I held the blade in my dominant hand and went down the same path I am used to and waited for Hady. After a while, I began to feel as though I had overestimated the dangers of eversleep. The switchblade flicked out repeatedly as I fidgeted with it. I took comfort in the consistent sound it made and how it felt. Although, there was an uneasy feeling I couldn't shake. Of being watched.
"Alex?" I turned at the voice and saw Cam looking dishevelled.
"Cam," I answered, and before he had the chance to say anything else I said, "I know it's weird seeing me here. But this is part of eversleep, and I promised I would always find you."
"You- What? This is... This..." It was then he seemed to realize he brought something with him. He fumbled around in his coat and pulled out a gun.
"A gun?! How the hell did you get your hands on one of those?!" I demanded.
Instead of answering me, he pointed it away from us and pulled the trigger. A blast of electricity buzzed at the muzzle and he smiled. "Not a gun, Alex."
"Now watch this," He continued and adjusted a lever. The next time he pulled the trigger, a distant tree smoked.
"Ultraviolet rays." He said with a flourish.
"That is out of this world!"
"I know!"
We both enthused over it and I showed him my knife before we took turns with each other's weapons. I raised concerns that it might not work on the enemy and he responded by explaining it was something he picked up from a joke store; he didn't have anything more dangerous lying around. The insinuation would have stung, but I took pride in what I love.
When Hady appeared holding a bat, I went up to her and said the words I knew would take for her to wake. It was like performing a spell or a ritual, especially as the magic started to work and her consciousness took hold.
"Anything happen while you were waiting?" She asked.
"Cam." I gestured to her brother, "And you? While you were wandering around? See anything?"
Hady scrunched up her face as she dug around in her recent memories, "Aside from the usual shadows and confusion as to why I was holding this," She held up the generic looking bat, "No."
"I was just about to say, that looks like mine. Something I had when I was younger... I've always wondered where it went! Have you had it all this time?" Cam said.
"No, yes. I took it and hid it in the attic when you were being you." Hady explained with a smug look.
"Oh you think you are so smart." Cam said halfheartedly. "So, what now?"
"Now, we look for Daniel."
"Do you think it's safe? It's where you saw..." Hady trailed off.
"We gotta start somewhere. And that's where he's most likely to be."
The two fell in step as we made our way towards the clearing. When we arrived, we were greeted by the sight of both Everleigh twins.
"Alex," Dana said and it suddenly hit me that she was who I've been hearing.
"Dana? You're the one who's been calling for me?" I asked in disbelief. She nodded, blonde curls cascading like a waterfall of sunshine.
"Why?"
"It seems as though I share a stronger connection with you and Danny." She said, her voice soft but clear and sharing the same lilt as Daniel's way of speaking. "I wanted to warn you against coming back here. It's not safe anymore."
This elicited confusion from all of us, and all at once everyone started talking.
"Why isn't it safe?"
"How do we stop from coming back?"
"What do you mean by 'not anymore'?"
"How did I hear you?"
Dana gave me a sad look and said, "You're crossing over, Alex. Soon, you won't be able to return. You need to stop yourself from entering eversleep. Don't enter the portal - you are all upsetting the system." She seemed to get increasingly agitated and Daniel stepped in. His voice matched the look on his twin's face. Somber.
"D has been explaining to me. This place is midland. It's the entry point of eversleep and we got here because we wanted to. Drowning in molasses? That was to keep our consciousness back on earth or whatever. She never meant for everyone to get this far. I was the only one she wanted, to convince me to let her body die... So she can live." He broke off to compose himself, "The only reason she hasn't been able to move on is because we're keeping her chained to this place by not... Unhooking her."
"Wait, no. The only reason we met you was because of Alex's sleepsake. We didn't follow you here. We were already past that point." Hady said.
There was a pregnant pause before Dana broke to me gently, "You are one of the chosen, Alex. You are marked to be taken... But you've shown incredible strength by clinging on. If you don't want to join me, you can still fight it. By doing what you have been doing."
What have I been doing? I don't even know what to think. My mind was blanketed by a white nothingness. I was marked? By what? For what?
"Can you tell us more about this place? Like, what's going on for instance?" Cam asked.
"What is eversleep? Where will you go to- go to live?" Hady supplemented, suspicion thick in her voice.
"This is where all sleepers go. Everyone is under the influence of midland, but not everyone remembers. Those that don't are safe on earth, but those that do... They belong here. And there's a war, as far as I can tell. A war between two people much like us."
"Someone attacked me yesterday," I told her, "It looked green and had eyes the size of saucers."
"That was an everling." Dana said, suddenly fearful. "Where did this happen? Somewhere here?"
"Yes."
Just as the word left my lips, an arrow whizzed past my ear and embedded itself into the soil.
"Run!" Dana screamed, "Run!"
We did. Daniel tried to grab her, but she only glowed brighter where he touched, unable to hold onto anything solid.
"Go," I heard, "I'll follow."
I headed back into the woods, trying to keep Hady in my sights and my blade in my hand. I saw flashes of startling red, peeking from the bushes. Silver skin that do not belong in the undergrowth of green and brown.
There were sounds of a scuffled in front of me, and I heard the loud thwack of a metal bat on flesh, followed by a heavy thud.
"Hady!" I yelled while rushing towards the source of the sound.
"Here!" She replied to my left. I dashed towards her and saw a crumpled form on the floor. Leaping over it, I continued on and on, until I saw Hady with her hands on her knees.
"Who knew you got tired in dreams?" She huffed.
"I think Dana made it pretty clear, we're not dreaming."
"Where's Cam? Daniel?"
We straightened up and tried to quieten our breathing to listen.
"Daniel?" I whispered and heard rustling to our left. I grabbed Hady and shoved her behind me, brandishing my knife with my other arm in front of me.
A tall figure stepped towards us, "Do not fear."
"I mean you no harm," It said, "Come, come with us."
My brow furrowed as I realized there were a few more surrounding us.
"NO!" I screamed defiantly, "We'd rather die freely than as prisoners!"
"We do not wish to kill you." One said.
"What? Would you rather eat us, instead?" I challenged.
Another one laughed, "No, we don't eat humans, little one. Put that away and calm yourself before we are found out."
"What do you want with us?" Hady asked.
"We want you to understand." The first one said, approaching us with a single step and watching for our reaction. Our turn to move.
"Do you think we should go with them?" I hissed to Hady.
"It doesn't look like we have any other choice." She said quickly back.
"I'll make one." I said, letting my impulse take over. I rushed towards the one in front of us and made to stab him but he grabbed my arm and twisted my blade towards my neck.
"Calm down," It said, "Calm."
It was surprisingly strong and I failed to wriggle free. "I guess now we don't have a choice." I said, my voice strained with the pressure on my throat.