45

Lieke woke up slowly from what felt like an ancient slumber. Nate was still holding her in his arms. He let go of her wrists. Vanessa hovered over them both, stroking Lieke’s forehead with the white feather. Lieke was human after all and this had worked on all humans she had tried it on.

Where was Marith? Nate gently pushed Vanessa’s arm away and looked up at her.

“Is she returning? Like you saw Lieke return?”

Vanessa straightened her back and examined the dark skies above. Since the Elders had left the sky had adopted a colour that was a few shades away from being pitch black. Her eyes travelled downward, where they rested on Jonathan, who was still holding the limp Mage in his lap.

Jonathan froze when he saw the look on Vanessa’s face. His eyes darted to Nate, who instantly felt and understood the silent panic that took a hold of Jonathan.

For a few seconds only the three of them, their quiet despair and the bricks in their stomachs existed.

It was Nate who broke the silence. “Where is she then?!”

The question was mostly aimed at Lieke, who was crawling away from him on her knees, her hands slipping away in the stinking dredge on the road. Kyle and Charlotte attempted to help her up, but she simply wasn’t ready to be on her feet yet.

After a few tugs the Prophet and his sister let her sink back. She rolled over. Now completely covered in snot she decided to sit on her behind, like Nate and Jonathan.

“Where is who?”

“Your sister!”

“I don’t know…” Lieke answered, attempting to brush a few dirty strands of hair from her face with even dirtier hands. She gagged when she saw and smelled the goo on her hands.

Everybody present had been ignoring the liquids and the smells that had escaped the bodies of the monster-women to the point of actually not registering them anymore. It was as if their noses had somehow adjusted to this new reality of constant stink.

“She was in a trance when she died,” Pedro said to anyone listening. “She probably has no idea of anything that has taken place since this morning.”

“What happened?” Lieke wondered, a high pitch in her voice, looking at some of the grim faces around her.

“You were dead,” Theresa spoke softly, kneeling down beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“And Marith still is,” Nate added, barely able to control his breathing.

Lieke looked at the carnage and the snot and the frozen silhouettes around her. When her eyes finally rested on Marith she started to cry. Charlotte kneeled down on her other side, but Lieke wasn’t in the right mindspace to be comforted.

“She must have slipped out of her trance the moment she died,” Joshua started. “Maybe she will remember something if we wait for a bit.”

“No.” Vanessa shook her head. “I had no recollection of the Inbetween either after Marith saved my life. It’s like a reset,” she explained.

“Shit,” was all Joshua had to say to that.

Lieke crawled over to Marith and Jonathan. The slime made wet sounds under her hands and knees. Her knees moved over the fabric of the apron she was still wearing, hindering her and slapping her body back against the road.

Joshua helped her. He lifted her up and put her back down next to her sister. The rest of the Chain stood idly by, frozen in disbelief and indecision.

Lieke grabbed her sisters arm and shook it violently.

“Marith,” she whispered.

The way she uttered her sisters name made it sound like a plea.

“Marith, alsjeblieft,” she whispered, slightly louder, sobbing heavily. “This cannot be it, Marith. It can’t be.”

She was still shaking her sisters arm. Marith’s body moved lifelessly in Jonathan’s lap. Her neck hung from his left arm in an uncomfortable angle and her mouth was slightly opened.

Jonathan looked at Vanessa. She was crying again. He then looked at Nate. The Prophet still sat down on the road with a blank look on his face, as if he was frozen to the asphalt. Every thought in the world and no thoughts whatsoever simultaneously appeared to be travelling through his mind.

Jonathan knew the feeling. It was the realization that the world was crashing down on a person and as a response the brain just bargained itself into denial.

“She’s right,” Jonathan said. “This cannot be it.”

Something changed in the air around them. All six Prophets breathed in abruptly, as if they had been under water for too long and were finally able to get a gulp of air, and their eyes turned misty for a few, very brief moments. It happened so fast that Charlotte and Lieke missed it, but the Runners and the Mages knew what it meant.

A current rushed through the Chain as if a light switch had been turned by the Web. The energy almost crackled, waking each and every Pupil up from their brain fog.

“Will!” Nate screamed with all the force his lungs allowed under the circumstances.

Finally he scrambled to his feet and resolutely made his way over to his Mage. Jonathan, a person that generally didn’t need more than a few clues to understand things in life, realized what Nate wanted and shuffled himself away from under Marith. At last, she had to be laid down in the dredge, but he sensed it wouldn’t be for nothing. The message his grandmother had shared with him that morning echoed through his mind.

William kneeled down next to Marith, while Jonathan made sure Lieke couldn’t reach her anymore.

“What exactly are you suggesting?” William inquired.

“You’ve basically got an AED in your hands. I suggest you use it,” Nate answered, kneeling down on the other side of the body.

“Right,” Will said. He had already known the answer. “Step back, people. This won’t be pretty.”

William sighed heavily, closed his eyes and intuitively placed the palms of his hands on what was left of Marith’s sweater. He sensed where her heart was, where in her chest it was supposed to be beating. This was more or less what Marith must have felt in that classroom with Pavan, weeks before his own Rebirth, he thought.

William knew that he could do it, even though he didn’t have as much practice being a Mage as the rest of the Chain. He knew he had it in him.

His left hand was placed firmly on her sternum, his right hand on the left side of her ribcage, under her armpit.

“Ready?” He whispered to Nate.

“Yeah,” Nate breathed back.

Blue lights shot from his fingertips. They travelled into Marith’s body with ease. Her corpse laid shocking and spasming in the snow. The electricity swirled through her chest, before it filled up the rest of her body.

“Keep going,” Nate urged.

Neither of the Pupils were experts in CPR. Why would they? They didn’t die as easily as humans and besides, they had Marith. Luckily both Nate and William remembered some things from the first aid course in high school.

After about thirty shocks William stopped, pulled his hands away and let Nate perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. When Nate sat up again Will placed his hands back and resumed the defibrillation.

William noticed how all the nerves in her body became visible after each electrical pulse he sent, as if he was making a scan of her.

Marith had managed to get back to her feet after an intense session of weeping and hyperventilating and now she found herself barefoot in the cool arcade. Outside the sun was slowly travelling back towards the horizon and the temperatures were dropping. Long shadows were cast in the gardens and the massive hallway. Soon she would need to light some candles and maybe even a fire. She wondered what her first night alone in the castle was going to be like.

She had inadvertently picked her prison. A love abandoned. A life unlived. A world unexplored. She found herself caged by her own imagination.

Loneliness started to creep up on her like a tiger stalking it’s prey in the jungle. It was a burdened feeling she now knew she was destined to experience her whole existence.

She was in her twenties and her life, her real life, had yet to begin. Her mental state had always held her back. She had been a slave to her childhood trauma and to the way her brain had been wired. Now it all ended before the nice parts of life had a chance to happen.

Marith’s physical manifestation had died, but the truth was she had died a long time ago. Every nasty remark and demeaning phrase her mother had uttered and every neglectful act she had committed had eaten away at her. Every yelling session and every blow her father had ever handed out had murdered a chunk of her. Every nightmare, every horrific vision, every influence of the Kid she had ever experienced, had destroyed her, piece by piece.

She was supposed to mature, get a job, buy a house with Nate and bring some kids into the world. She had always wanted to be a mother and she felt, she just knew, that she would have been a good one, a better one.

She had always wanted to fill up the hollowness that her parents had instilled upon her by raising a family of her own and proving that she could end the cycle of abuse. She was supposed to have a lifetime of choices, of ups and downs, and ultimately a lifetime of happiness.

Her heart had always been homeless. Knowing she had created her final resting place during the most intoxicating love she had ever hoped to experience made her feel somewhat at ease.

She wandered aimlessly around the arcade. She had escaped the vortex of energy at the end of the stone hallway and strolled by Bouguereau’s Aphrodite, a painting Nate had added to the wall for her, when the movements of her ethereal body stalled.

It was as if her heart got caught under a steamroller and was squeezed empty. She grabbed her chest. When she looked down the electrical circuit of her heart briefly flashed before her eyes. It was bright and blue.

That would be William’s efforts to bring you back. They will realize soon, Oracle’s deep and harmonious voice rang.

Marith looked up to see Oracle, dr. Sybling, Pavan, Lucille and several other Elders standing in the hallway before her. They appeared to have materialized from thin air.

The twin sisters were both dressed in white. Oracle was wearing her skin-tight tunica and dr. Sybling was clad in a perfectly fitted designer suit so white it was almost blinding.

Rays of the setting Sun peeked through the arches, shining fiercely on the Elders. The golden hair-clasps and jewellery Oracle was wearing sparkled brightly. The embroidery of her tunica shimmered under her subtle movements.

The twin sisters carried an air of resignation.

Marith’s eyes widened as the meaning of their presence in the Inbetween dawned on her.

Is this my fault? Marith asked, with a tremble in her voice. Have I taken you all with me?

If it’s any consolation at all, we wouldn’t have been any better at fighting the Kid, Pavan told her.

Did I do this by breaking the Chain? Have we failed? Marith wondered.

You didn’t fail. The task at hand was to secure the perpetuity of the Web. I think you have succeeded, Oracle explained in her own circuitous way.

A free Web contains both good and evil, dr. Sybling added.

Marith still had to get used to the fact that dr. Sybling could look her in the eyes now.

I cannot believe we’re all dead, Marith said, with a sigh.

Her mind wasn’t in the right place to grasp what Oracle and her twin were saying, let alone to give an intelligent response. It felt like a band around her chest was tightening. Her hands, in so far she still had human sensations, were moist and her head was dizzy.

Oh, you haven’t died yet, Pavan answered, eerily chipper, we did. You are currently in a state of perpetual quantum confusion.

In a what?

You’re a bodiless entity with endless potential, he clarified.

Pavan had been the headmaster of her primary school and he had saved her from a certain death by train, months ago. She thought it was funny, in a dark and intriguing way, how she had left her life behind anyway. He had just postponed her physical death by a few months and those months had been pivotal in the grand scheme of things.

That train of thought sparked something in her mind.

If I have endless potential, does that mean I also have the potential to go back to Earth again? She dared to ask with a half-hearted and weary smile.

Your body is currently lifeless, but your mind is not. I propose that you use it, Pavan encouraged.

What would happen if I jump off the cliff? On the other side of the park?

Marith clarified, when she understood that probably neither of the Elders were aware of this specific cliff that Nate had designed.

You would end up here again, Oracle informed her in a grave tone of voice.

Her eyes searched Marith’s for understanding.

Marith swallowed and nodded.

Can I at least say goodbye?

You already said goodbye. You left the world in a better place than in which you found it, Oracle told her calmly.

Your death marks the death of a demon, Lucille spoke proudly.

She was wearing a beautiful mother of pearl broche. Marith intuitively knew, perhaps by the way she wore it, that it had been a gift from Jonathan.

You tied your own life to that of Samuel when you graced him with another chance. In a way you gave a part of yourself away the moment his heart started beating again with the new life you breathed into it. When you tried to take your gift back you went down with him. But Samuel isn’t dead and therefore, neither are you, dr. Sybling informed, adding more mystery to Marith’s current predicament.

One moment you’re alive and then you’re not. Inbetween is decided what will happen next and that is where you are destined to be holding the reigns, dr. Sybling went on.

Marith’s face must have twisted into a question mark, because Oracle started to explain her sister’s statements without Marith having to ask.

Have you never been curious what would happen to the girl that gives other people life after her own heart stops?

Well, n-not really, Marith stammered.

You have become Gatekeeper, you guard the Gateway to Eternity, Lucille spoiled.

She seemed giddy with happiness for Marith, but Marith was unable to grasp what any of the things she was hearing meant for her future.

Among other gates, of course, dr. Sybling patiently added.

You don’t control heartbeats, Marith. That is just a symptom, a side effect of your actual power, Oracle started to explain.

Marith listened in silence, but her eyes urged Oracle and dr. Sybling to continue.

Your real talent lies in darkness. You draw from nothingness, something that Nate knows how to do as well.

Darkness? Marith asked, goose bumps ran up her arms. That was exactly what Samuel had claimed.

There is real darkness in the world. And with your talent, your love, you can turn it into light.

I believe that is how you survived the Empty, Pavan told her.

Your talent will make you most powerful in here, the Inbetween, as you call it, Oracle continued.

Where do I find the nothingness to control my surroundings? Marith wondered with a frown.

Within yourself and within other people. Everyone carries it, some more than others.

You can expand into the light as far as you can contract into the dark… and, my dear Marith, we both know that you have travelled into darkness endlessly and relentlessly.

They appeared to be speaking her spiritual, dreamlike language again. The tongue everyone in the Inbetween seemed to be fluent in, but immediately forgot as soon as they weren’t there anymore.

Marith sighed and moaned as another electric current rushed through her. Each shock from William became more desperate and more violent.

Oracle and dr. Sybling absorbed her from head to toe. They looked worried, as if they weren’t sure how long this could go on. The three of them knew that Oracle and dr. Sybling didn’t hold the power to put a halt to anything that was going on amongst the living anymore.

Please, Oracle said, create us a worthy goodbye.

An array of questions marched through Marith’s mind. The Elders were incredibly bright and lucid, especially taking their age into account, but Marith knew she couldn’t ask them to stay and help her figure everything out. She knew she couldn’t disturb their peace at this moment.

The group of elderly Mages, Prophets and Runners slowly started to move again. To Marith’s surprise they shuffled towards the three, large wooden doors at the end of the arcade. The ones that had come into existence with no input from Marith or Nate whatsoever.

These were the doors that Marith had been blown towards by the strong and mysterious winds that plagued her when she had saved both Vanessa and Lieke. The winds remained absent, just like they had refused to show up when it had been Samuel’s turn to be saved.

Had the winds just been a warning sign before? Did they just tell Marith to hurry up the process of saving her loved ones or else…?

Isn’t Watchmaker coming? Marith asked, her eyes darting over the group of Elders moving past her.

His time hasn’t come quite yet. He will nurture and educate his successor, before travelling to his next destination.

Marith figured that was probably best, since Etienne was still very young. Even though the child was talented he was surely too young to be left alone on the job.

While the lump in Marith’s throat grew by the moment Oracle and her sister opened the doors and patiently waited for everybody to move through.

We can’t wait to see what it’s like, the Otherside, an old lady with massive glasses shared delighted, before she made her way to the river with no beginning and no end.

Sometimes Marith forgot that the Elders had been on Earth longer than any human should ever have to be.

Pavan put his hand on her shoulder and pinched it weakly, as if he was already gone.

Life is not forever. It's not supposed to be. Immortality scares me. I don’t know how the Kid does it, to be honest. It’s time for us to leave this beautiful place behind and make space. It would be an honour to meet you in another world one day... on a new adventure, Pavan spoke. My life is more than complete, he finished.

He accompanied the others and walked through the doors. None of them looked back.

Marith’s throat closed and her vision became blurry. She shut her eyes, forcing some tears to roll over her cheeks, and concentrated.

It felt as if the air was sucked out of the Inbetween. She steadied her breathing before she started imagining, weaving, a new part of the reality she existed in.

She remembered the river with no beginning or end. She created an end now. If the Pupils couldn’t travel from dimension to dimension without a deadfall then, in all likelihood, neither could the Elders, she thought.

First, she imagined a pier with a large boat and a wide gangway. The vessel was made out of light wood and shaped like a Viking ship, a knar but wider and slightly deeper.

The boat slowly started to move with the current, after every Elder had boarded. It drifted in between fields of flowers, filled with poppies, daisies and other wildflowers, on their left and Marith’s neatly kept English gardens on their right.

The river was filled with the most magical, colourful fish that swam alongside them.

The bright colours of the animals and the plants made them look like jewels in the bright, yellow light of the setting Sun.

The Elders did not speak, nor move on their gentle way to the edge. They could afford to be silent as they knew they were in good hands.

The birds and the insects solemnly abstained from buzzing and whistling and did not interrupt their praying.

The soft notes of a choir singing Tchaikovsky’s Hymn of the Cherubim slowly swelled into a more explicative sound as the boat floated along.

Beyond the nebulous mists of the falls a ginormous creature of light stood up, awakening from a century-long slumber. All of its six wings unfolded and spread out far and wide, while bright, blue lights escaped from its eyes.

Piece by piece, glittering particle by glittering particle, the Elders returned to the Well. Their bodies fragmented into their original specks and disappeared into the mist of the falls.

The lights of the Elders merged with the lights of the Elders that had gone before them. To the unknown endlessness of the Well. To an immortal world.

“Nate,” William started, “I am going to be totally honest with you… I don’t feel her. Her heartbeat isn’t returning. It’s as if she isn’t there anymore.”

William sat back and looked at Nate’s wet, distorted face.

“I don’t understand!” Lieke cried out again.

Panic had grabbed her tightly and there was little the Pupils could do to get her to calm down. Several of the Runners had donated their jackets to Charlotte and Lieke, but that didn’t stop the girls from shaking uncontrollably.

Kyle had dragged Charlotte out of Pedro’s zone of influence just in time when the Mage had taken away the fears and frustrations of the girls to calm them down in order to get them to board the second schoolbus.

“Pedro,” Kyle almost whispered, “can you ehm… do that thing again?”

“Sure,” Pedro answered with a nod.

Kyle wrapped an arm around each of the human teenagers and gently pushed them towards the Mage. This time Pedro didn’t spread his arms in a grandiose gesture. Instead he channelled the Flow with his hands and took the sharpest edges of their emotions away by waving his hands through the air above their heads.

His movements were swift and subtle. Neither Charlotte nor Lieke actually grasped what was happening. All they knew was that they experienced less pain and hopelessness afterwards.

The breathing of both girls steadied and they dried their tears. Pedro hadn’t taken their sense of reality away, he just made the situation more bearable. Their ability to think rational returned, so they could process information in a reasonable manner again.

“Marith was supposed to be right behind you,” Lisa explained to Lieke, now that she was more or less calm again, remembering how Marith had saved Vanessa before.

“Or not,” James brought in, rather tactless.

Pedro, Theresa and Kyle shot him threatening looks.

“What do you mean?” Nate tossed him a scornful glance.

“She keeps saving people. I mean, how many times can you do that, before you… you know, stay there? Think about it. When she saved Vanessa she was doing well, physically speaking, in this reality. We don’t know what happened up there. She could have died for real this time…” His voice died away when he realized nobody wanted to internalize what he was saying.

Lieke eyes darted from face to face. She was still filled with questions. What had Marith been through in the past few months? Why had she not known about any of this?

“No,” Nate shook his head resolutely.

He lacked the willpower to force this loss to the Empty and let it all in. An animalistic scream that sounded like a Viking’s call for battle escaped his throat.

The Prophet grabbed Marith’s body from the road and cradled her.

“NOOO!” He screamed into the freezing air of the night.

Brad put his hand on Nate’s shoulder.

“Nate, it’s over. She’s gone.” He shook his head. “And she isn’t coming back.”

“How do you know?!” Nate yelled, still rocking Marith’s body in his lap.

He wasn’t usually in the habit of being loud, which made his screaming sound raw and wrong.

“We all knew this would happen,” Brad almost stammered to the Prophet.

Lisa stepped forward. “I have seen it. You have seen it. This is how it was always going to be,” she told him resolutely, while also wiping tears from her face.

Marith had died that day. Somebody had to. Freedom is a precarious privilege fringed by pain and violence.

The Chain learned first-hand that the fight for liberty was scarier and bloodier than any of them would have imagined.

Pedro was about to spread his arms again to bring balance to everybody’s emotions, but Alexander stopped him. “If you take the pain away now, it will be worse in the future,” he whispered at the Mage.

“No,” Nate said, barely audible, shaking his head.

His curly hair was sticking to his forehead, his face was red and wet with tears, the rest of his body was covered in snot and blood and every other bodily fluid imaginable.

While Nate stared blankly into the night, his mind trying to grasp what was happening, Jonathan came forward, stepping through the curtain of snowflakes.

He crouched before Nate.

“I can get her back,” Jonathan spoke determined, cold sweat gushing over his face. He looked tense, which was unlike him.

“What?” Nate asked, hesitantly.

“Send me there,” the Runner urged with big eyes. “I’ve seen enough of it to find her.”

“If she’s there she’s in the castle… for sure,” Nate figured, muttering to himself, not entirely opposed to the idea.

“Nate!” Jonathan yelled at the sobbing Prophet, grabbing him by the shoulders to shake him out of whatever fog his brain was in. “Send. Me. There.”

Marith had died on Earth, but she was resurrected again somewhere else, because energy is never destroyed. A new member of the Structure, or better yet, a forgotten one had arisen. Marith had become Gatekeeper.

She had moved on. Not to the Otherside. To a place in the Web only the imagination could sustain. Her soul was in between worlds. Her body was on Earth. Her heart was with Nate, but her mind was weightless.

Her only regret was not having connected with Nate sooner. There was an eternal continuity between them in which they had escaped the weight of loneliness. Just like that their brief time together had turned into a remembrance of what might have been.

She wanted to stay with Nate, to love him and to live with him and to give him children, but they had been doomed from the start. She felt agony over the love he would be sharing with another woman in the future, she envied the kids he would one day nurse.

But Marith soon learned that even the afterlife goes on. She had been wandering the castle, lost in thought. She had first climbed the spiral staircase and had found herself on the clunky castle walls looking over her empty kingdom.

Everything was perfect. She had finished her artist impression of the Posbank and now the Sun was setting over it, setting the purple heath ablaze in an orange glow. The birds were singing their final song of the day and the temperature was warm, but not too warm. The kind of freshness that accompanied Spring surrounded her.

She stood motionless on the stone wall, acutely aware of the nature around her. She was barefoot and she was wearing a soft pink gown, finished with golden embroidery and shiny clasps. The drapery was held together on her left shoulder by a shining broche in the likeness of a scarab. Her wavy hair cascaded freely over her shoulders.

She seemed to be wearing the “company uniform” that both Oracles she had met had also worn. When the Chain had been formed the Pupils had all found themselves wearing the same type of tunica. However, those had all been off-white, somehow Marith was now wearing a personalized colour. This confirmed to her she was in the Inbetween to stay.

Anica’s had been olive green and Anica too was stuck in a world in between worlds.

Marith hoped she would visit someday soon.

The lower the Sun set the more she squinted her eyes. She shed no tears. She was at peace, in a solemn and depressed sort of way.

After the Sun had disappeared beyond the horizon a breeze played with her hair and goose bumps ran over her arms. She shivered and stumbled back to the staircase.

It brought her to the basement, which was one of the places in this world that she didn’t seem to be in control over. She had only been down there once, on account of her usually being busy saving lives when she visited the Inbetween.

Now, staring into these big otherworldly eyes, she sensed she was handed a clean slate.

Marith stood eye to eye with the palest, most elegant and petite creature she had ever seen. Her skin was white, but also translucent, showing a pinkish, purple glow underneath. Bright blue scales travelled down her neck, from her temples down to her shoulders and over her arms.

The scales looked like chromatophores to Marith, as if those patches on her skin could adopt any colour necessary.

Four angelic insect wings unfolded behind her small back, right below her shoulder blades. Each wing was no longer than one of Marith’s forearms. She looked up at Marith with two different eyes. One eye to see the here and now and another one to view into the endless options the Multiverse had to offer.

She was wearing a smaller version of the same pink gown Marith was wearing, so she couldn’t tell how far down the pigment-containing cells went.

The Traveller took the Mage in slowly. She smiled when she was done. Marith smiled back, relieved to find out Travellers were not the scary kind of aliens.

Do you like your dress? The childlike creature asked.

Yes, Marith answered, hesitantly.

Do you like it a lot? The Traveller wanted to know.

Yes, I do, Marith answered. I do like it a lot, she added, after a short silence.

Marith’s eyes widened as the scales on the Traveller’s face, neck and arms appeared to be vibrating and pulsing and flashing every colour of the rainbow. Her already oversized eyes grew bigger when the joy of having made Marith happy settled over her.

Gatekeeper likes the dress! The Traveller hopped from one leg to the other with glee.

Behind the small, pale humanlike creature more similar childlike creatures appeared, crawling out of the washers and dryers that had been causing a rumble when she had visited the basement with Nate.

At the arrival of each Traveller the machine that they were travelling through stopped spinning and tumbling.

The washers and the dryers are for you? Marith wondered in disbelief.

It is the fastest and safest way for us to travel… up until now, another Traveller shared elated.

The creatures blinked and looked up at Marith, while electrical pulses flowed under their skin. The tiny Travellers croaked exitedly in the interdimensionally understood language of the Inbetween.

They clearly weren’t made to be viewed through human eyes, Marith thought. She suspected that with different eyes she would see a completely different being.

More stuck their head out of other washers and dryers in the dungeon.

Where do you all come from? Marith asked.

She would have been breathless, if it wasn’t for the fact that her lungs didn’t move air around anymore.

Our ship, an even smaller Traveller spoke from behind the first one.

What is your name? One of them asked the Mage.

Marith, Marith answered.

I am Tina, the first Traveller introduced herself.

Marith nodded. The others introduced themselves as well. They all appeared to have names that were easy for Marith to grasp and pronounce. She wondered if they had just picked simple, human names for the occasion.

We have washers and dryers on our ships, Tina went on to explain after the formalities.

Like… these exact machines, designed by humans? Marith asked for clarification.

Yes, Tina answered with a smile. They were a gift from Watchmaker.

And do you guys just randomly hang out here in the basement or…? Marith had so many more questions, but she decided to lead with that one.

She felt the same kind of confusion and wonder she did when she first met her fellow Pupils in the forest, four months ago. She realized she was now being introduced to yet another magical world.

A few of the winged beings straightened themselves and arched their necks to receive information of something that was happening. Something that Marith wasn’t able to register yet.

Tina looked at Marith, stretched out her arms and opened her hands. It looked like an invitation to Marith. She noticed how the scales twisted into the palms of her hands and reached to her fingertips.

When nothing happened Marith just copied Tina’s movements to which Tina took a step forward and put her fingers on the energy points on Marith’s wrists.

Marith couldn’t bring herself to be surprised that the Travellers knew about the way the Pupils communicated amongst each other. Maybe they used it as a way to transmit information as well.

Tina’s fingers felt smooth and cool on her skin. As Marith looked down a multitude of colours, looking like rainbows, created in the chromatophores, flowed into Marith. The colours ran up through her arms and flashed briefly in her own body. Her arms tingled briefly, the energy flashed up and down her body and then it was over.

Now we will always know where to find you, Tina said, stepping back.

If that sentence hadn’t come from the mind of the sweet and innocent looking creature before her Marith would have taken it as a threat.

Mariiiith!!! Marith heard in the distance. It was a deep, almost animalistic scream.

Her eyes widened and she turned around with a jerk.

The Travellers showed no sign of being surprised about another presence in the Inbetween.

When there was no immediate response from Marith a second voice, even more desperate, started screaming her name as well.

Go, Tina told her.

Come back soon, the others urged, before she ran up the winding staircase.

She knew she had to go to the sound. She also knew the Travellers would be there again whenever she would return.

Mariiith!

Marith! Where are you? That was Nate’s voice. Marith recognized it, now that she was almost at the top of the stairs.

She skipped the last few steps and leapt into the arcade.

It was dark. Nate lit every torch and every candle simultaneously. They cast moving shapes over the many oil paintings that adorned the walls and restless, ominous shadows all around the arcade.

Nate, Marith thought.

She cried when she jumped into his arms. Jonathan stood by with an expectant look on his face.

I am so… so sorry, she wept, while she let herself slide off him.

When her feet touched the massive slabs of stone again she hurried over to Jonathan. He gave her a tentative hug. Marith instantly knew they weren’t there to talk about her exile to the Inbetween.

It’s okay, Nate said, his voice filled with anticipation.

Marith shook her head as to say “no, it isn’t”. In response Nate grabbed her arms and looked her in the eye.

Ani-Oracle gave us a message, he began. There might be a way out of here for you, he started to explain.

His eyes were as big as petri-dishes. He sensed her reluctance and he was going to do and say anything to convince her to attempt an escape. His grip on her arms grew more tight with each word leaving his mouth.

What did Oracle say? Marith wanted to know.

She wrestled herself free from Nate and looked at Jonathan. She wanted to hear it from him, because she knew he wouldn’t lie to her. He would give her the cold, unfortunate truth if she asked for it.

To be fair, she told me nothing, Jonathan started.

But what did she say to the Prophets? She asked him, with a penetrating look in her eyes.

Ehm, I don’t know, the Runner answered, his dark eyes darting from the Mage to the Prophet and then back again.

Nate and Marith both looked at him with growing surprise.

Then why are you here? Nate wondered.

He had assumed that one of the Prophets had given him the cryptic, but hopeful notice that Anica had shared with them.

This morning, Jonathan started with big eyes, I was having breakfast with my grandma and then she just grabbed my wrists and downloaded all this information into me, he concluded with a frown, thinking back to the experience.

It was super intense, he swallowed and fought back tears, and also the last time I got to see her, I guess.

And? Nate demanded.

It didn’t make any sense this morning, but it does now, he shared, looking intently at Marith.

What did she say? Marith wanted to know.

Energy is fluid and time does not exist. There is a method to the madness. We just have to gather the strength and the wisdom to put it to use, Jonathan spoke hesitantly. Now that he had to say it out loud it sounded even more unhinged than before.

She said that? Nate asked confused.

It’s what it boiled down to, Jonathan answered.

What did she really say? Marith wanted to know. She asked in a curious tone, not an inquisitive one.

God is real, time is fake and energy is fluid.

Marith nodded. That sounded more like Lucille.

Let’s change the bloody timeline. This had come from James.

Jonathan looked back, over his shoulder. The other Runner came strolling up to them as if he was having a casual evening walk after a heavy meal.

Hi, Nate said, to elicit a response that included an explanation for his presence.

Hi, was all James said in return.

You can be Queen of the Inbetween from our dimension. You don’t have to live here, Jonathan assured Marith, not wasting any time on James.

He is right, you know, James started, in his own nonchalant way. We have the ability to grow old and die, but time doesn’t. It’s everywhere around us, forever, he went on to explain.

What are you even saying? Nate wondered.

We are Pupils and I hardly know what that means. We have barely scratched the surface of what we can accomplish, the Runner said. There is a galaxy of opportunities inside of us. Imagine what we can accomplish if we stay in the game long enough.

They all turned their heads at the same time when they heard rumblings in the bushes outside. Marith saw waves of pink flowers move like a restless ocean in the moonshine.

That would be Amber, James comforted them.

Marith?! Amber screamed exasperated.

She clambered through one of the openings of the arcade. The Prophet crossed the hallway in the blink of an eye and hugged the Mage.

Marith hugged her back. It was a long and firm hug.

What is taking so long? Amber asked Jonathan in an accusatory tone, after spinning around and looking at him flustered.

And thanks for leaving me in the hydrangeas, she hissed at James, who smirked at her.

Were the big flowers mean to you? He asked.

Marith has some reservations, Jonathan told Amber.

It’s just… the Universe is more complicated than this, Marith shared, holding back a sigh. I don’t want to endanger any of you by letting you rescue me. Have you ever seen a documentary about time or physics? Super smart scientists don’t even know how reality works, she continued.

Look around! Amber exclaimed. The shape of anything that exists is either a circle or a square or can simply be reduced to a circle or a square, she said, waving her arms around. The Universe isn’t that complicated… At least not to you.

To any human being outside of their world it would seem that Nate, James, Jonathan, Amber and Marith had gone insane, but the Pupils knew that time only made sense the way Oracle experienced it.

Reality didn’t really mean much to the Pupils anymore.

What are you guys even suggesting we do? Marith wondered, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Time ticks differently over here, right? Just like in the Clock in the Sky? Jonathan spoke fast, wanting to explain his plan to her, but also making sure their opportunity wouldn’t come to pass.

Yes, but it always moves forward.

What if it doesn’t? You control this place, right?

Sort of… Marith nodded at him, flustered.

I was thinking… he paused to gather his thoughts. You can create and shape space, right? With your mind?

Well, yes, she answered.

Then why not time? He asked with big eyes, clenching his hands.

What’s the plan here, Jonathan? Nate asked with a furrowed brow.

Help me shape the future. We jump together and we might succeed, he told Marith in an almost pleading tone of voice.

You have done this before. Jonathan reminded her of how she healed him after the attack of the Birdman. Time was winded back then as well, even though it hadn’t been a conscious decision on her part.

That’s insane, Marith panted, her mind wandering off, considering the different future she could be having. The idea was starting to grow on her.

What did Oracle tell you? She suddenly wondered, turning to Nate.

That you were still here, in the Inbetween, Nate said, after some hesitation. Which we weren’t aware off… and also, that as long as William can get your heart to make a jumpstart there is still a chance.

How is that going? Marith wondered, looking down at the blue lights that occasionally flashed through her chest.

We have a heartbeat, Nate lied. But this is not exactly something that Will can keep on doing forever.

But if you want me to be alive after jumping back together I would return fighting the Kid and I don’t think I can do that again… the outcome would be the same. Marith was thinking aloud.

No, Jonathan shook his head nervously. I didn’t go back in time either. Remember? And neither did Vanessa. So when we jump back everybody on Earth is in the same position they are in now. You basically heal yourself, like you healed me.

Exactly! All these circles and squares are created, Amber interjected with enthusiasm. We are created. The timeline is created. Why can’t we co-create with whatever it was that created everything we see around us? Look at what you’ve built here. I know there is more where that came from, the young Prophet finished.

James crossed his arms and glanced around at the crooked, wobbly castle they were in with a deepening frown on his forehead. Marith knew that he was biting his tongue, dying to make a joke about the wonky structure.

First of all, Nate said tersely, James, you need to let go of my other wrist. Second of all, he is right, he confirmed. You can create a new timeline. Let it merge with the old one. By doing that you will change the course of events.

You think things will be alright without you? They won’t! Amber went on, when Marith still wasn’t agreeing upon the plan.

You have a right to be alive, Marith. Your existence gives you rights and when the Kid takes those away you grab them back! James agreed.

Marith nodded slowly, her mind drowning in doubts and deep thoughts about their options and the possible outcome of each decision.

James, please leave and take Amber with you, Nate commanded.

James smirked a little smirk before he grabbed Amber and flashed up the spiralling staircase behind Marith to jump off one of the towers into the darkness.

The fact that Lucille told Jonathan about all of this means something, Marith, Nate said. I think she gave him the key. It’s worth a shot. Go with him… for me, he urged in that pleading tone that Marith wasn’t loving.

His arms were crossed and his gaze was tense.

The past isn’t determined until the future happens, he shared wisely, to drive his point home.

What? Marith and Jonathan wondered in unison.

The future is a reflection of the past. Trust me, I’m a Prophet. He winked at her and smiled a wry smile.

What about you?

I’ll jump off a tower, but you and Jonathan need to run. Now.

Okay, Marith nodded ferociously, while actual tears streamed down her cheeks.

The road to Marith’s happiness and fulfilment had been full of dangers and obstacles. This was her only chance at living an actual life, a normal, Kid-free life of her own, with Nate and Lieke and whatever it was that she was carrying inside of her.

The decision had been made. Not by her, but by the Web… and if that didn’t mean anything anymore then their whole existence was pointless and deep down inside she knew that it wasn’t pointless. There was a grand design behind it all. An orchestration of faith and choice and chance. They would have to Jump and risk everything. It was the only way.

She didn’t touch, kiss or say goodbye to Nate. He wouldn’t let her, because if they would have kissed then it could have been their last time. They told themselves they would see each other on the other side.

What do I imagine? She wondered, dazed.

A part of her still couldn’t believe that they were actually going to try to pull of the impossible.

Whatever you seem fit, Jonathan murmured, taking her into his arms. But whatever you do, don’t forget Anton’s drums and battle cries, he managed a joke.

Just to be clear, she asked, dangling from his steel arms, hugging his brick torso, you’re going to run us back into time?

Yep, he shared. That cat ain’t dead until I say so, Duchess. You just need to give me a little help. A little push.

You have to believe that the answer to your desires is out there in the Universe and it is also seeking you, he said, remembering more of what Lucille had told and shown him earlier that day. You and your destiny are magnets, attracting each other, he went on.

This morning my grandmother told me humans are on Earth to learn how to manipulate energy. Once we can do that we can have everything we want. Our only limitation is our imagination. I think this is what she meant. Together we will find a way, so you can have your life back.

Marith agreed. She had been rejected by life and embraced by the Inbetween. This was her world and she would be damned if she couldn’t manipulate its energy.

Jonathan carried her out of the arcade, away from the row of closed doors. The winds didn’t come. The Inbetween didn’t protest what they were about to attempt.

He stopped with the Mage in his arms to look over the terrains he was going to have to cross.

Marith closed her eyes and tried to remember Nate’s mantra.

Weave it like the warp and the weft of fabric.

The Inbetween is a new dimension crafted from the fabric of reality that we already know.

Imagine and repeat the image in your mind until it becomes a new reality.

The only sure-fire way for them to know that Marith would come out alive at the other end was to imagine, to create, the future themselves. After all, life is just a tapestry of the stories that people tell themselves every day.

While Jonathan grabbed her tighter and closed his eyes to steady his breathing Marith came to the realisation she had solved the Samuel’s riddles.

He had asked for her point of view on a cosmic topic, when they had been in the Inbetween together, when she had given him a new heartbeat, which had eventually put him in a position to end her life.

Shards of their conversation in the arcade came back to her, as flashbacks of the questions they had asked each other.

Would you like to know what conundrum has never ceased to marvel me? Were we designed with the Universe in mind or was the Universe designed with us in mind?

Samuel’s teasing voice echoed through her mind.

Did the Well create us first and shape the Universe so that we could exist in it or did we come into existence by fluke, by coincidence, because our surroundings accidentally allowed us to be here? He had clarified his initial question.

Marith had figured that humans as a species could not give birth to the Multiverse, so there must be something greater than them.

But did the Well exist, before we did? Or was the Well shaped by us and not the other way around? Did we think the Well into existence and by doing so create ourselves, including good and evil? Samuel had asked.

I would like to think humans were pure, before you came along, Marith had said, with growing doubts about her stance.

You’re running from reality, Marisshj, but judging by this world you have already realized that, Samuel had stated.

If what you claim is true we also think the future into existence, Marith had rebuked.

We do, Samuel had told her.

Marith now understood she was the Universe trying to experience itself from a certain perspective, trying to understand itself. Samuel had been right, which made Marith once again wonder what else he hadn’t lied about.

She had powers, even if she didn’t feel like she did for most of her life. James had a point as well, their possibilities were endless. And not entirely coincidental a threat to the Kid, which is why he had displayed a quiet respect for the Pupils in the past.

Are you ready, Duchess? Jonathan asked.

His voice was quiet and tense. Marith sensed how he was focusing, channelling a Flow to amass enough strength.

They both squinted their eyes as the Sun rose over the sloping hills of the Posbank of Marith’s very own version of the Veluwe. The star’s orange rays paved a way for them through the patches of purple heather. Marith knew what she had to do now, what she had to imagine.

Ready, she whispered, her eyes set on the glowing horizon.