A silence falls with that admission. I can't look at The Other now I know that it can feel what I feel. Chloe looks far less freaked out and more comfortable, but sensing my discomfort she seems to not want to break the silence.

Instead we listen to the knocks and bangs against the walls and windows in silence.

Eventually The Other lays back down on the floor and rolls onto his side.

"Well, see you both in the morning."

"How can you sleep with those things outside?" Chloe asks, casting a worried glance at the windows.

The Other doesn't even turn over to look at her, just arranging his arm under his head as a makeshift pillow.

"Because, my dear, where I'm from there is no outside, only inside."

With that, The Other doesn't say any more.

I pull my knees up to my chest and bury by face in them. Every noise sends a shiver down my spine, but what can I do about it? Nothing. We're trapped here and The Other is right. As long as nothing gets inside, we're safe. We can rest. We should rest if we plan to do something about it.

"The place that The Other is from... it sounds like a nightmare," Chloe says, her voice hushed. I hear the scrape of cloth as she moves closer to me, and the warm of her close to my side. "Do you think he's spent his life being hunted by these things."

"I don't know."

"Do you know anything about where he's from? You tried to summon something from there didn't you?"

I raise my head, looking at The Other's back so I don't have to look into Chloe's eyes that are surely full of judgement.

"The Dark Dimension is full of creatures beyond human understanding, but there are those that can be helpful to us. My mother wrote about the ones she met on her own journeys. The Hierophant. The Lover. The Fool. She said they were named after the major arcana, powerful beings that had the ability to change lives."

"And you wanted to change your life?"

I shrug. "I wanted to change reality."

Chloe mulls this over.

The Other's back remains still.

"Why?"

"Why do you think? Do you have any idea what it's like for someone like me here?" I ask her. "Scrolling through social media and having my rights debated like I'm some monster or freak who can't decide for myself what's best for me? Or seeing that the only way forward is to hide or be quiet or just accept that I'll never have what I want? Or that I'm sick, twisted, a burden on society?"

Chloe puts her arm around my shoulders. It doesn't have the same instantly clearing affect as The Other's touch, but it still helps. I wasn't aware that my breathing had hitched, or my shoulders pulled taught until that moment when the tension released.

"I'm sorry, Soren. I'm not sure I understand, but I can tell you're hurting," she says. "So you wanted reality to change to accept you for who you are?"

I swallow hard. "Yes. But The Hierophant didn't show up. The Other did instead."

Chloe pulls on me a little and I let myself be dragged. I barely know her, but it's been so long since I've been held that its intoxicating. I can't help but be pulled.

"And The Other can't change reality, can it?" she says, resting her head atop of mine. "And what's worse, it brought with it something that can't help either. I can see why you're angry, Soren."

There's a 'but' hanging on the end of her sentence that she doesn't dare voice, so I do it for her. "But it's not The Other's fault. It's mine."

"Well... I wasn't going to say that but..." Chloe trails off, then flinches when a particularly loud bang echoes from the back door. "Honestly, The Other does frighten me. There's something not right about him, but he seems a lot more friendly than whatever it is that's outside."

"Or is manipulating us so we think that."

My eyelids feel heavy.

"Well, he could be," Chloe says.

Her hands are stroking through my hair. It feels nice.

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is stopping The Malignant and sending both it and The Other back to the Dark Dimension." I yawn, my body feels heavy.

"I can't say I understand everything but... I'll help you. I don't have much to lose either," Chloe replies.

I want to say thank you, but it seems like such effort to do so. Instead, I nod against her shoulder.

I'm not sure when sleep carries me away, but I wake up with my head in Chloe's lap and watery morning sunlight streaming in through the windows on either side. The knocks and bangs are gone and instead have been replaced by the sounds of traffic along the main road outside.

The Other is walking into the meeting hall from the backdoor, a tray with two cups of tea and a plate of biscuits on it. He smiles at me, tight lipped so as not to show off his teeth, and he sets it in front of me before backing away.

"The hall kitchen had some tea making facilities. The milk might have been a bit off, but I think you'll find it servicable. Once you've both woken up a bit, we should plan our next move."

I drag myself up from Chloe's lap. She makes an annoyed noise, but doesn't stir from where she's slumped back against one of the chairs.

I reach for the tea, taking a sip of the liquid that's almost scaldingly hot on my tongue.

"Thank you," I say, a reflex really.

The Other, however, catches it and lets out an accidental toothy smile that he immediately covers with a hand.

"You're welcome, love."

It's my fault he's here. For better or worse, we're going to have to learn to get along.