“I wouldn’t worry about them. The interference that’s gripped her has probably destroyed their ability to focus as well. And even if they are still alert enough, they can’t come in here.”
“It doesn’t seem right, Greg.”
“Right and wrong won’t matter tomorrow.”
He walked out of the room.
Sharon watched Diana convulse for a few minutes. Her body became a twisted ball of knots as muscles bulged and flexed against her will. Her eyes had rolled back, and she could only drool.
Sharon hated him for it, but Greg was correct.
“I’m sorry.”
Diana gasped and for a moment there was intelligence in her eyes. She grabbed Sharon’s leg, tried to say something, then fell twitching again. Sharon left Diana to struggle with her own broken form.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Vom was back in the closet. He didn’t remember going back to it, but he never did.
He moved some coats aside and cleared away some shoes for a place to sit. He couldn’t see anything while the door was shut, but he didn’t need to. Vom knew the closet well. Knew every pair of shoes, every hanger in it, so he was surprised when something squishy and unexpected got in his way.
“Ow,” said the unexpected thing.
“Zap, is that you?” asked Vom.
“Who else would it be? Where are we?”
“The closet.”
Smorgaz spoke up in the dark. “Your closet?”
Vom pondered. This was new.
Something poked him in the back.
“Watch it!”
“Sorry,” said Smorgaz.
“How did we get in here?” asked Zap.
“I don’t know, but it was crowded enough without the two of you.” Vom shoved Smorgaz, who shoved back. In the struggle, Vom accidentally kicked Zap.
“Hey, watch it!”
“You watch it!” grumbled Vom. “This is my closet.”
“Well, if we’re going to be stuck sharing the damn thing, we’ll have to make the best of it.” Despite Zap’s supernatural vision, he couldn’t see anything in the darkness. For a being capable of glimpsing the hydrogen atoms dancing at the heart of stars, it was disconcerting. He probed the floor with his tentacles. They ran across the cheap carpeting, the old shoes. “Wow. This really is a closet.”
“What did you think it was?” asked Vom.
“I just assumed it was different when you were trapped in it. I didn’t think it would be so… closety.”
“Nope. That’s all it is. Actually, I think it’s a little bit bigger now that you two are here. Maybe some space was added to accommodate all of us.”
“Not enough,” said Smorgaz as someone jabbed him in the eye. “So what do we do now?”
“We wait,” said Vom, “for the next person to get the apartment.”
“How long is that going to take?”
“Could be in five minutes,” said Vom. “Could be a thousand years.”
“Does this mean Diana is dead?” asked Smorgaz.
“Probably.” Vom sighed. “Too bad. I liked her.”
“I don’t think she is,” said Zap.
“I know it stinks,” said Vom, “but if she were alive I wouldn’t be in here. It’s only if the link between us disappears that I get shoved back in this place.”
“But what about us?” asked Zap. “Why are Smorgaz and I here?”
“Because… I don’t know, but there has to be some perfectly good reason for it.”
“Yes, and that reason is that Diana isn’t dead yet. I can sense her, feel her presence. Can’t you?”
Smorgaz shifted, stepping on Vom’s foot. “Sorry.” He moved again, knocking hangers off the rod. “Oops.”
“Stand still while we figure this out,” said Zap.
“Just let me move this fur coat out of the way first.”
“Hey, watch the hands,” said Vom.
Smorgaz chuckled. “My mistake.”
Zap shouted, “Will you two shut up and listen to me? Feel it. Can’t you sense Diana’s influence?”
“I am feeling a bit confused and overwhelmed,” said Vom. “And kind of pissed off at the same time.”
“Yeah,” agreed Smorgaz. “Me too.”
They quieted, each tuning his personal metaphysical radio to Diana’s frequency. The signal was static-filled, muffled, but it was there. That they could think clearly at all proved it.
“Something has gone wrong,” said Zap. “They must have done something to her.”
“Figure that out with your all-seeing eye, did you?” asked Vom.
“Shut up.”
“So what difference does it make?” asked Smorgaz. “Whether she’s alive or dead, we’re still trapped in here until someone lets us out, right?”
“If she’s not dead, then maybe we don’t have to wait for that. Maybe we can get out on our own.”
“Don’t be stupid,” said Vom. “There’s no way out of this box. I’ve tried.”
“You’ve tried when you were mere cosmic flotsam in a cold storage room,” said Zap. “But now, I think this is just a reaction to Diana’s situation. Maybe if we put some effort into it we can open the closet together.”
“Can’t hurt to try,” said Vom.
They pushed, grunting and groaning and straining. They were inexhaustible, but after half an hour they did get bored.
Vom frowned in the dark. “This is a waste of time.”
“We can’t give up,” said Zap.
“Why not?”
“Because Diana wouldn’t give up.”
“Oh, hell.” Vom threw his shoulder into the door. “Let’s do this.”
To his surprise, the door opened. He fell out and onto the floor. Pogo squealed, lapping at Vom’s face with his jagged tongue while West stood in the room, his hand on the closet door’s handle.
“What were you doing back in there?” asked West.
“It’s a bit complicated.” Zap floated out. “Thanks for letting us out.”
West rubbed his face. “Don’t thank me. Thank the dog. Came and got me.”
“Why didn’t Pogo go into the closet?”
“The dog doesn’t belong to this apartment. He belongs to Apartment Two.”
Zap disintegrated the coffee table.
“All right. Back in business. Now let’s go rescue Diana!”
Yipping and hissing, Pogo hopped arounid get bt>
They ran from the apartment and down the hall, pausing at the threshold to the outside universe. From inside the building the flux of the universe was visible as a strange stew of bubbles floating in the air itself. Other worlds could be glimpsed in the glittering spheres. The universe was fraying around the edges. The pressure from all the outside realities might cause the whole thing to collapse, crushing it into nothingness.
“I wouldn’t recommend going out there,” said West. “Without Diana to anchor you and with everything falling apart, there’s no telling what reaction it could cause.”
Fenris roared, and the world shuddered.
