Now I was really excited. We were one, going to get really.. Close over the next few days. And two, my mom would stop asking questions about how close we really were. Dominic has seemed different though. Like he's trying to prove something to me and my mom. Himself too. He's making jokes way more often, and trying to do everything he possibly can to help out around the house. It's really refreshing to see a guy want to help out, but he's helping out so much I'm worried for him.
"Hey April?" He knocked a tune on my door.
"You can come in." He walked through the door, shuting it carefully.
"Wanna practice?" We practiced for a few minutes. Okay like 25.
A few days later we were talking about when we should do it, we had it planned for that day. We ended up agreeing on around 4, that's when she usually started making dinner. We stayed separate except for when my mom was outside gardening. I could tell she was getting a little worried about how little time we were spending together. It was 3:30 and we were both waiting for my mom to walk out to the garden to get her vegetables for dinner. Soon enough we heard the front door open, and close quickly. We hurried out and set our trap. Okay we started kissing. We had barely had our lips locked for three seconds when a man walked in and started shouting at Dominic.
"Dominic! Give me your parents' bracelet and we can forget about everything you've done to help them with their schemes." Dominic jumped back from the counter to face the man.
"No. The bracelet is my moms and my moms only." Dominic is going to die. And I'm going to watch.
The man launched forward at Dominic to try and grab his arm, but Dominic saw it coming and spun out of the way. He spun around to the man's back and grabbed his arm, throwing him to the floor.
"Why do you want the bracelet? It's just a stupid silver bracelet with a purple bead."
"You don't understand, that's not what it is. If you gave me a minute to explain you would hand it right over."
"I don't want to hand it over, and I don't want to listen to your piercing voice any longer than I have to."
He stepped away from the man allowing him to stand up.
"You have a week. Finish your parents' mission, or we will. But I have a feeling you won't like how it gets done our way."
"I don't even know what it is. All I have is this dumb bracelet, and a few instructions on where to go."
"If you knew you would stop. I promise this isn't what you think it is." The man gestured towards the bracelet.
"I don't care. It's not the governments to have, regardless of the magical powers or the secret coded message. I simply don't care, and that is the end of this conversation. Have a lovely day sir." And with that he shoved the man towards the door and turned back to me.
"So Dominic?" My mom called over from a room down the hall. "Are you good there?"
"Yeah we're both fine." He responded.
"Could you come in here?" We walked down to her room, and when we walked inside we saw my mother lying on the ground, a bookcase flat on her stomach, books all over the floor by her face.
Dominic ran over and started to lift up the bookcase, while I helped my mom out from under and back onto her feet.
"Thanks guys, I don't know how that happened." My mom said out of breath.
"No worries, are you okay?" Dominic asked.
"Yeah I'm just fine. Who was the man?"
"Ugly." I responded.
"April Katz, don't talk about others that way." I felt bad but Dominic laughed to himself and I suddenly didn't feel as bad about it.
"Government worker, trying to take the bracelet again." Dominic said suddenly somber.
"I sure hope they give this a rest, I'm sick of our loved ones dropping like flies over a bracelet." I added.
"We'll be okay, we're a strong group of people who don't let others walk all over them." My mom said.
"Yeah, but so was Mitch. And I worry about you guys. I want to be here to protect you, but I'm the one bringing danger upon you guys." Me and my mom laughed.
"You don't need to worry about that. You're one of us, so everything that happens to you should happen to us too." My mom was trying to comfort him but he still looked uneasy.
"I just don't want to kill you guys because I don't have a family."
We all sat there, thinking. All of us assumed someone else would speak up. Then it hit me. This was the perfect time to prank my mom. I leaned over and hugged him, then whispered in his ear that it was go time.
He pulled me closer and we started kissing, right there with my mom watching us. I think I heard a gasp, but I didn't really care. We pulled apart and turned to face my mom and she was sitting there, face frozen like we'd paused time.
"So… you guys… haven't done more than that have you?" My mom said scared.
Dominic burst into laughter. "Are you kidding? We don't have time to do anything more if we wanted to."
She sighed, in relief of course. Another bang at the door.
"Dominic. I don't know what you're doing in there but you had better hide your family before Lazarus finds you."
"Who was that?" My mom asked.
"I don't know. But he's right. You guys need to go to the third step of the treehouse, and push up. When the door opens, run inside and pull it shut. Right now." My mom rushed out and towards the tree but I stood by Dominic.
"What are you thinking? Go with your mom! I'm not joking around here."
"Neither am I Dominic. If you have to stay and fight, so will I."
"April, go with your mom now. If you don't go I'll have no one. We'll both die and your mom will be left alone here. Please go stay with her. And take this." He handed me an envelope, definitely written a long time ago.
Someone came through the door. A chill came in with him, like the doors and the drawers knew who he was.
"Now who is this Dom?" The tall creature spoke. "Wouldn't want me to hurt her would you?" His voice was strange. It was low and gravely, but when he spoke it's like a thousand lost souls spoke with him, like a whistle with every syllable.
Dominic grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug. He spoke low and quiet, even though I'm sure the creature could hear him.
"When I let go, you can't run for your mom. It's too late for that. You need to run past the treehouse, and into the river. Follow the river upstream until you see it." See what Dominic? See what? "Three, two.." He let go. I ran. I ran through the door, past the treehouse, and to the river. Only, the river was gone. There was a slight opening to where it had once been, but the creature must have taken it. I ran where I remembered it to be, but I felt so unsure of every move I made.
The ground started to vibrate, like a herd of bison were trailing behind me. I heard Dominic scream from afar, and it made me run faster. The rumbling was getting harsher and harsher, like the bison were only inches from my feet. I turned my head slightly, and saw three creatures almost identical to the one in my living room chasing behind me, and suddenly, I fell. But not to the floor, I fell to the earth. Sliding down the tunnel in the path all the way down to a second layer of earth. I looked up, but the tunnel had closed up. I searched around me for something familiar, but it was all so different, it was simpler, but more lively. The buildings were made of wood and vines, the tallest building was only tall because of its placement in a tree. A sign over the town building read "Mawhiti".
The people here were tall, with claw-like nails on the end of each finger. Their arms were longer than their legs and would end right around their knees. Other than this they seemed to be pretty normal, and the signs on their doors and billboards were in English as well, thank goodness for that.
"Excuse me," An older woman tapped my shoulder. "Could you help me into my house, the front step is just getting too high for me to climb these days."
"Yeah of course, lead the way." We walked down the street and on the left there was a cute little spherical hut. Moss and vines hung off of it. I helped her up into the door, and she thanked me with a small bag with coins inside of it.
"You might need these if you plan to stay here long." And with that she shut the door.
I walked around the little town catching people looking at me confused. I stopped upon a bookstore a block down from the woman's house. I stepped inside and was immediately in awe. The inside of the building was bigger than the outside. The walls stretch up at least 20 feet, lined with books to the ceiling. The staircase in the middle was also filled with books, you could see every bit of this store, because it was made completely of glass.
"How can I help you ma'am!" A younger boy asked me. "Looking for anything specific?"
"Not really, I just got here and figured I might as well look around."
"Boy, do I have the book for you then. Come with me." He took me down several hallways and into a little room, labeled "Emerging Authors" and we walked in.
"Right here!" He grabbed a book called What to expect from Mawhiti, and the Changelings in it.
"Changelings are real?"
"Yeah, that's why our features vary so much in proportions." Now that he had mentioned it, he did look very different from the old woman. His arms were still long, but his legs were longer, and his neck was longer as well.
"That's actually really cool, I wish I had something cool to say about my people."
"Humans, no?"
"Yep. Boring old humans." I said dryly.
"What do you mean? Humans are so fascinating! You guys have different languages, and you have technology, and you have a sky."
"What do I mean? What do you mean? You have a sky right there?"
"That's not a sky. That is a screen, over the underside of your earth." I took a better look at it, and saw little glitches here and there.
"Humans are so cool. Here, take this if you don't believe me." He handed me another book, Humans; Homo Sapiens. They were both by the same author, Harvey Carmine.
"Oh, I didn't catch your name?" He added while I took the book from him.
"April Katz."
"Nice to meet you April, I'm Harvey Carmine."
"So you're the infamous Harvey Carmine huh?" I said with a smirk.
"Kind of hoping you wouldn't have seen that yet. I'll sign them for you if you buy them."
"Harvey Carmine, you've got a deal. But you first have to tell me, if you're changelings, then why is our folklore about you guys so different?"
"I guess you'll have to read my book and find out." He said with a smile.
We walked back down the ever-lasting bookstore and to the front desk. I set them up and the cashier rang me up. It only took two of my coins for both books. Harvey signed them, gave me a bookbag, and offered to show me around town. We walked for an hour or so until the screen above us started to dim.
"Do you guys not have sunsets?"
"Sunset?"
"Oh my gosh you don't! I'll paint you a picture of one in the morning." He nodded, and we found a hotel for me to stay at not too far from the bookstore, which we decided would be the best spot to meet up after we slept.
I woke to a knocking on my door. I made my way over, still in my dirty clothes from yesterday, and opened the door.
"April! I'm glad I helped you pick a hotel, I got these for you." He handed me a bag, and ran off, towards the bookstore. Inside the bag were three pairs of clothing, and a hairbrush. I did my hair in four braids, and put together an outfit. The top was confusing, with ties everywhere, but when I had it all the way on, it was essentially a hoodie that you had to put together every time you wore it. The pants were like cargo pants, a little baggy with multiple pockets on each leg. The fabric was something I'd never seen before, it looked like faux leather, but felt like any regular cotton fabric. The thread to tie it all up was definitely not man made. Some sort of vine, no doubt.
I arrived at the bookstore and headed towards Harvey's book stand. I saw a backpack while I was walking and grabbed it.
"Oh you're here already? I figured you'd be a while longer."
"Why's that?"
"I guess changelngs take longer to get ready?"
He took me around to a few new stores, including a rustic little coffee shop called the Inky Barn, looked cool, and sounded dreadful. We went back to my hotel and put my new clothes in my bookbag, with Harveys books.
"Do you have any way to communicate long distance?" I asked Harvey.
"Yeah, let me get you one." We went down the street to his house and he ran inside. I stood in his yard, admiring the garden beds.
"Here." He said, tossing me a silver sphere. When I caught it, it started to glow red.
"Hold it like that for 15 seconds while it pairs to you." He explained.
"Pairs to me?"
"Yeah, it's going to match your persona so that it can tell who and what you want to send a message to."
"Oh my gosh that's awesome, with the whole 'Wifi Incident of '46' we just use walkie talkies for long distances." He looked at me weird, but his face softened when the sphere turned green, then blinked blue a few times.
"You're all set, let me know if you ever need anything." he turned to walk out when I suddenly felt prompted to grab his arm to stop him.
"Hold on, what's this thing called?"
"We call it a Korero."
"Good to know. How much do I owe you for all of this?"
"Don't mention it, we don't use money often down here."
"How about I just give you this?" I said as I handed him the painting of a sunset.
"You get to see this every night?"
"Every morning and every night." He shook his head while I told him why this happens.
"That's amazing. If I had a sunset everyday I think all of my problems would be solved."
He smiled at me, then went on his way.
Hoping I would find the trapdoor that led me here, I packed up all of my stuff and started walking in the direction I hoped was right. I was stopped by the woman that asked me for help when I first got here.
"Excuse me? Are you trying to leave?" This startled me; was I not allowed to?
"I just want to know where I can, I plan on staying a few more days."
"You're going to want some help with that. Let me call someone for you." She pulled out her Korero and made a call. After a few minutes she walked back over to me and told me a tall man would be coming to help me soon. Ten minutes or so passed, and he showed up.
"April I presume?" Oh. My. This 'tall man' has the most resounding voice I have ever heard.
"Uhm, yeah that's me. And you are?" He stood up taller and took a few more steps towards me, close enough he could grab me.
"Elmer Barlowe. I'm the equivalent to a human officer." He said while grabbing my hand just to place a kiss on top of it. "I hear you're trying to go back to the human world?"
"Soon, it doesn't have to be now." I felt like an idiot.
"Let me show you something." We started walking and he placed his hand on the plain of my back, as if I would topple over without his support.
We made it over to a small well, nothing special or different about it. He pulled on the rope that stretched down into it, and a set of stairs descended from the "sky".
"Oh my gosh, you guys have amazing technology for being so closed off." He just smiled, and started walking up the stairs.