Thoughts of Aqualor
Drew is sitting in the front seat of his mother’s car with the window wound down as she drives him home from school along the road by the sea. His eyes are closed. He draws in a deep breath and releases it slowly. The familiar salty sea air fills his nostrils. He loves the sea breeze, the warm sweet scent, the way it feels like feathers brushing across his cheeks, the calm and peaceful feeling it brings.
His eyes slowly open as his mom asks, “What do you think, Drew? Alexia asked you a question.”
His sister Alexia is in the backseat. She has been talking excitedly about a science project she wants to do for this year’s science assignment. Her teacher had discussed the concept of time and how it works in class, and Alexia decided she wanted to expand her science project to the concept of the possibility of time travel.
“I’ve been talking to you and you haven’t said anything,” Alexia pouts.
“I’m sorry, Lexi,” he turns to look at her and smiles. “I was in my own thoughts.”
“Yes, I can tell. Well, as I was saying,” she shifts in her seat, “I want to look at time and the possibility of time travel
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and...” She pauses to look at Drew, her brown almond-shaped eyes bright and curious. She has a small wrinkle in her brow as if she’s considering something, and her lips are slightly parted. Her hands are folded in her lap as she leans forward slightly, “Are you listening?”
“Yes,” Drew’s expression softens, his eyes twinkling. His lips curl into a gentle smile and he nods before turning back to continue staring out the window. His voice is kind and caring, carrying a warmth that reassures her.
Alexia’s bronzed cheeks flush a rosy hue and her eyes brighten with excitement. Her hands curl into fists in delight. She leans in closer still. The small wrinkle in her brow fades away and a soft smile graces her face.
“As I was saying, I want to look at time travel and worm- holes, black holes, warp speed, and things like that...Oh and, also, how gravity and the distance from the sun affect time. I’ve been researching and thinking about this for quite a while now,” Alexia’s words are animated, spilling out of her mouth in a flurry of excitement and enthusiasm. Her voice bounces around the car like a wave of energy, its tones rising and fall- ing like the tide.
As Alexia talks, her hands reach out to touch the car window, tracing shapes in the glass as if they are trying to bring the concepts she is discussing into reality. She hesitates then asks, “What do you think about that?”
“That sounds pretty cool, since I’m pretty sure what we did was time travel,” Drew’s face lights up with a warm, wide grin. He turns his head to fully meet her gaze again, his eyes gleaming with amusement. He smiles a half smile, with slight tension at the corners of his mouth.
It had been a year now since Chasqua, a beastly tyrant, had taken Drew through the portal from the island in the lake
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behind their home to a fantastical world called Aqualor. Since returning home, he and Alexia had scoured the island many times, looking for an opening back to Aqualor but had no luck finding it.
Maria sees the familiar lines of deep thought across her son’s forehead and decides to draw his attention back to their world. She is sure he’s thinking of his friends in Aqualor. She knows it’s just time before he shares today’s thoughts of their adventure. Drew’s mind races with memories of Aqualor— the towering trees with hollow trunks leading to the Arvak Kingdom below; the harmony-loving silky haired Arvaks; and, Chasqua’s henchmen—the huge Lamera who terrorize other inhabitants in Aqualor.
Drew feels a bout of anxiety welling up within him and squeezes his hands together as he remembers the day they saved a young Arvak named Sashi from a cavernous cell in Chasqua’s headquarters. He shakes the thought from his mind’s eye.
“I can still see the dark cave, the surrounding chilly wa- ters, the high walls that Mom tried to climb but fell and hurt her ankle.” He remembers his mom’s response as she wept at the prospect of losing Drew. “I know you and Trev thought I was dead when you found me in that cave. That was scary, for sure.” Drew wipes an imaginary bead of sweat from his forehead and continues, “I’m glad you guys found me and that we got out of there before Chasqua came back. I hate to imagine what he would have done to me. What a miserable bully of a creature!” Drew ex- claims as he remembers Chasqua, the tyrannical beast of Aqua- lor, who is at least fifteen feet tall. A maniacal and monstrous creature, he kept his tribe under strict control and caused neigh- boring communities to leave their homes—the Arvaks moved underground and the Winged-Groshin left to live on another island—in order to have some semblance of freedom and peace.
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The Lamera reminded Drew of some kind of hybrid of ape and iguana. Their huge oval-shaped heads topped by a brown- colored mane of hair leading down the middle of their backs like a horse’s mane that has been cut to stand up straight. Their bodies covered with blond-colored fine short strands of hair, much like a Labrador’s coat, a long iguana-like tail that trails at least six feet behind them, and their facial features like an ape’s, with huge orange and yellow eyes.
“That was terrifying,” Maria says, remembering the expe- rience like it was yesterday. The thought of it still brings shivers down her spine and tears to her eyes. “It definitely brought us all closer together though.” She winks at Drew, choking back tears, before turning her eyes back to the road.
“Yeah, it sure did.” He turns and winks at Alexia and says, “It was a wild journey, wasn’t it?” Just as quickly as the stress lines appeared across his forehead, his face lit up. “What an amazing adventure! I learned so much about so many things, especially how to control my anger.” He hesitates and then smiles. “I’m happy we made it through all the drama and that Chasqua was finally locked up. But I wish we could find a way back to Aqualor and see how things are going. I keep wonder- ing if the Arvaks, Winged-Groshin and Lamera finally became the united community they wanted.” He turns and stares out of his window. “I hope so.”
“It feels like ages ago now,” Drew sighs. His warm brown eyes are wide with thoughts that he can barely contain. His lips press tightly together in a thin line, a sign of his concentration as he thinks of his friends whom he had left in Aqualor.
However, a small smile still plays around the corners of his mouth, showing that Drew has hope that he will one day reunite with them. He has a feeling in the pit of his gut that he and Alexia are getting close to finding a way back, even though
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he knows Nadya had explained that she’d probably have to create a blast with their bombs to open the portal again.
These thoughts of Aqualor are pulling him deeper and deeper back into that world, giving him a feeling of being there. Drew feels a calling, a yearning he cannot explain, telling him he must return to the island behind his home again today. He has to figure out a way to return to Aqualor. He has made up his mind.
“I really miss them all. I hope they’re safe,” he exhales. His mind lingers on Nadya. He smiles, thinking about her. It would be nice to see her again. He remembers the first time they met. She had caught him and Trev off-guard as they explored the Arvak village, curious about their technology. Nadya knew they were up to something and insisted they go to the Arvak school with her. She amused him with her fiery personality, but she was not amused by him. She was very serious at first but soon they became close friends. Drew really admired her brilliance and sense of humor. He smiles at the memory of Nadya. He had liked her immediately.
Alexia inspects his face and then says, “Me too.” She is sure he is dwelling on Nadya but doesn’t say anything. Instead, she sits forward in her seat and cries, “I wish I could go for a ride on Zelinda’s back right now.”
The seat vibrates with each word that Alexia says. Drew begins to realize that he is connected to something greater than himself and the world in which he lives, leading him to imag- ine all the possibilities of time travel.
Maria listens quietly to her children, a gentle smile play- ing across her lips. She is an attractive woman with an athletic build. A smooth bronze face framed by shoulder-length bru- nette hair kept back from her face to combat the heat of the island. Her kind and caring hazel eyes betray her sweet nature.
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Maria is an involved mother and the children adore and trust her emphatically. She and her husband, Frank, a darkly handsome man, have a strong relationship that has helped their children feel safe and loved. He regularly affirms Maria’s guidance and care of the children and tells her he can tell how much they have learned about life from watching her.
Maria casts an attentive ear towards Drew as he speaks his thoughts out loud. Since the family’s return from Aqualor, she has seen a change in him. He appears deeply reflective and has become more worrisome and anxious. He has adopted a new role of protector for Alexia, and while Maria admires his helpfulness, she worries it might get too overwhelming and impede Alexia’s own independence in tackling life’s challenges. It’s almost like he’s afraid something might happen to her if he isn’t there to guard her. To help him stay grounded, Maria has been gently leading Drew away from trying to control every situation.
“Sometimes I wake up wondering if Aqualor really hap- pened,” Drew says as he peers out the window. “But I also feel like that wasn’t the end of it somehow.” He sighs.
There is a hush in the car as Drew looks out the window, trees whizzing by like a streak of green paint against the back- drop of an azure sky. The sun’s glare illuminating everything in its path transforms the endless expanse of turquoise sea into a diamond-studded blanket. There is a gentle hum of the car on the road, only broken up by an occasional seagull calling or rustling of leaves. Drew’s soft sigh echoes in the car like a distant whisper.
“What makes you think so?” Maria finally asks, her gentle gaze focusing on Drew’s face before turning her attention back to her driving. She brushes a loose strand of hair away from her face as she waits for Drew’s response.
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Drew’s shoulders rise and fall in a shrug of uncertainty as he turns and looks at his mother. His lips part slightly, and then he looks away, displaying unspoken thoughts that even he can’t quite express. “I don’t know, I just do,” he says in a whisper, looking out at the sea as if hoping it will give him an answer.
Alexia watches Drew, knowing he’s wishing he could be in Aqualor to help everyone and make sure everything goes smoothly, but she wishes he’d chill a bit and not worry so much about everything.
“Well, I’m up for another adventure whenever you are! I would love to talk with Dayl about time travel. I wonder what he’d say. He’s so smart and knows so much about science. I bet he could help me with my project. Nadya and the others are lucky to have him working with them on their projects.”
She gazes at Drew, eagerly hoping he’d forget his worries and take the bait. As Drew stays silent, Alexia diverts the direc- tion of her conversation back to her science project.
“After going through the passage from here to Aqualor, that made me want to try to figure out what happened. Because if you remember, when we came back it was like we had only been gone for a short while. But in Aqualor, it was longer. It was days. I want to figure it out. What happened? You know?”
“You’re right,” Drew agrees. “You may be the youngest scientist to come up with a new theory,” Drew says. “When you figure it all out, please explain it to me,” he chuckles.
“Me too,” Maria chimes in, happy to feel her son’s gloom- iness disappear.
Alexia continues while looking out of her window. “I looked up time travel. That’s how I found out about worm- holes, black holes and other interesting things in space, but I didn’t see anything about travel to other worlds through the earth. This is why I want to do my science project on the topic.
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Maybe there’s something there and I just haven’t found it. I’m not sure what it is we did, but it wasn’t just time travel. It was something else...like inter-earth travel or...inter-worlds travel. Something like that.” Her voice drifts off a bit and Drew turns to look at her.
“That’s pretty deep, Lexi. What does your teacher think about your project? I’m not sure your class will understand it. I know I don’t and I experienced it,” he queries.
“At first, she thought it was a little much, but I convinced her I’d make it interesting and not too difficult for everyone to understand,” Alexia chuckles. “I told her we had watched a show on TV about traveling to the center of the earth and time travel and this got me interested. She said she knew the show, and she liked my idea. That totally convinced her.” Quickly she adds, “And guess what else?” She hesitates and Drew looks back at her. “John likes the idea too. He’s going to be my partner. He watched the same TV show with his sister, Kerrie, and they really liked it. By the way, Kerrie’s doing much better. She should be able to come back to school next year. I can’t wait to meet her. John says she’s really cool, and smart,” she says, bouncing around in the back seat.
“That’s wonderful news, Lexi. I’m happy to hear that. Our prayers were answered,” Maria says.
“Yeah, that is good news,” Drew agrees.
“I’m not surprised you convinced your teacher,” Drew laughs then quickly adds, “...You know what? I want to help you, now that you’ve got my mind going. Maybe we can try again to find a way back to Aqualor so Dayl and Nadya can help us figure it out. What do you think of that?”
“Sounds good to me. I’m even luckier than Nadya and the others.” A wide smile spreads across her face as Drew agrees to help; she’s overjoyed with his offer.
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“How so?” Maria asks.
“I have Drew with me a lot, helping me. I like that. Even though he can be a bit controlling sometimes,” she says, smil- ing. “And...we do have experience of two different worlds. Also, he’s inquisitive and more curious than he looks, exploring dif- ferent things all the time. That’s important, especially when ex- ploring science and astronomy.” She chuckles away, proudly recalling the word her teacher had used to describe her today— inquisitive. She looked up what the word actually meant and decided she wanted to use it for herself.
“I think it’s a brilliant idea! It’s so good to see how you two have become so close too. There are a lot of siblings that cannot say that.” Maria looks over and smiles at them. As she returns her gaze to the road ahead, she exclaims, “You can go out to the lake once your homework is finished.”
Drew and Alexia both remain fixated on the passing scen- ery outside the car, lost in their own musings.
Maria feels a flutter of warmth and joy in her chest as they drive in comfortable silence along the picturesque road. It is lined with casuarina, palm, bougainvillea and sea grape trees that she has come to love. She notices the silence in the car and glances at Drew whose eyes are now closed, his bronze skin glowing under the sun beaming through the window. His dark brown curls blow softly around his forehead. She smiles and peeks in the rearview mirror at Alexia, who is staring out of the window. Her long locks periodically blow into her face. Long eyelashes accentuate her beautiful eyes that have taken on an air of confidence far beyond their years.
Alexia turns and faces Maria, smiles and then returns her gaze to the view from the window.
Maria feels a swell of pride after listening to their conver- sations with each other. She is thankful that their whirlwind
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adventure to Aqualor—from caves, lagoons and forests to the Winged-Groshin island beaches, filled with ground nests—con- cluded not only safely but was a relatively positive experience coupled with a new understanding of a world outside of their own. She turns her thoughts to their new friends from Aqualor and hopes Drew is wrong.
Drew ponders on Alexia’s plan; it might help them un- derstand how they ended up in Aqualor. His thoughts turn to Chasqua once again and his face cringes at memories of Chasqua’s cruelty. Drew shakes his head to free himself from the pessimism seeping into his thoughts. He pushes away these negative notions and refocuses on positivity. He opens his eyes, just in time to watch his mom turn onto their street right be- side a lake close to their house. Drew stares across the lake, to an island in its center—where everything began...
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