Through the Portal
Chapter 1

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?” a young boy in a gold and red mask called out. He’d set up a crate and was standing on it, doing his best to draw attention to himself within the crowded Asheville streets. Several people turned to look out of curiosity. He rewarded them with a bright smile as he pulled three apples, seemingly out of thin air. “Welcome to the debut performance of the Halfling Brothers: jugglers extraordinaire!” He waved an arm towards a boy who was identical to him in every way, right down to the mask.

The second boy smiled and waved at the crowd. The first boy tossed him an apple and he caught it. The pair began a simple juggling routine and more people turned to watch. As they finished and bowed, the small crowd applauded, mostly out of courtesy to the young boys who hadn’t done anything particularly impressive.

“Thank you and good night,” the first boy called and the pair disappeared into the rapidly dispersing crowd. They made their way into an alley where three other masked children waited.

William, the oldest at seventeen, took off his silver and green mask as he looked at the first boy. “I said to create a distraction, Jake, not put on a show.”

“This was more fun, right, Henry?” He looked at his twin.

Henry shrugged. He’d been as surprised as anyone when his brother jumped up and started shouting, but he preferred not to admit he hadn’t known his twin’s plan. “It was an effective distraction, right?”

“Where did you even replace a crate?” William asked, giving up on his lecture.

Jake gave a mischievous grin. “Performer’s secret.”

“What’s with the ridiculous name,” the older boy wondered, “Are you meant to be hobbits?”

Jake shook his head. “Half-Cherokee, of course.”

“How did we do?” Henry asked.

Each of them wore a backpack and they opened the bags to reveal their earnings. William inspected them, critically. “Not a bad haul.”

While the twins had performed their impromptu show, the rest of the group had snuck behind the crowd and relieved them of a few items.

This was common practice for the children. They would run around in their masks and people just assumed they were having some fun. It wasn’t until well after they had passed that anyone discovered a missing wallet or something having disappeared from a grocery bag. Of course, they never really suspected the group. After all, who would suspect a child?

Meredith, the second oldest at sixteen, pulled up her red mask, which had silver trimming. Her brown hair was pulled away from her face in a messy bun for convenience, but it wasn’t particularly effective in taming the stringy mess. “We could probably make a little more, tonight. The streets are busy and we aren’t likely to be caught.”

William ran a hand through his shaggy, blonde hair, which was in need of a cut. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. It’s better to play it safe.” He looked around, half-expecting them to be caught at any moment.

“Come on, don’t be such a worry wart,” Jake chided, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Yeah, we can do it. It would be better to stock up, a bit, right?” Henry chimed in.

William raised his eyebrows at the boys, knowing one was always likely to agree with the other. Realizing he was already outnumbered, he turned his attention to the smallest of the group, Josie, who was only eight. “What do you think, kiddo?”

Josie peered up at him through a pink mask, covered in glitter. She had dark skin, brown eyes and a mess of curls that wouldn’t be tamed, not that she cared. She thought about the question and shrugged. “I think we can do it, don’t you?”

William sighed as his last hope for an ally vanished. “Well, it seems I am grossly outnumbered.” He pulled his mask back on and retied it. “Let’s go.”

They repacked their bags and he led the group out of the alleyway. They ran around, laughing and playing like regular children, so no one would suspect them. An hour later, he ducked into another alleyway and the others followed closely behind. Once safe, they opened their bags and inspected their loot. William nodded as he looked at it. “Surely, now, you are all satisfied for the night?”

Meredith smiled. “This should last us a few days, at least.” Her hair was falling out of place and she brushed it back with her hand, roughly, trying to regain control.

“Good.” He smiled, as well, glad they weren’t pushing for more. “Let’s head home, then. We need some sleep.” He poked his head out of the alleyway as they closed their bags and looked around. William signaled for the others to follow him out. They had almost made it back to their building when he ran into a cop, literally. William had looked back to make sure everyone was following when he bumped into the officer, making the man spill some coffee he had been about to drink.

William grimaced as the cop swore. “Sorry, officer. I didn’t see you.”

The cop turned to him and his nametag read, “Officer Bradly”. He caught sight of the rest of the group and frowned. “Where are your parents?”

“We were just heading home,” William assured him, trying to move past.

Bradly laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “You kids shouldn’t be out this late on your own. Give me your names and I’ll call your parents to get you.” He pulled out a pen and notepad.

“Oberon,” William replied, quickly.

“Titania,” Meredith added.

“Puck.” Jake suppressed a grin.

“Robin.” Henry frowned at being beaten for Puck, but he knew better than to argue, now.

“Peaseblossom.” Josie’s voice was the most enthusiastic. She grabbed William’s hand, expecting him to protect her if anything went wrong with their game.

The officer stared at them, having failed to write any of that down. “Look, you can tell me your real names and go home with your parents or you can be difficult and I can take you down to the station. Mind you, I’d have to call child services if we went there.”

William frowned, knowing that would be bad for them. He opened his mouth, trying to think of a way to convince the officer to let them go when he heard someone running up to them.

“Help!” a girl cried, rushing to the officer, “That man stole my purse!” She pointed down the sidewalk. “You have to catch him!”

The officer frowned and looked at the children, then back to the hysterical girl. “What did he look like?”

“He was wearing a mask and a black shirt.” She grabbed the officer’s sleeve and looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes. “You have to help me. All my money was in that bag!”

He looked to the group, once more, and sighed. “Which way did he go?” She pointed again and he ran off, much to William’s relief.

William gestured for the group to follow him as he took off his mask. They slipped theirs off and shoved them in their bags as they walked away, all feeling immensely relieved, except Josie, who had never really felt worried. She always had complete faith in William’s ability to protect them.

“Aren’t you going to thank me?” The girl smiled as she caught up with them, no longer showing any sign of concern for her lost purse. “I did just rescue you, after all.” She looked the group over and frowned, briefly.

William looked at her, properly, for the first time. She was young, probably no older than him. She had brown curls that fell over her shoulders and down her back. Her most striking feature was her eyes, which seemed to be impossibly blue. He fumbled for a moment, caught off guard by her sudden mood swing. “Oh…thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the formerly-hysterical girl replied, smiling again, “No man can resist being a hero to a damsel in distress. Some things never change.” She seemed quite pleased with herself. “Now, you can thank me properly by letting me stay the night with you, wherever you are staying.”

William had to admire her tenacity, but he felt uncertain about having a stranger come to their little home. It was a safe place for the group and he didn’t want to put it at risk. “It’s not really much of a place to stay. I’m sure you could replace better arrangements.”

“I am certain I don’t want to do so,” she informed him, “Giving me a roof over my head is the least you can do, don’t you think, Oberon?”

He smiled, unable to help himself. “That’s not really my name, you know.”

“I figured as much,” she admitted, “Even so, I intend to follow you home, whether you allow me to or not.”

William sighed and stopped walking, so he could look at the group. “Consensus?” He rarely made a move without their approval.

Meredith shrugged. “Well, she did rescue us and she seems harmless, enough.” She looked at the girl. “Runaway, I’m guessing.” It seemed the most likely explanation.

“Something like that,” the girl replied, looking to the others for their opinions.

Jake considered her and smiled. “I like this girl. I say we keep her.”

“She’s not a pet,” Henry informed his brother, before looking to William, “But we do owe her. Why not let her stay one night?”

William looked down at Josie, who stood at his side, as always. He hoped she might, at least, agree with him, but the child just grinned up at the older boy. “She seems nice. We should help her.”

The girl gave her a warm smile. “You seem nice, too. Might I say that I love your dress?”

Josie giggled and hid behind William, shyly. He sighed, but managed a smile, not nearly as annoyed as he pretended to be. He didn’t like allowing the stranger into their home, but there was something charming about the girl. She gave off a kind of aura that made it difficult to distrust her.

“Alright, but it’s just for the night, okay?” He looked at the mystery girl, then glanced around, remembering that they were avoiding a police officer. “Now, let’s get out of here before another cop stops us.”

William led the group towards a run-down building on the edge of town. It had once been an apartment building, but the city had sprawled away from it and, before long, the building had lost too much money to be of any use. There were homeless people camping outside because it was too difficult to get in, generally. William led them around the back and knelt down, allowing Josie to climb on his shoulders. He stood, again, and she pulled down an old fire-escape ladder. She scrambled up, easily, and crawled in through a window on the top floor. He stepped back and allowed each of the others to climb up, one at a time. He looked back to the new girl and offered a hand to help her up, but she shook her head.

“I’m in a skirt,” she pointed out. “I’ll not climb ahead of a young man, particularly one I just met.” She waved a finger at him, playfully.

He smiled and shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He climbed the ladder, first, and crawled inside. He leaned out the window to make sure the girl had gotten up alright. As she got close, he held his hand out, again.

This time, she accepted it and smiled as she climbed inside. She looked around the room, which was covered in pillows and books. There were a few hammocks hanging around the place, as well. It was illuminated by candle lanterns, which Meredith had just finished lighting, giving the room a fairytale glow.

William pulled the ladder up, closed the window and turned to the girl. “You never told us your name.”

“You never told me yours,” she countered, turning to face him.

He smiled, deciding it was a fair point. “William.”

“Katherine.” She returned the smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Well, Katherine,” he held out his arms, dramatically, “welcome to our humble abode.”

Everyone fell asleep, quickly, having had an exhausting day. William awoke in the middle of the night and looked around. He didn’t see Katherine lying in the makeshift bed she’d been offered on the floor, so he got up to search for her. He heard someone singing and looked to the window, which was opened. He poked his head out and looked up to where the singing was coming from. He climbed the ladder up to the roof and saw Katherine sitting on the edge and singing as she stared out into the city lights. Her feet were hanging off the side, making her position a little precarious.

Her voice was soft and lilting as she sang what sounded like a lullaby,

“Past trees of old,

There is a place where stars shine gold.

Take my hand.

I’ll lead you to this fairest land.

Over silver streams

You will replace the land of dreams.

So hold my hand.

Tonight, you’ll rest in fairest land.”

He waited until she finished before he spoke. “That’s beautiful. Where did you learn it?” He stood near her, but didn’t dare sit on the ledge as she did.

Her legs hung over a deep drop, but she didn’t appear to be afraid. “Mother taught it to me when I was younger.” Her mind seemed to drift away for a moment.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about your parents,” he assured her, offering a smile. He knew what it felt like to want to avoid discussing family.

“What about your parents?” She turned to look at him. “Don’t any of you have them?”

He shrugged, looking out over the city. “We have different stories about our real parents, but we were in a lousy foster home and we ran away together. We’ve been living on our own since then.”

“That must be difficult,” she commented, “However, I can see that you really care about them. You seem to be a fine leader, William.”

“Most people call me Will,” he told her.

“I shall call you William and nothing else,” she spoke, adamantly, and smiled.

“Suit yourself.” He couldn’t help smiling, in return. “What are you doing out here, anyway? It’s awfully late.”

Katherine shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep. It’s too loud.” She looked around, her eyes going distant. She spoke, but not really to him, “I don’t remember everything being this loud.”

“Have you been away from the city?” he asked, wondering if the place she’d run away from was very far.

“Yes.” She nodded, absently. “I’ve been away for a while. Everything seems very different, now.”

“You can’t have been gone that long,” he commented, once again noting her apparent age, “How old are you, anyway?”

She looked at him and smiled, pulling herself back onto the roof and standing up. “I should get to bed. Good night, William.” She was down the fire escape and back in the building before he could respond.

William smiled as he watched her, intrigued by the girl. He followed her back down to their room, but she had lain down and already seemed to be asleep. He shrugged and climbed into his hammock, closing his eyes and drifting off, as well. That night, he dreamed of golden stars and silver streams.

If only he had known it would be their last night in the apartment, he might not have fallen asleep so quickly.

When next he woke, William found Katherine sitting on the floor with Harry Potter open in her lap. Her eyes were glued to the page. When he got up and walked over, he realized she was on the third one and the other two rested beside her.

He cocked his head. “You didn’t read both of those in one night, did you?”

“I got a little sleep, first.” She never looked up from the book. “These are quite good. I’ve never read anything like it.”

“Fair warning: they get sadder after that one,” he told her.

“That’s okay. I don’t mind sad stories.” She looked at him and smiled. “Life can be sad, too. All that matters is that we make it mean something, right?”

He nodded. “That’s important when it comes to stories, too. Honestly, I like the sad ones, usually. They seem to have the most meaning.”

She looked around the room at the scattered books. “I see you all like your stories.”

“In our defense, a few of these are educational.” Meredith had woken up and listened to a bit of the conversation. She grabbed a textbook and showed it off. “See?”

Katherine smiled at her. “I like the stories, better.” She looked back down at the book in her lap, seeming to read impossibly fast.

“Don’t we all?” Jake was sitting up beside his brother, both of them wide awake, by now. “They’re much more fun to read than stuffy science and math books.”

“Well, you have to be educated if you want to make something of yourselves.” William picked up a different textbook and dropped it in front of the pair. “You might as well get to studying, since you’re up.”

“We haven’t even had breakfast, yet,” Henry whined.

Meredith was near the food stores, so she threw a box of cereal at them. “Eat while you read.” She opened the textbook she was holding and started going over it. She tried hard to be responsible, since she was the second oldest. She wanted the others to respect her as much as they respected William.

Josie rubbed her eyes, having been woken up by the noise. “Can I have a pop tart for breakfast?” She looked to William, hopefully.

He had saved one in his bag, knowing she would want it, so he handed it to her, now. “Here you go, sleepyhead.” He mussed her hair, affectionately.

“No fair!” Jake complained, “Why is she always your favorite?” His tone was more playful that actually agitated. It wasn’t as though he was surprised that William gave Josie preferential treatment. She was the baby of the group and they all treated her like it. She was never bothered about being coddled. It was nice to be cared for, after all.

Katherine smiled at the group, thinking how much they seemed like a real family. However, she frowned as she thought about how young they all were. She pushed that thought aside, knowing she couldn’t let it hold her back from what she had to do. She finished the book she was reading and set it aside, picking up the next one.

William stared at her in disbelief. “Did you really read it that quickly?”

Katherine shrugged, not looking up. “I’m a fast reader.”

“I can see that.” He smiled and left her to it.

For lunch, they had some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches since they had managed to get the ingredients the night before and knew they would expire quickly.

“So did you steal everything here?” Katherine asked, out of the blue. She had finished the series of books and, now, sat with Robin Hood in front of her as she ate.

The group gave each other uncomfortable looks and William spoke up for the group, “We do what we have to in order to survive.” There was a murmur of agreement from the others.

Katherine nodded. “That’s understandable.” She smiled as she looked at them. “You all seem to be very good at surviving. I’m glad.” Her gaze fell back to the story in front of her.

Meredith gave the girl a curious gaze, wondering why it would make her so glad. However, she said nothing on the subject and, instead, looked at William. “We should go back out tonight. There’s a festival downtown, so lots of people will be out.”

He considered the idea, not really sure if it was wise, since they had already gotten enough to last the week. However, the others were looking at him, hopefully, so he nodded. “As long as everyone finishes studying, today, and Josie takes her nap, we can.”

“I will,” Josie assured him, with a smile. She could never stay up with them if she didn’t get her nap in, beforehand.

“Would it be alright if I came with you?” Katherine asked, looking up from her book, again. “I would love to see how you do what you do and I could help you get away, again, if need be.”

William shrugged. “Just be sure you don’t get in our way and it will be fine.” He rather liked the idea of having her as a back-up plan if they got caught, again.

Katherine smiled. “I promise.” She looked around the room, for the first time, having had her nose buried in books for most of the day. She caught sight of some wooden swords in the corner and asked about them.

William smiled and shrugged. “I got ahold of a book on sword-fighting techniques, so we like to fool around, a bit. It’s no big deal.”

She looked at him, her eyes practically shining. “May I see a demonstration?” The thought that they might have some skills with swords made her feel a little better.

“It’s really not that interesting,” William assured her, fearing they may seem foolish.

Jake smiled. “Come now, Will. Let’s not disappoint the lady.” He winked at her and grabbed a sword, holding another one out to William, who smiled.

“Well, if you’re intent on being embarrassed…” He took the sword and set his feet. He lunged and the swords clashed around for a few minutes before he managed to knock Jake’s away and held the sword at his throat.

Jake smiled and held up his hands. “I admit defeat.”

William dropped the weapon to his side and started to walk back over to the food, but Katherine jumped up and grabbed the fallen sword.

“I would like to have a go,” she said, holding it up and facing William.

He gave her a skeptical look. “I wouldn’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll do my best not to let you.” When he hesitated, she cocked her head. “Scared of being beaten by a girl?” The others whistled and cheered, leaving William with little choice.

“Try and keep your guard up,” he told her, taking a stance.

She grinned and held perfectly still, her eyes fixed on him. He lunged and she became a blur of movement. Before he knew what was happening, his sword was on the floor and her point was at his throat. He stared at her with wide eyes, scarcely believing it. The others wore opened-mouthed stares, as well.

Finally, William smiled. “You are very good. I admit defeat.” He wondered where she had learned her technique and made a note to ask her about it, later.

She ran the sword diagonally across her chest in a kind of salute. “I accept your surrender.” She smiled as she set it down.

He looked to the gaping group. “Alright, show’s over. Get back to studying or we’re staying in, tonight.”

They went out a little after eight. Each wore a mask, as before. Katherine was the only person without one, but she wasn’t troubled by the fact. She had no intention of stealing, anyway. Instead, she watched as they slipped their hands into unsuspecting pockets and bags, withdrawing what they would need in order to keep going. She was impressed by their deftness and it made her feel a little more confident about what lay ahead, even if the sword fight had been rather disappointing.

After about an hour, the group gathered in an alley to discuss their loot. Katherine raised her eyebrows as she looked at it. “This is quite a lot.”

William shrugged. “We like to make sure we have some to store away, in case anything happens.”

“It never hurts to be prepared,” Meredith added, her hair falling into her face, as usual. She brushed it away, but it was determined and found its way back to her cheeks and eyes within minutes.

Katherine nodded her agreement and was about to respond when they heard a shout from outside the alleyway. They all turned to look at Officer Bradly, who was coming towards them. They rushed to shove the goods back in their bags and pushed past him.

The officer tried to grab one of the children, but he couldn’t decide which and wound up with only air. That didn’t stop him from chasing them, though. “Stop!” he called out to no avail. In fact, it made them run even faster.

William lifted Josie onto his back, since she couldn’t run fast enough. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace very long while carrying the child, but he hoped he could keep it long enough to get to safety. “This way!”

The others raced after him, knowing they would be in big trouble if they got caught. The last thing a group of runaway foster kids needed was to be turned in to child services, so they put on a burst of speed, not daring to look back.

William quickly started to run out of breath and he looked around for a place to hide. He wondered if they could disappear into one of the shops, but knew that probably wouldn’t work.

“Over here!” Katherine called out. She had dashed ahead and opened a door to an old building. Now, she beckoned them to enter.

Not bothering to think about it, the group rushed in, one after the other. Katherine stepped in and closed the door behind them, breathing a sigh of relief as she looked around.

The others didn’t have quite the same response.