"The Truth About Heaven" by Mariposa Gollery

The Truth About Heaven 

                                By Mariposa Gollery

Haley was regarded in high esteem by the other young creatures of her age. She was pretty, non-obsessive, outgoing, and overall popular. She didn’t look down on anyone, except for those who absolutely needed it. She loved to go swimming, and had never had a human before. Though some tried to look down on her for various reasons, such as the behavior of the wolves down on earth, or the fact that she didn’t have wings, she didn’t care. Some thought that she thought that she was better than others simply because she was born the same day earth came into existence. She didn’t care, and she never referred to it as her birthday, but earth’s. She also confused several scientists as they came to the town by saying that earth had come into existence not 4.5 billion years ago but 5 billion years ago. Some scientists argued with her, but their guides, as they were referred to in the town, agreed with Haley. She was a wolf, and loved to watch the people down on earth. In fact, she could remember the first human who died.

He was her favorite, like a character in a TV show. Then one day he was gone. He was gone for 3 years before the door was discovered. The door is a mysterious door in the shack in the town. The shack is a shack, sitting there like all the houses in the town: standing, unchanging, and there since the beginning of the town. The shack, however, is smaller, but sturdier, one room with no furnishings. It is only about as big as a bathroom, and in the side opposite the door leading in is another door. There is only one door on the outside. One day, 3 years after the first human died, a teenager, about 4 billion years old, was playing with her friends. Then they ran into the group of boys. They started talking, and then the girls noticed how close to the shack they were. One of the boys, a raven, got a mischievous look in his eyes. He then dared a pretty raccoon girl to go into the shack, as it had never been done. The raccoon agreed, and then went in.  It wasn’t creepy inside, just weird for the fact that the door was in the shack. She then took out her key. Keys are with every creature. They are in special places that are mostly in the form of lockets around every creature’s neck. They are really a compartment directly into each creature’s skin. Most creatures don’t like to scare the new humans by opening up their skin and taking out the key. Anyway, the young raccoon found a keyhole in the door and took out her key. The raven had come in, for he was curious, and dared her to try to unlock the door. She thought for a while, and then agreed. That was before the humans first came to the town obviously, so she didn’t have the compartment hidden as a locket. She put the key into the lock and turned it. The door opened. She went through and found humans. She tried to get them all to come to the town, but could only choose one. Then she took her out through the door. Everyone was scared. Then some went out and got humans of their own. Soon, there were no humans left in the place beyond the door. Then one day, another human died. The raven went out and got it. Soon the king developed a way to decide who would get a human at which time. Later it was changed to what it is in Haley’s time. 1 year later, several humans were gone from the town. They had moved on. So the creatures find out how to be guides.

Haley had never been a guide. She often looked into the pool, but could never decide who to pick. That was common among the young creatures of her age. She loved her work, and had unknowingly made enemies among some creatures of the town. Galmor didn’t like her, for instance. In fact, he was searching for the instructions his grandfather left. Always searching.

Rosine was writing in her journal. That was about the only thing she could do without people acting like she was too snobby to talk to anybody. Today people treated me like dirt, but that’s nothing new. Rodger talked to me today. He’s the only one who seems to understand.

She closed her journal. She lay back on her bed in the boarding school. Rosine was a young girl of 17, with no parents, no friends, and only one relative who was rich and very busy, too busy to care for a growing girl, so she had sent her off to boarding school. Rosine had long, straight, black hair, big green eyes, and long graceful limbs. She was slender, and quite pretty, but no one seemed to care. She went to church sometimes, but not even the priest would talk to her. Well, he did, but very rarely and only if it was absolutely necessary. She was a star student, and a lovely dancer, but all the other girls and boys were too obsessed with kissing and smoking to care. The only person that even talked to her without bragging and spitting and insulting her was Rodger.

Rodger was also tall, and getting taller, he had brown hair and green eyes. He was 18, often confused and left out. He detested smoke; it frightened him more than anything else. He was Jewish, and so Rosine couldn’t talk to him in church. He was very calm, and loved to learn about France, Rosine’s native country. Little did they know what would happen to them if they ever met Galmor.

Haley opened her eyes and sat up. She took a shower, talking to herself and her house as she did. “Well, I think I’m out of shampoo, could you get me more? Thank you. I could use bigger bottles; they would be nice. So, where should I go first today? Ah, the pool. See if there’s anyone who I could guide. Well, talking to myself won’t get me anywhere. Let’s go!”

She stepped out onto the street in the early morning, waving to her friends, creature and human alike. She stopped to talk to her friend Jeni, a macaw, who was on her way to work. They worked right next to each other, Jeni at the airport and Haley at the library. Jeni helped those who needed planes to fly them. She flapped her wings excitedly when she saw Haley coming. “Haley! How are you? It’s been awhile since you’ve flown a plane.”

“Sorry Jeni, I’ve been rather distracted lately. Would you like to come to the pool with me?”

“Alright, I suppose. I think that it’s about time for me to be a guide.”

The two friends walked along, if a bit slower than if Jeni hadn’t been a bird. It was considered an offense to ride a creature. They weren’t like animals; they couldn’t be tamed very much. They could have rules to follow, but no creature or human could ride them. For one thing, the sizing wasn’t right. For example, horses were only about human size in the town, a child might be able to ride them, but not an adult. Besides, most creatures walked on two legs.

The pool is like the houses; always there, never changing, open to the public. It is a large circular wall, about waist height, full almost to the brim with water. In the water is an image of the earth. Anyone could zoom in on anywhere and not disturb anyone else’s viewing. You just ask it what you want to see and it shows it to you. You can even do a group viewing.

Jeni sat down at its edge. Haley sat with her. They stared into the pool, both thinking separate thoughts. Haley asked her question. Who could help me to learn to be a guide? Who would be a good first?

The earth started to rotate, then stopped. Haley felt like she was falling down onto the earth, like she was going to land and be noticed. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the falling stopped. Haley knew that she had just zoomed in on the earth, and was still sitting at the edge of the pool. But the rate that the pool zoomed in at was so fast that if a human looked in, they would think that they would soon burn up in the atmosphere.

In the pool was a boy and a girl. They were both tall, both had green eyes, and both bored looking. They didn’t seem to notice each other at first, but it soon became apparent that they just didn’t know how to start. Then they began to talk. There were several other people in the scene, but they didn’t seem as important. Even though Haley was certain that they weren’t what the pool wanted her to see, she couldn’t help but notice that they would all acquire guides early from smoking. The tall boy looked uncomfortable. After a while her concentration was broken as another one of her many friends came up. She was another young wolf named Stephanie, and had a boyfriend named George. They had been going out for about a month and strongly believed that they were soulmates. That day they were going to a seer to find out. Haley actually had a small amount of magic herself, but it took great concentration to work it.

Stephanie tapped Haley on the shoulder. “Hello? Are you there? Haley? HALEY!”

Haley rubbed a paw in her ear and looked up. “Jeez, Stephanie, why shout?”

George laughed. “’Cause we’re going to go swimming. Remember?”

Haley punched George lightly on the shoulder. “Yeah. Well, catch you later Jeni.”

Jeni waved. Then she took off and went to work. Haley turned back to her wolfish friends. “Well, are we going?”

They grinned wide grins, the type of grins that all the big bad wolves of stories grin. All their fearsome teeth showed, and there was a crafty look in their eyes. They looked almost harmless, but deadly at the same time. Haley turned to George. “My, Grandmother, what big nostrils you have.”

George stopped grinning. Stephanie grinned wider. Then the two girls started to laugh. George got that look on his face, the look that someone gets when they just got a joke and they are irritated. Soon all three were running as fast as they could, Haley and Stephanie in front, with George chasing them. They ran, and luckily the two girls got to the women’s locker room before George caught up with them.

After having a great time in the pool, Haley waved goodbye to her friends and went to the airport. Jeni was right. She hadn’t flown in a while. As Jeni helped newcomers to fly, Haley flew all over town. She soared out over the cliff that was nearby the town. Then she put on the autopilot back to the airport. Right as the plane turned, she jumped out over seemingly nothing. She freefell for a while, then her parasail blossomed out behind her. She glided, all alone, then finally landed. Then she unpacked a picnic lunch and waited for a flyer to come get her.

Rosine was happy. Rodger had needed help with some French assignment, and she got to tutor him. She knew all about France, and no one talked to him either. So she had agreed. They would meet at the library and do their work. Then, she hoped, they could enjoy more time together. She put all of her textbooks in her backpack and headed out into New York City.

She was at the library half an hour early. She read at least 5 French romance novels (skipping several chapters) while waiting. Finally, she heard the door swing. It had swung several times before, but this time she was sure that it would be Rodger. It was. He came in and sat down in the beanbag next to hers. Soon they were discussing French history in French. Rosine just loved to talk in French. She could almost recite any French dictionary (the definitions) in French if she could look at the words. She knew all the common French sayings, and several popular songs. She even had a pen pal in France, and received the most popular CDs in the mail. She spoke something similar to Spanglish, but with French instead of Spanish.

She helped Rodger with everything he needed help on, which wasn’t very much. Then they looked around the library for interesting French books, finding a few and reading the beginning of some. Even though they looked like complete study buddies, their minds weren’t on their books. They were just enjoying time together. Then they walked back to the boarding school holding hands. They didn’t notice the bus careening toward them at a high speed, even though it was a red light.

Galmor had found the instructions. He grinned wickedly as he finished it. He could now take his revenge.

Haley had decided. She wanted to guide the boy that she saw in the pool. Then she went to the place where she had never been before. She went to the guiding office. The guiding office was the place where creatures became guides. She placed a lot on the boy. The nice cat at the desk gave her the information she needed. “Tonight is bingo night, whoever wins gets the boy. You get board 13; make sure that you find it. Good luck!”

 Haley went and sat down at her spot, selecting a chip from the pile and putting it on the free space. Then the game began. Haley moved as if in a dream. She put pieces on and cursed silently when she didn’t have a number. Soon she only had one more square to go. She thought about what she would do if she didn’t get the boy. Then she heard another number. She couldn’t quite make it out, but she looked at her neighbor. He was putting a chip over O-18. Haley searched her board for the number before the next was called. She found it! “BINGO!” she said triumphantly.

The caller looked in her direction expectantly. Haley could hardly talk.

“B-1, I-27, N-9, G-3, and O-18,” she said hopefully.

“Correct!” called the caller.

Haley was shocked. She had never won bingo before.

She walked past the cat at the desk. She walked out of the building. She walked down the street. She walked past all the creatures and humans on the street. She walked past the pool. She walked down the stone pathway. She walked into the shack and stopped. After going through a welcome for the boy, she opened the locket around her neck. She had done it several times before, but never with such significance. Then she unlocked the door and stepped into the white cloudy world of beyond the door.

Rodger wasn’t scared. Well, he was right before he died. After that he felt floaty, and passed out.

Haley walked up to the figure standing in the clouds. She hoped that she didn’t look menacing. She stopped in front of the brown haired boy and opened her mouth.

Rodger knew that he was either dead or delirious when he saw the wolf walking toward him. It was strange but somehow natural to see a giant wolf walking toward him with a tank top and jeans and a golden locket around her neck.

Haley knew immediately that her welcome was a bad one, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She took a breath and started to talk. “Hi. I’m Haley, and you’re dead.”

The boy seemed unsurprised. In fact, he acted perfectly normal. “I’m Rodger. Is Rosine here?”

Haley said with more confidence than she felt, “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of her, but if she’s dead then she might be here.”

Strangely, Rodger lightened up. “When can I see her?” he asked eagerly.

Haley answered: “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here. It’s said that the door moves in the land of the clouds.”

The boy looked confused, but he followed her. When they spotted the door he went up and tried to open it. Haley laughed. “It won’t open unless you have a key, silly.”

Rodger looked confused. “Key?”

Haley rolled her eyes and opened her locket again. “I’ll explain later. Come on, if we’re lucky, you can meet some of my friends before dark.”

“There’s light and dark in this place?”

“No, but there is in the town. I told you, I’ll explain later.”

“What town?”

“Look, just come with me and I’ll explain everything, or do you want to be floating in the clouds forever?”

Part of Rodger held back, but he remembered what the wolf had said, and didn’t want the door to move and leave him drifting all alone. He walked through the door without a backward glance.

Through the door was a small, unfurnished room. There was another door in the opposite wall. Rodger looked around, confused. Even though he was talking to a human sized wolf and should know that nothing would be as he expected it, he admitted to himself that he thought that it would be something more than an empty walk-in closet.

Haley stopped. Something seemed different inside her, like she was more complete. She felt stronger, more confident. Then she gasped in surprise. There was a shimmering line leading away from Rodger. She shook her head. It was still there. That’s it, she thought. I’m going to see Rose tomorrow.

She tried to ignore the line. She walked across to the opposite door and opened it. The shock nearly knocked her over. She saw lines everywhere! Lines coming from people, lines coming from guides, lines everywhere! Then she noticed the rings. Some people, but no guides, had rings around their head like a circlet.

They walked out into the town, and Haley was about as bewildered as Rodger. That was when she saw Stephanie and George running toward her excitedly. There was a shimmering line between them.

“Guess what Haley!” Stephanie could hardly keep from shouting. She was running around in tight circles, almost like and excited puppy chasing its tail. “We went and saw a seer! We are soulmates!”

She gave Haley a big hug. George just stood around smiling sheepishly. Rodger could hardly tell what was going on. There were two more big wolves talking too fast for him to understand. Well, one of them was. The other stood around, smiling. What were they so happy about? “Hello, who are you?”

He didn’t realize that the question was directed to him at first. But when he realized that it was, he brought his eyes into focus. There, in front of his face, was a wolf. He jumped. She chuckled.

“His name is Rodger. Stop it, Steph, you’re scaring him!”

The chuckling wolf face retreated. As introductions were made, Haley glanced at the shimmering line between George and Stephanie. Something seemed familiar about it. What was it? She lost the thought.

Rodger didn’t get to meet many more of Haley’s many friends. He did get to meet a badger named Sally, a horse named Bailey, and Jeni the macaw.

Haley’s house had lots of windows. It wasn’t too big, but it was no condo. The door had a pretty stained glass picture of a gardenia flower. It was an old fashioned house, but still new.

Inside was a mudroom, the opposite door leading into the main house. Haley kicked off her shoes and spread out her claws in a stretch. She stopped when she saw the look on Rodger’s face.

The carpet was soft brown, with acorns and other various things that you might find on the ground in an old-growth forest. The walls were, in fact, painted like an old-growth forest. The ceiling was alternately patches of sky and foliage. There was even a real tree to climb in the center of the room. The couches were crushed brown fabric; Rodger wasn’t sure what kind of fabric they were.

Even though they might have been in a forest, there was still a T.V., a computer, and other various things. The fireplace was shaped like an opening in a tree. The chimney looked like a tree going up to the sky.

All the other rooms that weren’t Haley’s private rooms were soft red sandstone colored, and Rodger couldn’t help but think about the novel that he had read, in French, called Redwall.

Then he went to his own rooms. Haley showed him where all of his things were, and then went to the grand finale.

She went to a door, a normal door, and opened it. Inside was a white room, with a huge screen! There were various wires next to the projector, all labeled. There was an X box, a PS3, a Wii, and various other things to play games on. There was a cabinet with all the best games piled in it. Haley smiled and picked up a joystick. “Want to play me?”

After some hard-core games, Haley looked at her waterproof watch and started. “We’re gonna be late! I have to go to work! Let’s go!”

They ran down the street and into the library. They ran behind the desk and opened a folder. Haley scribbled something quickly and clamed down. Then she smiled and started to laugh. “Got you! I just wanted to show you work. I’ll show you the basic sections.”

The library is HUGE! There are two parts to it; Fiction and nonfiction. The entire library gets bigger every day. Every time a book gets published it is added to the library. Every book and written document that has ever existed is in it. Even if the document isn’t published, a few copies are still added.

As Haley and Rodger were walking down past the 5 Q isles, Rodger looked around. He looked up toward the distant ceiling. He looked at one of the gigantic fireplaces surrounded by comfy chairs. He looked over to the nonfiction section. Then he stopped dead in his tracks. Standing awkwardly by a large Doberman pincer, was Rosine! He stood frozen. He shook his head. She stayed there. “Rodger?”

It was Haley. She looked concerned.

“Rosine,” was all he could manage.

Haley had started to get used to the weird lines. There was one running between Rodger and the girl he was staring at. She knew that that should mean something, but she didn’t know what. Rose would know. She knew about those sorts of things.

Then she looked at the girl. She was the tall dark haired, green-eyed girl that was in the pool with Rodger. So this was Rosine.

Rodger was still standing still as a statue, eyes never leaving Rosine. Haley smiled. “I won’t kill you if you want to talk to her,” she said.

Rodger seemed as if he was in a trance. He walked towards Rosine, and the Doberman said something to her and moved away. She stayed.

As the Doberman walked off on a complicated path, Rosine cautiously sat down on a chair. Haley quickly ran a few steps into the Q isle that she was currently in front of and grabbed a book. She then proceeded to casually sit down in a chair not too far off from Rosine and begin to read. It was a non-published book, by some Lillian Adala Quelfand, who had lived in the renaissance times. Its title was Back When the World was New, and was actually quite interesting.

Haley pricked up her ears when Rosine noticed Rodger, and listened to their conversation.

“Rodger!”

There was the sound of rustling fabric and a little oof from Rodger.

“Hi.”

“How did you get here? There was a bus and then clouds…”

“Yeah. Strange, isn’t it? Apparently we’re dead.”

“Really? That’s weird. I don’t feel dead.”

“Yeah. Well, how much do you know about this place? My animal guider person thingy hasn’t told me all yet, though she has some awesome video games.”

“Mine hasn’t either, apparently he just had to stop by to get some books, or return some, I’m not sure.”

“Yeah. Mine works here.”

“Really? Oh, can you imagine actually working here! There must be millions of books, and so many things to learn! I just have to get a chance to come here more often! I mean really, truly, having access to so many books! I need to get a few as soon as possible. Are you sure she actually works here? Can I meet her? She could get some things for me…”

“Yeah. She’s pretty cool. She also has some pretty awesome friends. There’s this one wolf called George…”

“Wolf?! Oh, I’m still used to having wolves be animals, here they’re practically people…”

“Yeah. Well, George is pretty cool, though his girlfriend is kinda weird. Also Bailey, who’s a horse, is pretty cool. She knows all the best terms for stuff…”

“Really? Mine doesn’t seem to have many friends. He hasn’t mentioned any, anyway… But I’m sure that he isn’t really that bad, I mean…”

“What’s his name?”

“I actually don’t know. He just wants me to call him Sir.”

“You’re not joking?”

“No. Maybe he doesn’t like his name.”

“I guess not. Sir? He could have had everyone call him Slash or Dude or Ripper or Butch, but he had to pick Sir. Even just Him is better than Sir. Well, maybe not.”

“Who are you?”

Haley snapped the book shut. Sir was grouchy, and she didn’t want Rodger to make him angry and create an enemy on the first day. She strode over and stepped up behind Rodger. “Hi. Hello, Sir.”

Rosine looked startled at first, but then her expression calmed down. Sir just nodded.

“I was just asking who this young fellow was. Do you know him?” was all that Sir said, ignoring the fact that Rodger was right in front of him.

Haley was just as businesslike as Sir in her reply. “Actually, I am his guide. Apparently, he knew this young lady while they were still alive, and I was letting them catch up while I read.” She motioned with her book.

Sir’s tone was curt and stately. “Well, wasn’t that nice of you? It’s been nice to see you, but I’m afraid that we really must be going. Rosine,”

And with that he walked off. Rosine gave Rodger a little smile and a wave and walked obediently off.

Haley turned to Rodger. He was still staring after Rosine. “She’s so.. so.. Isn’t she?”

Haley nodded. Then she spoke. “Well, we’d better head home. Then I can explain the town to you.”

They turned and left.

When they got to the house, Haley once more kicked off her shoes. Then she proceeded into the living room and collapsed onto a chair. Rodger followed suit. It had been a big day for both of them, what with dying and becoming a guide, and seeing Rosine…

Haley sighed and lifted her head. Then she started to talk. “Right now, I feel like having some warm banana nut muffins. How about you?”

Rodger spoke before thinking. “Actually, I would prefer strawberry right now.”

Haley nodded and stood up. She then went into the kitchen. Rodger followed her. Haley opened the oven and pulled out two trays filled with muffins. She sniffed one, and handed it to Rodger. She then took out a muffin from the other and bit into it. Rodger started eating as well. Then Haley began.

“Well, I’d better start with these muffins. How did I know that you wanted strawberry? How did I know that you didn’t want blueberry? Or chocolate? Can I read minds? Well, I’ll tell you. See, for as long as all our history goes, the town hasn’t changed. Well, not dramatically anyway. For as long as written records have been kept, there had been the recreation center, the library, the shack, the palace, and other things. Sure, some of the houses have changed, like when I decided that I didn’t want a dolphin for my stained glass window, or Jeni decided that she wanted her house to be electric fuchsia, or when Sir changed his house from a huge white mansion to a dull brown one-story house, or various other times. But the overall town has stayed the same. But how did we change it? Well, we don’t exactly know. One day I just decided that I would rather have a stained glass gardenia flower than a dolphin. The next morning the dolphin was gone and there was a gardenia flower in its place. In fact, if I decided that I wanted the living room to be underwater themed instead of like an old-growth forest, when we would walk back in there it would most likely be underwater themed. If I wanted no more video games in this house then when anyone would next go into the game room there would be a library, or nothing. My point is, things just change. Nobody knows how, but they do. If you want to get rid of all your boarding school uniforms and replace them with plain white tee shirts and some cargo pants then that would happen. In fact, if you want to replace your outfits with princess dresses then you can.

“Now enough about what people want. How about some other things? The pool. The pool is merely an image of the earth. You can see whatever you want on the earth, or even on Saturn or Neptune or wherever. Pool has been covered. Come to think of it, if you want to watch your funeral, it’s a week from the day after tomorrow. Getting hurt. Nobody can get hurt in the town. It’s sort of a rule. Even if you get in a fistfight or something, you won’t get hurt. You will get bruised, but you just won’t hurt. Okay, is there anything else you want to know about? Oh, I forgot about keys. This might creep you out a little bit, but keys are in these compartments directly built into every guide’s skin. See, I told you it would creep you out. I can see that you don’t believe me. Well, I guess that I need to show you.” Haley concentrated for a moment, and then the locket disappeared. She then proceeded to reach up to where it used to be, and opened a little flap of skin and took out her key. “See, I told you that it would creep you out. Now, anything else you are curious about? Good. Oh, the day after tomorrow we celebrate the day when humans were first discovered. Everyone who really wants to join in that’s a creature will either use ether his or her own magic or borrow someone else’s and become a human. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I was born on the day that earth came into existence. The day after the day after tomorrow is earth’s birthday. Tomorrow I need to go see an old friend, so you can either come or have the day off. Personally, having just entered the town today, I would come if I were you. Anything else? Nope, so you can enjoy another muffin and I can finish my first!”

She then proceeded to stuff the muffin in her mouth.

Galmor had set the perfect date. He knew when he would attack. He planned it perfectly so that no one would suspect him.

Rodger woke up the next morning and remembered what Haley had said about the trip to her friend’s house. He lay in bed, thinking about what he would do. She had said that he could stay with friends, but his only real friends were Rosine and Haley. He didn’t want to hamper any of Haley’s friends with his presence, and he couldn’t think of where he and Rosine would go. Besides, he didn’t know Rosine’s number. Then Rodger had an idea. He got up and went over to his phone. Then he picked it up and dialed. He wasn’t sure if Rosine’s cell phone would have come to the town with her, but it had been in her pocket when she died, so why wouldn’t it? To his relief, he heard ringing. Then he heard another noise. “Oui?”

“Rosine?” he asked.

“Yes? Who is it?”

“It’s me. Rodger.”

“Rodger! Hi! How did you know that my phone would work?”

“I didn’t. It was just a hunch.”

“Cool. Well, what did you want to talk about?”

“Are you free to do something today?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, maybe go to the library? Go swimming?”

“I’m not sure, I’ll ask. Hold on.”

Rodger waited impatiently. Then he heard Rosine.

“Rodger? I’m sorry, but Sir says that he wants to do something. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. No, really it is.”

“Okay. Bye then.”

“Bye.”

Rodger set the phone down and sighed. Well, he had tried. Besides, Haley’s other friends had been cool, why wouldn’t this one?

Haley went into the living room and sat down. Then she gave a little sigh and said to herself, “Well, I’d better go and get some breakfast before I go over to Rose’s house.”

“What?”

Rodger had just walked into the room and hadn’t quite heard what Haley had said.

“Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself.” Haley stood up and went into the kitchen. She then pulled the frying pan off the stove and started putting some of the fresh pancakes on a plate. “Want some?” she asked.

“No,” Rodger replied, “I feel more like waffles.”

There was a little ding behind him. There stood a waffle maker, and a light with the word “Finished” was on.

Rodger opened the waffle maker and pulled out the hot waffle. He juggled it while getting out a plate and setting it onto the plate. There was another ding. He turned around and got out the other waffle. “That should be enough,” he told the house. He was getting used to the idea of asking the house for things. Oh, by the way, he thought. I would like a different color in my rooms. I don’t really like the light blue that they are.

He sat down and grabbed the syrup that was on the table already. He could get used to this.

Galmor had eaten some fresh meat that most creatures avoided and grabbed his little toy that his grandfather had invented. Soon she would regret ever being so insolent to her elders.

Haley walked down the street with Rodger in tow. She turned around a few corners, and then walked up the path shaded by trees and through a lovely garden. In the garden was a mouse. She was on her knees, weeding some flowers. Haley smiled. Rose always insisted on doing things by hand, and almost never let her house do much. Little did she know that Martin let the house fix the toilet so that he could have a bit more free time.

Rose looked up at the young creatures coming toward her. It was good to see Haley again. Apparently she was a guide, for the boy following behind her looked pretty confused.

“Hello, Haley,” said the nice, slightly older mouse.

“Hello, Rose,” replied Haley.

Rose and her soulmate, Martin, had been two of those few that had made contact with a human on earth. The particular human’s name was Brian Jacques, and they had inspired him to write his famed Redwall series.

Haley helped Rose to her feet. “Do you mind if we come in? I have a few questions.”

Rose smiled. “Not at all. Your young friend could admire some of Martin’s things. You know how boys are.”

Haley smiled back. “Not just boys.”

Rose’s house was a nice little cottage, not too small, but with just enough space and no more. The second Rodger walked into the main room of the house, he was spellbound. Over the mantelpiece was the most magnificent sword. It had a black leather bound hilt with a red pommel; it had a winter keen double-edged blade. It sparkled in the light, and Rodger couldn’t take his eyes off it. It was the coolest thing he had ever seen, and he had seen many blades at renaissance festivals.

“It’s very sparkly, isn’t it?” Haley asked. “Hello? Earth to Rodger! Rodger! Get back down here from idiolala land!”

Rodger snapped out of his trance. He noticed another presence in the room and focused on it. It was another mouse, male this time, who was looking at him with a bemused expression on his face. Rodger quickly looked to Haley for inspiration. She smiled and said, “Martin, meet Rodger, my first human.” She looked rather proud of herself for some reason, and Rodger gave her a look. She didn’t seem to notice.

“Rodger, Martin, I hope you don’t mind, but could you two look at pretty pointy things while Rose and I talk?”

Martin nodded, and Rodger agreed. Something about this mouse seemed familiar.

When the men were gone, Rose turned to Haley and said, “What do you need to talk about? Hang, on, I’ll get some tea, not the house, and then you can tell me in my room.”

Haley nodded. Rose liked to do things by herself instead of letting the house do them. She only let it work at all if she was so busy she didn’t have time to cook dinner or do the dishes or anything like that.

Rose’s room was a room. It had comfy chairs and was fitted out to Rose’s liking.

Haley sat down in her favorite chair and waited for the tea. She sipped at the steaming concoction and waited for Rose to start the conversation.

Rose opened with the most sensible opening that she could. “Why do you need to talk to me?”

Haley sighed and set down her cup. “It’s this thing I’ve been having since I got Rodger. I see these lines connecting all different types of beings throughout the town. Some humans have circlets, but everyone has something. I was wondering about it, as I haven’t seen lines before.”

Rose sat and thought as Haley sipped her tea. Then Rose began as if in deep thought.

“I have heard of this before. I know what the lines are, and I think I know why you haven’t seen them before.

The lines are magic, your magic, in the form of showing who are soulmates and whose soulmate hasn’t come yet. The lines are connecting the soulmates, and the circlets mean that the human that is the soulmate to the one with the ring isn’t here yet.

The reason why you haven’t seen them before is that seers rarely have their sight for all of their lives. Usually their sight comes when something important comes in their lives. You say you had a bit of magic before this but it was hard to use? Yes, I thought so. Now you can use your magic for other things, like on human day, you can use your own and it lasts longer.

“Any more questions?”

Haley shook her head. She knew that most seers get their sight later on, she just forgot.

Rose twitched her ears as if listening to something, then smiled. “I believe that the others are done. What do you say we go for a fly or something?”

Haley nodded, then stood up. She swallowed the rest of her tea and accompanied Rose out of the room.

Rodger was amazed. Never in his life had he seen such amazing and beautiful weapons, let alone someone who could use them easily.

Haley laughed at his dumbfounded expression and repeated Rose’s offer. He nodded and followed her out of the room.

On the streets they saw Rosine. Rodger waved to her, and Sir sort of dismissed her. She came over to them.

“Hi! What are you guys doing?” she asked lightly.

“We’re going to teach Rodger how to fly,” Haley said.

Rosine’s eyes widened. “Really? Could I come?”

Haley shrugged. “I don’t know, why don’t you ask Sir?”

Rosine nodded and hurried back to the Doberman. They exchanged a few words, and Rosine came back, looking extremely happy. “Are we going?” she said when she got back.