We moved our way through the husks. Some of the other kinds of strange creatures were following us. One looked like the meanest dog you’ve ever seen with taloned bird feet instead of paws. One had a long body with purplish-blue fur. It slithered as much as it walked. Another looked like it had goat feet, a fat man’s belly, and a bird head with short, floppy ears. And those stump things were always following en masse on our heels.

We came upon a small grove. A bluish light danced inside it, bouncing off small pools of water and glass plates that seemed to float in the air. We all marveled at it for a moment.

As we entered, the surfaces picked up our reflections. Alai touched one, and it rippled like water beneath her finger. Suddenly, an image appeared on it of another place. It was daytime in the picture, and people moved about in strange clothes through a peculiar town.

The others were enraptured by it. I thought it was fascinating too, but I couldn’t shake my nerves off long enough to enjoy it like they were. The air of this place was heavy somehow, putting me ill at ease.

“You do not smell of the tokens like the others,” a voice hissed. I turned around to see another strange creature. Its gray skin was wrinkled. Its body was like a lizard with a back bent sharply to the sky, its form partially concealed in a kind of cloak. “Most curious. Perhaps—perhaps you hold the answer.”

“What are you?” I stepped back. The creature tilted its head to the side. Tracing its line of sight to the others, I put myself in its path even as I realized there was no sure thing to do to protect them if the creature turned out to be dangerous.

“What am I? What are you? Your kind could not enter this realm without a token. So I wonder if you are some other kind.” There was an odd glint to the creature’s eyes—something like hope.

“What are tokens?” I asked.

“Things of this realm; small flowers, long jagged scales. Things to trap and ensnare. To make this pretty place a prison,” the creature said.

“What about some coins?” This creature might have answers about what this place was and how to get Michael to leave. As long as it was talking and the others occupied nearby, it couldn’t hurt to ask.

“Yes, coins.” Its head bobbed. “Or something like that.”

“My brother has one,” I gasped.

“And you touched him as you entered this place?” It tilted its long head.

“I did.” I nodded, looking back briefly to ensure the others hadn’t wandered off on me. They were captured by a new scene of fast-moving things that glimmered like they were made of steel.

“I see.” The creature stroked its hooked jaw with its long fingers. Its wrinkled lips hooked up in something like a smile. “Yes, a rare opportunity. A chance—at last, a chance. I will tell you, human, that I am called Keeper. This grove is where the tales of this land and more intersect. I have seen and told many wisdoms over so many centuries. So heed me. Leave this place, now. It is the only way.”

“I want to, but the others won’t listen to me. What do you mean the only way?”

I looked back at them again to see the scene had shifted to rolling hills of trees with pink budding flowers. The petals drifted through a breeze like silken rain.

“They will not come with you. Those tokens resemble in the physical what is captured in their hearts. This place is like a dream to them. Nothing is real. Nothing is true. That is why these fables can enrapture them.” Keeper gestured towards the standing pools. “You, little one, see this place as it is. If you leave now, you will still be able to return without the beguiling of a token. You may grow and become stronger. Then when it is right, you can return. You can break what has made my home into a wretched curse. Go, please.”

“But, my brother—”

“No!” Keeper barked. It scuttled towards me and grabbed my wrists in its boney fingers. “You do not listen! You must go, or there is no hope for any of us. There is a creature here that has caught their scent, the Taegorak. None of your realm can survive it while beguiled. None of this realm can defeat it. This creature is what baited them here, to destroy them. Only you can stop this wretched cycle. Leave now. Train, grow, and come back to defeat this monster before it destroys all that is good between our worlds.”

“But why is this creature so dangerous? Why does it want to hurt us? How am I supposed to defeat it when you say no one else can?”

I look back to see the others now looking at a scene that made it seem like there were flying through the air. The view swooped over mountains, and when they dipped close to a lake, the water exploded around them before they climbed back into the sky. Keeper shook my wrists.

“The Taegorak hungers, as all creatures do. It hungers not for flesh but souls, their humanity itself.” Keeper took a ragged breath.

It was like the old stories of goblins and spirit creatures had come to life. Monsters that wanted not just your life but whatever it was that made you human. With a choking sound, Keeper continued.

“All you see here is a result of it. None of us have the power to stop it. The more humanity the Taegorak consumes, the stronger it becomes, but humanity is also the key to defeating it, and now, at last, we have a chance.”

“I can’t do anything about any monster. I’m not a hero from a fable. No magic will make me powerful enough to defend this place from a creature you can’t defeat yourself. There is nothing I could learn or do to change whatever is happening here. I can’t even get my brother to listen to me.”

I yanked my wrists free and stared the creature down with false bravery.

Desperation choked Keeper’s voice. “Of course, you are not ready. You are too young, that is true; you do not have the skills. That’s why you must go now. Go and prepare and become strong enough to save this realm and your own. Don’t underestimate who you may become, the value of your humanity, or what your being here means. Realize it or not, child, you have opened a door that I thought would forever be closed—hope.”

“This can’t be,” I shook my head.

“Stop reasoning. This is beyond your reasoning!” Keeper tugged me down so it could grab my face and look me in the eye. I gasped and pulled back, but Keeper’s hands held me with a strength it hadn’t used before. “What you have known is only part of what can be.”

Keeper released me, and I staggered back, sucking in a sharp breath as it wrung its hands.

“AIf there is something that dangerous, then that’s all the more reason to get them out of here,” I said. “Even if I believe you, there is no way I can fight that thing do what you are telling me to by myself, not with all the time in the world, and not if I somehow could learn how to defeat a monster. They can help me. Michael would be a better help than me, and Deitrich would have the influence to get us access to information and training. Alai knows how to work hard and would help too. If you need humans to save you, we’d be far better off with all of us.”

“They will not come. These others are dreaming. If you stay with them, you will only accomplish the loss of your own life, the wasting of this opportunity!” Keeper’s lips trembled. “Never has a chance like this come, and it may never come again. It would be ideal to rescue these people, yes, but it is impossible. You cannot save them, but you may save whoever would come after by leaving now.”

“So be it,” I squared my shoulders with the sternest expression I could muster. “I won’t leave my brother behind just because some creature tells me to.”

“Impertinent child,” Keeper hissed. “So be it.’ Then so be it! Keeper warned you. A chance, Keeper is a fool. Humans are too dense to hear, always.” The creature howled a mournful cry. “Any trouble you find was bought with your own coin.”

Keeper scuttled back into the thicket, muttering angrily to itself. As the rustling leaves settled, I almost thought I heard it whimpering.

I turned to the others to see they were laughing at a menagerie of animals dressed in clothing like people and working in a village as people would. I grabbed my brother’s shoulder.

“Michael.”

“Henry! When did you get here?”

“That’s starting to get old,” I sighed.

“What is?” Michael raised a brow.

“We need to go home,” I said.

“Why? Haven’t you looked at all of this? The grove is amazing.” Michael turned to look at the new scene unfolding before Deitrich and Alai. It was underwater, surrounded by colorful corals and fish. They gasped in awe.

“Yeah, so very amazing. Let’s go,” I pulled Michael back to face me.

“What’s your rush?” he asked.

“Don’t you think there was a reason behind all the stories? It’s dangerous here.” I didn’t know if I fully believed what Keeper had told me, but my twisting stomach tightened into a firm knot. It could have been fear or my exhaustion from staying up so late, but I couldn’t shake that feeling of wrongness.

“You’re such a baby,” Michael tsked.

“I am not,” I huffed. “Let’s go.”

“Henry, you are starting to annoy me.” Michael turned a more fiery gaze toward me. Finally, he looked more awake.

“I wouldn’t be if you listened to me!”

“Why do you have to bother me all the time?” Michael huffed.

“If you won’t listen to me, Keeper will tell you.”

“Who?”

“This lizardy creature.” I looked back into the hollows of the grove. “Keeper!” It didn’t come. “Keeper, help me!” I looked back to see Michael had gone back to watching the images. “Michael!” I shouted.

“Henry? When did you get here? Why are you yelling?”

“You can’t be serious.” I grabbed his arm and started pulling him out of the grove. “We’re going home.”

“What’s going on?” Dietrich asked. The yelling must have broken him and Alai out of their trance. Michael wrenched his arm from my grip.

“It’s just my little brother,” Michael said.

“Oh, nice to meet you. What’s your name?” Dietrich offered his hand with a smile.

“Henry, I told you that three hundred times. Every time you all look away from me, you forget about me. There are all sorts of strange things here. A creepy lizard said that there was some kind of monster out there that wants to eat us. We need to go back home!”

They all laughed at me.

“Come on, Henry,” Michael said. “We’ve seen dozens of creatures here. None of them talk, and none of them tried to hurt us.”

“So you want to wait until they do?”

“Maybe we should listen to him,” Alai murmured.

“She speaks!” Dietrich gave a jovial slap on her back as his form of approval. “All right, we can go.”

“What? Why?” Michael asked.

“If Alai is nervous, and so is Hennidy—”

“Henry,” I corrected.

“Henry,” Dietrich continued. “Then we should go. To respect them.”

Alai smiled shyly at him.

“But there’s so much more out there,” Michael said.

“Yeah, we can come back another time and explore more.”

“What if there isn’t another time?”

“No, we should just go,” I said, aiming to keep them on track.

“Well,” Dietrich mused. “What if we explore one more thing? Like the top of that hill?” Dietrich pointed to a gentle hill not far away. “Would you be okay with that, Alai?”

She shrugged. “I guess so. But I wouldn’t want to stay longer.”

“Excellent. What about you, Benny?” Dietrich asked.

“Henry,” I grumbled. “The sooner we leave, the better. Just to the top of the hill.”

“Then a compromise has been decided,” Dietrich declared.

“Let’s explore,” Michael urged, and so we left the grove and made our way further into the hills.