My alarm rang so I stopped writing, gathered the other street urchins, and texted Jude and Nathan to say we were in commute.

Barbary Coast was a charming upscale neighborhood. Two security guards stood outside the gated entrance to the Hippodrome. One was a strikingly handsome man, his muscles testing the limits of his blue uniform; the other, a broad-shouldered woman with tattoos and black hair slicked into a pompadour. Billie clubs hung from their belts.

I spoke first. "We're here for the Nonchalant gathering."

"Password?" the muscular man asked.

"Jejune."

The pompadoured woman opened the golden gates. We stepped into an enclosed vestibule and knocked on large wooden doors. An opening appeared in the door. A beautiful young woman's face on the other side.

"Names and reservations please?" she inquired, and we introduced ourselves.

Then the door opened, and we stepped into the most sumptuous room I'd ever seen. The walls, tables, and lamp shades were covered in rich dark blues.

On a stage, a band played a bluesy rendition of Nancy Sinatra's "Bang, Bang."

The hostess was dressed in a sharp blue suit. Her name tag read Alice. Yellow curls framed her face, and she had a bubbly, infectious smile.

"Welcome, everyone," she greeted the four of us. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your table."

She led us across a checkered marble floor to a booth with a view of the stage.

"Here y'all go," Alice said, handing us each a menu. "Order at the bar. Reverend Wu will take the stage in 30 minutes. Some of the highest order Nonchalant will be in attendance. I encourage y'all to meet them. In the meantime, enjoy the band."

"I have a question," I said. Alice smiled at me in response. "We're expecting more people. When August, Nathan, and Jude arrive, can you bring them here?"

"Will do," Alice answered, and then returned to her station.

Faerie glared at me. "You failed to mention Nathan was coming."

"He invited me. Look, I'm sorry y'all got into it last time. Just avoid each other. There's plenty of other people to talk to."

I looked at the menu, mostly to end the conversation.

The front was a menu of murder mystery puns. 'Professor Plum Wine.' A sake flight, 'The Orient Express.' 'Buffalo Wings of the Maltese Falcon.' You get the idea.

But on the back page were two riddles, a 10-square sudoku puzzle, and two incomplete sentences with numbers under the blank spaces. The vowels were filled in.

_e__, A_ A__ _a_e, __e _o__ou_e _ai_.

A_a__o_ A__ _o_e _e __o E__e_ _e_e.

"I need a pencil," Alex said.

"We all do," added Faerie.

I stood up. "I'll ask the bar. Be right back."

I walked over and made eyes with the bartender, a handsome guy with red hair. His name tag read Peter.

"Hi," I said. "Are there pencils we can use?"

He handed me several and said, "Can I get you anything else?"

"Yeah, 'In Cold Blood,' please." It was a strawberry daiquiri.

"Of course. Can I see your ID?"

I tried not to hold my breath while he examined it, and then me, and then it again several times. He handed it back to me with a wink and said, "Coming right up."

My heart jumped in my chest. "So you work with the Nonchalant?"

"I work here at the Hippodrome," he answered.

"Nonchalant own the Hippodrome?"

"No. They rent the space every couple months."

"So, who else works here?" I asked.

"The manager, Annie." Peter pointed at a stern woman standing in a corner with her arms crossed. "Benny the bouncer," he pointed at a heavy-set man near the door. "And Oliver the bar bitch," he pointed at a young man opposite the dance floor with a wild black mohawk and razor-sharp cheekbones. His nails were painted blood red with matching lipstick. I was hypnotized at once. I almost walked over to him, but then I remembered what I was doing. So instead, I paid my tab and walked back to the table.

Alex furrowed his brow at the drink in my hand. "How old are you again?"

I sipped my frozen Capote pun. "I work in a check cashing store, remember? Well, sometimes people leave their IDs. We got a box full of 'em. So I went through that box and found someone who looks like me."

"What!?" Deon exclaimed. "Lemme see this." I handed it to him.

Deon screamed and laughed. "It says you're thirty-one!"

"Show me that," Faerie and Alex leaned in to inspect it.

"He looks nothing like you," Alex decided.

"He's got brown eyes. A blind person could see your eyes are blue," Faerie added.

"It doesn't matter," I told them. "My money is green, and men buy me drinks. So long as it's a real ID, bars are happy to look the other way."

"Fucking white boys," Deon concluded. "No way I could get away with that. Officer Sexy outside would arrest my black ass."

I distributed the pencils and said, "I wouldn't worry about Officers Sexy or Lea DeLaria. They're performers."

"How do you know?" Alex interrogated.

"I didn't see a paddywagon, did you? And neither of them were carrying. Has anybody figured out the riddles on the back page?"

"One," Faerie answered. "What begins in time and ends in debt? The letter T."

"Nice," I made a note.

"Next riddle," Faerie continued. "'Turn me on my side, and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?'"

No one answered.

Deon said aloud what most of us were thinking, "We should beat the crowd for clues. Someone's figured it out, for sure."

"Y'all go mingle," Alex said. "I'll stay and watch our stuff."

The rest of us ventured into the small crowd. Faerie and Deon stayed together, but I walked directly toward Oliver.

He was collecting empty glasses from around the room, moving at a rhythmic pace, while the band covered "Daydream in Blue" by I Monster.

"Hi," I said with a smile. "I'm Bastian."

"Oliver," he answered warmly.

Our eyes locked. I was transfixed but tried to act normal. "My friends and I are trying to figure out these riddles on the back page, and we're stuck on the second one."

He sighed wistfully. "Can't help you. This is the second time I've worked one of these events. So giving you the answers would be cheating."

"Bummer. Here I was hoping you and I could figure this out together," I lamented with puppy dog eyes.

"It must suck to not get what you were hoping for," he teased.

"It does suck. You'd think I'd be used to it by now," I said and stepped closer.

"Oh, is your life super hard?" He mocked, leaning toward me.

"Not right now, it isn't." I licked my lips. "But the night is young."

Oliver blushed and bit his lip. "I should get back to work."

"Can you give me a clue, at least?"

"For what?"

"The riddle, of course. What were you thinking?"

Oliver smirked and looked away dramatically. "It's a number," he said finally.

"Yeah, I'd love to get your number," I answered earnestly.

He laughed. "No, dummy. That's your clue. It's a number. Figure it out."

Oliver turned and walked away, glancing back with a wink. I smiled, watching him work for a second before I noticed Alice leading Nathan and August to our table. I hurried over to hug them both hello.

Alex gave a friendly, seated wave.

"The answer to the second riddle is 8. Oliver told me," I told them, as I waved to him from across the room.

"He's cute!" August exclaimed. "Dibs."

"I saw him first."

"Did you kiss?"

"No. But we had a moment."

"First kiss to dibs."

"Ugh, you are the worst. Fine."

"And we're off to the races."

Alex, meanwhile, had been focusing on the clues. "So 8 corresponds to T." He held up his menu to show us, "This is what we've got so far."

_e__, At A__ _ate, t_e _o__ou_e _ai_.

A_a__o_ A__ _o_e _e __o E_te_ _e_e.

"That doesn't help much," I admitted.

Nathan said, "We should try and find Humdrum's undercover operative."

"And I have a sexy barman to meet," August made a face at me and walked off in Oliver's direction.

"Yeah, shoot your shot, asshole," I said.

They walked off to meet people, leaving me and Alex sitting at the table.

"I should call Jude," I said. "He's about to be late."

Jude answered on the second ring, sounding out of breath. Hills in San Francisco can be brutal if you're not used to them. "Hey. I was… delayed, but I'm walking there now... Just a few minutes."

"Okay, but hurry. It's about to start. Remember the password?"

"Jejune."

"Great. See you when you get here." I hung up the phone.

"What are his chances, ya think?" Alex asked, watching August and Oliver flirt on the opposite side of the bar. I followed his gaze and saw they were hitting it off.

I frowned. "I dunno. 50-50, I guess. We'll see. What about you and Faerie? You were so cute together."

He shrugged and looked down. "We'd been at odds for a while, but we got into a big fight after leaving Windemere. We're better as friends, I think."

"Okay," I said. "If you think it's best, so do I."

Alex looked at me pensively. "How do you date so many people?"

"Shit. You make it sound like I have a revolving door."

"You kind of do."

I sighed. "C'mon, man. I dunno. I try to enjoy moments and people for what they are and who they are. Not what I want them to be. And since moments are fleeting, so too, are the men in my life."

Alex shook his head. "I'm not like that. I never even dated anyone before Faerie."

"Really? You're so mature and shit. I thought everybody had more experience than me."

Alex laughed. "Not this guy. Upstate New York isn't exactly the most trans-friendly locale. I flew out here so I could be me. Faerie and I met at Lark Inn, and it's been us against the world ever since. I don't think we're meant to be together, but I'm afraid to be alone, you know?"

I was silent for a second, then I reached over to hold his hand. "You're not alone."

A shy smile broke his face. He squeezed my hand and then pulled his back.

I wondered if I was too forward.

"I was thinking about the Killer Nachos," Alex said. "You want some?"

"Always. I'll watch our stuff."

"Cool. Back in a bit," Alex got up and walked to the bar.

August and Oliver were still flirting, so I distracted myself by solving the sudoku puzzle. When I finished and looked up again, Oliver had gone back to work, and August was mingling next to Nathan.

Then Reverend Wu stepped on stage, wearing the same colorful stole from chapter two, but this time with black pants and a white blouse.

"Welcome." Her voice rang clear through the sound system. "And thank you for shining your light with us here tonight. It warms my heart to see so many new faces in our congregation. Tonight, your journey will bring you to the very doors of Elsewhere and Eve Herself! I know you're all eager to meet her. She's close now. To help you on your path to Eve, I've asked the band to play a special song for you all this evening. Listen closely. You might find a clue you didn't know you were looking for. Please join me in a round of applause for the wonderful band."

We applauded enthusiastically as then the drums and guitar began. Reverend Wu stepped backstage, and the band played Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit."

I listened intently to the lyrics and watched as Faerie, Deon, August, Nathan, and several others in the crowd moved toward Alice by the door. A small crowd gathered around her.

But as I watched the crowd move, something else caught my eye. A painting on the far wall. It was abstract, with heavy brush strokes of gold and royal blues; an image of a rose bush in a field; and at the base of the bush, in the bottom corner, was a white rabbit.

Alex came back with the nachos.

"Thanks," I said, grabbing a bite. "Be right back," and ran over to the painting. Nothing unusual. I moved the painting to look behind it and found another clue: a small sticker of a caterpillar smoking from a hookah. The smoke read, "Call row 8."

I wondered for a moment. The sudoku puzzle! Looking at my menu and I saw the first three numbers of row 8 were 415. San Francisco's area code!

I called and got an automated message. It sounded like Alice's bubbly voice.

"You chased the rabbit. Well done. Your reward is another clue. Four equals L."

The automated voice message ended at the same time Jude walked through the door, looking disheveled and distressed. I ran over to meet him at the door.

"Thanks, Alice," I said. "He's my brother. I'll take it from here."

She was fielding questions from a small crowd and looked grateful for the assist.

I walked Jude to our table and asked, "What took you? The party's started."

Jude looked like he was fighting back tears. He said, "They gave me a fine. I jumped on the back of the bus, but some cops got on and asked me for proof I paid, but I didn't have it. They made me get off the bus and answer a bunch of questions, and they gave me a fine. I don't have money for food. How am I supposed to pay $150 when I can't even afford a bus ticket?"

I grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "You're not. Give it to me. I'll take care of it." He did, and I put it in my pocket.

"Such horseshit," I cursed San Francisco. "This fucking city has its priorities upside down. Do you know San Francisco loses money on fare enforcement?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah. The city pays fare enforcers millions of dollars every year to harass people, but ultimately they don't generate enough money in fines to pay for the enforcement program. So San Francisco is effectively burning money into a program that punishes poor people for being poor while turning the city into a police state."

Jude shrugged and said, "Someone has to pay to keep it running."

"Yeah, of course, but the city could pay for public transit any number of ways. It's a public utility for chrissake. Billionaires benefit from society, so you'd think they'd want to ensure it's running smoothly. Not only because it's the right thing to do; it's good business. You want your employees to arrive at work on time. You want your customers to arrive freely without being hassled by tax collectors. This whole damn city is full of rich pricks sitting atop beautiful skyscrapers while the rest of us fight over crumbs they deign to toss over their balconies."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Jude looked around and marveled at the opulence we stood in. "You say that, but the room we're currently in is… beautiful."

"Yeah, that's San Francisco for you," I said. "Just try to not step on human feces once you're out on the sidewalk."

"Are you drunk?"

"No! Barely. I had one drink."

"You sound like you're about to lead a French-style revolution."

"Don't tempt me. Besides, we're busy tonight. C'mon and meet my friends."

"There are a lot of people here," Jude said hesitantly.

"Don't worry. They're going to love you."

I led Jude to our table and introduced him.

Everyone had returned to share notes and rumors. Faerie and Nathan were sitting at opposite ends of the table and seemed to be ignoring each other. Jude sat next to Faerie, and I noticed the two locking eyes.

Nathan shared the clue from Alice, 3 = D. I told them what I'd discovered behind the rabbit painting, and we modified the sentences accordingly.

_ell, At A__ _ate, t_e Do__ou_e _aid.

A_a_do_ All _o_e _e __o E_te_ _e_e.

"I still have no idea what this is supposed to say," said Faerie.

Deon rejoined, "Me neither."

"Well, that can't be it, right? There's got to be more," said August.

"Did anybody see a chessboard?" I asked. "The song mentions one."

Everybody shook their heads, and Faerie said, "I didn't see any."

Deon added, "Not unless you count the floor." He was looking at the black and white marble dance floor.

I looked at it slack-jawed for a second before it dawned on me.

"Deon, you're a genius," I shouted and jumped out of my seat, running to the dance floor. Several people were dancing to a soulful hard rock cover of Leonard Cohen's "The Future," complicating my search.

Chess boards are 8 by 8 squares. In setup, the White Knights can start the game in four possible squares.

I gently elbowed my way through the crowd, searching the ground for the right square. Found it! A strip of white tape covering a white tile. I lifted the tape. On the marble floor, someone had sharpied, "S = 1 & M = 2"

Suddenly a scream rang out near the entrance. The band stopped playing as four men dressed in Nonchalant robes were forcibly dragging Officers Sexy and Lea DeLaria toward the stage. No one else did anything, assuming it was part of the show.

It looked to me like Lea DeLaria could have taken them all in a fight, but the cultists had knives, so no one was resisting. The officers' billie clubs had been confiscated. Officer Sexy was tossed onstage while Lea DeLaria was forced into a chair to watch. Reverend Wu was center stage. The band had cleared off during the commotion.

That's when the first unbelievable thing happened. Officer Sexy put up a show of resistance, and Reverend Wu, who looked older than fifty, certifiably whooped his ass. It was masterful. Wu must have been some kind of martial arts expert because, in a matter of seconds, she artfully reduced a man (at least) three times her weight to the ground, tapping for mercy.

Wu pulled out a knife from behind her waist and held it to Officer Sexy's throat. "It seems we have some unexpected - and uninvited, guests. Humdrum operatives have infiltrated our sacred celebration! We thought our security would protect us from Humdrum interference, but like the Trojan Horse, they snuck in right under our noses!

"I know there are more Humdrum spies here tonight. You have one minute to reveal yourselves, or I kill this man!"

Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably. Presumably, we were all sent here by the Humdrum Institute. We looked at one another across the table. Were we supposed to confess?

Lea DeLaria cried out, "Please, this is all a big misunderstanding. They offered us cash to deliver a message, but the Humdrum spy never arrived, I swear!"

"How convenient," mocked Reverend Wu. "And what was this message you were supposed to convey?"

"Find the door to Elsewhere. Inform the Institute of its location."

In an instant, Wu's face conveyed fury and terror. "So, Humdrum wants to invade Elsewhere, too. It's not enough they've bought the government. It's not enough they brainwash people and turn them into living zombies. Now they want to destroy paradise itself! Well, I won't let that happen.

"Alice, lock the doors. If the spy won't reveal themselves, we have no choice. No one leaves this room tonight, starting with him." Wu pulled Officer Sexy's hair threateningly and raised the knife to kill him.

Then the lights went out. A deafening bang filled the darkness, and when the lights came back on, Reverend Wu was dead in a puddle of blood, slowly spreading across the stage.

I looked around the room for a shooter, but everything seemed in order. Alice still manned the door. Bennie, Annie, and Peter were all at their stations. The four cultists were all seemingly dumbstruck at the sight of their leader's dead body. I had a working theory but nothing concrete yet.

Lea DeLaria wasted no time, surprising her assailants and cuffing them to the chair they had forced her into. Officer Sexy jumped in to help, and the four cultists were quickly subdued.

Lea DeLaria shouted so everyone in the room could hear her. "This is now a crime scene. My name is Detective Dupin. This is my partner Detective Lockhart." I made a mental note to change their names going forward.

Detective Lockhart checked Reverend Wu for a pulse, shaking his head to Dupin. Then Lockhart checked the body for clues and found a key, holding it up for Dupin and everyone else to see.

Detective Dupin addressed the crowd, "I have to ask you all to remain here until the killer is identified. Since Wu threatened everyone in this room before she was killed, everyone had a motive and is therefore suspect.

"As for these four," Dupid kicked the shoe of one of the cultists handcuffed to a chair, "Is there a storage closet or somewhere we can hold them?"

Annie the bar manager spoke up. She sounded scared but in control. "Over here," she walked across the dance floor to open a door not far from the bar. It looked like a liquor pantry, with beer kegs on the ground and bottles on wooden shelves along the wall. "You can keep them in here, and I'll bolt the door," she said to the detectives.

Once the cultists were locked away, Detective Lockhart spoke to the crowd of suspects and witnesses.

"Seeing as the Nonchalant were willing to murder everyone here, and I owe my life directly to someone's fast action, I'm not inclined to press the case of Wu's death any further than needs be."

Detective Dupin chastised Lockhart, "A woman is dead, and it's our job to find out who pulled the trigger! Regardless the circumstances."

Lockhart answered, "Then you solve that case. I'm more interested in finding whatever this unlocks." He held up the key found on Hu's body. There was a symbol on the base of the key.

Deon shouted and pulled Faerie forward. "We know that! One of the cultists pointed it out to us. Over here!"

Deon led us all to a locked cabinet near the back of the room, in a dark corner behind the bar. Sure enough, the symbol on the cabinet lock was the same as the base of the key. Detective Lockhart inserted the key, turned it, and opened the cabinet.

It seemed to hold nothing unusual. Books and binders and small boxes and such. But Faerie noticed it. Alice in Wonderland. She pulled it off the shelf, opened it, and found our next clue.

The book was a lockbox disguised as a children's novel. The opened lockbox revealed a riddle and sixteen lettered dials.

Faerie read the riddle aloud for the audience. "What did the dormouse say?"

"Feed your head!" someone shouted.

Faerie changed the dials to input that sentence. "It doesn't work! 'Feed your head' has only twelve characters."

The crowd reacted with groans and murmurs.

I remembered the clues from the dancefloor and put them into the sentences. That gave me enough information to guess at several letters, filling each in accordingly.

_ell, At A__ _ate, t_e Do_mouse Said.

A_a_do_ All _o_e _e __o E_te_ _e_e.

The question mentioned the dormouse, so I filled in the R and H space as well.

_ell, At A__ Rate, the Dormouse Said.

A_a_do_ All Ho_e _e _ho E_ter _ere.

Both sentences were coming into shape. Having read Divine Comedy (in middle school while the other kids were playing foursquare), I could fill in the remaining blanks.

"Well, at any rate!" I shouted, rushing to Deon and Faerie to show them.

"Ah!" Faerie exclaimed and laughed and dialed the letters into the lockbox. It clicked dramatically. She opened the lid to reveal a red button. Apprehensively, she pressed it.

A hiss of air released nearby, scaring many of us, as a section of the wall slid sideways, revealing a secret staircase to an underground level.

Detective Lockhart stepped forward and asked Annie, "What's down there?"

Annie spoke up so everyone could hear her, "It used to be a brothel. Then it was a speakeasy. Now it's our main dance floor. There's no bar downstairs, so if anyone is hungry or thirsty, or needs to use the bathroom, now would be the time. Let's all reconvene in 10 minutes and go down together, yeah? In the meantime, I'll share a few stories from the Hippodrome's colorful past."

A few people wandered off to the bar or bathroom or wherever.

Annie continued, "They called the street outside 'Terrific Street,' and it was once a vacation destination of sorts for rich folks 'slumming it-'"

My phone started ringing, so I stepped away to answer in relative privacy.

My mother was on the other line. She sounded lucid. Her voice was gravely serious. "Bastian, I have to tell you something, and I need you to hear me out, okay?"

Already I had a sinking feeling. "Okay…"

"My bank card is missing, and today a purchase was made at a game store in San Francisco for $50. Jude stole my card before he left and used it to buy video games!"

"Wow! Did you cancel the card?"

"Of course, I canceled the card! That's not the point. He crossed state lines and committed fraud! That's a felony! He's going to jail for this! For a long fucking time!"

"Mom, calm down. I know this is upsetting but let's keep it in perspective. We're talking about $50 here. Just call Jude and scream at him until you feel better."

"He needs to learn! You need to tell me where he is so the police can collect him."

Something primal in me switched on. I became ice-cold and razor-sharp, the cruelest side of myself. My voice was calm and clear, but the effect was unmistakable. "You honestly thought I was going to help you send my little brother to prison? Over $50? You're fucking high. Jude is my brother. I protect him from you. Go to Hell."

I hung up. My heart was pounding in my chest. I looked around for Jude. He and Faerie were standing close together, looking carefree and listening to Annie regale them with stories.

I took several slow breaths to try and calm myself. My phone rang again.

"Yes?" I answered.

"Now you listen to me," Tom's voice growled threateningly. He thought to bully me into going along with it. Of course, Tom was behind this. I hung up again.

I steadied myself. The phone rang again. This time instead of angry and threatening, Tom sounded victimized. "Why are you hanging up on me?" So tragic.

"Because you're a douchebag." I hung up again. The phone rang again. This time I let Tom finish what he wanted to say.

"You're a faggoty little bitch, you know that!?! If you were here, I'd beat the living shit out of you, you smug piece of shit! You're disgusting! A sick fucking pervert! And you're gonna burn in Hell! Fuck you! FAGGOT!" This time he hung up.

I stared out into space for a few seconds. Then straightened my tie and flattened my shirt, and I wandered back to the crowd.

Annie was finishing her story. "-the tunnels were also used to kidnap people and smuggle them onto ships, where they'd be forced into slavery or the French Foreign Legion. Most never made it back. Alright, that's my story, folks. Is everyone ready? Detectives, you wanna lead us down?"

Lockhart stepped through the threshold and down the stairs. Dupin and the rest of us followed.

The downstairs room was massive. Cobalt ropes hung from the high ceiling. Disco balls, lasers, smoke machines, and blacklight decorations covered the space. The back wall was covered in full-length mirror panels. 'Twilight Zone' by Golden Earring blasted out the sound system.

Then the next unbelievable thing happened. Dozens of people came running downstairs, parting the crowd and taking over the dancefloor.

They organized themselves, and when the beat dropped, they broke into a synchronized dance routine that left the rest of us dumbstruck. Several dancers climbed the cobalt ropes to twirl and swing in unison. They finished with incredible acrobatic feats and flips. We applauded until my arms hurt. Then the dancers ran to pull us forward, so we were all dancing together.

Reverend Wu's voice rang out through the speaker system ominously. "The next step will require energy from all of you. Dancing is the key to opening the door. You have thirty minutes. Dance! Eve, to you, we offer this prayer!"

The reverend's voice faded, and a timer high on the wall turned on, counting down from 30 minutes. The music volume turned back up. It was clear what we were supposed to do, so all we got to it.

I closed my eyes and let the music take me. All my anxieties faded, and for one fleeting moment, I forgot myself in the music.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Jude and Faerie kissing. My jaw dropped. A dozen thoughts and feelings flooded my mind at once. I was happy for Jude but also jealous because I had complex feelings for Faerie. I let those feelings go and instead thought of Alex.

I found him standing against the wall, looking morose.

I walked over to him and said, "Hey."

Alex crossed his arms and smiled sadly when he saw me. "Hey, don't worry about me. You should dance. Looked like you were having fun."

"Nah. I mean, I was, but now I'm out of breath." I collapsed on the wall next to him. "You don't wanna dance?"

"I'm not a dancer."

"Everyone is a dancer," I said. "It's primal. Just close your eyes and move."

"I don't want to," he answered flatly.

That shut me down for a minute. Finally, I said, "I get it. A crowd of people isn't your scene. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?"

He turned and made a face at me, laughing softly. Finally, he answered, "My dad owns a horse ranch outside Buffalo. Growing up, my chore was to feed the horses and brush them. I saw one give birth. My dad let me name the foal. Tabitha. Tabby. She's massive now. I was the first one to ride her. She won't let anybody ride her but me. If I could be anywhere, I'd be with her right now."

A genuine smile broke his melancholy. He made so much more sense to me now.

"My sister loved horses," I told him. "She would have liked you."

He turned to me again, his expression inscrutable. "Thanks. You're a good guy," he said so sincerely it made me uncomfortable. I thought of Rufio and how I cheated on him. I thought of Jude and how I abandoned him to the whims of violent narcissists.

"Sometimes," I said. "I try to be."

He looked ready to argue the point, but Reverend Wu's voice rang out over the speakers. "The door is nearly open. More dancing is required! Vigorous dancing will open the door! Everyone now!"

A remix of David Bowie's greatest hits threaded into "Magic Dance" was the tune of choice, and that proved too much for Alex. I practically dragged him to the center of the dance floor, but he relented.

At first, he looked anxious, but I held his hand and danced with him until he caught the beat. After a minute, he was dancing on his own, enjoying the moment.

But moments are fleeting. 30 of them must have passed because the music went silent, and Reverend Wu's voice came back over the system.

"Well done! Look, the door is opening! Go to her!"

One of the mirror panels that covered the far wall slid back and to the side, revealing a narrow secret room! We all rushed in. It was cramped, but everyone fit.

The real back wall was made of brick and concrete, where an opening had been boarded shut. The underground smuggling tunnel Annie had mentioned?

"Hey, Bastian, come look at this," Deon shouted at the opposite end of the room. I went to see him holding another lockbox with dials on the front. This box was longer than the first. I knew what had to be done, changing the dials to read ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE. A mechanism clicked in response, and I opened the lid. Inside was a crowbar.

I gave the crowbar to Deon. "You wanna do the honors?"

His eyes lit up and sparkled with glee, taking the crowbar in his hands. "Yessir, very much."

Deon ran across the room to the boarded door and got to it, ripping and smashing every piece of wood in his way. It didn't take long, and when the deed was done, he stood back to wipe the sweat from his brow and admire his work. The ground was a mess of splinters, but the doorway was clean and clear. We all gave Deon a round of applause and then moved toward the doorway.

But Alice came walking out of the pitch-black tunnel first, scaring the crap out of most of us. Deon was standing closest to the doorway and had the most dramatic reaction, screaming like he'd seen a ghost and running behind the rest of us.

"Congratulations, all of you," Alice laughed. "You've made it. Come step through the door. I have to ask that you go in groups of no more than 8 people at a time. The tunnel is small and old. When you're ready, I'll send the first team in."

"We're ready!" August cried out and grabbed Nathan and Deon. Alex, Faerie, Jude, and I stepped forward as well. "There's seven of us. We're ready."

Alice smiled widely. "Excellent. Please step forward."

August marched in confidently, and the rest of us followed with more or less confidence.

We stepped through the doorway and found a large rectangular room built of concrete. At the end of the room was a smaller tunnel, and over the tunnel, someone had carved the words, 'Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.'

"Anybody else getting the sense this might be a bad idea?" Deon asked.

"Don't be a scaredy cat," Faerie teased. "It's just a dark and scary tunnel to Hell. What could go wrong?"

As she said it, a ball of fire burst into light, floating midair in the tunnel doorway, spooking the lot of us. We stepped toward it cautiously, August in the lead.

Deon objected, "I'm putting my foot down. Do not touch the floating fire thing."

August brought his hand to it and then slowly through it.

Deon threw his hands and scoffed.

"It's not real fire," said August. "It has no heat or mass. It's got to be some kind of illusion."

"Smoke machines and laser projectors?" Faerie asked.

"Nathan said, "This is way too sophisticated. Look at the detail. And where are the projectors?"

We looked around but only saw concrete walls.

"Well, it's not magic," Alex said simply. "So it has to be some kind of technology. More mirrors, maybe?" He stepped forward and moved his hands around and through the floating fireball. The image wasn't distorted or darkened at all.

Deon had reached his limit. "Okay. Nope. Sorry. I'm out. I seen this movie. No, thank you. Good luck, white folk. See y'all at home." He turned to leave the way we had come, but the door was gone. Somehow while we were watching the floating light, the doorway had sealed itself. The only thing remaining was a solid wall of concrete. We were trapped with no way back.

Deon started screaming and banging his hands against the wall, to no avail. Faerie rushed forward to try and calm him down. I was too dumbfounded to do anything but blink, mouth agape at the wall. It was impossible. We should have heard something. It couldn't be possible, but it happened.

We all had to touch the wall for ourselves to confirm it. Deon was trembling but had otherwise calmed. We silently processed our situation.

Finally, I walked to the middle of the narrow dark room. "Okay. A lot of really weird shit has happened tonight, and I can't explain most of it. But we're underground, and there's only one way forward. Sorry to be 'that white guy,' but we literally can't turn back now. I suggest we continue forward."

"No way," said Deon. "I never shoulda come down in this dark tunnel. I know better. Now y'all finna get me killed or worse. And what's it doing now?"

The fireball was moving from us and down the tunnel, taking the light with it.

"I don't want to get left here in the dark, do you?" I said, following the light.

Everyone hurried after it into the tunnel, which went on for what I assumed were several city blocks. I wondered how many people had been kidnapped and carried away forever down these dark, musty tunnels.

We followed the light to an old metal door with a circular wheel in the middle to open and lock it. The light disappeared into the door, leaving us in near darkness. Most of us were using our phones as flashlights. We all conferred silently through an exchange of glances and nods. August turned the wheel and pulled open the door.

Inside was more of the same tunnel, except this tunnel had identical doors at opposite ends. In the center, the same glowing ball of fire floated midair. To me, it seemed a terrible place to be trapped. But what else were we supposed to do? Behind was sealed shut. The only way was forward. We stepped through the door, and as soon as the last of us crossed the threshold, the door swung shut, clanging loudly. The fire light snuffed itself out, returning us to darkness. Everyone screamed when the door shut, terrified, but soon, fear gave way to wonder.

The walls somehow disappeared, and we weren't in a dark and scary tunnel anymore, but instead a wild field of tall grass. Stars twinkled overhead in a sky, so clear I could make out the milky way. It reminded me of Montana skies.

Standing in front of us was Alice, radiant.

"How are you here?" I asked first, stupefied.

Nathan followed up, "You were behind us. Who's watching the others?"

Alice's laugh was unlike any I'd heard before. It was girlish and cute, yet there were tones of sadness and age I wasn't expecting. It occurred to me that Alice wasn't very young at all. Or perhaps she was. Her face was ageless, unblemished, but not youthful. There was an edge to her I hadn't noticed before.

"Who are you?" I asked plainly.

"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle," Alice answered.

"Very funny," said Nathan sarcastically. "Answer the question. How are you here?"

"I'm not here. I've never been here. That you can see me is due to the help of my friends, but I'm not here."

"You won't mind if I test that claim," August walked forward to touch her shoulder. Like the ball of fire, his hand went through her as if she wasn't even there. Her appearance remained unblemished.

August jumped back, and we all panicked a little, trying to get away, but we were trapped. Our surroundings appeared as a dew-covered field of lush green grass, but it was an illusion. The walls of the tunnel were still real. There was nowhere to run.

"Please, calm yourselves," Alice begged. "None of this is real. It can't hurt you."

That had close to the desired effect. We all stared at her in heavy silence.

Faerie spoke first, "Are you Eve?"

Alice smiled again and nodded imperceptibly.

"If you're not here, where are you?" Faerie continued.

"Elsewhere. That's not why I brought you here."

"We're here for a reason?"

"Yes. I had to warn you. There's still time."

"Time for what?"

"To save your planet! A flood is coming, worse than the last great flood."

"How do we stop it?" Faerie asked.

"Unite the people. Dark times are coming, and you must be ready."

"And how do we do that?"

"You must return anger with forgiveness, fear with courage, and hate with love. The times will test you. The people will hate and fear you. You must love them and welcome them because, without them, you will all lose everything."

Faerie rolled her eyes, "It's a little hard to turn the other cheek if you're dead. Sorry, I'm digging the 'come-together' vibes, but let's talk facts for a second. They murder people like me for sport. And you're telling me to love and welcome them? No, thank you, blondie. Not buying it. I love the special effects, though. Not sure how you installed projectors and hid them in concrete, but I am thoroughly impressed."

Eve smiled sadly. "Only together can you hope to overcome this challenge. Unite the people. Save yourselves." She faded into dust, carried away on an impossible breeze. And when she was gone, the illusion faded with her, and we found ourselves back in the dark and scary tunnel with big metal doors at both ends.

"Well, that's one way to end a conversation," Faerie quipped.

August marched forward and opened the door. The tunnel continued on the other side. A light could be seen at the end. We all raced toward it and out of the insane darkness. But outside the darkness, things made even less sense.

Somehow without ever turning, we'd done a 180 to the same secret room behind the dance floor. I lost count of how many unbelievable things this made. To compound the strangeness of events, the entire room was empty. Neither Alice nor any of the other participants could be found.

We went upstairs, and it was the same Hippodrome, except it was empty. Only Bennie, Annie, Peter, and Oliver remained, drinking at the bar. They cheered when we walked in.

"You came back!" Peter shouted. "Everyone else is gone. Last call for alcohol!"

I looked at the time. It was almost midnight. Somehow, hours had passed while we were down in that tunnel. I tried to make sense of what had just transpired and failed. Did that really happen? How? Was that the end?

The others were taking it better than I, rushing forward and celebrating. Jude appeared next to me, bumping my elbow to get my attention.

"What kinda party did you bring me to? This is fuckin' nuts."

I couldn't think. My brain had short-circuited. When I came back online, I blurted out the first thought that came to me.

"Did you steal Mom's debit card and buy video games?"

His neck and shoulder muscles tightened, confessing his guilt. That was his tell. It was how I always knew when Jude was lying.

He just shrugged. "So what did Mom say?"

"She said she was gonna press charges and send you to prison. She honestly thought I was going to help her do it. The fucking nerve. Tom put her up to it, naturally. He had some… charming things to say."

"Tom can eat shit in Hell. Yes. I bought a 3DS and Pokemon Platinum. When we get back to Perramont, you can play it. I don't think Faerie is going to let me crash with her. I must've said or did something wrong because she was all hot one minute and then ice cold the next. I feel like I was being toyed with for someone else's benefit, that Alex guy you've been spending all night with."

"What? That's crazy. I don't even… Well, shit, okay. I'm sorry that happened. Faerie's kind of an asshole. And forget Mom. She's hundreds of miles away. I don't care that you stole the card. Fact, I'm glad. Being homeless gets boring. That 3DS was an excellent idea. Mom said the total came to $50. That's a fantastic deal. Very frugal. Well done."

He shrugged. "They were both used."

I laughed at him. Even in theft, he tried to be considerate. "I will always have your back. I don't care if you're guilty. You're my brother. You know that, right?"

He nodded silently, trying to conceal his emotions, but I saw them.

"Let's go home. It's late. Somehow." I looked up in time to see Oliver lean in to kiss August sweetly. Then Oliver noticed me watching them. Humiliated and crestfallen, I looked away immediately.

I took a deep breath and tried to exhale my frustration and disappointment.

"C'mon," I said to Jude. "Let's get out of here." I waved goodbye to my fellow street urchins, "See y'all for dinner on Friday!"

They looked unsure whether to stay or follow. I didn't wait for them to decide and walked out the door and swiftly home. Jude struggled to keep up with my pace. We arrived at Perramont, and I promptly passed out.