She touched my arm, then walked away. I glanced at the reflection, and saw a storm in that too-dark, too-distorted image that seemed to follow Sveta. Then it was Victoria at a birthday party, classmates around her, sister beside her, cousins Eric and Crystal off to one side, a little too old and too young to be hanging around with her.

Candles out, the lights turned on a little too quickly.

I wish I was a superhero. I knew the wish because I’d made the same one every year.

I looked away.

The group was exploring, but at this stage in things, it was a rather tentative exploration. Fanning out, until we were no more than fifteen feet away from the next person. Peering into crystals, trying to figure things out.

I decided to break pattern, because there was no way we’d find Teacher if we didn’t get moving with a bit more speed and distance covered. I walked away, not briskly, but not dawdling either, thumb of my right hand scratching at the edges of the bandaging at my left hand. Bandages with blood on them for an injury that wasn’t there.

“What’s our goal? Finding Teacher?” Byron asked.

“Essentially,” Tristan said. “Man is it weird to talk to you.”

“We have other objectives,” I said. “The original Earth N portal. It was that way?”

I pointed.

Kenzie corrected, reaching up, moving my arm a few inches to one side.

I looked down at her. “You sure?”

“I have a good sense of space, and I remember which direction the room was oriented,” she said.

“Good enough.”

“You want to see it from this side?” Tristan asked.

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with, yeah.”

He nodded.

It ended up being Damsel who led the way. She approached a rising hill to our left and walked over to one slice of it, waiting for our group. She put a foot down, experimentally, and stepped onto a downward slope.

I couldn’t quite figure out the how or why of it until I’d walked another five steps and saw the hill in a fresh context.

“What keeps you from doing the paradigm shift that you used to heal us?” I asked.

“Me,” Damsel said.

She stepped onto the downward slope and shifted her footing, until her feet slid on the dark, glass-like surface, hands out for balance, claws pointing back.

“That’s real helpful,” I muttered. I did my best to follow suit. The kids were right behind me, with Chicken Little going down the slope in a sitting position, feet bracing him, Candy trying but landing on her ass, and Kenzie and Darlene managing it.