“No. Crawler rides and dimension sliding have the virtue of letting me go far and return in the space of a few hours. The solution cannot be to shirk all responsibility and abandon the mountain to the glass fawn. There is no one else here who can do what we can. I can bear this misery long enough to do what needs done. We must focus on the disease, not the symptoms.”
Valentina coughed frozen vapor into the air.
“Alright, so where does that leave us?”
Her eyes trailed down to Green’s hip.
“Mr. Green, look at your hand.”
He was grasping a fistful of denim with the acorn in its center.
“I think you should unburden yourself of that object. You know as much as you are going to know about it. Give it to the earth.”
He released his grip with an effort and crossed his arms.
“I’ll deal with it eventually. I really think we need to focus on you right now. You can’t keep this up. You look…rough.”
“No, I can’t keep this up.”
A resignation that looked an awful lot like doom settled on her face.
“God. You’re gonna go through that thing tonight?”
“I certainly do not relish the plan. But we work with what we have. The fawn will be on the hunt again any moment. My hesitation may mean another victim. If the choice is between falling off a cliff or into blackberry thorns, you choose the thorns.”
A hole in reality that might turn you into a fine mist is nothing like blackberry thorns.
“Wait, look, we still have time. It’s not fully dark yet. It’s still only…”
He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time, a habit from an old life.
The text notification he ignored earlier was on the screen.
It was from Alf.
Hey, bro. Station closed tonight. Technical difficulties. Moths are involved. Don’t ask. We’re camping at the Hole tonight. Like ya said. Gotta guard it from the tourists. Solidarity, brother. Be sociable. Come drink a beer. Bring that six-pack you owe me.
Green’s skin crawled.
“What is it?” Valentina asked.
Green texted back.
No. Don’t go there. I’ll explain later.
A red exclamation mark appeared next to the text.
Message not sent. No service.
“Shit.”
He clenched his teeth and looked up into the gray, bloodless face of his teacher.
“I think we need to go now.”
Green paced the gravel lanewhile Valentina made final preparations, then together, they set out for the Hole in Nothing. Valentina’s steps were halting and every second breath came with an audible sound of effort. On past hikes, he marveled at the silence of her footfalls. Now, she shuffled and stumbled through the fallen leaves.
“Can I at least carry your pack?”
