Prep 19–Setting–Pop's Garden

Pop's Garden

Pop’s garden was a tangle of grass, thistles, ironweed, and Susans of brown and black eyes. It aptly smelled like wet grass and mulching leaves. Milkweed sprouted in a rare burst of pink, inviting the monarchs. Honor supposed that if this were the first place they encountered on Earth, it wasn’t the worst option. The colors were warm, the brights of Summer still sparkling through despite waning with October. Leaves rattled on a couple of small trees beside the wooden fence. It was better than landing in a cloud of smog at a coal plant, but tough skin was needed to clear the thickets. Hugo stared in awe at the garden for a pure minute.

“You were the one who wanted to go in,” Honor said. The plants owned this place now. They had occupied every open niche. Hugo finally pushed ahead. It felt like they were breaking into some sacred space. The plants’ place, not theirs. Victor stood quietly, watching. If he saw any jellies, he wasn’t saying it. Finally, it seemed impossible to break further in. Literally. They had literally been breaking stems and twigs while pushing in. As they did, the plants grew closer together as if they built a wall to protect themselves from the intruders. It wasn’t as if Honor had wanted to hurt them, they just happened to be in the way of where they were going. No matter how much they wanted to leave the meadow in place, they had to see if there was anything to it. Any clues, jellies or otherwise, to where Nevae had gone.

Victor was the only one who didn’t seem to care about the garden. He had grumbled and stepped along sideways through the opening Honor left behind, trampling Susans as he went. Hugo eventually stopped moving forward. Honor felt plants caress their body with the wind. A shiver went down their spine. It wasn’t that cold, but leaves and blades of grass touched Honor’s bare ankles so lightly it almost tickled.

Hugo had reached a stump hidden in the grass. It was half the length of him. He put a hand on the edge of the stump. His fingers curled around the bark, which apparently reached higher than the wood.

“Guys, come here,” Hugo beckoned. “Look at this.”

Honor started to move as soon as he spoke. Victor took a moment to grumble some more. As Honor approached it became apparent that there wasn’t really a stump left. Instead, a hollow ring of oak bark grew up reminiscing of the tree it had once been.

“This it?” Hugo asked excitedly as Victor maneuvered himself to see into the stump. Honor forgot about them and gawped at the blackness. It was an open hole. It was dark with shimmers of purple treading through like waves. Where the roots of the tree would have knotted into earth grew instead a half-tube of wood. The patterns of growth in the wood were colored bluish and reddish as if woody veins leading downward.

“Gotta be it,” Honor answered as Victor’s turn to gawp arrived.

“Alright.” Hugo flashed them a smile and jumped in.

“Wait!” Victor cried too late. He turned to Honor. “This is your fault.” He glared. Honor felt his anger. It wasn’t their fault Hugo had jumped in. It was Honor’s fault Nevae had disappeared. So maybe it was Honor’s fault.

“What are you waiting for?” Victor accused more than asking.

“Are you coming too?”

“After you.”

Honor started to grapple with the lowest divot in the bark. They had expected it to break, but it was at least as sturdy as wood. It was up to Honor’s chest. Honor grabbed the edge and jumped. Not enough strength to push up. They tried again.

“I can lift you up if you need–” Victor reached towards Honor.

“No.”

Honor slapped his arms out of the way. Honor used a foot to test the texture of the bark. There was friction. They got a step up. High enough to lift themself over when they felt Victor’s hand pushing–Honor’s feet slid up in the air. Suddenly they were tumbling headfirst down the wooden slide.

By the time Honor managed to flip their head towards open space, no longer worrying about breaking their nose, the opening had disappeared. Vines stretched and grew out around them. The vines–for lack of a better term–sparkled like clear glass tubes. Purple clouds shifted through the space. Honor could see a bit beyond them. A tower grew up like gray stems in the distance. The vines were growing tighter together. Honor felt weightless. It was as if they were floating, despite falling down the tube. Then they fell through a cloud of the purple mist. It turned out the purple stuff was powdery. It was so thick it stuck in their throat. Honor sneezed once, twice– the sneezes wouldn’t stop. They gasped for beath and took in a mouthful of the powder. It tasted bitter and fizzed like baking powder. Coughing. Coughing. By the time Honor caught their breath the movement had stopped. They felt an arm pulling them along. Honor stumbled a couple of steps.

“That’s it, that’s it,” a familiar voice encouraged Honor. “Gotta get out of the way for–”

“Ow!” Victor cried out as he landed flat on his rump.

Honor took their hands back to themself. They couldn’t bear to look at the others, so they looked down and straightened out their sleeves. Victor stood up and brushed off his butt. His suit must have caught a couple twigs in the garden. Hugo stood motionless, staring around himself.

“Whoah,” Hugo breathed. Honor stopped fidgeting. They had been staring at the ground, a wide puzzle of fuzzy bumps. They were a reddish-purple carpet cracking with blue. Honor dared only look up after Hugo’s breathless exclamation. Strands of light hung from the ceiling, like the cables that had filled the space outside. They had landed in some sort of tube. It felt warmer than the October they’d left.

“Where are we?” Victor asked as if he were attempting to calculate the answer.

“Not on Earth, for sure.” Hugo stated the obvious. Victor sighed.

“But how do we get back?” Victor asked. “There’s no point in finding Nevae if we can’t take her back with us.”

“Who cares where we are,” Honor broke in. “It’s a wonder we made it here at all. And we know this place is connected to her disappearance.” Victor sighed again.

“Look,” Hugo said, stopping Victor’s speech. “Honor’s right. Who would have thought we’d see another jelly in our lifetimes? We’re here now. Maybe we didn’t think as much as we should have, but I don’t think there is any point in looking back.” Hugo looked up at the opening they had fallen through, some ten feet above them. The slide had been basically vertical the whole way down. “We have to keep moving.”

Victor frowned as he took in the statement. He sighed, shook his head and sighed again.

“Let’s hope we’re closer than we were. Which way should we go?”