They reached the arch, Tori gingerly touching it, only to recoil with a yelp. “It’s hot!”
Driven by concern, Polly ignored the warning and reached out, feeling a jolt of electricity coursing through her. “Damn it!”
Her eyes darted, searching for any trick of light or cleverly placed mirror that could explain Jana’s vanishing act. “There’s got to be something here,” Polly muttered under her breath, her hands probing the air and surfaces for any sign of a hidden mechanism.
But it was as if Jana had dissolved into thin air—no mirrors, no hidden compartments that could have created such a startling illusion. The arch stood there, silent and innocuous, offering no clues, no flicker of light or shadow to suggest the magic they had just witnessed.
“Where could she have gone?” Polly’s voice pitched as she continued her fruitless search. “This makes no sense!”
They scanned the area, and Tori pointed to a shiny object on the ground. “Her ring...”
They stepped through the arch without hesitation, only to be engulfed in a disorienting white light. The world spun, shrinking and expanding simultaneously, a sensation of being torn apart and reassembled.
When the light faded, they found themselves in a stark, unfamiliar room. Polly reached out and felt Tori’s arm.
“What is this?” Polly asked, looking around.
Wherever this was, it wasn’t the park anymore. Everything focused, and it sure wasn’t outside. The blistering heat had vanished, and the air felt dry—like dehumidified, no-moisture-in-this-air dry. It was clinical, like a laboratory or a doctor’s office from another world.
“I—” A sharp pain hit her on the side of her head, like a wasp stung her just behind her ear. “Ouch!”
She lifted her hand to the side of her head, fingers tracing the contours of her skin until they encountered an unexpected sensation—a small, smooth disc adhered firmly to her flesh.
“What did you do to us?” Tori demanded.
Confusion turned to fear as Polly noticed a man’s face adorned with a distinctive pattern of freckles circling them.
“It’s a universal translator,” he explained, noticing their confused expressions. “So you can understand me.”
Polly’s voice trembled. “Is this safe? Are we in danger?”
“Is it going to give me cancer or something?” Tori asked.
“If it does, we have the antibiotics for that, but the worst it will do is a mild irritation. You’ll be vaccinated for everything else,” the man replied, as if discussing something as mundane as the weather.
Polly exchanged a look with Tori. “Did he just compare cancer to a common cold?”
Tori shook her head in disbelief. “We must have hit our heads...”
Before Polly could respond, Jana reappeared, looking equally dazed but unharmed. “I think we all did.”
Relief washed over Polly as she reached out to Jana, the animosity between them momentarily forgotten. They didn’t hug, but they didn’t act like they would punch each other, either.
The entrance of a smiling, pink-skinned woman with antennas interrupted their reunion. “Welcome to the Intergalactic Dating Agency, ladies.”
“The what?” Tori stammered, her confusion mirrored on Polly’s face.
The pink-skinned woman’s smile widened. “The Intergalactic Dating Agency. Where we find love matches across the stars.”
Jana glanced at Polly. “Uh, I think we’re dead.”
Tori’s voice was laced with awe. “I think we’ve just stepped into another world.”
Polly nodded, her mind racing with questions and possibilities. “Something extraordinary just happened, that’s for sure.”
Their drama-filled day at the park had transformed into an adventure beyond their wildest imaginations, a journey across the stars that promised to change their lives forever.
4
