I opened the patio door to let Dejah out, and Summer held back, so I slid the door shut and opened it again. Sure enough, this time Summer stepped out onto the deck and down the steps to the yard.
“Does she think she’s going out into a different world than Dejah, only five seconds later?” I mused.
“That’s exactly what she’s doing,” said Seth, the dragon who watches over our land. “Haven’t you ever let them out separately like this, and when it’s time to bring them in, you can only see one of them?”
“Sure,” I said. “She’s out of sight under the deck or behind some tall weeds.”
“Is that what you think?” Seth said. “No, the other world has to catch up to us. That’s when you see her again.”
Summer looks up at us, and although it is not the Time of Magic and I can’t understand anything she might say, I can tell that she believes Seth is correct.
“How is it, then, that when they go out separately, I can still see both of them, if they’re in different worlds or dimensions?”
Seth sighs as if trying to explain the universe to a particularly confused child.
“You have a bond with each of them, and so you can see them both. The worlds aren’t that far apart in the grand scheme of things.”
I thought about that for a moment.
“The world is more complicated than I realized,” I said.
“Nope,” the big dragon said. “It’s simpler.”
“Really? How do you mean?”
“You love these two goofy animals, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then, if you’re within your line of sight, you can see them, whatever world they happen to be in.”
“You just said that sometimes you can’t see one until the other world catches up.”
“Oh, well, that’s a time displacement thing, not a world thing,” Seth said.
I looked at him askance. “You’re making this up as you go along, aren’t you?”
“No! I —” said the dragon, but then he sighed. “Yes. I have no idea how all this works.”
“Woof!” cried Summer, and I could swear she was laughing at us.
– – – – –
Read more about Dejah, Summer, Seth the dragon, and a host of other characters in Dejah & Summer in the Time of Magic, available where all good books are sold or right here.
