The Crystal Bridge (The Lost Shards Book 1) (14 page)

Aren woke to a vague feeling of movement. Darkness enveloped her on all sides.
I’m on my way home. Kaden
? She floated on a slow moving cloud as song filled her with warmth and comfort, unknotting her muscles and deadening the pain in her head.
Wait. There wasn’t any song the first trip, was there?

“Dveldor?” The music ended.

“Ah. You wayke.”

“What happened? Where am I?” She tried to rise, lost her balance, and toppled off her cloud. She had a moment’s thought of falling for miles in the darkness, but she fell only a couple feet. The fall still sent the air out of her in a huff and she banged an elbow on something hard as stone. “Ouch.” She touched the elbow and felt something warm and sticky. “I think I’m bleeding. Dveldor?”

A tiny light blossomed in the darkness. Aren welcomed the warm light. She’d felt starved for it even though she’d been awake for only moments. She checked her elbow, expecting a fountain of blood, but she’d only skinned it.

“Better, Ayrren?”

“Yes, much. Now, what happened? I was sitting in the desk and then…”

Dveldor shrank back and looked down. “I proutekt you.”

Aren touched the back of her head. “You hit me!” She stood and hit her head again on the low ceiling. “Ouch, ouch, ouch!” She kicked at the cart. The thing was more solid than it looked. Her stubbed toe stung, but she tried not to show it this time.

“Be caulmm, Aayren. Sayfe now. Boy no khome backa. Dveldor tayke you houme.” Dveldor smiled and Aren was surprised at how white his teeth were in the dim light.

She could feel the sincerity in Dveldor. All her anger went out of her, but a cold dread rose up in her chest to replace it. “You’re wrong, Dveldor. I may never make it home now.”

The alien images, ideas, and concepts that bombarded Aren whenever the Dwaro spoke began to make some sense with the help of her gift. He also wanted more answers about the mysterious plastic she and Kaden had brought into his world. She, not being a scientist, offered few answers, but shared what she knew.

Aren sighed as they walked the dark tunnels. She’d been gone from the clearing for hours now, not counting however long she’d been out. She ran a hand over the tender knot on the back of her head.

How does time work between dimensions
?
Kaden could’ve returned, just a month too early. I don’t know. Or perhaps he appeared in another part of the world entirely and he has to walk back. How would he even know what direction to head?

Her glimpse of the swirling arms around Kaden that led from one reality to another had been brief. She didn’t even have her usual insights into what Kaden might be doing right now, how he would react. She’d thought him a welcome mystery, but it now left her lost, alone, and blind.

“He will come back. He has to.”

“I leefing gnote for ween boy come baack.” Dveldor responded.

“What? Oh. I said that last bit out loud, didn’t I? You left a note? You can write in English?”

“Not weell. Tell him not safe.”

Aren couldn’t help but laugh. She could feel a touch of hysteria in it and clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling longer. “That’s going to be
real
helpful.”

The Dwaro puffed up with pride. He didn’t appear to understand sarcasm. “Yes.”

“Did you tell him to follow us?”

He looked at her and raised one furry eyebrow. “Follow. No. Not safe. Human alone dead. You with Dveldor safe. Trust.”

“Oh, trust the little man who hit me on the head? Yes, that seems smart.”

“Only to help. Sidra A’Keitane very wise, but not love humans.”

“And the Dwaro’s do?”

Dveldor stopped and looked up at her with wide dark eyes. “No, but not hate like that Sidra.”

“That seems true enough.” Aren glanced back down the dark tunnel they’d come down. “My friend will come back for me.”

“Your friend, he poof, he gone. Left note. Hope smart. We come back ammorrow.”

In the quiet tunnel, her stomach growled loudly.
How long ago was lunch? How long ago was Earth?

“You promise we’ll come back tomorrow?” She whispered.

“We rest and eat. Come back tt-amorrow.” He’d begun imitating her use of words the second she used one. She had little difficulty understanding him now.

Dveldor took her hand, and they continued their descent into the darkness together. She couldn’t explain the sensation that traveled up her arm from his hand.

The warmth of his grasp comforted her despite a tickling movement that swam beneath her palm.
So strange how real he feels.
She’d expected his grip to feel like an animal’s paw, but it was the most human thing in the world to her as she walked deep under an unknown planet in a universe that no longer played by the rules she knew.

Kaden opened his eyes with a groan and took in the view of the hospital room with a distinct feeling of déj� vu. He’d been here just a few days ago to visit Aren. He’d also been in another hospital not too long ago after his accident.
Gotta stop ending up in the stupid hospital.

“Aren!” He bolted upright in the bed.

“Kaden, oh Kaden. How are you? You okay?” Tracy sat up in a chair. She had a small bandage on her forehead and her eyes were puffy.

“Tracy? What happened? Where’s Aren?” He looked around the room unsure why he might expect to see her there.

Tracy took his hand and her face turned pale. The words rushed out of her. “There was an explosion at the school. In the middle of class. Six or seven kids were pretty badly hurt, including you. They haven’t found Aren yet. I’ve been asking a lot. Are you okay? Anything you remember? The police are asking lots of questions. Your dad is out there talking to them now. Oh, Kaden, I’m so glad you’re okay.” She squeezed his hand harder.

“I’m okay, but you’re hurting my hand.” His laugh felt shaky. “Please, Tracy, go tell them I’m awake and ask if Aren’s been found again.”

She squared her shoulder and sniffed. “I can do that.” Tracy stood and took a deep breath before going out to seek more answers for him.

Kaden sat in the tiny bed and fiddled with the sheets as he realigned his memories. He knew what news Tracy would come back with.
Aren’s not going to be found among the other injured.
She’s not safe at home either.
The return trip came back to him. For the briefest moment, before the world had imploded on his head, he had stood alone in the center of the room.

He shivered even though he was very warm with the late sun coming through the window.
I left her.

Hope flickered inside his heart.
Maybe she could’ve been transported somewhere else.
That thought made him uncomfortable too.
Yeah, into a wall, the middle of Australia, or two thousand feet above the school?

He’d only had a few chances to test his abilities and none of those had included dragging anything along, let alone another person.
Aren changed everything
. His eyes followed the second hand on a wall clock.
If she hasn’t made it back, I have to move quickly.

Tracy entered the tiny room once more, trailed by his dad and two policemen. Tracy’s face told him everything.

The police spoke up before Tracy could launch into one of her usual breathless rants. “Son, did you see anyone strange or out of place at school today?”

Kaden laughed. “Yeah, me. I’m the new kid.”

His dad frowned at him. “Kaden.”

The first policeman spoke up again. “This isn’t a joke, young man. We believe someone set off an explosive at your school. You were caught in the middle.”

The other one stepped in. “How well do you know Aren?”

Kaden raised an eyebrow. “Well enough to know she had nothing to do with this.”

“She’s the only one missing, which makes her either a suspect or…” He trailed off.

“Or what?” Kaden didn’t like the tone they’d taken.

“Or the target, son.”

“I’m not your son,” Kaden almost snarled. “I’m barely his.” He jerked a thumb at his dad.

Before his dad could say anything, Kaden stopped him. “Dad, this is important, how long have I been here?”

His face was red and he was looking back and forth from his son and the police. “What? You were in and out for a while. We thought you might have…well, you were delirious. Kept saying strange things. That was yesterday afternoon. The doctors are going to have to run some tests before you go home. And these men will have more questions. Bomb in a school. Such a small town. Why did I drag us here?”

Tracy chose that moment to jump back in. “They’re practically accusing everyone, Kaden. Jerks!” She nodded at the cops who gave her a dirty look. “Yeah, I mean you. Don’t act all surprised. You grilled me like I’d cobbled together some C4 in my easy bake oven. Ridiculous if you ask me, which you did.”

“It’s fine, Tracy, everything will be just fine.” He patted her hand even as his mind raced with the details.
Aren’s been alone since yesterday
.

“I have to go! It’s been way too long already. I don’t even really know how it works once I’ve come back, time wise that is. Does it keep running?”

His dad put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting out of bed. “What? No, son, they have more tests to run and more questions before we can leave.”

Kaden pushed his dad’s arm away. “You can’t be touching me when I go.” He pulled open his Egg, waving images around the interior. He wasn’t sure what he would find.
Can I arrive when and where I left?

“I think he’s still delusional.” Kaden didn’t know who had said it. He didn’t care.

So many things were unsure to him even as the image of a clearing solidified in his head. He reached out and felt the warm, almost familiar tingle flow through him as he allowed his mind to surge away from this place and this moment into the terrifying darkness between realities. The sense of incompleteness and lack of body overtook him, banishing all fear, all emotion.

He emerged from the dark tunnel into the clearing at night, lit only by the two moons and the dim swirl of red nebula, shrouded by leaves. He caught sight of the desk and a litter of miscellaneous junk from the classroom strewn around it.

He stared for a moment before his brain caught up with what he saw.
Good. If that’s here, Aren must be too.
But she was nowhere to be seen.
She wouldn’t go into the creepy forest, would she?

He glanced around at the deep dark between the trees.
She would have to be crazy to go in there.
Unless she had no choice.
A cool breeze ran through the leaves, lifting a few papers off the tall grass.

Kaden shivered and looked down. “Really? Naked again?”

Whatever magic Aren had managed last trip didn’t work this time.
How had she done it?

“Aren and clothes.” He knew which one he wanted to find first, but he felt ashamed for it.
Clothes, if possible, and then Aren.
He looked around for his most likely direction to find one or the other, seeing nothing but trees.