“Should we be learning to use it at all? When people need us, they knock.”
I watched Tess’s eyes flash as she jumped to her feet, her chest swelling as her body prepared itself for the rant that was about to begin. “If you think for one minute I’ll–”
“If I may? Apologies, Lady Tess, but I think I have a simpler answer. The portal is a tool, a powerful tool. Learning how to use it is the key to the success of your enterprise,” I rolled my eyes at this, “and in keeping yourself safe.” OK, now he had my attention. “A portal gives access to your shop and at the moment, that access has been granted to people who have behaved reasonably and fairly with you, yes?” We both nodded at this. “You have a small fortune in gold in the floorboards, you have rare and arcane ingredients, mixed in with some terrible dross, I must say, which powerful people desire. Not all of these people are prepared to deal so reasonably. People who will not be deterred by anything as mechanical as a lock. By learning how to use the portal, you learn how to control what happens to your shop and yourselves.”
“Control’s good. Sign us both up.”
“Reality is the Word made flesh,” Merlin said, swirling his hand in the air and showing us the green lettering again. “Someone, something described what is, and it came into being. Some say it is a god or many gods, some say it was merely some gifted individuals. For our purpose, it is merely important to remember that underlying all you see is the Word.”
“So, like, the moon was created by a Word. Someone thought, ‘Hmm, wouldn’t it be good to have a round lump of dead rock circling the Earth?’ and then said the Word and lo, it was so? That doesn’t make sense,” I said.
“I know not how the moon came to be, or who created the Language, all I know is the Words are there and when you can see them and understand them, you can manipulate and change them.”
“So, what, we learn the word, sorry I mean Word, for ‘open’ and ‘closed’, and we’re done?” I asked.
“No, we’d have to learn ‘where’ and ‘when’, wouldn’t we?” Tess asked. “I mean you’re from another time, not just another place.”
“Yes, exactly. You can imagine the dimensions your portal visits like this.” He drew several glowing green circles in the air. “Each of these is a world, or even the same world, that has somehow branched out in its development and created different versions of itself. Imagine them arranged like this.” He shifted them with his hands so that that they were jammed together in a line, the shape of them beginning to turn more oval than spherical. “A straightforward transition would be to open from one world, yours, to another, in the same place, same time. You must know the sign or symbol for this place, this time and then be able to input this into the portal.” He did something incomprehensible with his hands and then opened the door. “Oh,” he said and stepped back.
We peered into the doorway but didn’t see much. It was almost pitch black, I could hear the whine of the wind and saw something tumble by as a dark-grey shadow and that was about it. Tess shivered and pulled back. “What’s wrong with this place?”
“Some worlds are . . . not as successful as others. This is one of the risks of the portal,” Merlin said.
“It can’t be that bad,” Tess said, moving to grab Nan’s old lantern torch. She came back and switched it on, shining it into the dark.
She was wrong. The darkness was soon filled with strange silvery lights everywhere the light shone, dull and glistening. “What is . . .? Oh!” Tess aimed the torch at the nearest, and we soon found out what was the source of the strange reflection. It looked like a fruit bat, hanging upside down from a power line but big, really, really big and with teeth no fruit eater would need. Its leathery wings shuffled and it turned those great moon-discs of eyes towards us, opening its mother-fucking huge jaws, a long forked tongue flickering out as if to taste us.
Merlin slammed the portal shut and muttered something quickly, the blue light around the door frame dying away to nothing. “You see the dangers, we know not which worlds are safe to open a door to,” he said, panting slightly. “Your grandmother, she should have a list somewhere, of the codes or symbols for the dimensions and times she has visited. This would be invaluable and save time and possible injury. Would she have kept a document like this?”
“She kept notes on everything. We just have to sort through it all,” Tess said, her shoulders sagging. All of the spark had faded out of her. Her eyes kept flicking from the portal door and then back again. She shrugged, “I guess we’ve just got to get started going through them.”
“Hmm . . . journals of successes and failures are common in my profession, but it would be unlikely she would keep this information in that kind of book. It would need to be easily accessible, not scattered across many journals.”
“We’ll have a look, but there’s so much stuff here. . . . It’s hard to know where to start.”
“Hmmm . . .” Merlin looked around at the chaos, "perhaps this will help.” He grabbed his staff and made a grand gesture and all of our books were swept up in a swirling cloud, only to line themselves neatly inside the door of a cupboard that flicked open.
“How the . . .? This cupboard was full,” I said.
“I amended it.” He gestured and the door opened onto what looked a lot like a walk-in wardrobe, the shelves folding away as we walked to let us in.
“Where are . . .? How?” Tess said.
“In some ways, this mimics your portal. The additional space exists in an alternate realm, one I frequently use for just this sort of thing. It is stable and relatively unpopulated. No humanoids, just some single-celled organisms. This is a sterile environment, none of the indigenous creatures will make their way in, but I find it a useful way to add space when needed. This is how portals are used more commonly. At any rate, the information is not in these books, so this may narrow your search.”
“But if we find the symbols, then what?” I asked, looking over at the door. It just seemed like a door, it didn’t have a keypad to enter information. Would we just draw the symbols on the door?
“You’ll need to learn the art of inter-dimensional travel. It’s quite a complex science, particularly as you have no prior training, but within several years, I believe you may grow competent enough to chance going through a portal to a friendly dimension and back again.” I looked over to see Tess’s shoulders slump further forward.
“Hey, I’ll ring Pa and see if I can come and collect some of her books to look through. Now that we have an unlimited storage space, we can probably just store them here.” I pulled my iPad from my bag and handed it to her. “Why don’t you show Merlin here an episode of Stargate? It might get him thinking of an easier way to use the symbols.”
I grabbed my bag and was about to head out when Jez burst in. “You sure you want the books near the window? Biker boy is saying you cleared it, but it’s gonna look ugly.”
“Apparently not, we now have a magical bookshelf, though with its Tardis-like proportions, probably not good to let the guys see it. Have them dump them on the counter and we can move them in.”
“You sure you don’t want to give them the intel?” Jez asked with a smirk.
I stared back at her, my gaze flat, hopefull