Even at a very young age, Anna had learned to trust her rational mind—her own clear-eyed view of the world. But the second she peered through the invisible wall, that trust slipped away like the strength in her legs. She couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing in front of her. Light reflected off shiny surfaces, and the dim hum from the other side of the wall was now a bright chorus.
The first thing she noticed was the house, but it didn’t look like any house she had ever seen before; it was part cathedral, part modernist home, part alien spaceship. It rested on top of a small hill with grass lawns gently sloping down from each side. The exterior was made almost entirely of glass, with white stone columns and a dome-like roof. Set in front of the house, a crystal spire reached high into the sky, its surface shimmering like water and reflecting the clouds passing by.
Anna pulled her head back just to check if her eyes were playing tricks on her. On one side, there was nothing but empty meadow. She leaned her head back through the invisible barrier. On the other side were lights, a house, and a giant alien spire. She spent the next minute leaning back and forth and wondering who had broken the laws of physics before stepping on through to the other side.
Two objects buzzed up from behind the house and began chasing each other around the spire like hummingbirds playing tag. They moved so fast Anna couldn’t quite tell what they were. Then, one of the objects slowed down long enough for her to make out its form. It was the size of a small child. It had two arms and two legs, but its torso was rounded and a fire-engine red. The object floated silently in midair like a buoy bobbing in water. Slowly, its dome-like head swiveled around, and two bright lights pointed straight at Anna. She wanted to turn and run, but her legs were frozen in place.
Like a blur, the object descended from the sky to just feet above Anna’s head. A floating garbage can. It stared at Anna as if it were trying to make sense of her. Anna stared back, also trying to make sense of this thing floating above her head. It definitely wasn’t human, but there were human markings along its side. Numbers and letters. And it suddenly clicked.
“You’re a robot,” Anna whispered.
The thing beeped a series of birdlike notes and then buzzed back up the hill to the other side of the house, out of view. The bright chorus suddenly stopped as if someone had turned off a switch, leaving Anna in silence. Nothing moved, including Anna, who stood paralyzed—afraid to run back, afraid to go forward. Just as she had worked up enough courage to move, another figure gracefully floated up from behind the house.
This time there was no mistaking the figure floating toward her. Even from this distance, Anna could tell she was a woman, her body a silhouette with the sun against her back. Anna shielded her eyes from the glare. The woman glided across the air like a surfer on water and landed gently within feet of Anna. She had jet-black hair and wore a white bodysuit that sparkled like the surface of water depending on how the light hit it. Even in the glare, Anna could tell she was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.
“Oh my. You can see all of this, can’t you? Me. My home.” The woman frowned. She took a step closer. “This is a problem.”
Anna didn’t like the sound of that and took one step back.
The woman must have sensed it and smiled gently. “Not for you, my young friend. The problem is mine. I won’t hurt you.”
“Are you an alien?” Anna asked, surprised by how small her voice sounded.
The woman smiled even more broadly. “That depends.”
“On?”
“On where you call home. Are you from Earth?”
“Yes.”
“Then no, I’m not an alien.”
“What are you then?” Anna asked.
“A girl like you, just older. My name is Mara.”
“My name is Anna,” she said. “Where are you from?”
Mara paused for a moment and then lifted a finger. “That is an excellent question, but before I can answer any questions— I’m sure you have many—I will need you to do me a favor first. Will you promise to wait right here?”
Anna nodded, still trying to take it all in. She watched Mara float ten feet above her head, wink reassuringly, and then glide noiselessly away. Her boots left a trail of blue light behind her as she flew. The large glass window on the second floor silently slid open, and Mara disappeared into one of the bright corners of her house. Anna began to mentally catalog all she had just seen and check off viable explanations for each. If Mara wasn’t an alien, it left few choices. Anna was either suffering hallucinations or she was completely nuts—or a combination thereof. Or her view of the possible had just expanded to science fiction and comic books.
Mara emerged from the house and glided silently back down to the ground. She wore a pair of skin-tight gloves. She didn’t have those before, Anna thought.
“Before we begin, I need to verify something. Can you look directly into my palm for me?” Mara lifted her hand up like a cop stopping traffic. In the center of her palm glowed a pulsing white light that spun in a lazy clockwise motion.
Anna squinted and swore she could see her own reflection in the light.
“That’s weird,” Anna whispered under her breath. She found it hard to look away from the spinning light. It was so pretty. And now she noticed a green pulse and the calming sound of running water.
“I’m sure everything seems strange now.” Mara’s voice was distant. “But it will all make sense in just a moment.”
“What are you doing to me?” Anna struggled to keep from falling asleep.
“I’m doing us both a favor. Trust me, it’s better this way.”
Anna felt herself slipping away, losing control, falling asleep. But she wouldn’t give in. She took in a deep breath and began reciting digits of pi in her head, a technique she had used for years when she felt things were spinning out of control. 3.141592 . . . 65358979 . . . fifteen decimal places in and the buzzing in her head slowly began to fade . . . 323846264338327. Thirty decimal places in and her head had cleared completely. The face in the reflection was her own again. Anna blinked several times. Her image blinked back. The only effect of her recent spell was that she felt rested and wide awake.
“The neurons that assist in your short-term memory have been interrupted, effectively erasing the last fifteen minutes from your memory,” Mara continued. “You’ll be dazed for a couple of minutes. But I promise you, when you awaken, you won’t suffer—”
“I’m not sleepy.”
A look of doubt clouded Mara’s face, but she continued. “The full effects of the memory interruption will have already settled in—”
“No, serious. I feel fine,” Anna said.
Mara let her hand drop slowly and cocked her head to the side, like a doctor trying to get a read on her patient. She waved her other hand in front of Anna’s face. “How can that be? Are you sure you don’t feel sleepy?”
“Nope.”
“No blurred vision? No dizziness?”
“Nope.” Anna shook her head.
“Well, that didn’t work.” Mara sighed and then looked sternly at Anna. “You know you’re making this very difficult for me.”
“Can I ask my questions now?” Anna stood her ground. Her curiosity had effectively trumped any fear she may have felt.
Anna wasn’t insane. She was sure of it. This was real, as implausible as it seemed. She crossed hallucinations from her shortlist of explanations and was left with one likely remaining scenario. The more she thought of it, the more she was filled with a growing sense of excitement—a sense her entire world was just about to change. Anna took a deep breath.
“You’re from the future, aren’t you?”
Mara’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, if you’re not an alien, it’s the only other explanation that makes sense. Robots that fly. Some kind of antigravity thing. A weird cloaking device around your house that no one can see. We’re hundreds of years from any technology like this,” Anna said.
Mara sighed. “Ninety-three years to be exact, at least for the antigravity boots.”
“Ha! I knew it. I knew it!” Anna pointed her finger at Mara and burst out in laughter. “Antigravity boots? Did you just really say that? That is the coolest thing ever. No, wait, time travel is the coolest thing ever. Can I hug you?”
Anna wrapped her arms around Mara before she could respond.
“Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were real,” Anna said. She released her grasp and stepped back. “Okay, so where do we start?”
“By you turning around and going home to your parents and forgetting you ever saw me.” Mara pointed toward the clearing in the forest.
“I can’t.” Anna’s voice cracked. “I don’t have any parents.”
Anna realized she had never had to utter those words before—not in that way. They sounded empty and far removed, as if she were describing the life of a stranger. Mara let her arm fall slowly to her side. Her face softened as she stepped forward.
“You’re an orphan?” Mara asked.
Anna nodded.
“Just like me,” Mara said. She placed her hand on Anna’s shoulder.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Mara’s lips were pursed tight and she didn’t blink. Finally, her face relaxed.
“I’ll make a deal with you on two conditions,” Mara said.
Anna allowed herself a small smile. “Yes?”
“One, I’ll answer your questions if I can. If I can’t, don’t push it. I have my reasons. Two, you can’t tell anyone about this place or about me.” Mara counted off the conditions with her fingers. “Not a single person. Not a word. Ever.”
“Ever? Really? Come on.” Anna’s shoulders slumped. “You want me to keep the single greatest thing that has happened to me a secret? I’ll explode.”
“Not a word.”
“And what happens if I do tell?” Anna probed.
“I have some things a lot worse than the memory interrupter at my disposal. Do we have a deal?” Mara put her hand out.
At that moment, Anna would have agreed to anything to spend more time in this strange new world. She grabbed Mara’s hand and shook it hard. “Deal. Now, where can we start?”