“Okay, all done!” I said, knotting the last shoelace. Part of me wished that there were something identifiable as a mirror on the strange walls, but the rest of me was horrified at the thought of what I’d look like in it.

Riley turned to appraise me, his eyes moving up and down my body. I blushed at being examined so openly by the boy I loved. “Better?” I asked.

“Adequate. Now,” he said, holding his hand out to me, “there is someone you must meet.”

Surprised at my own boldness, I stepped forward and took his hand. His touch was electric. My heart was beating with such force that I was certain he must have been able to hear it. But he gave no indication, he simply turned and lead me around a corner-which-was-not-a-corner to go up a set of winding stairs that were surprising in their identifiably stair-shapedness.

“My purpose has changed,” he said as if I might have forgotten that fact in the past two minutes. In truth, I kind of had. The feel of his hand around mine was far too distracting to focus on much else… But I made an effort, responding with what I hoped was a cognizant nod.

It seemed to work, because he continued, “But the Alignment continues to approach. The threat of chaos is still nigh.” His grip on my hand clenched painfully as he glanced back over his shoulder at me. The look in his eyes made my heart flutter. “I will do anything—anything—to protect you, little one. Your world must not be destroyed. And to this end, we will now seek the advice of one whose knowledge and wisdom is further reaching than even my own.”

What could that mean? I wondered, but was too distracted by how lithely he moved up the stairs to ask.

We climbed for what felt like many minutes, one of my hands in his the whole way as the other clutched the dream-statuette. But I didn’t feel like I was climbing. I was light as air. I was in love, and I would follow Riley to the very ends of the universe, if only he would let me.

After the boat on the underground lake with this mysterious, impossibly alluring boy, I now knew what it must have been like to be Christine, spirited away by her Phantom to the dungeon of his black despair. I pressed the statuette to my heart. Very few girls ever got the chance to live out fantasies from their favorite books. And it had all happened without Riley even realizing. I was truly luckier than I ever dreamed I could possibly be.