The next day heralded the return of normality. The sun was shining in the clear sky and the world seemed to have lost the magic it had gained the night before.
Julia and Miranda had survived the night miraculously. Miranda gave it absolutely no though at the time, but later on in life she would wonder how it was that the candles managed to burn themselves out peacefully without causing a fire.
And the boy woke up in a good mood. His mum had come home and gone out again, leaving him a short note that he didn’t read.
Instead, he went round the house, switching on all the electrical appliances just because he could before settling down to watch a couple of hours of Top Gear.
Miranda had the same idea. Julia had left for work, and their parents were in France for the weekend.
Someone watching the two of them- the boy and Miranda- would have been surprised.
They both sat at the same time, in exactly same way. They both decided to take a tea break at exactly the same time, and they both forgot to finish their teas.
In fact, they mirrored each other’s behaviour down to every last detail.
And then, as Top Gear finished and Ray Mears’ came on, they both stretched, got up and walked out of their respective houses and into the back gardens.
Miranda stopped and looked down at the grass she stood on, confused because, until a few moments ago it had all been decking.
The boy stopped and looked to the girl at his side because, until a few moments ago he had been completely alone.
“Where did the decking go?” Miranda wondered aloud to herself, just as the boy exclaimed:
“Who are you?”
Miranda looked up, her confusion turning into fear.
“I’m- who are you? And where am I?”
“You’re in my back garden, and I asked first,” the boy said, sounding for all the world like a six year old child.
“I’m Miranda,” Miranda said, looking around herself in amazement. “How did I get here?”
“Most likely through the door…” the boy began to say scathingly, but trailed off as he looked back because in fact there was no door behind him, and this was not his back garden. He wasn’t even sure if it was a back garden. “Oh.”
“Oh,” Miranda said, then, “so what do we do now?”
The boy rolled his eyes.
“Obviously, we find out where we are,” the boy said, walking back and forth through where the door had been, to no avail.
“Yes, and how do you propose we do that?” Miranda asked, sitting down on the soft grass.
“By finding someone. Looking around. That’s the only way really,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“No way. That’d be walking away from the… from the portal. Which would be stupid,” Miranda protested.
Beside, she was down very comfortable.
“Suit yourself. I’ll go alone,” he said, walking off.
“Oscar, wait!” started Miranda, then stopped abruptly.
The boy turned around.
“You coming?”
Miranda shook her head, then nodded.
“Yes… yes, of course. Umm… what’s you name?”
“Oscar,” said the boy, peeved, “you just called me by it.”
Miranda tugged herself up, reluctantly, fighting her limbs. They were sure they wanted to spend the rest of their life in that grass.
“So your name is actually Oscar?”
The boy nodded, definitely irritated. “Yes. My name is Oscar, how many times?”
“Sorry. It’s just… you didn’t tell me that. I was wondering how I knew… we haven’t met before, have we?” Miranda asked as she caught up to him.
“No…”
There was a moment of silence then the boy- Oscar- said “It’s probably best… to pretend that didn’t happen for now.”
Miranda nodded, but she was not so sure.
-
They wandered for a while, both of them deeply confused by the situation they suddenly found themselves in.
Oscar, as his name really was, masked the confusion by looking around him and taking note of all the flora and fauna he could see around him, pitching his thoughts wholly into finding and indication of where they might be.
Miranda stumbled along behind him, barely seeing where they were going.
She had gone over every possibility and concluded that truly, it was impossible.
She hadn’t unknowingly or knowingly added any hallucinogens to her tea, she wasn’t asleep (she didn’t try to pinch herself to test this; she’d always thought that was stupid. Obviously if you even think of pinching yourself you’re awake because how many people, when faced with a crazy situation in a dream, think to pinch themselves? Few. Besides, Miranda rarely remembered her dreams, so even if she did pinch herself, she wouldn’t know how to analyse the results.) She had not hit her head. She was not drunk. She hadn’t gone crazy.
She wanted to go home.
Finally, they stumbled upon a field.
Literally stumbled, because they had to clamber over a huge barrier that only seemed to grow the further up it they got, and which seemed to move purposefully with the intent to trip them over.
They fell into the field right at the last second because, in a last ditch attempt, the barrier had grabbed their ankles.
When they looked back at it, in shock and horror, all they saw was a small fence of woven willow, staked innocently into the ground as though to say “who- me?”
“Did… did you see that?” Oscar finally managed to say.
“Yes,” Miranda managed to whisper in return. “That is not a nice fence.”
“It’s fraudulent,” Oscar agreed.
They stared at it a little more before retreating to a safe distance and turning their backs to it.
Miranda kept throwing wary glances over her shoulder to ensure that the fence wasn’t creeping up on them.
“So,” Oscar said.
Clearly that was another thing to forget, for now.
“Where now?” Miranda asked.
Oscar looked round. All there was to be seen were more green fields.
“Perhaps we should carry on walking,” he suggested.
Miranda sighed. She had felt that coming.
They had been walking a good forty minutes- probably more- before finding any hope. It was a small, tiny, hut.
They went towards it, although to Miranda it seemed to be nothing more than an outdoor toilet.
When Oscar opened the door, however, it was to a large, glittering atrium.
That definitely wasn’t right.
He slammed the door shut and opened it again, just in case the interior would be different the second time.
It wasn’t.
The door swung shut again with a bang.
“Shit,” Oscar swore, his eyes wide.
Miranda, after having spent over an hour and a half pondering their situation, was considerably calmer. “It looks like a nice mansion. Or hut, whichever it is. Look, there’s a moon carved into the door.”
“Shit!” Oscar repeated. He had spent those ninety plus minutes ignoring the situation. “It’s just tiny! And inside, so big! It’s like the TARDIS!”
“Like Death’s house,” Miranda agreed happily, but Oscar was too busy realising to notice.
“And the barrier! That crazy little fence and it kept on growing and grabbing my ankles! And I’ve not seen any familiar birds or animals. I don’t know much but I saw a bird that changed colour; that’s not right! And you knew my name! How? How…”
Miranda tuned him out and opened the door once again, emboldened by the fact that it was not and outhouse or privy.
She allowed her eyes to gorge themselves on the beautiful entrance hall: she’d always had a weakness for architecture and interior design.
It was as she was gazing at a fireplace that glowed with a warm, soft light despite not being lit that a girl approached.
Her eyes were wide, her lips bruised and she was bleeding.
She was beautiful.
“What are you doing here?” she snarled at the two.
“I’m sorry, we’re lost,” Miranda said, as apologetically as possible. “We were hoping we’d find someone who could help?”
The woman rolled her eyes.
“What is it, my Princess?” a deep and melodic male voice called from deeper inside the building.
“Humans,” the girl said, contempt clear in her voice. “They’re lost.”
“Humans?” the voice replied, and was soon put to a face that matched it perfectly: all sharp corners and perfect planes. The man took his place behind the girl, his arms encircling her. “Well,” he said, a cold smile on his face. He lowered his head until his nose was at a cut on her neck, and inhaled. “What shall we do with them, Kh’dara?”
“I guess we should take them in,” the girl sighed after an uncomfortable amount of deliberation.
“Humans? Are you sure? You wish no games to be played?”
“Yes, I’m sure Karrow. No games.”
The male sighed, and clapped his hands.
Immediately he did so, two small, slim, silver-winged creatures at knee height appeared from nowhere, in the way of butlers everywhere, and they led Oscar and Miranda through the maze of shining hallways to another room.
When Oscar looked back, the man and the woman had both gone.
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