The hole appeared, as before, but this time a wooden ladder angled up from it. They clambered down one by one. On the lower level. Gene and Snowclaw slid the bottom of the ladder across the flagstone until the upper end slipped out of the hole above. The ladder clattered to the floor.
They repeated this procedure three more times before coming to a quiet level.
Gene looked up. “Linda, I want you to conjure a sort of thing that looks like a drain stopper, but made out of heavy stone, one just big enough to plug that hole up there.”
“A drain stopper?”
“Imagine a big heavy thing like a stone mushroom, with the stem plugging the hole.”
“Got you.”
The bottom of the plug fit neatly flush with the ceiling.
“Good job. I don’t think they’ll be able to lift that thing very easily.”
“Great idea, Gene,” Linda said.
“Should have come up with it sooner. But when you’re on the run, it’s hard to be creative.”
“Man, you gotta think fast in this place!” Sheila said breathlessly.
“Even more so, down here,” Gene told her. “Stay close, and watch your step.”
“What’s down here?”
“Expect the unexpected.”
“Like … what, exactly?”
Bright daylight flooded the corridor. Sheila whirled and beheld what looked at first like a movie screen, except that the images were three-dimensional. Then her mind made the connection that this was some sort of opening that had suddenly appeared. Through the rectangular portal lay a short expanse of white beach, leading to foaming breakers. The surf was close, very close. In fact …
“You better get back, Sheila,” Gene said.
She watched, transfixed, as a swell rose up, rode in, and broke very near the opening. Sheila squealed and backstepped as the surf foamed through the portal and across the floor, slopping over her shoes.
She squished down the corridor to where the others had sought dry floor. They were smiling at her.
“I see what you mean,” Sheila said.
“Is that your first wild aspect?” Gene asked. “Strange, isn’t it? The aspects you see through the windows aren’t so startling. You look out and see weird things, but somehow, the window comfortably frames it. But when you see an aspect pop out of nowhere like that —”
“It kind of blows your mind,” Sheila said, nodding gravely. “Why are they called aspects?”
“Just a term that’s used around here. They’re called aspects, portals, gateways … other things.”
Suddenly the sunlight faded, and the sound of breakers stopped abruptly. They all turned to find that the portal had vanished.
“There it goes,” Gene said, “just as mysteriously as it appeared.”
Sheila shook her head slowly. “Where
“It could have been the beach at Malibu,” Gene told her. “Or somewhere on the Gold Coast of Africa. But I looked, and I didn’t see anything out there that would lead me to believe it was a way back to Earth. It could have been any one of tens of thousands of worlds. Probably a deserted planet, somewhere, in an uninhabited star system a billion light-years from —” He shrugged. “Wherever.”
“Was the one I fell through like that?” Sheila asked.
“Probably. Just like the ones we blundered through.”
Sheila stared off into the darkness. “Maybe it actually was a way back. Back home.”
“We’ll never know, Sheila. Best not to think about it. We’re stranded here, in this world, this castle. You’d better start getting used to the notion of being here for a while.”
Sheila grunted ironically. “A while? You mean for the rest of my life.” Brow knitted, she massaged her bottom lip between her teeth. Then, murmuring to herself: “But I really didn’t have much of a life, did I?”
Gene said, “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
Sheila took a deep breath and turned around. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Gene smiled at her. “Don’t worry. In time, you’ll actually get to like it here. I look at it as sort of an extended vacation. Two weeks in August that never seem to end. But at some point it will, it must. A gateway will pop up in front of us, leading right into Times Square, and the vacation will be over. It’ll be September, time to go back to school. Or to a new job.”
Sheila studied him clinically. He wasn’t a bad-looking fellow, rather tall, with curly dark brown hair and gray- green eyes. Not bad over all, except that she would never have given him a second look on the street, or in a bar. He had a boyish, immature way about him, even though he talked very well and sounded educated. She liked him. “You really believe we’ll get back someday, don’t you?”
Something deep in his eyes flashed when he smiled. “You bet. This is a dream — a shared dream. And someday we’ll all wake up.”
She managed to smile back at him, and it made her feel good.
“Anyone for lunch?”
Gene and Sheila looked. Linda had conjured an impressive buffet table laden with an endless assortment of cold cuts and salads.
“Come and get it before it goes up in a puff of smoke,” Linda said.
Snowclaw swiped at a plate and came away with about three pounds of sliced roast beef. He shoved the mass into his mouth, chewed four times — no more — and swallowed. He shook his head wearily. “You know, I keep trying this stuff you guys like. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. But a little while later and I’m hungry again.”
“Try a little mustard with it,” Linda suggested, tossing him a jar of Dijon. Unbelieving, she watched Snowclaw pop it into his mouth. “Snowy, don’t!”
The glass crunched horribly. “Hey, now you’re talking!” Snowclaw said with a satisfied grin.
Fourteen
Keep — Lower Levels
Barnaby Walsh was exhausted. He was by nature a sedentary person, tending to avoid movement unless dire necessity demanded it, and this frantic chasing about, keeping one step ahead of the Bluefaces, was more than his ill-proportioned, overweight body could stand. In fact, he simply couldn’t take another step.…
“We can’t stop!” Deena Williams yelled at him.
“I gotta,” Barnaby told her, slumping against the wall.
Deena ran back and yanked at a handful of his shirt. “Come on, man! They’re right behind us!”
“I can’t … run … anymore,” Barnaby wheezed at her. “I’m completely … I can’t —”
“You gotta! The Bluefaces are comin’!”
“But … ” Barnaby tried to swallow the acrid dryness at the back of his throat. He choked and coughed, bending over double.
“Shhhh!” Deena looked worriedly back down the passageway. “Keep it quiet, or they gonna get us.”
Barnaby recovered enough to say, “I can’t go on. I’m done.”
“No, you’re not. Just keep puttin’ one foot in front of the other. Come on, man, you can do it.”
“No, honest.”
He looked at her. She wasn’t even breathing hard! But she’d been a trade athlete in high school, she’d said, before getting pregnant and dropping out. She had always dreamed of going to the Olympics. She was even dressed for the part, in a purple sweatshirt, red shorts, and white running shoes.
“Go ahead,” he told her. “Take off. I’ll just hold you up.”
Scowling, she shook him hard. “Don’t start that hero stuff with me, you hear? I’ll slap you silly. Now, let’s go, unless you wanna mess with them blue dudes.”
“Okay, okay,” Barnaby groaned. Grunting noises from behind gave him the added impetus to start moving again. He staggered forward, steadied himself with one hand on the wall, then boosted his pace to a painful,
