Chapter 44 - The Door to the World He LostHome.
One word almost broke Ethan.
He imagined his mother's kitchen.
The little blue house at the end of Maple Street.
His bicycle leaning against the garage.
The sound of his mother calling him downstairs for dinner.
For weeks, he had wondered whether he would ever see any of it again.
And now the man wearing the broken crown was offering him a way back.
"Can you really take me home?" Ethan asked.
Malachar nodded.
"Yes."
Aldric stepped forward.
"At a price."
"Everything has a price," Malachar answered.
With a sweep of his hand, the far wall dissolved into shimmering light.
A doorway appeared.
Beyond it stood Ethan's own bedroom.
His schoolbag lay beside the desk.
His baseball glove rested on a chair.
Through the window, Ethan could see the familiar street where he had grown up.
His mother entered the room.
She looked tired.
Older.
She held Ethan's photograph against her chest.
Ethan ran toward the doorway.
"Mom!"
The image did not respond.
"Mom, I'm here!"
He reached the threshold.
And stopped.
On the calendar beside his desk, the date was wrong.
It was seven years in the future.
His mother had been waiting seven years.
Ethan stared at Malachar.
"Why is it so late?"
The dark king looked away.
"Time moves differently between worlds."
Ethan stepped closer to the shimmering surface.
Then he noticed another photograph beside his bed.
It showed his mother standing with a teenage boy.
The boy looked like Ethan.
But older.
"Who's that?"
Malachar said nothing.
Ethan studied the photo more closely.
The teenager had black eyes.
Not blue.
And beneath his collar was a strange silver mark.
The same symbol carved into the Seventh Door.
"That's not me."
The doorway flickered.
The teenage boy in the photograph slowly turned his head.
He looked directly at Ethan.
And smiled.
Aldric shouted, "Get away from it!"
Ethan jumped backward.
The false bedroom collapsed into darkness.
Malachar's expression changed.
For the first time, he seemed afraid.
"That was not supposed to happen."
Ethan looked at him.
"Who was that boy?"
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A whisper rose from the darkness.
The replacement.
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