Jayden Blue and the Journey to Val ka’Yoom, A World So Close Book Four
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Nothing Unusual about Today 1
Chapter 2 – She Held His Hand Tightly 11
Chapter 3 – I Have a Sword Too 19
Chapter 4 – So Many Colors 27
Chapter 5 – There. Repeat that. 36
Chapter 6 – Just a Fish? 49
Chapter 7 – Everyone Is Bigger 56
Chapter 8 – Really? Alphabetical? 65
Chapter 9 – Large Saltwater Friends 74
Chapter 10 – Do You Have Gold? 84
Chapter 11 – They Made a Bridge 93
Chapter 12 – A Tidal Wave of Wool 100
Chapter 13 – The Lady of the House 111
Chapter 14 – Cookery and Wardrobery 122
Chapter 15 – Who Are You? Who? 131
Chapter 16 – Bubbly Blueberry Hotcakes 138
Chapter 17 – Bribing Me with Cookies 149
Chapter 18 – An Irrational Answer! 156
Chapter 19 – Hot Chocolate from a Bear 166
Chapter 20 – You’ll Have a Choice 174
Chapter 21 – Go See that Seal! 183
Chapter 22 – Her Head on His Shoulder 192
Chapter 23 – Like a Periodic Table 204
Chapter 24 – We Wait Together 211
Chapter 25 – Lions Don’t Like Me! 223
Chapter 26 – Appreciate the Moon 236
Chapter 27 – To Know the Question 247
Chapter 28 – Back to Our World 259
Chapter 1 – Nothing Unusual about Today
That has to be more than just one raccoon, he thought, listening to their sharp nails tapping furiously on his bedroom window. They’re probably hoping that I’ll let them in so they can steal my breakfast.
Rumbling below the sound of frantic claws on glass was a rhythmic pounding, surely some kind of thunderstorm approaching, he knew.
But all of that seemed too far away to matter because the sleeping bag that kept him wrapped up tight was quite warm, a welcome refuge from all of the chaos of looming storms, and starving wild animals, and—
Wait a minute, he thought. I’m on the second floor. Raccoons can’t get up here to attack my window!
He listened for the thunder, wondering how it could be so steady, just one rumble after another after—
No, he realized—that’s my heartbeat! And besides, it’s winter—no way should there be thunderstorms!
He tried to move his arms out from his sides and when he heard the purring start up, he remembered that he hadn’t shimmied into a sleeping bag the night before.
No, that was Hex and Halo, snuggled up close and pinning him into a snug cocoon under his blankets.
He picked his head up and looked first to his right side. Halo looked back and though it was quite dim in the bedroom, the white ring on the head of an otherwise black cat was obvious.
Big, unblinking green eyes were focused on him.
“Hi, Halo. Thanks for keeping me warm all night.”
Halo chose to remain silent.
A glance to his left was met with an intense stare from a pair of shiny blue eyes.
“Hi, Hex. Starting the day with a hex? Really?”
Hex chose to not reply, and he didn’t stand up to reveal the distinctive black “x” on his left side, impossible to miss against his completely white fur everywhere else.
“Oh, fine. Let me have it. Give me another hex.”
Hex only tipped his head slightly. He didn’t blink.
Jayden sighed and began to squirm his way over until he’d ended up facedown. He thought about how much practice he’d had at that over the years—a skill that allowed minimal disturbance of cats that he knew would be lounging around the rest of the day anyway.
He pulled a pillow over his head, and he laughed just once when he felt two purring bundles of fluffy fur climb up onto his back.
“Guys, I don’t want to go to school. I know that’s not raccoons looking for free food. That’s ice hitting the window. Mean Nebraska ice.”
He shook his head in the confines between pillow and sheet as he felt them begin to knead his back.
The paws working on his right side stopped. That was Hex, he knew. He also knew that if he looked over his shoulder, Hex would be looking back. Like he had something to say.
“Fine, Hex. I know you’re not really going to talk,” he said as he worked his way up onto his forearms and tipped the pillow aside.
He looked back, met the steady gaze of two blue pools, and said, “What?”
Even in the dark room, he could see that Hex had glanced at his alarm clock on the nightstand.
“Oh, you’re right! What time is it?”
He leaned over to look at the clock, causing both cats to rely on their claws to stay attached.
“I’m late! I’m a half hour late! Guys, I have to get up! Let me up!”
Their purring persisted, and Hex began to knead him again.
“No, really, you guys, I have to—”
He laid himself back down and let both cats treat his back to a paw massage.
“Oh, yeah. It’s Saturday. Thanks for reminding me. Both of you.”
The dim room relaxed to the sound of contented purring and the staccato rhythm of ice on the window. Jayden let his eyes close again, no longer concerned about catching the bus with Raylene.
She always waits for the bus with me, he thought as he felt sleep eager and ready to get another grip on him. We always stand on the porch and today, we’d be standing in ice and snow and cold and wind and—
“Guys, really, I have to get up! I almost forgot: Rayl will be here soon for breakfast! We’re all going to leave soon!”
He rose up on his hands and knees, laughing at the cats clinging to his back. A tip to the right dumped Hex, then a tip to the left dropped Halo. He twisted around and sat up.
The last that he saw of them was a black tail pointed at the ceiling, then a white tail pointed at the ceiling, both exiting through the bedroom doorway.
He snapped around to take another look at the clock, blew out a deep breath, and tossed aside his blankets. He knew that there was no time to waste, but he still tiptoed barefoot across the cold wood floor to look out the window.
The glass was mostly clear and up close, it sounded like hundreds of icy needles trying to drill through the pane. He looked across the snow-covered lawn at Raylene’s house, and he waited as long as he could for her to fling open her curtains and wave.
But she didn’t.
She might be rushing around, too, with no time to wave at me, he thought. I have to get going!
He hurried with all of the usual stuff to get ready for his day and out of habit, he grabbed his backpack.
“Nope,” he said to himself. “Not today. Not a school day.”
He set it back on his dresser, but he stared at it a second longer.
“Hmm. Maybe we’ll need that,” he said while running his fingers through his thick, wavy brown hair.
He unfastened the top flap and stacked his books on his dresser. From where he stood, he tossed the empty pack over his bed and toward the length of blank wall on the other side.
Good, he thought. It’s ready to go. We’ll probably need it for something.
“Might have to put those cats in there,” he said with a grin.
With a hand on his bedroom door, he stopped himself.
Wait, he thought. I wonder. Will those cats torment me with some kind of game today?
He paused to recollect their antics over the last several weeks. That last school week, he’d always found them in some kind of trouble and needing help. Or so they’d wanted him to think.
The week before, it had been games of hide and seek. And they’d been clever. So, so clever.
And all of the times before that, the challenge had been for him to sneak out of the house without them pouncing on him.
He’d never made it. Not even once.
He shook his head and said, “They’re just too good at being cats.”
Leaning into the hallway, he looked both ways. Both of the other bedroom doors were closed, and he’d left the bathroom door closed too.
No Hex. No Halo. No cats in the shadows.
He tiptoed out and pulled the door closed softly, his sneakers making only the faintest of squeaks on the clean wood floor. It seemed to take forever to creep to the top of the stairs.
And when he peeked down the staircase, he saw both cats sitting by the closet door.
“Again with that closet? What’s going on with you two?”
“Jay,” said his mother from the kitchen. “Are you—”
“Yeah, Mom. I’m talking to those cats again. They’re acting weird.”
He began a slow walk down the stairs, inhaling the inviting scent of the hot breakfast that his mother was cooking in the kitchen.
“What about them, Jay?”
He’d gotten down to the third step up, and he turned to see his mother standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She’d left one hand on her hip, and she held a cup of coffee with the other.
“Oh, um, something about that closet. The vacuum cleaner, maybe?”
“I did mention to your father that I was going to run that thing around. I never did get to it the other day. Were they listening to me? Are they trying to remind me again?”
Jayden laughed and said, “I don’t think so, Mom. They don’t like it.”
“Oh, we talked about that, didn’t we? About how it might all be a big misunderstanding? Remember that?”
“I remember, Mom. Yep, you have an imagination too.”
“Imagine if they could all get along someday. How would that be?”
He grinned at her, and she smiled back at him.
“I’ll try to imagine that. That would be really good, Mom.”
“Well, why don’t we save that for later? Come on. Breakfast is almost ready.”
She took a sip, turned, and stepped back into the kitchen.
Jayden looked down at Hex and Halo.
“You guys are up to something. I just don’t know what. Anyway, Mom’s right: we can figure that out—”
A rapid, muffled pounding on the door caused them all to look.
“Rayl’s here. I don’t think we’ve ever had her over for breakfast before, have we?”
Hex kept his thoughts to himself.
Halo declined offering any response.
Jayden pulled in the door, and Raylene Hawkins greeted him with a big smile, her cheeks already bright from the cold air and her straight, dark brown hair hanging down from under her purple knit hat.
Bulky snowflakes had collected on her wherever they could.
“Rayl! Just in time!”
“Hi, Jay,” she said while stamping the snow off of her high brown boots. “Just in time for what?”
“Look,” he said, tipping his head down toward the cats.
“What? Something about the cats?”
“They’re just being weird about the closet. Hurry, come on in. It’s really winter out there today.”
“What do you expect in Nebraska?”
“Not sunny and warm—not in January.”
Before walking in, she looked down and said, “Hello, Hex. Hello, Halo. How are you boys today?”
They waited until she’d taken one step inside, then they circled around her leg, purring loudly.
“They’re happy to see you, Rayl. They don’t like this closet, though.”
“I’m happy to see them, too, Jay. What about the closet?”
She stepped in all the way, and Jayden whooshed the door shut, driving a pattern of plump snowflakes everywhere, including all over the cats.
“Huh. I think I know.”
He grabbed the closet’s doorknob and rattled it.
“Every time I—”
At that, both cats bolted through the living room and into the kitchen.
“They don’t like the vacuum cleaner, Jay. That’s where you keep it, right?”
“Yep, that’s right—it’s in there. And yeah, no cat likes it. So why were they hanging around the door when I came down?”
“Who knows? Cats are just weird sometimes.”
“Yep. Ready for some breakfast? We’re going to need it. We have a lot to do.”
“Yeah, we really do, don’t we? Hex and Halo are going, too, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they sure are. I bet they can’t wait to get back.”
“To see Hex’s mom and dad?”
“And the crow too. Can’t forget him.”
“Nope.”
She dumped her parka on the nearest chair and tossed her hat onto it.
“Watch,” he said, “this closet has them spooked,” and he jiggled the knob again.
They both looked toward the kitchen, and Raylene giggled at the sight of two furry little faces peeking around the corner.
“They’ll be fine, Jay. I’m glad they’re going too. We need Halo’s tail, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right. I like how the tip of his tail always points west.”
From the kitchen, his mother called out, “Jay, breakfast is ready.”
He grabbed Raylene’s hand and hurried with her the few steps to the kitchen.
“Well, good morning, Raylene.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Blue.”
“Hi, Raylene,” said Jayden’s father after folding up his newspaper. “It’s good to have you over for breakfast. I usually see you only out on the porch.”
“Hi, Mr. Blue. I’m so glad I was invited over!”
“You two are going to that art show soon? At your school?”
“Yeah, Dad. I can’t wait to see Rayl’s painting. I bet it’s going to win.”
“Oh, Jay, I don’t know about that,” she said, looking down but smiling.
“We’re all hoping for the best,” said his mother. “What’s it a painting of, Raylene?”
“It’s Hex and Halo, Mom.”
“Yeah,” said Raylene. “They’re in a field of wildflowers too.”
“Well, that sounds quite imaginative,” said his father.
“Please, have a seat,” said his mother, her hands in oven mitts. “I hope blueberry hotcakes and scrambled eggs are okay?”
“Wow, more than just okay,” Raylene said with a big grin.
“Oh,” said Jayden’s father, “and I believe there’s hot chocolate too. We should always have some of that cooking when it’s winter.”
Raylene took modest bites and sips of hot chocolate in between. Jayden raided his plate like he was excavating at a construction site. What couldn’t stay packed in his cheeks got washed away by periodic floods of hot chocolate.
“Jay,” said his mother, “there’s no bus that you have to catch today. Can you please slow down?”
He tried to pack it in tighter while watching her intent gaze from above her glasses. He wasn’t quick enough, and his father spoke up.
“He’s in training. When you’re aiming for eating contests, there are no days off, whether there’s a bus or—”
“You two! Jay, try to slow down. What exactly is the rush today?”
Several seconds later, after he’d forced down globs of hotcakes and eggs before they were completely ready to go, he managed to say, “The art contest. At school. I want to get there right when it opens.”
His mother looked at her wristwatch, then she said, “You have plenty of time. In fact, you have so much time that I might ask you to vacuum the—”
A scraping of desperate, scurrying paws erupted under the kitchen table, and two cats, one mostly black and the other mostly white, sped out toward the living room, their tails pointed straight back.
Everyone stared in silence.
“Something I said?”
“Yeah, Mom. They don’t like that thing. They heard you talking about it.”
“Jay,” said his father, “they understand English?”
Jayden looked at Raylene and though she continued to chew on a generous bite from a hotcake, she only stared back with her eyebrows pinned up high.
“Um, maybe? I think they listen to us all the time. Isn’t that right, Rayl?”
She stopped chewing, but she didn’t lower her brows.
“Um, yeah. They’re really smart, aren’t they?” she said.
Jayden looked from his mother, to his father, to Raylene, and back to his mother.
“Anyway,” said Jayden, “I’m done. How about you, Rayl?”
She swallowed her last bite and with a hand on her mug, she said, “Yep.”
“Time to go,” he said.
“The show’s not for a half hour,” said his father, looking at his watch.
“Oh, um, yeah. We, um, have some homework to talk about first, though. Right, Rayl?”
“Oh, that’s right. We’re starting a new book in English next week.”
“How exciting!” said his mother. “Run along, then. We’ll take care of the dishes.”
“Thanks, Mom. Come on, Rayl.”
Before they’d made it all the way into the living room, Jayden grabbed Raylene’s arm and stopped her with him.
“Oh, Mom, don’t forget to feed Hex and Halo. They need a good breakfast too.”
“More than any other day, Jay?”
He looked at Raylene, now out of their view behind the wall, and she grinned and popped her eyebrows twice.
“Nope,” he said. “Nothing unusual about today. Not at all. I just bet they’re hungry, that’s all.”
He took Raylene’s hand, pulled to get her started, and they both sprinted up the steps. At the top, they stopped and listened and when they heard his mother prying lids off of the cat food cans, they laughed and ran to his room.
Chapter 2 – She Held His Hand Tightly
“This is going to be a different kind of adventure, Rayl. I just know it.”
“Yep. I bet. Hex’s mom and dad really do need our help, though, Jay.”
“Do you have any idea what their problem is?”
“Nope. I think it’s just something that they can’t do themselves.”
“Yeah. I think we should bring my backpack.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Just in case. What if we have to carry things?”
“Okay. Hey, Jay. We already know that no time passes here when we’re there, right?”
“Yep.”
“But for us, while we’re there, it’s like time is really passing, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
She grinned and nodded while saying, “So, we should bring food.”
“Rayl, that’s a great idea! Like what?”
She puckered her lips and looked each way, then back at him.
She whispered, “Jay. Your mom made cookies yesterday, didn’t she? I saw them on the counter.”
His eyes stretched wide open before a giant smile appeared.
“Yeah, peanut butter. So, we should just take them?”
“Well, Jay, we’d probably eat all of them anyway, right?”
“Yeah, we would! Let’s go get them!”
“Jay, no! We can’t just walk into your kitchen and steal all the cookies!”
He lost his smile.
“Oh. Yeah, you’re right. We need a plan.”
They heard impatient purring and both turned to look at the same time. They saw that Hex and Halo had been peeking into the room, listening to their conversation.
Before either Jayden or Raylene could question them about it, both cats ran down the hall, and they heard the soft padded tapping of their paws all the way down the stairs.
“They heard us—I bet they figured out a plan.”
“Really, Jay?”
“Yep. They’re unbelievable.”
He took her hand, and they ran after his cats but only halfway down the hall, where she brought him to a stop.
“Jay. Your backpack.”
“Good thinking,” he said. “We can’t just stuff our cheeks.”
Then, he bolted back into his room.
Raylene just grinned, shook her head, and said, “Not all of us.”
While they were rushing to the kitchen, Hex and Halo ran past them in the other direction, each holding a bag of treats in his mouth. Jayden and Raylene stopped and stared, didn’t say a word, and watched the two cats race upstairs with their provisions.
“Jay. Those cats are so smart. They got their own cookies.”
“Wow. Yeah. I keep telling everyone that they’re incredible.”
“And we know why, don’t we?” she said with a smile.
“Yep. Because they’re lions.”
She nodded while saying, “Iron lions. Yep.”
“I guess we still have to get our own, though. We shouldn’t plan to share their cat treats.”
“Nope.”
They walked into the kitchen and found the room empty. A half-eaten hotcake remained on his father’s plate, and steam was rising from Mrs. Blue’s coffee mug.
“Huh. That’s weird,” said Jayden.
“Jay, it has to be Hex and Halo. They did something to help us. Come on, let’s get those cookies while we can!”
They rushed to the counter and opened a big plastic container, which they found to be packed with fresh peanut butter cookies.
“How many, Jay?”
“All of them! Hurry!”
They tipped the big bin and allowed all of the cookies to tumble into a plastic bag, which they then wedged into Jayden’s pack. Before he closed and fastened the flap, he pointed at the dish towel.
“Rayl, can you grab that? Put it in there so it doesn’t look so empty?”
“Good idea—it’s even the right color.”
With the pack filled and tightened up, ready to travel, and the container appearing full, they almost made it out of the kitchen. His parents had just come from the direction of the garage.
“Oh, you two are still here?” said his father. “Isn’t that art show starting soon?”
“It is,” said his mother, “and you’ll need time to hike to the school. Or do you want a ride today with that weather?”
“Oh, um, yeah. A ride. But, um—”
“We need to drop these books upstairs first,” Raylene said, tipping her head toward Jayden’s bulging backpack. “Maybe a ride after that?”
“Okay, you two,” said his father. “I can—”
“Hey, Dad, where were you and Mom?”
“Oh, that’s a funny thing, Jay. One of the cats—I think it was Hex—was scratching at the door to the garage. I went to look, thinking maybe there was a raccoon or something in there.”
“Yep. That’s possible. Not up on the second floor, though.”
Raylene giggled, and his father leaned his head to one side and squinted at him for a second.
“Anyway, I went to look. There’s a lot of stuff in there. It took a while to check under and behind everything.”
“Mom, you helped?”
“Not with the raccoon, Honey. I only—”
“There really was a raccoon, Mrs. Blue?”
“No, Raylene, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was that it was taking a while, and I knew it was cold out there, so I brought Mr. Blue his coffee.”
“Mom, you thought he got cold that quick?”
Mrs. Blue took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes for a second.
“Well, no, not exactly. Halo jumped up on the table, and he—”
“Mom, Halo never jumps up there.”
“That’s true enough, Jay. First time for everything? Anyway, he was sitting there, staring at your father’s coffee, and I thought I saw him shiver.”
Jayden stared into Raylene’s big brown eyes, and she looked back with her eyebrows way up high.
Still looking at Raylene, he said, “Mom. Since when does Halo shiver?” then he turned back to her.
“Oh, I don’t know, Jay. Those are your cats. You’ll have to figure them out. Anyway, that made me think that maybe your father could use his coffee out there. So, I brought it to him.”
Jayden and Raylene shared a quick glance, he blew out a long breath and shook his head twice, then they looked toward the stairs. Hex and Halo were on the highest step that they could occupy and still look into the living room.
“So, it all worked out. Good,” said Jayden.
He turned to Raylene and said, “Well, why don’t we take a trip? Um, to dump these books,” he said while shaking the backpack around.
“Yeah,” she said. “We need to get going!”
They rounded the corner and looked into the bedroom, and they stopped to smile at the sight of Hex and Halo, both sitting near the wall and holding their bags of treats.
“They sure look ready, Jay.”
“Yep. Come on. I think we’d better hurry.”
“Why is that?”
“Before we have to leave for the art show. We need to help the iron lions first with that Val guy.”
“Or Val thing. Jay, I don’t think even Hex’s mom and dad know what it is.”
“Nope. Okay, whose turn is it to open the door?”
She giggled and said, “The door in your wall? On the second floor?”
“Yeah! I think it’s your turn. Besides, you get colors. I never got any.”
“Nope. Can you find the string, or maybe—”
Hex, his treat bag still held securely, was scratching at the wall, poking at a short string. He dropped his paw and turned to look at them.
“Well, that settles that, Rayl. Come on.”
They walked over, Jayden set down his pack, and they plopped down to sit back on their heels.
“Excuse me, Hex,” she said, and Hex moved himself off to the side.
“Thank you. You’re such a gentleman.”
She pinched the string and gave it a tug. As she pulled it away from the wall, it traced a curvy wide shape, its lowest point near the floor and its highest point somewhere near their waists.
“Huh,” said Jayden. “That’s different.”
“It’s a different kind of a trip, Jay. Maybe that’s why? I think that’s an ellipse.”
“I saw that in our math book.”
“Me too.”
“I wonder if—”
“Jay!” said his mother from somewhere on the first floor.
Jayden and Raylene stopped and stared at each other.
“What, Mom?” he called out.
“Jay? Raylene? Are you two up there?”
Raylene shook her head and said, “She didn’t hear you! What are we going to do?”
Jayden said, “Rayl, we have to go.”
“Jay, we can’t! Your mom might come up here, and she’ll see that―”
“No, Rayl! No, she won’t see anything! We’ll be back before she knows it!”
“Are we sure about that?”
He grinned while saying, “We better be!”
Raylene only nodded, placed her palm near the center of the ellipse, and moved the wide section of wall back. She laid it flat on the floor, and all four of them stared inside.
“I can’t believe there could be so many colors, Rayl.”
“And they’re moving around, Jay! I feel like I’m not just seeing them, I’m—”
Hex and Halo jumped through the wall and into the odd shape that began mostly level, then, farther in, spiraled to the right as it descended at a steep slope. The cats turned, and their treat bags swayed before coming to a stop.
“They’re right, Rayl. We have to just go.”
“Who’s first?”
Jayden scratched at his chin.
“How about if—”
“Jay, can you hear me?” said Mrs. Blue. “Are those cats up there with you?”
Raylene glanced toward the bedroom door and said, “What were you saying, Jay?”
“Um, let’s go together. We can each hold a cat.”
“Okay. I’ll hold Halo. Hex can ride with you.”
They worked their way in, lay side by side on their backs, and each allowed a cat to climb onto them for the ride down.
“Jay, where will we end up? In the grass?”
“Maybe on the path through the wildflowers?”
“Maybe in the lair of those giant lions?” she said.
“Yeah, or maybe we’ll—”
“What’s wrong, Jay?”
“It’s my mom! I think she’s coming up the steps!”
“We need to hurry, then!”
“No, wait, Rayl! Here, take Hex a minute.”
He shifted the mostly-white cat to Raylene and started to twist and squirm his way back into the room.
“Jay, what are you doing? There’s no time!”
“Books, Rayl! I have to set out books!”
He rushed around the room while they both listened to Mrs. Blue’s shoes tapping on every step, nearing the top.
“Jay, don’t bother with books!”
Jayden hurried back over, wiggled himself in close to Raylene, and she passed Hex back to him.
“I had to, Rayl!”
“No, Jay! We don’t have time to—”
“Jay? Raylene?” his mother said as she walked down the hallway toward his room.
“Jay, she’s in the hallway! Come on!”
“I’m ready, Rayl! Hex too! We can’t wait!”
They each reached back with a free hand and shifted around while trying to push themselves free.
Before they’d gotten loose, they heard Jayden’s mother near his door, saying, “Keep those cats in your room for just a few minutes. I think I’m going to run that vacuum.”
Both cats froze, their eyes big, and when they meowed in unison, their treat bags fell from their mouths, tumbled over Jayden’s and Raylene’s shoulders, and landed back on the floor of his room.
“Then, I’ll go tell your father to forget about warming up the car.”
“Jay!” Raylene whispered. “She’s right outside the door!”
They hugged their cats and turned their heads to face each other, their eyes open wide.
“We can’t wait any longer, Rayl!”
“Oh, and I called the school,” said his mother. “I need to tell you about that. That art show—”
Together, they pushed and got all four of them started down the slide. Mrs. Blue’s voice was silenced instantly.
They couldn’t speak at first as their speed increased quickly, and the curvy tube bumped them from side to side. They felt Hex and Halo digging in their claws, crouching low.
Jayden reached around with his left hand until he’d found Raylene’s right. He didn’t look, but he did notice that she held his hand tightly.
As they watched the streaks and swirls and splashes of unimaginable colors racing past them, almost at the same time, they both yelled, “Whee!”
Chapter 3 – I Have a Sword Too
Still holding hands and still holding cats, Jayden and Raylene felt their long ride coming to an end as the tube leveled out. Neither yelled anymore as they watched the colors all around them become less vivid, then blend together to form a bland gray, then vanish altogether. The slide that was shaped like an ellipse became clear like glass.
They came to a stop with the backs of their knees on the bottom edge, their legs hanging over. His sneakers and her high brown boots rested on a field of soft grass.
“Jay, this is different.”
“Yep. We’re looking right through it this time. That sky sure is blue.”
“We’re not close to Hex’s mom and dad this time.”
“Nope. Rayl, I wonder—maybe we’re back where we started from the first time?”
“Halo’s in no hurry to find out,” she said, and they both lay there a moment to feel and listen to the cats purring contentedly, still lying atop them.
“Neither is Hex. Come on, Rayl, let’s see what’s going on out there.”
He let go of her hand and sat up, then kicked his legs a couple of times, sliding his sneakers through the grass. She sat up, too, and she swished her boots from side to side several times.
“Huh. We sure are back where we started. There’s that—”
A loud cawing erupted above them, and they looked up through the transparent tube to see a crow flying past the open end of their slide, then over the creek, which was narrow but flowing swiftly, and he landed on the trail. Looking farther along that trail through the wildflower fields, Jayden held up his free hand to block the glare from a hot sun low on the horizon.
“There’s your crow, Jay.”
“He knew we were coming back.”
She pointed around and said, “The forests are still close, and there’s still a big tree on each side.”
He leaned forward and looked to the left, then he said, “Rayl, the same giant rocks too. From when we saw our shadows.”
“And you found your sword.”
“Yep. What do you suppose is going on? Where are those big iron lions?”
“Makes you wonder. Oh, there he goes again.”
She pointed at the crow, who had hopped and flapped his powerful wings. He flew to their left and landed on the top of one of the large stones.
“Jay, is he calling you over there again?”
Jayden stared for a few seconds before answering.
“Maybe. Let’s go see.”
He stood, still holding Hex, and took her hand. She stood beside him, still holding Halo. His backpack was looped over his right shoulder.
Before they took a step, Raylene said, “Jay, these boys lost their treats in your room. Will they eat peanut butter cookies?”
“I bet they will. Who wouldn’t like cookies?”
“No one. They dropped their treats when they yelled.”
“Oh, Rayl, I’m pretty sure I heard them yelling at least part of the way down too. You heard them, didn’t you?”
“I think so. I was screaming so loud myself!”
“Me too, but it sure was a fun ride.”
He looked down at the grass beneath them and pointed.
“Let’s put these guys down.”
The cats stood near Jayden’s sneakers and Raylene’s boots and arched their backs, then they looked around at the familiar landscape, their tails waving randomly.
“I think they’re happy here, Jay.”
“I think you’re right. I am too.”
Jayden adjusted his backpack, packed with peanut butter cookies, and said, “Well, we should probably go.”
Hex and Halo led the way and in less than a minute, they stood near the base of the tall, flat stone which had offered Jayden his sword on an earlier excursion.
The crow cawed three times at the sky, settled his feathers, and looked down on them.
“What did he say, Jay?”
“I wonder. The only thing I understood from him was when he told me to run.”
They heard a stampede of little paws behind them and before they could turn to look, Raylene felt Hex strike her back while at the top of his high leap. The collision caused her to take a few steps onto the dusty ground between the sun and the stone.
“Hey, Hex! You—”
Before she had time to ask Hex to explain himself, Halo jumped and struck her, too, spinning her even more.
“Hey, what are they—”
“Rayl, I think it’s your turn.”
The cats hurried aside and left her alone and staring at her shadow.
“My turn for what?”
“Your own sword? Try moving your arms around. See if your shadow moves.”
She lifted first her right arm, then her left, then she dropped them both. Her shadow had been too stubborn to follow along.
“Jay, this is even weirder when it’s my shadow. Maybe we should forget about those lions and that Val and—”
“Rayl, look! Look at that!” Jayden said, pointing at her shadow.
On the left side, something long and slender reached down from her shadow hand to almost touching the dry ground.
“Jay! A sword for me? Really?”
The crow cawed three times. Jayden and Raylene looked up, and the black bird stared down, his head turned slightly. One black eye studied them intently.
“I think that was your answer. Do like I did. You don’t need another push from either of these cats.”
“Nope. I guess I don’t.”
Raylene approached the stone slowly, placing each boot softly in the dust, until she was close enough to reach out and touch it. She drew in a deep breath and turned herself around.
When she looked at Jayden, she saw him grinning, and she offered a big smile back at him.
“Okay,” she said and took a step backwards.
She backed up more until she rested against the warm stone, in perfect alignment with her shadow.
“Well?” said Jayden.
Raylene showed a slight smile as she gazed off into the sun that rested at the end of endless fields of wildflowers. Its light seemed to have awakened, and it cast her shadow more crisply than before.
“Rayl?”
“Jay. Can you see it?”
He smiled and said, “That’s what I said. Remember?”
“I didn’t understand then. Now, I do. Jay, I have a sword too.”
“You feel it in your hand?”
“Yep. It fits perfectly. It doesn’t feel new, though. It’s like I kind of already had it. Why is that?”
She still stared across the fields while Jayden scratched his chin a couple of times.
“Rayl. I think you found your sword in English class. Remember when you looked at me and said, ‘Fearless?’ I think that’s when you really found it.”
She sighed and looked straight up at the crow.
“You wanted me to know for sure, didn’t you? To feel the sword in my hand?”
The crow cawed three times and lifted off, swooping low over the creek and landing with outstretched wings on the trail.
“I think he said yes, Rayl. Guess what’s next.”
Before answering, she took one step away from the stone and turned to look. Her shadow moved with her, and it no longer possessed a sword. She held up her hand and looked at it, making a fist several times.
“I have to learn to run, too, Jay?”
“I think so. You don’t mind, do you?”
She grinned, still looking at her sword hand, and said, “Nope.”
At the edge of the creek, her boots and his sneakers close to getting their toes wet, Jayden and Raylene watched the quick, bubbling water.
“I think we can jump over that, Rayl. What do you think?”
She looked to the left, then to the right, seeing each end of the stream swallowed up by dark forests.
“I’m not so sure. That’s pretty far.”
Hex crouched beside Jayden’s sneakers, and he wiggled around, digging his claws in before he executed an impressive leap, easily landing on the other side.
Jayden looked at Raylene with a grin, and she said, “Oh, sure. He’s a cat. I bet Halo could do that too.”
While Halo was getting a grip, Jayden laughed and said, “Yep. He’s showing off too.”
Halo sailed over and stood next to his brother.
“You’re right—that’s pretty far for us to jump. Maybe we could just walk through it?” he said.
“Jay, I can’t even see how deep it is. We can’t know if—”
“It might not be very deep at all,” said someone to their left.
They looked all around and saw no one.
“Jay. You heard that, right?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see—”
“Not very deep at all. It’s rather easy to test too.”
They looked down, to their left and upstream, and saw something odd poking up out of the water.
“Jay, is that a fish? Did a fish just talk to us?”
“Why not, Rayl?”
They stared for another second, then Jayden said, “Who are you?”
The fish relaxed and paddled his tail just enough to travel with the current, keeping his mouth up above the surface. As he swam past, they saw his big eyes staring at them.
“No time to say. Got to move along. Always moving along!”
Then, the fish was gone, swimming with the current toward the dark woods off to their right.
Raylene looked at Jayden, her eyebrows high, and he only grinned and shrugged.
“Wow, Jay. I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Nope. So, let’s cross over and see if you can run with that crow.”
She nodded and gave him a big smile.
“Sure. You first.”
He lost his grin and looked down at the swirling water.
“Um . . .”
“Go on, Jay. The fish said it was okay,” she said with a giggle.
“Okay.”
He put one sneaker below the surface and jabbed it around until he’d found the bottom. The water zipped past well below his knee, soaking his jeans.
“Well, I guess he was right.”
“The talking fish?”
“Yep.”
He took another step, then another, then another, and finally stood with one sneaker on land and the other in water. He reached out his hand.
“Why, thank you, Jay.”
She took his hand and began careful steps across.
“Oh, that’s good,” she said.
“Yeah. Your boots are just high enough.”
Both on dry land, Halo near her wet boots and Hex by his soaked sneakers, they turned to look at the crow. He’d watched them calmly from ten paces down the trail.
“He’s ready, Rayl. Are you?”
“Yep. We need to know all of this, right?”
He nodded and said, “To help the lions. The iron lions.”
“To help them with Val.”
“Yep.”
Jayden crouched down, Hex on one side and Halo on the other, and watched as Raylene learned from the crow about the call of his wings. She was fast, he saw, and by her third sprint, she was even smiling though it all.
She walked back to catch her breath after the crow had flown over them to wait beside the stream.
“Break time?” Jayden said while standing up with Hex in his arms.
Raylene leaned over and soon had Halo cradled in her arms.
“Yes! He gave you a couple of days, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right. Not you. You need to learn it all today.”
“Jay, your jeans are all dried up already? From that sun?”
He looked down and kicked one leg, then the other.
“Wow, yeah. Good. That was kind of squishy. Is it hard to run in those boots?”
“Nope. Jay, I felt like I was flying.”
“I did too! That crow sure knows about running.”
“And flying. Because he’s—”
“Good at being a crow?”
Raylene nodded and focused on taking deep breaths.
They looked up when they heard flapping wings, and they watched the crow glide to a soft landing twenty paces along the trail, between them and the low sun.
“Break time is over,” he said with a laugh.
“Yep. I think one more run. A long one.”
“Uh-oh. Remember what happened to me?”
She stared for a second then said, “Jay. One of those giant lions is going to run behind me?”
He said, “Behind us, Rayl. One for each of us.”
“You’re running too? Why?”
He shrugged and said, “Just because I want to.”
Raylene started to speak, but they heard a crunching and stomping moving through the wildflowers to the right of the trail.
“Rayl, look!”
Above the gently swaying flowers and busy, buzzing bugs, they saw two thick, fluffy white tails reaching for the sky and moving toward them.