Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
“But I’ll need to use it again. I’m searching for a safe place for my family.”
“Oh. Well, doors can go more than one place, you know.”
I brighten at this news. “Can they?”
“Oh, yeah. They’re like hallways.” She giggles. “I don’t even know what that means. I just… see words in my head and then, if I think it’s important, I tell people about it.”
“Like hallways,” I repeat. Maybe she doesn’t understand her words, but I certainly do. “Where I come from”—I point at the dollhouse—“hallways can take you places. But only memories. Not real places. That’s why I need a door. This is the first doorknob I’ve ever tried. So I should probably be getting back so I can try out more.”
“And you’ll leave the door?” Her expression is cheerful and her tone is light. But she’s worried underneath. “All you have to do is remove the doorknob before you leave. Then you’ll keep this place and”—her fingertips play with the gemstone at her neck—“I can use it too. With my doorknob.”
I think about this for a moment. “It’s like a bookmark?”
The little girl giggles. “It’s exactly like a bookmark. Then you can come back. All you have to do is use the same doorknob. It’s been assigned now, and you remove the doorknob when you leave.”
“How interesting. It’s like a ring, then.”
She smiles at me, her whole face lit up. “Oh, yes! It’s almost the same thing. But rings need spells and they are not preassigned. Doorknobs don’t need spellings. They already know where to go.”
“Of course. That makes sense. But if I leave the door here, might someone find it? Someone we don’t want to find it?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. They’re invisible unless you have a doorknob or a ring. It’s a key, you see.”
Invisible. I can’t help myself, I look around, wondering how many there are in this room. I wonder if I’m standing at the threshold of one right now and I just don’t have the right tools to see it.
“There are possibilities everywhere, Tomas.”
I squint at her. Because I don’t think we introduced ourselves.
“Possibilities,” she says, slowly twirling in the center of the room with her arms out, “and opportunities. I bet there are thousands right here in the palace. But we don’t have the rings or doorknobs to see them.”
She walks over to the window and throws the curtains open. This is when I realize we’re in the desert somewhere. There are pyramids in the distance, and a hot wind comes through, blowing bits of ribbon and paper across the floor.
The little girl turns to face me again, her cheeks pink with excitement. “They’re everywhere, don’t you see?”
I just stare at her for a moment, trying to figure her out. But then I answer, “I do see.” And I smile at her. “And look at you. How clever you are. You’re like a little encyclopedia, aren’t you?”
She’s laughing when she replies. “I don’t know what that is.”
“A little fountain of knowledge. A little computer.” I point at her. “You’re like a phone. Filled with information and small enough to carry in a pocket.”
We both laugh now. And all the worry and tension drains out of me for a moment.
“I like you,” she says. “Maybe we’ll see each other again one day.”
“I’m sure we will.”
It’s something one says to be polite, but as I turn away from her, pull my doorknob out, and walk back through the door, I find that I really mean it.
3
I exit the door back in my dungeon and suddenly, and for the first time ever, it feels so hot and stifling in here, I find myself backing up the moment my feet hit the stone floor.
But the door behind me is just a curtain of shimmering silver because I’m holding the doorknob in my hand. So there’s no escape.
And it’s not like I even want to escape. It’s just… there’s something about my dungeon that feels… different now. And it’s not just the sticky, humid air or the lack of ventilation.
It doesn’t feel entirely mine anymore.
Which is fine. I’m not selfish. I’m willing to share. Especially with Madeline and the eggs.
But it’s more than that.
For thousands of years I’ve been the only one down here and now I’ve got company. But it’s not that people have been added, it’s more like… I’ve been erased.
Not entirely, of course. But a little bit. Yes. A little bit of me has been erased to make room for a little bit of them.
Interesting.
Anyway. I shake myself out of this introspection and walk over to the wall. Then I put the gemstone back where I got it and scratch a note in the stone just above it to keep track of where it goes. I didn’t get the girl’s name, so I call her “Smart Friend.”