The world glistened in the dark, wet with moisture from the breath of a thousand plants cooled at night. A faint odor, similar to maple syrup, drifted through the air. The grass swayed with a slight breeze as the stars glimmered between gray strips of clouds. A tall tree stood in the middle of the meadow, its leaves whispering papery secrets to the wind.
Angie rocked and swayed before the tree in the dim starlight as though in the middle of some ceremony. She sang, the sound flowing just above the whispers of the grass and trees, quiet, but intense. Angie’s wordless, pure tones harmonized with the wind and the voices of the forest and the tree shivered in response. Another tone filled the air as the tree picked up the song, responding to Angie’s voice as tiny silver hairs running throughout the bark turned against the wind, vibrating like violin strings.
The sound came sweet and eerie. It ebbed and flowed with the wind’s soft touch. Angela stopped singing and stood silent, transfixed by the tree’s music. As the music swelled, a soft light illuminated the meadow in pale blue.
The light came from the tree, leaking out of bark and leaves and pulsing in time with the music. The glow spread from the thick trunk and climbed, revealing the great height of this tree. It resembled an aspen, but towered much higher than any aspen grows. The leaves flip-flopped in the breeze, flashing silver and blue in the supple light. The song grew louder, wavering with the combined sound of over a thousand vibrations.
When it ceased, the light dimmed, leaving the meadow in lonely darkness. Angela stood still, letting the night fall around her like a curtain.
“Hiya, Angie!”
She jumped. “Holy buck teats, James, you scared the crap out of me!”
“Yeah…well if you don’t want to make a noise— hey!”
Angie smacked him in the chest with her palm. “I should’ve never taught you that trick.”
James laughed and rubbed his chest. “Well, I’m sure I would’ve figured it out eventually without you. That was amazing by the way. I’ve never seen anything like it, which is getting harder to say more and more each day now.”
Angie smiled, her white teeth visible in the dim starlight. She waved a hand and the moon slipped into view, larger than it would in real life. The moon’s light felt harsh after the soft blue glow of the tree. “Thank you, James. This is my special project. That’s why I wanted to see you, though I wasn’t expecting you to sneak in on me.” She smacked him again, softer. “It’s time you started your own special project.”
“Ah…like your tree here or Mike’s Daytha cat-goat thing. I was wondering about that.”
“Exactly. You’ve managed to do very well with the triceratops, stegosaurus, and with the,” she took a breath, preparing herself for the word, “the pachycephalosaurus.”
James grinned. “Someone’s been practicing their pronunciation.” He ducked a third swing at him. “Sorry, but, really, I’m super impressed.”
“Yeah, let’s see you name half the plants in this room, prehistoric genetics expert.”
He glanced around and shook his head while she continued.
“Right, I didn’t think so. Like I said, you’ve done well and now they’d like to see what you can do outside the box…but still inside the BOCS. Argh. You know what I mean.”
James frowned. “Isn’t it all outside the box? I mean it’s all guesswork. I’ve managed to create something genetically similar to what we think a triceratops would look like. The bone structure is about right and the muscles are close, but the skin is all what I felt like throwing on there. It has scales and spots and a coppery beak thing. I don’t know what a real triceratops looks like. I can’t guarantee that the genetics all match up with how the real thing would’ve been.”
YOU ARE READING
The Crystal Bridge
ActionKaden is a typical teenage boy, except he can open wormholes to far away worlds. His first trip almost killed him. He’s been afraid to try another. Aren is far from a typical teenage girl. She has the ultimate gift of empathy, seeing into the memori...
