“Didn’t the boy Tristan liked have back hair at fourteen? Fourteen isn’t old. Well, it is to me, but that’s because it’s—”

“I did not like Jhett Marion!” Tristan said. “Please. Let me get a word in edgewise. I can see where Byron got it wrong, but I liked Tyler Redmond. He was a senior, he was tall, he had long hair, and he was good at art. He had a lower back tattoo and no back hair. I’m not down for that.”

“I’m not down for that,” I said. “Wax, shave, deal with it somehow.”

“Thank you,” Tristan said. “I value and appreciate your sanity.”

“I’m not changing my answer,” Kenzie said.

Kenzie and Tristan bickered. Sveta approached me, leaning into my good arm. “You okay?”

I shook my head. I murmured my answer. “Spat with Chris.”

She nodded. No commentary.

“Can we get some fresh air?” I asked. “Wait on the other side of the portal? At least until Chris’s train arrives?”

“I can keep an eye out,” Kenzie said, holding up her phone. “Oh! We need to talk about dinner. I hope this doesn’t run late and we don’t get a mob of assassins or zombies coming after us, because my mom’s making this pasta dish—is pasta okay?”

“Pasta’s great,” I said. “Keeping an eye out is great. Just—”

I motioned toward the station and the portal within.

We made our way through. There wasn’t much traffic, but there was a lot of security. Patrol block was out in force, checking our ID twice. I had to hand over my bag. Kenzie unloaded all of her trinkets and things, which ended up taking a few minutes.

The pressure of the city and of accumulated stresses were weighing on me. It was hard to breathe.

When we finally got through, it got easier. It was a question of walking down a hallway, past a blurry area, and up a half-flight of stairs, passing through doors.

Earth N. Fresh air, trees, birds, fields. There wasn’t much civilization at all, beyond the standard buildings that surrounded portals in foreign worlds. Supplies, basic needs, a small hospital, administration. Not even a small town.

Enemy territory.

Torch 7.8

The arrival of Chris’s train at the G–N portal station had Kenzie running off to go get him. The initial wave of trucks and cargo from the train began to flow from the station and out into Earth N. I’d seen the process before, but it had been as part of the Patrol block, and I’d usually had duties, or I’d been a part of the convoy.