Page 6 of Roar Letter Word

A second later, the egg floated out of Gerri’s hands and hovered in the middle of Addie’s parlor. A blue glow began to emanate from it as it spun and circled slowly in the air. And then suddenly, a huge piece of Addie’s parlor simply wasn’t there.

Instead, there was a completely different location, one space inside another. Hanging in the middle of the room was a person-sized sphere of another place entirely, a place that could only be Nova Aurora. Right there, in the middle of her room, she could see pink oceans beating against pale yellow sand, purple skies above purple trees, and, far in the distance, yellow mountains.

“It’s okay if you need to adjust for a moment before stepping in,” Gerri offered as Addie stood and gaped.

“Did you just make another world appear in my house?” Addie stammered.

“Well, technically, I just connected the space in which your house exists with the space in which Nova Aurora exists,” Gerri replied. “But that probably doesn’t sound as impressive.”

“This is normal for you? You summon holes in space, and that’s just a thing?”

Gerri smiled. “You’d probably be surprised what things are normal for me. Would you like to go first, or would you prefer for me to?”

Addie stepped slowly closer to the pocket of another world. “I’ll try it.”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

She reached a hand forward, then changed her mind. “Is it dangerous? Like, is there something I can do wrong, and I’ll end up lost in the universe forever?”

“It’s totally safe,” Gerri reassured her. “Though before you get used to it, it can make you feel a little sick.”

Unfortunately, that warning came a little late for Addie, who had already summoned her courage and stepped into the wormhole. The very moment she did, she was on Nova Aurora, hundreds of light years away. Around her, Nova Aurora stretched out, strange and neon and bright. Behind her floated a sphere of Earth, of her own parlor back in New York.

Also, she was about as sick as she had ever been.

A tall woman with a kind face walked up to her. “Would you like a glass of water?”

A second later, Gerri appeared next to the two of them, apparently completely unbothered by being briefly in two locations with two different atmospheres and forces of gravity. Gerri clapped her hands twice, and the sphere of home vanished. The three women were now, officially and entirely, on Nova Aurora.

Addie looked around her. She was standing on the lawn outside a large mansion. From her place on the pinkish grass, she could see the ocean to one side and the mountains to the other. There were more buildings, but this one, with its enormous silver doors and carved statues sticking out, was clearly an especially important one.

The kindly woman she didn’t recognize looked her up and down. “Has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like Addie Swanson?”

“That’s exactly who she is,” Gerri told her.

“She is!” The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow! And you look a lot like Gerri Wilder!”

“That’s who I am.”

“Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Addie SwansonandGerri Wilder!”

“Always nice to meet a fan,” Addie managed, her stomach still churning.

“Oh, gosh! The glass of water. I’ll be back in a second.”

With that, she took off, running toward one of the side doors of the large mansion and disappearing into it.

“That’s Pritesh, the head housekeeper,” Gerri explained. “She’s a bit enthusiastic at first, but you’ll like her. And obviously, she’s not the only one here that you’ll start liking either.”

She added a half-smile and a quick wink.

Addie pointed at the huge mansion. “You’re not telling me that the person who you’re matching me with lives inthat,are you?”

“Would the King of the Tellahn Pride live in anything less?”

“You’re matching me with … a king?”

Gerri nodded. “I’m matching you with a man who will be good for you and you for him. But yes, he does happen to be a king.”

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