Shaynen was surprised to find that Barrett wasn’t waiting for him on the other side of the door. Instead it was Master Ayre waiting patiently while looking out the window. Shaynen looked back and forth down the hall, wondering where Barrett had gone.

“Oh, there you are.” Master Ayre said, finally noticing him. “You were in there for quite a while. I was starting to get worried.”

“Where’d Barrett go? I thought he was going to show me around,” Shaynen asked.

“He has his own chores to do, and I would like you to see the doctor here.”

“Why?” Shaynen let the door shut behind him. Now clean, he definitely could tell he wasn’t injured.

“You’re very thin and that eye of yours is unsettling.” Master Ayre said and started walking down the hall. Shaynen felt his face but didn’t feel anything unusual. He ran after the elder.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?” Shaynen asked accusingly.

“Your eye. Just the one. That blank looking one.” Master Ayre pointedly stared at the left side of Shaynen’s face. While puzzled at first, Shaynen recalled that his eyes were different colors.

“Oh, that.” Shaynen laughed. “It’s fine. It’s supposed to be a sign of the compromise I made with the dragon.”

“Shaynen.” Master Ayre stopped, seemingly out of breath. He knelt down and looked at Shaynen’s eyes deeply. Searching through and looking at the one naturally colored one. Shaynen looked back, trying to figure out where the conversation was going to go.

“Sometimes, when bad things happen and when we have to be by ourselves, we start to believe the impossible. We conjure up these heroes in our mind to protect us and give us strength.” Master Ayre said quietly.

“I didn’t imagine it-” Shaynen tried to interrupt.

“I know I can’t tell you what did or didn’t happen.” Master Ayre cut him off sternly. “But I can tell you that people don’t believe in miracles unless one comes to them. You made it here, and whether that’s by will of the gods or by coincidence doesn’t matter. No one else believes in your miracle.”

“But you believe me, don’t you?” Shaynen asked. Master Ayre looked down the halls for a second, Shaynen stuck his hand into his pocket to feel the pendant inside.

“We know what we know,” Master Ayre nodded knowingly. Shaynen smiled, taking the phrase as confirmation. The elder stood up and held out his hand and Shaynen took it.

“Now, let’s go see that doctor.” Master Ayre said. Shaynen nodded and skipped alongside him. He started to hum as he skipped.

“Oh, try not to do that in the halls.” The elder cleared his throat. Stopping Shaynen’s hum. “You don’t want to interrupt anyone’s concentration.” Shaynen looked at the sparse doors that they passed.

“Are lots of people concentrating?” He whispered.

“There could be, you never know what could be behind these doors.” Master Ayre stopped in front of a door and motioned to it as an example. Shaynen nodded thoughtfully. Master Ayre opened the door and Shaynen was hit by a sharp smell of sterilization. He wrinkled his nose and looked up, his heart stopping dead in his chest. All at once his stomach leapt up to the back of his throat. It gagged him and he couldn’t breathe in to scream.

“You’ve gone white as a ghost,” Master Ayre frowned.

Shaynen ripped his hand out of the elders and ran. The older man stared with his mouth dropped open in stunned silence.

“I thought you said you were gonna bring me that new kid?” The doctor spoke in his foreign drawl. Walking out of the door to catch Master Ayre’s attention.

“Right,” the elder nodded, then shrugged. “Something must have spooked him.”

“Yeah, must not care for medical professionals.” The doctor pulled out a pipe and flicked a match supernaturally smoothly. “Well, you bring him on over or call me when you find him. I’m very interested in that funny looking eye you were telling me about.”

“Right,” Master Ayre nodded again. “Right, what kid likes seeing the doctor. Right?” He laughed weakly, the doctor chuckled and drew in a deep pull from the pipe. Master Ayre cleared his throat and quickly paced down the hall where Shaynen disappeared.

Shaynen hid in the first corner he found that covered him entirely. That meant he was hidden under the loom of the weaving room. He alternated between gasping for air and dry heaving. When his paranoid ears perceived a noise he'd freeze and hold his breath until dizzy or convinced whatever it was had left. He couldn’t think straight long enough to figure out where the exit was. Rushed footsteps startled Shaynen into holding his breath again. His eyes widened as far as they could go as the steps stopped outside the door. Heading spinning, he covered his mouth as the door shut.

“Shaynen,”

The voice saying his name made Shaynen’s skin go cold.

“The door’s shut. I’m here alone, can you come out?”

Shaynen didn’t move, hoping if he stayed still and didn’t breathe then maybe the intruder would go away.

“I know you’re in here. We all know to shut the doors behind us in this temple.”

Shaynen bit down on his tongue. Shoving his hand harder over his mouth to muffle the whimper. One hand fished the pendant from his pocket and held it to his chest. Begging for rescue or to just vanish. The air in the room felt stuffy and electric. Shaynen felt like he was floating.

“There you- Shaynen! Breathe!”

Though his eyes were wide open, Shaynen wasn’t seeing anything. His vision was black at the edges and unfocused. He hardly noticed his hand being yanked from his mouth. The black static consumed his sight and Shaynen went limp.

Master Ayre let out a sigh of relief when the child finally began to breathe again. Shaynen fell unconscious and slumped against the loom, but he was breathing again. His face was drained of all color and around his lips were purple from lack of oxygen. The elder couldn’t fit in the tiny cubby hole the boy had squeezed himself into. He carefully twisted the boy's shoulders free of the tight space and tried to pull him free. He noticed quickly the small bead of blood welling up in Shaynen’s closed fist. Master Ayre gently laid Shaynen down and pried open his closed fist. Freeing a small silver pendant that hit the floor. The noise didn’t echo in the room but it repeated deafeningly loud in Master Ayre’s ears. He stared at the pendant. Memories dancing across the reflective silver.

***

Shaynen slowly started coming around. He came around to the feeling of a heavy weight overtop him. Panic seized him and he bolted upright with a short scream. The shrill noise echoed around the white room.

He was back in the bathroom. With the white tub, though it was now complete with a heavy blanket and modest pillow. To his left he noticed Master Ayre. Sitting perfectly still. As if he didn't notice Shaynen in the same room at all. Shaynen slid out from under the blanket and sat staring at the elder. Wondering how much he had dreamed and how much was real. Shaynen's hand went to his pocket, fresh panic washed over him.

Shaynen jumped to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets as deep as they would go.

"Something the matter?" Master Ayre asked. Still unmoving.

"My mother's pendant!" Shaynen yelled. His voice ricocheted around the room. "It's gone!"

"Calm down, what did it look like?" Master Ayre asked, still unmoving.

"It was silver! In the shape of a dragon!" Shaynen burst into tears, fully hysterical.

"Calm down," Master Ayre said again. "Where did you last have it?" Shaynen started hyperventilating. Frantically trying to decide which parts were accurate.

"I think it was the room with all thev clothes?" Shaynen whimpered, feeling like he was going to throw up.

"Calm down," Master Ayre finally moved, opening his eyes and standing up. "If someone finds it, it'll be taken to the lost and found. We'll go look in a minute."

"In a minute? Why?" Shaynen swallowed through the sobs.

"Sometimes when your head is cloudy, your spirit can’t speak with you.” Master Ayre held out his hands toward the tub. Shaynen glanced at it then glared at him.

“I’d rather go look for my mother’s pendant.” Shaynen said. “It’ll be quick! We can go look in the room and I know exactly where to look for it!” The elder waited patiently through Shaynen’s pleadings but didn’t budge.

“I’ll just leave!” Shaynen yelled, the constant echoing of his voice was making his ears ring. “I’m going to go look for my pendant and then I’m never coming back!” Master Ayre didn’t even blink. Shaynen slammed his foot down and started back toward the door. The elder intercepted him, easily redirecting Shaynen’s charge into his open arms.

“I understand you’ve had it hard.” Master Ayre said gently. Crushing Shaynen to his chest, too tight for the boy to resist. “But it’s all okay now. I promise as long as you’re in my care, you’re safe.” Shaynen felt his chest tighten and his throat close up. Fresh tears came spilling down his face. He hiccuped but was too stunned to carry on crying. Instead he trembled in shocked silence.

“We get lots of lost souls here that have seen awful things. All of us know what you’re going through. It’s all going to be okay, you’re safe now. As long as you’re behind these walls. Everything is okay.”

Shaynen felt deeply conflicted. The comfort was warm and solid, it felt so real. But his experience was cold and haunting. Comparable to a match trying to melt an ice sculpture.

"You are free to leave, but that won't soothe the hurt." Master Ayre spoke so softly. Like a summer's midnight rain. It melted a weakness into Shaynen's icy resolve. The grip around him loosened for him to leave, but he kept still. "Will you trust me?"

Shaynen didn't move. He couldn't make his voice come out to say no. He was too stiff to shake his head. The silence stretched forever, expanding far beyond the walls. Master Ayre moved to step back, Shaynen grabbed the white cloth and kept the elder from moving away. He managed a shaky nod as a delayed answer.

"Good. You have to release me."

Shaynen pried his fingers open and Matter Ayre backed out of the boy's grip. Shaynen glared at the floor, wiping his nose.

"What about my mother's pendant? It's important. Important things can have power of their own you know." Shaynen said.

"They can," the elder said. "Are you familiar with deafening?"

"Yeah," Shaynen said with a roll of his eyes. "It's when something is too loud."

"Not quite." Master Ayre cleared his throat to stop a chuckle. "It's a process where we make everything quiet but your thoughts. So you can hear them clearly." Shaynen watched as the elder stepped into the tub and drew the water.

"It's so cold," Shaynen whined.

"It's not as cold as you think." Master Ayre said. "It's a very good example of how your senses can lie to you." Shaynen stared at the water.

“If setting it up takes a while then I could really quickly-” Shaynen started backing toward the door.

“Won’t take more than a second.” Master Ayre said, turning with a look that paralyzed Shaynen in his tracks. “Can you guess why our appearance is as it is?”

“Convenience?” Shaynen guessed.

“Not quite,” Master Ayre stood in the water as the water stopped flowing from the tap. “You are right that there is power in things we love. These objects hoard power, they can speak and persuade you to do things you would never do. All for their benefit.” Master Ayre walked to the edge of the pool, he removed the white cloth and folded it, placing it onto the small table.

“It was my mother’s.” Shaynen murmured defiantly.

“Come,” Master Ayre held out his hand toward Shaynen. He frowned as he stared at the hand. He looked at the door, knowing he could leave. But also knowing he couldn’t.

Shaynen rubbed at his arm awkwardly, hanging his head and heading toward the tub. Sheepishly reaching out and taking the elder’s hand. Stepping over the lip of the tub and staring at Master Ayre skeptically.

“It has power over you,” Master Ayre said. “While it has power over you, you will never grow. You are a marvel of self-reliance and you do not need some trinket to give you strength.”

“Is that why I can’t go look for it?” Shaynen asked. “So we can make it a positive thing again?”

“Exactly.” The elder nodded. Guiding Shaynen down to sit in the water. “You don’t need it to remember those you loved. In time, you may not even need it at all.” Shaynen looked down at his hands, in his lap(*) with the water barely washing over them.

“But I can still have it,” Shaynen said stubbornly. Master Ayre didn’t respond. The elder took Shaynen’s hands and guided him to lay back in the water.

“Lay still, relax. Clear every thought out of your head.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Shaynen asked, tense from how close the water was to his eyes. He could barely hear with the water covering his ears.

“Feel the way the water moves. Focus on that.”

Shaynen stared up at the white ceiling, feeling the way the water moved around him. The white ceiling had no tiles, no stone, nothing to anchor his gaze and keep it from glazing over. He closed his eyes to avoid the headache that building from his eyes unfocusing. Despite having his eyes closed, he was tense. Mostly from the chill of the cold water that was flowing back and forth. Shaynen was sure he wasn’t moving but the water was moving around him.

“Why is the water moving?” Shaynen opened his eyes to sit up but his eyes were covered and he was gently lowered back into the water.

“It isn’t. You’re feeling the doorway to the other worlds.”

“What other worlds?” Shaynen asked.

“Shh. Focus and they’ll reveal themselves.”

Shaynen frowned and sighed deeply. Crossing his arms in a huff.

“Try to relax.”

“I am relaxed.” Shaynen felt the hand lift from his eyes, he opened them briefly and noted Master Ayre now sitting beside him. His eyes slid closed again and he shifted to get some sort of comfort from the stone floor. The cold water bothered him less the longer he was in it. Shaynen slowly lowered his arms into the water.

“Breathe in to the count of five, out to the count of seven.”

Shaynen breathed in deeply. Counting for his breaths, though the rhythm of the count was chaotic and uneven. With every repeated count Shaynen felt farther away like he was falling asleep. He lost count, just as he lost perception of his body. Around him the current shifted like something was pushing him farther away, deeper. A single drop of water broke the surface of the water and snapped Shaynen’s eyes open. All he saw was darkness, and another drop was heard somewhere in the distance.

“Do you hear that?” He asked, looking around and placing his hands on the floor of the tub to ground himself.

“Hear what?”

Shayne breathed in sharply and reached blindly for Master Ayre.

“I have you, I won’t let you wander. -There is no place you can go that I cannot follow- I am here

The elder’s voice sounded so far away, it echoed around as if it never stopped. Between the words was a voice that Shaynen knew didn’t belong to Master Ayre. Shaynen let his eyes close, if they were open, he couldn’t quite tell. He took another deep breath and tried to listen between the drops for whatever he was supposed to hear.

What did you see?

Shaynen jumped slightly at the voice so clear but soft. Quick images flashed in his mind, of a pair of eyes that changed like the phases of the moon, peeking through the void.

“I saw the dragon. Just like mother said.”

Where is she? Your mother. What happened to her? What did you see?

“I saw…”