Several uneventful weeks went by after Ryder’s visit. Well…as uneventful as they can when you’re charged with the protection of ignorant innocents when fictional characters accidentally invade their world. Weiss remained distant, E.J. was casual, Jai showed up with his tablet and a cheerful grin and we got deliveries of books almost every day. There was nothing out of the ordinary, now that I knew what ordinary was.

Ryder’s little debrief had me rattled for a few days. I found myself looking for reasons to prove him right or wrong. Was there anything about this job that I wasn’t aware of?

“Hey Weiss,” I asked one day and she looked up from the book she was reading, blinking through her thick glasses with her grey hair beginning to slip out of the elastic she tried to contain it with, “what’s the last digit for on the switchboard?”

She looked to where I was pointing. The switchboard had the six digit book dialling code which I could use if I needed it. It allowed me access to all the books that had been allocated a code even though they were high in the rafters of ‘Beyond The Page’. However, there was a seventh dial, separate to the others with a lock indicating that it was not for the usual kind of books.

“Is it important?”

Now, how was I going to talk my way around this one without looking nosy?

“It’s for the program.” I said vaguely.

Weiss blinked again then set her book down. “The final digit allows you to retrieve special books, ones that are valuable and need to be protected.”

“Like first editions?”

“Yes, they are all first editions.”

Now they would be valuable.

“So the lock…”

Weiss ran a long finger over the dial. The other six dials moved easily whenever I’d used them. The seventh one wouldn’t budge.

“It allows you to use the dial.”

“Okay…so how do I enter that in the system?”

“You can put the codes in but without the key, you will not be able to retrieve them.”

“And where is the key?”

On a chain. Around her neck. Of course.

Well, I couldn’t blame her for being cautious.

Even I knew that first editions of rare or old books could be worth hundreds, if not thousands. There was probably a vault section in the upper stories that I couldn’t see that housed these valuable treasures. I felt a bit justified that Ryder’s claims of betrayal and distrust had not been proven true with my one little test.

Although…it was E.J. he said could not be trusted.

Yet that didn’t ring true either.

After a couple of days of rolling around ideas in my head, I realised I’d been so distracted that I’d fallen behind in my schedule. I entered Ryder’s number into my phone so I wouldn’t lose it but put it aside so I could concentrate.

You’d think that I would have lost all connection with the outside world except for work and study and after the Lucas incident, I knew I had one less friend…although I’m not sure I could call him friend by the end of it. However, James and Willow messaged occasionally and were more understanding about my lack of social hours. James was studying to become a paramedic and Willow worked in one of those rock climbing, bouncy trampoline, padded floor type places. They knew that, sometimes, real life could become so time consuming that it had a tendency to muscle everything else out.

The problem was, they were nice about it…which made me feel bad about not spending time with them.

It would have been easier if they’d resented me for it.

Lonelier, but easier.

So, when Willow called me and asked if I’d like to go with her and James to a movie screening on the weekend, I decided to make time for it.

“It’s an old movie, Sam.”

“Like from the nineties?”

“Like from the black and white era.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s not about the movie, Sam. It’s about the experience. Come on…or I’ll have James drag you there.”

“Okay, okay…I’ll come. Hey…can I bring a friend or two?”

“You have friends other than us?”

Hrm…I’ll have to answer that when I have a moment to think about it because of all things I would called E.J. and Weiss, friends probably wouldn’t have been the obvious choice. But the truth was, I thought that the movie and the way it was going to be shown would appeal to them both.

E.J. was pretty keen on the idea. Weiss looked apprehensive.

“It’ll be fun.” I insisted. “It’s a movie called, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.”

“A classic.” E.J. added.

“And it’s not being shown in a cinema, but against the side of an old building in the park with lots of wide open spaces. You go, sit on a rug, take your own snacks and watch the movie. No baddies, no big scary things or creatures needing to be captured and, as an added bonus, it’s not based on a book so you don’t have to worry about it starting the apocalypse.”

I might have said that a little too brightly going by the slightly offended look I could see in Weiss’ eyes behind her bottom of a coke bottle, glasses. For some reason, E.J. was really on my side.

“Come on Weiss,” he said, “you’ve got no auctions to keep an eye on, there’s no activity on any of the cameras in our areas and you’re as up to date as you can be with the reference cards.”

I don’t really know why she said yes to be honest.

And I’m not entirely sure why I wanted to spend more time with people that I struggled to truly call friends. However, after we decided to go, once I offered to bring snacks, drinks and a picnic rug, I was really looking forward to it. Mum found a rug for me to take and I bought way more snacks than you should eat in one sitting, even when divided by three. E.J. offered to pick me up in the car and I really thought Weiss would have piked out at the last minute.

But there she was, sitting in the front seat, looking nervous.

“I hope you’re dressed warmly.” I said brightly. “It’ll get colder as it gets later.”

“We’re rugged up and ready to go.” E.J. replied, forgoing his open shirt for a coat that looked like something my mum would have paid good money for because it would last for decades. Weiss managed to retain her isolated librarian look with her baggy batwing top, leggings and boots but added gloves, scarf and beanie. None of them matched. She looked cobbled together and apprehensive.

“It’ll be great.” I promised.

Because it had to be dark so that the projection of the movie could be seen, the event was held at night. In summer it would have had to start at nine o’clock at the earliest. Because we were solidly into Autumn with the chill of Winter scant weeks away, it got darker earlier but man it was a lot colder.

E.J. and I carried the gear from the car while Weiss hunted for the perfect spot to set up. She dodged around couples and families, trying to keep her eye on the brick wall and avoid people as much as possible. We followed her, waiting for her to find somewhere comfortable.

“Thanks Sam.”

I glanced at E.J. “For what?”

“For asking us out tonight.” E.J. sighed. “It’s taken me so long to help her adjust to being above ground and in the general vicinity of people, that I never wanted to push my luck with a social invite. You asked, I supported and to my surprise, she came.”

“I’m surprised too,” I admitted, “I didn’t think she respected me enough to trust an invite like this.”

“She does respect you and like you.”

“But I know so little about her.”

“That’s by design and not specific to you.” E.J. insisted. “Even I feel like I’m kept at arm’s length, even after all these years. She’s found a spot.”

It wasn’t the best viewing location but it was on a slight rise with a tree nearby. It’s low branches created a curve that we could sit in without anyone else attempting to encroach on our position.

And it’s not like anyone watching the movie hadn’t seen it before. Even I suffered through it at Christmas, the tale of one man’s seemingly insignificant life having impact and ramifications beyond what he thought could happen and how, when his well being was on the line, the community he lived in rallied around and brought him back from the brink of disaster.

We set up our snacks and drinks (why is it the popcorn is always eaten before the movie starts?) and settled in to watch the movie. The side of the building flickered into life and the screening began.

E.J. and I laughed at the ‘special effects’ and shared when we’d first seen it. After a while, Weiss warmed up to it and stopped sitting primly with her hands in her lap to a more reclined repose.

About halfway through my phone pinged. I glanced at it.

“I thought you said you were coming?” I grinned and texted Willow back to which she replied, “We’re near the modern art statue.”

I told E.J. and Weiss I’d be back and slipped through the crowded hillside towards the statue. Willow and James were sitting on a picnic rug, James’ arm tucked rather warmly around Willow. She giggled at something he said and I felt an instant pause in my step. I began to back up slowly when Willow saw me and waved me over.

“Sit with us.”

“I can’t,” I said, “I managed to get my other friends to come. One of them doesn’t like crowds so this is good for her. Besides, I wouldn’t want to intrude…although,” I looked between them, “when did this happen?”

“Come on Sam,” James chuckled, “I’ve been crushing on her since year eight.”

“Seriously, that long?” I grinned, squatting down in order to get out of people’s line of sight. “Man, your game sucks.”

“It’s working alright for us now.” James smiled at Willow who blushed. I was amazed at my friends who had walked side by side for so long that I never thought they’d end up arm in arm. Still, it looked and felt right. “Hey, have you talked to Lucas?”

“Not really.” I said vaguely, thinking about the last time I’d seen him.

“He was rambling on, saying not nice things about you,” Willow said softly, “but then he just sort of fell out of our lives.”

“Is he even in the housing estate still?”

“I see him now and then.” James nodded. “Looks wasted most of the time.”

“I sent him a message, telling him about tonight but he never responded.” Willow sighed. “I wish there was something more we could do.”

“He doesn’t want the kind of help you’re offering.” I said firmly. “Maybe he’ll come round…eventually.” The memory of Lucas threatening to burn down Weiss’ store made me edgy. “Listen, I should get back to my friends…my other friends…”

“Three’s company anyway.” James winked.

“So why did you invite me?” I asked with a laugh in my voice.

“Because just because we’re this,” Willow gestured between herself and James, “doesn’t mean we wanted to exclude you.”

“Thanks guys.” I nodded. “Talk soon.”

I ducked my head, trying to stay out of the line of sight once more as I made my way across the hillside. I was still coming to terms with the fact that Willow and James were a couple that I didn’t look up until I was almost on top of my picnic rug. When I did, I went to open my mouth to greet them but the words died on my lips.

E.J. was reclining on one arm, Weiss on the opposite, their bodies leaning in together. E.J. was explaining something to Weiss, pointing at the film but she wasn’t looking at the side of the building. She gazed at him then back at the building, commenting on whatever it was that he’d said. E.J. dropped his arm then looked at her tenderly.

Something inside of me twisted. It was both painful and thrilling.

It seemed so obvious, like Willow and James.

I backed away, thinking that they could use a little more time together and sat just above them, able to watch the movie but see them out of the corner of my eye. The grass was cold. I wasn’t sure how long I would last before needing to relocate back to the rug to save my backside from getting pneumonia.

The movie projection flickered.

Not many people paid it any heed.

If something like that had happened in a cinema, there would have been an uproar. But because this was meant to be a social event, people were happy to be a bit more forgiving as they wrapped their kids up warmly, ate popcorn and drank tea and coffee from their thermos.

When the projection flickered again, I glanced over my shoulder towards the projectionist. I know many other picnickers were doing the same, as if our collective irritation could possibly encourage the poor person to fix the issue any faster. I could see the guy shaking his head, at a loss, as he studied his equipment.

I glanced back at E.J. and Weiss. Neither of them had noticed the glitch.

They noticed the tremble in the ground though.

Distracted mothers, dozing fathers and lovestruck couples might have missed the first tremble.

They couldn’t miss the second.

Have you ever seen an animal’s body quiver? Like there was something beneath its skin and it was shivering? It’s called a muscle spasm and that the animal in question isn’t possessed, however creepy it might look. The trembling was like the park was having a muscular spasm. I could almost see the tiny blades of grass quiver and shake. If they had been made from glass, they would have made a beautiful chiming sound. The trees trembled, their leaves rustling, their unity of motion creating a sound that was almost like rain.

It wasn’t rain.

I had stood and taken two steps towards E.J. and Weiss when the movie projection rippled again.

“It’s not the projector.” I whispered. “It’s an earthquake!”

The side of the building trembled, mortar bursting as the bricks shifted and cracked. By now even the most distracted movie goer had realised that something was very wrong. Parents were starting to draw their children close together and those who sat closest to the building were edging backwards.

The building ceased to tremble. It was shaking. Tiles were sliding from its roof, dropping into the soft earth like missiles. It was two stories high, an old house of a mayor whose name had been all but forgotten even though their house had been maintained and heritage listed. It was a tourist snapshot happy spot but in a few short minutes, it would be rubble. It was as if something was inside of it, getting larger and larger, filling every crevice, straining to free itself.

People began to put distance between themselves and the disintegrating building. A few brave souls held their phones up, attempting to capture footage that would make them famous but as bricks and tiles began to fire out, being famous came second to surviving and the serene hillside became a mad scramble.

“E.J.!” I cried as panic set in, walls tumbling down.

There was a loud, pained groan and the building split its seams, unable to contain its single occupant for another second more. It erupted upwards and outwards, every brick and tile becoming a meteor, the rafters were javelins thrown without care to who they hit and the air filled with dust…and oddly enough, a strange, empty silence.

“What is it?” I demanded, running to Weiss and E.J. who had held their ground. Our position was much further back than the front line.

“I don’t know.” E.J. whispered. “Weiss, where are you going?”

She was running down the hillside for a young child that had gotten left behind in the chaos. It was then that I realised not everyone had gotten away without injury. There were some who had been hit by the tiles and javelin sized splinters.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“Our job.” E.J. barked and followed Weiss down closer to the building.

I think we’ve already established that I am not the bravest of persons. And I really only have a few hours intensive training on how to handle myself in a crisis situation. And not all of those have been positive experiences. I confess, I stayed at the top of the knoll, my legs and feet unwilling to move. E.J. helped a woman to her feet whose leg had been struck by wood. Even when Dracula hit E.J., I’d never seen so much blood. She was gasping and whimpering.

“Take her!” E.J. ordered.

Funnily enough, that I could do. I helped get her up to the top of the hillside where I spied James putting his paramedic studies into practice.

“Sam!” He cried and ran to us, putting his arm around her and supporting her with his large frame far better than I ever could. “Here, I’ve got you.”

When I knew she was in good hands, I turned and ran back down to help Weiss with the child. It only occurred to me afterwards that I had run towards the danger.

E.J. was running with her and I met them halfway.

“Is he alright?” I asked.

“Yes.” Weiss said, handing him to me. The poor kid must have been asleep and had missed the terror of the disaster. A frantic mother was quick to reclaim her child who put out his arms to her, happy to be out of the care of complete strangers.

We looked at the remains of the building. Well, we tried to. The air was thick with dust. I coughed and swiped at it as if it would do anything to lessen the asbestos spores that were now undoubtedly floating around. All the lights were out in the blocks around the park. Had they not been obscured by the dust cloud, we might have seen stars shining, able to get through the light polluted atmosphere of the city.

“What was it?” I asked.

“Maybe just a structural collapse caused by the earthquake?” E.J. said without sounding convinced as he walked into the dust, heading for the building.

“E.J.!” I hissed angrily then followed him and Weiss towards the brutalised remains. We were only part way there when a low, deep, spine quaking rumble was heard. E.J. put his hand out, stopping both myself and Weiss. He didn’t need to. We froze on the spot.

“Weiss,” E.J. whispered, “tell me that’s not what I think it is?”

“By Valkyrie’s hand…” Weiss gasped.

“Get back. Sam, get back!”

It was too little, too late. The earth began to rip up around us as something big forced its way through the ground, scattering the buildings remains and clawing its way to the surface through the hole it created. And when I say claw, I mean the smallest claw might have been the length of my forearm. I saw it briefly, rising up through the dust to come down nearby and I flung myself aside, the claws burying themselves deep into the earth. E.J. kept his arm in front of Weiss as the dust around us was whipped into a frenzy, a gale created by the beating of a pair of very large wings.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I cried. “Is that a…”

“Dragon.” E.J. finished. “Look out!” A spiked tail whipped through the dusty air. I was already on the ground and flattened myself. E.J. and Weiss hit the deck as it passed over our location, another deep rumble filling the air. E.J. got up carefully, trying to peer through the gaze. “Come on…breathe fire, damn it! Light yourself up!”

The wind from the wings was attempting to push us all over, throwing dust in our eyes and mouths. We turned our faces aside then felt a giant rush as the dragon, and I still cannot believe I am saying that, pumped its wings, took the tops off the nearby trees and pushed itself into the air. We could only see a hint of its shape in the dust cloud that was increasing exponentially as it beat its wings, creating its own mini twister.

“Come on.” E.J. pleaded. “Come on.”

I looked at them both. “Didn’t you say a dragon would finish itself off?” I yelled over the sound of it bellowing in fury.

“Unless it can’t breathe fire.”

“That’s good…right?”

E.J. shook his head. “A dragon, even a fire-castrated one, will kill a hell of a lot of people.”

“How do you know that?”

“Have you ever known a dragon not to be hungry?” E.J. shook his head. “This is out of our league. Hell, it might be out of the Agency’s league. We’ve got nothing that can reach that high.”

Weiss walked forward, surprisingly calm, and stood at the brink of the hole of destruction that had once been a building. She turned and looked at E.J. even as the dust swirled around us, blinding the rest of the world. There was a sad resignation in her eyes. E.J. caught sight of her expression and began to shake his head.

“No. Weiss, no.”

“There is no other way.” She said softly, pulling off her beanie and gloves, letting them fall to the ground.

E.J. swallowed. “I would never ask you.”

She smiled sadly and removed her glasses. “I know.”

I opened my mouth to ask what was going on when Weiss suddenly dropped to one knee as though she was about to be knighted. Abruptly a circle of light formed around her, shooting upwards in a dance of white and blue hues. The force of it caused her clothes to ripple and flap like she was standing on a powerful underground vent. Her grey locks were torn from the tie they were in, strands of hair whipping around her face. The circle was filled with symbols I didn’t understand but looked a lot like a clock. Weiss, illuminated by the brightness she had somehow conjured, used her hands to sweep through the air above the ground, turning the light clockface until it locked into place and glowed blue. The ascending light exploded like shattering glass, objects appearing, spinning around her like a transparent merry-go-round. They appeared to be weapons of different shapes, sizes and designs.

Weiss stood up, reached out a hand, took a deep breath and grasped a large bow that was nearly as tall as she was. Though it was made of light, when her fingers curled around it, a burst ripped from her hand and suddenly it became solid and opaque, decorated in extraordinary detail of elf-like swirls and dark writing. The light didn’t stop there, streaking up her hand, tearing across her skin, covering her body, infusing her with purpose. She went rigid, hovering above the ground for a second as the power coarsed through her and clad her body in armour made of light. Her batwing top was shredded, a light camisole appearing in the blink of an eye beneath then covered with a breastplate. Quivers of arrows appeared at her hips and the light went on to create a pleated skirt like something out of Ben-Hur and her boots became adorned with straps made of even more light.

On her head a helmet formed with wings on the sides, sitting on top of her hair that was white yet shimmering with blue opalescence.

You may be thinking, what was the dragon doing this whole time? Enjoying the show?

What I have just described happened in the blink of an eye yet I can remembered every exquisite, terrifying detail.

She turned towards E.J. and held out her hand.

“No.” He said with a voice that was quivering.

“Elton…please…”

“I won’t let you risk your life!” He refused, pushing her hand aside.

Weiss put her hand against his cheek, looking nothing like the librarian I knew.

“It’s what I was created to do.” She said and stepped back, a spark grenade in her hand.

E.J. saw it and clutched at his pocket. She must have nicked it from him. He lunged for her but she leapt back as though she was made of air and out of his reach. She flicked her helmet over her face and it was like the armour of light solidified, hardening into a solid plate of silver and white. The slits for her eyes in the helmet did not show pupils. They glowed luminous and blue. She whistled, turned and began to sprint across the grass towards the crater created by the dragon. At the edge she leapt into the air and beneath her, formed out of light, appeared a horse of blue and white, enormous wings from its shoulders, pumping them powerfully and they rose into the air together.

And then the thick dust cloud enveloped them…and they were gone.

And we were left behind.

Neither of us could speak. We both stood and looked up into the obscured sky, peering through the haze as though it would give us any better vision for doing so. Somewhere above our heads we heard the horse’s whinny and then the dragon’s roar. Light could be seen through the clouds of dust, pulsing above our heads.

“Come on Adele,” E.J. whispered, “come on…”

There was a flash so bright we winced away from it.

And then there was silence.

E.J.’s gasps were nearly sobs. “Please…Adele…tell me you got clear. You must have survived. You had to…”

Seconds ticked by with extraordinary agony yet neither of us moved, frozen in place, staring upwards.

Abruptly a blue flash of light shot towards us and landed on the ground. Weiss dropped hard into a single knee kneel, a pulse of power pushing us back. She stood up, crackles of white rippling across her body, the circle of light appearing around her again. The bow was in her hand. She reached out and put it back where it came from, the light retreating from her in the same blink of an eye instant as it had when it infused her.

She lowered her arm and breathed out.

“Adele…”

She turned to E.J. and smiled softly.

“You’re not human.”

Have you ever had those moments when you feel like your body speaks even when your mind is a complete blank? I couldn’t think of anything in that moment and yet, the dull, perhaps slightly accusatory words definitely came from my lips.

E.J and Weiss both looked at me and I stared at them.

“You’re not…who you said you are…” I shook my head, trying to regain control. My legs were like jelly and the weight in my chest was attempting to force them into a puddle on the ruined lawn.

“Sam…” E.J. began to reach out.

“No!” I cried, stumbling backwards. “Don’t come near me!”

“She’s not your enemy!”

“She’s not real!” I blurted.

Weiss’ face filled with shame. E.J. saw her start to leave, standing between us, unable to reach either one of us yet trying to keep us together.

“Adele, wait…”

“It is no use…” She gasped and began to run into the dust and darkness of the night.

“Come back!” E.J. cried, taking two steps before turning back to me. “Sam, we have to find her!”

My jaw was so tight it was any wonder I didn’t shatter my teeth. “All fictional characters must return to their books.” I snapped at him. “You lied to me! You broke your promise!”

“Sam, I didn’t lie…”

“Stay away from me!”

“Sam!”

I turned and ran, looking over my shoulder as I did so. I saw E.J. turn on his heel, trying to decide who to go after first and make sure they were safe.

It was no surprise to me that he chose Weiss.

Though it hurt like hell.

I ran through the park, avoiding the crowds and the fleet of emergency services vehicles that had finally appeared. I ran until my legs were like rods of steel straight from a blacksmith’s furnace. I ran until my lungs threatened to stop working and my whole body was shaking.

But I couldn’t outrun the pain in my chest.

I found a bus going vaguely near my home and slumped against the window, watching even more police cars and ambulances fly past me, heading towards the park. I sent mum a message that I was alive and on my way home in case she saw the news reports before I saw her. Then I put my phone away, closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around my body.

Unbidden I remembered Ryder’s words.

“Do you really think, if push came to shove, that would E.J. protect a real person…or would he put the life of a fictional character above the life of a human?”

I guess now, I had my answer.

It’s funny how, when we don’t know how something came to be, that we make up the best possible explanation…just so that we have an explanation.

The building’s collapse was blamed on an earthquake and a lack of structural integrity. The wind had kicked the dust up and the projector had still been running so the movie was to be blamed for the strange noises and lights.

I mean, really, why wouldn’t anyone believe that over the truth?

That a dragon of a fictional world broke through into ours, destroyed a building and was eliminated by another fictional character that had been masquerading as a real person for over a decade or even longer.

You can imagine which story the news crews decided to go with.

Of course there were a few conspiracy theorists who claimed that the sounds heard were of a large animal and the most outlandish theorists did say it could have been a dragon that had been dormant for thousands of years. But without a body, no one paid them any attention and while there was a great deal of chatter about it, no one came close to knowing the truth.

No one, that is, except me.

Mum got my text before she saw the news.

That was a relief as she was distraught enough just knowing I had been there.

“So many people were hurt. Thank goodness your friend, James, was there. He helped a lot of people. There’s even a call for him to receive a civilian award, like the George Cross, for lifesaving.”

“He has always wanted to help people.”

Do you know, it never occurred to me that my mum might have wanted me to be acknowledged for being brave at the time. For all she knew, I ran at the first sign of trouble and yet, she was still so relieved to know I was alive and well.

Well…I was alive and uninjured on the outside.

My insides felt like they’d been through a woodchipper.

The next day was Sunday and mum said she would stay home from church to be with me. I assured her I was fine. I knew how hard she had to be to keep her Sundays free so she could join in community and in her faith. Besides, I had somewhere I wanted to go.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The taxi took me to Delores Street in Kingsbury. I had never been to Kingsbury Aged Care on the weekend. The receptionist didn’t know me so she had to ring through to Jean to make sure she wanted to see me. Thankfully Jean loved visitors.

I wasn’t sure if she was going to love me.

I felt whipped, betrayed, exhausted and with a whole heap of unanswered questions.

At least I could talk to Jean and she wouldn’t think I was crazy.

“No book today Sam? Whatever is the matter, dear?” I closed the door and sank onto the chair opposite Jean who looked over her glasses at me. I was so sure that I could trust in the aged wisdom Jean would grant me that it never occurred that I would actually have to speak and somehow communicate what had happened. No words seemed to do the moment justice. “Does this have something to do with the building collapse?”

I nodded.

“I thought so. That ‘structural integrity failure’ line doesn’t hold water.” She blinked. “Were you there?”

“Yes.” Was that really my voice? That hollow, listless tone?

“You weren’t there to contain an incident of that size on your own, were you?”

“No. E.J. and…”

Jean sat up straight. “Are they alright? E.J. and Weiss?”

“E.J. is fine. Weiss is,” I opened and shut my mouth like a fish out of water, “I can’t believe I’m about to say this…”

“Is she alive?” Jean said. It was a demand really but she phrased it so softly, yet urgently, I couldn’t be offended even if I had the presence of mind to notice.

“Alive? Jean, Weiss isn’t human…she’s a…”

“Is she alive?”

I blinked, struggling with the thought. “She’s…still alive.”

Jean relaxed back into her chair. “Thank heavens.”

I stared at her, stunned by her lack of surprise at the ‘not human’ part. “You knew?”

“That Weiss was a fictional character? Oh yes.” Jean said lightly as if it was completely normal.

“How long?”

“Since the early days. It was more obvious then. She had to change her look to fit in. I might have given her some pointers.”

“Like what?”

Jean tapped her glasses. I felt like a fool. They were exactly the same type that Weiss had ogled through at me on many occasions.

I slumped in the chair. “So you lied to me too.” The statement was without malice. Jean Miller wasn’t the kind of person you could get cranky with. I was just disappointed with the world and, at that point, almost everyone in it.

“Sam,” Jean said gently, “no one lied to you.”

I gave a mocking laugh. “Really?”

“Really.”

“How about the part where Weiss is not real?”

“Be very careful about the term ‘real’, Sam.” Jean warned me sternly.

“I think it’s a perfectly reasonable term, thank you.”

“Up until you found out, would you have called her anything other than real?”

“Yes. Odd. Distant. Humourless…”

“But unnatural? Unreal? Fictional?”

I paused. It hadn’t really occurred to me at all. Because…she seemed real.

“It’s just a pretence.” I whispered in defeat.

“One that has been carefully maintained for a long time. It’s any wonder E.J. let her reveal herself.” Jean paused. “What broke through?”

“Dragon.”

“It didn’t set itself on fire?” I shook my head. Jean looked puzzled. “That has implications all of its own. What did Weiss do?”

“She incinerated it.”

“How?”

“She…changed…”

Jean leaned forward. “Sam…how did she change?”

I closed my eyes. Every time I did, I could see Weiss standing in a circle of light, blue power streaking across her body, transforming her and crackles of lightning dancing across her skin.

“She…accessed a kind of power that transformed her into something like a Valkyrie warrior.”

“Her Valkerian state.”

“You’ve seen it?”

“No.” Jean laughed softly. “Well…I’ve ‘seen’ it,” she tapped her head, “in my imagination.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand how you can be so flippant about this. We’re part of a group that polices fictional incursions into our world and now it turns out that one of us is one of them.”

“You harboured the White Rabbit for twenty four hours after he helped you find Griffin.”

“That’s hardly the same thing.” I refuted. “Weiss has been here for years. I always intended to send Whitby back to his book. And E.J….he has always said, characters have to return to their books. Why send Griffin back to his death and keep Weiss here? Why lie to me all this time?”

“He didn’t lie, Sam.”

“He damn well didn’t tell me the truth.”

Jean didn’t flinch as I swore. Damn wasn’t exactly the worst thing I could have said but in her presence, the kind that seemed to have come from Enid Blyton’s area of wholesome good fun, good food and adventures that never ended badly, damn did seem to be pushing the bounds of propriety. Yet she handled it gracefully.

“There is a big difference between lying and tell you everything.”

“I can’t believe you’re justifying his not telling me everything about what goes on in ‘Beyond The Page’.”

“Sam,” she cleared her throat, “you may think you ought to be privy to any and all that goes on in this world but really, you’re not. If you and the rest of your generation truly believed that you ought to know everything about everyone, everywhere, you would have passed your history exams with flying colours.”

Damn…how did she know I barely scraped by with a pass?

“And it’s all well and good demanding that everyone be completely transparent…but when you would be expected to lay bare, without reason or excuse, the entirety of your life to the scrutiny of everyone, not just trusted family and friends…I think you would find yourself more reluctant than you realise and more understanding of those who have not lied yet not necessarily told you everything.”

Yeah…okay that part is true too.

I swallowed, the lump growing in my throat.

“After all we’ve been through…it hurts.” I finally admitted, my eyes stinging with tears. “I’ve worked alongside them for months…and they didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”

Jean smiled gently. “I can understand why that hurts, Sam and you have every reason to want answers…but you may not have the right especially in the work that you do.”

“So…I’m just expected to trust E.J. now?”

“I think you probably need to talk to him first,” Jean patted my hand, “and when you do, try giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Why should I?”

“Because it’s a kindness that everyone deserves, let alone for someone who has trusted you with many aspects of a dangerous and exciting business that millions have no notion about and who has ensured your safety several times over, sometimes without your even knowing it.”

“He didn’t make sure I was alright last night. He just ran after Weiss.”

“Were you injured?” I paused. “Did you lose an arm that has been sewn back on? Did the dragon catch you in its claws or bite your leg?”

“Well…no…”

“I know it doesn’t seem like it but, even with all Weiss’ power, she is in a very vulnerable state right now. If the Agency got wind of her actions…”

I stared at Jean. “They wouldn’t send a team to dispatch her…would they?”

“You’ve met them. What do you think?”

“But she saved so many people…” I heard myself defending her when only minutes earlier, I was accusing her. I saw the twinkle in Jean’s eye. “You’re a bit of a pain, you know that?”

“I am aware.”

I spent the journey back home in a bit of a daze. I did consider, briefly, stopping at ‘Beyond The Page’ to see if E.J. or Weiss were there but that required more effort than my brain could muster at that point. I walked into the housing estate, climbed the stairs and walked along the landing that led into dozens of flats, each one of them identical in shape and size. I was so in my own world that I didn’t see E.J. leaning against the railing until it was too late to back up and hope he hadn’t seen me.

“Sam,” he said, standing upright, “I…”

I glared at him, resentment flaring up in a heartbeat. “What? I’m sorry? I lied to you, told you one thing while I did something else, acted like a jerk…”

“You have every reason to be angry.”

“You’re damn right I do,” I pushed passed him and put the key in the door then paused, Jean’s words nudging my conscience, “but…I made a promise to give you the benefit of the doubt.” I looked at him, wondering if I would see triumph in his eyes but all E.J. looked was relieved.

“Thank you, Sam.”

I made my best attempt at coffee which I knew wasn’t stellar, due to the fact that I didn’t drink it so I didn’t have any practice and mum only bought the cheap stuff.

To E.J.’s credit, he didn’t complain.

It was weird to see him in the small lounge room, sitting on, what I had come to think of as, dad’s chair. To my knowledge, he’d never really preferred it over any other chair. It’s not as if he had been here all that much to really develop a preference. It was an old leather armchair that weighed a tonne. It had been in the flat when we moved in and quite honestly, no one could figure out how it had gotten into the small flat, let alone how to get it out again without removing the roof. Mum decorated it as best she could with crocheted blankets and cushions. I pulled most of those off and E.J. sank into it.

“I like the chair.” He said.

“Of course you do. It suits your, Dick Tracy vibe.” I don’t know if I was being a bit facetious but E.J. didn’t take offence. I sat, cross-legged, on the couch and looked at him. “This is the part where you talk and I try not to let my adolescent arrogance bite your head off.”

“Even if you did, I would understand.” E.J. admitted. “The truth is, Sam, I need your help.”

Okay, that’s not what I was expecting.

“Why? What on earth for?”

“I need your help in bringing Weiss back.”

“Back from where?”

“Where she came from, the tunnels beneath the city.”

“Come off it,” I put my drink down and folded my arms, “you and I both know that’s not where she came from.”

“It’s where we met.” E.J. insisted. “It’s where she had been hiding for years. We’ve never really worked out how long she has been in our world. When your reality is shattered, you look for somewhere safe. You don’t tend to find a newspaper and keep it on you just in case.”

“Okay…” I licked my lips. “So…you met Weiss in the tunnels years ago?”

“Yep.” He nodded. “I was a runner for the Agency at the time. Runners were the fastest agents sent to dispatch interlopers. But it wasn’t enough that we were physically fast. We had to be mentally quick, able to adjust what we were doing in order to catch an almost limitless variety of fictional creatures and characters and parkour our way across obstacles and do our job.”

“Incinerate them, you mean?”

“Yes…without hesitation or mercy.” E.J. spoke honestly and I suspected he was laying himself bare for my judgement.

I thought about what he said, how it lined up with what Ryder had accused him of. “When you say ‘we’, you mean you and Ryder?”

“Yep. Ryder was my friend and fellow runner. Basically one of us would be the bait and the other would ambush it…unless either of us were able to do the job without the other. We were quite competitive. Goliath, the man you weren’t introduced to when you met the other agents, was our team leader.” E.J. explained. “When I first met Weiss, Ryder and I had been chasing a large black animal. A panther or jaguar would be the best description but, because it originated in fantasy, its tail had a scorpion barb at the end of it and the creature had an uncanny intelligence. It knew we were after it and it very cleverly used the tunnel system to split Ryder and myself up. I kept my eyes on it, able to see my surroundings without truly looking at them.

It had originated above ground but had darted down a train station and ran along the tracks. The press and public were in a frenzy for days later, searching for the panther that escaped its cage. Anyway, I’d lost Ryder somewhere in the interconnecting tunnels but I still had eyes on it. Further and further, deeper and deeper until I was well beyond anywhere I had maps for or any knowledge about.”

“Weren’t you just the slightest bit worried by that?”

“In the heat of the moment, my only concern was catching and dispatching.” E.J. insisted. “I think it smelt the community and headed in its direction, possibly looking for a source of food. I had no idea people lived underground but I confess, I barely noticed them as I ran past their ramshackle homes, disrupting their lives like a dirty big rock in a calm pond. I sprinted on, starting to come to the end of my strength when the damn thing ambushed me not far from where we encountered the sandworms. Knocked me clear off my feet and I slammed into a wall. I forced my eyes open, seeing it pacing in front of me, snarling. I remember now…it had a third eye in the middle of its forehead that was milky, like it was blind and a tongue like a snake. I got to my feet, the whole world swimming, trying to keep distance between myself and the creature. I saw the scorpion tail dart towards me. I have no idea how I dodged it. It never occurred to me to do so but my body reacted instinctively. I skidded on the ground and the next thing I knew it was on top, pinning me down with its claws. It snarled in my face, raised the barb of its tail to strike…and then it flew off my body like a giant hammering a golf ball. The claws were ripped out of me as it went. And in its place was the most extraordinary sight I’d ever seen.”

“Weiss?”

E.J. nodded. “She was dressed like a Viking warrior, grey swirls across her skin and her face painted with gold and grey. She wore a thick cloak made from the hide of a wolf that covered one shoulder while barely clipping the other, a bushy tail scraping the ground at her heels and the hood was the top jaw and head of the wolf. In her hands was an axe inscribed with words I could not read which crackled with power. She looked down at me with savage deadliness in her eyes then…she spoke…”

“What did she say?” My voice was hallowed and respectful.

“You might want to do something about that.” E.J. chuckled, shaking his head. “I turned to where she pointed and saw the creature was trying to get to its feet. Its back legs weren’t working properly. Weiss possibly damaged its spine in her attack. It hissed at us and if I’d been close enough for the tail to reach, I have no doubt that it would have impaled me upon the barb. I was finally able to reach a spark grenade and dispatched it immediately.”

“Then you said thank you to Weiss and a wonderful friendship was born.” I finished.

“Actually, I had my hand on a second grenade, prepared to dispatch her if she was still there.”

“Are you serious?”

“I was a very different person back then.” E.J. admitted. “But she was gone and I began the long trek back to the surface. I was praised for dealing with the dangerous fictional incursion. Ryder was bristling with indignation that he’d been left behind.”

“Did you tell him about Weiss? Or the Agency?”

“No. See, I was a very proud, very self righteous young man. Had the Agency known I’d had fictional help, awkward questions might have been asked as well as a hunting party sent down into the tunnels. I thought that I could deal with her on my own.”

“You were a bit of an ass.” I remarked.

“Entirely. But as it was, I couldn’t find her. I searched for weeks during my downtime but I could not find any clue that she existed. The community wasn’t pleased with my presence so I tried to stay clear of them but sometimes it was unavoidable.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t lynch you.”

“I warned them that if anything happened to me, others would follow. So they let me be.”

“That was a lie. No one knew what you were doing.”

“I was not a beacon of integrity in my twenties, Sam.” E.J. insisted. “As I spent more time searching, I became accustomed to the sorry state of the community. I knew who lived in what culvert and which pile of random stuff belonged to which bedraggled dweller. Food was very difficult to come by for them. They would travel to the surface to raid bins or beg at shelters but only if they had no other choice. Water was even more difficult to obtain.”

“I thought drains would be abundant with leaks and drips.”

“Would you want to drink the water that comes sliding down a slimy wall, after travelling goodness knows how far through equally slimy tunnels?” I grimaced. “No. Neither would I but they do if they have to which makes them very sick. So, when I went through the community, mapping out the tunnels in my search, you can imagine how surprised I was to see cans of food and bottled water. And as the weeks went by, I saw more evidence of deliveries of supplies to the community. When I asked about it, I was fobbed off rudely and understandably so. It was Bluey who put me onto the true source of their provision. He told me their angel supplied them with what they needed.”

“Weiss.” I guessed.

“Yep. She would go to the surface at night, steal what she could and bring it back down for them. She must have travelled across suburbs at a time, never targeting somewhere more than once and hauling it back herself. I realised she had a dedication to the community…and I decided to exploit that.”

“Oh good. More moral emptiness.”

“You got it. I started bringing water, food and medical supplies down with me. The community didn’t trust me so I would just leave it in their area and leave. Eventually they began to use the things I brought. That didn’t make me their friend. I was tolerated…barely. Weeks of donation seemed to be going no where and it had been months since I’d seen her. I was beginning to lose hope when, one day, as I was handing out bottles of water, I turned around and there she was.”

“Still dressed like a Viking?” He nodded. “Did you try to incinerate her?”

“If I had the community would have thrown me into a dark hole and left me to starve…if the fall didn’t kill me. I knew I needed to draw her aside and get her alone. The next few times I went down, she was there. She didn’t seem frightened of me. Only wary when I was around the community.

One day she told me to follow her and I did so. She led me to that intersecting chamber of tunnels, only lower down. She stood at the edge without saying anything and I reached into my pocket for a spark grenade. She must have heard the pin slid out of the shaft or maybe she was expecting me to ambush her. She glanced over her shoulder and waited…and I hesitated. Suddenly she was by my side, her fingers around mine, holding release clip in on the grenade. Her eyes drilled into mine with perfect clarity.

Never hesitate, she said. You hesitate…you die.

Then she walked away with her back to me…and I dropped the grenade down the shaft instead of hurling it at her.” E.J. leaned forward. “You see, Sam, I’d done the unthinkable. I’d developed a connection with her. She was no longer a faceless fictional interloper that had invaded our world. She was a person, someone who cared and who was brave and beautiful…and deserved, at the very least, the chance to be heard. So I started visiting her. She showed me where she lived, away from the community but close enough to watch over them. And I would visit her and we would just…talk…”

“About what?”

“Well, mostly I talked and she listened. It was damn near impossible to get her to open up or divulge much at all. She was very guarded, even more so than how you know her to be.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“I know but it’s true.” E.J. sighed. “In between all my ramblings, she admitted she knew she was a fictional character and had fallen into this world by mistake. She had thought, in the early days, that it was a trial she had to endure or some kind of test for her to prove herself but it became very clear that she did not belong in this world. So she fled to the sewers and travelled in them, trying to find meaning for her life, something to ground her as insanity nipped at her reason. Then she found the community and she began to watch over them like a guardian angel. They recognised a soul that couldn’t handle being topside so they welcomed her in…over the course of months or possibly years. Time doesn’t mean a lot down there. I lost weeks just talking to her. I should have been more careful. I should have realised that the Agency would notice the change in my disposition. I was always the first to put my hand up for overtime. Now, I would use up my days off and disappear. No one could follow me. I was too quick. No one, that is…”

“Except for Ryder.” I guessed.

“He followed me, realised Weiss was not of this world and sent the might of the Agency in to deal with her.”

“I’m surprised Ryder wasn’t leading the charge.”

“His job was to distract me topside…but I knew something was wrong when the Agency was deserted.” E.J. sighed. “I was too late to stop them. They tore through the community, disrupting their lives in a way that I don’t think they’ve ever fully recovered from, and advanced on where Weiss lived. She heard them coming and vanished. So they turned back to the community, hunting for her and spreading out through the tunnels. One by one she took them out.”

“She killed them?”

“No. Just incapacitated them but Goliath realised what was happening and set up a spark trap.” E.J. saw my quizzical expression. “It’s like trip wires but instead of an explosion, sparks fly out. If the interloper isn’t incinerated, they’re backed into a corner and dealt with then. I got down to them just as they pinned Weiss in a corner. She knew, after speaking with me, that she needed to avoid fire at all costs. She couldn’t get out of the spark trap without catching fire. I threw myself in front of her and ordered the agents to back off. They threatened to throw me in a book, I threatened them with less than cordial language…you get the idea.”

“What happened?”

“While I was doing this, Weiss had changed states. She became a figure dressed in black feathers with darkness in her eyes, black veins across her skin and a scythe in her hand. She swept the scythe towards them and the force of the blade sent out a shockwave, scattering the agents and breaking the spark trap. I told her to go, to run and never look back…and in the blink of an eye, she vanished into the darkness, like she was already a shadow.”

“I bet the Agency wasn’t too happy with you.”

“You could say that.”

“Oh,” I shook my head, “that’s why you’re on your own in the territory you’ve been allotted…and why they say, if you lost just one from your area, that’s it.”

“It’s my punishment.” E.J. confirmed. “After being rebuked heartily and threatened with all manner of disciplinary action, I was dropped into my territory and told I was on my own. But I have no regrets and I’d do it again if I needed to. The thing is,” he cleared his throat, “this time, it isn’t just me who needs to reach out to Weiss. I need your help.”

I paused. Hearing about her background had certainly changed my initial level three burn into a minor hot water splatter but I was still unwilling to leap in again.

“I don’t know why you need me. She likes you. She doesn’t like me.”

“She does, Sam. Or she wouldn’t have gone out last night. Please…”

I opened my mouth. Goodness knows what I would say because I didn’t have any clue.

Thankfully, mum came home at that exact moment.

“Sam, I’m home!” She called, walking into the flat. “Sam, I…oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise you had company.”

“I don’t. This is just E.J.” I winced. “I mean, he is company but he’s just, well, he’s kind of my joint boss with Weiss, Miss Weiss…Sorry…E.J., this is my mum. Er…Michelle Baker. Mum, this is E.J.”

They shook hands. Mum would have complained that she was in no state to meet someone new. Fortunately she was in her church clothes and not her laundry scrubs so I don’t think she’d hold it against me. She and E.J. shook hands.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs Baker.” E.J. said firmly.

“You as well…E.J.?”

“Yes.”

“Does that stand for anything?”

“It does.” He winced. “The name on my birth certificate is Elton John.” Mum just looked at him, her blinking doing all the talking while her mouth stayed firmly shut. I pressed my lips together but I couldn’t stifle a small snort. “I heard that.” He said, glaring at me.

“Elton John?” I laughed, unable to keep it in.

“My mother was a big fan of his music.” He insisted. “When she married a man with the last name John and had a son, she thought it was a golden opportunity to honour her musical idol. Unfortunately, what was joyful for her was an embarrassment to me.”

“He’s an excellent musician.” Mum assured him.

“Maybe so but you can imagine the ribbing I got growing up.” E.J. sighed. “I wanted to change it, formally, but it would have broken my mother’s heart. So I just used the initials to get around it, especially when I entered the workforce. Then my mother passed away and I had already established the fact that I was E.J. and it was too much of a hassle to change everything.” He folded his arms and raised his eyebrows at me. “Happy now?”

“Hilariously.” I grinned.

He tried not to groan.

“Well, I think Elton is a lovely name and I like the fact that you balanced both pleasing your mother and surviving your adult life.” Mum said graciously. “E.J., would you like a coffee?”

“Sam made me one, thank you.” He looked between me and my mum. “Actually, I just wanted to make sure Sam was okay. I was at the park last night and in the confusion…”

“That’s very kind of you.” Mum said warmly. Anyone who looked after her child was an instant friend.

“Actually,” I blurted, “E.J. also needs my help today. A friend, well, she wasn’t hurt but…she got really scared and E.J. thought if we went together…”

“You sure?” E.J. asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded, “I am.” I looked at mum. “Do you mind if I duck out?”

“Home for dinner?”

“Absolutely.” I said just as E.J. said,

“I’ll make sure of it.”

“Alright then. Lovely to meet you, E.J. See you later, Sam.”

We headed straight down to E.J.’s car, with me sniggering the whole way.

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“You tell me…Elton.” I shook my head as I slid onto the front seat and closed the door. “It’s funny. I heard Weiss call you Elton but it never really occurred to me that it was your name.”

“I don’t know if I’m insulted or grateful.” He paused. “Grateful, definitely grateful.”

“So…do you like sequins and rock music?”

“Oh just…” E.J. grimaced. “Can we please concentrate on bringing Weiss back?”

“Sure…Elton.” I chuckled. “It just doesn’t get old. Okay, okay, okay, I’m done. Phew…so, you got up to the part in the story about how you found, befriended and protected Weiss. What happened next?”

“What any bachelor does when he’s overworked, underpaid and living on his own. I ate badly, worked constantly and wondered how Weiss was and if she was okay. I didn’t see her again for weeks.”

“You didn’t try to find her?”

“I had no time. I was designated a big area to patrol and if just one creature got out, I’d be kicked out of the Agency.”

“It’s not as if they were going to throw the book at you…or you into a book.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind living in a book…but the only one I’d want to be in, doesn’t end well.”

“That’s…horrible.”

“Back to meeting Weiss again,” E.J. said, turning down the street towards the train station, “I was very thin on the ground and barely able to keep my area contained. I didn’t have cameras set up back then so I patrolled almost constantly. It was inevitable, really, that a situation eventually got the better of me. Two dozen goblins were climbing the fence around the warehouse district. I was a hair’s breadth from losing containment when Weiss showed up, out of the blue, in the same state that you saw her in last night. She used her bow to take out the goblins on the fence. Though it didn’t incinerate them, they fell to the ground and I was able to deal with them.”

“That was kind of her, seeing as you meant to assassinate her, disrupted her quiet existence and managed to lead a team of fire wielding agents right to her location.”

“She said, something about a debt of blood being paid. I wasn’t about to argue. I was alive, my territory was contained and she was back. It took her a while to trust me enough to stay topside. I went heavily into debt and bought the building that was split into two. Weiss took one and I took the other. And, over time, it became what it has done. Here we are.”

We climbed out of the car, E.J. armed with his heavy duffle bag and headed straight down to the tunnels. I needed no help finding the latch that opened the pretend blockade, closing it behind us and we descended into the darkness. I had a vague recollection of the path we were taking and realised that at a junction where we had turned right to confront the sandworms, we turned left this time instead.

“Where are we going?”

“We’ll check in at the community. Bluey or one of the others might have seen her.”

“You really think she would go back here?”

“Here is where she felt the safest. For all her adaption to topside, Weiss has always been uncomfortable around people.”

“What about those in the community?”

“That’s something you will come to understand when you see them.”

I pondered this, and everything else we’d talked about, for quite some time. I just followed E.J.’s back, stepping where he stepped, feeling the ever present weight above grow heavier by the second. I guess I’m lucky. I’m not scared of heights. I’m terrified of being trapped underground. It’s not something that’s likely to happen…unless you’re following a fictional character hunter into the bowels of tunnels to meet hermits and exiles.

“Hey, E.J.?”

“Mm?”

“I have a question. Actually I’ve got a zillion but I’m curious, why didn’t the Oversight of the Agency ditch you in the first place rather than punish you? You did kind of bend then completely break one of their cardinal rules.”

“Do you even know what cardinal means?”

I hesitated. “Isn’t it a bird?”

“A bird rule?” E.J. laughed heartily, his voice echoing off the walls.

“You know what I mean!”

“Yeah, but you don’t.”

“Knock it off or I’ll start calling you Elton again.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Truce. Now, where were we?”

“Why didn’t the Agency get rid of you?”

“That’s right. Well, I had a lot of friends in the Oversight of the Agency who were very invested in my career and my climbing the ladder to a position of authority. At the risk of sounding pompous, there were whispers that, one day, I would lead the Oversight team.”

“That’s pretty big.”

“Huge.”

“How did Ryder feel about that?”

“He was a bit miffed but I think he realised that, while he was good, I was better.”

“Now you’re sounding pompous.”

“No, it’s true. Ryder can follow orders to the letter and get the job done…providing nothing happens that he didn’t anticipate. Now he can anticipate a lot and has an incredible amount of experience behind him…”

“But there are countless creatures and characters that could appear and they don’t always follow the rules that you think they will.”

“Exactly. So when I broke the ‘cardinal’ rule about harbouring a fictional fugitive, I think it sent shockwaves amongst the Oversight and the agents. Oversight didn’t want to lose me but they also couldn’t condone what I’d done so they came up the lone ranger style punishment.”

“Haven’t they relented at all? It’s been years and you’ve not lost one character or creature out of your territory.”

“Over the years my ‘philosophy’ about character sentience has whittled down what friends I had, especially in the Oversight.”

“Including Ryder?”

E.J. shook his head and sighed. “No. Ryder felt betrayed at the outset and has never forgiven me.”

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

“I can’t blame him for being hurt. We believed something strongly together and then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, I changed my views almost completely and my new philosophy was very critical of the Agency’s methods which he followed to the letter. It’s any wonder he hated me. I think he still does, even to this day.”

“You’re justifying his attitude?”

“Hell no. If he’s being an ass, I’ll call him out on it.” E.J. chuckled. “But, as you can imagine, I would not be the best person to attempt to talk sense into him. I’m glad Goliath was there the other night to intervene. He’s one of the Oversight now, probably my last remaining advocate on the floor.” E.J. paused at a ladder and dropped the duffle down the shaft. I heard it thump somewhere below. “It’s not far to where we’re going from here and there are no chasms you need to be worried about but you can still slip and break a leg so take each step carefully.”

“Yep.” I watched him clamber over the side and, because I couldn’t find the way back by myself, I clung to the ladder and followed his torch light down to a passage below. As I turned at the bottom, my torch swinging around, it illuminated the most incredible graffiti you’ve ever seen. The artists who had decorated the housing estate had nothing on whoever had done this work. Paint and chalk had been used to create imagery of a thousands of creatures in a massive battle or dangerous animals prowling through the darkest jungle. I jumped out of my skin when a pair of realistic eyes glistened in the darkness before I realised they had been drawn on. The tunnel went on and on as did the artwork. I got out my phone and walked with my torch in one hand, holding the phone up, filming some of the scenes.

One scene depicted a Valkyrie who looked very familiar, cutting down a hydra. Swirls of light and blue had been drawn around her double blades as she road on a Pegasus, the contrast between light and dark creating remarkable atmosphere. The next scene was Weiss again but this time she looked like a figure of death, cloaked in black with the hood of a bird shadowing her face. She wielded a scythe and I could almost hear the sound of it cutting through the air, laying waste to an army of countless hoards.

She was drawn as a Viking style hunter, legs bound in furs, torso covered in a leather tunic, cape from her shoulders and war paint on her body. The cape had a hood which was a wolf’s upper jaw and in her hands was an axe as she stood on a pile of savage looking animals.

I shook my head as I walked along then turned to see what was on the wall behind me.

Weiss was in the midst of a fiery blaze of light, encompassing her body as though she was a small part of the greater whole. The flames were so brilliantly captured by the artist I thought they would burn if I touched them. Enormous wings stretched out from her, sending shafts of fire like deadly arrows into the darkness, causing it to curl away, wither and die. The creature had the head of a bird, its beak opened and I swear I heard its ear piercing scream echo faintly.

I turned to E.J. “Are these all Weiss?”

“All her states, or state of being.” E.J. pointed to the first painting. “Valkyrie. Death.” He said, pointing to her bearing the scythe. “This one is how I first saw her. The Viking hunter and tracker.”

“And this?” I said, pointing to the firebird.

“The Phoenix state.”

“She does that?”

“She could in her book but, for obvious reasons, she cannot do it here.”

“That’s crazy…” I whispered. E.J. opened his bag and took out multiple packets of chalks and paints. He put them on the ground and continued to walk. “You’re just going to leave them there?”

“The artist will be back when we vacate his creative space. Come. The community is just through here.”

I had to jog to reach him at the end of the tunnel of art.

“E.J.?”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve never said what book Weiss comes out of.”

E.J. shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Because you don’t trust me?”

E.J. stopped and sighed. “Sam,” he said, turning to me, “I trust you. I honestly didn’t know what Weiss was thinking when she hired you.”

“She needed the help.”

“That’s what she said but do you think she would let someone like Lucas into her world?”

“Well…no…”

“Weiss has always been a good judge of character. I ought to have realised that but you’ve proven to me that you can be trusted.”

“So…why won’t you tell me?”

“Because it’s not the time and its certainly not the place.” He looked at me firmly. “Can you work with me on that?”

I thought about it, about what Jean had said and all that E.J. had just confided in me.

“Yeah…I think I can.”

He breathed out a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you, Sam.” I felt a strange sense of adulthood, like I’d left a part of my petulant childhood behind in that moment and we walked side by side to the community.

And I thought the housing estate I lived in was society at bare essentials.

The space that we entered looked like the underground train station that time forgot. There were two platforms and a big dip in the middle where two trains could fit side by side. There was only one train engine there with two carriages behind it. Clearly there had been an accident at some point because the engine was not on the tracks like it ought to be but, rather, on its side. The carriages had been unhooked and set upright but the engine was much too heavy to shift and so it lay there and probably would forever. Down the platforms were pillars which provided something to brace shanty style homes against and there were culverts in the walls at varying levels, some with ladders and others low enough that they could be stepped into without much effort.

The tunnel dwellers made their homes out of just about anything. Slabs of cardboard leaned against the walls or propped up on boxes which doubled as cupboards for their meagre belongings. Sheets from beds were hoisted up like tents and there were a couple of homes made out of the boxes that water bladders came in. They’d stacked them up and balanced something across the top to make their home a little more private. The culverts were clearly the most sort after real estate as all that was required was a mattress or bedding of some sort and suddenly, their home was liveable…if only just.

I hovered close to E.J. as we walked through, feeling the apprehensive glare of the people we encountered. They were mostly older people, men and women from every shade of the human rainbow and from a variety of races. Their hair was usually messy with some managing to tie it back but for most of them, they had given up on appearance. After all, apart from their reclusive neighbours, who would see them? Their clothes were not much different, worn out of necessity and not for fashion sake at all.

They huddled around their belongings, the lanterns giving out golden glows that helped illuminate the large space. A few were sitting by camping stoves, stirring something from a tin inside small saucepans. Others squatted and picked through random rubbish, looking to glean some object of value or of practical use.

E.J. walked into the middle of the space on the platform we had exited the artist’s tunnel on and put his duffle down. I immediately noticed that many of the tunnel dwellers looked up and began to move towards us. I got as close to E.J. as my pride allowed. Fortunately the tunnel dwellers seemed to want to keep a distance between me as much as I wanted it.

“They’re more afraid of you than you are of them.” E.J. said softly.

“Then why aren’t they wetting themselves?” I hissed.

He chuckled and pulled chocolate bars out of his bag. And not those pathetic little bite sized ones. He had bought the proper bars of chocolate and their wrappers were a bright dash of colour in the grey, brown and black world we were in.

“Here you are, Agatha.” He said, handing one out. The old lady nearest to him reached out and took it with a toothy smile. “Barnaby, this one’s for you. Charlie, come on, you’re going to have to come closer than that. There you go. Sam,” he whispered, “go on. Give the chocolate out.”

“Okay.” I picked up a few blocks and held one out to the closest person near to me. He looked a little wild in the eyes and edged towards me. “It’s okay.” I said as soothingly as I could with a tremor in my voice. “You can take it.”

He snatched it and leapt back, muttering something that might have been a thank you. Word must have gotten out into the community because more people appeared from the culverts and tunnel off shoots, each edging towards us for their allotted sweetness. They seemed more inclined to go to E.J. than me which was understandable. They knew him. I was an unknown.

“Where do they all come from?” I whispered to E.J. as we bent down to fill our hands with more chocolate. “I mean, I know they come from up top but why down here? There are so many…”

“The world above can be a cruel place at times. Failure, in certain occupations, is unacceptable. There have been stockbrokers who have lost millions and fled down here in shame, sad stories of father and mothers who lost their family in a car crash and couldn’t handle the world above. There are those who prefer a quieter, monastic existence without feeling the need to conform. There was once a brilliant soprano who could make these tunnels vibrate with exquisite sound who hit a single but important note badly on opening night and was attacked cruelly by the critics. She fled down here, her career, which had been the most important thing in her life, ruined.”

“That’s terrible.” I looked around. “Is she here? I’d like to hear her.”

E.J. smiled. “You’ll have to visit Broadway to do so.”

“She went back?”

“Some do. You know the old saying, the good thing about being rock bottom is that things can only go up from there? With time and perspective, many who fled the world feel the need to join it again. Usually with ample help and in small stages.”

“Like you did with Weiss?” E.J. nodded. “I imagine some of the tunnel dwellers wouldn’t like that much.”

“There are those who recognise that this kind of life is just for a season but there are those who resent the ones that return even more than they distrust newcomers. They think they’re spitting in their face at the life they’re leading.”

“But that’s not what they’re doing at all.”

“Some try to make money out of it, doing interviews on what it was like to be a ‘mole person’. Then there’s a rush of younger people trying to jump on the latest trend…but they usually don’t last and they never come down this far. No, this place,” E.J. looked around, “is for those who have no intention of ever going back. Hey Bluey,” he shook hands with the raggedly dressed man with the grey hair that no longer had a shred of red in it, “how are you?”

“Good, good.” He said, his eyes on the chocolate. E.J. jerked his head at me and I held out the block. Bluey hesitated then eased it out of my hand gingerly. He grinned at the bright wrapper and the silver foil. “I love chocolate.”

“I’ve got a bar for Killarney too.” E.J. offered.

Bluey shook his head, peeling open the chocolate like Charlie Bucket might have done when searching for the golden ticket.

“Killarney’s dead.”

E.J. closed his eyes and I thought, for a moment, he looked conflicted. “Poor soul. How? He was prone to fits of rage. Did he have a stroke or heart attack?” He winced. “Did someone turn on him?”

Bluey shook his head again, sniffing the chocolate as if the scent was as good as eating it. “Skin was covered in welts. Big, weeping sores…”

“An infection maybe?”

“Dunno…maybe he was drinkin’ the water.”

E.J.’s jaw tightened. “Bluey, I’ve warned you…”

“We don’t drink it!” He insisted. “Don’t drink the water. We don’t drink it. Killarney…he didn’t listen to us.”

“You’re right, Blue, you’re right.” E.J. calmed his tone. “I’m sorry. How long do you think he was dead for?”

“Days…the rats were there.” I shuddered, feeling sick. “We gave him a tunnel burial.”

“That’s what he would have wanted.” E.J. admitted. “Anyone in his spot yet?” Bluey shook his head, nibbling tenderly on a corner of the chocolate. “Let me know if anyone does,” E.J. said quickly, wanting to get to the matter at hand, “Blue, have you seen Weiss?” The old man nodded, still nibbling.

“Where is she?” I asked urgently.

“In her nest.”

“Thanks Blue.” E.J. collected up the duffle that was mostly empty and jerked his head at me to follow. We walked the length of the platform, every tunnel dweller enjoying their chocolate in their own way. “Weiss’ nest is this way.”

“E.J.,” I whispered as we entered a tunnel and left the platform and community behind, “I’m almost afraid to ask but what is a tunnel burial?”

“His body was dropped down the deepest shaft they know of.”

“That’s kind of…harsh.”

“If they don’t, the body attracts copious amounts of rats who get a taste for human flesh.” E.J. explained. “Trust me, Killarney wouldn’t have wanted anything different.”

“He really didn’t like people, did he?”

“Not one bit. He didn’t much like the community either. He was a bitter, lonely man who preferred his own company and only showed up to rant and rage from time to time. He was one of the ones that would resent someone for going back topside.”

“So how did he feel about Weiss?”

E.J. chuckled. “You’ve seen her in her Valkyrie state. Would you go up against her?”

I shook my head. E.J. led me to, what looked like, a dead end. There was a ladder in front of us.

“She’s up there.” E.J. slung the duffle over his shoulder. “We’ll go up one at a time. Wait for me to come back down, yeah?”

I nodded and watched him ascend. He climbed the ladder, clambering into a culvert that was all but invisible unless you knew it was there. It was deathly quiet afterwards. I tried not to let the shadows freak me out. I listened intently for the sound of conversation above but all I could hear were the soft sounds of the community even though I could no longer see them or any of the light from their lanterns.

“Perfect place to keep watch without being a part of it.” I whispered.

E.J. climbed down about fifteen minutes later. “You can go up now.” He said.

“And do or say what?” I asked. “E.J., I have no idea why you want me here. You got her out before by accepting her for what and who she is.”

“It wasn’t what she did or who she is that sent her back down.” E.J. explained. “It was the look on your face.”

“This is my fault?” I said, feeling my ire rise.

“It confirmed her fear, that she was a freak and a danger to the world. She saw horror on your face and knew she couldn’t work with you without unnerving you further.”

“And how am I going to convince her otherwise when I’m not sure I believe it?”

“Just climb up the ladder. You’ll see Weiss is still Weiss.”

I sighed and climbed the ladder. It felt sturdy with no creaky or rusty spots and I reached the culvert pretty quickly even though I had probably climbed the height of the housing estate.

The culvert was a round tunnel that had probably been a drain that was blocked off about five metres in. If I stood, my head would have brushed the ceiling. There was very little in the culvert. Just a woven mat, a tattered blanket, E.J.’s duffle bag and Weiss sitting with her back to the opening, her knees drawn up to her chest, her face soaked in shadow, long tendrils of white hair, tinged with grey, hanging loose down her back.

There was nothing about her that looked like the Valkyrie warrior I had seen in the park. She had become Weiss again, bookstore owner and fanatic shipping container bidder.

I squatted in between her and the edge of the culvert, scared to be too close to a neck snapping drop but equally scared of getting close to her.

“Hey Weiss,” I said, still trying to figure out what I would say, “um…”

Her arms tightened around her body and though she only wore boots, leggings and her singlet top, she wasn’t shaking though she must have been cold. I felt quite despondent as I looked at her.

I crossed my legs and took a deep breath.

“You saved a lot of people last night, even though the smallest spark would have…” I swallowed. “I know I was a bit surprised…and hurt, that you didn’t tell me…but I know you have your reasons…You certainly didn’t need to take a chance on me at the bookstore. I mean, I was just a random walk in looking for a contact name to put on a job seeking form so I could get a government handout. If you’d told me to leave, I wouldn’t be any the wiser about what goes on, how you and E.J. protect so many people and nobody knows it.” I paused. “I don’t know if this will make a difference…but thank you. Thank you for entrusting your bookstore to me…and I promise that, while you’re down here, I’ll look after ‘Beyond the Page’. I mean, not forever…cause there’s no way I can do what you do and I’m sure there are a heap of things that I don’t know about…”

My words stopped as long fingers wrapped around mine and squeezed gently.

I looked up in surprise to see Weiss’ face, so pale with silvery grey eyes, gazing into my own. She gave the smallest smile imaginable then drew her hand away and returned to facing the corner.

Somehow I knew my time had come to an end.

Not permanently, I mean.

Just that I’d been given permission to leave.

I climbed back down and breathed out.

“So?” E.J. asked.

“I told her she did the right thing by killing the dragon and that I would look after ‘Beyond The Page’ until she got back.”

He smiled. “Sam, that’s exactly what she needed to hear. Thank you.”