A husky bald man with a goatee shook the candy shop door. The man checked his watch and banged on the glass. Shaking his head disgustedly, the man stalked away.
Nate had been spying on the candy shop for almost thirty minutes. His hour had to be waning. If he was going to risk a direct assault on the shop, he knew it was now or never.
Since he had no money on him, Nate picked up a heavy bronze candlestick without paying and walked out. He jaywalked across Main and flung the candlestick through one of the large plate-glass windows. Huge sheets of glass fell, dissolving into shards and splinters as they hit the ground.
An enormous sound followed, like the blast of a ship’s horn, accompanied by a searing flash of light and heat. Nate fell over backwards, landing in the street and scraping his right elbow. Picking himself up, he approached the window. He used the sole of his shoe to try to push away some of the remaining glass. When his foot touched the glass, a tremendous shock sent him spinning to the ground. Nate lay on the sidewalk in a stupor, fingers twitching. He had underestimated the defenses of the shop.
After a few deep breaths, Nate sat up. Despite the violent jolt, no lasting harm appeared to have occurred. As he began to rise, Nate started to grow and age. His shoes squeezed his feet, and Nate tore them off with liver-spotted hands. Rising painfully, he hobbled away from the broken window.
Why was he old? This was not part of the plan! Had everything fallen apart?
He leaned against a light pole to catch his breath. Cars roared by on Main, indifferent to his internal anguish. Time was running out, and he could think of nothing useful to do.
*****
Out of breath and sweaty, his ribs screaming in pain, Trevor found the door to the school cafeteria unlocked. It was almost strange to feel his heart beating again. In the mirror realm, he had been able to run all he wanted without getting tired. In all his time there, Trevor had not felt his heart beat once, even when he had jogged a long distance with his fingers pressed to his neck as an experiment.
He dashed inside the cafeteria to the custodial office and found that door unlocked as well. Inside he discovered a square hole in the floor and a rope ladder. Hurriedly Trevor pulled up the rope ladder and tipped over a filing cabinet to cover the hole.
Trevor exited the cafeteria and checked the parking lot. He arrived just in time to witness the black Hummer driving away. He slumped down and a black Labrador approached him, nudging him with a wet, black nose.
“Diego?” Trevor asked, recognizing the purple collar. “What are you doing here?”
The dog had no response.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Goblet
Nate materialized on a side street not far from Main. Fortunately there were no cars speeding down the road the moment he appeared. His shoes sat nearby. Groaning, Nate picked up his shoes and shuffled over to the edge of the street.
He had three sets of memories colliding in his mind. Memories of giant black widow spiders spinning webs around him and of aging as he entered the treasure room. Memories of breaking one of the candy shop windows. Memories of waiting behind the mirror, staring out at his empty bathroom, hoping he would not be trapped in the frigid blackness forever.
It took a few moments to reconcile the different recollections. The incident with the candlestick and the candy store window explained how his eyebrows had gotten singed and where the scrape on his elbow had come from. Two of his selves had not felt the shock when he had kicked the glass—apparently only the actual changes to his body were universally experienced, not sensations. He remembered his panic in the mirror realm as his body began to age.
After sorting through the various memories, Nate began to feel whole again. He still had some candy, though he doubted it would work now that he was old. He tried to get a Moon Rock out of his pocket to experiment, but his pants were so tight, and his fingers so arthritic, that he failed.
All Nate knew was that he wanted to get to the candy shop to see how everything ended. He shambled along the side street until he reached Main, then turned in the direction of the candy shop. He waited at a crosswalk until the traffic ebbed. Many cars lined up waiting as he slowly traversed the intersection. He was hurrying as best he could, but his old legs grew tired so quickly!
After having paused several times to rest on a bench or squat on some stairs, Nate arrived at the candy shop. The window remained broken. The closed sign was still on display.
Through the broken window Nate could hear voices in the back. “Hey!” Nate called. “Hey! It’s Nate! Let me in!”
A moment later Mrs. White pushed through the batwing doors, wearing a black eye patch. “Nate, how good of you to join us!” she said. She unlocked the front doors and opened them, admitting him. “I didn’t expect to see you again. You arrived just in time for the grand finale! I understand I have you to thank for claiming my prize.”
“You could say that,” Nate agreed in a meek voice.
Mrs. White closed the door, locked it, and offered Nate her arm. He let her escort him into the back. Summer, John, and Gary were tied up sitting on the floor. Pigeon was there too, webs still binding his arms to his sides. They gazed at Nate in despair. Old Kyle was seated on a chair beside Denny. Wyatt stood beside a worktable where the ornate goblet rested, clipping his fingernails.
“Look who came for a visit,” Mrs. White said elatedly. “Our old friend Nate! I’ve always been taught to show respect for my elders, so Denny, please pull him up a chair front and center.”
Denny retrieved a chair and Nate sat down directly in front of the goblet.
“Friends,” Mrs. White said. “In this humble room, in this obscure town, you are about to witness the dawn of a new era. All of you will be invited to serve me. Those who refuse will face nightmarish consequences. The rest of us are about to embark on a journey that surpasses anything you could possibly imagine. Decades of hiding and studying and preparing have finally reached their culmination!”
Mrs. White seized the goblet and raised it high. “To a new beginning,” she cried exultantly, and began gulping down the water. She continued drinking until she held out an empty goblet for all to see.
The change began almost immediately. Her stature diminished. Wrinkles smoothed away. Faint freckles came into being. Her clothes hung baggy on her smaller frame. Within a moment, Mrs. White looked ten years old.
Nate leaned forward, eyes narrowed, hands clenched into fists. Denny coughed, muffling the sound as best he could. Everyone in the room watched the young girl in expectant silence.
Her jubilant expression faded. The eye patch fell down around her neck, revealing a vacant socket. The young girl looked around at everyone, no recognition in her eye. She seemed flustered and disoriented. “Who are you?” she finally asked in a small, hesitant voice. “Where am I?”