The Celestial Gate by Avital Dicker (red white royal blue txt) 📗

They started climbing the mountain, Rae flitting in the air around them. White clouds surrounded them and the air grew increasingly cooler. The slope was getting steeper by the minute. Anise’s breathing was heaving with the effort, and they weren’t even halfway up.

It was difficult to find a handhold on the steep, rocky hillside. After several attempts, Yam finally managed to hold onto a rock and was pulling himself up, step by step. Then, all of a sudden, Anise heard the flapping of wings. She turned her head and, seeing a green bird with a trunk, she lost her balance. The rope was stretched as far as it would go and Anise found herself dangling in the air.

Yam used every muscle in his body to hold onto a protrusion from the rock, but Anise’s weight was pulling down the two boys tied to her. Anise swung in the air, looking for something to grab, when the old Native American reappeared. He held his hand out to her. Anise stared, not certain whether or not she was hallucinating. Just then, Yam yelled at her from above, “Grab the branch.” She swung her body as hard as she could, gathering momentum, until she finally took hold of the branch and pulled herself back to the mountainside. From her safe spot, Anise looked behind her. But, just as before, the old msn had disappeared.

“Hey, did you guys see him?” she asked the boys.

“See who?” Yam asked from above.

Why was she the only one to see the old man, she wondered. Rae landed next to her. Gratefully, Anise clung to Rae, and the two continued to climb the steep mountainside together.

Yam was the first to reach the path where it leveled off into a very narrow stone shelf. It was almost completely devoid of vegetation. Yam carefully paced it off, step by step, finally tying the rope to the only bush he could find. Then he started pulling Mor and Anise upwards.

By now, all four were exhausted. They sat down on the small shelf and looked down at the valley below. A very parched Rae broke off a piece of cloud and licked it thirstily. Anise and Yam followed suit.

Mor hesitated. The effect of that odd fruit hadn’t entirely passed, so he took just a tiny piece and, before having any more, he waited a few moments to make sure nothing weird was happening to him. “This business with food – it’s really cool,” he said once he felt safe, quickly gobbling up some more pieces.

“I wonder if Enochio has woken up yet,” Yam mused.

“I really hope he’s still asleep because we haven’t come to the half-way mark yet,” said Mor, putting on his sweatshirt. A light rain had started falling without any prior warning. Anise gathered her hair into a ponytail so that it wouldn’t whip around in the wind that was starting to blow.

“I think we should wait until the rain stops,” said Anise, watching a sudden gust of wind plucking off the only bush on the shelf, to which the rope was still tied. The loose rope was now waving in the wind. Yam managed to grab it at the last second and looked at Rae, who was staring ahead at something. For the first time since they’d met her, she looked absolutely petrified.

Suddenly, they were deep in the sound of loud, flapping wings, and dark shadows were coming from the air and down the mountain. They were everywhere, leaving no opening for escape. The Orphils surrounded them on every side, hundreds of them circling above in a tight ring. Some were holding black crop-like straps that, when swung, emitted red rays. Another Orphil group was pointing long, strange-looking weapons at them.

Five or so of the dreaded creatures jumped down on the narrow shelf and were closing in on the four friends with a roar. Anise could actually feel one of them breathing in her face. Its three eyes glittered with hatred from behind its black mask, and the Orphil continued beating its four wings with menace.

“I thought Enochio said they’re not allowed to fly,” Mor cried, trying to outshout the wind.

“They don’t seem to have heard that one,” Yam cried back and aimed a determined fist directly into an Orphil’s face. The creature roared and whipped its strap around, shooting red sparks in every direction.

The wind seemed to be focusing on Anise, swirling around her body, making it hard for her to stay upright. Two Orphils looped their straps around Rae, who screeched with terror. Mor whacked an Orphil on the back with his backpack, but the wind caused him to stagger backward. Sand flew into his eyes and he fell down, unconscious.

Anise lost all sense of time. The wind sucked all the air from her lungs, then lifted her in the air, flipped her upside-down, and shook her like a ragdoll. The mountain disappeared from view and through the dust she thought she could see clouds. Falling fast, her body hit the water with a sickening thud and she went deep. Not again…, she thought. But now, the rope around her waist twisted around her feet. She tried to free herself but, having no air left, she stopped fighting and started to sink. At the last moment, strong arms gripped her. Yam unwound the rope around her legs and pulled her to the surface where Anise greedily gulped at the air.

Mor, carrying a semi-conscious Rae on his back, was climbing the bank. He lay Rae down on the cool ground and felt her clothing, which remarkably had stayed dry. I don’t understand anything anymore, he thought. Nothing makes any sense here. He looked at the large lake, into which dozens of steaming waterfalls emptied, and the black basalt cliffs surrounding them on every side. He was unable to see the sky. “I think we’re inside the mountain,” he said.

Anise coughed up some water and, exhausted, leaned against the black