At first, the sound blended with the ever-present rowing of the oars just outside the window as they dipped in and out of the water. But the sound grew more distinct until I recognized the unmistakable rhythm of flapping wings. It grew louder and closer until I realized it was approaching the window.

  I glanced at the sleeping pile of people on the other side of the dark cargo hold, but none of them stirred. For a moment, I was afraid that I had gone truly insane and was hallucinating sounds. Maybe the blow to my head hit me harder than I realized. Just as I was going to stand up to look out the little window to see if I was crazy, a creature appeared there.

  In the dim orange light that came through the window, the creature looked like a small monkey with leathery, bat-like wings. It perched on the edge of the window and gripped the bar with primate hands as it folded its wings along its furry back. It stayed there for a moment as it caught its breath and peered around into the gloomy cargo hold.

  When its eyes found me, it seemed to sigh and heave a small sack that was connected to a strap of leather tied to its waist. It plopped down onto the floor of the cargo hold, and something inside the sack clunked against the wooden deck.

  I sat there, my back pressed against the wall, and didn’t move. I didn’t know what else to do. My eyes were focused on the strange creature as it crawled on its hands and feet, dragging the sack behind it. For my part, I didn’t scream or cry out. I wasn’t afraid, but I was certainly confused.

  The dinosaur and caveman were things that were somewhat familiar to me. The sleeping people, who I couldn’t understand, and even the never-moving, orange sun made sense to me in some way. But I had no frame of reference for that monkey-bat creature crawling towards me.

  Once it reached my foot, it untied the leather strap around its waist and picked up the sack. Whatever was inside was heavy for the creature, and it did its best to toss it toward me. Then it extended its monkey-like hands to the sack and up at me before sitting back on its haunches, folding its wings behind it. I realized it was waiting for me to take whatever it was that it was offering.

  Again, curiosity got the best of me, and I reached down to take the sack from the floor. After everything that had happened so far, you would have thought that I should have learned better by that point. But curiosity is still a failing of mine.

  I glanced over at the reclining people on the other side of the room to see if they were awake and watching. But I only saw their sleeping bodies before I opened the sack and pulled out what was inside. It was a metal cuff.

  It was about six inches wide and had a hinge on one side with a locking mechanism on the other. It reminded me of a sort of slave bracelet except there was no way to attach a chain or some other restraint. I held it up to the light and saw that it was made of the same green-streaked metal that made up the pyramid, which held the portal that I hoped would lead back home.

  Covering the bracelet were various sizes of mounts where one could put a gem like you’d expect to see on jewelry back home. Most were no bigger than an eraser head, but a couple were as big as the end of my thumb with various sizes in-between. All of the mounts were empty except for two smaller ones, which held an amber gem and a purple.

  I looked down at the little creature to see what it wanted me to do with the bracelet. It pointed at the metal thing and then pointed at my wrist, followed by laying its hand over its wrist and curling its fingers around. I understood from its gestures that it wanted me to put the bracelet on. Though my curiosity was still strong, I deliberated for a moment. I didn’t know what this creature was or what the metal cuff might do to me once I put it on.

  As I considered what to do next, the creature chirped at me. It sounded like the trilling chirp of a small bird and gave me the impression that it was trying to talk to me. With no real options other than to wait in that dark cargo hold for whatever fate my caveman captors had in store for me, I put the bracelet on.

  The creature’s trilling grew more excited as I looped the metal across my wrist and clicked the locking mechanism in place. Instantly, the lock and the hinge disappeared, and the cuff no longer had any seam or way to remove it. As I stared, the greenish metal moved like a liquid until it fit around my wrist perfectly with no space between it and my bare skin. The process was painless and happened so quickly that I had no time to react.

  But of course, I still freaked out.

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  I immediately regretted putting it on and pushed at the metal cuff, trying to slip it off my arm. But it had fit so perfectly around my wrist that there was no way I was going to get it over my hand. As I struggled, the amber-colored gem flashed a golden light. It wasn’t bright, no more than a spark, and I think the only reason I even saw it was because of the dark room and I was so focused on the bracelet. My head spun for a moment with vertigo, and as it did, something even stranger happened.

  I suddenly understood the creature’s trilling chirps.

  “—understand what I am saying any moment now,” it said.

  I stared down at the creature. Not only was its body something I had no reference for, but it was also intelligent and trying to communicate. It continued to speak to me as I gaped down at it.

  “Yes, I see the look of understanding in your dull-witted eyes. From now on, you’ll find it easier to communicate with beings of your intelligence or greater. Which I imagine will be most creatures you will encounter.”

  I barely registered the creature’s insults. All the questions I was pondering before, and many more, rushed back into my mind. I struggled to formulate a coherent sentence.

  “Who…? What…?” I asked.

  “Who? I assume you still know who you are, so you must be referring to me. I am Preet. And as to what I am, I am the servant of Ornum.”

  I wasn’t certain if the creature, Preet, answered my questions because even I wasn’t certain what I was asking. As I tried to think of better questions, my hand absently rubbed the bracelet that gave me the ability to speak to the little bat-monkey creature.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked.

  “Your questions are quite vague. I hope they will improve. Currently, you are speaking to me, Preet, the servant of Ornum.”

  “Who is Ornum?”

  “He is the one I serve.”

  I studied Preet for a moment. He reminded me of a guy I knew in college. He was ‘on the spectrum’ as they say, and he talked a lot like Preet. Kind of rude, but very literal. I didn’t get the impression that he or Preet was trying to be coy or intentionally evasive. Preet was simply answering the questions I was asking. He was stating facts, and it wasn’t his fault that those facts didn’t make sense to me.

  I decided to take a different approach.

  “What is this thing?” I asked while holding up my wrist with the bracelet.

  “That is a Bracer of Sarisa.”

  “And what does it do?”

  “Currently, it will retain your natural abilities while you are in the Hollow Earth. The gems—”

  “Where?” I interrupted.

  “The Hollow Earth. I believe that is what you dwellers of the Outer Earth call these lands, though the inhabitants of the Hollow Earth have many names for where they live just like you do on the Outer Earth. I believe you call them ‘countries.’”

  My eyes searched around the cargo hold as if some kind of answer could be found in the darkness. The Hollow Earth. Inside the Earth? But I had learned in school since I was a kid that the Earth was a solid mass. Crust, mantle, outer core, inner core. I could still picture the diagrams from my old textbooks. The Earth wasn’t hollow.

  But the notion of a hollow earth did answer many questions. It explained why everything seemed familiar and yet strange. Dinosaurs, cavemen, humans, oceans, and ships would all belong on Earth, just not at the same time. I wasn’t on another planet, I was inside the one I had grown up on.

  I asked Preet, “How do I get home?”

  “Ornum will explain.”

  “When?”

  “When he can. You were meant to stay at the Frustum.”

  “You mean the pyramid thing?”

  “The Frustum.”

  “Yeah, sorry, but a dinosaur was trying to eat me, so I couldn’t hang around.”

  Preet made a gesture, which I interpreted as a shrug, before turning away and, with a flap of his wings, hopped up to the window.

  I asked, “What do I do now?”

  “Survive until Ornum comes. Farewell, Stevie.”

  Preet leaped out of the window before I realized he knew my name. He knew the pet name my grandfather used for me!

  “Wait!” I called out as I ran to the window to watch his small body fly away from the ship. “How do you know that name?”

  A gruff voice called from behind me. “Oh, shut up!”

  I looked back and saw that my shouting had woken the group of humans. Their sleepy, irritated faces glared at me from their spot on the floor. They hurled a few insults at me, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

  I understood them!