Beyond: Snillotia Trilogy Book One by Donna Wagner (books you have to read TXT) 📕

Slowly, her gaze left Goldie and she focused on Tim. “Are you afraid of dogs, Myra?”

She nodded and whimpered slightly. Tim glanced behind him to see that Anna had scooped Goldie up and was holding her tightly. “Myra, I need you to relax,” Tim said, as he touched her arm, “I know she looks like a dog, but she isn’t. That’s Goldie. She’s the gup who’s been helping us. She won’t hurt you.”

Tim sent all the calming thoughts he could think of to Myra. It seemed to help. He released the energy that was stopping Adam from moving. “Adam, you can come over here now.”

Realizing he could move again, Adam looked at Goldie, first, unsure, then went and stood next to his wife. Once he was sure she was okay, he looked at Tim. “You’ve been keeping things from me, Tim. I know you said you’d gained control of your powers and you even told us some of what you did in the time you’d been gone to protect yourself from Ronnoc, but this is more than I’d imagined. I have the feeling this is barely scratching the surface, though,” he gave a short laugh, “Am I right?”

Tim nodded, slightly. “Anna is going to come over with Goldie. She is nothing to be afraid of,” he said to Myra.

Anna walked over. Tim could see that Myra tensed, but she didn’t move away. “Goldie, this is Adam and Myra. I’m sorry for their reaction to you. I’m not sure if you know this, but you resemble an animal we have here in this world. A dog, if you know what that is- a pug dog, to be exact.”

Goldie looked at Tim for a moment, but stayed silent. Her little face scrunched up and she let out a quick bark. Myra jumped, but didn’t run away. Goldie started wiggled in Anna’s arms so much that Anna put her down. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she took off back inside the house. Everyone followed right behind her- Tim and Anna because they were concerned something was wrong, but Adam and Myra because they didn’t want a dog alone in their house and they still didn’t believe she wasn’t just a dog.

When they reached the kitchen, the new door was standing open. Tim and Anna quickly walked through, by Myra and Adam hesitated in the doorway. “Do not be afraid, new friends. Come in.”

They both jumped, surprised to hear a voice that was both old and young at the same time and seemed to fill the room in front of them. They entered the room and saw Tim and Anna with looks of relief on their faces. “I am sorry I scared you.”

Myra realized first that it was the dog talking. She let out a gasp as she stared at the dog. She couldn’t tell if this frightened her more or less. Adam caught on soon enough and put his arm around his wife, sensing her conflicting feelings. “Tim, this world interferes with my magic. When I spoke to you outside, you could not hear me. I went outside to see how the addition of these rooms had affected the area outside the house. I only meant to make it look like it belonged there. However, I could not. Not while I was outside. It did not work.”

“You talk.”

It was the first words that Myra had spoken since she’d raced off to check on her flowers. Goldie turned to her. “Yes, in a way. I can communicate with you. I could not outside. You could not hear me. I could not fix your garden, as you call it. One moment.”

Goldie closed her eyes and went completely still. Suddenly, windows appeared in the room they were standing in. “There we are. Now the addition looks more natural from the outside. You may look out the window and see.”

Tim and Anna went to the new window. The back yard looked freshly landscaped. New flowers had appeared, and the garden looked beautiful. “Wow,” Myra whispered.

She turned back towards Goldie and hesitantly held out her hand. Goldie came over and let Myra pat her head. “I guess you really aren’t a normal dog.”

“I am not. I do know of what you call a dog, however. I am sorry they scare you. I did not think they were scary animals. I know about pugs especially, and now that I have experienced this world outside, I understand even more than I did before. That is a story for another time, however.”

Adam had figured it out for himself. “Pugs are, um, gups. They came from your world, but they don’t have magic here. It doesn’t work.”

Goldie looked at Adam, curiously. “Yes. That is a simplified version of it.”

“How did you just do all that then?” Adam asked her, gesturing to the window and beyond.

“This room is still tied to Snillotia. It is a copy of the room there in storage. The only way the connection would be broken is if I were to leave the room in this world and the door would be shut. I left the door upstairs opened when I first ventured outside.”

“Hey! I found them!”

Everyone turned and looked at the doorway. Retep stood there, looking behind him. Silently, everyone filed into the room. It was slightly cramped with so many people in the room, but it was a pretty large space. After introductions were made and everyone was caught up to speed, sleeping arrangements were decided. Tim’s grandparents and Retep were staying in the rooms upstairs. Anna’s parents and grandparents would be in the rooms downstairs.

“Um, not to be rude, but do these rooms you’ve brought have bathrooms? I only ask, because we only have one upstairs and a half bath down here.”

“Yes, I included them. I will add one more thing,” Goldie said, closing her eyes.

In the corner of the room a spiral staircase materialized out of thin air. Adam just shook his head, clearly still