Michael had never seen the key before. Where had his mother come across it? Before he could say anything, his mother spoke up.
“I’ve just changed my mind,” she said, with a strange look in her eyes. “Get Jonathan and Stu in here, and then we’ll talk.”
“Mother,” he started to say, but there was a knock at the door.
He went to answer the door.
Who in the
— Michael thought, but too much was going on for him to really be surprised by anything anymore. As if by magic, Stu stood on the porch. Looking down the road, he saw Jonathan walking toward the house, only a block behind.
Michael stuttered, “How did you—” but his mother interrupted.
“The details aren’t important right now. People feel things. This next conversation is vital though.”
Stu said a polite hello to Mrs. Ross, and Michael noted that Stu appeared almost to expect Mrs. Ross to be there. He had showed no surprise at all. Something was going on that Michael was not privy to. He hoped this next conversation would explain it. They all needed to be on the same page, as Jonathan would say.
They waited for Jonathan to catch up. Jonathan whistled, when he saw Stu already there. “Well, I guess I’m late to the party,” he said, his old joshing back for one moment. Then he remembered Trina. Jonathan immediately said, “I’m sorry, I just keep trying to put it out of my mind. I guess I succeeded for a minute.” He hung his head.
Mrs. Ross patted him on the back. “It’s okay, Jon.”
Jonathan looked up at his mother with surprise. This was the first time in years his mother had shown him any compassion or really spoken to him about anything more than the weather.
Stu shuffled his feet before he took a seat on the couch with Jonathan. Michael sat in the big leather chair. Mrs. Ross sat at the antique roll-top desk, near Jonathan. She held out the key for all to see.
“Jonathan and Stu, could you assist me for a moment?” she asked and stood up. She indicated that she wanted the desk moved out from the wall for a moment.
“Mother,” said Michael, “is this really so impor—”
“Yes!” said his mother, before he could get the rest out of his mouth.
Stu and Jonathan immediately did what she asked.
Michael knew the desk, in the Ross family for generations and given to Michael one Christmas, had sat against that same wall for over twenty years. Before that, it had been owned by Michael’s mother and before that his grandfather, who had been dead now for many decades.
Mrs. Ross bent over the back of the desk and appeared to slide something. Stu and Jonathan came around to look.
“Well, I’ll be!” said Jonathan. For Mrs. Ross had slid back a false panel and opened up what appeared to be a locked cabinet inside part of the desk. She held out the key.
“Jonathan,” she said, giving him the key, “you do the honors.” Jonathan looked at his mother with surprise for the second time that night. She was getting downright friendly. Jonathan put the key in the rusty lock and opened the door. Inside was a book, leather bound and handwritten. He handed it to his mother.
Michael stayed in the leather chair across the room, observing.
“You can move the desk back,” said Mrs. Ross to the men, “and lock it up. I will not be putting the book back there again.”
The book was small, thick, leather-bound, and dusty. It obviously had not been out of its hiding place for a very long time. “Just what are you up to, Mother?” asked Michael.
“Much to explain and no time,” said Mrs. Ross. She laid the book open on the desk and flipped through the pages. She finally came to the one she was looking for and rose from her seat. “Boys, yours was not the first group of friends from around here to go to the other world. There was another group before you. I know, because I was in it.”
Michael’s eyebrows rose. Jonathan said, “You know with so much happening I hadn’t had a chance to ask you about that incident with Brandon while we were at the McArthur house the other night, but I was wondering…”
***
Stu feigned nonchalance and looked up at the ceiling. He assumed Mrs. Ross wanted to keep their little chat a secret.
“There is no time to go into everything. Suffice to say we were similar to your gang in your younger years, experimenting and trying to figure out the other world, developing our skills…” Mrs. Ross trailed off.
“Who was in your group?” piped up Stu.
Mrs. Ross looked at him. “Besides myself, there were two others whose names I’ve sworn not to reveal. We recorded our experiments and journeys, much like I assume you do. We used code names in the book so no one would ever know. Mine was Robin. The other two were Hawk and Sparrow. None of that really matters right now. I need you all to read these pages from the book.”
Stu noticed that she did not go so far as to tell them all she was a Watcher. Or that Stu apparently was also. She must have her reasons, he thought. Probably to do with a bigger picture than he could see.
“And this is important for our trip to Mira?” asked Michael.
“Yes,” answered Mrs. Ross. “It’s urgent that you learn this before you leave. I bet you don’t even have a plan,” she added. “Are you proposing to run off and rescue Mira just like that?” she snapped her fingers.
“Whatever we have to do, as long as it takes,” said Michael.
Mrs. Ross whipped around toward her son. “Exactly why you need to read this! You don’t know what you are getting into!”
Jonathan and Michael were taken aback. Mrs. Ross almost never showed such emotion. Stu whistled softly under his breath, once again wishing he was anywhere but here.
Mrs. Ross went to sit down where Jonathan was on the couch. She motioned for all three of the men to go to the desk and read, starting from the page she had left open. “I’m giving this book to you,” she said to all three, “and Mira when she returns. When there is time later, you can read it all; you need to know at once what is on these pages!”
The guys went to the desk. Michael sat down in the chair as the other two looked over his shoulder. At the very top of the right page, it said COFE. Then there were entries that looked like diary entries for the group. Jonathan smiled and said, “It looks so similar to our old book!” Michael glared at him.
“Well it’s not like there are many secrets left—” chided Jonathan.
“—especially if they did everything you did back then,” added Stu.
“More,” said Mrs. Ross. “More.”
All three men turned for an instant and looked at her with incredulity. Here they had thought the High Five Gang, so tight and dedicated at one time, had discovered so much.
She saw them and shook her head at them. “Everybody always thinks they’re the first,” she said with a brief wave of her hand.
“Um,” Jonathan dared ask, since apparently his mother felt him a responsible person after all, “what does COFE stand for?”
“
Chameleons of Forever
,” said Mrs. Ross. “It was an allusion to our ability to mask, as well as our need for extraordinary amounts of coffee to stay in the other world for long periods of time.”
They stared at her for a second, immobile from that information. Then they turned their attention to the book almost in unison. Stu whispered under his breath to Jonathan, “Birds… lizards—who
were
these people?” But Jonathan’s eyes were elsewhere.
***
Jonathan was thinking to himself, putting together a picture. He was getting it. The distance from his mother. Why she never approved of Jonathan continuing to travel. Why she hadn’t particularly approved of the High Five Gang traveling either. They had done so in short bursts. Her group, and only three at that, obviously had taken it so seriously that they spent large amounts of time there, refining their skills. No wonder his mom always seemed to know what was going on. Who knew what level she was at? And to her, the High Five Gang probably seemed like a gang of kindergarteners playing with matches. Though they were serious, they had been more serious about the adventure of it, not serious study. Except for Stu. He looked at Stu.
So Stu she would approve of,
Jonathan bet internally.
And I, for the first time, am doing something important, so now I am part of the inner circle.
Mrs. Ross watched his reactions closely.
The group of three began to read the first entry shown. It was dated 1976, but the entry was halfway through the book. Jonathan thought,
that would make mom twenty-one at the time of the entry but meant that she started traveling when she was a whole lot younger. There was no way to know what age the other two members might have been.
Jonathan would have to read the book closely once Mira was back safe and sound, and the mystery of Brandon was solved. That reminded him—
“Mom,” he said, “before we read this, what about the other night? What was happening there? You were traveling?”
“After.” said Mrs. Ross. “After you read. Read!” The group turned back toward the book.
The first entry on the page Mrs. Ross had left open was written in longhand:
May 21, 1976
We are now rethinking the scenery we set up in the astral. It stays because we want it to stay and provides a safe and comfortable zone for both our own travel and experiments, as well as any first time mistakes who end up in the other world. On the other hand, it encourages those who know nothing to travel, because they think the scene is the other world, when in fact it is just our creation. Should they wander outside of it, any first-timer would immediately be overcome by nightmares most likely, from their innate fear of the nothing they stepped into. We have not come to agreement about this yet, and all matters must be settled by a unanimous vote as previously defined in our charter.
“Wow,” said Stu. “They had a charter. This was a very serious group.”
“Well, we had rules,” said Michael. “It’s similar.” They continued on to the next entry.
May 28, 1976
We have decided to strip the scenery after a debate in which each of us presented our views. We then put it to a vote. It took five hours to come to a unanimous decision. We are leaving the sky, but we are taking away all else.
“Hmm,” said Jonathan, “that’s weird because when we first used to go, before we made our Emergency Meeting Place, sometimes there was sky, and sometimes there was a whole scene. It seemed to always vary back and forth and was never stable, which is why we learned and then finally made our own.”
“Keep reading,” said Mrs. Ross.
We have decided this mostly because of the little girl and little boy who come here often now. We thought they must be a mistake, they are so young, but they keep coming back. We watch what they do but don’t really know what they are up to, except exploring perhaps. We feel they are too young to be here and hope that taking away the scenery will scare them enough to stay away. We will be feeling for them there to make sure they get away safely.
Michael looked up quickly at his mother but remained silent.
May 30, 1976
The change of scene seemed to have worked on the little girl. It scared her into a dark forest her mind conjured up, and we posed as a shining light that guided her out and back to the real world. I don’t think she will be back again soon.
June 5, 1976
Unfortunately, the change of scene seemed to have the opposite effect on the older boy. It seemed to spur him on to try to figure out the other world. We are thinking both these children may be prodigies, and we can probably expect the little girl back when she is older. After discussion, we decided to continue to keep the scenery down. We don’t need it anyway, as we can create instantaneously know when we require it.
“Man,” said Stu. “It took me years to learn to create scenery at an instant.”
“Yeah, like you’re so old at nineteen,” said Jonathan.
“Mira is waiting,” said Michael and continued reading.
June 6, 1976
When we visited the other world last night, there was scenery there— not of our creation. We have decided unanimously that we have done our duty and, short of saving the little boy from danger, will not interfere, as it is obviously his will to learn and create here.
Stu looked at Mrs. Ross, but her expression remained impassive. Part of the Watcher’s Creed he bet.
June 11, 1976
We are about to do our most important experiment yet. We feel sure that the real world can be affected by the astral world but are aware of the danger inherent in this possibility. Two of us have learned to take our whole and complete real bodies into the astral. The third person will act as a control here, to report any changes quickly to us, to prevent problems, and also to track time in the real world so we don’t stay away too long. The longest we have stayed in the astral in real-world time has been five days. We are about to try seven, or perhaps as long as it takes, depending on how the two of us who can travel whole are feeling. We are trying to arrange trips so our families won’t notice.
*Note: During our recent travels, the little boy has been in the astral consistently. He is not leaving. We are observing him, but he seems okay. It makes us wonder how he is acting at home.
June 13, 1976
The seven-day experiment will begin next week.
*Note: the little boy has taken his real body to the astral! We were highly surprised. He is a prodigy. He has taken his real body and is apparently staying. This means he is missing in real life, but we do not know where he is from or what family to look for in real life. We have not seen the little girl here again. We have seen the boy every time we go, and in the real world we have calculated that he has been gone at least six days. He appears to never leave
.
“Holy crap,” said Jonathan. All three men were spellbound reading this information.
“Can you imagine?” said Stu. “Getting to the point where your whole team is prepared to experiment to see if you can affect the real world?!”