Paying the Piper

Thirty-Four: Quibble

When Dorian pierced Quentin's/my skin, the area exploded with light. I strode forward, blocking the light with my arm, frantic to see what was happening. Had Dorian realized the ruse? Was Hannah going to drop dead again?

Someone screamed—it sounded like Hannah—but I couldn't see anything. The light faded, but my eyes had been blinded by the sudden brightness. Now that the light had faded, I was effectively night-blind.

One sound reached my ears immediately, though: that scuttling, slithering sound that I now equated with shadow-leeches.

"Come on," Cale said, grabbing my hand. We took a single step and were free of the In-between, back at the edge of the forest where the bonfires had been.

"The others—" I began, but he had already left, bringing his fox pelt with him.

I sank to my knees in the dry field, eyes still adapting to the light. The sun was already below the trees, so there wasn't much light to adapt to, but it was more than where I had been.

What had happened? Would Cale get to the others in time to bring them out? And what about Dorian? I was so confused, and I couldn't relax. After my legs regained their strength, I had to start pacing. I tried to remind myself that time passed differently in the In-between. It was already sunset, even though we'd only been in the woods a couple of hours at the most. Cale could be in there for a minute, but it might take ten minutes of time out here.

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and powered it on. I kept pacing and glancing at the screen as it powered on, as I waited to see if the day were still Saturday...or if we had been gone long enough it was a different day entirely.

Finally it loaded, and I breathed a sigh of relief to see the date show as Saturday. But it was already approaching seven o'clock. Still, dealing with concerned parents felt laughable after facing Dorian.

Cale and Hannah suddenly appeared, or I blinked and they had always been there. She was standing, and I couldn't stop myself from rushing to her and grabbing her in a hug. Before I could even look back at Cale, he had left again.

"Hannah! You're okay! Er...are you okay?"

She had tears glistening in her eyes and in tracks down her cheeks. The lesions from the shadow-leeches had faded to nothing; after all, the deal had been that she would be restored to how she had been last night, during the bonfire. Still, I had to keep checking her over, unconvinced Dorian had actually been able to and done what he had promised.

Hannah nodded and hugged me again. "I am so glad to be out of there. I can't remember everything exactly, but there were crazy shadows and I had such a strange and creepy dream..."

Another time, perhaps, I would have to ask her what she had experienced and could remember. For now, I zipped up Ryland's coat on her since she was still in her bonfire outfit that hadn't been warm enough even for standing around a fire.

"I'm so glad you're all right." Tears gathered at the edges of my own eyes. I stared at her, imagining how badly everything could have gone.

But I still didn't know how everything had turned out.

Despite my best intentions to support Hannah, I wound up pacing and looking toward the forest. Hannah was looking around, confused.

"Um..." She bit her lip. "Am I crazy, or did we go through a time warp? It was totally dark in the forest."

"Yeah, we went through the portal. Time can be different." It was hard to focus on answering Hannah's questions, and I probably confused her more than I helped. I couldn't remember who knew what anymore at this point.