Seventh Dimension - The King - Book 2, A Young Adult Fantasy (12 page)

“I need to be able to trust you,” I said.

She lowered her voice. “You can trust me.”

Shale’s eyes focused on Judd’s donkey. “Wait a
minute. Can you put Assassin to pasture?”

“Assassin?” I
wasn’t sure anyone knew his name except me. It’s not as if you
share a name like that.

“How do you know his name?”

“He told me,” replied Shale.

“Judd told you?”

“No, the donkey told me.”

“The donkey told you?”

Shale grimaced.
“Well, sort of.”

I had gone from speaking to someone who seemed like
a witch to someone who claimed to be able to talk to animals. Maybe
I was the crazy one.

“I’ll put him outside. Wait here.”

I returned a few minutes later, leaving the door
ajar. After my unfortunate encounter with Scylla, I didn’t want to
be alone with Shale. She seemed a little strange.

“Don’t you want to close the door? Someone might
hear us.”

I shrugged. “No
one else is around.” In reality, I knew Judd was nearby, but I
didn’t want him making up stories about us. Next thing you know,
he’d be accusing me of worse things.

Shale was
unhappy with the door open, but stopped complaining. I sat at the
table and focused on the young girl’s face. I especially like her
deep-set round eyes. Even if she were a little weird, I liked
her.

“So you can talk to animals?”

She hesitated. “Yes, I can talk to animals and they
can talk to me.”

I scratched the
back of my neck and leaned forward in my chair. Did I believe her?
Whether she could or not, she believed she could.

“Have you always been able to talk to animals?”

Shale shook her head. “Someone called my name. That
was the first time.”

Much-Afraid
padded over and sat beside Shale. She scratched the dog’s ear. “The
first voice I heard was hers—before I was transported to the
garden.”

I glanced at
Much-Afraid. “What garden?”

“The king’s garden.”

I sighed. Was
Shale dreaming up stories? What about me? I’d had some strange
encounters, too. I couldn’t talk to animals, I hadn’t been to a
garden, but I could read minds—a little, and I had a ventriloquist
following me around who gave me the willies, and somehow I had been
transported back in time two thousand years.

Maybe we were both crazy. I rubbed my chin. “Why
don’t you tell me where you come from?”

She laughed. “You really want to know?”

I nodded.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

She sighed. “Okay. Here goes.”

Shale hugged
the rabbit in her lap, closed her eyes, and seemed to concentrate.
I lingered on her face and studied her features.

“I don’t live
here,” she began. She reopened her eyes. “Have you ever heard of
the United States?”

I chuckled. “Are you an American?”

Shale nodded.

A teen from the
United States. How was it possible that we could find each other in
the past, when we both came from the future? I stared at her
without realizing it.

She waved her hand in front of me. “Are you
okay?”

I shook my head. “This is just too weird. How could
we be here?”

“I know,” Shale
agreed. “But it’s sure nice to meet someone here from
2013.”

“I’m from 2015.”

“Really?”

I had so many
questions, I didn’t know which to ask first. She couldn’t know
Aramaic or Hebrew. “Can you understand me?”

Shale giggled. “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

I followed the
edges of the cave to the back. “Shale,” I said slowly, “I’m
speaking to you in Aramaic and I’m hearing you in
Aramaic.”

“No, you
aren’t. You’re speaking to me in English and I’m speaking to you in
English. Everyone around here speaks in English,” she
insisted.

I shook my head. I switched to English. “Do I sound
any different?”

“No. Should you?”

How could that be? We were hearing each other in our
own language. I could probably speak to her in Hebrew and she’d
understand me just as well. I remembered what the old woman had
said. Maybe we were in a different reality.

“Keep going,” I urged her. “I want to hear your
story.”

Shale leaned over and kissed the rabbit. Cherios
cooed.

“What did the rabbit say?” I meant it as a joke but
Shale didn’t.

“She said to make sure I tell you about the
king.”

“The king?”

“The king of
the garden. Now shush. Be quiet.”

I chuckled. “I promise to be quiet.”

Shale patted
Much-Afraid as the dog leaned in close to her—as if she didn’t want
to miss a word of Shale’s story.

“I suppose it
all started with Much-Afraid.” Shale glanced down at the dog. “I
was having problems in school—kids bullying me. My mom had
remarried. No one understood me, including my mom or my
stepfather.”

Shale gulped in a deep breath of stale cave air.
“Even the teachers at school needled me.”

She looked
away. “I did have one friend, Rachel, but when a pervert attacked
me in the hallway and I set him straight, I was expelled. Rachel
wasn’t allowed to be my friend anymore.”

My mind went to 2015. The evening news was filled
with such stories. That didn’t happen here—at least I’d never heard
about it.

Shale shifted
in her chair. I remained still so I wouldn’t interrupt her
thoughts.

Shale shared
her story in minute detail. Then she brought up her father and told
me about a gift she had received from him. Her eyes lit up when she
explained about the appearance of a strange dog that wanted to be
her friend—but the apartment where she lived wouldn’t allow her to
keep the animal.

“Where was God in all of this?” she asked.

I understood her feelings. Where was God when you
needed him?

Shale stroked
Cherios. “I followed the dog into the woods and something happened.
I don’t remember what, except that I fell and was knocked out. When
I came to, I saw Much-Afraid. She reminded me of the animal from my
favorite children’s story,
The Donkey and the King
.

Shale squinted.
“It was as if something from my past that was meaningful came
alive. Maybe I clung to that because I wanted to believe that
something or somebody cared about me.”

Shale shrugged. “The dog didn’t leave me, but she
was far away. I couldn’t touch her.”

Much-Afraid
nudged Shale’s hand and whimpered.

“Yes, I’m getting to that. Just wait.”

Shale laughed.
“Winter came alive like Christmas. You know how it is when you’re
in a beautiful dream and the alarm goes off? For a brief instant,
before the dream leaves you, you hate to wake up.”

I nodded.

“It was like
that. Three white doves landed on me. They cooed, though I couldn’t
understand them. I guess I couldn’t talk to animals yet. I knew
they wanted to help me. They kissed the wound on my head. A
pulsating light made beautiful music. The sounds radiated from the
ground and then all around.”

Shale waved her
hand. “As mysteriously as the doves came, they flew away. When I
looked up, multi-colored lights led to an open door. Diamonds
sparkled around the opening. I wanted to enter the door, but I
wasn’t sure if I could put weight on my ankle.”

I glanced down at Shale’s leg and ankle and admired
her slender lines.

Shale smiled at
Much-Afraid. “I heard the voice for the first time. “Are you okay?”
she asked me. I couldn’t tell where the voice came from. I looked
for the dog, but I didn’t see her.”

Shale laughed.
“That’s when I named her Much-Afraid—the character from the
children’s story. I sensed she was nearby.”

Shale stopped. “Are you sure you want to hear all of
this?”

“Yes, I do. Please keep going.”

Shale
continued. “As the light faded, the door became more visible, and I
saw Much-Afraid.

“I wasn’t sure if the voice was hers—I mean, I had
never heard a dog talk, but no one was around. The light was
beautiful, but different. The bubbles of many colors bounced—I had
no fear at all.”

Shale’s
experience was more uplifting than mine was.

She laughed. “I
told Much-Afraid to wait. I caught up to her, but she slipped
through my fingers.

“You still want me to keep going?”

“Please.”

Shale took
another breath.

Much-Afraid
stood on her hind legs and nudged Shale’s arm.

“Yes, now I
know it was you, but I didn’t know then.”

The dog
whimpered and plopped on the floor with her ears straight up. The
magic of the moment confounded me.

Shale
continued. “I followed Much-Afraid through the door and arrived at
a beautiful garden. Bright-colored flowers covered the rolling
hills and cascading vines clung to hanging walls—and the air was
pure, as if you could taste it.”

Shale closed
her eyes. “The garden seemed perfect, but I discovered it wasn’t
all beautiful. Something evil wanted me. Does that sound
weird?”

“No.”

Shale bit her lip. “I had a secret that kept coming
to mind, something I wanted to forget. So in this beautiful garden,
something evil kept bringing up this thing I didn’t want to
remember.”

Shale shrugged.
“I was afraid, but I didn’t know how to get back. I heard
voices.”

The young girl glanced at Cherios. “I followed the
voices and that’s when I stumbled on Cherios and Baruch.”

Shale giggled.
“Imagine this. The two of them were lounging under an apple tree,
without a care in the world. They were talking as we are. I
couldn’t believe I understood what they were saying.”

I smiled.

Shale stroked Cherios’ head. “Yes, you gave me a
beautiful flower.”

“Anyway, I’m
making this story way too long, but it is a beautiful story.” A
look of resignation crossed her face. “In the garden, things were
not as they appeared. Dark creatures had invaded. Both Baruch and
Cherios were terrified of them.”

Shale became
sad. “I couldn’t understand how such a beautiful garden could be
tainted. The vile creatures smelled like rotten eggs, decaying
carcasses. I was frightened witless when they chased us from the
garden.”

I remembered the stink of the bag woman—it was the
smell of rotten eggs.

Shale
shuddered. “We barely escaped. If it hadn’t been for Baruch, I
guess I would have been eaten.”

I thought about
Shale’s story. Were our experiences related in some way? “What
happened then?”

Shale shared
the rest of her story. As she spoke, I began to understand how
Much-Afraid knew Shale.

Shale
snickered. “When I discovered I was back in time, I nearly fainted.
I had bought a dress and when the woman handed me the change, I saw
the image of Julius Caesar on the coin. How can anyone go back in
time thousands of years, for goodness’ sake?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

Shale’s face
turned serious and her eyes widened. “But that wasn’t the biggest
surprise.”

“What was the biggest surprise?”

Shale giggled. “When you helped me off the donkey
and told me my father was expecting me.”

I gulped.

Shale sighed.
“The father I never knew—and still don’t know. Even in this world,
my father doesn’t care about me.”

“That’s not true, Shale. Don’t think that.” What
else could I say?

“But I have a stinking stepmother.” Shale laughed.
“Just my luck.”

Shale picked at
the fur on Cherios’ head. “Sorry, that wasn’t very
nice.”

I let the comment go. “So where does Judd fit into
this?”

The color left Shale’s face. She flinched and shook
her head. “Later.”

I’d have to
wait to find out that part.

Shale
continued. “After meeting my stepmother, I went up to my room and
fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept, maybe an hour, and in
my dream I heard a dog barking.”

Shale glanced
at Much-Afraid. “Guess who I heard?”

I nodded. I
leaned back comparing Shale’s story with mine. How did they fit
together? I hadn’t been to a garden. Our stories weren’t the same,
but we had both arrived at the same place in the first
century.

Shale touched my arm. “You don’t think I’m crazy, do
you?”

Her words jarred me. “Shale, you’re not crazy. If
you were, I would know. I was in a psychiatric ward.”

She pulled
away. “What?” she blurted out, “Tell me you aren’t
psycho.”

I had overstated my case. “Relax.”

Shale composed
herself, much to my relief. How much did I want to tell her? She
had been open but didn’t reveal all of her secrets.

“Where should I start?”

Shale said, “Why don’t you begin by telling me how
you have contact lenses when we are in a place without iPhones or
TVs or toilets that flush. What are you holding back on me?”

She was right. “First I need to put this in my eye.”
I walked towards the back to get some water. It would give me a
moment to compose my thoughts. If I said too much, would she reject
me—or be bored?

I returned to
the table and began. “Your father will be here soon. Things are not
as they appear. I mean, you’re confused, right?”