“You’re Sabine,” he managed to say.
“Smart boy,” Sabine’s oily voice dripped. “But not smart enough to take the advice of my shadows and forget all this. Now look where you are.”
A pair of tourists walked by, conversing loudly.
“Do you mind,” Sabine glowered at them. “We’re in a church.”
The couple gave Sabine a strong look and walked away.
“How did you get here?” Leven asked, trying to keep his mind clear of Sabine’s voice and thoughts. “Or are you just a shadow?”
“Oh, I’m quite real. I came here the same way all of Foo will soon arrive,” Sabine said clearly. “Think of it, Leven. With Foo here, there will be nothing you can’t do.”
“That’s impossible,” Leven said. “You’ll destroy everything.”
“There is no impossible,” Sabine snapped. “Geth and his self- righteous belief,” he scoffed. “The dreams of man are not my concern. If you destroy that gateway, Leven, you will be destroying the possibility of perfect lives for everyone. Geth doesn’t want you to know this. Geth wants Foo just as it is, so that he can rule over everyone.”
Leven was silent as a few nearby tourists conversed quietly, examining some of the church artifacts. He could hear people outside and knew that life was going on as usual while he had to make decisions that would affect everyone.
Leven squinted. He could see the light from outside as it rested against the far wall. It was dimming quickly. Soon it would be time to swim.
“Think of it,” Sabine twitched. “With Foo here, you will have it all. Geth wants to trap you, cut you off.”
Sabine’s words were not going unheard. Leven had many concerns and fears, and part of them were things Sabine was now addressing. It didn’t feel totally right to destroy the gateway and trap himself in Foo forever. What if Sabine’s plan were possible? What if the dreams of man were not dependent on Foo? Quite frankly, it scared the life out of Leven to think of destroying his only way back. His time here had not been charmed, but something inside him had given him hope that he could someday become more than he was. It was that hope and dream that had enabled him to go on each day. Leven couldn’t let Sabine eliminate that belief for anyone else.
“There is no killing in Foo,” Sabine said softly, as if he were sharing bad news. “Here, however, is a different story.” A few more tourists filed in. “The moment you swim toward that gateway,” Sabine continued, “I will kill you. I don’t care if you have the great Geth with you or not,” he mocked. “You touch that water, and I will kill you.”
The church emptied a bit.
“It’s not hard for you to stay alive,” Sabine smiled enticingly. “Simply . . . don’t swim.”
Sabine stood up. “I know where the gateway is,” he warned. “I’ll be watching. You go into that water, and I will kill you and Winter.”
In a sense Sabine was lying. He had no intention of letting Leven live. He contemplated taking care of the problem now, but the church was full of people: Sabine didn’t want any further complications.
He smiled a wicked smile at Leven and drifted out.
Leven could hear a woman telling people in broken English that the last boat would be leaving soon and everyone needed to gather at the dock.
Leven slipped out of the church and back into the forest, Sabine watching his every move.
iv
It was October, and the day had been unseasonably warm, but Winter was unusually cold.
“Are you okay?” Geth asked her as the two sat on the ground beneath a couple of beautiful pine trees near the water’s edge. A gentle, warm breeze descended on them, coloring the moment beautifully. Water lapped against the shore, and the reflection of the setting sun shimmered across the smooth water.
“I think so,” Winter said. “Just frightened beyond belief.” She took out the small pocket knife Geth had earlier instructed her to buy. She turned it over in her hand, looking at it with her green eyes.
“It’s your home you’ll be swimming toward,” Geth said kindly. “You made me promise that you’d get back.”
“I know,” Winter smiled sadly. “At least that’s what you’ve told me.”
“I’m just keeping my promise,” Geth teased.
“So will we make it?” Winter asked. “What if Leven can’t swim fast enough?”
“Oh,” Geth waved. “That’s not the problem. The problem now is Sabine.”
“Sabine?” she gasped.
“He’s here,” Geth said. “I knew he would get through. I could feel it earlier.”
“Where is he?” Winter asked, not surprised in the least.
“Talking to Leven,” he said without concern.
Winter stood up quickly. “Let’s go,” she said frantically.
“Sit down,” Geth ordered nicely, patting the ground with his one little arm. “We’ve done all we can. It’s now up to fate. Leven needs to be sure about what he is doing.”
“How did you know Sabine is here?”
“We lithens travel by fate. It’s important to know what roadblocks might be standing in our way. A soul as deep and dark as Sabine’s is not easy to ignore,” Geth answered. “Being from Foo, you probably felt him as well.”
Winter was silent, her thoughts on so many things. She flipped the knife, turning it over in her hands.
Geth looked at Winter. “There is a little something I was wondering if you could help me with,” he said. “I’m a bit embarrassed even to ask, but it seems as if fate moves me to do so.”
Winter stared at him with a quizzical expression.
“I had you buy that knife for a reason.” He cleared his little hole. “I was wondering if you might slice me another arm. If anything happens I would be much better off with two of them.”
“Another arm?” Winter asked.
Geth looked pitiful.
“I guess I could,” Winter said reluctantly.
“And could you sharpen my head?” Geth threw in.
“Sharpen your head?”
“It might come in handy,” Geth shrugged.
Winter shook her own head. “You had me buy this to cut you up? Won’t it hurt?” Winter asked.
“Just a bit,” Geth said. “But I’d put up with a lot to have another arm.”
“And a sharp head,” Winter smiled at him.
Geth climbed up on a large boulder and lay down. Winter picked him up by the feet, and he turned his head to look away. “Are you sure?” she asked one last time.
He nodded.
She sliced slowly and calmly as Geth’s body tightened in pain. The wood was hard and there wasn’t much to work with. Winter feared she might cut right through. Geth bit down and looked away. Winter finished cutting, and Geth turned back. He moved his new arm and smiled weakly.
“Perfect,” he said. “How about some fingers?”
Winter went to work on Geth’s fingers and forehead. In a short while Geth was a whole new toothpick and the sky was almost dark. Leven came through the trees with a concerned look in his eyes and the weight of two heavy worlds on his shoulders.
“So,” Winter said. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Leven waved.
“The last boat is all ready to set sail,” she added, folding up the knife as Geth wiggled his new fingers.
“I know,” Leven said sadly, still thinking of Sabine’s last words.
Geth stretched and sprang off the rock and onto Leven. His new arm and fingers made the move considerably easier than it had been before. He flexed his tiny muscles and looked at Leven.
“You spoke to Sabine,” Geth said almost reverently.
“How do you know?” Leven asked with shock.
“That’s not important,” Geth replied. “What matters now is what you believe.”
Leven looked at Geth on his arm and then at Winter. Along with Clover, they were the only friends he had ever known. They had done nothing to cause him to disbelieve in himself, but his heart still ached
to somehow know for sure that what he was about to do was right.
“I think I believe in you,” Leven said. “I just hope I’m right.”
“There will be none of that if Sabine gets his way,” Geth said, referring to the destruction of hope.
Leven understood.
“Sabine said if I touch the water he will kill us,” Leven said, his mind finally made up to do it.
“Sabine says a lot of things,” Geth smiled, knowing that what Leven had just uttered was a declaration of his resolve. “We’ll get you to the gateway.”
The bell of the last boat leaving sounded.
“I’ll push you through the gateway if I have to,” Winter added. “I know . . . ,” Winter stopped what she was saying to rub her head. “I can hardly speak, my head hurts so . . .”
She would have said more, but she had been turned to ice.
She stood there baffled by her state. She thawed herself and looked over to see that Leven was solid ice. Geth dropped from Leven’s frozen shoulder and down to Leven’s feet. Winter thought for a second there had been a glitch in her own thoughts and that she had turned Leven and herself into ice by accident, but that thought evaporated quickly when she saw Sabine standing there.
“Sabine,” she whispered.
“I forgot you were a nit,” Sabine said to Winter, referring to her ability to thaw herself. “Where is Geth?” he demanded. “I heard him speaking.”
Winter froze. Not because she was ice again, but because she realized Sabine didn’t know what shape Geth was in. She felt pretty certain Geth’s current size would not discourage Sabine, so she kept the truth to herself as she looked down and saw Geth standing behind Leven’s frozen left foot.
“He’s coming,” Winter said, her head burning.
“Coming?” Sabine asked, looking around with concern.
Winter pictured him in ice and Sabine froze. She ran and touched Leven, who instantly thawed. She could hear the sound of the trumpet being played on the last boat of the day out in the middle of the lake. They needed to get into the water.
“Let’s get out of here,” she yelled to Leven as Sabine began to shake off the ice she had encased him in.
“Not so fast,” Sabine sneered.
Leven and Winter turned to face him.
“So you’ve decided to ignore me again,” Sabine seethed. “That’s a decision you will not live to regret, Leven Thumps.”
“We’ll see about that,” Geth shouted triumphantly.
Sabine looked around, suddenly scared. “Show yourself,” he challenged, thinking that Geth was hiding somewhere in the trees.
“I’m right here,” Geth answered.
Sabine directed his attention to Leven’s sleeve, where Geth was clinging in all his toothpick glory.
“Geth?” Sabine questioned. “Geth? Surely the fates are playing with me,” Sabine laughed scornfully. “I am up against a sliver of wood?”
Geth climbed up to Leven’s shoulder and stood as triumphantly as a tiny piece of wood could. “You are up against fate.”
“Fate?” Sabine scoffed. “You will never reach the gateway. That is your fate,” he spat. The joy in his eyes over Geth’s current state was very apparent. “Foo and reality will be one. And I,” Sabine said pompously, “will rule them both.”
“Flick me,” Geth whispered into Leven’s ear.
“What?” Leven whispered back.
“Flick me!”
Leven snatched Geth from his shoulder and flicked him as as hard as he could toward Sabine. The little toothpick struck Sabine in the left cheek with his newly sharpened head, piercing Sabine’s skin and flying past him onto the ground beyond the dark figure. Sabine threw his hand to his face and obviously thought of Leven and Winter in ice because they were now just that. He tried to picture Geth in ice, too, but lithens are unaffected by nit tricks.
Winter defrosted and saw Sabine in white, frozen stiff. She held her thoughts there as Geth worked his way back over to Sabine. The concentration became too great. She turned from Sabine to Leven, touching his arms. Geth was already on the now defrosted Sabine. He didn’t have much size, but he was creating a pretty good distraction by zipping over Sabine’s body and jabbing him over and over. Sabine danced as he swatted with his hands and tried to grab hold of Geth.
The last rays of the sun were touching the edge of the lake. The earth would not remain in a good mood for much longer. Leven ran toward the water, knowing what he had to do. He was too slow, though, and Sabine turned him into ice again. It was like a vicious game of freeze tag, and Leven was always It.
Winter imagined not only Sabine as ice but the trees around him. They froze, and she moved as quickly as she could, slamming into a tall thin tree and breaking it down. It cracked and fell toward Sabine, who was now thawed and moving. Geth was keeping at Sabine just enough to distract him from repeatedly freezing Winter. Winter ran to Leven and touched his shoulder. He thawed in a running stride, heading for the water. As Leven’s foot reached the edge of the water, Sabine froze him again. Now a solid chunk of ice, Leven fell forward into the water with a large splash.
“Lev!” Winter screamed before she was suddenly ice again.
Leven drifted out into the lake as Winter returned to form. She looked at Sabine with her eyes burning.
“You can’t stop me,” Sabine sneered at Winter. “You couldn’t in Foo, and you can’t now.”
Images of her life in Foo began popping into her head like slides thrown onto a screen. She could see Sabine smiling. There was the girl with the long red hair. There was a strong-looking man with fire in his eyes.
The thought swept over her. This was not a new fight she was fighting. Her head cleared and her mind relaxed.
Winter shot ice from her being and froze Sabine. She thought hard and long, coating him over and over with thick layers. She wrapped him up until he was nothing but a giant block of ice, as stiff and frozen as his heart.
“It won’t hold,” Geth yelled.
“I know,” Winter hollered back, “but I’ve got to get to Lev before he starts melting in the water.”
Leven had drifted out quite a way from shore. His body bobbed up and down in the emerald green water. Winter turned to run but was ice again. Sabine was melted and at her already. She thawed and faced him once more. Geth was doing everything he could to be a distraction, but his attempt was thwarted by the sudden grip of Sabine.
Sabine smiled and looked at Winter. He glanced deliciously at the toothpick in his hand.
“The great Geth,” Sabine sneered. “I’d prolong your death, but you being a lithen would simply accept the pain as fate.”
Winter lunged forward and froze Sabine. She flicked Geth out of his hands and into the lake before Sabine could thaw and freeze her again. He then did just that and held her in his concentration until her will overpowered him and she was normal once more.
“This is pointless,” Winter said, breathing hard. “Let us be.”
“Impossible.”
“That’s not a word,” Winter said as naturally as if she really knew it.
“Your precious Leven is melting,” Sabine said, an evil smile flickering across his dark face.“Soon there will be no reason for our quarrel.”
Winter thought the entire lake ice so as to preserve Leven, and it was.
“Impressive,” Sabine hissed, looking out at the frozen body of water. He thought the mountains around them to be ice, and they were.
“Big deal,” Winter said, changing the entire landscape around them into ice.
“I will not be outdone by a foolish child,” Sabine seethed.
It was at that moment that Winter first saw movement up above Sabine and behind the trees. Sadly, it was too late for Clover to be of any help. Clover looked down from the top of a steep trail, wide-eyed and determined.
Sabine closed his eyes and froze the entire world.
Under his thoughts the whole planet and all that it had on it became solid ice. The earth groaned
and the sky lit up with fuzzy stars and color as the planet wobbled. The ground creaked and shuddered as the wind howled painfully, the world crackling in pain.
“You can’t defeat me!” Sabine roared.
Winter flashed back to the conflict in Foo. She could see Sabine and remembered the struggle she had fought there in her old home. She remembered having to run from Sabine and hide, so she could play the part in retrieving Leven that she was now playing.
Winter’s evergreen eyes burned ice cold. The earth was screaming as it struggled to revolve as it was supposed to. The sky grew smeared and wavy. It was to humanity’s advantage that Clover was not of this world. Being a sycophant, he was impossible to freeze, thus making him the only thing on the planet that wasn’t solid ice. Winter shook herself from her thoughts and watched Clover leap onto the slick trail and slide quickly toward her and Sabine.
It was now or never.
“I’m done with all this,” she said aloud, using words she had used before somewhere else. She thought it, and Sabine was ice. Her thoughts were more cold and concentrated than they had ever been.
It was perfect timing.
Before Sabine could return to form, Clover barreled into him from behind. His small amount of weight, combined with his speed, knocked Sabine over and sent him quickly to the ground, where the demon shattered into a thousand pieces of ice. Winter covered her head to avoid the storm, as bits of ice rained down everywhere. She stared at the spot where Sabine had been standing and marveled. She glanced down at Clover as he stood there, looking guilty.
“Oops,” Clover said.
The earth creaked and groaned, as if it could not possibly make one more rotation. Winter quickly fell to her knees and touched the ground.
The world was green once more.
No history book has recorded the fact that at one point the entire earth was ice. But those who would argue that point were frozen as well and simply can’t recall it. The doubt of anyone doesn’t make it any less true. In fact, on those days when it’s warm and you suddenly feel a chill, or a part of you feels cold, it’s just your body remembering the time it experienced the sensation of being an ice cube.