Chapter 13

The hole seals up without a line, without an indent, without even a hint of its presence. It’s like it never even existed; like he never even existed.

Darien is gone. Darien is . . .

Beth yells, “Hombre! What happened to Hombre?”

Her face is pale, her eyes wide. She seems about ready to spring forward, but Alyssa tightens her grip on her, saying, “Don’t go after him. I doubt that hole is a one-time deal.”

Even though Alyssa seems calm, her voice is shaking.

My knees feel weak. Apparently sensing this, Ki grabs onto my arm, his grip tight. I look up at him, and for a moment I think that I can see fear marking his features, but then he blinks and it’s gone, knitted brows and a frown taking its place.

“Are you okay?” he asks me.

I don’t know how to answer. I keep replaying it: seeing Darien fall, hearing him scream, watching his irises twisting as he attempts one last bit of magic.

I swallow. No . . . I mean, “attempted,” don’t I? Because now I can’t say he’s doing anything anymore. Now he’s only a past.

Ki’s grip had been anchoring me, but now I look back at the hole and disconnect.

There’s an uncomfortable, strange, vaguely familiar sensation that I’m floating several inches above my body. The feeling of something boiling up inside me disappears, and I look upon myself as if at a stranger. I know that I should be crying the way Beth is, or at least have the wide-eyed look of horror on Alyssa’s face �" maybe I should even adopt the worry on Ki’s �" but somehow my body feels as though it doesn’t belong to me. I’m not sure how to pull the muscles to show what I feel, so I do nothing at all.

At the same time, some strange sense of deja-vu overtakes me. It was like this before . . . but when? Not here or now, but long ago. My stomach clenches suddenly as some half-remembered image wells up, one of my mother’s face as she screams, of Cal’s hug and a whisper: “Are you alright, now?”

I try to place it, but Ki’s grip is tightening on me and I hear Alyssa gasp. I blink, suddenly remembering how to, and then stare.

There’s a . . . wad, I guess you’d say, forming out of thin air. A bunch of colored strings bundling up together out of nothingness, flinging themselves into knots and lines and shapes. They pull more strings out of the air to sculpt some form expertly, matching the curves correctly before filling in the center.

I nearly choke on my own breath as I stare at it.

No.

No way.

But . . . it has to be. Same face, same build, same clothes. There’s a deadness in his eyes and a limpness to his body, but it’s him. It’s definitely Darien.

The strings flick together a few last strands and then his eyes suddenly come to life, whirling up into a mixture of brilliant violets and fuchsias and imperial blues. They stay this way for a moment and then begin to settle into a golden brown.

He lets out a sigh and cracks his neck as he mutters to himself, “It’s probably not a good thing I’m getting so used to that one.” Beth chokes and he looks up at her quickly, cringes, and says, “Oh, I didn’t tell you about that one, did I?”

Ki recovers first and raises his eyebrows as he says, “I suppose I see now why you were being so brazen.” He glances down at me and then back at Hombre, “Perhaps you should inform us of your abilities so that we have no more future surprises. Unless you enjoy being cruel, of course.”

Hombre glares at him, and then his eyes drop down to Ki’s hand, still latched onto my arm. Hombre frowns and I blink. I’d forgotten that Ki was even holding onto to me. I being to gently extricate myself from his grip. Once Ki realizes that I’m doing so, though, he releases me immediately.

Hombre shakes his head and says, “One of my powers is to rebuild bodies.”

Alyssa prods, “You said you had four powers earlier and we saw you use that other one, where you talk to ‘spirits,’” she dutifully air quotes this, “. . . so what are the other two?”

Beth, next to her, nods.

Hombre looks away as he responds, “I can also guide a soul back into its body.” I see him shiver, “Or out of it.”

I stare at him, but Beth asks my question for me, in a little squeak, “You can kill people just by looking at them?”

He hesitates, “In theory, yes. I’ve always brought the spirit back immediately, though, so I’ve never actually killed anyone. I practiced, but I’ve never really used it.” He tilts his head back, closing his eyes, “If I’d gotten there a few moments sooner, maybe I would’ve. I saw her leave, but I didn’t have time, didn’t know . . .”

None of us ask him to clarify. I’m sure he’s talking about when Iifa attacked the place he used to call home.

He sighs and points to his eyes, “What color are they? Brown?”

I nod.

He shakes his head, brow furrowing, “Damn it. How inconvenient.”

“Why?” I can’t help asking.

He looks at me, “That means I need to use that power soon. The one where I have to kill someone.”

I shift, biting my lip. I see Ki narrow his eyes, considering Hombre. I wonder what Ki’s thinking. He seemed to have some knowledge of Hombre’s world, but how much?

Alyssa frowns, “Can’t you just not use it if you don’t want to?”

Hombre laughs, “I wish. If I don’t use them equally, I lose them. I’ve seen the Tamen make it happen enough times to know I don’t want that.”

The Tamen? Who are the Tamen? From the look of recognition on his face I can tell that Ki knows.

I’m about to ask when Beth speaks up, her voice shaky, “Does anyone else hear that?”

I strain my ears. There’s some commotion above us, which I can hear faintly through the stone wall. Then, there’s a loud thud.

Oh no.

“Iifa,” Ki says, looking behind us. “She wasn’t held up as long as I hoped.”

“What are we going to do?” Beth asks, panicked, “The other passage had a trap, too.”

Hombre frowns, “They’d seemed too obvious before . . . but maybe that’s the point. They’re fake.”

Beth stares at him, “Why would you make fake traps? I mean, besides the unnecessary effort, these people had to have some kind of budget.”

Alyssa looks at Beth and gestures at the room, “Does this place look like anyone cared about a budget?”

I look at Hombre, “I mean, would you be okay with testing out your theory yourself since you’re, well, apparently immortal?”

He smiles, “That’s what I was thinking, chica.”

As another thud sounds from above us, Hombre starts moving again. Alyssa, Beth, and I start after him, Ki following on our heels. Beth meets my eyes and tilts her head for me to look down at Alyssa’s bandage. Despite Alyssa’s act that everything’s fine, blood is beginning to seep through it. I slip my arm around her for support. She gives me a look but doesn’t complain.

 “I guess we can’t use that thing you drew anymore.” Beth sighs to Alyssa.

Alyssa frowns and holds up her hand, “No. I drew out most of it before I started marking paths. We can still use it �" at least for some of the way.”

Beth nods, “Well, I guess your perfectionism is paying off, nerd.”

Alyssa smirks.

I glance up to the source of the racket, the wall directly next to the balcony. If Iifa’s trying to get through the wall, I’m assuming they can’t open the door, which means that we have some time. I look back at Ki, who nods reassuringly, apparently having come to the same conclusion.

We backtrack, and this time Hombre takes the other passage, moving quickly but cautiously. I hold my breath as we carefully follow after him, hinging on his every step, but he reaches the other side without so much as a whisper of something happening.

I hear Beth release a sigh of relief.

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to re-plan our route,” Alyssa says.

“Maybe you can use that thing to help.” I gesture above at the rotating map I’d noticed earlier.

She considers it, “Maybe. Unfortunately, I think this may be a lot of guesswork.”

She doesn’t add in what we all know, that potentially Hombre could have to remake himself again �" or even one of us.

Maybe it’s this knowledge that makes us all fall completely silent, with the exception of Alyssa’s directions. At least the maze makes a few of the options easy to see, as a couple of the paths have spikes laid across them. When we approach, the spikes slide back into the ground, only coming back up after we’ve all passed over them.

As we walk, the thundering sound of Iifa only gets louder, and it’s easy to tell that I’m not the only one bothered by it. Beth constantly looks back at the source of the noise and Ki keeps reaching for his utility belt, placing his hand on each pocket as if to convince himself that everything he needs is still there. Occasionally he’ll bring out his gun, too, examining it to make sure it still works.

We pass through a number of paths easily, but then we begin to come to an area of the maze where Alyssa’s map has much less detail. As we make our way down one path, Hombre springs back and a gaping hole opens up where he was walking only a moment ago.

I can’t help but feel my heart tighten, and I try to stifle my fluttering panic.

“I’m okay.” Hombre says as he starts walking back toward us, probably seeing how freaked out we must look. I glance back at Ki and even he looks a bit rattled, though he quickly composes himself, of course.

Well, we’ve probably gotten too used to the directions being right, anyways.

Next to me, I can see Alyssa’s eyes are wide, but she swallows and then boldly says, “Serves you right.”

Hombre looks at her for a moment and then smiles, “Sure thing, but let’s try not to waste any more time teaching me my lesson, alright Alyssa?”

She shrugs, but when he walks past us I notice the way she cringes, immediately holding up her hand to try to figure out where she went wrong. I expect Beth to pass me a knowing look, but instead I notice that she’s tugging at her shiny, blonde hair, pulling her fingers through the knots as she tries to untangle it. Her gaze is focused on the ground as her eyebrows draw together. She doesn’t look too good, but Alyssa starts to move again and she seems to snap out of it.

Left, right, straight, right, right, left, and I lose track. The thundering above us seems to mock our progress. Alyssa’s begun to use the remains of the eyeliner to mark off routes, trying to check the map above us for guidance. By now, her face is tight and pale, and her limp has become much more pronounced. She’s not even trying to hide how much pain she’s in anymore, a grimace fixed to her features.

Beth’s quiet, but when I look at her, I’m not sure it’s a good thing. Her doe-eyes are wide, and she stares at the path ahead of us, jaw clenched. She visibly winces with every thud.

I feel the need to distract us, all too aware that I’m not really alright myself, “Beth, do you remember when we went to that one Italian place off-campus last semester? What was it called? Jess asked me about it.”

“Um . . . Giovanni’s, I think. Why did she ask?”

“She was thinking about going there for her anniversary.”

“She’s already been with him for a year?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know that?”

“I don’t really know her all too well.” She hesitates, but then she apparently decides she feels better talking, even if it’s about nothing: “Well, at least, I don’t anymore. She used to come into my hall all the time last year so that she could hang out with Margaret. You remember Margaret, right?”

I nod. Though I’ve never really been one to gossip, now I find myself trying to dissect every scandal I’ve ever heard about. Though Alyssa’s mostly silent, besides the directions, she seems relieved for the distraction provided by our chatter. I think the same goes for Hombre and Ki, who seem to be listening intently despite knowing none of the people we talk about.

We continue for a ways without incident, Beth and I chatting vapidly, until I notice that Alyssa’s hand has begun to shake when she compares her map to the one above. When we go down the next corridor, Hombre has another close call. I have small heart attack as he vaults out of the way, a small hole opening up in the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Alyssa says, her voice weak. Tears glimmer in her eyes, though she’s desperately trying to contain them. She tilts her head back, “I’m so sorry. I just can’t do this anymore, my leg hurts too much. It keeps distracting me.”

“Here,” I say, lifting up her hand, “show me where we are on this and I’ll help.”

She looks at me with relief and points at one passage, careful not to smudge the map with her finger. “You see the marking? That passage has a trap. The crosses are the paths we’ve taken. We’re here, going this way,” she gestures along another passageway.

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out,” I say, smiling despite the nervous pit in my stomach.

She gives me a smile back, though it’s taut and looks almost painful.

“Let’s go,” Hombre says, moving past us, his gaze fixed on the wall above.

After I lead us through a few passages without incident, I feel myself starting to relax the tiniest bit. I try to ignore the pounding above, instead focusing on the satisfaction of seeing Hombre through. He gives me a nod and a smile every time my choice is correct and he reaches the next crossroads.

“Tell me about your world,” Ki says to Beth, interrupting the silence.

I look back at him, relieved that he’s decided to keep Beth talking. Somehow the inane chatter had almost been therapeutic. He notices my glance and the corners of his lips turn up.

Beth seems to not have realized he was talking to her, but as she looks back after the slight pause and sees his eyes on her, her face lights up. “Y-yeah,” she stammers, “I’d be glad to, Ki. What do you want to know?”

Ki hesitates, “Perhaps an elaboration on your history? In case we need to visit your world, I would like to make sure that I am well aware of its happenings.”

Beth’s smile stretches even wider and she launches into lectures about something she’s always been good at: history. Ki and Hombre both seem much more involved in this subject, asking Beth questions and commenting on certain events. Alyssa, though, doesn’t seem to even be trying to listen, more focused on placing her feet.

My father always stressed to me how important it was to get a job done right the first time. Maybe that’s why he became so successful. I remember him droning to me, over my math homework in third grade, “Even if it seems like it takes longer to work through, you need to learn good habits. Cutting corners is only something you can do once you know how to do it right and can see what’s useless.”

I wonder if he’d be proud of me, now. Then again, sometimes I wonder if he was ever proud of me. Some days it seemed like it, some others I’d do everything the same and it’d all be wrong.

I keep going, leading us on a streak of correct turns, but after about ten passages, my numb, aching feet finally betray me and I stumble. Alyssa hisses in a breath and I immediately say, “Sorry! Sorry! Are you alright?”

She nods, grimacing.

Ki speaks up, “Carmen, let go. I’ll take her.”

He swoops in and picks up Alyssa like she’s the star of a romance novel. She blushes bright red, not even bothering to protest, and Beth frowns. I turn around and meet Hombre’s gaze. He raises his eyebrows, clearly interested in their reactions, and I roll my eyes and gesture for him to keep going.

After four more short passages, Beth interrupts her own lecture on the Romans to say, “We have to be close, now.”

I nod, at Ki’s side so that I can look at Alyssa’s hand, “We’re almost there, but we’re getting to the area that Alyssa couldn’t get down.”

“Sorry,” she sighs.

I stare at her, “Seriously? Just rest. We’ll get you there. You’ve done enough.”

She frowns, “It’s weird to see you taking charge.”

“Thanks? I can do stuff, too, you know.”

She sighs again, “Fine, sorry. Didn’t mean to get you upset.”

“I’m not upset,” I mutter as I take another look at her hand. My gaze sweeps up to the ceiling for a comparison.

I blink, something having caught my eye, and then look at the wall.

“Oh my God,” I whisper, “They’ve broken through.”

“What?” Beth asks.

I hear Ki inhale sharply.

It’s a small hole, but the next blow we hear is loud, echoing off the walls in the room. My stomach twists a bit as I hear faint cheers from the other side.

“Stop staring, we need to get moving again,” Ki says urgently. He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I whirl around and we all hurry to the next crossroads, where I’ve already determined that we need to go left. I have no idea where to go after that, though, and there isn’t anything else on Alyssa’s hand to guide us. I strain to see if I can hear the stream, but the sound from the hammering drowns out everything else.

Hombre turns around for guidance, but I shake my head.

He set his jaw and then decides on the center path over the one to the left, hurrying through it. I can see that his entire body’s tense. We all follow behind him, nervous, but his guess somehow turns out to be correct and we find ourselves at the next crossroads.

Luckily, this time our choice is obvious, as the right path is marked with spikes. Hombre’s already started off down it. I don’t dare to look back at the wall, but I’m sure the hole in it has widened considerably. Instead, I look up, trying to see if there’s any help from the rotating mural.

It seems that our options are starting to narrow down into only a few twists and turns. We have two or three more crossroads, and I can see the glimmer of more spikes marking the correct path ahead of us. One less crossroad that we have to worry about.

Now, in between the blows, I finally hear it: the sound of rushing water. I can’t help but laugh a little bit. Though we’re not there yet, it looks like we might actually make it. Like we might be okay, after all.

There’s another split in the path up ahead. I look up at the map. We can go straight, or we can go to the left. Both eventually connect again and lead to the end.

“Which one?” Hombre asks, staring at them, trying to see if he can make out some clue.

Alyssa speaks up for the first time in awhile, “Left.”

“Did you remember?” Beth asks, excited.

She shakes her head, “No. It gets us there faster.”

Hombre’s already testing out the path, but he stops, shakes his head, “I doubt the fastest way’s the easiest, considering the rest of this.”

“Yeah,” Alyssa laughs, sounding a bit delirious, “You’re probably right. What was I thinking? It’s always got to be the hardest way. Why would somebody build this psychotic, pointless maze only to have the last bit be easy?”

Ki glances back at the hole in the wall, his eyebrows knitted together. He starts to place Alyssa down, carefully, turning to me and Beth, “Help her walk the last bit of this. My arms need to be free in case I must fire on them.”

Both of us nod and grab onto her as she sways.

“Alyssa,” I ask, “Are you going to be okay to put some pressure on your leg?”

“Sure. Why not? Screw it.”

Ki, next to us, is on alert, his eyes fixed on the hole, “They’ll break through soon, so be ready.”

We start forward and Beth asks him, “You’ll be able to get all of them, right? You’re a good shot, so you can do it, right?”

Ki doesn’t respond, so we just follow after a quick-footed Hombre. I’m ignoring my exhaustion, the soreness of my feet. After all, looking at Alyssa’s soaked bandage, I don’t feel like I can really complain.

Behind us, there’s a last thud and then the room becomes noticeably quieter. It’s only a moment, though, until new sounds replace the old and shouts and yells and grunts and those horrible shrieks fill the air.

“Run!” Alyssa shouts, panicked. She squirms out of our arms and forces herself forward into a hobbled sprint. Beth and I chase after her, though I’m not sure if it’s because we can hear them behind us or because we both know Alyssa shouldn’t be running like that without support. Somehow she manages to keep ahead of us, though I can hear her sobbing each time her right foot hits the floor. I try to run faster, cursing that my metabolism’s always allowed me to skip the gym. Hombre’s ahead of us, dashing towards a turn, and I can hear Ki’s gun firing from close behind.

We cross over a bridge and round the corner, flying down it to the end, where this path meets the final one. I can hear the water rushing behind the walls on my right, powerful and strong as it funnels through the room. Ahead of us, I see Hombre make it to the juncture without an issue. He stops, waiting, looking at whatever chaos must be happening behind our backs. My heart surges. This was the right path, then. We’re almost there.

He’s only waiting for a few seconds before we catch up and then he turns to the right and keeps going. For a moment I wonder how he knows to go that way, and then I round the corner and understand. At the end of the path is the round chamber of glass I’d spotted, low on a slope so that it’s underneath the rushing water. Inside of it is a gigantic stone slab, just like the portal we came through outside. The floor surrounding it is ornate, patterned like the hall of the lobby so far above us.

Alyssa lets out a relieved moan. Hombre reaches the hole that serves as a door and stops, stepping aside as he gestures us in, his eyes swirling with scarlet and gold. I don’t have to guess what power that signifies. I guess he’s decided that if he needs to kill someone, he will.

Alyssa, Beth, and I rush into the room, Alyssa collapsing to the ground almost immediately. Beth is already at her side and helping her crawl to the wall, so I walk toward the portal, holding out my bracelet, hoping it’ll show me the way through.

Ki shouts, “Get in, I’m right behind you.”

I look back to see Hombre enter and then Ki. I swallow, even though my throat’s dry, because behind them I can see the dismin foregoing our meandering through the maze, slithering over the walls instead. I swallow. It won’t be long before they’re there. Though Ki fires off shots, the sheer number of them assures me that his efforts won’t make nearly the dent I’d hoped they would. Our only chance is the portal. I turn and hurry toward it.

My feet are so numb that I only register that I’ve stepped on something after I hear a click and all the lights in the gigantic room go out. I stop dead in my tracks. Though there’s some light from the hole Iifa’s forces have made, there’s not enough to make out much of anything.

I guess, though, that this button is what I wanted, because there’s a loud snap as a door shoots out of the floor to cover up the entrance behind us. Small, blue-ish lights flick on where the tiled floor meets the walls, shining up through the glass. I can see, now, illustrations like those in the murals above the stairs. Once again, I see the tower, flanked on both sides by the cat-like humans. Above the tower is the paintbrush.

Behind me, there’s a loud, resonating thump, and I whirl around to see that one of the many-legged monsters has charged the glass. My stomach drops as I see its rider. It’s Chul. On his face is a cruel smile, almost a sneer, and he lifts his arms, the scythes at his wrists shooting out like the wings of a demon. He starts to jam them into the glass.

There are more soldiers behind him, but I can’t take my eyes off his face. He catches my gaze and his smile grows wider. He stops trying to crack the glass and instead runs a finger down it slowly, as if caressing it.

I feel lightheaded. I want to puke.

Hombre slams his fist over the spot where Chul taunts me, yelling, “Back off!” He then looks at me, “Carmen, figure out how to open that portal.” Next to him, Ki has that fearsome air about him again, his gun aiming at Chul’s forehead.

I turn around and limp forward, ignoring the blisters I’m only just now starting to feel. I shove my bracelet at the rock, muttering, “Work! Work!”

Nothing’s happening. I hear the screech of Chul’s blades as they cut at the glass. How long until it breaks? I swallow, shoving my bracelet at the stone again. Nothing.

Beth is whispering to Alyssa, both of them huddled against a part of the wall that the river rushes against. I hear her saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.”

I look around at the walls, hoping maybe they have some kind of clue, but all I see are images from the murals. The hopelessness creeping up on me, I lean against the stone, pressing my bracelet into it, “Please open, please . . .” I can feel the frustration growing in me. I whisper into it, tears in my eyes, “Please, I need you to open. I promised myself I was going to change, to be different. I want to be happy. I need to live if I’m going to ever be happy.” I can feel a tear trickle down my face and hit the stone.

There’s a blue glow. I blink and pull back. Written on the stone are the words: “Hold on.”

The glass ball shifts with a sudden jolt, and the entrance begins to swivel upwards.

I see Beth wrap her arms around Alyssa, both their eyes wide, and I stagger into the stone, grabbing onto it for support. Hombre uses the wall to steady himself, and Ki widens his stance, his gun still aiming at Iifa’s soldiers.

Chul pulls back, his face slipping from a sneer into a look of rage. Desperate, he makes his dismin slam into the glass. Behind him, more soldiers have appeared, their weapons raised. Chul signals them, and, as the ball jolts up, they fire at us. My heart skips a beat, but their shots just glance off, ineffective. I frown and look at where Chul was slicing at the glass, but I can’t even spot a dent. I tighten my grip on the stone.

As we begin to drift upwards, I look to see Iifa perched by the hole in the wall, shouting orders and pointing toward the ceiling. The riders scatter, climbing up the maze’s walls as a cascade of water pours into the passageways through the hole opening up beneath us. One of the dismin slips and shrieks as it’s swept into the current and bashed, along with its struggling rider, into the walls of the maze. Chul dashes out of the way just in time, his mount perching on top of one of the walls. He glares at us and fires off a shot as we rise toward the ceiling and the river floods the maze below.

I finally let myself exhale and look above us at the rotating map. It looks like we’re being drawn toward an indent in the center.

I’m still gripping onto the stone slab, but it shifts and I release it. The movement of the ball is smooth enough, now, that I can stand on my own. The stone begins to rise up out of the tiles, the words disappearing as it stretches toward the door which is now at the top.

“I think they’re attempting to cut us off.” Ki says.

I follow his gaze and see that all the soldiers have retreated to the walls and are now climbing them, heading toward the rotating panel.

My stomach twists.

By now the stone’s almost stretched to the top of the glass and the door above us slides open. The riders have almost reached the panel. I’m biting a hole in my lip, remembering how Iifa’s riders had fought. A shiver goes up my spine.

But, as I watch, my heart leaps. The dismin are having a difficult time grasping onto the panel. Though their riders urge them forward, the animals shrink back, nervous. One of them attempts to climb onto it, only to fall off the wall entirely. I glance above us to see the ball complete its ascent and connect with the panel. There’s a moment where we seem almost weightless, and then the opening seals and we begin to rotate.

The air catches in my throat as the indent above us peels back, like a flower, to reveal the portal. A low hum emits from it, like angels breathing, and I swear I smell flowers, mixed with a hint of cinnamon. I take a deep breath, feeling okay for the first time in the past couple hours, wondering if the water had masked these scents from the first portal.

There’s a loud clacking sound as the stone slab begins to form a ladder up to the portal, pieces of it jutting out for us to use as footholds.

I turn to see Ki helping Alyssa up. “You should go first,” he tells her.

She grimaces, but nods, clearly aware that she’s probably pushed herself too far. Hombre’s moved to the ladder and now waits, holding his hand out for her to grab. Beth and I watch as he and Ki now work in unison to support her as she climbs. Hombre goes first and when he reaches the portal she’s pulled through with him.

“Go ahead,” Ki says, looking at Beth and me.

Beth starts up the ladder, wasting no time. I’m right on her heels, looking back to see Iifa and the riders continue to struggle. I smile, relief flooding through me.

The sound and smell of the portal comes with a slight nostalgia as I’m reminded once again of my mother. She would make Cal and me French toast while humming a tune, kissing me on my forehead as she served me a plate. I try not to think of her, the memory suddenly making me feel unsettled.

Ahead of me, Beth’s already gone. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and step up one more rung, finding myself once again pulled into the strange in-between place of the portal. There’s no calming touch from Hombre this time, and I find myself missing it as the feeling of separation begins to overwhelm me. My mind drifts to my father smoking with a satisfied smile, Chul running his finger down the glass, but I pull myself together, think about Cal’s comforting hugs, the smell of French toast.

I feel a lump in my throat, but the colors are reforming again into new shapes, and I stumble into Beth, who’s stopped. I look up to find out why and my eye is immediately drawn to one figure in front of me. It’s oddly familiar, though so bizarre I can’t think why I’d know it. I give it a weak smile and it points a knife at me.

“How many are yous?” It asks, clearly frustrated despite the relative absence of emotion on its face. Perhaps this is due to the lack of eyebrows and the two slits where there should be a nose. I frown. It’s hunched, with protrusions jutting out of its back that end with little balls, six in total. Its skin is an odd, blue-ish tone, its arms long for its body.

This . . . this is one of the creatures from the mural.

Author's Note

Okay, this chapter has been and is still giving me a lot of issues. I would appreciate any feedback about pacing immensely. Thank you!