It was time.

The final scream had rung out, echoing through the maze-like halls of Oculum.

The day was through, the night was upon them, and soon... so very soon... Josh would be back home. 

Coincidentally, he was also a little anxious. 

It was probably just because of how scary that first post-curfew chase had been, though. It couldn’t be that he was anxious about being back home, right? That wouldn’t make sense, because he belonged back home. Didn’t he?

“It is time,” Ulisa said, forebodingly, before putting her hand over her mouth and doing her ridiculous villainess chuckle again, her extravagant curls bouncing along with her. “Ludi, Terisse, I trust you’re nearly prepared.”

Not as though it mattered whether Josh was prepared. It wasn’t like he had any say over what happened to him, right? Just like back at home.

“Totally,” Ludi said, holding up her board with her usual toothy grin. “You know I’m always ready to break curfew.”

“Yes, yes,” Ulisa grumbled. “You practically belong outside, breaking curfew.”

“Except when it’s time for food,” Josh mused, thinking about the most terrifying thing he’d seen in his time here — Ludi consuming all five of those tables of food faster than he’d consumed a single dish.

So many teeth...

“You know it,” she grinned that toothy grin over her shoulder. He shivered.

Terisse spoke up. “Yes, I am ready, Ulisa. And it’s probably for the best that we leave immediately regardless. Due to our time constraints and due to the forecast, which currently calls for ‘trouble.’”

“Trouble,” Ulisa hummed, rolling a strand of her vibrant blonde hair around her fingers. “We have to send it back when the forecast calls for trouble...”

“W-well,” Josh started, before the three girls all turned to him and he blanched. Was he really going to tell them that he... wasn’t ready to go back? Well... maybe not in those exact words. “Y-you don’t have to send me back, like, now...” he finally stammered out. “I can wait.”

“You’re wrong, extraplanar,” Ludi said, shaking her head.

“As Terisse said, there are time constraints in play,” Ulisa agreed. “If you’re not home in the next few thousand years, I may not have the ability to send you back, and there’s a chance you’ll never see home again. Unless you... well. Unless your unbelonging energy eventually causes you to...” she trailed off, looking away.

Smack! 

Ludi suddenly slammed her hands together, with a terrifying amount of force. It took Josh a moment to recover from the sudden noise, but when he did, he realised... 

He was the rubber band.

Swallowing, he nodded. “O-okay. We can— Wait. Did you say a few thousand years?”

Ulisa nodded. “As stated, our time is very limited.”

“B-but... that’s ages,” Josh said, confused. “I won’t live anywhere near that long.”

They all stared at him, confused back. “Right...” Ulisa said, looking at the other girls and back at him a couple times. “Well. We’ll have to take the risk either way. It is time... for trouble.”

👁👁👁👁👁👁👁

Josh Holliday had begun to feel more at home in Oculum, but most of that feeling was quickly stripped away as they hurried once more through the dark, labyrinthian castle halls, dashing from shadow to shadow — or skated, in Ludi’s case. 

He didn’t belong. He just... wasn’t like them, and soon, he would be back where a boring guy like him made sense. Even as much as that made him feel... dread.

“Odd damn it — we’re being followed,” Ludi said eventually, as they ducked into another shadow.

Ulisa groaned. “I assume you don’t know what by.”

“I do not. Whatever or whoever it is, it’s trying very hard to stay hidden.”

“Why are—” Josh started, before cutting himself off. “I wonder... why it’s following us,” he said.

Terisse gave him a smile and he couldn’t help but smile back, even under the circumstances. But then her smile faded a little. “It’s... probably you, extraplanar. Your glow is... intense.”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, feeling even more out of place than before.

“It’s not your fault,” she said, patting his arm. “Ulisa needed a very unbelonging object.”

Ulisa pursed her lips. “So instead it’s mine, as usual. Astia would be so proud.” She looked away. “Let’s continue. We may well lose our follower when we escape into the greater campus.”

The four of them continued on, hurrying down another hall, the gravity changing twice and Josh getting completely and utterly turned around. Eventually they arrived at a large doorframe... but the door was missing, instead solid stone.

“The entrance to the hall of strife is... gone,” Ulisa said, confused. “I cannot even pull us through, it’s warded.”

“That’s like... the only fast way out from here,” Ludi said, skidding to midair stop on her hoverboard, somehow.

Terisse hummed. “I suppose we’ll have to go around, then. It would probably be best to go through the dungeons.”

“Hmm. I wouldn’t have wanted to go there, and it really eats into our time, but... yes. I suppose that will have to do,” she agreed.

And with that, the already dark and creepy halls of Oculum at night became another level darker and creepier. They weren’t dashing from shadow to shadow any longer; they were jumping from ghostly green glow to ghostly green glow. Every frantic step sounded hollow and echoed eerily through the halls; and that didn’t even speak to the other sounds just barely audible, such as the long, painful groan some distance away, and that strange, intermittent scratching noise. 

And all of that... Josh was forced to just ignore it! To pretend as though they were completely safe! What could he even do, just a useless human like him? Nothing, that’s what! And that was terrible!

“I hate it down here,” Ludi sniffed as they arrived at an intersection, and the first lamp they’d seen in multiple hallways. Josh couldn’t help but agree... the idea of this place being down in the depths of Oculum this whole time was kind of scary. But then, the entire place was already— 

Ahchoo! “Gaaaah!” Ludi groaned. “All the must and cleaning products always trigger my allergies.”

Josh just stared at her for a moment. Well... yeah. Huh. It did kinda smell like cleaning products down here, didn’t it? Nevermind, it wasn’t that much scarier than the floors above, then, after all.

“Can you tell if we’re still being followed, Ludi?” Ulisa asked.

“No,” she sniffled.

“I can,” Terisse said. “Look!”

Down the hall... something was approaching, the intermittent ghostly green glows going out one after another, a strange rumbling, whistling sound gaining in volume...

“The blob!” Ludi yelped, before immediately sneezing again, which sent her flying on her hoverboard down a different hall.

“I guess we’re going that way, then!” Ulisa said, grabbing Terisse and Josh with her tentacles and taking off.

When they caught up to Ludi again, who was blowing her nose into a handkerchief, she said, nose stuffy, “Ib we cab’t go out the dubgeob exit...”

Ulisa shook her head. “There’s another way.”

Down another hall, and then up a flight of stairs, the blob always close behind... the shorter girl eventually ushered the three of them to a hidden door behind a column. 

“A secret bassageway!” Ludi exclaimed.

Ulisa started to do her villainous chuckle, but it came out very strained. Josh stared at her as they entered the tunnel, a little concerned, but, as per usual, she ignored him. He didn’t pry.

Across a stone bridge over a gaping chasm that gave Josh vertigo... down a pitch-black, rickety flight of stairs that the three girls kept having to catch him on... Through a cramped crevice that Ludi kept complaining about... “This secret passageway is for short people!”

“Or height is a disease,” Josh couldn’t help whispering to Terisse, and she snorted.

“Someone’s been down here,” Ulisa suddenly said, freezing in her tracks at a locked door in the side of the passageway, Josh bowling into her back. She didn’t flinch. “Someone... knows about this passageway,” she whispered harshly.

“And you know this because...” Ludi prompted.

Ulisa looked at the three of them, her eyes wild with confusion and... emotion. “This door isn’t supposed to be here! It’s even warded! It... well... nevermind,” she said, getting very quiet. “It... isn’t important. We need to keep moving. I don’t know that whoever sent the blob after us tonight doesn’t know about this passageway.” 

Just as she had earlier that day, just as she had with her sister... Ulisa looked like she could use a hug. Josh didn’t think he was capable of giving her that hug, but... he wished he could. He was so helpless... helpless to stop whatever was chasing them, yeah, but more importantly, helpless when it came to anyone around him, too.

“Here we are,” Ulisa finally said, and the four of them jumped out of a window onto the grounds of Oculum.

But they were not safe yet. 

Rumble...

“Odd damn it!” Ludi swore under her breath as she hopped back on her hoverboard. “Now the blob is out here?!”

Searching amongst the trees, and gardens, and stone paths... The rumbling, whistling... blob was crawling through the grounds; almost as if it knew that they must be out here somewhere.

“Eep!” Terisse squeaked suddenly, and then angrily stomped on something. “The vines just tried to grab me!”

“All of these things are tied to Oculum,” Ulisa said. “All we need to do is leave the grounds. Go!”

One final, last push, one last sprint, Josh trying his very best not to fall behind... But he couldn’t; the others had so many more limbs that they could use to vault over obstacles, they were so much less clumsy, and they—

His foot suddenly got grabbed by something, something that lifted him high into the air, flipping him upside down. 

The others were also fast enough to avoid the vines, unlike him!

Fwoosh! Everything went black. Once more, Ulisa was carrying him, the same shadow-hopping travel as before, the same travel that had made him nauseous. Once more, she’d gone back for him.

And then they arrived at the fence, and Josh did his very best not to fall over or... have a sick. That would be both embarrassing and potentially get them killed. Or... whatever horrible fate happened when the blob got you.

Rumble... Speaking of which... the blob had definitely noticed them, and was approaching. And the vines must not have stopped approaching, because Terisse kept stomping on things... 

But finally, the fence crinkled open, and the four of them jumped through. Smack! The gate slammed back into place behind them not a moment too soon.