Right. Somewhere safe in New York. Not an easy task. The alley was at least a small area that we could try and defend ourselves in. I dropped the energy encasing my mind and let images of the alley linger.
“There aren’t many places in New York one would consider safe, but this alley is generally deserted. And we might find Quarn there.”
Josian closed his eyes. As a little experiment I threw some energy at his mind, trying to read his thoughts. I really wanted to know how they traveled between the worlds. I slammed up against a hardness the consistency of diamond. No way was I tunnelling through that. Josian opened one eye to grin at me, before he spoke to everyone.
“Okay, link hands.”
I waited for the shimmer, but as Josian stepped back there was something very different there.
It was freaking scary.
A swirling vortex, colored a deep purple. It reminded me of the night sky with no stars to break the endless depth of the color. Like a dark tunnel and at the end I could see the New York alley. But it was contorted, as if there were millions of miles to traverse between where I was standing and where we would end up.
“What the hell is that?” I took a step back. No way was I walking into that death trap. I prefer shimmer and sparkles, thanks.
Josian looked up in surprise.
“It’s a doorway between the worlds, part of the energy wormholes that connect all seven worlds.”
He gestured. “This is what the doorways look like. How did you get here, Aribella, if it wasn’t through one of these?”
I clenched my fist nervously before shaking my head. “It was nothing like this, just a shimmery wall I stepped through from Earth into First World.”
Josian locked gazes with Lallielle. If I hadn’t known better, I would say they were communicating. Noticing my interest, Josian smiled.
“This is part of what makes Walkers so dangerous. We have the innate ability to open doorways to any part of any star system that we want. As long as we can picture where we want to end up, a doorway will open. We then traverse that distance at the speed of light, and we can take others with us.”
While I was beyond interested in learning about Walkers, I had noticed how deftly he’d changed the subject from Quarn’s unusual doorway. I let it slide for now.
Brace stepped up then and grasped my left hand. Lallielle linked hands with Josian, and offered me her other. Taking it cautiously, I waited with apprehension.
Josian stepped into the doorway, pulling us along.
The force sucked me through fast.
Whilst Quarn’s style was a simple and gentle transition, the trip back was a little different.
I was being sucked through a black slide. There was no pain; I didn’t bump into anything, but every particle in my body was traveling too fast.
I wanted to climb off. My claustrophobia was starting to rear its head as the darkness encased me.
I couldn’t breathe.
Ripping my hands free, I wrapped them around myself and tried to slow my racing heart.
I felt arms encase me as Brace held me against him. I heard words. I’m not sure if they were out loud or in my head.
“Breathe for me, Red ... breathe.”
His closeness and soothing accent were the perfect distraction. I buried my head into his rather enjoyably muscular chest, and waited for the sensation to be over. At this moment, Walkers everywhere would be hanging their heads in shame. I was a disgrace.
There was no other noise in the tunnel. It was a vacuum. I didn’t even know if noise could exist here, like in space there was nothing. But I knew instantly when we arrived. My cells stopped jumping around, and I could breathe freely again. The sensation was unmistakable and I wouldn’t be forgetting it any time soon.
Without a jolt, we exited. I’d expected the worm hole to spit us out in a great jumble. Instead we were all standing, unscathed, in the alley. Brace was across from me, my hands encased in his. He let go abruptly, before rubbing his head a few times and walking away. I hugged my arms closer, before zipping up my coat. Small ice particles floated past my face.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. Walking the worlds is in your blood.” Josian placed a comforting hand on my back. His breath came out in puffs of condensed air.
I looked around. There was trash everywhere and despite the cold the dumpsters were in fine stinking form. But it felt like I was home.
Smiling, I glanced along the empty alley. It was early morning. Light filtered throughout the dimly lit area. Lallielle looked around as well, her elegant nose wrinkled. Josian paced.
“I hate the sensation of being on Earth. I feel like I’m functioning with half my senses. Blind, deaf, and dumb.”
I laughed. “Well, personally, I love that no one can rummage through my head. Plus everything has rules, and works the way it’s supposed to. Buildings don’t have energy I can manipulate.”