Chapter 6

On impulse, Shay stood and crossed to the study. She did not knock but tried the door. It was unlocked. She opened it. Andy was seated at his desk in front of his computer. The screen reflected off his glasses and for a moment he looked like he had two silver coins over his eyes.

He did not look up from his computer. After all, who else would be in the house this time of night other than Shay?

“Hi Dad,” Shay greeted trying to sound cheerful.

“Hi, Princess,” Andy replied still looking at his computer screen.

“I didn’t hear any hurricane warnings tonight,” Shay said as she eyed the papers scattered around the room.

“I’ll pick that up just now. I lost a manuscript and got carried away searching for it.”

Shay nodded then, pretending to be a burglar, she tip-toed around her father’s desk and tickled him. “I am ze cat burglar. I have stolen everything and now I am going to steal you too. You are a famous author yes?”

Andy squirmed and laughed as a hint of a smile turned up the corners of his mouth. He offered no comeback as he had in the past when Rhian had been with them. Still, it was more than she had got in a long time.

Shay hugged him from behind resting her head on his shoulder. He did not move but seemed to relax a little.

“God, you’re freezing! And wet!” Shay said as the cold from Andy’s clothes seeped through hers.

“Yeah. I got caught in the garden spray outside,” Andy replied calmly.

“You should change! You’ll get sick Dad.”

“Thanks, honey. I will in a moment. I must have been more soaked than I thought. I expected I’d be dry by now.”

“And you’re out of breath too. Are you okay?” Shay asked concerned as she felt Andy’s rapid breathing.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just finished searching for the manuscript so I’m still calming down.”

“It must be important. Did you find it?”

“Not yet. But I will.”

Over his shoulder, Shay could see a map. It looked like a map from one of her father’s fantasy books. Areas on the map were crossed out in black. Almost as if it was systematic. Like a search was being conducted.

“What’s that?” she asked pointing to the map.

Silence. Then, “That’s part of my editing. I go through the world I have written about, place by place to make sure I have no loose ends in my book about any specific area. When I’m positive I’ve missed nothing I cross it off on the map and move on.”

“Wow,” Shay replied. It was more than Andy had said to her in ages. Andy missed her comment. He was focused on the text on the screen again.

“Want some coffee?”

“Sure, Shay. That would be great.”

Reluctantly, she straightened and let go of her father. On her way to the kitchen, she paused at the door and looked back. Andy was hunched over the computer again. The screen cast silver coins over his eyes again. Andy had aged since Rhian’s disappearance. Grey had appeared overnight in his hair and had proliferated fairly rapidly over his head. On the whole, he looked… haggard. That was the word that came to mind.

Haggard. Tired. Exhausted. Sad. Worried.

Closing the door behind her, she left the study and went to the kitchen. She ignored the percolator and put the kettle on to boil instead. Coffee the old-fashioned way. She took two cups and added coffee and sugar. She placed the milk on the counter while she waited for the water to boil. Then she jumped up onto the counter where she sat deep in thought.

When she saw her father as he was now anger stirred within her. Anger at her mother for her leaving the way she had. Her feelings were quickly followed by guilt and remorse. She did not know what had happened to her mother and she had no right to blame her until she knew the truth. If that day would ever arrive.

The kettle boiled and she stirred the hot water, coffee, and milk after pouring it. She found some Oreo cookies and placed them on a tray with the steaming coffee and headed back to the study.

As she approached the study door she heard a noise. It sounded like something heavy falling. Then, as she looked at the light spilling under the door she heard another noise. It sounded like something falling over. Something cast a shadow under the door. It was moving quickly and then there were more sounds of things colliding with each other. It sounded like someone was fighting. Shay could hear voices from inside the study.

Who would her father be talking to at this time of night? Who had let them in? She had not been gone that long. Shay balanced the tray on one arm and moved closer to the door. She listened briefly before turning the handle. She half expected that the door would be locked.

It wasn’t.

As she opened the door she was greeted by the most bizarre sight. Ornaments lay shattered on the floor. Papers and books were everywhere. Pictures on the walls were no longer straight or lay on the floor. Shay barely managed to dodge an ornament as it flashed by her and crashed into the wall next to the door. She screamed and dropped the tray. Hot coffee spilled over the carpet and floor as the cups shattered.

Andy was struggling with someone dressed in black. Shay’s first thought was that it was a burglar. But burglars did not fight with swords. Both Andy and his opponent wielded swords. They swung, blocked, and parried seeking an advantage over one another. They both turned to look at Shay as she screamed and dropped the coffee.

They both hesitated for the briefest of moments. In that instant, it was as if time stood still. Although Andy’s opponent’s face was covered under a hood, Shay had the impression that he recognized her.

Then, each seized the moment of the other’s hesitation caused by the distraction of Shay’s entrance; to do what they felt was most important.

Andy lunged for a book on his desk as he shouted, “Run Shay!”

But Shay was rooted to the spot. As she watched, Andy’s opponent raised his sword to strike. Shay screamed. “No!”

The stranger hesitated again briefly.

Andy, also startled by her scream, lost the advantage he could have gained from his opponent’s hesitation as he too hesitated again. Nevertheless, they both achieved their goals. He managed to pick up the book he had been reaching for and quickly pulled it close.

In the next instant, her father’s opponent drove his sword down into Andy who stiffened as the sword entered his side. He groaned and breathed out heavily as Shay screamed again. Andy’s attacker looked at Shay again. She could not see his face as it was still hidden by the hood he wore. Thoughts of the grim reaper crossed her mind for a brief instant. The attacker stared at Shay from hooded blackness. Then he withdrew his sword from her father’s wound, turned, and fled.

Where the attacker fled was even more bizarre. Shay noticed the scene in the study for the first time as she watched her father’s attacker flee. The back wall of the study was missing. In its place was an image surrounded by puffy edges much the same as a cloud.

It was as if the study walls, floor, and ceiling merged completely with the image at the back of the room. As Shay absorbed the image before her, the attacker turned and fled into the image. It was nighttime in the image. And cold. No, freezing!

A wind blew into the study from the image. It carried…… Wait! As if time slowed down, Shay watched white specks of dust blow into the study. Shay watched the dust float down to the carpet. It settled on the pages strewn on the floor and quickly made water stains.

Was it really….snow?

But Shay had no more time to wonder at the image right then. Her attention was drawn back to her father. He groaned as he clung to the book he had grabbed from his desk. With his other hand, he clenched his side where the sword had entered.

Putting aside her astonishment, Shay ran around the desk to her father’s side as he collapsed to the floor.

She knelt beside him. “Daddy!” she cried. He raised his hand to touch her face and for the first time in a long time she saw her old father in his eyes again.

His hand was covered in blood as he touched her face. “We have to save your mother,” he whispered looking into her eyes.

Shay stopped for an instant, confused. What was he talking about?

“We have to get you to a doctor Dad.” Still holding him she reached for the phone which had survived the fight and still sat on the desk.

“No! No!” Andy whispered. He pulled her back urgently wincing in pain as he did so. “There is no time. If we don’t do it now she will be gone forever.”

Andy struggled to his feet. He looked at the image. It was the only way Shay could think of describing it.

“We have to go through, now.” He pulled at her and leaned toward the image. None of this appealed to Shay at all. She had just witnessed an attacker stab her father with his sword. A sword that seemed taller than Shay herself. The attacked had fled into the image. And her father wanted to follow? The attacker could be waiting anywhere in that image for them.

“We can’t go in there.” Shay resisted her father’s pull. For someone who was wounded, he was remarkably strong. He pulled harder and she started to lose her footing. She desperately needed to call nine-one-one but the phone was no longer within reach.

Then the image at the back of the study disappeared with a “pop”!

Shay hesitated, “What the…?”

“Damn!” Andy cursed. He fumbled with the book and opened it. A bookmark tumbled out onto the floor. He dropped the book and it landed on the floor, open. Then Andy scooped up the bookmark and pressed it to the page. In the next instant, another image opened in the study with an accompanying “pop!” Andy closed the book and picked it up. When the new image opened Shay hesitated briefly. It was all Andy needed to gain the upper hand. He heaved with all his might and leaned towards the image.

Shay tried to hold him back but couldn’t. Andy’s weight was too much. Shay lost her balance and screamed as they tipped forward into the image.