Yu Lin slowed me down. She was really really strong, might I add. "We do this safely. Do not try this alone. Very dangerous." her accent was very strong, like the intensity of the situation had reduced her fluency with English.

"That's right. I'll go first." Hawthorne said stiffly, still ahead. But he slowed as he neared the wild and coiling mist. He swallowed, clenched his fist, held another embroidered handkerchief over his mouth, and started to walk. I heard him mutter "Ignore me if I say anything odd..." as he plunged across...

Even though the gutter was just about a foot wide, the mist was spilling upward and over about three, four feet. I saw Hawthorne walk through, steps bold and purposeful. Then when he hit it, he...flinched, like he was suddenly in gale force winds. The way he flinched made me think he heard noises that I couldn't hear, the way he squinted made me think that he saw things I didn't see. He took small measured steps forward.

It looked painful.

"Maybe the Samurai guy isn't so bad." I said, watching Hawthorne take slow moonsteps forward...I did not want to go into that now.

"Samurai...You are from the Country Side." she said, with no accent.

I grew up around twenty minutes from Amish people. I think that qualified. "Little bit." I answered.

She touched my hair, gently. "Do not fear, little red flower." she said. Wow. She was a lot nicer now than before. If only she stopped pinching my arm. "The Samurai is not here for you. I believe you have the right to chose where you will go."

I wanted to go back to my dorm room and finish prepping for the exam tomorrow.

"And do not allow Fear to keep you from going forward. Crossing the yami miasma is just like the 梦江 Mèng Jiāng Dream River." she said, but it was weird and overlapped three times. "Follow Hawthorne, we have special training. Just focus on riding the train. If you have any training at all, you can do it."

I wanted to argue more, but then Hawthorne was through the mist. "I'm back." He said. "I'll catch you. Just come to me."

I then wanted to argue even more than before, because there was still a heavy, slurring quality to the normally crisp and clip words of the Deputy Constable.

But Yu Lin did not give me a choice, and pushed me forward.

And for the second time that day, I jaywalked.

And...

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Imagine, if you will, of instead of walking into a stream of water, you could walk through a pure stream of sound.

And it was loud. You can't see, or its so loud your eyes are unable to focus. There was sound all around, cold and cloying. And not only that, but the sound was going in different directions, and it tore at you.

It was like being woken up by a hundred alarm clocks from a deep sleep, and you couldn't remove yourself or turn them off.

It was terrible, it was awful, and it...

Was not as bad as the Universe Ocean that I had just traveled through.

It was kind of like having to run two mile, but then you realize you only have to run one mile. It was hard, but not as hard as you thought.

It was odd, hearing all that noise. I wonder if it was from the Universe Ocean, if this was somehow a clue for returning home. I listened to the whispers, but it was so boring and inane that it was useless.

I can't believe apples cost this much now!

I know I left my wallet somewhere...

The Silver Master has vanished. Chaos reigns. We must reclaim all the former disciples, and find the Chosen Wielder. In this way, we can finally conquer those who oppose the uprising of destruction...

Wait, that last one sounded important,

But I didn't hear anymore, as I was suddenly out of the mist, and blinking as Hawthorne caught me and continued to pull me away from the mist. Wow. I felt...a little floppy, like my legs were delayed from my brain. How was Hawthorne still so stoic? Maybe he really had training. Right now I felt sunblind, like I had been playing outside in the bright sun and then come into a dark house.

Did I finally activate my magic power? Could I find out the plot of the story?

This was incredible.

"We need to catch that train, miss." He said, and pulled me along.

I felt floppy. Wow. No wonder they were worried about me earlier.

"Who is the Silver Master?" I asked. I should not have judged Hawthorne for slurring his words. I felt like I both had to say everything on my mind and yet my mouth was full of honey and cotton balls.

"Trouble. Bloody trouble." Then he blushed a little. "Apologizes to be foul in front of you, Miss." he said. "Mist is hard on me." He had gone through the mist and outside of slurring his words a little at first, he had let slip a no no word.

Bloody was a bad word here.

People on the other side of the street moved toward us, tried to make us sit down, but Hawthorne showed his tie. "Official business. Stand down." he said, crisply.

I felt fine, but I still knew I would talk like I had gravel and cotton balls in my mouth. Just like I couldn't connect my brain to control my muscles well.

Hawthorne was kind of cool.

We were near the station, and Hawthorne waggled his tie at the different ticket people and what not. Within a few moments of entering the station, we were shown to an open door of the train. The noise of the Mist still rang in my head, and my vision was just finally starting to recover, but I stumbled. Hawthorne steadied me, and pulled me into the train. At least Yu Lin wasn't pinching my arm anymore.

"Come on. Hurry up." He said, control slipping and his words slurring again slightly. He was still affected by the mist too.

An attendant came and started closing the doors along the train.

"Hurry up." he said.

I blinked a few more times, as my thoughts began to return to normal.

"Where is Yu Lin?" I asked.

Hawthorne became stoic.

"Where is she?"

The attendant came and moved to close the door. Hawthorne glared at the man.

"You need to pull your arm in, sir, or leave the train. We depart in sixty seconds."

"Where is she?" I asked. But I had a bad feeling I knew.