Theodore & The 7 Layers of Space, Book 1: Brick & Bird

Chapter 23: Isobel

Isobel Earhart has a complicated and controversial past.

Prior to the year she spent in the House of the Magician Detective, Isobel spent most of her life as her mother's companion. Despite the many laws that said they ought not, most of that time had been spent moving through and across the 7 Layers of Space.

After several close calls, her mother decided that so much adventure was unsafe, particularly for someone so young and so willful. Despite Isobel's dismay and protests, she was brought to The House of the Magician Detective. Her mother made a game effort to stay, but after two nights and two days, she left without saying goodbye to her daughter.

After a year or so, Isobel decided she'd leave, too. She disappeared without saying goodbye to the young boy who hadn't left her side.

He still adored her.

***

Theodore sat crammed into another make-shift shack, across from his lost friend with two cups of tea steaming between them. It was indeed dignified. The term shack is a bit generous, as Isobel's makeshift home was more like a pile of rusty parts and a tarp.

Terrycloth Green lay behind them, clutching his now-bandaged shoulder, prone and uncharacteristically silent on Isobel's pile of soft rags that doubled as a bed.

Isobel looked as she always had, a frayed purple pilot's cap pulled down tight and a pair of yellow goggles hugging her dirt smeared brow. A touch older than before, her round face had slimmed a bit, showing hints of adulthood, and favoring her mother tremendously. He sipped his tea eagerly, burning the roof of his mouth just a bit, savoring the sight of her.

"What are you doing here?" Theodore asked, still struggling to believe his eyes, more mystified to see his old friend than he'd been to live as a sock for a few hours.

"Oh, you know, luxury vacation on a floating abandoned island of doom. It was always my dream." Theodore smiled to hear her frank sarcasm again. She smiled back, as dear old friends do. He held the little cup beneath his face and let the warm air flow over him.

"Well you nailed it!" Terrycloth Green groaned from behind.

"How'd you end up with him?" she asked, jerking her finger back to indicate Terrycloth Green.

"He helped me out. Sort of. And then I helped him. Probably a lot more than he helped me. I don't know, I secretly kind of like him."

"Geez Theodore, you gotta stop liking everyone," she sighed.

"It's your funeral," Terrycloth Green moaned, and turned on to his side away from them. The little wound on his arm already looked a bit better.

"What is this place, Isobel?"

"Well... it's funny that you'd ask where the Rogue Assistant of Professor Hero is..."

"Funny 'ha ha' or funny 'hmm'?" Terrycloth Green asked from behind them.

She paused, looking up the way she did when calculating her answers, and said, "Funny because that's who I was looking for, too."

"What a crazy happenstance!" Terrycloth Green chimed in again, a mock hand of exasperation held to his forehead.

Isobel ignored him. "Yeah, I was looking for the Rogue Assistant, too, but I got stuck down here."

"How are you stuck anywhere?" Theodore asked.

"This is kinnnnnnd of a prison. I may or may not have convinced the Under-dwelllers who live over in Spelunk that I was an ancient flying god."

"Nice one!" Terrycloth Green couldn't help adding.