Page 24 of Soaring into the Midlife

"Zara. Are you okay?" I barely paused as I scooped her up with one arm while keeping Kendra secure with the other. This wasn’t right. Those huge giants shouldn’t have been able to track our movements. We were too small and too fast. Yet we’d nearly been flattened by that club.

Zara nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

I was on board with that. "Hold on!"

The portal shimmered teasingly close as I sprinted with everything I had, the giants' roars fading into a distant echo. We were almost there, freedom just a heartbeat away.

"Jump!" And with a leap powered by sheer vampire adrenaline, we plunged into the portal's embrace, trading a land of giants for whatever awaited us on the other side.

11

We tumbled through the portal,escaping the grasp of the giants, and I landed with a loud thud on my back in what appeared to be an upside-down world. Vibrant grass hung above us, and floating islands drifted lazily overhead. I gently placed Zara down on a ground that appeared to be made of glass with a wide-open sky under it. Kendra hopped off my back.

Zara's wounds healed within seconds. Meeting her gaze, I said, "Thank you."

To my surprise, any lingering animosity toward the young vampire had vanished. I’d held onto my anger from when she had attacked me and left me for dead. Back then Zara had been a baby vamp herself, untrained and scared. She saved mine and Kendra’s life in the giant realm and for that, I was grateful.

Kendra gawked at our surroundings. "What the frick?"

We all stopped to stare, our heads spinning from the topsy-turvy landscape. Moving cautiously, we were hyperaware of the precariousness of every step. The glass under our feet felt paper thin, as though a good stomp would crack it and we’d be lost tothe sky. Our paint-and-chocolate-covered hair floated above our heads, and soon the blood rushed to our faces.

"Come on, we need to keep moving," I said. "This place is awful." I’d rather have been back in the art gallery, though maybe not the giants’ realm.

With a determined expression, Kendra tried one more time to open a portal. When it failed again, frustration clouded her face. "I don't understand why this isn't working."

"Maybe this place, these places, have some kind of anti-portal magic," I said. "On the bright side, at least we're not being chased by giants anymore."

"Hailey, the eternal optimist," Kendra said, but she couldn't help cracking a smile.

"Someone's got to keep our spirits up." I gave her a playful nudge.

We continued our journey through the disorienting world, doing our best not to lose our footing or our sanity. As we ventured deeper, I couldn't shake the feeling that time was running out, and we needed to find a way back to safety before something even worse found us first.

"Is it just me or do those trees have faces?" I asked, squinting at the foliage as we continued our trek.

"Uh, Hailey? Those aren't trees," Zara said. "They're…I think they’re puppets."

Indeed, as I took another look, the 'trees' morphed before our very eyes into towering marionettes with limbs that dangled from invisible strings, their wooden expressions painted in an eerie semblance of glee and sorrow. The leaves we hadmistaken for foliage were actually meticulously crafted garments fluttering in a non-existent breeze.

"Of course they are." Kendra snorted. "Why wouldn't we encounter whimsical puppets in a world where everything is upside down?"

With a collective shrug, we approached the puppet-dotted landscape with caution. They initially appeared friendly, their wooden faces carved into warm smiles and round, rosy cheeks.

As we drew nearer, one of them said, its painted eyes gleaming mischievously, "Greetings, travelers. Care to solve a riddle to advance on your journey?"

"Sure, why not?" I exchanged glances with my companions. "We're already in an upside-down world; might as well add some riddles to the mix."

"Excellent," the puppet said in a high-pitched and sing-song-like tone. "Here's your first riddle: What has keys but can't open locks?"

"Ah, that's an easy one." Zara grinned, her earlier irritation momentarily forgotten. "It's a piano!"

"Correct," The puppet clapped its tiny wooden hands together. "You may proceed…but tread carefully. This world has many surprises in store for you."

"Thanks for the warning." I walked as carefully as I could.

Zara and I seemed to fare all right despite the disorienting environment, but Kendra was another story. Her face had taken on a greenish hue, and she swayed slightly as we walked.

"Kendra, are you okay?" I asked, concerned.