The boy at the top of the stairs almost didn’t look real.
His hair was like starlight. And his eyes were blazing blue marbles. Just like the other two, he wore a long, flowing robe, but his put theirs’ and every tapestry in the room to shame. Pure white and covered in millions of tiny suns, moons, and other planets. And they didn’t seem like meer sewn on patterns, they shined like real gold. He looked almost otherworldly.
“What are you two doing?” he uttered.
Yet again, the two boys stared at each other, but the one in blue cut the staring short.
“Elios, what are you doing out of bed?” he said, deflecting the question.
“I’ve been in bed long enough”, Elios replied. “Now what are you doing to that poor girl?”
“She’s an intruder, and we’re just taking care of her,” said the orange boy, tugging on Camilla’s arm.
“Intruder, my butt! I came here because I need help.”
Elios smiled and started walking down the steps. “Well, that’s no problem, I am always here to help my peo-!”
Prince Elios’ robe caught on his feet and his stumbled down the rest of the stairs in a rather un-princely manner. He caught himself at the landing just before he face planted.
“I’m fine! I’m fine!” he called out as he adjusted himself.
The blue robed boy let out an exasperated grumble. He let go of Camilla’s arm and lunged for Elios’.
“Elios, come on! You need to rest up before the other Puzzleaders get here.”
“I don’t need to rest, Deimos!” snapped the prince. All in an instance, he had gone from sweet and demure to ornery and upset. He snatched his arm away from Deimos and pointed it at the boy that was still holding Camilla.
“Phobos, you let that girl go!”
The tangerine colored young man released Camilla’s arm and reluctantly went to stand near Deimos and Elios. Elios straightened his robe and his hair, making himself look more elegant. He really was quite mesmerizing. Camilla stared at him, finding it hard to look away, when she noticed something.
Having a grandfather as a painter can lend you some very interesting knowledge. One day, Camilla had heard her grandfather discussing something called light fastness. He had explained to her that a painting that was left under light for too long could become a bit faded over time.
That was what Elios looked like from up close. A faded painting.
True, his robe was a gorgeous menagerie of colors and patterns, but they all looked just a bit grayer than they should have. The same could be said about the boy’s pale, clammy skin. Gray circles hung under his azure eyes. Camilla began to wonder if Deimos was right about him needing a nap.
Elio walked over to her. He grabbed her hand in a gentlemanly manner.
“Now miss, just tell me what it is you ne-”
He stopped. And then he stared.
Yet again, he went from regal and dignified to… well, Camilla couldn’t describe it as anything other than flabbergasted. His jaw hung open and his eyes darted back and forth. He looked down at Camilla as if she were a ghost.
Carefully, he extended a shaky arm towards her. Camilla was so confused by this strange behavior, that she stood completely still, not sure of what to expect next. The prince raised a graceful hand towards her face and lightly grabbed her chin.. He tilted her head back and forth, examining every angle of her face.
“It can’t be… ,” he uttered, whispered, in a hushed tone that chilled Camilla to the bone. He stayed still for another minute or so, in a type of abject disbelief.
“Uh…,” Camilla finally said. “You’re touching my face… it’s kinda weird.”
Prince Elio snapped out of whatever trance he was in.
“I-! I am so sorry!” He let go of her and stepped back, realizing the oddness of what he’d just done.
“Again, what was it you said you needed?”
Camilla finally told them everything that had happened. She told them about the flood, about the college, and about how very stuck she was.
“Displacing? Is that all?” said Prince Elios. “Well, I’m sure we can handle this quite easily.” He snapped his fingers behind him. “Phobos, get me some details on this ‘Earth’ place.”
Phobos snapped up from glaring at Camilla to respond. He put out his hand and began to wave it through the air in swooping, waving motions. Camilla gasped as she saw what was starting to happen. Bright orange whisps began to form around the circles he was making, and his eyes lit up in the same shade. In a quick motion, Phobos threw his hand up and out of his palm grew a giant projection of the Earth.
“Earth, otherwise known as The Orbis, is a small planet located about two-thousand star systems away. Due to its incredibly far proximity from the PuzzleSpace, very little is known or documented about it.” Phobos closed his palm and the projection disappeared. “Assuming it is even possible, it would probably take a craft at least a week to get there.”
“A week?!” shrieked Camilla. “Come on! I’ve already been gone a day, I don’t have that kind of time.”
“Well, I doubt that’s correct,” said Phobos.
“I’m sorry?”
“Time conversions between Puzzleworlds can become a bit skewed the further away you get. You said you’ve been gone about a day now?”
Camilla nodded.
“Chances are you haven’t even been gone an hour in your world.”
“Oh,” Camilla breathed out. This changed things a bit. All the fear of her mother sitting in a police station wondering where she was began to dissipate. If the time conversion thing was true, Camilla may have enough time to get home without having even been missed as much. An hour was better than a day. But an hour was still long enough.
“Well, I still need to get back.”
“And we can help you. One portal to the Obris coming up!”
Elios rolled up his sleeves, waved his hands and just like Phobos, pearl colored whisps began to form. He motioned his hand towards the ground and a large strip of light spread across the floor. Elios raised his hands up and out of the strip began to rise a large, rectangular, slab. It too was made out of nothing but light. As Elio waved and swished his hands, Camilla could see real features appearing in the light. It was becoming an actual door.
Well, at first it was. But the real features- a doorknob and maybe some hinges- kept flickering on and off. Camilla looked at the Prince to see what the problem was, and she saw it.
The prince was struggling. His hands shook violently and sweat began to pour from his brow. His face was scrunched in what Camilla could only identify as pain. Deimos and Phobos noticed and rushed to his side. They grabbed his shoulders as his arms fell. The portal of light fell into dust and disappeared.
“Okay, maybe I can’t make you a portal right now,” said Elios, catching his breath. “But maybe…”
He looked at Phobos and Deimos.
“I mean”, Phobos started. “We technically could, but making a portal to somewhere that far away is going to take a minute.”
“‘A minute’ meaning at least a few hours”, interjected Deimos. “And that’s just to get the coordinates right.”
Elios put his hand to his chin and thought.
“Look, we really, don’t have time for this!” yelled Deimos. “The other Puzzleaders are gonna be here any moment, now.”
Elios sighed and looked at Camilla with nothing but compassion in his eyes.
“Miss Camilla, we would love to help you, but right now we have some serious issues we have to deal with. If you would be so kind as to wait, we will be more than happy to put you on the path to getting home.”
Camilla didn’t want to wait. She wanted them to send her home now. She wanted to stomp and scream and wave her fist in the air until her demands, however unreasonable, were met. She wanted to throw a full fit.
But she (foolishly) looked into the Prince’s kind, understanding, and patient face. And she realized the tantrum she wanted to throw wasn’t going to happen.
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