The difference between heaven and hell is distance. Isaac was no fool, but he’d never seen SEIDR up close. This was by design.

The Institute kept newcomers at arm’s length, taunting them with secrets and mysteries and revelations beyond their wildest dreams. After signing on the dotted line and descending into the pit, they were all equally horrified by the sudden taste of ash in their mouths and the lick of fire against their heels.

Isaac was no exception. He walked blindly into the lion’s den, for he wanted many things and believed he was clever enough to have them all.

First and foremost, he wanted something to eat. He figured that wasn’t too much to ask.

“You need to sign a liability waiver for the cafeterias,” Yaz told him. They were sailing away from the atrium lake, passing under a curved roof of pockmarked granite and quartz. “My advice is to skip the French onion soup, and never touch the hamburgers. I don’t know what they’re made of, but it’s definitely not beef.”

Isaac sat cross-legged on Yaz’s paddleboard as she steered them over the water. “I’m a vegetarian,” he said queasily.

“Pescetarian?”

“Sometimes.”

“The sushi bar is top notch.”

Isaac glanced over the side of the paddleboard. Schools of glittering silver fish darted under them. He said, “I bet.”

Yaz dropped him off at the HR suite and handed him a business card for someone named Raimes Kingfisher.

“This is our head of security. Call him when you’re done with onboarding. He’ll get you caught up on the Caasi investigation. Don’t let him scare you off, he’s a sweetheart under all the bluster.”

Tiny whirlpools trailed behind her oar as she glided away.

HR stood in sharp contrast to the rough-hewn cave around it. The rock was replaced by yellow wallpaper and linoleum floors. Isaac stepped into an open office with flickering fluorescent lights and classical music playing faintly in the background.

A dead-eyed woman sat in the first cubicle to his left, smoking a cigarette. Her walls were decorated with hundreds and hundreds of motivational posters, overlapping so heavily that none of them were readable.

“You’re the new guy, right? Isaac something?” the woman asked. She had a deep-set frown and wore a black-and-white checkered blouse. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun.

“That’s me. Isaac Something.”

“Lucretia. Nice to meet you.” She conveyed through tone and body language that it was not nice at all. “I’ve got some paperwork for you.”

As it turned out, “some paperwork” meant a pile of documents three feet high. Among the whirlwind of rules and disclaimers and emergency contact information, a few pages stood out. Isaac proved he wasn’t colorblind, signed a declaration that he would never reveal SEIDR’s location, and promised to immediately report any symptoms of delirium.

He was almost at the bottom of the pile when his phone rang.

It was Basil. “Isaac! I’m sorry, I was asleep. I just saw that you called.”

“Oh, yeah. I had a pretty weird morning.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, it all turned out fine.” Isaac tapped his pen against the paper. “I’m … actually in SEIDR right now.”

“SEIDR?” Basil’s voice became urgent. “How? Why?”

“They gave me a job. It’s kind of a long story.”

“I’m coming down.”

“What? Uncle, you don’t have to—”

Basil had already hung up. Isaac sighed.

“Sorry,” he said, glancing at Lucretia. “That was my uncle. He used to work here.”

“Good for him,” Lucretia said, flicking ash off the tip of her cigarette.

When Isaac was finished with the paperwork, she handed him a tiny blue book. It was boldly titled The Beginner’s Guide to SEIDR, and its pages were stiff and glossy.

“This is yours,” she said. “It’s waterproof. Don’t lose it. Do you want to see your room?”

“I have a room?”

“Every employee gets one. You aren’t required to stay there or anything, but it’s your space if you want it. Come on.”

She took him through a warren of rounded tunnels to a door labeled L077. There was a golden lantern hanging over the doorway.

“Don’t lose this either,” she said, handing him a key. “Got any questions?”

Isaac reached for the handle, and then hesitated. “Do you know where I can get some food around here?”

Lucretia led him around the next corner, where a staircase was carved into the cave wall. The smell of onions mixed with something savory wafted down from above.

“There’s a cafeteria up there. Top of the stairs, straight ahead. You’d have to be a fucking idiot to miss it.” Lucretia stuck her hands in her pockets, exhaling smoke in a thin line. “That’s all I got. The full tour starts at six. Meet back at the HR office, and don’t be late.” She walked off.

Isaac was hungry, but his curiosity overruled his growling stomach. He unlocked his door with a satisfying click. It swung open to reveal complete darkness.

Reaching up, he unhooked the lantern over the doorway and carried it inside.

The warm light washed over a polished hardwood floor. There was a queen bed with a desk on one side and a kitchenette on the other. Cupboards and drawers lined the walls. A sliding door on the left revealed a small bathroom.

The air was cool and surprisingly fresh. Isaac set the lantern down on the desk, where it cast strange shadows into the creases and folds of the duvet.

As it turned out, the drawers were full of clothes. They were exactly his size, in a variety of solid, muted colors. The bathroom cabinet was stuffed with toiletries, and the kitchenette held a set of dishes. Clearly, they’d been expecting him.

Under the desk, he found a new pair of boots. He tried them on and they fit perfectly.

That was the last straw. Isaac sat down on the bed as his head spun. He felt as if he’d wandered onto a stage set. It was all too neat and tidy to be real. How on Earth had they gotten his shoe size?

The little details itched at him. He had the same bedspread at home. The same red tea kettle, too. They’d even found the right flavor of toothpaste.

The accuracy transformed it from a warm welcome into a flawless trap. His skin started to crawl.

As he turned to leave, a shadow scuttled out from under the bed. He jumped back, banging his elbow against the wall.

“The hell—?”

The creature darted straight past him, small and quick and low to the ground. It escaped through the open door and Isaac followed.

He caught a blur of motion and a loud splash as it dove into the water. All it left behind was an expanding bull’s-eye of ripples.

He stared after it. “Huh.”

His exhaustion met him in a head-on collision. He sat down heavily on the bank of the canal, his feet hanging over the edge. Small gray spots flashed at the edges of his vision. He wiped his eyes with his knuckles.

This was too much. Someone had stolen his face. And his toothpaste.

He placed both his palms flat on the cold floor. There was something else, something aching. He unwrapped it gently, like an old wound.

Ah. Even the beat of his heart sounded like going-back, going-back, going-back.

“I’m going back,” he said out loud. His voice was distorted, oddly quiet. It felt like he was wearing earmuffs. “I really am.”

He was not convinced. None of this seemed real.

***

Isaac felt much better after stopping by the cafeteria. He arrived early for the tour and found Lucretia lying across the seats of a pontoon boat, reading a novel.

As soon as he climbed aboard, she snapped the book shut. “You made it,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Congratulations.”

“I’ve got a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“Are there any … animals in the caves?”

“Plenty of fish, frogs, bugs. Geckos. That kind of thing.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, we aren’t supposed to mention this to the new guys,” she said, glancing around. Isaac leaned in. “But we’ve got a serious rat problem.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, it’s bad. These fuckers get as big as cats. They can swim and climb. I’ve seen them swarm a canoe before. It’s not pretty.”

He chewed the inside of his lip. “What about big lizards?”

“There might be a big lizard or two,” she said, giving him the side-eye. “I can’t say for sure.”

Isaac decided to end that line of questioning before he sounded too crazy.

The tour group was smaller than he expected. First, a woman with lime-green hair sat down and began drawing flowers on her skin with a ballpoint pen. A pair of men in straw hats climbed in the back and started a whispered conversation, punctuated by laughter.

Lucretia checked her watch. “Looks like we’re all here. Might as well leave early.”

She grabbed a paddle and nudged them away from the docks. As they drifted into the current, she took a deep breath. In one long sentence, she droned, “Welcome to your official tour of SEIDR I’m your guide Lucretia Evans please remain seated and keep your arms and legs inside the boat if you see any glowing blue lines do not touch them thank you for your cooperation please sit back and enjoy the ride any questions.”

There were no questions.

They escaped out of the narrow tunnels and onto the atrium lake. The sun was almost gone, and the sky was streaked with pink dusk. Through the window high above, two clouds curled around each other, their outlines cast in brilliant orange light.

Lucretia spat over the side of the boat. “This is the atrium lake. Note the water. That’s what makes it a lake. You may hear that this is the deepest part of SEIDR but that’s a common misconception. It’s only the second-deepest.”

“What’s the first?” the green-haired woman asked.

“The shipyard. We’ll be there soon, so don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Bells rang out over the lake. They tolled six times, though the echoes made it sound like more.

Lucretia pointed to the white granite building which Isaac had left only a few hours ago. He couldn’t tell which one of the windows opened into Victor’s office. “The bells are on top of the Spire. Normally they ring every hour. If you hear them all going off at once, that’s the alarm.”

“What does an alarm mean?” asked one of the men in the back.

“Depends. They’ve got a bunch of alarm codes, but nobody memorizes those. They all sound the same, anyway.” Lucretia shrugged, turning back to her expectant audience of four.

“Time to go over the big rules. There are only two, so don’t fuck this up. First, absolutely no swimming or diving. None. Zero tolerance. You could get sucked into an underwater cave and drowned, or worse, fired. Don’t go in the fucking water.

“Second, don’t take anything home. Equipment, books, tools, souvenirs, artifacts, they all stay here. If you get caught smuggling anything out, don’t expect to come back.”

Three scientists floated by on a makeshift raft—dozens of chairs lashed together with rope and covered with a tarp. They were lying flat across it, holding beer cans.

“It’s always the Trama lab who pulls this shit,” Lucretia said, casting them a dark look. “Really putting that budget to work.”

She guided the boat into a canyon. There were hundreds of rooms above them, carved from the stone and flickering with light. Laughter and music poured from open windows in the rock. Rope bridges stretched over their heads, groaning under the weight of people sitting and drinking and talking.

“What is this place?” Isaac asked. It was a far cry from the cold, empty canals he’d seen on his way in.

“Reality Weaving Academy. It’s like this every night. Come back tomorrow morning and you’ll see true misery. None of you are joining the academy, right?”

The two men in straw hats glanced at each other. “We are,” one of them said.

“Well. They throw some decent parties, at least. Or so I’ve heard.”

The canyon shrank into a dark, winding river. The ceiling bent so low that Isaac could almost reach up and touch it.

“We are approaching our first stop,” Lucretia drawled. “Do not be alarmed when the boat stops.”

She moored the boat near SEIDR’s lobby, and they all crowded into the elevator. When they stepped out, the jagged stone and dim canals were replaced by faded green carpets and exposed brick walls. A generator hummed in the distance.

Lucretia began to walk and talk as she ushered them forward. “This is the Catacomb Theater. Specifically, we are in the theater’s basement, the heart of SEIDR, the reason that the Institute was founded. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for the original rift.”

They stopped in front of a steel door. A security guard leaned against the wall, wearing a gray duster. He eyed them warily.

“Just here with the six o’clock tour,” Lucretia said.

He grunted and opened the door.

Isaac had to stop for a second while his eyes caught up with his brain. The room they’d entered was a perfect cube. Red lanterns hung from the ceiling at various heights. In the center of the room was a steel cage, bolted onto the floor.

Inside the cage was a hole in reality.

From every angle, it appeared flat and impossibly dark. It interrupted the three-dimensional space with a two-dimensional gap.

It was like the skin of the world had peeled back to reveal the flesh underneath. And, Isaac realized with an unexpected delight, he could hear it.

As he walked forward, the soft hum grew louder and louder.

At the edges of the rift were thin, sharp lines, trailing off into oblivion. They shone with a pure and intense blue light, streaked with gold, vibrating against the backdrop of red. They looked as if they were not present in the room, but rather etched against the surface of Isaac’s eyes.

He reached the cage and placed his hands against the bars. The metal was warm, and he could feel his fingers vibrating. The sound travelled up his bones and resonated through his skull.

“This is truly one-of-a-kind, folks,” Lucretia said with well-rehearsed boredom. “A stable reality rift, estimated to be around three hundred thousand years old. No photography please.”

“Why not?” asked the woman with the lime-green hair.

“The camera doesn’t see it the same way we do. It’s complicated.”

Isaac was finally able to tear his attention away from the rift. The rest of the room was empty, save for a painting on the wall. It was a larger-than-life rendition of Victor Belka, placed directly across from the cage. He was frowning.

Lucretia clapped her hands together. “Alright, story time. The metal cage is pretty new. SEIDR left the rift completely open for decades, despite multiple recommendations from HR. There wasn’t even a fence, just a painted line on the floor. Since the entrance is secure and everything, they said it was fine. They mostly used it to run experiments and teach weaving classes. The rest of the time, it was strictly off-limits. Still absurdly dangerous if you ask me.

“There were a few accidents over the years, but nothing too bad until some idiot guard left the door propped open during his break. There was a performance at the Catacomb Theater that night, and one of the actors wandered down here. He snuck into this room and ended up falling through the rift. They finally took our advice and put the cage up after that.

“Anyway, by some miracle, the actor survived. One of our ships found him on the other side a couple years later. He was still wearing his Hamlet costume, the poor bastard.”

Something clicked in Isaac’s head. He said, “Oh, yeah. That was me.”

“What?”

“I’m the actor who fell through. Or so they tell me.” He knew it was true, but only as a dry second-hand fact, a stranger’s glimpse of himself.

“Wow.” Lucretia threw her cigarette on the ground and stamped it out with the heel of her boot. “Sorry that happened, I guess. We’re going to the next stop now.”

***

They had just reached the boat when Isaac got a text from Basil.

I AM IN SEIDR LOBBY. WHERE ARE YOU

He groaned. He’d completely forgotten about their phone call earlier. He sent a quick message in return—on my way—and told Lucretia that he had to go meet his uncle.

“You’re missing all the best parts, just so you know,” she warned him.

“I’ll try to catch up with you later,” Isaac said.

“Good luck with that.”

When he reached the lobby again, he spotted Basil’s shock of white hair immediately. His uncle sat on a wooden bench between two arches, hunched over and peeling an orange. He wore a leather messenger bag slung over one shoulder. His face lit up as soon as he saw Isaac, and he clambered to his feet.

“There you are!” He wrapped Isaac in a rib-cracking hug. “Good to see you!”

“You too, Uncle,” Isaac wheezed.

“Would you like an orange?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Good. Here. We should talk elsewhere,” Basil said, casting a glance toward the receptionist. “Follow me.”

Isaac devoured the orange as he trailed behind his uncle. Basil took a series of quick turns, leading him through a maze of identical tunnels. He stopped in front of an uneven, vertical crack in the wall.

“Right through here,” he said. “Go on.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not going in there.”

“It is not far. Look.” Basil stepped into the wall and disappeared before Isaac’s horrified eyes.

After a moment, a match flared, illuminating a small room on the other side.

“Come on,” Basil’s voice said, echoing through the crevice. “No fear.”

Isaac sighed and climbed into the wall. The passage was tight and jagged, and he scraped his ankle against a rough patch of stone, but after a few seconds he emerged into a tiny cave.

Basil sat on a ledge, holding a candle. The shadows danced around him as the flame swayed back and forth. A trickle of water ran down one of the walls. The floor was lush, covered in moss and dotted with ferns.

There was another crack on the far wall, much narrower and deeper. Isaac leaned into it, but he couldn’t see how far back it went.

“Be careful,” Basil said. “I got stuck in there once.”

Isaac stepped hastily back. He folded a fern out of the way and sat on the ground. The moss was squishy and damp and it soaked through his jeans. “How did you find this place?”

“Oh, it was many years ago. A friend of mine showed it to me. It was always a good spot to get away.”

“It’s lovely.”

“Now I must ask what brings you to SEIDR,” Basil said, frowning. He had great big bushy eyebrows that gave him a fierce scowl. “What happened?”

“It’s a really long story,” Isaac said. “It’s been a really long day. Basically, uh, I got a job.”

“How?”

“Apparently I have a doppelganger.” Isaac glanced at his uncle, but Basil did not react. “Last night he broke into SEIDR. They don’t know how. He showed up out of thin air. Victor asked me to help figure it out, and I said yes.”

Basil shook his head. The shadows made deep pits of his eyes. “That is a strange request. Why would Victor Belka ask you for help?”

“It’s my doppelganger. I’m probably the best person for the job.”

“And what did he offer you in return?”

“A spot on the Wizards Guild. A chance to go back.”

“I do not like this.”

“Well, I do.”

“What about your acting?”

Isaac snorted. “I haven’t landed a part in four months. Acting is great, but this is better.”

“How do you know? You have never worked for SEIDR before.”

“But I know what they do.” Isaac leaned in. “I know that if I don’t take this job, I might never see Oshun again. That’s enough for me.”

“And if you fail to find your doppelganger?”

“I won’t fail.”

“You are so sure.”

“I have to be.” Isaac locked his hands together. A drop of water landed on his head and he flinched. “It’s not like I’ll get another chance. This is it.” He was buzzing with an irritated, prickly energy. He could not explain himself, and he resented having to try. “I miss it too much, alright?”

“This place swallows men whole. Bones and all.” Basil’s dark eyes glinted with candlelight. “You have no idea.”

“Don’t try to scare me. It’s not going to work.”

“I am merely speaking the truth. You have stumbled into a brood of vipers, and I would like to see you leave unharmed.”

“You made it out fine,” Isaac said. His tone was accusing.

“And it was dumb luck which saved me. Nothing more.”

“Maybe I’m lucky too.”

“Maybe.” Basil searched his face for a long moment and then reached out, clasping Isaac’s hands. “Please, be careful.”

“I’m always careful,” Isaac said. This earned him a dubious stare. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I worry about everything. You are no different.” Basil rummaged through his messenger bag and handed him a glass jar. It shone a warm, fiery gold. “I brought some honey for you, if you would like it.”

Isaac took it reverently. “Thank you. I’ll be fine, Uncle. I swear.”

“I hope you are right. I hope this place will treat you well. I have not been back in years. Seeing it again …” Basil looked around, drawing in a deep breath. “It is stunning, in spite of everything.”

“Thank you. Really. Thanks for showing up.”

“Of course, Isaac.”

***

When Basil left, Isaac went to the reception desk in SEIDR’s lobby and tapped lightly against the glass.

The receptionist looked up. “Can I help you?”

“I was on a tour boat earlier,” Isaac said. “Could you tell me how to get back to it?”

She gave him a clipped series of directions, and Isaac wandered through a warren of hallways. To his surprise, the route took him past the crack in the wall which led to Basil’s cave. From there, he reached a long corridor which opened into the shipyard.

The interspace-ships were the crown jewels of SEIDR’s extensive collection. They were tucked away in a crescent-shaped lagoon, illuminated by soft crimson light.

Three paths converged on the shipyard that night. The first path was Isaac’s. He’d been aboard one interspace-ship, seven years ago, but the memory was faint and fragmented. Seeing them now with fresh eyes was astonishing.

The ships towered over the rest of SEIDR’s canal boats. They were tall and elegant, built entirely from planks of rich red mahogany. Their hulls were sleek and streamlined. They had no sails or masts, only a pergola of wooden rigging and framework.

Lucretia and the others stood on the shore. Isaac trudged toward them, wrinkling his nose at the stench of cigarette smoke.

Lucretia said, “Oh. It’s you. We were just discussing the ships.” She gestured toward a few empty piers. “There are twelve in the fleet, but five of them are currently voyaging. One of them is supposed to be getting back any minute now.”

Behind the seven ships, a floating frog lurked at the far end of the lagoon. It was three stories tall and built from ramshackle timber planks. A rope bridge stretched out from its gaping mouth, suspended over the water.

“What about the frog?” Isaac asked.

“It’s not part of the tour.”

“Do they build the ships here?” one of the men in straw hats asked.

“Build them, repair them, weave them, pretty much everything.”

“Weave them?”

“How do you think they get around?” Lucretia asked, rolling her eyes.

A bronze lion statue guarded the dock, sitting with his tail wrapped around his paws. He’d been rubbed on the nose and ears so many times that they shone gold.

“That’s Turnip. They like to give him a pat before voyages,” Lucretia said, waving her cigarette toward the lion. “Good luck or something.”

Isaac reached out and brushed his fingers over Turnip’s nose. The metal was cool and silky to the touch. He could’ve sworn he heard a deep, vibrating purr as he walked away.

He followed the others onto the dock, where red lanterns hung above them on long bamboo poles. There were a few people aboard one of the ships, and Isaac could make out bits and pieces of their muffled conversation. They were arguing about something to do with hammocks.

“Out of the way,” someone growled, and Isaac jumped aside. A dockhand staggered past him, carrying a heavy crate. He turned down one of the piers and disappeared behind a ship.

Lucretia checked her watch. “Try to stay on the left. It can get pretty crowded down here. Anyway, if the crew is still alive, we should see the Clarity returning in the next two or three—”

Before she could finish her sentence, there was a sound like a breeze being torn in half.

Alongside one of the piers, a mesh of brilliant blue lines hung in midair. Gold filaments ran across them, twirling in mesmerizing and spatially impossible ways. They were moving, shifting, turning—and as Isaac watched the motion carefully he realized they were sliding apart.

A sketchy, transparent shape emerged between them, resolving itself into an interspace-ship. With every passing second, it grew more solid. The ship’s rigging was strung with lines of radiant blue, spooling through the pergola and disappearing into the air behind it.

Isaac could not shake the sense that it was wrong for this to happen, that the world was not designed for such a strain. The cave seemed as if it might rip into pieces. There was a warped distortion in the air, shimmering like heat on the highway.

The Clarity was opaque now, and the motion of the fabric slowed. The blue lines hung slack, casting a violet glow over the deck and water below. With a creaking groan, the ship halted, settling into the water.

There was a loud cheer as the crew emerged onto the deck. They waved to the other ships and dockhands, laughed, and hugged one another. They threw a gangplank to the pier and marched past the tour group, chattering with the relieved energy of travellers returning home. Isaac noted their grimy hands and awful stench and beaming smiles. He envied them terribly.

Lucretia said, “That’s what an arriving interspace-ship looks like, if any of you were wondering.”

“What are the blue lines?” the green-haired woman asked, staring up at the rigging.

“Refined fabric of reality. Don’t touch it.”

“What happens if you do?”

“You’ll unravel. What did you get hired for?”

“Engineering.”

Lucretia winced. “Ah. Good luck.”

“Thanks?”

Lucretia opened her mouth, but was immediately interrupted by a sudden, riotous ringing of bells.

Isaac clapped his hands over his ears. The alarm was a cacophony of terrible sound. The echoes cascaded over each other, growing louder with every passing second.

He had no idea what was going on, and it seemed like no one else did either. Everyone on the dock was frozen, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In the hallway that led into the shipyard, a figure appeared.

Isaac had never seen someone move that fast before. Her legs were a blur, her black hair streaming behind her. She flew down the path, darting right past the newly-returned crew. They stared after her with open astonishment.

In moments she reached the dock, and Isaac felt the shock of it reverberate up his legs. She was a series of brief impressions—a white uniform, two clenched fists, and a sharp face clouded with dread. Her feet were bare, and one of them was bleeding. It felt like a dream, under the red light and the ringing, for she was so quick and everything around her was completely still.

Only when she was almost upon him did he realize he was standing in the way.

He couldn’t move in time. She pushed right past him. Her pace didn’t waver for an instant as she sprinted toward the Clarity.

Isaac flailed and clawed at the air as his balance slipped away from him. He fell in a slow, backward topple.

The lagoon swallowed him whole. There was a roaring splash, muted by the water, and then the world was cold and blessedly quiet.

He opened his eyes. In the murky red depths below him, there was no floor in sight, only a gradient of light to utter dark. Bubbles rushed past his face.

He started to kick. His head breached the surface and he gasped. For a second he was blind, floundering, before a hand clutched the back of his shirt and pulled him up.

Isaac grabbed the edge of the dock. With Lucretia’s help, he was able to hoist himself up onto the wooden slats. He sat on his knees, dripping, wiping his eyes.

In the unexpected silence, he realized the alarm bells had stopped.

He looked up just in time to see the last blurry remnants of the Clarity disappear into the air. Then it was gone, slipping between the lines of reality, leaving turbulent waters and empty space in its wake.