Austin walks next to me as I head to the starting line of the rafilian plant.

“It’s been four days. What are you two still doing here?”

“You said ‘the two of you’, does this mean you’re finally acknowledging Amelia’s existence?”

We both stop. He stares up at the sky in frustration.
“Amy and I have mounts of history we need to get by before we can pretend we’re cool, okay.”

“I would hope so, given she was your fiancée ever since you were like five.”

“A fiancée I left for you, remember? Or is that not important anymore? Better yet, tell me, do you have a boyfriend in your fancy world of Pyrenees?”

“No…” There’s gravel in my voice. “But I heard from Amy that you’ve got yet another fiancée.”

The desperate look he always showed in Leeseland picks up again.
“You have to leave. If you need a hand, let me know.”

Someone clears their throat, it’s the man who searched our room in the barracks. He regards us with suspicion.
“Is she giving you problems?”

Austin nods.
“Nothing I can’t handle from a newbie. Come with me.”

I follow him to the end of the line.

“We have a device that can open a portal to Pyrenees, but only after 130 days. We only found out yesterday about the 130-day part, when we were preparing to leave last night.” I check for the guard.

“The guards, your fellow workmates, they were onto us this morning.”

Austin shakes his head.
“It’s no use. You’re not going to survive here.”

His words are veiled with meanness, coldness, and detachment. He leaves.

To escape this place (and Austin’s newfound coldness), I think about Pyrenees. Romanticizing my stoic room, the peacemaking missions, Enasis’s training, here’s hoping he’s not dead.

“Are you and Austin fighting?”

She’s throwing tiny little sticks to the ground, sitting in our confinement, leaning against the metal wall.

“You have to be nice to him in case we’re targeted by the guards.”

“I don’t have to do shit.”

I remove the clock from my pocket from my end of the room.

“We need new clothes. You’re getting in the way of that.”

“I’m not doing anything to gain an advantage. If he has to do something, it has to be from the goodness of his own heart.”
My voice trails off as the clock beams a bright green.

Amelia gets up.
“What’s going on?”

“Let me see.”

“No.”
But it’s too late. We both go flailing into a whirlwind dark abyss and land at a busy marketplace.

It’s raining, and the soil beneath us is wet and red.

“What did you do?” We scream at each other. I look around, confused and devastated. We’ve no choice but to seek cover under some lady’s black tent.

“You better get us out of here!” Amelia screams at me.

“You shouldn’t have touched it, you blockhead.”

“Amelia?”
A voice comes out of nowhere. We both look toward where it’s coming from.

“Hayden?” she says in shock. I mirror her expression.

“Hayden!” she screams excitedly before jumping into his arms.

Just like Amelia and I, Hayden and I were enemies in our previous worlds.

“What are you doing with her?” he asks Amelia in a sudden wave of anger.

She glances at me, dismissive.
“We have no choice in the matter. Is this your world?”

He shakes his head.
“No. I’m a grifter. I only live for an amount of time before I’m pulled to the next world.”

“Does this mean you’ve been to Pyrenees?”

He shakes his head again.
“You have to leave this world. It is unsafe for you.”

He leads us to a restaurant.

Amelia follows him.

“Hayes... we saw Austin.”

He stops before shutting his eyes, saying nothing.

“He’s in purgatory.”

“Yes, I know. Look, I know he told you about the trinkets, but that’s a fool’s errand. Everyone is too far involved in their own worlds to go back to Leeseland.”
We follow him to the kitchen at the back—me slightly hesitant, looking around my surroundings.

I finally find the motivation to speak.
“What trinkets?”

He gives me a sharp glance before replying.
“Never mind, then. Looks like Parker finally came to his senses. We belong to our worlds now, and there we must stay. There...”

He leads us into a kitchen, we are met with a portal.

“Either you leave now or pay the consequences later. The higher-ups don’t play.”

“Are you sure, Hayden? You probably will never see us again.”

“My fate is sealed, but yours isn’t.”

We step in, and just like that, we’re back in purgatory, in the pen, holding the clock.

“We’re never leaving this place soon enough.”
Amelia throws herself on the ground in frustration.

After prayers, we head to the fields. On my way to grab some water, Austin catches up with me.

“There was suspicious activity in your pen again. Lucky for you two I was on duty. You two stay behaved. If I’m not mistaken, you two still have 100 days to go.”
He looks around, almost terrified.

Then I realize... he’s terrified for me.

“The device I told you about, the one that opens portals, yesterday it took us to another world. A dimension. We saw Hayden.”

Hayden and Austin were best friends. They moved as a trio along with Malcolm back in Leeseland.

He doesn’t seem surprised by the news.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re not little kids in high school anymore. We all have different lives now.”

“You sound just like him. He also mentioned some trinkets?”

“Frankie, I have to go.”

Him saying my name takes me back to Leeseland. We look at each other for a moment. He’s quick to turn away.

“Don’t bother with the trinkets. It’s all a myth anyway. Just find a way to leave this place... or stay out of trouble.”

Amelia and I stare at the clock again.
It’s been another three weeks since it took us to Hayden, and here it is,
shining again.