“I just spelled my way out of Vinca and I’m never going back. Like, ever, Pell. Tarq.” She shakes her head. “No. I can’t do it. I don’t like it there. It’s weird, and there’s a book filled with pictures of all our monsters, and some low self-esteem queen who makes us be naked on Fridays—excuse me, Firedays! Firedays, Pell! And I’m not saying I’m some kind of expert on this Vinca place, by any means, but this bitch is crazy! She will sic her dragon on us if we wear clothes!”
“Calm down, you’re OK.” I walk over and place a hand on her shoulder. “Start from the beginning. Tell me what happened.”
She takes a deep breath and it all comes spilling out. I have to stop her like eleventy million times because she’s talking so fast, I can barely keep up. But finally, I get the whole story.
“He wants you to make doors?”
She nods.
“Like these?” I point to the new doors.
“Exactly.”
“What does he want to do with them?”
“What do you think he wants to do with them, Pell? He wants to rule the universe!” I can’t stop the laugh. Which just pisses her off. “Go ahead. Laugh all you want. I get it. It’s some… far-fetched comic book plot. I’m not blind, I see that. But he’s seriously trying to take over worlds, Pell!”
“Come on now.”
“I swear! I know this because he’s lying to me. And why do people lie, Pell?”
I shrug. “Because they don’t want you to know the truth?”
“Exactly! His stupid story about—” But she stops.
“About what?”
She takes a deep breath. “Here is my point. He wants power. And he’s planning on using me to get it. Then…” She throws up her hands. “Who knows what he’ll do with it? All I know is that I don’t want to be a part of this. The queen, Pell! She’s insane! The whole place is crazy! I’m not going back. Plus, he has Ostanes’ spellbook! The fucking book!”
She’s really freaked out. “OK, OK,” I calm her. “I believe you. I trust you. If you say it’s a bad idea, then it’s a bad idea.”
She squints her eyes at me. “This is platitudes.”
“It’s not. I do trust you. You’re the key to everything, Pie. I mean, look.” I wave my hand at the seemingly never-ending line of magic doors. “This is all because of you. And I have power too! We’re like… a super-team!”
Pie is not enthusiastic. “I don’t think I like this, Pell.”
“Just look at them,” I say. “Come look at them with me.”
I take her hand, but she balks. “I don’t want to walk through them.”
“I said look, Pie. You can see the other side.”
She narrows her eyes, now trying to get a better look at the doors. “You can?”
“Yeah. I was just looking through the first one when a whole bunch of others appeared. But I think it’s Granite Springs.”
“Which one?” She’s looking at them intently now.
“That one right there. Come on, I’ll show you.”
We walk over to the first door and lean forward, trying to see what’s beyond the shimmer.
“It’s woods,” Pie says.
“Yeah, but see that?” I point. “I know that tree.”
She shoots me a dubious look. “You know that tree?”