Within minutes, Jade found herself standing in an elevator as it descended with mechanical precision, the floor numbers ticking past in a way that defied the building's modest exterior. Twenty floors. Forty. Sixty. The descent continued until Jade lost count, her ears popping from the pressure change.
"How far down are we going?"
"Far enough." Gerri's cryptic smile did nothing to ease the growing strangeness of the situation.
When the doors finally opened, Jade expected to see the industrial chaos of a power plant's lower levels—generators, control panels, technicians in hard hats. Instead, she found herself facing a narrow hallway with a single door at the far end. The space felt hollow, too quiet, like a stage set waiting for actors.
"This is... unexpected."
"Most of the interesting things in life are." Gerri's heels echoed in the confined space as they walked toward the door. "Just relax and think about all the adventure you're about to have."
Adventure.
The word sat strangely in Jade's mind. She'd never been someone who sought adventure.
But wasn't that exactly what she needed? Hadn't the safe, predictable rhythm of her Wyoming life been slowly suffocating her?
They finally reached the door, and there gleaming like a beacon was a simple gold nameplate readingG. Wilder.Gerri opened the metal door to reveal a space that looked more like a temporary office than a portal to other worlds. A simple desk, a chair, bare walls that suggested no one actually worked here regularly.
"This is just one of my many spots for interplanetary travel," Gerri explained, as if reading Jade's confusion. "I don't really stay in one place too long."
Gerri reached into her designer handbag and withdrew something that made Jade's breath catch—a small metal object shaped like an egg, its surface gleaming with an inner light that pulsed with its own rhythm.
"Stand back, darling."
Jade pressed herself against the wall as Gerri moved to the center of the room. Then the matchmaker whispered something to the egg—words too soft for human ears to catch—and the impossible began.
The egg lifted from Gerri's palm, hovering in the air before beginning to spin with increasing velocity. The room's atmosphere shifted, becoming charged with electricity that made Jade's hair stand on end. Her skin tingled as if lightning were about to strike, and then?—
A perfect circle of blue light blazed to life in the center of the room. Not just light—a window, a doorway, a glimpse into something beyond Earth's reality. Through the portal, Jade could see a world that defied every natural law she understood. Two suns blazed in an alien sky, one brilliant yellow, the other a smaller orb of blood orange. Purple jungles stretched toward distant yellow mountains, and the very air seemed to shimmer with possibilities.
"This is a wormhole," Gerri said, her voice carrying a casual tone. "We're going to simply step into it and let the magic happen."
Jade's heart hammered. "What exactly will this magic do to me?"
"Everything will be just fine. I've done this countless times and I'm still in one piece, so don't worry. We'll be on Nova Aurora in no time at all." Gerri moved toward the portal with complete confidence. "It's not like a car or airplane where travel takes hours. This only takes seconds, though inside the portal it may feel like forever and no time at all."
Every rational instinct screamed at Jade to run. To flee this impossible situation and return to the safety of her known world. But her soul pulled her forward with relentless hunger.
"See you on the other side, darling. Just take a deep breath before you step through and enjoy the ride."
Gerri stepped into the blue light and vanished as if she'd never existed.
Jade stood alone in the small room, the portal humming with energy that seemed to call to her. Her knuckles whitened around her duffel bag's strap as she took a step forward, then another.
This is crazy.
But her feet carried her to the portal's edge anyway. She drew a deep breath, tasting electricity and possibility, and stepped into the light.
The sensation defied description. Time stretched and compressed simultaneously, her body alive with energy that raced along every nerve ending. The grogginess from her sleepless night vanished, replaced by a crystalline alertness that made her feel more awake than she'd been in years. It was as if the wormhole itself was restoring something she hadn't realized was wrong.
Then solid ground materialized beneath her feet, and the portal disappeared with a sound like distant thunder. Humid air enveloped her, carrying scents of unfamiliar flowers and something wild that made her heart race.
"So, how was the wormhole?" Gerri stood beside her, looking perfectly composed despite having just traveled between worlds.
"The most intense thing I've ever experienced," Jade admitted, surprised by the exhilaration still coursing through her veins. "Very exhilarating."
"Good, I was hoping you'd say that." Gerri glanced at her watch again, her expression sharpening with urgency. "We really must hurry now. General Raikar expects us any minute, and we absolutely cannot make him wait."
