Wally stood before Willow. She looked at him and yelped. His long beard had gone, as had his fangs, claws, and yellow eyes. Wally looked human just like he had when leading her through the woods. He stood before the trapped doorway and smiled at her. His face was young-looking, his skin smooth and flawless. It was pale, as were his eyes, which were no longer bright yellow, but hazel. His hair was ash blond, short, if not a little on the untidy side. For a human, he wasn’t bad looking, Willow thought. He no longer wore his scruffy dungarees, but a crisp white shirt and blue jeans.
“The doorways have such untapped powers,” he smiled.
“But...” Willow yelped, her paws clacking on the ground.
“I have discovered there are many ways of passing through the doorways,” Wally smiled, looking pleased with himself. “Frontways, sideways, and backways! Each of them changes you in a different way.”
“But you look like a human,” Willow woofed.
“I know,” Wally said, looking down at himself. “Disgusting, isn’t it? But, it has its benefits.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I dunno,” Wally said thoughtfully. “Like when I need to mingle with the humans, which doesn’t happen often I must admit, but there have been occasions.”
“Like when?” Willow pushed, her tail wagging from side to side.
“Oh, let me see,” Wally said, rubbing his chin. “Like when your son, William, decided to rip a car apart in Parliament Square and then scale Big Ben.”
“Who is Big Ben?” Willow asked him.
“It’s a what not a who,” Wally smiled at her ignorance. “Big Ben is a giant clock.”
“What was William doing climbing a clock?” Willow barked.
“It’s such a long story, and one not for now,” Wally said. Then gesturing towards the doorway, he smiled at Willow and said, “Go on, give it a try.”
“I’ve had enough of doorways for one day,” Willow said. “Besides, the only doorway I want to go through is the one which will take me home.”
“Oh, c’mon! Live a little, Willow Weaver,” Wally teased her with that smile of his.
Willow looked at him with her red eyes, then at the doorway that had been fixed in place.
“What’s not to like?” Wally asked her.
Slowly, Willow trotted towards the doorway. Wally didn’t take his eyes off her. “Which way will you choose?” he grinned like someone who was just a little bit mental. “Frontways? Sideways? Or backways?”
Willow looked up at him and then went sideways through the doorway. The bang which followed shook the very walls of the cavern just like before. The flash of white light reflected in Wally’s eyes as Willow stepped from the other side of the doorway. She looked like and was dressed as a Noxas once again. The platted braids of silky blond hair hung from her cheeks and beneath her chin. She raised her claws before her dark eyes and looked at the hair which covered them. Willow wore the long, flowing blue robes that she had worn in Endra. It was good to be a Noxas again, she thought to herself.
“Oh, wow!” Wally breathed. “Warden Weaver is a very lucky man.”
Willow’s cheeks flushed red beneath the hair which covered them. “Thank you,” she smiled, flashing her long, sharp teeth.
“How about going backways through the doorway?” Wally said, rubbing his hands together.
“No – I’m fine just like this,” Willow told him.
“Oh, don’t be such a spoil sport!” Wally teased again. “It’s just a bit of fun.”
Looking back at the doorway, then at Wally, she suddenly giggled like a child. His sense of fun was infectious. “Okay, I’ll give it a go – but just the once you understand.”
“I understand,” he smiled at her.
Turning her back to the doorway, Willow slowly walked backwards. She passed through its wooden frame and the cavern shook and flashed white. Then from the other side stepped a tall and elegant-looking woman. Her long, blond hair flowed about her shoulders in bright ringlets. Her dark brown eyes sparkled. Her lips were full and red, her skin so smooth-looking, it was like a child’s. A pair of hip-hugging trousers covered her long legs, and she wore a pale blue top, which was cut into a ‘V’ shape at the neck.
“What do I look like?” Willow asked.
“Not bad for a human,” he said. “But don’t worry, I’ve seen worse.”
“Do you have a mirror?” she asked, holding out her hand.
“Somewhere around here,” Wally said, disappearing into the shadows. “I’m sure Jennifer-The Martian-Green left one behind. Then stepping from the shadows, he handed Willow a small compact mirror.
Willow peered into it then gasped. “Oh my, I look hideous!” she cried.
“Look on the bright side,” Wally said, taking the mirror from her. “At least you can change back, humans are stuck looking like this. It would be enough to drive me completely insane.”
“I guess,” she said, trying to get used to the way she now looked. “I can change back anytime I want, right?”
“Anytime you want,” he smiled. “But not just yet.”
“Why not?” she asked him, hoping that he hadn’t tricked her in some way. She had heard from Warden that his friend was rather wild.
“We need to go and mingle with the humans,” he told her.
“Why?” she gasped.
“I have something to show you,” Wally said, heading back towards the slide.
“Show me what?”
Wally sat on the slide, and the blades of grass waved back and forth like thousands of green coloured fingers. “You said you wanted my help to save Endra.”
“Yes,” Willow said.
“Well, I need to take you to the Railway Station,” Wally said, glancing back at her as those blades of grass started to carry him back up the slide and into the dark.
Chapter Twenty
They stood huddled in the narrow doorway. There was a staircase which led up into the darkness. Faraday followed Zach’s stare. He turned to look at the others, and with eyes as black as the shadows at the top of the staircase, he said, “Do not worry, the house is empty.”
“How can you be so sure?” Zach asked him.
“The whole city is empty,” he said back, and pushed open a door which led off the hallway. After seeing all those wild animals roaming freely about, Zach couldn’t help but fear what might be waiting for them on the other side of the door. Faraday stepped inside and then made a screaming sound in the back of his throat. It sounded like unoiled gears grinding together.
Within a heartbeat, Zach had drawn his crossbows, and Neanna and William stood on either side of him, catapults loaded.
“What is it?” Zach breathed.
Faraday looked back at him and with an expressionless stare, he said, “I was just joking. Like I said, there is nothing here.”
“You were joking!” Zach barked, his heart still beating.
“Great!” Bom grumbled. “The machine is developing a sense of humour. That’s all we need.”
“A sick sense of humour,” Neanna groaned, brushing past Faraday and stepping into the room.
“That wasn’t funny,” William snarled at Faraday, placing his catapult into his back pocket.
Faraday just looked at him.
Zach holstered his crossbows, and stepping past Faraday into the room, he said, “I didn’t know you had a sense of humour.”
“Apparently I haven’t,” Faraday said back.
Zach found himself standing in a large lounge. Bom was standing by the front windows and peering out at the Butter-Flyers. There was a small sofa, and Neanna was curled up on it, her eyes closed, already asleep. There were bookshelves and a small table, which was covered in sheets of paper. A fireplace was carved into the wall and it was covered in soot.
Faraday crossed the room to the table. Bending down, he picked up some of the sheets of paper which were spread across it. He appeared to study them, while William and Zach looked on. After a short time, he handed them to Zach. The pieces of paper contained symbols and numbers. Zach had no idea what it all meant but guessed it was some kind of complex mathematical equation. Zach handed the sheets of paper to William, who peered at them though his bulbous glasses.
“Is this meant to mean something?” he woofed, placing them back on the table. Faraday scooped them up again, folded them, and placed the sheets of paper into one of the many pockets covering his flight suit.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Bom said, turning away from the window. “I’m going to see if I can’t find some food in this place.”
“I’m not hungry,” William said. “I just need some sleep.” And like Bom had, he left the room. Within moments, the sound of his bare feet climbing the stairs could be heard in the lounge.
With Neanna asleep beneath her cloak on the sofa, Zach and Faraday stood alone in the centre of the lounge.
“So you have a sister then?” Faraday asked Zach, as he thumbed through large, dusty-looking books, whose pages were ivory coloured and curled at the corners. “She is the Queen’s reflection?”
“Yeah, her name’s Anna. She’s all I have left - my parents died.”
“How?” he asked.
“In a plane crash,” Zach said, then quickly added, “I don’t really want to talk about it.” He crossed to the window and looked at the Butter-Flyer machines that hovered a few feet off the ground outside.
“Where’s your sister?” Faraday said, inspecting the bookshelf.
“In Earth. She’s being held captive by my Uncle Fandel. He’s poisoning her. That’s why it’s so important we get the box and take it to her. I don’t know how much time I have before...”
To think of his sister’s death was too painful, and he trailed off. Noticing a splinter of sunlight cutting through a gap in the curtains and falling on Neanna as she slept, Zach pulled them closed.