The blast from the broken window had knocked Cheryl against the steel frame of the bed and to the floor. She lay for a moment, trying to decide whether or not she was hurt. Her arm and side throbbed.
Sitting up, she inspected herself to see if she had been cut by flying glass. She saw no blood, but a red welt had appeared on her arm. She rubbed it tenderly.
Wendy poked her head out from under the tent and said, "There you are."
"What did you expect?" Cheryl asked absently. She traced the length of the welt with her finger.
"Well," Wendy began as she pulled herself out from under the tent, "I was afraid you'd worry when you couldn't find me."
"I wasn't looking for you," Cheryl said. She switched her attention to the ache in her side, running her hand along her ribs.
"You must have," Wendy said. "I've been gone for hours"
"You're not making sense," Cheryl said. Satisfied she wasn't hurt badly, she stood and stretched her muscles. Then she crossed the room to the window, watching the floor carefully to avoid the broken glass. Warm air, heavy with moisture, filled the room, and the wind, ripping through the window, made an eerie whistling sound.
"I'm making perfectly good sense," Wendy insisted. "Come on, and I'll show you."
"As you can see, I don't have time for games," Cheryl said. She pulled the drapes closed, trying to prevent the blowing rain from entering the basement.
"You don't have time for your sister, you mean," Wendy said, pouting.
Cheryl sighed. Because she was five years older than her sister, she no longer played silly make-believe games like she used to. Remembering the hours they spent playing with their imaginary boyfriends, Roy and Johnny, now embarrassed her.
"Please," Wendy coaxed. "My friend is in trouble, and the people of Land are dying."
"If I look, will you stop annoying me?" Cheryl asked.
"You'll see," Wendy said, "I'm telling the truth." She dropped to the floor and disappeared under the blanket. "There are big trees, ferns that grow to my waist, and horses, Cheryl . . . you'll love the horses. They were so big and black."
Cheryl returned to the entrance of the tent and groaned as she knelt on the floor because of the pain in her side, and then followed her sister under the tent. The wind flapped the edges of the blanket, letting in some light, but it took a moment for Cheryl's eyes to adjust to the darkness.
"And they make a pie with berries called gravelly berry pie," Wendy continued. "They're like huckleberries. You know those little red berries at grandma's?"
"Of course," Cheryl said. She watched her sister's progress.
"Only their berries are huge, more like grapes. And they make tables and chairs from limbs . . . and when they get older, they shrink and . . . ." Wendy fell silent and stopped crawling.
"Well?" Cheryl asked.
"I can't go any farther."
"Don't tell me," Cheryl said dryly. "You've come to the wall."
"This is the way. I'm positive."
"Sure it is," Cheryl said, backing out from under the bed. "It's the way to the wall and berries the size of grapes."
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Tent World
किशोर उपन्यासSisters mysteriously emerged from under a bed to find themselves in another world. They no sooner find a small village of secretive citizens when horse-riding invaders attack, and they have to flee for their lives.
