Ninety-seven days.
That’s how long their blissful delusion survived. Months had passed since Rana’s dire predictions. Infighting disregarded, they’d not been attacked once.
“It’s hot!” Cassie complained.
Daniel wiped his brow. “It’s ninety-one, maybe ninety-two degrees… did anyone pack a thermometer?”
“You can use my hand for shade, Cassie,” Wendi offered, then frowned. “Wait, then I’d have to carry you, but I’m carrying Daniel, so you’d have to take turns shading each other?”
“No, I want to fly,” Cassie said as she twirled in the air. “I’ve got it! I’ll make a nighttime illusion. That’ll cool us off.”
“Rana’s Guide: Rule Two, no active magic,” Lea recited.
“Also,” the frog girl added, “Shew Stone illusions don’t block UV radiation—”
“—There’s no way you can know that!” Kenta challenged. “Did the frogs do a peer-reviewed study? What published literature are you citing?”
Daniel’s gaze bore into the frog girl as if expecting to hear tales of an illustrious Batrachian scientific institute.
Rana scowled at the Kaminoke. “True, I don’t know that. It’s a conclusion I came to from secondhand experience. However, I do know Nightshade illusions manipulate perception, not light. More importantly, Cassie, I can apply sunscreen if you need help.”
“Interesting,” Daniel considered. “So it doesn’t fool radar or cameras…” That explained how the others watched TV in their cells at the Facility without being caught. The young man continued mumbling theories to himself as they walked.
Spirits were high as they descended a mountain into the valley below. A breathtaking vista sprawled at their feet. Colorful lichen covered the rocks with tiny flowers nestling in the cracks. The occasional stunted tree gripped their stony path with knotted roots. An ancient forest of tall trees and dense foliage blanketed the cradle of the vale. A distant peak below the tree line wore a thick green cape.
Coming here, they’d taken the more dangerous of two choices, impatient after Paul’s all-too-recent fumble. The risk seemed small after doing the same thing previously without consequence.
No bubble halls existed here. This pocket free of the maze served as a calm clearing in the Wilderness. Unfortunately, any safety was deceptive. A blockade of barriers covered all this world’s neighboring nodes except one. With its Terminal, the planet had one entrance and one exit.
They’d learned this while following a twisting trail around the area for the past week but pressed on with a child’s heedless trust in the universe. They should’ve known better after seeing a demon.
Rana spoke of the peril but didn’t nag or threaten them into compliance.
Kenta would’ve gone in knowing what they’d meet. He’d never understand without seeing it himself.
Cassie would’ve given a warning if they’d been on a collision course, but Rana had them go the long way to the node for safety. In ordinary circumstances, that’d be the best move. In this case, their futures didn’t intersect until one moment, one decision, changed everything—and the white noise of possibility clicked into a clear absolute, punctuated by a scream.
The bat girl fell from the sky. Wendi leaped forward and caught her deftly in one hand, the other carrying Daniel. Sheer terror paralyzed Cassie to the point she couldn’t flap her wings.
“What is it?” said Rana, at her side instantly, “What found us?”
Paul saw the frog girl’s powerful resolve, determined to see them through this crisis, too practical to waste time on an ‘I told you so!’
The bat girl managed to release a pitiful squeak between tears, “His name is Red Tail.”
Five of them exchanged glances, but Daniel spoke the common thought, “Who’s that?”
They looked to Rana, and Paul gasped.
He couldn’t help it. Watching the fight go out of his friend, seeing her resolve melt and her body deflate to the floor—head lowered, back slumped, hands laying palms open, fingers twitching uselessly—scared him like nothing else.
Ninety-seven days.
That’s how long their blissful delusion survived. Months had passed since Rana’s dire predictions. Infighting disregarded, they’d not been attacked once.
“It’s hot!” Cassie complained.
Daniel wiped his brow. “It’s ninety-one, maybe ninety-two degrees… did anyone pack a thermometer?”
“You can use my hand for shade, Cassie,” Wendi offered, then frowned. “Wait, then I’d have to carry you, but I’m carrying Daniel, so you’d have to take turns shading each other?”
“No, I want to fly,” Cassie said as she twirled in the air. “I’ve got it! I’ll make a nighttime illusion. That’ll cool us off.”
“Rana’s Guide: Rule Two, no active magic,” Lea recited.
“Also,” the frog girl added, “Shew Stone illusions don’t block UV radiation—”
“—There’s no way you can know that!” Kenta challenged. “Did the frogs do a peer-reviewed study? What published literature are you citing?”
Daniel’s gaze bore into the frog girl as if expecting to hear tales of an illustrious Batrachian scientific institute.
Rana scowled at the Kaminoke. “True, I don’t know that. It’s a conclusion I came to from secondhand experience. However, I do know Nightshade illusions manipulate perception, not light. More importantly, Cassie, I can apply sunscreen if you need help.”
“Interesting,” Daniel considered. “So it doesn’t fool radar or cameras…” That explained how the others watched TV in their cells at the Facility without being caught. The young man continued mumbling theories to himself as they walked.
Spirits were high as they descended a mountain into the valley below. A breathtaking vista sprawled at their feet. Colorful lichen covered the rocks with tiny flowers nestling in the cracks. The occasional stunted tree gripped their stony path with knotted roots. An ancient forest of tall trees and dense foliage blanketed the cradle of the vale. A distant peak below the tree line wore a thick green cape.
Coming here, they’d taken the more dangerous of two choices, impatient after Paul’s all-too-recent fumble. The risk seemed small after doing the same thing previously without consequence.
No bubble halls existed here. This pocket free of the maze served as a calm clearing in the Wilderness. Unfortunately, any safety was deceptive. A blockade of barriers covered all this world’s neighboring nodes except one. With its Terminal, the planet had one entrance and one exit.
They’d learned this while following a twisting trail around the area for the past week but pressed on with a child’s heedless trust in the universe. They should’ve known better after seeing a demon.
Rana spoke of the peril but didn’t nag or threaten them into compliance.
Kenta would’ve gone in knowing what they’d meet. He’d never understand without seeing it himself.
Cassie would’ve given a warning if they’d been on a collision course, but Rana had them go the long way to the node for safety. In ordinary circumstances, that’d be the best move. In this case, their futures didn’t intersect until one moment, one decision, changed everything—and the white noise of possibility clicked into a clear absolute, punctuated by a scream.
The bat girl fell from the sky. Wendi leaped forward and caught her deftly in one hand, the other carrying Daniel. Sheer terror paralyzed Cassie to the point she couldn’t flap her wings.
“What is it?” said Rana, at her side instantly, “What found us?”
Paul saw the frog girl’s powerful resolve, determined to see them through this crisis, too practical to waste time on an ‘I told you so!’
The bat girl managed to release a pitiful squeak between tears, “His name is Red Tail.”
Five of them exchanged glances, but Daniel spoke the common thought, “Who’s that?”
They looked to Rana, and Paul gasped.
He couldn’t help it. Watching the fight go out of his friend, seeing her resolve melt and her body deflate to the floor—head lowered, back slumped, hands laying palms open, fingers twitching uselessly—scared him like nothing else.
