“There’s no reason to be rude. I was only asking!”
“There’s only one door, Priss,” he said sarcastically. “Use it.” She gawked after him as he trudged across the room and turned to push open the green door with his hip. Cocking a brow at her, he disappeared into the late summer sunlight.
For a long moment, she stood still, but then she set her box on the corner of a desk and tiptoed to the blue door. It looked old — partly because the color had faded to a milkier hue in spots, and partly because people just didn’t make doors like this one anymore. The entire surface had been intricately carved. Leaves, fruit, and flowers nestled among crisscrossing vines in an ornate border. Two trees stood in the center, their uppermost branches twined together.
The doorknob shone like a luminous crystal; flashes of different colors lurked beneath its smooth surface. When she took hold it hummed beneath her palm, sending an almost musical note through her body, right down to the soles of her feet. “First an invisible boy, now an invisible door?” she murmured.
“So you can see this as well,” Harken remarked. Milo strode past with another couple of boxes in his arms, but not without giving her an encouraging grin. Koji padded into the room on bare feet and brightened.
“Where does it lead?” Prissie asked.
“That’s an interesting question,” the shopkeeper replied. “In one sense, it leads nowhere; in another sense, it leads us toward heaven. Since you’re capable of seeing the door, let’s see if you can step through it.”
Koji’s dark eyes sparkled. “I hope so!”
His excitement lessened Prissie’s nervousness enough for her to try. The knob turned easily, its latch clicked softly, and a warm glow seeped through the narrow opening she’d created. She hesitated on the threshold, looking back at Harken for permission to proceed. “By all means,” he urged. “There’s nothing to fear beyond this door.”
Taking a deep breath, Prissie gave the door a push; it swung outward, and she stepped through … and into a garden. There were trees all around, so it felt as if they were within a forest glade, but that was impossible. “This isn’t what’s behind the shop,” she said, turning around to take in the scenery. There was supposed to be a parking lot, a storage shed, her brother, and a bright, sunny summer afternoon. “What’s wrong with the sky?”
“That is how this sky appears,” Harken answered. “Tell me what you see.”
“Grass, trees, and the sky looks like water,” she replied.
“It does, doesn’t it,” the old man calmly agreed.
“Is it water?”
“No. That’s merely a trick of the light.”
“Nothing else?” asked Koji, his gaze directed at a spot just past her shoulder.
She slowly turned once more, but finally answered, “That’s all. Where are we?”
“We’ve stepped outside of time. Some would call this beyond the veil,” Harken supplied. “For us, it is a home away from home, a gathering place that offers privacy, fellowship, refreshment.”
“Umm … right. This is your break room,” Prissie said in a tight voice.
Hearing something in her tone, Harken frowned. “In its fashion, yes.”
Prissie turned on her heel, rushing toward a much more familiar world of cardboard cartons and overstuffed bookshelves. The two angels followed more slowly, and when they caught up to her, she faced them. “I don’t believe you.”
Koji’s head tipped to one side, confusion plain on his face. “Which part?”
“This is crazy … completely ridiculous,” she muttered. Fixing Harken with a stern look, she repeated, “I won’t believe you.”
Just then, Milo strolled through the door, laughing as he talked with Beau. He trailed off the moment he caught the mood in the room and looked uncertainly between Harken and Prissie.
His sparkling blue eyes grew sadder … and older … and Prissie’s lip trembled. “No,” she whispered stubbornly. “No, there must be some mistake.”
“Miss Priscilla?”
Milo raised a hand, but she turned her back on him and addressed Harken with extreme politeness. “My dad’s bakery is right over there, and I think I’ll go see him. Like Beau said, he and Milo can handle the rest.”
“What’s going on, Sis?” asked her brother, perplexed by her sudden change in attitude.
“It’s nothing,” she lied. “I’ll be with Dad and catch a ride home with him.”
“You better call Mom and let her know,” he cautioned.
“I’ll call from the bakery.”
“Miss Priscilla?” Milo tried again, but she darted from the room, through the shop, and out the front door without a backward glance.
3
THE HASTY RETREAT
Why has this child been put in danger?”