ANDREW

One ten since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Andrew stood up and stretched. How much time had passed? Everything in front of his eyes blurred, and he saw swirling colours. He looked around as his vision returned. All around the hill people were methodically poking, prodding, examining, digging and doing whatever they could to manipulate whatever irregularities they thought they had found.

Robert had lost it once again when Lenna, Anna and Mai tried to channel energy into the pillars by gesturing or touching certain pillars or places at the same time. So far their method had yielded no results other than awkward looks from the others.

The girl, Becca was talking to Sarah. In fact, the two of them had been together for the entire morning. Sarah had a pained look on her face. The girl had been talking all the time and occasionally would throw some kind of tantrum. Andrew had wandered close twice, but he could not understand what she had been talking about. It sounded as if she was arguing about a fairy tale. And no one had found anything of note about the gateway.

But the pillars had gotten shorter. It was a bitter relief that had not been one of Andrew's hallucinations. He had not noticed before, but neither wind nor obstacles affected the dust. He wasn't sure if the dust went around or passed through his hands. And it didn't gather on the ground either.

The weather was still overcast and grey. A promise of rain hung in the air and little droplets of water already covered Andrew's vaguely black cloak. He returned his attention to the pillar in front of him and the steady stream of dust that was now falling from the top.

This entire time, Andrew had trouble concentrating. The hallucinations had become more intense today. The world around him kept falling silent, and his mind wandered to faraway places. There were times he had to look around to make sure he had seen nothing out of the corner of his eye. A shadow kept passing by him behind his back instead of the savage silhouettes in the mountains.

"Guys! This is new." Robert was on all fours in front of the pillar furthest from the stairs. He had abandoned his attempts to find out how deep the tiles went. "This marking wasn't here before." Approaching, Andrew noticed Robert held his finger under a rough silhouette of a crescent moon with a bird in front of it. Above it stood five triangles in a half circle. "It's all lines and sharp corners. No shapes or figures, except this."

"Okay, so?" Jess sounded impatient.

"Why would anyone draw such a large pattern of lines and squares over such a large area? It has to be a way to interact with this."

"The pattern is painted on top. How is this a button if you can't push it in?" Jess crossed her arms.

"Touchscreens and pressure-activated surfaces are nothing new. The triangles line up after the left hand." Robert mumbled more to himself, as he placed his hand on the markings.

Without warning, Andrew felt his legs buckle, and a soundless noise filled his head. For a moment, the world wanted to turn backwards in front of Andrew's eyes. Time sped up and caught up with reality as Robert tore his hand away from the marking, cursing as he jumped to his feet.

Andrew could have sworn a wave of something had run over the top of his head. This assault on his mind had been so intense, he had stumbled away from those few gathered near Robert. He had trouble concentrating on what was happening again.

It looked as if a small tornado was subsiding at the opposite end of the gateway. Did anyone else see that? Sten and Eric had rushed after Robert, who was cursing, shaking his hand and pacing around the place.

Everyone was talking, shouting or otherwise making a commotion. Robert looked delighted. In pain, but a clear grin had spread over his face.

"Ow! We found it. I told you. I told you there would be a way to interact with the gateway. Fucking ow..." Robert lifted his left hand up with the other. "It's numb." He said dryly.

"Interact? You got electrocuted!" Sarah rolled her eyes.

"It's a button! It might be a poor connection. We need something for insulation. That's all." Robert was still smiling.

"And what are we going to use?" Kauri squatted down in front of the marking. "Electricity can be scary. And that looked painful."

"We can't touch it!" Even Becca was shouting.

"We don't even know what pushing that button does. Other than get you electrocuted." Lenna walked close to Robert and examined his arm.

"Do you want to go home or do you want to freeze our asses off out in the middle of nowhere?" Eric was upset. "A tiny obstacle, and instead of thinking of a solution, you're ready to call it quits? It took us a good few weeks to find this. This was not here before! We have a chance of working the gateway ourselves! The only way to find out is to push it."

"Eric, all we have is a button." Sarah tried to calm Eric.

"And before this we had nothing!" The man shouted heatedly.

Andrew was only half-listening to the conversation. Everything was annoying him. He was certain he had seen a tiny tornado. He looked around the hilltop for any clues about what had happened to it. Instead, Becca caught his gaze.

She was now frantically explaining something to Anna, Mai, and Sarah, who stood next to her, listening with troubled faces. They had not rushed over when Robert had announced his new find. Children, he grumbled in his head. It might have been unfair, but Andrew could not stand them.

Where did the tornado form again? In front of the stairs? Out of the corner of his eye, Andrew noticed Sten following him with his gaze. He stopped right in front of a second marking. How had they missed these until now? When did these markings appear?

Five more triangles were facing the first marking and this time a flower, with a crescent shape behind it, was below the supposed buttons. There were no guarantees. Would this gateway work, bring them back home? There was an inevitability about this situation. The more he looked at the marking, the harder it was to concentrate on what was happening around him. A veil kept pushing itself into his mind.

"Found second button..." Andrew mumbled. He shook his head and turned around. "Hey! I found a second marking." Everyone was too busy arguing. Only Sten took a few steps closer. "Hey! Shut up, will you?" The last part was a roar. Andrew blushed when everyone looked at him. But only for a moment.

"No! You can't let it out!" Everyone looked at Becca. Something had upset her. A relative silence ensued as Anna and Mai tried to calm Becca down. Eric and Sten exchanged looks.

"All right. You first." Sten looked at Andrew.

"Second marking." Andrew pointed to the ground. "It's facing your way." A soundless noise filled his head. It was difficult to stay in touch with reality, and his head was throbbing.

"No! Please. You cannot touch those!" The girl was hysterical and would not relent.