THE JOURNEY HOME

CHAPTER 5: PEARL I

Pearl walked into the grand hall and bowed, hands behind her back. She was in the presence of the great Portal Lords. In the tall hall, six large portraits looked down at her, the seventh of which was empty. It was embroidered beautiful flowery designs that almost came to life along its purple frame. The figures in the portraits began to move and one of them spoke.

'Rise' a deep voice bellowed, it was the Black Portal Master.

'Yes my Lord', Pearl rose and faced them. They were the sustainers of all the portals to the seven dimensions, it was a grave burden to bear. Six Portal Lords were in attendance, black, gold, blue, green, peach, and pecan. All were addressed by a colour. Each had eyes with colour matching their title.

'Do you have the information?', the Gold Portal lord asked in an airy voice.

'Yes ma' Pearl responded.

Pearl was very special. She was one of the few whose transition was not merely due to a wish on the part of a loved one. No, Pearl was specially requested because of her gift. As a matter of necessity, she had to be recruited before the other side got their hands on her, as soon as her gift was discovered.

'The attack will be launched on Lilac of the Portal Lords' Pearl declared and bowed again. At this the Blue Portal Lord's stoic demeanour cracked, and his left eye twitched, a barely noticeable tick, but the Green Portal Lord caught it out of the corner of his eye. There was a deathly silence.

'Smart move on their part' Pecan suddenly broke the silence. 'She is the weakest link' he said with a chuckle, stroking his moustache. Although, the situation rarely warranted any form of gaiety.

'What day will the attack be launched?' Peach asked, worried.

'It is not known' Pearl replied.

'What manner of attack will it be? How will the attack on Lilac be launched? Green asked.

'It is not known' Pearl's response was the same

'How many soldiers will the enemy deploy?' Pecan asked.

'It is not known' Pearl answered again.

'It is not known, it is not known, child! What is known?' Gold impatiently asked.

'The attackers are called Harold and Suzanne. Harold has the ability of a portal maker, but he is weak, He seeks the power of a portal master in order to exploit the decree of the portal Lords. Suzanne has the ability of premonition, but it is severely weakened' Pearl stopped speaking and bowed again.

'Suzanne, Suzanne, I know that name' Gold tried the name, while the others recovered from the shock that a portal maker was on the enemy's side.

'Only two enemies?' Green asked surprised at the number.

Pecan stroked his moustache, looking thoughtfully at no one in particular then voiced his speculations.

'They are spies, sent by their superiors, they were probably there to retrieve Pearl. Judging from the combination of their gifts, premonition was there to identify her and the portal maker' he paused, taking in the severity of this rare and sought-after gift 'The portal maker was there to ensure a smooth getaway. But they failed their mission.' Pecan stood in his frame, still stroking his moustache 'Instead of facing their superiors, they have conjectured this new plan on their own to redeem themselves' he concluded, satisfied with his deductions.

'That explains the many unknowns in the strategy' Green completed, giving Gold a look of disappointment. Gold, who also felt foolish for her earlier outburst appeared very mellow in her seat. Pearl on the other hand was amazed. The portal Lords were incredible. They were exactly right, piecing together the incidents leading up to this moment without even consulting her or her gift.

Pecan took one look at Pearl's face and turned to the other five, 'It seems we are right' He proclaimed.

'That will be all, Pearl' Black boomed. She bowed again and turned to leave, as she did, she heard Blue, who had remained silent throughout the meeting making enquiries as to how this information was to be passed to Lilac.

Pearl stepped into the familiar blue of the portal hall and let out a breath. Just standing before the portal Lords made her nervous. It was all so imposing, it was, without doubt, a privilege only a select few would ever get to experience but she was relieved to be out. Her role as an informant wasn't all that bad though, it meant she had to be close to a portal in case she was summoned, an indirect consequence of this was, that she also got to see Ophelia. Pearl went down the hall looking for Ophelia's room and was glad to see her about to sleep. Since Ophelia already knew the intricacies of Pearl's condition, there was no need to pretend to be a part of her dreams, Pearl jumped out of the portal with her book in her hand, nearly giving Ophelia a heart attack in the process.

When Ophelia got over the shock of seeing Pearl leap out of the mirror towards her, she took the book that hovered over her, in Pearl's hand, while Pearl hung freely in mid-air above her. Pearl collapsed on the bed beside her and Ophelia got a better look at her wings.

'So how was your day?' Pearl asked stretching, then stopped when she saw Ophelia staring at her wings.

'They're almost transparent' Ophelia commented.

'That's to the untrained eye' Pearl responded, knowing that Ophelia had not yet matured to the extent where she could see her wings.

'Sorry, I didn't hear what you said earlier'

'I said, how was your day?' Pearl repeated.

'Uneventful. I finally returned Mr Guilever's book!'

'Do you know anyone named Harold or Suzanne?' Pearl asked suddenly, Ophelia shook her head in response. The suddenness of the change in topic disturbed her.

'Why?' she asked.

'Nothing, you should read the book now' Pearl's response shut the door to further questioning. Ophelia knew better than to try to coerce Pearl to reveal more when she had decided against it. She therefore obliged and started. The book contained Pearl's story.

.............

6 months ago

'Premonition', she heard a husky voice call.

'Are you sure she's the one', it was a male voice, and judging from the echo, they were in a wide, empty room.

Abducted. Pearl's hands and feet were tied, her mouth was gagged and she had been blindfolded.

'I am Premonition, I cannot be wrong!', a female shrill rang. Doubt laced her words, Pearl could feel the tension where she lay.

'I say we watch her', her male captor replied, obviously untrusting of the abilities Premonition claimed to possess.

'No!' Premonition's voice rang and echoed, revealing just how large the empty room was.

'We call them now! We have our target. Our mission has ended'. A deafening silence enveloped the space.

Fear gripped Pearl's heart as she realized they may have discovered that she was awake. Pearl lay as still as she could, barely breathing.

'WE WAIT' came the male voice, calm, domineering, and final. He was obviously in charge of the operation.

Pearl heard a frustrated sigh, then receding footsteps.

She waited with bated breath for the footsteps to recede further, out of earshot so she could be alone. She didn't dare move and no plans of an escape could even be formed by her mind when her captors were so close. The whole affair was entirely puzzling to her, why had she of all people been kidnapped, but then again, Pearl, rational as ever concluded that most people who found themselves in similar situations were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The wrong place? The wrong time? How? The last thing she could remember was sleeping, so how in the world did she find herself here?

The footsteps had stopped.

'She's awake' the female voice said.