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My body was falling fast. I gasped as my feet hit land, but an odd vibration darted out from beneath the ground I landed on. Bryce huffed as he followed behind with Chandry, who was the last through the portal. A ghostly trail of Jessica”s cry for Dan lingered in the air. When my vision steadied, I looked ahead and saw pearly white material with iridescent glittering.

There was light in the tunnel, but it was coming through the walls. The material of the tunnel was semi-translucent, with that pearly sheen that gave me the impression we”d stumbled into some odd, futuristic cavern. There was a constant dull hum in the background, and in the distance, I could hear the soft sounds of something bouncing off the walls up ahead. The echoes came like the ghostly sound effects of someone jumping on a trampoline.

Jessica was nowhere to be seen.

Dorian gaped at the landscape around us. He whipped his head back to me. ”This is not the Immortal Plane.”

Oh, I knew that the minute we crossed through the portal. How could it be? I stared with wonder at the white structure around us. Bryce stamped his foot on the ground and frowned, watching as the ground soaked up the shock and jiggled like gelatin. I pressed a tentative hand against the wall next to us. It crumpled softly under my touch and then sprang back as soon as I removed my hand.

”The portal,” Arlonne said abruptly. ”It”s gone.” I glanced back to where we had come from. Although I couldn”t see it, Dorian”s grave stare told me Arlonne was absolutely right. Our way back was cut off. And we were currently in some kind of… shiny tunnel?

Cam sucked in a labored breath. ”This can”t be happening. This place is mad.” He gently prodded the wall and hissed with surprise at the warbling response.

”This place shouldn”t exist,” Sike muttered to himself. Bryce leaned more on his own weight, having recovered his bearings.

”What do you mean?” I asked.

”It feels wrong,” he said, rubbing his shoulders as he shivered. ”It”s like we”ve fallen into a pocket between the planes.” I met Dorian”s sure gaze. Sike’s reaction was similar to what Dorian’s had been when we’d first entered the Higher Plane, except from the sounds of it, this wasn”t a plane at all. It was some weird in-between place that existed now. It”s like the Leftovers created their own place… or maybe it was the other way around.

I pawed at my throat. One thing that was different from the Higher Plane? The air around us was thick, like this weird bubbly tunnel was underwater. I glanced up to the ceiling and saw a white light on the outside, but nothing beyond that. There were no moving shapes. The Ghost was gone.

”Dan,” I whispered. ”And Jessica. We need to go after them.”

A cry for help came from down the tunnel.

We took off running. What else could we do? I was growing used to discovering bizarre new places, and Dan was still in the clutches of a monster who could rip open portals.

”It”s a network,” Dorian said with a huff beside me as we ran. There were more tunnels. The air was tough on him, too. We led our group toward Jessica”s cries. I glanced around, seeing that our tunnel intersected with two more. Dorian took us down the left one. I could see the faint suggestion of a dizzying array of tunnels in the distance rising like a myriad of staircases. The eerie material of the tunnel only allowed me to see a certain distance.

The floor’s slick texture grew worse. As we ran, my boots slipped on its surface. It was the same gel-like material of the wall, equally bright with that translucent sheen. It was starting to hurt my eyes if I focused on it for too long. The Higher Plane had been long and unending with a strange white mist, but this tunnel was an assault on vision. I couldn”t imagine how difficult it was for the vampires.

”Dan,” Jessica cried again. She was closer. Good. We picked up speed. I looked over my shoulder to make sure Bryce was following okay and saw him clearly enjoying the challenge of a springy floor. He bounded forward more easily than Sike, who had to hold on to the gear bags and the scanner. A strange plunk sound came from above. I looked up to see a shadowy creature bouncing up and down on the ceiling above us.

”What the—?” I let the comment die and forced myself to focus on the route in front of me. This tunnel felt like it could pop at any moment, but stopping to let that anxiety consume me wouldn”t save Dan or find Jessica”s panicked voice in the distance. We had to help them.

We turned another corner, and I heard the telltale wail of the creature. My shoulders lifted with hope even as my lungs strained against the air here. This was much worse than the Higher Plane, but not as bad as some places in the Immortal Plane.

”Incoming,” Arlonne said with a snarl as Chandry sprinted in front of us into the next intersection. Jessica waited in the center of it, angry tears streaming down her face. Chandry grabbed Jessica, who trembled and pointed a finger down the tunnel to our left.

”It went that way,” she sputtered. Chandry glanced at me, her hands holding Jessica in place so she wouldn”t run off or do anything stupid. Jessica”s chest rose and fell wildly. She was winded, with sweat covering her face. I shook my head. Even if she took off again, she wouldn”t get far in that state.

Jessica paused. “I think.” Oh, geez.

Sike”s scanner let out a loud chirp. He scooped it up into his hands. Bryce placed his hands on his knees, recovering from the run. Sweat dotted my brow, rioting against the intensity of the air around us.

”It”s going up,” Sike said.

We took off again, to the left. This tunnel slanted upward. Suddenly, my lungs felt sweet relief as the air grew thinner. My arms moved faster as we gained altitude from running up the incline until finally the tunnel leveled out again. A flash of white at the end of the long, stretching corridor made me start.

”To the right at the fork,” Sike blurted excitedly as he tried to keep his scanner up while we ran. The loudest one huffing and puffing at the back of our group was Jessica. Chandry kept a wary eye on her, which I was thankful for. Her acrobatics might come in handy for a place like this.

Movement was easier in this part of the tunnels as the air thinned out, but that likely meant it was easier for the monster too. Our speed increased as we went up another inclining tunnel. My calves barely complained. Gravity was lighter. It was as if the ground and environment around us were now helping us, propelling us forward.

We skirted around another corner. These tunnels were wide, and tall enough for the Ghost to get through with no problems… or perhaps the beast knew the way through this maze. I spotted some narrower corridors as we ran, thinking back to what Dorian had said about sensing a network. Indeed, it seemed that we were in some kind of anthill structure in terms of a connecting nest of tunnels. The Ghost clearly knew where it was going, but what was its destination? As my muscles moved, I tried to recall exactly what had happened when the beast first attacked our plane. It was targeting people for a reason… but what?

”Left and then left again. We”re on its trail,” Sike yelled.

We followed his directions. Why would the Ghost be able to tear open portals? I’d thought only Ruk had that ability. It seemed as if it took him and the other arbiters massive amounts of energies to do it, too. The vampires could only teleport using a gate, and yet this creepy beast could rip open a portal in thin air? Something wasn”t making sense, and I was going to find out what.

A distant white blur taunted us once again. I increased my speed as much as I could to give chase.

”Your scanner is making a map, right?” Dorian called back to Sike.

”Yes, or else we”d be totally lost,” Sike replied. He let out an exhausted sigh. ”Go right this time. It looks like the tunnels are getting bigger. The scanner is picking up on a big empty pocket up ahead.”

Big empty pockets made me wary, but we had no choice. We had to rescue Dan and do our job to stop this monster.

We ran for what seemed like forever before Jessica collapsed against a wall with a dramatic groan.

“It’s going farther away,” she lamented. “We have to wait for it to come back around.”

Frustration coursed through me. Jessica was very close to being left behind entirely. “And how would you know that?” I asked, breathing hard. She’d made us all stop. Sike clicked his tongue. Cam looked astonished beside him, and green in the face.

“She’s right,” he muttered in disbelief. “The creature vanished.” He looked up to see my shock and dismay. “Uh, I’m sure it will be back soon.”

She was right? What did that mean for us? Pushing past that, I sank against the jelly wall and took a breath myself.

“It’s back,” Sike whispered after a moment. “It’s going slower this time, though.” I took a step forward, then thought better of it. If it hadn”t worked before, we needed to try something new.

“Could we sneak up on it?” I suggested.

Dorian wiped his brow. “I don’t see why not. Where is it, Sike?”

“A few tunnels away,” he reported, looking at the screen. “It might be resting, too.” The creature had limits, then; that was good news. I caught my breath as we recovered. Sike directed us to go down the right tunnel, but this time we moved slowly and stealthily. We were a tunnel away when I heard a tiny whine coming from under the creature’s breath.

Jessica sneezed.

The creature let out a growl and fled. I cursed as we followed it, trying to track its presence again.

Finally, we slowed down again. I peered down a passage, surprised to see it end in a larger space that didn’t look like the other tunnels.

“It’s the big pocket,” Sike muttered. We approached cautiously. The tunnel opened up into a large, dome-like area that stretched far above our heads. Plants, trees, and buildings filled this area in a style somewhat like an immortal city, but the material that made up the city was the same semi-translucent material as the tunnels. Out here, though, the texture turned rough, crinkling beneath our feet. I ran a hand over the surface of a nearby stubby tree, and it felt like pressing against jiggly bubble wrap. I frowned and looked toward my vampire teammates.

Sike put his hands up. “I have no idea what’s going on here. None of this looks remotely familiar.”

“It’s bad news for us,” Dorian admitted and looked up. “There’s a ceiling here, so this is some kind of contained area. Does that mean there’s something outside it?”

I thought back to the little creatures springing on the surface of the tunnels. They were so hazy I could barely make out their outlines. This network of tunnels… had itbeen made by someone? A long-lost arbiter getting his kicks in this wormhole slip of a universe?

Chandry prodded a fern with her foot. “It doesn’t seem particularly poisonous. It feels like someone was trying to recreate a world or something.” She grimaced. “These buildings look like what you described in the Leftovers.” She glanced up and gave a cry, pointing to a particular building.

The Ghost, in a streak of white, dashed into one of the buildings in the center of the bubble. A flash of darkness in its mouth confirmed it still held Dan between its jaws, but he made no noise. I sprinted after them, the ground crinkling oddly beneath me. Dorian was right beside me, easily keeping pace. The buildings resembled the old remnants of a Mortal Plane apartment block, which formed a mazelike pile of rubble. Some of the buildings stood in partial ruin, while others held more of a shape.

Dorian threw his hand out to stop me. The area around the entrance of the apartment was strangely clawed away.

“It looks like a lair,” Dorian said. He put a finger up to his mouth to shush our oncoming teammates. Thankfully, Jessica also took the hint. Sike’s scanner was dead to the world, and he held up a black screen to show us that. A lair meant danger upon entering, since we didn’t know if the Ghost was alone. There might be more beasts just like it.

Interesting. I studied the area around the building. So, the Ghost had come back for something. It was going to its own makeshift home from the looks of it, meaning it either found this place or came from this place, but it could be in any of these ruined buildings.

“It’s in the last building,” Jessica said, and collapsed against a boulder. I glared at her.

“How exactly do you know that?” I demanded. She wasn’t explaining herself, even if she was right.

She sniffed and placed a palm on her forehead. “I just know, okay? I have a headache.” She took in a big gulp of air.

“Is it a physical feeling?” Cam asked shortly. He crossed his arms and scowled down at her. He looked pale and sweaty after our run, bordering on the end of his rope for new experiences.

“It’s a burning sensation,” Jessica muttered, sinking to the ground. I ran a hand through my hair, growing more and more frustrated by this situation. This woman had deceived us, recklessly endangered herself and her boyfriend, and then led us into a dangerous, unstable new area with a monster to rescue her boyfriend, but she wouldn’t even try to explain herself.

Dorian let out a grunt. “Well, she obviously has some kind of perceptive ability. She saw that portal.” That was true, and I’d be an idiot to ignore her after what I saw earlier.

Chandry sprang up into the air, using the ground beneath her to give her extra bounce. “I’m not going the way she wants,” she said. “I’d rather take my chances somewhere else.”

“For once, I agree with you,” Arlonne said.

Fine. They could do what they wanted. “Meet back here as soon as you can. Try not to leave this… bubble thing,” I told them. Arlonne and Chandry went off into the other direction. “Not too far.”

“I don’t know how they can want to explore on their own,” Sike said, and shuddered as he looked around. “This place feels so weird.” He craned his neck to look up toward the top of the bubble enclosure. The atmosphere thickened into semi-opaque white clouds as the ceiling went up, so I couldn’t really see what was beyond this dome.

“Our senses feel different here,” Dorian added. “It’s like I’m getting scrambled information, almost like the sensation of the heavy atmosphere from the lower levels but on my innate senses. I can barely pick up that thing’s aura, even though it’s supposed to be nearby.”

I tried not to let despair overwhelm me. We had to deal with this world just like we would any other place, regardless of the mystery surrounding our environment. It was eerie, but so was the Higher Plane. There would be time to contemplate this place later.

“Maybe your senses will get better with time,” I suggested gently, trying to find some hope. I took a step toward the first building, the beginning of the ruins. Its nearest wall had mostly crumbled and turned into a sizeable pile of debris, alongside heavy shrubbery.

“Stop,” cried a desperate, hoarse voice. I jumped. I wasn’t expecting another voice out here. It was an older man, judging by the tone. I jerked my head in the direction of the ruins. “Are you humans? Are you real? I need help.”