A New Life She Wasn't Expecting

“Yes. For reasons that we don't understand, most fairytales that are real dimensions are told around the time of a great event happening in their world,” Guyver shared. If this family had been a direct descendant to the only person known to have traveled to another dimension (besides Dark Water), then they should be brought in. Who knew what they could learn from the boy? “I will be in touch, Cheryl Deeks.”

“That's it?” Cheryl asked. “What about. . .” She fidgeted, like she didn't know if she wanted to know. Guyver moved away from the table and gestured outside.

“No child like Dominic has ever been born,” Guyver stated to Cheryl. He tried to keep it professional as he sat on one of the chairs on the front porch. “No one has ever been able to see into other dimensions.”

She sat down gently beside him. Oh, he wished he didn't have to tell her this. Such a woman, she didn't deserve to live in a place like that. Even though Cheryl had lived in the middle of nowhere, in a house that could barely be called a house, there was a spark hiding in her eyes. It screamed for excitement and to get away. The rest of her soul though seemed trapped. She crossed her legs and took a deep breath. Guyver took that as the sign to go on.

“Your parents were killed in a crash about a week after everything. Your aunt and uncle took care of your expenses after that?” Guyver watched her eyes again. “Real nice of them. Especially now, this world is getting awful dark.”

“I lock my doors every night. This world became so odd over the last year.” Cheryl looked back toward the house. “Everything is much worse than it had been.”

“No, it isn't. Mass paranoia. Nothing more or less has happened than it has in the other years. DIM has been studying that too.”

“Then others are paranoid. I still don't want to risk getting near them.”

“You are twenty-two,” Guyver said firmly. “It's time you move on.”

“Move on to where? I have to take care of Dominic. My Aunt and Uncle pay for the doctor, the school, everything. The whole family, no one else cared. Everyone shunned us, like we didn't even exist.”

That's what he needed. “What if I told you because of your ancestor Dorothy, you could be a part of DIM? Money, and a job. You could keep Dominic, and treat him the way you want. Raise him the way you want, not by anyone else.”

“The truth.” Cheryl shifted in her chair. She fidgeted with her fingers and rubbed her mouth. “Tell me. You're not offering something for nothing.”

“Dorothy traveled somehow to another dimension from near here, so maybe there was an actual door. Nothing from another dimension had been located, so it must have gone back over. This is all theory, of course, but a child born between two people of other dimensions, it could be where the ability is from.”

She covered her face, turning away. “My parents. . .Dominic doesn't look anything like my dad, but my mom is loyal. Dominic has special problems, and none of it was in the family history. Still . . .he's my brother. So, Guyver. Can you guarantee I could get a job with DIM? Enough for Dominic and I? You aren't going to do anything to my brother?”

“I do guarantee it. The job, and just talking. With our help maybe we could even work through these visions. Get Dominic a normal life.” Yes. Guyver had no doubt she would be accepted, or he wouldn't have shared so much. She might not get anything fancier than paperwork, but it would get her and Dominic out to DIM. Dominic’s visions needed to be analyzed. Yes, he was probably lying about the help Dominic got, but he needed her to come with him.

Cheryl covered her face. “I never did anything, I just wanted to get through school. I wanted to go to college and to live a life and get away from this tired town. When it happened, I was too young, and who would hire me here? I took a deal from my aunt and uncle to stay quiet. At first, they acted like they had cared about what happened. My father's side had always been more compassionate toward me. Mother's side, Dorothy's side was not as friendly.” She fidgeted with her fingers. “I didn't know for sure, you know? Why didn't anyone ever like us? Even before my parents passed, they didn't pay much attention to us.”

“They must have known something, but never said it.” Guyver understood that. “I'm sorry.”

“Who and why?”

“I don't know, but we'll figure it out,” Guyver answered. “I need to make a few calls, and then I'd like you to come with me.” He shot a small smile her way. “How would you like to leave Kansas for awhile?”

The smile on her face made the gray skies behind her dim in their own power.

It looked like she'd been waiting for someone to say that her whole life.

***

Guyver got more than approval. His boss, Mitch Callister, revealed what Dominic had been. In Dark Water, they had records the evil queen kept. DIM often used it to their advantage, but she had written a prophecy about a boy that would be able to see across dimensions to the truth. That knowledge would be the only hope to avoid the apocalypse.

How? His boss didn't quite say, just that Dominic needed to come to DIM as soon as possible.

Guyver went back inside to talk to Cheryl, but curiosity got to him. Dominic was drawing again. “What are you drawing there, kid?”

“People running away from really bad water,” Dominic said as he rubbed his black crayon against the motorcycle. “She suspects something, and he wants to tell her, but he can't.”

Uh oh. He recognized that ride. That was his friend, Dumas, in the Dark Water dimension. Without realizing his boldness, Guyver started to look through the different pictures.

There was a scarecrow riding a flaming motorcycle with a witch.

There was a normal looking boy and girl, except for some odd wear.

There was a man with an umbrella, along with a woman in formerly elegant clothes in a fiery background.

There was the young Santa he drew earlier, with a young woman by his side now.

“I see them a lot more,” Dominic said to him. “I don't know them, but I know what's going on that's important to them. Sometimes they look solid, and sometimes they don't.” Dominic began to rub red crayon against the motorcycle, giving it red flames. “I can see them interacting sometimes too if it's important, but only them. A one-sided conversation.” He lifted his head to look at Guyver. “Do you know why I see it?”

“It's important, real important.” Guyver looked away toward Cheryl. “You need to get ready. We're going to DIM.”

***

Inside, DIM looked like an average building. Regular people moving around from office to office with a secretary up front.

“Jackie, this is Cheryl Closin and her brother,” Guyver said as he gestured to them. “I'd like rank A security passes for them.”

“We don't authorize rank A for visitors,” the secretary said. “I could look into getting a C.”

“They are getting rank A and they won't be visitors long.” Guyver placed his hand on the desk. “Call it in.”

Cheryl kept Dominic's hand tightly in hers. “It's okay.”

“I don't feel good, Mister Guyver,” Dominic answered as he grabbed at his stomach. He looked toward the outside. “It's still happening.”

“Just Guyver is fine, Dominic. We'll talk about your visions soon.” Guyver looked back at the secretary. “Well?”

“C,” she answered back. “I called it in. No visitor goes above a C.”

“Oh yeah?” Guyver stole the phone from her, and gestured toward Cheryl. “Take Dominic outside for two minutes. I'll get this taken care of. Twits down in quality aren't even checking I bet.”

Cheryl quickly headed her brother outside knowing that Guyver might not use pleasant words.

“This city is strange,” Dominic answered her. “There are so many tall buildings.”

“It is different.” Cheryl looked all around her. “We certainly aren't in Kansas anymore. I'm sorry, Dominic, that I used to not believe you. Maybe if I did, I could have helped more.” Cheryl rubbed his head, waiting to go back inside. There were so many more sounds in the city than in her hometown.

“Sis?”

“Yes?”

“Darlene fell into Oz with Scarecrow.”

Cheryl stroked his hair. “She was a nice girl.” Darlene Deeks was relation, but there was too much tension in the Deek family that kept them from all getting along. “Can you see anyone else from our town?”

“No, but it's all coming.”

“Dimension holes?”

“The end. Everything is going to burn, the dead are going to rise, and there are dragons flying through the fires of what's left.” Dominic hung onto her hand tighter. “The visions haven't changed. We won't make it.”

“Okay.” Guyver came back toward them holding passes with badges on them. “Security Clearance A as promised.” He placed each of the passes over their heads. “Come on.”

***

“That's it, right there.” Guyver led Dominic and Cheryl around the building, showing them things about it. They were entering into the first dimensional hole room. “The guy beneath that is Nathan. He is great at stabilizing holes, and lousy at everything else.”

Nathan shot his head out from beneath the dimension hole. “Greetings. Welcome to DIM. Bad choice of employment, not worth the money.”

Guyver shooed him off. “He's kidding, there's decent money here.” He looked toward Dominic. “You like this place, Dominic?”

Dominic shrugged. “We won't be here long.”

“What do you see in your visions?”

“Fire. Death. Other stuff.” Dominic shut his eyes. “I just want to see the fairytale dimensions again. I'd give anything to see Cheshire, Santa, or even the boring White Rabbit at this point, but I keep seeing this one. It won't stop.” He grabbed his head and squeezed it. “I can't escape!”

That was a horrible sign. Guyver didn't see anything abnormal but he trusted the boy's instincts. “I'll show you to the upper level, the experimental room.”

“Experimental room?” Cheryl questioned as they walked. “What's inside of it?”

“Dimensions inside of a dimension. You see, DIM has access to other places, but our tests haven't proved effective enough to want to mess around in them.” Guyver came to a door and placed his hand on a flat blue surface. A laser scanned his hand beneath and the door opened.

Inside was Mitch Callister, his boss. “What are you doing here?” Guyver said as he walked into the room. Mitch was latching the last dark water sensing device onto his arm. “Mitch, you never go to Dark Water on missions.”

“No, but I am going to live there.” Mitch placed the watch around his hand. “Good luck, Guyver.”

“Good luck why?”

“The end is here. I'm sealing off the Dark Water dimension.” Mitch tossed him a key. “You need to be here though. Queen's records, and sorry.”

“Guyver?” Cheryl called for him in a not so calm tone in the hallway. “Guyver!”

Guyver rushed back toward them, noticing she had Dominic extra close again. Cheryl tended to be fixated on her brother, he hardly had enough independence. “What is it?” She gestured toward the window, but he already heard the sound of terrible screeching outside.

Some creatures had got through. He moved toward the window where he heard the screech and saw one. It was a brief second as it whooshed by the sky.

It had a red long tail, and it was breathing fire. It had horns curved toward the back of its skull and wings twice the length of its body.

It was a dragon. On Earth. Remembering Mitch's 'good luck', he knew why he was taking the watch now. Even if that gigantic thing was only one, the Earth was about to be in for a battle. He heard screams down below as it swung back around and breathed fire down the street. The bodies lit up and turned to ash as soon as the heat hit them. Then he heard more screams and screeches.

He looked more distantly in the sky and saw a small blur. He pulled a ring out of his pocket that belonged to DIM. He put it on his finger and propped up the ends that turned it into a small telescope.

He lost his breath as he made out the blurs. Thousands of dragons and flying beasts were coming their way. This wasn't travel through a small dimensional hole. It would be gigantic.

Guyver didn't speak more than a couple of words as he grabbed Cheryl and Dominic's hand, bringing them into the experimental room. The double bolted lock sounded as he closed the door behind them.

“A dragon?” Cheryl spoke since being dragged down. “There is a dragon on Earth now?”

Guyver ran to the wall and hit the power button. In the middle of the room, a dimensional hole had been brought to life, swirling in front of them. “Not dragon, dragons. There are thousands of them. We need to leave.”

“Leave?” Cheryl gestured toward the dimensional swirling hole. “Through that? What makes it safe?”

“Nothing.” Guyver pointed to the dimensional hole. “This is the second portal that could lead to the Dark Water dimension. It's inside a former queen's home.”

“Which queen?”

“The one who tried to kill Snow White.” It had sounded better before he said it out loud. “Inside, there are multiple dimensional holes. We need to find the safe one.” Guyver took Cheryl and Dominic's hand. “Just close your eyes. There will be a brief cooling sensation, but then you can open them.”

“Are you sure about this?” Cheryl asked again. “What about Earth?”

“There are thousands of dragons out there, and I don't want to know what comes next. Now count. One. Two. Three!”