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“Very well,” Dr. Oppyx said. “You’re going to head out the back door and turn right through the trellis. When you reach the end of the trail, your dinner will be waiting for you.”
“Thank you,” Naomi said, standing and stepping a bit away from the sofa to give Gage room to stand.
As soon as he did, Athena was between them again, as if she had teleported. Her stance was relaxed, but her ears pricked up expectantly.
It was probably just the light, but to Naomi, her cloudy-gray fur looked darker now, almost rain-cloudy.
The three of them moved together toward the back door, where Naomi had come in. It opened on its own, letting in a breath of delicious country air.
Naomi jogged down the steps and headed to the right, where a massive wooden trellis hung with blossoming roses formed a gate between the hedges.
She turned back to see that Gage was right behind her, with Athena at his side.
“We’ll go first,” he told her. “If you don’t mind.”
“Of course not,” she said curiously.
He approached the trellis like a gentleman spy in a holo-film, with a wary confidence.
“Athena,” he said.
The dog darted through the trellis and barked once.
It was one of the oddest barks Naomi had ever heard. It sounded as if the dog was saying bark and nothing more. It was as if she did not like the sound of her own barking, and was releasing the least possible amount of sound to get the job done.
It must have meant something to Gage, since he gestured for Naomi to follow him as he stepped through the trellis.
“Interesting,” he said.
As soon as she joined him on the other side, her breath caught in her throat.
The farm and the farmhouse were gone, replaced by a towering forest. Massive trees stretched up from thick, mossy trunks, their branches snagging on the low-hanging clouds above.
A humid mist clung to the ground, making the greens and browns of the moss and mushrooms seem even darker and more lush.
“Incredible,” she breathed.
“I know that all of this was created for us,” Gage said slowly. “But it’s so real that it keeps taking me by surprise.”
“And you’ve only been here a few minutes,” Naomi said dryly, starting off down the path.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
He held up a vine so that she could walk under it, and she almost felt bad for her remark.
“I’ve been here a bit longer than you,” she said lightly. “That’s all.”
“How long have you been here?” he asked.
“It all started to blend together after the first week,” she said, winking at him.
“Rings of the Outer Realms,” he muttered to himself.
“What?” she asked.
“They knew,” he said, shaking his head. “They knew all along.”
“They knew what?” she demanded. “Who knew?”
