“Guess who’s got a key to the Afterlife now!” Lizzy said, proudly holding the key up to violet the next day after school.

“Guess who made that key.” Keter mumbled while looking for something through the protective equipment.

“And you’re sure this is safe?” Violet asked.

“Probably?” Keter said uncertainly. “Put these on just in case though.” He tossed her a pair of brown leather gloves and a weighted apron.

“Then why am I wearing these and you wearing the welding mask?” Lizzy asked as he slipped one on.

“I don’t know how carvatian to human physiology differs exactly,” he admitted. “Or how that affects the key, but that’s what testing is for!”

“And we’re the testers?” Vio asked, upset.

“Do you know any other humans who can do this?” he asked. “Besides, if anything goes wrong, you’ll probably just go to the wrong world or something.”

“There’s only four worlds!”  Lizzy said, throwing her hands up. “Four! How hard is that?”

“Psh, you don’t know that.” Keter said, sitting down and putting his feet up on the table. “How do you know that we know them all? Besides, in the worst case scenario, we discover a new world. Isn’t that exciting?”

“No.” Violet and Lizzy said in unison.

“Here,” Lizzy took Sausage out from under her shirt and put her on the table. “Look after her while we’re away.”

“Sure… Look, it won’t kill you two, alright?” he said. “I can give you my word that displacement won’t kill. And if you end up somewhere nasty, you can just use the key to come back.”

“Really?” Violet asked.

“Yeah!” he said happily. “Well… probably.” he whispered under his breath.

Lizzy sighed and held Violet’s hand. She took the key and turned it in the air and thought of that building that Beatrice took her to when she was ten. The air around them hummed and they disappeared in a small red blast that knocked Keter out of his chair and pushed many small things on the tables onto the floor.

“I hope they come back.” Keter whispered, jotting down some notes. “I don’t want to have to move countries again. Mom would be so disappointed.”

Lizzy and Violet felt a small jolt through their bodies as they tumbled onto the grass probably got matching bruises. Lizzy’s gloves had a black char mark where the key had been held in her hand.

“Thanks Keter, real safe.” Lizzy sighed. She put the key in her pocket with the other one, folded the gloves, and put them in her back pocket. “Are you ok, Vio?”

“I don’t want to do that again.” she groaned, getting helped up by Lizzy.

“Sorry, we’ll have to do that at least one more time.”

“I think I’m going to vomit.”

“Who are you two  and where the hell did you come from?”

A casually dressed man in blue plaid and jeans with long black hair stood next to them, making the two girls jump back. He had snuck up on them without a word. Unfortunately, the scare made Violet go through on her promise to vomit, by immediately getting sick on the man’s nice shoes. His expression darkened and Lizzy pulled Violet back.

“I know who you are, actually.” the man growled, pointing at Lizzy and wiping his shoes on the grass. “You’re trespassing on dimensional grounds. That means you’re going to the kiddy corner until your mom comes to pick you up.”

Lizzy took Violet’s hand and ran the other direction and around a house. Lucas smiled and ran his hands through his hair, sighing and popping his neck.

“It’s always more fun when subjects run.”

Lucas ran after the girls, laughing like a madman. A foot chase was always a lot more fun for him. He waved his hand and Lizzy’s shadow reached up and grabbed her ankle, sending her tumbling to the ground.

“What was that?” Violet asked.

“That was some Peter Pan stuff.” Lizzy said almost breathlessly. She wasted no time getting up and running again. They ran until they couldn’t run anymore. Literally. They reached the edge of the Afterlife, which was a sheer drop into Hell.

From the ground, Lucas made tendrils of shadow erupt up and grab Violet around the ankle and dangled her over the edge of the Afterlife. She screamed at the top of her lungs while Lizzy watched in horror and Lucas was laughing hysterically. Before it could go on for too long, a boy in a mask appeared out of nowhere. Lizzy thought she recognized him.

“Sir?” Dallas asked, confused as to why his boss was dangling a teenage girl over the edge of the Afterlife.

“What is it, Dallas?” Lucas asked, having all too much fun.

“Sir, Debbie and Bailey need you.”

“Let me guess, it can’t wait?” he asked, disappointed.

“Yes sir.”

“Fine then.” he said, throwing Violet back onto land, and into Lizzy’s arms. “Do me a favor and babysit these two then.”

“I will sir.”

“Don’t let them out of your sight.” Lucas warned. “They can’t be allowed to roam free, so watch them.”

“Like a hawk, sir.”

Lucas disappeared in a cloak of shadow, leaving the three of them. Lizzy pulled Violet up and made them both run as fast as they could away. Dallas stood and watched them run all the way to the building and out of sight.

“Darn, out of sight before I could catch them.” he said, monotone. “Guess I’m not responsible if they die now.”