The Portal in the Forest

  ***

  I looked up at her.

  Her jaw trembled, and her eyes ran misty.

  This wasn't the tale of someone dead at all. I listened to the noises of the busy city street outside our alley, and, for the first time, I noted the complete lack of human voices. There was only the sound of machines and walking… a rhythm I now found to be completely lifeless and hollow. I stared at her for a long moment, unsure what to do. "Can I trust you?"

  She tilted her head down a few degrees, screwed up her face, and let a few tears run free. "No."

  "So it's probably not a good idea if I let you come with me."

  She clenched her fists, and I saw a single drop of blood eke out from her excessive grip. "I'd try to build one," she gasped. "Eventually. The plans are… in my head… it wants me to…"

  There was nothing else I could say… unless… "You can still help me," I said quietly, noting her intense strain to hold onto her own will. "I need a first generation iWorker device. The absolute most basic, no mind control, no networking."

  She nodded, eager to be helpful in any way possible to any entity that was not the it that controlled everyone else. She ran to a nearby dumpster and pulled at a rusty panel. "Here, here …" She pulled out several circular devices and picked at them until the least damaged remained. "You stick it behind your ear, right here, and just… do… and it'll pick up on it."

  "Thank you," I told her, studying the device. If this thing could control a body without the mind interfering, perhaps it could help us leave the perception-altering book in another universe. I pocketed it, and then faced her. Never make promises, I knew. Never make promises. I couldn't tell her she would be alright. "I'm sorry…"

  Blood poured from her clenched fists as she squeezed her long nails harder and harder into her palms, momentarily clearing her thoughts. "It's alright. I'm glad there are still free people."

  I nodded, and then departed.

  "Come back," she called, just as I rounded the corner. "I was lying. There's nothing weird about the lights at all."

  Goddamnit.

  "You still have the book?" my second asked as I stepped back into the forest. "Damn."

  "Watch your language," I told him. I drew the iWorker out of my pocket and brought it up for the kids to see. "I couldn't leave the book, but - this just might be our ticket." I looked back and saw the homeless girl lurking at the other side of the portal, watching us with a neutral half-smile. I wished that I'd had the courage to kill her and free her from her invisible prison. If it had been anyone else, maybe...

  Thomas, the younger boy who'd once followed me into another world, was also present. He was old enough to pick up on my momentarily visible sadness. "Who's that girl?"

  I turned away, unable to watch her any longer. "Nobody…"