Sphereshifters: Aleph (Story Arcs 1, 2) Page 9

anyone in over ten years, make her wonderful--more wonderful--and if anyone bullied her it would be out of jealousy.

  He asked Julie if she could retrieve some things for him on a certain night.

  "It's been difficult, Sanford," she said, hiding with him in the copse of umbral trees at the outskirts of the stand. "I'm trying. You should have enough for awhile, shouldn't you? I've had to spend a lot of time with Francine lately."

  "I'm running low," Sanford lied. "I didn't want to worry you. I appreciate everything you've done, Julie. Rats invaded my stores. I barely have enough food left for the week." And, as if it occurred to him in an afterthought, "Why don't you see if that little girl you're always mentioning can stay with Francine? She has an older brother, doesn't she? They should be fine alone for a few hours."

  "I suppose," Julie Allen said, sounding unsure. "Watch out for rats in the future, alright? I'll bring you some traps and rat poison when I buy the food. I can't always do this, though. It's hard enough to sneak here when you send notes. It takes a lot of planning, you know? Just be more careful in the future."

  They set a date for delivery.

  The night Rei, Francine, and Lancer were alone in the Allen household, Sanford snuck through the village at dusk and waited outside the house, peeking in the windows. When Rei went to the kitchen, he crept to the window above the sink(always open, he knew, since this was how he delivered notes). The little girl put water on to boil, then came to the cupboards to grab cups and cookies. Without hesitation, Sanford snatched her shoulders and swept her outside.

  She screamed, one scream, too many screams.

  "Shh," he said, placing a sleeping tonic into her open mouth. "I won't hurt you. Quiet now. I've heard you're a good girl and I want to give you a gift."

  She was sleeping before he finished speaking, but it was better that way.

  Bonus Content: Meeting with Mr. Ellis

  Rei approached the Ellis home a little wary. She liked Jaylee and Jared and Mrs. Ellis, but Mr. Ellis could be bizarre. He tinkered with sphereshifted contraptions meant to enhance and improve a person's sphereshifting, which was all well and good, except he rambled and rambled and rambled. Rei loved to learn, it was her favorite thing in the world, but Mr. Ellis talked about so much and nothing at all and it confused her.

  Also, she worried what he'd say if he saw her in her transformed state. She didn't want to be a doll by any means, but was learning to live with it. The clacking of her feet against hard surfaces if she wore no shoes, the weird way her eyelids shut, and the difficulty she had in lifting and using everyday objects. It wasn't the best situation ever, but until her parents came home, or she talked with Kanin, or something, she was stuck this way.

  The problem being, she expected Mr. Ellis to find it amazing. He loved that stuff, and adding to it, and Rei didn't really want to be thought of as a thing to be added upon. She just wanted to ask him if he'd take her and Lancer to Garde, which is what she was pretty sure Lancer would want to do any time now. Tonight maybe. If he didn't mention it himself, she'd bring it up; he was difficult like that.

  Mr. Ellis tumbled out of the workshop beside his house, wicked fumes pouring forth from something or other. "Jared! Get the--" He saw Rei and stopped.

  She waved meekly. "Hello, Mr. Ellis."

  "Hey there, Rei. Heard you had a mishap. Everything alright?"

  "It's hard to get used to, but I'm working on it," she said.

  The wrong thing to say, she realized in a second. "True, true. Come on over. I'll see what I can do. Shouldn't be difficult. Some fine tuning, set the sockets right, and you'll be good as new."

  Without waiting for her to agree, he dragged her into his workshop and sat her on a stool.

  "I don't think--" she started to say, but he interrupted her.

  "The most important thing about sockets is to keep them well oiled. Otherwise the joints will become stiff. For wood, I'd suggest mineral oil. Not too much, but a little squirt for each joint and--" He picked up an oil container with a tube on the end. Taking her hand in his, he squirted out a dollop around the knuckles and joints. He repeated this with the other hand.

  "I think I'm alright," she said, but he ignored her.

  "Here, take this towel and rub the oil in. Move your fingers around so it spreads."

  She took the towel he offered. And next, giving her the oil container so she could grease her knees and ankles, then elbows, wrists, and shoulders, he smiled.

  "You can keep that one," he said. "I'd say use the oil once a week about, or as needed. Whenever you're feeling stiff, really."

  Rei didn't think she'd been feeling stiff, but with her newly oiled joints she felt a range of motion she hadn't had since before her kidnapping. Her skin still felt weird and she couldn't feel everything she touched, but she could move! That was nice, good range of movement. She'd never really noticed it before, taken it for granted until she lost it. Maybe this was how old people felt, she thought.

  "Thank you, Mr. Ellis," she said.

  "Now that that's out of the way, how about some adjustments?" he said, a peculiar gleam in his eyes. "I bet we could attach skates to your feet with a fire sphereshift propulsion system. Talk about fast! Whoa, baby!"

  Rei stood up and backed away towards the entrance of the workshop.

  "No? I could manufacture wings. Use a pulley system and retraction mechanism so you can fold them on your back when they aren't in use. With practice you could use an air sphereshift and fly off the ground. More like glide, but who cares? Close enough."

  Rei kept backing away.

  "Not a fan? How about--"

  Jaylee came to the front of the workshop just then. "Jared's busy, daddy." She saw Rei. "Oh, hi, Rei." Then she saw the look on her father's face, a thirst for technological advance. "Go away, daddy! You're scaring her. Don't you even think about putting your crazy gadgets on Rei."

  Mr. Ellis frowned. "Fiinnee," he said with a sigh. "How about you girls go see what your mother has baking and I'll tag along in a minute. You came to talk about something I'm guessing, right Rei?"

  Rei nodded. "Yes, Mr. Ellis."

  "Sorry if I scared you. I got a little carried away."

  "It's alright."

  Once inside, Mrs. Ellis fed them cookies and milk. While they waited, Rei explained what she needed and why her and Lancer had to travel to Garde. By the time Mr. Ellis arrived, he had no chance.

  Mrs. Ellis was even scarier than Mr. Ellis, and she made it clear that he would help Rei and Lancer out.

  Or else.

  The End

  ...or is it?

  As you may have noticed, the story does not definitively end. Indeed, it continues on. There will be more eBook versions to come later(or perhaps by the time you're reading this they're already out?), but this is the end of this particular one. What you've read here consists of three months of work, starting from January 1st, 2012 to approximately March 30th, 2012, or rather the first quarter of 2012 if you prefer to think of it that way.

  If you absolutely must know what happens next(why wouldn't you?), then please head to my website( https://sphereshifters.com/ ). The next story section is titled "Land's Edge" and will continue where "Slagrock Funeral Ceremony" left off. I hope you've enjoyed everything so far, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy it in the future(whether through subsequent eBooks or reading straight from the website).

  Thank you so much for reading this!

  As a final addition, I'd like to put some credits in here, along with a few dedications/inspirations.

  The writing and editing was all done by me, Josh Lemay. I even painstakingly formatted this eBook.

  The cover art for the chapbook and eBook versions, plus the logo for the website, was done by Stephanie Rowley. You may check out more of her art here https://anancientfromafar.deviantart.com/ or https://www.wix.com/arienmarionette/srportfolio#!

  I'd also like to thank a few people.

  Jessica Lavoie - I appreciate everything you've done for me. We'
ve been friends for something like 10 years now, and you really are my best friend. I appreciate how you never sugarcoat anything with me, and you tell me if something I'm thinking of doing is dumb, or if you don't like something. Sometimes I do it anyways, but you really help keep me grounded so I don't lose myself in capricious thoughts. I know you don't like this kind of stuff, but I hope some day you'll read it.

  Linda and Jerry Spindel - You've both done so much for me, I can't even begin to express my gratitude. Jerry, you always give great advice, and I'm really grateful for it. Linda, you've read at least a part of most of what I've written and told me what you felt about it, and you always listen to my dumb ideas(even the really dumb ones I know are dumb) and have something insightful to say about them. You're both like a second family to me. Thank you.

  Kevin McCarthy, Jay Guida, and Tyler Linn - You all offer me some weird, interesting takes on so many things, that it makes me think and puts me outside of my usual mindset sometimes. That's helped me a lot, though. I think some of my best writing is based on insights or interactions with you three.

  Stephanie Rowley - You were so easy to work with when doing the cover and logo design for Sphereshifters. I don't have a ton of experience commissioning artwork, but you were by far the easiest person to work with that I've ever experienced. Not only that, but you provided so much useful advice, sketches, and everything that I feel like I was kind of spoiled throughout that whole process. I was excited about Sphereshifters to begin with, but