CHAPTER#99

Holy fuck, he mouthed at Ratu. The coast clear, she scurried across toward him.

"We need to find the way out," she told him. "She built this place from the corners of your mind. This isn't the exit for a reason."

"To be honest, I hated going home." He looked at the painted scenery of the outside world. "Home meant my mother. At the end of the day, it felt like a prison sentence."

"That's part of the puzzle. You didn't see these doors as an exit. So where would your brain have put it?"

"I honestly have no idea, but..." An idea came to him. "Oh shit."

"Oh shit, what?"

"The gym." He looked back through the gap. "My favorite class was gym. Not because I was any good at it, but because we got to go outside and run the nature trail."

"Nature trail?"

"Yeah, we had a little river that ran by the school. The gym teacher would take us along the nature trail, and I used to sneak off into the bushes and read books that I had stashed away before school." It was the only place he could be alone with his thoughts. "There's a door in the back of the gym that leads outside to the basketball courts and the nature trail."

"Okay, so why the big deal?"

"It's a gym class. The shadows seem to be preprogrammed to go about their day until we are spotted. That means a giant room full of them." Mike flinched when they heard a door slam in the distance. "I'm not sure how we could make it to the door... wait, I know! The first five minutes of class are when we change clothes, so the gym should be empty."

"But not a real five minutes."

"No, but it should give us enough time. We need to get close to the gym and find a hiding spot so that..." A flash of movement caught Mike's eye through the gap, but all he could make out was a flash of blonde hair disappearing around the corner.

"What is it?"

"Thought I saw something." He shook his head, focusing on the task at hand. "There should be a set of recycle bins across from the gym. If we can hide in those, we can wait until the bell rings."

"Then let's do it." She helped him stand, and the quietly pulled the doors open. The long halls of the school had taken on a sinister presence, and the two of them slowed whenever they neared a set of windows. They crawled on their hands and feet beneath the large windows that looked into the computer lab. Mike heard the silent clicking of keyboards, wondering what sort of things the shadows could be typing. The only way to find out would likely result in death, so he would have to be satisfied with never knowing.

Nearing the gym, they spotted the large bins, but had to wait. Baba Yaga was limping around near the entrance to the gym, sniffing through her giant nose. Clearly tracking something, she frowned, her whole face shifting down, and then stormed off toward a nearby set of stairs. Once she was out of view, they scrambled down the hall and stood in front of the bins. They were about four feet tall and full of plastic bottles. Mike helped Ratu in, careful not to make any noise. Once she had her footing, she braced him as he slid across the top, and they lowered the lid on top of them, leaving a tiny gap through which to see.

Some time passed, and the bell rang. The room filled with shadows again, shadows with fiery eyes. They milled about in fast forward, keeping up with the distorted time. Mike wondered if their movements were random, or if every shadow had a schedule it would follow for all eternity.

The bell signaled the start of class. In their haste to get out, they tipped over the recycle bin, scattering cans and Gatorade bottles across the floor. They picked themselves up off the floor, but heard Baba Yaga holler with rage on the floor above them.

"Go!" Mike entered the gym, his feet pounding against the polished wooden floors. The bleachers were folded away, giving them a clear line to the door at the far end. Behind them, Baba hollered once more, and the doors to the locker rooms filled with shadows that chased after them. Mike tipped over a basketball cart, hoping it would slow their pursuers. His heart was in his throat, and he could hear Ratu gasping just behind them. He chanced a look back. The swarm of shadows was close on their heels, and Baba Yaga's ugly visage had appeared in the entrance, her lips curled into a snarl. Looking forward, he grabbed at Ratu's hand, sprinting forward for the last ten feet.

Shoving the bar down, Mike pushed on the door with his whole body. He hollered in triumph when it opened, expecting his feet to hit the concrete of the basketball courts.

What he didn't expect was for the world to tip over. Clutching the bar with one hand, he held onto Ratu with the other. The gym rotated, Mike and Ratu dangling over open space. The shadows fell against the back wall, splattering into dark mist.

"What's happening?" Mike yelled. He could barely hear himself over the world folding in on itself.

"The artifact!" She yelled back. "This is where Baba Yaga's magic intersects with it!"

Straining to hold on, he looked down again. The back wall of the gym collapsed, the school folding in on itself. Doors, halls, and stairwells closed in on each other, the wood of the gym splintering and floating around the room. Desks crashed through the room, windows shattered, and Mike could hold on no longer.

His fingers slipped free of the bar, and they fell. Gravity warped, and instead of crashing to the ground below, they fell at an angle. Striking the hard surface of the gym floor, Mike let go of Ratu, and watched her slide away in a completely different direction.