Irene Gladmen stood beside the enormous toad. Her hair was pulled up and pinned away from her face. Still, a few flyaways brushed down her pink cheeks and toward her thinning lips. She wore dark pants and sturdy black work boots caked with a bit of mud. A slate gray jacket was buttoned nearly to her neck.

“Get up Will, we’re leaving,” she said.

That wasn’t her normal tone of voice. Will had only heard that manner of speaking over a few rare occasions. Each had happened from worry over something she thought of as dangerous.

Will had begun to get a bit more air in his lungs. Bet and Ezra had frozen, unsure of how to react.

“Do you know her, Will?” Ezra said softly.

“Yes.” Will got to his feet. “This is my mother.”

“She’s the one with the Mukic?” The disbelief was clear in Bet’s voice.

“Yes. I think so.”

Irene Gladmen hardly moved. Her hand patted her toad a few times to keep it steady, and her eyes slowly examined Will from head to toe. She took a long while looking at Swoop. The bird let out a loud squawk in response.

“Is… is that yours? Is that your Cakrit?”

“Her name is Swoop,” Will said.

“Oh, Will.” Her head drooped down toward the floor.

At that moment another pocket flashed open. Greggin leapt from the purple loop and Credic stepped down behind him, clearly out of breath. Will shuffled sideways, not toward his mother and the monstrous Mukic, but instead toward Bet and Ezra. This was all too strange.

“Irene,” Credic said.

Will’s mother stepped back a bit, almost as if to hide behind her toad.

“I didn’t know it was him,” Credic continued. “I just now found out. Irene, I promise—”

“Shut up, Dad,” Irene said.

Will hadn’t thought this could get any weirder. He wanted to scream but couldn’t find the words.

“Why’d you lie to him, Irene?” Credic said.

“We never did. What was the point in telling him about this place? This was what we’d decided to leave behind. It didn’t need explaining.”

“Oh, but you did lie,” Credic said. “Little Will here was just telling me about his grandparents. Telling me that he doesn’t see them often, but when he does their not really ‘all there.’” He tapped his head and sort of crossed his eyes.

“They’re more family than you are,” she said. “He’s been here, what… three days and he’s already gotten wrapped up with you.”

Credic seemed to wriggle a bit.

“Listen, I know I haven’t been the best of fathers—”

“The best of fathers? The best of…” Will’s mother set her jaw and began to flex her fists. The toad’s eyes fixed on Credic, ready for Irene’s command. “Dad, you were the worst of fathers.”

“Now, Irene.”

“No, Dad. You never thought of anyone but yourself, and it didn’t matter that it was the worst thing for me, or Mom, or anyone. You ruined our lives.”

“I’m your family.”

“Only by blood.”

“Really? What about Hubrin there? I gave him to you. That blood is the only reason the two of you have your bond.”

Will’s mother turned and looked at her toad.

“You left him too, was that fair? Sometimes I think that’s the most shocking thing. He was all you had. Till you met Jim.” Credic gave a short and irritated laugh. “How is he?”

Will’s mother ignored the question. “We left everything behind, and we placed our Links in the best circumstances we could.”

“But you didn’t really,” Credic said. “You didn’t leave it all. What do the two of you do now, in the Earth world?”

“That’s none of your—”

“I bet it has to do with Binders.” Credic stared at Irene. “I’ve seen our boy’s purple bottle. I’m betting he didn’t get it on this side, and you know what? I’m not the only one who’s aware of that.”

Irene spouted one, short word.

“Who?”

“I’m afraid it goes all the way up to the big man himself, and you know he’s not happy at all over a large, hidden stash.”

“I’m not justifying myself to you. Come on Will, we’re leaving.” Will’s mother removed her own purple bottle and unsnapped the lid. She made no attempt to keep it hidden, and as she did so, her toad opened its fanged mouth wide. She threw the Binder in. Irene then pointed sharply toward the wall. The toad’s tongue whipped out and snapped against the air and a pocket began to open. But almost immediately after it did so, it sparked and disappeared. Irene’s head whipped back toward Credic.

“They’re here,” he said. “I didn’t expect them so quickly. Somehow, we’ve gotta get you out.”

Whose outside?

Murden

A group of Link Masters sent to collect Will, Bet and Ezra

This Poll is Closed