It’s just an itch, at first. A twinge in her belly. Then a tickle over her flesh like the tiny legs of a thousand ants dancing. Anxiety begins to crawl up inside of her. Soon it’s more than that; it’s full-bore panic, scrabbling and slamming itself against the walls of her mind. Sweat pours out of her. Her mouth is dry as a desert wind. Her hands curl into claws; the muscles in her legs start to clench and cramp.

They get to an old rusty door with a cracked wire-frame window.

A subway train blasts past on the other side. Lights strobing.

Mookie goes to open the door.

She cries out.

He stops. Turns. The headlamp light shines bright in her eyes. She can’t see his face, but he can see hers and she wonders how she looks. If it’s half as bad as she feels–

“What’s wrong?” he asks, pulling her close.

“I can’t… go.”

“What?”

“I can’t go with you. Out… up. Back.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

She stifles an unexpected sob. “I’m… different. I belong here.”

“Nobody belongs here,” Skelly says. She pulls Nora close, but Nora draws away – her touch feels like burning. “Nora, whoa–”

“Oh, God,” Nora says. “It was the mushrooms. Wasn’t it?”

“You’re on mushrooms?” Skelly asks.

Burnsy steps past. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What mushrooms?”

“We found the Death’s Head,” Mookie says. “It’s a mushroom. She was… dying. Dead. I gave it to her…” He pulls them out of his pocket: the glow is gone. They’re shriveled and dry like little dessicated organs.

“Aw, shit,” Burnsy says. “Mookie. Nora. I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”

“What?” Nora asks. “What is it?”

“You’re right. You can’t leave. You’re… part of this place.”

“No, no, no,” Mookie says. “That’s bullshit. I can pick her up right now, and we can get the hell out of here.” He reaches for Nora, but she pulls away. She pulls away from all of them. Begins backing down the tunnel. Even receding ten feet calms her pulse-beat, lessens the itching.

“I’m fine,” she says. Suddenly puffing out her chest. Holding up her chin and blinking back tears. “I can handle it.”

Stay tough, she thinks. Take this like you’ve taken everything else. Suck it up, you stupid girl. Even still, her hands dart out, brace herself against the walls of the passage so she doesn’t collapse. Don’t let him see you like this. Don’t let him see you weak.

Mookie reaches for her, but she pushes him away.

Burnsy leads Mookie off and she hears the dead man telling him, “Mook. Listen. The stories about the purple skull – I didn’t know it was a mushroom, but people talk just the same. Always figured the old tales were bullshit but…It’s like the myths, right? Inanna or Orpheus or–”