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It was an abstract rendition of a forest, very heavy on green swirling lines
"All right, so I did draw a forest," Audrey said "I’ve always had nightmares about them, but I never knehy I didn’t even knohat forest I was scared of"
"He picks up on our subconscious," said Dee
"So what happened to you two after we got separated?" Jenny asked
"Not much," Dee said "They put us in that room, only there wasn’t any door at first Thenthe door-and at that exact instant those corpses appeared and Audrey started screa?"
Jenny looked away "Sort of It was Julian, playing the part" She hesitated, then blurted, "You do know that it’s because of , don’t you? It’syou if I-if I let him-"
"Don’t you dare," Dee said, sloe eyes flashing
"Don’t even think about it," said Audrey with equal heat
Jenny nodded, feeling warmth in her eyes To cover it up she watched Audrey While they were talking, Audrey had efficiently put her hair back up, fished a quilted pouch out of her jacket pocket, and deftly restored her cherry lipstick Audrey had always seemed so cosmopolitan, so invulnerable-but now Jenny had seen beneath the facade
"Itin all those different countries," she said slowly and glanced over at Dee
Audrey paused a s She snapped her compact shut with a click
"Frankly, it ful," she said "You can’t iine the culture shock The dislocation-the insecurity-and you never knohen you’re going to ain Even now that Daddy’s retired I still feel-"
"Like it’s hard to make real friends?"
Audrey nodded "I feel as if we ain any h," Jenny said "You’re staying here with us" She glanced at Dee again "Right?"
"Oh, naturally," Dee said, but there was no rancor in her voice, and she laid a slender dark hand on Audrey’s back
"You know, I don’t understand," Jenny said suddenly "Those guys in the forest seemed nice-so why did they do it? Why did they hand us over?"
"Well-elves are supposed to do people favors Answer questions, do work for you But they always
want so in return, and if you call them up and try to trap theuess those guys figured ere more expendable than they were"
Jenny nodded "One !" said Dee
"-which of you did the door? I know I didn’t put it there because I’ve never seen a door like that"
"I did, I suppose," said Audrey "I saw doors like that in Germany-but I didn’t put it there It just appeared"
"You can’t change things here by using yourhere as if it’s real"
"But where is here?" Audrey said bleakly
"Good question," said Jenny "It’s nowhere on Earth; I know that from what I saw out the "
"The Shadow World," Dee said "Remember the instructions? A world that’s like ours but different, that exists alongside ours, but never touches it"
" ’Some people call it the world of drea else’" Jenny quoted "Well, it touched our world tonight, anyway What’s wrong now, Audrey?"
"It just occurred to ends there are supposed to be nine worlds-our world’s just the one in the middle"
"Nine?" said Jenny
"Nine There’s Asgard, which is a sort of heaven, and Hel, which is a sort of hell, and a world of primal fire and a world of primal water and a world of primal wind-but, listen There’s also a world of primal ice It’s sort of connected to Hel-and it’s
also a world of shadows It’s called Niflheim, and nifl means ’dark, shadowy’"
"Just what are you getting at?" Dee asked
"I don’t know It’s just strange, nicht wahr? God, I’e, isn’t it-with hi hi else The things that live in Niflheim are supposed to be terribly destructive, so they’re under a rune of restraint to keep the out of their world and into other peoples’ I don’t reh"
"You’re not saying runes are real," Jenny said "I mean, like the one Julian talked about-the one that ’pierced the veil between the worlds’ They can’t really work"
"I always assumed they didn’t, that it was just a silly superstition But nowI don’t know They work in legends all right, to let you-oh, what do they call it? Fare forth between the worlds Or sus from the other ones The way those Ger Jenny very uncomfortable She didn’t knohy, and thatto do with runes, a long tio After all she had seen, why should it upset her that runes randfather’s basement
"Look," she said abruptly, "we’ve been standing here gabbing forever Don’t you think we’d better start looking for the next person? There is a tiht," Dee said, always ready for action "Do you want to split up again?"
"No," Jenny said quickly "Let’s stick together" By whatever weird laws operated in this place, she’d already yielded Julian the right to touch her hand, her cheek, her hair And he’d ot all of her, bit by bit It was just a question of what kind of ruse or threat he planned to try next Jenny figured her best chance was not to be caught alone
They found Michael on the third sweep down the hall He andering back and forth in front of a door, running his hands through his ruhtened considerably at the sight of the girls "Audrey, at last! It see the seconds we’ve been apart," Audrey said, raising an eyebrow and di at the same time
"Me, too I only wish I had a calculator to keep track"
And neither of theht Jenny Love for To bruise in her chest If only she could see him, just for athat had happened to them He told them that for hi from the invisible creatures Then he’d found himself in front of this door He’d tried the knob, but it wouldn’t open He’d been pacing the hallway ever since
"And you never saw a staircase?" Jenny asked "No staircase, no other doors, no nothing No people, until you ca this hallway for hours, and we’ve seen three doors, and I came up a staircase," Jenny said "It’s just oneabout this place"
"Which we don’t have time to discuss," Dee said "Let’s move, people Who wants to try this door?"
"This tio in," Jenny said "That is, if we don’t need to slao in at all-it’s locked," Michael said
Dee flashed hirin as she took up a heel stance, ready to do a forward kick "Bets?"
The door opened easily when Jenny twisted the knob, and no ainst the wall Through the opening Jenny could see diistered coward," Michael said
Jenny took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and stepped over the threshold--into a hallway identical to the one she had left
She looked up and down it in bewilder on? This door wants to close," Dee called
"It’s-" Jenny gave up and beckoned Audrey and Michael in
"It’s the sa around
This hallas the loomy carpet, same creepy wallpaper, same candles in brass holders
Michael went back through to Dee’s side "Look-the candles even have the exact sa down It really is the same hallway, not just another one like it"
No matter how many tietting the hallway
"For soht bounced back here"
"Oh, too bad," said Michael "I’ht, letshut behind her "Yep, sa door to hell"
"Wasn’t it Sartre who said hell was eternity spent in a roorandly
"Oh, quit showing off your A in world literature," said Jenny "Unless-was that your nightmare, Mike?"
Michael deflated a bit "Uh, actually, no Mine was , really"
"But as it?"
Michael seeray sweatshirt, he shook his head
" ’Each of you has a secret you would rather die than reveal’" Dee quoted portentously fro really e, like the potty monster, huh, Mikey?" As she spoke she turned the doorknob It wouldn’t budge "Oh, great, it’s locked again"
"If we’re stuck here again, we ht as well sit down," Audrey said
There didn’t see else to do They sat, and Michael talked One thing you could always
count on, Jenny thought-that Michael wouldn’t run out of things to talk about
"When I think," said Michael, "that I could have stayed hoht"
"This isn’t ame No reset It’s win, lose, or die," Michael said
"You heard the one about the bunny and the hair dryer?" he said
"Michael," Audrey said scathingly
While he was talking, Michael had taken off one of his battered tennis shoes It had a hole in the toe Audrey stared in genteel horror at his limp sock on the floor
"I can’t help it-I’ve got an itch Ahthat’s better," Michael said, scratching vigorously "So what’d you say to-that guy-after we all got whooshed out of the parlor?" he said to Jenny "I irls looked at him "I mean-it was pretty obvious what he wanted-and you said he kept you there alone-"
"Whatever he wants," Jenny said shortly, "he’s not getting it"
"Of course not," Audrey huffed "What an idea" "She wouldn’t give him the time of day," Dee said curtly
"I don’t even knohat he sees in me," Jenny said
The others all looked at each other Then Dee snorted "No, you wouldn’t, would you? But everybody else does Except Zach, probably, but then he’s your cousin"
"It’s not just looks," Audrey said "You’re good Too good, sometimes I’ve told you-"
"Aba would say your soul is straight," Dee interrupted
"Just like a Girl Scout," Michael said helpfully "Sweet and simple and honest"