Pandora Park

  Pandora Park

  Piers Anthony

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Magic Path

  Chapter 2: Flood

  Chapter 3: Sword

  Chapter 4: America

  Chapter 5: Familiars

  Chapter 6: Wizard

  Chapter 7: Challenge

  Chapter 8: Revelation

  Author’s Note

  Copyright & Permissions

  Chapter 1:

  Magic Path

  “Mom, I’m eleven years old,” Mark protested. “I’m not a child any more. This is a kindergarten playground.”

  Her mouth formed a wry smile. “Consider it a challenge. I’ll pick you up here in one hour; set your watch. Don’t leave the park.”

  He didn’t argue; that would merely provoke the standard lecture about responsibility. He set the bezel on his watch and obediently entered the mall park.

  Mark was bored already. He knew from experience that Mom would use every minute of that hour, efficiently shopping in the mall. She was a well organized woman. So she was parking him here, to be out of her hair. He gazed at the slides, see-saws, swings, and climbing bars. Kid stuff. If only they’d had a good game terminal where he could go online for some real adventure!

  He walked to a prominent statue with a plaque. It was a life-size model of a rather pretty girl about his age, holding an open box. Not that her appearance made any difference; even if she had been real, his folks said that he was too young to date. Maybe he was, but it still bothered him.

  He read the plaque: “The first woman, Pandora the All-Gifted, was given a precious box she was never to open until she married. But she was so curious that she opened it anyway, and all the evils of the world flew forth. She shut it immediately, but all that was left inside was Hope.”

  Well, now; this was interesting. He read farther: “Thus Pandora’s Box came to mean a present that seems valuable, but is really a curse. Touch the empty box and maybe you will find Hope.”

  What the heck. Mark touched the box.

  Something behind the statue caught his eye. It was a paved path curving into the brush. The only thing odd about it was that he could have sworn it hadn’t been there before. Was his hope for something interesting to do making him imagine it was magic? Where did it lead?

  Mark had always been intrigued by paths. He wanted to know where every path went, just because it was there. He never lost his way on a path.

  He circled the statue and followed the path. It wound around like a snake, leading to a forest he hadn’t realized was in the mall park. The trees were strange; he was no botanist, but these did not look like any local ones. They had twisted brown trunks and glossy dark green leaves, and some bore exotic fruits. This must be a special greenhouse garden where they kept unusual plants.

  Very special. Mark halted beside a tree that bore what looked like chocolate balls. He hesitated barely a moment, then reached out to pick one. He tasted it.

  Pure, sweet, milk chocolate.

  What kind of tree grew chocolate? Mark knew that chocolate was refined from the cocoa plant, but this was something else.

  Oh—it must be an artificial tree, a mock-up, with the chocolate balls stuck on. He might be messing up the show by eating the props.

  He walked on. The path seemed endless; he almost wished he had a faster way to follow it, as he wanted to find its end and return before the hour was up. Mom had ways of making him sorry about being late. Maybe a bicycle.

  “How about a two-wheeler?” he said aloud, smiling.

  Then he saw something not quite the same: a scooter. Not a regular one; this was the adult kind, with large wheels and a front basket. It was just leaning against a tree. There was a sign on it saying LENDING WHEELS. Well, that would do. He would borrow it, and return it to this place when he left.

  He took the scooter, set it on the path, put his right foot on it, and pushed off with his left. He knew he should change feet often, so as not to tire himself.

  The scooter rolled forward, maintaining a comfortable speed. This must be a downhill slant, so he could coast for a while. That was fine. He put his left foot on the edge of the platform beside his right and sailed effortlessly along. This must be a long slope.

  He crossed an intersection as another path crossed his. He was curious about where that one went, in either direction, but decided to stay on the one he was on. Once he came to its end, he could return and follow the other. Meanwhile the scooter scooted on, needing no pushing.

  Something nagged him. He applied the hand brakes, stopped, turned the scooter around, and gave it a push back the way he had come.

  It moved along as before, downhill.

  This thing was coasting in both directions! Which was of course impossible.

  He stopped it, turned it around, and resumed forward motion, coasting. He tried to figure out how it could be doing this. There was no motor; it was a simple machine. There was no wind. So what made it go?

  A word came to him: magic. Could this be a magic scooter, or maybe a magic path? Sure, he knew magic didn’t exist outside of fantasy books and movies, but this was not the first odd thing about this scene. Maybe it would be easier just to call it magic, until he figured out what was really going on. The magic path.

  He crossed another intersection. There was a real network of paths here! He hoped to explore them all, in time. Maybe not today, but there would be other days. Mom shopped here every week.

  Funny that there was no one else here. He would have liked to compare notes on this odd region.

  Then he heard something. It sounded like, well, someone crying. That was at least the third odd thing.

  The sound got louder as he coasted forward. Then he came to a fork in the path. A little way down the right fork was a huddled figure. It looked like a girl, in a blouse and skirt. No, it couldn’t be Pandora! She was just a story.

  Mark halted the scooter, leaned it against a tree, and walked up to the girl. She looked to be about his age, or a year or so younger. “Hello,” he said cautiously.

  She jumped. She gazed at him with her tear-stained face. She looked Asian and cute. “Oh! I didn’t see you.”

  “I’m Mark. I heard you—well, is there something wrong? Any way I can help?”

  “I’m Kelsie.” That wasn’t it exactly, but that was the way he heard it. “I’m lost.”

  Mark smiled. “As it happens, I’m good at finding my way, and at remembering my route. It is sort of a maze. I can guide you out of here.”

  She gazed at him somewhat warily. “Do you mean it?”

  “Sure I mean it! I know the way perfectly.”

  Kelsie paused a moment more, and he realized that maybe he hadn’t answered quite the question she meant. Some boys liked to pick on girls when they had the chance. He didn’t know how to reassure her about that, so he didn’t try. “I’ll show you.” He turned the scooter around.

  Then he realized that there was another problem. She would not be able to keep up with him by foot unless he really poked along. “Uh, maybe you can use the scooter. It’s magic; it’s always coasting downhill.”

  She shook her head. “I never saw one of those before.”

  Which meant she would be clumsy on it. “Maybe I can find something else for you. I’m good at finding things. What can you use?”

  “Use?”

  “To ride on, so you can go fast. A bicycle?”

  She nodded, understanding. “Skates.”

  Well, that would do. “Skates,” he agreed. He looked around—and spied a pair of skates. “There.” He went to pick them up. And paused, disgusted.

  They were ice skates. Useless on this paved walk.

  Kelsie took them from his hand. She touched their blades and felt inside. “I wonder.”
She sat down and started putting them on.

  “But you can’t skate here. Those aren’t roller skates.”

  “This is a funny place. I saw some things that seemed like magic. Maybe these are magic skates.”

  “Kelsie, they’re ice skates! It’s impossible. You’ll fall on your face.”

  “They fit perfectly.” She fastened the Velcro and got to her feet.

  “But—”

  She pushed off and skated across the path. She turned and skated back. Mark just stood there with his mouth open.

  “Magic,” she said. “Like your scooter.”

  He closed his mouth. “Magic—like my scooter,” he echoed. It did make sense in its fashion.

  They set off down the path. Kelsie not only skated, she was good at it. She readily kept pace with him, and her motions were smooth and easy. “These are perfect,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said faintly. This truly was a magic path. The scooter might have had some sensible explanation, but the skates—magic was the only thing.

  They crossed one intersection, and another. Mark didn’t hesitate; he knew the way. The path didn’t exist that could confuse him about directions.

  Soon they were back at his entrance path. They stopped, and he leaned the scooter against a tree while she exchanged the skates for her regular shoes, which she had carried in her hand. She parked the skates beside the scooter.

  They walked to the statue of Pandora, where the path ended. But Kelsie halted, looking alarmed. She said something.

  “What?” he asked, for it had sounded like a foreign language.

  She repeated it. It was a foreign language. Probably Japanese or Chinese.

  “Kelsie, speak English, please. I can’t understand you.”

  She gazed blankly at him, a look of horror coming to her face. Then she turned and walked quickly back to the forest.

  “Kelsie!” he called, running after her. “Wait! Something’s wrong.”

  She said something indecipherable, not stopping.

  They reached the scooter and skates. “Kelsie, I don’t know what happened out there,” he said. “I couldn’t understand a word you said, and I don’t think you understood me either. It was as if we were speaking different languages.”

  “We were,” she said. “I was speaking Chinese. It is the only language I know.”

  “I speak English. It’s all I know.”

  They gazed at each other.

  “I’m getting scared,” Kelsie said.

  “Me too. How come we’re understanding each other now? What language are we speaking?”

  “Our own. It must be—”

  “Magic!” he finished.

  She nodded. “And that’s not my town.”

  “That’s my town. Albany, New York. I just thought you came from there too. Where do you live?”

  “Beijing. China.”

  He stared at her. It was impossible—but so was scooting always downhill, or ice skating on concrete. And speaking different languages without knowing it.

  “You must have come in on a different path.”

  “Yes. And I couldn’t find it. I got lost.” She swallowed hard. “I’m still lost.”

  “I can find it,” he said. “I’m good at finding things. Even magic things, I guess, though they haven’t been quite what I was looking for. I’ll look for it. Come on.” He took the scooter, before he could really think about the impossibility of all this.

  “Thank you.” She sat down and put her skates back on.

  Soon they were traveling down the magic path again. “What kind of trees were there?” he asked. “Were there any other special things to mark it?”

  “A big candy tree. I didn’t believe it, until I tasted it. Then I looked for others, and before I knew it, I was lost. I should never have been so foolish.”

  “Well, Pandora Park is not what you expect.” He considered. “Let’s go back to where I found you. You didn’t come down my path, so you must have come down the other fork. Maybe if we follow that, we’ll find your entrance.” Meanwhile he hoped that his ability to find things worked on this: not an object, but a particular path.

  “I hope so,” she said. “I’m already late returning.”

  Mark glanced at his watch. Three quarters of his hour was gone. He would be late too, if there was any further delay.

  His sense worked. He led her to an exit with a large candy tree. “There,” he said proudly.

  “That’s it!” she exclaimed happily as she almost flung off her skates. “Oh, thank you, Mark!” Impulsively she kissed him on the cheek, then ran past the tree and out of the park.

  Mark wiped off his cheek, vaguely disgusted by the kiss, yet pleased to have succeeded. Then he stepped toward the scooter.

  His feet moved, but he didn’t. He looked down, surprised.

  He was floating. His feet were a foot above the path.

  Her kiss must have done it. But how could he walk or use the scooter now?

  He reached out to grab a branch of the candy tree. He pulled himself toward it, than handed himself along in the direction Kelsie had gone. He managed to reach the ground as the magic faded, and ran down the path after her.

  He caught her just as she was passing the statue. “Kelsie! Kelsie!”

  She paused, looking back at him. She didn’t try to speak, knowing it was useless. She just looked questioningly at him.

  “Kelsie, I was floating,” he said. “Your kiss did it.”

  And of course she didn’t understand.

  “Please, you have to see. Come back for a moment.” He gestured back along the path.

  She hesitated, then shrugged. She walked back to the park. Once inside, she turned to him. “What are you trying to tell me? That you don’t believe it’s Beijing? Because it is, you know. Didn’t you see the buildings?”

  Mark hadn’t noticed the city’s silhouette at all, in his distraction. “No. It’s that you made me float. Your kiss did it, I think.”

  “Mark, I didn’t mean anything. I’m impulsive and expressive. I laugh, I cry, I hug, I slap. I get in trouble all the time because I’m not a properly demure Chinese girl. That’s why I usually play alone. If I made you mad, I’m sorry, and I apologize. I just was so glad to find home, I forgot myself.”

  He was learning things. “That’s okay. I get in trouble too, because I’m constantly exploring and getting into places I’m not supposed to be. I know how it is. I didn’t mean you made me unhappy. I mean you made me float, literally.”

  She looked at his feet. “Are you teasing me? You’re not floating now.”

  She was right. His feet were firmly on the path. “Well, I was floating. Right after you kissed me. Leaving the park must have canceled it, or maybe it just wore out.”

  “Or maybe you just imagined it.”

  “No! I really was floating! It was magic. I wish you could see.”

  “Magic,” she said. “Like the scooter and skates?”

  “I guess.” He swallowed, suddenly nervous. “Maybe you should kiss me again.”

  “Oh, so that’s it!” she flared. “You think I’m a girl, so I should kiss you. What else do you want?”

  He blushed. “That sounded wrong. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  She remained angry. “You want to trick me into kissing you, and then you’ll laugh about it. That’s what boys do.”

  How had he gotten into this? That was the kind of thing boys did to girls. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have chased after you. I’ll go home now.”

  Her mood changed in a flash. “You really are sorry, aren’t you? And you did help me when I was lost. Very well, I’ll kiss you again.”

  “No, you don’t have to—”

  She kissed him on the cheek.

  He floated.

  She stared. “It’s true!”

  “It’s true,” he echoed as he drifted upward. “That’s what happened before. That’s your magic talent.”

  Now she blushed.
“I thought you were teasing me. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he said quickly. “How could you know?”

  “I should have trusted you. You helped me, and I didn’t believe you.”

  “Well, it’s unbelievable,” he said uncomfortably.

  “Next time I’ll believe you.”

  “Just catch me before I float away.”

  “Oh.” She caught his left foot, which was now at head height, and hauled him down. “You’re like a balloon.”

  “Yes. I had to grab the tree branches before. I can’t walk, in air; nothing to push against.”

  “Can you swim?”

  Why hadn’t he thought of that? “I’ll try.” He tried the breast stroke. His arms seemed to move through the air without resistance, but his body moved forward. He was swimming. “Hey, this is fun!”

  But it was slowly wearing off. He was floating lower than before.

  “I wonder if it works on other things?”

  “Well, you could kiss a stone and see,” he said, smiling.

  “I will.” She picked up a stone from beside the path, brought it to her face, and kissed it. Then she let it go.

  The stone floated away.

  “Now we know,” Mark said, awed. “You’ve got some magic.”

  “It seems I do. Thank you for showing me, Mark.”

  He laughed. “Thank you for kissing me, Kelsie. I never said that to a girl before.”

  She smiled, but seemed pensive. “Maybe we should meet again. I have to go home before I get in worse trouble for being so late. But I’d like to learn more of this.”

  “Sure. I can come the same time next week, when Mom’s shopping in the mall. Can you make it then?”

  “I will try.” She hesitated. “I won’t kiss you again. But I’ll hug you, if that’s all right.”

  “I won’t misunderstand,” he promised. His feet were now touching the ground; he was light but heavier than air as the effect faded.

  She hugged him, then quickly left. He watched her depart, smiling, then stepped lightly to the scooter and lifted it to set it on the path.

  The scooter flew up like a feather and collided with a branch overhead, knocking off several candies. Then it dropped back to the ground.