Worlds Apart by Marlene Dotterer Page B

rock was bouncing and went on over
him after hitting him.” She shook her head. “They all had to be on
the path when the slide hit them and knocked them down.”
    “Yeah, but why would he be facing
uphill? Why wouldn't he be running?”
    She shrugged. “Heard the noise
perhaps, and looked up? Too terrified to move? It
happens.”
    Pete Griffin was several feet to
the east. He'd had a rougher tumble than Les, his body so mangled
that Tina had to take Ringstrom's word for his identity.
    “Covered with rocks,” Ringstrom
said.
    Tina sent her light searching
along the ground as she knelt next to the body. “He's not all
here.”
    “What's missing?”
    “An arm.” She stood, climbing up a
few steps until the loose rocks forced her to stop.
    Ringstrom followed her, but stayed
on solid ground. He touched her shoulder. “We'll do a thorough
search in daylight, Doc. It's too dangerous in these conditions.”
He gestured downhill. “Jason Fraizer's down there.”
    He'd fallen over the second steep
hill, ending crumpled and torn next to a thirty-foot pine tree.
Even from above, Tina could see the blood and gore splashed on the
trunk. “Jesus,” she said.
    “Those poor kids.” Ringstrom’s
voice was thick with tears. He cleared his throat, and when he
spoke again, his flat, professional tone was back. “We've got a
rope over here, Doc. Be best if you hang on to it to keep your
balance going down.”
    She took his advice, since the
rain made the steep slope slippery. Her brief exam could not show a
specific injury that caused death, but she thought he had died
sometime in his terrifying roll down the hill. She gave Ringstrom
permission to move the bodies. While instructions were issued, she
stood and stared at the mountain, at the slope up to the trail,
then above. There was just enough light to see the dark trees of
the higher mountain, and perhaps make out the cleared path of the
rock fall. She thought about the boys walking home along the trail,
hearing a noise and looking up. She doubted any of them had time to
start running. If it was already dark, they might never have seen
the rocks coming.
    The EMTs put the bodies in bags,
but the men in the search party had to help get them up to the
road. Three fathers, one uncle, two cousins. One older brother,
just sixteen. Two others were neighbors. Tina stood with the
mothers as they watched and tried to understand that their sons
were dead. She touched them all, held their hands, and assured them
she would take good care of their children's bodies. She fought to
keep her demeanor professional and competent, but she knew they saw
her pain, too. Perhaps it gave them comfort to know that even
professionals were heartbroken at this accident. Tina thought it
would give her some comfort, if she were the mother.

Chapter 8
     
     
     
    Farendale was Kaarmanesh's largest
city, sited on the same island that in the human world held
Manhattan. As Clive stepped through the portal with Magger in tow,
it occurred to him that he preferred the Kaarmanesh version. Like
the rest of their tangential dimension, Farendale was cleaner than
New York. The air was fresher. There were more trees.
    Fewer people too, even if you
counted the goblins. He tugged on the cuffs that attached his left
arm to the clasped hands of his prisoner. Magger was staring around
him at the high ceiling of the portal building, and the crowds of
people hurrying to find an empty portal. His stare was not
returned. Farendalers could be just as self-absorbed as New
Yorkers.
    “Let's move, Maggot.” Clive eased
into the crowd, forcing the goblin to scramble after him. He was
glad for Magger's silence since the little beast had not ceased
whining from the moment Clive picked him up at Sheriff Nancy's. It
was almost enough to make him wish for a full moon.
    It was three short blocks to the
building that housed Kaarmanesh Security. At eight stories, it was
one of the tallest buildings in Farendale, its orange and