Out of This World (17 page)

Zachary grunted as if he’d been hit in the stomach.

“Zack?” cried Jenna, looking up quickly. In the dim glow she could just make out her brother. A huge tentacle was wrapped tightly around his stomach and he had been lifted off the ground. The tentacle was covered with suction cups and was attached to a hideous creature that she could barely see since it was almost entirely out of the range of the Glow-tree and facing away from the dim light. She could just make out that it was pale and hairless. Two huge oval eyes, without lids, bulged out from its face like the eyes of a praying mantis. It was repulsive.

Jenna opened her mouth to scream.

Before she was even aware it had moved, the creature whipped the second of its two tentacle arms around her waist, taking her breath away. It lifted her off her feet, still facing away from the Glow-tree, and ran off with her and her brother on human-like legs.

They were instantly plunged back into the absolute darkness of the cave, the only illumination coming from the creature’s massive, bulging eyes as they continued to gleam demonically. From the surefooted manner that the creature ran it was clear that its eyes were thousands of times more sensitive than theirs, gathering and magnifying light they couldn't possibly have detected.

Zachary felt the tentacle that was holding Jenna brush up against him as the creature ran. Grunting, he kicked at it with all his might.

And it let go.

Surprised, the creature recoiled slightly, just enough to lose its grip on Jenna. She fell to the cave floor. It whipped another tentacle out to try to pick her up again but missed, hitting her arm in the process and sending the small Omega field generator flying from her hand. The plastic ball bounced along the cave floor and then fell thirty feet to the bottom of a cavern, making a distant cracking noise as it landed.

“No!” screamed Jenna, even as she jerked to the left, blindly dodging a tentacle she was sure would make another attempt to seize her.

 Zachary pounded on the tentacle coiled around him and used all of his strength to try to squirm away from the monster. Anything to distract it from his sister.

The creature was determined not to let him get away. It wrapped its other tentacle around Zachary’s arms and continued into the darkness, leaving Jenna behind.

“Zack!” she screamed in horror. “Where are you!”

But there was no answer. All she could hear was the sound of the creature’s running footsteps for another fifteen seconds—and then nothing.  

Her brother was gone.

And so was the generator that had helped her so much.

She crumpled onto the cave floor in despair.

She was alone. In total silence—and total darkness. She could barely breathe, as if she had been hit hard in the stomach by a steel fist.

Jenna curled up into a ball on the ground, too emotionally numb even to sob as she plunged into depths of despair she didn’t even know existed. Totally stunned, she made no move to lift herself off the cave floor. This had to be a nightmare. Just a nightmare. She would wake up any moment.

Just then she saw the blackness shimmer only inches away. It couldn’t be. Was she imagining it?

She sat up and fought to recover her emotional balance.
It was a portal
. She looked through it and saw daylight. After the total darkness of the cave the daylight was painful, far too bright to take, and she instinctively slammed her eyes shut to protect them. She re-opened her eyes just a fraction and squinted through the portal until they adjusted.

And then something remarkable happened as she looked through the portal.

Her parents appeared.

Her mom and dad—clear as day.
They were alive
. Not ten feet from her through the portal.

“Mom! Dad!” she gasped in wonder. Her spirits soared. Just for a moment she forgot where she was and the danger she was in.

But only for a moment. A picture of the hideous creature that now had her brother popped back into her mind. “You have to help me. Something has Zachary!”

Tears welled up in her mother's eyes. “Jenna!” she said in disbelief, gazing lovingly at her daughter. “Is that really you?” Her voice sounded incredibly distant filtered through the portal. She turned toward her husband. “You did it! You thought you could direct this portal to the kids and you were right!”

“But I can only keep it open for a few minutes,” said Mr. Lane, the strain in his voice unmistakable. He turned his full attention to his daughter. “Are you okay, Jenna?” he asked protectively.

“I’m okay,” she replied. “But Zack’s in big trouble. We’ve got to help him.”

Her parents looked confused and concerned. “It looks like you’re saying something, Jenna, but we can’t hear a thing. You’re going to have to speak louder. Where is your brother?”

“
He was kidnapped
,” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “
By some hideous cave monster
.”

“We can’t hear you,” said her father worriedly. “Can you hear
us
? If you can hear me, wave your hands in front of you,” he instructed.

Jenna did as he requested.

“Good,” said her mother, looking relieved. “At least you can hear
us
. You’re going to have to jump through the portal to us, Sweetheart. I promise you everything will be okay.”

“But Zachary,” pleaded Jenna again. “You don't understand. We have to help him.”

Jenna gasped as she noticed the portal beginning to shrink ever so slightly.

“We still can't hear you, Sweetheart,” said her father urgently, panic creeping into his voice. “But the portal is beginning to shrink. You don't have much time. Jump through now!” he insisted. “Please! This portal won't return for a hundred years. And I won’t be able to create an opening between us again.”

What should she do?
She looked at her parent's kind, worried faces. Their eyes were pleading with her to join them. In seconds she could be in their arms and away from this endless darkness. Away from this terrible nightmare. They always knew what to do. They would take care of her.

She looked at them longingly. These were the parents who had read stories to her and tucked her in at night. Who had comforted her when she was sick. Who had dried her tears when she was hurt; physically or emotionally. They had always been there for her.

And they were there for her now. Just a single step away.

She loved them so much. And she needed them desperately.

But her brother needed
her
. Now. He didn’t stand a chance against the tentacled monstrosity that had captured him. She couldn’t just leave him. She had never realized until this moment how much she loved her brother. But she did. Deeply. The intensity of her emotions surprised her.

And she was hit with the realization that he must love her too. Hadn’t he stayed behind with her to face the deadly Grull. He could have made it through the portal to safety when the Grull had been chasing them. But he had slowed on purpose when he realized
she
wouldn’t make it. He told her he hadn’t, but she knew better. Yes, he could be a huge jerk. Yes, he was always putting her down. But when she had needed him most, when it
mattered
most, he had refused to leave her side, even when he knew they had almost no hope of survival.

And she could do no less for him. She would save her brother. She just
had
to. Somehow.

But it seemed so hopeless. The enemy was much stronger than she was and had super-sensitive vision. She was a weak, blind girl against a sighted, impossibly strong creature. And there were no weapons here. Even if she found a weapon she couldn't see to use it.

But they had been in impossible situations before—and gotten out of them. She had never thought so clearly or been so sure of herself.

But that was only because she was carrying her parents miracle generator, she realized, which had been performing its own brand of magic. Without it, she was just as pathetic as she had always been.

What would Zachary do in this situation? she asked herself. The answer came to her quickly. He would find a way to trick the creature or outsmart it. He would find a way to use the creature's advantages against it. He had done this with the Grull when he had tricked it into using its own cruel impulses to unwittingly set them free.

She had to think of
something
. Even without the generator. She couldn't just leave her brother here with that monster.

The portal was now only seconds away from closing.

“
Please
, Jenna! Please come through now,” pleaded her mother.

Several tears escaped from Jenna’s eyes and rolled slowly down her face. “I love you both,” she said sadly, despite knowing they couldn’t hear her. “But I won’t leave Zachary,” she whispered.

With that, the portal disappeared and plunged her once again into a thick blanket of darkness.

Jenna forced herself to turn away from where the now-vanished portal, and her parents, had been. She had made her choice. Finding a strength within herself that she didn’t know existed, she defiantly wiped away her tears and rose to her feet. She made a determined fist. If there was a way—
any
way—to free her brother, she told herself, she would find it.

But despite her resolve, she knew that her chance of success was as close to zero as it could possibly get.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Darkness

After a few minutes of running the creature stopped and began walking slowly, even cautiously, for several minutes. Finally, it stopped and set Zachary down on the cool cave floor, its tentacles still wrapped around him. “I'm going to let go,” it said. “But you should know you have no chance of escape.”

It could talk?  It was intelligent?

Zachary realized he shouldn’t have been surprised. After Tular, the Grull, and especially Lisgar, he should have known just how deceiving appearances could be.

“We’re standing on a natural rock bridge high over a cavern. I was observing you for several minutes and it's obvious you’re blind. So don’t even think of trying to escape. Take one wrong step and you’ll plunge to your death. I’d hate for that to happen before I’m finished with you.”

Me too
, thought Zachary, but he remained silent as the creature’s tentacles uncoiled from around him and he took a deep breath, freed from their crushing hold.

“Now,” roared the alien, “tell me how to get home!”

“How to get home?” repeated Zachary in confusion.

“Don’t play stupid. I don't know how you arranged to bring me here, but I want to go back.”

“I don't understand. I thought this
was
your home. How did you get here?”

“As if you don’t know,” snorted the creature. “I was on a hunting expedition in my home cave when I stumbled into some kind of bizarre hole. The next thing I knew I was on this world.” It reached out with a tentacle and shook Zachary roughly. “Now send me back right now!”

Zachary was intrigued. This alien had travelled through a portal. It . . . he . . . had gone from one cave world to another. “How do you know you're not just in a different section of the cave you were in when you fell?” asked Zachary. “What makes you think you're in an entirely different world?”

“How stupid do you take me for? Everything is different. The rock formations, the animals, the bats—those stupid trees. Everything.” He glared at Zachary. “We both know this isn't my world. Now why have your kind brought me here?”

“Look,” said Zachary. “I understand why you're upset. But this is all a big mistake. My name is Zachary. I'm a human. I'm not from here either. I got here the same way you did.”

The creature snorted. “You can't expect me to fall for that one,” he said. “You were obviously coming to attack me.”

Zachary's mouth fell open. “To attack you!” he repeated in dismay. “
You?
Are you kidding? Look at me! Do I look like I belong in a cave? I can’t see one inch in front of my face. I couldn't successfully attack a fuzzy
caterpillar
.”

The creature paused for a long moment in thought. “What you say seems to make sense. But it must be a trick,” he said stubbornly. “You and your companion do seem totally helpless. But maybe you’re trying to get me overconfident—so I lower my guard.”

“My companion, as you call her, is my sister. And we’re both just kids. More importantly, we’re in the exact same boat as you. Really. You have to believe me. I'm just as much of a stranger here as you are.”

“I think it’s more likely that you and your sister—if that’s really who she is—were sent to study me. To learn the physical weaknesses of my kind. Perhaps your people are preparing to start a war with mine.”

“How were we sent here to study you? If you hadn’t attacked us, we would never have been able to even
find
you. Do you think we tricked you into attacking us?”

“You are very good with words, but you still won’t fool me.”

Zachary groaned. He was getting nowhere. Maybe he should try to establish some common ground as a basis for trust. He asked his captor for his name.

“I am Nivek. That is all I will tell you. Now, I will ask again—how can I get back home?”

“I really don't know,” whispered Zachary in frustration.

Nivek nodded. “Let's see if a few weeks without food doesn't cause you to change your story.”

Zachary frowned deeply. This Nivek was the most suspicious creature he had ever met. What would make somebody so paranoid that he wouldn't listen to reason?

And then Zachary remembered Tular. His world had been impossibly hostile. Even the most innocent looking creatures were deadly. That was the only world Tular had ever known. If they hadn't saved Tular's life, would he have ever trusted them? Probably not. The experience of a lifetime had taught him not to trust any creature that wasn't a Krug.

“Is every creature hostile and deadly on your world?” asked Zachary.