The Magic Between Us

The New World

Coming back to reality was hard after being knocked out, but coming to in a world she’d never been in was like getting splashed with cold water. She bolted upright, her helmet no longer on her head. Her hair was stuck to the sides of her face, and she felt warm. She was in the shuttle still, but she was alone and that scared her. Where is everyone else? Twyla didn’t want to think about being the only one left alive. She tried to stand but her head was throbbing, so she sank back down. On her hands and knees, she felt something soft under her, and realized it was a blanket. There’s no way I’d have done that unconscious, she reasoned with herself. Someone was still alive at least, and that helped her to calm down.

She squinted against the light coming through the glass of the shuttle, and realized it was laying on its side. Twyla was wedged between two chairs in a clear spot, her head almost under a control panel. She wondered what had happened that their shuttle was sideways. She vaguely remembered something slamming into them again, knocking her against the glass. Twyla looked over to where the control wheel was, and saw a tiny c***k in the window. It was no wonder her head was pounding.

Twyla noticed that the shuttle was in heavy foliage, the greenery taking her breath away. Giant leaves with beautiful blooming flowers atop of them, vines in elegant diamond shapes that climbed tall trees, and the birds were just otherworldly. They were every color Twyla could think of, with plumage that would put a peacock to shame. Even the ones that looked like small parrots were so elegantly vibrant. It was as if the world here was shimmering with light and magic.

“Twyla! Oh, thank goodness,” Sabrina exclaimed, popping in through a tarp that was hung at the end of the shuttle. She got down to gently hug Twyla, who was still trying to take the new world in. “I bandaged your head the best I could. How are you feeling?” Twyla gently touched her forehead, where her hairline started, and winced at how tender it was.

“I’m okay I guess,” she responded, resting her body against the control panel. It was off, completely unresponsive to anything. “What happened?”

“A sizable chunk of space rock that got caught up in the currents rammed into us while we were at the entrance of the void. You went flying into the window. But Twyla,” Sabrina grabbed her hands, her green eyes sparkling. “You won’t believe this place. It was so bright at first, with all these different colors of light. I’m not sure how we got here, but it felt like a pop? And then we crash landed. Demitri grabbed ahold of you once we left what ever that light was. I think it’s the only reason you’re not worse off.”

“Where are the boys?” Twyla asked, shifting her weight so she could stand up properly.

“They’re outside.” Twyla let out a breath of relief, happy that everyone made it. “They’ve made a small campfire so Demitri can heat up our food packets.” Twyla followed Sabrina outside of the shuttle, and she felt like the world in which she viewed inside the shuttle was nothing compared to what she was seeing out in the open. She understood now that they were on the edge of a field, where what she assumed was a forest ended. Twyla faced a land that was vibrant, and very full of life. Off in the distance, there were floating land masses, though not knowing the geography made it hard for her to tell if they were huge or small. Stones clung to one of the pieces of floating land, held together by what Twyla imagined were vines, and there was a mist around the bottom of it.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Fredrick asked her, walking up to her. Demitri was sitting by a small fire, cooking their food.

“Can someone explain why our fire is pink?” Twyla asked, very confused at the unusual nature of the flames. Demitri laughed with Sabrina.

“The only thing I can think of is the minerals that reside in some of these tree’s,” Sabrina spoke. “We’ve yet to get a normal orange flame.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Watch this,” Sabrina said, excited. She found a tree that looked a bit different from the majority, and threw it into the fire. Demitri let out an aggravated noise and fanned the air in front of his face.

“Warn a guy next time,” he scolded, but Twyla was too shocked by the fire to properly respond. It was now pink and green.

“What the hell is going on?” Twyla asked, having a hard time with it. While she was fascinated, she was also confused and still feeling groggy. She backed away a bit before turning to sit against a nearby tree. Twyla touched the bark of the tree to steady herself before sitting down, and she felt a warmth from the tree that made her question if it was actually alive or not. It was as if she was sitting against someone. She sighed, feeling exhausted and no longer wanting to question how bizarre this new world was. She sat down in the soft luscious grass, pushing strands of hair out of her face.

“What the hell is going on with you?” Sabrina exclaimed. “What on earth are you doing?!” Her tone of voice alarmed Twyla.

“What are you talking about?” She asked. Twyla then noticed she was surrounded by plants. Beautiful flowers, sparkling in the sunlight as if they had been rained upon. Ferns that tickled her arms and legs, brush that hugged against her as if it needed her to survive. Twyla squeaked and bolted off the ground from where she had been sitting.

“What is happening?!” Twyla whisper-yelled, emphasizing her words. Tiny white flowers in the shape of bells had followed her footsteps. The entire experience was draining her, and she didn’t want to deal with it right now. “Please tell me I’m just seeing things. I’m not awake, this is just a dream.”

“Hate to break it to you shorty, but you’re not dreaming,” Demitri said, already having removed the cooking pot from the fire. “It looks like you’re very in tune with nature right now.”

“That’s impossible,” Twyla said, but yet here it was right in front of her. Where she had been sitting looked like a small garden, and the tiny bell flowers were rising as high as their little stalks could go, as if they needed her to hold them. As if she was the very life they breathed and they couldn’t go on without her.

“This place is very different from our homes, that’s for sure,” Fredrick spoke. “We need to start mapping out where we are, and find running water. We will run through our reserves if we don’t act now.” It was a grim statement, but he was right.

“Let’s get some food in us before we start getting down to business,” Sabrina chimed, and started scooping up the food onto the paper plates that were stored. It looked like mush, but it was better than not eating, and soon Twyla came to understand that while it looked gross, it was actually pretty good. It made sitting on a log with moss growing around her a little less aggravating.

“I hope I can get this under control soon,” she said as she stood up, the foliage practically bending towards her. It was as if they spoke to her, praising her, and it was just a bit much for Twyla at the moment.

“It’s so cool though!” Sabrina exclaimed, following Twyla while looking at the plants. They didn’t react to her in the same way, in fact it was as if they ignored her. Twyla was the only one they clung to.

“I’m glad you think so,” Twyla huffed. While she loved plants, she was slowly coming to terms with what was happening. She knew she just needed some time to adjust and let reality sink in a bit more. Now that she was here in this world, all she wanted to do was sprint in what ever direction she felt she should go and find Shane. But that was a terrible idea, and she knew she needed to calm down and think of a plan. Not to mention the thought of running made her want to collapse and sleep for hours.

“What I’m worried about is that we have no communication with our world,” Demitri said, standing up to get seconds. “Our shuttle is battered pretty bad, repairing it might not be an option.”

“Do you think there are people here? Or some kind of lifeform that’s humanoid?” Sabrina asked curiously, finishing off her plate before setting it down besides her. “I wonder if there are towns.”

“If there are, I don’t think we are anywhere near one. It’s pretty wild out here, and looking across the field like this, I can’t see anything,” Fredrick said.

“Let’s take inventory of our supplies,” Demitri told them, standing up. Twyla noticed he didn’t quite finish his food the second time around. “Before we do anything, we need to make a safe place to camp.”

“I can get behind that. Let me stamp the fire out,” Sabrina said. The moment she went to dumb a handful of dirt onto it, the fire rose to meet her hand and she let out a yelp.

“Sabrina! Are you okay?” Demitri asked, rushing over to make sure her hand wasn’t burned. “What the heck happened?”

“I don’t know! I was trying to put the fire out by smothering it with dirt, and it suddenly got bigger. But I’m not burned.” Twyla let out a sigh of relief. The last thing they needed was an injury that could get infected, especially not knowing what supplies they did and didn’t have. Sabrina tentatively reached her hand towards the flames again, unsure why now it was misbehaving. She’d just put wood on it earlier and it didn’t do anything, but Sabrina wasn’t sure now.

“Well don’t keep trying to burn yourself!” Demitri exclaimed and yanked her hand away. “What are you trying to do?” He huffed at her when she crossed her arms.

“I don’t know but something weird is going on. I wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt myself,” Sabrina scoffed. “I’m not an idiot.”

“Then don’t act like one, or you’re banned from any and all future fires.”

“Excuse me?!” Sabrina yelled, very offended now. Twyla was watching her closely, a theory building in her mind. Her hair was half pulled back, her curls looking more lush and fuller and vibrant. Her blue eyes seemed richer in color too, but that’s not what caught Twyla’s attention. Demitri saw it too.

“Sabrina, please calm down,” Demitri told her, but Twyla knew that was the wrong thing to say.

“I’ll calm down when you apologize!” She shrieked. “You were rude for no reason, calling me an idiot.” Her veins in her arms and neck were glowing. And Twyla was both terrified for her friend and in awe of how spectacular she looked. The veins glowed down into her chest, showing through the simple white tee-shirt she was wearing. Her stomach was the brightest of all, and it reminded Twyla of a dragon.

“Okay, okay,” Demitri said, showing fear on his face, worried Sabrina might explode. “I’m sorry, I was just worried about you is all.” He held his hands up in surrender, and backed away from her by a step. Twyla glanced over at Fredrick, who was taking notes.

“Why are you all acting so weird?” Sabrina asked, still looking at Demitri. Twyla walked over and touched her glowing arms, only to quickly pull back.

“It’s like touching a hot pan,” she said, looking at Fredrick. He wrote it down in his notebook.

“Whatishappeningtome!” Sabrina screamed, Twyla’s action causing her to look down at her arms. “Make it stop! Make it STOP!” She’d gone into full blown panic, and there was no way Twyla or Demitri could get close to her now. She was radiating heat, a human phoenix unable to control the fire.

“What do we do?!” Demitri asked, looking at Twyla with fear across his face. They’d taken a few steps back to get away from the heat, and Sabrina was alone with the fire now. It had rose to greet her, as if she was a long-lost friend and she had amnesia. Sabrina was engulfed, with no way to stamp it out. Her hair was untouched, and her eyes glowed brightly light sapphires held up in the light.

“I don’t know, but we’ve got to get her to calm down,” Twyla said, trying to speak over the crackling of the flames. They were brilliant pink and green, with flickers of blue mixed in. It was hard to believe that it was fire when it was so colorful.

“Sabrina, listen to me,” Fredrick called out, having put his notebook down at a safe distance. “It’s going to be okay; I promise. I want you to take a few deep breaths for me. Can you do that?” Sabrina slowly turned to look at him, her chest heaving as she tried to gulp in air. “That’s it,” he cooed, “Keep your eyes on me. Breath with me Sabrina.” Twyla knew this was his years of therapy, having to overcome his own panic attacks. While Sabrina was focused on Fredrick, Twyla was trying to think of ways to help put the fire out. She tried to summon vines to cover the fire over the ground, but she wasn’t focusing enough to bring them forward. It caused Twyla to start feeling overwhelmed, upset that she couldn’t help her friend. Demitri looked about the same way she was feeling.

“You’re doing great,” Fredrick told Sabrina, taking small steps closer to her. Twyla was surprised he wasn’t getting burned, and if he could feel the heat, he didn’t let that show on his face or stop him. They could all notice that Sabrina was taking breaths at a steadier pace, and the fire that had embraced her was dwindling down. Fredrick was able to take her hands in his, and it almost looked to Twyla that his touch was causing the fire to sizzle down.

“Are you hurt?” he asked Sabrina, and she shook her head. “How do you feel?”

“Scared,” she breathed. Twyla could see the gears in her head working, Sabrina now actually thinking about the situation she was in. “I don’t feel the heat. I feel, dangerous. But free?” She shook her head. “Weightless?”

“Impressive,” Demitri spoke. “I wonder if this place is magic?” Twyla snorted, then stopped to actually think about it. Was it actually in the realm of possibility? They were in another world after all.

“I’d dare say we could be in a whole different dimension entirely,” Fredrick said, still doing breathing exercises with Sabrina. She looked a lot calmer now, the fire now lazily lapping at her feet.

“I think I’ve got the hang of it now,” she said, taking a big breath. With that, the fire went out completely, letting out one last unsatisfied sizzle. “That was terrifying.”

“A little, but that was pretty cool,” Demitri said as he took off his jacket. Twyla didn’t pay attention before, but they were all in white tee-shirts with cargo pants, and Demitri’s jacket matched the army green and the number of pockets of his pants. Travis really did think of just about everything.

“Do you think this place changed our bodies somehow?” Twyla asked, tentatively sitting back down in the grass. Foliage rushed up to meet her, but she quickly put her hand up in a stopping motion; to her surprise they stopped and swayed in the slight breeze.

“It’s very possible. Without more data, there’s no way to know for sure,” Fredrick responded, helping Sabrina and Demitri put the plates away. It was bright outside, but Twyla couldn’t tell if it was morning or evening. The sky was a light hue of lavender, or maybe it was periwinkle. What ever color it was, Twyla knew it wasn’t quite the same as the sky at home.

“I’m going to walk a small perimeter around our camp, and pick up some more wood for a fire later,” Demitri told them, rubbing his hands on his pants.

“I can go with you,” Sabrina chimed, but he shook his head before she could follow him.

“You should get some rest; I can’t imagine what just happened was any fun for you.” Before she could reply, Demitri stalked off into the chattering forest, leaving Sabrina at a loss for words.