I was about to knock when the door opened, and the dark shape of a man appeared in the doorway. Instinctively I moved back, squinting to see his face. But the light coming from inside kept it in the shadows. After a brief hesitation, the man stepped outside and closed the door carefully. “Andrea, is that you?” he asked in a heavily accented voice.
“Tío Ramiro?” My lady manners forgotten, I ran into his arms.
Tío held me back. “Andrea, what are you doing here? Has your mother sent you?”
I shook my head.
“I see.” Tío frowned. “So it was your idea. After I warned you not to come here!”
“No, you didn’t,” I said, angry at his unfriendly welcome. “You never told me where you lived. So how could you have forbidden me to come?”
He sighed. “Well, I guess this was inevitable. At least I found you before you got yourself in trouble.”
“Found me? How did you know I was here?”
“I didn’t. Kelsey told me they had met a girl by the arch. And today being the full moon, I thought I’d check.”
I was about to ask more about this Kelsey, but Tío was already walking away from the house. “Come on, Andrea,” he called over his shoulder. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“For a walk? But I want to meet your friends.”
Tío turned. “No, Andrea. Not now. We must talk first.” His arm firmly set over my shoulders, he guided me toward the beach. “Andrea, how did you find the way here?” Tío asked as we crossed the dunes.
I struggled to put into words the strange events that had brought me there. “Don Alfonso told me about doors that opened into another world. And I remembered your coming through the arch. So I went to the Cove of the Dead, but there was no door, at first I mean, and then—”
“Don Alfonso de Alvar? Where did you meet him?” Tío asked. But before I could answer he continued, “Never mind. The fact is you are here. So I suppose it’s time for me to explain.”
He remained silent for a moment as if collecting his thoughts. “Andrea,” he finally started, “You are not in your world anymore. We are on a planet called Earth—but how could you understand this? Your education was not exactly heavy in science.”
I moved back, freeing myself from his arm. “Excuse me, Tío. But I didn’t come here to be insulted. I understand. Look at the sky. There is only one moon, and it is smaller and paler than any of ours. And the stars are all wrong. And the cliffs are gone. I know,Tío. I know this is not my world.”
“It seems I have underestimated you. I will not do it again.”
We had reached the arch as we talked. Tío stepped through the opening and disappeared. I hesitated. Was he trying to send me back to my world?
“Please, come in,” Tío’s voice urged me from inside. “It’s safe. The door will not open again, not tonight anyway.”
I took a deep breath and stepped inside. The cave was again an ordinary cave, a perfect copy of the one I had entered in my world, only darker. Leaning against the rocks, my uncle was waiting. I crossed over the dry sand and sat by his side.
“My involvement with your world,” Tío continued, his voice distorted as it echoed against the walls, “happened by chance almost thirty years ago. Your mother and I were kids then, younger than you are now. We had just moved here to California into the house you just saw.”
“California?” The word was familiar, and yet I couldn’t remember where I had heard it before.
“Yes, Andrea, California. That is what this area is called.”
Suddenly I remembered. The words written on Tio’s tunic. “University of California,” I said aloud.
Tío smiled. “University of California,” he repeated, correcting my pronunciation. “I see you have kept my jacket and had the good sense to wear it when coming over to conceal your clothes.”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?”
“Nothing. But handmade leather boots and tights are not in fashion right now here.”
I shrugged. Why did everybody always criticize my appearance? “Come on, Tío! Tell me how you got to my world,” I asked him, eager to change the subject.
Tío resumed his story. “That summer, my first one by the ocean, was magical.” Tío laughed. “Even before we found the door, I mean. Your mother and I had a wonderful time building castles in the sand and playing hide-and-seek among the dunes. Then one day, Jennifer—”
“Who is Jennifer?”
“Your mother. Jennifer was her name in this world. She changed to Jimena to blend with your people, as I changed mine to Ramiro.”
“You mean Ramiro is not your real name?”
“No, Andrea. My name is Raymond, Raymond Miller. And please stop interrupting.
“One day your mother hid from me under the arch. When after a long search I finally found her, I was a little scared. Jennifer, who was always happy to pick on me, insisted the cave was haunted and teased me into coming back after sunset to prove I was not frightened. Of course I accepted the challenge, and that night we returned to the arch.
“From the beginning, the cave seemed to hold an inexplicable attraction to your mother—or maybe it was just the fun of seeing me scared. In any case, from that day on, we escaped every night after supper and played inside the cave until dark. Then one evening, unknown to us, the door opened into your world. The next thing we knew, we were swimming for our lives. And no, Andrea, I don’t know how it happens. I only know that it opens once a month when the full moon of my world rises over the eastern horizon here, or Lua the copper moon rises in yours.
“When the waves finally threw us against the cliffs, we were too shaken to think. Acting on instinct, we started up the cliffs. It was a difficult climb as there was no path, and the rocks were slippery with the mist from the ocean. The steps you probably followed down to the cove were added later.
“By the time we reached the ledge, we were exhausted. Crawling under one of the boulders that formed a little cave, we fell asleep. The following morning, the soldiers of your kingdom found us. You can imagine our confusion when we saw them pointing their spears at us and shouting orders we couldn’t understand.”
“I know, Tío. I was shocked, too, when I couldn’t understand what your friends were saying. Does anybody in this world speak like me?”
“Yes, Andrea.” Tio’s voice was stern. “Some people in my world speak a different version of your language. It is called Spanish. But yours seems to have evolved in a unique way with the influence of the Xarens’ tongue. But that is another story. Would you mind if I finish mine first?”
“Of course, Tío. Tell me what happened. Did my father keep you prisoner?”
“Your father, Andrea, was not the king. He was just a boy himself, a couple of years older than we were. Your grandfather was king. He was a brave man, although his customs were a little barbaric for my taste. To him, we were no more than demons from the underworld. He would have burned us alive if your father hadn’t taken us back to the cave and let us go.”
“But Tío, how did Father know when the door would open?”
“Because the knowledge of the Xarens, the native inhabitants of your world, had been transmitted for generations down through the members of your family. The Xarens knew about the doors between our two worlds and how the full moon opens them.”
“Just what Don Alfonso told me,” I mumbled. “He’s not crazy after all.”
“Let’s go back,” Tío said, his eyes on a circular object tied around his wrist. “Kelsey and her friends will probably be in bed by now.”
“What is that, Tío? A portable sundial? But it’s night, how can you read it?”
“It’s a watch, Andrea. A time reader, you could say. Let’s leave it at that for now.”