Grit blinked bleary eyes against the rain that seemed to be falling constantly. It wasn’t much, but speeding through it on a motorcycle seemed to magnify its effect. Grit blinked again, and then leaned to the right as the road turned, making sure to counter the weight of the child on the back. The Eldest sat with his arms tight around Grit’s torso, staring unblinkingly off into the countryside. They’d been riding for an hour or so now, on a bike that they had stolen from the same farmer whose tarp they’d camped under. El had remained silent for almost the entire time, leaving Grit alone with his thoughts.
Somehow it didn’t seem all that strange to be racing through an apparently magical Irish countryside on a motorcycle, with a strange child clinging to him. He’d simply done too much universe jumping recently, and met too many strange people, to be surprised by the newest twist that his life had taken. Though, the thought that he couldn’t be surprised anymore was a surprise in itself. Grit shook his head, and looked out over the countryside to see if he could determine what El thought was so interesting out there.
As far as he could tell, though, the fields were simply normal fields. Grit grunted to himself. Eli Thorn had claimed he was a leprechaun, and had seemingly done magic, but Grit wasn’t fully convinced. He’d seen no other magic since arriving here. Something thumped at the edge of his consciousness, and he had a wild thought that some ancient magic had heard his thoughts. He quickly realized that it was probably the motor, though he no longer heard the thumping. This old bike hadn’t seen any road action in quite some time.
They traveled in silence for a few more miles. The rain finally decided to call it quits, and the sun peeked out from behind a cloud. The light rays illuminated the deep greens of the fields they were rolling by, and Grit thought he could at least see some magic in that. Almost immediately, the thumping returned. It was even louder this time, and almost aggressive. Worried, Grit pulled the bike over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.
“Have we arrived?” the kid said, still clinging to him from behind. Grit shook his head, frowning down at the meters between the handlebars.
“Not yet. Something wrong with the bike,” he muttered. Everything appeared to be in working order. He turned to look at El, and suddenly realized that he could still hear the thumping. He focused on it for a moment, still twisted in his seat. It was less of a thumping sound, then a feeling, as if something was pulsing his insides.
“Is everything okay?” El asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” Grit answered, turning back around to face forwards. He started the bike back up, paying attention to the strange thumping. It didn’t change, but it could still be felt over the vibrations of the motorcycle.
“That’s odd,” he said aloud, then looked over his shoulder at the kid.
“Hang on!” he called, waiting for a moment for El to adjust his grip. Then he opened the throttle and launched the bike back onto the road. He drove for a while, distracted by the thumping feeling, and almost missed a sign that said the next town was in a few miles. He twisted around and grinned at El.
“Let’s see how fast this thing goes!” he shouted through the wind, then fully opened the throttle. The bike groaned in protest but shot forward. Grit could hear the boy laughing behind him, and the wind in his face was invigorating. Suddenly, the thumping was loud and obnoxious. filling his consciousness. He realized it felt like a thing he could almost grab onto, and so he did, pushing back on the thumping internally. It pushed back, whatever it was, and Grit growled. He put all of his internal strength into it, teetering in the balance for a moment, and then finally pushing through. There was a loud pop, and his setting shifted. He briefly saw a strange tunnel formation, with offshoots flying by on the left and right. He thought that he vaguely heard El shout something behind him, and then they went careening down a right hand tunnel.
Just as suddenly, the tunnels were gone and he was back to a setting that he knew. The motorcycle was flying down a four lane road. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be other vehicles around, but there was a stoplight just ahead showing red. Grit slowed the bike down, but there was no way to fully stop without laying it down, so Grit simply ran the red light and hoped that there were no cops around to see. They cruised down the road, and he heard El gasp as they approached a cross street.
“Go left!” the kid suddenly shouted, startling Grit. He waited for an oncoming car to pass and then made a left turn. After a few minutes of driving, during which Grit realized he was feeling surprisingly tired, the buildings along the street began to be more and more in disrepair. Eventually, they reached a vacant lot that was tucked in behind a large building and the kid almost jumped off the bike. Grit quickly shut the motorcycle down, and they dismounted together.
“What’s going on?” Grit asked. “Do you know where we are?” El gave him a halfway shrug and nod, then strode off across the lot. Grit frowned, but followed him anyway, wondering if this is how normal kids acted.
“It’s here,” El whispered excitedly, stopping abruptly. Grit squinted, but there appeared to be nothing in front of the kid, though he was grinning like a fool.
“Hey, um, El,” Grit began. “Is everything ok?” El looked at Grit over his shoulder, still grinning, then reached out his hand. Arm almost fully extended, his hand ran into something solid, and the air seemed to shimmer. A moment later, the Pathfinder ship gleamed into view. Grit felt his jaw drop open, as El gave a little yelp of excitement. The door slid open, and the kid ran inside. Slowly, Grit followed him. He suddenly felt exhausted, and he barely made it inside before collapsing on a bench.
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“Good work, El,” he mumbled. “Maybe just a short nap…”
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Mel felt hungover. Her head pounded and her eyes ached as she blinked them open. She was laying on her back on a patch of grass along a cobblestone path of some sort. Blinking rapidly to focus her vision, she sat up with a groan. It required effort but not nearly what she expected. She felt a sort of weightlessness, like she was under water.
Mel stepped onto the path and looked around her. She seemed to be in a park of some kind but a strange fogginess made it difficult to see more than ten or fifteen feet beyond the path. She took a few experimental steps. Something about her body was not quite normal. A strange sensation accompanied the sort of weightlessness, almost like her form wasn’t a solid physical mass. She grabbed her arm and found that she was corporeal but there was a sort of humming to her form when she touched it.
“Good, you’re up!” Mel turned as Kevin came speed walking along the path towards her. “Thank goodness, you’ve been out for… Well, I don’t think time really works here but it feels like it’s been a while.”
“Where the hell did you bring us?” Kevin cringed a little as he came to a stop in front of her. He seemed to glide slightly past where he was aiming to stop.
“This seems to be the space in between universes. Where Cassia meant for us to go before everything fell apart.” Kevin gestured around. “It’s strange, when I was here with Eli we entered a sort of long corridor. Like the back hallways in a shopping mall. This is… different.”
Mel took a look around them again. It reminded her vaguely of Central Park in the winter. With a fog settled overnight. She took a few steps off the path to where her vision would not pierce and found she could go no further. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t a normal park and it had limits.
“Yeah, I tried to go through it but it didn’t work. There’s a few doors in each direction and some intersections in the path. I’m not sure how it works yet. Eli implied that each door is connected to a specific place in a specific universe. I can’t get my head around that, this place would be massive. Infinite. There would be halls and doors going on forever, how would you find any place?”
Mel looked in each direction along the path. It stretched as far as she could see. Her head still felt fuzzy and there was a dull pain at the base of her skull but it wasn’t as sharp as when she’d first come to consciousness.
“What now? Should we just pick a door to try?” Mel took a few steps in the direction Kevin had come from.
“I could jump us out I think. I’m not sure how we ended up here. Those officers started shooting at us and I just jumped. I can’t control it very well under pressure.” Mel gave a barking laugh, surprising Kevin. He smiled as he gave her a sarcastic snip. “Glad you find my infirmity amusing.”
“Kevin, no, I’m glad you got us out of there in time. Isn’t it ironic that you took us right where we need to go but without anyone who actually knows what we’re supposed to do?” She kept giggling and Kevin allowed a chuckle.
“I guess we better go find someone who knows what they’re doing then.” Kevin grabbed Mel’s hand and exhaled. “Let’s start with our old ride.”
The sensation was different from between worlds. The familiar ripping and pulling wasn’t there. It was like half a jump, the rollercoaster-like drop and the sudden firmness of earth under your feet without the whiplash of being yanked through space and time.
“That’s an ass ton easier. Let’s jump like that every time.” Mel poked Kevin in the shoulder.
“Considering you dropped unconscious on landing in the in between, maybe let’s not.” Kevin looked up thoughtfully. “There’s got to be a better name for that space.”
“I’m sure Cassia can give you a full history lesson about it when we find her boring ass. Now where are we?” Mel looked around at the large industrial buildings and bright midday sun.
“Finally keeping our appointment with Cassia.” Kevin put on his sunglasses and scanned their surroundings. “Don’t see anything that triggers a danger warning.”
“Keep those things on, I paid a lot for them. Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten fucking ambushed if you’d been looking through them.” She teasingly punched him in the arm.
“Ow! I told you they give me a headache after a while. And a major headache during jumps.” He looked around a little more, then pointed. “That way. That’s the abandoned building the Pathfinder was parked behind.”
“How do you remember this, I barely recognize any of this shit. I hardly knew we were in Dallas before.”
“It’s just in my brain, I don’t know. I think it has to do with this jumping ability. I’ve got very vivid recollection for places.” Kevin shrugged and tilted his head in thought. “I guess I’ve always been good at that.”
The pair walked across a parking lot and waited to cross the street. As they walked across the next lot and around the side of the large concrete building, Kevin let out a gasp.
“How the…” Mel trailed off. Kevin began to jog forward with a laugh and Mel followed. As they reached the Pathfinder, the door was opening for them to step up inside. The Eldest turned to them.
“I’m glad you made it here. We’ll need your ability.” He nodded at Kevin and gave Mel a polite smile.
“How did you get back here?” Kevin looked at the boy and then up at Grit.
“No time. Let’s get Cassia.” Grit said gruffly and waved for Kevin and Mel to enter the Pathfinder.