Kass’s eyes flickered open. She was in what looked like a basement, held upright in some kind of web-like substance, only thicker. She tried to pull her hands free and it sort of worked, almost. Initially it seemed to be coming off, however as she reached the end of the strange substance’s stretch it started to hurt where the stuff touched her hand, almost as if she were pulling her own skin off. Kass pulled her arm around so she could see. As she peered closer at her palm she realised that the substance was more like a root system than a web, and the end of the roots were growing into her skin.

She dropped her hand back to it’s original position in a panic. She could feel them everywhere now. All over her skin. On the back of her neck as she tilted her head forward, on her stomach, under her shirt, crawling their way up her thighs.

“Kass?”

“Sirius?” She strained to see him but couldn’t. He was somewhere, buried in his own web-encased coffin to her left. “What is this?”

“I’m not sure. I tried to strongarm my way out of it but it just wrapped around tighter. His voice was muffled. “I can’t even move anymore.” No, not just muffled. It sounded like he had something stuck in his mouth.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m afraid if I try anymore it might suffocate me, but maybe what I should have tried was something sharp. I can’t reach my knives anymore though.”

Kass thought of her own knife, strapped to a garter holster on her inner thigh. Maybe if she stretched she might be able to reach that.

She pulled her knees up as high as she could. Then twisted her hand around and slid it up her skirt until she could just touch the end of the knife tip. A little further, that was all she needed.

She winced at the pain of the roots tugging on her skin, and she wondered if it might hurt just as much to cut them. If it did, she might just pass out during the process. She didn’t want to risk being pulled back into the dreamworld, but the alternative was staying stuck here forever.

On the other hand, Cat had said they were on their way. Maybe it would be safer to wait? Did she trust Cat to tell the truth? Well, yeah, actually, Cat wouldn’t lie just to make someone feel better. She was nothing if not brutally honest. But had that been Cat? Well, Kass was awake now, wasn’t she? She didn’t have enough experience with dreamwalking to be sure. Anyway if this was a dream, it probably made no difference if she tried to cut her way out. The biggest issue was, if this wasn’t a dream, and she waited, what might the strange roots be doing to them in the meantime.

Kass stretched her hand a little further. It felt like someone was slicing her palm open with a kitchen cleaver.

She gave out a small whimper as her fingers finally found the shaft.

“Kass?” Sirius asked, in a worried voice.

“Almost, got, it,” Kass replied forcing out one word at a time. She pushed the blade up with her finger tips. The hard part was going to be not dropping it.

She clasped it with her fingers either side of the blade. She was sure they would be bleeding after this, but she managed to dexterously tilt the knife so it landed in her palm. She grasped it tight and pulled it out in front of her. Where to cut first?

She held the knife in her right hand and pulled her left hand out so it was palm up. Better to cut the non-dominant hand first, just in case it went wrong, plus, it would make it easier to cut with her right, and she couldn’t really reach anywhere else quite so easily with her hands stuck.

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She took a deep breath. She was going to have to do this fast. In one cut if possible. It was a good thing she kept her knives sharp.

She sliced quickly away from her body. She braced for the pain, but none came. The roots sliced easily through, like cutting cooked pasta. As the knife left the end of the roots dangling from her hand she felt a sensation of relief. She tilted her hand on it’s side and some of the remnants of the roots simply fell away.

“It’s working,” she said with breathless happiness.

“What?” Sirius asked. Her words had been spoken too softly for him to hear.

“I said it’s working.” She spoke a little louder, but not too loud unless what ever it was that had put them here was nearby.

She inspected her hand. It appeared to be leaking a clear liquid from tiny pin-pricked holes. She didn’t know what it was. She hoped it wasn’t harmful. It was probably better than bleeding out, probably.

She switched hands with the knife. Her left hand felt a little numb now, and there was a dull throbbing pain throughout it. But she had enough dexterity to grasp the knife and slice her other hand free from it’s root connection.

The same thing happened to her other hand. A dull throbbing pain, seeping clear substance, and a numbness that dulled her movement. But she pressed on, propelled forwards by the realisation that soon she would be free of this mess.

There were roots all along her arms. She cut them free, then reached back behind her neck and sliced the ones that were there. She worked her way down her body, from head to foot. She was pleased to find they hadn’t quite gotten in everywhere.

Finally she was able to step foot back on solid ground. She stood on roots, and some of them squirmed and pulsated in an unsettling manner. But at least, she was out.

She turned to Sirius and still she could not see him. He really was in deep. She had to cut through several thicker roots to get to him.

“Sirius, I’m coming to get you out.”

She heard him murmur something but she couldn’t make it out.

She cut away a sheet of thickly connected webbed roots and there she saw him. It was worse than she’d imagined. The roots weren’t just in his skin. They had wound their way, inside his mouth, up his nostrils, covered his eyes.

She couldn’t help herself. She gasped.

She heard him trying to speak again. How could he even breathe?

She wasted no time. She reached forward and slit up through the thicker one that had gone for his esophagus. She cut the one in his nostrils as well, and then she waited a moment to give it a chance to release him. Then she pulled them free.

He spluttered and spat, a thick clear gel like liquid poured from his mouth. She was glad when his coughing turned into steady breathing.

She breathed out gently herself to calm her own mind. Then she did the roots in his ears. She hesitated at the ones over his eyes. Would he still be able to see? Well she had to do it at some point, better earlier than later. She cut through. Snip. Wait. Pull.

The roots fell away easily.

Sirius blinked. Well his green eyes looked okay.

“Can you see?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

“Everything’s blurry,” came the reply. He blinked again. His eyes were covered in the clear goop.

“Hold on, I’ll get the rest of you out, then we can have a look.

He nodded.

She cut him free. It took a surprising long time, and all the while Kass was afraid that whatever had put them here would come back. It was tiring work. Her eyelids drooped. Then she remembered herself. No, no falling asleep. She gave her face a slap to try and stay awake. She fought the feeling, and felt that maybe she was winning. Finally she helped Sirius forward.

He stumbled slightly and then rubbed his face. He shook his head.

“Still can’t see?” she asked.

“It’s like I’m underwater.”

Kass nodded and then looked around for an exit. She almost cried when she saw an obvious door. She gripped Sirius’s hand. “Come on.”

She pulled him, as fast as she could towards the exit, only to find, once she got there, that it was blocked.

Green vines this time, covered in pretty flowers, red and black, almost like poppies. She paused. It looked familiar but she couldn’t place it.

“What is it?” Sirius asked.

“There’s a plant covering the door.”

“What sort of plant? Can you push it aside telekinetically without touching it?” he asked. “You just need to make a hole.”

Kass nodded, looking at it with renewed hope. It was just a plant after all. What damage could a plant do?

She stood forward from Sirius and used her telekinesis to try to push it to each side. But instead of moving aside, the plant began moving in, towards her.

Kass took a hesitant step back. Then she held forward her hands and telekintically pushed back against the plant, harder this time. It seemed to work, the plant recoiled. Not as far as it should have, but it recoiled none the less.

Then Kass felt something behind her. As she turned a vine wrapped itself around her waist. She had just enough time to see Sirius pulled back, surrounded by roots and vines, all coming from the same plant, before it tugged her off her feet and pulled her back to join him.