Chapter 3: Sylvia's Bench

Sven stared at the sky, taking in the greenish clouds swirling around the orange canopy like oil in water. Huh. He felt like he had just been through a toaster oven, and felt like he had the burns to prove it. The air was damp and heavy, and it tasted salty. And there was something else. What was that, leather? He looked to his right and noticed an ominously burning sofa. Ah.

He lay on his back in what felt like sand. Violet was leaning on a mailbox to his left. His eyes widened as he remembered what had happened. "I can't believe it," he said. "We actually passed through the portal!" He coughed. Then he coughed again. There seemed to be something stuck in his lung. He raised his head to look down at his chest and frowned.

Violet turned for a second look at her brother. She froze.

"Well that's problematic," said Sven. The leg of Sylvia's bench was protruding from his chest, the rest of the bench standing over him like a child's fort.

"Really? I don't know," said Violet. "There's just a bench in your chest." Sven was busy examining the leg in his lung. His hands ran over the metal and the skin around it.

"Amazing! There's no blood or anything--well, except what was already there," he said, as though Violet wasn't there, "I must have, uh, portal-ed? I don't know--"

"Very precise, Mr. Scientist. Maybe 'landed?'" Violet said.

"It's never happened before," said Sven, glaring at her. "I must have landed inside it. The bench was already here, so the portal must have broken down our matter to bring us here and since I was technically not solid, I--"

Violet took Sven's fascination at his predicament as a chance to take in her surroundings. They were on a beach of some kind, judging by the sand beneath her feet. Scattered around the sand were a few other items: a lamp post, a hubcap, a shrub, a smoking BMW, and the occasional body part on a small red patch of sand. "Others must have come through," thought Violet.

She looked inland. There was a forest that grew up from the edge of the sand and continued past where she could see. The trees were strange, as if they had been uprooted and placed back in the ground upside-down, but continued to grow just the same. The "branches" were at the bottom, but above ground like the roots of a mangrove tree. And the "roots" were at the top. There was no undergrowth. Instead, vibrant mosses and bushes hung between the root-like treetops, creating a canopy of multicolored greenery. Movement caught her eye, and she saw a small spherical creature swinging by two monkey-ish tails from the dangling growth. Several smaller ones followed it, strung together like monkeys-in-a-barrel, making squeaking noises and bumping each other playfully.

"How precious," she said. "Sven, did you see the trees? They're neat." But he was still babbling to himself.

"--so if I would have landed standing up, my legs would be through the seat. This is fantastic! When I find Robert, we can--"

Violet decided to leave her brother to his science, so she walked toward the ocean. The water offshore was flat and deeply blue, like a crayon, and extended for--

Violet paused. A wall of water stretched for miles above the surface, and infinitely in either direction, just a few hundred yards out from the beach. At first, she thought she would run. Being hit by a tidal wave would be an excellent way to be welcomed into their new Wonderland. After a bit of staring and wondering about Sven (he couldn't run far with a bench in his chest, and it would do nothing for his buoyancy either), she began to wonder why they hadn't yet been crushed by the wall of water. But the wall of water--apparently that's what it was--didn't move at all.

"Huh," she said to herself. She went back to Sven and plopped down on the bench. He jerked and

began coughing.

"--so the matter must have been-GAH! Gently, Klutzor," he said between hacks. She hated that

name and he knew it, so he made sure to use it with regularity.

"When the guys back at CERN hear about this..." Sven hesitated and glanced at Violet. "What?"

she said. He never talked about his work. It was always "top secret" this and "top secret" that,

and "it's classified." Sometimes she thought that he just liked annoying her with his self-important

silence.

"It's nothing," he said. Violet sighed.

"Do you remember when mom and dad used to take us to the beach?" she asked, looking out

over the water. Sven's eyes darkened. Their parents had divorced five years ago, and Sven didn't

try to hide his anger at the whole ideal.

"Just drop it."

Violet sat in silence as her brother lay stewing in the sand with a bench leg in his lung.

"I can help him if you'd like."

Violet jerked in surprise. A boy was standing behind them. He was wearing a pair of ragged cargo

shorts and no shirt. He was a bit dirty, and his hair was long and unkempt. She hadn't heard him

approach.

"Careful kid, you just about made her lay a chocolate egg, if you know what I mean." Sven looked at Violet with a mischievous smile, then turned his gaze back to the newcomer with wide eyes. "Did you come through the portal as well?"

The stranger smiled. He looked young to Violet, probably around sixteen.

"Yes and no," he said. Violet noticed age in his voice. The boy turned and looked at Sven.

"Let's get that bench out of your chest," he said. Sven looked hesitant.

"Look kid, unless you're a surgeon..."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," said the stranger. He knelt by Sven. Violet frowned as he placed a hand on Sven's chest and one on the bench. He frowned for a moment, then stood up.

"I don't know if groping me did anything, but look, if you know any scientists that came through from our world, could you find them? My partner came through about half an hour ago. His name is Robert Nickel. He would have been bleeding from the stump where his hand used to be."

"I met him," the boy said, but didn't elaborate. He closed his eyes, and a ripping sound startled Violet. Sven cursed. That same burning sugar cookie smell was back.

"You can move now," said the stranger. Sven looked down at his chest to find the bench removed completely and his chest back to normal. He looked up.

"How did you--"

"Not right now. Now, before I go, listen very carefully. The people that took your friend Nickel are heading back to the City. You cannot be here when the second patrol arrives. It wouldn't necessarily be unpleasant being in their custody, but you need free range to do what you need to. Do not get caught under any circumstances. Head along the shoreline that way." He pointed down the beach to the left. "If they catch up to you, lose them in the forest. Eventually you will find a clearing just inside the treeline."

Sven's head hurt. "I hope you're remembering all this, Vi." She nodded.

"In this clearing, there will be a building. Inside this building is a man that can help you. He will ask you this: 'How about a nightcap?' And you will respond 'Do you have one in blue?' He will tell you everything you need to know."

"But why are the people from this 'City' chasing us?" Violet asked. "Why did they take Sven's partner?"

"I really have no idea," said the boy. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," said Sven, rubbing his chest. "Who am I thanking for the whole bench thing?"

"My name isn't really important right now." The boy shrugged. "But I guess you can call me Billy."

"So what about--" began Violet.

But Billy wasn't listening. He turned and sprinted toward one of the particularly large trees. He leaped onto a low branch (or root, Violet wasn't sure), and sprinted toward the trunk. He jumped at it, pushed off higher, and swung into a double back-flip from a hanging root (or branch, it was all a little confusing). Before he could land on the ground, a hole ripped in the air beneath him, swallowing him up. And then Billy was gone. Violet just stared.

"Was all that necessary?" said Sven.

"Like you don't show off at all," Violet said.

"Do you think we should do what he said?"

"I don't see why not."

Sven clapped his hands. "Well, it'll be a lot easier going without seventy pounds of bench in my chest. I wish Robert could have seen that. The studies we could have done would have made--"

But Violet was already walking. He stopped talking and ran to catch up with her.

"Hey, Vi, wait!" He drew up next to her and slowed to her pace. "Do you think it's dangerous here? I mean, there could be all kinds of stuff from our world here, like lions and sharks and things. AND--" His face brightened. "What if there are indigenous species? There could be millions of discoveries to be made!"

She thought of the swinging creature in the forest. Her reading on the food chain came back to her. There was always a predator.

"That may be, Sven. That may be," she said, and wrapped her arms around herself. She suddenly felt unprotected.

They walked on in silence for a while.