Fall of the Spectrum

Chapter Ten

Gwen crouched low, waiting for the 'teleportation sickness'—as she had come to call it—to pass.

Forneus and Phenex knelt on either side of her, neither retracting their hands as they asked if she was all right. Despite the initial feeling of light-headedness, she managed a nod, her stomach clenching in protest from the jerky movement.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," she groaned, pushing herself up and brushing off the grass trimmings clinging to the knees of her jeans.

The three of them cast a furtive look around. When it was clear no one had seen them arrive, Gwen breathed a sigh of relief.

Forneus must've timed it just right, she thought, squinting against the pale sunlight. Judging from how low it hung in the sky, it was late afternoon, maybe early evening. Lowering her gaze, she noticed what appeared to be an Olympic-sized swimming pool directly in front of her. Lily pads floated on the water's glassy surface, their dark pink flowers in full bloom. On the other side of the lily pond was a long, white building. At first, Gwen thought it was a mansion, that perhaps they'd just teleported into the front yard of some wealthy family or other.

Upon closer inspection, however, she realized this was not the case. The entire front portion of the building consisted of a breezeway, in which several people meandered through with cameras in hand, snapping pictures of the lush greenery before turning down another path and disappearing from sight.

Nervous, Gwen drew back until she bumped into something hard, letting out a startled squeak when she turned to see a stony face staring down at her. It took her only a second to realize it was made of actual stone; a sphinx statue, lying on its large pedestal with its head turned back, silently watching the garden.

Okay, that's creepy. Plagued with a sudden image of the creature springing to life, she suppressed a shudder and turned to Forneus. "Where are we?"

"The Bodnant Garden."

It wasn't Forneus but Phenex who answered her, standing at the end of the narrow footpath leading away from the statue. Even through his leather jacket, Gwen could see the tense set of his shoulders, his head snapping one way then the other as he scanned their surroundings.

When it didn't seem further explanation on Phenex's part would be forthcoming, she turned back to Forneus. "The Bodnant Garden? I've never heard of it."

"It's something of a tourist attraction here in Wales," Forneus said. "Which means we're going to have to be very, very careful in our search for the artifact. We can't risk having it glow in front of everyone here."

"Great. Of all the places for it to show up," Gwen muttered, "it just had to be another tourist spot."

"Tourist trap is more like it," Phenex said, but Gwen wasn't paying attention. She was too busy worrying that the garden would become another case like Trikala. Of course, Prague hadn't been much better, and then Iris's forces had attacked all of the major cities across the globe while she personally had led the siege in London...

The Regulations Force had done all they could to contain it, but outnumbered as they'd been, they couldn't save everyone. Of those they had managed to save, many had slipped away before the Second Unit could alter their memories. If that happened here, Gwen didn't want to imagine how badly the already widespread panic would grow. If things got any worse, would the Regulations Force be able to keep knowledge of their existence hidden, or would their cover be blown sky high?

There were already groups of scientists around the world dedicated to proving the existence of other realms. If they found out that they were real, it would only be a matter of time before they found a way through, and then who knew what would happen afterward.