outer edge of the sill for just a moment and then let myself go.
A tight grip grasps me and starts to lift me. With my head just barely beyond the sill, I notice that it's Irene's hand. But how can she be so strong?
She pulls me up inside the window and I let her. I want to resist but I'm still not completely convinced that jumping into the void was the right thing to do. I'm afraid.
“Antelmo, my love...”
Anna's voice is even further away.
“That's an echo-voice,” Irene seems to be reading my mind. “She launched it with the mistrofal of the Earth once she understood where we were headed. That's why she didn't answer you. Those were just words chasing after you. She couldn't hear you. And if you fell into the void, you would simply have died.”
Rage rises up inside of me.
“I don't believe you! I don't know who or what you are, but that was my wife! Why are you doing this to me? How could you have kidnapped me and made me prisoner in this house?”
“You were the one who entered this house out of your own free will. It was your choice. Perhaps Turlis came into your heart and showed you the right way.”
While she talks, I hear the last echo of Anna's voice.
“Antelmooo...”
With a sudden twitch I lunge towards the window and leap outside. Just before my body is completely outside of the house, a very strong flash blinds me and forces me to close my eyelids. I feel my face hit the wet ground.
I open my eyes. The house is still in front of me, but now it is pure white and splendid. The walls are made of white marble. Inside the bedroom, the closet, dresser and bed are now encrusted and embellished with gems.
Irene is covered in white veils. Her hair is pulled back into a braid that wraps around her head, like a crown.
I look around. I'm on a small lawn, sprinkled with flowers of every color and type. Just a little further from me there's a bubbling brook, beyond which the forest begins. I see lots of little hills in the distance. There are many other gleaming little houses. The sky is astoundingly bright.
Something attracts my curiosity in the soft shadow of a house near me. The sun is shining right at me. There shouldn't be a shadow pointing towards the star. I turn around. Behind me I see three other suns, one similar to the first, the other two much smaller.
I have no idea where I am. But this is definitely not Earth.
5
“We need to get moving. Unfortunately we couldn't land closer to the Palace. We still have a little ways to go here. Enondil should be here any minute.”
I'm still on the ground, admiring the enchanting landscape that spreads out before my eyes.
Irene talks to me from inside the bedroom. I think she's doing something in the closet, which is shining with a thousand colors of light.
“What is this house, Irene?”
“It's my house. You knew that, right?”
“Yes, sure, but usually women's houses don't serve as means of transport between a forest and another planet.”
“In fact it took a lot of time to prepare this transport. We've spent decades scanning thousands of planets looking for you and, once we found you, the operation took years to prepare.”
“The operation? What kind of...?”
“Here's Enondil. Come on, let's go, we don't have a moment to waste.”
I turn around and see a man inside of a gigantic bubble coming towards me, full speed ahead. The man is comfortably lying on a couch created from the same material as the bubble and suspended in the middle of it. When he's just a few yards away, I recognize him and instinctively get up to run and hide.
“No, no Antelmo, don't run away. It's Enondil. He'll come with us.”
“Enondil? It's the policeman who wanted to shoot me!” I protest, rather exasperated.
Enondil jumps down from the bubble and heads towards me.
“He still doesn't remember anything?” he asks, turning towards Irene.
“No, nothing. Less than nothing. Cloradil knew what she was doing,” Irene answers.
“Cloradil, you mean
A tight grip grasps me and starts to lift me. With my head just barely beyond the sill, I notice that it's Irene's hand. But how can she be so strong?
She pulls me up inside the window and I let her. I want to resist but I'm still not completely convinced that jumping into the void was the right thing to do. I'm afraid.
“Antelmo, my love...”
Anna's voice is even further away.
“That's an echo-voice,” Irene seems to be reading my mind. “She launched it with the mistrofal of the Earth once she understood where we were headed. That's why she didn't answer you. Those were just words chasing after you. She couldn't hear you. And if you fell into the void, you would simply have died.”
Rage rises up inside of me.
“I don't believe you! I don't know who or what you are, but that was my wife! Why are you doing this to me? How could you have kidnapped me and made me prisoner in this house?”
“You were the one who entered this house out of your own free will. It was your choice. Perhaps Turlis came into your heart and showed you the right way.”
While she talks, I hear the last echo of Anna's voice.
“Antelmooo...”
With a sudden twitch I lunge towards the window and leap outside. Just before my body is completely outside of the house, a very strong flash blinds me and forces me to close my eyelids. I feel my face hit the wet ground.
I open my eyes. The house is still in front of me, but now it is pure white and splendid. The walls are made of white marble. Inside the bedroom, the closet, dresser and bed are now encrusted and embellished with gems.
Irene is covered in white veils. Her hair is pulled back into a braid that wraps around her head, like a crown.
I look around. I'm on a small lawn, sprinkled with flowers of every color and type. Just a little further from me there's a bubbling brook, beyond which the forest begins. I see lots of little hills in the distance. There are many other gleaming little houses. The sky is astoundingly bright.
Something attracts my curiosity in the soft shadow of a house near me. The sun is shining right at me. There shouldn't be a shadow pointing towards the star. I turn around. Behind me I see three other suns, one similar to the first, the other two much smaller.
I have no idea where I am. But this is definitely not Earth.
5
“We need to get moving. Unfortunately we couldn't land closer to the Palace. We still have a little ways to go here. Enondil should be here any minute.”
I'm still on the ground, admiring the enchanting landscape that spreads out before my eyes.
Irene talks to me from inside the bedroom. I think she's doing something in the closet, which is shining with a thousand colors of light.
“What is this house, Irene?”
“It's my house. You knew that, right?”
“Yes, sure, but usually women's houses don't serve as means of transport between a forest and another planet.”
“In fact it took a lot of time to prepare this transport. We've spent decades scanning thousands of planets looking for you and, once we found you, the operation took years to prepare.”
“The operation? What kind of...?”
“Here's Enondil. Come on, let's go, we don't have a moment to waste.”
I turn around and see a man inside of a gigantic bubble coming towards me, full speed ahead. The man is comfortably lying on a couch created from the same material as the bubble and suspended in the middle of it. When he's just a few yards away, I recognize him and instinctively get up to run and hide.
“No, no Antelmo, don't run away. It's Enondil. He'll come with us.”
“Enondil? It's the policeman who wanted to shoot me!” I protest, rather exasperated.
Enondil jumps down from the bubble and heads towards me.
“He still doesn't remember anything?” he asks, turning towards Irene.
“No, nothing. Less than nothing. Cloradil knew what she was doing,” Irene answers.
“Cloradil, you mean
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