UA7: Brothers in Spirit

Chapter 2: Plans Awry

"What should we do now?" Donny asked into the silence that had fallen over the room.

"I think that we need to be on the lookout for a quest giver." Paul said seriously as he looked to Obie for confirmation.

As Paul watched, an expression of realization dawned in Obie's eyes.

No such expression visited Dylan and he finally cautiously asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I've seen a lot of movies and TV shows about things like this happening to people... usually kids." Paul said frankly.

"This isn't a movie." Dylan slowly informed him.

Before Paul could respond, Obie quickly interjected, "We know that! But stuff like this isn't supposed to happen to regular people in real life. There's nothing in real life that tells you what to do when something like this does happen. The movies and stuff may be pretend, but at least they already thought it through and can give us a clue of something that we can do."

"Besides, we're here in this other world or dimension or dream or whatever it is, and it looks like someone brought us here for a reason." Paul said seriously.

"Yeah. It was Teddy." Dylan confirmed.

"Teddy might have pushed you to be here, but other things pushed me and I'm sure that if you ask around, you'll find out that all of us were pushed in the same direction by different things that don't seem to be related to each other at all." Paul said seriously.

"I don't know where you came up with that, but from what little I know of it, that sounds about right." Dylan relented.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. Whoever brought us here got what they wanted. We're here. Now we need to know 'why'. The way things like this seem to work is that the only way we'll ever get out of here is if we do what we were brought here to do." Paul said reasonably.

"And what happens to us if we don't?" Ronny asked curiously.

"I don't know. They don't tell stories about quests that never started or make movies about people who refused to step up and take action when they were needed." Paul said regretfully.

"I don't think that the camp people would let us go off on our own for anything that could be called a quest." Donny said frankly.

"From what I've heard about the Clan, they actually might. They understand how important things like this can be. But I doubt that they'll be in a position to do anything about our situation either way. They might not know about it. In fact, they might not ever know." Paul offered frankly, then added more quietly, "At least, that's how things like this usually work out.

"Won't people notice that we're missing?" Arlo asked anxiously.

"Mayhap so. However, before we devote undue attention to that, there are unanswered questions that need be addressed." Randolph added quite reasonably.

"Like how you all of a sudden have a body of your own?" Arlo helpfully suggested.

"Yes. Our chances of success in coming endeavors will likely improve to a notable degree if we understand the governing mechanisms of this place that we have found ourselves in." Randolph admitted.

"Yeah. We need to do that for sure, but remember that quests usually have a time limit." Obie hurried to explain.

"And stakes." Paul added, then clarified, "Most of the time you're in danger of losing someone or something important to you. I mean, otherwise, why would you bother with it?"

"This doesn't sound like something that's fun." Jason K said honestly.

"Not everything is." Kole told him simply.

"You're still going to quest with us even if it isn't fun, aren't you?" Ryvan hurried to ask.

"Yeah. Just, at first, it sounded like we were going on an adventure, like when you go out and play. But the more you talk about it, the more it sounds like something dangerous, that's going to be a lot of hard work." Jason K said unenthusiastically.

"Probably, yeah." Kole confirmed.

"So, Paul, where should we go to find this 'quest giver' of yours?" Dylan asked curiously.

After a moment to consider, Paul finally said, "The 'quest giver' is probably waiting for something. Maybe it's for us to begin to understand or accept our situation. Either way, I'm pretty sure that we'll be thankful for whatever we're able to get done on our own ahead of time. Once we're given our quest, we probably won't be able to do much more than focus on that."

"So, what do you think we should do next?" Ronny asked reasonably.

"Food, shelter, and security. There's not much we can do about food with the way things are right now. We may come back to that. Shelter... if we can keep the cabin from fading out around us, we've got a roof over our heads."

"Do we? I can't see anything like a roof or anything else." Kole said frankly.

"But even if it does rain, we can't feel it anyway. We don't even get wet." Ryvan helpfully added.

"Which leaves us with security." Paul said seriously.

"If we can't touch anything, doesn't that mean that nothing can touch us either?" Kole cautiously reasoned.

"That might be true, but we can't count on it. Even something like a pointy stick would be better than having no weapons at all." Paul explained to the group.

"But if we had a weapon, wouldn't it fade as soon as we lost concentration and stop lighting it?" Kole asked curiously.

"I'm still not clear on how all that works. The flames are here but the fireplace isn't. We can see each other, but not the room that we're in. The rules of our reality don't seem to apply here... at least not consistently."

"One such inconsistency that may prove to be relevant is that the mirror seems to be missing." Randolph said slowly.

"Maybe the mirror is in the same reality as the fireplace. You'll probably have to look at it with your spirit light to be able to see it." Donny said with a smile at his friend.

"Except that Randolph's light looks at a different time and place than ours does." Arlo said reasonably.

"We still can't be sure about that, but that is how it seems to work." Ronny said cautiously.

"A different time, maybe, but probably not a different place. It makes more sense that Randolph's light shows into the past, into 'his' time." Donny said speculatively.

"What about any of this makes sense?" Ryvan asked irritably.

"The more we understand the rules of the world, the more tools we'll have to reach our goals." Donny said seriously.

"Once the 'quest giver' tells us what they are." Dylan quietly added.

"If that's how it works, then I'm going to try and find the mirror. If it isn't here with us, maybe I can find it with my light." Kole announced.

"That's a good idea. If anyone else wants to work on something like that, now's the time, go ahead." Donny said quickly.

"And if you can find anything that we can use as a weapon, be sure to grab it." Ronny helpfully added.

"Just because we can see something doesn't mean that we can touch it." Arlo warned.

"I couldn't touch something that I could see by your light but I could touch something that I could see with my own." Kole said reasonably.

"We'll just have to wait and see if it works for everyone like that, but at least it's a place to start." Ryvan said in support of his friend.

"I'm going to look for the door." Jason K announced, then asked more gently, "Do you want to help me Teddy?"

"You're not mad at me?" Teddy asked cautiously.

"For what?" Jason K asked confusedly.

"For causing all this." Teddy said anxiously.

"You trying to get us all together like this seemed a little weird, but I don't feel like you were trying to trap us or lie to us or anything like that. So no, I don't blame you." Jason K said seriously.

"I don't blame you either." Dylan hurried to assure the boy, then explained, "You just seemed to know about things that were going to happen before they did. That left me with questions... it still does." Dylan said honestly.

"All I remember is that I dreamed some stuff. Everything was all wrong and scary and sad. But I don't remember what I dreamed anymore." Teddy timidly admitted.

"Do you have any dreams like that about what's going to happen to us next?" Dylan asked curiously.

"Yeah. A couple, I think. I just can't remember them." Teddy said helplessly.

"Jinx? Are you still here with us?" Obie asked cautiously.

There was no answer as Obie searched the faces barely revealed in the frozen firelight.

"Jinx?" Donny called more loudly as his spiritual light began to gently shine.

"I'm here." A small voice responded from the darkness.

"What are you doing over here all by yourself? Did you find something?" Donny asked as he moved toward the sound.

"Someone will get hurt." Jinx said regretfully.

Donny's spiritual light increased as he searched for the source of the voice.

"There you are." Donny said warmly, then tentatively asked, "What are you afraid of?"

"I bring bad luck. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me." Jinx timidly admitted in the faint glow of Donny's spirit-light.

"The way things are going tonight, it might not make much of a difference. Why don't you come over with the rest of the group while we try to figure things out?" Donny asked encouragingly.

"But what if bad things happen to you because I'm there?" Jinx asked cautiously.

"If bad things happen, we'll find a way to deal with them." Donny said reasonably.

"You won't leave me behind?" Jinx asked in almost a whisper.

"I wish I could promise you that I won't leave you, but there's too much we don't know about going on right now. I can promise to try and keep you with us. How's that?" Donny finished weakly.

After a moment to consider, Jinx finally said, "I guess that's more of a promise than I've got from anyone else."

"Is it enough?" Donny asked hopefully.

"It's a start." Jinx cautiously responded.

"Then let's get back to the group before they get worried about us." Donny said encouragingly.

After a moment of hesitation, Jinx moved to Donny's side and walked with him to join the others around the fire.

* * * * *

"Are you okay?" Ronny asked hesitantly.

Donny looked down to Jinx, prompting him to answer.

"Yeah. I'm just used to staying away from people so that they don't get hurt." Jinx said timidly.

"Have you always had bad luck or did something happen to you?" Jason K asked curiously.

"I guess I always had it..." Jinx said slowly, then quietly explained, "My parents had it before I did. One of the times when lightning struck our house, I heard the firemen talking about how they didn't want to even go inside because they were afraid that they'd get the bad luck on them. Anyone who'd ever lived there was cursed, even after they moved away."

"Why did your family move into a place like that?" Jason K asked curiously.

"I think because it was cheap." Jinx said honestly.

"Really? That sounds kinda dumb." Teddy said simply.

"They never really told me, but from what I heard them say when they were screaming at each other, my mom blamed my dad for moving them in there. When I was born, they thought their luck had changed." Jinx said distantly, then quietly added, "They were wrong."

"Is that why they left you at Camp Little Eagle?" Jason K asked curiously.

"Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it. Remember what it's like to be new here." Arlo quickly suggested, giving Jinx a graceful way out.

"No. That's okay." Jinx told Arlo quietly, then continued, "Besides, my parents left me a long time ago... when they died. My dad caught fire and burned to death in the produce section of the Piggly Wiggly."

"He just... caught fire?" Obie slowly asked, certain that he must have missed something in the telling of the story.

"Yeah, next to the cucumbers." Jinx confirmed.

"What about your mom?" Dylan gently asked.

"She fell out a window and broke her neck." Jinx reluctantly answered.

"I guess that happens." Dylan half-heartedly supplied.

"Do you know? Was it an accident?" Donny cautiously asked.

"Yeah. She didn't jump or anything like that. She fell. She was hanging out the window, sneaking a cigarette and her boss walked up, she lost her balance and... I think they said that she fell a total of about two and a half feet. She was on the ground floor. She fell out the window, landed on her head and broke her neck." Jinx explained.

"So then you were sent here?" Paul guessed.

"Then I was sent to foster homes and group homes and stuff but when they figured out about my bad luck, they'd pass me on to the next place. The last people who had me, the Catholics, decided to give me to Camp Little Eagle when they did some stupid little prayers, you know how they do, just to make us kids miserable. Anyway, this time when they started forcing us all to pray, they woke up the bad luck real hard. Have you ever seen nuns with chiggers? Nasty. At least they didn't try to 'pray it away'. As soon as they made the connection and figured out that it had something to do with me, they brought me to the camp." Jinx timidly finished.

"Does anyone here know of anything that we can do to undo curses?" Donny asked seriously.

"Jerico might know something about it, but I never really studied anything like that myself. I was more focused on the theory side of Shamanism than the practice." Paul awkwardly admitted.

"I've seen some things, but not enough to be able to do anything myself." Dylan said frankly.

"Mikey? Are you there?" Arlo asked as he looked upward.

"What are you doing?" Jason K asked curiously.

"Calling for help." Arlo said simply, then looked upward again and asked, "Mikey?"

After a moment, Paul cautiously asked, "Are you sure he can hear you?"

"He said that he might be out of contact with us for a while. I just thought it was worth a try."

"Is he a telepath?" Ronny asked curiously.

"I don't know. He could be. But he's also an angel... well, a saint, actually." Arlo timidly admitted.

Dylan nodded his confirmation that he knew who Arlo was talking about.

"You're friends with a saint?" Kole asked dubiously.

"Well, I don't hang out with him or anything, but he was nice to me and helped me when I needed it, so I kinda count him as a friend because of that." Arlo explained.

"But he's not getting your message now?" Ryvan cautiously asked.

"I don't think so. The last time I saw him he said that we might not be able to reach him for a while and that we needed to prepare to deal with things for ourselves." Arlo said frankly.

"So maybe he saw this coming?" Kole asked speculatively.

"From the way he talked, it was like he could see several things moving in a particular direction. I think he was trying to prepare us to face whatever the danger turned out to be. I don't think he had this specific outcome in mind." Arlo explained.

"So that helps us exactly not at all." Dylan said slowly.

"Yeah. That was kinda my point, but It would've been stupid to not call him and then find out later that he was waiting around listening for someone to need his help with something." Arlo countered.

"Yeah. I guess so." Dylan unenthusiastically relented.

"So, what do we do now?" Ryvan asked curiously.

"Let's go over what we know..." Donny began to suggest, but was gently interrupted.

"We don't know anything. But it wouldn't hurt to go over what we think we know." Dylan said simply.

"That's what I meant." Donny said with an exaggerated eye roll for emphasis.

"They're just like Matt and Tai." Paul said with a grin at Obie, eliciting a giggle from the younger boy.

"What's that?" Dylan asked suspiciously.

"It's just something from a show that Obie and I watch. You and Donny get along like the main characters of that show." Paul explained.

"How do we get along?" Donny asked hesitantly.

Obie shook his head at Paul, letting it be known that he wasn't going to be the one to say it.

Past a barely restrained grin, Paul timidly answered, "Like an old married couple."

"I don't do that!" Donny and Dylan barked simultaneously.

The boys around the frozen flames laughed good naturedly at their identical reactions.

"What do we know or think that we know?" Paul asked with a grin.

After a moment to see if anyone else was going to speak, Randolph quietly said, "From my limited and admittedly out-dated point-of-view, it appears to me that we are inside an otherworldly, dream version of your cabin seven. Does that sound like a reasonable assessment of our situation?"

"I don't know about that. Normally, whether the light's turned on or off the room hasn't changed, only your perception of it has. I get the feeling that when the lights went out this time, everything changed." Arlo said thoughtfully.

"That sounds about right, except that it doesn't explain why I can't find any pieces of the mirror." Kole said in frustration.

"Maybe you're looking in the wrong place." Ryvan told him seriously.

"Have you found something?" Kole asked with surprise.

"Bring your light to the wall above the fireplace. I think maybe the mirror's still there, it hasn't been broken." Ryvan said frankly.

"If it didn't break, then what was that sound?" Kole asked curiously as he made his way to standing.

"I wouldn't know. Identifying sounds isn't a talent that I've had much of a chance to develop." Ryvan said wryly.

"Was it reality breaking, maybe?" Ronny cautiously suggested before Kole could respond.

After a moment, Dylan reluctantly said, "I don't know if you're joking or not, but either way, it's not nearly as ridiculous as it sounds on the surface."

"Ryvan was right. Here it is." Kole said anxiously.

"Can you see anything in the mirror?" Jason K asked curiously.

"I don't have enough light to see more than the glass itself." Ryvan reluctantly admitted.

"Get Arlo over there. If you need a strong light, he's the best we've got." Donny said seriously.

"What do you want me to do?" Arlo asked anxiously.

"Just focus your light on the mirror so that maybe we can get some answers." Dylan said as he lined up with the other boys to try and see something... anything in the mirror.

"What was that?" Kole asked suddenly.

"I can't see anything. What did you see?" Dylan asked anxiously.

"I saw something move. I couldn't see what it was. It's too dark." Kole said as he strained to make out any details.

"That's Dylan!" Teddy said as he pointed.

"Where?" Dylan asked as he searched to see anything where Teddy was pointing.

"Over there, by the door. I can't really see you, but for a second I could see the bandage on your face." Teddy hurriedly explained.

"There I am." Ryvan said in a tone of wonder and disbelief.

"I see it. I'm signing to you!" Kole said excitedly.

"Can you see what you're saying?" Donny asked curiously.

"Something about... dog nipples? I don't know. I really can't make it out from here. It's too dark and too far away." Kole said in slow confusion.

"Can you tell if it's something that you said before we heard the mirror break?" Ronny asked reasonably.

"No. It's not a replay of something we already did. I can tell you that much for sure. We never had a conversation anything like that." Kole said with conviction.

"So the world's moved on without us." Arlo said speculatively.

"Do you think if I looked through the mirror with my own light I might be able to see my time instead of yours?" Randolph asked curiously.

"That's a good question." Dylan said, then continued by asking, "Arlo, would you step back and go dim so that Randolph can look with his own light?"

"Yeah. I don't like looking in there anyway. It makes me lose hope." Arlo said as his light faded.

"I'm not as strong as Arlo. I can only do this for a minute, but I am hopeful that we will be able to see something." Randolph said seriously.

"Do it." Donny said encouragingly as he moved to Randolph's side to support him regardless of what he saw.

The rest of the boys lined up as they watched and waited.

"It's the same thing that Arlo showed us." Kole said slowly.

"No. It's moving slower... and in reverse, I think." Ryvan said as he fought to make sense of the dim foggy images moving before them.

"See if maybe making it brighter will make it go faster." Dylan slowly suggested.

Randolph gave a push and his light became slightly brighter.

As the boys watched, the scene before them seemed to increase in speed, nearing normal, except, of course, for the fact that everything was moving backward.

"I can't hold this much longer." Randolph warned them.

"You don't need to. Let it go." Ronny said wearily.

"But if you keep it going, maybe we'll be able to see something that'll tell us what's going on." Dylan quickly argued.

"Or we could get fixated on a world that's not ours anymore and maybe lose the chance to prepare for whatever's next." Donny implored him to understand.

"I think we've seen enough for now. We're them. They're not us. What else do we need to see?" Ronny explained.

"If that's true, we were them. But now we're us." Dylan reasonably countered.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know what they're talking about?" Ryvan cautiously asked.

"Good. I thought for a minute that it was just me." Jason K nervously chuckled.

"Teddy, does any of this seem familiar to you? Like something from your dreams?" Dylan asked curiously.

"Them in the mirror does. Us here don't." Teddy answered honestly.

"Randolph, didn't you say something about ghosts being able to see through flames, reflections, and shadows?" Arlo asked uncertainly.

"Yes. Although I have always believed that such things were to be avoided due to their allure. Had I found a mirror, I might easily have become bound to it, forever watching the passage of a reality that I had no part in." Randolph said seriously.

"So we're back to the theory that we're ghosts." Donny said frankly.

"Regardless of what we're called, we appear to have flesh and we feel alive, at least to ourselves. We have to make decisions based on that. If we start buying into being ghosts, we'll never get anything accomplished." Dylan said seriously.

"What can we do when we're like this?" Jason K asked reasonably.

"We're still working on that. But what I just saw Randolph do looked like something that could end up being really useful." Donny said encouragingly.

"How's that?" Ronny asked curiously.

"When something bad happens, how often would you like to go back and get a do-over?" Donny asked with a smile.

"So you're saying that you think that Randolph has the ability to rewind time?" Ronny asked dubiously.

"I'm saying that it's not the most ridiculous thing I've heard in the past few hours.. If we work to discover what other abilities we have, we might be able to do some incredible things... real superhero stuff." Donny said frankly.

"I'd expect that kind of an idea from Obie or Paul, but not from you." Dylan said with concern.

"What they're saying is beginning to make sense to me. We were brought here, this exact group of people. I have to believe that there is a reason. The sooner we get an idea of our situation and decide to band together, the sooner the 'quest giver' will show up to tell us what's expected of us." Donny explained earnestly.

"Yeah. And remember that something like this usually takes a lot of power to make happen, which is why they don't do stuff like this all the time. That means that whatever we're here to do must be something really important to someone very high up in things." Paul explained.

"How can you be so sure that we're not dead?" Kole asked seriously.

"Randolph. You've been dead before. Is this what it's like?" Arlo cautiously asked.

"No. I mean, the world is, yes. But the way I feel now is completely different. When I was dead before, I felt like I was dissolving, I was becoming more and more a part of the world around me and less myself. The light wouldn't take me and the dark didn't want me, so I was slowly becoming part of everything that was left."

"But you don't feel that way now." Donny gently prompted.

"No. Now I'm solid. I'm awake. I have hopes and dreams and I can plan for the future... In fact, I think that may be it. When I was dead, I had no future. All that was left for me was to wallow in the past."

"But you believe the place we're in is the realm of the dead?" Ryvan cautiously asked.

"It seems that way to me. But keep in mind that while I was here, all of this was like a dream to me. I wasn't thinking rationally. I didn't investigate my surroundings or test my boundaries. I was feeling fear and regret for my lost life and missed opportunities."

"I don't feel that. I mean, I feel like myself... well, except that now I have a guy's body." Ronny said frankly, then tugged at his crotch as he absently asked, "How do you guys ever get anything done? This thing is a constant distraction."

Donny nodded his confirmation to Ronny's words as Dylan said, "That's another thing to keep in mind about all this. My face is healed, Randolph has a body, Ronny's a guy now, and Ryvan can hear. These are miracles, by anyone's definition. I had a miracle before. Questioning it doesn't help anything. Accept it and move forward with gratitude and try to be a better person. Prove that whoever did this was right to invest their trust in you... in us."

"Whether we call it a miracle or not, does it make any difference in what we do next?" Kole asked seriously.

"Yeah, actually I think it does." Paul said confidently, then explained, "You've got to learn the rules of the world to get anything done in it. Science and physics and all that stuff that we're used to, may not work the same here. The magic you heard about in fairy tales as a kid and always thought was pretend might actually be more useful to us here and now."

"Depending on whether your world has witchcraft or science might make a difference in how you respond to a potential threat or solve certain problems." Arlo said supportively.

"Like Jinx's curse." Donny said simply.

"Let's hold off on tackling that one until we have a little more of an understanding of our abilities and of the world that we've found ourselves in. His 'curse' could very well be the reason he was included in this adventure." Dylan explained.

"We might have easily overlooked Randolph's time reversing ability and dismissed it as being useless if we hadn't dared to speculate on the utility of it." Arlo said seriously.

"We're still not sure if it's going to be of any use. We're just guessing." Kole reminded the group.

"That doesn't matter. The idea is sound. We need to not only take stock of what talents we have at our disposal, but also stretch our imaginations to come up with as many ways to use them as possible." Arlo said as he looked around the group to gauge their acceptance of his words.

"But we won't know what abilities we need to have until the 'quest giver' shows up." Ryvan countered.

"If we know what abilities we have to work with, then we'll have a whole lot better idea of what we'll be able to do when we start our quest." Obie said speculatively.

"So we are doing a quest?" Kole asked cautiously.

"The way things like this go, we'll probably be given a choice. If we decide not to do the quest, we'll be allowed to go back to our regular lives and maybe not even remember about any of this. But at the same time, deep inside you'll know that because we didn't go on the quest, lots of people are probably going to suffer or maybe even die." Obie said seriously.

"Lots?" Ronny asked hesitantly.

"Even if it's only a few people, wouldn't you still want to do it?" Paul asked reasonably.

After a moment to consider, Ronny finally answered, "Depends on the people, I guess."

"He's right. While it sounds nice to say that you'd endanger yourself for someone else, regardless of who they are, the truth is that you might as well just give up if you're willing to risk yourself needlessly. Be smart. Only take a risk when it's important." Donny said seriously.

"But before we even start the quest, we'll probably get tested, to show that we can stick with it and get the job done." Obie hurried to add.

"Yeah. And then after we're tested as a group, we might still get tested individually before we're trusted with anything really dangerous or important." Paul added seriously.

"So what, in your opinion, should we be doing right now?" Ronny asked reasonably.

"I don't know. We don't seem to be able to do much of anything about food, shelter, or weapons. Maybe if we take a few minutes to tell about ourselves that'll trigger the 'Quest Giver' into showing up." Paul reluctantly suggested.

"Then why don't you tell us something about you?" Ronny asked simply.

"Uh, yeah. There's really not much to say. My Uncle Aubrey is a shaman and a lot of people really depend on him." Paul said with difficulty.

"Is he teaching you about that stuff or anything that might help us?" Ronny asked cautiously.

"No. But my cousin Jerico is going to be the camp's shaman and I'm going to be living with him and helping him out where I can." Paul hurriedly explained.

"But you haven't learned anything from him yet, right?" Ronny asked speculatively.

"Right." Paul reluctantly confirmed.

"So far you've told us about your uncle and cousin, but who are you when you're not acting as an extension of someone else? Who are you?" Ronny asked concernedly.

After a moment to consider, Paul finally responded, "If you're asking who I am when I'm alone in the dark, I don't know what to tell you. Being Native American kind of sets me apart in a way. Maybe that gives me a special something or another, but except for that, I'm the same as everyone else here."

"Obie, you and Paul seem to be on the same wavelength a lot of the time. Will you work with him on discovering things that make him unique?" Donny asked hopefully.

"Yeah. We speak the same language." Obie said with a grin in Paul's direction.

"Digimoji." Paul responded with a pained smile.

After a long moment, Dylan finally said, "I'll go next."

No one seemed to be inclined to disagree, so he continued, "Before hearing Paul's answer, mine would have been completely different. I would have told you about growing up on the streets and getting shot in the face, but you know what? That's not who I am, that's what was done to me. I think I'd like to join Paul on his path to discover who he is. For me, every day so far has been about survival. I've never really had the time to stop and think about who I am or who I want to be."

"Let's take a shortcut here. Is there anyone who doesn't want to figure out who you are deep down in your gooey places?" Kole asked seriously.

"I think we all would. But I don't know if this is really the thing we should be focusing on right this minute." Ryvan countered, then explained, "It just feels like we could be doing something a little more productive."

"I'm open to suggestions." Dylan said honestly.

"Randolph was just saying something about investigating and looking for boundaries and stuff. That sounds like something useful to me." Arlo said cautiously.

"It looks like each of us has his own light, so we should have everything we need to be able to step away from the fire and explore a little." Dylan said uncertainly.

"We should go in groups and stay within hearing distance of each other. When we get as far as we can that way, one person can stop and act as a relay, so that the rest of their group can go further and explore things without having to worry about losing anyone." Donny said seriously.

"What are the chances that once we separate we'll each end up in our own little world, shaped by our dreams and hidden fantasies where we'll be lost forever?" Arlo asked cautiously.

"I'm not even going to argue that it couldn't happen, mostly because it would fit right in with the weirdness of this place. But what can we accomplish by sitting around the fire where it's safe?" Dylan asked frankly.

"It sounds to me like we can either do something or do nothing." Obie said simply.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not good at doing nothing... never got a taste for it. I'm gonna go explore. Who wants to go with me?" Dylan asked with a smile.

"I will!" Teddy immediately volunteered.

"Anyone else?" Dylan asked cautiously.

"Come on Jason K. We can explore together." Teddy said encouragingly.

Donny smiled at the development, then turned and asked, "Jinx? Would you like to go exploring with me?"

"Really?" Jinx asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah. I think that if you're brave enough to go out into the dark on your own to protect the rest of us, that you'd be a good person to have on our team." Donny said seriously.

"Dylan, do you mind if I tag along with you?" Arlo cautiously asked.

"Sounds good. Glad to have you." Dylan said confidently.

"Randolph? Would you like to go with me and Jinx?" Donny asked hopefully.

"Yes. Thank you. I am honored by your invitation." Randolph said reverently.

"Ronny?" Donny asked with a curious look in his direction.

After a moment to consider, Ronny finally said, "Before I say 'yes', I'm wondering if you'd feel comfortable being on a team where 'I' was in charge?"

"Sure. In fact, you can be in charge of this one if you want. I'm just getting a team together." Donny said easily.

"No, maybe next time. I was just curious." Ronny said comfortably.

"I don't get off on being in charge, but I'll do it if no one else wants to. I don't mind." Donny explained.

Ronny nodded his easy acceptance of the statement.

"Is it going to be a problem for anyone if I don't go exploring and hang out here by the fire?" Ryvan cautiously asked.

"Actually, that sounds like a good idea to me. This is our home base. We can go out and explore, then come back here to share what we found." Donny said happily.

"Besides that, if someone brought us here and wants to talk to us, this is going to be the first place they're going to look." Obie added reasonably.

"While we're here, we can try and come up with other stuff from all the shows that we've seen." Paul said speculatively.

"Yeah. Weren't you saying something before about weapons..." Kole said in a half-teasing tone which didn't quite hide his genuine anxiety.

"If anyone finds any weapons, they need to bring them back here to home base right away. If we're going to have to defend our ground at some point, this is what we'll be defending." Dylan said seriously.

"Unless one of us runs into an even better place to call home." Donny added reasonably.

"Yeah. Like someplace with food, water... light, maybe." Ronny added with a grin.

"That'd be nice, wouldn't it?" Donny asked playfully.

"If you find someplace like that, come back here and let us know before you decide to move in." Dylan said in a mock-stern voice.

Donny flashed an amused glance at Ronny before responding, "We'll think about it."

"Are we going now?" Jason K asked anxiously.

"There's no time like the present." Dylan said eagerly as he gestured vaguely in the general direction of where the bedrooms had been in the Cabin Seven layout.

"Actually, considering everything, I'm not sure if 'time' and 'present' mean the same thing that they did when we woke up this morning... or anything at all, really." Arlo said hesitantly.

"Then let's get out there and see what we can find so that you can use that big brain of yours to put the pieces together and figure out what's going on here." Dylan said encouragingly.

Arlo smiled at the vote of confidence and stepped to Dylan's side.

His movement seemed to set things into motion.

A few seconds later, Paul, Obie, Kole, and Ryvan were standing by the frozen fire watching the others being absorbed into the surrounding darkness.

To Be Continued...