The Trouble with Time, Part 22 - Follow

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sam asks, leaning their hip onto Kevin's desk. He's grinding up the now dried winterberries in a mortar as they wait for her.

"Sure," he says with a shrug. They give him a look. He scoffs. "Of course I don't know if this is a good idea! We have no idea what the spell does. But it's her spell and her decision, and she wants to do it, so..." He shrugs again and continues grinding.

"I'm just worried," they say.

"I know," he says, softer this time. "I do appreciate it, and I'm sure she does too. Speaking of..."

A bell dings and a door slams open and she bursts in, face red and panting.

"I came as soon as I could," she says, trying to catch her breath, as she starts to peel of her winter clothes.

"Evidently," says Kevin, looking at her amused. "Did you run the entire way here?"

"...maybe?"

He snorts. "Well, that's just dandy," he says and picks up the mortar. He motions to the door and the sign flips closed. "Let's go to the back so we can get started."

He leads them down the hallway. A long way down the hallway, until finally he stops in front of a blank wall. And turns. And grins. The other two stand there, looking at his expectantly. He doesn't do anything.

"We get it, you have a cool secret door there, just open it up already," she huffs after a minute and his face falls.

"You're no fun," he says, turning to the door and draws a complex sigil into the wall with his pointer and middle finger. "You were supposed to go 'Oh, Kevin there's nothing here! Why did we stop?' And I was gonna blow your minds with my hidden door."

"You're a nerd, you know that right?" she asks as a dark wooden door materialises onto the wall and he pushes it open.

He just sighs and shakes his head and then they all enter.

The room isn't large, but it is more or less empty. There's a few bookshelves against the walls and a small desk in one corner, but nothing else in the way of furniture. The walls are stone, as is the floor, and there's a pretty big magic circle painted on it. In the middle of which is a bowl with most of the ingredients. The morning wind is swirling around the bracelet, lifting up the sparkles rising from the First Love coating the bottom.

"Careful with the lines," Kevin says as he steps into the circle and pours the berry powder on top of the rest. "Chuck the hair ribbon in and stand above the bowl, if you would."

She does. He's at the back of the room, shuffling through the papers and Sam is settling down against a wall. Their equipment bag is resting by their feet, open and ready.

"Here we go," he says, picking up a paper and a matchbox and turning back around. He throws the box at her. She catches it. "I'm gonna start the incantation. When I give you the sign," he points at her, "you light the stuff on fire. Do not! Get out of the circle. And you," he points at Sam, who blinks, "do not get into the circle. Any questions?"

"What if I have to get into the circle?" Sam asks. "If something happens to her?"

"Something will happen to her, that's almost a given," he says, looking at her. She looks nervous, but also determined. Good. "But if you get into the circle then the entire thing might backfire and something will happen to all of us. I get that you're worried, but the best thing to do is ensure this thing goes off exactly as instructed. Since we don't know the purpose, we don't know the consequences of fucking up."

"Fair enough," they say, though they don't sound happy about it.

"Are you ready?" he asks. She nods, grips the matchbox. He gives Sam one more glance, before he starts.

The circle starts to glow, getting brighter and brighter until it illuminates the entire room. A deep hum starts to resonate within the walls. He can feel it reverberating in his guts. He doesn't falter.

She's starting to shake a bit. Out of fear or excitement, he isn't sure. Her face is set though, so he isn't worried she's going to chicken at the very last minute. She has a match ready to strike against the box.

Sam on the other hand looks ready to bolt. Their hands are folded across their chest and they're gripping their arm so tightly their knuckles are starting to turn white. The few dim lamps that hang on the walls flicker slightly. The hum grows louder.

He points at her and she's already lit the match. She drops it, and the flame falls, falls, falls. It lands in the bowl.

A burst of fire erupts from it. She lets out a small yelp and steps back, but not out of the circle. The hum has come to an abrupt stop and now that it's gone it feels like something is missing. The bowl burns and for a second nothing else happens.

"I feel weird," she says and then gags. She slaps a hand on her mouth and wraps an arm around her stomach.

"Are you okay?" asks Sam, alarmed.

"Woah, are you gonna puke?" asks Kevin, taking a cautionary step back. "Mind the shoes, please." They throw him another dirty look.

"I'm not gonna-- ngk!" she tries, but can't get more than a few words out at once.

She's doubled over now, twitching lightly, trying to breathe. She tries to swallow a few times, but to no avail. Finally she just heaves and...

Well, it's not vomit that comes out. It's more like fog. Like a light orange mist that flows out of her and congregates in front of her, hovering. It just keeps pouring and pouring, and eventually it starts to take shape. A humanoid shape.

It's still very wispy, but it's definitely a human shape.

Please, it says. Save me.

The still smouldering bowl explodes into life again, creating a swirling, pulsating oval midair.

"Shit," says Sam, clutching the front of their shirt. "Is that a goddamn portal?"

"It sure looks like it," Kevin says, peering around it. "I wonder where it goes."

Come. Follow me.

The humanoid cloud disappears through the portal.

"Huh," he says. "Should... should we follow it? I may be full of dumb ideas but jumping unprepared through a wormhole whose destination you don't know is kinda up there, even for me."

"You can say that again," they mutter then turn to her. She is staring into the portal. "You okay there?"

"That was her," she says. "My Guardian."

"Huh," he says again. Everyone is still for a moment.

"I have to go," she says and steps through. He lets his barely outstretched arm drop back to his side. He looks at Sam. They look back.

"We gotta go after her," he says.

"Yeah, I know, I know," they say.

And the two of them follow her through the looking glass.

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Hey hey hey! Sorry this is a bit late, I had some formatting issues. BUT! I'm very excited I got to use my funky font again lmao also this thing is almost done! Can you believe it's already the 22nd? I sure as hell can't! I have school work due today!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

In any case it's super late again so I'm just gonna go to bed now and figure out the stupid pictures in the morning! Next topic is "Her" bye~

Pie out.