in the air and stopped the girl:
“Hold on, little girl! Wait. Where did you live before you got here?”
Allie told him his address.
“No, no. Not that. I mean, which sphere is your home?”
Seeing her puzzled face, Zand added impatiently:
“Well, what is your planet?”
“Earth,” Allie said in a dismal voice.
Zand looked at her intently, then nodded and sat down again, suddenly regaining his composure.
“You can continue.”
Allie continued her sad and fantastic story. Any minute she was expecting him to laugh at her words, but Uncle Zand was listening with great seriousness and never interrupted her. Allie finished her story with her falling down in a faint in the middle of a storm-torn forest the night before.
“That’s all. And then I woke up in your house. Thank you for everything, sir.”
“Well, thank you’s can wait,” said Zand with a concerned look. “Everything’s not that simple about this whole thing.”
He stared at the sea and stroked his beard, silent. Allie didn’t want to interrupt his thoughts and was sitting quietly and looking at the stormclouds on the horizon.
“Looks like a fairy castle,” she said in a low voice, as if to herself.
“Huh? What castle?” Zand shook himself and, following her gaze, nodded.
“Oh, that thing. You are not too far from the truth. Castle or not, but there is something interesting there. I’ll show you. Follow me.” He rose and walked toward the cliff.
Allie quickly put on her jeans and T-shirt, grabbed her shoes and sweater and ran after Zand.
“Uncle Zand,” asked Allie when she caught up with him, “what’s this sea called?”
He looked back over his shoulder:
“This one? It’s the Forsifian.”
“What’s that? For-sif-i-an? Never heard of it.”
“Hmm, never heard of it. Does this lead you to any conclusions?”
“I think I know.” Allie stopped, and then burst out, “We are not on Earth, are we?”
“You are a smart girl,” said Zand kindly. “And also brave. Well, that makes it easier for me to explain some things.”
Talking like that, they walked up the path to the top of the cliff. When they got there, Allie saw the neat little house made with rather large blocks of pinkish stone with golden streaks. The flat sloped roof made the house look like any regular modern cottage on Earth.
To the left of the house was the garden that Allie had seen from the window; to the right there was a tall round tower. It was no less than ten feet in diameter, and at least fifty feet tall. Not far from the house was the edge of the forest where Allie had wandered the night before. Further to the right she could see forested hills that gently sloped up towards picturesque rocky mountains.
The tower was made of the same kind of stones as the little house. A sturdy metal steeple on the very top held a big windmill with slowly rotating blades. Just under the tower roof there was a glass-sided observation deck.
And then Allie saw something that made her give a happy yelp and run toward the house. There, on its porch, sat Lu and Lemonade. They looked rather beaten up, especially Lu. She was covered with mud, one side was torn with the stuffing sticking out, her left arm was barely hanging on one thread. All in all, she looked so pitiful that Allie was ready to cry. She picked up the monkey and held her tight, whispering comforting words in her ear.
After the initial excitement had subsided, Allie cleaned Lu with a hard brush that Uncle Zand had found. He also found a needle and some thread, so Allie didn’t have any trouble patching up the monkey.
While she was busy doing that, Lu and Lemonade hurried to tell her what had happened to them the night before. It turned out that they had been pinned down by a large boulder. They didn’t know whether it was the same boulder they together had pushed out of the tunnel or a different one. They just felt that they were falling into the darkness and held on tight to each other. That was what saved them. When the heavy stone crashed on top of them, the monkey was on top and softened the blow for Lemonade. He was just pushed into some loose gravel.
When he came to his senses, Lemonade began to dig himself out from under the boulder. The storm was raging all around them. The cat was trying to call Allie, but realized it was all in vain in such noise. Then he tried to dig the gravel from under the boulder to set Lu free. She was unable to move, but other than that inconvenience didn’t feel any pain or discomfort. She and Lemonade could even easily talk to each other. That is why when Lu heard the cat digging, she insisted that he go find Allie first. She assured Lemonade that she’d be just fine, while Allie could be in grave danger at that moment. Lemonade found her arguments quite convincing and, making no delay, rushed to find the girl.
He spent a long time wandering through the dark groaning forest and finally, thanks to his night vision and keen sense of smell, found the girl lying senseless on a forest clearing. He himself couldn’t help the girl; fortunately, he smelled a human dwelling in the vicinity and didn’t hesitate to rush there, led by a pet’s instinct. That’s how he found Uncle Zand’s house, woke him up and led him to Allie…
When the girl was out of danger, Lemonade drank some buttery sweet milk and fell asleep in the big soft chair. But he woke up with the first gleam of sunlight. He didn’t want to wake Allie up, because she needed more rest, and went to rescue Lu by himself. He easily found his way back to the mountain and the boulder. It was only a matter of time to dig Lu out…
7. ANOTHER WORLD
While Allie was fixing the monkey and listening to Lemonade’s story, Uncle Zand was watching them with interest and some surprise. Allie noticed that and asked:
“Uncle Zand, sir, you must think this is all so weird?”
“Well, how do I say this? For instance, it’s really the first time I’ve seen a real cat, although its image is on our kingdom’s coat of arms. And, it’s been at least a decade since I last saw a dummy.” Zand nodded towards Lu. “And, I’ve never seen one that can talk.”
“What did you call her?” It was Allie’s turn to be surprised. “A ‘dummy’?”
“Well, yes, a dummy, or pseudolife, as our learned magicians call it. There used to be a lot of them around these parts before the war with Galfar. Only they couldn’t talk. But you don’t know anything about it, of course. I believe it is my turn now to tell you some things.”
Zand stopped, gathering his thoughts, and then began his story:
“I’m not a magician or alchemist of any kind. That’s why I’m going to tell it all simply, just how I see it, and only what I know for myself. You, Allie, guessed correctly when you said we’re not on Earth. That’s true. This land is called Ameron. I’m sure no one on Earth knows about it.”
