The Magic Factory

Suddenly, Oliver slammed into Ralph’s backside. He’d stopped crawling and was positioning himself so he was sitting on his backside.

“This is the fun part,” Ralph told him. “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Oliver asked.

But it was too late. Suddenly, Ralph tumbled forward and disappeared.

With a shocked gasp, Oliver scrambled to the place he’d last been. He saw a square opening, no bigger than the end of an air vent. It was covered in a sort of net, like thick spider web. Inside the vent it was pitch-black.

“Ralph!” Oliver yelled, panicking. “Ralph, where are you? Are you okay? Ralph! Answer me!”

There was a moment of silence before Ralph’s disembodied reply came from somewhere in the darkness. “Come on!” He sounded as if he was calling from somewhere very far away.

Oliver let out a breath of relief. At least Ralph was okay; he hadn’t just plunged into oblivion.

“Where are you?” Oliver called back. “I can’t see anything.”

“It’s a slide,” Ralph’s voice called, weaker from being even farther away.

A slide?

“There’s a net in the way,” Oliver shouted into the abyss.

He heard Ralph’s faint reply. “It’s just another illusion…”

Then there was silence.

Tentatively, Oliver reached his hand forward, expecting to feel the sensation of thread against his skin. But sure enough, he felt nothing. His hand passed straight through the “net” without resistance. It really was another illusion.

Oliver knew there was only one option. He had to follow Ralph. But leaping into the unknown was easier said than done.

He took a deep breath and steadied his nerves. He had done harder things in his life, after all, like walking into classrooms as the new boy, under the prying eyes of kids who judged him. This was nothing in comparison.

Oliver squeezed his eyes shut and, from his seated position, pushed himself over the edge.

His stomach flipped as he plummeted. Then he was soaring along the smooth slide. It was very fast and very twisty, like a waterslide in a theme park. He went so fast he could feel the wind rushing past his ears. If he hadn’t been so shocked by everything, he might even have enjoyed it.

Then all at once, Oliver landed on something soft. He opened his eyes. He was in a brightly lit space, lying on his back, bouncing up and down gently on a trampoline.

Oliver touched his body, almost surprised to find himself still in one piece. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the light.

Then suddenly, Ralph’s face appeared above him, grinning widely. Oliver was relieved to see him again.

But Ralph left Oliver no time to catch his breath. He dragged him unceremoniously off the trampoline by the arms. Oliver landed, panting, on hard floorboards.

He looked up and discovered they were on a kind of wooden walkway. It ran all around the inside perimeter of the room, with the central area completely open. A glass barrier provided protection from what looked like a very large drop.

“Oliver Blue,” Ralph said, “welcome to the School for Seers.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Standing beside the glass barrier, Oliver peered down into the belly of the School for Seers. The sight was astounding.

It went down at least forty floors and looked like a sprawling, modern university. Spanning the gap of the central atrium were a series of crisscrossing walkways and upon them walked students, with books in their arms and grins on their faces. There were so many of them. So many kids just like Oliver himself.

He watched, wide-eyed, as all the students rushed around, hurrying to their next classes. They seemed to be moving very fast, as if someone had sped them up. Oliver suddenly realized that all the walkways were conveyor belts.

As soon as people disappeared through the doors coming off the walkways, another door would open and a whole new load of students would file out, hurrying off in different directions, speeding along the conveyor belts.

There was something hypnotic about the view. It was like looking down upon a colony of ants; everyone with a place to be, everyone hurrying, and yet everything working in complete synchronicity.

It was almost too much to take in, and everything was far more modern than Oliver had expected. He noticed a huge tropical tree far, far below him, so far that even its tallest branches couldn’t reach them.

“This is amazing,” Oliver gasped.

“Just wait until I show you the rest,” Ralph said with a grin. “I have enough time to give you a quick tour before dinner.”

They headed along the walkway, Oliver glancing all around him, taking in the sights of the unfamiliar place. He felt as if his head was spinning.

“Professor Amethyst is the headmaster,” Ralph said over his shoulder. “His office is up here on the top floor. You’ll get to meet him eventually but he’s often in another dimension.”

They headed for an elevator, which was made of glass, and got inside. Oliver noticed all the floor numbers had a negative sign proceeding them. The entire school was underground, he noted, though it would be impossible to guess since the ceiling looked exactly like a skylight letting in real light, and the whole place was so bright, the air so fresh, that it was almost impossible to believe it was synthetic light or air conditioning.

“Professor Amethyst doesn’t teach any classes,” Ralph continued as the elevator doors closed. “We have tutors instead. Three main ones: Doctor Ziblatt, Mr. Lazzarato, and Coach Finkle.”

Ralph hit the button for the ground floor and the elevator suddenly plummeted, uncomfortably quickly. Oliver grabbed the handrail, his stomach flipping. Through the glass windows he saw all the different floors whizzing by.

“You get used to the speed,” Ralph laughed, raising his voice to be heard over the whooshing wind. “With a place this big, it’s important to get around quickly. Which is ironic now I think about it, since the school exists outside of time.”

Oliver felt too nauseous to even question what Ralph had just said. He decided he was just going to have to accept all the weird goings-on. There’d be time to process everything later. Hopefully.

They reached the final floor, -50, and the doors of the elevator opened. Oliver’s legs wobbled as he exited. He felt like he’d just been on a rollercoaster.

Down in the belly of the building, Oliver could really feel the hubbub, a sort of pulsing sensation as though the place were alive and breathing. Here he could smell the amazing scent of fresh vegetation, and he recognized the central tree was a kapok, one of the most enormous breeds of tree on the planet. Usually they’d be found in rainforests, but this one seemed to be thriving in its very own ecosystem. Its trunk was so thick it would take ten people with linked arms to encircle it, and its buttress roots coiled and snaked across the ground. It had millions of limbs holding up the various walkways of the atrium.

Looking up from below was quite a different experience, because now the ceiling was so far away it looked like nothing more than a slit of light. Yet, still, the whole place was bright with what felt in every sense like real daylight.

“How is it so bright down here?” Oliver asked, curiously.

“Something to do with mirrors,” Ralph explained. “Someone told me on my first day but I didn’t quite understand. Apparently if you angle mirrors you can create light…”

“Like with a periscope,” Oliver added. He, of course, knew all about periscopes from his inventors book, not to mention from his task redesigning the one on the tank in the factory.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Ralph nodded in affirmation. “You’re pretty smart for a, what, twelve-year-old?”

“Eleven,” Oliver corrected. He wondered again how old Ralph was. He was tall and his confidence certainly made him seem older. “What about you?”

“I’m thirteen,” Ralph said. “But I’m a first-year like you. We don’t train according to our age. Most the students here are somewhere between ten and sixteen. It all depends on when Professor Amethyst finds out about their existence and calls for them. I guess it’s very complicated following the thread of a single person when there are numerous timelines and countless dimensions.” He gave another nonchalant shrug. “Anyway, come this way. I want you to see the fun stuff, not just the place where all the classrooms are.”