Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath: He’s only eight. “One toy, only one. Which is your favorite?”
“That’s easy,” said Colby. He walked over to his nightstand, taking from it a battered, worn, one-eyed mess of a teddy bear, its fur matted and dirty, but its sewn-on smile intact, peeking out like a ray of distilled childhood through the grime and sweat of eight years of abuse. “Mr. Bearston. He’s my favorite.”
“Well, you can take Mr. Bearston with you. Put him in your backpack and let’s go.”
“I think I’ll carry him for a while.” Colby set down Mr. Bearston, upturned the backpack, shaking it until every last bit of its contents spilled out onto his bed. Then he zipped up the pack, slung it over his shoulder, picked up Mr. Bearston by a single paw, and held out his other hand for Yashar to take. “Ready.”
“Say good-bye to your home, Colby. Next time you see it, you will be a very different person.” Yashar meant that, but it wasn’t true. For he had no way of knowing that Colby would look around one last time, say good-bye to all his toys; take off his gaudy, colorful watch and leave it on the nightstand on the way out; walk quietly down the stairs, kiss his mother on the brow; and tiptoe out the door only to never, ever return. But that’s exactly what would happen. Colby, like Ewan before him, had no idea that this would be the last time he’d ever see home.
And the two walked off into the evening—Colby holding Mr. Bearston in one hand and Yashar’s meaty palm in the other—toward adventure.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE VEIL BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
An essay by Dr. Thaddeus Ray, Ph.D., from his book The Everything You Cannot See
Between the realm of the natural world and that of the supernatural is a veil, a thin gossamer web that muddles the vision of mortal man and keeps him from seeing what is going on all around him. It is a sort of one-way mirror, an energy that allows the beings of the other side to peer in and prey upon the ever-replicating resource that is man while simultaneously preventing man from really knowing what stalks him from the other side. Not everything beyond this veil is harmful. Most creatures are indifferent and care no more about us than you care about the squirrels living in the tree across the street. Yet they remain sheltered, far from prying eyes despite often being steps, if not inches, away.
Whether blessed with the ability to sense certain energies or touched by a madness that ignores the veil altogether, some people are immune to the ethereal strands that separate us from them. Those who can see are often diagnosed with schizophrenia or some form of psychosis, though it isn’t clear which comes first: the perception of the supernatural or a psychological break. Perhaps some people are just so far gone that they accept the existence of things everyone else subconsciously filters out. Maybe the sight of such things shatters the fragile human mind, for once you’ve accepted the existence of that which is clearly not there, nothing is impossible.
Anyone with an open mind can peer beyond, if even only for a moment. When your guard is down and the energies on the other side are strong, it is possible to almost see the other side. Moreover, certain substances, such as plants, mushrooms, and synthetic hallucinogens, have been known to weaken the mind’s grip on reality and allow a greater chance of seeing something beyond. While not a sure thing, it has been known to help enough that certain beings from the other side enjoy taking advantage of those under the influence.
Furthermore, it is possible for the beings of the other side to cross into our world, to appear in a manner that allows our minds to perceive them either as they are or as they wish us to believe them to be. Still others choose to enchant their victims with their own energy, like fairies and their glamour, to usher mortal men into their own nightmarish, quixotic realm. Fairies themselves have been known to steal away children in the night, bathe them in the glamour of a virginal spring-fed lake, and keep them living beyond the veil until they are old enough to know better.
No one is quite sure why the veil exists, whether it is a byproduct of the energies that make up supernatural beings, or an actual barrier put