Out of This World (19 page)

“Uh. . . thanks, Nivek,” she responded awkwardly. She had been called many things in her life, but warrior had never been one of them.

Zachary and Jenna moved away into the adjacent section of the cave and huddled around Jenna’s shoe, which gave off enough light for them to see each other at close quarters.

If Nivek had been impressed with Jenna, her brother was even
more
impressed. He praised her profusely for the extraordinary courage she had shown coming to his rescue. And for her strategy. “Jenna, that was brilliant,” he said. “
Beyond
brilliant.”

Jenna didn’t seem to be reacting to his praise the way he thought she would. In fact, she looked miserable, although he couldn’t be absolutely certain in the dim light. “Jenna, is everything okay?” he whispered. He forced a smile. “I mean, you do get that I’ve been giving you compliments and not insults, right?”

“Zack,” she whispered back, her voice filled with anguish. “I lost the generator.”

“The
what?
” said Zachary.

“Mom and Dad’s generator. The one that makes you stronger and smarter. I lost it forever. So I wasn’t brilliant,” she said. “I was lucky. Like when I play Boggle against you. When the portal opened to Mom and Dad, the light hurt my eyes, which is what gave me the idea. Any idiot could have figured it out from there.”

“Portal to Mom and Dad!
What are you talking about?
”

Jenna realized that this should have been the first thing she told her brother. She began describing what had happened, and as she talked about seeing her parents and watching the portal close, she looked to be in as much emotional agony as he had ever seen her in. But her eyes remained dry, as if her hurt was too deep even for tears.

Zachary didn’t share this problem. For the first time since they had begun their journey, tears silently streamed down his face and onto the hard cave floor. His sister could have joined their parents. She had been inches away. But she had stayed to try to save him. Her courage had been even more remarkable than he had realized. She had risked everything for a brother who had done nothing but put her down her entire life.

And what kind of universe would allow their luck to be this horrible? If Nivek hadn’t captured him—if they had been left alone for even another five minutes—they both would be with their parents right now.
It just wasn’t fair
.

Jenna gazed at Zachary in dismay. Her older brother, whom she had never witnessed show emotion in this way, whose tear ducts she hadn’t been certain even worked, had finally found something that had broken through his carefully controlled exterior.

She considered trying to cheer him up, but couldn’t think of a single positive thing to say. They might never get this close to their parents again. And the deadly danger they faced on each world never seemed to end. “I’m so sorry Zack. But without the generator, I won’t be any help at all now. I’m not trying to make you feel bad, but things are worse than ever.”

Unexpectedly, this actually helped Zachary get his emotions under control. A new resolve came over his face. “Things are bad,” he admitted. “But not worse than ever. At least we’re free. And alive. And so are Mom and Dad.”

They were both silent for almost a minute. Zachary’s face was now completely dry and he was fully himself once again. “And, um . . . about the generator,” he said finally through clenched teeth. He looked at Jenna guiltily, but did not continue.

“What about it?”

“Well, I kind of— ” He stopped. “I kind of made the whole thing up.”

“
You what?
”

“Made the whole thing up. The generator. The Omega field.” He shrugged. “All of it. I'm afraid it's not true. There is no such thing.”

Jenna looked at her brother, aghast. “But why would you lie to me? Why would you make up that story and spend valuable time on a lie? Why Zack?” she pleaded, clearly hurt.

“I'm sorry, Jen,” he said, wincing. “I really am. But you didn’t want to come with me. I never knew how little confidence you had in yourself. And everything I told you then was true. You’re super quick to get jokes, and you solve problems even better than I do sometimes. And beating me at Boggle isn’t lucky, or others would do it every once in a while.”

“What does that have to do with lying to me?”

“You were
so
stubborn. I couldn’t get you to believe me. And even though you’re bright and talented, there’s a reason you don’t have much confidence. A reason other than that I’ve been a total jerk to you your entire life.”

Jenna stared intently at her brother but did not respond.

“You give up on yourself before you even try. And I knew that if we were gonna save Mom and Dad and survive, I couldn’t let that happen. I needed you to be as confident as possible, so you’d be at your best. And you weren’t ready to believe in yourself, no matter what I would have said. I had done too much damage over the years. I realized that at the time.”

“So what are you saying? That because of this you decided to just make up a fantasy story about a generator? Just for kicks?”

“Not just for kicks. To
help
you. To help
us
. The ball I gave you was from one of Dad’s experiments. He was going to throw it out, but I thought it was cool, so he let me keep it. I figured I could use it to fool you into thinking you were carrying a miracle generator. So you would start believing in yourself. Instant self-confidence. I made up all that Omega field stuff as I went along.”

“Well, you should be proud,” spat Jenna bitterly. “You fooled me. Just like always.”

“How can you be mad about this?” said Zachary. “You’re missing the big picture, Jen.
It’s been all you on these worlds!
That ball you had in your pocket did
nothing
. It just took up space. It didn’t help you do amazing things. You did them all on your own.”

Jenna’s eyes widened.
He was right
. She’d been so intent on learning why he had lied to her she had failed to see the broader implications. She had saved them from crashing into a giant pig on Orum,
all by herself
, and had come up with ideas that had helped them both escape that awful world. No miracle generator had helped her solve riddles on Mesrobia, or find a clever way to avoid an execution. And maybe her plan to free her brother from Nivek wasn’t just luck, after all.

Maybe she was too quick to dwell on her faults, and too slow to give herself credit. Maybe she always had been. Like when she had built a laser to win the science fair. Yes, her Dad had helped, but
she
had done most of the work.

By fooling her, her brother had found a way to get the most out of her and open her eyes to her true potential. He had proven to her that she was capable of thinking clearly—all by herself. Without any help. And of thinking quickly and acting boldly under pressure, too.

Zachary watched his sister brighten as the truth exploded upon her.

“You see, Jen. My plan worked. You finally saw what you can do when you have confidence in yourself. If you think you
can't
do something, then you won't try, and you're beat before you start. But even if you aren't naturally good in an area—and no one is great at everything—if you believe you can do something, and you give it all you have, you can do
amazing
things.”

“But you
are
great at everything,” said Jenna.

“Well, yeah,” began Zachary, “I guess that’s . . .” He was about to say “true” when he stopped himself.

What was he
doing?
It was time to admit his faults to his sister—and to himself. He was clever and did well in school, and he was a good pitcher, but he was far from perfect. He was hot-headed and, yes, arrogant. A friendly version of Hirth—but he had come to realize he had more of Hirth’s cruel side than he ever realized. Instead of spending all his time telling others how great he was, maybe it was time to use his abilities to lift others up.

“I'm
not
great at everything, Jen. Not even close. I just keep at something until I master it. I figure, if there’s an answer to be found, then why shouldn't I be able to find it. And I keep trying different things until I do. Sometimes I fall flat on my face, but mostly I succeed. Not because I'm just naturally talented at everything. But because I never give up.”

Jenna shook her head in wonder. Everything he said made so much sense. “You're right. The only reason I was able to solve any of those riddles, or think of a question that would keep us from being executed on Mesrobia, was because I was confident and determined—and persistent.”

“Exactly. You’re finally catching on. That’s my secret,” said Zachary. “I don’t get discouraged. I know that if I work at something hard enough I can do it. Raw talent alone won’t get you very far. Not if you doubt yourself. Not if you aren’t persistent and determined. But if you are, you can achieve great things—even
without
great ability. And here's the scary part, Jen. You can have it all! You’re lucky enough to have the ability. Now, if you start believing in yourself, you’re going to be unstoppable.”

Jenna thought about all her recent experiences. He was so right. It was miraculous what a simple change in attitude could do for you.

“In fact,” continued Zachary, “after what I’ve seen after we entered the first portal, my betting days with you are over. I'm too afraid of losing.”

Jenna beamed. “Zachary. I never thought I'd be saying this, but— ” She looked at him affectionately. “Thanks. Thanks for fooling me. I’m going to start believing in myself. I'll never give up on something again until I've given it all I have.”

“In that case,” said Zachary happily. “You’ll probably be running the world before too long.”

Jenna grinned. “Which one?” she said.

She had just been kidding around, but after Zachary returned her smile, her question caused both kids to suddenly remember where they were, and how unlikely it would be to ever see home again, and their brief good mood evaporated instantly.

Zachary sighed. “We’d better go check on Nivek,” he said.

They journeyed to the section of the cave Nivek was in, calling out to let him know they were coming so he could turn away from them. They shielded the light from Jenna’s shoe as they approached.

“How are your eyes?” asked Jenna, unable to help feeling guilty, even though Nivek had attacked them first.

“It took a while, but they gradually shook off the effect of your shoe-weapon, Jenna the Human. I’m good as new.”

That was a relief. They talked for a few minutes longer and decided to hike through the cave in the hope of finding a portal. Jenna poured half of the Glow-leaves into her other shoe and gave it to her brother, allowing each of them to see several yards ahead. Nivek led the way, about ten feet in the lead, his back toward the humans and their light that, to him, was still blindingly bright. The lighting was much dimmer than the humans would have preferred and much brighter than Nivek would have preferred, but it was the only way they could walk together.

They hiked and talked for several hours, trading stories and becoming quite friendly. And then, from nowhere, not one but two portals appeared suddenly at their feet. Once again it seemed as though the portals were never too far away from them.

They looked through the first one—and saw nothing but blackness, even with both glowing shoes held over the portal. The second one revealed what looked like a tropical island.

They covered their glowing shoes and Nivek joined them to inspect the portals. He gasped beside them as he looked through the first one. “This is my home!” he said excitedly.

“You can
see
something through there?” asked Jenna. It had been pitch black.

“Oh yes. And I can tell the vegetation of my world immediately.” He rubbed his head with the tip of a tentacle. “But I don't understand. How can this be here? The point I arrived at is about three miles away from here. I check it every day in the hope that the strange hole will return.”

“Don't worry. It makes sense,” said Zachary. “The strange holes—what we call portals—have their own logic. The incoming ones are usually different from the outgoing ones.” Zachary paused. “But you’d better go through. You never know how long they’ll stick around.”

“I can't thank you both enough,” said Nivek happily. “Sorry again for the, um . . . misunderstanding. Good luck finding your parents,” he said.

They wished him well and then, without any ceremony, he took a small hop and was gone.

Jenna uncovered her shoe to once again reveal the many tiny Glow-leaves within. “Let's get out of here. I don’t want to stay in this cave even a second longer.”

Zachary smiled wearily. “I know what you mean.”

They held hands, closed their eyes, and moved forward. Moments later they were standing on the tropical island they had seen through the portal. After several painful minutes their eyes adjusted to the daylight. Finally, they could see without holding a shoe in front of them.

For the first time in their lives, they appreciated the ability to see for the miracle that it was. Light had never been so dazzling. And
anywhere
was better than being in a dark cave.

And this was not just anywhere. This was a tropical paradise. The air was fresh and cool and everywhere they looked they could see beautiful, brightly colored tropical plants.

Jenna emptied her shoes of Glow-leaves and returned them to her feet. They began exploring the island. It was only a few miles across, but it was breathtaking. Along with the flowers and fruiting trees it was ringed by white-sand beaches. The ocean was unnaturally calm—as smooth as glass for as far as they could see. And instead of being blue, both it and the sky were a light shade of pink. But other than these differences—which were admittedly very strange—they could have been on a Pacific Island back home.

Zachary looked around. “Hey, we’ve been here several minutes and no one has tried to kill us yet,” he said wryly.

“Yeah, the worlds have nothing in common except for being filled with dangerous beings who don’t trust us,” said Jenna miserably. “Not to mention wanting us dead.”