Lisa would not be convinced to eat one of the extra sandwiches Derek had so he took it upon himself to eat it for her. Ryan was taking his sweet time in the bathroom. That’s what you get for eating cake for breakfast, Derek thought and snickered to himself. Lisa had to keep warding off people from taking the seat they’d saved for Ryan and eventually they put their jackets on it to save themselves the trouble. Still, what was taking Ryan so long. Derek had another sandwich that still needed to be eaten.

  The lights in the room went out without warning. Various lights from different devices popped on as students pulled out their phones and flicked on the flashlight mode. The general murmur in the auditorium went from quiet anticipation to general alarm. The principal came out onto the stage, shining a large Maglite on his face and waving an arm to get the audience to quiet down.

  “Everyone, please. We are having a slight power outage. Fortunately, our projector system is battery powered, and our feature will not be interrupted. We ask that everyone remain here while we get the power restored, for your safety. So, without further ado, we shall begin the film.” The light from the projector lit up the screen behind him.

  The movie started and a collective groan swept through the auditorium as the title The Adams Family came across the screen. Lisa gave a disapproving look at the audience as this was one of her favorites, but when she turned to cast her look upon Derek, she found him about to stand up.

  “Where are you going?” she whispered.

  “I just realized I need to use the restroom too,” Derek lied. Lisa squinted her eyes at him and then made as if to stand as well. “Where are you going?” he mock whispered back.

  “I want to see where Ryan went too,” she harsh whispered with a flat look. Derek sighed, but shrugged and they both sidled through the aisle, Lisa grabbing their jackets as she passed them. They had been sitting at the back and began working their way along the wall to the exit door in the middle when an adult stumbled onto the stage right in front of the projector screen. It was hard to tell who it was as the reflection of the Thing from the movie reflected too brightly off his skin. Instead of being annoyed the students laughed and gave encouraging calls. His head jerked around the room as if looking for someone, when it turned sideways it looked like there were four tiny horns sticking out of the back of his head.

  “Is that Mr. Clark?” Derek whispered to Lisa. Instantly his head turned towards the two of them, Lisa frozen with her hand on the exit latch, Derek trying to melt into the wall. Mr. Clark turned his head sideways as if trying to listen for something, then put his head up as if trying to smell. Then he looked down at the ground and fell to his knees. He began moving his hand back and forth in sweeping motions in front of him. Derek though he saw the “horns” wriggle a little while his head was down, and thought, for a moment, that they looked a lot like fingers.

  The principal went up on stage at that point, whispering something at Mr. Clark, then, apparently being ignored, put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. It was immediately shrugged off as the principal looked flummoxed.

  The disembodied hand on the projection started moving towards the camera, running down a hallway, knocking over furniture, but just before it reached the screen there was a ripping sound as the projector screen tore and what looked like the approximation of a hand—bony, angular, with too many joints—pulled itself through and landed behind and somehow dwarfing the kneeling man as he kept scribbling on the ground. The principal tried to grab Mr. Clark and get him away but the giant hand flicked a finger, sending him flying off the stage into the crowd. Screams burst out in the theater, the shuddering sound of a hundred seats popping up as people created a cascading crescendo while Derek looked on in horrified fascination. Lisa tugged at his arm.

  “We’ve got to go,” she said, pulling harder until Derek came to his senses and they pushed open the doors. The last thing Derek saw of Mr. Clark was of the large creature reaching up over him as if it were examining whatever he was drawing on the ground. Then the doors shut, and they were in the hallway, lit only by the emergency lights.

  “Not this way,” Derek said.

  “Ryan said he was going to the bathroom. This is the closest one.”

  “He probably went to the one near our home room,” Derek said, this time tugging on her arm. “Trust me, we should go this…way…” a low hum began vibrating around them, joined by a second note and third until it became a crashing wave of sound. The world hiccupped. A rolling wave along the floor tossed them off their feet and the two fell, Lisa on her back and Derek on his face. The display cabinets lining the walls began to rotate around, their contents transforming from photos and trophies into kaleidoscopic windows and melting wax figurines. Derek retched, regretting the extra sandwich he’d eaten while Lisa got to her feet, putting her hands on his shoulders and gently nudging him.

  “We have to move,” she said.

  “What the hell is going on?!” a new panicked voice asked. Lisa and Derek both turned and saw Jeremy Witkins pressed up against a wall, staring in horror at the new contents of the display case. They hadn’t heard the auditorium door open. Beside him was one of the students from the after-school club Derek went to, Clara Samson. She didn’t seem to be as freaked out as Jeremy, but still had a worried look on her face.

  “I think this is an Astral Incursion,” she said analytically, clearly trying to separate her emotional mind from her rational mind. She was probably the most studious person in their study group and knew a lot about the early days of the Crisis. At least as much as had been made publicly available. “But it seems atypical…” she mused.

  “What matters right now is we get away from that…thing in the auditorium,” Lisa said, helping Derek to his feet. They began to head down the hall, Clara gave Jeremy a pitying look and followed. After a moment’s hesitation Jeremy went after them as well. Clara caught up as they set a jogging pace.

  “I get that we need to get away, but why aren’t we running to the exit?” she asked Lisa.

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  “We’re going to find Ryan,” Lisa said.

  “Why wasn’t he in the theater with us?”

  “He had to use the restroom,” Lisa and Derek answered simultaneously.

  “But isn’t the bathroom in the other direc—”

  “Not that one,” Derek said, and then feeling like he had to give explanation he added. “He can only poo in the one near our home room.”

  “Ew, Derek, gross,” Lisa said.

  “Right,” Jeremy cut in sarcastically. “I bet it has something to do with what you guys were up to yesterday.”

  “What were you up to yesterday?” Lisa asked.

  “Huh? I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Derek denied a little too hastily. Lisa narrowed her eyes with the same look she’d been giving him more and more recently. She opened her mouth and then the hallway rippled again, the floor tiles began zig zagging in white and black patterns. The black lines became wider and wider, encroaching up on the white, the emergency lights shattered popped and they were plunged into darkness.

  It was silent, except for the sound of their heaving panicked breath. Derek reached into his pocket for his device, the others must have had the same thought, as multiple lights flicked on. The walls looked like a gooey obsidian, always melting but never really moving. It was a disorienting illusion, and Derek felt the second sandwich making its way up his throat before he forced himself to look away. There was a dull skittering sound out there, in the dark, and Derek felt his hackles rise.

  “We need to find somewhere to hide,” Jeremy said what they all were thinking.

  “We are going to find our friend,” Derek insisted.

  “You can’t find him if you’re dead, dumbass—”

  “Quiet you two!” Lisa hissed. The skittering sound had stopped. It was replaced by a thump, thump-thump, thump, getting closer, and then. Silence.

  They had all turned their lights in the direction of the sound, but what stepped into the light was not what they had expected. It was just a small child, maybe seven or eight, with dark brown hair in the bowl cut. He turned his head up at them, his thick hair covering his eyes, and asked in a tiny frail voice.

  “Can I come with you?”

  “Uh, no,” Derek said, stepping back. “I’ve seen this movie.”

  “Jesus Derek, this is not the time for your irrational fear of children,” Lisa said as she made to step forward, but Derek held her back.

  “No, Lisa, this is exactly the time for my irrational fear of children. Especially in dark hallways when we’ve clearly been pulled into a nightmare scenario.” While they argued, Clara took a step toward the child and knelt down in front of him.

  “Hey, my name’s Clara. What’s yours?” she spoke in one of those cadences people naturally fall into when talking to young children.

  “Manus,” the child said.

  “Are you lost?” she asked.

  “Looking for something, but can’t find it,” Manus said.

  There was another low hum and the air around them vibrated, the obsidian texture of the walls and floor seemed to shift back to its natural appearance, though the emergency lights did not come back.

  “Maybe we can help you,” Clara said, looking around at the sudden change, “but we need to get out of this scary hallway first. Would you like to come with us?” Derek was furiously shaking his head back and forth as she offered her hand out for the child to take. He put his hand in hers and she stood and turned towards the others. “Honestly Derek, I can’t believe you would abandon a ki—hey…” she tugged her hand, but the child wouldn’t budge.

  “Maybe you can help us,” Manus said, but with a voice that was morphing lower, “if we become one.” From where their hands were clasped, more fingers splayed out and dug into Clara’s arm, crawling in, through, and out of her skin, like worms swimming through liquid sand. She screamed. Lisa shrugged off Derek, grabbed Clara by the waist and tried to pull her away from the child, who was no longer so childlike. Clara had stopped screaming and her eyes rolled up in her head as she started to have a standing seizure.

  Jeremy brushed past Derek, muttering “coward” as he went to help. He kicked at the child’s midsection as it grew hands out of its back and sides, rising above them. Its head turned into a fist, unfurled a finger, pulling back like a snake rearing to strike back at Jeremy.

  At that moment, a swiftly moving, pill shaped object emanating a soft blue light, shot between them and the creature, rotated around, and blasted out a shuddering vibration. The creature let out a wretched screech, broke apart, let go of Clara, and scattered. Clara collapsed into Lisa, who caught her up and slowly lowered her down into her lap. Her arm was red with welts all up her arm, the fabric of her sleaDerek felt his device vibrate, looked at the screen, and saw a notification from the Sifting app. He forgot he even installed the thing. Opening it up he saw he had a message waiting for him.

  Helios: Please follow the Eye-in-the-Sky to a safe location. Aitherios will find you soon.

  Derek had forgotten Ryan’s dorky choice username and couldn’t help but smile, learning that his friend was still alive. The flying object didn’t look like he remembered from earlier in the morning, but the timing suggested it was what Helios was talking about. It zoomed in front of him and then Lisa and then Him again and then started floating off.

  “We need to follow that,” Derek said.

  “What is it?” Lisa asked, arms wrapped around Clara for comfort.

  “It’s a…drone Ryan got,” Derek explained lamely.

  “How can that turd afford something like that?” Jeremy asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m following it. If you want to stay in this hallway and get eaten by hands be my guest,” Derek stormed off after the drone. He kept hearing that word “coward” bouncing in his head. He tried to warn them, but no one would listen. Yet when Clara got what was coming, he hadn’t gone to help, he just stood there. That jerk Jeremy hadn’t hesitated to act. Lisa helped the semi-conscious Clara up, but she didn’t seem lucid and couldn’t stand on her own. Jeremy ended up lifting her in his arms. Lisa caught up with Derek.

  “It’s ok,” she whispered. “You were right.” She could see her words weren’t getting through, so she tried to tease him instead. “Who would have thought an irrational fear of children would be a valuable life skill, though, right?”

  “In hallways,” Derek said. “An irrational fear of children in hallways.” She nodded sagely.

  “Especially if they’re dark.”