“Where are they going?” I asked.
“I told you, they are going home,” Osa answered. “They all are.”
“To their home territories?” I asked. “No,” she answered. “They are going home. You will be too.”
With that, she led Loor off.
“We cannot leave Pendragon,” Loor protested. “Our destiny is to be together.”
“Indeed it is, and you shall be,” Osa assured her. “First you must learn.”
Loor looked to me, waiting for my opinion.
“Go,” I said. “I’ll be okay. I think.”
“He will be,” Osa said. “You all will be.”
Loor relaxed. She trusted her mother. After all, she was the Traveler from Zadaa before Loor. As Spader’s dad was the Traveler from Cloral before Spader. As Uncle Press was the Traveler from Second Earth before I was. If we couldn’t trust them, who could we trust? The weight of the world, no, the weight of Halla had been on our shoulders for a very long time. It was nice to know there was now someplace we could look for guidance. And help. And maybe even relief.
Loor nodded in understanding and followed her mom. The two warriors walked away from me, looking more like each other than ever before. A moment later they were gone. Had they simply walked farther away? Or had they disappeared too? I didn’t know. I hoped that answer would come soon. I glanced around, wanting to see one of the other Travelers. There was no movement. No sound other than the hollow wind. I glanced over at the destroyed building. As much as I wanted to know what that was all about, I couldn’t bring myself to investigate. I figured I’d find out soon enough. I didn’t want to run into that angry polar bear again either.
“Uncle Press?” I called out.
No answer. Where was everyone? I feared that some of the others might have been hurt in the attack. “Elli? Kasha?” Still no answer.
The penguin hadn’t moved from where he’d been standing next to Spader. What the heck was that about? Where was I?
As if in answer to my thoughts, the wind picked up slightly, rustling my hair. Slowly the floating dust in the air began to clear. I could make out more shapes around me. I stood near the moat in the center of the circle of low, battered stone buildings. What was this place? Some kind of lonely outpost in the middle of nowhere? As the dust cleared, I was able to see beyond the buildings. There didn’t seem to be much out there other than open, arid land. It made me feel as if I were standing in an oasis. I remembered the tall building I’d caught brief glimpses of earlier, and hoped that the dust would clear enough for me to get a better view of it.
I turned slowly, doing a one-eighty, looking off in the distance to see if I could spot the tilted building. Now that the air was clearing, I began to see that I wasn’t surrounded by open land after all. Far from it. I sensed massive shapes that stood between me and that mysterious, tilted building. There were other structures, larger than the ones near me, though they looked just as battered. It soon became clear that I was in a ruined city. It all felt vaguely familiar, yet not. Had I been here before? Was I on Earth? Rubic City? The city of Rune? None of the above?
The dust cleared further. I expected to see a Lifelight pyramid, or perhaps the castle where Veego and LaBerge ran their violent games. I squinted, racking my brain, trying to understand why it all seemed so familiar.
I’m not sure what made it all come together. Maybe it was something subliminal that I couldn’t consciously place. Maybe it was a smell, or the shadows made by the sunlight that tried to peek through the gray clouds. It could have been any of those things, but I’m thinking it was the penguin and the polar bear. The two oddest clues helped me realize the truth.
I was indeed standing in an oasis. At least that’s what many people considered it to be. It was a magical place that existed in an amazing city. I had been here before. Many times.
“We first brought you here the day before Shannon was born,” the familiar voice of a woman said. “Remember?”
I froze. Was it possible? It was the last thing I expected. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was because it felt like too much to ask for. Maybe I had given up hope. Maybe I didn’t want to open myself up to the possibility, only to be disappointed and crushed. I felt something nudge the backs of my legs. I didn’t jump in surprise. I knew exactly what it was. I had felt it hundreds of times before, in another life. Memories like that become part of your being. Poking his head between my legs from behind, looking for attention, was my dog, Marley. His big, brown golden retriever nose pushed its way forward, followed by those big brown eyes. I could feel his whole body rock, as his tail wagged happily. I reached down and held his head with both my hands.
“Hi, Marley-Mar,” I said through my tears. “Where’ve you been?”
That’s when I knew where I was. The buildings. The polar bear. The penguin. I was standing next to the sea lion pool in the zoo that was on the edge of New York’s Central Park. At least, what was left of it. The huge, tilted building in the distance was now all too familiar. It was the Empire State Building. I was on Earth. What I still didn’t know was when I was. At that moment, I really didn’t care.
“Did you have to grow up so fast?” the woman said.
I had to hold myself back from breaking out in tears. Or bursting with joy. It’s a fine line. I turned around to see them. My family. Mom. Dad. My little sister, Shannon. Though she wasn’t so little anymore. How old was she now? Thirteen? She was now a young lady in jeans and a pink sweater. She looked perfect. They all did.
We stood facing one another, nobody really sure of what to do. I was suddenly hit with a fearful thought. I had been down this road once before, and it didn’t have a happy ending.
“Is this a Lifelight jump?” I asked.
“A what!” Shannon asked with a wiseass look that can only come from a thirteen-year-old girl who has been working long and hard to perfect it.
“No, Bobby,” my dad answered. “It’s us. For real.”
I couldn’t move. It was too much for me to comprehend. I hadn’t seen my family since the day they’d left me at home to go to the basketball game at Stony Brook Junior High. They had disappeared. My life had disappeared. Finding them was one of the driving forces behind everything I had done as a Traveler. Maybe the only driving force. And now, they were standing in front of me.
“So who won the game?” was the first question that came to mind.
Shannon rolled her eyes. “You’re such a dork.” But she gave me a sly smile. I loved Shannon.
“Stony Brook lost,” Dad said. “Bad. They needed you.” “And I needed you,” I replied.
“I know,” Mom said, barely holding back her own tears. “That’s why we’re here.”
That did it. I ran to them and threw my arms around my family. The moment I had longed for all those years had finally arrived. We were back together. The Pendragons were a family again. I don’t know how long we stayed hugging that way. It could have been a week for all I cared. I wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t want to let go, for fear they’d disappear again.
Dad put his hand behind my head and held my neck. His eyes were as red as mine were. “I’m proud of you, Son.”
I nodded in thanks and burst out in tears. I couldn’t help myself. The floodgates of emotion and relief were open. Things were going to be okay. When I finally got my act together, I straightened up, wiped my eyes, and said, “So what the hell is up with Uncle Press? You gonna tell me what that guy’s about or what?”
“We are,” Mom said with a chuckle. “You’re going to learn everything. But first we have to go home.”
“To Stony Brook?” I asked hopefully.
“No,” Mom answered. “We’re going to the place where you were born.”
I let that sink in, then added, “Something tells me we’re not going to Second Earth.”