Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“Why didn’t you tell me about the First People?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Because you never asked.”
“The topic of proxies came up several times. So why didn’t you tell me they’re from here? Why not mention the Norfolk are too?”
“I did not see the point,” he replies.
“You saw no point in telling me that you sent the Norfolks over the wall so they’d be safe?”
“No.”
“See. That’s the thing, Alwar. You want me to trust you, but you hide the facts. You purposely keep me in the dark.”
“I admit that when we first met, I may have deceived you, but I was merely trying to test you.”
He spoke to me through the walls of my grandma’s house. He claimed he was trapped by her and Bard.
“You begged me for food and water,” I say. “You made me believe my grandma was some psycho who locked up men in her bedroom.”
“It was not my task to educate you, Lake. It was hers. And she chose to keep you ignorant despite my protests. I understand she had her reasons, but she did you a disservice. You were unprepared, completely unaware of your people’s past.”
“Is it even true that you were chained to the wall for ten years because of my father’s death?”
“Yes. That was not a lie. Gabrio, Tiago, and I were responsible for the Wall Men, and your father slipped through our defenses. Had he not, your mother would still be alive today. So would your father. And I would have taken the throne. We had to pay for our mistake, for how we failed our people.”
“It was all for nothing in the end.” I pick up a pebble and toss it into the orange dirt. “We all die anyway. Mato’s army is going to get through our defenses, and we lose the wall.”
“How do you know this? Tell me!” he demands.
“Because we’re still sitting here.”
“You are not making any sense.”
“If we get to the wall before Mato,” I explain, “you’re going to send a man down that narrow staircase like you promised. And when he returns, he’s going to tell you he found that structure made of big round rocks. He’s going to find it because the wall sits on top of River Wall Manor.”
He frowns, staring intensely with his fierce blue eyes.
“Those doorways don’t lead to my world, Alwar, they lead right here, to this one. You’re just a few thousand years in the future.” I think. Could be longer.
“This is impossible.”
“Is it?” I say. “Because I just learned that the First People told stories about Monsterland once being covered in buildings, large airplanes flying in the skies, and billions of humans living here. Sound familiar? Maybe a little like my world?”
Alwar hasn’t ever crossed over to my world that I’m aware of, but I know he and his brothers were educated. The Scholar People told them all about my home.
“Who is to say that the First People did not merely cross over at one point and bring these stories back with them?”
That doesn’t work out.
“Alwar, the stories were told to General Rool as a child, five hundred years ago. But back home, we’ve only had airplanes for a hundred-something years. And certainly the planet wasn’t covered in skyscrapers until more recently in history. So how could the First People be telling these stories five hundred years ago here in Monsterland? It doesn’t add up unless the First People’s stories are from their ancient past. Their stories describe my home, my time, because I’m from the past.”
I see the confusion Alwar’s eyes. “Then there must be some other explanation.”
“Maybe, but how else can you explain how toxic this world is? You just told me half the land is uninhabitable. Why? Think about it. You know what kind of weapons humans have back in my world. If they used them, then this,” I sweep my hand in the air, “is my world’s future. Hungry monsters, constant warring, no water, no food.”
He whooshes out a breath and stares at the ground. He knows I’m onto something. He sees what I see. “Either way, I must protect my people. We must stop Mato from taking the wall.”
“But if that happens…” My voice fades.
He looks away, off at a group of young War men sharpening their swords. They look brave and fierce, ready for battle. “I understand.”
“Do you?”
He nods, his eyes still on the young War men. “You will tell no one of this, Lake.”
“But, Alwar—”
“I must think.”
Oh Christ. That’s what I was afraid of. He’s going to try to find a way to win the battle, but not lose everything.
“Alwar, just promise whatever you decide, you’ll tell me. And you’ll remember that it’s possible this has already happened before—the blast back in my home, my world being destroyed, and this new world being born. Maybe it’s why more doorways kept opening. One for each time we went through all this. You have to assume you’ve already tried to win and—”