The familiar scream, though far off, sent a jolt through Frederick and made him turn. Amara was sprinting toward the pond with a half dozen people. The middle-aged couple from earlier lagged behind, and the man covered his mouth as his shoulders heaved. Although Frederick took stock of them, his wife’s wide-eyed stare and rigid posture demanded all his attention.

At least, until he remembered he’d looked away from the bloodthirsty beast that wanted him dead. He’d glanced away for a second at most, but that gave the fiend an advantage that could cost his life. He raised his fists toward it and took a deep breath to shout a warning.

Except when he turned back, the monster no longer stood there. 

Frederick rubbed his eyes to ensure they didn’t deceive him. Checking the area with his spectral vision yielded similar results. If not for the dissolving inky splotches and scratches on his face, he might’ve thought he’d imagined the whole ordeal.

Speaking of, the scratches stung with white-hot pain. Frederick put a hand to his face. To his relief, the scratch hadn’t drawn blood, but it still stung like no other. His mind spun as he struggled to process recent events, and his surroundings faded until even the calls of the others faded into a distant murmur.

What had he just witnessed, and what had he done?

Rough arms wrapped around him and pulled him close. Frederick tensed and was about to resist, but he stopped when he registered Amara’s voice and face.

The others lingered farther behind, and now that Frederick wasn’t preparing for a death match, he could register their identities. He recognized the couple from earlier, a man from his Bible study, and Amara’s friend. Then, his gaze fell on the last person.

“Pastor Isaac?” Frederick asked. “What are you doing out here? What about the sermon?”

Pastor Isaac frowned. “Service ended already. I was about to prepare for the next one, but Amara ran up to me and said you disappeared during the donation portion. Are you okay enough to return to the church?”

He gulped and nodded.

If the pastor doubted him, he showed no signs. “That’s good. In that case, we should go now. Don’t want to worry the others.”

The group dispersed. The couple wandered around the pond with his colleague, while Amara’s friend started heading back with Pastor Isaac. Amara trailed behind a few steps and gestured for Frederick to follow. She’d calmed down compared to earlier, but her frown indicated he wasn’t out of the woods yet. He jogged to catch up and walked by her side, waiting for her to talk first.

After a pause, Amara asked, “How are you feeling?”

The question surprised Frederick, but he replied, “I’ve been better, but I’ll be fine. Where are Caleb and Deborah?”

“They’re with Miriam. The next service won’t start for a half hour, so she didn’t mind keeping an eye on them while I searched for you.” 

Frederick nodded, and they continued walking in silence. Even without words, he guessed what Amara was thinking, and he bided his time until she popped the question. That she lagged behind Pastor Isaac and her friend until a gap formed between the two pairs didn’t elude him.

Eventually, she sighed and turned to him. “Speaking of which, what happened? Last I recall, you said you were getting money from the car. How did you end up all the way at the lake?”

Although Frederick expected the question, he still struggled to word his response. He didn’t want to put Amara in danger by telling her the truth. However, he didn’t like leaving her in the dark, even if he had well-meaning intentions.

Eventually, he said, “While I was at the car, I thought I saw something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “It was too distant for me to say at the time, but whatever I thought it was, I had a bad feeling. By the time I saw what it was, it was too late to back out.”

Even he could hear the weakness in his excuses. From how Amara’s shoulders tensed, he could only imagine how she perceived them.

“So, why did you confront it alone?” Her voice tensed. “Why didn’t you call for help? For all you know, it could’ve been a coyote, bobcat, or heaven forbid, a black bear. Do you really think you could fight one of those off alone?”

Her words stung, but Frederick didn’t blame her. Had he been in her position, he would’ve said the same. Part of him wanted to explain even if she didn’t believe him. Unfortunately, the warnings from Lian Hai and the Cloaked Figure kept his tongue still. If he told her the truth, and that awareness provoked the shadowy beasts to attack or kill her, he’d never forgive himself.

Footsteps approached from behind, and the other group members joined. Frederick’s colleague joined Pastor Isaac, while the couple walked next to Amara. She resumed a neutral demeanor, but Frederick could tell she was putting on a mask to not concern them.

Frederick asked, “Did you find anything?”

“Nothing approached us, and we didn’t find any tracks in the dirt or other tangible proof,” the man said. “Amara’s your name, right? What did you see earlier?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “For a few seconds, I just saw this giant black animal on four legs staring down Frederick. I asked him about it, but he doesn’t know exactly what it was.”

The woman frowned. “We should wait before asking more questions. If Frederick just got attacked, the shock could be messing with his ability to process.”

Despite frowning, Amara nodded. They entered the church, and Frederick thanked Miriam for watching the kids before driving the family home. Like with his last injury, Amara disinfected the wound, applied a bandage, and instructed him to say if the wound got worse or if he grew ill. Fortunately, the lack of skin puncturing negated the need for a rabies vaccine. 

Frederick sat in his office alone. Across the house, Amara was playing an education game with the kids that taught words and numbers. Although he wanted to join them, Amara had insisted he rest. He'd tried to lie in bed and unwind, as the previous ordeal had left him wiped. However, he couldn’t slow his mind down enough for him to rest. As such, he settled on organizing supplies at his work desk.

A familiar presence formed in the room, and Lian Hai spoke into his mind, “They got you, too, huh?”

Frederick shot up in bed and glanced around. After some searching, he determined that Lian Hai stood in the far corner near the door. Questions flooded his mind,and he almost asked them before remembering his family could hear. 

“Sorry,” Lian Hai said. “Is this a bad time?”

He was about to say he could find a way to communicate, but he had yet to think of one. He didn’t want to risk Amara barging in and seeing him talk to thin air. However, the prospect of astral projecting after a recent interdimensional monster attack left him uneasy.

Then, he spotted his personal laptop, and an idea hit him. He turned the device on and opened an empty word document.

“It’s not ideal, but this will do for now,” Frederick typed. “Plus, I don’t want to wait too long.”

Lian Hai moved closer, and her tone shifted. “Good thinking. I was going to suggest paper and pencil, but this works.”

Hearing that she liked the idea made Frederick relax. From the distant sense of relief, he suspected that she felt the same.

Nonetheless, a vague tension indicated she was still on guard. His suspicions turned out correct when he switched to his spectral vision and noticed how Lian Hai huddled in the corner between the desk and the wall with her arms crossed. The new cuts on her arm strengthened them.

Frederick typed. “Are you okay? What happened after last time?”

Lian Hai winced but replied, “I’m getting by. I don’t remember what happened. One second, we were being confronted by the creepy hooded guy, and all of a sudden, I’m back in my cabin. Not even just in astral form, but I was back in my physical body. Normally, it takes ages to travel to higher levels, so I have no clue how they did that.”

Although he wanted to take her at her word, he couldn’t shake off the sudden change in how she carried herself. He suspected it had to do with more than just watching someone slaughter shadowy beasts and the sudden transference back to her body.

“I see you have two new cuts on your arms,” Frederick typed. “Did they attack you again?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Yes. Last night, I was fishing at the lake, and a few of them ambushed me. If I hadn’t been so close to the edge, they would’ve killed me for sure.”

Frederick’s stomach clenched. “Hopefully, not a lot of damage transferred to your physical body, right?”

“That’s the problem. I wasn’t astral projecting.”

His hands froze. A matching chill filled the rest of him.

Eventually, he managed to type, “They attacked you in the real world. Were they also hunting down any animals with unusual auras?”

Lian Hai gasped. “You saw it, too? I thought I was just seeing things, but apparently not. Never knew certain animals could also travel between layers.”

“When you think about it, we’re not that different from animals in certain ways. They can sleep and dream, too.”

“Touche.” Lian Hai leaned against his desk. “Anyways, I won’t be staying for long. I don’t want to risk running into more monsters, nor do I want to risk them coming here. However, given that I dragged you into that night’s debacle, I couldn’t justify not checking on you.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I chose to go with you even though you warned me of the risks.”

“Still, I feel at least partially responsible.” She laughed bitterly. “Seems I’m not equipped enough to guide newbies, after all.”

Frederick wanted to comfort her, but he doubted anything he said could help. Additionally, any attempts at connection wouldn’t translate well through him typing on his laptop. Soon, the only sound came from Amara reciting words with Caleb and Debby. Since he didn’t want to squander this opportunity, he racked his brain for anything he wanted to say Lian Hai before but couldn’t.

Eventually, a question sprung to mind. “Before you go, I have one more question. Did the Hooded Individual pay you a visit?”

“No,” Lian Hai replied. “Why? Did they visit you?”

After a pause, he typed, “Yeah. Last night. I suspect they didn’t intend for me to find out, but I detected their presence and confronted them. They warned me to stop getting involved with things I didn’t understand. After today, I’m beginning to think they’re right.”

“Why would they stop by to say that?” After a pause, she snorted. “Regardless, I think it’s too late for me to back out. You might still have some time.”

“You really think so?”

“I wish I knew.”

They lingered in silence. Although Frederick liked spending time with Lian Hai, he wished they had a way to communicate that didn’t include the threat of shadowy monsters or eternal abysses. His gaze drifted to his laptop, then his phone next to it, and an idea hit him.

“Hey, what if we swapped phone numbers?” he typed. “That way, we can let each other know if anything weird happens in the astral plane without endangering ourselves by traveling there.”

Lian Hai leaned closer to his laptop, furrowed her eyebrows, then said, “That’s a good idea. I hope that doesn’t become our only means of updates, but that’ll help if we need to lay low.”

She recited her phone number, which Frederick saved as a contact. He then sent her a short message before typing his own number in case something went wrong. Lian Hai scanned over the text multiple times, stuck a thumb up, and disappeared. With that interaction done, Frederick shut his personal laptop off and watched his phone.

After a few minutes, a message lit up the screen. “This is Lian Hai. Are you Frederick?”

Frederick smiled. Their mission had succeeded. He replied with a thumbs up before returning to his previous task. Organizing his desk supplies made life easier when the work week resumed, but it also gave him a simple task to perform while he mulled other topics over. 

Unfortunately, he doubted the shadowy beasts would leave him or the town alone after their earlier encounter. If anything, the prospect of hunting a prey that could stand their ground would entice them to try again if they aimed to strengthen themselves. The thought of these monsters attacking Amara, Caleb, Debby, or the church members in their quest for him made Frederick clench his fists.

He could accept putting himself in danger, but he refused to allow any of those power-hungry monsters near those he cared about.

Once he organized his desk, Frederick turned his laptop back on and opened an internet browser. He had a lot to research.