When we caught up to Fatalist, I was able to see her expression. She still seemed to be calm and relaxed. Just like when she was consoling the clown. As if no one was sent to death by her swift movement just a moment before. Did Hummingbird die though? I wasn’t so sure what exactly happened.

Out of them three only Wanderer seemed to be concerned. He was walking behind carefully, keeping distance from others.

Finally the corridor seemed to end. We found ourselves in a huge round room. Then everything happened in a blur.

Andrew sprinted towards the door, and it closed as soon as he got on the other side, merging with the wall. Fatalist shoved something in my hand and then she strode towards something that seemed to be an elevator. I didn’t follow her, something about the way she moved felt fascinating to me. So I just watched as the elevator merged with the wall. Then I paid attention to what she left in my hand. It was a gun.

Pain came from my side. The next moment I found myself on the ground. The gun was forcefully ripped from my grasp. Wanderer seemed to blur as he moved. He was fast, faster than a human should be.

Wanderer pointed the gun at me. Would I lose my body yet again? I could feel the card the clown gave me growing burning hot as Wanderer pushed the trigger. The gun exploded in his arm, making him fall down wailing.

The card lost its heat as suddenly as it gained it. I put my hand in the pocket. The card turned into ash. Wanderer finally stopped moving when the second change came. The stone that was in my pocket broke into small pieces. Was its life connected to Wanderer’s? Aren’t stones supposed to be inanimate?

I looked around the hall. Only one door remained as Fatalist and Andrew used the other two. A familiarly ominous red door. It seemed like I would need to use it after all. That or return the way I came here. But I had a hunch I won’t be able to return, judging by the conversation that took place when I found myself in Andrew’s company.

I pushed open the door. The darkness surrounded that place rendering me unable to make anything out. I stepped inside cautiously, preparing to get out at the first sight of danger, but the door immediately disappeared.

With a plop Sheep’s body fell down. I was still here, hovering in the air. Spiritual part of me, as it seemed. Reminded me of Melissa, when she became incorporeal.

“Soul!” I heard an exhilarated cry. A dozen or two ghosts were flying towards me. And they looked hungry.

“Don’t touch him!” I heard a familiar voice. Melissa was here to save the day! Or not. The ghosts didn’t pay her any heed as they rushed towards me like a pack of hyenas.

I felt a sense of oppression. Most of the ghosts fell down, wailing. A majestic ghost, whose power seemed to be tangible, floated next to Melissa, “Someone you know?” he asked my classmate.

“My friend,” she confirmed.

“Your friends are my friends,” the ghost said amicably. “They shouldn’t be harmed.”

Melissa rushed towards me, tackling me into a hug, “I didn’t expect you to come here after all that happened. I have some news I need to share. Can you imagine, I found the way home!”

“That’s incredible,” I was surprised. I thought of home on multiple occasions but I didn’t think there would be a chance for me to return.

“The place we are currently in is the ghost realm. The realm of souls. It’s the place where we were taken through before we woke up in the labyrinth back then,” Melissa continued to talk incessantly. It seemed like she was a bit lonely here as she talked with tremendous fervor, her transparent eyes shimmering with happiness. Probably, those ghosts around us weren’t the best company to talk to after all.

“Your body in our world should still be alive, luckily the time flow here is different from the one back there. See that funnel?” she pointed at some sort of spiritual maelstrom. “That’s the wormhole to Earth we unsealed. Unfortunately, other ghosts can’t come there as they will immediately disperse without a suitable body container, their essence scattering until nothing remains.”

“So only the two of us will go there?” I summed it up.

“I can’t return,” Melissa’s expression turned grim for a moment. “I already died there. I now belong here. This is my new home.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I answered perfunctorily, my thoughts wandering.

I looked at the funnel. Was this the time I finish my travels?

“There’s one more thing,” Melissa added. “There was a diary we uncovered that belonged to the entity that kidnapped us. The entity stored its diary not that long before so from it I learned that you went through some rather… unpleasant memories. I can’t show you the whole diary though,”

“Why not?” If the answers were there, I’d rather see them all without skipping any.

“Some matters are better left alone,” Melissa answered quietly.

At that moment it seemed like Melissa grew more distant making one more step from Melissa the classmate towards becoming Melissa the ghost.

“Any answers are better than none, so it’s fine even if I don’t see everything,” I tried to solve the uneasy silence that ensued. Melissa watched me silently, a hollow shadow of a girl that cheerfully talked to me just seconds ago. She seemed to will a stack of paper pages from the thin air and shoved them towards me. Hopefully, she would snap out of it. Because if she didn’t, then I would be left with no choice but to snatch her to a less gloomy place.

I turned attention to the papers in my hands. Finally, it was the time for answers.