#11 Fancy Dresses and Alternate Dimensions: Walden

"So, where do you think Dorian could be hiding?" I asked as we followed the twins through inter-dimensional space.

Ophelia laughed. "Probably not anywhere we haven't been before."

"Yeah, it's hard to hide in Walden if you don't know where you're going," said Michael.

We entered Walden a few inches above ground. The sky was a bright, pastel blue and the ground was flat and barren. Cracked earth and dust stretched for miles; it seemed like we were the only people (plus one velociraptor) in this world.

"This is, uh, lovely," I said. "Where is everyone?"

Michael and Ophelia turned to me, arms crossed and eyebrows arched. "Underground, obviously," they said.

"We have to find the secret entrance," said Michael.

"It changes every month so outsiders can't find it," said Ophelia.

"Lovely," I said and sighed. "So how are we supposed to find it then?"

"You're the Fabric Healer. You can probably see it in the fabric," said Michael.

"Yeah, you can get into Walden at any time in ten seconds flat, but you're the Fabric Healer, so it's okay with us," said Ophelia with a smile.

I concentrated on the fabric and it became more visible to me. By this point, I'd grown used to seeing it all the time, so not much about it stood out anymore. Now, it was becoming just as vivid as when I'd first seen it. There wasn't much variation in the browns and blues, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I figured a secret entrance would look pretty distinct in the fabric, but I couldn't see anything.

But if I can't see it, maybe I can feel it, I thought and stooped down to touch the fabric. I felt a light pulse coming from my left and stood silently to follow it. The others stayed behind me. After a few minutes, I touched the fabric again. The pulse was stronger. We kept going and after awhile I saw an extra dark spot.

"How do we know if this is the secret entrance?" I asked when we reached the spot. It was actually a large rock that didn't look like it was anything special.

Michael and Ophelia stepped forward and kicked the rock. A blue beam suddenly shot out of it and washed over us.

"Scan complete. Welcome back, Michael and Ophelia. Welcome, visitors," said a monotone voice. The ground shook and the rock moved aside, revealing a long metal ladder that plunged deep into the darkness.

"After you, kiddies," I said to the twins. One by one we descended. It was cool and a little bit damp underground, but the deeper we went the more noises we heard. Soon, we saw street lights, buildings, and people bustling to and fro.

"Welcome to Walden City," said Michael, extending his arm toward the streets.

People were already giving me weird looks, but I expected Walden to be the root of all smugness so it didn't really bother me. Still, there was the possibility that these people were against the Fabric Healer. Maybe some of them knew where Dorian was hiding.

"Wait, how do we know if Dorian even got this far? If he couldn't find the secret entrance, then he could still be walking around on the surface," I said.

"Well. . ." Ophelia began and then took a deep breath. "We know someone who went. . .mainstream."

"Yeah, he used to be a DG but decided he was too cool for that," said Michael.

"Which is so mainstream now," said Ophelia, crossing her arms.

"Now he's in league with the Grand Master and the ex-DGs. He could've helped Dorian down here easy."

"So how are we supposed to find them?" I asked.

Michael smirked. "We're pals with the captain of the Walden Airship Fleet. He and his crew make sure things run nice and smooth around here. He's got the skills to find anyone if he needs to."

"We'll take you straight to his HQ," said Ophelia with a wink. "It's not too far from here."

With that, we set off behind the twins. We must've been quite a sight to look at since our group consisted of a Fabric Healer, a velociraptor, and elf, and a girl with a lacy dress. Sounds like a start to a bad joke, right? I'm sure some joke like that exists somewhere in the universe.

Locrio walked next to me, his face partially covered in shadow and his brow furrowed.

"So what exactly happened between you and your brother, if you don't mind me asking?"

He sighed. "It's a difficult story for me to tell, but you have the right to know as the Fabric Healer."

"You sure? Family stuff sucks sometimes, so I don't wanna push you."

"It's fine," he said. "Dorian is a year younger than me, but he didn't find out he was a Dimensional Guardian until after I'd been one for a few years, so there was always that gap between us."

"When do people usually find out?"

"The abilities can manifest at any time, but they usually appear during adolescence. A person will accidentally pull on blue fabric and open up the space between dimensions. That's typically how it happens. After that, they're sent to a special school for training. Anyway, I could tell my brother always resented me. It was like he was trying to catch up with me, but couldn't. I always made sure to treat him well, but he acted like I was patronizing him or treating him like an idiot. When he finally did enter school, his attitude improved a little and I taught him everything I'd learned up to that point. Things were going pretty well and when we were fully fledged DGs, we always worked as a team. It was a perfect set-up. We went around to different dimensions trying to prevent the fabric from tearing and gathering as much information as we could about restoring dead dimensions. The universe hadn't seen another Fabric Healer in centuries, so it was up to us to figure out how to do things that are usually impossible to do. We worked together like that for a couple hundred years and then it seemed like the Fabric Healer had returned."

"Seemed?"

"Someone appeared who had all the signs of being the Fabric Healer and even some of the abilities, but they turned out to be a fake. I wasn't at the testing ceremony for this person--no one who was there survived. All I know is that this person became the Grand Master and began doubting the system the Fabric Healer imposed. Those ideas spread across all the dimensions and people began believing them, including my brother. I didn't know he was secretly working for the Grand Master until after the First Attempt. That was when most of the DGs betrayed us."

"Wow," I said and thought for a moment. "That all happened ten years ago, right? The First Attempt?"

"Correct."

"Ten years," I said softly. "It's been that long. . ."

"His leaving was so sudden. Sometimes, I still don't think I'm over the shock."

"Leaving. . ." I felt something opening up inside of me, something I had locked away long ago to keep it from messing with me, but now it was trying to come out. I had to keep it down.

"Every time I see him, I try to reason with him, but it's hopeless. He's chosen to become a criminal. He will not turn back."

"At least you've gotten to see him."

". . .Are you all right, Amber?"

"Just fine," I said. "I just know what it's like to have your family do stupid crap. That's all."

"Very well then. We can move on to a different topic."

"The more I hear about it, the more this Grand Master person pisses me off. As soon as we get somewhere with more light, I'm tearing through the Guide to figure out their pattern," I said.

"Pattern?"

"If the Grand Master and the ex-DGs are trying to steal all the Fabric Healer relics, then they're following some kind of path to do it. They must know the route, and the route has to be in the Guide. We can beat them if we figure out where they're going next."

Locrio smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. "You are stepping well into your role," he said. "I believe you are just the type of Fabric Healer the universe needs right now."

"Thanks, buddy. That means a lot coming from a guy as old as you."

Locrio blinked. "I'm not old. I'm rather young for my kind."

"That's what all old people say."

We stopped in front of a vast lot shrouded in light from tall lamps. Countless airships were parked next to each other in rows, but one of them was on the move. It rolled slowly across the lot, fading in and out of the light as it went.

"There's his ship!" said Michael. "We've gotta run! Let's go!"

"Why didn't you just call him and tell him we're coming?" I said. Running sucks, especially in a flowing cloak.

The airship turned onto an empty, flat road. Up above, the rocks opened up like a lens, revealing the daylight on the surface. It was gonna take off soon. Michael and Ophelia were running at full speed, waving their arms like lunatics, shouting like lunatics, and just generally being lunatics.

Molly hustled up next to me, parasol open. She held her arm out to me and without a word, I grabbed on. We were airborne seconds later, flew straight for the airship, and landed on the roof as it started to pull off the ground. The others lagged behind and before we could do anything, we floated through the hole and emerged on the surface.

"The pilot is on the underside of this ship. We are going to fly again," said Molly, grabbing my arm and jumping off before I could say anything. We hovered next to the windows on the cockpit and I saw a spiky-haired guy with fashion goggles a la Michael and Ophelia standing at the wheel. I used my free arm to bang on the window, but it took a couple minutes for anyone to notice us. Once they did, they opened the windows and pulled us inside. After some introductions and some "Oh my gosh! You're the Fabric Healer!" comments, we finally got down to business. The captain's named was Lloyd and he was more than eager to help us find Dorian and Amethy's necklace. He even explained a fabulous search plan that we would enact the second he stopped explaining it.

The only problem was that Dorian appeared right there in the cockpit through a stretched square of fabric. There were two others with him I'd never seen before, a cowboy and a cowgirl.

"It would be in your best interest to give up your search for the necklace," said Dorian. "We have it and there's no chance of you finding it."

But they didn't come all this way just to tell me that. They wanted a fight. More than that, they wanted to detain me and take me to the Grand Master.