The doorway opened onto a large round cobble-stoned courtyard. All around the courtyard were regularly-spaced windows and doors, and the walls rose for four levels. The walls were of a uniformly dark-gray stone, decorated with colorful banners. As dusk fell, several of the windows were lit from within by candles. They could see people moving about. Bond tied the pony near the door they had entered.
"You'll be meeting with the Time Wardens tomorrow morning. For now, we have a room ready for you, and refreshments." He led her through one of the doors at the far end of the courtyard. They walked a long corridor lit by candles. The sconces looked like human forearms, molded in brass, with the candles clenched in fists. She shivered.
They came to a door near the end of the corridor. Bond opened it, then stepped back to allow her to enter first.
Inside, the room was brightly lit and cheerfully furnished. A large bed huddled beneath a full, heavy canopy. An intricately carved nightstand in a dark red wood stood alongside the bed, topped by a lamp. A dresser in the same pattern and wood stood against one wall, a stuffed chair against the other. A small table held a wash-basin shaped like a giant clamshell. On the dresser was a large silver tray. On it was a silver dome, and from the dome came the welcome aroma of hot food. She was starving.
There were footsteps in the adjacent room (the bathroom, Alex hoped) and a young girl, about Alex's age, stepped out, smiling. She was shorter than Alex, blonde, with a cute, baby- faced look full of friendliness. "Alex," Bond said, "may I present Deanna, who will take care of whatever you need tonight, and make your stay as pleasant as possible. Good night to both of you."
"Good night, Mr. Bond," they both replied.
Alex and Deanna looked at one another, then laughed. "He's a real character, isn't he?" Deanna asked.
"I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like him," Alex replied.
"Well, welcome to Government House. Can I get you anything?"
Alex glanced toward the silver tray. Deanna interpreted correctly, took the tray from the dresser, placed it on the bed, and removed the dome. The wondrous smells welled up. Deanna sat on the edge of the bed, and motioned for Alex to do the same.
"Everything looks great," Alex said. "I'm starving."
There was more than enough for both of them. Deanna put a small portion of each item on a plate for Alex, then helped herself to the same.
"This is your first visit, isn't it?" Deanna asked.
"Yes," she replied. "And everything here is so different from my home. I still haven't been able to figure out if I'm in another world, or a tiny part of my world, or something else entirely."
"Someone will try to explain all that to you soon. I can't. But I can tell you that Sandorra is a wonderful place. Around Government House is a village for the workers and visitors. Around that is a forest that reaches as far as our biggest city, called New York Town, that has thousands of people living there."
"Our biggest city is called New York City," Alex said. "Have you ever travelled to my world?"
"No," Deanna answered. "Usually, they don't allow kids to do that. They're afraid your world is too dangerous."
"They're not wrong about that. In some places, like the cities, you have to be street smart." When Deanna looked quizzical, Alex said "you have to be defensive, and know what to avoid. You have to look like you belong there, and that you're smart enough to defend yourself. If you don't, anything can happen."
"That sounds frightening," Deanna responded. "I'd be scared to death."
"It wasn't always like that. My aunt read me a story when I was younger about how New York was fifty years ago. You could actually walk in Central Park at night, and not be afraid in the streets. No one would do that today."
"New York Town is a fantastic city," Deanna said. "We go there a few times a year, sometimes on my father's business, sometimes just to shop or visit my cousins. It's full of parks and big buildings and monuments and theaters. It has a great zoo. At night, all the streets are lit with electric lights, and it seems that all the people are out strolling. In Town Pavilion, there's always a band playing at night, and people sit around on blankets listening. On the waterfront, where all the nicest shops and restaurants are, all the boats have lights in their riggings, and it looks like a million fireflies on the water."
"How do you get there? Isn't it a long trip on a horse?" Alex asked.
"On, no, we have an electric trolley line from here. The trip only takes about two hours," Deanna answered.
They were both silent for a while, then Alex asked "you really haven't told me who you are. Do you live here in this castle ... I mean Government House?"
"No, I'm here because my father works here - he's a Time Warden - and he felt you'd be more comfortable with someone your own age. So if I can get you anything, or answer any questions ..."
"I've heard all kinds of answers today, and I didn't understand much of anything. I don't understand about our two worlds, or time, or Bridges. So just tell me about yourself."
"I'm thirteen next week. My full name is Deanna Elizabeth Browning Krynicki. I live with my parents and brother in a small village not far from here, and I go to school there. Not too much to tell, really. How about you?"
"I'm fourteen," Alex replied. "I was simply spending a week with my aunt and uncle while my parents were on a trip, and I accidentally took a trip of my own."
"It was no accident," Deanna said. "My father and the others were waiting for you. They think you have special talents, and when the Bridge opened, they called you in. That's what those lights were that you saw."
"Do you know why I'm here?"
"My father has some kind of mission for you. It involves fixing something that went wrong in your world, and it involves Mark Twain. I also know that you have to decide if you want to do it, and if you can do it. No one will make you do anything you don't want to."
"Do you know who Mark Twain is? Do you read his books?" Alex asked.
"He's one of our favorite writers. Most kids love his books," Deanna answered. "And nobody in your world or ours is funnier."
"In my world, many school libraries aren't allowed to have his books, and very few kids read them," Alex said with some embarrassment.
Deanna was aghast. "Why?"
"Because of some words he uses that people think are racist. It's really stupid, because he was never racist. He wrote his books using the language that people actually used. Sometimes it's hard to believe how stupid some adults can be when they really try."
Deanna nodded in agreement. "Maybe you can do something to change that if you go on your mission."
"How do you know this stuff?" Alex asked. "I thought my mission was supposed to be secret."
"You know how parents are. You can be invisible if you want to, and they'll forget we're there."
"What else do you know?"
Deanna answered, "I know that our worlds are related somehow, and that time changes between them. Sometimes ours is moving faster, sometimes yours. When one of them is real slow, like yours is now, the Bridges open and some people can cross over."
"That's hard to understand."
"If you think that is, then how about the fact that your size changes when you cross, and sometimes you get larger, sometimes smaller, depending on the direction that time is rotating between us."
"It rotates too?"
"I can't explain it, yet. We just started Elementary Time Theory in school and ..."
"You study this in school?" Alex interrupted, astonished. "I guess until you said that, I really didn't believe it. Holy cow!"
"Is that a prayer?" Deanna asked.
Alex was stumped for a moment, then laughed.