Chapter 4: Through the Looking Glass

The phone rang.

“I'll get it Mom,” Kyla called over her shoulder as she ran into the kitchen to grab the phone. “Hello?” she asked.

Is Alexia there? It's important.”

After a second she called, “Mom, it's Caitlyn on the phone,” said Kyla.

“Hey Cai, what's up?”

“It's a disaster, Alexia. Meet me over here with the girls!”

“Mom?” Kyla asked after we had been in the car for about a half hour. “Where are we going?”

“Yeah, you're not actually going to try to meet my mom, are you, Alexia?” asked Brea. “I mean, she is in—“

“London. I know,” Alexia cut in. “We're going to the Pearl Harbor Resort and Spa. Mika, may I see the riddle?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said as I handed it to her. I shrugged at the others.

During the rest of the ride it was kinda quiet. Kyla read her book. It is called Darkiya. I’ve seen it in book shops but I’ve never actually read it. I like to read mangas. A manga is a Japanese comic book, for those of you who didn’t know that. I like to read them in sci-fi genre. Speaking of which, I am reading Mink. It’s a manga about a girl who finds a futuristic gadget and becomes a famous pop star.

Kyoko and Brea are talking about things that happened in school today.

“You like him? Oh that’s so cute,” smiled Brea.

“Yeah, I like him. So what. Andi-kun’s cute and athletic…I mean, what’s not to like?” Kyoko turned a light shade of pink.

“Mika, who do you like at school?”

For a second I didn’t feel like answering because I thought it was obvious. “Nobody really, besides Keahi.”

“You two should get together, don’t you think so?” asked Brea.

“Yeah, I’ll get together with my soccer captain just as soon as Kyoko gets up the nerve to ask Andrea out.”

“Hey! It might happen,” snapped Kyoko. “Do you think I actually have a chance with him?”

“Maybe. If you talked to him you might,” I said trying to think positive. “You’re a cool girl and I don’t understand why you haven’t talked to him before. I mean, you and Brea are the most out going girls in our group.”

“If you haven’t noticed, Mika, I’m shy around guys I like.”

“You know, you should try the ‘Helpless girl’ approach,” commented Kyla, setting her book down and joining in on the conversation.

We talked all the way to the resort. After we got inside we followed Alexia past the dining area and it was then that I realized how hungry I was. I mean, we really hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“I’m hungry,” said Kyoko.

“You read my mind,” I said.

“I’m starved too girls,” said Alexia. “We’ll eat soon though. We’re getting lunch in London.”

“England?” asked Brea.

Alexia nodded.

“But—England—other—world—Huh?”

“I believe what my confused friend is trying to say,” I said looking at Brea, “is that England’s on the other side of the world.”

“We’ll be there in about twenty minutes,” replied Alexia as we stopped in front of a mirror.

“But isn’t that impossible?” asked Kyoko. “I mean virtually speaking you could be in two places at once, but is that really realistic?”

“Sure it is. You just have to do it right.” And with that said Alexia pulled out a necklace that had been tucked around her neck. It was gorgeous. It was shaped like a pink lightning bolt. The bolt was back with a silver backing and it had a silver chain. The bolt itself was made out of pink sapphire that looked like it was melted and poured into the mold because it was so smooth.

Alexia held the necklace an inch away from the mirror and a spark leapt from the necklace to the mirror. After that the mirror looked like a pool of quicksilver.

“Don’t just stand there,” Alexia urged. “Step through it.”

I stepped through and there was a whole new world on the other side. It was absolutely breath-taking. “It’s gorgeous,” I breathed. I’m not sure how to describe it but I’ll try.

Think of the clearest and starriest night you’ve ever seen. Got it pictured in your head? Okay, good. Now try to imagine it ten times clearer and ten starrier. It felt like the perfect temperature too: Not too hot and not too cold but just right. But that was just the sky and the atmosphere around us. We were standing on a web of star-clusters that seemed to glow in the most pristine whites and pastels.

The web seemed to extend for thousands of miles in every direction and every so often there would be a pool of quicksilver just like the one we cam out of.

“This is the Star-light Web,” declared Alexia.

“Cool! So, now what?” I asked.

Alexia took the riddle out of her pocket and unfolded it, then she bent over and grazed the star path with her hand. She dusted off her hand over the back of the riddle with the star dust. The paper glowed for a second and the web of portals appeared. “We’re here,” said Alexia, pointing to the portal labeled Pearl Harbor, HI, “and we need to get here,” she said pointing to the portal labeled London, England.

I looked around to see if I could locate the portal to England but there were so many portals branching off of it I could tell which way was North-East. I mean, I know it’s easy when you’re looking at map, but when all the portals look the same it’s hard to tell.

“Wow!” exclaimed Brea. “There are so many portals,” she noted.

“How do you know if the map is labeled correctly?” asked Kyoko.

“When Caitlyn, Aimee, Aya, and I protected the web there wasn’t anything dangerous happening so we decided to explore the web. We decided to make a map of where we’ve been.

You already know who Alexia is, she’s Kyla’s mom and Caitlyn is Brea’s mom. Aya is my mom and Aimee is Kyoko’s mom.

“Right now we’re facing North-east. It’s about a mile and a half walk.”

About twenty minutes later we stepped through the puddle of quicksilver.