Zoldia: The World Beneath

Part 5 - The Spy

The next day, Deborah kept thinking about the other world. She was wondering if she should go again or not, and being unable to discuss this with anyone was quite frustrating.

She was a fan of science-fiction stories, and the idea that many things that sounded impossible might just be there for her to discover was incredibly thrilling. She had seen a flying car after like five minutes there! Imagining what she would find if she went there for a day made her shudder with excitement.

However, as Clemendra had said, that world surely had its own dangers that Deborah was completely unaware of. If a person from the past stumbled upon an electric wire, they wouldn't know they shouldn't temper with it or they risked being electrocuted. They wouldn't know a clothing iron can be hot, detergents are toxic, and a chainsaw can cut through your flesh and bones in a few seconds. Deborah was afraid that if she went there again, she would touch something she wasn't supposed to and instantly lose a limb.

There were so many pros and cons. She had a whole week to make her decision, so she would think it through before reaching a conclusion.

One evening, Deborah had to gather her dirty clothes to put them in the washing machine. She was groping the pockets of her pants to make sure they were empty, when she felt something hard inside. She took it out and realized it was the invisible shield. On the day she had gotten back from the urbex session, she had been too tired to do anything so she had left it there.

She took it and checked it out again. It was really just a tiny box with a button on it. She turned it on, just for fun, and let a pen fall on her leg. It bounced on her thigh and fell on the floor. She hadn't felt it at all. It was amazing and scary at the same time.

She turned off the shield, then looked at it again. At the back of it was a logo that she had failed to notice before. It was a red 'S' on a white background. This wasn't the logo of a famous brand, but Deborah was sure she had seen it somewhere. She tried hard to remember where but she couldn't. She had a lot of things to do, so she decided to leave it be and go back to her chores.

***

The next day, Lucio sat with them at the canteen. He often did so these days. They were chatting about the Olympics that were scheduled to happen in Paris.

"I'm just saying," said Francesca while chewing her Hamburg steak, "that if I could be a world-class athlete, I'd be a pole vaulter. For a second, it feels like you are flying in the air! How cool is that?"

As she said that, she moved her fork to illustrate a body jumping in the air. There was a Brussel sprout at the end of her fork, which fell on the floor and rolled under a table next to them.

Deborah suddenly remembered the day Lucio's strange ball had rolled under her table. She recalled the ball very clearly. It had a logo on it, the same logo that was on the invisible shield trigger.

She suddenly realized that Lucio was one of them. He was from that other world, and the ball that had dropped from his bag was an artifact from there. That was why it looked so strange. She was burning to ask him right away, but Francesca was there, and she did not want to tell her yet about her discovery. And what if she was wrong and Lucio wasn't from there? What if her question revealed the existence of that world to him? The chances were slim though, considering the ball that fell from his bag definitely came from there. No wonder she had been unable to figure out what it was.

When it was time to go to class, they split up because Francesca's group and theirs were not together for this class. As soon as Francesca had disappeared from their sight, Deborah whispered to Lucio, "Are you from the other world?"