Eternity's Wheel by Neil Gaiman Page A

like. It was like taking a giant step forward, when your bubble thing—”
    â€œHue.”
    â€œâ€”was wrapped around us.”
    â€œYes, but we went forward into InterWorld’s future, which took us to the past,” I explained. “So the ship is from the future, but the planet is in the past. Make sense?”
    She hesitated, looking like she had a question that she thought might be considered stupid. After a moment, she asked, “Are there dinosaurs here?”
    I didn’t laugh. I kind of wanted to, but I understood why she was asking. I mean, wouldn’t you have? I know I would have. “I honestly don’t know,” I told her, and she glanced around as though she might see one. “On some planets, yes, there are. And, yes,” I said, unable to help a grin, “I’ve seen them. But I don’t know if it’s this one. I don’t know which planet we parked on.”
    â€œOkay,” she said, still looking up at the sky, which was brightening to a blinding blue. It was chilly out here in the early morning, but we both had our sweatshirts on, and the sun was warm where it was rising over the horizon. “So what now?”
    â€œNow I teach you to Walk,” I said, gesturing for her to follow me. “You want to be away from everything for your first try. It’s really difficult to Walk into something that’s already there, but it’s not impossible.”
    â€œYou mean, I could get stuck in a rock, or something . . . ?”
    â€œLike I said, it’s unlikely, but it is possible. We’ve basically got built-in subliminal algorithms for that kind of thing, like an instinctive navigational system. Reflex, kinda. But when you’re first learning, it’s better not to take any chances.”
    â€œOkay,” she said, watching me closely. She had a familiar look of determination on her face; familiar, because she looked so much like me. “Teach me.”
    I spent the better part of the afternoon teaching her how to Walk, and discovered that not only was she a fantasticstudent, she had a particular ability for it. Not that it came easier to her than to any of the rest of us (in fact, it took her the better part of an hour to follow my instructions correctly), but once she learned it, she slipped through the dimensions like a cat burglar on an easy heist. I even lost her once, which was a frightening moment, considering she was my only recruit. I wound up having to sidestep through four different dimensions and cast my senses about for her every time, which was more than a little tiring.
    â€œAnd you’ve never Walked before?” I asked once I’d found her, sitting in the middle of the field, blowing tufts of dandelions into the wind.
    â€œNever before today,” she said, looking pleased with herself. “Why?”
    â€œWell, you’re pretty good at it,” I said, readjusting the brace strapped around my wrist. I’d had an itch there I’d been trying to ignore for the past fifteen minutes.
    â€œI thought it was taking me a while to learn.”
    â€œIt took you a while to get it, maybe, but once you did . . . You’re almost undetectable, you know that?”
    â€œYeah?” she asked, looking up at me. She didn’t look guarded anymore or angry or like she was about to run. She looked happy, the way I remembered my sister looking when she was having nice dreams. Content. Peaceful.
    â€œYeah. It’s like when you step into the water, you don’t make any ripples. You just sort of slip in.”
    She smiled and shrugged, though I could tell she was pleased to be good at something in particular. I know I would have been.
    â€œWill that be helpful?” she asked.
    â€œYes,” I told her honestly, offering my noninjured left hand. She took it, allowing me to pull her to her feet. “If you do the Walking, we’ll be able to gather up the others without being