Chapter 24 Locked Out #2
As discretely as she could, she pulled her foot onto her lap and found it bleeding through her sock.
Pushing her sock down, she surveyed the damage.
It looked like a pretty good gash. Hoping to stop the bleeding, she pressed her sock against it.
What else was she going to do with her hands?
She didn’t have a pen or paper or a book to occupy them.
“Uh…continuing,” said Dr. Woodfork once Hailey was seated and the class once again turned their attention to the front of the auditorium.
“Over three thousand years ago, a man with no unnatural powers tore a hole in the barrier between the Earth and the Aether—no one knows how he did it, but we do know why. He, like all men, coveted power. He sought to steal the energies of the Aether and wield them as one might a nuclear weapon. Not unlike our own government, who by the way fund our research here, but I digress. What the king didn’t know was that the energy in the Aether was not there just floating freely, waiting to be plucked like a flower from a garden.
Rather, the energies were kept by beings called Envoys.
“Now, an Envoy’s purpose in the universe is to shuttle life energies out of those who die and in to those who are born—”
A hand went up.
“A question. Yes, Mr. Lorn.”
“What about God? Where does God fit in?”
“Good question. Your life energy is not the same as your soul, you see.”
He slid a chalkboard out of the way to reveal a clean one behind it. There he drew three circles and connected them with lines, making a triangle.
“There are three realms,” he said, and he pointed to one of them.
“One realm is the Earth, where physical things, like your body, exist. That’s where we are right now, we’re on Earth, obviously.
The second—” he moved his hand over another circle, “—is the heavens, a home for your soul. This is where your soul comes from…and where your eternal soul ends up. It is God and Heaven, if you behave, or fire and brimstone if you don’t.
The third realm—” he moved his hand to the third circle, “—is the Aether, home of life energy—the energy which binds your soul…” He pointed to the Heavens with his right hand.
“…to your body.” With his left hand he pointed to the Earth.
“Does that answer your question? Yes? Good.”
He slid the three realms out of the way.
“When the barrier between the Earth and the Aether was breeched, energy flowed from the place of high concentration—the Aether—to the place of low concentration—the Earth.
In effect, the Earth was a giant suction and the Envoys who were near the great tear, were sucked through the barrier and flung onto Earth.
No one knows how many Envoys crossed over, but there were at least seven and maybe as many as a hundred.
“For the remainder of the term, we are going to talk about the history and science surrounding this phenomenal event and come up with our own theories as to how a man with no unnatural charms, did the impossible and tore the barrier. Any questions?”
A hand went up.
“Yes, Miss Watters.”
“Does my soul leave my body when I dream?”
“No. Your body and soul are bound. It’s a phenomenon, really, but try to think of it as your soul’s mind wandering along the border between realms.”
Hailey’s hand shot up.
“Yes, Miss Hartley.”
“What happened to all these Envoys after they came here? Where do they all…live?” If that’s what you called it.
“Anywhere they want. Anybody else? No? Continuing, then—”
“Well, Professor,” Hailey persisted, “where are they all?”
Dr. Woodfork sighed heavily.
“A good question for your laboratory period, Miss Hartley. Continuing then…” Dr. Woodfork flicked the switch on what looked like a document camera.
Nothing happened.
He flipped it again. And again. Then he tapped it with his pen, and when the thing jittered, half the class cringed, with several students letting out a whimper.
Hailey giggled. This was nothing compared to life with Giselle. And the thing merely threw an image on the screen anyway.
Woodfork cleared his throat.
“There is a theory,” he began, “that if a man had a sufficient amount of energy, from a very large stick of dynamite, for example, he could force the flow of energy to reverse in case of another tear in the barrier, so that an Envoy might escape the pull of the Earth and return to his home in the Aether.”
He drew a picture of a crude cartoon explosion, and some of the students snickered, but Woodfork continued unabashed.
“Over the centuries, many of the Envoys have attempted to tear the barrier, but none have succeeded. In fact, this university was founded with the express intent of piercing the veil between the realms. However, not even the Tsar Bomba of 1961 could do it.” The professor removed his glasses and set them aside. “And that has left us perplexed.”
Woodfork clapped his hands together and turned on the lights. “Now then, let’s hear some of your theories on how a man did the impossible and tore the barrier in the first place. Who wants to start?”
The room went silent.
Looking at his watch, he sighed his disappointment. “We’re almost out of time anyway. Questions anybody? Yes. Miss Hartley.”
She couldn’t believe nobody’d asked the obvious and winced slightly as she shifted her foot. “Dr. Woodfork, could the tear still exist?”
The professor blinked. “What did you say?”
“The original tear in the barrier—you said it’s impossible to tear the barrier.
Could it be that nobody tore it? Is it possible that this man simply found a flap or a…
a door that already existed? And if so, wouldn’t there still be a flap in that very spot?
Maybe it’s more a matter of precision than explosive force… ”
He stared at her, blank-faced, and she couldn’t tell if he thought she was a genius or a moron, so she continued, speaking much faster than she could control.
“And as far as reversing the flow, what if we thought about Aethereal energy more in terms of gravitational force than, say heat energy? Maybe you don’t even need to reverse the flow.
Maybe the Aether is like the Earth, and, I mean, could it be that the Aether, being so huge, would naturally attract an Envoy?
We need data, and I feel like we need to interview the Envoys and find out every detail they remember from—”
“—No way!” shouted one of the students, and a commotion of hisses and protest followed along with a few very disgusted, “you-idiot!” looks from the class.
Hailey shrunk in her seat, and Dr. Woodfork patted the air. His jaw opened, and he stared at her thoughtfully for several uncomfortable seconds while the class settled.
“Now, well, that’s very interesting…” his voice trailed off as he gazed into the distance.
“Ah, here they are,” he said, blinking rapidly as four gentlemen made their way to the front of the auditorium. Woodfork nodded to them.
“I would like to introduce your Section Leads. Overseeing Section Two’s practical lab is Rakesh.”
Looking far too young to be a grad student, a man with jet black hair and flawless bronze skin waved unenthusiastically from the aisle.
Behind him, walking with a familiar swagger and holding his metal coffee cup, Fin turned to face the class when he reached the front of the room.
“Of course, this is Pádraig, who will head up Section Three.”
An excited murmur rose from the audience with some students clapping and others proudly gushing that they were in his section.
There were five sections in all with a bushy-bearded and smiling Boris standing to represent Section Four and a stern-looking Wilhelm heading up Section Five. Professor Woodfork didn’t introduce Asher, who had somehow snuck in and was sitting in the front row, stock-still with his head down.
“ParaScience 110 will teach you the theory and history you’ll need to complete your experiments and write your reports on paranormal observations. Rest assured that these five gentlemen will ensure you survive your first year, and they will prepare you for your second-year responsibilities.”
He held up an instructive finger.
“Now, I’d like for you to spend the remainder of today’s class divided into groups and meeting with your section leads.
They will help you choose your term project and prepare you for your first lab tomorrow morning…
I believe Boris will be conducting a field trip and extraction exercise into an in-between, for example, and Rakesh will be leading a journey through the White Forest,” he said as four of the gentlemen dispersed to separate corners of the auditorium.
Deeply engrossed in reading a book, Asher remained seated.
A flurry of auditorium seats swung up, and students sorted themselves into their respective corners, while Hailey and only Hailey made her way toward Asher, limping slowly down the stairs on her right heel, each step a red-hot nail through her foot.
Half-way down the stairs, she met Professor Woodfork.
“Miss Hartley, you’re limping—are you hurt,” he asked, adjusting his glasses, and Hailey shook her head dismissively.
“It’s—it’s just—it’s just a tiny cut,” she lied. “I stepped on something.”
“Where are your shoes?”
Hailey looked at her feet and sighed.
“They—uh…they’re gone. Along with my books. And my clothes,” she added. “That’s why I was late, Sir, I’m really sorry.”
“The joys of living with poltergeists,” he said, smiling kindly. He patted Hailey on the head, re-gripped his briefcase, and continued up the stairs.
Hailey continued hobbling down the stairs. Asher never looked up from his book.
“Where’s the rest of our group?” she asked, nervously sitting on the edge of the seat next to him, idly wondering whether her first lab with him would involve a set of bars and a sturdy lock.
Asher flipped the page of his book.
Biting her lip, Hailey tucked an invisible strand of hair behind her ear. “Asher?” she said, her heart racing.
When she quietly cleared her throat, Asher’s jaw tightened.
“Leave now, Hailey,” he said in a condescending voice, still staring at his book. “I don’t want to see you.”
She blinked, her stomach a vacuum as she stared at his back in disbelief, wondering if he was mad at her because she didn’t want to be his prisoner or if there was a new ridiculous Envoy tantrum afoot.
“But…” she said hesitantly. “We’re supposed to discuss tomorrow’s lab, and I thought we might chat about—” A bolt of pain shot straight into her bone, and she drew a sharp breath, which provoked an equally sharp tone out of her section lead.
“Go to the hospital—your foot requires attention.”
She tilted her head to see his eyes, hoping he’d at least look at her, but he didn’t.
“Leave now, Hailey,” he repeated, barely opening his mouth.
She stood up with her head down, biting her lip, her eyes stinging as much as her foot.
Very gingerly, she hobbled up the stairs, frowning and trying not to grunt as her foot screamed with each step.
Thankfully, everyone else seemed absorbed by their lab preparations and didn’t notice when Asher kicked her out.
Her lip trembled, but she made it up the stairs without the pressure of a hundred eyeballs following her, and that was the only reason she didn’t cry.
In fact, she made it all the way to the door in stealth mode and was about to sneak out when Fin decided to humiliate her.
“Hailey!” he yelled, causing the whole place to turn and look as she froze next to the door.
Fin bounded up the stairs.
“You alright?” he asked, but Hailey knew if she tried to talk, she’d just cry, so she stared at the door with wide, misty eyes and shook her head.
Fin sighed in disapproval.
“Asher’s an ass. Lemme see your foot.” Stooping down, he pulled her shin, lifting her foot as if he were shoeing a horse. Balanced on one leg, Hailey looked back at him then to the center of the room where Asher had been sitting. He’d left, thankfully.
Fin peeled her sock back and scrunched his face. “You need to go to the hospital,” he told her. “This looks really bad.”
“It’s just a cut,” she said, able to speak now that Asher was gone.
“It’s not just a cut,” Fin scolded, giving her back her foot. “And where are your shoes, Hailey? You can’t tramp around Bear Towne in your stocking feet.”
“My shoes are gone,” she told him, her voice wavering horribly. “My books are gone. My clothes are gone…”
Fin hugged her tight. “Go get your foot fixed, knucklehead.”
She rested her head against his chest. “Thanks,” she breathed.
When he let her go, he tilted her chin up and gave her an encouraging smile. Then he headed back to his lab group, who behaved more like groupies than students. They smiled and swooned and watched every move Fin made. As did Hailey.
“By the way,” he called over his shoulder as he bounded down the stairs, “you look good in my jersey.”