Otherworld: Station One. - 8. Winter 8

But I'm still trying to make my mind up. Am I free or am I tied up?

Winter: 8

It was easy to see why Hamon didn’t want to be a human forever, for starters the past few days had shown me just how easy it was to snuff your life out like a mere candle’s flame.

Immortality has some pretty good benefits that’s for sure.

Mel was jabbering away in my ear as we walked through the ‘lower-class’ suburbs. She had never been totally confident walking through there. We once saw a guy get mugged and hell, that kind of stuff instills a sense of respect for the socially rejected sub-culture.

“It’s okay. Nothing’s going to happen Mel. Besides, if it does then you can just heal me.” I teased. Mel glared at me.

“Firstly, it’s really not funny I can remember when that guy was mugged. Secondly, keep it down I don’t want to be stared at.” She hissed. She quickened her pace as the train station came into view and I peered off to where the beggars usually were. They were still missing, and my stomach twisted at the thought of that giant monstrosity. Whatever it was it had left a lingering smell of decay and burnt toast in the air.

“Hey Mel, do you remember the beggars that used to be here?” I asked pointing towards the other side of the tracks. She stopped a few meters away and wrinkled her nose.

“No, I never saw any beggars.” She commented, “But that stench is disgusting, can we please go?” I nodded absently and slowly followed her. Had I imagined them? No, that’s not possible. Alex saw them too. Then again, he only saw them in Otherworld. I had seen them in reality as well.

I shook my head, more for visual effect than practicality, because when I stopped shaking the questions were still there. “What did he mean by plan do you think?” Mel called over her shoulder.

“I dunno,” I answered, grateful for the distraction. “Hopefully he has some answers though. I think we deserve a few don’t you?” Mel nodded.

The main street was flocked with people, all milling about on Sunday afternoon. Just outside the supermarket was the usual gaggle of elderly women. I was pretty sure they belonged to the only church we had in town.

They stared at us as we walked past. I guess we just screamed ‘demonic children.’ Or something. Their bright yellow and white sundresses clashed with the horrible miss-matching weather and the buildings around us. I never honestly paid any attention to the way that winter muted colour, like I was watching everything through tissue paper.

We stopped at the water tower, sat down on one of the benches underneath, and waited for the other two. Alex showed up first, jogging towards us from the direction, we had come. I didn’t really know much of the broader layout of the town so I assumed the gym was in that direction.

He smiled when he saw me… I mean us. My cheeks flushed and I hoped no one else noticed.. “Hey” he called coming to stop in front of us. I frowned at his get up, gym shorts and forest green tee shirt. It was refreshing to see summer clothes worn so defiantly. “What?” He asked raising one of his eyebrows.

“Oh, nothing. Where’s Hamon?” I said, distracting myself with the terracotta bricks underneath my feet. Alex’s shadow shrugged and I could feel Mel staring at me. I turned away from both of them and faced out to the road watching a rainbow of cars cruise by.

“I dunno, he said twelve-thirty. And it’s only twelve so we’ve got some time to kill.” Alex said settling himself down on the bench next to me. The smell of fresh sweat slammed into me in full force and I had to stop my gag reflex although I found it strange that the scent was incredibly familiar, like I had grown used to it long before I had met Alex. I shook off the cobwebs in my head.

Never had I had this much trouble understanding the order of my own thoughts, but lately…

I sighed and glanced up at Alex. He was squinting into the sun and sitting back with his arms splayed across the back of the seat. “It’s nice to have the sun out.” He murmured. Mel sighed her agreement.

“Yeah, I’m enjoying the break.” She said. I turned to her, she was stretched out with her eyes shut and her legs crossed over each other and her arms turned out at her sides.

What the hell? How was this fair? I stood up quickly and they both squinted up at me. It was better to have the sun warming my neck rather than their judging stares. “You okay?” Alex asked.

“Yeah I’m fine just hungry.” I lied. Luckily, my stomach growled at the same time confirming my lie. Alex grinned and opened up the gym bag at his feet. He pulled out his gloves and set them aside. I eyed off the red menaces and twitched nervously. I turned my attention away, watching a couple stroll past with a black Labrador then turned back to a sandwich right in my face.

“Hope you don’t mind pickle and peanut butter?” He offered smiling sheepishly. He raised a hand and scratched the back of his head. I gaped at him.

“You like that?” I asked. He nodded and I snatched the sandwich from his hands going to town on that bad boy dis-regarding the fact that I wasn’t actually hungry. Alex started laughing and sat back watching me.

“Well that’s probably the best co-incidence I’ve heard of for a long time.” He said. I finished and let out a burp patting my stomach happily.

“Are you all done?” I heard someone ask. I turned and saw a girl of our age, maybe a little younger. The sun shone on her hair creating a halo of gold strands. She was slim and stone faced looking at each of us with complete contempt.

“Can we help you?” Mel murmured.

“No.” came another voice. Hamon stepped out from near the water tower looking more disheveled than I had ever seen him. Rings had formed under his eyes and he looked like he had been beaten up. “But she can help us.”

I looked back over to the girl, eyeing her cautiously. Clearly I had to stop judging a book by its cover.

***

Her name was Phoebe. She was fourteen. That was all we were told.

Hamon seated himself down amongst the stained chairs underneath a striped blue and black umbrella. Seated was probably too gentle, he slumped into it, rocking the chair backwards onto two legs.

We had moved from the water tower to a smaller café called The Grove. The prices were ridiculous, and the service was slow. Once my Mum and I came here for her forty-five minute lunch break, She had to go back to work without food.

The only redeeming feature of this place was its promotion of local artwork. Its drab grey walls were covered with colorful paintings that were done by a strangely mysterious young woman. I had only ever seen her twice but her name were on every single piece.

“Phoebe has some information for us.” Hamon said as the rest of us sat down with him. “Maybe I better let her explain.” He crossed his hands and nodded towards Phoebe. We turned to her and her stare of hatred.

What exactly had I done for her to be so pissed off? “I don’t know a whole lot.” She corrected. “But I do have something you might be interested in.” She lifted up a bag I hadn’t noticed before and set it in front of her on the table. It was a sky blue colour with three zips. She unzipped the top and stuck one of her small hands inside shuffling it about for a few moments then withdrawing it with a small black book attached.

“I stole this,” she grinned smugly and waved it in front of us like it was a treat or something. When none of us looked impressed her face fell. “From the archangel Michael…” Mel gasped but neither Alex nor I seemed shocked enough. I didn’t know who Michael was.

Hamon intervened for our benefit. “He’s my boss, pretty much the commander of the army.”

“Oh…, wait you stole this guy’s diary?” I said. She lit up for a moment until I said diary.

“It’s not a diary, it’s his journal.”

“Big difference.” Alex scoffed. I shot him a smirk and he returned it.

“It’s got some interesting stuff in it.” She smiled, “Apparently Michael had some pretty big reservations about setting the world alight and papa wasn’t happy, he’s been struck down.”

Hamon sat upright, “You didn’t tell me that!” He exclaimed.

“Hi, welcome to The Grove, do you guys want some menus?” We all looked up at the waiter. He was short and had a dirty mop of blonde hair, his name tag read Brent.

“Five coffee’s please.” I cut in before Hamon could send him away. Brent smiled and jotted it down.

“Anything else?” He asked smiling brilliantly. The scent of his cologne wafted over as a breeze swept through the outdoor tables smelling like the sea breeze mixed with garlic, although the latter was probably from the kitchens.

“No thank you.” Hamon said abruptly.

Brent’s easy smile faltered for a moment before he brightened again and left. I glared at Hamon, “Was that really necessary?”

“No, but we don’t need to be distracted.” He replied. He turned back to Phoebe. “So, what happened?”

“Well, my boss told me he’s been assigned to ‘The Den’.” She said, only speaking to Hamon now, not really paying attention to us or making allowances for our limited angelic vocabulary.

“Shit, I can’t believe he was struck down.”

“What does ‘struck down’ mean?” Mel asked. Phoebe glanced at her.

“You’re that Healer?” She asked. Mel looked to Hamon who nodded so Mel did too. “Hm, interesting, you smell like one.”

“Excuse me?”

“I learnt to distinguish the Fighters, Collectors and the Healers by scent. I was punished for treachery; I can’t see anything when I’m home.” Phoebe explained.

“I smell, like an Angel?” Mel repeated, she wheeled around to Hamon, “What the FUCK did you do to me!?” She roared. I heard a groaning noise and turned around; Brent was standing a few feet away with the coffees on a platter.

I smiled apologetically and took the drinks from him. “Sorry.” I whispered Brent grinned softly and walked back towards the bar.

“I didn’t do anything!” Hamon argued back.

“What’s happened?” Phoebe asked me, her eyes narrowing.

Hamon and Mel both faced me as did Alex. Stage fright had never really been a problem, but somehow I didn’t think this particular tidbit was going to go over well. “Um, Hamon uh..inserted-” I paused, hoping that was the right word, Alex just shrugged. “a feather into Mel when she was poisoned.”

Phoebe was silent for a moment and placed her hand to her chin thinking intently. “Hm, well then I think it’s fairly obvious what’s happened to you.”

Mel rolled her eyes and waited while Hamon looked strangely uncomfortable, shifting in his seat and switching his orange mug between his hands. “Well?” Alex finally asked.

“She’s a half-breed.” This statement was met with silence.

“I’m sorry…a what?” someone said, I was fading in and out and whoever was talking was pretty much just a voice without a body to me now.

“A half-breed, magic that is only meant to be used on angels purges the poison from the blood. Use that on a human and well you kill every bad cell from the body.” I still didn’t understand and she could tell. She sighed and sat up a little straighter. “ You know the whole Yin and Yang concept? One is the good and the other is the bad? Well the Yin or in this case the bad, is forced out. And something has to replace it. Therefore a bit of the angel that administers it is transferred.”

She turned to Hamon, every bit of her glowing with a smugness that made me feel uncomfortable. “You, Hamon, are completely and utterly screwed.” Phoebe smirked.

“You think?” He barked, running his fingers through his hair. “What the hell have I done?”

“I’m part angel?” Mel murmured softly.

“I’m so screwed…” Hamon swore and then continued to mumble inaudibly. Phoebe sat with her arms folded across her chest. Alex was happily facing out to the road sipping his coffee.

“I'm…an angel?”

“This coffee is hot...” Alex said. I glanced over at him and rolled my eyes. He shrugged back, then resumed sipping his drink. I let my hands wander onto the framework of the table.

“Does anyone know?” Hamon asked. Phoebe shook her head in response.

“No, and they wont be hearing it from me,” she replied. “I’ve got more deliveries to make Hamon, so if that’s all.”

“Yeah, that’s fine, just…leave the journal.” Phoebe nodded and then stood.

“Good luck.” She said turning to us, “And you…-” she pointed a delicate finger at Mel. “Don’t let them get you, if they find you they’ll use you.”

“Use her? Why would they use a human healer and not a natural Angel healer?” Hamon asked.

“Ask God, he’s been running some sort of covert operation, which is of course, totally unlike God and his straightforward clear cut directives.” Phoebe shot back. “You’re better off asking someone who knows more than I do.”

“Michael.” I answered. “You mean Michael don’t you?” Phoebe shrugged, a faint smile dancing across her face.

Then she was gone.

Hamon didn’t stay any longer, he stood and motioned for the rest of us to follow suit. “Hold up, let me pay for our stuff.” I said. Mel got to her feet, her inward monologue apparently still running inside her head.

I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket and made my way through to the register. The interior of the café was warm as I entered like I’d been given a comforting hug, and the smell of fresh ground coffee permeated through the air.

Brent was at the register with a calculator in his hand and a frown on his face.

“You press the buttons and then press equals.” I joked resting my arms on the deep red counter. Brent glanced up and blushed and setting aside the calculator he punched something into his register.

“Fifteen-twenty thanks.” I passed him my card. “Thanks,” he finished the transaction then handed it back to me.

“Thanks Brent…” I said taking my card back and turning away.

“No problem.” He replied. I smirked and pushed the glass door open. The other three were waiting just down the path next to a bright sunshine yellow store.

Mel was staring daggers at Hamon, who was avoiding her glare. Alex was pointedly tracing paths in the glass of the yellow building. It had recently become a hiking store and he was gazing at the new snowboards that had just been shipped in from out of town. If it wasn’t for the tense situation I would probably had thought that he really wanted one.

“So, you said you had a plan didn’t you?” I asked as I came to stand in front of them. Hamon glanced up at me.

“Yeah, but that was before I knew Michael had been dethroned, part of me wants to go find him and rub it in his face. He was such a hardass on me.” Hamon said. I tried to imagine Hamon being pushed around amongst fluffy white clouds, but after meeting both Hamon and Phoebe I was starting to think Heaven wasn’t such an amazing place.

“Where is he?” Alex asked.

“The Den. It’s on the map I gave you.” Hamon explained.

“You…you never gave us a map.” I corrected, switching between looking at him and back to Mel as she silently stewed in her own thoughts.

“Yes I did. I put it on your laptop, you did look at what I put on there right?” I smiled sheepishly and shook my head. “Fine, The Den is part of Satan’s world. We can access it through Otherworld.”

I nodded. “But we need the map first right?”

“It would help.” Hamon muttered scratching the back of his head. “Look, I’ll meet you back at your place, oh and if you can do me a favor, I’m running low on feathers, whatever you see can you pick it up, thanks.”

Then he was gone.

“Thank fuck!” Mel bellowed. She stormed past us and into a noodle store. Alex glanced at me nervously and followed her with myself close behind. The noodle store was relatively small with white tiles and red walls, a few red stools at the counter and a collection of smaller black chairs and tables in a side room. Mel stomped past a startled young Asian man, and threw herself into a stool.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly seating myself next to her, sinking into the surprisingly soft cushions. She stared at me like I was an utter moron and you know what, I was. “Okay, stupid question, but all things considered.”

“No, I’m not okay.” She said, her voice had deflated from its previous bravado. “I don’t care about this anymore, I’m a freak.”

“So what, you’re a half celestial creature, half human. You should be proud, you can have your own flag and everything.” Alex said smirking. I glared at him and his face dropped, “Too soon?”

“Forever too soon.” I replied. Mel smiled weakly for a moment then stood up and grabbed a drink from the fridge.

“Why me, why couldn’t it be on of you idiots?” She whined. I couldn’t blame her. “And he doesn’t even know to what extent I’ve been changed.”

“You know, for someone who’s supposed to have all the ‘bad’ out of their body, you’re a little too pissed off.” I commented. I rested my elbows back against the counter. “What can we do about it?”

“I don’t know. Does this mean I’m dead?” Mel said suddenly. I watched as the drink in her hand slipped from her fingers and hit the ground.

I saw Alex slip his hand under her arm and grab hold of some skin. “Ow!” she yelled.

“Nope, not dead.” I chuckled inwardly as Mel stooped for the bottle and slammed it over his head repeatedly. She sat back and smiled.

“Okay, I feel much better, let’s find us an Archangel.” She said. Alex smiled and grabbed her by the shoulder then slipped his other arm around mine. Since when had we become best buds? I didn’t have a clue but something was nagging me the whole trip back to my house.

Feathers… Hamon had looked directly at me when he mentioned that. Was I supposed to know something, something other than what he had told us already? That then made me think of what Mel had said earlier that day, that Hamon chose us on purpose. Did that mean he was more powerful than he was letting on…was he, was he just using us?

I must have been frowning because Alex stopped me as we reached my door. “What are you thinking about?”

“It’s nothing don’t worry.” I said. A troubled look passed over his face for a split second and then was gone just as quickly. He nodded curtly and followed Mel inside as she pushed my front door open. I heard her call out for my Mum as I shut the door gently. It had a habit of slamming shut in the winter and it always made me jump.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Mel chatting to my Mum who was holding a joint and Alex who was standing to the side clearly uncomfortable. “Mum!” I exclaimed. She jumped and turned holding a hand to her chest.

“Eli, don’t yell at me like that. You gave me a heart attack.” She chastised me. “Oh….” she said, looking at Alex like she had only just seen him, “Who’s this?” she pointed at him but asked me.

“I’m Alex ma’am, nice to meet you.” Alex replied politely. Mum turned her head to the side, and then went back to Mel. That was weird, Mum was usually very nice to all my friends. Alex didn’t seem perturbed so I didn’t say much else on the matter. Instead, he walked past me back towards my room. “C’mon.” he murmured in my ear as he passed.

I followed him as he pushed open my door with a creak. I admonished myself as I stepped inside, it was a mess. I hadn’t noticed that morning but for some reason with Alex in here with just myself I had become incredibly self conscious.

I was most ashamed of the smell, it was like a locker-room and it wasn’t even my fault. Mum had turned the central heating onto magma proportions and so I was usually boiling by the time I walked into the house.

Alex didn’t mind as he stepped over the piles of clothes on the ground. He seated himself on the messy sheets that I had thrown off myself that morning. He even kicked off his shoes and lay back across the length of the bed.

“By all means get comfortable.” I mumbled sitting down cautiously beside him. “Did you want something?” I asked a little louder.

Alex didn’t say anything for a moment, he just sighed and then sat back up groaning. “Make a deal.” He said holding out his hand. “We keep an eye on Hamon, I don’t trust him and this whole ‘half angel’ deal proves it.” I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed hold of his hand and shook it once.

“He’s all we got though; we need to stick by him.” I said adding my own stipulations.

“True.” Alex said lying back down. “What was with his comment about the feathers? Hardly ever see those around. It’s not like we collect them or anything.”

Duh. I felt like a dickhead. I jumped over Alex’s figure landing with a thud in front of my chest of drawers. I yanked one of the mahogany drawers open and pulled out a journal the length of my forearm, sitting myself down at my desk chair sweeping all the school books out of the way. “What, what are you doing?” Alex asked. He was right beside me and I flinched as I felt his breathing on my ear.

“This is my hobby.” I informed him opening the first page and then flicking through each page. It was filled with every single feather I had ever collected. Every holiday I had taken I had collected whatever ones I could and catalogued them in here with the name of each bird.

Each feather was individually held in place by their own strip of leather across their width. Alex laughed. “What are the chances?” He said.

Somehow I felt they were very high.

“What about your laptop?” Alex asked. I nodded and slipped my hand into the space between my shelves and drawers pulling it out and setting it on top of my book.

I span around in the chair impatiently waiting while it slowly heated up. Instead of starting normally however it opened with a file. It had two documents in it. One was labeled ‘Map’ the other was labeled ‘Feathers.’ Confused but incredibly curious I opened the Map file.

My screen was filled with a crude drawing of my town, except it didn’t individually list the buildings it only showed the streets and the ‘Places of Interest.”

Under the list of ‘Places of Interest’ was The Den, which was located at the river behind my own home, the field, the school and the water tower. I heard Alex say something but disregarded it. I closed that file and then opened the ‘Feathers.’ Inside it was a long list of every bird and their apparent feather ability.

“That’s one hell of a list.” Alex breathed. Again I shivered as I felt the hot air break on my ears. I nodded then started checking what I had and what it could do.

“Cardinal…burning?” I murmured. I picked up the matching blood coloured feather. It was a little longer than my index finger and I imagined the small bird that had left it behind.

“May I?” Alex asked holding out a hesitant hand. I passed it to him then picked up the next one. It was a pigeon feather, simple in colour with a grey center and white towards its edges. Its description read ‘Scavenging, for when things are lost.’ I shrugged and tried thinking of something I had lost.

I remember that I had lost my silver necklace and focused on it, not really sure what else I had to do but nothing happened. “What are you trying to do?” Alex asked. I opened my eyes and he was standing almost nose to nose with me.

“I’m uh…” Real smooth Eli. I had lost all recognition of words and was now drowning in my own idiocy. “Uh…Scavenging!” I said suddenly. “This feather, it says it’s for when things are lost so I was trying to find my necklace.” I explained stepping backwards to hold up the feather.

“Want me to try?” Alex suggested. I shrugged handing it over to him. Alex held it up to his face and shut his eyes as I had. He frowned for a moment and I could have sworn a grey glow had formed around his body. He opened his eyes and I would have been freaked by the grey colour his eyes had adopted, had I not been used to ‘weird’ already.

He didn’t say a word as he moved silently past me and into my sister’s old room. He didn’t even stop to get his bearings. Still holding the feather in front of his face with one hand, he stuck the other under the mattress pulling it out to reveal my silver necklace.

He suddenly dropped the feather and the glow faded from his body and eyes. “That was weird!” He exclaimed slumping onto the bed.

“How did you do that?” I asked picking up the feather and looking up at him.

“I just did what you did; maybe it works better for me.” Alex suggested shrugging. I grimaced and unclipped the necklace to put it on. Alex grabbed my hand, “Can I?” he asked. I frowned but handed it back to him and turned around.

His arms came around my neck holding the chain in both hands. He pulled it back and I had the faintest image of him pulling it tight twisting it till I couldn’t breath, but I brushed that away. I heard the faint click that he was done and waited.

Instead of moving his hands away they lingered on my shoulders. I wanted to say something, anything to get conversation going, to get the blood flowing but as usual my talent for words fading on my tongue appeared and we stood in silence.

“Eli, Alex!” Mel’s voice echoed through the halls and into the room. Alex must have stepped back as I felt his hands drag along my back and drop to his sides. I couldn’t face him. I didn’t want to have to think right then. I knew that if I looked at him, I’d have to think about what just transpired. What I needed to do was to ramble, continuously blurt out every little thought I had. But I couldn’t do that either because of some of the thoughts I had which I didn’t want to share and when I ramble it all falls out like a waterfall.

Thankfully, Alex left the room first. I waited and exhaled quickly. He was ultimately a confusing factor in this melting pot of insanity. Strangely, however, I was comforted by the things he was doing. I followed after him and entered the lounge-room to see that Mum had rolled out the plastic sheets on the ground and had brought a ladder from the shed along with a tin of creamy coloured paint. Apparently the green walls just had to go.

“Mum what are you doing?”

“What does it look like, painting?” She answered. Mel stood next to Alex who were both smirking.

“No, I can see that, but…why?” Mum glared at me, as if it was plainly obvious.

“Because sometimes things need a fresh coat of paint to bring out a room’s potential.” I grimaced then mentally calculated the date. It was August 8th. I nodded to myself and left towards the backyard.

Shortly afterwards I heard Alex and Mel follow me. “What was that all about?” Alex asked.

“It’s the eighth of August.” I said. Turning around I saw that he didn’t understand. Mel on the other nodded solemnly.

“Oh.” She said, then joined me at my side and Alex was left standing baffled.

“My sister died ten years ago today.” I explained, “Mum hasn’t been the same since, every time it rolls around she does something odd. This is actually quite mild compared to last year’s motorbike license application.” I pulled out my carton of cigarettes and offered one to Mel, she took it and waited while I got one out for myself and lit both of them.

“Mel!” Alex admonished. “Since when?”

“It’s tradition, Jacqueline was an awesome big sister, to both of us.” She said. “Normally we get high or smashed, or both, but we can’t do that now.”

Alex’s frown deepened but he sat down on one of the chairs and endured as we both puffed away. I was irritated by the fact that he was so calm despite what happened before. I was freaking inside but he exuded a coolness that just pissed me off.

Things were quiet for a little while and I was about to say something unintelligible when the doorbell saved me. I let Mum answer it and waited while I listened for footsteps. Hamon came into view through the fly wire moving silently.

“Did you get the map?” He asked instantly. He seemed so disheveled and I could tell he wasn’t going to be fun.

“Hi to you too.” Alex remarked.

“Yeah, I got it. And something else you might like to see.” I passed Hamon and went to my room bundling the computer and my collection of feathers in my arms. I trod carefully along the plastic in the lounge-room, mum didn’t like it when I showed people my feather collection. It was one of my apparently less ‘manly’ hobbies.

I tossed my laptop to Alex who caught it wild-eyed. “Who the hell throws their laptop!” He exclaimed. I didn’t care, it was expensive but completely out-dated. I could just buy a new one. I wasn’t loaded but I worked.

Instead of listening to him I shoved the collection under Hamon’s nose. He stared stupidly down at the leather-bound book. “What’s this?” he asked indicating it with a finger. I opened it for him and watched in delight as his eyes lit up. “Oh my lord, how did you…?” He didn’t finish. Instead he flicked through page after page. “This is amazing, do you mind if we bring it with us?” He asked. I had a feeling that he wouldn’t let me say no but I wasn’t about to test that theory.

“Sure.” I replied. I went to take it from him but he snapped it shut and held onto it.

“Thanks.” He glowed, “Did you check where The Den is?” He asked. I nodded and went over to Alex who had already turned the computer on.

“It’s here.” Opening the file I pointed at the spot in the river. “Just beyond my backyard actually.” I said standing up and looking over the back fence where the willow trees obscured the view.

“Good, let’s go then.” Hamon jumped down to the grass, trudged his way through the longer weeds towards the back, and launched himself over the fence. I shrugged to the other two and placed the laptop on the coffee table before following Hamon with the other two behind me.

I lifted my legs high trying to avoid the many holes hidden in the dried grass and chuckled as I heard Alex swear each time he fell. Mel came beside me and giggled too jumping her way through.

Hamon was on the edge of the bank, his face being tickled by the hair-like branches of the willows. “I know it’s here.” He whispered pushing his fringe out of his eyes.

“Maybe we have to be in Otherworld?” I suggested. Hamon nodded, pulled out my collection and flipped through feathers, resting on a page covered in mostly black feathers. He pulled out the one titled. ‘Raven’ and whispered something that sounded like ‘open’ then dropped it to the ground.

My eyes followed it as it fell twirling in the air currents and, as it hit the dirt it combusted in a small explosion. A gust billowed through the land knocking us backwards and blinding me. I fell to the ground shielding my eyes.

When I opened them, the area had been covered with mist and silence. The river was moving quickly now and steam was rising slowly in lazy spirals from its surface as from freshly washed dishes.

And there across the river was a large cave burrowed into the bank that looked like it led downwards. A howling sound of rushing wind issued from its bowls and I shivered.

Hamon turned to us and motioned to follow him as he waded across. As we reached the other side, I went to wring the water out of my clothes and realized that I was completely dry.

Hamon stopped us and sighed. “We are about to enter Satan’s true domain. Remember Otherworld is just a gateway in between worlds, anything you see in here could be lies or it could be truth. Be prepared.”

We nodded collectively and started down the steps. Water dripped from the roof and roots were dangling, knocking against mine and Alex’s heads as we descended.

The moment the floor evened out an automatic voice like that of a telephone collect rang out in a booming and echoing voice.

“Welcome guests, please keep your hands to yourselves and be aware of our two for one demon sale on the second floor, have a nice day and watch out for the loose crocodiles.”

I heard Mel snicker, “So…anyone up for a sale?”