Imperfect (Disappeared #1)

Chapter Five

Nextic World

Year 500

A column of baobabs stretched out before her, their spindly, crooked branches reaching far into the gray sky, their thick trunks more like stone pillars than trees. The entire scene was steeped in mist. Between the trees was a dirt road that seemed to stretch on forever, the dim outlines of more baobabs hugging it in the distance.

Theodosia's eyes widened. What was this place? She spun around immediately, sure that the tree she had touched would be gone. No, it was still in place, glowing and pulsating still. She touched it. It warmed immediately, and she felt that now familiar dissolving feeling spread up her arm. Quickly snatching her hand back, she massaged her palm. Did that mean she could go back? But her curiosity trumped any anxiety. She turned around cautiously.

Theodosia realized then that this place not only looked different, it felt different. The air seemed pressurized in a different way. It smelled softer, and the slight breeze felt strange on her skin. The silence even sounded different, if such a thing could be.

No one needed to tell her she wasn't in England anymore. The world felt as unusual as if she had landed on the moon. And yet a part of her still refused to believe that she wasn't in Helenshire.

Theodosia stood there a moment, her heart pounding in her chest, her fingers still tingling from touching the tree. A slight chill touched the back of her neck and she shivered. She didn't want to go back, that much she knew, yet she was afraid of going forward. Who knew what lay in wait for her?

But her heart wanted this adventure. Clearly she had asked for something and it had been delivered. I'll walk for just five minutes, she thought. If it's too much, I'll come back directly and forget this ever happened.

Stumbling forward, Theodosia clutched her long tan coat tightly around her as if for protection. Her skirts swished, the only sound in the forest. She looked up as she passed through the baobabs, their gigantic size making her feel no bigger than an ant. They reached far into the misty sky with silent, regal power. As she walked, her heart calmed. Nothing lurked in the mist or behind the trees.

And then the baobabs ended, vanishing. Now, conical pine trees grew in dense stands and red needles carpeted the forest floor. The mist persisted, enveloping the tops of the trees and completely obscuring the sky.

It was then that Theodosia noticed the first sculpture. Boulders jutted out of the ground and moss-covered earth had been packed around them to form a sleeping person. The face was carved in stone, with green grass sprouting as hair. Theodosia stood in wonder, looking at the sculpture. There must be people who had made this. But who? And why?

The forest gave her no answers. The sleeping sculpture merely lay there, perfectly content on its bed of earth. Theodosia blinked and walked on. Her mind scurried around like a trapped animal trying to make sense of where it was.

Soon, she came upon ruins of stone buildings rising in the forest. Moss covered the foundations, partial walls, and even weathered archways. The spaces where there had once been windows looked like unseeing eyes. The gray stones were ancient and weathered, as if they hadn't been inhabited for centuries. Whoever had lived here, they hadn't been around for a very long time.

Theodosia took a deep breath and rubbed her temples. She wasn't sure how to process what she was seeing. Had she fallen and hit her head? Had she lain down in a little grassy grove and was she now having a bizarre dream? Or was she so desperate to escape Edward Merton that she was experiencing some kind of breakdown? It could be possible. After all, Edward was intolerable for an evening and impossible to contemplate for a lifetime. Hysteria might be all she had left.

What she did understand was that this place was intensely beautiful. It seemed so alive - saturated with color and pulsing with energy. Like the giant tree that had brought her here, the trees surrounding her seemed to be breathing slightly, their trunks expanding and contracting to a degree almost imperceptible to the eye.

Theodosia walked on and eventually came to a stream filled with smooth river stones. She bent down to drink and thought for a moment she could hear the river murmuring. She jerked back and the sound faded. She leaned in again and the soft, steady clamor filled her head. Cautiously, she lifted a scoop of water to her lips. It tasted sweet, but as it traveled down her throat, it was as if the voices were inside her, whispering before finally dying out. She froze, transfixed.

And then the water began to ripple. Softly at first, and then with more force, as if an earthquake were beginning. Little yellow birds burst out of the woods and flew off in one frantic flock. And then the earth began to shake.

It all happened so fast. The air seemed to waver and then a gray shape tore through the woods. It had no definite form, though it looked a bit like a jellyfish she had once seen in the sea. Her eye took in a translucent silver mass that pulsated and faded in and out. Or at least this was the best Theodosia could describe it. It happened so quickly that she barely saw it at all. And then, in a flash, it was gone.

The air continued to vibrate as if a note had been played on the piano and the strings within continued to quiver. Theodosia could feel the vibration in the very fibers of her muscles. She clutched her coat closely around her as she tried to decide what to do.

Then the wolves came. A pack of them, pure white with eyes of crystalline blue. They didn't simply walk forward but came in from all angles in a weaving motion that suggested water. They surrounded her without aggression, their gaze curious and alert.

Theodosia closed her eyes for a moment. She thought that maybe if she just paused for a minutes, shut all of it out, she would wake up in her bed. The idea both terrified and relieved her. She had begun to wonder whether she was way in over her head. Whether this was not an adventure but something else entirely.

She opened her eyes. She was not in her bedroom. Instead, before her were two yellow-gold eyes. Human eyes. Staring right at her.

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Ruh-roh.

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