Page 45 of Entity

The corridor in front of me glitches. Staticky bits of wall go black and flicker out of existence. At the very edges of my vision, I see jagged edges, shimmering against the plane of reality.

And then it all falls away: the walls, the floor, the too-bright lights. Even the muffled howl of wind and rain disappears. Everything goes silent. And all around me grows that crushing press, that horrible fall into darkness, that inevitability.

Yes.

I feel a growing, palpable certainty. I’m on my way. If I can just go a little farther, if I can just keep going…

My ears pop.

And then the pressure relents, just as quickly as it came.

I fall to my knees, and the world before me is new: Rolling hills of indigo lead to alien forests rising up beyond. A purple blanket of trees drapes over distant foothills. Jagged, unearthly mountains thrust miles upward to touch a black, star-swept sky. And there, up in the velvety sky, four alien moons glow down on me like a welcome.

I inhale deeply. Thick, sweet air fills my lungs. I’ve never smelled anything so clean, so fresh. I can smell the wet earth, the blooming flowers, the night breeze. This is new. This isn’t the barren, dying Earth; this isn’t anywhere in my solar system. This is alive, this is alien, and it feels holy. This is a new world. And I brought myself here. I opened a fucking door, and I walked through it.

Goosebumps rise on my skin. Holy shit.

Tension and fear leave my body as I dig my fingers into the indigo grass, raking my nails through dark, damp soil. I want to bury my face in this fresh flora. I never want to stop breathing this air. Imagine what I could experience here, the beauty. Unlike Earth, life persists here. This isn’t a dying world. It’s flourishing. A tear rolls down my cheek as I close my eyes and lean down, pressing a cheek to the grass.

I stay there for a long time, just breathing, reveling in the growing things around me. I could stay here forever. There’s nothing stopping me.

But soon enough, distant thoughts come drifting in: Thoughts of my world, left behind. Orpheus, still in the vault. That thought alone cuts through the euphoria of this new world:Orpheus. If I leave him there, what will he do? He’ll starve, or he’ll leave. And if he leaves… Ian and Eros won’t be the last of his victims.

Goddamn it. I have to go back. I can’t leave him there.

“Fuck,” I murmur.

Before I change my mind, I close my eyes and exhale. I try to recreate what I did back in the vault. I recall the way it felt to open the door, the buzz against my skin, the glitch, the fall — and then it’s happening, and Iamfalling, falling until the darkness swallows me. Only a few breaths later, and my knees slam to the concrete floor in Ian’s vault.

“Welcome back,” Orpheus says.

I get to my feet, turning to face him. Adrenaline bursts through me again, my heart pounding, my breaths coming in gasps. I stare at Orpheus, and I know I should be afraid. I should be angry. But all I can think is—

“I did it,” I breathe. I crossed a bridge to another world. Twice. For a second, I don’t even care that I’m back here in my own world, that nothing has changed.

Because I’m not just Katherine Fox, broke fringe science blogger. I’m Katherine Fox, the girl who can open fucking doors between universes. The realization blazes through me like a shot of the strongest liquor, every organ and cell in my body awash with the revelation. And when all the things that seemed impossible to me — all the jobs and dreams and loves I’d convinced myself I’d probably never have — come rushing back,I gloriously realize I don’t care. I don’t want them anymore. I wantmorethan just jobs and loves. I wantthe world.

“Kit?” Orpheus says, but he makes no move to grab me again. He only stands there, watching, wary.

“Orpheus.” The air around me seems to vibrate, to crackle with energy. For the first time in my life, I feel untouchable.

Orpheus draws a hand down his face, and it’s a painfully human gesture. “I never wanted to come here,” he says, words falling out like a dam is breaking. “Ian pulled me through and trapped me in this body. And when he realized what I was, what I needed, he tried to send me back. But the door would not open again. I only did what I had to, to survive.”

I listen, making no move to run, no move to silence him. And I realize, now, that I understand him — this otherworldly entity, this mind in the body of a beautiful machine. Ian was no genius. He was a floundering idiot with more money and ambition than smarts. A man who found a way to open a door, only to kidnap and imprison what he found on the other side.

And I see clearly that Orpheus is a victim, a prisoner here. A feral creature kept in a too-small cage until it’s driven mad with hunger and rage. Even Eros knew that it was only a matter of time before Orpheus escaped. And that when he did, he would be ravenous.

But Eros and Ian didn’t have a way out. They didn’t have what I have. They were lesser; they were food. I thought I was in danger from Orpheus, but now… now, he doesn’t frighten me at all. He’ll never hurt me. I’m too powerful, too important. And I see the truth in his eyes.

“You’re far from home,” I say, holding Orpheus’s gaze. “And you’re hungry.”

“Yes.”

“But you won’t eat me.”

“No.”

“Tell me why not.” I want to hear him say it.

---