Chapter 3

Dimension

For a secondp Brianna was too frightened to move. Sasha's hand

gripFd tightly around hers. She took a deep breath to compose
herself and briefly squeezed hand to reassure hero Then she

slowly drew herself up taller and turned around, She looked past
Sasha — who had her Wide eyes fixed on her — towards the voice.

Brianna frowned. "There's no one there,n she whispered.

Sasha turned around toop and they both stared up the empty
alleysvay.

Brianna was ú)ut to walk towards where the voice had come
from when Sasha grabbed her arme "No, look!" Sasha hissed, pointing

to the wall at the end of the pathvcay, which was exposed to the

sun. "Check out that shadowl"

Brianna followed her gaze and, sure enough, there was a shadow

of a person: a tall, lumbering Frson. Her heart thudding, she took a

step forwards.
 "Where are you going?" hissed Sasha.

"To talk to him," said Brianna,

"What?"

"We can't just hide — he knows we're here, and we have to go

back that way to get out. Come on, it'll be fine.'
Brianna crept forwards, keeping her eye on the shadow. The man

was barely moving. He looked so big — at least a foot taller than

Brianna- She glanced over her shoulder — Sasha was just behind her.

She reached the end of the wallp swallowa hard, then stepped

out into the courtyard to face the mane

She met his eyes and took a step back. "Oh."

In front of her wasn't a big. muscular man at all. Instead. Brianna

saw a boy of about their age — a couple of centimetres taller than her

perhaps — with blonde, wispy hair and a pale face.

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 "Hello," he said.

Hearing his voice, which was nowhere near as deep as he'd made

it sound previously, Sasha steppa out from the wall. "You're

not a massive, tall man," she said.

The boy laughed. "Not yet, and probably not ever, actually. My
parents are pretty short too.n

"But the shadow on the wall...n

"Oh, yeah, well the sun always makes shadows massive at this
time of day. Sorry if I scared you."

"It's okay," said Brianna. Her heart was starting to calm down.
"I'm sorry we were in your We shouldn't have come in reallyp
but we're looking for someone."

The boy ncxided. "I you cnme in the from my bedroom

window. When you didn't leave, I got worried. so I thought ['d
come and what you wanted.- He took a step towards them. "I'm
Handley, by the way.•

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 Brianna raisa her eyebrows. "You're Handley?"

"Yeah." He frowned. "Why did you say it like that?"

"Oh, no reasonp" Sasha cut in, before Brianna could say anything

that might offend him. "We're actually looking for our friend,

He's missing since last night. and we think he might have been

here. He's your height, but with dark hair. Have you
him?"

Handley Icmed panicked for a second, then shook his hair out
of his face. "No, I don't think He looked down at his feet.
Brianna and Sasha exchanged glances. "Are you sure?" Brianna

asked quietly.

"You're lying," said Sasha, her voice louder than she intended.

"Sasha, no!" Brianna hised. She turned back to Handley. "1t's

really okayp- she said gently. "We're not blaming you. It's just, we're

really worried about him, and if you know anything, it would really
help us to find him."

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 Handley looked up sheepishly. 'II might have seen him."
Brianna nodded. "Is he here?"

Handley shook his head. "He wasp but he's not now — sorry,
it's complicated.-
"When was he here?" asked Sasha,

"I was just so glad to have a friend,n Handley said. NI don't have

any friends, but now he's gone.n

"Do you know where he's gone?" asked Brianna, using every bit

of patience she had left and wondering '„vhat to make of this boye

"I do," Handley replied, nodding. "But as I said, it's complicated,

and I'm fairly certain you won't believe any of it." He took a deep
breath and Icnked straight into Brianna's eyes. "He's gone to the
same place I've been 3)ing for years. It's the place where all the
missing hours go. "

"Where all the missing hours go," Brianna repeated. "What are

the mising hours? What are you talking—n She looked at Sasha.
"That hour we Iost!"
 Handley ncxided. "Yes, an hour was Iost last night. and
went with it,"

"How do you know all thisT sc.offed Sasha, clearly sceptical

about both Handley and the story he was telling them.

Handley Icxjked irritated. "1 told you — I've been going there for

years. My parents mova because they thought it was our Old house
weird and making hours go mising and me disappear, so we came
here. But it just came with me, and now it's happening in this
house, "

Brianna frownedp trying to make sense of it all. 'II'm I

really don't understand what you're talking about. How can hours go

"I know it's hard to understand — I barely understand it myselfp"

said Handley. 'Ilt's linked to telling lies."

"Lies?" Sasha glanced at Brianna, and Brianna swallowed. They

knetv how many lies they'd told lately.

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 Handley leaned against the wall. "Every time says

they're when in fact they're somewhere else, or if they

say they're with someone and in fact they were with someone else —

all those imagined hours with those fake realities play out in a
different place."

Sasha gasped. "Benito probably told his parents he was doing

something else last night, when really he was planning to sneak out
with use"

Handley nodded. "Exactly, so when he told his parents he was

going to ba to play video games, that hour escaFd. came

here at 11:50 last night."

Brianna nodded. "That figures — he's always ten minutes early.n

"The trouble is,- said Handleyp moving towards his porch and
pointing to the ground where the roses grew from, "he stocxi right on

the rose roots. He must have wanta to look through the windowp
but that's the way into the other dimension.n

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 Brianna stara at the roots of the beautiful scarlet roses that
grew around the porche Her eyes travelled up to the roses, which
were flawless in every way and perfectly Still — just like something

from a fairy tale. But their beauty now seemed unnatural and
somehow She couldn't take her eyes off them.

Sasha laugha. "Are you honestly trying to convince me that the

roses stole because he told a stupid lie to his parents?" Brianna

shook herself out of her reverie and smiled — it seemed

so far-fetched. But then she saw Handley's solemn face.

"1 knew he was treading too close to it,• he said. "I don't really

sleep much so I'm always watching, and I was just so pleased he was
here."

Handley sat down on the porch step and put his face in his
hands. "I didn't mean for him to end up trapped in the other
dimensione "
 "Hang on,• said Sasha, thoughtfully. "How did you know that he

told his parents he was playing video games?"

Handley looked up at her- "Because that's what your friend was

doing in the missing hours dimension when I went to see himen

"You mean you can get in there whenever you want?" asked
Brianna.

Handley nodded. "It's a curse, really. As I said, this weird

dimension thing seems to following me around from house to
house. But it does mean I can get there quite easily."

Brianna sat next to him on the step. She didn't know what to do.

They could tell their parents. or Miss Caffrey, or the police. But
reallyp '„vho "vas to believe them atx)ut all this? After all the lies

they had told, who would ever believe anything they said in the
future?

"Wait a minute," Brianna said suddenly. "Sasha and I have also

told lies over the last day. that mean we would also get trapped in

the dimension if we stood on the rose

Handley shrugged. "Do you want to try?"

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