Paige and the Quest for Truth: Book 2 in the series

15

Chapter 15

As Paige came back to her senses, she pulled away, drying her eyes gently. Maude pulled a key from around her neck, holding on to it reverently like it was a sacred thing. She kissed it once and passed it over to Paige.

"Paige, did Billie ever teach you how to use her portal key"? Maude asked, her eyes just avoiding Paige's.

Maude always seemed hesitant to speak of Billie. Paige usually got a weird vibe when they spoke of her, but she assumed it was because she was just trying to be sensitive to Paige's grief.

"I've seen her use it several times. It glowed blue and she whispered to it when she used it. It was like magic GPS or something."

Maude nodded. "Yes, It is like magic, but inconvenient magic. It uses your intuition to guide you. You have to think of Billie. Like in the riddle, you have to hold both the joy and the loss of her in your mind when you place the key into the lock."

Paige stood up and walked over to where she thought the portal was. A thought struck her, something she had never considered. "Maude, why is this portal in the middle of a wall? Every other portal I have gone through was contained in a doorway."

Maude seemed to consider the question, her hand stroking her chin. "A portal key can create a portal connection anywhere within a given realm. Since the key uses one's imagination and intuition to create the connection, many Protectors find it easier to use a door. A door takes you from one place to another, and that seems to help the portal connection, symbolically, anyway. Technically, you could stick the key into a wall, or the floor and open a connection."

A short, bittersweet laugh escaped Paige's lips. "So, Billie just decided to create a portal in the middle of a wall? Why would she do that"?

Maude laughed along with her. "Well, in most libraries, the majority of the staff are Protectors, so there is no need for such secrecy. In your case, however, you my dear were kept in the dark, for your own safety, from what I gather. My guess is that Billie needed a secret place to create portals. Sometimes, young protectors have a tendency to forget to close their portals. I suspect that Miss Billie was trying to prevent you from wandering into one accidentally."

That made Paige laugh again. "So my clumsy self falls, quite literally, into a portal anyway. Who knew being clumsy would change my life?"

Paige took Maude's advice and turned towards the door they had come in through, instead of the wall. Despite having fallen through that wall, she couldn't picture stepping through it like it wasn't there.

She looked towards her friends, trying to quell the nervousness she felt. Kyle nodded at her, the corner of his mouth lifting up slightly. Maude gestured at the door in front of them, silently encouraging her to take the next step.

Paige took a deep breath and did her best to remove the steel wall in her mind. To access that deep sorrow and love that had been pouring out of her moments before.

She let the memories swirl through her mind unhindered. The lilt of Billie's laugh, the way she always looked her in the eyes, the absurdity of how often they ended up collapsed on the floor, laughing hysterically. She let herself relive the promises of forever, the fear of it being taken away, all the 'I love you's' and the 'Do you trust me's'.

"I do", Paige whispered. "I do trust you Billie. I can do this". She felt Maude's hand on her shoulder. With tears in her eyes and her unlikely friends at her side, Paige stepped towards the door. Plunging the key into the lock, keeping Billie in her mind, she turned the handle, and almost reverently, opened the door.

Like so many times before, a glowing doorway stood before her. Grasping the hands of her companions, Paige took a deep breath, and stepped forwards, once again, into the light.