The Two Worlds (3 page)

“
Well, when we get to your
house, you’ll be able to practice Awakening things there. Either
that or you’ll starve, because the fridge won’t work until you tell
it to.”

We walked in silence for a few seconds
before I registered what she said. “W-wait.” I stammered,
side-stepping a small man darting through the crowds. “I have a
house?”

Nia laughed. “I know it’s kind of a lot
to take in, but honestly...where’d you think you were sleeping? The
bus station?”

“
No...”

She increased her pace to keep up with
Paul. “I created a house for you. You have to Awaken it and the
things inside of it or else it’s just a small house standing there
with no purpose.”

We ducked through the crowds of people
on the street, and I noticed the small shops that lined each side,
each claiming to be a restaurant, clothing store—one had a small
sign that read
Two Headed Knit Sweaters, 2 for 1 sale!
—or
another form of small business. Paul led us through the streets
that seemed to become even busier as the night went on. After what
seemed like forever, we turned into a quieter street, and Paul
stood still for a moment as Nia sucked her teeth.

“
You forgot where I put it,
didn’t you?” she accused Paul. Tsking, Nia whistled softly as if
calling a dog. The air became still and, from the distance in front
of us, something began to take shape. I squinted and re-squinted as
a small, odd blue house with sickly yellow shutters and a matching
front door sauntered up to us. It looked like it was walking on
invisible legs! The house stretched and groaned before becoming
still.

“
Sorry to wake you,” Nia
said softly, “but your Awakener’s here.” The house shifted a little
bit, as if fidgeting to get back to bed. Nia noticed and promised,
“We won’t take long.” Turning back around to face me, she shooed me
out of the way and held up her hands straight in front of her as if
she were surveying the two houses closely situated side by
side.

“
Yep, this’ll work.”
Clasping her hands together and then slowly pulling them apart, Nia
concentrated on the houses. I watched in awe as the houses moved in
accordance with her hands, one shifting to the left, the other to
the right. Nia continued this until there was a large enough gap
where my house could squeeze in. Satisfied, she dropped her hands
and grinned.

“
Okay,” she said, turning to
me. “It’s your turn.”

Paul, who had been quiet during all of
this, stepped up and said, “Allow me to explain. There are three
common ways most of us Awaken things. The first way consists of
actually speaking out loud to the object you are Awakening.
However, the language you use is not common to others that hear
you, and it is rare for someone other than the Awakened to
understand what you are saying. Here, try asking the house to move
into the space.”

I gave Paul a wary look, stepped up to
the house, and cleared my throat. “Uh...house, I command you to
move into that spot!”

Nia snickered and Paul gave her a stern
look.

“
Kay, I don’t think it would
be wise to command anything. You should just simply ask. And try
not to sound like you’re in the military.” Paul pointed at the
house. “The trick is to relax and just talk to the house as if you
know that it can hear and understand you.” I nodded, loosened my
shoulders, and took a deep breath. Half closing my eyes, I imagined
it was my grandpa standing there, waiting to be asked of
something.

“
House,” I said in the most
conversational voice I could muster, “could you please move to the
spot?” The house stood where it was, ignoring me. I looked over at
Paul, helpless. He, however, was beaming.

“
Excellent,” he said. “You
spoke in the house’s language!”

“
But,” I frowned, “how come
it didn’t move?”

“
Because that’s not the
right way for you to Awaken it, and it knows that. Ah, well, let’s
try the second way.”

“
Wait a minute. What did I
sound like?”

“
Lots of grunting and
throaty noises,” Paul sighed. He positioned himself next to me,
saying, “All it takes this time is concentrating on every muscle in
your body, as if drawing energy to yourself.”

“
All?” I croaked, not really
understanding.

“
Yes. Just concentrate on
your body and pretend as though you can see particles of energy
falling off everything that’s surrounding you, including me and
Nia.” Nia nodded in agreement and gave me an encouraging
smile.

I sighed and closed my eyes for a
moment, tensing up my muscles. Minutes passed, and I peeked through
one eye to see if the house had miraculously moved to its spot. It
hadn’t. Disappointed, I sighed again and relaxed.

Paul stood beside me. “Well,” he
mumbled, “we should try the third way.” He nudged me in front of
him and added, “Okay, our last attempt. Before, you tried to draw
energy from your surroundings in order to move the house
physically. This time, I want you to try becoming the house,
imagining that you are it.” He moved up closer to my ear and began
to whisper. “You are tall...solid...a force against the
wind.”

My eyes slowly closed as Paul’s voice
became distant. Suddenly, the ground felt weird—as if I was
hovering above it—and I felt...fat...horribly fat...stocky. My new
inner conscience urged me to move, but I refused. I didn’t want to.
Why should I listen to the voice? The voice grew louder and more
urgent, and with its persistence I became more resistant. No, I
wouldn’t move. I refused to move. NO ONE COULD MAKE ME
MOVE.

I tumbled to the cool ground. Minces
complained nearby as I rolled over with a groan and cracked open my
eyes. Nia was standing over me with a blank expression on her face.
She looked at Paul, who was sitting down next to me with his legs
crossed, and shrugged.

“
Well, maybe she’s one of
those rare Awakeners that has to figure it out by
herself.”

“
If that’s the case, we’re
in trouble,” Paul groaned. “She’ll never figure out the
way.”

Nia sighed. “Paul, you’re such a drag.
Everyone figures out their gift. It just might take Kay
awhile.”

Paul jumped to his feet and frowned.
“Even so, she’s at least in trouble for the night. I can’t take her
back to my place; the other Seniors would have a fit.”

“
Why?”

“
You know...all that about
discovering and charting new gifts before you completely interact
with other Awakeners and such...”

I groaned again. My head was killing me
and no one seemed to care.

“
So what are we going to do,
leave her here?” Nia almost shrieked.

“
You can’t take her with
you, Nia. It’s against the rules.”

“
This is insane. What you
are saying is insane. Where will she sleep?”

“
In the house.” Paul replied
calmly, stepping over me to rub the house with affection. “When she
gets fed up, she’ll figure out how to get in.” He cleared his
throat and gave me a smile. “In the meantime, I’m going to leave
you two ladies in lieu of my bed. The one in New Zealand, I mean.”
Paul waved at Nia, gave me a curt nod, and walked away. We watched
him—Nia standing over me while I rolled over on my side to get a
better view—until he disappeared into the night.

Nia huffed and picked me up. “As much
as I hate it, Paul’s right. You have to figure this out on your
own.”

My tongue felt thick as I swallowed.
Nia gave a sympathetic smile. “You’re just getting used to becoming
things. That’s all. But, I have to go as well. I’d love to stay and
help, but Grandma’s going to be up soon to cook breakfast and one
of us has to help her.”

“
Wait...” I croaked. “What
about me...going home?”

“
Oh,” Nia replied
nonchalantly, “I’ll take care of it for now. Don’t worry. Just
practice getting inside your house. You’ll find additional help
once you get inside.” She turned and walked a few paces, raised her
hand as if parting the air, and stepped inside an invisible
rip.

I was alone. Slowly turning back
towards the house, I gave a defeated groan and walked up to it. The
house was no longer fidgeting, but I still got the sense that it
was watching me, mocking me somehow.

“
Stupid house,” I grumbled,
giving it a swift kick.

“
OUCH!”

I jumped back and looked around
frantically, trying to place the voice.

“
Who’s there?” I demanded
looking around.

“
Well...who do you think,
you idiot?”

I turned my head towards the voice and
found myself facing the house again.

“
You,” the voice complained,
“just kicked me as if I were some kind of
animal
.”

I stared at the house.
“You’re...talking...to me?”

The house seemed to quiver. “Oh, come
on. You’ve been standing there with your friends all night trying
to get me to move, and then I finally say something to you and you
can’t say anything coherent.” It scoffed. “You
are
capable
of having a decent conversation, aren’t you?”

“
With most living things,
yeah,” I retorted. “Anyway, why do you sound like that?”

“
Like what?”

“
Like a girl.” The house had
a feminine quality to it, a heavy voice that almost sounded
motherly.

The house laughed, shaking the walls
and rattling the windows. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard
since I was created!” It cried. “The reason I sound like a girl is
because I am one, idiot! A girl created me, a girl is suppose to
reside in me, so don’t you think I would be one as
well?”

I opened my mouth to say something
smart, but thought better of it. The house
was
bigger than
me.

“
So,” I began cautiously,
“are you going to move to the spot Nia created for you or are we
going to stand here all night?” The house grunted and began a slow
float, as if she was taking pleasure in trying to make me wait. I
tapped my foot and added, “Do you things have a name?”

“
Of course,” she said,
slowing down even more, “and I’d kindly prefer to be called
Dia.”

“
Dia?”

“
Dia. Dia Rhea.”

I paused for a moment, then snorted and
burst into laughter.

“
I didn’t ask to be called
that,” Dia shouted over my laughing. “Your sister apparently a
sense of humor.”

“
I’ll say.”

Dia huffed and glided the remainder of
the distance to her spot. I gave a final chuckle and opened the
front door. The house gave off a thick, musty smell and radiated a
feeling of emptiness, despite the lavish furniture, which was
impressive shade of dull gray. The armchair sat nearly beside the
small sofa in front of the fireplace. The gray carpet was hard and
resisting as I stepped on it. A small hallway towards the back of
the living room was lined with small vases that had gray, dying
flowers in them. The back of the hall opened into an archway that
led to a small homey kitchen that was dull and lacking
color.

“
Some humor,” I whispered to
myself looking around. On my right side, a staircase sat, which I
climbed carefully, and at the top of a small bedroom was my
immediate left. Directly across was a bathroom of equal
size.

I sighed and asked out loud, “How come
everything’s gray?”

“
Because,” Dia replied,
sounding as though she were standing right next to me, “you have to
Awaken them. The flowers won’t live until you tell them to. The
couch, as pretty as it is, won’t be comfortable until you say so. I
wouldn’t recommend sitting on it for too long, either. It doesn’t
know it’s supposed to be sturdy.”

“
And how am I supposed to
Awaken them?”

“
The same way you Awakened
me.”

“
Kick them?”

“
No,” Dia snapped. “How
would you like having your insides kicked at? Just touch them and
tell them what they are supposed to be.”

I walked up to the first step of the
stairs and tapped it with my foot, saying, “Um, Mr. Step, you and
the rest of the steps here are supposed to be...sturdy. You and
your friends are meant to be walked on...support the upper half of
the house.” Instantly, the stairs straightened themselves, and I
pressed my foot down on the step, noticing it didn’t squeak in
protest. I smiled. “Also, Mr. Step and company, I would love it if
you were a nice, mahogany color.” A half-second passed. Then the
rich color appeared where my foot was resting and spread out until
it reached the bottom of the staircase.

“
Cool.”

And so I began with the stairs and
moved to the floor, which appeared to be ready to accept the
stairs’ previous fate at any possible moment. Moving from room to
room, I touched and talked until there was a warm fire crackling
and the pot of soup simmered on the stove. I ate my soup, making
small talk with Dia and watching the fire slowly die out. As the
night wore on, I fell exhausted on the couch and began to sleep,
traveling once more.