Shelby and Shauna Kitt and the Dimensional Holes. P. H. C. Marchesi

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СКАЧАТЬ can fix this,” he said, with sudden determination. “Tomorrow we’ll go to school, and explain to Ms. Mould what really happened. Then we can go to theater and apologize to the diva. I’m pretty sure she was about to forgive us when that guy interrupted. By tomorrow night, everything will be back to normal.”

      Encouraged by his enthusiasm, Shauna suggested they climb up to the roof and plan their strategy. She opened the window and climbed a flimsy fire ladder that looked as if it would break away from the wall at any moment. Shelby followed, closing the window behind him. Although they had only lived in the attic for a few months, going up to the roof had already become a favorite activity. Up there they could look at the city lights, and feel an unidentified sensation of freedom as they gazed into the night.

      “Do you miss Chicago?” Shauna asked, remembering their tiny studio apartment two blocks away from the L-train.

      “No way,” said Shelby, emphatically. “I bet it’s freezing there now. At least New York’s a little warmer.”

      Shauna looked up at the sky. In spite of the city lights, she could spy several stars shining crisply above her.

      “I wish we’d get snow,” she said, after a moment. “I bet there’s snow in Chicago already.”

      Shelby knew that his sister loved to watch snowflakes – she would stop whatever she was doing to gaze at snowflakes floating downwards. One time, he had woken up in the middle of the night and seen that she was still curled up by the window, watching the snow come down.

      “What’s with you and snow?” he asked.

      “I just like it, is all,” she said. Even in Chicago, she was constantly hoping for snow, although snow nearly always meant that their apartment would get even colder than it already was. Still, she couldn’t help it. Something about the quiet descent of white snowflakes was endlessly comforting to her. When no one was looking, she would often raise her hand and pretend that she could summon snow from the sky.

      “Do you ever think that someday you’ll do something amazing?” she asked.

      “All the time.”

      They stared at the sky for a moment without saying anything.

      “How are we gonna tell mom about school?” asked Shauna, finally.

      Shelby shrugged. Did they even need to tell Fran? Ms. Mould would reconsider for sure – especially if Shauna explained what had happened. Maybe there was even something they could do about the diner closing, though he wasn’t sure what yet. He was just convincing himself that they really should delete Ms. Mould’s message from the answering machine, when he felt a sharp pain in his heart. It was so piercing that, for a brief moment, he was unable to move.

      “Ow,” he moaned. “The weirdest thing just happened.”

      “Yeah, and it really hurt,” complained Shauna. “Wait - do you hear that?”

      A low, moaning sound – like a miserable voice lamenting an unbearable amount of pain – had broken through the loud traffic noise. Shelby and Shauna stood, petrified, as a dark cloud floated past them, and then faded downwards.

      “What was that thing?” asked Shelby, his body shivering beyond his control.

      “No idea,” whispered Shauna. “Is it gone?”

      A deep, loud growl answered Shauna’s question. The sound was so fearful, and so violent, that Shelby and Shauna both knew that something terrible had just happened – and that it had happened right below them, in the tiny attic where their mother had been crying.

      “Come on,” urged Shelby, as he and Shauna rushed down the noisy metal steps. They stopped abruptly as they heard the moaning again, and saw an undefined, dark cloud float out the attic window, and then disappear into the night.

      “Keep going!” cried Shauna. “Hurry up!”

      Shelby scrambled down to the window, and saw Fran lying motionless on the floor. She looked deadly pale, and there were dark marks on her face. Shelby frantically pushed the window open, and nearly gagged at the foul smell that hit him: the room was stifled with a hot, metallic air, and he and Shauna were barely able to breathe as they rushed over to where Fran lay.

      “Mom!” he cried, desperately. “Mom, can you hear us?”

      “What is that?” asked Shauna, as a glowing sphere, roughly the size of a marble, appeared next to their mother.

      Shelby picked it up before he even knew what he was doing.

      “It’s warm!” he said.

      Before Shauna could touch it, two people appeared in front of them: one was a man with sunglasses and hair spiked upwards, and the other was a woman with square glasses and wavy brown hair.

      “Thank you for accepting the invitation,” said Lendox. “Are you Shelby and Shauna Kitt?”

      “What is that smell?” asked Marina, before either Shelby or Shauna could answer.

      “Klodians,” Lendox said, frowning as he spotted Fran lying on the floor. “She needs help – stand aside, please.”

      Shelby and Shauna were not sure what had just happened, or why they should follow the instructions of a perfect stranger. There was something about the man in front of them, however, that gave them a brief but nearly overwhelming sensation of trust. They stood aside, quietly, and watched as Lendox took off his sunglasses. Did he really have lilac eyes?

      Amazed, they watched Lendox reach inside his bag, and pull out a small, round vial. Inside it was a liquid so bright they could barely look at it without squinting – it was as if light itself were contained in it. Carefully, Lendox lifted Fran’s head, opened the vial, and poured the liquid into her mouth. Fran’s body glowed for a moment.

      “What did you give her?” asked Shauna, stunned.

      “We call it vitalix,” Lendox said, putting the empty vial back in his bag. “It is the nectar of a flower that blooms very rarely. Since the dimensional holes opened, of course, it has stopped blooming – I believe I just used the last one on Miriax.”

      “Where?” asked Shelby, as Lendox carefully placed Fran on the pullout sofa.

      “First things first,” said Marina. “Where’s your dad?”

      “It’s just us,” replied Shelby, defensively.

      Shauna glanced at her brother: the topic of their dad had always been a sensitive one for him. Their father had died in a car accident shortly after they were born, but Shauna knew that Shelby harbored a deep fantasy that his father was still out there, somewhere, and that one day they would find him.

      “I see,” said Marina, awkwardly. “Let me introduce myself, then. I’m Marina Gibbs, and I’m here because –”

      Shauna was about to shake Marina’s outstretched hand, but Marina quickly withdrew it to block the violent sneeze that shook her.

      “Allergies,” she muttered, sniffing. “Anyway, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

      “How do you know СКАЧАТЬ