The week passed quickly. Mara had tests and projects due to which she had not given the proper attention. She spent most of her spare time researching Greg Hesi and his business. She gathered more articles and prepared her dossier for Friday's return.
Christi and Mara made discreet eye contact in the hallways but rarely spoke other than pleasantries. Mara had to admit that it felt wonderful to have her friend back on her side. Their clandestine behaviour was comfortingly reminiscent of childhood.
On Friday after school, Christi and Mara walked briskly to the monkey bars. They spoke little. Mara was nervous that she would not be able to transfer with Christi as her audience. Christi could tell that Mara was anxious. She reminded Mara that it was good to be agitated. She had to feel unstable. Mara smiled and remembered why they were such good friends. Then she climbed the monkey bars and hung upside down.
She looked at Christi. Thinking about the horrible dream she had had, she swung. A thought about her dad and all her recent lies crossed her mind. She remembered Dru's strong arms around her. Then she let her legs go. She saw Christi lunge forward to catch her.
But Christi didn't. Mara fell a metre away from the sandbox and hit her head on the bony knee of Battery.
“You always make such an entrance!” laughed Battery.
The girls climbed onto Battery's scooter before Mara had a chance to fix her braids. They rode to Dr. Akub's cottage. Less than half an hour later, while sitting at the entrance to the topiary maze, Mara revealed the contents of her file.
“He's got this research and development company,” explained Mara, as she extracted the relevant article.
“No Hesi-tation Inc. has recently applied for numerous patents on small inventions: a new version of an ambient sound household air exchanger with an allergen-removing agent, a liquid graphite ballpoint pencil, and a combination anti-aging sunscreen lotion with an anti-viral mosquito repellent,” read Battery.
The professor and Battery shared a look. Dr. Akub explained that those products already existed in their world.
“He must be trying to keep an eye on inventions from both sides. He can then be the one responsible for bringing it to the other side. He seems to be focussing on Mara's side, probably because he is a new person over there. It would be much harder for him to venture into business here as he already has a political identity,” suggested the professor.
“I suppose his nephew could always run a company,” proposed Battery. “Let's see if the wind has any news for us. I asked my mum to make us some lichen tea.” She pulled out a flask.
Dr. Akub, Battery, and Mara took turns drinking from the flask. Mara braced herself for the nausea. Like before, Battery continued to remind them to breathe. Dr. Akub started to sway, but the girls grabbed him and shouted at him to stay awake. He steadied and focussed on inhalation and exhalation.
“Sorry, girls, it's been a long time for me,” apologised the professor.
The garden became alive with the water's laughter and the heartbreaking song of the grass. The flowers chattered. Just as the din of the natural world began to overwhelm Mara, Battery's voice broke through and encouraged her to return to the simplicity of her own breathing.
When Battery felt assured that the other two were stable, she took off her windbreaker and held it up. She caught some wind almost instantly and set it free with a brief message. “Looking for Margoli.” They began to wander through the maze.
After eavesdropping on a marital quarrel between two squirrels, Battery felt goose bumps on her arms. Her hair blew about her head, exposing her pointed ears. She held up her jacket, knowing it was Margoli. The three heard and immense sigh of relief.
“Oh, thank you! Hello, girls. Who's this?” Battery introduced Dr. Akub by mentioning his dream trip to the parallel side. She added that he had brought an artifact back with him.
“Oh!” Margoli seemed surprised. “Yes, I know of you. Nice to meet you.” Before Dr. Akub could say anything, Margoli chattered on, “I have lots of information for you. Apparently, many animals believe that if two humans are able to go through and consistently travel back and forth, then the portals may be opening up again.”
Akub struggled to interject a question, “By the ‘two humans,’ you mean Mara Roy and–” Margoli cut him off.
“Yes, Grigoras Vihesi. He travels back and forth in dream, but he controls it. You see, Vihesi cannot sleep. He never could. He is a terrible insomniac.” Mara felt suddenly shocked to have so much in common with this man.
“He takes medication to help him sleep. Whenever he does, he transfers over. He has been going to and fro every other day for a couple of months now. He has assumed an identity on the other side.”
“Greg Hesi!” called out Battery, whose arms were getting tired.
“Yes,” continued Margoli, slightly irritated at the interruption. “He has started an invention-type business on Mara's side. He introduces products to the market that are already successful here. He plans to start a similar company on this side by introducing products and technology from the other. His nephew, Ignition, will run the business.”
Dr. Akub and Mara both shot Battery congratulatory glances at the mention of Dru. Margoli, scarcely pausing, continued.
“Vihesi is manipulating the market in two dimensions. He does not even have to invent anything. He just has to stay abreast of new technology before it transfers to someone else via dream.
“He pulled the plug on Dr. Akub's programme, and he is trying to ruin your reputation. He does not want people to believe in the parallels, or his scam will not succeed. No one apart from his nephew actually knows what he is doing. Well, and now you folks.
“He is also looking for you, Mara. He wants to stop you travelling.” Margoli finally ceased. The group remained silent. Battery's arms quivered from the strain of holding them up for so long. Dr. Akub noticed and took one side of the jacket from her. Mara hesitantly posed a question, “I don't know if this is important or not: Vihesi lives in a big manor house with a turret and two lanes of poplar trees. Did a servant die there?”
The professor and Battery were both taken aback by the question. They knew the story well but could not imagine how Mara had found out about it. Margoli, too, was surprised.
“Yes, that house has been in the Vihesi family for over one hundred and fifty years, although Grigoras and his brother were quite poor growing up.
“I had just broken free of my parental mass when it happened, so I remember it well. A servant girl rushed to the aid of her mistress, who had been assaulted in her parlour. The girl was beaten and then set on fire by the attacker. Her mistress managed to escape but never recovered emotionally. She was badly scarred. The girl burned to death trying to climb up to the turret.”
“No!” shouted out Mara. “She did not burn to death. She got dizzy and fell down the stairs. She broke her neck. She did burn, but she was already dead.”
Mara started to tremble and sob. Battery almost let her arm down to approach Mara, but the professor held her back.
“Okay, little Mara. I stand corrected,” comforted Margoli, “It was you, hmm? Interesting. Perhaps that is where your vertigo comes from, falling down those stairs.”
Everyone, even Margoli, was quiet for a moment until there was a sudden, “Oh!” from the wind.
“Mara's past life memory reminded me that I discovered what closed the portals.” Mara, Battery, and Dr. Akub listened intently. “It was over one thousand years ago. There were wars over land, battles over the theft of information, massacres, and other horrendous acts. These are the same sorts of atrocities that still go on today. The Earth, though unsettled, waited against all logic in the hopes that humankind would redeem itself.
“There came a day when a centaur was brutally and senselessly killed. Centaurs became extinct. The Earth finally lost hope. Many species had been extinguished, but the centaurs had symbolised a meshing of two species; they embodied the notion of two worlds. There were no more human crossings except in dream. This is when the feeling of déjà-vu developed.”
“But you said that some animals thought the doorway between worlds might be reopening,” declared Battery, who was quite disturbed by Margoli's story.
“Yes,” agreed Margoli, “Mara and Vihesi are the beginning. Perhaps the Earth believes it is time for another chance. There must be real longing for a renewal of travel between the worlds or it couldn't be happening.”
Pixie, who had rejoined the group unnoticed by everyone, suddenly spoke, “We have a portal in this garden.” Battery nearly lost the windbreaker in utter shock, not at the news but at hearing her polecat speak.
“What did you say?” Battery asked, realising that courtesy of lichen tea she would understand Pixie's response.
“Why do you think I always want to come here?” Pixie asked rhetorically, looking from person to person. She continued, “Because there is a gateway here to Mara's world. Well, it's actually just outside her house.”
Battery's jaw dropped, and Dr. Akub looked stunned. Even Margoli was speechless. Mara snapped her fingers. “Of course. That's why I saw you in the tree outside my window.”
“Yes, that is the very spot,” said Pixie, reaching around to clean her tail.
Out of his daze, Akub spoke, “This is all starting to make sense. None of these happenings are coincidental. Mara has a portal outside her house and so she becomes drawn here. I travel in dream and then feel an uncontrollable desire to build that portal. Battery finds Mara. Just think, if I'd found you, Mara, would you have trusted me as I approached you in the park?” Mara shook her head. “I certainly hope not,” continued Akub. “We are all interconnected. This feels somehow predestined.”
“Battery, your arm must be exhausted. Let me take over.” Dr. Akub reached up with his other arm and took the windbreaker from Battery.
“Careful, please,” warned Margoli, who had almost blown away.
“Wow! This is totally amazing! I was worried about losing my ability to cross, but now we can all go back and forth anytime we like,” said Mara cheerfully.
“No, we can't,” said the professor soberly. “We still have the Vihesi problem. In fact, it is much, much worse.” Akub paused to reflect and then added, “People are cruel, manipulative, and exploitative.”
“Here, here,” said Pixie, chewing something. Mara turned to look at Pixie and wondered what else the polecat was thinking as she sat listening to the group.
Dr. Akub continued, “Vihesi is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Consider the possibilities: a resource is running out on one side, why not take it from the other side? Or a rare species? Or someone wants to commit a crime: do it on one side and hide out on the other.”
“That is how it all went wrong the first time,” said Margoli after a remarkable period of allowing others to speak.
Battery cut the wind off before it started to monopolise the conversation again. “We have our own secret passage. Surely there can be no harm in us travelling out of curiosity?”
“Remember what we've learned. Information flows back and forth in dream. If we cross, however innocent our academic interests, the existence of the doorway will eventually pass on to other people, perhaps even Vihesi. It cannot be used,” concluded the professor with a sigh.
“How do we tell the Earth to close down all crossings?” asked a frustrated Battery.
Margoli welcomed the opportunity to speak. “The Earth is not a single being or a god, like the concept of Mother Earth. The Earth is a collective of all our conscious and unconscious minds. We are the power of this world. So we do not make requests. We have to speak with action and the let the message ripple.” Then it added, “You have to shut it down.”
Akub nodded his head gravely and lowered his arms. Battery called out into the air, “Thank you, Margoli!” They heard a faint call of “I'll look out for you” in the distance before Margoli had blustered away entirely.