In Between

Chapter Seven: The Laboratory

"So what's the plan?" Draven asked Kieran. They had all gathered around the dining room table with Apryl and Bri out of the view of the windows in case anyone looked inside.

"The only thing I can think of is to tell my father. If anyone can help us find a portal, it's either him or the Guardians," Kieran said.

"The Guardians? Are they anything like the Warriors," Bri asked skeptically, "because if they are I'd like to suggest first exploring other options."

"No, the Warriors are the combined army and police force of the Inbetween—they would have you both killed on the spot. It's them we have to worry about discovering us, but the Guardians are different. They don't care about our laws, so they wouldn't be a danger to you two. They come from a separate dimension called the Otherworld, and they like to keep to themselves in the Dimension Hall. It's their job to guard the portals," Kieran explained.

If there was one thing he knew about, it was the Guardians who were born in the dimension said to be made of goodness and light; they spent their mortal years protecting the portals and keeping the peace between the different worlds. Kieran had always wished he was from the Otherworld, because being a Guardian meant that people idolized you (except for the royals who saw the Guardians as obstacles standing between them and their goal of an ultimate rule).

"I like the sound of these Guardians," Apryl put in. "Why don't we just ask to use one of their portals?" she suggested, convinced that this would solve all of their problems.

"It isn't that simple," Draven snapped, characteristically annoyed by the ignorance of others.

"He's right. The Guardians wouldn't care that you're trespassing in the Inbetween, but they would if you tried to use a portal. It's forbidden. No one but the Guardians and their selected Warriors are allowed through them," Kieran told Apryl.

"Well, that's ridicules! We came here through a portal, so we should be allowed to leave through one," she answered reasonably.

"You came through a renegade portal that Kieran's friends found by chance. Portals are never supposed to appear outside the Dimension Hall. Since there was one that was unauthorized we should be trying to discover how it got there so we can find another. What better way to do that than to ask a scientist?" Draven hinted and Kieran had to agree. As much as the idea of coming clean to his father scared him it was the right thing to do. Mr. Dalhart was the best scientist in the Inbetween—he asked the questions people didn't dare think about, and he was always hunting for answers. This was his area of expertise.

"Fine. Let's go see my father."

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The Research Lab where Mr. Dalhart worked was in the Town Square, which was the section of the Inbetween that was completely open to the public. It contained public buildings like the school, the bank, the hospital, the park, and the Town Hall where the mayor lived. Kieran thought about explaining all of this and more to Apryl and Bri. If they were going to be stuck in the Inbetween they should at least know their way around the different sections. He tried to break it down to himself and found the task much more difficult that he'd thought it would be. Essentially, the sections were like this:

The Town Square was located on the eastern side below where the Warriors' training school and living space would be on a map. Opposite of that was the Market, a section that was dedicated to shops and businesses. Business owners and their families lived in the residential area—Soren and Cain had a house there because their parents ran a butcher shop. Past the Market, as far west as you could go, was the Farmer's Forest. It stretched along the western edge of the Inbetween until it reached the Royal Palace in the north and the Strip in the south.