 
Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

# 

# Chapter 1

The Doble Family recently moved into a large old apartment building called the Discovery Apartments. It rose high into the sky and had eighteen floors. The ground floor was the basement and the eighteenth floor was the penthouse. The thirteenth floor was omitted as it was in many old buildings.

The Doble's lived on the fifth floor. The apartment to the right was empty. On the left was one of two elevators on the floor.

The Discovery Apartments sat one block from the ocean and one side looked out over an inlet with a marina. The Doble's didn't have a boat, but they enjoyed looking at other peoples'.

Royden Doble was the youngest Doble. He just started at a new school and already got a week off for spring break. He dreaded going back. He hadn't made any friends yet and still couldn't remember where some of his classes were. One of his teachers gave him a map when he walked into class late for the third straight day. He promised to study it so it never happened again.

On Monday afternoon Royden sat in the living room of their two bedroom apartment and stared at the television, which wasn't even on. "I'm bored." He said. "There's nothing on."

"Then do something." His mother said from a nearby chair. Mrs. Doble worked at a department store at the mall and had the day off.

"There's nothing to do." Royden complained.

"Sure there is. Why don't you go wander around the building? Find all the secret areas. Meet the other residents. It might give you practice for school."

Royden rested his head on the arm of the chair. "That sounds horrible."

"We could walk down and see your father."

Mr. Doble was a cook at a nearby restaurant.

"No thanks."

"Then how about we go to the mall. I've been wanting to look at a few things there."

Royden jumped up and went to the door. "You know exploring doesn't sound half bad."

He went out to the hall. The walls were bumpy and Royden could see the brush strokes. The floor was covered with an old orange carpet that looked to be in the middle of a transition to a nasty brown.

Five doors led to five apartments. Royden hadn't met anyone else who lived on the fifth floor yet. Sometimes he would hear talking in the halls but he had yet to see the people the voices belonged to.

The elevators were as old as the building and took forever to arrive. When one finally did come there was already someone in it. A middle aged man wearing all black moved to the side to let Royden in.

"Hello." Royden said, attempting to be friendly.

"Hello." The man said in return.

Normally Royden would have ended it there, but he was feeling extra courageous that day. "What's your name?" He asked.

The man looked down at Royden with a frown. "Mr. Tezera."

"That's a cool name."

The elevator doors opened and Mr. Tezera was out of sight as fast as can be. He must have been in a hurry.

Royden started his wandering in the basement. He found the trash room first. Every floor had a little metal door in the wall where people would drop their trash. It went all the way down to this room. It smelled horrible and he continued on.

Next he found the laundry room. A few comfy looking chairs sat in the corner of the room. One was occupied by an older woman.

"Hello, ma'am."

"Hello dear." The old woman said. "And who are you?"

"Royden, I live on the fifth floor."

She lit up. "Oh, what a lovely name. I'm Ms. Carol."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Carol." Royden said kindly.

"Oh, it's very, very nice to meet you."

So far so good. Royden saw two people and met them both. Being friendly was more fun than he thought it would be.

He had a short conversation with Ms. Carol about the building and spring break. And then it was back to wandering.

At the end of the hall with the laundry room was a door with a sign on it. Keep Out Employees Only. Royden wanted very much to know what was in there, but he supposed he would never find out.

Around the corner and down that hall was the T.V. room as he called it. It was a large room with couches and chairs and a big T.V. A door in the T.V. room led to the pool. Royden hadn't been swimming yet but he wanted to that week sometime.

That was about it for the basement. On his way back to the elevator Royden saw two old men. One was in a wheelchair and the other pushed. Royden heard about these two from his father. Their names were Mr. Goren and Mr. Farn, though no one heard it from them. They never talked. Mr. Farn was in a wheelchair and Mr. Goren pushed.

They were waiting for the elevator. Royden came up and waited with them. "Hello." He said.

Both Mr. Goren and Mr. Farn turned and smiled awkwardly but didn't say anything.

Royden explored for most of the day. He walked around every floor he could (the penthouse required a key so he skipped it) and met all kinds of people. Some were tall and some were short. Some were old and some were younger. Most seemed rather strange when he met them. There was a couple on one of the higher floors that spoke in a different language. That would have been perfectly normal if it sounded like any language Royden had ever heard. The couple chirped and whooped and made all sorts of strange noises. They seemed to understand each other so it must not have been strange to them.

Down on the third floor Royden came across a man who had to duck to fit in the hallway. He must have been ten feet tall. He probably worked in the circus.

The strangest thing of all was on the eleventh floor. Royden passed a man who was talking to his hand. When he passed Royden took a quick glance and could have sworn he saw a tiny person in the man's hand. But that can't be right. It must have been a toy he was talking to.

Finally he made it back to the fifth floor near dinnertime. A man went up to one of the other doors on the floor. Royden wasted no time in going up to him. This was the first time he actually saw someone else who lived on his floor.

The man was bald and had very tanned skin. He looked like he came out of one of those pictures in an Egyptian tomb.

"Hello." Royden said for what felt like the fiftieth time that day.

"Hello." The man said.

"I live down the hall, it's nice to meet you."

The neighbor nodded slowly and held out the back of his hand. Royden saw someone do that in a movie once and someone kissed it. That's not what the neighbor wanted, why would he? Royden shook his hand. The neighbor looked at him seriously and disappeared into his apartment. Royden shrugged and kept going.

The apartment smelled great. Mr. Doble was home and brought back leftovers from the restaurant. The family sat around a little table near the kitchen area and started eating.

"This didn't fall on the floor, did it?" Mrs. Doble asked, looking over the food.

"No, that only happened once." Mr. Doble laughed.

"It's boring here." Royden said suddenly. "I wish something exciting would happen."

"Exciting thing happen all the time." Mr. Doble said.

"I mean I want exciting things to happen here."

"Exciting things happen all over." Mr. Doble explained. "Even right here. You just have to find them."

Royden thought it over. "You mean things might be happening right in this building right now?"

"Of course, a lot of people live here, chances are somebody is doing something exciting."

Royden liked the sound of that and decided that first thing in the morning he was going to find the excitement. Any one of those people he met while wandering might have been the most exciting person ever.

"You should see the strange things happening outside." Mr. Doble said. "The police found a house the other day where all four people who lived there were in a coma. Nobody had any explanation. Their being monitored at the hospital."

"That is strange." Mrs. Doble said.

Before long it was time for bed. Royden's room was the smallest, not that either room was very big. He hadn't decorated much yet. There was a bed for sleeping and a desk for schoolwork and that was all.

His parents turned off his light, said goodnight, and shut the door. Royden sat up in bed for a while wishing something exciting would happen.

What he didn't know was that things happened all over that building every day, all much more exciting than he could ever hope for.

# Chapter 2

Late in the night Royden woke up. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Something was making a noise somewhere. He listened but couldn't figure out what it was. It went Hmmmm. It sounded very close.

Royden got out of bed and tried to find the source. It might have been in the walls. Old buildings make all sorts of strange noises.

It got louder. It wasn't coming from the walls but the window. It was outside. And it was moving. What could be moving that high off the ground?

A bright light shined into the window. Royden jumped back and covered his eyes. It lasted for several seconds and then disappeared very quickly. Royden blinked several times until he could see properly again and looked back out the window. A small red blinking light rose higher near the outside of the building. Occasionally the bright light flashed on into the other apartments and then disappeared again.

The more Royden watched this thing the more he realized that it was actually an object of some kind. The red blinking light was on the bottom. It looked to be the size of at least a large car.

Royden went to his door and opened it very slowly. He didn't know if his parents had seen the light or not. Their door was still closed so he guessed not.

The apartment was very dark. The only light came from under the door where the light from the hall came in. Royden quietly put his shoes on without socks and opened the front door. The light from the hall was very bright that late at night. He slipped out and quietly shut the door behind him.

It looked like his wish had come true already. He didn't know what was going on but it sure looked exciting.

He didn't know where to go first. None of the halls had windows so he wouldn't be able to track the object from inside. He went to the elevator and pressed the button for it to come. While he waited he wondered if it would be a good idea to go outside so late. He got in the elevator and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor. It was the highest he could go without a key.

From the seventeenth floor he went to the stairs. The staircase was always semi dark. The strange lighting gave the place a greenish tint. Every footstep echoed loudly. Royden always felt uncomfortable in there and didn't like taking the stairs unless he had to.

He pushed the door to the stairs open very carefully because it was always loud no matter which floor you were on. He went up as high as he could. The stairs went past the penthouse level to the roof. A ladder went to a door in the ceiling. It required a key.

Royden turned around and jumped in shock. A man was standing right behind him, staring up at the locket entrance to the roof. The man looked to be in his early twenties and had a large floppy hat on.

Royden couldn't figure out where he came from. There was no way he climbed the stairs behind him, Royden would have heard. The only way that could have happened is if he had appeared there or floated up the stairs.

"Any idea how to get up there?" The man asked, staring up.

"What?" Royden mumbled, still surprised to see anyone else up there so late.

The man looked down. Royden saw his eyes and gasped. The man's eyes were the strangest color. Actually they weren't just one color.

All sorts of colors swirled through his eyes. The man quickly pulled glasses out of his pocket and put them on.

"Sorry about that." With the glasses on his eyes looked brown and normal. "So, any ideas where the key is?"

"Uh, probably in the manager's office on the first floor." Royden said.

"Great, lead the way."

Royden didn't particularly want to go all the way down there with a stranger, especially with one so strange, but this was shaping up to be an adventure and he loved reading about adventures. Getting a chance to be a part of one was probably twice as fun.

He led the way back down to the seventeenth floor. The man's footsteps were just as loud as his own now. On the seventeenth floor they got in the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor.

"The name's Bill." The man said.

"My name is Royden."

Bill looked Royden over curiously. "What do you do for a living?"

"I go to school." Royden said, wondering why anyone would ask a kid what their job was.

"Oh." He nodded.

When they made it to the first floor Royden went to the manager's office. It was near the main entrance. A guard was asleep at the front desk.

"This is it." Royden whispered.

"Ah, lovely. This lock is much simpler than the one to the roof."

Royden watched the sleeping guard to make sure he stayed asleep. The door opened.

"How did you do that?" Royden asked, shocked that the door opened so easily.

"Oh, I'm a magician in my off hours." Bill said nervously. "Now let's get that key."

They looked all over the small office. A drawer had several keys. Royden showed them to Bill.

"None of these are right."

"How do you know? Let's take them up and see."

"Trust me," Bill said, "I can tell."

The right key wasn't in the office, at least according to Bill. Royden tried to think where the right one might be when he heard footsteps coming toward the office. He flipped around. The guard stood in the doorway.

"Quick." Royden suddenly exclaimed. "Danger on the roof."

The guard looked at Royden angrily. Bill walked casually up to the guard and put his hand on the guard's forehead. The guard closed his eyes and fell to the floor. Royden couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I don't know why we didn't just start with the guard." Bill said, getting down and checking the guard's keys. "Here it is. Alright, let's go."

Royden looked from Bill to the guard. "How?"

"You coming, Royden? I've got to get to the roof."

Royden still didn't move. Bill came over, took Royden's hand, and pulled him out of the office and back to the elevator.

Bill tried out the key on the hatch in the ceiling and it worked. He threw the door back and climbed onto the roof. Royden followed.

The roof was covered in gravel and had several large contraptions of some kind. The flying object that Royden had seen floated a couple of inches off the ground nearby.

It was oval shaped and had a blinking light on the top and bottom. It was eight feet tall and was as wide as a large car. When Bill went up to it a door opened and two people stepped out. They had light blue hair and the same color changing eyes as Bill.

Royden hoped that the object was a UFO but the people inside looked like regular humans, except for the eyes and hair of course.

Bill and these two new people stood and stared at each other. Occasionally one would smile or nod.

Royden thought it strange that they would just stand there and not say anything.

After a few minutes Bill turned to Royden. "Oh, these are my parents. They say hi."

"They didn't say anything." Royden pointed out.

"They did, you just can't hear them."

Royden looked at Bill's parents. They smiled. Royden moved a little closer to the flying object.

"What is this thing?"

"It's a—well—I guess I should tell you that we're not from around here."

"Where are you from?" Royden asked as he made his way around the object.

"We're aliens."

"Different country aliens."

"More like different country aliens."

Royden looked at Bill curiously. "You can't be an alien. You look like a human, well almost like a human. Are you really an alien?"

"Yes. I came to Earth to go to college. I want to be an Earth historian one day and I figured this was the best way to do it. And thanks for helping me tonight."

"I really didn't do anything."

"Oh yeah, but I greatly enjoyed your company. Now if you'll excuse us. I'm going to spend a week on my home planet. My parents have to declare when they're coming with your government but they forgot this time. That's why I was sneaking around."

Royden couldn't believe it. He loved the idea of living in the same building as an alien.

As if he knew what he was thinking, Bill turned to Royden. "You can't tell anyone of your friends that I live here. If word got out it would be very hard to come and go. And that goes for everyone who lives here."

Royden nodded. "I won't tell anyone, Bill."

"Oh, and Bill is my Earth name. My real name is: Bil-ach-tun-flo-tun-zim-zi."

Royden decided to stick with Bill.

"I have to go now." Bill said.

"Thanks for letting me in on your secret." Royden said. "It's so cool that I get to live near an alien."

"You think that's cool? You should see your other neighbors."

Bill and his parents got into the UFO and the door closed. The space ship took off into the sky and disappeared almost instantly.

Royden went back down through the hole, caught the elevator to the fifth floor, and snuck back into his room without anyone seeing him. Right before he entered his apartment he saw a shadow on the wall. Royden stared at it. There was nothing in the hall that could cast a shadow on the wall. Royden shrugged and continued inside.

He stared at the ceiling in his room late at night and only had one thought. What were the other neighbors like?

# Chapter 3

The next day was dark and stormy. Mr. Doble decided it would be nice to take a walk in the morning. After Mrs. Doble left for work Royden and his father went down to the beach a block away and walked on the boardwalk.

The clouds hung low and dark and a strong wind blew the trees and bushes all around. Royden wore a blue raincoat that was much too big for him. He kept pulling up the sleeves only to watch them creep back down.

"You look tired." Mr. Doble said when they reached the boardwalk. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I slept fine." Royden mumbled.

"Find anything exciting yet?" His father asked. "I guess it's too early to tell."

Royden really wanted to tell his dad everything that happened the night before but didn't want to go back on the promise he made Bill.

"Not yet."

"Give it time. Pretty soon you'll get tired of all the excitement."

They walked to the end of the boardwalk, turned around, and started back. Mr. Doble had his hands in his pockets and smiled at everyone he passed. Royden tried to do the same but found it difficult to look friendly for long periods of time.

"Have you met many of the people in the building yet?" Royden asked.

"I've met a few."

"Have you noticed anything peculiar about any of them?"

"Peculiar?" Mr. Doble said. "No, not particularly."

"Okay."

Mr. Doble stopped and looked out at the ocean. The waves were a little bigger than they usually were. "I suppose old Goren and Farn are a little strange. Goren always pushes Farn around in that wheelchair. Well the other day I saw Farn pushing Goren. I guess that's not so strange but I always assumed Farn couldn't walk."

"That is strange." Royden agreed.

When they got back to their apartment Mr. Doble got ready for work and Royden went out to explore again. He often saw Mr. Goren and Mr. Farn down in the basement and now was his chance to see if there was anything weird about them. If Bill was talking about anyone in particular when he mentioned the neighbors being strange, he was probably talking about those two. Royden wondered if they were aliens as well.

Royden first went to the T.V. room. They weren't there. Next he tried the laundry room. They weren't there either. Royden was about to go back upstairs and try again later when the elevator door opened and out walked Goren pushing Farn in a wheelchair.

Royden greeted them and again they didn't respond. Farn gave him a sinister frown and Goren opened his mouth wide in shock. They walked away before Royden could decipher the strange expressions.

Goren pushed Farn to the basement door and they went outside. Royden was wary of going outside without his parent's permission but followed anyway.

Mr. Goren pushed Mr. Farn up to the curb. Royden waited for them to cross the street but they never did. They simply watched the cars go by. Surely they could think of more interesting things to fill their time than that.

Royden waited for several minutes but they wouldn't move. He decided to give up. Maybe old Goren and Farn liked to be outside.

Back in the apartment Mr. Doble was ready for work. He had his apron on with the restaurant's log on it.

"Now mom will be back sometime this afternoon. Probably around four. Try not to get in trouble while we're gone, and don't leave the building." Mr. Doble said as he scurried around looking for his keys. "I'll be back late tonight."

Royden sat around for a while and watched T.V. It didn't keep his interest very well. He really wanted to know what was so strange about his neighbors. When he tired of watching T.V. he went out to explore the building yet again, determined to find something exciting.

It was surprising to see how many people were still in the building in the middle of the day. People were found on all the floors just walking around. The tanned bald man who lived on the fifth floor was spotted multiple times. He looked to be walking around with no real destination, same as Royden.

The man from the elevator, Mr. Tezera, was out as well. He had his family with him this time. Royden made sure to meet them. There's Mrs. Tezera, Jessa Tezera, who happened to be the same age as Royden, and little Taddy Tezera. They seemed like a nice enough family, though Royden thought it strange that they all wore black.

In the early afternoon Royden sat on the couch in the T.V. room and listened intently as two people played pool somewhere behind him. They didn't say anything interesting the whole time. He assumed they lived there, nobody else was allowed in that room. Maybe Bill was wrong, or maybe he wasn't really an alien. Or even worse, maybe he wasn't even real and Royden dreamed the whole thing up. But it felt so real.

Confused and afraid he was losing his mind, Royden went to the elevator. Goren and Farn turned the corner right as the door opened. Royden stepped out of the way and let them in first. The door closed. Goren looked at Royden strangely and then brought a piece of paper out of his pocket. He looked it over, glanced at the buttons, and selected the eleven.

Royden thought that strange but realized that it wasn't terribly odd for a couple of old men to forget what floor they lived on.

"I live on eleven as well." Royden lied. He wasn't going to miss this chance to follow them at least up to their apartment.

The two men looked awkwardly around the small space. They took in the experience of riding in an elevator as if they had never done it. When it started moving they flinched and smiled at each other.

When it stopped on the eleventh floor Goren pushed Farn out, getting stuck on the gap between the elevator and the hall. Royden helped push the wheels into the hall. He then watched silently as the two old men studied the paper again. They looked around, finally going up to one of the apartments and went inside. They left the door slightly a jar.

Without making a sound and without feeling the proper shame someone should feel when sneaking up to the home of two confused old men, Royden leaned close enough to the open door to hear what was happening inside.

A peculiar noise hit his ears that can only be described as a whoosh. From what tiny bit of interior Royden could see came a barrage of light reflected on the white wall. A loud zipper sound came next and then the closing of a door. And then silence.

Royden waited for a while but no other sounds came up. He knocked on the door. No response. He pushed the door open a little and peered inside. The apartment was completely empty. No furniture, no Goren and Farn. It was a loft, and Royden could see the whole of the one room from the doorway.

He crept inside. "Mr. Goren, Mr. Farn." He called.

No answer.

There was no bathroom in this apartment and only one closet. Royden snuck up to the closet door getting more scared the closer he got. There was definitely something strange about old Goren and Farn, and whatever that may be was surely in that closet.

Royden held his breath and opened the door.

The first thing he saw was the wheelchair. The piece of paper Goren had was on it. Royden picked it up. It was full of odd markings. The only ones he could read were: 1, 11, 1103. He put the paper down and felt the walls. There had to be a hidden doorway or something. Two people couldn't just disappear that fast from the eleventh floor. A shelf hung on the back wall. Clothes lay folded neatly on the shelf.

Royden picked up what he thought was a shirt. As he pulled it off the shelf and it unfolded down to the floor. Pants were attached to the shirt. And then he saw shoes and then something even more disturbing. He dropped the clothes and launched himself from the closet. The clothes landed in a pile on the floor.

Royden made quick little glances over to it and when he felt it was safe, taking a longer look. On top of the pile of pants and shirt rested a face. It was flat and its eyes were empty and mouth wide in a look of shock. It was the deflated face of Mr. Farn. These weren't just the clothes of Farn, but the entire body, flattened out.

Royden got up quickly and ran to the door, down the hall, and into the stairwell before stopping to catch his breath. Whatever just happened was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He started down the stairs back to the fifth floor but stopped himself. This was the excitement he longed for. Sure it was scary and gross, but it was indeed exciting.

He climbed back up the stairs with some effort (his feet and legs wanted very much to continue down) and entered the hallway to the eleventh floor shaking and sweaty.

The door still stood open. He peeked inside. The body of Mr. Farn lay where he dropped it. Royden took a deep breath and entered the room again. He tried not to look at the floor and instead looked back in the closet.

Near the wheelchair he saw two things on the floor. He grabbed them up and took them into the main room. They were two black pieces of metal, one curving to the right and one to the left. He put them over by the window and looked them over. There were no buttons or switches. Royden placed them so that they faced each other and something extraordinary happened.

They started to make the whoosh noise he heard before. Bright lights erupted all around. Royden covered his eyes and squinted at the lights. A rectangle of light in the shape of a door flickered between the two pieces of metal. They looked to be projecting it between them.

The boy studied it for a minute and then stuck his finger into it. His finger disappeared. Amazed, he stuck his whole arm in. It too disappeared. Without any thought to safety he jumped in the light doorway.

Somehow the door had taken him outside. But it wasn't any outside where he had been before. The sky was a dark orange and the clouds a nasty green. He stood on a platform raised slightly off of a black and sparkly ground. Buildings of strange shapes and odd sizes stood in the distance. Interesting looking people walked all around. Some were blue and some were purple and some were even glowing with white light.

Royden punched himself in the arm to make sure he wasn't sleeping.

A man, at least he thought it was a man, people looked different here, noticed him and ran up the raised platform. The man started speaking in a language Royden had never heard and kept pointing back to the light doorway. Royden tried to talk to him but could tell they didn't speak the same languages.

The man took Royden's arm and dragged him away. The boy struggled against being led anywhere but the man was much too strong. He took Royden into one of the odd looking buildings and set him down on a stool and left him.

A few minutes later someone else came in. This man's skin was orange, the same as the sky. He smiled innocently and sat on another stool in the little room.

"Hello there." He said.

Royden was surprised that he spoke English. "Hello, um, where are we? I have a feeling I'm not where I just was."

The man smiled. "My name is Goren Farn."

"I'm Royden."

"It's wonderful to meet you Royden. I think there has been some sort of misunderstanding along the way. You have mistakenly walked into a big budget movie set. A big name director is in town and is filming in your apartment building." He clapped his hands together. "So that's it. Nothing strange or out of the ordinary. I think it's important that you go back through that very normal door and don't come back in."

Royden waited until Goren finished and shook his head. "I know about Bill."

"Who's Bill."

"Oh, you don't know—never mind. I know the Discovery Apartments are strange. I met an alien last night. Now what is this place really?"

Goren looked perplexed. "So you are one of the Discoverers then?"

"The what?"

The orange skinned man shook his head and smiled. "Never mind. You must be a normal human."

"Well yeah, but like I said I know that strange things happen there. I met an alien and found a body suit just a minute ago. What is all this? Are you an alien too? Are we on a different planet?"

Goren sighed and shrugged. "I suppose I'll tell you. It's not every day we get visitors and for some reason I find you strangely trustworthy."

Royden puffed himself up. "Thank you. My mom says the same thing."

"Good to know. Anyhow, you have ventured into a different dimension. This is your planet, only different in probably every way. I am Goren Farn and I study dimension portals. I created one that took us to your dimension and now I run a tour company where I dress up tourists in human suits named after myself. To be honest no normal human has ever found out about this until now."

Royden thought this was the greatest thing he ever heard of. "That's awesome! An inter-dimensional tourist destination. My building of all places. That's cool."

"Yes, very cool." Goren said dryly. "Now I have to remind you that you cannot tell anyone about this, alright?"

"I know, I won't. It's a bummer though because—like—I really want to tell someone. How about a friend sometime? Just one?"

"Not even one." Goren said, pointing a long and thin finger. "One always leads to two and that leads to a thousand."

Royden nodded sadly. "So how do you know English?"

"I studied up on the people who lived through the portal. Now I think it's time for you to go now."

"But wait, can't I get the tourist treatment here. It's not fair that you all get to come to my world but I can't look at yours."

"That's the way it is. People where you are from aren't trustworthy yet. There's actually a school that tries to strengthen bonds between dimensions, maybe one day it will succeed. But for now we have to keep this a secret and the less you know the better."

Royden sulked down in his stool. "Alright, I guess. Hey! Do you know why my apartment building has so many strange people in it?"

"It's a hub for people who aren't known or aren't welcome in your society. It's the only place in your world where people and creatures of all types can exist in harmony, again, for now. Hopefully that will all change one day."

"Hmm." Royden scrunched up his face in thought. "I wonder why they let us live there, then."

"They need regular people to be seen coming and going from the building so it doesn't attract attention. Your family looks to fit the bill."

Royden wasn't sure if that was meant to be offensive or not so he decided it wasn't. "Well thank you very much Mr. Goren, or I guess Mr. Farn. I suppose I'll be leaving now. I think my mom might be getting back from work soon."

Goren got up and led Royden out of the building and back over to the portal. "I wouldn't go snooping around to find out about your neighbors." He advised. "Some of them might not be so willing to give up their secrets."

"I'll be careful."

Royden stepped into the portal, waved back at Goren and took in one final glance at that dimension, and went through the portal.

He stood in the empty apartment with the body suit still on the ground near the closet. He shivered and started for the door. A weird humming came from behind him. The two pieces of metal that formed the portal rose off the floor and floated into the closet, the door closed behind them. Royden nodded in admiration for unknown technological advances and left the apartment.

# Chapter 4

The hardest part of keeping such an exciting secret is getting past the window of time where the excitement is still in full effect. When all the sights and sounds are still fresh and before the mind starts tampering with the memories. By the time his mother came home Royden was in the part where the secret was still all he could think about. It took great effort to not suddenly shout about his great day and all the strange things he did as soon he heard his mother unlocking the door that afternoon.

He kept his mouth tightly shut while his mother went on about some mean lady who kept stealing her customers at work.

"Is it so hard to see that I was helping her?" Mrs. Doble said scathingly to no one in particular and yet making sure Royden was paying attention. "Apparently it is because June came right up WHILE I WAS TALKING TO HER and took her away to her register. I mean usually I wouldn't care but—of course I care, we get paid by how many people we sell to."

Royden nodded and stared unblinkingly at the wall wondering why the sky in that other dimension was orange and why he never bothered to ask what the place was called. He couldn't just go back after he promised not to. That would be rude or maybe even punishable by death there—he didn't know.

"And then she comes up to me later," his mother continued unabashed, "and try's to tell me that I should send over anyone who asks about the new summer stock. Well I wanted to say 'how about you take a tumble down the escalator while I steal away your customers' but of course I couldn't do that."

"You should have." Royden mumbled while thinking about the green clouds.

He was becoming a master at pretending to listen. A skill he hoped would one day see him become some sort of successful business tycoon or world leader, or anybody who makes a lot of money and then retires before their fifty.

Mr. Doble came home late and spent the first ten minutes sitting on the couch complaining about his boss. Thankfully he had Mrs. Doble to talk to and Royden could go to his room and stare mindlessly out the window hoping to see more UFO's or something stranger. He came out of his room to say goodnight to his parents when it sounded like things had settled down.

"Did you go to the pool room at all today?" His father asked.

"No." Royden said quickly, afraid he would get in trouble if he said he had.

"Some painters were in there last night painting the walls and they vanished." Mr. Doble said. "All their paint brushes and things are still there but they aren't. The guard told me on my way up a little while ago. He thinks something bad happened."

"Oh, no I didn't go down there."

"Alright."

Royden lay under his covers a while later trying to remember if he did in fact go down there. He thought he checked it briefly for Goren and Farn but he didn't see anybody there or any paintbrushes. If they really did vanish then it sounded like the work of one of the neighbors. But who would kidnap painters? A troll? It sounded like a good place to check for excitement in the morning.

Royden woke early. Mrs. Doble was already up and getting ready to go back to the department store.

"Have an exciting day planned?" She asked in the process of waking up to a large cup of coffee.

"I don't know yet, could be." Royden made toast and ate it quickly. "I'm going to wander around the building again."

"Aren't you tired of that? You've probably seen every inch of the place."

"There's not much else to do."

She shrugged. "I suppose you're right. Why don't you find a friend to run around with? I'm sure there's someone around here you're age."

"I doubt it."

The basement was empty that morning. Royden went into the T.V. room and looked through the window into the pool room. Sure enough there were paintbrushes, buckets, and tarps scattered about. The area wasn't blocked off, nobody seemed to care about the missing painters.

The room smelled strongly of fresh paint and chlorine. The pool was small and went from three feet to five feet deep. A hot tub sat in the corner. He sat down on one of the long lounge chairs and looked the place over. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Old boards on the wall told future swimmers to be careful because there wasn't a life guard. Not that Royden ever saw anybody in there swimming.

A bunch of tiny bubbles popped at the surface of the pool. Royden leaned forward suspiciously. More bubbles followed and then a quiet noise that sounded suspiciously like giggling hit his ears. For a second he was worried that someone was on the bottom of the pool. He got up and looked in the water. It was empty.

Ripples formed at the surface. Royden got down on his knees and looked closely at the water. Something was definitely not right about that pool. He noticed a fast blur across the bottom of the pool followed by more giggling.

"I can hear you." Said Royden bravely.

"Can you?" A high pitched voice responded.

Royden jumped in shock. He didn't think he was really going to get a response.

"Show yourself." He said, trying to sound brave again. He ended up sounding angry.

He leaned in close again to the water. A face suddenly appeared just under the water. Royden fell back and pushed himself from the edge.

The face rose out of the water and stared at him. It was a woman with long golden hair. She was really beautiful. She smiled mysteriously. "What do you want?" She said in a high voice.

"I want to know what happened to the painters, and also what are you?"

She sank back into the water and swam toward the center of the pool, flicking a blue fish-like tail into the water. "And what are you supposed to be?" She asked.

"I'm Royden. And if you're wondering, yes, I'm a normal human."

"Normal humans are boring." The mermaid said.

"Well so are mermaids."

She gave him a dirty look. "I don't know what has become of the painters."

Two more heads popped out of the water. One had long blue hair and the other had long white hair.

"What's going on, Rema, get rid of him already." The one with the white hair said.

"I can't do that." The mermaid named Rema said. "He wants to know of the painters."

The mermaid with blue hair laughed. It sounded more like a screech. "Why does he want to know about them?"

"I don't know, Gilda, maybe he knows them." Rema said.

"I don't know them." Royden chimed in. "I just want to know what happened."

The mermaids swam slowly in a wide circle around the pool.

"They were normal like him." Gilda, the one with the blue hair, said. "I think he knew them."

"Please Gilda." Rema gurgled. "I think he said he didn't."

"Well who trusts him? I don't." The still unnamed one with white hair said.

"I say we ask him why he wants to know." One of them said, Royden was losing track of which one was speaking.

They stopped and stared at him. "Norm, why do you want to know?" Rema asked. She seemed to be the leader.

"They went missing and it would be nice if they weren't missing anymore." Royden explained.

Rema smiled in that mysterious way again. "I think I like where they are." She sank under the water and disappeared. The other two followed.

"Wait, where are they?" Royden yelled into the seemingly empty water.

There was silence for a minute, and then. "You can never trust a mermaid." A sinister voice said from the corner of the room.

Royden looked and saw something sitting on the edge of the hot tub. It had long stringy black hair and looked to be covered in barnacles. It turned to face him. It had the tail of a mermaid. She didn't look quite like the other mermaids. There was something not quite right about her face. It was sharp and evil.

"Are you with them?" Royden pointed to the pool.

She grimaced. "No, and please don't associate me with those horrid creatures."

"Then what are you." Right after he asked Royden remembered reading a children's version of the Odyssey. "You're a siren aren't you?"

"You're pretty smart kid." The siren said. Her voice was much deeper than the high pitched trill of the mermaids.

"Do you know where the painters are?"

"Of course."

"Then where are they?"

The siren smiled sweetly. Her face changed instantly. For the brief time she was smiling she looked far more beautiful than the mermaids. "I don't know if you really want to know."

"I do."

The smile faded and so too did the beauty. "Do you know of Pooly?"

"What?"

"Pooly."

She made a horrible shriek and instantly the pool water shivered and small waves lapped up over the edge. Royden ran to the wall as far away as he could get from the water.

Something large and brown rose out of the water. It had large golden eyes and a long snout. Its body was scaly and it had long arms ending with clawed hands. It rose up the ceiling and still it wasn't half out of the water. Royden didn't know where the rest of it could be hidden because it was only in the four foot deep part of the pool. The creature stared at Royen calmly, awaiting instruction.

"This is Pooly." The siren said. "It's the building's resident pool monster."

Royden tried to speak but couldn't find any words brave enough to enter the room while Pooly stared at him.

"He took your painters." The siren continued, looking and sounding very nonchalant about the whole thing.

"A-a-a." Royden tried to speak but couldn't get anything more than sounds to come out.

"Alright, Pooly, get a little smaller would ya, the poor kid can't even talk."

The pool monster glanced at the siren and then started to shrink. A few seconds later it was only around six feet tall. It swam contentedly around the pool.

"Yeah, so um, this thing." Royden said cautiously, finally finding his voice.

"This thing." The siren agreed.

"It took the painters you say?"

"Sure did."

"Can you tell me why?"

The siren shrugged casually. "They tried to sneak a swim yesterday. No one swims in Pooly's pool unless he knows them really well."

"Can you tell him to let them go?" Asked Royden tensely..

"I could."

"But?"

"But I think I won't."

"Come on, please. I'm starting to really like living here and I don't want the police snooping around looking for them."

"If it means that much to you then maybe we can make a deal." The siren suggested offhandedly.

"A deal with a siren? That doesn't sound very safe."

"It's the mermaids who aren't trustworthy. Sirens are the most trustworthy, provided you give them what they want."

"And what do you want?" Royden asked, getting nervous.

"A couple of days ago some very important objects were stolen from me. I want them back."

"Who stole them?"

"The tiny people."

"The who?"

"There is a colony of very tiny people living in this building somewhere. They stole my necklace with my most prized pendant and my comb. I want them back. I will tell Pooly to let go of your painters as soon as I get my things back. The pendant and comb are most important. Get those, and we have a deal."

"How am I supposed to get those things back?"

"I don't care, just do it. Now let's make things a little more interesting." The siren flashed a smile but it this one was clearly evil. "If I don't get my stuff back by tonight I'll have Pooly eat your painters."

"What? You can't do that." Royden cried out.

"Sure I can. I want my stuff back more than I want live painters. Now go and get on the case, when the sun goes down Pooly eats dinner. It's up to you to make sure he only eats fish."

Royden ran from the wall to the door. He slipped on the wet floor and collided with a lounge chair. He got up and ran out of the room. Tiny people could live anywhere in the building, he had no idea where to start.

# Chapter 5

Royden ran up the stairs, he didn't want to wait for the elevator. On the first floor he went to the main desk and found the guard sitting there.

"Do you know where tiny people live?" The guard stared at him. "Tiny people, like—I don't know, really small people." The guard continued to stare. "Pooly took the painters and he won't give them back until the tiny people give back some things that the siren wants." The guard looked both scared and completely lost. "Nevermind." Royden said and went back to the stairs.

As he climbed higher into the building he wondered where tiny people might live. If they were really small then probably on the first few floors so they wouldn't have to go up too far to get home.

He tried to think back to all the people he saw walking around on his wanderings when he ran into his father.

"Come back for lunch?" Mr. Doble asked.

Royden had absentmindedly come out on the fifth floor. "What? Oh, maybe, sure."

"Cool. I'm off to work. I think we have lunchmeat in the fridge."

Mr. Doble patted his son on the shoulder and pressed the button for the elevator.

"Dad?" Royden asked, thinking fast on what to say.

"Yeah."

"Do you know if any tiny people live in the building?"

Mr. Doble looked at his son inquisitively. "What's that?"

"Nevermind."

The doors opened and Mr. Doble got in the elevator. "Why don't you find some friends to run around with?"

He probably got that from Mrs. Doble. "Sure thing." Royden said, not paying attention.

The doors closed. Royden went into the apartment and tried to think up what to do next. He made a quick sandwich and looked out the window at the traffic five floors below. While watching the little cars go by he suddenly remembered something that might help.

When he was on the eleventh floor the other day he saw a man talking to his hand, and in his hand there looked to be a tiny person. Royden dropped the rest of the sandwich on his plate and ran out of the apartment.

The elevator took forever to show up; it usually did when someone was in a hurry. When the doors finally creaked open Royden jumped inside and feverishly pressed the eleven button until the doors closed.

He came out on the eleventh floor slowly, thinking himself a secret agent nearing a jewel thief. He scanned the floor carefully to make sure he wouldn't step on anyone.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary. The carpet was striped with horrible colors just like it was on every floor. All the doors looked the same. He expected to see a tiny door in a big door but there wasn't any. There was no sign of tiny people anywhere.

The elevator opened. Royden turned to see the man he saw talking to the tiny person the other day.

"Oh, hello." Royden said. "Where do the tiny people live?" The man looked as though he understand. "The—do you understand me?" The man didn't respond.

Royden talked into his hands, trying to recreate what he saw the other day. The man put a finger in his ear, a little too far, and twisted it.

"Oh, the Morrids. They live on the second floor." He said.

"But I saw you with one the other day."

"Yeah, the leader of the Morrids, Mr. Morrid himself, likes to take walks with me. It's sort of a ride to them, isn't it?"

"I guess."

"Can you imagine being that high off the ground in someone's hand? It must be terrifying."

"Sounds great, but where on the second floor." Royden asked.

The man opened his eyes wide. "What if I dropped him?"

"Do they have a room number?" Royden tried to keep this fellow on topic, which was proving to be very difficult.

"I should really get a little seat for them that I can tie around my hand. Don't you think?"

"Sure, now the room number—what is it?"

"Maybe something rubber." The man went on, completely ignoring Royden.

"I don't care." Royden said loudly. "Pooly took painters and I need to find something the Morrids stole."

The man finally took notice. "That is sad. You should go see the Morrids about it."

"I'm trying." Royden stressed. "What is the room number?"

"It's two-zero-four." He said loudly and slowly.

"Thank you." Royden sighed.

He went to the elevator, which thankfully hadn't left yet, and hit the two.

"They don't really like visitors." The man called as the doors closed.

"Two-zero-four—two-zero-four." Royden repeated over and over again as the elevator took its rickety time down to the second floor.

It stopped on the fourth floor and the doors opened. Nobody was there. Royden glanced out but nobody was there. He shrugged and hit the 'door closed' button repeatedly until the doors finally closed.

"Two-zero-what? Ugh, what was it?" He groaned.

"Four."

Royden flipped around. No one was there. He stared at the back of the elevator where the voice had come from. Slowly he reached his hand out and touched the wall. Nothing was there. The doors opened on the second floor and Royden jumped out, shook his head, and looked for the right door.

There was nothing strange about door 204. Royden shrugged and knocked. The soft ding of a bell could be heard. A few seconds later a loud voice came from inside.

"Who is it?"

"My name is Royden Doble and I'm looking for the Morrids." Royden called.

"Do you live in the building?"

"Yes."

The door unlocked with a click. Royden went in.

The floor was covered with a sprawling miniature city. A main road connected the apartment's door with a town square. On both sides of the road stood little shacks made out of construction paper. They ranged in color and most had cone shaped roofs. Royden could see the tape holding them together. The circular town square had little cardboard shops. In the center stood a three foot tall person made out of used toilet paper rolls. It looked to be some type of grand statue compared to the houses. The toilet paper roll man's face was drawn in by marker. Past the circular town square were more houses. These were made of wood and some had three to four levels with articulate designs painted on.

Royden shut the door slowly and quietly and moved to the edge of the paper shacks. He knelt down to get a better look at the sprawling city. It took him several seconds to see that off to the right near the wall a microphone stood up with a tiny little person on a platform near the top. The little man couldn't have been any bigger than two inches tall.

"State your business." The man said through the microphone.

"I need to talk to your leader. I have heard that one of you stole some things belonging to the siren downstairs." Royden said nervously. He didn't know what to expect. This was his first time as a giant in a tiny city after all. He tried to sound tough.

"The evil siren deserves what was stolen from her." The little man said, sounding much more formidable than Royden. "Everything she has she stole from others. We took what she had for the good of everyone." He pointed towards the town square.

Between the feet of the toilet paper statue was a large greenish-blue stone surrounded by tiny diamonds, all set in gold.

"That's it." Royden said. "I'm going to have to take that. Do you have the comb or the necklace perhaps?"

"You shall never take our majestic stone. It is a symbol of Morrid conquest and—" The little man stopped suddenly. He quickly stepped away from microphone and climbed down the platform to the floor. A much older tiny man appeared and climbed up the platform and stood before the microphone. He had a long grayish-white beard and wore black robes. The ding of a bell sounded throughout the small apartment.

"That's all people, you can come out now. The drill is over." The tiny old man said.

Little people came out of every small house and shop all over the city. There were hundreds of them. People of all ages stood in the streets or hung out of windows. Every one of them craned their necks up to look at Royden, who waved nervously.

"Mr. Giant Boy,"

"Royden."

"Mr. Giant Boy Royden, I am Master Morrid, the leader of the gallant Morrid people. It was I who brought our almost destroyed civilization off the streets to this great land. I can tell you right now that if you think you can steal our great stone you are mistaken."

"You stole it first." Royden pointed out.

"We won it in battle." Master Morrid growled.

"Battle? You fought the siren?"

"Not all battles involve fighting."

"Sure they do."

"The point is," Master Morrid said angrily, "is that you will not leave here with our mighty stone."

Royden looked around the city. "Where is the comb?"

"We could not secure the mighty comb." The old man said through barred teeth.

"So where is it?" Royden asked.

"The evil gremlins took it."

"The what?"

"The evil gremlins of the basement country."

"Are you serious right now? Are there really gremlins?"

"Of course there are gremlins." Master Morrid said. "They are vial creatures who stole away our precious comb as we were bringing our treasure here. They took some of our best soldiers away as well."

Royden stood up and stretched, rubbing his eyes with his palms. "Alright, where are these things again?"

"In the basement country." Master Morrid repeated.

"I'll deal with that later. First I need to get that pendant. Oh, wait, where's the necklace?"

"The long string of giant pearls have been separated and given to the families of the soldiers who survived the gremlin attack."

Royden could see shiny pearls decorating some of the bigger wood houses in the back of the city. "Alright, whatever, she said the comb and pendant were most important. If you don't mind I am going to have to take that pendant now." Royden said. He was starting to feel powerful in that tiny city with its tiny little inhabitants.

"Never!" Master Morrid shouted through the microphone. "Everyone, attack! Kill the intruder. He means to take our treasure of conquest."

Instantly teeny arrows flew from the streets up to Royden.

"Hey! Stop that." Royden shouted.

They didn't hurt that much and bounced off him, but it was still rude.

Royden angrily walked up the main street toward the pendant. Tiny screams erupted from everywhere as the little people ran out of the way. Several of them jumped onto the pendant. Royden grabbed it, flicked the little people off, and put it in his pocket.

"I'm sorry about this." He said, going to the door. "But you need to stop stealing things."

"Quick, lock him in!" Master Morrid shouted.

A string was tied to the door lock and two tiny people pulled it. The door locked.

"Oh please!" Royden cried, ripping the string off the handle. He went out into the hall and slammed the door shut.

#  Chapter 6

Royden jabbed the down button next to the elevator angrily. He pulled the pendant out of his pocket. It was very beautiful and probably cost a fortune. That didn't matter much. He had it and that's all that he cared about. Unfortunately he would have to find these gremlin creatures Master Morrid told him about. If they were anything like the Morrids it shouldn't be so bad. But if they were more like the siren than that might prove to be a problem.

The elevator opened its doors and Royden stepped in, hit the basement button, and sighed. This was turning into some day.

The basement only had two rooms, the laundry and pool rooms. Surely the gremlins couldn't be in either of those. Royden thought they might be in an even deeper basement, but where could that be? As he walked around looking for stairs down to a deeper level he came across the long hallway with a door at the end. Keep out Employees only, the door said. That sounded like as good a starting point as any. He tried the door. To his immense surprise it was unlocked.

"Wow," he said to himself, "this just got a whole lot easier."

Royden peeked inside. He couldn't see a thing, it was too dark. With a deep breath and a nod he opened the door wide and let the light flood in. It was a tunnel. At the very end another door could be seen. Royden sighed and started in. Upon entering the tunnel the door behind him slammed shut.

He jumped. His hands reached out and grabbed the handle. It wouldn't budge. His ears picked up the faintest sound of crawling right above his head. Something was moving away from him down the tunnel. Royden breathed deeply and quietly, trying to compose himself. He strained to hear the sound until it disappeared somewhere in the distance. He put his arms out and touched the sides. The walls were rough and sharp. With all the courage he could muster he moved slowly to the door he had seen, now completely invisible in the absolute darkness. The whole time his ears struggled to find the crawling sound. Whatever was in there with him must have left. He was afraid it might try to come back and do more than just close a door.

Royden slowly and methodically traversed the tunnel. He brought his left arm in and held out the back of his hand a few inches away from him so it would find the door first. He used his right hand to occasionally touch the wall to make sure he was going straight. He feared his feet coming across something that wasn't the floor.

He continued like this for what seemed a long time. After a while he was afraid that he might not ever come to the door. If sirens and gremlins existed, then endless hallways wouldn't be too farfetched. All of the sudden he extended his right hand out to find the wall and it hit wood. He pushed, the wood hit the wall and bounced back. It was the door. Someone or something opened it in the dark without a sound.

Royden found the doorframe with his hands and stepped through. He could tell this room was much bigger, his hands couldn't find the walls and his steps echoed. His feet carried him slowly into this new room, or cavern, or whatever it was. A few steps in his left hand touched something and a loud crash filled the air. Royden jumped back and slipped, hitting the floor hard. He let out a cry and covered his mouth. Everything was still again.

Somewhere deep within the darkness a soft sound emerged above the silence. Royden moved his head toward the sound a little. It came from far away, off to the right slightly. He tried his hardest to decipher it. It came in short intervals. It filled the stiff uncomfortable air for just a second, then drifted off into the silence. And then it returned and drifted off again. It continued on indefinitely.

Royden got on his hands and knees and moved slowly toward the sound. His hand came down on something cold and metal. It must have been what caused the great crash. He went around it and continued. He came upon other things on the ground. None of them were the same. Some were hard and cold with sharp edges and others were large and felt like plastic. He moved away from all of them and found a path across the floor toward the sound.

As he got closer he could hear it a little better. He listened carefully and distinguished a rhythm. The noise came in perfect intervals. It sounded like a long drawn out and very quiet "heeeeee", drifting to nothing and then returning. It was whiney and coarse.

A chill shot through Royden's body when he found a word for it. Breathing. He was listening to something breathing softly nearby. It was watching him. Staying completely still somewhere above him in the dark.

Royden moved very slowly on his hands and knees, continuing toward it. He thought of the painters who were only a few hours away from being a pool monster's dinner. It gave him the necessary courage to continue.

His hand came down on something else on the ground. It was soft.

"Ugh!"

Royden instantly recoiled. Whatever he touched was alive! He felt his finger that touched it, it was wet. He lowered his head close to the floor.

"Hello." He whispered.

"Ugh. Is it a real man I am talking to?" A tiny voice asked.

"Well I'm only a kid." Royden said.

"But you are a human? Not some other horrid creature?" The tiny voice inquired weakly.

"Yes, and what are you, a gremlin?"

"No, thank Master. I am a Morrid true and true."

"Oh, you're one of the soldiers that was taken away!"

"That I was, brave soul. I know not why you are here, heroic child, but you need to leave immediately." The tiny little person cried out. "You don't know the horrible creatures you are so near. Can you hear it, the devil sound?"

Royden's ears picked up the whiney breathing coming from above. "Yes."

"It is waiting," the tiny soldier lamented, "for the time when I shall leave this world."

"What?" Royden moved a little forward, covering the tiny man with his body.

"Why have a snack struggle?" The tiny man breathed feebly.

"That's not going to happen. I won't let it." Royden announced loudly, making sure the creature above could hear.

"You don't know." The soldier said tensely. "These are terrible creatures. Please leave now. Do not let it get you."

"It won't. I'm bigger than it." Royden said. Though of course he had no idea how big the creature really was.

"No, there are more! There are too many. My fellow soldiers and I were not a challenge. They will see you as one. If they get you all of them get a piece."

Royden's body tensed up. His breathing grew shallow as he imagined a bunch of hideous creatures tearing him apart. He suddenly wished he hadn't spoken so loudly a moment ago.

"I need the comb that was taken from the Morrids. Do you know where it is?"

The soldier coughed and grunted sadly. "They have it. They go after objects of all kinds. It must be in this their hideout somewhere. Don't waste your life looking for it. Please leave at once."

"I can't."

The soldier let out a cry. Royden almost did as well. The crawling he heard earlier returned. But this time there was more of it. It came from all over. Some came from above and crawled across the ceiling while some crawled over the ground over all the junk. Crashes rang out as metal things hit the ground or were moved across the floor. The creatures came closer, closing in on all sides.

"Run! Now, do it or it will be the end of you."

"I'm not going to leave you." Royden yelled above the crawling and crashing.

"I'm gone! Save yourself young hero."

Royden did as he was told. He jumped up and ran. He had no idea where he was going. After only a few seconds he hit something large and tumbled over it. He smacked the ground hard and groaned loudly.

The whiney breathing grew loud and was now accompanied by the most terrifying screeching, far worse than anything Royden could have dreamed up in his own mind.

Sharp claws latched onto his arm. With great and sudden anger Royden grabbed something hard from the ground with his other hand and swung it with great force to where he thought the creature was. The object hit something hard with a stomach-churning crunch and the claws fell away. Royden swung the object around wildly, sometimes smacking something, other times finding only air. He ran around with the only goal being not to be torn apart. He collided with things everywhere he went but continued on. He swung and hit the wall hard. He held the object out with one hand and felt around the wall with the other. His hand came across a shelf. He felt around and found what he hoped was a flashlight. As far as luck is concerned, Royden hit the jackpot. He found the button and light flashed away the darkness.

Royden gasped as his eyes took in the frightful scene. The room was a junk heap. It looked as though a tornado crashed through a thrift store. The floor was covered with a little bit of everything: lawnmowers, desks, blankets, sports equipment, office supplies, and so much more lay at odd angles all around.

Little creatures the size of small dogs ran out of the gaze of the flashlight. Their skin was dark and leathery. Their eyes reflected the light. They had claws several inches long that shined bright in the flashlight's gaze.

Royden threw the beam of light all over, watching as the gremlin creatures scattered. He stepped over junk back to where he thought the little soldier was. Nothing was left save for a wet red streak and a teeny shoe. He picked it up and put it in his pocket.

Claws latched onto the back of Royden's shirt. He quickly rose his arm up and shined the light directly down on himself. The gremlin shrieked and jumped off into the darkness. Unfortunately, they were smart. Another jumped from the ceiling onto the arm Royden held the flashlight in. Royden took the thing in his other hand, which he could now see was a metal bucket, and smacked the gremlin away.

"You want to mess with me?!" Royden roared. He was terrified, angry, and deeply saddened all at once. The emotions brought out a side of him never unearthed before. "Come on you hideous monsters!"

Royden put down his bucket, picked up a small desk and tossed it into the darkness. It was met with a round of horrible shrieks. He took up the bucket, found a large piece of metal and pounded the bucket against it. The gremlins didn't seem to like that either. They shrieked loudly from just beyond the light. Royden stopped and listened. They crawled toward him. He looked down and saw claws on the edge of the light that bathed him in security.

Royden held the bucket up just in case and walked around the room, making sure he was in the flashlight's beam at all times. Surely the comb had to be around somewhere.

He had to be extra careful. If at any time the light shined away from even an inch of him they would pounce. Every now and then he swung the bucket around his arm holding the flashlight.

The comb could be anywhere in that mess of a room. Since it was only recently taken he figured it would be at the top of a pile. His eyes scanned over everything. He could only see what was directly around him. Very swiftly Royden twisted his wrist and shined the light across the room, and then quickly back down on himself. Every time he did this he came face to face with twenty or so bright pairs of eyes while shrieks sounded all around. The shrieks immediately stopped when the light returned onto him. Royden was so irate over the fate of the little soldier he paid little attention to the whiney breathing coming from every direction. They wouldn't scare him again.

Something caught his eye on top of a tall book shelf against the opposite wall. He moved slowly toward it, making sure to shine quick bolts of light over to it as he got closer. The gremlins backed up away from the light as Royden climbed over junk on his way over to it.

"You all need to get out of here once in a while, that's your problem." Royden said to them. He felt braver when he spoke aloud. "But I guess you do looking at all this stuff. I suppose you get out at night when they dim the lights downstairs. I'll remember to bring a flashlight every time I go out at night from now on."

He came to the bookcase. This was going to be tricky. He slid the handle of the bucket over his arm and pulled it up to his shoulder. With one hand he pulled himself up the bookcase and made sure the light didn't move much. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the claws inching forward into the light, waiting for a mistake. He rotated his wrist quickly and let the light go around in wide circles around him. The gremlins jumped back, giving him a little more room. He was afraid another would try to land on his arm holding the light and occasionally flashed a quick bolt up and then back in circles. It gave him enough time and room to reach the top of the shelf. Thankfully a marble comb rested on top of an old book. Royden grabbed it and stuffed it into his pocket.

He looked down and jumped to the floor. His right leg hit the ground wrong and he twisted his ankle. The flashlight fell to the floor as he instinctively grabbed his ankle with both hands. Terrifying shrieks boomed louder and more sinister than ever. Royden grabbed the flashlight and swirled the light around just in time. Most of the gremlins scattered. All but one. One brave gremlin clamped its claws around Royden's right hand and wrist, bellowing deafeningly. Its claws scratched Royden ruthlessly. Blood spurted out as the gremlin clawed its way toward the button. Royden swung his arm all around, pulling at the creature's leathery body with his other hand.

The light flicked off. It found the button.

In his extreme desperation Royden lunged at the wall with his right arm outstretched. Shrieks all around sounded the coming advance of claws and teeth. Royden rammed his arm into the wall and the gremlin attached to it let out a hurt cry and fell to the floor. Royden hit the button on the flashlight right as he felt claws tear at his shirt and skin. The light flashed on with great authority and the gremlins jumped away once again.

Royden wasted no time. He ran for the open door, flashing the light up for an instant at a time. A gremlin jumped onto the handle and the door swayed closed. Royden shot it a flash of light and it scurried away. He pulled at the handle. It wasn't shut all the way. He jumped through and slammed the door closed. The gremlins scratched loudly on the other side. The handle turned. Royden held it closed but they were stronger. He let go of the handle and shined light at the door. It opened and the gremlins shrieked, jumping away from the light. The boy backed up through the tunnel, shining light through the doorway the whole way. The shrieks grew quieter and quieter until he backed into the door at the other end of the tunnel. He tried the handle without looking at it. Still it wouldn't budge. He shined light on it and found that it had a lock on it. He turned it and the door opened out into the hall. Royden shot the flashlight down the hall. The tunnel was filled with gremlins that ran back away from the light. Royden stepped out into the hall of the basement and closed the door. He ran into the laundry room and sighed in relief at its bright lights. He collapsed into a chair and breathed a little easier.

# Chapter 7

As his breathing returned to normal all the aches and pains became clear. He held his hurt ankle in his hand as he wiped the blood on his wrist and hand on his shirt, which was now full of holes. He was sweaty, dirty, and looked like a real mess. He lay his head back on the chair and groaned loudly.

"Oh dear."

Royden jumped, for a second thinking the gremlins were back.

Old Ms. Carol stared at him from across the laundry room. She sat in another chair near one of the dryers. None of the dryers had anything in them.

"My, my, what have you been up to Royden?" She asked concernedly.

"Oh, I uh, I was playing football with some friends outside. It got a little rough, I guess." Royden lied through deep breaths.

Ms. Carol chuckled. "It looks like you were attacked."

Royden shrugged. "No, just football."

"You'd better watch out. There's some unsavory types in the building." She said merrily.

"I'll be careful." He said. He stood up and limped toward the door. "It was nice seeing you again."

Ms. Carol nodded slowly. "Make sure to be careful."

Royden thought he saw strange smirk cross her face for just a moment. He looked again and saw that she was smiling kindly.

He sauntered down the hall and back to the elevator. He stood staring at the up button, not sure what to do next. Finally, he jabbed the up button and went back to his apartment.

His parents weren't home yet, thankfully. He changed clothes, put his torn and bloody clothes into a plastic bag and tied it tight. He took a quick and painful shower and bandaged where he thought necessary. This was going to be hard to explain.

He checked the house phone just in case. Sure enough his mother had called. Royden called her back.

"Hello, Royden?" His mother's voice said through the phone.

"Hey, what's up?" Royden said, sounding a little too happy.

"I called, where were you, exploring some more?"

"No, I was in the shower."

"Well I just called to tell you that I'll be back late today. The boss always asks someone to drive him home and today he wants me."

"That's weird." Royden said, grabbing a loaf of bread from the fridge and stuffing a piece in his mouth.

"Yeah, well that's the way it works around here unfortunately."

"Alright, cool." Royden said through a mouthful of bread. "I'll see you when you get back."

"Ok, I love you goodbye." His mother said.

Royden hung up the phone, ate some more bread, and sighed in relief. That gave him a little more time in case he needed it for later.

With the pendant and comb safely in his pocket, he dropped his torn clothes in the trash chute and went downstairs.

A minute later the door to room 204 opened slowly. Royden stepped inside and sat down next to the tiny city.

"The menace is back!" someone yelled through the microphone.

"No, I'm not here to hurt you." Royden said.

He pulled a teeny shoe out of his pocket and put it in the center of the main street.

"What is this trick?" The voice bellowed.

"I found one of your soldiers in the gremlin den. He warned me and probably saved my life and I wasn't able to do the same. I am very sorry."

Tiny people came out and crowded around the shoe. Master Morrid pushed his way through the crowd.

"This is a good deed, giant boy Royden." He said sadly. "But I cannot forgive you for your attack on my people."

Royden nodded and stood up. "I just wanted you to know."

The pool room was quiet. Royden stepped up to the edge of the water and looked for a sign of the siren. Three heads popped out of the water in the hot tub.

"Oh, it's him again." The white haired mermaid mused.

"Hmm, so it is." The blue haired one said.

"What could he want now?" The golden haired one added.

"I'm looking for the siren." Royden explained.

"Ew." The mermaids said all at once.

"That was fast." The siren said from the center of the pool. "I was hoping Pooly might get a treat tonight, he so loves human."

"Not today, I got your junk back."

"Junk, says the human?" She smiled evilly with sharp pointed teeth.

Royden took the comb and pendant from his pocket and held them out. "Here, now tell your monster to release them."

"Monster, says the human?" She whispered.

"Just take them."

The mermaid inched closer to Royden. "You know it's not every day that Pooly gets such a nutritious dinner. How about we raise the stakes a little?"

"There are no stakes." Royden said angrily. "We made a deal and I fulfilled my end."

The siren's eyes grew wide and her face turned sinister. "Yes, but guess what I have? Leverage. I have many pendants and combs. How many of those painters do you have lying around?"

"Excuse me?" Royden said as dangerously as he could.

"Don't worry, child." The siren said, her face continuing its transformation to a devilish monster. "You'll have a chance."

"A chance for what?"

"To still save them."

"You said you were trustworthy." Royden's heart was beating fast. He couldn't let anything happen to those painters. He felt responsible for them now.

"I lied." She shrugged. "I mean really, when did trusting a siren sound like a smart thing to do? Haven't you read?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Not so fast, little human. Let's enjoy ourselves a little." She disappeared underwater and reappeared at the far end of the pool, near the hot tub. The mermaids all watched, looking highly entertained.

"What do you want me to do?" Royden repeated, growing very angry.

"You know I really like having humans live here now. I wonder why they even allowed it." The siren said, swimming casually around the pool.

"Just tell me!" Royden suddenly shouted.

Surprise flashed across the siren's face, quickly replaced by a sinister grin. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"This is too much for me. A nice alien and another dimension, sure. But all this? I can't handle demon gremlins and you four with your games. I want out."

The siren grew deadly serious. "There is no out. You're too far in now. And I want you to go deeper. I'll show you where Pooly lives and you can go get the painters yourself. That way I get a show and Pooly might get part of his treat." She looked Royden over. "You don't look terribly fast. He'll like that."

Royden put the pendant and comb back in his pocket. "If you want it that way then you'll never get your comb and pendant."

She shrugged. "I'll get them before Pooly eats them."

Royden weighed his options. He could do what the siren proposed and hope for a miracle, or he could leave and let Pooly eat the painters. He sighed and nodded.

"I'll save them."

The siren nodded slowly. "Of course you will." She disappeared under the water.

The water was still. Royden looked around for her but she vanished. He looked to the mermaids.

"Where did she go?"

"Be patient." The one with white hair said.

The noise of something shifting came from far away. Very slowly the water in the pool began to go down. This continued until only an inch of water remained. With the water gone a hole became visible near the bottom. It was several feet in diameter. It looked to be about big enough to crawl through. The siren appeared in the hot tub with the mermaids.

"Well there you go." She said. "Go get your painters."

"They're in there?"

"Sure are."

"How far?"

"You'll find out."

Royden climbed down the stairs into the pool and splashed his way over to the hole. He peered inside. He couldn't see the end. The bandages on his hand and wrist showed that he should at least try to find help somewhere in the building. The windows around the pool showed that the sun was heading toward the horizon. There probably wasn't enough time.

"You're sure they're down there somewhere?" Royden asked?"

"Yes." The siren nodded.

Royden took a deep breath and crawled into the tunnel. The floor was rough and the light vanished instantly. He crawled and crawled and started to worry this was a trap. It had all the makings of one and yet there he was continuing on.

After a minute the floor ended and Royden fell down a hole. This surely was the end.

He splashed into water deep under the building and came up gasping. He pulled himself onto the bank of the water and looked around. Light came from a large hole a few hundred yards away. Royden stood up and started for the light. His ankle, which was starting to feel better, got aggravated in the fall. The boy limped on, feeling the full force of being the only hope for the painters.

# Chapter 8

A horrid smell of dead fish and waste filled the air. Royden coughed and grabbed the wall for support. His body got used to the smell a little and he was able to continue. The only sound was that of dripping. Royden listened carefully for anything else. He expected to see the great monster that came out of the pool that morning. He remembered that it also had a small form. He shook his head. That thing could be anywhere.

Nothing seemed to be in there. Royden followed the light. He came out in the inlet near the building. Hundreds of sailboats were tied up to the docks nearby on his right. On his left the ocean glittered in the afternoon sun. Surely Pooly wouldn't be out there somewhere.

Royden turned around. The way he came was still just as quiet and empty. He sat down on the edge of the hole and looked out at the inlet. A few boats glided lazily around in the warm spring afternoon. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary.

Royden felt a little relieved. Maybe the siren was only joking. The painters might have never been taken at all. It was all just a big misunderstanding.

He jumped down from the hole and started toward the beach. He took a quick glance back. The hole was gone. The side of a restaurant took its place. He went back and looked. The wall of the building was as hard and solid as any wall he had ever seen.

Royden looked around the inlet. Nothing seemed out of place, and then he saw something that was. A hole appeared across the inlet. It looked to be floating in the air next to another building, a marina of some sort. Royden moved slightly to the left. The hole vanished. His head inched to the right. It appeared again.

By this point nothing should have surprised the boy, and yet everything did. Even the normal boats and water seemed different to him now. He walked the long way around the inlet. It took twenty minutes but he finally made it to where he saw the hole.

There was no sign of it. He lined himself up so he would be exactly across the way from the wall he came out of. He turned around. Still no hole. Royden sighed and shrugged, stepping back.

He backed into something and fell back. It was the hole.

"They can't make things easy, can they?" He whispered to himself.

The hole led to another long dark stony tunnel. This one dipped down underground. Royden followed it for a while and came to an enormous cavernous room.

It was so large that it appeared to go on endlessly. The ceiling was covered in blue crystals, mysteriously lighting the gigantic cavern. They glistened in the light they produced. The floor was rough and brown. As he stood there taking it all in the walls on either side moved back silently. They gathered speed and disappeared. Royden stood in a seemingly endless space with only a ceiling and ground. He tried to see the ends but it was far beyond his eyes' range. There was no way out, even the tunnel behind him was gone now.

He stepped carefully around, trying to figure out what to do next. His footsteps echoed loudly through the space.

His ears caught a sound coming from somewhere. He stopped and listened. It was a grunting of some sort, followed by a voice. It was hard to distinguish, but it was definitely a voice. Royden listened hard, attempting to find where it originated from.

"Hello?" He said. His voice echoed loudly throughout.

A voice answered.

"Where are you?" Royden whispered. It carried far.

"Here." The voice said.

"Keep talking."

"Here." The voice repeated every few seconds. "Here."

Royden started toward where he thought it might be. His ankle still hurt, but it didn't keep him from following the voice. After a few seconds he thought it came from elsewhere. He tried several different directions before finally sticking to one.

"Here." The voice kept saying.

A few minutes later Royden made out lumps on the ground a ways in front of him. As he got closer he distinguished the lumps as people. He ran up to them.

Three men in jeans and t-shirts lay on the rough ground. They looked tired and weak, but otherwise unharmed.

"How did you find us?" The one who had been talking said. He was bald. His head glistened with sweat.

"I made a deal with a siren." Royden said simply. "Now come on, we need to get you out of here before Pooly shows up."

"You mean that monster?" One of the others said. He had short gray hair. He was much older than the others.

"Yes," Royden said, "now come on before it gets here."

The painters stood up and they started back to where Royden started from hoping to find an exit. They introduced themselves on the way. James was the bald one. Mack was the older one. And Jim was the third. He was the weakest and didn't say much. All three were starving and had given up hope of ever getting out of that place. They tried everything they could when they were put there by Pooly the day before.

All together their footsteps and talking filled the air. Nothing else could be heard. Royden thought he felt something and stopped them. The ground shook slightly. And then again, and again. All the mystery disappeared when a great roar forced them all to clamp their hands over their ears.

"It's Pooly!" Royden shouted. "Run!"

The four of them sprinted through the endless space. The roar seemed to come from everywhere at once. It was impossible to tell for sure where it came from. And then, just like before, the mystery ended when a great creature appeared suddenly before them. It was definitely Pooly, but something was different. Its front was brown and it had bright gold scales all over its back and arms. Its long snout opened wide and with great speed it came down over the humans. They ran and Pooly's teeth found only hard ground. It roared louder than ever.

Royden sprinted away from the great beast. He remembered the painters and looked back. Two of them, James and Mack, were right behind him. Where was the other? Royden tried to remember his name but couldn't.

"Hey!" He shouted. "Where are you?"

Pooly had been following Royden but as soon as he shouted it stopped and looked around. Jim, the third painter, could be seen running in the wrong direction. He must have been turned around in all the chaos and confusion. Pooly started after him instead.

"Hey Jim." Royden shouted again, suddenly remembering his name. "Watch out."

Jim turned around. He stared up at the giant creature coming for him and froze.

"Jim!" Mack shouted. "Run!"

Jim didn't hear him. He simply stared in fright at the monster.

With one swift movement Pooly tore Jim from the ground and crunched down. Royden turned and ran. Mack and James stood rooted to their spot, unable to comprehend what they just witnessed.

"Come on!" Royden bellowed.

Mack and James returned to reality and followed.

Royden didn't want to end up like Jim. His mind disregarded everything going on. All Royden knew was that he needed to find a way out. His legs carried him faster than ever. His eyes scanned the endless void in front of him for some way out.

Nothing presented itself. No holes appeared this time. There would be no flashlight on a shelf to save him now. The only hope for survival was to somehow find a hiding spot while Pooly took out the painters. But that wasn't like him. He survived tiny arrows and sharp clawed gremlins for the privilege of trying to find the painters, and now one was already gone. He couldn't let the others die as well.

He took a quick look back. Jim and Mack ran as fast as they could away from Pooly, who closed the gap fast. Royden slid to a stop and before he knew what he was doing he let the painters run past him. Pooly opened its mouth and giant sharp teeth appeared. Royden saw it in slow motion, the teeth coming down, Pooly's mouth moving toward him with pieces of Jim still in it. Royden closed his eyes.

He could feel the hot nauseating breath of Pooly blow on him. At first he thought everything was still going in slow motion. And then the breathing stopped.

Royden opened his eyes. Pooly stood over him with its mouth closed. The monster watched carefully.

Royden waited for it to continue, for the teeth to return and for the pain of being eaten to begin. Only it didn't. Pooly simply stood over him, staring down with its great big golden eyes.

The boy suddenly had an idea. He plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out the pendant. Pooly made a slight noise. Royden held it up. Pooly sat down with the force of a small earthquake.

It could smell the siren on the pendant and comb. It knew its master was near. For the moment Royden had the power. He had the flashlight from the beginning this time.

The boy took a few steps back. He looked over his shoulder and saw the painters watching from afar. Royden backed up to them. Pooly got on its hands and crawled slowly toward the pendant.

Royden was afraid Pooly could understand him and so didn't want to say anything. He pulled the comb out of his pocket and threw it to James. James caught it and shrugged, very confused. Royden nodded to James who held the comb up. Pooly glanced at it and made another small noise.

That may have been a mistake. Pooly glanced quickly from the pendant to the comb. How could its master be in two places at once? Royden understood the mistake and ran over to James, and grabbed the comb away. Pooly continued to crawl toward them, looking confused. Royden gestured with his head to tell the painters to get away. They did.

"Pooly." Royden whispered. The monster fixed its gaze on him. "I need you to let us out of here." Pooly continued to stare. Royden held up the comb next to the pendant. "Let us out of here Pooly."

Pooly flashed its eyes back and forth between the comb and pendant and Royden. It looked more confused than ever. Very slowly it rose up to its full height and let out another roar. This one wasn't terrifying like the others. Royden felt a breeze that quickly turned to a very strong wind. He held on tight to the comb and pendant and tried not to blow away.

The walls came back with great force and the endless void returned to a large cavernous room.

The tunnel that Royden came through beckoned warmly from nearby. The painters went over to it.

"Pooly, I want you to stay here." Royden said.

Pooly sat back down with another small Earthquake. Royden backed up into the tunnel. He continued until Pooly was out of sight. He put the comb and pendant back into his pocket and started back the way he came.

The three of them walked silently through the tunnel. They came out in the inlet. They walked all the way around until they were back at the brick wall. The hole didn't return. Royden led the way back to the Discovery Apartments. He led them back to the pool room.

The water was back up to its normal level. The siren sat in the hot tub with her head back. When the door opened she looked up. She looked surprised.

"You're alive?" She asked.

Royden stared angrily at her. "We lost one."

"Only one?" She said, smiling.

"Shut up!" Royden screeched. The siren looked taken aback. "You wanted us all dead. If ever I get a chance I'll come back down here and let you know how that feels."

The siren looked unimpressed.

The door opened and a man around thirty years old came in. He looked from Royden to the painters to the siren. Royden hadn't seen this man before.

"Oh my, what happened this time, Beth?" The man said.

The siren cringed. "Pooly needs to eat doesn't he?"

"Where's the third painter?" He asked.

"Like I said." The siren sneered.

The man ran his hands through his hair. "Not again, Beth. We've talked about this. You can't keep doing whatever you want. We are trying to keep a low profile. Do you know how hard that is when you keep having your pet eat people?"

"It's not my fault you keep letting them in." The siren, evidently name Beth, said. "And now you're even letting humans live here, my goodness can this place go downhill any more than that?"

"I don't know if you're aware," the man said threateningly, "but this is a human city."

Royden didn't know who this man was, but he liked him already.

"Well I don't approve." Beth said nastily.

"I don't care." The man retorted. He turned to painters. "I'm very sorry for your loss. If you would please go to room 106 now. We can get everything sorted out there."

"Okay." James said.

The painters left the pool room, looking way past confused.

The man clapped his hands together. "Royden Doble, it's very nice to meet you."

Royden shrugged, not sure what to do. He was still dazed from everything that had recently happened.

The man chuckled. "I'm sure this must all seem very strange, why don't we go up to my office and chat."

Royden nodded. The man led him out of the pool room.

# Chapter 9

The man pulled something out of his pocket and started talking into it.

"Alice, I just sent some poor humans up to you, can you take care of them please?"

A woman's voice came out of the thing in his hand. It looked like a strange phone. "Sure, what am I doing?"

"Oh, nothing too special. Beth had one of those painters eaten by Pooly, I'm sending the other two up. She tried to have him eat young Royden Doble as well. He's with me."

"Oh alright. What about their van?" Alice's voice said.

"Smash it up a bit. It was a terrible crash, one fatality."

"Got it." Alice said. A click ended the conversation.

The man put the device back in his pocket and hit the button for the elevator. "My name is Mr. Bringum." The man said as they waited for the elevator.

"Oh." Royden grunted. All he could think about was poor Jim. Royden watched Pooly eating the poor man over and over again in his mind.

Mr. Bringum nodded. "It's going to be hard." He whispered kindly. "Very few humans ever get to step foot in here, and you get to live here. That can be rough at first."

Royden managed to push Jim from his mind just enough to listen. "I hate this place."

The elevator's doors opened and they got in. Mr. Bringum pushed the button for the first floor. "I don't blame you."

Mr. Bringum led Royden to his office on the first floor. It was the main office there, the same one Royden and Bill found the key to the roof in. That felt like a million years ago now. Mr. Bringum pulled his chair from behind his desk and set it across from the other chair in the room. They sat down. Royden stared at the floor. He felt dirty and weak. He would have much preferred to go up to his apartment and sleep.

"There are a lot of different kinds of people in this building, as you well know." Mr. Bringum said. "We have to find a way to live together peacefully, and it's hard sometimes. If you have any questions, now is the time."

Royden hated feeling Mr. Bringum's gaze on him. He refused to look up from the floor. "Why does this place exist?"

"There's a whole lot more to the universe than anyone could ever realize. More than you or I can even imagine. There are several places throughout the worlds that allow for those of us from far away to visit and sometimes live in other parts of the verse, whether uni or multi. Most habited worlds have these places. Some don't have a problem and those from far away can live in the communities near the portals to their own worlds. Others, including this one, choose to keep those beings secret."

"What are these places?" Royden asked. "I mean, what makes them special?"

"That is a long and complicated answer. Let me just say that a long time ago there was a person who had a key that opened other dimensions. Those doorways to the other dimensions can never close. This is one of those places. The very space that surrounds this building is very special. My grandparents built the Discovery Apartments as a way to hide that space from society. They wanted to make sure that those of us from far away might have a chance to live here and experience Earth society from close up." Mr. Bringum sat back and looked off into the distance, as if remembering a particularly clouded memory. "Before the Discovery Apartments were built my family, who have always been the caretakers of this special space, had a small bed and breakfast. Well you can imagine that all sorts of beings stayed there. It was nice, so I hear. There was less room and so less beings for less time. When my grandparents built this building they made it so the beings could live here for years at a time. My family is still trying to deal with that decision, and now it's my turn. How do you keep so many beings from so many places happy? It's hard." He shook his head. "Anyway, is there anything else you've been wondering?"

Royden shrugged. "I don't know."

"Oh dear!" Mr. Bringum said. "You must feel awful. Here, let me get you some help." He pulled that device from his pocket again. "Alice, are you done?"

"Just finished, sir."

"Good, come on over to my office. I need some of your skills."

Royden didn't like the sound of that. What sort of skills were needed?

A woman, presumably Alice, arrived a moment later. She looked human enough, but Royden never knew for sure. She immediately began moving her hands carefully around Royden's ankle, which was beginning to hurt tremendously. Almost instantly the pain vanished and his ankle felt as good as new.

"Wow." Royden breathed.

"I know right?" Mr. Bringum said. "Alice is a miracle in human form."

"Yeah, she is good." Royden said.

"No," Alice laughed. "I really am a miracle in human form. I can heal anything."

"Oh." Royden was highly impressed.

"You name it I can heal it." Alice said while moving her hands up and down Royden's body. All negative feelings left instantly. "I just got through healing those painters. It was mostly mental for them."

When Alice finished she left the office.

"See," Mr. Bringum said happily, "not everything here is so negative."

"Can she heal Jim, the one eaten by Pooly?"

Mr. Bringum frowned. "If found alive, even barely, she can heal them. If not then no. Though I did hear that her parents can, so maybe she just needs more training."

Mr. Bringum clapped his hands. "Any other questions before I send you on?"

"I guess not. I just want to get out of here. This isn't a place for people like me and my parents."

Mr. Bringum frowned, studying Royden with his eyes. Royden tried hard not to notice. "You have a chance here Mr. Doble, to see the world in a way no one else like you can. This may seem bad now, but wait until you get used to it before making that decision."

"I almost died twice today." Royden said. "That's not something I can deal with every day."

"Trust me, what you went through was not an everyday occurrence. Most days will be like that night you helped Bill." Mr. Bringum said kindly. His eyes shined with caring.

Royden looked up for the first time. "What?"

"I know everything that goes on here."

"You do?"

"Sure do."

"Then why didn't you help me today?" Royden asked, trying hard to stay calm.

Mr. Bringum nodded slowly, his head down. "I should have. That's my fault. By the time I felt I was needed, you were already in Pooly's den. That's not a place I can get into. But I have to ask: how did you get out alive?"

"I tricked Pooly into thinking I was Beth."

"Amazing." Mr. Bringum said in awe. "You are the first person to get out."

"Why have that thing here? Can't you get rid of it?"

"I can't force anybody out, especially those with man-eating pets."

Royden shook his head. "Doesn't sound like you're in control around here."

"My job isn't to be in control, it's to manage all the beings that live here."

Royden crossed his arms and sank lower into his chair. The events of that day tired him of living there, no matter what Mr. Bringum said it wouldn't change his mind.

"Don't you want to look back on your life one day and say that you were one of the only humans on the planet that knew the secrets to the universe?" Mr. Bringum said, as if reading Royden's mind.

"Not really."

"Then I ask you to wait until the end of the week to decide if you really want to leave. If you want to move out on Monday then I will find a way to tell your parents they need to leave, in a nice way of course. They don't know anything yet, do they?"

"Not that I know of."

"Good, let's keep it that way, at least for now."

Royden stood up. "I agree."

"One more thing, Royden, if you leave, you won't remember any of this. Everything you went through today will cease to exist in your memory."

"I'm alright with that." Royden said, a slight bite to his voice.

"Think about it." Mr. Bringum insisted. "Every memory is important, even the bad ones."

Royden nodded and opened the door. He glanced back. "Are you a human?"

Mr. Bringum smiled. "I've lived here my whole life, but my family is from far away."

Royden nodden and left the office. He went to the elevator, got in, and hit the button for the fifth floor.

"I'm impressed, if that matters." A voice said.

"It doesn't." Royden responded.

He didn't know where the voice came from or who it was, and he didn't care either.

# Chapter 10

The next couple days passed uneventfully. Royden's parents didn't notice anything strange about their son. Alice healed all the scrapes and bruises away, making it look as though Royden sat around peacefully that day. He didn't have any intention to tell them anything. He just wanted to pass the days and tell Mr. Bringum on Monday that he was ready to leave. He didn't care about the memories. They kept him up at night. All he could think about was how Jim looked right before being torn away from this world. It haunted his every move, and he was ready to be rid of it all.

On Friday morning Mrs. Doble had the day off. She suggested that Royden help her find Mr. Doble an Easter present, but he didn't want to.

"Oh, come on, you've been sitting here all week, don't you want to go out and have some fun?" His mother asked.

"Not really." Royden said, laying on the couch. "You go have fun and tell me all about it."

"What's wrong, honey? Is it that you haven't made any friends yet?"

"Uhh," Royden sat up, "no, that's not it at all. I just don't feel all that great."

"Well what will make you feel better?"

"You not asking me questions."

"Why don't you go outside for some fresh air?"

"I'll open a window."

"Royden, go outside and have fun." Mrs. Doble said forcefully.

Royden stood up slowly. "I'll go outside, but I can promise I won't have any fun."

"As your mother I command you to have fun."

"Oh my!" Royden said loudly. "I'm bound to have fun now."

He went out to the hall and slammed the door shut. He slapped the down button for the elevator. It came after what felt like twenty minutes and Royden sauntered inside. He didn't feel like hitting any buttons. He chose instead to stand there and wait for someone else to hit a button somewhere. Maybe he'd wander around that floor some.

After a minute the elevator began to move up. Royden leaned against the back wall and watched a light illuminate the numbers above the door. 6 . . . . 7 . . . . 8. It would be funny if it went to the penthouse. Royden wasn't allowed there because it required a key. 9 . . . 10 . . . 11. It was getting closer, though it would probably stop on the seventeenth floor. 12. The light vanished and the elevator came to a stop. Royden watched curiously, waiting for the light to find the fourteen. It didn't.

"Oh, great." Royden groaned. "Stuck." He looked around for a call button. There wasn't one.

He lay his head back on the wall and continued to stare at the numbers above the door, wishing the elevator to start moving again.

The light flashed on between the twelve and fourteen and a thirteen appeared. Royden snapped his head forward and stared. The Discovery Apartments didn't have a thirteenth floor. There must have been some mistake.

The doors opened with a creak. Instead of the yellow walls Royden was familiar with the doors opened into complete darkness. He inched forward with the slightest notion of fear.

"You just gonna stand there?" A voice said. It was the same voice Royden had heard twice already in the elevators.

He turned toward the sound and jumped back against the wall. A little old man stood in the elevator with him. He wore a brown suit and a paperboy hat Royden saw in an old movie once.

"Where did you come from?" Royden said exasperatedly.

"Been here the whole time, sonny."

"You weren't here a minute ago."

"Sure I was, you just couldn't see me." The man said happily.

"Why can I see you now?"

"Because we're on the thirteenth floor." The old man said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"This building doesn't have a thirteenth floor." Royden announced bravely.

"Open your eyes sonny. That's like saying there's no such thing as an elevator while riding in one. My goodness do they not teach young people these days. If you can't trust your eyes then what can you trust?" The man nodded fervently and stepped out into the darkness and disappeared.

Royden went up to the edge of the darkness and cautiously leaned out the door. The darkness disappeared. In its place was a hallway with white walls and a fresh red carpet. He stepped out into the hall, wringing his hands nervously. This floor didn't have any doors.

"Mr. Ghost Man." Royden called softly. "Where did you go?"

The old man appeared through the wall in front of him. "What did you call me, sonny? Can't I have a moment of peace?"

"Sorry." Royden said, squinting at the man. His eyes had a hard time relaying what he was looking at to his brain. "I just, what are you?"

"Oh you want a word? I don't like ghost and I don't like spirit. I prefer either Mr. Parrow or sir. Is that too hard?"

"No sir."

"That's better."

"Sorry about him." Another voice said. Royden flipped around. A woman walked toward them. She had long brown hair and wore a white dress with frills around the collar. "He's grumpy." She said.

"I am not grumpy." Mr. Parrow insisted indignantly.

"My name is Flora Roberts." The woman said. "But please just call me Flora."

"Yes ma'am." Royden said.

"Ah, it's great to have you here finally, Royden Doble." She opened her arms wide in welcome. "The day you moved in I knew you needed to come see us. I told Parrow here to drop hints, though I don't think he did a very good job."

"I did as well as I could." Mr. Parrow declared. "It's not my fault the boy's dense."

"Parrow! He's right here." Flora said aghast.

Mr. Parrow swelled up. "It's better that he hears it. Do you want me to say it behind his back? Fine. Sonny turn around." Royden shrugged and turned away. "That boy is dense. He never takes the hints I give him. Alright son, turn around." Royden did as he was told. "Was that better, Roberts?"

Flora rolled her eyes. "Don't mind him, Royden. He's one of those people who actually wanted oblivion."

"I'm tired of living." Mr. Parrow leaned in close to Royden. "And trust me, this really isn't that different."

"Anyway," Flora said loudly, "I wanted you here to ask you a very important question."

"Don't do it." Mr. Parrow yelled.

"You need to leave." Flora demanded.

"Oh, fine." Mr. Parrow vanished through the wall. "Don't do it sonny." He shouted from somewhere.

"Alright, let's walk. I need to ask you something."

Flora Roberts walked with an elegance unmatched by anybody living. She almost glided across the floor, her white dress flowing behind her.

"You're the first human to appear on the thirteenth floor." She said calmly as they walked. "It's been a long time coming now. We've requested a human to move in for some time."

"Why?" Royden found that suspicious for some reason.

"It's very simple. It's very hard for us to leave the building. It's hard for us here too, when we leave the thirteenth floor we can't be seen. But outside is even worse. After a few feet away from the building we suddenly arrive back here. You see we haven't moved on yet. We can either stay here or move on, and most of us don't know how. So we figure, until we do move on, we need someone who can come and go. We tried a Morrid and even a Yeomingle on the ninth floor, but a human is always the best. They don't look strange outside because this is their world."

"That makes sense."

"I have to admit though I was worried when you moved in. We don't just need any human, we need the right one. We needed someone who was brave and nice and smart. We all saw what you've been up to. You fit the bill perfectly. After you helped that alien we thought you might be it. When you saved those other humans from that monster we were sure of it. You are a top notch human."

"Um, thanks." That was quite possibly the strangest yet nicest compliment Royden ever received. "What do you want me to do?"

Flora stopped at the end of the hall. "Ah, here we are."

They stood in front of a white wall. Royden looked around for some type of entranceway but couldn't find any.

Flora took Royden's hand. A sudden extreme chill shot through his body. He tensed up as Flora pulled him through the wall. He gasped shut his eyes tight.

"I guess I should have warned you." Flora chuckled. "We're here."

Royden opened his eyes. They stood in an old dusty ballroom. A chandelier hung limply from the ceiling, apart from that it was empty.

"Where are we?"

"This is an old dance hall. It was going to be demolished so we brought it here." Flora explained.

It seemed very unlikely that a group of ghosts could move an old dance hall anywhere. It seemed downright impossible for them to move it to a floor of an old apartment building that shouldn't exist. Royden tried to be alright with it all, after all he had seem many strange things recently, and this shouldn't have even been in the top five.

Flora guided the boy to the other side of the dance hall. His steps echoed softly. His footprints could clearly be seen in the dust. Halfway across the floor Flora stopped.

"Check this out." She raised her right arm above her head and a large metal bowl rose up out of the floor. It hung from two wood pillars. It looked like something someone might have made lye in sometime in the 19th century. A strange thick liquid swirled around, filling the whole bowl. "Royden Doble." Flora said loudly and clearly. The liquid churned and a picture appeared. It showed two people looking down. It took several seconds for Royden to figure out he was looking down on himself. He quickly looked up. Only the old worn chandelier could be seen.

"How the—what?"

"That's how we watched you." Flora said, staring at the picture. "We use this to keep up with what our families are doing."

"It can see anything?"

"Pretty much."

"Wow."

"It sure is something. This one just came out. Before we had to watch everything from a tiny mirror. That was awful."

"So—wait. What did you want to ask me?"

Flora continued to stare into the bowl. "Like I said it's hard for us to come and go." She frowned severely. "Something's been happening. Someone's been coming and going at night. We've tried to follow them, but we can't leave. It's been worrying us. What if they're a human who found out about the building? What if they mean us harm?"

"They can't harm you though, because, you know."

"What about everyone else? We need to keep this place a secret."

"If you're so worried about keeping secrets, then why did they let my family in?"

"Mr. Bringum wanted to try bringing a human family in on a trial basis."

"Alright, so what did you want me to do?"

"I want you to follow this person."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"If any of the ghosts around the building see them then I'll come and tell you. Will you do it?"

Royden didn't feel this was something they needed to worry about, but he supposed it was better to be safe than sorry. "I guess."

"Good. Once we find out who this is we can tell Mr. Bringum and he can deal with it from there."

Flora waved her hand down and the bowl went back through the floor.

"Are you two the only ghosts in the building?" Royden asked. He figured there would be a bunch, but hadn't seen anyone else yet.

"Oh no, there are a lot of us. Here, let's go meet some."

Before Royden could respond Flora grabbed his hand and they dropped through the floor. The boy tensed again as the chill shot through his body. It was a rather uncomfortable experience.

They arrived in another large room. This one had tables and booths set all around. Almost every table was occupied with three or four people, all presumably ghosts. Large windows looked out into blackness. There was a counter with what looked like an old menu board above it.

"Is this an old fast food place?" Royden asked, looking around.

"Yes." Flora said simply.

Most of the people at the tables were old, but a group in the corner didn't look much older than Royden. Flora escorted him around the former restaurant. They passed several tables with old men talking at once about some war. Looking at how differently they were dressed it looked as though they were all talking about different wars. Flora stopped near a table with little Mr. Parrow.

"Parrow, he agreed." Flora said.

"What did I tell you, sonny?" Mr. Parrow said sharply. "I told you to say no, this isn't the place for the living. And this job definitely isn't the job for a little boy fresh out of day care."

"I'm in middle school." Royden said indignantly.

"Whatever sonny, I just don't want you getting hurt out there."

"He'll be fine." Flora said. "We need to find out who this person is."

An old man leaned across the table. "So as I was saying, when I was with General Washington—"

"Oh shut up Littleberry, you didn't fight a day in your life." Mr. Parrow snarled. He turned back to Royden. "If you're sure you want to get involved then I won't stop you. But be careful. I don't want you to end up in the historical fiction club here."

"I'll be careful."

"Let's go Royden. Your parents are probably worried." Flora said, taking his hand again.

They appeared back at the elevator on the thirteenth floor.

"So was that the twelfth floor?" Royden asked, remembering how they had to go through the floor.

"No, the thirteenth floor is a location rather than a place. We have as much room as we need."

"Oh." He said quietly.

The elevator doors opened and Royden got in. The entryway once again became dark. Flora popped her head into the elevator.

"If you ever get overwhelmed by this don't be afraid to say so. We'll end this right away."

"Alright." Royden said.

"See you when we get a lead." She disappeared back into the darkness.

The doors closed and Royden hit the button for his floor.

#  Chapter 11

Royden spent the next few hours staring at the television trying to comprehend everything that happened that day. It was beginning to be a daily chore for him to think back on everything that went on to understand it. His mother went to the store and came back and even started dinner before he felt like he really knew what he agreed to. Now that he was away from Flora he began to question whether or not he really wanted to do it. Sure it sounded alright at the time, but things tend to feel better when they are happening then when we really have to think about it later on. He would never agree to go back into the gremlin's room or back into Pooly's den. But that's how things are sometimes. When they happen you have to get through it. Given the opportunity again nobody in their right mind would even consider going through it.

Mrs. Doble and her son had spaghetti for dinner. They sat quietly at the table, each staring out the window. Royden watched the cars go by wondering if any one of those people could sense that there was something not quite right about his building. It stood tall and dark against the coastal sky, surely somebody noticed that nobody ever came in or out. Royden shook his head. It didn't really matter.

He sat around watching more television as the night grew late. His father worked late that night. He usually didn't get home until after midnight on those days. Sometimes Royden waited, but not that night, he was much too tired. He went to bed around eleven.

Sometime deep in the night the boy suddenly sat up. He blinked sleepily, looking around. Something must have woken him up. A noise maybe, he wasn't sure.

"Did you hear me?" Flora's voice said.

Royden groaned. "No, what happened?"

"The person's in the building. They're in the basement, heading for the door. You have to get down there."

Royden begrudgingly pulled himself out of bed. He grabbed the robe from the back of his door. His parents got it for him for Christmas the year before, but since he wasn't much of a robe person he never saw the point in wearing it. This was as good a time to try it out as any. He threw it on, tied it, and started for the door.

His parents' door was closed. He pulled his shoes on and snuck out quietly. He went to the elevator.

"No, no, that is much too slow. Take the stairs." Flora said.

"Uhh." Royden groaned loudly.

He ran down the stairs, afraid that he might fall because of how tired he was. Somehow he made it down and started for the door to the outside.

The air was crisp and cool. Royden glanced around and went to the main road. Nobody was in sight. No cars, no people.

"Flora?" Royden called softly. No reply.

Royden waited for a creepy shadowy figure to emerge from somewhere. He crossed his arms and bounced on his toes.

Suddenly a man appeared and put his hand over Royden's mouth.

"Do you see it?"

Royden struggled to get free.

"Don't you see it?" The man whispered in Royden's ear.

Royden shook his head.

"Oh." He let him go. "The name's Millie." He looked to be in his mid-twenties. He had short brown hair and a van dyke beard. "Is this a stable dimension?"

"Um, I think." Royden said. He wondered if this was the person Flora talked about.

The man named Millie dropped to the ground and put his ear to the sidewalk as if listening for something. "Are you sure? I'm on the trail and it led me right here."

"Are there dimensions that aren't stable?"

Millie jumped up. "Of course there are. Tell me, what is the name of this one?"

"Earth." Royden said, suddenly not sure if that was the right name.

"So I'm back home." The man named Millie mused.

"Have you been sneaking into the building here?" Royden asked shyly.

"What? No, I'm a . . . actually it doesn't matter why I'm here. What is your name?"

"Royden."

"Royden Doble?! Why it's fine to meet you." Millie shook his hand excitedly. "But now's not the time for this. Quick! Come with me."

"Wha—"

Millie took a small cylindrical crystal out of his pocket and drew a circle in the air with it. In the space where he drew it a strange flat image appeared. It swam with every color imaginable.

Royden stepped back and looked around. Surely somebody would see that.

"Come on, Royden, I'll explain when we get there."

"I shouldn't."

A car turned onto the street in the distance. Millie grabbed Royden and jumped into the circle. It wasn't an image, but a portal.

Royden fell onto dried leaves. He was in a forest. Millie wiped his hand across the face of the portal and it disappeared.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Royden yelled, standing up.

"Shush." Millie clapped his hand over Royden's mouth again. "This is it, I'm sure of it."

Royden pulled the hand away from his mouth. "What's it?"

"I'm on the trail of an unstable dimension near Earth's. It may be in trouble."

"What is an unstable dimension?"

A buzzing filled the air. It grew loud very fast.

"Get down!" Millie pushed Royden down. A huge explosion shook the ground and filled the air with debris. "Nope! Not the right dimension." Millie drew another circle. This portal again swam with colors. He grabbed Royden and threw him in and then jumped in himself. Several people in Gray appeared in the forest. Millie quickly wiped the portal away. "Let's try something else." He shook the crystal as if it might have something loose inside. "I swear it's never done this before."

Royden looked around. They sat on a cliff overlooking a vast expanse of water. The sun was up. "Where are we now?"

"No idea." The strange man drew another circle. Intense heat radiated from it. "Nope." He wiped it away and drew another. Water shot out and nearly pushed Royden right off the edge of the cliff. "Definitely not." Millie wiped away another one.

This continued for quite some time. Millie drew portals and stuck his head in. Evidently they all lead to some awful looking places. He then quickly wiped them away. Royden moved over to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Waves lapped up against jagged rocks hundreds of feet below. The water stretched to infinity. He wondered if he was even on Earth anymore.

"Aha!" Millie shouted.

Millie grabbed Royden and jumped into the portal. They looked down onto a large city with tall buildings. The sun set in the distance creating a beautiful sunset of every shade of red and orange imaginable.

"Is this where you wanted to go?" Royden asked.

"Who knows, but it doesn't look deadly." The man shrugged.

Royden wanted very much to go back to bed and be rid of this bizarre man and his bizarre portal maker. But until he could get home he supposed he had to trust him. "Who did you say you were again?"

"Hereward the Wake."

"What?"

"No, I'm just joking. I'm Millie, and I can tell you more when we get there."

"Where?"

"To where we are going."

They stood on a tall building. The sound of city life filled the air. Royden looked down to see the streets and jumped back. He expected a normal Earth city. Earth cities don't have flying cars and large lizard creatures on the ground walking through the streets.

"Where are we now?!"

"You need to stop asking that." Millie said calmly.

Royden glowered at him. "Take me back."

"Yeah, I can't do that."

"What do you mean?"

"My crystal isn't working right now. I don't know what's wrong with it. It's never done this before."

Alright." Royden said, trying to stay calm. "Why don't you tell me who you are and what I'm doing in this weird place."

"Hmm, not yet, let's find a nicer place to talk."

"This is as good as any." Royden said haughtily.

"Not really. Oh, look." Millie started over to a vehicle of some sort sitting on the roof. It looked like a car except it didn't have tires. "Excuse me, sir." Millie said to the person in the vehicle. "Can you take me and my friend someplace quiet to talk?" Evidently the man didn't understand because Millie suddenly went into another language Royden had never heard before.

A minute later Royden found himself flying through the streets of an unknown city in a trashy old taxi-like flying car. Millie found plenty to talk to the driver about. He seemed to be fluent in whatever language the driver spoke. Royden didn't understand a thing that was said.

The taxi flew out of the congested city and into a quieter area. The sun set and Royden couldn't see where they were going. Several minutes later it came to a stop somewhere high in the air. Millie stepped out and Royden followed. The taxi flew away.

They now stood on what looked like a giant floating dinner plate. It was too dark to see the ground or anything else. The plate began to move. Royden lost his balance and hit the floor on all fours, afraid the whole thing might tip.

"It's alright. We're on an Observer." Millie explained. He must have realized Royden didn't have any clue what that was because he continued. "It flies through the air on a fixed path. It's mainly used by tourists so they can get a good look at the dimension they traveled to. Of course we're on one at night so we probably won't see anything." He dropped down and sat across the plate from Royden. "It's something, isn't it?"

"I guess." Royden said, finding it hard to get comfortable. He constantly felt like he might fly off.

The Observer dropped several hundred feet and started off at a great speed near the ground. Small yet bright lights appeared to illuminate the path they traveled on. The lights rose high into the air and twisted around in the distance. They flew over a small river, little huts could be seen on the edges of the light.

"My name is Milton." Millie said kindly. "It's nice to meet you, Royden."

"Nice to meet you." Royden shook Millie's hand.

"I'm an agent for the Interdimensional police. You see my job is to travel through dimensions and find people who are up to no good. I'm part of the Dimension Supervising Division so I mainly go and look for dimensions that need help. Big ones small ones, whatever."

"How do you go through dimensions?" Royden asked, suddenly finding this man very interesting.

"We've been doing it. See I have this crystal that allows me to create portals to other dimensions. The multiverse is a very abstract thing. New worlds and whole universes are all around us. Most appear and disappear without anyone ever knowing they're there."

"How do you know if one is in trouble?"

Millie sighed long and deep. He glanced over the edge of the Observer as they flew over a small town. He smiled good-naturedly. "We have a machine at the DSD that allows us to monitor energy waves from hundreds of dimensions. The one I'm looking for—it's been acting strange recently. The very dimension is in trouble, but we're having a hard time locating it. It's a very small dimension—one with only a few hundred individuals living in it. That's why they sent me alone. Once I find it and figure out what's wrong I can write a report and the DSD can deal with it from there. The only problem is I got in a fight with some strange man earlier and he seems to have messed up my crystal. I need to go and get it fixed, but I can feel that this dimension is so close. When one is sending off that kind of signal it means it's in bad shape. I need to find it immediately."

Royden steadied himself as the Observer rose quickly into the air. "So someone sends you the message through this machine?"

"No, the machine picks up information about the dimension itself. It starts acting up when it picks up odd energy changes."

"The dimension does it itself?"

"Small ones can. Look, this one is a very tiny dimension. It's got edges and stuff, something yours doesn't. I don't want to say it too soon because we aren't entirely sure, but when this kind of energy gets picked up it sometimes means the dimension is dying."

"They can die?" Royden asked, suddenly fearful for his own dimension.

"Sure can. But don't you worry. You're dimension is huge, it won't die like this one. It'll die over billions of years. This one being so small, the chances are greater that it might quite sustaining life."

"So what's wrong with your crystal?"

Millie pulled the crystal out of his pocket. "Like I said I got in a fight this morning with some weird guy while I was trying to find the dimension. Since then it hasn't worked. I think I cracked it. If I could only find the DSD's headquarters I might be able to get a new one. It won't listen to what I want. It keeps taking me to weird places."

"Wait," Royden said slowly. "Are there people after you?"

Millie scrunched his face up nervously. "Maybe."

"And you thought it a good idea to bring me with you?"

"I'll get you home before anybody finds me."

"And why exactly did you bring me with you?" Royden asked.

"I wanted meet you. The DSD is very interested in you. They keep up with the news Mr. Bringum gives them. You see you're the first human to ever live in the Discovery Apartments."

"How does everyone know about that?"

"Don't worry, the DSD are good guys. We watch what happens so we can see if Earth is ready to be exposed to the secrets of interdimensional beings. You and your family are the first test subjects. But don't look at that as a bad thing."

Royden felt really uncomfortable about that. He wanted to get away from the Discovery Apartments now more than ever. "Why me, why us?"

Millie smirked. "When I was first introduced to the idea of other dimensions I wondered the same thing. Why me? A good friend of mine said something I'll never forget. She said: 'if only everyone else in the world could ask, why not me?' This is a great privilege you have, Royden. Don't waste it."

Royden shook his head. "I was almost killed the other day, twice. I think I've had enough."

Millie nodded in understanding. "Don't fear the challenge Royden. You made it out of those situations so you could do something even greater. When you are dealing with other dimensions, at least in my experience, the rewards grow larger than the dangers." He brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "I understand though, it's tough to be hit with all this information at once."

The plate came to a stop on a platform and they got off.

"Let's say we find me a new crystal and get you home."

# Chapter 12

The platform was attached to a large oddly shaped building that rose from the ground higher into the sky then they could see. Millie spent a very long time drawing portals and then wiping them away. Royden sat near the edge of the platform watching the dark world around him. He felt a growing sense of responsibility again. Thankfully this time it didn't involve saving someone. He felt as though he became an international secret keeper, no, bigger than that. An interdimensional secret keeper. He knew more now than probably anybody ever in the whole world. Well, his whole world. It was hard to think on the grand scale introduced to him. Earth was huge. The whole multiverse, who knows how big that is?

"Hey, Millie." Royden called.

Millie wiped away a portal with giant insects flying out and turned around. "Yep."

"Where are you from?"

"The same world as you. I'm a human."

"Oh, really?

"That I am."

"How did you get involved in all this?"

Millie drew another portal, looked inside, and wiped it away. "I was chosen, just like you, to go to a school to teach people about other dimensions."

"Huh, and did they tell you why you were chosen?"

Millie tossed the crystal in the air and caught it. "What we need to do is find you a way home."

Royden figured it was a sore subject and didn't press anymore. "Do you like it?"

"Love it."

"If you know about all this, how come I'm the first experiment? Weren't you?"

"They told my family everything right up front. For you they want you to figure it out on your own and see how you react. Plus you're living with them in that building. I only went to school with them."

A square portal suddenly appeared behind them. Millie spun around and watched cautiously. A person in a black body suit and helmet stepped through. Their helmet glowed red where their eyes were. The glowing dots moved slowly around to take in everything.

"Royden, come over here, quick."

Royden jumped up and stood by Millie, who swiftly drew a portal and pulled Royden in. He wiped it away.

"Who was that?" Royden asked.

"That was the person I got in a fight with."

"How did they find us?"

"No idea. My crystal isn't taking me anywhere I want to go, I have no idea how they tracked it."

"Who are they?"

"If I knew I would tell you."

This new dimension was dark, but they could see just fine. They stood in a dirt road with nothing else in any direction. High above the stars glowed bright. There were more than Royden had ever seen.

"Where are we?" Millie whispered, looking around. "Something doesn't seem right."

"Maybe it's a new dimension."

"No, but something does feel off." He knelt down and picked up a rock. "Let's try something." He threw the rock as far as he could. In midair it transformed into a chair and splashed as water when it hit the ground.

"Whoa, what was that?" Royden asked excitedly.

"That's not good." Millie said nervously. "This must be it. The unstable dimension."

"But that's good. You found it."

"I needed to find the person responsible. If they find us here we may never get out. The rules are all different here. Watch." Millie drew a circle with his crystal. A hula-hoop appeared and fell to the ground. "I can draw a thousand of them and maybe one real portal might appear."

"So what do we do?"

Millie thought for a minute. "Let's take a walk and see if we can find anything."

The dirt road went on forever. Nothing changed and nothing appeared. They walked for quite a while, unable to find anything.

"I think I have a plan." Millie said after what felt like an hour of sameness. "If that portal appears let's rush it before that person in the suit can come out. If we can get to the dimension they're coming from then my crystal should work."

In the meantime Millie drew circles in the air with his crystal just in case. All sorts of round objects appeared, not one of which was a portal. Eventually Millie gave up.

Somewhere in that bizarre dimension, no actual location existed there, Millie threw his arm out to stop Royden. Millie frowned angrily at something in the road directly ahead. Royden couldn't quite figure out what they were. They approached. The boy gasped.

Laying directly on the road in front of them were six bodies. The people were dressed as though they were from Earth. Their eyes were closed, but it didn't look like they were dead. Millie went up and checked them.

"Their asleep." He said quietly. "Maybe not asleep, but they are still alive."

"What are they doing here?"

Millie shook his head. "No idea." He stood up and looked around. "Something is definitely not right here."

A square portal appeared behind them. Millie wasted no time. As soon as it appeared Millie yelled and ran right at it. The person in the black suit took one step out and then was thrown back as Millie collided with it. Royden jumped into the portal and tried to wipe it away. It didn't work. Millie pushed the black suit down and drew a portal of his own. Royden quickly went to it. He turned back. Arms wrapped around Millie's neck and squeezed. Those red glowing eyes stared transfixed into the face of the person it tried to strangle.

Royden popped his head in. The portal led to a dark beach. There was nothing there that could help. He went back and tried to wrestle the arms away from Millie's neck. They were too strong.

"Royd—get the cryst—take it." Millie croaked.

Millie's crystal lay at his feet. Royden suddenly got an idea. He grabbed the crystal and swiftly drew a circle around the feel of the black suit. A portal appeared and the person fell right into it. Its hands let go of Millie's neck and the suit disappeared into another dimension. Millie wiped the portal away and fell to the ground.

He struggled to breath and coughed hoarsely. "Thank you."

"How did you know I was going to know what to do?" Royden asked, adrenaline pumping through him.

"I just wanted you to take the crystal and run. I thought for sure I was a goner. You really saved me, thanks."

Royden felt very pleased with himself. "We're a good team, huh."

"Sure are." Millie coughed and straightened up. He went up to the portal that led to the unstable dimension. "I hate to leave them there, but I don't know their condition. It might be detrimental to them if we move them." He wiped away the portal. "Come on, let's get you home before that thing shows up again. It's after me not you, you should be fine at home."

They entered the dimension with the beach. The night was cool and the waves sounded comforting so close by.

"Where are we now?" Royden asked, expecting to see something out of the ordinary. Millie pointed at something. Royden saw the Discovery Apartments. "Oh, I'm home."

"We finally made it. Maybe my crystal's working again."

"Yeah, hopefully." Royden started for home.

"Do Goren and Farn still live here?" Millie asked.

"Yeah."

"Good, I can go through their portal and maybe find someone who can help me get back to the DSD. I better not try my luck with the crystal until I know for sure it's fixed."

Something hit the ground hard a few feet away, sending a cloud of sand up. A portal hung in the air twenty or so feet above the beach. The black suit got up. Its red eyes found Millie and Royden. It seemed to stare at them for a moment as if confused, and then it ran for them. Millie pushed Royden down into the sand and took off towards the apartment building. The black suit followed.

Royden struggled to his feet and ran after them. They disappeared around the corner of the building. They looked to be heading to the basement entrance. The boy followed as fast as he could. He entered the building and could hear the scuffling of a fight down the hall.

Millie tried to fend off the black suit, but it was far too strong. Its arms found their way to Millie's neck again. Royden ran faster than he had in his entire life. Nobody was going to kill his friend. He launched himself off the ground and wrapped his right arm around the black suit's own neck. He pulled back as hard as he could while using his left hand to cover the glowing red eyes. His hand seared in pain at the heat of the glow and he wrapped his other arm around the thing's neck.

"Get to the eleventh floor!" Royden screamed. "1103."

Millie didn't run off. He grabbed the arms of the suit and tried to press them to its sides.

The three of them struggled down the hall, into walls and to the floor. Royden found a groove on the neck of the suit and pulled. The helmet came off with some difficulty and fell to the floor. The suit slammed against the wall and Royden fell off. It pushed Millie down, picked up the helmet, and ran back down the hall. The boy got a quick glance of a tanned bald head before the helmet covered it again.

Royden lay sprawled on the floor. Millie caught his breath and went over to him. Royden tried to get up but couldn't. He couldn't feel his legs.

"You alright?" Millie asked.

"I can't get up." Royden moaned. He slipped out of consciousness as footsteps hurried to the scene.

Royden sat up in a bed. It wasn't his bed. He felt great. Suddenly he remembered his legs. They swung from the bed and moved just fine.

"That thing must have been really strong." Alice said from a chair in the corner of the room. "You were paralyzed. That friend of yours was really freaked out. He kept saying that it was all his fault. Mr. Bringum and I had to promise him that I could heal you."

"Did he leave?" Royden asked.

"Not yet. Actually . . ." Alice poked her head out the door and called to him.

Both Mr. Bringum and Millie came in.

"I'm so sorry." Millie said. "I shouldn't have brought you. I didn't think it was going to get that crazy."

"It's alright." Royden smiled. "You needed me."

Millie let out a long breath. "I sure did. You saved my life twice."

Mr. Bringum nodded happily. "Well now that that's all sorted out, I think you should find a way to get back to your headquarters, Milton. And as for you, Royden, I suggest you get home before your parents wake up."

Royden stood up and left the room. He was on the first floor, outside room 106. Millie came out as well. They walked to the elevator together.

"Mr. Bringum says he will try to make sure that person doesn't come back. You should be safe here. Nobody in their right mind would attack the Discovery Apartments. They would get in trouble with every dimension in the multiverse."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me. I have to deal with things like that on a daily basis in my job. Once I find my way back to the DSD they can make sure to stop that person."

"Good."

A minute later they stood outside apartment 1103.

"Royden, I can't make you want to stay here, but I can tell you that without you I wouldn't be here right now. Mr. Bringum told me saving people is kind of your thing. Don't take that for granted. You are very brave and this building can use a strong young man like yourself. And don't forget about the Dimension Supervising Division, we could use someone like you as well. We even have a school program. I'm sure they can amend it for an Earth college." He patted Royden's shoulder. "Thank you for everything, goodbye Royden Doble. May we meet again in better circumstances one day."

Millie disappeared into the apartment.

"Goodbye, Milton." Royden whispered.

# Chapter 13

The sun just peaked above the horizon when Royden got back in his own bed. A couple hours later his parents woke him up.

"Come on, Royden, you don't want to sleep in all day." His father said.

Royden sauntered to the table and poured himself some cereal. It felt weird to be back doing normal things.

Mr. Doble put down the paper he was reading. "More people missing." He said. "All nearby, this one is only a few blocks from here. I thought it was bad when people fell in a coma, but missing completely. . ."

"Let's hope they figure out what's going on then." Mrs. Doble said from near the front door where she put on a sweater. "Surely they'll find them. I'll see you two later." She left for work.

"Yeah maybe." Mr. Doble mused. "Be careful out there today, Roys."

"Sure thing." Royden said through a mouthful of corn flakes.

"I better be going now, too. Stay close by, alright."

Royden nodded. After his dad left he sat on the couch and watched television. Nothing was ever on during the day. He worried about going out just in case that black suit appeared again. He believed Millie that the building was the safest place for him, but it still unnerved him.

Sometime in the late morning he remembered that he promised to look out for that intruder before everything happened. He decided to go see the ghosts on the thirteenth floor in case they learned anything new, and to apologize for the night before.

Royden got in the elevator and attempted to figure out how to get the thing to go up to the missing floor. He pushed the area between the buttons for twelve and fourteen, and even jumped up trying to hit the numbers above the door. Finally he asked nicely.

"So you want to come back do you?" The voice of Mr. Parrow jeered from the corner.

"Hey, I'm sorry about last night, I got involved in some stuff."

"Oh yes, little sonny is too big a star now to help the dead. I see how it is."

"That's not it at all. I didn't mean to be taken on a crazy chase through dimensions."

"Ooh, he's going to exotic places now, too."

"Can we please just go up to the thirteenth floor, I want to see Flora."

The elevator began to move up.

"You know we can find someone else to help if you have so much to do now."

"I want to help." Royden lied. "I really do."

"Hmm, well we'll see what Flora wants to do with you. You are still the only person we can count on for this."

They arrived at the thirteenth floor and the door once again opened into darkness. Royden stepped through the blackness into the hallway with no doors. Mr. Parrow followed him out looking rather sour.

"Come on, she's in the tank."

"The where?" Royden asked.

"The water tank for the hotel. She was a swimmer when she was alive. It's the closest thing to swimming for her now." Mr. Parrow came in close. "That's how she died you know, drowning."

Royden wondered why anybody would spend time in water after dying in it.

Mr. Parrow told Royden to wait and walked through the wall. A few minutes later he came back with Flora.

"I'm sorry about last night." Royden said quickly as soon as they appeared. "I got carried away, it won't happen again." Royden knew he couldn't make that promise, but it sounded right nonetheless.

"It's alright, the intruder is sure to be back tonight. We just have to find out what they're after." Flora said, running her hands through her hair as if trying to get water out. "Tonight we'll get you up before they show up, that way you're in position when they arrive. The strange thing is that we never catch the person coming in, only leaving."

Mr. Parrow nodded gravely. "It might be one of our own."

"Don't be ridiculous," Flora scoffed, "nobody here would ever harm the Discovery, they would be thrown back in their own dimension faster than death itself."

"Well it was just an idea." Mr. Parrow retorted indignantly. "Don't be so sore."

Flora ignored him. "Royden, I want you to take a nap today so you will be ready."

"That won't be a problem, I barely got any sleep last night."

They made up a plan for Mr. Parrow to wake Royden shortly after midnight. Flora promised to wait at the building's basement door in case the intruder slips past and she catches which way they go.

Royden went back down to his apartment a few minutes later and took a nap. He woke up sometime in the late afternoon. Mrs. Doble arrived home a few minutes later and told Royden all about her day. He didn't pay any attention and didn't even bother to grunt or nod.

Mrs. Doble ordered Chinese and picked it up in the lobby when it arrived. They sat quietly at the table and ate waiting for Mr. Doble. Royden went to bed shortly after his father made it home.

Right on time Royden jumped up in bed, once again looking around to find out where the voice was coming from before realizing what was going on.

"Come on, get out of bed, quick." Mr. Parrow said.

"Alright." Royden sighed groggily.

He grabbed the robe again and tied it tight. It officially became his adventure robe.

Royden snuck out of the apartment quietly and ran down the stairs. He came to the basement door and opened it cautiously, looking out.

"They're not here yet." Flora whispered in his ear.

Royden shivered. It felt weird having a disembodied voice whispering to him. "So what now?"

"We wait." Said Mr. Parrow from near Royden's knee. He must have sat down.

Royden closed the door and hid behind a vending machine nearby. His ears picked up every little sound. With every creak and moan from the old building he jumped, thinking for sure that it was the intruder.

"Don't be so jumpy, sonny, it'll come soon enough." Mr. Parrow advised.

"Easy for you to say, you can't be killed by something."

"Watch it." Said Mr. Parrow threateningly. "I don't take too nice to that kind of talk."

"Oh, quiet down." Flora warned. "He's right."

"I don't care, I won't be talked to like that."

"Shut up, Parrow, we might miss something." Flora whispered.

Mr. Parrow grumbled something incoherently.

Royden jumped again, though this time he clearly heard footsteps approaching. He pulled himself back behind the vending machine as far as he could go and poked his eyes around the corner. The steps grew closer very fast. Royden had no time to get mentally ready before something ran around the corner and out the basement door. Royden dropped to the floor. It was the black suit. It got in again.

"Well come on then." Mr. Parrow yelled. "Go after them."

"Was that it?" Royden asked sheepishly.

"That's the intruder, yes." Flora said urgently.

"Why didn't you tell me they wore a black suit?"

"What difference does that make?" Flora asked.

"That thing almost killed me last night." Royden explained pressingly, "This changes everything."

"No it doesn't," Mr. Parrow shouted, "Now go."

Royden stood up and went out the door. He didn't understand what was going on. How could the black suit, the same person that chased them through dimensions the night before, possibly be the intruder?

The boy ran up to the road and looked around. He saw the black suit run up the street to his right. He followed at a safe distance. The intruder ran across the street and into a neighborhood.

Royden got across the street right as the intruder ran down the steps of a house and up to the next one. The black suit tried a window, it didn't open. It looked up, its horrible glowing red eyes scanning the upstairs windows. One was open. The intruder jumped right up to the window and inside the house silently. Royden suddenly wished that his parents gave him a cell phone instead of the robe last Christmas, he desperately wanted to call the police, or at least tell Mr. Bringum.

A muffled shout rang out through the silent night and then became silent. Royden stood rooted to the spot. He wanted to try to help but at the same time he wanted to run back to the building. If only Flora and Mr. Parrow could leave the Discovery and give him advice.

Another shout tore through the air. Royden began to sweat profusely. He inched closer to the house. A shaky hand grabbed the side of the house as he attempted to figure out what to do. Suddenly the black suit flew out of the window, rolled across the grass, and ran away so fast Royden had a hard time keeping up with it with his eyes. It vanished out of the neighborhood with extreme speed.

Royden figured it finished whatever it needed to do for the night. He dropped to his knees and fought back a sudden urge to vomit. For some reason that was scarier than anything he had been through so far. Perhaps it was the setting. For the first time he had to confront danger in what he perceived to be a very real environment. The dangers presented themselves to himself as much more real this time. Before there always seemed to be a part of him that knew what happened couldn't be real. Now, sitting in someone's yard in his own dimension, in a very real human neighborhood, he struggled to even stand up.

After a few minutes he composed himself enough to get up and go up to the front door of the house. He wavered for a moment and then knocked. If anyone answered he would tell them that he saw something strange leave the house and ask if anything happened.

Nobody answered. He tried the front door, locked. He looked around for some way to get in. He needed to know what that black suit did in there. He feared for the worst.

Royden took the trash can from the side of the house and set it beneath the open window. He climbed on the trashcan and jumped up into the window. He pulled himself into the room and looked around. A body lay in the bed. Royden slowly went up to it. It didn't have any signs of being hurt. He could hear breathing. They looked to be asleep. How could they sleep after something like that?

The boy tried to wake the person, a middle aged woman. They didn't wake. Something his father said rang through his mind. The newspaper said that people had been found in a coma nearby. Could this person be in a coma? Why would the black suit, an interdimensional traveler, put people into a coma? Royden heard a siren far away. A neighbor might have called the police. He took one last look at the person. They were gone. There one moment gone the next. Where did they go? His father had said people went missing. Could the people in a coma and the missing people be the same? Was it connected? He quickly climbed out the window, jumped down to the trashcan, and took off.

He made it back to the Discovery right as the emergency vehicles raced down the nearby road.

"Well?" Flora's voice asked as he made it through the basement door.

"The suit is the one putting people in a coma." Said Royden breathlessly. "And then they disappeared. I don't get it."

"What?" Mr. Parrow said in disbelief. "You mean the recent reports from the paper?"

"Yes." Royden said, surprised that Mr. Parrow read the paper.

"Then why would they sneak in here every night?" Flora asked.

The basement door swung open. Royden launched himself behind the vending machine and looked out. The tanned man from the fifth floor came in and walked toward the elevator. Royden noticed his bald head and clamped his hand over his mouth. That's the same bald head he saw after tearing the black suit's helmet off the night before. He was certain of it.

The elevator doors closed and Royden dropped his hand.

"What is it?" Flora asked.

"That's the man in the black suit." Said Royden critically.

"What, no it isn't, that's Mr. Hofrora. He lives here in the building, same floor as you. He goes for long walks in the middle of the night all the time."

"Have you ever seen him leave the building?" Royden asked.

Mr. Parrow scoffed. "I don't pay any attention to when he leaves, and why would he leave the building wearing a black suit and come back without it on?"

"I don't know, but it makes sense. If you never see the intruder come in and you never see Mr. Hofrora leave then it has to be him."

"It is a little odd." Flora admitted. "But again he lives here, there's no way he would go out putting people in a coma and then make them disappear."

Royden sprinted over to the stairs and ran up. If he hurried he might catch him before he got back in his apartment. Royden barreled out onto the fifth floor right as Mr. Hofrora opened his door.

"Mr. Hofrora!" Royden said a little too loudly.

The man jumped in shock and looked scathingly at Royden. "What do you want?" He said with an accent Royden didn't recognize.

"I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Maybe some other time, I'm very tired."

"Why do you wear the black suit?" Royden called out bravely.

Mr. Hofrora glared at Royden. "I don't know what you mean."

"I saw you last night." Royden walked toward him.

The man shook his head. "I don't know what you mean." He repeated.

"I clearly saw you last night, remember fighting me and Millie?"

Mr. Hofrora went into his apartment and slammed the door.

# Chapter 14

Royden stared at the door to Mr. Hofrora's apartment. Nothing much could be done at the moment.

"I'm telling you it's not him." Mr. Parrow said nearby. "Go to sleep. We've got enough to go on for now. We'll collect more information tomorrow."

Royden sauntered back to his bed and collapsed onto it. A few seconds later he was fast asleep.

Sunday morning dawned cool and rainy. School started up again the next day. Royden could barely remember what school felt like. It seemed like a thousand years since he last went.

Royden sat at the table, slowly eating his pancakes when Mr. Doble sat down beside him.

"Happy Easter, Roys."

"What?" Royden said, unable to believe that it was Easter already. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, unless the calendar is wrong. So, you ready for school tomorrow?"

Royden groaned loudly. "What school puts Easter at the end of spring break?"

"That's just the way they do things around here, I guess. Oh, did you hear the news?"

Of course he hadn't heard the news. "No."

"Two more people are in a coma, and they're right near here. You know that neighborhood across the street? They found them this morning, real early. The paper doesn't even have anything on it yet. I saw it online."

Royden shrugged. "That's too bad."

"I know you'll be careful, but please do."

"Alright."

Mrs. Doble came out with little presents for everyone. Royden got a box of chocolates shaped as bunnies and a Polo shirt.

"Do you want to decorate some eggs, Roys?" She asked after promising Mr. Doble that his Polo wouldn't shrink too much.

"No thanks."

"But we do it every year."

"I know, but I'm not really in the mood today."

"Ah, nervous about school?"

"Yeah."

It was going to be hard to wander the apartment with both parents home. Royden spent the morning trying to figure out some way to get out. With all the people mysteriously ending up in a coma it didn't look good for him to get out. That all changed with a knock at the door. Mrs. Doble answered it.

"Oh, hello Mr. Hofrora."

Royden had been sitting on his bed eating chocolate when he heard the name. He froze mid chew.

"Hello Mrs. Doble." Mr. Hofrora said from the door. "Is your son home?"

"Did he do something?"

"Oh no, last night I saw him in the hall and asked if he would help me figure out how to use a computer. I'm hopelessly lost with the whole thing."

"Royden." Mrs. Doble called.

Royden pretended not to hear.

"Royden!" Mrs. Doble called loudly.

Royden sauntered into the living room.

"Ah, Royden," Mr. Hofrora said happily, "did you forget that you would help me? I want to send mail to my grandchildren to wish them a happy holiday, can you show me how?"

"He would love to." Mrs. Doble said. "He'll be right over."

Mr. Hofrora smiled and went back to his apartment.

"You know when we said you should make a friend we meant with someone your own age." Mr. Doble joked. "But I guess a friend is a friend."

"Do I have to go?" Royden asked.

"Yes, it was very nice of you to offer to teach him." Mrs. Doble said.

"But I didn't." Royden explained.

"Royden, get over there and help him."

The boy didn't know how to tell his parents that he confronted their neighbor last night because he thought he was an interdimensional criminal who was putting people into a coma in nearby neighborhoods. So a minute later he stood outside Mr. Hofrora's apartment and knocked. The door swung open and the bald man stood there smiling sweatly.

"Please come in."

Royden reluctantly did as he was told. The apartment smelled strongly of incents. Several burned in a glass vase by the window, their smoke wafting elegantly into the air. The walls were painted tan and the furniture looked to be made of gold with jewels inlaid in them. Royden took a seat in an uncomfortable gold chair and Mr. Hofrora sat on a long couch with a thin cushion and several cylindrical pillows.

They sat there for a while staring at each other. They looked over each other suspiciously.

"I thought about what you said young Doble. You mentioned that I attacked you, is this correct?"

"A man in a black suit attacked me and a friend the other day. I ripped his helmet off and saw a tanned bald head."

"Hmm. And you're sure it was me?"

Royden was silent for a minute. "Are you the one putting people in a coma, Mr. Hofora?"

"It's just Hofrora."

"Are you the one, Hofrora?"

Hofrora sighed long and deep. "Does my name mean anything to you?"

"What?" Asked Royden.

"I mean does it sound familiar?"

Royden thought for a second but could not think of any time in his life where he heard the name Hofrora. "No."

Hofrora looked sadly at the ground. "Let me tell you a story, then."

"I don't want to hear a story, were you or weren't you the man who attacked us?"

"I can only tell you if I tell you my story. I will be quick I promise."

Royden nodded for him to continue.

"Over three thousand years ago I became king of a very small but very proud kingdom."

"Wait, you're how old? Are you an alien?"

"No, I am a human just like you, and my kingdom is on this very Earth. I am now however, a very unique human. As I was saying I became king of a kingdom named Hofrora. We ruled that area for many years. I was the tenth ruler since my own ancestor started the great kingdom of Hofrora." He rubbed his arms and looked at the wall glumly. "One day an advancing army approached from a nearby kingdom. We put out our best soldiers, but they were not enough. Over the course of that day our soldiers were defeated and the advancing army began to seize of our great city. As things grew hopeless and the army reached the gates of the temple where I hid, our mystic took me to the basement. He warned me of the impending doom of our great society. You see, we were not the strongest in army, but the strongest in mind. We had a very strong belief system with great gods who did us all miracles every year. The mystic knew that our gods would die along with us if we should lose, and it looked like we were about to. So he put a spell on me, one that shall never end. He made it so that I will live forever and carry on the word of our great kingdom. I shall never die, and so our history and our memory shall never fade.

"The army killed everyone and destroyed our cities, erasing nearly everything. They tried to kill me as well, but seeing that I could not die they buried me deep in the ground. There I remained, unable to move and unable to die for thousands of years. It was worse than any torture ever thought up, young Doble. And then, finally one hundred years ago I was dug up. I immediately left and found my way here, to a place where I could live with others who are deemed too strange for normal Earth society. And here I remain, attempting to tell the story of my kingdom, now forgotten except for me."

He stopped and looked at Royden expectantly.

"Ok," Royden said slowly, "but, um, what does that have to do with the black suit?"

"While living here I was visited multiple times by them. They promised that if I am to wear the black suit every night then the history of my great kingdom will be revealed for the world to know again."

"Who's them? Who is telling you to do this? Why are you putting people in a coma?"

"Young Doble, I cannot say who I am working for."

"Yes you can, I need to know. We need to stop them. You need to stop wearing that suit."

Hofrora held out his left hand. A black ring glistened on his index finger. "This is the suit." He said calmly. "I cannot take it off. Every night it opens and the suit engulfs me. I then awaken outside somewhere after the suit retracts. I have no memory of what I do when the suit is on, and I cannot take it off."

"Can't you cut if off?"

Hofrora shook his head. "The ring is impenetrable, as is my skin. If there is a way to destroy it I do not know what it is?"

"Then just tell me who made you wear it? Do they live in the building?"

"I cannot tell you. The suit has a spell on it. If I even think about saying their name then I will be sent into endless pain that would kill anyone else. I do not want to experience another eternity of pain, young Doble."

"Can you at least tell me what they are planning?"

"I cannot."

Royden tried to think of someway around this, but could not. He didn't want Hofrora to have to deal with endless pain, but he feared that all of Earth might if he didn't find out who was behind it. He suddenly got an idea.

"I have to go, Hofrora, thank you very much for your time."

Hofrora nodded. "You will tell of my kingdom, won't you?"

"I will." Royden promised.

Down on the first floor Royden knocked on the manager's office door. It opened and Mr. Bringum let him in.

"I'm surprised to see you here on a holiday, Royden. How are things?"

"I know who the black suit is."

"The person that attacked you?"

"Yes." Royden pressed on. "It's Hofrora, the bald guy on the fifth floor."

"Hofrora? He's a human, how would he have a dimensional crystal? You did say that this black suit followed you through dimensions, right?"

"Yes, he's working for someone but he can't say who it is. He keeps saying 'them'. It's a group of people but I can't figure out who it is."

Someone else knocked on the door. Mr. Bringum opened it. It was Mr. Tezera.

"Bringum, I need—" He suddenly stopped when he saw Royden. "I'm sorry, I'll come back later."

"No need, what do you want, Tezera?"

Mr. Tezera continued to stare at Royden. "I need to know if my family and I should leave for a while. I'm afraid somebody from the building is putting those people in a coma. If they start doing it here, I think the building should be evacuated. Is there any chance it's that horrible monster in the pool?"

"No, no, Pooly would have just eaten them. But Royden here does have a lead on who might be behind this."

Now they both stared at Royden. "It's Hofrora from the fifth floor." He repeated. "He's working for someone, but won't say who it is."

"It could be anyone in the multiverse." Mr. Tezera pointed out. "I think we would be better off going home."

"Not yet." Mr. Bringum said. "I don't want people to panic here. We'll have to keep Hofrora someplace safe tonight so he can't get out . . . just in case." He added quickly.

"The ghosts and I can try and find out what we can in the building, to see if anyone knows anything." Royden suggested.

"Good idea." Mr. Bringum said. "Somebody must know something."

Royden went back up to his apartment. His parents decided they wanted to go to the mall for a while. Royden didn't want to go at first, but decided that the break might be just what he needed before looking for whoever Hofrora was working for.

It felt strange being out with normal people again. It didn't take long for Royden to be able to push all the weirdness from his mind. There were times at the mall when he actually felt that everything that had happened over the past week wasn't real and he dreamed it all. He came crashing back to reality when he arrived back at the apartment building that night. Just the sight of the building reminded him that despite how bizarre everything had been, it was unfortunately all real.

# Chapter 15

One of Royden's parents, he wasn't sure which one, shook him awake early the next morning.

"Come on, Roys, it's time for school."

Royden pushed them away and tried to get back to sleep. They kept coming in to shake him awake, and finally his dad pulled him from the bed and stood him up.

"You don't want to be late, do you?"

Royden could think of a million things he'd rather do then go to school. Not even Pooly sounded bad compared to school.

Twenty minutes later Royden stepped on the school bus a couple blocks down the street, outside a different apartment building. He sat in the front of the bus right behind the driver, staring out the window mindlessly. He completely forgot where his classes were and had to rummage through his bag to find his schedule, which thankfully he did not throw away.

If asked he couldn't say what happened in any of his classes. He paid so little attention that he found himself sitting in an empty math class several minutes after everyone, including the teacher, left for lunch.

It felt like starting all over at a new school again. Nothing looked familiar, not the classrooms, not the faces, not even the subjects. It took him halfway through history to figure out what time period he was studying. He promised himself that if everything got squared away at home he would try better in school. Away from the craziness of the Discovery Apartments he didn't realize how foolish that promise was.

Thankfully the longest school day ever came to an end. Royden felt a little better while sitting on the bus on the way home, and even said goodbye to the bus driver on his way off, something he never did.

His parents weren't home yet, giving him several hours to start his interrogations. He had no idea where to start and decided he would ask people he found in the hallways before knocking on doors. Who knew what could be behind some of those? He feared that he might end up being roped into something strange like he was when he met Millie.

The halls were strangely vacant. Royden wondered if Mr. Tereza got his way and evacuations really did begin. He finally found somebody on the ninth floor, but it was only Mr. Bringum.

"Ah, Royden, home from school already?"

"Yes."

"I thought you might like to know that we kept Hofrora in a special locked room last night."

"Oh really?" Royden asked, hoping to be verified of his concerns.

"Yes, and he escaped."

"What?" Said Royden in disbelief. "How?"

"Well that suit is incredibly strong once it's on. He blew right through the door and ran outside. Several more people are in a coma now."

"What do we do now?"

Mr. Bringum sighed, he looked worn and tired. "We have to find out who he's working for. I went through the list of residents today and I don't think it's anybody here. Of course somebody still might know something. The ghosts and I are trying everywhere. Why don't you start in the basement and work your way up. We'll meet on the fourth floor or so."

There really wasn't anywhere to look on the basement level. He didn't want to speak with the mermaids and siren, and wasn't sure if anybody else lived down there. He found the laundry room, looked around, and turned to go.

"Hello dear." A kind voice said.

Royden turned back and saw Ms. Carol sitting in a chair reading a book. She must have had a lot of laundry to do, Royden saw her there every time he went.

"Oh, hello." He said.

"What brings you here, dearie?"

"Nothing, I just—" He figure he might as well ask. "Do you know anything about the man in the black suit that runs around at night?"

She hummed quietly under her breath as she thought. "Can't say I do."

"Oh, alright."

"Unless." She said, standing up. The humming stopped, her face turned dark and serious. "Unless you mean the black suit that springs out of the little black ring."

Royden took a step back. He felt something sinister growing in the room. "That's it." He whispered.

"I don't know who has it, it was stolen from me."

"It's yours?"

"It was."

Royden backed up into the hallway. He took one look at the door at the end of the hall and quickly returned to the bright lights of the laundry room. "Do you know who stole it from you?" He got another idea. "Was it the Morrids? Did they steal it?" It made sense that the Morrids could be the 'them' he seeked.

"Oh no, this was a full grown human, or similar species. They stole it right from around my neck as I slept. I woke to find the necklace it was on broken on the floor. That ring is extremely powerful. It holds a very powerful force."

"What can you tell me about it?"

Ms. Carol smiled mysteriously. "I love the name Royden."

Royden didn't know what to say. "Ok." He hardly knew why his name mattered. "What can you tell me about it?"

"What day is it?" She asked.

"Um, well it's the day after Easter, I don't know, the twelfth I think."

"Oh, Easter, that's right, it was near Easter." She mused quietly to herself.

"Uh-huh." Royden wanted very much to stay on topic.

"Why don't you go check out room P3?"

"Where is that?"

"It's on the penthouse level."

"I can't get to the penthouse, I don't have a key."

Ms. Carol held up a key. "Now you do."

"Royden looked at it suspiciously. "I only need to learn about the black suit and the ring."

"This is the only way to really know about it." Ms. Carol smiled creepily.

Royden took the key and studied it. "You're sure this will lead to something about the black suit and ring?"

"I promise."

He shrugged and put it in his pocket. "All right, I'll check it out."

"Badchi." Said Ms. Carol, her voice grew rough.

"Sorry?"

Ms. Carol smiled kindly as though she hadn't said a thing. Royden rolled his eyes and went to the elevator.

If only the people around there would actually say what they knew and didn't keep so many crazy secrets. Royden felt like things would go so much smoother if he didn't have to go places blind.

Once in the elevator Royden put the key in, turned it, and hit the button for the penthouse. It lit up and the elevator began to move. It took a long time to get up there. Nobody got in, no ghosts appeared, and the elevator didn't stop on the thirteenth floor. And still Royden felt like he was in there for a very long time.

The doors finally opened on the penthouse level and he got out. It looked a lot different than the floors below. The carpet was red and didn't look dingy in the least. The doors all had fancy knockers and were thick wood, as opposed to the thick cardboard looking doors below.

Royden found P3 and knocked. No one answered. He tried the door. It was unlocked. He peeked in. For a penthouse apartment in looked very small. It was only one room, but had many doors. In fact every inch of wall, ceiling, and floor was covered with doors. The boy slipped into the room and kept the door to the hall open a crack so he knew which one it was.

He tried a few of the doors covering the walls. All of them were locked. He put his hands on his waist and tapped his foot. He didn't see how any of this could help him discover the secrets to the black suit or who controlled it. And then one of the doors on the floor opened on its own. A man dressed as an old bellhop appeared next to the now open door.

"Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments." The man said, looking very bored.

"Yes." Royden said slowly, afraid something bad was going to jump out of the door at any moment.

"The Time Room sees fit to instruct you on the protocol since this is your first time. Your visit shall last only ten minutes provided that you do not die. Dying in the Time Room is strictly prohibited and if you die you will not be allowed back."

"I'm sorry, but what on Earth are you talking about?"

The bored bellhop gave a long sigh and continued. "The Time Room requests that you empty your pockets of any coins or bills dated after 1965. You are permitted to bring any coins dated prior to 1965 with you. Did you bring any?"

"I don't have any money with me." Royden confessed, feeling very confused.

"The Time Room does not allow you to bring back any items. If you do bring back—"

"Sorry to interrupt, but can you please tell me what a Time Room is?"

The man looked very sour indeed. "The Time Room has been reserved for this time slot by a Susanna Carol for Mr. Royden Dobe of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments. The date was entered into the Time Room database on June 1, 1982, the same date Ms. Susanna Carol moved into Laundry Room Discovery Apartments. You are Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments?"

"Yes, but I don't get what I'm supposed to do."

"Royden Doble of the—"

"Would you stop with that!"

"Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments has been given a time slot for the Time Room for today April 12 at 4:25 P.M. It was entered into the Time Room database on June—"

"I get the idea!" Royden shouted. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

The bellhop grimaced. "The Time Room does not know why each time slot is made. The Time Room only knows that a time slot has been made. This door will take Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments to April 12, 1965 for approximately ten minutes."

"Hold it." Royden said, putting his hand up. "Are you saying that I'm going back in time?"

"The Time Room is a service for time travel." The bellhop said through barred teeth. "Time slots are made by people who have had time travelers visit them in the past so the same time travelers may visit in the future."

Royden scratched his head. "Are you saying that the person visited by a time traveler has to tell you that they are going to visit before the time traveler even knows that they want to?"

"Yes, and in the case of Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments, well before the time traveler is even born."

"That's trippy." Royden said in awe. "So I just go into the thing here?" He asked, walking up to look into the doorway.

A breeze gently blew up from the depths of a dark metal tube.

"Yes. You have ten minutes."

Royden sat down on the edge of the tube. "How will I get back?"

"A door will lead you to another one of these."

"Ok cool, so I guess Ms. Carol wants to tell me about the ring in the past. Or maybe she wants to give it to me for safe keeping for the future."

"We at the Time Room do not know the exact reason for the time travelling." The bellhop droned monotonously.

"Right, of course."

Royden pushed himself to the edge and dropped down into the tube.

# Chapter 16

A rush of warm air met his face as the metal tube turned sharply to the left. Royden slid down at great speeds, unable to stop or even slow himself. He fell for several minutes in darkness. He feared that he might crash into a wall and brought his feet up to his chest. Very suddenly his body stopped all motion. It should have hurt to stop so suddenly and yet it didn't.

Royden found himself standing someplace dark. Something soft rubbed against the side of his face. He touched it. It felt like fur. His hands reached out and found a handle. He opened the door to the closet he was in and looked around a small bedroom.

It was a mess. A bed rested on end against the wall with torn sheets and pillow stuffing all over the room. Long thick scratch marks marred the walls and floor. Books lay torn and a dresser lay smashed all over the small room.

Royden carefully stepped out of the closet. This definitely wasn't any sort of place he thought he would come out to in 1965. There must have been a mistake. He must have done something wrong and ended up somewhere else. Why would Ms. Carol send him back to this mess?

A sound jolted him to attention. Something heavy slid across the floor somewhere in the house. Royden wrung his hands, he felt more scared now than he ever did before.

The sound started and stops in short intervals. It came from below him, directly below. All at once a loud bang rang out. Royden grabbed the doorway of the closet for support. Whatever was down there dropped something heavy.

Another sound came to him from below. A faint tapping. It must have been loud because he could hear it all the way from where he was. It buzzed on in perfect intervals. With every fifth or sixth tap the sound grew just a little closer. It was such an infinitesimal movement, but he could tell it grew closer.

Royden only had ten minutes. Whatever was in that house with him might know something important. He needed to find out why Ms. Carol would send him there.

He slowly crept to the door of the room and looked out into the hall. The long scratch marks he had seen covered the walls and floor. They led to a room down the hall.

Halfway to that room Royden came across three holes bored into the wall. Something dark seeped out. He glanced to the door. From where he stood he could make out a bed with sheets torn. The walls were smeared with dark red. On the bed he caught a glimpse of something. He jumped in shock at the grizzly image when he deciphered it with his mind. His feet stepped back automatically and the floor creaked.

Royden Doble stood very still. The tapping stopped downstairs. Through the tense air he could tell something listened closely. For the longest time both Royden and this something else listened intently for the other to make a sound. Neither did.

For a crazy moment Royden wanted to call out and find out for certain if the noises came from something sinister or if it was all in his mind. Clearly the state of the house was not just in his mind and he decided to avoid any sounds.

The boy followed the scratch marks with his eyes. They went all over but seemed to follow some sort of pattern. They all appeared to be leading to something, a door at the end of the hall. It stood out among the rest of the house because it was scratch free. Something behind that door must have some type of answer.

Cautiously he made his way over to it. He picked up yet another sound, this one softer than all the rest. It was rhythmic, musical even. It came from downstairs. Royden tried to ignore it. What he wanted was behind that scratch free door, he knew it.

The handle twisted and the door squeaked open. The room was bare and dark. An object sat in the very center of the floor. As Royden's eyes adjusted he saw that it was a little person with long brown hair shaking in a huddled mass. Royden stepped forward.

"Hey." He whispered.

The face of a scared little girl shot up and looked at Royden.

"What's the matter? What's going on here?"

The girl put her head back in her hands and began to rock back and forth.

Royden kneeled down beside her. "What is it?" He asked as quietly as he could.

The girl mumbled something incoherently.

"What's that?"

She mumbled it a bit louder but still he could not here it.

He leaned in close. "One more time."

"Badchi." The girl said, her voice shaking.

"What is that?" Royden asked soothingly.

Something shifted in the room. A nauseating feeling of dread and pressure filled the space. Royden turned his head with difficulty toward the doorway where the presence emanated. The door stood wide open with something standing in the frame. Royden's breath caught somewhere in his throat. This man, he looked somewhat like a man, was unlike anything he had ever seen. Its body was pale white with thin black stripes running down the course of it. It had no discernable features in its face except for its eyes, which were large and dark. Black make up covered the eyes in an intricate diamond pattern. The makeup ran all the way down its cheeks in thick black lines that stood out from the others. It looked like it had been crying. Its mouth, a thin line, curved in a deep frown. It looked very sad. It wore shorts that bulged like onions just above the knees. It croaked out an unusual sound. It kept repeating the sound. Royden had difficulty with it but eventually heard it as words.

"Ba—d—chil—dren" It repeated over and over. Its voice was high pitched and hoarse, the shrill sound swiftly disappeared into the air.

The girl rocked back and forth quickly, mumbling under her breath. Royden stood up bravely and faced the thing.

"This isn't your house." He said courageously. "Get out now."

The thing, which Royden realized must be known as Badchi, lowered its head. Its thin mouth trembled and the thick black lines below its eyes grew thicker as tears streamed down. Its hands, which Royden now saw had long thick claws, rose up and covered its face. It whined softly for a minute, continuing the same two words over and over.

"Ba—d—chil—dren"

Royden felt a little stronger. This thing looked weak, afraid. He had the upper hand now. "Go on, get out of here." He turned to the little girl. "Come on, get up, I can get you out of here."

She pulled away from his grasp.

"Come on, I can help you."

She still refused to even look at him.

"Get up, now!" He roared.

The thing in the doorframe continued its incessant whining. It got into Royden's mind. He could hear little apart from the thing's shrill cries and the constant notes of "Ba—d—chil—dren". It looped around and Royden couldn't tell which part of the words he was listening to.

The girl wouldn't look up from her hands. Royden grew tired of her refusal to get up and got down and pulled her off the floor. He held her tight. She buried her face in his shirt and shook violently.

"Hey!" He yelled at Badchi.

It brought its hands down and quit whining. The thing stared at Royden with its sad eyes.

"Move." Royden said calmly.

To his immense surprise Badchi sidestepped out of sight.

Royden went to the door and looked out. An inch from his face stood Badchi, knelt down to be face to face with him. Royden froze for a moment in fear. He stared deep into the endless darkness of Badchi's eyes. Slowly the boy pulled his head back, unable to look away from the devilishly pale face and devilishly dark eyes. Badchi didn't move. It remained as still as can be. Its eyes showed no signs of life.

Royden held on tight to the little girl and walked backwards down the hall. Badchi didn't move, its eyes still transfixed on the spot Royden had been.

Finding it within himself with great difficulty, Royden pulled his eyes away from Badchi and took off down the hall. A great rush of air filled the whole house. It blew from every direction at once. He turned back through the torrent. Badchi's thin mouth slowly separated. Its lips stretched apart revealing long silver pins. The lips continued up and down its face until Badchi's eyes disappeared and all that was left on its head was the long pins pointed to the ceiling, now showing their sharp tips. Royden shook as violently as the little girl. His jaw clenched tightly.

Badchi let out a high gargled "Ba—d—chil—dren", lowered its head, and with the pins pointed at Royden it flashed down the hall. Royden jumped out of the way as Badchi collided with the wall. It turned on a dime and faced him again.

The boy sprinted through the hall and tore down a splintered and broken set of stairs. There didn't seem to be any way out of the house. There were no windows, no doors to the outside. He ran behind the counter in the kitchen and looked out, holding on to the girl with all his might.

The wind died down. Everything became still.

"How do we get out of here?" He asked softly.

"We can't." The girl said. She seemed to be starting to trust him.

"Where are we?"

"In its house." She said through tears.

"Its house? You don't live here?"

"No. This isn't my house. It brought us here. It looks like ours, but it's not. We woke up here."

"Who."

"Me and my parents."

"Where are they?"

She buried her face into his shirt. He remembered the scene from that one bedroom and felt bad for asking. "I hope the bellhop can find me. I came here from the future."

She looked up at him. "Why?"

"I guess to save you, are you Susanna?"

She nodded.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Miss Susanna."

She held on tight. Royden could tell she was giving him a hug. He squeezed her in return.

The tapping returned. The music returned as well. Something sang softly in the quiet house. It sounded haunting.

Royden suddenly got an idea. "The thing, it didn't claw at the door you were behind, why?"

"It doesn't want to hurt me." Susanna said.

"Why?"

"It needs me."

"For what?"

The singing stopped. The tapping grew closer. It came from above, on the ceiling.

"Then why is it coming for us now?" Royden wondered aloud.

"It's only after you."

Royden set Susanna down. "If that's the case then I need to get out of here. But why would you send me back?"

"I didn't."

"You will. Do you know of a black ring that can turn into a black suit?"

She nodded. Royden didn't notice. Badchi clawed at a wall in the next room. It didn't seem to be in any type of hurry.

"Something here must be a clue to the black ring and whoever is putting people in a coma. But what?"

Susanna shrugged.

Badchi appeared in the living room within sight of the kitchen. The pins were gone, its head was back to normal. It stepped carefully around the mess of destroyed furniture and claw marks. It moved slowly and rhythmically as if dancing. It continued to sing softly to itself. Occasionally it picked up a piece of wood and dropped it again. Its movements made it look confused and lost.

"That creature must know something." Royden whispered. He felt stronger again. He came out from behind the counter and faced it. "Badchi!" Called the boy loudly. "Why are you here? What are you trying to do?"

The thing turned and faced him. Its lip quivered and it began to cry again.

"That won't work, Badchi. You have to tell me what you're doing here."

Ba—d—chil—dren" it croaked through tears.

All at once Badchi's needle teeth reappeared and replaced its head. The pins extended until they were several feet long. Badchi roared loudly, shaking the whole house.

Royden ran back up the stairs. He didn't know what to do or where to go. He knew that Susanna was safe, but what about him? Why on Earth would Ms. Carol send him there? Maybe it was a trap. Maybe she sent him there just like the siren sent him to Pooly's.

He went into the room he arrived in and closed the door. Only a second later Badchi's teeth shot through the door. Royden backed up to the closet and watched as Badchi tore the door apart trying to get in.

The closet door opened and a tube appeared. Royden jumped into it as Badchi ran across the room toward him.

# Chapter 17

"Why?!" Royden bellowed on the floor of the Time Room, still shaking.

"The Time Room does not know—"

"Oh shut it!"

Royden got up and left. He got in the elevator and went down to the basement. Ms. Carol sat in a chair in the laundry room, reading.

"Hey, what was that all about?"

Ms. Carol smiled. "How was it?"

"Terrible, that horrible thing tried to kill me."

Ms. Carol put her book down. "I didn't know how much to tell you."

"Something would have been nice."

Ms. Carol motioned for Royden to sit next to her, he shook his head. "That thing is called Badchi. It is a demon of some sort. It haunted me for over a year when I was little. Finally one day I woke up and my family and I had been taken to a house similar to ours but different, there was no way out. Badchi killed my parents and kept me scared in that room until you found me in. I was amazed when you appeared and tried to help me. But then you left."

"I didn't know what to do."

"But then you came back."

Royden folded his arms. "I came back?"

"Yes."

"Are you telling me that . . .?"

"You have to go back."

"I'm not going back."

"You have to, you already did."

"I haven't done a thing."

"You've already done it." Ms. Carol said patiently.

"I'm not going back." Royden said loudly and clearly. "Today's Monday, right? All I have to do is tell Mr. Bringum that I'm done and I can go back to a regular life. I'm definitely not going back to take on that horrible thing."

"What was your life like before?" Ms. Carol asked, giving Royden a sideways glance. "Was it really any better?"

Royden tapped his foot. "It was better than this."

Ms. Carol breathed deeply. "You came back later that day. You fought Badchi. You were stronger."

"And did I win?"

Ms. Carol pursed her lips.

"Did I win?" Royden repeated, growing very annoyed.

"He has something there." Said Ms. Carol critically. "He has something that he keeps his soul in. We will destroy it."

"And if I don't?"

Ms. Carol smiled as though she were trying to get a small child to understand something they couldn't quite believe. "You will."

Royden pounded his foot against the ground in dismay. "And what if I don't?"

"I don't think you realize how this works. You can't change the past. Everything that you will do has already happened. Everything has already been changed. You just need to go back and do it."

Royden grew very frustrated. This conversation wasn't going anywhere. "I am not going to do anything of the sort. I'm through here, I'm going to tell Mr. Bringum right now that I want out."

Royden ran out before Ms. Carol could say anything. He had no intention of going anywhere near that Time Room again. He felt bad for young Susanna Carol, but she seemed safe there. Badchi evidently wouldn't kill her.

He pressed the button for the elevator. The doors opened to a dark tube. The bellhop appeared.

"Royden Doble of the—"

"Oh no." Royden lamented.

"—fifth floor Discovery Apartments—"

"No, no, I can't."

"—has a time slot for the Time Room—"

"I'm not going!" Royden yelled.

"—made for him on June 1, 1982 by Susanna Carol."

Royden put his face in his hands and groaned.

"For this time slot Susanna Carol has included one article of clothing, a reflector button."

Royden glanced through his fingers. "A what?"

"A reflector button." The bellhop said. He could tell Royden didn't know what that was. "A reflector button is a defensive shield that helps beings stay alive when they have to go through unsavory places with danger."

"A shield."

The bellhop nodded.

"And this thing will keep me safe?"

The bellhop nodded again.

Royden thought for a minute. This thing might be all he needed to find whatever Badchi's soul was kept in. It was worth a shot.

The boy took the button, which looked like any ordinary button, and put it on his shirt. A jolt of adrenaline shot through him. "Let's go." He jumped into the tube.

Royden stepped from the closet. The door to the room lay in pieces. He bypassed it and went straight to the room without scratch marks. Susanna sat in the center of the floor again.

"I'm back." Royden whispered, sitting down next to the girl.

Something close to a smile crept across her face for only a moment. "Thank you."

"I'm going to get rid of that thing."

The strange singing of Badchi met their ears. It came from the first floor. Royden glared at the floor. He stood up slowly, hoped that pin would work as promised, and started for the creature.

"Wait, where are you going?" Asked Susanna, terrified.

"I'm stronger now, thank you."

Susanna looked confused. Royden went out into the hall and walked casually to the stairs. Badchi danced slowly around the living room, singing in a gargled shrill voice. Royden stepped down on each step loudly. Badchi turned and watched. It still looked sad.

"Ba—d—Chil—dren" It choked.

Royden felt braver than ever. That pin changed everything. With it on he was practically immortal. "You're done here, Badchi. You won't hurt anybody again."

The thing frowned, but this time it didn't cry. It studied Royden with its dead eyes for a moment. Something changed in Badchi's appearance. It looked ready for him, ready for a challenge. It lashed its claws and opened its thin mouth slightly to show the silvery pins.

Royden didn't back down. That button worked wonders. He was no longer afraid. He knew he couldn't die. The idea that he had already done this before also helped his confidence. He saved Susanna once, he could do it again.

Badchi arched its back. Its claws twitched at the ready. Suddenly it jolted toward Royden, who dropped to the ground as Badchi collided with the stairs. Royden jumped up, grabbed a chair leg from the ground, and readied himself.

The creature let out a shriveled cry and glared around, its dead eyes searching for meaning. Its mouth opened wider, it came at the boy again. Royden dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way. This time Badchi changed its direction mid jump and came down on him.

Claws flailed to no avail. The button worked, Royden didn't feel a thing.

The boy stabbed the creature with the torn chair leg. Badchi let out a high pitched cry every time, eventually jumping away.

It latched to the ceiling and crawled like a giant insect around the ceiling, letting out soft moans. Its head turned every which way. What was it looking for?

Royden took this time to scan the room, looking for something that it might keep its soul in. What would a demon use for that sort of thing? It would have been nice if Ms. Carol told him.

He checked around a torn up couch and under some of the broken furniture, but nothing looked suitable.

Badchi tore its hand through the ceiling and Susanna yelled from above. The demon bore right through the wood boards in an attempt to grab the girl.

"Hey!" Royden shouted. He threw broken furniture at it, but nothing made it stop. "Susanna, run down the hall. Don't let it get you."

The demon shot a look at Royden, its teeth took up half its face now and continued to push its eyes and forehead back.

Footsteps led out of the room and down the hall on the second floor. Royden ran into the kitchen and looked around. Every drawer was empty. Besides the furniture nothing else was in the house.

He heard Badchi climb up the stairs and followed. Susanna stood at the end of the hall, her face in her hands.

The demon slowly walked up to her, muttering its familiar phrase, its voice warped and twisted.

Royden sprinted up and tackled it to the ground. It tried to pull away but couldn't break free of Royden's grasp. It seemed to have very little physical strength outside of its claws.

"It's soul!" Royden shouted. "What does it keep it in?"

Susanna slid down the wall to the floor, she was shaking severely.

Royden pushed the demon's head into the floor as it flailed around trying to break free. Its teeth took the place of its head and waved in the air like antenna. They scratched at his skin but didn't hurt.

The boy gave the demon a great shove and leaped off of it. He grabbed Susanna, hoping the button would protect her as well, and went into the room with the closet he appeared in.

Nothing in the room or the closet looked the least bit plausible for the demon to keep its soul in.

The air grew still again. Royden listened carefully for any signs of the demon. Nothing met his ears, not even singing or tapping.

"I want you to stay in this closet, alright? You'll be safe here. I'm going to kill that thing."

"You sure?" Susanna hiccupped.

"Positive."

Royden went across the hall to the room where Susanna's parents died. There was no trace of Badchi in the hall.

The walls were smeared with red. The bed was torn to bits. He tried not to look at it. He made his way around, looking for anything that might be of use, anything out of the ordinary. Still he could not find anything.

The singing returned. It was louder now. It came closer every second. Royden didn't care. He wanted Badchi to find him, with that button he could take him on again and again and it didn't matter.

The boy continued his search in the parents' bedroom. Surely it had to be there. He was running out of places to look.

And then he thought of something twisted and wrong. Very slowly he glanced at the bed. He covered his mouth as the sight appeared front and center in his vision. The bodies were torn and disfigured, but there was something else. Right on Mr. Carol's face lay a book. Royden held his breath and inched over to it. He grabbed it and jumped away.

It was a children's book. He didn't recognize it. He flipped through the pages. Every single one had a drawing of Badchi. It looked like a child drew them. Some were colored in, some were just stick figures.

He then noticed something else. Mrs. Carol wore a shiny black ring on her index finger. It was the same ring the black suit came out of. Royden pulled it from her finger without difficulty and put it on his own. Nothing happened.

Royden breathed a sigh of relief. He was almost certain the book held Badchi's soul. He felt a strange sadness emanating from it. Now to destroy it.

Right as everything seemed to come together the worst possible thing happened. The surge of strength and courage Royden felt suddenly dissipated. The button fell to the floor with a loud clank.

"No, no, no—what's wrong?" Royden breathed exasperatedly as he picked up the button and tried to put it back on his shirt. It wouldn't go. "Oh come on!" He protested fiercely.

The singing stopped. Royden felt a sudden jolt of immeasurable fear. He shuddered as the figure of Badchi stepped slowly into view in the doorway. Its mouth was closed now.

Its dreadfully dead eyes looked to the bed. The demon began to cry again.

Royden kept completely still. Badchi moved its head slightly. Its eyes now rested on Royden.

Without warning Badchi's head disappeared and the long silvery pins took its place. The demon lurched toward the boy. Royden threw himself down. Badchi's claws swiped at his calf. Royden took off out the door and down the stairs. He slid behind the counter in the kitchen. His calf bled profusely.

He took the book in both hands and tugged at it. It wouldn't rip.

Badchi landed with a great force on top of the counter and let out an ear splitting shriek. Royden ran to the stove and turned it on high. Small flames erupted out from it. He shoved the book in. Badchi let out another shriek, this time in pain.

The demon leapt from the counter. It landed behind Royden and drove its claws into his ankle. Royden fell to the ground, the book landed on the floor beside him. Badchi pulled Royden away from the stove and through the kitchen. With great effort he threw the book to the stove. It landed behind the lit burner.

The demon dragged Royden through the living room. Strangely Royden glanced down at the claws in his ankle but didn't feel anything. His body was in shock.

"Susanna!" He screeched. His voice was hoarse and barely made it out. "Susanna!" He continued on.

Badchi's head returned and it looked up as Susanna appeared at the top of the stairs. She took one look at Royden and disappeared.

"Susanna, go to the kitchen, destroy the book." Royden croaked.

She reappeared. Badchi watched intently as she slowly made her way down the stairs. She couldn't take her eyes away from the demon that haunted her for so long.

At the bottom of the stairs she ran into the kitchen. Badchi must have realized what was happening because it ran after her. Royden threw a piece of a chair. It made contact with the thing's head and it faltered for just a second.

Badchi suddenly shrieked in agony and covered its face with its clawed hands. The demon erupted in flames. It staggered around and rammed its head into the wall. Susanna came out of the kitchen and watched through tears, a valiant look on her face.

The demon fell to the ground and writhed in pain. Its body grew smaller until nothing at all was left. The fire disappeared. A wisp of smoke rose gently into the air. It formed into a little ball and floated there for a few seconds. It shot across the room and into the black ring Royden wore. He pulled the thing off as quickly as he could. The ring bounced on the floor a few times and then stopped. Soft singing came out of it and faded away.

Royden tried to get up but couldn't. His head swam and his vision was full of blotches. He fell back and lay sprawled on the floor. Susanna ran over but stopped short. She glanced up. Royden heard someone say something from above somewhere. He closed his eyes and fell out of consciousness.

# Chapter 18

Royden sat up and rubbed his eyes. His hands immediately went to his ankles, which felt fine.

"You sent me back at the perfect time." A friendly and familiar voice said.

Royden looked for who the voice belonged to. He sat on a couch in a house that looked similar to the one he was just in. It must be the real Carol house. Alice from the Discovery Apartments sat next to him. She always seemed to be exactly where she was needed. Susanna Carol sat on his other side.

"The thing's gone." Alice said. She held up the black ring. "It sealed itself in this ring. It's too weak to do anything. Someone must recharge it somehow in the future. So now we know what controls the suit. Where did your family get this, Susanna?" She asked the little girl.

"My mom used it when she delivered medicine in other dimensions."

"You're not human?" Royden asked.

"My dad is, my mom's not." She looked at the floor sadly.

"Hey," Alice said, "one day you'll see them again. You know where I work there are ghosts all around. Come by sometime and see them."

Susanna nodded without looking up.

"But that demon thing—where did that come from?" Royden asked, shaking at the thought.

"I don't know, it just appeared." Susanna said.

Royden took the ring and handed it to Susanna. "I want you to keep very good care of this ring, alright? Make sure you don't let anyone else take it. And be extra careful when you sleep." He turned to Alice. "Can't we take it back with us? That'll change the future, won't it?"

Alice shook her head. "You don't want to mess with things like that. We keep that ring and you might not ever be born. Time is tricky like that."

Royden held out his hand for Susanna to shake. "My name is Royden Doble, we'll see each other again one day."

Susanna shook his hand. "I hope so."

The front door of the house opened and the bellhop appeared next to a dark tube. "Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments, your time is up. You must return to your own time now."

Royden hopped off the couch. "See you in fifty years, Susanna. And sometime much sooner, Alice." He nodded encouragingly to Susanna and left 1965 behind.

"I would like to create a time slot." Royden told the bellhop when he arrived in the Time Room.

"For who and for when?"

"Alice of—I don't know—room 106 Discovery Apartments for—let's see—tomorrow morning."

"A time slot for Alice of—I don't know—room 106 Discovery Apartments for—let's see—tomorrow morning? Does that sound right?" The bellhop asked.

Royden chuckled. "That sounds great."

The bellhop disappeared.

Royden made his way down to room 106 and knocked. Alice answered. He told her that he made a time slot for her and said everything she might need to know. He then went down and talked with Ms. Carol for a while.

"It really was something meeting you here the other day. I remembered that you said fifty years and figured it should be around now."

"So what did you do with your life?" Royden asked.

"Alice took me to a relative's and I stayed there until I was an adult. I moved in here in '82. That's when I made the time slot for you."

"So what do you think someone might want with your ring?"

She shrugged. "I never thought someone would be able to control Badchi. I have no idea. Of course for years I hoped that I would find a place to hide it away forever, but none ever came up. I guess I shouldn't have had it on me."

"I wonder how anybody knew you had it." Royden mused.

"I probably told someone about it. I talk a little too much with some of the people that come down here to do their laundry."

"Do you really live here?" Royden asked, wondering why anyone would ever want to live in a laundry room.

"It's always bright in here. I've never really gotten over Badchi. I feel like a bright public place like this is a better place to live than a dark little apartment."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. And then, "Wait, did you say that you told someone about the ring here?"

"Yeah, sometimes I talk too much about my life, I really should stop that."

Royden jumped up, excited that a clue about whoever Hofrora worked for finally presented itself. "Did you talk to anybody else outside of this building about it?"

"I doubt it, I haven't left in years. Well sometimes I go up to see my parents on the thirteenth floor, but nowhere else."

Royden slapped his hands together. "That proves that whoever is controlling Badchi lives here. I have to go tell Mr. Bringum about it. Thanks, Susanna."

"Sure." She said, a little hurt that he had to leave already.

Royden knocked excitedly on Mr. Bringum's office door. He answered and Royden came right in and sat down.

"I got a clue about who's telling Badchi to put people in a coma."

Mr. Bringum sat down slowly in his chair. His clothes were disheveled and he looked more tired than ever. "What's that now? Who's got bad chi?"

"No, Badchi, it's a demon creature I fought." Royden said, for the first time feeling exceptionally proud about the weird things he had done. "It sealed itself in a little black ring fifty years ago. Somehow its being told to put people in a coma, remember? Its boss is the 'them' Mr. Hofrora talked about. I don't know who they are or what they're up to but I now think that they live in the building." Royden nodded, greatly impressed by his sleuthing abilities.

Mr. Bringum blinked slowly and stared at Royden. "I think you should leave the building now."

"What? But I'm on the case. I've never been closer. I think if we interrogate the groups of people living here—"

"You were right." Mr. Bringum interrupted. "You don't belong here. I feel terrible that I let your family move in. This building isn't for normal humans."

"Normal? I'm not normal anymore." Said Royden mightily. "I was when I moved in, but I'm not anymore. It's the knowledge that I have now that makes me different from a normal human. Remember my friend Millie? He was born a normal human but his knowledge and job make him more now. I'm the same way."

"No, no, you were right before." Mr. Bringum sighed, he sounded really exhausted. "I'm going to get Alice to wipe your memory and then you can leave. I'll get you a better apartment somewhere."

Royden stood up suddenly. "I'm not going anywhere."

Mr. Bringum put his face in his hands. "Hofrora put a lot of people in a coma last night. The news is all about how these people disappeared when the police got to each house. I'm going to evacuate the building. We can see if that stops it."

"Nothing can stop Hofrora in that suit. He can break out of anything and travel through dimensions. It doesn't matter where he is. Unless of course you can get him into some high security jail for a while in some other dimension until we find out who's responsible. Did you take his dimension crystal away?"

"He doesn't have one. It's the suit itself that can do it."

"That suit is really powerful."

"Whatever, I'm going to evacuate the building. Everyone is going home and your family is going to go back to normal life."

"I can't!" Royden shouted. "I'm this close! We can find out who's responsible."

Mr. Bringum stayed very calm. "Go get your stuff packed. I'm going to tell your parents to see me and Alice will wipe their minds in the morning."

"NO!"

"Royden!" Mr. Bringum roared with such authority that the boy instantly lost all confidence. "Go get your stuff packed now."

Royden reluctantly left the office. He went up to the fifth floor and sat on his bed. His parents weren't home yet. They must have had to stay late.

He had no intention of packing anything. He did however have intention to find out who was behind everything. He jumped from his bed and went out to investigate.

#  Chapter 19

Hofrora's apartment was open. Everything had been removed. Royden wondered where he was being kept now.

People on every floor were out and about talking with their neighbors about the evacuations. Royden saw all sorts of weird beings he had never seen before. Most looked like humans except for one or two strange additions. Some had tails or horns or were different colors. He didn't realize so many different beings lived there. It was going to be almost impossible to interrogate everyone before they left for their home dimensions or planets. He tried to talk with a few but they didn't speak any English. It really was going to be impossible.

Royden got in the elevator.

"Hey, Mr. Parrow, Flora, some ghost, are you there?"

No one answered. Royden tried to get the elevator to go up to the thirteenth floor but he didn't know how. After a while he gave up.

On the seventh floor someone came up to Royden. It was Jessa Tezera, Mr. Tezera's daughter who was around the same age as Royden.

"You're Royden Doble, right?" She asked.

"Yes." Royden said, wondering how everyone in the building seemed to know who he was.

"Cool." She said awkwardly. "It's nice to meet you."

Royden nodded and kept walking. He didn't have time to chat.

She followed. "You know some stuff about the weird things happening, don't you?"

"This is the Discovery Apartments, you're going to have to be more specific."

"The people in a coma. You know something, right?"

He stopped. "Maybe."

"My dad said that you thought it was Mr. Hofrora. You said that he was working for someone."

Royden looked at her suspiciously. "So?"

She smiled. "I think I can help."

Royden didn't believe her. If she knew something then her father probably did as well, and he was the one who started the idea of evacuating. "I'm busy now, try again later."

She looked at him expectantly. "You beat Pooly, right?"

"I didn't really beat it."

"And you beat the gremlins. No one can do that." She said excitedly.

"I got out alive both times—"

"That sounds like beating them to me."

Royden shrugged and went to the elevator.

"I know who Hofrora is working for."

Royden stopped, inches away from the down button. "You do?"

She folded her arms proudly. "Yes."

"I mean you really do?"

"Yes, but we can't talk about it here."

"Why not?"

"I'll explain on the way."

Royden sighed. It sounded like was going to end up in some sort of crazy adventure again. He hoped she was telling the truth. If he could get the information he needed he wouldn't have to leave the apartment building.

"Where are they?"

"They've already been sent back to their home, but we can see them there."

"And where is this home?"

She started away from him down the hall. "Let's go, I'll show you." She called back.

Royden followed uneasily. After dealing with Badchi he was weary about going to new places without prior knowledge of the place.

Jessa went to the end of the hall and stood by the trash chute.

"What now?" Royden asked.

She opened the metal door. A smelly breeze hit their faces.

Royden coughed. "Do we have to go down there?"

Jessa smiled and pulled a card key from her pocket. "Yes." She slid the card key across all four sides of the chute door. Shifting of metal could be heard down below somewhere. "You ready?"

"Not until you tell me what you just did."

"I made it so we don't end up landing in garbage."

She jumped head first into the trash chute. She gave a loud "yoo-hoo" before her voice disappeared.

"Jessa?" Royden hollered after her. She didn't respond. He climbed into the chute and stood on the edge. "This place has more secrets—" He slipped off the edge and hurtled down past all the floors. He braced for impact but none came. He continued to fall into the Earth. With no lights and no windows he had to trust that he wouldn't burn to death heading to the core.

The chute suddenly ended and he fell through the sky. Everything was blue around him with a few wispy clouds here and there. The ground came up to meet him. He closed his eyes, expecting the worst. All motion stopped. Royden opened his eyes and looked out upon a flat world with light purple grass. A yellow tree stood in the distance with bright orange leaves.

Jessa watched with fascination nearby. "It's always interesting to see how people react their first time." She said, half smiling.

"Where are we?"

"How many times have you asked that since you've lived in the Discovery?"

"Quite a few." Royden confessed.

"Some places are better without names." Said Jessa, looking out over the bizarre landscape. She threw her arm into the air. "Let's walk!"

The two kids hiked all over the place that day. Jessa led the way. After a while of walking one way she suddenly turned and started another way. She did this several times.

"Do you know where you're going?" Royden asked after several changes in direction.

"There's not exactly road signs." Jessa said haughtily.

"It's getting late, I'm sure." Royden said. There was no way to know in that world. He couldn't find a sun in the sky to tell the time.

"Time doesn't work here. You can stay here forever and never age or grow hungry. Exactly how you are when you come in is exactly how you will always stay."

"Really?" Despite everything he had been through, the idea of staying the same age forever sounded rather farfetched.

"Uh-huh, that's why the beings here like to go to other places. When they get tired of living they go somewhere else to live a few years and die. They don't live very long away from here."

"And I'm assuming they do live here, somewhere." Royden said testily.

"You need to learn to be patient, Den, I'll find the way eventually."

What followed was more of the same. Jessa went this way and that, never straying too far from the yellow tree with orange leaves. Nothing else could be seen above the purple grass in any direction.

After what felt like forever she finally chose a direction. "I think that's it."

"What's it." Royden asked, still not seeing anything anywhere.

Right before his eyes a dirt road cut through the purple grass ahead of them. It wound all over and disappeared into the distance. Far off in the direction the road went appeared more trees, popping out of the ground.

Jessa took off toward the newly sprouted trees. She hummed an upbeat tune happily the whole way. It looked like progress was finally being made.

Upon reaching the forest Jessa stopped and leaned against a tree. "Now let's set a few ground rules."

"How so?" Royden asked, amazed at the yellow trees with the bright orange leaves. They swayed so beautifully in the slight wind. Their leaves made soft sounds similar to flags blowing in the wind.

"We just entered the home of the Smurg Smurgles."

"The what now?"

"The Smurg Smurgles. They are the ones responsible for the recent activity in your world."

Royden started toward the center of the forest. "Then let's go meet them and see if we can't talk some sense into them."

"Hold it there, person man. You can't just jump right up to them."

"And why not?"

Jessa's eyes grew with wonder. "They're invisible."

Royden put his hands on his hips and bit his lip. "So what? We can still talk, right?"

"Um, not exactly. They don't really talk in any language. They sort of know what each other are doing without language."

Royden sighed deeply. "So we can't see them and they don't talk? Then why on Earth are they on Earth putting people into a coma?"

"They need to talk to do that?"

"I don't know." Royden said, growing annoyed. "How do you know they even exist then?"

She smiled creepily. "Oh, you'll know. They use their powers to throw people out. And I mean really throw them out."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

Jessa jumped from the tree and ran a few yards and then stopped. "Come on, let's see if we can find them. They might be able to listen even if they can't talk to us." She ran through the trees.

"Wait for me." Royden followed as fast as he could.

They ran deeper and deeper into the forest. Royden couldn't keep up and quickly fell behind. He promised himself that he would try harder in P.E. After a while of running he had a painful stitch in his side and had to stop. He caught his breath and walked on.

Jessa came out of the trees ahead of him. She tiptoed back over to him. "Here we are. They are all around, can you feel them?"

"Feel them?" Asked Royden breathlessly.

"Their presence. Can you feel it?"

The boy closed his eyes, expecting some force to become evident in his mind. "I can't really. . ."

"Shh."

He opened his eyes. Jessa looked all around, her mouth hanging open.

"They are near. They are coming closer. They're right here!"

Royden backed into a tree.

"I'll try to talk to them." She cleared her throat. "Smurg Smurgles can you understand me?" Nothing happened. "We are here from the Discovery Apartments, sent as envoys from the manager himself. We know that you are putting people into a coma all around the area near the Discovery and we respectfully ask you to stop."

Jessa Tezera unexpectedly rose into the air ten feet. "Whoa! They hear us!"

Royden grabbed a tree and hoped he wouldn't be lifted up as well.

"We will not tolerate any more of it." Jessa continued. "For the good of all the beings in the Discovery, you must stop. We cannot have anybody from Earth snooping around in there. As you know we cannot reveal ourselves to them yet. We do not want to cause a panic."

Jessa slowly came down a few feet. "Are you agreeing to stop?" Without warning she was flung from side to side in midair. "Stop, Stop!" She shrieked. She came to a stop. "Is there any way that you can tell us why you are doing this? Can you give us a sign somehow?"

For a few seconds everything was still. And then Jessa shot high into the air. She screamed. She then came hurtling back to the ground, stopping inches from crashing. The beings then did it again. Jessa flew back into the sky and then came speeding back down. This went on for several minutes. Royden grabbed hold of the tree as hard as he could and refused to let go.

Jessa stopped just above the ground, gave a desperate look to Royden, and then shot backwards through the trees in the direction they came from. Her yelling faded away and she was gone.

# Chapter 20

Royden held onto that tree for dear life. He refused to move for the longest time. He expected Jessa to come back somehow. The longer he waited the more he realized that she wasn't coming back.

Cautiously Royden let go of the tree. "I'm sorry if we offended you." He said slowly. "But we really need you to stop putting people into a coma." He winced, ready to be thrown around.

Nothing happened. He stepped gently in the direction Jessa was thrown. "I'm going to leave now."

He made up his mind to try and find Jessa and go back to the Discovery Apartments. They would then tell Mr. Bringum everything that happened and have him take care of it. Now that they knew these Smurg Smurgle characters were behind everything it shouldn't be too hard for stronger beings to stop them.

Royden made his way through the trees without any trouble. The beings must be alright with him leaving. He promised them that he wouldn't come back and started running towards where they threw Jessa.

He came out of the trees into the endless purple grass. Jessa Tezera was nowhere to be seen. The boy followed the road back to the lone tree they started next to. Still nothing.

He suddenly got an idea.

"Hey!" He yelled, feeling braver. "What did you do to her?"

He waited for some type of response but none came.

"Hey!" He shouted as loud as he could. "You losers messed up everything for me at home and I want you to fix it!"

Not a thing happened. Maybe he went too far from the trees. Royden jogged all the way back to where he last saw Jessa.

"What did you do with her?!"

He wanted something, some type of retaliation from them. He wanted them to throw him to where they threw Jessa. Royden yelled and carried on for a while with no consequences in the least.

Footsteps echoed through the quiet forest. Royden hid behind a tree just in case. A very old man limped onto the scene. Royden came out.

"Are you a Smurg?" He asked.

"A what?" The very old man asked. He had a long white beard and one of his eyes remained closed with a scar across it.

"A Smurg Smurgle."

"What is a Smurgle?" He asked. "I came over here to tell you to shut up. All these kids come here and carry on like idiots thinking nobody lives here. Well guess what, I do." Said the old man irritably.

"But the Smurg Smurgles, aren't you afraid they're gonna throw you around?" Royden asked.

"I'm going to tell you this once, boy, there ain't nothing called a Smurg Smurgle. Nothing in the whole multiverse is called that, you understandin'?"

"But—"

"Where are you from?" The man asked. "We speak the same language."

"I'm from Earth, from the Discovery Apartments."

"Oh, an Earthy kid, well you can go back to your apartments. I left that place behind and I am never going back."

"Why?"

The man looked taken aback. "Never you mind why, now get out of here."

"I don't know how. And besides I need to find my friend, she got thrown by—"

"By the smurgly things?"

"Yeah." Royden said feeling very embarrassed about the whole thing.

"I don't know what kinda game this is, but it ain't funny in the least. Now follow me and I'll get you out."

Royden followed the old man through the woods quietly. Surely Smurg Smurlges existed, what else could throw someone like that? Maybe they didn't mess with the old man because he didn't do anything to them.

They came out of the forest to another endless patch of purple grass. Only this one had a little wooden hut sitting nearby.

"Is this where you live?" Royden asked shyly.

"Do you see anywhere else I might live?" The man grumbled.

"No sir."

"That's right."

"Where are we? I mean, what is this place?"

"Who knows, all I know is I don't have to deal with people here . . . usually. I'm unfortunately immortal so the time difference doesn't bother me."

"I know someone who's immortal."

The man gave Royden a nasty look. "What do I care?"

The old man took Royden around the hut to the back. A rocking chair faced the endlessness. The man handed Royden a very old silver dollar.

"Wish on this to go home." He said absentmindedly, heading back around the hut.

Royden followed. "Does it really work?"

The man gave him another dirty look. "Why else would I give it to you?"

"Do I wish to be home, or do I have to give it an exact location?"

"Don't forget the stamp." The man said dryly. "I don't know how it works, it just does. Now get out of here so I can enjoy something again."

Royden stared at the coin hard and pictured his building in his mind.

"What in the world?" The old man said loudly. "Just say it, boy, my goodness do you need me to hold your hand?"

Royden shook his head. "I wish I was back at the Discovery Apartments."

One second Royden was looking at the old silver dollar and the next he found himself staring at his empty hand in his apartment.

He shrugged and went to his room. His parents weren't home yet, they must have been working really late. He went to the window and looked out at the cars going by five stories below. The sun reflected off their windows and shined back into his eyes.

This might have been the longest Monday ever. He couldn't believe that he actually went to school that morning. So much had happened since then.

Royden frowned. Why was the sun still out? Clearly it shouldn't be. Wasn't it already evening when he left? He checked his watch. It showed a quarter past nine at night. It clearly wasn't nine o'clock at night. It looked more like late afternoon.

The boy ran from his room and looked around the apartment. No one was there. His father's cell phone sat on the couch. He forgot it all the time. Royden flipped it open.

The screen showed fifty six missed calls. Grandma called on the twelfth of April. Mr. Doble's boss called on the thirteenth, the fourteenth, the fifteenth, the sixteenth . . . It kept going and going.

Royden dropped the phone and backed away, breathing hard. "What?" Was all he could think to say. Something was very wrong.

He threw the phone in his pocket, grabbed the siren's comb from his room and ran from the apartment to the stairs. The hall was dark with only weak emergency lights to see by. The stairs were worse. It was pitch black in there. He stopped on the fourth and third floor. No one could be found. The building seemed eerily quiet.

On the first floor he pounded on the manager's office. Mr. Bringum wasn't there.

"Oh come on, where is everybody?" He said, growing scared.

"Royden?"

He flipped around. Jessa Tezera stood in the hall, she looked very surprised to see him.

"You made it back, did you find the old man?" Royden asked, glad to see someone.

"An old man? Royden how did you get back? I thought for sure you were eaten by the Smuddles."

"The what?" Asked the boy, suddenly very concerned. "You mean the Smurg Smurgles?"

"Exactly," she said quickly, "you see sometimes they go by different names."

"Jessa, what's going on here?" He asked, backing up to the main lobby.

"I don't know, everyone's gone."

Royden didn't believe her. He went up to the counter to see if the guard was on duty. He looked over the counter and jumped back. The guard lay on the floor, his eyes closed. "Jessa Tezera tell me what's going on."

"I told you I don't know." She said unconvincingly.

"He got out didn't he?" Royden looked around, expecting the black suit to appear. "Badchi's on the loose."

"Probably." Jessa nodded fervently. "We need to stop him."

Royden ran from the lobby. He tried to get into room 106 but it was locked. He glanced back. Jessa stood exactly where she had been, watching him carefully. He then went to the stairs and came out in the basement.

The door to the T.V. room thankfully wasn't locked. He snuck in and hid behind the couch facing the television. Jessa Tezera quietly came in and closed the door. She looked menacing as she scanned the room.

"Royden?" She called out. "He did get out. I don't know where he is now. Let's look around the building and see if we can find anything."

Royden didn't move. He didn't believe her in the least. She looked nervous about something, like she was hiding something very important.

"Royden, come on out, dude. It's getting late."

"What day is it?" Royden asked from behind the couch.

Jessa jumped on the couch and looked down at him. "It's the twelfth, it has been the whole day."

"No its not."

"Sure it is."

He stood up. "Jessa, what's going on here? What aren't you telling me?"

Jessa smiled sympathetically. "Royden, you've had a long day. Ms. Carol told me you fought some crazy monster today. That's really brave."

Royden backed up toward the pool room. Jessa got off the couch and followed at a distance.

"You talk to Ms. Carol?"

"Sure, everyone does."

The boy pushed the door open to the pool room and went inside. The water was still.

"What day is it really?" He asked.

Jessa kept smiling sympathetically as if Royden was a little kid unable to understand the great secrets of life. "The twelfth of April."

"No its not." He whispered.

The water in the pool began to churn quietly below the surface.

"Come on back up to your room. Your parents are probably worried. Have you told them you got back?"

"They weren't there." He said, listening to the water grow more active behind him.

"They probably went out for something." She assured him.

"Where are they?" He asked almost silently.

"What's that?" She took a step closer.

He went to the edge of the water and glanced down. "Where are they?" He repeated, still barely audibly.

"One more time." She took a few steps closer.

"Where are they?!" He shouted.

Jessa Tezera jumped in shock. Her face turned angry and her hair rose up off her shoulders in spikes. Her feet left the floor and she floated up to the ceiling.

"They're gone." She said calmly.

In one great motion she launched herself down on Royden. Her feet turned to claws and her arms to wings.

Royden put his hands up in defense.

A tentacle of some sort shot from the pool and grabbed Jessa in midair, sending her into the ceiling with a loud thud.

Royden bolted away from the pool out of the way.

That was no ordinary tentacle. It was made of water. Jessa clawed at it, breaking free.

More tentacles shot out and grabbed her in the air. She writhed to get free, only to be caught by more.

The siren rose out of the water, her face brimming with pleasure.

I thought there was something wrong with you." The siren said merrily. "I should have known you were a harpy, I could smell that horrible bird stench all the way down here."

"Get away!" Jessa the Harpy shrieked.

She fought against the water tentacles to no avail. The siren sent more and more, pulling her down. With a great heave the tentacles yanked the harpy into the water with a large splash. The siren disappeared under the surface.

For almost a minute water splashed all around the pool. A head appeared here, a claw there. And then it died down.

Royden sat in the corner, watching the water grow still. Several feathers floated to the surface.

He warily crept to the edge. Nothing could be seen in the water.

The siren's head popped out.

"Now what were you doing with a harpy?" Beth the siren asked.

"She tricked me into going to this crazy place down the garbage chute. I—I don't know what's going on. I think she wanted to leave me there." Royden said sadly.

The siren shook her head. "I've heard of that place. Time works differently there. A few minutes there could be a day here."

"What? We spent near an hour there."

"You've missed a lot of days then."

"What is today?"

"The first of May."

Royden couldn't believe it. How on Earth could that even be possible?

"How could I lose so many days? What's been going on here, where is everybody?"

"Everyone evacuated weeks ago. I thought you did too."

Royden sat down in one of the lawn chair looking things there. "What do I do? I have to find my parents. Do you have any idea where they could be?"

"No clue. The city's under high alert with all the people in a coma—more now than ever, more than a hundred known cases. If you ask me that's not even close to the real number."

The boy sat in a daze. Everything was out of control, and it only seemed like a few minutes to him. "I have to do something." He said, unable to wrap his mind around it all.

"I have seen Mr. Tezera around." The siren said offhandedly. "He came down here the other day to make sure we were gone. The mermaids took off, they're so weak. I stayed though, I could tell something wasn't right."

"The Tezera's might also work for the 'they' that control Badchi."

Beth shrugged. "What are you going to do?"

"First I want to thank you for staying. I was backed into a corner here. Of course I didn't know she was a harpy. You saved my life."

"As much as I hate you I hate harpies way more." The siren said with a devilish smile.

"I need to find the other Tezera's." Royden said, mentally making a plan. "If Jessa was still here, there's a chance that the other three are here as well. I just don't get what they're up to."

"That harpy was only pretending to look human. Don't forget that the others might be doing the same thing." Beth warned.

Royden nodded. "Probably." He then thought of something important. "Is there any way that you can get some of the people that live here back? The one's that you trust I mean."

"I can send Pooly after some."

Royden stood up. "Do it. I'm going to see if I can find out anything."

Beth dipped under the water as Royden left the pool room.

# Chapter 21

He didn't know where to start. He wasn't even sure if anybody was left in the building. The uncertainty of it all made him uneasy. Everything else he had been through up to this point had been small. It was usually just him and a monster of some kind. Now it could be any number of people or things. This was turning into a perfect time for someone to arrive from the future. Royden stood still for a minute hoping someone might suddenly appear, unfortunately nothing happened.

Royden started through the basement at a quick pace, making sure to look out for anybody at all. The laundry room was empty. He didn't know where Ms. Carol could be. He tried to call for the ghosts but not even they could be found. The elevators didn't work and he didn't know how else to get to the thirteenth floor. The power to the whole building must have been off.

His footsteps echoed loudly through the stairwell. Someone could be on the seventeenth floor and hear him perfectly. He wandered through each floor on his way up. All the doors he tried were locked. That is until he reached the eighth floor.

He heard it as soon as he came out of the stairwell. Something stirred down the hall. Royden proceeded with caution. Whatever it was it probably wasn't friendly.

The door to one of the apartments stood ajar. Light poured out into the dark hallway. The boy went up to the edge of the door and listened. Someone talked in a language Royden didn't understand. He wished that everyone would just speak English. It sounded like a one way conversation, probably a phone call of some type.

He poked his head around the corner. The youngest Tezera, Taddy, stood with his back to the door. He looked about five years old. His voice did not match that of a five year old. It sounded deep and hoarse.

Taddy's words may have been unintelligible, but their tone sure wasn't. He sounded distressed about something. He threw his free hand around as though trying to explain something to whoever he was talking to. Royden thought he heard him say Jessa, but perhaps not. Maybe he was getting worried because she went missing.

Taddy put his phone like device in his pocket and flipped around. Royden swung his head from the doorway and started down the hall. He wasn't quick enough.

"Hey!" Taddy shouted with his hoarse voice.

Royden stopped. He thought about turning around but thought better of it. He walked purposefully toward the stairs.

"I said hey!" Taddy shouted menacingly.

Royden stopped again. He looked back. "Oh, hey." He said quieter than he had intended.

Taddy stared at him stupidly for a moment, and then something clicked in his mind. "You! How did you get back?"

"When you wish on a dollar." Royden said, and then quickly wished he hadn't.

"What's that?" Taddy asked, confused.

"I wished on a dollar." Royden said, trying to stall for time until he figured out if he should run or ask questions.

"Like a dollar bill?" Taddy asked after taking several seconds to try and figure out Royden's meaning without help.

"No, like a dollar coin." Royden said, amused by Taddy's apparent lack of intelligence.

"They make dollar coins?" Taddy said, his mouth opening wider and his eyelids sinking lower as he attempted to comprehend the meaning of what was said to him.

"Oh yeah, they mostly are used at train stations, at least it seems like that to me."

"Train stations? Coins at train stations?"

Taddy was clearly not the intelligent type. There must have been some other reason why his boss hired him.

"Hey," Royden said, feeling a little braver, "why are you here anyway? Shouldn't your family have evacuated?"

Taddy's mouth closed. His eyes grew mean and focused. Royden apparently asked the wrong question. This didn't require any thinking on Taddy's part. He knew exactly what to do when that subject appeared.

"Royden Doble." He said ominously. "You're supposed to be dead."

Royden's stomach lurched. He figured Jessa was supposed to leave him in that weird place with the purple grass, but dead? That's the first he heard of that. Though she did come at him with sharp claws so it shouldn't have been that much of a shock.

"And why am I wanted dead?" Royden inquired, still feeling as though he had the upper hand on Taddy.

"Because that was the plan." Taddy said, his eyes twinkling with menace.

A deep growl erupted deep within the faux five year old. His hands clamped in fists and shook violently. The growl grew, spurting forth from his mouth. He opened his mouth wide and the noise filled the whole hall, possibly even the whole building.

Taddy began to grow. His face aged right before Royden's eyes. He was growing up. The years passed in seconds. Little Taddy hurriedly passed childhood and his teenage years in under a minute.

The growling died down. He closed his mouth. What stood in the hallway was nothing like the five year old Royden had just seen. A beat up looking thirty something year old man took its place. His eyes sunken, his skin graying, his hair in mismatched clumps of gray and black. This Taddy had been through a lot. Now his voice perfectly matched his shabby body.

"My little boy's all grown up." Royden said derisively. He still felt like he could take on Taddy if he had to, even now.

Taddy laughed gruffly. "I guess Jessa failed. That's alright, it will be my pleasure."

The tattered man ambled down the hall. His thin arms hung loose at his sides, his head tilted back, a strange and satisfied smile across his face.

Now Royden started to worry. This man looked like he would use any and all tricks he could find to get his way. If that was the case, then so could he.

Taddy lunged forward, arms outstretched reaching for Royden's neck. Royden took off down the hall. He flung the door to the stairs open. Taddy's arms closed around Royden's neck and squeezed.

Royden fell, his face hitting the cold metal floor. The hands loosened slightly. Royden kicked Taddy while trying to pry the hands away from his neck in the dark stairwell.

Neither had any idea what was going on. They kicked and wrestled on the floor in the dark for several minutes. Royden pulled away and slid on his back down the stairs to the midfloor landing. He got up, was caught around the middle, and thrown down the next flight of stairs to the seventh floor.

Everything ached. Royden found Taddy's neck and took it with both hands. He shook it around, trying to disorient his foe. It worked. Taddy let go of Royden and tried to break free. The boy pushed him down and managed to get to his knees and half crawled half fell down to the sixth floor.

He stayed very still. Both listened for any movement from the other. It was too dark to see. Royden tried his best to sneak down the stairs. Every movement sounded loud on the metal stairs.

He grew tired of this. Without much thought Royden took off down the stairs. The heavy footfalls of his adversary sounded close behind him. The boy thought he felt a hand swipe at his back at one point but couldn't be sure.

Royden burst out of the stairwell into the basement. He sprinted to the laundry room and hid behind the open door of a drier in the back.

Heavy breathing followed him. It came in wheezy spurts from the doorway. Royden didn't dare move to look. The sound quieted slightly, but it could still be heard. Taddy all but silently edged his way down the first row of washers and driers. He grew closer, his breathing now slow and determined. Royden got on his hands and pushed himself warily down the other row, away from the breathing.

Taddy quickened his pace just a little. He turned the corner. Royden jumped up and ran from the laundry room, slamming the door behind him.

He gave a quick glance down the hall. Keep Out Employees Only, the door read. He hesitated for just a moment and went for the door. In a flash he disappeared inside. He waited for a second and then closed the door loudly.

Slowly backing up through the dark hallway he could hear the sound of scratching from behind him. Royden forced a shaky smile. He wiped his quivering sweaty hands on his jeans. The crawling grew louder as it approached.

The door opened. Taddy's outline could be seen. He kept the door open. The faintest light came in with him. The crawling from above stopped.

"Who are you working for?" Royden asked, shuddering.

Taddy didn't respond.

"Is it Mr. Tezera? Is he the one behind all this? Or is he working for someone else?"

Still no response. Taddy left the light behind. He continued to walk cautiously.

"Why here? Why now?" Royden asked, trying to keep as calm as he could.

The crawling returned. It came from all over the walls and ceiling.

Royden put his hand in his pocket. "This is turning into one of those 'as long as I outrun you' things isn't it?"

Taddy chuckled. "They sound hungry."

Royden snickered. "I just hope you have enough meat on you for all of them."

Taddy threw himself at Royden. Claws sprang out from every direction, latching on to any flesh they could find.

Hands wrapped around Ryden's neck. He dropped to the floor, the hands tightening. He couldn't breathe. The sting of claws tore at him all over. He raised his hands and flipped open his father's phone. The light shined down on his face and chest. The claws sprang away.

Taddy lay across Royden, his hands crushing the boy's neck. And then, very suddenly, the hands loosened. Taddy let out a horrible scream. Claws ripped and slashed at the parts of him still in darkness. Royden kicked him away and stood up. The light from the phone was weak, but it was enough.

He took the advantage and ran back to the door. The agonizing screams of Taddy became guttural and hopeless. The gremlins shrieked with pleasure. Royden got out to the hall and shut the door.

# Chapter 22

The emergency lights shined weakly down from the corners where the walls met the ceiling. Royden stood under one and inspected himself. Scratch marks littered his shirt with only a few on his pants. Taddy kept the gremlins away by laying on him, attempting to cut off the air from his lungs. The scratches weren't that bad, none were very deep.

"Two down." Royden said emotionlessly. "Where to now?"

The silence pushed in on all sides. His ears attempted to pick up anything, any sound no matter how quiet or far away. Someone else must be in the building, he could feel it. But where? Royden put the phone back in his pocket and felt the key to the penthouse. He went back to the stairs. He didn't really want to go all the way up in the dark, but what choice did he have? He couldn't get help from anywhere, at least not that he could think of.

The dark stairwell scared him more now than before. He made so much noise in there just a minute before, surely anyone in the building would have heard that. Someone could be waiting silently for him in the dark. He started up anyway, having his father's phone light the way.

He stopped on every floor from the ninth to the seventeenth to see if any of the remaining Tezera's could be found. None were found and all of the rooms were locked.

Royden used the key to get access to the penthouse. The plush red carpet felt familiar and safe under him. It reminded him that despite all the chaos he was still on Earth. This was his world, he knew the rules. He had the advantage over any alien or dimension hopper.

The Time Room was locked. In fact all the doors were locked. The boy sighed and shook his head. There weren't many other places he could check without the keys to every room. He wondered if the unconscious guard downstairs had a master key. He decided to go down the other staircase just in case he found a clue there.

Upon entering this other, much less used stairwell, a breeze blew from above. The hatch to the roof was open. Royden should have thought to check there first. He nervously climbed the ladder to the roof.

The roof looked the same as the last time he had been there with Bill the alien. It was still covered with gravel and had those strange contraptions, probably water tanks or something, positioned around.

Two people stood near the edge of the roof facing a large portal. It wasn't a portal created by a dimension crystal. This was the portal that Goren and Farn used to get back to their dimension, projected between the two metal objects he found in their closet a week before. Something told him this portal didn't go to that dimension.

Royden took a step, crunching the gravel beneath his feet. He froze. The two people turned around. Mr. and Mrs. Tezera gazed at him. A look of shock was quickly replaced by anger.

"The human?" Mrs. Tezera said scathingly.

"I thought for sure he was dead." Mr. Tezera said disappointedly.

"Jessa probably took him to that dimension she likes so much—must have thought he wouldn't make it back." Mrs. Tezera sighed.

"Well obviously he has." Mr. Tezera pointed at Royden. "Now what?"

Royden didn't know what to do. He thought about saying something but it looked like the Tezera's were having a fine conversation about him without his input.

"I suppose we should send in the demon." Mrs. Tezera suggested.

"Not yet. I want to find out how he does it all." He took a few steps toward Royden. "Excuse me!" He said very loudly, as though Royden couldn't possibly understand him. "How are you alive?"

Royden shrugged. "Um . . ."

"See," Mrs. Tezera said, "the thing can't understand a word that's said to it."

Mr. Tezera cleared his throat. "I'll try his language." He went into a full blown language full of clicks and whistles.

"I understood you the first time." Royden called over to them.

"He says he understood us the first time." Mr. Tezera told Mrs. Tezera as if he translated what Royden said himself. "Are we speaking his language?"

"I can never tell anymore, we know so many." Mrs. Tezera lamented.

"Hey there." Royden said loudly. "What are you doing up here with that portal?"

"What is that?" Mr. Tezera said, squinting over at Royden. "Is that English? Well I do believe he is cultured in Earth languages. That sure is something from a humble boy."

"I think they speak English in this part of the world." Mrs. Tezera pointed out.

"Are you sure?" Her husband said. He took a few more steps toward Royden. "Ne me comprenez-vous, petite humain?"

"I'm telling you he speaks English." Mrs. Tezera assured.

"Do you indeed speak English?"

"Yes." Royden said dully. "Now what are you doing up here with that thing?"

"Ah, finally we can understand each other." Mr. Tezera said proudly. "Tell me, young human, what powers do you possess?"

Royden scrunched up his face. "Well I found out recently that I can run pretty fast, though not for that long. I got a real bad stitch down the trash chute."

The Tezera's looked awfully confused.

Mr. Tezera pressed on. "I mean what sort of mystical power allows you to survive far past the limits of normal humans?"

"I don't—how am I supposed to know? I get lucky a lot. I also get bailed out a lot by my friends. Now tell me what you are doing here?"

Mr. Tezera laughed. "There is so much you don't know about the worlds."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Now tell me. What are you doing with that portal? Why are you putting people in a coma?"

"You figured out so much." Mr. Tezera said, his eyes gleaming. "I expect little else from the boy able to defeat the gremlins and Pooly. The same boy who befriended ghosts and sealed the demon away. I know all about you. I've done my homework. We've watched you since you came up here last week. We knew there was something special in you, something that made us wonder if you of all people could stop us. If some little human could unhinge our plan. You're hiding something and I want to know what it is. Do you have a powerful amulet of some kind? Are you not really human? That's it isn't it? You aren't a real human. No human can do what you've done."

"I don't know what I am, really." Royden said. Truth be told he wondered that himself on occasion. "All I know is that I have to stop you. Where are my parents? Where is everybody?"

"In there." Mr. Tezera said simply, gesturing back to the portal. "We couldn't have them all running around while we got everything ready."

"What ready? Would you please just explain everything to me?"

"This is not your world anymore Royden Doble. It's mine. I've longed for so long to get my people out—but that doesn't matter to you. Demon!" He suddenly shouted.

The black suit appeared out of nowhere next to Mr. Tezera. Its glowing red eyes scanned the area, steadying on Royden.

"Now wait a minute." Royden cried. There was no place to go up there. He glanced at the hatch leading back inside.

The demon in the black suit sped to the hatch and shut it. It stood right over it.

Royden looked for any way out. There was only one.

"Thank you for the demon." Mr. Tezera said. "Ms. Carol told me all about how some nice boy named Royden Doble saved her so many years ago. After I stole the ring I found that the poor thing was so weak. It had been trapped in that ring for almost fifty years unable to escape. I was able to power the suit up. Unfortunately it still needs a body inside to get it working to its full potential. The demon can take control of whoever is inside. It's a wonderfully strong creature."

"Unlike Taddy and Jessa." Royden grumbled.

Mr. Tezera looked concerned for a second, but it passed. "Did you defeat them? I want so badly to know your secrets. I see the blood on you, you must have fought hard."

"Why don't we trade secrets?" Royden said, thinking hard to come up with a plan.

"I've told you enough." Mr. Tezera went back over to Mrs. Tezera and looked into the portal. "Do what you want with him, demon." He said over his shoulder.

Badchi ran at Royden. The boy started toward the portal. The black suit caught up in a fraction of a second. It raised him high into the air and threw him across the roof.

Royden landed hard on the gravel near the edge. He got up slowly and took off toward the portal. Again Badchi caught him and lifted him into the air. It took several steps and looked about to throw Royden right off the roof.

"Badchi!" Royden screamed in desperation.

The black suit stopped, dropping Royden to the ground. Its glowing red eyes narrowed. "Ba—d—Chil—dren?" It said in a computerized voice.

"Yeah, remember me?" Royden said, crawling away from the edge.

Badchi stared at the boy through those evil red eyes. It tilted its head back and forth. It looked confused.

"What's going on back there?" Mr. Tezera yelled, not looking back. "I've changed my mind. Here—demon—bring him over here."

Badchi caught Royden again and threw him over his shoulder. It deposited him at the feet of the Tezera's.

"Good, here, do your stuff to him. He's far too strong to let him keep his mind."

Badchi's hands began to glow. Royden had a feeling it was about to put him in a coma. He launched himself back and disappeared into the portal.

#  Chapter 23

Royden landed in dead grass. The sharp lifeless grass poked and prodded his already scratched and injured body. He turned over and stared up, groaning loudly. The sky was a light mocha color with clouds a dark brown. The portal he came through was nowhere to be seen. He sat up with great effort and looked around.

He sat on the edge of what looked like an abandoned amusement park. A ticket window stood nearby with broken glass and plants growing all around it. Rides sat in disrepair all over the place. A small wooden rollercoaster looked to be half demolished in the center of the park. Everything in sight was varying shades of tan and brown. No one appeared to be around.

A noise caught his attention. He turned and saw the ocean behind him, also in brown. The water dashed up the sand and then retreated back.

This place started to take shape. Buildings appeared out of the brown haze in both directions on a little grassy hill at the edge of the sand. They were houses. All of them had a porch facing the water. They all had the appearance of really old hotels, the bed and breakfast type.

The Doble's once stayed at a place like that a long time ago. Royden remembered that it was very old, just like the people who owned it. There weren't too many around anymore.

Royden caught sight of an old woman sweeping in the doorway of one of the houses. He went up to her.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but do you know where I am?"

The woman ignored him and kept sweeping.

"Excuse me, can you hear me?"

No response.

He tried to catch her eyes by waving. She didn't look up.

"Hello!" He said loudly.

She didn't appear to notice him in the least.

Royden started over to the abandoned amusement park. He stood at the fence looking into it. It sure looked bad, must have been abandoned years before. He turned and faced the ocean, shaking his head.

"What in the world?" He said to himself.

A sign in front of the house the old woman was sweeping caught his eye. Discovery Bed and Breakfast. It couldn't be, could it? Could that really be the predecessor to the Discovery Apartments? Mr. Bringum told him that his family owned a bed and breakfast a long time ago. Was he in the past again? The last time he was in the past nothing looked brown. This had to be something else, but what?

A portal appeared nearby. Royden scurried around the corner of the fence and got down, expecting Badchi to come out. He glanced around the fence and saw a man wipe the portal away. It definitely wasn't Badchi.

The man turned around, it was Millie. He nodded approvingly.

"Millie?" Royden said.

Millie looked over. "Royden, what are you doing here?"

"I jumped into a strange portal to avoid the mysterious powers of a demon run interdimensional suit of certain death."

Millie nodded. "I've had a few days like that. Tell me all about it."

Royden explained everything he learned since last seeing Millie. He told him about going back in time to fight Badchi, almost getting stuck in a dimension where time ran too fast, and about everything he heard Mr. Tezera say.

"Wow." Millie said when Royden finished. "You've gotten way more done on this case than I have."

"How did you get here?" Royden inquired.

"Well my dimension crystal just got back from the shop and I powered it up to help me find that unstable dimension I've been looking for. And here I am."

"Are there two? This isn't the same one as last time." Royden said, remembering the strange starry dimension with the sleeping bodies he saw last time he was with Millie.

Millie shook his head. "This is the same one. It's unstable, it always changes."

"I wonder why it looks like this." Royden wondered aloud.

"I think I may know where we are." Millie said. "I used to be obsessed with pictures of my home town from the past. And this looks just like one. The little hotels are the same, the water's right here, and here's the old amusement park my grandparents told me about. Of course this isn't exactly like it. I don't think that park ever got to looking like this. But the rest of this looks like it came right out of an old picture. In fact it looks like we're in the old picture. It'll change again before too long. Almost anything can send a place like this haywire."

"Mr. Tezera said that my parents were in here. I think he meant everyone was." Royden said.

"He's probably right. Do you remember those bodies we found that time? I think that's what he was referring to. They must be around here somewhere, let's see if we can find them. They might give us a clue as to what he's planning."

"He said he was going to get his people out. I think he wanted to get his people to Earth for some reason."

"Hmm, that's interesting." Millie said. "Remember, Royden, this dimension is dying. It could collapse completely at any time."

"Have any idea how he might do it?"

"Royden let me tell you something. There are literally endless planets in the multiverse, and quite a lot of them have beings that have all sorts of abilities. This dimension, being so small, has never been studied closely enough. This Tezera guy could have literally any ability."

"So what do we do?"

"We follow the clues and see if we can get out. The crystal can get me here, but it won't necessarily get us out."

Millie went up to the house with the old woman sweeping. He tried to talk to her with no luck.

Millie stroked his chin. "She can't seem to hear us. I wonder if she's even real." He ran out a bit and looked around the area. "I don't know." He called back to Royden. "I can't figure out why he sent the people in here."

Another portal opened and Badchi stepped out. It closed behind him.

Millie ran back over and stood by Royden. "So, did you happen to find out some way to defeat this thing?"

"No." Royden confessed. "Hofrora said that the ring was indestructible. He said that if he even tried to destroy it he would feel endless pain."

Millie shook his head as Badchi scanned the area with its horrid red eyes. "Tell me again where the ring came from." He said, taking Royden by the shoulder and backing up toward the water.

"Ms. Carol's mother had it. She used it as protection because her job made her go through dangerous dimensions."

"A ring like that can't cause endless pain. I don't care what you do to it."

"Do you think he lied?" The boy asked.

"I think this Tezera guy used this Hofrora character's fears against him. If you were trapped underground for thousands of years wouldn't you be afraid of endless pain?"

"I think everyone's afraid of endless pain." Royden pointed out.

The brown haze returned in the distance. It looked like a deep brown sandstorm coming their way. Within seconds it covered the whole area. Tiny brown particles whipped and churned just like a real sandstorm, only they didn't hurt or make any noise.

Badchi's eyes glowed bright in the brown mess. He came closer at a leisurely pace. Its eyes darted this way and that through the storm. It looked to be having trouble tracking them.

"It's changing again." Millie said.

The brown particles turned gray. The sandstorm changed to a dirty blizzard. Millie quickened his pace backwards, he didn't dare turn his back on the demon.

The particles began to settle. The storm lessened and the swirling died down. The gray settled down and formed shapes. A floor took form, walls and a ceiling followed. Royden knew where they were. He squirmed away from Millie's hold. He wanted to get away, he didn't want to relieve this place.

Broken furniture littered the floor. Scratches etched themselves all over, on the walls, on the ceiling.

"I've been here." Royden said through short, faltering breaths.

"Where are we?" Millie asked.

Badchi stopped coming toward them. Its eyes blinked repeatedly as if suddenly being exposed to bright light. The red narrowed to suspicious points. It took in the room as if it recognized it, but didn't know where from.

Royden watched the demon's hands squeeze and relax multiple times. It looked confused about something. And then its red eyes closed completely and it began to shake. A mechanized whimpering came from the suit. It began to cry, unable to form tears.

"What is it doing?" Millie whispered, his voice etched with just a hint of sympathy.

"Don't fall for it." Said Royden angrily. "It's a trick. It cries so its enemies drop their guards."

The demon's whimpering grew louder. Another sound mixed in. Singing. It started to sing. It was robotic and garbled, but the sadness still came out.

"I've never seen anything like it." Millie said, taking a step forward.

"Don't." Royden insisted. "We need to get out of here."

"It misses its home." Millie took another step toward it. "It doesn't want to be an evil black suit obeying someone else."

Royden couldn't believe his ears. "What are you talking about? I've seen its work first hand. It murders people and keeps their kids hostage."

"Demons have notoriously weak souls." Millie explained. "They feed off the positive energy of the young until their full of it and the young are shells of fear. It does it to survive."

"I don't care, let's go."

Millie shivered. "You're right. Wow, that thing is strong."

"Is there any way to get away from here?"

Millie tore his eyes away from the black suit. "I wonder . . ." He picked up a piece of a chair. It disintegrated into gray dust. "This is the last stage. The reality of the dimension is faltering badly. It won't survive much longer. If we're here when it dies for good we will cease to exist along with it.

"So let's get out of here."

"We have to tread lightly." He pulled his dimension crystal out of his pocket and tried to draw a portal. Gray dust appeared where he drew and fell to the floor. "Dimensions die all the time. Most don't have anybody in them. This one's been dying for a while. But where are the locals? Surely they must be around here somewhere."

Badchi suddenly stopped crying. Its red eyes opened again. It focused in on Royden.

"Ba—d—Chil—dren?" It said, almost inquisitively.

A small portal appeared and Mrs. Tezera stuck her head into the gray room. "What's taking so long, demon? We told you to get rid of him." She saw Millie. "And take care of his friend too, we don't have much time now." Her head vanished and the portal along with it.

Badchi's eyes narrowed. Ba—d—chil—dren!" It shrieked, springing toward them.

Millie pushed Royden out of the way. The two collided. Millie got an arm around the suit's neck and pulled it to the ground. He dropped the dimension crystal. Badchi's hands glowed and grabbed Millie's forehead. He let out a soft moan. His arms fell limply to the floor. Royden used the confusion to grab the crystal and push himself back across the floor.

The demon stood up, hands still glowing, and came at the boy. Royden ran through the couch, which turned to dust, and into the kitchen. He drew a circle in the air. A red string appeared and fell away.

"Come on!" He yelled.

He wished he was someplace where he could run. And then he remembered. He took off through the wall. It collapsed no problem. He ran through gray nothingness, Badchi close behind. The dust like particles swirled and churned again. The world was changing. Royden turned. Badchi's eyes scanned the storm fruitlessly.

Royden drew circle after circle with the crystal. All manner of ring shaped objects appeared, none a portal.

"I thought this thing was powered up." He grumbled to himself. He held the crystal tight and drew a circle far bigger than the rest, wishing so hard that it might actually work. And to his utter amazement, it did. He jumped in without a second thought.

The boy took off running. He didn't bother looking around or even letting the place sink into his mind. He had to get away from the demon.

The mind is curious all on its own. He couldn't help but look down. He suddenly stopped. He stood at the edge of a great precipice. Nothing could be seen below it. It was so deep that it appeared to not have a bottom, which for all he knew, it might not.

Footsteps came swiftly up to him. Royden turned and lost his balance. His feet slipped off the edge.

He didn't fall. The demon grabbed onto his hand at the last moment. Royden dangled off the edge of the cliff. He tried to pull his hand away. He would rather fall for eternity than be put into a coma by the demon he loathed so much.

Badchi pulled him up and set him on the edge. The suit pointed up with its left hand. Royden glanced quickly, nothing was up there. The demon shook its head, its glowing red eyes widened innocently. It pointed to its index finger with its other hand. It pointed at the ring.

Royden didn't understand. He had no intention of being killed by the demon or being a part of the Tezera plan, whatever that was. He jumped backwards off the cliff.

# Chapter 24

As soon as he jumped he wondered if he had made a mistake. Falling for eternity didn't really sound like that great of a plan after all. He hoped that some form of rescue would show up. He decided that if he ever got out of this mess he would go to the time room and send somebody back. No one appeared, no rescue presented itself.

The red eyes of Badchi appeared. The demon sped toward him as though it had rockets in its feet. It caught up to him, grabbed him, and held on tight.

Royden once again tried to break free. The suit was too strong. He expected its hands to start glowing, but they didn't. Perhaps it was waiting for a better moment.

Sights and sounds started to appear beneath them. A cityscape came into view. Flying vehicles crisscrossed high above the streets. It didn't look like the city Royden and Millie went to before.

Badchi caught hold of one of the vehicles and dragged it down. They slowed and eventually stopped before they hit the ground. The driver of the vehicle stuck his head out the window and shouted at them. Royden didn't catch what he said, it was probably in a different language anyway.

Badchi let go and landed softly on the ground. The vehicle took off again into the sky.

Royden tried fruitlessly to get away. The demon held a firm grip.

"Just do it already, if you're going to." Royden yelled.

The demon held out its hand. Royden cringed. A portal appeared. Badchi stepped in with its prisoner.

Instantly Royden breathed deep with labored breaths. It was so hot. They stood on a platform of some sort moving in jerking motions high above an endless sea of flames. Some reached high into the air and crackled only feet away from the platform. Other such platforms floated along in the distance. Some had one or two beings on them. They looked large with dark orange skin.

Badchi let Royden down. His hands hit the floor of the platform and instantly recoiled.

It was clear that this was the end of him. He stood tall and brave and stared Badchi right in the eyes.

"So this is it?" He said bravely. "I hope you know that whatever you and the Tezera's are doing is not going to work. Someone will stop you, even if it's not me."

Badchi held up a glowing hand. Royden closed his eyes. The hand made contact to his forehead.

Instead of falling asleep as he thought going into a coma might feel like, he saw images. Badchi was showing him something. He looked through the eyes of Badchi.

He recognized where he was. It was Hofrora's apartment. Mr. Tezera stood before him.

"Ah, you've awakened." Mr. Tezera said. "The great demon of the past. You are free, good friend. But I ask something of you in return for your awakening. I have a mission for you. You will awaken every night. Each night you will go out and find people. You will power up your hands and send their minds away from them. The suit you are in has been enhanced to have that ability. Start slow at first, we don't want to cause a stir just yet. On my orders you will begin doing it more quickly. When you touch them with your powered up hands their minds will be sent to my home. Do you understand? If I ever feel that someone is trying to get near the dimension I will send you after them. You have to stop them from getting there. If they find out what I'm doing they'll stop us."

The images changed. Now Royden looked at Mr. Tezera on the roof. The portal hadn't been set up yet.

"Demon, the building has been evacuated of all beings. This signals the second phase of your mission. With them gone there is no one left in this dimension to stop us. They were the only ones strong enough, the beings here have no clue about our secrets. They couldn't stop us even if they wanted to. You will now put as many minds away as you can. I have powered the suit so that you can now go into my home dimension. As you may have noticed the bodies are disappearing after you send their minds away. I need them where I can find them so I made your suit able to send them to my home. When we have enough we will begin the transfer process. So go, my friend, and collect as many minds as you can."

Mr. Tezera faded away. Now Royden looked over the edge of the roof of the Discovery Apartments.

"Badchi!" He heard himself yell.

Royden watched through Badchi's eyes as he dropped something. The past Royden scurried away from the edge.

"Yeah, remember me?" He had said.

Feelings erupted into Badchi's mind. Royden felt all of them. They ranged from sad to downright depressed. And then they were gone.

The roof faded and Royden saw the gray room. Badchi looked around. Royden and Millie looked scared across the room. He no longer cared about them. The rush of emotions returned. He began to cry.

Royden felt the desperation Badchi felt. He understood the whimpering and the crying. All the evil things Badchi did flashed before Royden's eyes. He saw the murder of parents and the capturing of children. He felt dismayed at what he had to do to survive. The power of existence fought hard against the evil of what it had to do to continue existing. It started to sing. It was the only way for it to take its mind from the terrible task.

Badchi removed its hand away from Royden's forehead. The boy opened his eyes and shook his head at the horrible creature.

"You can explain," Royden said softly, "but I will never understand."

Badchi nodded, his head bowed. It closed its red eyes.

Royden lunged at the creature, shoving him off the platform. Badchi caught hold of the edge, opening its eyes and looking at Royden.

"Go—od Chi—ld." It said, almost happily.

Badchi let go of the platform and fell into endless flames below.

Royden didn't waste any time. He drew a ring with the crystal and left that dimension behind. He played with how to get places a little. He wished to be on the beach and the crystal took him to a beach, but not his own. He wished to be on the roof of the Discovery Apartments, and the crystal took him there.

Royden Doble of the fifth floor Discovery Apartments stood only feet from the Tezera's, who were talking near the portal.

"There isn't much time now." Mrs. Tezera said.

"I know." Mr. Tezera responded sadly. "Why haven't they taken the bodies? They are right there for the taking. If only I could talk to them in this form. I'm starting to wish I didn't waste my one body transfer on this stupid giant."

Royden made the slightest noise. Mrs. Tezera turned.

"How in all the multiverse did you survive? Where is the demon?"

Mr. Tezera didn't seem phased. "He must have defeated the demon." He said calmly. "The thing did seem rather weak."

Royden didn't feel much like fighting. In fact he was so tired and worn he didn't feel like doing anything but sleeping. Something deep within kept him going. The vast responsibility he felt toward his family and all of Earth kept him awake.

"You're trying to save your people, aren't you?" He asked quietly. "Why can't they just come through the portal?"

Mr. Tezera frowned at Royden. "I am endlessly amazed by your abilities, Royden Doble. You are the smartest human of them all, I am sure of it. But you cannot understand what we are going through. Your dimension won't die like ours. We have to survive. I had to find my people a way out, and I have."

"You're doing it the wrong way. Please stop." Royden pleaded.

Mr. Tezera turned back to the portal. "Kill him."

Mrs. Tezera shrugged and started over to him. "I would love to find out his secrets, oh well." A sword materialized from nowhere in front of her and she grabbed it.

The whole building shook. Royden almost lost his balance. From the expressions of the Tezera's this wasn't part of the plan. A loud crash sounded so close. Crashes rang out every second. The building lost all composure. It swayed this way and that.

The portal faltered. Mr. Tezera fell to the ground.

Mrs. Tezera stepped up to the edge and looked down. She let loose a horrified scream. A giant claw rose up and swiped her right off the building. Her screams faded away.

The face of a gigantic Pooly emerged from the side of the building. It roared deafeningly. Its claws latched onto the side somewhere near the roof. Windows shattered and walls collapsed. The building shook.

Pooly looked from face to face as if deciding which one to go after first. Royden shoved his hand in his pocket and brought out the Siren's comb. Pooly took a great sniff and lowered its head toward Royden, who desperately hoped the siren's scent still coated the comb. The great creature stared at the boy expectantly.

"Grab him!" Royden shouted, pointing the comb at Mr. Tezera.

Pooly smashed a giant claw down on the roof, raising itself higher into the air. Royden landed hard on the gravel. Mr. Tezera's portal struggled to stay active.

The pool monster roared at Mr. Tezera, who did not look phased.

"I am not afraid of your pet!" Mr. Tezera yelled. He growled in a similar way to Taddy. And then, similar to Taddy, he began to grow. But he did not grow older, instead he grew bigger. His whole body expanded in size. Ten feet, twelve feet, fifteen feet tall. He kept getting bigger.

Pooly watched, steadying itself on the side of the building.

Mr. Tezera stopped about thirty feet high. He roared at the pool monster, who returned the roar. He then swung a great hand and the creature. It swung through the air slowly. Pooly grabbed the building with its claws and reared its head back, avoiding the blow.

Mr. Tezera looked at his hand angrily. He threw a punch. Again it moved through the air as if in slow motion. Again Pooly dodged it.

Mr. Tezera's feet caved through the floor. The portal flickered but somehow stayed on.

Pooly let out the most horrid roar of all. Mr. Tezera attempted once more to land a hit to no avail. As his arm neared Pooly the monstrous creature clamped its teeth down on it.

Mr. Tezera cried out in pain. His great voice booming through the whole city.

Royden tried to find a piece of roof that was stable but it was near impossible. The whole ground shook and rattled, pieces breaking off and falling to the floor below.

Mr. Tezera couldn't get away. Pooly was too fast. The monster grabbed the giant man and sank its claws into him. Mr. Tezera threw his head back and let out a moan unlike any anyone of Earth had ever heard. He began to shrink. Pooly bit down on his upper arm and shoulder as Mr. Tezera returned to his smaller form.

The portal flickered worse than ever.

Mr. Tezera crawled bloody and defeated to the portal. He pulled himself in just in time. Pooly came down with a crashing fist to smash the metal supports to bits. It looked around for its enemy, unable to find him.

Royden stood up shakily and held up the comb. "All right, shrink down here." He commanded.

Pooly shrank and in a minutes time stood three feet high at Royden's side. The boy patted its head.

# Chapter 25

The building tottered. The rest of the roof crumbled in on itself. Royden quickly drew a ring in the air and disappeared inside.

He stood on the beach in a large crowd of people. He wiped the portal away. Nobody was looking at him. He followed their gaze and saw the Discovery Apartments imploding. Large clouds of dust and debris filled the air, sending the people running.

He wished that he could be in the unstable dimension and drew another portal. He jumped in and wiped it away.

It looked to be late evening. The sun already set but the darkness had not completely taken over yet. The ground was dry, hard. Nothing at all could be seen around. No buildings, no trees, not even grass.

A weak moan was the only sound. Royden went over to the mangled body of Mr. Tezera.

The man looked up and rolled his eyes. "Why? Why did you stop me?" He said weakly.

"I didn't mean to stop you like this." Royden admitted. "I just wanted you to stop taking the minds of humans."

"But I needed to." He grimaced and closed his eyes. "I needed to save my people."

"I realize that. But there are other ways. The DSD is trying to help. They can get your people out."

"We can't live here anymore. Our home dimension is dying. We needed somewhere else to live. My people—they can transfer their consciousness—they can take over the bodies."

Royden knelt down. "Why didn't you just leave?"

"We can't." Mr. Tezera bled abundantly. He had difficulty forming words. "We don't live like you. We only exist as souls—no—no bodies. We need a body to live outside our home. We needed humans. They . . . uggh . . . they were perfect. No one would know. No one in—no one in the multiverse cares about . . ." He trailed off.

"Mr. Tezera." Royden said softly.

"I can't . . . If this body dies I go . . . with it."

Royden knelt down close to him. "I promise I won't let your people die."

"It's too late—I—I waited as long as I could . . . this dimension is about to collapse. They didn't come. My people—they didn't take the bodies. I can't talk with them anymore. Everyone . . . will . . ."

He stopped breathing.

Royden shivered.

He sat in silence, not knowing where to go or what to do.

The adrenaline stopped pumping. The aches and pains of the day came out in full force. Exhaustion took over. Royden tried his hardest to get up. Finding his parents and everyone else was the only priority. Sleep could wait. But it wouldn't. His mind could no longer concentrate. His eyelids drooped. Royden fell to the ground, asleep.

Royden opened his eyes. The ground was black and dead with cracks forming and growing larger. It rumbled beneath him, growing more and more violent. But that wasn't what woke him up. Someone called his name.

"Oh, thank goodness. I saw you both here and thought the worst." Millie said, helping Royden to his feet.

"How?" Royden said groggily.

"The suit didn't put me in a coma. I thought for sure it was going to, but it just knocked me out."

"I think it felt bad about everything. It no longer wanted to be a part of the evil it needed to do to survive." Royden suddenly remembered why the ground was shaking so badly. "I can tell you more about that later, but first we need to find everybody and get out of here. The dimension's done. If we don't get everyone out we're all going to die with it."

"They're all there." Millie pointed to over to twenty or so bodies all lying in a row nearby.

"Where did they come from?" Royden asked, thankful that they didn't have to go searching.

"Like you said, the dimension is all but gone. All the hiding spots are gone. Nothing is left except for what you see

"Whatever let's get them out."

Royden handed Millie the dimension crystal. Millie then drew a portal.

"But," Royden said, looking around, "there are beings here. We can't see them, but they are here. They need bodies to escape. We can't leave them."

"If they were here then they would have taken over the bodies already. Let's get these people out before we start worrying about that."

Royden and Millie took up the bodies one by one and carried them through the portal to a pleasant field somewhere. They worked fast, time slipped away.

Royden found his parents lying unconscious near the end of the line. He got them out and then went back to helping the others.

They got them all out and wiped the portal away. Royden went over to his parents. "How do we get them back?"

"Don't know. I say we go to the DSD and see if someone there knows. They have a database on all this stuff. I'm sure someone there knows. We'll leave them here for now. This is a safe place."

Millie got the portal ready and they jumped in.

They stood in a wide stone corridor. Large circles were carved into the stone walls every few feet. Millie said they made it so a lot of people could use their crystals to get there all at once.

He then led Royden through some doors and down some halls to a large room full of active portals. There had to be at least a hundred of them all over the walls ceiling and floor. They stepped carefully around the ones on the floor until they came to a much smaller room with a long table. Several beings sat around the table, all looking vastly different. Millie waved through the window and went in, Royden by his side.

Millie quickly explained what was going on.

What happened next was a whirlwind. Portals appeared and everyone went through different ones. Royden was told to follow a woman that looked the most human to a hospital wing of some kind. Within minutes the place was buzzing with doctors as every one of the bodies came in.

Royden was taken to a small room where he told the head of the Dimension Supervising Division, as well as some others including Millie, everything that happened.

He told them about the Tezeras's plan and how they needed bodies to escape their dying dimension. He told about Badchi and how it seemed to come to its senses in the end. He also talked about Pooly and the collapse of the Discovery Apartments, which they all thought was a real shame.

They promised him that everything would go back to normal and he could go to sleep. They led him to a small room with a bed. He sat on the bed and everyone but Millie left.

"When you wake up everything should be better." Millie said.

"Hope so." Royden replied, lying down.

It didn't take him long to fall asleep again.

# Chapter 26

Royden woke up and stretched. He felt much better. Alice sat on the end of the bed.

"I took the liberty of fixing you up." She said happily.

"Where have you been?" He asked, yawning.

"I evacuated with the rest. I was very surprised to hear what happened. All of us from the building want to thank you. We never imagined that the Tezera's were behind all that."

"What about the building? Pooly destroyed it."

"Yes," she said slowly, "It took a bit of explaining for that. The DSD is still trying to figure out what to do now. Pooly's been sent back to his dimension. It turns out Beth didn't have a permit."

"What about Mr. Bringum, is he mad?"

"He hated that building. He always wished that he could go back to taking care of a bed and breakfast like his family used to do. Having to hide all those beings really wore him out. Trust me, if anything he's ecstatic that the place fell down. Thankfully nobody died."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What about that dimension? Did it die?"

"Yes, it's gone now. You got out of there just in time. The DSD went back in and found that a lot of Smurg Smurgles were still there."

"You mean they were real? I thought Jessa was just trying to trick me when she talked about them. She took me to the dimension down the trash chute and pretended to be attacked by them."

"She was trying to trick you. She was a Smurg Smurgle, all the Tezera's were. When the dimension started dying the DSD sent a few people in to investigate. They never came out. The Tezera's invaded their minds and took their bodies. They found the Discovery Apartments and moved in. When they found that humans were perfect tools to get their fellow Smurgs out they sent bodies in there for the Smurgs to use. Only the Smurgs never accepted the bodies. Most were nobler than the Tezera's. They decided that they would rather die than steal the bodies of other beings. Of course after taking over a body, the Tezera's could no longer communicate with their fellow Smurgs."

"How do you know if you can't talk to them?" Royden asked.

Alice smiled. "It turns out the DSD is always prepared. There are other dimensions with similar beings. They were able to go into the dying dimension as it died and got them out. They told all about what happened when they got out."

"But how did they get out without bodies?"

"Here, let me show you what the DSD did to get them out."

They went to the hospital wing. It wasn't as frantic as it was before. Doctors milled about checking on patients. Royden saw his parents in adjacent beds and ran up to them. They stared around nervously at everything around them. They lit up when they saw Royden.

"I'm so glad you're safe." Mrs. Doble said, embracing her son.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Mr. Doble said. "I have no idea what's going on."

"Did they explain everything to you?" Royden asked.

"Yes, but it still doesn't make any sense."

Alice came up behind them. A human shaped robot stood beside her. It waved.

"What?" Royden said, pulling himself away from his mother's hug.

"The DSD have a line of robots with facsimile minds that allow beings without bodies to live inside them. If only the Tezera's knew this. Of course if they let Milton get to the dimension long enough to do research the DSD would have helped much sooner.

"Wow, if only Mr. Tezera knew that. What about the humans? How did their minds come back?"

"All the minds floated around our world unconsciously. When the bodies came back they all found their bodies again and woke up."

"So that's it then, it's all over?" Royden asked hopefully.

"For now." Alice said with a smirk. "You know better than anyone that there's something strange around every corner. But don't let that stop you from exploring."

She said goodbye to the Doble's and went away somewhere.

Royden spent the next few minutes trying to explain how he got wrapped up in everything. His mother cringed with almost every word and his father looked really confused about the whole thing. It would definitely take time for them to understand it all, if they ever did.

Mr. Bringum came by and asked to see Royden alone. They went out into the hall.

"What you did was very courageous." Mr. Bringum said seriously. "I'm glad you're all right."

"I'm sorry about your building." Royden stared at the floor as he talked.

"Buildings can be rebuilt." Mr. Bringum said simply. "For years I wanted to find a way to introduce the idea of other dimensions to humans. I thought I could do it slowly. Maybe a strange sighting here, a portal being captured on video there. That's why when your parents showed up looking for an apartment I let them have one. I thought if one family can exist harmoniously with all the weird beings that lived there than every family could. Well you blew my slow plan away in one night. Footage of Pooly fighting a giant man has been seen all over the world. The DSD wants to say we were filming a movie. That's ridiculous. How stupid do they think humans are? No, this is it. It's time for them to know. But it's up to you."

"Me? How is it up to me?"

"I told you to wait until that Monday to tell me if you wanted to leave it all behind. We never really got a chance to talk about it." He shook his head and sighed. "I trusted Mr. Tezera. I evacuated the building because I thought he had everyone's best interest at heart. Anyway, if you choose to go back to a normal life then I'll have Alice wipe your memory and you can do that. I'll go along with the movie idea and hopefully we can get everything to quiet down. What do you say?"

Royden thought for a second, and only a second. "I want to remember. I don't want to lose what I've learned. I don't mean about demons and dimensions, I mean I want to remember what I learned about myself. I don't mean to sound corny, but I learned that limits don't really exist. I did more in that week, or however long it really was, than I could have ever dreamed of doing in a lifetime without the Discovery Apartments. I don't ever want to forget that I helped people—that I risked everything I had to risk just so I could help. I couldn't save everyone: the tiny soldier, the painter, the Smurgs, Hofrora. But I did help some beings. I never want to forget that."

Mr. Bringum smiled slightly. "I think you have a bright future, Royden. With that attitude you can be the greatest ambassador Earth has to the rest of the multiverse. And I thank you with all I have."

Royden felt better in that moment than he had in his entire life.

Mr. Bringum was called away to discuss something.

Royden leaned against the wall, wondering if he should tell his parents that he saw 1965, even if he did never get to see outside.

Millie came up and leaned on the wall nearby. "So how about it?"

"How about what?" Royden said, not even trying to suppress his grin.

"How about you come work here?"

"I think I'm too young."

"Yeah for now, but we could use someone like you."

"I'll think about it."

"That's good enough for me. I'll be waiting."

"Milton."

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

He smiled broadly. "Thank you." He drew a circle in the air and a portal appeared. "I'll be seeing you." He disappeared inside.

Later that day Mr. and Mrs. Doble were released from the hospital. Mr. Bringum paid for them to stay at a hotel until they found a new apartment. The city was all abuzz with all the monster talk. Everywhere they went television crews asked people if they knew anything.

Royden went back to school. A few fake doctors' notes claimed he was in a coma and would be able to finish the year out. School wasn't that fun, but at least nobody tried to kill him there.

Mr. and Mrs. Doble had constant questions about other dimensions. Royden answered everything he could. Before long they were comfortable with the answers and stopped asking.

They got an apartment a few blocks away from the Ocean. It was still close enough for Mr. Doble to be able to walk to work. Before long everything returned to normal.

Mr. Bringum became an expert on other dimensions. He told the world about other dimensions and showed proof that it really existed. He was an instant celebrity. No beings from other dimensions were allowed to visit until things settled down a little.

Royden stayed out of it all. Mr. Brinum never mentioned his name and he managed to go back to a relatively normal life. Sometimes Royden missed the craziness of the Discovery Apartments.

A year later Mr. Bringum showed up to the Doble's new house they just moved into.

"How have things been?" Mr. Bringum asked. He no longer looked tired and worn as he had when he had to take care of the Discovery Apartments.

"Very boring." Royden laughed. "But I guess that's not such a bad thing."

"I have something for you." Mr. Bringum pulled a small crystal out of his pocket.

Royden took it and let it roll around in his hand. "Are you sure?"

"It's only connected to the DSD headquarters. Milton made it specifically for you. I told him not to contact you until you were older. But I realized that if anyone has a right to have one of these it's you. With this you can go and learn all about the different dimensions and beings in a safe environment."

"Wow, thank you. I wondered if I would ever go back to that sort of thing."

Mr. Bringum nodded slowly, deciding something. "I'm sorry, Royden. I wanted to try having a human family be exposed to other dimensions, but I never realized it could get so out of hand."

"It was better for everyone."

"Yes, but I still worry if it was good for you."

"I wouldn't change a second of it."

Mr. Bringum got up and shook Royden's hand. "It's been a pleasure seeing you again."

"And you. By the way, where is Ms. Carol living now? She did get out of the building, didn't she?"

Mr. Bringum smiled a little guiltily. "She's living with me now. With Badchi gone she's gotten a little better with the dark. I keep trying to get her a place of her own but she seems to think I need the company."

They said their goodbyes and Mr. Bringum left.

Royden felt the crystal and smiled. He drew a wide ring in the air. A portal appeared. He took a deep breath. For just a second he worried that he might be dragged into another adventure. He shrugged it off and jumped in. What's the worst that could happen?

