Bride of the Castle Read Online Free

stopped when he caught sight of the smaller lettering under the name on the frosted glass. He pushed the door open wider and looked at it. It read portals unlimited.
    â€œCome in, Mr. Dumbrowsky.”
    Max looked around. Seated at a table in a far corner of the office was a pint-size kid, looking no older than eighteen, dressed in faded jeans and a tie-dyed T-shirt. His hair was a bit long and mussy, and his general scruffy appearance went well with a face that was aggressively nondescript, tending toward the feral. He was hunched over the terminal of a personal computer, hunting and pecking at the keyboard with long fingers, eyes fixed on the CRT screen.
    â€œYou’re probably wondering what ‘Portals Unlimited’is all about,” the kid said.
    â€œHow did you know it was me?”
    Hochstader stopped typing, looked over at Max, and grinned impishly. “Just a stab in the dark. Thought it might be you banging around out there. Come on in. I’m ready to help you.”
    Max sauntered in. Hochstader gestured to a chair, and Max, having nothing really better to do, sat down.
    â€œYou’re Hochstader? Doctor Hochstader?”
    â€œThat’s me. Actually, the degree is kind of honorary.” Hochstader stopped Max’s next utterance with a raised hand. “You’re going to say I look young.”
    Max shrugged, nodding. No denying it.
    â€œI have one of those faces that don’t age. I’m a lot older than I look.”
    Max studied him. “You can’t be any older than twenty-five. What’s your degree in?”
    â€œUh, computer science. Why?”
    Max laughed. “And you’re a licensed psychotherapist?”
    â€œNo, I don’t do psychotherapy. I don’t have patients, I have clients. And I get results for them.”
    â€œClients, eh?” Max took a sip of Coke, looking around at the office. It was a mess; boxes and piles of computer printouts littered the floor. Otherwise the place was a shabby dump; but that accurately described the office building it was in.
    â€œOkay, so you’re not a therapist. What about these radical new techniques you mentioned? I have to warn you, I’ve seen and done just about everything.”
    Hochstader resumed typing. “I think I can surprise you, Max. You don’t mind if I call you Max?”
    â€œGo right ahead. What is it, biofeedback?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œA new kind of exercise?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œSome new diet?”
    â€œHardly.”
    â€œDrugs.”
    â€œUh-uh. Max, you’re never going to guess it. I’ll have to show you.”
    â€œSo show me. But why can’t you tell me?”
    â€œWell, my technique involves travel between alternate worlds.”
    Max choked on his soda.
    â€œParallel universes, alternate time tracks,” Hochstader went on, “call ‘em what you will. ‘Aspects’is what we in the trade call them.”
    â€œUh, yeah,” Max said warily, rubbing his throat.
    â€œOh, I realize you don’t believe me, but if you wait just a second, I’ll give you a free demonstration.”
    Max studied him. This twerp had the look of a high-school dropout. P.Hd. , indeed.
    Characters danced across the CRT. Presently, Hochstader stabbed a final key and looked up at the result. “Right,” he said. He slapped the desktop, stood up, and strode past Max. “Follow me for a free demonstration.”
    Like flies to dung, Max thought. I always seem to attract them. He shrugged helplessly and followed Hochstader into a dark adjoining office. The twerp walked straight on through to the far wall, where a curtain hung in an arch. Light came from beyond it.
    Hochstader held the curtain open for Max. “Go on in.”
    Max passed through and stopped in his tracks, disoriented.
    He found himself in an immense Gothic chamber of dark gray stone, its high ceiling complexly vaulted. The place was filled with odd