The Unfortified We: Save Samuel

Chapter 11: Turning Point

Registering information in my mind, neither my best nor finest ability. Facts seemed to keep revolving around in there until they decided to settle wherever they liked and however they liked. By that point, everything seemed jumbled. At least Jes could make sense of some of these things; only one day in the business and he was pro.

We had been listening to Lynna for the past half hour; absorbing whatever we could from her lectures. I’ll have to admit, it’s strange being taught by someone who was younger than I was. It feels like I shouldn’t take her seriously, but at the same time I know that I have to listen to and understand every word she says.

“So we’ve got to get Sam across the Barrier to Avery’s counterpart?” I listened as Jes probed Lynna for more secure answers. He, like all of us, wanted solid plans. It would be easier if we could just have her write out a bulleted list.

“Yeah,” she said as if it were the most simple thing that it honestly wasn’t. “The line of the Barrier runs along the prime meridian; you would probably find it easiest in London. Sam can open a doorway and you can pass through.”

As she finished I opened my mouth; “How easy do you think we can get to London?” I asked Jes.

He gave me a look like I was an idiot; which I probably was. “I don’t have much experience in flying overseas, but any right-minded person would know that’d be difficult.”

“So I’m not in my right mind?” I frowned blatantly.

He took a step back and studied me, shaking his head, “No, you’re not; I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet,” he laughed. I shot him a glare and he shut up.

“Is there any other way?” I sighed, now turning to Lynna; “Another gateway, fracture, line?”

She looked at the ground where her feet rested on the warm concrete. Brows furrowed, the gears were turning in her head; trying to access the innate part of her conscious. “Probably,” she said finally, glancing back up at me; “Demons don’t travel like shadows; they can’t cross water and they don’t travel as fast; they’re bound to have come from a fracture around here.”

“How is that possible though?” asked Jes, “if the Barrier’s line is along the prime meridian that should be the only place that can be fractured. That’s the only place where our place overlaps with theirs.”

“But it’s not like a wall; it’s like the atmosphere… our world overlaps their’s everywhere. The Barrier’s line is just where the gateway is; the one only Sam can control. But Sam maintains the balance in the entire barrier, the barrier that’s all around us right now. So now that half of him is dead, the balance has been tipped and the fantasy can start to slowly rip holes anywhere they like.” Her eyes darted from Jes to me and back, “That’s how they got here; they poked holes in the Barrier’s atmosphere.”

“Oh…” I paused, thinking everything over. I had to repeat it a few times in my head before I realized; “wait, half of Sam is dead?”

Lynna nodded innocently, a little smile on her face like nothing was wrong.

“What am I missing?” I looked up as Jes once more and watched him shrug.

“I dunno,” he told me, “ask the kid who actually has an idea here.”

“His half in the fantasy is dead; when he’s asleep here he’s in the fantasy and when he’s asleep in the fantasy he’s awake here.” she said flatly, “honestly, what would you do without me?”

I gave her a glare, mouth hanging open the slightest bit and eyes narrowed into little black slits in my face, “you’ve been hanging with us for half an hour and you now have authority.”