yellow poles with thick foliage mushrooming out at the tops. From their underside the leaves were deep green, with a thin, white cotton-like puff at each tip. A few of the white puffs had ruptured, and blue bell-shaped blooms hung from them. The leaves were translucent, like stained glass, allowing the sun to radiate through to the forest floor. Each tree trunk was waxy smooth to the very top where the umbrella-like greenery intertwined with neighboring trees.
The circular meadow, just a few yards in diameter was the only place where unfiltered light touched the ground. It was only here that the moss grew. It stopped at the very edge of the woodland shade. Scattered clumps of dwarf purple bushes ringed many of the trees. They were loaded with plump, lavender berries that emitted a sweet, inviting fragrance. When his empty stomach rumbled, John wondered if they were edible. Squinting up at the sky, he thought the sun seemed normal enough, but seeing a second, enormous celestial orb at mid-day gave him quite a shock. A huge, gaseous ball shimmered green and purple in the blue sky.
Gaylee groaned. Her eyes fluttered open. She brought up a trembling hand to rub her head.
“How are you feeling?” John helped her to a sitting position.
“I hate this form of travel,” she moaned and massaged her shoulder. “Any sign of Jessica?”
“No sign of anyone. This moss doesn’t hold a shape. So where do we start?” He wanted to go.
“Oh…I’m dizzy.” She lay back down and closed her eyes. “Let me rest, just a little longer.” She made a slight smile. “So I’m not as crazy as you thought, am I?”
John grunted and idly pulled at the moss. “Did Shallenon know?”
“That she wasn’t from Earth? Yes. She eventually figured it out. I tried to raise her as a normal earthling, but her link to this place, especially to her brother, was too great to be dismissed. She dreamed about him a lot more regularly than Jessica does…did. Their dreams began at about the same age, ten.” Gaylee opened her eyes and turned her head toward John. “You need to understand,” she said emphatically, “that it wasn’t my decision to keep this from you, it was Shallenon’s. From the moment she met you, she wanted you to think her a normal woman, and she desperately wanted Jessica to have a normal life. Think about it John, I’m an extra-terrestrial, so was Shallenon. Do I need to say more? She wanted it left alone.”
John shook his head. “I knew there was more to your history than you ever divulged, but I’d always thought it had happened in Soviet-occupied Poland.”
“When we came to earth through the spiral—it’s called a spiral transhifter— we landed right in Jacob and Sophia’s living room. I’d broken several bones on landing. Luckily, Shallenon was unhurt. Anyone else would have turned us into the authorities, but Sophia had lost her brothers, sisters, and everyone she had loved. She needed someone to care for…someone to love, and she took us in. Jacob went along with it.”
John stood up and stretched. His headache was finally at a low throb and he was anxious to begin his search for Jessica.
“John, I know you’re worried about Jess, so am I, but really, I need just a little more time to rest, or you’ll be carrying me the whole way. Besides, I need to tell you about the two other dreams that Jessica had.” Gaylee briefly related the first mist experience confirming Haesom’s death to Larone and the second one detailing the spiral plans. “You’re not going to like this, but I don’t believe my uncle Larone induced either one of these visions. I think Jessica brought them on by herself.”
John listened to his mother-in-law in bewildered silence, not knowing what to make of her stories, but this last statement brought his irritation to the surface. “What do you mean?” He stared down at