of her?”

  Ayanna frowned. “I’m not a baby.”

  Odell got up. “We’ll meet again tomorrow. For now, rest.”

  Karina followed the older girl to the end of the hallway and stairs. On the upper floor, she had the impression she was above the hallway where she had just walked. But how could that be, if downstairs sunlight came from the ceiling? In this floor too, the ceilings looked the same translucent white from which light came through. She figured she was tired and mixing directions. Well, of course. She needed to sleep—too much weird stuff for a single evening, even though it was no longer evening. Cayla led her to a room with a normal double bed, complete with pillows and covers, which was a relief, because one could never guess how people slept in other dimensions.

  Cayla stood at the entrance. “I’m right next door. Call me if you need anything.” She closed the door and left.

  Karina was left in that room with no idea how to call the girl or anyone else if she needed, as there was no phone by her bed, which made sense since she was not in a hotel, and they probably didn’t have phones anyway. And how was she supposed to sleep when she was in a whole new dimension? She looked around. There was a narrow door in the room. She opened it, and it led to a bathroom. A pleasant surprise, even though the toilet bowl was a hole in the floor, and didn’t seem to have any flushing mechanism. A small egg-shaped bathtub stood in one corner. She would ask about the bath later. Karina opened her backpack and realized she hadn’t brought any pajamas. She remembered Cayla telling her to bring only what was strictly necessary. Right. Her mental grumbling stopped when she noticed a shelf with some nightgowns made of silk or something like it. They smelled clean and Karina slipped one on.

  Once under the covers, she closed her eyes. The sheets or whatever were soft, but she had no idea what they were made of. Well, to be fair, she had no idea what her normal covers were made of, except maybe for cotton or fleece. Here she had many thin layers that were like a mix of those two kinds of fabric. Cozy. That ceiling was very bright, though. She wondered if she would be able to have a decent sleep. But despite the light, her eyes closed, and she started to doze off, until a sudden fear woke her. She had to check the shoes. As she got out of bed, the room was much darker than before. Had she slept that much? She opened her backpack and took the purse. The shoes were still there. She lay down again, this time with the purse by her side and the straps around her wrists.

  Karina woke when it was still dark. She turned sideways to look at the clock, but there was none. On the other side, no light came from the window, in fact, no window, only a faint glimmer coming from the ceiling. Of course, she was not in her room. There was a shadow on one of the chairs. Karina grabbed her purse tight and almost screamed, thinking Lylah was visiting her again, but then she saw a glimmer on long blonde hair.

  “Did I scare you?” It was the blond woman from before.

  Obviously. Was sitting in people’s bedroom a local thing? “No. I mean, not you. I… I thought it was Lylah.”

  It was probably dawn because the room was getting lighter. The woman narrowed her eyes. “I’m Nia. Didn’t you see her?”

  Meaning that confusing the two of them was really stupid. Fine. But it was dark. “Yes, I saw her. Wasn’t that the reason you sent the girls?”

  Nia’s expression darkened. “I didn’t send them anywhere.”

  Of course. Anyway, Karina hadn’t meant “you” as you, but still.

  The woman sighed and continued, “I think they are too young to be risking their lives.” She looked at Karina from head to toes. “And so are you.”

  Karina gulped at first, but then realized that the woman was probably just scared because she didn’t know how simple the plan was. “I’m not risking my life,” Karina explained. “They have it all planned; we just need to throw the shoes in her—”

  Nia’s horrified expression meant she had said too much. Way too much.

  The woman got up. “Throw the shoes? Where? In Lylah’s fire, I suppose.” She put her hand in her heart and took short deep breaths. “Do you by any chance have the slightest idea of the danger of going into her dwelling?”

  “No,” Karina mumbled.

  “And yet, you think it’s a good idea to give it a try. You think it’s a good idea to put my girls in such danger.”

  “I… I don’t know anything, I just came to… I’m just trying to help your daughters.”

  Nia stepped back. “They’re not my daughters. But that doesn’t mean I would ever agree to send them on a suicide mission.”

  “Suicide?”

  Nia raised her eyebrows. “Well, do you think you can just sneak into her fortress?”

  “No. I mean… Fortress?”

  Nia put her hands on her waist. “Where do you think she lives? A little house in the woods, without any protection?”

  As silly as it sounded, that was exactly what Karina had imagined. “I…”

  Nia got closer to Karina and stared at her. “It’s a fortress, better protected than any castle on Earth.”

  “We’re still on Earth?”

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  Karina waved her hands. “It’s not my fault. I didn’t plan anything. I was sleeping, the girls woke me up, they asked for help, and I came. That’s it.”

  Nia pointed her index finger towards Karina. “That’s exactly it. They are only going because you are going.”

  “And what do you want me to do?”

  “Go home.”

  “How?”

  “The same way you came: through the flowing tower. I’ll take you there, and you’ll go. That’s the best thing to do.”

  That was a little unfair because Karina still hadn’t had the chance to see anything outside the castle. She was also afraid of going back home and being visited by some kind of evil creature, but at that moment what Karina was most scared of was the evil or perhaps not evil creature standing in front of her. Broad daylight came from the ceiling. Karina closed her eyes. “Fine. I’ll come with you.”

  She took her backpack, put her clothes inside it and didn’t bother changing because she figured a nightgown was a fair exchange for bothered sleep and a frustrated visit to an alternate world. The saddest part was saying goodbye to any hope of brave Karina saving the world. But if brave Karina could not even confront a pregnant woman, what chance did she have against a powerful witch? As they walked to the door, it opened, or rather, Cayla opened it. She was yawning, rubbing her eyes and squinting.

  “Did you call me? I thought I heard something.” She noticed Nia. “What are you doing here? Why are you two awake?”

  “We were talking,” Nia answered, sounding a lot less furious than a couple seconds before.

  Karina bit her lip, torn between asking Cayla to help her get away from that crazy woman or acting like a good abductee and staying quiet.

  Cayla looked at Karina and squinted as if to check if she was seeing well. “Why are you holding your backpack?”

  Karina opened her mouth, but no sound came.

  Nia answered instead, “I was going to take her for a walk.”

  “Oh. You don’t need to carry all your stuff,” Cayla said.

  Karina again wondered if she should tell the girl what was going on, but Nia settled the matter. “To the flowing tower. Back where she came from.”

  “But you can’t!” Cayla protested. “That’s our only chance.”

  “According to whom?” asked Nia.

  “My father and Odell.”

  Nia shook her head. “I don’t like Odell, and I don’t trust him.”

  “I do. And this is my chance to prove what I can do.”

  “You shouldn’t have to prove yourself!”<
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  Cayla was very serious. “If I am going to rule Whyland, I need to prove I’m capable.”

  Nia snorted. “Stop wasting your time. You’re not going to rule anything.”

  “Who’s going to rule then?”

  Nia pointed to her belly.

  Cayla stepped back. “You want to keep me from doing my duty in order to make way for your son instead?”

  “You are accusing the wrong person. I’m only thinking about your safety. You don’t need to go on a dangerous mission just to prove yourself. Let Karina go back home and take the shoes with her.”

  “But then Lylah’s going to get them!”

  “What’s the difference? Do you prefer to deliver them in person?”

  “At least then we’ll have a chance.”

  Nia crossed her arms. “Oh, you want a chance to get killed?”

  Karina wondered when they would ask for her opinion, not that she had any yet, but being ignored on a matter that concerned her was not very pleasant.

  Cayla looked down, as if thinking, then stepped closer to Nia and took her hand. “Nia, please. Don’t try to stop us. You know you can’t. I’ll tell my father. I’ll tell Odell. You’ll only get in trouble, and we’ll go anyways.”

  Nia pulled her hand and resumed her menacing stance, this time directed at Cayla. “You think I can’t stop you?”

  The girl seemed more concerned than intimidated. “Even if you can, please, let me go. Let me destroy these shoes. I know we can do this, and that it’s for the best.”

  Nia turned to Karina. “You. What do you think? Do you think it’s worth risking your life for a crazy plan that doesn’t even concern you? That you know nothing about?”

  Karina wished she had made up her mind earlier, because she wasn’t sure what to say. Brave and craven Karina battled in her head. In the end, neither won. There was another, stronger contender: curious Karina. “I think we can at least try.”