Skylar Dorset - The Girl Who Never Was

'Why?'I ask.

'Because then I could have just jumped us,'Ben says. 'I'm a traveler. We don't wait for trains.'He says the word with disgust, like it's beneath him. Then he adds, 'Normally. When I haven't been rained on and named. Not that I'm blaming you or anything.'He winks at me.

'A traveler?'I say.

'Best traveler in the Otherworld,'he proclaims proudly, then frowns. 'Possibly only traveler in the Otherworld.'

'Only?'I say, but suddenly there is a squealing of track up above us.

Ben jumps a mile.

'It's only a Green Line train coming,'I tell him, because he looks terrified.

'Exactly,'he says and abruptly leaps onto the Red Line tracks.

I blink in shock. 'What are you doing?'

'Can't wait anymore. Come on.'

'Come where?'

'With me.'

'On the tracks?'

'Yes.'Ben sounds exasperated. And also frightened. And the last time Ben sounded frightened, all of Boston winked out of existence around us, so I jump onto the tracks with Ben.

Now that I am on the tracks with him though, Ben hesitates.

'Ben?'I query.

'Nothing for it,'he says. 'Green Line train. We have to go.'And he starts walking, looking grim.

'Why? What's a Green Line train?'

'Nothing good. Worse than the goblins, so this is the lesser of two evils.'

'But we were just waiting for a train. Why wasn't the Red Line train bad?'

'Because only the Green Line is evil,'Ben explains impatiently.

I catch up to what else he said. 'Wait, goblins?'

'Yes. Watch out for them. Their talent is seduction, so be on the lookout.'

All of this is making even less sense than everything else. 'What?'

'Just think, you know, how you don't want to be seduced, and you'll be okay.'

'What are you talking about?'I complain.

We had been walking at a brisk pace, but Ben stops suddenly. 'Do you hear something?'

I do hear it. I look behind us. 'A train.'

'They jumped the tracks,'breathes Ben, sounding terrified, and abruptly takes my hand again. He speaks directly in my ear, over the noise of the oncoming train. 'Whatever happens, do not let go of my hand, do you hear me?'

He doesn't wait for me to reply, just takes off at a mad dash. He is running impossibly fast, and I am stumbling in his wake, but his hand stays in mine, and he keeps pulling me up. He does not ever look behind, at me or the train, but I keep looking behind obsessively, and the train is barreling down on us. I have no idea what Ben's plan is, but I am hoping he has one, and then, suddenly, the train disappears and the tracks disappear and it is blinding sunlight, and Ben tumbles to the ground of a grassy meadow, and I tumble right over him and, in my shock, let go of his hand, tumbling head over feet down a steep hill until I land with an unpleasant and painful splash in some kind of rocky brook.

I sit there for a second stupidly, winded and getting soaking wet, until I become aware that there is a rat looking at me across the brook.

And Ben said there wouldn't be rats, I think, which is the first thought I feel like I can think.

And then the rat says, in brusque, clipped, perfect English with not a hint of a ratly squeak, 'My stars, what the hell are you doing here?'

I do not answer the rat. It never occurs to me to question that the rat can talk'given the day I've had, that seems like the most normal thing to have happened in hours'but it does occur to me that I no longer understand the rules of my life, this life where saying a single name can cause all of Boston to wink out of existence around me. So I consider it wiser not to answer the rat, and anyway, I don't know what the hell I'm doing there, so I can't answer the question. Maybe the rat is a goblin like Ben warned me about? This seems preposterous, but no more preposterous than anything else, so I think, very firmly, I do not want to be seduced. Which I don't.

I scramble my way out of the brook, tumbling inelegantly into a patch of cheerful pink tulips. And then I take a second to catch my breath and try to get my bearings in this new world. First things first: Where is Ben?

I glance back at the hill I tumbled down, which is extremely steep, and think'hope'that Ben must be at the top of it. I pick myself up, dripping wet, and go to start climbing up the hill, and that is when the tulip grabs me.

It probably shouldn't be surprising, because I should

probably stop being surprised by anything at this point, but I let out a little cry as the tulips entwine themselves around me and pull me back down into them. I struggle, pulling tendrils of leaves off of me, and think that I never before really thought of tulips as being deadly, but their soft petals brushing against me are terrifying. I kick and flail and then think suddenly, slicing through my panic, I do not want them to touch me.

The tulips shrink back, and I scrabble away from them, breathing hard. I stare at them in disbelief, because they are back to looking like a typical clump of tulips, innocent and not at all murderous.

'What the hell,'I say out loud, because I can't help it.

'Well,'huffs the rat. 'What did you expect? You trampled them on your way out of the brook. They had to defend themselves somehow.'

I ignore him and start struggling my way up the hill. By the time I get to the top of it, I am exhausted and hot from the sun. I would love to take off my sweatshirt, but Ben had said it was an enchantment, and I've had enough of breaking enchantments for the time being.

Ben is sprawled spread eagle on his back in the middle of the meadow. The rat had leapt easily up the hill in front of me, and it is now sitting on Ben's chest, its nose up against his. It looks up at me as I finally reach them, its beady black eyes accusing.

'You've killed him,'it says.

You know how people always say things like 'my heart stopped'? It actually happens to me then, in that moment. 'What?'I gasp and fall to my knees next to Ben and shake him. He is still and lifeless and does not react at all. 'How'?'

'Hmph,'says the rat, sounding disgusted, and jumps off Ben's chest.

I barely notice, because I am busy thinking, Whatever happens, do not let go of my hand. I look at my hand, and I look at Ben's, and I fit them together.

His eyes flutter open and squint into the sunshine above him. 'Oh, good,'he says drowsily and closes his eyes again. 'We made it.'

I barely have time to be relieved about this, never mind time to be curious about this, when Ben suddenly snaps his eyes open and sits straight up.

'We made it,'he repeats, looking at me. 'Very good.'He startles me by releasing my hand and suddenly putting one of his hands on either side of my head and then, astonishingly, kissing my forehead exuberantly. 'Very good,'he says again and picks himself up lightly. 'Let's go.'

'Ben,'I protest. I want to stop running around for a few minutes so he can answer my questions. I want to point out that he was apparently just dead and I revived him by holding his hand.

'Oh,'Ben says flatly, and I realize he is talking to the rat. 'You're here.'

'Of course,'snaps the rat. 'Where else would I be? And

you brought her here?'says the rat. 'Your mother was right: you are the wrongest creature in the Otherworld.'

'I didn't have a choice,'he tells the rat and then takes my hand and uses it to pull me up. 'Come on, we have to go.'

'Where are we?'I ask, because this is clearly not anywhere near Boston, where it had been damp, chilly nighttime, not sunny, hot daytime.

'Why didn't you have a choice?'asks the rat. It is now trotting along behind us as we walk through the meadow.

Ben answers the rat instead of me. 'There was a Green Line train.'

The rat gasps. I have never heard a rat gasp before. It is quite something. 'A Green Line train,'it says. 'Benedict''