The Silver Sphere Read Free Page B

identify emanated
from near the French doors—perhaps a bell or a whooshing sound. His blood surged.
The pounding of his heart deafened him.
    He turned to stare at the message for a minute before rising
from the chair. The knot in his gut confirmed that it wasn't a game, and it wasn't
any of his friends. Before he even touched the knob, both doors swung open and a
cold, clammy burst of air whipped through the opening. Knocking knees made it hard
to walk and tremors shook his body, but his resolve remained steady.
    Zach pushed across the threshold. An unexpected, murky fog lay
in front of him. His house loomed ahead, and he headed for the back door. The bay
windows from the kitchen, only a short distance away, were a yellow haze as the
mist became thicker and darker with each step, cloaking the outlines of his rooftop.
    He squinted, trying to find his home. His uneasiness intensified
as he hiked onward—no way it should have vanished completely.
    On and on he trudged. Grass became compact and stronger, like
the scrub of a marsh. Bald patches of earth sprang up where walkways and a trimmed
lawn should have been. He continued stepping cautiously, even as he noticed the
changing ground. His tennis shoes squished into its spongy, mire-like surface. Where
had the well-kept turf gone?
    Still, no sign of his home.
    The mist grew heavier and his clothing became soaked. He longed
for the shouting and anger usually emanating from the house. Even when he stopped
and strained to listen, no sounds could be heard; their shouts too had been swallowed
by the dense blanket of fog.
    Only fear kept him from calling for help. Wherever he stood,
this wasn't home any longer. He ventured alone in the murk, thinking he might have
gone the wrong way and ended up near Willows Road, which wound around the back of
his parents' property. Zach turned and began retracing his steps, hoping he could
backtrack to the guest house.
    No such luck.
    He stopped at last by a bulky object that loomed from the brume
before him, blocking his path. The mist dissipated. A tree trunk was recumbent in
the mud, its girth as wide as he was tall. The tree branches traveled in both directions
as far as he could see, and he pondered turning around. The coarse lumber offered
several good footholds, so he decided to scale up its side and take a peek. He'd
never seen a tree this big before.
    Rough bark, sticky with honey-like sap, made the task much trickier
than he'd thought. He climbed the immense growth, but hesitated when a voice echoed
ahead.
    Zach froze to listen.
    "What do you mean we've lost him, Casselton? The poor lad
doesn't even know where he is."
    "Vilaborg, we do not quite have this down to an exact science."
    "What science do you have down at all, Cassie? The science
fair you attended at the fifth level? Don't you have an approximate idea where the
portal opened, or are we to freeze to death looking for the Kin?"
    "You know how things go, you fool. Stop behaving like this
is your first time. This is not uncommon, Vilaborg. The portal must have opened
somewhere nearby. He will turn up. Blazes that the Cark Woods needed to be used
for a Kin intercept," vented a clearly exasperated Casselton.
    Zach stayed rooted to the trunk as he processed the new information.
These two had opened a portal without being in full command of the science? Adrian
would have scoffed! Zach pondered approaching them, but decided to wait. They might
be dangerous.
    The voices traveled farther away, and he hoisted himself over
and dropped to the ground below, landing in a squat. A tingling, like pins and needles,
coursed through his body. Zach shivered and looked at his arms and....
    His breath caught in his throat as he stared at his clothing.
He ran his hands over the shirt and trousers, as if touching them might make them
real.
    His clothes had transformed. His blue vintage MegaMan top had
disappeared. Now the linen doublet he wore made him itchy. Instead of jeans, his
legs were covered with