UA7: Brothers in Spirit

 

Chapter 10 - Intertimensional Instability

"What do you think the chances are, that they might have another shower room around here somewhere?" Ronny reluctantly asked as they entered the gymnasium area across from the bedrooms.

"I'd say the chances are actually pretty good. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if it was called something like... I don't know... 'The Women's Locker Room', or some crazy shit like that." Donny finished with a grin, then added more seriously, "But if you give up on your dream by chickening out when things get scary, you'll regret it every single day, forever. "

"What do you know about it?" Ronny asked defensively.

"I know that you moved into cabin seven to be counted as one of the guys. I know that every time you give in to one of your fears it makes it just a little bit easier to give in to them the next time. I know that if you talk yourself out of doing the most 'guys only' thing you can possibly do, that you'll never be able to see yourself as a 'real' guy." Donny said firmly as he held Ronny's gaze, demanding a reaction.

After a long hesitation, Ronny finally grudgingly said, "I guess."

"C'mon. If you don't make a big deal about this, no one else will either, I promise." Donny said assuringly as he led the way into the changing area.

* * * * *

"Do you think someone will make breakfast or are we going to have to do that for ourselves?" Teddy asked curiously as they walked across the hall.

"Nobody said anything about it either way, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Jason K said frankly.

"The thing is, even though my mom wasn't much of a mom, she'd always take care of the food... I mean, when we had any. I never really learned how to do much of anything... like kitchen stuff." Teddy reluctantly admitted as they walked into the locker room.

"I've lived in enough different places that not only do I know how to make breakfast for myself, but I learned how to make breakfast from about a dozen different countries. If you don't know how to do something, just tell me and I'll show you."

"Yeah. Thanks." Teddy quietly said as he selected a locker for himself.

"Did you guys get a good sleep?" Donny asked with forced cheer as he and Ronny entered the locker room.

"Yeah. We tried to watch some cartoons last night but we fell asleep before we could see any." Jason K said frankly.

"I don't even know what show he turned on, I fell asleep so fast." Teddy added as he put his clothes in a locker.

"The same thing happened to us. We talked about putting on a movie, but I never actually found anything for us to watch. I just flipped through the channels until I fell asleep with the remote in my hand." Donny said with a chuckle as he opened one of the lockers and placed his folded clothes in the bottom.

"I remember him doing that, but nothing else." Ronny said honestly, as he mimicked Donny's actions and began to undress.

"Is everyone doing alright this morning?" Arlo asked as he and Randolph walked into the locker room.

"We're fine." Donny answered for Ronny, then noticed that Ronny was standing with his hands on his waistband, seemingly frozen in place.

"Us too." Jason K said for them both, wrapped in a towel, obviously waiting for the others so that they could walk into the shower room as a group and continue their conversation.

Donny walked to the stack of towels and took one for himself and a second one for Ronny. When he returned to Ronny's side, he handed him a towel, jostling him a bit in the process, prompting him to take it.

As Donny had hoped, Ronny resumed his previous motion and continued undressing, then promptly wrapped a towel around his midsection. Donny was relieved to see that Ronny's actions appeared to be completely casual.

No more was said as the group moved as a unit into the shower room.

* * * * *

"Has anyone had any new adventures since we saw each other last night?" Arlo asked curiously.

"No... And I'm okay with that. Yesterday had more than enough surprises to last me for a long time." Donny said frankly. He glanced at Ronny to see how he was doing and was surprised to find him showering as normally and casually as any of them.

While Ronny didn't have a body to be ashamed of, at the same time, he seemed to have an uncommon physique in relation to the rest of the group. Arlo, Randolph, and Donny himself were examples of gangly, coltish boys, midway through growing into their adult bodies. Teddy and Jason K were more on the 'child' end of the spectrum, having yet to show the first signs of puberty. Ronny, while not heavily muscled, appeared to be framed to carry a little extra weight. Not fat per se, but perhaps fated to be a bit more 'well-cushioned' than some.

"I don't actually have any news like that, but I do have something to share; It's more of an observation than anything." Arlo said informatively.

"What's that?" Donny asked cautiously.

"I'd rather tell you about it at breakfast, so I can tell everyone at once." Arlo said seriously.

"Speaking of that, we'd better finish up here before the others decide to eat without us." 

Jason K was the first to finish, but the others were soon to follow.

Donny intentionally lagged behind.

When he and Ronny were the last in the shower room, Donny cautiously asked, "Now that you've stood up to your fear, how do you feel?"

After a moment to consider, Ronny quietly answered, "Like one of the guys."

"That's exactly what I wanted for you. I hope it's everything you were expecting." Donny said with a contented smile.

"Not even close." Ronny said firmly, then added conspiratorially, "It's so much better."

* * * * *

"Is this everyone? Do we need to go up and shake anyone out of bed?" Ryvan asked as he looked at the group gathered in the lounge.

"I don't think so. Ronny and Donny are right behind us. We left them getting dressed in the locker room." Arlo said seriously.

"Good. Then how does breakfast burritos sound to everyone?" Kole asked cheerfully, then quickly added, "We've got everything prepped and ready to go. All we have to do is load the tortillas with fixins and roll 'em up."

"I think breakfast burritos are universally loved." Dylan said simply.

"No jalapeños for me." Jinx said immediately.

"Can do. Any other special requests before we get started?" Kole asked as he looked around.

"I really don't like the dish-soapy stuff some people put on their Mexican food. If you're going to put any of that on there, leave it off mine." Obie said frankly.

"I don't put dish soap in my food." Kole said emphatically.

"Did we miss anything?" Donny asked as he and Ronny stepped out of the stairway landing and turned to walk into the lounge.

"Kole was just promising Obie that he wasn't going to put dish soap in the breakfast burritos that he's making for us this morning. Do you have any special requests before they start putting them together?" Dylan asked with a teasing grin in Kole's direction.

After a moment to puzzle over the statement, Donny finally responded, "Yeah. I know about the dish soap thing. Go easy on the cilantro for me, too, if you would."

"I wasn't going to use a lot anyway. But I'll be sure to not overdo it and to make Obie's without any at all." Kole finished seriously.

"If someone wants to put out drinks and plates and stuff like that, we'll get to work on breakfast burritos for everyone. It's all set up. It shouldn't take very long." Ryvan announced, then hurried toward the kitchen, not waiting for a response.

"And there's plenty of salsa made up, if anyone wants chips and salsa to go with it." Kole added before following Ryvan out of the room.

"I'll get the chips and salsa." Obie hurried to volunteer.

"Water." Jason K, chirped, then motioned for Teddy to go with him. 

"Plates." Paul was quick to say.

"It sounds like we've got a plan. Let's do it!" Dylan said in a commanding voice.

In doing so, Dylan officially set the breakfast-making frenzy into motion.

* * * * *

Even those without roles to play in the breakfast production were drawn into the hustle and bustle of people buzzing around the dining room and kitchen.

As the boys each finished their contributions to the meal, Dylan cautiously asked, "Has anyone noticed any little robots running around here?"

After a moment to give everyone else a chance to answer, Obie finally said, "No. But that sounds really awesome!"

"Johnny was the one who saw it. Apparently, I must have dropped a sock or something on the floor when I was getting ready for bed and later, in the middle of the night, a little robot came out from somewhere and got it. Johnny caught sight of it, but couldn't keep up with it using his spiritual light and doesn't know where it went." Dylan carefully explained.

"Dylan said that the computer that controls the base might help us out with some of the chores and stuff that we need to do to keep a big place like this running." Jinx further explained.

"I guess that's good." Obie said unconvincingly.

"That way we don't have to spend a lot of time each day doing tons of chores instead of... whatever else we're supposed to be doing." Dylan finished uncertainly.

"We're supposed to be learning how to use our gifts so that we can make a difference when we're needed." Paul said seriously.

"If we're needed." Obie reluctantly amended.

"It seems like there should be an easier way of doing that." Donny said frankly.

"Easier isn't always better." Paul stated with conviction.

"'Easy' is a promise that starts out half-broken." Obie said bitterly.

"Yeah. But let's not do everything the hard way just because you don't like things being easy." Jason K countered.

"I'm just saying that easy things are usually that way for a reason, and that that reason can come back and bite you in the ass."

* * * * *

"Burritos are here. Jinx, no jalapeños. Obie, no cilantro." Ryvan said as he handed a foil wrapped burrito to each named boy.

"That was fast." Donny said with surprise.

"Stack 'em, roll 'em, toast 'em, done." Ryvan finished with a shrug, then thought to add, "Kole will be out with the rest in a second. I left him rolling."

True to his word, a moment later Kole stepped out of the kitchen with a mounded platter.

"Those are HUGE!" Teddy exclaimed at the sight.

"Skinny little burritos are just a lot of extra work, because you have to make more of them to fill the same space. With these things... you eat one and you'll know you've had a meal." Kole said confidently as he placed a platter loaded with breakfast burritos on the table.

"It looks like you made too many." Dylan said uncertainly.

"I made them until I ran out of filling. That way if someone wants a second one, they can have it. Of course, if we have some left over, we can put them in the cooler and go back and have them whenever we're hungry again. They reheat really well." Kole explained seriously.

"I think I'm going to need a knife and fork for this... I don't know, maybe a chainsaw or something." Paul said hesitantly.

"As long as you don't worry too much about table manners and being neat, you shouldn't have a problem. Just take a big bite and be happy." Ryvan said encouragingly.

"A big bite? This thing is bigger than my head. It'd be like trying to take a bite out of the wall." Paul retorted.

After puzzling over the logistics of it for a moment, Obie finally took the plunge and dove in for his first bite.

A long amazed moment passed before Jason K finally said, "I think I know Obie's super power now."

"I can't wait to see his costume." Ryvan said with a cheeky grin.

"I'm going in." Dylan said resignedly.

Dylan proceeded to take at least as big a bite as Obie had.

One by one, the others took their first bites and then got lost in the experience.

* * * * *

Once the eating frenzy had slowed, Randolph quietly asked, "Arlo, was there something that you were wanting to tell the whole group once we were all together?"

After a moment to swallow, Arlo said, "I don't know if anyone else noticed, but when I woke up this morning, it was just getting light outside. It wasn't until later that I realized that we're in an underground base, completely cut off from the sky. So what we see out of our bedroom windows must be a hologram or at least something along those lines, since it looked like natural sunlight at sunrise."

"It didn't even occur to me that we had windows in the bedrooms. I'll have to take a look out next time I'm up there." Donny said simply.

"It may end up not being important, but I thought that it would be good when we get together, if we tell each other about the strange things that we notice so that maybe we can figure some things out about this place." Arlo hurried to explain.

"Good idea." Dylan said seriously.

"I was thinking that after breakfast, Ryvan and I could take a boat out and check out the local waters." Kole said with a smile that betrayed his excitement at the idea.

"Can I go too?" Jason K asked hopefully.

"I guess so..." Ryvan said uncertainly.

"What do you say Teddy? Do you want to?" Jason K asked hopefully.

"Are you sure it's okay?" Teddy hesitantly asked.

"Can Teddy come too? Is it really alright? I mean, you can say 'no' if you want to." Jason K asked Kole and Ryvan energetically.

"Sure. Why not? Teddy's cool." Kole finally responded and the matter was settled.

"Where are we gonna go?" Jason K asked excitedly.

"I thought that maybe we'd follow the shoreline for a little bit, just to get a sense of the local area. Then, depending on what we discover, we might go ashore somewhere along the way and take a look at the inland nearby and get a sense of the local area." Kole said frankly.

"That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we can do something like that with the bikes, too." Arlo said speculatively, then glanced to Dylan for verification.

"We won't be able to plan very much until we see how things are in the light of day. It was so dark out last night that we had to make a lot of guesses." Dylan said frankly, then turned and asked, "Jinx, would you like to go with us on the bikes?"

"Why me?" Jinx asked dubiously.

"Because while we're out there, we might be able to come up with 'real world' ways to test your luck." Dylan said seriously.

"Yeah. I think I'd like that. Thanks." Jinx stammered, obviously surprised at not only being included, but being 'wanted'.

"I think Obie and I are going to check out the mirror room and see what we can accomplish up there. Hopefully we'll be able to get an idea of how things work." Paul said confidently.

"If you wouldn't mind, I think I'd like to go with you to see if our assumptions about my ability to influence the mirror images are correct." Randolph said timidly.

"Sure... that is, if we can even figure out how to make anything work." Paul said reasonably.

"If these mirrors don't work like the one over the fireplace, then we need to figure out why they put them in the room with the black doorway." Obie said seriously.

* * * * *

"You guys cooked, so you should let us clean up. It's only fair." Donny said reasonably.

"Cleaning up is everyone's job. If you clean up my messes for me, then there's nothing to keep me from making big stupid messes because I'll know that you'll pay the price for me goofing off." Kole said seriously.

"Look at this kitchen. You made breakfast for all of us and didn't make a mess at all." Donny said in his defense.

"You have way too much faith in me. It'd be really easy for me to come down with a case of the lazies if I knew that someone was going to follow behind me and clean up for me." Kole said frankly as he stacked dirty dishes in a rack.

"Yeah. He can be a real asshole sometimes." Ryvan interjected.

"I thought he was your best friend." Dylan said cautiously.

"He is." Ryvan said simply, then explained, "Being Kole's friend comes with accepting him as he is. Usually he's great, but sometimes he's a jerk. The thing is, you don't get one without the other."

"I try not to be too awful too often." Kole quietly explained as he slid a tray of dishes to Ryvan.

"He keeps it in the 'plus column' most of the time." Ryvan confirmed as he moved the filled rack into place, then lowered the hood of the industrial grade dishwasher.

"That's good to know." Dylan said simply as he wiped down the kitchen counters.

"I think that if any of us notice that we're starting to have roommate problems, that we should probably talk to you two about how to get along when we're not always on our best behavior." Donny said seriously.

"I can't imagine you 'not on your best behavior'." Ronny said honestly.

"I've learned how to get along with a lot of different people by being what they expected me to be. But I don't think I ever really learned how to be myself around someone else. It's good to know that there's someone I can ask about it if I don't get the 'being myself' thing exactly right on the first try." Donny carefully explained.

"I'll do my best to be understanding if the 'real' you ends up being something unexpected." Ronny said as he finished cleaning the griddle, having brought it back to its original luster.

"Thanks, everyone. The kitchen looks great. If no one has anything else, I'd like to get out on the water ahead of the heat of the day." Kole said loudly to be heard over the dishwasher.

"Will we see you at dinner?" Donny asked curiously.

"If you smell cooking fish when you get back you'll know that everything went the way that I wanted it to. If it doesn't end up working out that way, then we'll at least try to be back before dark." Kole said seriously.

"Yeah. That sounds good for us, too." Donny said as he looked around at his group, then clarified, "We'll shoot for dinner, but if that doesn't happen, we'll make a serious effort to be back before dark."

Nods of agreement went around the room.

* * * * *

"Don't worry guys, it's not too far." Ryvan told the younger boys as they walked away from the underground base.

"This place is so big! What do you think they do with all this space?" Jason K asked as he looked around, trying to soak in every detail of their surroundings.

"'They' who?" Ryvan asked curiously.

"'They' who built this base before Alistair's friends copied it." Jason K said seriously.

"As far as I can tell, even though this looks like some kind of big empty warehouse, it's really more of a huge tunnel that connects the base to the outside. They might have used it to bring in materials and equipment to build the base. I mean, why throw away a perfectly good tunnel once your secret base is built? That would just be silly." Ryvan said seriously.

"That's crazy." Teddy said simply.

"I think it's interesting that down here, in this part, it's all brushed steel and electronics, but right outside the base we have rough walls with caves and stuff... almost like they left it natural just so that we could explore it." Ryvan said conversationally.

"There's raw caves like that outside the other door, too. We figured out that the caves with electric lights have the important stuff and that the rest can be explored later, when we have more time." Jason K said reasonably.

"Yeah. We followed the lights right to the cave entrance. Arlo was the one who figured it out. Him and Dylan are really good at making sense of things." Teddy added.

"You don't have to worry about that here." Kole said, then pointed at a lighted panel on the wall before saying, "Computer: Recognize."

Nothing happened.

Finally, after a pregnant pause, Teddy quietly said, "Identify."

"Identify what?" Kole asked dubiously.

"The trigger words are 'Computer: Identify'." Teddy timidly said, setting the inevitable reaction from the computer into motion.

"Computer: Identify: Kole Clarry. Identify: Ryvan Wyrd. Identify: Jason Klein. Identify: Theodore Behr."

As soon as the final name had been spoken, the wall beside them began to rise up, revealing a massive brushed steel passage behind it.

"Um, wow." Jason K said as he stopped and stared at the enormous wall, slowly drawing up into the ceiling.

"I never saw this before." Teddy said in amazement.

"None of your visions of the future had us here doing this?" Jason K asked to confirm.

"Yeah. No. None of them. I would've remembered something as big and weird as this." Teddy said slowly.

"Hey! I'm standing right here!" Kole said belligerently.

"I wasn't talking about you, Salsa Boy. I was talking about the 12 ton door/wall thing sucking itself up into the ceiling." Teddy responded, giving attitude as well as he had received it.

"'Salsa Man.'" Kole carefully enunciated.

Teddy, Jason K, and Ryvan shared a knowing side-eye glance acknowledging the implicit 'yeah, right' that hung in the air, but all three had the good grace not to escalate the situation by audibly responding to Kole's assertion.

* * * * *

"Are we going to need to take anything with us?" Arlo asked cautiously as their group gathered in the lounge.

"Like what?" Donny asked as he stopped.

"Like jackets?" Arlo hesitantly asked.

"I didn't notice feeling cold when we were at the mouth of the cave last night. It'll probably be even warmer during the day." Donny said honestly.

"The air rushing past us as we're riding bikes might cool us down." Arlo calmly added.

"But if it is cold, can't we come back and get our coats?" Jinx cautiously asked.

"Yeah. Good thinking, Jinx." Dylan said with a smile at his roommate.

"Does anyone remember if Alistair gave us any hints about where the town was?" Donny asked suddenly.

"I don't think so. All he said is that there 'is' a town." Dylan said frankly.

"Then I guess it doesn't matter, we should just pick a direction and go." Dylan said seriously.

"Since we were above the sea of trees, we have a pretty good view. The town is probably far enough away that we couldn't see its light even if it was right in front of us." Donny said reasonably.

"Are we ready to go?" Arlo cautiously asked.

"Yeah. Like Jinx said, if we notice that we're missing something, we can just come back and get it." Donny said seriously.

* * * * *

"I see that you brought your hat." Dylan said with a smile as the small group left the lounge.

"I don't have a lot of happy memories about when I was growing up, but this hat reminds me of one time when things were okay for a while. I felt like a normal kid and I had people who cared about me."

"That sounds nice."

"Yeah. And besides that, what do you use a hat for? Keeping the sun out of your eyes and the wind from blowing your hair too much... it sounds like just what I need if I'm going to be bicycling."

"If you'll remind me, I'll look for a cap while we're in town." Dylan said casually.

"Depending on what we find when we get there, we may get hats for everyone."

"Do you have money to pay for them?"

"Is there going to be anyone there to pay?"

"Good point."

When the group stopped at the exterior door at the far end of the hall, Dylan looked upward and said, "Computer: Identify."

"Computer: Identify, Dylan Chang. Identify: Arlan Cavanaugh. Identify: Donald Marcus. Identify: Renauldi Szabo. Identify, ::static:: ::hiss:: ::tick, tick::... Jinx."

There was a long silent moment but for the scraping sound of the heavy door slowly opening.

Once it was open, the team moved as one to the bicycle parking lot to choose their rides for the coming adventure.

* * * * *

"Well?" Paul cautiously asked.

"Well." Obie parroted.

"Do you have any idea of how to begin?" Randolph hesitantly asked.

"Do you mean something besides standing in front of the mirror and wishing really hard?" Paul asked uncertainly.

"Yes. Besides that." Obie confirmed.

"Actually, that was my entire plan." Paul reluctantly admitted.

"When we were doing this before, it was in the dark, the only light we had was spiritual. I don't recall us trying to use any spiritual abilities under other circumstances." Randolph said informatively.

"So maybe we should go through the black door to see if we can see anything from the back side of the mirrors." Obie said uncertainly.

"Hold on before you do that. First I'd like to at least give seeing a try on this side of the mirrors before we do anything that we can't undo." Paul said nervously.

"Agreed. Having been dead once and relegated to walking the abyss, the thought of walking through that darkness again is, in a word, terrifying." Randolph said seriously.

"Yeah, I get that. I really do. But whatever we can do on this side of the mirror, anyone else could do, too. With all the Shamen and mystics in the world, they would've figured it out a long time ago. It wouldn't even be paranormal by now. It'd just be normal-normal, I mean, like, science." Paul fought to explain.

"He may be right. I believe that I could sit in front of a mirror all day long and never once have it show me something other than my own reflection, no matter how hard I ever wished or visualized, craving for it to be otherwise." Randolph reluctantly confirmed.

* * * * *

As the group rode their bikes away from the bicycle corral on the loose pea gravel, Jinx cautiously asked, "What are we going to do if we find the town? I mean, is there something that we should be sure to look for?"

"Really, I think we're just going to explore. It's hard to plan ahead if you don't already know what's there." Ronny chimed in.

"But shouldn't we be looking for a doctor's office or a police station or something like that? It just feels like there are some really important things that we should be looking for as soon as we get there." Jinx carefully explained.

"Why would we need a police station if there aren't any police?" Ronny asked curiously.

"Guns." Dylan said bluntly, "I think Jinx is worried that even though we may have light now, it doesn't mean that we're safe."

"I guess it makes sense that the guy with literal demons following him around would be the one to worry about security." Ronny said with a smile in Jinx's direction.

"I was thinking about something else." Donny said distractedly.

"What's that?" Ronny asked with immediate concern.

"These sodium lights got me to thinking... Where does our electricity come from?"

"I imagine that it comes from a power plant somewhere." Dylan said hesitantly, unsure if he was missing some obvious fact.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert or anything like that, but from what I know of it, electricity, by its nature, doesn't want to be contained. No matter if you're trying to generate it, transmit it, or store it, energy systems are corrosive and unstable. They degrade quickly and consistently. There have to be people to take care of them." Donny said seriously.

"I don't know if I agree with you. I mean, what about solar?" Jinx asked curiously.

"Just like traditional power, it's always finding newer and more ingenious ways to fail, either in generation or storage."

"Maybe we could try to trace the electric lines to find out for sure where our power comes from." Jinx cautiously suggested.

"We can't follow the lines. They're buried." Dylan said simply.

"How do you know that?" Jinx asked suspiciously.

"Because we're buried, too." Dylan answered simply.

"Oh, yeah." Jinx timidly admitted.

"We're here." Donny said as they approached the last of the sodium lights in the final bend of the cave.

* * * * *

After a few minutes of walking, Jason K quietly asked, "Did you guys tell the computer your names?"

"No." Kole reluctantly admitted, obviously realizing what Jason K suspected.

"Yeah, neither did we." Jason K confirmed.

After another moment of walking, Ryvan quietly asked, "Then how did it know?"

"If 'here and now' is a recreation of another universe, then our computer might have been created with all the information about all of us already loaded in from the other computer." Ryvan slowly reasoned.

"It could just as easily have a complete copy of everything that all the Federation computers have on everyone back home." Kole said just as reasonably.

"Or maybe Alistair's friends just told it about us." Teddy said simply.

"This computer here sounds the same as the computer at the door that goes outside." Jason K added.

"Was it just like this?" Kole asked cautiously.

"It was exactly like this. Same voice. Same words. It did exactly the same thing when we triggered it."

"So it sounds pretty likely that the computers out here and inside are all part of the same system." Kole said speculatively.

"Which means?" Ryvan prompted.

"We'll have to wait and see. But I think that at some point we may need to know who controls which computer."

"Guys? You feel that damp air? That means that we're getting close." Ryvan said seriously.

Kole stopped suddenly, surprising the others who were on the verge of running into him.

"It's dark out." Kole said in bewilderment.

"Maybe we're just on the shady side of the river." Ryvan cautiously reasoned.

"No. This isn't shade, it's stone-cold dark out there. Somehow, it's still the middle of the night." Kole said hesitantly.

"I guess flying is out of the question." Ryvan said uncertainly.

"I wasn't planning on flying yet anyway, but I was planning on taking a boat out." Kole said anxiously.

"Maybe we can find a headlight or a spotlight or something like that." Ryvan cautiously suggested.

"I'd rather not go out in the dark until I have some idea of our surroundings in the daylight. It would be stupid and dangerous to go out without having any idea of what might be waiting for us." Kole said reasonably, then thought to add, "After all we've seen, how unlikely would it be if we found a waterfall, a whirlpool, or even a sea monster out there?"

"I guess, but we've done plenty of stupid and dangerous things before." Ryvan easily countered.

"And with any luck, we'll be able to again. But this isn't going to work."

"What do you want to do instead?" Ryvan asked curiously.

"Let's go back to that rockwall outside the base and see what we can find." Kole said with a grin.

"Why are you going to the rockwall? Do you think there's something there?" Jason K asked curiously.

"Not really. But by a certain logic, yeah, there could be." Kole said with difficulty, then explained, "Rock climbing and exploring the caves is something that we can do that not everyone else can. I don't know if it will help, but doing this lets us cover some ground that wouldn't normally get covered. Ry seems to think him and me are here for a reason... for all we know, this could be it."

"If you're not taking a boat out, would you mind if we went up to the mirror room to see how Obie and Paul are doing?" Jason K asked tentatively.

"That's no problem, but before you go, Teddy, do you have any visions or anything like that that we should know about?" Kole hesitantly asked.

"Alistair hasn't sent me anything, but I haven't opened myself to the visions yet, either. I guess I can look if you need me to." Teddy finished reluctantly.

"No. That's okay. I just wanted to know if there was anything big and nasty that we needed to watch out for." Kole finished with a smile.

"Um, yeah... no. No nasties that I know of." Teddy cautiously confirmed.

"Let us know if you come up with anything new." Ryvan said seriously.

Teddy nodded that he would.

"Good. Then we'll see you guys when we get back to the house." Jason K said slowly, almost asking for confirmation.

"Yeah. And if we don't show up for dinner, you might want to check the caves just in case we're stuck somewhere." Ryvan said with a timid smile.

"We'll see you later then." Teddy said hesitantly, then shared an uncertain look with Jason K before walking with him back the way they had come.

To Be Continued...