Part 20 (2/2)

Easing myself off the bed, I gingerly tested my left foot against the ground. The worst of the pain was gone, but my ankle still didn't feel strong; I would have to be careful with it.

I suddenly realized I was clean, which mean that someone had washed me while I slept. And I was dressed only in a loose smock of some kind, so someone had changed my clothing as well. Not that I wasn't glad to be rid of all that filth, but I dearly hoped Rita was the only one who had seen me naked.

I walked over to the shelves, and discovered a collection of items that reminded me of the mementos in the magpie room-that chamber in the Warrens that had reminded me of a magpie's nest. Aside from basic supplies like food and clothing there were books, charms, small pieces of pottery in seemingly random shapes, and a few personal items that didn't look like they would belong to my host. There were a few things I couldn't identify at all.

I saw there was a pen on one of the shelves, but it seemed so normal, so insignificant, that I just looked past it without thinking. A few seconds later it hit me just how significant it was.

It was plastic. One of those cheap pens you buy by the dozen, with a clear plastic shaft and a ball-point tip that always clogs. Totally unremarkable in my normal context. But it wasn't a normal context, and this was a world with no plastic in it.

He says he's from my world originally, I reminded myself. So maybe he brought it with him.

The clothing on the shelves was too large for me, as he'd warned, but I managed to find an off-white linen s.h.i.+rt that was wearable. It hung down to my thighs, so I figured I didn't need to go through the effort of trying on pants. I'd worn dresses shorter than that.

As I finally headed toward the cave entrance, I realized there was one other thing of significance in the cave, resting on a narrow ledge near the curtain.

A gun.

It was a heavy piece, shaped like a rifle but much longer than any I'd seen before. Below the age-blackened barrel was a slender ramrod, and when I looked at the trigger mechanism I saw a fragment of stone in a metal clamp, arching over a small, flat pan.

A flintlock. Next to a ball point pen. Guarded by a pterodactyl.

Maybe I should just give up trying to make sense of this world.

Pus.h.i.+ng my way past the curtain, I found myself standing on a smooth natural shelf jutting out from the side of a steep hill. The surrounding view was magnificent. Overhead the sky was a vast black pool of blackness, filled with thousands of stars and a brilliant quarter moon. Richly forested mountains surrounded us, their crests gleaming in the starlight. Summer's heat had given way to a breeze that was blissfully cool, and it stirred the folds of my borrowed s.h.i.+rt and soothed my skin. For a few seconds I just stood there and drank it all in, a precious moment of peace.

I saw the flicker of a fire coming from a short distance down the path and began to walk toward it, my bare feet reveling in the delicious chill of the dirt beneath my feet.

In a place where the shelf widened out a bit a small campfire burned, around which my companions were sitting and talking. As soon as they saw me they jumped to their feet, and Rita squealed and ran over to hug me in relief, which was not a response I would ever have expected from her. Devon and Isaac waited for me to come to them, but you could see from their faces how relieved they were to see that I was okay. Their clothes were clean now, though it looked as if Devon's s.h.i.+rt was still damp. I saw that our bags had been piled up at the far side of the campfire, and next to them was all the stuff I'd been carrying in my pockets. Further down the path I saw a rope strung between two trees, with a s.h.i.+rt and jeans clipped to it.

The Green Man watched our reunion in silence. When we finally sat down, using various rocks and logs for makes.h.i.+ft chairs, he remained standing.

”Where are we?” I asked him.

”You would call this place West Virginia,” the Green Man said. ”But the state never divided in this world, so that name does not exist.”

”And all of this?” I nodded back toward the cave. ”This is your home?”

He chuckled. ”Hardly. Call it a waystation. A place where I entertain guests who aren't yet ready to learn where I live.”

So many questions were filling my head that I didn't know which ones to ask first. ”You said you were from Terra Colonna.”

He nodded. ”Yes.”

”From what time period?”

Devon and Rita were startled by the question. They hadn't seen the gun.

The Green Man just smiled. ”Born in the year of our Lord 1747. In a small town northwest of Richmond, Virginia. I'm guessing that was your next question.”

I'd expected some answer like that, but even so it was hard to absorb. ”Do people not age normally in this world?”

”They live and die at the normal pace here. As they do in most worlds. Though I've heard there are a few exceptions.”

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but he raised up a hand to silence me. Then he reached forward with a long stick and stirred the embers at the base of the fire. Orange sparks went floating up into the night. ”You want my story. You want all the Shadows' secrets. You want to understand this world well enough to get home safely, after you take advantage of those secrets. Those things do not come free.”

”We've been giving you information for hours,” Rita said testily. ”Shouldn't it be our turn now?”

”That has paid the bill thus far,” he told her. ”And you're getting off rather cheaply, in that I saved all your lives. So if you want more from me, you will have to offer more.”

”What is it you value?” I asked.

His sharp eyes fixed on me. In the firelight they were a steely grey, shadowy and ominous. ”I trade in information, my dear, and not just for my amus.e.m.e.nt. Information is what keeps one alive in a hostile environment. Now, it happens that because I am from your world, I value news of its progress-as your friends have discovered. But they've already covered that ground. Otherwise?” He stabbed the stick into the dirt by his side; it remained upright when he released it. ”Secrets, artifacts, innovations . . . the more rare things I collect, the more likely people will seek me out when there is something unusual they want.”

”What about an update on technological developments?” Devon suggested. ”There's so much that's happened in the last few years, and we didn't tell you about that at all.” He pulled out his iPhone, turned it on, and showed it to him. The Green Man glanced at it for a moment. A faint smile flickered across his lips. He shook his head. Devon shut the phone off and put it back in his pocket.

I remembered the items that I'd seen on his shelves. Artifacts. Innovations. Rarities.

I walked over to our backpacks and began to dig through mine. Everything I'd brought with me was necessary for survival-that's why I'd packed it all in the first place-but most of our supplies had been purchased in triplicate, so as long as I didn't get separated from my companions, I could afford to part with something.

I considered what would have the most value here, reflected upon the artifacts he already owned, and finally took out my flashlight. One of his eyebrows rose a bit, but he said nothing. I switched it on and off to show him how it worked, then put it down on a flat rock next to him. An offering.

He still said nothing, but I thought I saw a gleam of interest in his eyes.

Rita headed over to her backpack, and after a moment of rummaging she withdrew something round and silver: her roll of duct tape. She peeled off a short length to demonstrate its stickiness, ripped it to reveal its texture, then walked over to him and put the roll down on what had become our official offering rock.

Devon's turn. He hesitated, clearly uncertain about what to offer. Finally he reached into his bag and pulled out a couple of water bottles. At first that struck me as pretty lame-the last thing the Green Man was likely to need in a land of rivers and streams was water-but as the Green Man nodded in thoughtful approval, I realized the brilliance of Devon's choice. Lightweight plastic bottles, flexible and watertight, had a thousand possible uses. And in a world without plastic they were a true rarity.

We all looked at Isaac. You could tell from his surprised expression that he hadn't expected to be included in our little ritual. But then his eyes met mine, and I pleaded with him silently: please. I thought there would be a dramatic value in all us making this offering together, as a group, that might outweigh the value of the items themselves.

Finally he took out his little glow lamp and put it on the offering rock.

Thank you, I mouthed silently.

The Green Man studied the items before him for a few seconds in silence, then nodded. He walked over to where a fallen tree trunk lay in a bed of weeds and sat down on it. I felt the knot in my chest loosen a bit. Hopefully we were about to get one step closer to our end goal: rescuing Tommy.

”My name is Sebastian Hayes,” he told us. ”And yes, I fought in the War of Independence. After the city of my birth was burned to the ground by a traitor, I signed up. Fought till the end. It wasn't glorious, like they tell you in history books, just . . . necessary. And d.a.m.n b.l.o.o.d.y.” A shadow of pain crossed his face. ”When it was over I hurried home, anxious to see my wife and daughter again.”

There was a long pause, during which he stared into the fire without speaking.

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