Chapter One

As I stepped out onto the edge of the cliff, my heart was

pounding. I looked down the 900 foot cliff and saw the beautiful

oval shaped lake. The water was shimmering in the morning

breeze. There was still a chill in the air, and I took a deep breath.

It felt good to be up on the mountain again.

It had been about 5 years since I had been to this memorable

spot. This was my grandmother’s favorite place, to hike and to

go camping. There were hundreds of pine trees that surrounded

a small lush opening. There was only one winding narrow path in

To this small enclosure and the same path out.

This is where my grandmother had wanted to be buried. I

hadn’t been here for a long time, but the gravesite is in perfect

condition. The marker is clean and almost looks polished. The two

charms, from the necklace she gave me, are still shining bright,

embedded next to her name: Faye Winsor. So many memories

spring to the surface when I read the words on the stone. Her Love

for Children and Animals Made Her Everyone’s Hero.

I step away from the cliff. I walk over and sit next to the

gravestone on a

pile of soft pine needles. She truly loved this place. She would

come up here and camp out for days. Once she was up here for

three months. I was very small. She never talked of her days on the

mountain with me. She would take me up here and tell me stories

about many things, but never about the days she spent on the

mountain. She loved the creatures of the forest. I can remember

once when I came with her, there was a fox, a squirrel, a cute little

cottontail bunny, oh, and an old owl. She had names for all of them

and spoke to them as if they were humans.

Suddenly, I was snapped out of fond memories. I

saw something move in the bushes to my right. I stood up and

keenly fixed my eyes on the area of disturbance. I dared not move.

I was trembling. I grabbed the chain that was around my neck with

my left hand. My grandmother gave me the necklace. She told

me that it would always keep me safe when danger was near.

Maybe the creature would go away, I thought to myself.

A rustling of the bushes made me step back. Slowly from the

bushes a tiny little nose pushed through. Then the small body of a

cottontail rabbit appeared. My heart stopped pounding and I could

feel a smile come to my face . I said “Hello.” It was so cute. Then

to my surprise another animal appeared, a red fox cleared the

bushes and sat down next to the cottontail.

“Well!” I said. Thinking to myself, don’t foxes eat cottontails?

But I said hello to the fox, also. I normally don’t talk to animals,

but the bunny was so cute and now I was thinking that these were

my grandmother’s friends. I heard a noise above me in a tree and

there was a squirrel sitting on a broken branch looking down at me.

Above him there was a silver gray owl. I said hello and feeling

more at ease, I sat back down. Now I knew

these were my grandmother’s friends.

The animals moved closer to me. The squirrel ran down

the tree and joined the other two animals. The owl stayed in the

tree. I started talking to them the way my grandmother use to talk

to them. As I talked, they were moving closer to me. The owl

stayed in the tree. I felt wonderful, as if I had been doing this my

entire life, all 15 years of my young life. I felt like my grandmother

was right here with me. Well, I guess she really is.

I missed my grandmother and was telling my four new friends

how much I missed her. “ It has been 7 years now, since my

grandmother had died,” I told them. “She was my only family and I

loved her very much.”

As I spoke, I was getting very emotional. I went on,

about everything my grandmother had taught me. How she would

take me everywhere, except when she came camping for weeks or

months. I wanted to go with her so badly, I remember kicking and

crying as she would leave the house. Sometimes, I would sit by the

window for hours or days, waiting for her to come back for me.

When I was finished speaking, I noticed the animals

were sitting at my feet. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like they had

tears in their eyes. Could they be crying? Do animals cry?

Then the rabbit jumped up onto my lap. It startled me,

but I gave the bunny a big long hug.

The rabbit jumped down and the three of them ran off

toward the west side of the small clearing, where there was a large

smooth rock. They all stopped, turned and appeared to be

signaling to me. The fox was sitting up on his hind legs and with

his right paw, he was waving for me to come to join them. The owl

was still sitting in the tree looking at me.

I got up slowly and moved cautiously towards the rock.

I was still a little uncomfortable about what was happening. Then

to my utter surprise the squirrel turned away from me and ran

straight into the rock. I stopped and stared at the rock. I put my

hand over my mouth in astonishment. Then I put both of my hands

on the sides of my head and said, “What just happened?”

Then the rabbit ran into the rock. I looked at the fox,

and he was still waving for me to come. The next second, the owl

flew down from the tree right into the rock. Now the fox walked to

the face of the rock and waved for me to come.

Slowly, I was walking towards the rock.

What was I doing? I was so curious I couldn’t stop myself.

They wouldn’t hurt me, would they?

I reached the rock and then the fox disappeared

into the rock. I couldn’t believe I was even thinking about going

with these creatures.

“Why?”

“What was pulling me in this direction?”

“Am I crazy?”

I closed my eyes and inched up to the rock. With my

eyes closed I took hold of my gold chain with my left hand and

reached out with my right hand to touch the rock. Wait, I couldn’t

feel anything. I opened my eyes and my hand was gone. It had

disappeared into the rock.

I closed my eyes again and stepped forward.

Chapter Two

It was dark when I opened my eyes, but there was

enough light to see shadows and as my eyes adjusted to the

darkness, I could see four people standing in front of me.

“Don’t be afraid,” one of the men said to me, “we were friends of

your grandmother and hope also to be your friend.”

“O-O-O-K?” I said with a bit of reluctance.

“What is going on here?” I think I said it out loud.

I was totally confused and bewildered. A man with what

I think was a red beard stepped forward. Behind him an old man

grabbed a large stick and with a poof lit the end. I could almost see

clearly now. We were in a cave of some sort. There were three men

and a young women. The man with the red beard spoke

first.

“Hi, my name is John Silver,” he said. “Everyone calls me Quick.”

“Hi, my name is Grace,” I said with a smile in a whisper.

John had a big smile on his face and he held out his

hand. I took his hand. His hand was small, very rough and

strong, and we slowly shared a greeting. I was still looking around

trying to get my bearings, and as I was releasing John’s hand, the

women stepped forward and introduced herself.

“Hi, my name is Penelope Cotton, it is nice to finally meet you,”

she said. Then she continued before I could speak.

“I loved your grandmother very much, also. We all loved her.

We had wonderful times with her, too. She was a great lady.”

“Thank you,” I said, “ It’s nice to meet you.”

She stepped toward me and gave me a warm hug.

“Everyone calls her the pooped,” John said.

“Be quiet, Quick,” Penelope barked.

“This is the second time we have hugged today,” Penelope said.

They both smiled remembering the gravesite.

The next person was a man with kind of a pointed face,

very nice looking, but this unmistakable pointy face.

“Hello, I’m Jack Acorn, I’m glad to meet you and I hope you

can help us,” he said slowly in a low pitch voice.

The fox, I mean, John stepped forward quickly and

pushed Jack aside and said, “NOT NOW!”

I was looking intently at the man named John and I was

not sure what was going on.

“What did he mean, he hoped I could help,” I said, “ with what?”

The older man that was holding the torch and standing

in the back stepped forward and said, “Don’t mind him, he just gets

a little nervous sometimes. Hi, my name is Whiticur the Wise, my

real name is James and my last name is Whiticur, but everyone just

calls me Whiticur. The wise part is just because I’m so doggone

old. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you. Your grandmother was my best

friend and I miss her very much.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said, “but what did he mean? I don’t

think I could help you with anything. I don’t even know where I

am.”

“Don’t worry about helping us,” he continued with a sad face,

“I told them that you could not help, that you were to young, but

they wanted too come and ask you anyway. We have been waiting

a long time to see you.”

“Yes, I’m sorry, I haven’t been to the mountain for a long time. I

live with my grandmother’s friend and she doesn’t want me

coming up here by myself,” I told him. “Gosh, I’d better get back.

Oh, where am I and what do you need help with?”

John stepped up next to Whiticur and began by telling

me about the two worlds, mine and theirs.

“We are not sure why it is, it just is,” he said. “Two dimensions,

and somehow, somewhere, time split. Our world went in one

direction, while your world went in another. Like I said, it just is.”

John continued to talk, but now his voice had a bit of urgency.

“The help we need,” he said with a pause, “well, we wanted to

wait to ask you. Listen, your grandmother was our hero. She saved

our world 10 years ago from evil domination. About three years

ago signs of the evil have started to reappear all over the Three

Kingdoms.”

“Wait, wait, wait just a minute! Grace expelled, “My

grandmother was your hero. Three kingdoms. Evil Domination.

What are you talking about? I’ve got to go.”

Grace turned to exit. She reached her hand forward

trying to find the spot in the rock to return to her world. The rock

did not have an opening.

“How do I get out of here?” she said frantically.

“I told you she can’t help us,” Whiticur said with a stern face.

“How do I get out of here?” She repeated louder. She turned

and looked at the four people. They were all looking at her.

“Look, I’m sure you’re all great people,” she said, still trying to

find the way out, “and I would love to stay and help, but I’ve got to

go.”

Just then the old man’s light went out. I could hear

Penelope whispering something.

“Quiet, there is something coming and it is very close,“ she said.

“I’ve got to get out,” I whispered back, “just tell me how.”

“You have to wait until tomorrow,” John said in a whisper,

“sash, there is something near.”

“What! This can‘t be happening to me,” I said in a desperate

whisper.

“Quiet,” Penelope said.

I was quiet.

As we huddled quietly in the darkness. I could hear

something moving in the cave. John touched my hand and said in a

whisper,

“Follow me. I will get you back here safely tomorrow.”

I took hold of John’s arm with my right hand, and my

chain with my left hand. I moved with John through the cave. As

I followed John the noise gradually softened as if it were moving

away from us. I was not as frightened, but I held on tightly to

John’s arm. I was very concerned about not getting out of this

situation now, but there was nothing I could do but trust.

As we continued to trudge our way though the winding

tunnels or caves or where ever we were, it seemed

that we were moving down hill.

“Where am I? What am I doing in this place?” I kept asking

myself.

I could not see much, but John seemed to have the

ability to see in the dark. I held on tight. At one of the turns, John

turned to me and said,

“Not so tight.” He patted my hand softly. He knew I was

afraid.

I wanted to ask John again, for the fifteenth time. Where

am I? But it seemed a little silly to keep asking questions if there

was danger nearby. So, I just held on to my chain and followed

John.

As we turned again, I could see a light ahead. We were

coming to the end of the tunnel or cave or whatever this place was.

“Whew,” I said. I wasn’t sure if it would be any better, but at

least I would be able to see or run if I had to.