The Dangerous Doors of Shannon Anderson

Chapter Five

I was in Oz when Aidan and Dad got home the next morning. I heard them coming in the house through my open door, so I scrambled off the bank of the river that separated the dark forest from the lush poppy field leading up to the Emerald City, and ran downstairs to meet them.

"Greetings, family!" I said, popping Aidan's baseball hat off his blonde bowl cut and hugging Dad. "How did our young slugger fare against the brutish Missourians?"

"They did okay," Dad said.

"Dad!" Aidan said, putting his hat back on. "We only won every game."

"Oh, right. They won every game."

"And I hit the winning RBI in the last one!"

"Nice!" I high-fived my brother before he ran off to the kitchen, doubtless in search of snacks.

"Good weekend?" Dad asked.

"Fine," I said. "Read a lot, mostly."

"Textbooks, I hope?"

"Um," I said. That reminded me, I probably did need to study at least a little for my AP English exam tomorrow.

Dad gave me one of those Dad looks and said, "You better get on it, kiddo," before turning down the hall towards his study.

Oh God, the mess. I had spent the whole night popping in and out of stories and I'd forgotten to clean up the aftermath of the bookshelf explosion. I hurried after Dad into his den.

"What the hell happened in here?!"

"Oh, well," I said. "Your office got struck by lightning."

"And you didn't think to call me?"

I shrugged. "There were books. I got distracted." True enough. And I had tried to call.

Dad pushed his glasses up his nose and picked up a book. I lunged forward to snatch it from him before he could open it, but he just turned and put it back on the shelf.

"I'll have to re-alphabetize them later," Dad said with a sigh. "For now just help me get them all back on the shelf, would you?"

"Gladly."

I took a close look at every title I picked up, making mental notes of the ones I wanted to visit later.

"Ha, look at this!" Dad said some time later, plucking a little navy book out of the pile with a painting of an old ship on the cover. "Two Years Before the Mast. This was one of my favorites in college."

Dad started smiling like a schoolboy and muttering to himself about whales and icebergs and other key components of sea-faring adventures as he flipped open to the first page, and I nearly lost it. A door was going to open, and Dad was going to see it, and suddenly my super cool secret wasn't going to be so cool or so secret anymore.

Trying not to look too obvious, I scanned the edges of the room for a fresh door, maybe one shaped like a porthole, or something equally nautical. Dad turned a page and I listened hard for the creak of old wood on wood, any sign that this book's door had materialized like it was supposed to. All I could hear was Dad turning pages and chuckling. Meanwhile, I was busy having a heart attack. No door had appeared, and no door appearing was a whole lot worse than Dad seeing my doors appear.

I reached for the closest book - The Complete Sherlock Holmes - and yanked it off the shelf with such vigor that three other books fell back to the floor in its wake. I dashed up to my room, threw the book open, and heaved the biggest sigh of relief when a black door with a big brass knocker and brass 221B fixed above it showed up next to my dresser. Knowing I couldn't just pop off to London while Dad and Aidan were home and awake, I added the book to the stack next to my bed and went back downstairs, hoping my basal level of odd behavior was enough to keep Dad from asking what had just happened.

I managed to study for the better part of the afternoon, though I couldn't help but think that I'd get a lot more out of reviewing The Power and the Glory if I could actually go chill with the whisky priest in 1930s Mexico for a little while. But just like the books in my room that hadn't been hit by the lightning strike the night before, The Power and the Glory had been tucked safely in the depths of my backpack during the storm, and no door opened when I turned the pages.

A/N: After a weekend squandered/well-spent exploring stories, how do you think Shannon is going to fare on her AP exam? Why didn't a door appear when her dad opened one of the books from his shelf? Stay tuned!