Read Online Ravenwild: Book 01 - Ravenwild by Peter Plasse - Free Book Online

her dad. He was the best with words.
    They reached the basement. It had recently been completely done over by Dad and his best friend, Jack. It was roughly twelve by sixteen feet of pure white plaster. The end wall was dominated by a 62 inch high-definition TV, complete with all the gizmos for games, digital recording, and the like.
    “Could you please turn on the TV?”
    “Sure, what station?”
    “Doesn’t matter.”
    “Hmmm.”
    She picked up the remote and pressed the buttons to call up the TV. As it warmed up she repeated her question. “What is your last name, Erik?”
    Hemlock’s image filled the screen. There was no background, only Hemlock, dressed in his simplest wizard robe and holding a beautiful scepter.
     
    “My good child. I see you and Erik have met. Wonderful. Might I suggest he and you take a short while and visit his place of origin? I promise you it will be completely safe. I think you will love it. Best of all, there is no long walk involved.
    “Stephanie, I was there with you 5 years ago when your basketball team won the championship even though you had to go through the loser’s round because you dropped the first game to Lisbon. I have been with you, and your sister and brother, for pretty much every moment of each of your lives. I was there when each of you was born.”
    “Well, let me ask you this, if you can do all of this, how come you didn’t turn on the TV yourself? Why make me do it?”
    At this point the TV turned itself off, and Hemlock was standing directly in front of her. She was so surprised she lost her balance and ended up sitting in one of the chairs.
    He took a seat on one of the couches. He was as wizardly looking as anything she had ever seen, as good as Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series, maybe even better. His face, looking somehow older than she remembered it, seemed ablaze with a look of power. He also looked troubled. He sifted some sand from his fingers. On the way to the floor it dissolved into tiny, multicolored bursts of light that circled back as perfect, oscillating little spheres, only to disappear. A bioluminescent cat appeared holographically out of one wall and walked across the room, disappearing into the far one.
    “Can you have me back before sunrise?”
    “My dear, I can have you back in the time it takes to take one breath. It’s the way it works.”
    “And how long did you say we could be gone?”
    “You could be gone a lifetime if you chose, or a day or two, or fifteen minutes. Your choice.”
    “And, gone for an entire lifetime, I would still be able to return to right here, right now?”
    “Not only could you, that precise end-point, ‘right here right now’ as you put it, is guaranteed. It could not be otherwise. No matter how long you choose to stay, at the end of it you will be right upstairs, sleeping as you were the last time you fell asleep, just one breath removed from when you left.”
    “Oh my,” was all Stephanie could manage. This was more than a little overwhelming.
    Erik sat with his hands folded.
    “Can I wait until everyone else is up and introduce Erik, and then decide to visit his land, or his planet, or whatever? Besides, maybe Jacqueline or Orie might like to go. Or Mom. Or Dad. Or all of us.”
    “Of course you can,” said Hemlock. “As I explained earlier, the only purpose behind the exercises in space-time travel that we do right now is to convince you that all of this is real , that I am real, that my need is real. That is the whole point. If you go, you will be gone for one breath, no matter the length of your stay in the other place. Say the words, ‘I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home,’ out loud, and you will be right back here.”
    “So even if I were gone for an entire lifetime on Erik’s planet, I would be right back here by saying, ‘I want to go home,’ three times?”
    “Correct.”
    “So how would my being away for an entire lifetime affect your getting the