A few hours had passed since the group set out to follow Erin's hunch. The three suns hung heavily in the sky, their scorching light drained the life out of everything. The air was still, offering no relief as exhaustion ate at their bodies. Erin led the way, while Jayden and a reluctant Liam followed behind her. Eira, as usual, lingered quietly at the back of the line.
Erin lifted a hand over her forehead, shielding her eyes from the blistering sun. Looking over the horizon, there was nothing yet. Except the endless stretches of purple sand, broken only by the cracks and craters that laid on the ground and that lingering fear in her chest that she couldn't shake off.
The feeling that something dangerous like those mutated crabs will come after them. This time, there were no monoliths she could use to tap into the power she had inside her.
As Jayden walked behind her, his eyes watched her like he was reading a wasteland survival guide. His attention was mainly focused on the faint glow of her mark beneath her sleeve.
Erin of course, got this feeling that he was staring, because he always did.
"Quit watching me like I'm some kind of bomb waiting to go off," Erin snapped without turning around.
Jayden snapped out of it and muttered a little "Sorry" lowering his eyes as he kept walking.
Liam however, seemed lost in his own world. His eyes shifted constantly, from the sky to ground, then the ground to sky, like he was tracking something invisible. To anyone else, he looked unhinged. To Liam, it was calculation.
"We've been here for two nights," he muttered to himself. "And today makes it the third day. The light… the suns… no, it's slower. Much slower."
He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "Stop."
None of them paid attention to him, ruling it as another of his antics.
"I said stop!" He raised his voice this time around, That finally earned their attention.
"What is it now? Want to give us another lecture on how dangerous I am?" Erin said with a soft smile.
For the first time, Liam didn't take her bait. She ruled it out as him being salty about the way she also ignored him earlier.
"We arrived here three days ago, right?"
"Yeah… so?" Jayden asked in exhaustion.
"Time doesn't flow the same way here. Haven't you felt it? A day here drags, it feels like three days crammed into one. And if I'm right…" He trailed off, his expression changing as the thought landed. "If I'm right, then weeks have already passed on Earth since we fell through that portal."
"Time moves differently? What makes you so sure?" Jayden asked, furrowing his brows.
Liam gestured sharply with his hands as he spoke. "Think about it. We were pulled through, maybe some kind of wormhole that looks like lava, we skipped through space, through dimensions. Who's to say Earth's clock didn't keep running while ours slowed down here? We don't even know how long it took us to get from there to here. My point is—"
"Your point is, you're pulling theories out of your ass." Erin mocked as she crossed her arms.
"And what about you, Monroe? Why are you so dead silent?" Erin asked, turning her head toward the quiet figure behind them.
Eira stood a few feet back, her expression unreadable as ever.
"You don't have to act like an outcast," Erin told her. "You're stuck here, same as the rest of us."
Eira blinked slowly, but said nothing. Erin shrugged her off, why'd she even bother?
"That makes no sense Liam," Jayden exhaled.
He jabbed a finger at Jayden. "Of course it makes no sense to you. You couldn't possibly grasp the concept of space and time. All you do is flex your muscles for her...," he pointed toward Erin, "...act like a damn moral compass to me whenever I call out the obvious, and act like a bodyguard to her," he pointed at Eira
Then, he turned sharply to Eira, "And you, you just slink around like some creepy little shadow. None of it matters if we can't get back.
Jayden's face tightened. His lips parted, but no words came. He just stood there, but Erin wasn't having it.
"You think nothing matters? Then why are you still walking with us? Why don't you just go be brilliant and alone, if you're so sure you don't need us?"
"At least they aren't isn't bitching about everything I do, including saving your ungrateful ass! All YOU do is tell me how dangerous I am, belittle Jayden, and act like a damn jerk to Eira!" Erin snapped, her voice cracking with frustration.
"Okay, let's not do this now, guys. Erin you gotta calm down" Jayden said firmly, looking down at her sleeve.
"Oh please, let them. It's entertaining," Eira muttered under her breath, but just loud enough for Jayden to catch it.
"Let's ask the question no one wants to ask. Who the hell made you in charge, Erin? If anything, I should be the one leading."
Pausing for a second was Erin, before she came to the sudden realization. "So that's what this is about? Me being in charge?" Liam's silence simply confirmed it.
"You know nothing about navigation, universal physics, or geometry. You don't even know how to control your powers. And yet we're supposed to follow you? Why?!"
"Because…" Erin started, but the rest of the words lodged in her throat. She didn't know. All she had was her instinct, the pull that told her to keep moving east.
"You don't even know, do you?" Liam scoffed, shaking his head in bitter amusement. "A hunch? You want us to walk miles through uncharted territory based on a damn hunch? That's a joke."
"You're taking it too far. That's enough, Liam," Jayden warned.
"Take some time to cool off," Jayden added, placing a hand on Liam's shoulder.
"Get your hands off me," Liam snapped, shoving him back. "I don't take orders from you, or her." He jabbed a finger toward Erin.
"Alright then. Tell us, Liam. What do you suggest we do? Since you seem to have all the answers."
"We're going back," he said confidently. "To where we started. If we make it there, we might find the portal back."
"And if we don't?" Jayden asked with his arms crossed.
"We will," Liam said without hesitation.
"No, we won't."
The words came from Eira and all eyes snapped to her.
Liam took a slow, deliberate step toward her, "And what makes you so certain?"
"I don't know, I just am. Just like you're so certain about your little theory. Do you seriously think we ended up here by accident? That there's just a neat little exit waiting for us if we retrace our steps? That's not how this works."
Her tone was more confident than they'd ever heard. Jayden's brow lifted in surprise at her sudden confidence, even Erin squinted wondering what was going on.
"You sound so sure, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you brought us here. Tell me something, Eira, who are you, really? Why haven't I seen you before in school? I would know. I handle student affairs. How did you end up in detention with us? Do you even have a school ID? Are you even a student at the school?"
Eira's mask of confidence cracked. Her breath hitched as she instinctively stepped back. "I… I…"
"You what, huh? Lost your tongue?" Liam pressed, smirking cruelly.
"Liam, stop!" Erin barked, her voice resonating with sudden force. The ground beneath them trembled, a deep rumble echoing through the sand before it died off. Erin's eyes widened in alarm.
"Did you… did you just do that?" Jayden asked, his gaze darting between Erin and the glowing mark on her arm. But the mark wasn't pulsing hard, it was steady. It couldn't have been her.
Then, a familiar piercing screech cut through the air, making all of them freeze in place.
The ground convulsed violently, sending ripples of sand and dust into the air, choking their lungs and clouding their sight. The air blurred into a haze of purple mist as something massive clawed its way upward.
The first talon burst from the ground, slicing the air with a bone-shattering force.
"Shit," Jayden muttered.
"They're back…"