The Author

Chapter One

She stood in the rain, waiting. The cars spit up water as they went by. She could hear the raindrops pattering on her umbrella. Then the stranger appeared, almost as if he had slid down the bolt of lightning that had just flashed, his black fedora and trench coat obscuring his face.

“This is the information you need,” he said unceremoniously, thrusting an unassuming beige envelope into her free hand. She looked down at its blank surface as another peel of lightning touched down nearby making her flinch.

“But what do I – ?” He had vanished as quickly as he had come. She looked around frantically, but the street was oddly deserted. She turned around and slowly made her way up the steps in front of the large old library, pondering the occurrences of the last several days. As she passed the two large griffins on either side of the mahogany doors she caught movement in her peripheral vision, but when she looked, all was as it should be. She continued inside, slightly unnerved.

Upon entering, she went straight to her favorite cubicle. When she opened the envelope and pulled out the papers inside, she saw her own name staring back at her: Alice Lucy Niemand. In fact, the first several papers contained her life’s history. Her social security number, date of birth, Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, family members, even her pets’ medical charts were condensed into almost microscopic print on the pages. The last page was a letter.  She choked back her fear, consternation, and surprise and read the letter.

            Dear Alice,

We have found you at last. The Hallon Bei has come true, but more of that when we are face to face. Right now, at this moment you are on the verge of beginning your journey and journey you must, for you alone have the power to bind our world together. It is in a precarious position, teetering on the edge of collapse, but you must travel a great distance to get here and it is a voyage you must make alone. I have made the necessary arrangements where you are and now the only other assistance I can provide for you is the map on the back of this page. I will warn you, it is a dangerous quest, but should you choose to accept it, there will be reward beyond measure when you arrive.

Gahn ben on vi lüsc[1]

Farewell and good luck,

Professor Artems

            P.S. Please hurry.

Alice turned the letter over. She recognized the map as the city where she lived, however, the map was unlike any she had ever seen: it moved. No matter which way she turned the paper, the purple arrow in the center faced upward and the streets all kept their relative positions. She noticed the center arrow was labeled “Alsce” in the same dark purple ink as the arrow and it was resting on the location of the library. The other curious movement on the map was the occasional appearance and disappearance of locations labeled “Betton Reim.” They were written in green ink until they were about to disappear, at which point they went through various shades of yellow and orange, until finally turning red and vanishing. Each point appeared and disappeared at a different pace. Some only appeared for seconds while others seemed not to change color at all.

Though Alice was fascinated by the map, she had no idea how to use it, or what any of the labels and words on it meant. She replaced the contents of the envelope and decided to check the due dates on her books, since she was at the library, after all. As she made her way to the third floor computer room, she mulled over the events that had led her to the library at 2:42 pm on a rainy Tuesday.

#

She had been awakened on Friday morning by the sounds of her alarm clock, stereo, television, and telephone all coming to life, blaring as loudly as possible. She turned everything off and went to her phone, which continued to ring. Intrigued, she picked up the receiver and heard “library, Tuesday, 2:30 pm,” then the phone went dead. Later that day, the phone company told her the line to her house had been completely fried. Then, while shopping for a new laptop battery at the local electronics store on Saturday, every television on display flashed the same message, “Library, Tuesday, 2:30 pm,” before shorting out in a shower of sparks.