Billowing clouds emerged from the hole in the sky and descended across the suburb in a dense mist. The unnatural fog drifted down concealing the tops of the nearby houses. The city center was directly below the hidden hole high above. The closer Josie’s party got to the Taste of Edmonds festival, the thicker the clouds became.

The air felt unseasonably warm as the otherworldly atmosphere filled Josie’s lungs. Breathing in the unfamiliar climate made her uncomfortable. There was no escaping the mist. The heat of it reminded her of metro bus exhaust. She tried to avoid inhaling as a particularly heavy arm of fog rolled across her. The wave crashed down the street, looking like an avalanche. It whipped against her face like hot smoke as it enveloped her.

“This is freaky,” said Rebecca as she ran her fingers through the thick swirls.

Lewis pulled his shirt up over his face. If the air was harmful to breath, it was already far too late.

Clark, still mimicking Steph, walked beside Rebecca. Both were watching the sky for threats, though there would be little warning of an attack with the visibility as minimal as it was. The two of them had come to a silent understanding, despite Clark’s fear of the girl with Vampirism.

Josie watched curiously as they each sniffed at the air. Their reactions to the fog were similar, each of their facial expressions softening, as if put to ease by the strange atmosphere.

The comfort in Rebecca’s steps was disconcerting to Josie. Because of the Vampirism, Rebecca seemed to have more in common with the shape shifting squid than with the other humans around her.

Josie couldn’t help but wonder what the alien disease might be doing inside Rebecca’s mind. She certainly hadn’t been acting herself. Josie briefly recalled the lifecycle of the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus. She’d been fascinated when learning about it one evening while browsing random wiki’s. It had one goal, and that was to spread itself far and wide. To achieve its goal, it would infect foraging ants, where it would then take over the ants’ minds and force them to act against their survival instincts. The infected ants would walk to the tips of blades of grass and wait to be eaten by birds, carrying the fungus onward.

She had no idea what Vampirism might do. It wasn’t even from their universe. The physical possibilities were not comforting to consider.

Suddenly, Rebecca stiffened. Her neck swiveled to look down a cross street. She gestured for everyone to get low behind a nearby parked car.

“What is it?” whispered Lewis as he ducked down beside her.

Rebecca put her finger to her lips.

Not a moment later, a figure the size of a large buck stepped silently into view within the mist.

A giant ghast!

Its slick black form was unmistakable. It easily had five times the mass of the dog-sized variety Josie had seen back at camp. Its clawed appendages almost looked like human hands. With slender limbs like a deer and giant bat wings tucked to its side, it was a true picture of horror.

The foul creature paused in its stride and craned its neck, scanning the road ahead. Its eyes were placed on opposite sides of its skull like a raptor.

It paused while looking in their direction. After a moment of stillness, its jaw opened and it cried out with the breathy sob of a child.

Josie shuddered.

It turned its head the opposite direction and cried out again. “Halp meh!” it croaked. “Halp me-mommy!”

A wave of terror shot through Josie. The almost parrot-like cadence struck a nerve with her.

It can speak….

She didn’t want to know how it had learned those words.

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Wild energy tugged at her muscles, but she forced herself to remain perfectly still. She gripped her grandfather’s rifle tight at her side. She didn’t want to waste bullets she might need for the Dreadnaught. She was also concerned a single shot wouldn’t be enough to put down the giant ghast. Plus there was no telling how many more were within earshot.

It turned sharply and walked off with gentle steps into the billows of fog.

Rebecca held up her fist and waited for another fifteen seconds before gesturing that they should all continue past the intersection at a fast clip. Everyone was happy to submit to Rebecca’s leadership. Her heightened senses and new-found physical aptitude made her the obvious choice to steer the group through the unknown threats ahead.

Their trajectory was mostly downhill as they made their way through the bowl of Edmonds to the Taste. The festival was underway this weekend at the civic center. Up until recently, they had been able to hear a band playing over the loud speakers in the distance, but the sound had ceased about half a mile back when the fog fully descended. After seeing the ghast, Josie feared the worst.

A dense cloud stood eerily still in front of them about half a block ahead. It loomed over them like an impenetrable wall, too thick to see anything beyond. They approached slowly, listening for anything in the unnatural stillness. All remained silent. A strange sense settled across Josie—evil, waiting for them. The Dreadnaught was in there.

It felt like the world was holding its breath at the center of town. As they approached the fog bank, a quality of the air changed. It felt somehow heavier, as if more dense. Josie’s movements were ever so slightly slowed, a fraction more energy required for every step forward. It was like they were moving through a fluid rather than just air.

Josie could almost assume the sensation was just in her head, but the lack of any air movement within the fog bank spoke to a supernatural origin. Lewis grabbed ahold of her hand as they stepped into the cloud. They became fully engulfed by the atmosphere pouring in through the unseen hole above. Josie took several tentative breaths, but the air still went down smooth despite it being weirdly hot and moist.

Rebecca breathed in deeply beside her. Josie could just barely see her through the dense fog. She did have to admit, the air felt fresher than what they had been breathing on the other side of the fog bank.

“Time frozen here,” said Clark, invisible on the other side of Rebecca.

Lewis swore under his breath. “It’s Basilisks,” he said. “No wonder the band stopped. This is going to complicate things.”

Josie’s hand pulled free of Lewis’s and went to the nut dangling from the necklace Landon had given her. It felt warm to the touch. It was the only reason she wasn’t frozen. Lewis and the shapeshifter were both out of their native time streams, making them immune to the basilisk’s abilities.

Josie glanced back towards Rebecca, but she was no longer beside her. She turned back, and had to take several steps before she could see the girl within the fog. Rebecca was frozen in place, one leg hanging awkwardly in the air, mid-stride. Rebecca and her new abilities had been their best chance at defeating the Dreadnaught, but now, she would not be able to go any farther with them on their mission.

“Josie!” came Lewis’s nearby call. His voice rang out hollow, the direction unclear within the opaque cloud.

A nearby child’s scream pierced the eerily still air.

Definitely another ghast.

Smartly, Lewis did not call out again.

Josie couldn’t leave Rebecca behind, helplessly frozen in place. If anything else came by, she would be a sitting duck. She quickly put down her grandfather’s rifle and grabbed ahold of Rebecca’s arms. She intended to drag her off the sidewalk and into the bushes, but just as she started pulling, a figure burst into her vision.

Josie fell back, leaving Rebecca lying on the pavement. It took her a moment of fright to recognize Clark standing before her, still disguised as Steph.

A short giggle sounded down the block.

“I hide her, you must help Lewis,” said Clark.

Josie nodded in understanding. She snatched the rifle back up as she climbed to her feet. She didn’t know if she could fully trust the shapeshifter, but she didn’t have any other choice. She held the rifle high in her arms as she crept quietly in the direction she hoped to find Lewis.

Things are already falling apart for our would-be heroes. The disadvantages just keep stacking up! They were supposed to be using Clark as a guide, but now everyone’s all split up, and Vampire Becca is sidelined by a simple time vortex. Not their best moments here. Josie may get a sense of foreboding over the Dreadnaught waiting for them, but for me, the challenge I know to be ahead puts butterflies in my stomach. The outcome is balanced on a knife’s edge, probability-wise anyway. Of course, me being a master of probability, the more unlikely the happenstance, the more fun it is to throw in the faces of the Agares! Unfortunately, the alternative to a victory here is total annihilation, with absolutely no middle ground whatsoever. Either the gang figures out how to come together to defeat the master of nightmares, or else terror reigns supreme and before you know it the Agares will have Erased every single one of these important children. Once the Chosen few are gone, there will be nothing left to stop these jerks from settling the probabilities of the mortal realm and snipping off humanity once and for all from the great Pool of Time. After that, it’s a simple matter to repurpose the energy of this universe, as if it never existed. No pressure kids!

Keep vigilant,

-Mr. Gray