Between Two Worlds

I stop and watch a moment as she walks off, trying to figure out where she’s headed. Deciding to follow her, I sling the backpack over one shoulder. I’m a few feet behind her as I follow her in the direction we originally came from. Back through the remaining pairs still struggling to figure out their first clue. She walks straight to our apartment building; slings open the doors and disappears inside. I speed up to a jog and follow her inside. As soon as I step inside, I see Kat leaning over the fountain. “What are you doing?” I ask walking over to her.

“Getting. A...” she grunts and reaches into the fountain. “A. Rock. Yes! Got one!” She stands to her feet, her small prize in her fist.

“Why a rock?” I ask, confused.

“Because, underwater, the rocks are wet, see here.” She says holding out the rock for me to inspect. “We are dry because we aren’t in the water. But I reached into the water and got not only my hand, but my sleeves wet as well. And this particular kind of rock dries really fast.” She brings the rock to her mouth and lightly blows on it. “Now, check this out.” She says throwing the rock to me.

I catch it and turn it over in my hands. It’s dry as can be, no way to tell it was ever in the fountain, seconds beforehand. “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“Now check out my sleeve. It’s wet and the rock is dry.”

“How did you know the rock would do that?”

“Remember me telling you I served my General for several years?”

“Yes.”

“There was this one planet, second from its sun, it had fifteen moons. I was stationed temporarily on moon number eight. There was a lake, there, that made a specific gurgling noise, never heard it anywhere else in all my travels. Something to do with the composition of the rocks and the water moving across them. I don’t know, science really isn’t my thing. But the point is, if you be quiet for a moment, you’ll hear that noise coming from the fountain.” She explains.

We both stand there a moment, in silence, and sure enough, a strange gurgling sound can be heard. “Okay. So that’s item number one on our list. What do we do with it? Just dump it in the bag?” I ask, pulling the pack off my shoulder and setting it on the floor beside me.

“Look in the bag, first, see if there’s some sort of smaller bag. A small game bag, maybe?”

I bend over and rummage through the backpack, pushing aside various tools, and eventually pulling out a bag that isn’t much bigger than my fist. It’s blue in color and has drawstrings to keep it closed. “I guess that’s what this is for.” I quickly drop the rock into the bag, pull the drawstring closed, and carefully set the small bag back inside of the backpack.

Kat reaches into her pocket and pulls the list out again, reading it out loud. “Number one: I’m wet, your dry, but when you get me, you’ll be wet, and I’ll be dry. Just don’t forget to gurgle. We got the rock so that one is complete. Number two: I’m high in the sky but I don’t fly. I’m really rare, just call me royal. Drop me and I’ll break. Sounds like whatever this one is, it’s really fragile.”

“And it says it’s up high. It doesn’t fly. Just a rhyme, or a hint? What’s up high, but doesn’t fly? A bat? A bird? Something that climbs trees?” Trees. Something about that triggers a memory for me. “It’s an egg!” I shout, excitedly.

“An egg? Okay. But what kind of egg? It says, call me royal. What does that mean?” she asks.

“Last night, after dinner, Altair and I went for a walk. There was this beautiful purple bird flying around. He pointed it out to me and said it was called a Royal something or another. I don’t remember the exact name, but that has to be it! He said it’s the only bird to lay an egg the same color as its feathers. He said it was really rare.”

“So, did he happen to mention where we could find this royal bird?” Kat asks crossing her arms.

“Not an exact location. But I imagine, they are outside, somewhere. In the woods.”

“I would hope they aren’t indoors.” She says, uncrossing her arms and laughing.

A few minutes later, we are back outside, at the edge of the woods. “I don’t know if I can,” I say.

“Know if you can, what?” Kat asks.

“Go in there. In the woods. I know we have to go in there. I know I sound stupid, and ordinarily, I wouldn’t be afraid. But ever since we snuck out the other night, I keep thinking about that creature. And now, with clue number six, I don’t know.”

“It’s not stupid, I can understand why you would be frightened. But don’t worry, you aren’t alone, and I am not helpless. We can do this, once this is done, we will be full-fledged members of the Dini. Isn’t that what you want?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Yes, I think so.”

“Come on, then, we have to finish this hunt. Let’s check both the sky and the ground for any signs of this mysterious bird.” She says walking into the woods. “And in the meantime, I will do my best to keep us both alive.”

“All right,” I say, following behind her. We walk in silence for a few minutes. Soon, we are surrounded by the buzzing of insects and the chirping of birds. A wall of green lays ahead and behind us. “Kat?” I ask.

“Yes?”

“Would you consider yourself my friend?”

“Of course. Why do you ask?”

“Then can you tell me why exactly you came here? It can’t be because you were unhappy with your life as Harmony has said.”

“Why couldn’t it be? It happens all of the time. People get bored of their lives for one reason or another and start looking for something different.” She explains.

“I don’t buy that. Not for you. You have too many secrets. I can tell. You don’t buy into this whole perfect life they are selling here.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. No. I want to, but I don’t know. Lately, things just feel, slightly off.” I say.

“Well, you are right.” She’s silent for so long, that I am about to ask her to elaborate, when she continues, “I am here for a reason. My government heard rumors of the Dini and the experiments they are doing out here.”

“Experiments? I think you mentioned that a while back. You said you weren’t sure what kind.”

“We know a little more than I let on, before. I just wasn’t sure how much I could trust you. I feel you are trustworthy, so I’ll tell you what I know. Rumors reached us that there was some sort of breeding experiment, being done here. Crossbreeding several different species together, to make one new and terribly dangerous species.”

“The singing thing we heard the other night?”

“Yes. I’m pretty sure that was part of it.” She says stepping over a fallen tree.

“Why would your government care anything about that? Is it illegal or something?”

“We would usually ignore such rumors because they don’t affect us. But this one... Altair procured certain... creatures, from certain planets under Copaie control. Once again, not a big deal, except rumor has it, that he is going to use these creatures to destroy planets. His whole peace speech is a lie.”

“How do you know?” I ask. I’m not really sure I like her line of thinking. It sounds dangerous. Something that could get us both into trouble. I duck as I approach a low-hanging branch. “I mean, the rumors could have been started by someone who doesn’t like Altair.” Defending him feels weird. In the other world, the dream world or alternate reality or whatever it is, Altair threatened the life of my brother and my niece if I didn’t marry him. But here, he is sweet, protective, and seems to love me.

She sighs before answering. “I know because I’m from about ten years into the future. I was sent back in time to find a way to stop Altair. He released his dangerous creatures on planet after planet, killing males and females alike. It didn’t take long for people to make alliances with him. Soon he had several powerful races on his side, doing his bidding. He was getting ready to conquer my home world. That’s why I was sent back. But even putting the destruction of my planet to the side, he is a murderer. You need to be careful, going off alone with him. I got myself partnered up with you on purpose. And if you get yourself killed, it will be for nothing.”

“Why? Why would you purposely want to be partnered with me? How did you make that happen? What happens to me, in the future?” I ask, curious. A loud squawking sound fills the air, interrupting our conversation. We look up, in time to see a flash of purple flying past us. “Are we still doing the scavenger hunt?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“I think that’s our bird. Let’s go.”

“It’s the only way to get close enough to Altair to figure out what he’s planning, so I can stop him,” Kat says.

“Huh?” I ask, stopping to look at Kat.

“That’s why I wanted to partner with you.” She says stopping as well.

“Okay, but you didn’t answer the rest of my questions.”

“Partners are matched via a computer program, so that was easy to fix. You saw my... skills.”

“What about future me? What happens to me?”