Free A Walk Through a Window by KC Dyer

for the moments she took a quick peek to ensure Nanuq hadn’t changed his mind about a Darby appetizer.
    She tried not to think about the oddness of the situation, but she couldn’t help worrying about the cold. And she had another little problem. Her stomach was seriously starting to rumble. Darby had no idea how long she had been in this strange place, but she did know she needed to get herself some food, and soon.Even the raw seal from the night before was starting to look pretty good in her imagination.
    The thought that Gabe may have dropped something on the trail she might be able to eat made her look up, so in the end she credited her stomach for getting her out of the biggest jam of her life. Because that’s when she saw it.
    Not a snack left by Gabe, but rather Nukum’s helping hand. Darby couldn’t believe Nukum had left it there for her, but help her it did. She had been struggling up a low hill for some time, and now in front of her, on a spot where the wind had swept the snow from the rocks, she found it. Nukum and her family had done as she had promised and left a sign for the people who were yet to come. Over the crest of the hill in the last pink light of the day, she could see far below the tiny group of people as they worked together to make another shelter, this one of rocks and skins, for the night. Beyond them, a herd of caribou as huge and widespread as her eyes could take in was grazing on the first shoots of greenery on a vast, windswept plain.
    And beside Darby? She rested her hand on a low pile of rocks—a stone marker, pointing the way to the future for The People yet to come.

S omething wet and cold was running down Darby’s cheek. She reached up to rub her fingers through it. Was it blood? Her head was pounding so hard she could hardly open her eyes, but when she checked, there was no blood on her fingers. She tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea hit her and she decided to stay put for another minute. This was no ordinary headache. Even with her eyes closed she could see spots dancing like—like snowflakes.
    That got her up. As she lifted her head, the headache slammed home like an axe through her skull. But she had to think. She had to think.
    Snowflakes. What had happened to the snow? She squeezed her eyes open a crack, but all she could see was grass. Grass with yellow flowers dotted here and there.
    Darby was in the secret garden. Her skateboard was on the ground and she sat with one hand on the stone windowsill of the old building.
    She wiped her face again and realized that what shehad thought was blood was actually saliva. She must have been lying in the garden, drooling on herself.
    Disgusting.
    Darby tried to scramble to her feet, but her stomach heaved and pretty soon the drool wasn’t the only disgusting thing she left in the garden.
    She couldn’t ever remember a headache like this one. With wincing eyes, she glanced at the stone windowsill. Had she fallen and hit her head? It was so hard to think.
    The sky was clear, with a few wispy clouds turning pink at the edges. No sign of a storm at all. Darby could see a single evening star gleaming through the leaves of the huge oak tree. The light of it pierced her brain and forced her to look away. Under her feet, the grass was a little wet, but it felt more like dew than the remains of a cloudburst. Hadn’t it been pouring when she was last here? Darby had to put the thought aside—she needed all her energy just to get herself up off the ground.
    There was a rustle and Maurice jumped out through the window and down onto the grass beside Darby. He meowed and circled around her feet, a calico figure eight.
    “Better watch where you’re stepping, cat,” she muttered to him and he purred at the sound of her voice. The spots seemed to be fading and the headache had eased a little since she had been sick, but she knew she had to get back to Nan and Gramps. Maybe she’d given herself a concussion. Her head was so sore she didn’t