Imogen gave me a concerned smile.
“Where is he?” I asked Fernando.
“Scary man drag him underground,” Fernando said. “Angry, scary sounds.”
“So you hid,” I said.
“Yes.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.” I tried not to think about what angry scary sounds were made, or what that meant for Silas. He had to be okay. My heart clenched in my chest, and my breaths came quick and ragged. If I didn’t keep my calm, I’d combust, and then I wouldn’t be able to rescue Silas. “Come on.”
As we headed back the way we had come, everything looked even creepier than before, cast in the red light. The mattress transformed into a sandbox filled with worms, while the kitchen was eerily clean.
“How come this version is worse?” Imogen asked as we passed the empty sinks. “It’s so much more unsettling even though it shouldn’t be.”
“I’m not sure,” I said.
We headed back outside and around the building.
“What do we do if we see the unicorn?” Imogen asked. “He was right in the back yard last time. We’re probably definitely going to run into him. And I don’t want him to run into us…you know, with his stabbing horn.”
I patted my bag. “That’s what I brought the carrot for.”
Imogen scrunched her nose. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
I hoped I did, too.
“My experience at the library prepared me for anything Kurnbottom could possibly throw at us,” I said, sounding a lot surer than I felt.
“Molly, too,” Fernando said.
“You’re right, Fernando.” I reached in the crook of my neck and gave his foot a pat. “My magical self-defense and problem-solving training began long before I joined the library. I was born for this.”
“This is so exciting,” Imogen squeaked. “Terrifying, sure, but also exciting.”
We crossed the barren ground. The shriveled brown grass crunched under our heels. Imogen stared intently at the back of the building, to the place where we’d first encountered the unicorn. It wasn’t there. I stared intently at the only greenery in sight—the hedge maze.
With every step forward, my chest clenched tighter. This was where I’d passed out. These stairs were too much like those I’d traversed the night I’d died. I couldn’t die again, not here, not now.
Feathers grew on the tops of my hands. My fingers heated up until I thought for sure they’d burst into flames.
We reached the top of the stairwell.
I couldn’t do this.I had to do this.
Imogen grabbed my hand. She smiled at me, and it wasn’t creepy at all. It was reassuring and kind. She said, “Your feathers are beautiful. And we’ve got this.”
I nodded my thanks, as my throat was too tight to speak any words.
Fernando patted my head and wiggled my ears.
I wasn’t alone. I had my friends with me, and we could do anything together. What was a simple set of stairs amongst friends anyway?
We headed down together, one step at a time. I squeezed the taser in my free hand. I squeezed Imogen’s palm in my other hand.
Halfway to the bottom, the faint sound of distant whistling met my ears. The sound was both jovial and unsettling. We continued on.
The red light from the surface didn’t reach the bottom of the stairs. But even though it was impossible to see, as my feet found the flat surface of the underground floor, I breathed a little easier. I let go of Imogen. Fernando hopped down from my shoulders.