Meeting Read Free Page A

Gwenda’s, okay?”
    “Did Harper approve that?” Dr. Porta’s voice was a little muffled.
    Benjamin raised his eyebrows at Maya.
    “Sarutha seemed to think it would be okay,” Maya said.
    “I’m going,” Benjamin called to his mother, and then he stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind him.
    When Benjamin and Maya came out on the front porch, Candra and Peter were gone. Maya sighed. Benjamin followed her back to her house, across a carpet of grass. “Hey,” Maya called as she and Benjamin came into the living room, “Peter? Candra?”
    Both of them came out of the kitchen.
    “What happened?”
    “Like I said, what always happens when I try going there,” Candra said. “I end up somewhere else.”
    “Let’s try it again. I brought a native guide.”
    “Oh, yeah,” Candra said, “the cute one. Hi, there.”
    Benjamin blushed.
    “Candra, Benjamin. Benjamin, Candra.” Maya was mad at Candra for noticing, for saying “the cute one” aloud, and for making Benjamin uncomfortable.
    “Hi, Benjamin,” Peter said.
    “Hi, Peter. Hey, you guys. Hishlah . Come on over.”
    Hishlah, thought Rimi. Curious.
    This time Maya didn’t have to drag Candra up the front path. She walked on her own, and almost crowded Maya and Benjamin off the path in her eagerness to get inside.
    Peter rushed inside, too.
    Both Maya’s siblings paused in the front entry to stare. Maya, who had been coming here three days a week for a month and a half, blinked and tried to look at it with fresh eyes. The staircase had wide steps covered in warm red carpet that also covered the floor of the entryway and hallways, and the balusters were hand-carved with images of vines. Capping the newel posts at the bottom of the banisters were honey-colored wooden rings big enough to put your hand through. The hallways looked pretty normal, except the light fixtures were shaped like metal dragons holding balls of light. Light came from a skylight somewhere high above, aimed down by frosted mirrors.
    “Wow,” said Candra.
    Maya wondered why she had never drawn the entryway. She guessed maybe it was because the first time she’d come in, she’d felt so sick she couldn’t focus, and the next few times she was rushing through to get somewhere else. Now it was too normal for her to notice.
    “Gwenda lives upstairs,” said Benjamin. He led them up to the second floor.
    Two hallways led past a structure that was an extension of the downstairs central courtyard. Frosted glass let light in from that open space, but you couldn’t see clearly through the windows. Sometimes aliens and strangers from other dimensions met there, so it was just as well.
    Many of the rooms where the Janus House kids trained and practiced the magic skills associated with portal-keeping were on the second floor. Maya studied singing in the music room with the little kids, and also, privately, with Sarutha. Benjamin, Gwenda, and the other Janus House kids Maya’s age had already advanced far beyond her skill in their musical studies, so they had different classes.
    Maya also spent time in another classroom with the youngest kids, studying the principles behind portal magic. She had had to start at the beginning in magic principles, too. So she was friends with the seven five- and six-year-olds in the house, and embarrassed because they were so much better at magic than she was. She had no idea what Gwenda and Benjamin were actually studying.
    Most of the training rooms Maya had visited were off the left-hand hall. Benjamin led them down the right-hand hall and stopped at the third door down, which was sky blue. He knocked.
    Gwenda’s older sister, Fiona, answered the door. She was tall and slender, with short red hair, light skin, and bluegreen eyes. She was wearing jeans and a blue blouse with small white flowers on it. “Good afternoon,” she said, eyebrows up.
    “Hey,” said Candra. “Aren’t you in my botany class?”
    “Candra,” said Fiona.