“Stu, you gonna be all right? Got your plan?” asked Michael.
“Yeah,” said Stu, but turned away from Trina.
***
Stu wasn’t sure about this plan at all and rushed back to the Ross residence. He couldn’t go astrally, because the rest of the family was there, so he ran from his place once he was back in the real world and in his nineteen-year-old self. He knocked on the door, panting. Madison opened the door.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” she said grinning.
Stu felt his face flush. “I’m here.” He paused to catch his breath. “Is Mrs. Ross home?”
Madison looked at him still grinning. “Are you dating my grandmother?”
“No!” said Stu and then realized she was joking. “We’re just um…” Luckily, at that moment Mrs. Ross showed at the door.
“Madison,” she said, “stop torturing the boy. Stuart, come on in.”
Stu didn’t like to be called Stuart, but he wasn’t about to say anything to Mrs. Ross. Besides, there was no time.
“Madison,” continued Mrs. Ross, “this is grown-up business. We’ll be in the study.”
“Hey, I’m almost grown up!” retorted Madison. “I’ll be in college in the fall!”
Mrs. Ross didn’t rise to the bait however, and ushered Stu into the study, closing the door. Madison went back upstairs with thoughts of traveling on her mind.
“So you’re back already?” said Mrs. Ross. “Alone? What did you run into?”
“Trina.”
Mrs. Ross paused for a second, staring at the wall. “I didn’t think of that. I should have.” She shook her head. “I don’t have much time, she said to Stu. Make it quick.” Stu didn’t bother to ask what she was up to.
“The guys have gone to find Mira, and they left me to try to help Trina.” Stu continued. “Her feet are already tingling, but they haven’t disappeared. We don’t have much time.”
“And you came here because…?”
“Because I thought you would know what to do.”
Mrs. Ross shook her head sadly. “Some things just can’t be undone,” she said. “I don’t have any help to give you. The only thing that would have worked was the antidote but that would have to have been taken before she died. There’s nothing I can do.”
“I just don’t believe that.” said Stu, raising his voice a little.
“I’m sorry, but it’s true,” said Mrs. Ross. “Trina is not a permanent fixture there, she will disappear like Paul. She is….was, of this world, not that one.” She closed her eyes.
They sat in silence for a moment.
“Well I can’t just give up! Trina is counting on me! This is her life we’re talking about,” said Stu. He was running scenarios of possibilities through his mind.
“A life she already lost, through her own actions,” reminded Mrs. Ross. “I am as sorry as anyone, and I admire you for wanting to help, but Michael and Jonathan shouldn’t have placed such a heavy burden on you.”
“I have to do something,” said Stu. “I just have to.”
Mrs. Ross watched in silence as he continued thinking.
Morgan knocked on the study door then cracked it open a bit. “Grandma? Brandon is hungry.”
Mrs. Ross excused herself from Stu for a minute to attend to Brandon. Stu kept running scenarios in his head
When she came back, she mentioned, “By the way, has anyone communicated to Lu about this? I’m sure she’d want to be there.” Stu looked up in surprise. They’d been so overwhelmed they’d forgotten about Lu.
“No,” Stu said. “I’ll call her if she’s answering and bring her with me. I’ve come up with a plan.”
Mrs. Ross surveyed his face. “It’s unnatural Stu. Whatever it is that you are going to do is against the course of things. It’s not the right thing to do.”
“I have to,” said Stu. He stood up to go. Mrs. Ross sighed.
“Tell me,” she said. “If there is anything I know to help, I’ll tell you.”
Stu said one word. “Ed.”
“Oh, Stu.” Mrs. Ross said nothing more, her face resigned.
“It’s the only thing I can think of,” he said, looking at her ashen countenance.
Mrs. Ross sighed again. “You don’t have much time. Get Lu afterwards. As much as I hate to say it, I believe it will work. But know this—forever after, as long as Trina does this, she will be a parasitic drain on you. You’ll have to have double energy, extra food; you’ll get sick easily if you don’t keep your energy up. Think about that before you do this.”
“If it was your family, wouldn’t you want me to?” asked Stu. “Despite everything?”
There was nothing Mrs. Ross could say to that. She hugged Stu, and he left.
***
While the boys went off to search for Mira, Trina waited. She didn’t know Stu very well, and now her life was in his hands. She knew from their looks that the tingling in her feet was a bad sign of some sort, but they wouldn’t tell her why. She stayed where she was and waited for Stu to get back.
Chapter Fifteen
The Astral Tour
Ada Jo and Mira were still in the forest, but they were walking now. Ada Jo was questioning Mira to try to find out more.
“A farm? I don’t think I live on a farm.” Mira paused. “But I might.” Everything was hazy.
“Well, I was thinking ‘bout it, and I’m certain. I’m going to take you on a tour. The question is can we go the fast way, or do we haveta go the slow way?” mused Ada Jo. “Do you know how to travel?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said Mira, puzzled.
“I mean, you think of a person or place or the feeling, like for example—the smell of homemade bread can take me places, and you just go there, by thinking about it. But you have to think about it and feel it with your whole self.”
“No,” said Mira. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Hmm,” said Ada Jo. “I would have thought of all people you probably could. I think maybe you don’t know
what
you can do! But better safe than sorry. We’ll do it the slow way.”
“What’s the slow way?” asked Mira.
“Why walking, silly,” laughed Ada Jo.
Ada Jo grabbed Mira’s hand. “Don’t worry; you’re safe as long as you’re with me!”
***
Mira smiled. She felt good with this little girl, even as completely lost as she was and with no memory. “I don’t feel quite like myself,” she admitted to Ada Jo.
“Well,” said Ada Jo, “I know you aren’t masking. I see the ‘real’ here. It’s one of my gifts. I can tell when people come here and try to hide who they really are. You aren’t doing that.”
“I never heard of that.” said Mira. “Sounds weird.”
“Not really. Lots of people do it. But I can sort them out.” said Ada Jo with pride. “This question will help us—” “—do you remember when you stopped at the tree in forest when it was still dark and scary like a jungle?”
“Yes,” said Mira.
“What color was the tree?” asked Ada Jo with a mischievous look in her eyes.
“Um,” Mira thought back. “It was brown, like all the other trees.”
“Nope,” said Ada Jo. “The tree you stopped at was white. There are only two white trees in the forest, and you stopped at one of them. Good people that are pure of heart stop there and don’t even know why. It’s called the Mudyi tree. An old man came once and told me the names of the three trees. He wanted to make sure they were here in this world like they were in his.”
“You said three trees?” asked Mira.
“Yep, there’s another white Mudyi tree, and then there is one that’s red, if you see it with your true eyes. It’s called the Mukula tree. People that stop there don’t know why either, but they are usually bad types. Beings you don’t want to be around.”
“Oh!” said Mira. “This sounds like a scary place!”
“Not if you have real vision,” said Ada Jo. “Which is exactly why I’m gonna take you on a tour. Since you don’t have real vision, you need to know these things to stay safe. And I’ll show you my place. You can always come there if you are scared, k? It stays no matter who’s around or what they do, I make sure of that.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you found me!” exclaimed Mira.
“I’ll tell you a secret, Mira,” said Ada Jo, her voice low.
“What?!” said Mira breathlessly.
“Are you sure you want to know?” asked Ada Jo. “Cause sometimes people aren’t ready to know things, and it’s better not to tell, but I think this is okay. Up to you.”
“No, I wanna know,” Mira nodded, sticking out her lip.
“Okay, I know you don’t think so, but you really are the one that caused the forest to go dark and scary,” she almost whispered as she said this.
Mira just stared at Ada Jo.
“I’m not blaming you or anything, Mira. I’m just letting you know that I know. I don’t think you
do
know. I think another part of you did it because something happened to you, but it really was you,” she finished.
Mira mulled this new information over. She had been so sure it wasn’t her.
Just then, to their right, a visible yet ethereal line showed up. It appeared to go along as far as they could see in either direction, kind of diagonal at the edge of the forest.
Ada Jo put her hand toward Mira and backed her up away from the line.
“If you want to know the worst place here, that’s it,” said Ada Jo.
“Really?” said Mira with doubt. “Not the dark forest?”
“The forest changes based on whoever is around. It only becomes dark through someone’s fear. It only gets thick and hard to walk through with worry. When there is no one around with an uncontrolled mind, it’s just a pretty grove of woods and easy to walk through.”
Sure enough, through the power of Ada Jo, the forest, which had been heavy with undergrowth, became a clearing with trees and light. “Everything is like that here. Except,” Ada Jo paused and pointed to the line, “over there.”
Mira waited for the explanation. Ada Jo continued in a solemn tone, as if discussing something sacred.
“The Ancients set it up. It’s the way they controlled this world enough to make it inhabitable for others. The line divides the Nightmare people from the rest of us.”
“The Nightmare people?” asked Mira, for here was another new concept.
“Yeah,” said Ada Jo. “The people having nightmares, sometimes realizing it and sometimes not, but very chaotic and messy and scary, and the line prevents them from coming over here. It’s like an invisible shield of some sort, though I’m not exactly sure what.”
“Wow,” said Mira. “These Ancients really...just wow.”
“I know,” whispered Ada Jo, as if she was afraid they would hear. “It’s amazing and scary. But come on, I’ve lots to show you and we haven’t much time.”
Mira’s jacket disappeared sometime during their talk when the forest stopped looking like a dark jungle and became woods of leaves dappled with light. The temperature was now mid-seventies, and the grove was illuminated. Mira thought she could even see the outlines of buildings outside the woods.
“Okay, well let’s start,” said Ada Jo. “Going the slow way will take a while. In the meantime, don’t be frightened by anything you see. You’re with me, and I know what to do and can take care of us. Then,” she added “when we get back to my place, I have some scrumptious cakes we can eat!”
“Oh good,” said Mira, “I actually can’t remember the last time I ate.”
Ada Jo looked at Mira and held out her hand. In it appeared a banana. “Here, eat this. It will give you some energy.”
Mira was dumbfounded. Where had it come from?
Ada Jo laughed. “Just another trick,” she said, “but a handy one! Go ahead, it will taste real and help you for real. If you want another, just say so.”
“Ok,” said Mira, as they walked some more. There seemed to be a path already made through the woods. Ada Jo led them down the trail. She pointed out the other Mudyi tree and the Mukula tree, but they both looked like regular brown trees to Mira.
Ada Jo put on a tour-guide voice. “The first thing you need to know is that we are starting from somewhere in the middle so you’re only gonna get to see about three-fourths the way ‘til we get to my house. Let’s see,” she said, thinking. She grabbed a branch near the bottom of a random tree. “The second thing you need to know is some things here are permanent and some are temporary, and though the permanent things might change temporarily, they always go back to their original form. I’ll demonstrate.” She took the stick and looked at it a moment and whispered in an aside to Mira, “I’m asking it if I can break it for a demonstration. It’s grumpy, but it says I can.” Mira’s eyes grew wide.
Who was this girl that talked to tree branches?
When Ada Jo broke the branch, two things happened. Mira thought she heard a soft “Eeeeek!” but it seemed to be in her head. And then Ada Jo sat down. Mira sat next to her.
“Why are we sitting?” whispered Mira.
“Why are you whispering?” said Ada Jo. “We’re sitting because the branch was grumpy so I’m not sure how long this will take, but you need to see it.” She looked up at the broken branch.
Mira stared up with her. She didn’t know what to expect but so far, everything Ada Jo said had been right.
In about five minutes, Mira either took her eyes away or it happened so fast that she didn’t see it, but suddenly the branch wasn’t broken anymore. It was whole and looked like it had always been that way.
“Oh my!” Mira cried out. “What just happened?”
“I told you,” said Ada Jo. “You never really quite see it, but it returns to its whole being. Everything here that is permanent does that. Things that aren’t permanent, don’t. You have to be here a long time or study this place a long time to know what’s permanent and what’s not.”
Something in all this demonstration jogged Mira’s memory. “This isn’t the real world,” she said, taken aback.
Ada Jo pursed her lips. “This
is
a real world!” she said. “It’s just not every real world, or your real world!” She folded her arms with displeasure.
“I’m sorry Ada Jo. I was just remembering for the first time, that I don’t think I’m from here.”
“Well of course not, silly! What do you think I’ve been trying to tell you!” said Ada Jo.
Mira didn’t recall Ada Jo saying anything like that but decided to keep her mouth shut. Ada Jo calmed down. Then, choosing her words with care, said, “Mira, sometimes people have to learn things on their own. We can’t blurt stuff out because it causes problems. If I run across Scruff, I’ll show you an example.”