Read Online The Lost Witch by David Tysdale - Free Book Online Page A

hypothesize a bar of wolfbane soap."
    Carole was about to question the professor further, when he held up his hand, "We really
must return to more pressing matters, Miss Sylphwood. Your little field trip has indeed been
profitable, but it has also cost us a great deal of time. Time which is all too quickly slipping
away."
    He sat on the grass beside her, tugged a loose thread from a rip in his pant leg, and held
it up to his eyes for inspection. "It is unlikely that you remember events as such, but at the time
of The Great Conundrum a two-and-a-half year old multitasker by the name of Carole
Sylphwood vanished, along with the Monobrain Dimensional Connector. And the Monobrain
Universe itself, I might add."
    He balled-up the thread and flicked it away. "I didn't believe it to be mere coincidence
that nine years later I should happen upon a twelvish looking Carole Wood multitasking about
the Monobrain Realm, tantalizingly close to a dimensional connector. It was obvious to me that
Carole Wood, the monobrain, and Carole Sylphwood, the multitasker, were one and the same.
And I imagine that you yourself no longer have doubts?"
    "I suppose not, but what exactly are you... Am I?"
    "At last to the heart of the matter. As you now know, we multitaskers reside at The Hub.
It is a simple name but definitely not a simple place. It is the meeting place of this and every
other universe currently in existence."
    "Every other universe?"
    "The Ghostly Spirit and Monobrain Realms are but two of thousands of
universes. These different dimensions are neatly and precisely linked to The Hub, like the spokes
of a bicycle wheel, and we multitaskers travel to them. We've even managed to visit monobrains
on occasion, which is how this whole nasty mess began."
    "What mess?"
    "Why The Great Conundrum of course." The professor pressed his fingertips together
and peered thoughtfully at her between them. "Technically speaking, a multitasker doesn't
actually jump to a different dimension but rather to the beings living in that dimension. If there is
enough commonality between us and them, we can create a mental bridge and with the help of a
connector jump over for a visit. It can be a lot of fun, but it requires a good deal of training and a
great deal of concentration."
    He furrowed his eyebrows into a fuzzy vee. "A jumper must be extremely focused and
single-minded, while at the same time flexible enough to trust his intuition. Otherwise he gets
totally confused and ends up spinning around in circles until..."
    "Until Point Puke! Oh, I get it now."
    "Precisely. For many students, even years of training is not enough. They simply don't
have what it takes. And unfortunately, a flexible mind is still no guarantee when dealing with the
monobrains!"
    "How so?"
    "Miss Sylphwood, you of all people should know the answer to that question. It is
because monobrains are the most stubborn creatures in all of existence."
    "Not Hal."
    "Indeed?" Philamount raised an eyebrow.
    "Indeed. He always said someone like you'd turn up."
    "How extraordinary."
    "Yes he is. And anyway, if monobrains are such a problem, why bother with them at all?
I mean what's the big deal about one measly planet if you've got millions of others to visit? "
    "We bother because we must."
    "Why?"
    "Because the monobrains are refusing to evolve."
    "So what? I mean I'm certainly not defending them, but what's it matter to you what they
do?"
    "It matters because by not evolving, they're holding the rest of us back."
    "How can they be holding you back?"
    "It's just the way things work; one of the universal laws. No one can be left behind, and
these people are about as far behind as they can possibly get, without actually devolving."
    "So you're stuck until you can get the monobrains to move forward?"
    "Precisely."
    Carole snorted. "Fat chance of that!"
    "You have a firm grasp of our dilemma."
    "Wait a minute. That must mean multitaskers still visit; still come here."
    "In the past a few have managed. Now