Page 30 of Simon Says

He wiggled his head on his shoulders. “Hmmm. Starting to feel a little peckish. But I’m into this now. Want to know how this ends.”

“Sure?”

“Carry on.”

“Follow me.”

When Rosie stepped into the passes, she directed the web that connected all things to configure itself so the path to Sorcha would be, more or less, unmistakable in a follow-the-yellow-brick-road kind of way.

“Nice trick,” Deliverance said.

She did a little curtsy. “I try.”

Within the blink of an eye the two of them were moving at a speed so fast it would appear to the human eye as a blur too brief to register on the conscious mind.

“What is this?” Deliverance said, when they stepped out and looked around.

Rosie quickly assessed the visual cues. “I think we’re in the psychiatric wing of a hospital.”

“The looney bin?”

She ignored him and pushed through the swinging door next to them. A young woman in a hospital gown was looking out of a barred window.

“Are you Sorcha?” Rosie asked.

The woman looked back over her shoulder and said, “Leave me alone,” before turning back to the window.

“It’s not her,” Rosie said.

“How do you know?” Deliverance asked.

“Look at her. She’s no more than thirty. Simon said she was six years older. That means she’d be…”

“Simon?” The woman asked. When Rosie and Deliverance redirected their attention, they saw that she’d turned toward them. “Is he here? Where is he?”

Rosie looked at Deliverance. “It’s a slow mo dimension. She thinks this just happened.”

Deliverance looked back at Sorcha and nodded.

The dimensions at the lower end of the spectrum vibrate so slowly that they experience time entirely differently.

“How long have you been here?”

“Do no’ know. A year?”

“You want to go home?”

“Home?”

“Home to the world as you knew it before you, um, came here?”

“Who are you?” Sorcha asked.

“People who can make things right. Sort of.”

“How are you goin’ to do that?”

“Put you back in the world you belong in. Reunite you with Simon. See if maybe the two of you had a future.”

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