Mallory stared at the sprawling city below. Her brain tried desperately to place it, to recognize it in some way, wondering if she’d seen pictures of it before. She turned away from the sight, a little intimidated by the height. She stepped over to the door, opening it hesitantly and peeking out into a brightly lit hallway. “Hello?” she called out, even though there was no one she could see nearby. She stood awkwardly in the doorway for a span of several seconds, wondering if she needed to wait for someone to come check on her. As she rubbed her arms, she realized she had no hospital band – she had no clue where she really was. Waiting suddenly seemed unbearable. Her options were screaming until someone came to check on her or going for a walk.

          On a whim, she chose left, and began walking down the hallway. The flooring was smooth, and looked like granite – lightly marbled. It was cool against the pads of her feet. The hallway curved gently out of sight. There was the occasional door to her left, but she felt like it would be too intrusive to open them. If they were rooms like the one she had woken in, she didn’t think they were going to be much help. Eventually the hallway began to open up more on her right with wide floor to ceiling windows. It looked like there was a central garden or courtyard of some sort, with dense and flowering vegetation, though the flowers weren’t any that Mallory recognized. The wall eventually opened completely – Mallory could smell the heady scent of the flowers, almost like vanilla and roses. The air was warm and humid. Columns lined the granite floor of the hallway, but beyond those columns was moss and dirt.

          She realized that somewhere deep within the garden she could hear people chatting. There was the faint sound of laughter. Although she had been looking for people, she found herself stopping short and hesitating again. Would they know who she was, why she was there? She felt like she was intruding again. A part of her wanted to retreat back to the room and wait patiently, but instead she forced herself to step out into the garden. The moss was damp beneath her feet, but not unpleasant.

          Moving towards the sounds she heard, she found herself coming to a clearing just past the dense vegetation. She stopped to study the people there. She didn’t recognize them all, but her eyes were instantly drawn to Eliza, who sat on the outer edge of the group, looking lost in thought. Isaac sat next to her, his arm draped familiarly across her shoulder. He appeared to be doing his best to pay polite attention to the others in the group, but it was apparent that he was concerned with whatever was bothering Eliza.

          A hand shifted to vegetation shielding her, and she found herself face to face with a smirking Samanda. “Well, what have we got here?” she said, her voice loud.

          Eliza looked up. Upon seeing Mallory, her expression instantly brightened, and she hopped to her feet. “Mallory!” she cried out, throwing her arms around the taller girl. “They said you’d be okay! I kept trying to visit but they said you needed rest…”

          Eliza hadn’t used much force in the hug, but Mallory felt herself stumble and sway uneasily. A hand reached out to steady her.

          Mallory woke slowly. She was in a very warm, very soft bed in a bright room. Her eyelids fluttered open – everything was white. At first she wondered if she was in a hospital but it was quiet and nothing about the décor suggested an overtly clinical setting. There was no smell of cleaners or chemicals. If it was a hospital, then it was a very fancy one and the room was private – a luxury she’d never be able to afford. Strangely, it reminded her of fictional elves in those old Lord of the Rings movies. Soft curtains caught on a breeze, and the faintest sound of faraway chatter caught her ears.

          She searched her mind, trying to remember what had happened. There were flashes of terror, and she could remember the shadow, and the pain – the pain of the knife entering her back. She placed a hand just over her hip, searching for the wound, but there was nothing. Yet she distinctly remembered the way everything had continued to burn even as the knife was drawn out to bite into her flesh thrice more. She winced just thinking about it. Had that been a strange dream?

          What had happened to Eliza? And the others? She remembered the house had exploded and collapsed in on itself, and she had almost been caught in a massive fire…

          Mallory pushed herself out of bed, surprised to find that she felt perfectly fine. She was in loose fitting white clothes, light and easy to move in. Lifting her shirt and twisting, she could see the faintest of scars – five marks. More than she had remembered. She felt a chill – how long had she been laying here to be this healed? “Hello?” she called out tentatively. She knew she should probably leave the room and try to find someone, anyone, that could tell her where she was and what had happened, but the sound of distant chatter drew her to the window again.

          The curtains were sheer and white, gently fluttering in the breeze, which was pleasantly warm. Mallory pushed them aside as she approached, looking down. She was shocked to find she was at a dizzying height – almost as though she were high up on a mountain. Sprawling out below was a city built into the side and base of the mountain. It reminded her of pictures of Rio de Janeiro, haphazardly placed buildings with many winding streets and alleys. Mallory blinked as she realized there were no cars or trucks below, although she could see people moving about their business.

          There was pain and sound and the sensation of being bodily lifted into the air and crashed in debris. For a disorienting heartbeat, Mallory wondered if she was back in that moment beneath the stairs. If everything that had happened since then had been some strange dream her dying mind had conjured. Her hearing was a soft buzz, shifting to a high squeal as the sounds of the world around her shifted back into focus. There was the crackling of fire and the creak of shifting wood. Fire!? Mallory gasped, trying to open her eyes, but she hurt all over and it took effort. She pushed something off, not bothering to identify what it had once been a part of. Debris.

          It was like a bomb had gone off a floor beneath them. She pushed herself to her feet, blinking up at the night sky where a roof had once been. Smoke curled into the air, burning her lungs. She could hear people shouting outside, could hear screaming somewhere nearby. Eliza. Eliza was screaming.

          And then the screaming stopped.

          Before she could fully grasp what was happening, arms gripped her tight and pulled her, shifting her into greyspace. She blinked, reorienting herself again, staring hard at flames that burst forth and engulfed her. She pulled back, gasping, but the flames were insubstantial, grey, passing over her like smoke. The sound of Eliza screaming returned.

          The arms helped her to stand. Looking up, she saw that it was Samanda steadying her. “What happened?” Mallory asked.

          “I’m not sure. We were asleep. Sampson should have been on watch.” She stepped back from Mallory, studying her carefully as she lifted her arms away, looking ready to grab her if she looked unsteady. Once she seemed satisfied that Mallory was fine by herself, she nodded and looked down into the hole. “Stay here,” Samanda commanded. She jumped down into the hole.

          Frowning, Mallory moved to the edge, looking down. Eliza’s cries cut out again. “Fuck that,” Mallory murmured to herself, trying to find an easy path down. After a moment, she recalled her previous time in greyspace and everything they had been told about it. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to slip into the flooring beneath her.

          When it happened, she could feel the floor passing through her. She gasped, wondering how Eliza had managed to walk through a wall. As she lost her focus, the floor lost it’s hold on her and she fell, flailing wildly with a shout of surprise. The ground floor caught her – she hit it, hard, a soft “oof!” escaping her lungs.

          But the damage hadn’t come from the ground floor. It went down further. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” she grumbled to herself. This time she decided to jump. Eliza’s house had a basement, and a nice one at that – Michael had used it as his teenaged escape den often. Mallory remembered that it had been furnished with an old couch with failing springs that was almost uncomfortable to sit in, a large TV and several gaming systems. He’d also had loads of board games, a table to play them at, and a mini fridge loaded with his favorite energy drinks and sodas. The basement was such a blown in mess that Mallory couldn’t tell if any of that stuff had been left untouched by his parents. She gaped at the ruins of the basement. What had caused this?

          She could see Samanda leaning down over Isaac’s body, and started to jog over to help when she caught sight of Eliza out of the corner of her eye. She was also sprawled on the ground, still in her pajamas, one arm up over her head as though she had tried to protect herself. Mallory turned on her heel, instantly moving toward her friend instead.

          Something like the shadow of a very tall man stepped forward. At first, Mallory wasn’t sure if it was even really there. Glinting silvery eyes shifted up, narrowing as it caught sight of her. Mallory felt that same chill from the Miller house – the absolute hatred in that gaze. Her steps almost faltered as it glared at her, and then its gaze shifted down to Eliza. A blade glinted in its hands, as silvery as the eyes. Mallory found herself bending into an all-out sprint as it regarded her friend. Not Eliza! The words shrieked through her brain. Without any hesitation, Mallory tackled the shadow.

          She half expected to simply dive through it, but it was surprisingly solid to the touch, and ice cold. She hissed as she felt the chill seep into her skin, her fingers freezing so badly that she felt like her nerve endings were on fire. It grunted softly at the impact, being pushed back a few steps but not going down. It looked down at her, pulling her closer, almost as though to hug her.

          Mallory had thought touching it was unpleasant, but it was nothing compared to the searing, almost soul-wrenching pain of the knife.

          It turned into quite a fun night. They ordered out for some food, and while they perused their options, Eliza was an unending litany of questions. She seemed to want to know every mundane thing there was to know about Isaac, and graciously didn’t want to let the Sams feel left out either. They discussed favorite foods, and least favorite foods. Eliza let them look over the board and card games her parents kept in the den while they discussed childhood games Isaac and the Sams played when they were younger. Eliza talked about growing up with Michael, and how she had met Mallory in elementary school. “Really? You saved her from bullies?” Isaac said with a laugh.

Mallory nodded solemnly. “It’s true. I usually tried to ignore them, but Eliza saw what was happening and screamed her head off at them.”

“And that worked?” Sampson asked.

“No,” Eliza said. She laughed, hiding her face in her hands. “It completely backfired, I just pissed them off, and they were older, way bigger, and they tried beating me up. But that’s when Mallory stepped in. She would never raise a hand to help herself against them, but she was very willing to protect someone else.”

“And you’ve been friends since?” Isaac asked. Eliza and Mallory both nodded.

Isaac was an only child, but had always had the Sams trailing as bodyguards, and grew up very close to his cousins.

          “Really? Triplets?” Eliza asked, sounding horrified as Isaac mentioned his cousins.

          “Yes, but not identical. They’re all completely different, and you’d never guess they were brothers, let alone that they shared a womb,” Isaac chuckled. “But I love them each for their eccentricities.”

          They played some games, and ate the food when it came. Then since it was still very warm for September, they played in the pool briefly before piling into the house. They took turns showering and dressing down into pajamas. They stayed up late talking.

          Sampson disappeared at some point to take his turn at watch, the only sign that anything about their presence was unusual. Mallory drifted off, leaning against Eliza as she and Isaac continued to softly talk late into the night. This actually was a lot of fun, she thought to herself briefly.