"Hurry!" Luca called over his shoulder, pedaling harder as the sky deepened from gold to amber. The streets of Tender Hollow blurred past as they raced against the fading light. The brass lantern, carefully wrapped in Luca's red hoodie, clinked softly in his backpack with each bump in the road.
They had waited impatiently through dinner—Luca pushing peas around his plate while his mother, Carol, tried to get the twins to eat anything green. Charles had built a mashed potato castle while Charlotte insisted on feeding her peas to her stuffed rabbit under the table. Lily had been suspiciously well-behaved, and Jamal had eaten three helpings of chicken casserole while avoiding eye contact with Aunt Carol whenever she asked about their day. Luca had mumbled something about exploring and catching frogs, the weight of their secret heavy in his chest. When his mom finally took the twins upstairs for bath time, Luca had signaled to the others.
Now they were racing back to the woods, to the spot where two ancient oak trees stood like sentinels at the edge of Old Man Jeffries' property. Maya had insisted it was the right place the "threshold" from her grandmother's stories.
"We're losing light," Jamal panted, pulling up alongside him. The whites of his eyes flashed in the dimming light. "Maybe we should wait until tomorrow."
"No way," Luca replied, feeling the lantern's weight shift in his backpack. It seemed heavier now, eager. "It has to be twilight. That's what Maya told us her grandma said."
They skidded to a stop at the edge of the wood. The path they'd found earlier wound between tall grass and brambles. Lily hopped off her bike first, nearly tripping in her excitement.
"I can practically feel it," she whispered, her small face serious. "Like electricity before a storm."
Luca knew exactly what she meant. The air felt charged, the crickets unusually quiet. He led the way down the path, his sneakers whispering over fallen leaves. Maya followed, her breathing quick and shallow. Jamal brought up the rear, muttering something about being home before Aunt Carol started wondering where they were.
The twin oaks appeared around a bend in the path, massive trunks twisting skyward. In the deepening twilight, the space between them seemed darker than it should be—as if the air itself was thicker there.
"This is it," Maya said, her voice hushed with certainty. "The threshold place."
Luca swung his backpack around and carefully unwrapped the lantern. It felt warm to the touch, as if it had been sitting in sunlight instead of wrapped in his hoodie. The engravings seemed to shift under his fingertips, swirling like slow-moving water.
"The matches?" he asked, setting the lantern on a flat rock between the oaks.
Maya pulled out the small cardboard box she'd shown them earlier. "Right here."
The matchbox was old, its edges soft with age. Luca took it carefully, sliding it open to reveal a row of thin wooden matches lined up like soldiers.
Maya stepped back, positioning herself between the oak trees. The dying sunlight filtered through leaves overhead, painting dappled patterns across her determined face. Lily stood beside her, shifting from foot to foot.
"Ready?" Luca asked, looking at each of them.
Jamal took a deep breath. "As I'll ever be."
Luca struck the match against the rough strip. It flared with a sharp crack, the smell of sulfur sharp in the cool evening air. The small flame danced between his fingers as he lifted it toward the lantern's side door.
"Here goes nothing," he whispered, touching the flame to the wick inside.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then, with a soft whoosh, blue-green light erupted from the lantern. It wasn't just bright—it was alive, flowing like water across the ground, climbing the oak trunks, spinning between branches overhead.
"Whoa!" Luca stumbled backward, dropping the dying match. The light pulsed with each of his heartbeats, growing stronger, not weaker.
Wind rose from nowhere, whipping leaves into miniature cyclones. Shadows stretched and twisted between tree roots, writhing like living things. The air between the oaks rippled, then tore open—there was no other way to describe it. Reality split like fabric, revealing a swirling vortex of blue-green light.
"It's a door!" Maya shouted over the sudden roar of wind.
Lily grabbed Maya's arm, her mouth open in a perfect O. "I can see something on the other side!"
The portal expanded, its edges crawling up the inside of both oak trunks. Through the opening, Luca thought he glimpsed impossible things—what looked like floating islands, crystalline structures, skies unlike any he'd ever seen, the color of lilacs. The vision was fragmentary, there and gone in flashes as the portal pulsed.
Then the wind shifted. What had been pushing them back now pulled forward. Maya staggered, caught in an invisible current. The portal's force yanked her toward its center.
"Maya!" Luca lunged for her hand but missed.
Lily, still gripping Maya's arm, was dragged forward too. "Luca!" she shrieked, her voice thin with fear and excitement.
Before Luca could reach them, both girls were sucked into the swirling light. One moment they were there—the next, gone with barely a sound, swallowed by the glowing doorway between worlds.
"No!" Luca shouted, heart hammering against his ribs.
Jamal grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "We need to get help! Adults! Aunt Carol!"
But Luca knew there was no time. The portal was already fluctuating, its edges wavering like a mirage. It might close any second, leaving Maya and Lily trapped on the other side.
"We have to go after them!" Luca said, wrenching free of Jamal's grip.
"Are you crazy?" Jamal's voice cracked. "What if we can't get back?"
The question hung between them for one electric moment. Luca saw the fear in Jamal's eyes—but something else too. The same fierce loyalty that had made him follow Luca on every adventure since they were little.
"I won't leave them," Luca said simply. "Lily's my sister."
Jamal closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, determination had replaced fear. "Fine. But we stick together." He grabbed Luca's hand, squeezing until their knuckles turned white. "No matter what."
Luca nodded, throat too tight for words. Together, they faced the portal.
"On three," Luca managed. "One… two…" Ahhhhhh Jamallllll!!!"
They never got to three. A final surge of wind yanked them forward, and they leapt into the vortex.
Luca tightened his grip on the lantern's handle as the vortex roared around him. When the swirl began to collapse, he flicked the tiny latch shut—snuffing out its glow—and tucked the brass safely into his bag before it could slip from his fingers.
Colors stretched like taffy, sounds bent backward. Luca felt Jamal's hand still in his as the world turned inside out around them.
The sensation of falling without falling. The taste of starlight. The sound of distance.
And then, nothing but blue-green light swallowing them whole. The portal still remains flickering about to close
Dear reader, would you jump into a glowing doorway to save your friends? Our heroes didn't even stop to think…