Mercury didn't know where she was anymore. She didn't know how long she'd been walking around here, what time it was, which way she was going. Sometimes she wasn't even sure which way was up or down. She just trudged on, slowly, quietly, on and on through the ever-changing gray landscape, dragging her bag behind her.
From the corner of her eye she kept catching shapes that disappeared as soon as she turned her head. Shadows like the ones earlier, faces, shapeless blobs, animals, or things that looked like animals until she tried to have a closer look. Every once in a while voices would echo through the barren land, whispered, distorted and unintelligible. When she tried to look for the origin of the voices nobody was there; and when she tried to listen again they seemed to come from different directions than before, or multiple at the same time, or no direction at all. Mercury shuddered and walked on.
Her feet hurt. Her legs were heavy. She was sure her soles were full of blisters underneath her shoes, shoes that she was still keeping on for the sole reason that she didn't trust the ground and didn't want to touch it with her bare feet. Her knees were starting to feel like jelly. Her bag seemed to be growing heavier with every step she took, and she had long given up on trying to carry it, hauling it after her over the ground instead. Her mouth was dry, but she didn't want to drink much. Who knew how much longer she'd need her water bottle before finding something else to drink.
Why was she even heading for the school, anyway?
She tried to shake off the thought, but it took root in her mind, creeping into her consciousness as her footsteps faltered, her eyes flitting around as if searching for a sign in the endlessness. Georgiana's reaction to replayed in her head, how her polite friendliness had shifted into fear and anger in a matter of seconds. Blake had said no sane person would mistrust her...but what if more people were like Georgiana? What if she showed up and nobody wanted her there? Was it really worth walking through the unknown like this, just to get to this school? Shouldn't she turn back and go home while she still could?
But Raoul...Raoul seemed to like her! She could at least–
But Raoul didn't know she was Twilit. There was no guarantee that if he found out, he wouldn't react the same way Georgiana had.
No. Raoul was nice, he would never–
But Georgiana had seemed nice too until...
Should she go on?
Should she head back?
Where was she?
Where was the bus?
Where was she going?
What time was it?
How would she get back out?
Mercury froze. All blood drained from her face. She...didn't know how to get out. She hadn't thought about that while running in here. She had counted on finding the bus and following it when it created another gate like the one earlier...but now that she was alone, what should she do?
Would she be trapped in here forever?
The thought closed in on her, gripping her heart with icy cold fingers. She might be stuck in here for all eternity. She had no way out. She might never find one. What would happen to her if she stayed here? Would she die of starvation or exhaustion? Would one of those shadows or voices kill her? Would she never die but stay here forever, frozen in time, until she forgot she had ever lived in the normal world?
The shadow's voice reverberated in her head, faint and distorted and almost mocking. Don't get lost.
The fabric of the ground and sky started to warp. The shadows grew longer. The jagged cliffs started growing, higher and higher, sharp and unsurmountable like giant teeth, the sky crawling downwards to cage her like an enormous mouth, impossible to escape. A huge tongue formed underneath her. The unnatural gray was getting darker, the stars and sun and moon disappearing. Mercury's reflection stared back at her from one of the teeth, wide-eyed and distorted, inhuman somehow, the colors fading out, getting grayer and grayer, starting to flicker, losing shape, turning into a shadow–
No!
Mercury shook her head. No. No. No, that couldn't– that wouldn't happen!
She thought of her parents, her mother fighting the monsters under her bed with a tea that could cure nightmares, her father turning on literal fairy lights in the garden with a snap of his fingers. She thought of Sullivan Blake, his sudden appearance in front of her house, his unexplained remarks, his office that was filled to the brim with wondrous things she wanted to know the name of. She thought of Raoul, catching the thief that had framed her with a smile on his face.
She wanted to get out of here. She wanted to be like them. Even if she couldn't pull it off after all, even if she regretted it later, she wanted to try. She wanted to find the way.
She thought of the bus, called it to mind in every minute detail she still remembered. She imagined it rolling through the landscape, heading straight for its goal, forming another dark shapeless hole in the fabric of reality and running through, back into the light, into the parking lot of a school, coming to a stop, students climbing out...she imagined Mr. Blake standing there and welcoming them, nonchalant as ever...
The teeth started to shrink. The giant mouth disappeared. The landscape around her looked different now, less wild, less hostile. Here and there she thought she spotted ruins and half-fallen buildings, remnants of human civilization...
...and below her, leading through the hills and up to the horizon, was the trail of large wheels. Large, heavy bus wheels.
Mercury didn't ask how they had come there. She simply pulled up her bag and started running. The image of the bus was clear in her mind. Find the bus. Follow the tracks. She could do it, somehow. She just had to keep picturing it.
Little by little the landscape started to change. The bus trails led her onto a road, then a deserted highway. The ruins became more frequent. In the distance a row of mountains appeared, not the jagged tooth-like ones she had seen here before but the kind she had only seen on postcards. The world was still gray and half-lit and deserted, but it was taking shape, growing more and more human as she ran along, the mental image of the bus, the school firmly burned into her mind.
Her legs hurt. She was tired. She was parched. She was starving. Her bag was heavy. Mercury had no idea how she still kept going, but somehow she did, pushing herself forward through stubborn determination alone. Her breath was coming in gasps. Her whole body was shaking. But she wouldn't stop. She refused to stop. All fears, all doubts and insecurities could wait until she was safely out of here.
She could do this.
~ ~ ~
Okay, so maybe Raoul had left dinner a bit earlier than planned.
Okay, fine, so maybe he had been kicked out, but it wasn't his fault. No, on second thought, it probably was. Now that he thought about it, maybe letting the jar of maple syrup float and "accidentally" making it fall down on the guy who'd been trash-talking Twilit Mages hadn't been the best idea after all. That guy's rage had been worth it though. Missing out on pancakes, not so much. He was starving. But at least he had found a nice place to hang out away from the others, quite literally hang, if the way he dangled his legs was of any indication. He grinned to himself. Climbable trees were a great thing.
Raoul let his gaze roam over the school grounds. The sun was setting behind the horizon, the sky already turning blue and purple where the clouds didn't still reflect the pink and orange. The shadows were growing longer. The schoolyard and buildings looked deserted. The parking lot was filled with cars of all shapes and sizes, but there were no people either. There was just the bus, looking even darker in the twilight.
Raoul sighed. The bus...Looking at it made him wonder what happened to Mercury again. Why hadn't she come? Had she decided that the Dark Mages' prejudice wasn't for her after all? Probably. Wouldn't blame her.
He just wondered if the adults knew what had happened to her? Had her parents called the school after she'd stayed behind? If they hadn't, the teachers had seemed pretty calm for the situation. No, she probably hadn't gone missing...but then again, hadn't Sullivan Blake and that sunglasses-wearing Mr. Whatshisname been whispering and looking serious all throughout dinner?
Oh well, no big deal. She was probably fine, and he'd just have to make some new friends. Shame though, he'd been looking forward to meeting another Twilit Mage. But no problem, he'd get over it–
Something crackled in the air. Raoul gave a start, nearly losing balance and falling off his branch. Not far from him, close to the parking lot, there was a ripple in the atmosphere, the world tore open like a poster, something black and unfathomable appearing in the ever-growing hole. He scrambled off the tree and edged closer. Didn't this look like...?
Something staggered out of the hole. No, someone. A small, dark figure, nigh-unrecognizable in the growing darkness, dragging an enormous bag behind her. Raoul choked on air. His eyes went wider and wider. This figure...He knew this person.
But how...?
~ ~ ~
Mercury kept moving, with no idea where she was headed except for the mental image of the bus to guide her. The landscape kept changing and changing. The road stayed the same, leading to the horizon and beyond without an end or a clear destination, and still Mercury kept trudging on, shutting out fear, simply hoping that she'd find the end eventually.
The world grew darker. Here and there clouds seemed to pass over the star-strewn, distorted sky. The road started to wind. Mercury didn't know why, but something told her she was getting close now. Almost there. Just a little more.
She couldn't feel her legs anymore. She had dragged her bag in one hand, then the other, until both were covered in blisters. Her mouth felt like sandpaper. She was starving. She had no idea how her body was even moving anymore. Her movements seemed automatic, as if she was a robot programmed to keep walking and walking until the goal was in sight.
The world gave a ripple around her. Mercury stumbled. Everything around her started to blur. The road began to fade. She shook her head. Don't pass out now...she was so close...
But no matter how violently she shook her head, the world kept on blurring. Everything started flowing into each other like a watercolor painting with too much water. There was another ripple...
...and then something opened in front of her like torn fabric, and she could see it. A parking lot in the sunset.
The bus.
She was there.
Mercury tried to give a shout of joy, but the only thing that came out of her dry throat was an exhausted gasp. Grabbing her bag, she hauled herself through the hole in the fabric and stumbled straight onto firm concrete.
She had made it. She was back in the normal world. She had reached the school. She must have taken all day and she could barely stay awake anymore, but she had managed, somehow.
"Mercury?"
She tried to straighten up, swaying lightly as she looked around to locate the origin of the voice. She knew it...she had heard it before...her name...
"Mercury!" Raoul shouted again. Footsteps rang out, speeding over the concrete, and Mercury just barely managed to turn around as Raoul came to a stumbling halt in front of here. "What the– Did you just– Where did you come from?"
She had really, really, really made it.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Mercury dropped her bag and tried to wipe them, but she couldn't wipe the shaky, overwhelmingly happy smile spreading all over her face. "Raoul," she whispered, choking back a sob. "I made it...I got here..."
"Hey, hey, hey!" A worried hand rested lightly on her arm. "You okay? What just– Did you just go through the freaking Otherworld?"
"Yeah...maybe...I think so..."
"Mercury? Mercury! Hey, what's–"
Her whole body was shaking. Her head was spinning. Her eyelids felt like lead, heavier and heavier with every second. All she wanted to do was collapse down on a mattress and sleep.
Her knees gave way. From the corner of her eye she glimpsed Raoul diving forward to catch her as she fell, slim arms holding her close as he shook her. "Girl, what did you do? Wake up, c'mon!"
"Raoul..." Mercury whispered again, falling back and relaxing into his hold. "I finally, finally made it..."
Then the world went dark as she fell into a deep sleep.
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