Bedtime

Part 1

The air was surprisingly warm that morning as I walked on the sidewalk that led into a large skyscraper building in the middle of nowhere. When I walked inside that building, I took a moment to take in my familiar surroundings. The unpleasant, strong smell of coffee and onions was strong in the air as the overly-large chandelier above me kept me from seeing right, through my glasses. I quickly spoke a word, and I could see again clearly, to see a brightly dressed woman, carrying stacks of papers, binders, and books all in her arms, coming towards me.

I laughed lightly and started towards her, meeting her halfway and grabbing some of her load.

“You have heard of a locker right?” I joked, “Maybe a backpack?”

She rolled her eyes, “Whatever, I didn’t have the time to put them in a locker. Plus, I think I just filled my seventh one. I lost count.”

I shook my head, and laughed again, “You know, Gina, one of these days you are going to enchant an entire realm to fit in a locker. I bet you would still need another one for all your papers.”

“Whatever you say,” Gina said, both of us walking towards the moving platform, “But some of these papers are yours too, you know.”

“How much?”

“46 percent.”

“Leave it to you to find the percentage of everything,” I smirked.

We boarded the platform, which started to move straight up, and into the second floor, but continued going since we needed the 24th. I remembered when I had first come here: the number of floors and the height of the building did not make any sense. But now, I've learned not to question everything.

“We found a lot more kids,” Gina said, with a grunt, shifting some of the things in her arms.

The platform stopped and two people wearing Hiiwian shirts and kakis got on. I didn't recognize them.

“More?” I asked, cocking my head at her.

“Yes, we originally had only seven, but we are having more and more sightings of them, and now we have twenty-one.”

“You’re kidding,” I said, deadpanned.

“No, which is great for us because that’s more subjects we can compare results to. Also, more to find out about that ancient curse that we just found,” she said excitedly.

“Good point," I said, "the only thing is: we don’t have the time to visit twenty-one kids and answer all those questions they have, including ours. Our studies on how to enter the realm can’t be abandoned, we are too close.”

“We aren’t abandoning them,” She reassured me.

The platformed stopped for a moment, and grew, letting another person from that floor join us. She was a very athletic-build woman, wearing a suit and black fedora, and carrying only a book in her hands.

“Plus, I know we don’t have that much time to visit all of them, so,” she grinned as the platform stopped at level 24 and we, plus the business-dressed-woman, got off, “We brought them here!”

Our office was only a few doors down, marked with singes around the doorframe, and our names above the door.

“Wait, you brought them here?" I asked, my eyebrows raising, "How?”

“Well, some of them work with magic and know how to use it so they got here by magic." She explained, setting her stack of stuff down on a cluttered desk.

"Others called us, and we had to pick them up with a transport. The rest were just confused, and we had to time freeze them for a bit, in order to get their kid here. And let me say, I got a few of them, and the ones I was called in for were pretty scary,” She shivered and wandered around the messy, but chaotically organized room that we practically lived in. We had even brought blow-up beds so if we needed to, we could just take a power nap.

“Pff,” I said, “You get scared easily, I’m sure they aren’t that bad.”

She looked me dead in the eye, and that alone told me I was wrong. Gina was easily frightened, and I used to love playing pranks on her when we were younger, but when she looked at me like that...

“Well, okay then,” I muttered, averting my gaze to one of the tables in the giant area, and set some of the stuff down in my arms, and put the rest of it on the categorized bookshelf. I had almost forgotten I had stuff in my arms.

“Any killers this time?” I asked. The killer kids could sometimes be kinda terrifying and life-scarring if you weren’t careful. They usually had powerful shadows, or spirit animals, and short tempers. Shadows were a little different than spirit animals. Most everyone has a spirit animal, but not many people had a spirit-like creature, that followed them everywhere they went-like a shadow- hence the name "shadow".

“Lots.” Gina went through some folders laying on a desk as if they had been going through only the night before.

“Lots?”

“Eight of them to be exact.”

I cursed and rubbed the back of my neck as I started to put away some of my stuff.

“Give me an example of one of them."

“Killed 21 people, spirit animal is a Wendigo, he was just captured by the forces a few days ago. Little boy, no family, no past, nothing. That's one of the kids I was called in for.” She said, then grabbing another folder, most likely about the shadow, or spirit animal, of the boy.

Gina started to read off the folder filled with a few papers, “Jacob’s shadow is unhappy, and has no bloodthirsty desire to kill unless necessary to protect his boy; will only attack if the boy is threatened; peaceable; could be tamed;”

“Well, ok then.” I said, “Well, I guess we always wanted one of these cases.”

“Well, we got a lot more than one.” Gina said, pulling out another folder, knocking some of the pile on the ground.

“Aiden: the only child; only has father; ghost as his shadow; can be very violent; has the power of invisibility when threatened; hardly uses the invisibility, though; violent shadow; hangs people in the tree in his backyard who don’t let him have his way and can turn them invisible with the help of shadow.”

I frowned, picking up the fallen folders, “How many were in the tree?”

“Five, one of them was a recently hired babysitter that was watching him as his dad went on a date with his girlfriend.”

I grimaced, “Poor babysitters have no clue what was coming for them.”

Gina shook her head, and looked at the clock, “Crud-muffins! We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry ourselves up!”

“Late to what?” I asked while being shoved out the door by Gina.

“Meeting the kids, of course!”

“Oh, of course,” I said sarcastically, earning a slap on the back of my head.

“Ow!”

“Oh, deal with it.” Gina said, “First we have to meet our new partner who’s gonna be helping us.”

“Wait,” I stopped walking and stared at her, “Partner?”

She frowned, “Listen, I’m not too happy about it either, okay? But the government sent her, and there is no telling the government off unless they invade our private lab so we have to accept the partner.”

“B-but, we work alone!” I argued.

She slapped my arm, “Stop your whining and get your butt over here, we have to meet the person so we aren’t late for the kids, you ding dong.”

“Fine.” I groaned as she dragged me along.

Once she was done dragging me I found us standing in another room I didn’t know about before, rubbing my arm.

“That hurt you know,” I grumbled.

As soon as we opened the door a woman, whom I recognized as the same business-dressed one from the platform, was sitting at a clean desk, almost as if the was a secretary. It was so clean I wondered if the woman was a robot.

“Who is she?” I heard a boyish voice say in my ear, but not from the woman, or Gina.

“I don’t know,” I answered the voice quietly.

“You two must be Gina Mince and Trevor Statt.” The woman said nodding to us, “Pleasure.”

“You too,” I said sarcastically, crossing my arms.

“As you both probably know I am the worker they have sent from the government to aid you with the children. There are a lot of killers in this bunch so I have been sent down to help maintain them.

“I am Melissa Moveschi, director of the Shadow Finder Program in the Earth Realm Government. I have been trained with children, specifically, and know much about the spirit realm and shadows. But I am sure you know more than I do since you have been studying them for 18 years and all, but if you need anything: call me.”

She tipped her hat to us and went back to writing something down.

"Thanks," Gina said, "Nice to be working with you. We would stay longer but the kids are waiting."

We walked out of the room, the woman seeming not to notice, or just not to care, and closed the door behind us.

“Well, that was odd.” The voice said again.

“I agree.” I said, then turned to Gina, “So where are the kids at?”

“Most of them are on the same floor,” she answered, “Floor 14. But, I think, two or three of the kids are in the lockdown building for sure.”

“Well, then, let's go meet the others.”

“Oh, I just love it when we meet other kids.” The voice said.

“I do too, as long as they don’t try to kill me.”

“They won’t kill you,” The voice said, and a small boy of 19 formed slowly beside me, still talking, “You’ve got me!” He said proudly, “Dude, how do you think you have not died yet? I’ve been with you since the pre-kay when someone thought you were the son of some god and put a snake in your sleeping bag.”

“Then they tried to set me on fire,” I added with a euphoric smile.

“Yeah, then they tried that, and when that didn’t happen all it ended up doing was upsetting the Midget that lived in the fireplace and they got attacked by that.” He laughed, “Ah, those were the good old days.”

“Yup,” I laughed, “You know, James I bet you-”

“We’re here.” Gina interrupted, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

I looked away from James, my own shadow, a teenaged ghost, and into the room.

The room was practically filled with children, their shadows, spirit animals, and some confused, or bored parents and guardians of the children. Some of the children, I noticed, had demons next to them, but more solidified. I wondered what made them that way, normally demons would not be able to solidify themselves and would only act like a second shadow that could talk to you. Why were these different?

Gina got my attention by clearing her throat and nodding towards the room, which was now looking at us.

“Er, hello everyone!” I said awkwardly, addressing the smallish crowd, “I would like to welcome everyone, including the shadows here, to our base of operations. If you are a parent, or guardian of the child, or children, I would like to see you all first, and in separate times.”
Gina handed me a clipboard that I didn't realize she had, and I read the list of names.

“Let's start with Aiden! Is Aiden’s parent or guardian here?”

“Yes!” I heard and saw a middle-aged man coming towards me.

“Ok,” I said, “Follow Gina to another room.”

“T-thank you,” He said before sulking off back to his son, who was in the corner with a shadow, who had no arms, and was dressed like a lumberjack, and then following Gina, who handed me her clipboard.

“Olivia!” I called out, “Are her parents, or guardian here?”

I saw a woman, who, I had to admit, looked very good, and had her small daughter perched on her hip, coming to us.
“Mirabella Loch, nice to meet you.” She introduced herself.

I then saw the little girl’s shadow behind her, which was a, maybe seven-year-old, little girl holding a teddy bear, slightly transparent.
“You as well,” I said, “How long have you known about your girl's shadow?”

“Well, we are a naturally magic born family,” Mirabella started, “I just-”

She was interrupted by a high pitched scream coming from the back of the room. We all whipped our heads around to see what had happened, to see a small girl with messy long black hair clinging to the wall like a bug, screeching.

“Very loud.” I heard a deep voice say, and then saw a large black figure wearing a suit, and a top hat, jump over all the people and snatch the girl with its hands. It walked back over to its kid, with the girl still screeching in its hands.

“Please bring her over here!” I shouted over the screams, and I started to go over towards them, with James, looking slightly worried, close behind.

The shadow holding the girl, muttered something, shaking his head, and then set the girl down on the ground next to a boy, whom I assumed was his kid. The kid smiled at the girl, who had stopped screaming, now confused, and soon the girl giggled and they started chatting like old friends. I looked around the boy, no parents were with him. I looked at the tall black figure, “Are you his guardian?” I asked, having to look up to see his face.

“His parents are home and didn't want to come in. I am Devroop,” He looked down at the boy, who looked like he was having a great time talking to the little girl next to him about Devroop, “He is Oliver.” He looked quizzically at me, and I saw his sharp white teeth shine slightly, “Why are we here? Am I getting replaced?”

“No, don’t worry about that.” I said, then knelt down next to the child, still looking at him I addressed Devroop, “Powers? How much does he know?”

“No noticeable powers, very good artist though. I told him about who I really was on the way here. He knows, now, about us.”

“Thank you, now,” I looked around the area, and the crowd who was still watching us said, “Where is the girl’s shadow?”

I heard someone clear their throat behind me, and I turned around to see an adult man, who said, “I think it’s the Wyvern in the corner, up there.” He pointed to a corner behind me, and sure enough, there was a large Wyvern who had gripped onto the walls and was watching the situation carefully.

“Huh,” I turned back to the man, who was wearing a nice suit, and looked like he had just gotten back from work, “So where’s your kid?”
“Oh,” he looked behind him, as if looking for someone, “My husband went to go find her, she, uh, ran to go play with her spirit animal, Ellenive, when we weren’t looking.”

“Ok, so-”

“You have a husband!?” An elderly woman’s voice said from beside me said, her face full of disgust.

“Yes.” The man said, his face told me he got this all the time, and I frowned.

“That is disgusting!” The woman exclaimed, “You should be ashamed of yourself!”

“Excuse me, ma'am.” I interrupted, trying not to seem annoyed, and disgusted by her behavior, “Where is your child?”

“Oh, he’s not mine, he’s an orphan. I’m his great grandmother.”

“And are your parents alive?” I asked, my voice laced with poison.

“No, why the ridiculous question?!” She exclaimed, getting upset.

“Then you would agree with me, that any parent is better than no parent, hmm?”

“Not when it’s two men!”

“Then I would like to ask you to please go to the other manager here, Gina because I am not speaking to someone who does not respect their peers,” I said, glaring at her.

“Why I never!” She gasped, and then stomped away, dragging along a dazed little boy, with a tail for legs, and a snake around his neck.
“Sorry about that,” I said, taking a step back.

“It’s fine, I get it all the time,” He said, looking not fine.

“It's not, any parent is better than none, especially if the parents love their kid.”

He smiled gently, “Oh, we love her all right. She is our everything.”

“Good,” I said, with a small smile, “Now, tell me a bit about your daughter.”


Part 2

“Well, that was exhausting.'' James sighed, sinking into a chair, quite literally.

“Speak for yourself,” I grumbled.

“Calm down you two, it was only a few near-death experiences,” Gina said, setting her stack of research papers and folders down on a slightly cleared off table and sat down as well, looking even more tired than us. Probably for taking all the notes, part-experiments, and a ton of other stuff I wasn't good at.

“Where’s Ro?” I asked, noticing Gina’s shadow was gone. Not her actual shadow, but her ghost shadow.

“Resting.” She yawned, “Which sounds like an amazing thing to do, at the moment, but right now, you and I need to go out.”

“We do?” I questioned, as she got up and pulled me out of my chair.

“Yes, we do. because we have a movie tonight, and then a day of no research tomorrow. Remember? We both are going to go crazy if we don’t take a break. It's break time.”

“Oh,” I looked around the lab sadly, “Right, forgot, sorry.”

She shook her head solemnly, “Sometimes I could think the lab and research papers were your wife or husband. We haven't taken a break from this in years!”

I rolled my eyes, and looked down at my watch, ignoring that last part. “What time does the movie start?”

Gina looked down at her own watch, and said, “30 minutes.”

I looked over at James, who was watching us lazily, but before I could say anything, he put up a transparent finger.

“I’m sleeping. Have fun on your date,” he said, then disappeared as if he was never there.

“It’s not a date.” I said annoyed, and Gina rolled her eyes, “When are they gonna drop it?”

“When we’re dead, probably. They've been doing this since we were teenagers, so for 20 or so years. They ain't never gonna drop it.” I said, “Whatever. You casting the portal or should I?”

“I’ll do it.” Gina sighed. She raised her palms, face-up, they started to glow blue. In a few moments, a large blue orb appeared in front of us, and Gina stopped.

“And away we go,” I said, and we both touched the orb.

We appeared in the parking lot of the movie theater, and I wiped off my shirt.

“I hate it when the portals get dust on my clothes,” I grumbled.

“You look fine,” Gina rolled her eyes, “Let’s go. I want coffee. 76% of my exhaustion come from forgetting my coffee this morning.”

We walked into the theater and was almost trampled by a minotaur wearing casual clothes, as soon as we entered.

“Sorry about that.” He bellowed and then walked out the doors, which magically expanded to let him out.

I shook my head, and focused on the surroundings, looking for the bakery.

As soon as we had walked in the overwhelming smell of body odors, and a bakery. The bakery area was to the right of us. Witches wearing white aprons, over their work outfit, making healing cookies and cakes.

I was in the mood to buy an aspirin cookie, myself. In front of us were multiple halls leading to the different theaters to watch movies. Tickets from people heading in, floating up into a hole in the ceiling.

We started to walk over there when I frowned suddenly seeing Mellissa sitting down at one of the tables scrolling down her phone sipping a drink.

“I’ll meet you at the front of the walk-ins,” I said, stopping. She noticed this, and looked at the coffee shop, knowing I only did this if I spotted someone I didn’t like. She spotted Mellissa and groaned, realizing why I stopped.

“Really Trevor?” She grabbed my arm and started to drag me towards the place, “You are such a coward. Come on.”

I groaned, and shook her arm off mine, and looked around to see if anyone saw that.

I looked down, trying to make sure that Mellisa couldn’t see my face and tell who I was.

“Oh, nice to see you two here,” Mellisa called, spotting us.

I bit my lip, trying not to yelp as Gina elbowed me and turned to her, “You too! Just about to go see a movie.”

I sighed, trying to put on a fake smile, as I said, “Yeah.”

“Oh, nice. Well, I’ll leave you two to your date and-”

“It’s not a date,” I said, interrupting her, sharply. Mellisa looked over at Gina, and Gina gave her a side smile and shrugged.

Mellisa shrugged as well, “My mistake.”

She was about to continue on but her watch suddenly started to go off. She looked down at it, and then looked at us, “I have to take this,” She walked away, tapping something on her ear, my guess was a hidden earpiece, and started to speak. Gina turned to order her coffee, and I kept glancing back at Melissa hoping that she would stay on the call long enough for us to get into the movies.
I glanced back, though, just in time to see her freeze and stare me back in the eyes. Was that fear in her eyes?

She hung up immediately and went to us, “You two need to come with me, it’s an emergency.”

Gina frowned, holding her coffee she just got, “Why? The movie starts in-”

“This is more important than a movie,” She interrupted.

“What is-”

“The Spirit Realm was opened,” Mellisa stated quickly to where only the three of us could hear.

“Wait,” I said, trying to connect the dots, “You mean The Spirit Realm?”

“Yes, that’s what they say-” She grabbed Gina and I’s wrists and pulled us out the exit, “We need to go now.”

“How was it opened?!” I exclaimed, not being able to believe it. Kind of hard to believe that something you have been searching on how to get to and study was just magically opened all of the sudden.

“Some triplets opened it somehow,” Mellisa said from the driver’s seat of the car, speeding through the almost empty highway, “We found them today when you were interviewing everyone. The government believed that we could safely transport them to the base, but they negatively responded.”

Gina looked back at me from the passenger’s seat, and we locked eyes. We knew what that meant.

“What?” Mellisa asked, “What is it? Do you know something?”

Gina looked back at Melissa, saying, “Yes, the triplets. I’m guessing they aren’t born of a magical family, the age 7, pale skin, pure white hair, and speak in unison, most of the time?”

Mellisa went silent at the wheel, and muttered, “This is all part of some horrible prophecy isn’t it?”

“One of the gods, and spirits,” I said, “They say that the most powerful spirits in the Spirit Realm, who are also the gods there, would be searching for triplets to lay their powers upon so they can make a bridge between the Realms and the Spirit Realm.”

“So that’s good, right?”

Gina and I shook our heads, “No, because they don’t know what the mortal capabilities are, and that if they came here, they could start a Realm War.”

A grim silence enveloped the car until Mellisa jerked her car to the side sending us off the road and into the grass.

“What are you doing?!” I exclaimed, my eyes widening in fear as she headed straight for a sign telling us where we were.

“Driving,” She said calmly. The car went straight through the sign and on the other side, we landed on a completely new road in the middle of a neighborhood.

“Never gone by car?” Mellisa asked at my shocked expression.

“No,” Gina answered for me, “He doesn’t own one.”

“I prefer orb travel,” I muttered, looking out the window, “How close-” I stopped as I saw a large black hole in the sky, seemingly going into just darkness.

“Drive faster,” Gina demanded, unbuckling herself, and gripping tightly onto the armrests, looking eagerly out her windows.

I couldn’t blame her. We had been preparing for this our whole lives.

James and Ro appeared in the backseat next to me with bewildered expressions on.

“What in the world is happening?!” James exclaimed, looking at me, “Did it actually happen?”

I nodded, and Ro, a woman slightly younger than Gina and I, but much more business-like, having owned a large business before she died, said, “The triplets too?”

I nodded again, eagerly looking out the window as we pulled up. The large black hole pouring a deathly coldness over the house, being right above it. We all rushed out of the car, Ro and James exchanging nervous glances as we ran up to the house, passing a dozen or so police and army vehicles parked and with government workers and police outside. Everyone watched as Gina, Mellisa and I went inside the house, James and Ro following nervously.

“Watch your step,” I muttered, trying to recall the plan Gina and I had made over the years, as I also tried to take in the sight of the triplets.

Hovering in the main room in front of us, furniture was ripped up and flipped, and the air swirled around the kids causing shards of glass, paper, and trash to fly around them. Their eyes were pupilless, probably because of the transformation they were going through. It was two boys and a girl, but all had the same pupilless eyes, pure white hair, and pale skin.

Just like it was told.

“Be careful,” Gina said, gazing at the three as if in a trance, along with Mellisa, as she started to relay information to the both of us that I already knew, “They are opening a portal between Realms. That means, one wrong step and we could end up there-”

Mellisa stumbled ahead of us getting too close to the children as if she didn’t listen.

“What are you doing?!” Ro and I yelled in unison. James ran past me as she kept going, in some sort of trance being pulled towards them, but fell through the ground as he grabbed her arm.

“Melissa!”

“James!”

Without thinking I lurched forward, even though James wasn’t in any danger, and accidentally grabbed one of the children’s legs instead of my ghost friend.

I was sucked into the black hole hovering below the kids, pulling down one of the kids, who held onto the others, pulling them down as well, and the world around me went dark for a moment, a deep voice echoing through the area.

“What have you done?!”

“Hold on!” I heard James yell anxiously next to me, even though I couldn’t see him, something closed around me; and in a flash, I was on the ground.

I sat up, looking around and seeing Gina, Mellisa, and the kids still on the ground, the tall grass around them not parting for the people, and instead only Ro and James; as if this world couldn’t be affected by us.

James stood above me as Ro was near the children who seemed to be sleeping, huddled together. James offered me a hand up, and I took it waiting a moment for his hand to solidify before standing up and going over to Gina.

“What happened?” Mellisa groaned from the ground next to her.

Gina seemed to be sleeping as well, her anxiety of the situation probably taking over and causing her body to shut down momentarily.

Ro helped Mellisa up, “You stepped through the gateway the gods were making to bridge the gap between Earth and The Spirit Realm.”


Part 3

“Humans have never been here before,” I breathed, looking around at the nearly transparent tall grass surrounding us.

“Ahem,” Mellisa interrupted getting our attention after forgetting she was there, “Can we please focus on how we are going to get out?” She tapped her earpiece and tried speaking into it, “Hello? This is Agent 2, coming in. Does anyone hear me? This is Agent-”

“It isn’t going to work,” Ro interrupted her, “Intercommunications between Realms don’t work unless the Realms have something set up like Elises and Othon do.”

Mellisa groaned under her breath and muttered something before trying to look around.

“Stick near us,” James said, “We need to stay together. Not all Spirits and others who live here are friendly, mind you.”

One of the children, and Gina, started to stir, moving a little. Gina sat up, groaning, and, holding her head, grumbled, “What happened?...”

I knelt down next to her, “We’re here.”

Her eyes widened in realization as she shot up, looking around.

“This is amazing!” She exclaimed, smiling brightly, “I mean, it’s not the greatest that we are actually here, but-” She whipped around to face me, “But we’re here! We are actually here Trevor!” She looked at something behind me, and I turned around to see all three of the children awake, and looking up at us with terrified, unnaturally blue, eyes.

“What’s going on?” The girl asked, making her way in front of the other two protectively.

“You’re safe, don’t worry,” Mellisa said, crossing her arms after she realized that she couldn’t look around for any threats using her technology. So she probably didn’t know if they were actually safe or not. Judged on what I knew about this place we were probably the opposite of safe.

“How much do you remember?” Gina asked. I kneeled down next to them, holding out my hand for them to inspect, like a lot of the kids did when they met a new person; some of them were oddly animal-like. But the little girl looked at me weirdly.

“What are you doing?” She asked, “Is this one of your tricks? Get one of us to touch the poison on your hand or something?”

I put my hand down, confused, “Er, no?”

“Ignore him,” Gina said kneeling down next to me, as Ro, James, and Mellisa watched from a few feet behind us, “What are your names?”

The girl thought about the question for a moment, moving her white hair out of her face before one of the boys said, “I’m Luke.”

I looked at the other boy, who looked exactly the same as his brother, and he said, “I’m Lucas, that’s Lia.”

“What do you want from us?” Lia demanded, frowning, though by the friendliness of us she seemed to calm.

“Just some questions answered,” Gina said, though Mellisa looked like she wanted to argue.

“Uh, guys?” Ro said, frowning, trying to get our attention. Gina looked at her, as I looked the children up and down still.

“We need to go,” James said, getting my attention.

“Why?” Mellisa asked, taking out a small handgun from her back pocket, “What is it?”

“Something I have a feeling we don’t want to find ya’ll.”

We immediately started to run through the plains of tall grass, Ro, and James leading. A sense of dread and fear washed over me, covering my thoughts about the grass that the kids, Gina, and Mellisa were just running through completely.

“This is one of the places we didn’t get to map yet,” I muttered, “Out of an entire Realm of mapping, we land in the one place we haven’t gotten to yet.”

James stopped abruptly, causing the line of people behind him to stop as well.

“Everyone quiet,” He demanded, whispering, looking around through the grass, even though I couldn’t see a foot in front of me because of how thick it was, even though it was partially transparent.

His eyes widened, and yelled, “Fall to the floor!”

I dropped to the ground, watching as the kids, Mellisa, and Gina did as well, and something soared over my head.

A loud thump was heard in the grass next to me, and I heard snarling.

“Wendigo!” Ro and James screamed, starting to run off without us, and I immediately lost track of them.

The girls grabbed the kids and ran in opposite directions, and me, trying to follow Gina, soon lost track of her, and was lost in the grass as well.

I heard growling on either side of me, and ducked again, in case they would jump over me. A piercing howl emitted through the air, and an-acid-like substance melted around the grass beside me, showing what was hunting us.

A thick, hairy animal, looking like a large rabid dog, with a horse’s skull as a head, was next to me, and shooting a wave of acid around it to get a better view of where it was.

I jumped up in order to run away and it saw me, whipped it’s head around to face me, and shot acid at me.

The smell burned my nose as the green spit hit the grass next to me, and I took the chance and ran for it, hoping it would lose me.

The shriek of a howl pierced the air again, and I was tackled from behind, knocking my head against the ground painfully.

I cried out and tried to push whatever was on my back off, but instead got pushed further into the dirt.

“Stay down human!” A snake-like voice hissed loudly above me.

“LET ME GO!” I yelled, angry that the one time I don’t bring my amulet to the theater is the one time that I get sucked into the Spirit Realm and need it.

“Only if you wish to die!” It hissed back. I felt something scaly force my legs down.

I stopped fighting.

I didn’t want to die in the Spirit Realm. To die in the Spirit Realm meant no returning to Earth, and no afterlife.

You were dead dead.

I could hear the others shouts not too far from me, and was about to start shouting myself, until the thing above me hissed loudly, “Positions and attack!”

I could barely see through the grass, but I made out several snake-like figures, slithering out from seemingly nowhere and all towards the same spot.

I heard the shrieking howl again, and the triumphant hisses of the victors not son after.

The thing on my back moved.

A Gorgon looked back at me as I stood to my feet, grass going through me as if I wasn’t there.

“What in Otheris’s name are Humans doing here?”

Part 4

"What are Gorgons doing here? I didn't know-"

"Shut it," Hissed a Gorgon woman holding up Gina and one of the triplets by their shirts.

The Gorgons had gathered up us all, surrounding us, including Ro and James. The many Gorgons held down the tall grass, but what was not held down went through Gina, Melissa, the triplets and I.

"I told you," James exclaimed, "It was the Prophecy! These are the triplets who-"

"Cease your speaking," Hissed a Gorgon, the one that had held me down, who had a snake-tail instead of legs, "Or I will cease your speaking for you."

"He's telling the truth!" Ro spat, "And if you keep threatening us I'm going to start saying some back."

"You," The snake-tailed Gorgon stared me down. It gave me shivers down my spine.

I looked back, seeing some more Gorgons, and then back at him, "Me?"

"Yes," He slithered up to me, "What are you and your companions doing here?"

"Well, uh, it was like everyone was saying," I said uncertainly, "The prophecy-"

My speaking was drowned out by protests and shouts of anger and hissing from the surrounded crowd.

"QUIET!" Snake-tail hushed everyone.

"He must be the leader, or at least someone really respected in the group." I thought.

"The man speaks truth!" He turned to me, "I am Ang. Leader of our group. I am assuming these children are the chosen triplets?"

I nodded, "Yes."

"It is bad luck that you appeared in this area," Ang said, inspecting the silent, who I had just realized badly burned on her arm, Melissa. "This is Wendigo territory."

Ro and James shivered noticeably, "Soul eaters."

"And Human," Ang added, "Spirits-" He turned to Gina and I's shadows, "When was the last time you were here?"

Ro and James glanced back at each other. James spoke, "Last year, why?"

"The Spirit Realm War III has begun," He turned around, and spoke to everyone, "We provide group for the Chosen Triplets and their companions."

The Gorgons hissed in response. I couldn't really tell if it was a mad hiss or a wow-we're-hosting-the-prophecy-kids-and-their-friends hiss. I couldn't stop replaying what he had just said. A third Spirit Realm War! This was horrible!

"Spirit Realm War III?" Melissa spoke up, "Is this some kind of prank? Pretending we are in some sort of video game? I demand to-"

I rushed over and slapped my hand over her mouth, laughing awkwardly, "Don't, uh, Don't pay attention to her. She doesn't know what's going on."

Melissa pushed me off her with her good arm, "I do know what's going on! Except whatever the heck this Realm War is."

Gina slapped her forehead, "I am so sorry, she-"

"No matter," Ang hissed.

An eerie shallow howl sounded from the distance. James appeared next to me, I could tell he was terrified and trying to hide it to help me and the others. Thankfully he didn't look injured.

"We must go," Ang spoke.

I had almost forgotten about the two kids at my legs until Lia spoke up, "What are you talking about? The chosen triplets? Is that us? What's the prophecy? Who are you? Why are you half snake?"

"Calm down," I said, resting my hand on her shoulder, "We'll explain everything as soon as we're safe."

Ang scoffed, "Safe? If you are looking for safety you would have stayed where you were."

Part 5

The kids wouldn't stop with the questions. And by kids, I meant Lia and Lucas. Luke was silent, clinging to me as if I was the only safe thing around him. Lucas went from Gina to Ang to the other Gorgons bouncing about with his questions for each of them.

"Woah!" Lia exclaimed, "Is this where the Gorgons live?"

She pointed to a large camp, hidden in the tall grass, and armed to the teeth against any intruders. Walls and armed watchtowers, making me wonder how we couldn't see them until we were right on them. They must have some pretty good enchanting skills to hide something that large. It reminded me of the growing door at the movie theater. That had taken five highly trained wizards to complete the whole building and make it seem regular to the non-magic eye.

I didn't answer Lia. Ang spoke up, though, saying, "Yes, young one. This is Armstrong Camp."

"Like the astronaut?" Lucas perked up.

Ang frowned, "A star sailor named Armstrong? I do not believe I have heard of this." He looked to me for an answer. I wasn't used to that. Why was he looking to me for all of the answers? Gina was the public speaker, not me.

"Uh, it's an Earth thing," I sputtered out.

Ang didn't question it and slithered into the camp, all of us following, and the other Gorgons that were with us dispersing. Gina and Melissa both found their way over to me, as Trevor and Ro were deep in a soft conversation far away from us. They had been whispering to each other the entire way over here. What were they talking about? Surely they told everything about the realm we ended up in. Were they keeping something from us?

I shook the thought out of my mind.

Looking over I saw Melissa and her arm wound.

"What happened?" I asked, frowning.

Melissa grunted, "It's just a-"

"Wendigo got her," Gina interrupted, shooting a look at Melissa.

Still frowning, I called out to Ang not too far away from us, "Ang, do you have healers?"

Ang turned from talking to another Gorgon, and slithered over to us. I couldn't help but think back to when he held me down with that tail of his. He was incredibly strong.

"Did the Wendigo get you?" Ang asked, lifting up Melissa's arm to examine.

Before Melissa could say anything, though, Gina jumped in, "Yes. It's bad too. I'm surprised a bone's not broken or something."

Ang looked over at me for a moment and then whipped around shouting, "Healer!"

The sudden yell made all three of the kids, and me, jump. Which again reminded me that the kids had gone silent again. These kids were weird. Pelting you with questions and statements on second and dead silent the next. It was very odd.

A Gorgon, this one with legs, and hair that consisted of two large rattlesnakes, flicking their youngest in and out.

"The Prophetic children!" The Gorgon gasped, running over to us, and kneeling in front of the triplets.

"They look just like the phro-"

"Hera," Ang interrupted, "This one has a wound." He gestured towards Melissa.

"Oh! Yes of course," Hera quickly moved away from the kids and grabbed Melissa's good arm, tugging her away, saying, "I'll have you good as new!"

Melissa didn't argue, though she definitely did look back at Gina and I hoping one of us would tell her to come back.

Gorgons were starting to crowd around us curiously. Though, some of them didn't even seem to notice us. Or they refused to acknowledge us.

"We must talk in private," Ang said, "Come." He then slithered into the crowd, which was partially parting for Ang and us. Ro and Trevor were now silent, floating silently behind me. I still wondered what they had been talking about earlier, but I didn't have time to think about it, because before I knew it were inside a large tent. Pillows and weapons were everywhere with a short table lower than my knees in the middle.

"Sit." Ang lowered himself at the other end of the table, curling his tail around him to make more room.

The kids all shot to sit next to each other, and I sat next to Gina and Ang. Ro and Trevor near the kids.

"Alright," I said, "What, uh, what's with this war? When did it start?"

"The beginning of this year," Ang said in a low voice, "Simply put it's the Soul eaters vs. the Soul Savers."

"Which side are you?" Lia asked, saying exactly what I was thinking.

"Neither," Ang said.

"So ya'll are the overlookers?" Gina asked, "That would make sense why Gorgons are here."

"Why? What are Overlookers?" Lucas asked quickly.

"Overlookers are like the judges of the war in the Spirit Realm Wars," Trevor explained before I could say anything. I huffed. I didn't like not being able to talk. Though, I definitely didn't want to be the main voice in the conversation. That was too much for the introvert in me.

"I thought Gorgons vowed they would never-"

"Yes," Hissed Ang suddenly, "But when both sides of the war broke their vows in order to force us to break ours we were forced to Overlook the war."

"What did they do?" Lia and Lucas asked simultaneously.

Ang didn't look happy. "We made a vow, almost a millennia ago, between The Magic, and the Spirit Realm-"

"What's The Magic?" Lucas asked.

Ang sighed, "Too much for a young human mind to comprehend, I'm afraid."

He continued, "Anyway, we vowed never to step foot in the Spirit Realm out of spite from what they did to The Magic's inhabitants, Gorgons included. They vowed to never step foot in The Magic if they ever got the chance. We made a law, then, that if they stepped foot in our Realm the vows would mean nothing. And it is a known fact and overall rule that if one Realm gets in a Realm War another Realm with a long history, whether good or bad, has to Overlook it."

"Woah," The triplets said identically.

I nodded, "It can get pretty confusing."

Everyone could agree with that.

"But we must discuss the prophecy," Ang said.