Big empty pockets made me wary, but we had no choice. We had to rescue Dan and do our job to stop this monster.
We ran for what seemed like forever before Jessica collapsed against a wall with a dramatic groan.
“It’s going farther away,” she lamented. “We have to wait for it to come back around.”
Frustration coursed through me. Jessica was very close to being left behind entirely. “And how would you know that?” I asked, breathing hard. She’d made us all stop. Sike clicked his tongue. Cam looked astonished beside him, and green in the face.
“She’s right,” he muttered in disbelief. “The creature vanished.” He looked up to see my shock and dismay. “Uh, I’m sure it will be back soon.”
She was right? What did that mean for us? Pushing past that, I sank against the jelly wall and took a breath myself.
“It’s back,” Sike whispered after a moment. “It’s going slower this time, though.” I took a step forward, then thought better of it. If it hadn't worked before, we needed to try something new.
“Could we sneak up on it?” I suggested.
Dorian wiped his brow. “I don’t see why not. Where is it, Sike?”
“A few tunnels away,” he reported, looking at the screen. “It might be resting, too.” The creature had limits, then; that was good news. I caught my breath as we recovered. Sike directed us to go down the right tunnel, but this time we moved slowly and stealthily. We were a tunnel away when I heard a tiny whine coming from under the creature’s breath.
Jessica sneezed.
The creature let out a growl and fled. I cursed as we followed it, trying to track its presence again.
Finally, we slowed down again. I peered down a passage, surprised to see it end in a larger space that didn’t look like the other tunnels.
“It’s the big pocket,” Sike muttered. We approached cautiously. The tunnel opened up into a large, dome-like area that stretched far above our heads. Plants, trees, and buildings filled this area in a style somewhat like an immortal city, but the material that made up the city was the same semi-translucent material as the tunnels. Out here, though, the texture turned rough, crinkling beneath our feet. I ran a hand over the surface of a nearby stubby tree, and it felt like pressing against jiggly bubble wrap. I frowned and looked toward my vampire teammates.
Sike put his hands up. “I have no idea what’s going on here. None of this looks remotely familiar.”
“It’s bad news for us,” Dorian admitted and looked up. “There’s a ceiling here, so this is some kind of contained area. Does that mean there’s something outside it?”
I thought back to the little creatures springing on the surface of the tunnels. They were so hazy I could barely make out their outlines. This network of tunnels… had it been made by someone? A long-lost arbiter getting his kicks in this wormhole slip of a universe?
Chandry prodded a fern with her foot. “It doesn’t seem particularly poisonous. It feels like someone was trying to recreate a world or something.” She grimaced. “These buildings look like what you described in the Leftovers.” She glanced up and gave a cry, pointing to a particular building.
The Ghost, in a streak of white, dashed into one of the buildings in the center of the bubble. A flash of darkness in its mouth confirmed it still held Dan between its jaws, but he made no noise. I sprinted after them, the ground crinkling oddly beneath me. Dorian was right beside me, easily keeping pace. The buildings resembled the old remnants of a Mortal Plane apartment block, which formed a mazelike pile of rubble. Some of the buildings stood in partial ruin, while others held more of a shape.
Dorian threw his hand out to stop me. The area around the entrance of the apartment was strangely clawed away.
“It looks like a lair,” Dorian said. He put a finger up to his mouth to shush our oncoming teammates. Thankfully, Jessica also took the hint. Sike’s scanner was dead to the world, and he held up a black screen to show us that. A lair meant danger upon entering, since we didn’t know if the Ghost was alone. There might be more beasts just like it.
Interesting. I studied the area around the building. So, the Ghost had come back for something. It was going to its own makeshift home from the looks of it, meaning it either found this place or came from this place, but it could be in any of these ruined buildings.
“It’s in the last building,” Jessica said, and collapsed against a boulder. I glared at her.
“How exactly do you know that?” I demanded. She wasn’t explaining herself, even if she was right.
She sniffed and placed a palm on her forehead. “I just know, okay? I have a headache.” She took in a big gulp of air.
“Is it a physical feeling?” Cam asked shortly. He crossed his arms and scowled down at her. He looked pale and sweaty after our run, bordering on the end of his rope for new experiences.
“It’s a burning sensation,” Jessica muttered, sinking to the ground. I ran a hand through my hair, growing more and more frustrated by this situation. This woman had deceived us, recklessly endangered herself and her boyfriend, and then led us into a dangerous, unstable new area with a monster to rescue her boyfriend, but she wouldn’t even try to explain herself.
Dorian let out a grunt. “Well, she obviously has some kind of perceptive ability. She saw that portal.” That was true, and I’d be an idiot to ignore her after what I saw earlier.
Chandry sprang up into the air, using the ground beneath her to give her extra bounce. “I’m not going the way she wants,” she said. “I’d rather take my chances somewhere else.”
“For once, I agree with you,” Arlonne said.
Fine. They
