The Bridge

She waited for him to lead the way. They walked down the porch steps and Matt turned to the left and headed around to the back of the house towards the woods. She followed behind him a bit confused to where they are going.

“Where are we going?” Natalia questioned catching up and walking next to him.

“The bridge” Matt said looking at her. “It’s not too far but you’ll recognize it when we get there.” Matt kept walking.

“I know you keep saying the bridge, but what the hell is it and why are we headed there?” She asks getting frustrated.

“It’s a bridge to the other side. We literally have to cross it to get to the other side” Matt stopped to laugh at his joke. Natalia chuckled at how stupid the joke was. “Only certain the people with the key can cross and before you ask no you are not the key. It’s a combination of the gene and a set of words we have to speak before the door will open to let us cross, they can be spoken in any language from either world. We can’t see the doorway but from what I’ve read in the book, when I start to speak the words we will see a shimmering and what looks like water swirling. After we cross, the door will close until someone with the gene says the set of words again. This was done so no human could cross, at least unaccompanied.” After walking for a little over an hour Matt stopped to take a break on a fallen tree, Natalia sat next to them and they both sip some water.

“So how did you fit everything we need and all of the food into these backpacks?” Natalia finally asked. Matt smiled and took another sip of his water.

“There is a spell in the book that my grandfather gave me. I’ve been practicing it since I found it a few years ago and realized what it was. I figured I would use it on the backpacks; its like the spell Hermione uses it on her bag that has all those books, clothes, and everything else they take on their journey to destroy the rest of the horcrux’s. I fit all your stuff into your backpack when you were staring out your window.” Matt looked over at her and smirked. Natalia looked at him with a frown then opened her backpack to see if he did in fact pack everything. She looked at him with an open mouthed shocked look.

“I can’t believe you went through my underwear drawers you perv!” She smacked his shoulder as he doubled over in laughter. Matt gained some control of himself after a few minutes.

“You have some cute underwear.” Natalia turned beat red and started mumbling how big of an ass he was. He put his arm around her laughing and poked her cheek. Natalia got up and started walking in the direction they had been walking before they took a break. Matt caught up and put his arm around again and pulled her in for a side hug.

“Man I missed you” He said into her hair. She hugged him for second then pushed him away.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s just get to this bridge jerk” Natalia mumbled at him. After a while of walking side by side Matt started up another conversation.

“I hope you remember how to fight.” Matt looked at her and waited for her answer.

“Yeah I kept going to self-defense classes and different fighting classes in college to keep my skills up. Why?” She looks at him.

“You’re going to need them.” Was all he said and continued walking through the woods. Natalia sighed and followed, she hated how little he told her. She thought that maybe it’s for a good reason but right now she hated him for keeping things from her. Why couldn’t he just tell her everything and stop being secretive.

They kept walking in silence and taking small breaks for the next three hours. The woods were getting denser the deeper they went. Matt kept walking through and she could tell he knew exactly where he’s going. She wondered how many times he walked this way and if he had ever crossed over before. She saw him start to walk faster and practically had to run to catch up. All of the sudden, she saw a bridge and knew that was it. Matt stopped a few yards away and turned to look at her.

“Alright, from what the book said there will be guards on the other side watching the door. They are going to try to stop us from coming through since you’re a human but we can’t let them stop us. We may have to fight them and if we get separated, head south. The book is in your backpack and I put a spell on it so no one but the two of us can see what’s inside the backpacks. So if anything happens, find someplace safe and use it. Use the map, it will help you know where to go. I have a copy of the book; they communicate to each other. So as long as both of us have a book, we will be connected. The map will show you where I am and vice versa. But try not separate from me.” He ended with a smile. “Also, try not to get captured. We can’t do that yet, we have a long journey until we find my grandfather and an even longer journey until this story is done. Do you trust me?” Matt looked at Natalia with hope in his eyes.

“With everything in me.” She responded.

“You are about to see a lot of things you’ve never dreamed of. Bit of advice from the book, don’t stare at anything. I’ve only seen drawings from the book and I doubt its anything like being up close. Just…be prepared to see strange things or extremely beautiful beings. Once we are safe on the other side you can look through the book.” He smiled and grabbed her hand, they walk to the bridge. At the edge, Matt took a deep breath and stepped one foot slowly onto the bridge. He took cautious steps and they stopped halfway. He took another deep breath and started saying the words to open the door.

“Open before me for I am a descendant of the righteous King and will forever have his blood as my own. I will spend my life protecting both worlds from each other and swear to never tell the secrets of my people.” Natalia watched as something started to swirl at the end of the bridge as he spoke. They look at each other and step forward at the same time through the portal.