“Hells—get off me.”

“I warned you it was going to be hot.”

“Oh shut up,” Keira snapped back as she struggled to pull off her jacket.

He laughed, removing his helmet and gloves to hang on his bike. They had made good time since leaving the signal shack and decided it was time for a break. The river that followed the trail was now far below them and they were about to turn away and go deeper into the mountains.

After the next corner, they'd no longer be able to see it but this particular spot overlooked the valley the river ran through and it was a beautiful place to rest. With forests stretching up both sides, the bright sky above and a gentle breeze that washed over them, they could cool off and rest. The wind here was pleasant, but the journey at times had been stifling. The sun was now high in the sky and while Finlay was feeling that heat, Keira was protesting its existence with vehement frustration.

She was shaking her hair out behind her as if it were a fan while she walked over to the edge of the cliff that looked down the valley. Finlay pulled his backpack off, feeling a wave of relief from both the weight he had taken off his shoulders and the air that could now cool his back.

“We should have stopped before the trail started climbing, I could do with a swim,” Keira mused as she walked back to Finlay from the edge, now flapping the bottom of her tank top instead of her hair.

“Nothing stopping you going down there.”

“Except for the sheer cliff, you're enjoying my suffering a bit too much.”

He passed her a bottle of water which she opened with glee, he took another and guzzled about half of it before finally feeling better.

“What delightful dish did you prepare for us today?” She asked, after drinking as much.

“Smoked salmon sandwiches.”

“Perfect,” she almost purred as she took another drink.

Salmon swam up the river they had followed and were often fished throughout the rest of the year. The southern village had a wide variety of fresh fish, many of which were never transported to other parts of Aberana, but smoked salmon was always a favourite.

Finlay passed her the rucksack to take over to a large, flat boulder that lay near the edge of the cliff. He wanted to give the bikes a quick check-over as there had been a lot of loose rock on the trail but his hunger got the best of him so he decided they were fine and joined her.

Keira had unpacked the food from the bag and was waiting for him before digging in. Alongside the sandwiches, Finlay had brought some of the canned ice tea, which was now far from cold and fruit pastries that Keira was particularly excited over. The boulder was warm from the sun which wasn't ideal but it made for a good place to lay out the meal. They were both ravenous after the challenging ride and the food, while plentiful, wouldn't last long.

“Damn thief.”

“I was doing you a favour.” Keira had stolen half of Finlay’s pastry without him realising as he was tucking into his sandwich.

“How do you come to that conclusion?”

“You’re always commenting on my sweet tooth, so clearly you wouldn’t want the whole thing for yourself.”

“I’m sure that makes sense in your deluded world.”

“I haven’t finished my sandwich, you can have that as an equal trade.”

“It’s fine, you probably enjoyed it more than I would have anyway.”

“Then why are you complaining?”

He groaned as he took what was left of his pastry and finished his meal. She was grinning while nibbling at the remainder of her, not stolen pastry. It felt good to be away from the village, away from the coast and to clear his head from thoughts of the past. He knew that when he saw his father it was going to be tense as it always was this time of year, but at this moment, in the mountains with his best friend, it was peaceful and he was happy.

“I needed this,” Keira said, almost exactly mimicking his thoughts.

“Same, it’s nice to be away from the village.”

“You’re still feeling low from yesterday?”

“It’s more the empty house, I’m used to Dad being away for long periods but usually he's around this time of year—with her birthday and the house being empty, I guess I was feeling lonely. It’s nice to get away.”

“You should have called me if you needed company.”

“You already dragged me out of my sullen morning mood, and I knew you were busy with Marcas.”

“I formally give you permission to give me any excuse to escape my responsibilities.”

“Fine, I'll make sure to call you next time. It wasn't that big a deal, I was just a bit lonely.”

“I wish I knew how that felt.”

“Am I making you jealous with my complaints of loneliness?”

“A little, yes.”

“I guess you’ve had the opposite problem.”

“It's just been too much. Like I was saying earlier, Mum's getting all gung-ho with the order and that’s just making it all worse. Every time I see her we end up arguing, it’s constant, I can never relax in that house any more. It’s just so tense.”

“You’re always welcome at mine, I guess I should have called you around, would have solved both our problems.”

“Yes you should have, and I did think about it, but I figured it would just make things worse when I eventually went home.”

“I guess if you weren’t there to defend yourself, they’d come to their own conclusions.”

“Exactly… If only your dad had adopted me when I asked him to.”

“I’m pretty sure we were twelve when you demanded he adopt you.”

“When I first demanded,” she corrected him, “and that’s exactly why I’m going to tell him off when we get to the station, it’s been years and he still hasn’t done it.”

“I think it’s getting a bit late to look for adoption. We’ll both be moving out and heading to the city soon.”

“True—though you should sound more disappointed at not having me as your big sister.”

“I’m not sure three weeks qualifies you as big, especially when you’re so short.”

“Oh please, I’m barely shorter than you.”

She had been licking her fingers like a cat after finishing the pastry and was looking around with growing disappointment as if more might appear by magic. He couldn’t help but laugh as he stood and stretched while walking over to the cliffside, enjoying the tranquillity of the valley. When he turned, she was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the boulder and was packing things away.

“You know, I really might fall in love with mining and just live out here,” she said, looking up at him.

“I’m not sure that would solve the family conflict.”

“Out of signal range, out of mind.”

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“It’s not always this nice up here, I’ve been during the winter, it gets rough.”

“I don’t mind the cold,” she leered at the bikes and particularly the jacket that was hanging from hers.

“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t wear the jacket the rest of the way.”

Her leer turned to a glare as she sprawled over the boulder and looked at him instead. Finlay felt she was becoming ever more cat-like by the minute.

"I wish I had a ball of yarn," he mused.

"Yarn, why?"

"An experiment."

She looked at him with a curious expression but couldn't grasp what he was implying which only made him laugh more.

“We should probably get moving again soon,” he said, deciding to interrupt the thought before she worked it out.

“Soon but not yet, this rock is hot and it’s soothing my back, I'm quite comfortable.”

“I don’t know anyone else who would call a giant stone comfortable.”

“You’d be surprised,” she was using his bag, which had extra clothes in it as a pillow and was dangling over the boulder.

He had no reason to press it, they weren’t in a rush and had made good time climbing the trail due to Keira’s desire to race at every opportunity. It was all very comfortable and though he wanted to see his dad, he was quite content to relax here a little longer.

*****

When he finally managed to pull Keira from her rest spot, she was cursing her jacket and helmet. He had reminded her that she needn’t force herself to wear it all but that was only met with another glare. Though she had decided, without a word of acknowledgement not to zip the jacket up this time.

The rest of the trail up the mountain ridge was clear and uneventful. The only exception was when a flock of birds that Finlay didn’t recognise burst up from their perch by the trail and flew in front of Keira, startling her and making her swerve to a near stop. Finlay was certain if she was holding anything at that time, she’d have hurled it at the birds but they were in this instance, safe from her wrath.

They had been riding for a while and Finlay had started to recognise a few landmarks that signalled they were getting closer to the station. But as they turned another corner that opened up into a wider section of the trail he started to feel tired. It wasn’t the feeling of weariness from a long day or exhaustion from the hard ride, rather it was a strange sense of weakness, that his body was no longer responding the way he wanted.

There was a dullness to his thoughts, a slow lethargy that affected his concentration and reactions. So much so he hadn’t realised Keira had slowed to a stop in front of him and for the second time today, had to swerve to avoid crashing into her.

He shook his head while removing his helmet and rolled his bike to her side. She hadn’t even noticed their near crash as rather than say anything about his driving, she turned to him, flipping up her visor.

“Can I get some water, I’m suddenly feeling kind of out of it.”

“I was just thinking the same,” he replied as he pulled his bag off and took the bottles of water from it.

“Did you poison us with those sandwiches? They were good but I’m not sure they were worth being poisoned.”

“I don’t think it’s the sandwiches.”

He was starting to recognise the feeling, it had taken a while for him to understand it but there was a familiarity that he could never forget. The weight on his mind, the dullness to his reactions and senses, the strange pressure on his very being to stop acting, stop doing anything. It was different than before but he wasn't sure if that was because he was older or some other reason but there was no doubting this feeling, even nine years later.

“This isn’t helping,” Keira complained as she passed the bottle back to Finlay.

“Keira, we need to hurry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“This feeling, it’s not the same but it reminds me of the time on the boat, when the demons came.”

She paled, her expression a mixture of surprise and fear but she didn’t question him, there was no reason to, and she could feel that something was wrong as much as he did. He didn't wait but pulled his helmet on and rushed towards the station, Keira hesitated but followed soon after.

It only got worse, with every moment they got closer to their destination he could feel the pressure increase, the probing questioning feeling that exhausted him, telling him to let go. It had changed from a dull drain on his senses and thoughts to a wave of pressure that tried to stop him from moving at all. Like he should accept the vague nothingness that was washing over him and give in to it, give himself up to that strange empty pressure.

When he was younger it made him freeze in place, unable to move, unable to react, but it felt different now. He was sure it was because he was older, stronger, and more sure of himself rather than the miasma being weaker or different. But that didn’t reassure him because it also meant whatever was waiting for them, if it was at the station, was as bad as the demons on the boat were.

When they crested the last incline that would let them look down over the mining station, what he saw wasn’t what he expected, if he had expected anything at all. There wasn’t a strange mist or demons, there weren’t any unusual creatures fighting with people. In fact, there was no one at all and yet the pressure of the miasma felt stronger than ever and he was sure whatever the source was had to be near.

While they called it the mining station, because there was a single train that ran between it and the city to transport materials, it was more like a small town. There were houses throughout the almost circular area, enclosed on all sides by mountains with many buildings dug into their walls. About half of the normal population were permanent residents while the other half came and went throughout the year.

Enough people lived here to justify several stores, a bar near the middle and a small meeting hall that was infrequently used. Travel between here and Aberana was a common occurrence, something normal that no one thought twice about. The train, while built to transport materials, also had a passenger section for miners and visitors alike. On the northern side was a large tunnel that led into the main underground mine. The opposite, southern side was where the train sat, currently waiting for its next haul of materials to transport back to the city.

But there was something very wrong about the station that would have been busy and full of life, there was no one there. No one was walking the streets, no one to buy food, or visit the stores and there was no noise from large machinery or songs from drunken people who were celebrating the end of their shifts. It was not just quiet but silent and as the two stopped to look over the town, feeling what they felt, the stillness of it all washed a wave of fear over Finlay.

He was desperate to remain sharp, to be vigilant while questions darted through his mind that he struggled to attend. He kept looking at Keira to check she was okay but also to reassure himself that he wasn’t alone. He could see she struggled as much as he did.

As they eased their way down the streets, any trace of the wind had disappeared and no birds flew overhead. The world seemed frozen, it had an uncomfortable stillness, and the only thing left to break that strangeness was them as they rode.

“I have to find my dad.”

It was the one thing that he kept pushing back to the front of his mind. He wanted to make sure at least that one thought was clear as he looked around the buildings trying to see any sign of life or what had happened.

“Should we split up? I don’t think I want to split up,” he could hear the fear in her voice as she struggled to get her words out.

“No, too dangerous, we don’t know what’s going on, the temporary houses are on the northwestern side, let's check there.”

When they reached the northwestern side of town it was just as abandoned, just as quiet and still as everywhere else. It wasn’t as if there were signs of a struggle, nothing suggested there was a fight or a battle. But there was no one here, it was like they had all decided to leave at the same moment.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Finlay said as he removed his helmet and placed it on the front of his bike. He had stopped in front of one of the larger buildings that acted as temporary accommodation and Keira had pulled up beside him.

“It’s not just this weirdness in my head, or that there's no one here, it’s strangely quiet, right?”

“Yeah, it’s weird, there's nothing.”

“I don’t like it.”

It would be unnerving in most normal circumstances, even in the quietest, most peaceful spots he had ever known, there was always some noise. There’d be birds singing, wind whistling around him or the chirp of insects, but here, there was nothing. The loudest noise was his own breathing, he felt as though he could hear his heartbeat if he listened hard enough.

“Let’s take a look inside, maybe there’s something to tell us what’s going on.”

The ground was a dusty trail, it wasn't constructed but rather created from use. The building wasn't so much a building but a carving in the mountains. It had wooden extensions that were more practical than beautiful but it still gave a rustic charm. Keira had zipped up her jacket and kept her helmet on, only lifting her visor to talk easier as they must have brought her comfort against the strangeness of where they were.

The door was open, though that wasn’t surprising, but inside there was more evidence that whatever happened was not planned. Half-eaten food had sat rotting on the table while various trinkets and books scattered the floor.

“So everyone just up and left, where did they go?” Keira was saying what they were both thinking yet the answer was impossible to know.

“If they had run, we’d have seen some sign on the trail.” He wasn’t doing much better with stating the obvious.

“I think we should head back—as fast as possible.”

“I have to find my dad, I’m sorry.”

“We can contact the guild, get help, I don’t like this Finn, it all feels wrong.”

He knew she was right but at the same time, the idea of going home without knowing whether his father was alive, let alone okay was too much. He had to keep looking, check other buildings, check the town hall—there could be a message, something to tell him what was going on.

“Maybe you should go back, contact the guard, the guild and send help.”

“I’m not leaving you here alone.”

He started to protest but couldn’t find the words. She was afraid, they both were—but how could he leave without knowing if his dad was okay and what had even happened. Keira had followed him without question, and while he hated the idea of leaving without knowing, he couldn’t keep putting her at risk either. The dissonance was breaking him but she was right beside him and that was more important right now.

"You're right, I'm sorry. We'll go back to the signal shack and figure out what to do from there."

She smiled at him, her relief visible and he tried to respond in kind but guilt and fear ran rampant over his mind. Instead, he turned back to the door to leave but as he looked outside any ability to hide his feelings disappeared and a new wave of terror replaced it.

“Get back, hide!”