He made a face at her and they returned their attention to the events in the bedroom.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. No doubt what you’ve been through has been traumatic. It isn’t any wonder that you’d have nightmares.”
“Everything all right in here?” Gray asked, entering the room. Marcus grumbled, hidden behind the door. Celine rolled her eyes at him.
“Damien had a nightmare,” Celine informed him.
“I’m okay now. Michael and I were just chatting for a few minutes before I went back to sleep.”
Celine smiled at him. “Good night, then. I hope you sleep well.”
“Thanks, good night.”
They all said their goodnights and Celine and Gray left the room. Celine burst from the bathroom, glancing around to ensure the coast was clear. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s get going. We don’t have any time to waste!”
Celine reached for Damien’s hand, but he pulled back. “Wait, wait,” he protested.
“What?” she questioned.
“I feel bad. Like we should leave a note or something for this Celine.”
“All right,” Celine agreed, “but hurry.”
Damien grabbed a piece of paper from the side table in the room and a pen. He spoke aloud as he wrote. “Dear Celine,” he said as he scrawled it on the paper. He stopped dead. “Wait, now what? Do I just say ‘turns out we aren’t from this time band, we went home?’”
“Put ‘We learned we’re from another time band and the electric pulse sent us here by accident. We’re returning home tonight. Sorry we didn’t get to say goodbye, we’ll never forget you.’ Then sign our names.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s good.” Damien scrawled it on the paper then signed their names, leaving the note on his pillow. “Okay, that should do it. Okay, ready. Now what?”
Celine stared at Marcus. “We must find an exit location. There should be one near, they exist everywhere. Come along, we should try the cave near the beach.”
“Okay,” Celine answered. She grabbed Damien’s hand, pulling him along.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Damien protested.
“Now what?” Celine queried.
“Just… follow him?” he questioned, motioning toward Marcus.
“Yes, follow him. Do what he says. He’s the only one who knows how to do this.”
Damien frowned, but acquiesced. “Okay,” he mumbled, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “We could always leave you here,” he suggested.
“No one is leaving anyone here,” Celine retorted.
“Yeah, just because we don’t like you doesn’t mean we don’t want to go home. This is just a new sensation for us. You know, trusting you with anything,” Damien protested.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “It is little wonder why I abhor doing good. I receive nothing but grief for it.”
“Oh, Marcus,” Celine sighed, shaking her head. “You’ll survive. Now let’s go.”
Together, they crept through the halls and out of the house. They navigated to the beach cave. As they entered, Celine asked, “What are we looking for?”
“An etching, small and subtle. Something like this,” he answered, drawing in the sand with a stick.
“And you’re sure it’s here?” Michael asked, studying the walls.
“No, I’m not certain it’s here. I have never been to this Alterra. How would I know where one is? I suggested this spot since they tend to be near natural structures like this.”
“Let’s just spread out and search,” Celine suggested. After thirty minutes they came up empty.
“It’s not here, now what?” Michael demanded of Marcus.
“We search somewhere else.”
“And what if it’s not there either?” Michael questioned. “Perhaps we continue to try sites until our bodies wither away in the real world?”
“I could kill you here first. It would be much faster,” Marcus suggested.
“Probably your plan all along!” Damien exclaimed. “You’re really something, you know!”
“Will you all please stop bickering? No one is killing anyone anywhere in any world. We will find the exit portal location. Let’s just move to another location as quickly as possible,” Celine suggested. “Perhaps the cave that leads to the beach.”
“Fine,” Marcus and Michael agreed simultaneously.
“I don’t trust him,” Damien confided to Celine as they walked to the other cave.
“I know, D. I get it, but we don’t have much choice. Marcus is the only one who had any knowledge of Alterra and how to move between the worlds.”
“I don’t like this at all,” Damien added.
“I wasn’t thrilled with asking for his help either, but I couldn’t let you die. There was no way either of you would have found your way back alone. We had no choice.”
“I can’t believe Gray agreed to this,” Damien said.
“He’s no happier than you or Michael. But, again, we had little choice.”
They arrived at the cave leading to the beach, ending their conversation. After a thorough search of it, they found nothing. Discouragement filled Celine. She plopped on a large rock as they exited the cave to the beach. “Now what?” Michael asked.
“Wait,” Celine answered, narrowing her eyes as her hand rubbed the cold, wet stone’s side. “In our world, there is an etching on the large rock just up the beach. Perhaps that is it!”
“Worth a look,” Damien agreed.
They traveled up the beach toward the large stone. Celine circled it before she found what she sought. “There!” she called, pointing. “That’s it, right?”
“Indeed. Of course, it would be here,” Marcus grumbled. The etched stone lay at the spot from which Celine returned him to the underworld, following her retrieval of his book.
“Let’s dwell on the unfortunate placement another time, Marcus. How do we exit this world?”
“I must open a portal. Once I have, we shall enter it and traverse the in-between back to our world. We left a trail coming here, we’ll follow it back.”
“Okay,” Celine answered, nodding. “Open it.”
“Patience, Celine. This is intricate work,” Marcus responded.
Celine held up her arms, signaling surrender. Marcus sighed and began his work. He removed chalk from his pocket, tracing the etching in the stone. He ground the rest up and blew it toward the cliff wall at the rear of the beach. It settled over an invisible portal, marking the edges. Marcus stretched his hand out toward the chalk-rimmed portal. He twisted his wrist, grasping
