“Keep going! Drop Marisa below roof level. The spell should stop there,” Mahati exclaimed.
More terrible noises came from the building structure below Marisa’s body which continued to drop in increments. They all leapt back as the roof gave with a final squeal of protesting metal. Marisa disappeared into the darkness below with Sandy falling in as well.
“Sandy!” Dayshia shrieked.
They heard coughing and relaxed a little. “I- I’m ok! We’re ok. Kesini caught us,” Sandy’s voice said from the darkness. Marisa could be heard coughing as well.
“What happened to the spell?” Sigrid asked.
Mahati held out her hands and muttered a few noises. “Dissipated. It completed its task.”
Michelle moved forward after bonding her webbing to a railing and lowered herself into the hole. They heard Sandy squeak in fright then her apologizing. Moments later Michelle brought her back up to the surface. Kesini was positively drooping.
“What happened to Kesini?” Dayshia asked anxiously.
As Michelle went back down for Marisa, Sandy gathered her limp hair in her arms. “She’s exhausted… and dirty! She needs a good shampooing!”
Once Marisa was back they saw the castle suddenly dim as it began its final slip into the between. There was a crash of glass, and a huge red beast came sailing through the debris of the second story window. As they were in midflight the lights suddenly dimmed then came back with a vengeance as spotlights lit up the antennae array on the rooftop. Roy landed on the pebbled roof surface with a thump. He sprawled out, and Camila rolled across the roof until Sigrid caught her.
“Where’s Henry and Tish?!?” Sigrid yelled.
Camila looked up in a daze and glanced back. “They were… right behind us!”
They stood looking at the cluster of antennas… where their friends should have been.
-=-
Henry could feel it. The building was slipping away into… nothingness, forever in all directions. The building was going to drop away before they made it to the window.
In desperation, he thought of the magic realm, the Glass People, and threw his right hand out to open a tear.
But his finger was bare.
He was no longer wearing the ring which linked him to the Fae’s global healing spell. In that moment, he realized he could no longer feel the subtle buzz of potential from the energy waiting for him to reach for it.
The magic no longer waited for his beck and call.
He couldn’t open the way for them to escape.
Despair stabbed through him as he looked to Tish. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved so much more-
Orange light poked him in the eyes, startling him into pinching them closed. His hoof caught the edge of a stone on the uneven ground, and he went sprawling in a field of tall red grass. Once he slid to a stop, he lifted his face and spat out a mouthful of plant matter. He looked back and saw the rip sealing. Xiong and a second glass being lowered their arms and the opening snapped shut. For the briefest moment, he was looking back into an absence of everything. Then it was gone.
He nodded gratefully to the two beings and felt their joy at having saved him this time.
Henry pushed himself to his feet and turned to see Tish standing a short distance away in the grass. Her mouth was open in shock as she took in the yellow sky, the enormous red-orange sun dropping to the horizon, and so many shades of red in the plant life.
Pushing himself back to his hooves, Henry inhaled slowly to get his first deep breath on this world. It was the first time he’d been here physically. He smiled at the air’s strange and subtle blend of sweet and spicy, like a hint of cherries and cinnamon.
He walked up beside Tish and saw the joy on her face. “Welcome to the realm of magic,” Henry said to her gently.
She turned to look to him as a tear slipped down her cheek. “Oh my…” she said struggling for words to describe what she was feeling. Then she noticed the two beings standing patiently nearby. “Oh!”
Henry smiled. “These are my friends. Two of the Glass People. Xiong and… Dave.” The second name came through his link to them.
“Dave?” Tish blinked in surprise as she waved to them.
Henry nodded. “They used to be human but got caught in a strange and intense lightning storm back home. That’s how they described it at least.”
“You’re talking with them?” Tish asked, a sparkle of excitement twinkling in her eyes. Henry touched his temple and nodded again making her bounce happily on her hooves.
“Wait! How did they get here?” she asked breathlessly.
“I got them here,” he admitted.
“Like you got us here!” she gushed.
Henry shook his head. “No, they opened the tear to get us here.” He gestured to the two beings watching them. “They must have heard my call. I- I can’t open the way any longer.” His throat tightened as he held his right hand in his left, staring at his bare finger. Mab’s finger? His… daughter’s?
He felt a smaller hand touch his chest gently. Compassionate eyes looked into his. “What happened?” Tish asked, but he could only shake his head. It was too soon; he was too raw.
She pulled him into a hug, and he struggled not to let his grief explode forth again. He felt the love and support from all of the Glass People linked to his mind. They saw everything and shared his horror and sorrow. He sent his love and gratitude to them as well.
When Tish pulled back, she smiled at him until he managed to return it. “While I am thrilled to be one of the first people to stand on a… alien planet, alternate Earth… does it have a name?”
Henry looked to Xiong and Dave and smiled. “They don’t rely on words too much anymore, but after they first arrived, they called it Eden.”
Tish grinned at the two glass figures and nodded. “Lovely name! Lovely place! But how do we get home? Our friends won’t know we got out of the castle! They’ll be devastated!” Tish looked more and more distraught as she thought of her friends.
Henry looked to Xiong and felt his response. The two beings turned and walked away. Henry held out a hand and wrapped his arm around Tish to calm her and guide her after them.
“They’ll open a gate for us, but they need to recharge. Earliest is midday tomorrow.” He gestured to the setting sun. “That’s their main energy source, and they used up a lot to get us here.”
They followed their escorts a short distance across the hillside meadows until they reached a clearing in a group of trees where the others relaxed on the grass.
Tish watched them moving around, and Henry could tell she had questions. The beings were different sizes, but all were humanoid in shape. Their facial features were minimal, but Henry knew they maintained their distinct personalities. It was just their drives that had taken a dramatic change. Body shape, wealth, social status all became meaningless in their new state of being.
“So many!” Tish gasped quietly.
“Population of a small Midwest town out watching their children play football!” Henry explained softly.
“What?!? Them? But they were reported as dead!” she gasped quietly.
“Yet here they are, very much alive. Happier than they’ve ever been. They’d love their relatives to join them but they don’t know how to duplicate the circumstances that led to their creation, and most wouldn’t volunteer to go through it,” he said.
Tish looked at him. “They told you all this?”
He nodded. “Not in words. They’re sharing their minds with me. I… it feels like memories. It’s hard to explain. When linked like this, I can recall things that happened in their lives. I don’t look too closely as it feels like I’d go mad if I did. Too intimate and too much.”
The smaller beings brought soft grasses by the armload as bedding for them. Some of the ‘elders’ brought stones, wood, and kindling for a fire pit.
Another adult shot sparks from one of his limbs, and soon they had a lovely little blaze going in the pit. The fire had the bonus of trickle feeding the smaller Glass People who joined them in a circle around it.
Henry had to act as translator as they discovered they couldn’t connect to Tish’s mind.
It wasn’t too long before Tish began yawning and their hosts began to slip away to wait for dawn’s light in their dormant state.
Henry bid the final members a good night and headed for the bed of grass. Tish settled down next to him and cuddled up against his side.
She was silent for a while, and Henry thought she’d drifted off. But she was trying to determine how to ask him a question. “Henry?”
“Hmmm?”
“Your Baba. I get that she’s an incredibly powerful witch but… is she a truthful person?”
He felt a shock go through his muscles when she surprised him with the question. Thinking of Baba was… difficult after what she’d done.
Tish felt his reaction and was immediately contrite. “I’m sorry, Henry! Never mind-”
He frowned. “No, it’s fine. You just surprised me. Is she truthful?” He thought back and looked for lies she might have told him. “She’s kept things from me. Important things. But she’s not the type to speak lies. She’s always demanded the truth from me and has no patience for less than direct speech. I can’t recall her ever overtly lying to me… so, yes, she’s truthful. Why?”
Tish was quiet once more, and Henry began to worry.
“When you healed me with Ikehorn… did you only fix my back?” she asked quietly.
He went back to the night, not that long ago though tonight it felt like a lifetime. He recalled wishing with all his might that she would be made whole, complete, and healthy. He also remembered Tish’s confession about her accident. “I might have been concentrating on fixing… everything,” he said cautiously.