The food was good and it was late. Before long, Bae found himself drifting off to sleep.
Then, the explosions hit.
He woke up to noise, chaos, and Tom throwing him out of the vehicle where Siri was alredy standing to catch him as he crashed into her.
Then, Tom leaped over and past both of them, a dagger in one hand and a sword in the other.
Siri was yelling something to him. He caught the word "Woods!"
" . . . hold them off . . . !" he hear Tom say. The next few words were lost. Then, " . . . gloaming!" while Siri grabbed Bae and pulled him into the darkness of the trees beside the road.
Only, it wasn't that dark. The sky was already the gray twilight of predawn, and the trees were further lit up by the fires behind them.
"Typical," Siri said. "Tom and his 'feelings.' It's all 'do this and get trussed up like a lamb for the slaughter. Idiot – Get down!"
She tackled Bae to the ground, landing on top of him. He felt something rush past them, hitting a tree a few feet away. It exploded.
"Up," Siri said, hauling him off the ground. "Run."
She pulled him through the twilight, zigzagging as they went, cursing and sounding frustrated.
Then, something dark loomed up before them, black as the river on a night with no moon.
"Finally," Siri said, and pushed him towards it.
Bae had been running through dirt and autumn leaves. Now, he was tumbling into snow. He stumbled and fell, sliding across it.
He pulled himself up, looking around for the next attack.
But, the noise stopped.
There was no more firelight coming from the road.
In fact, there wasn't any road.
There were in a wood – but it was a different wood.
The trees were velvet black. The sky above had gone from morning twilight to midnight blue. A full moon shown overhead.
And the ground was buried deep beneath the snow.
"What – where –"
"Uh, yeah," Siri said. "About that. Uh, congratulations, Baelfire," Siri said. "This is your third world in one night.
"And, before you ask, no, not a record. But really good for your first day of realm jumping, don't you think? She looked around uneasily. "This might have been a big mistake . . . . Look, here's the deal. We've got to get over the river and through the woods to Granpa's house. Or Aunt Stella's. And keep an eye out for, well, anything. Assume they're not friendly. Really not friendly.
"Uh, and, just to say this, if anything winds up grabbing you and dragging you onto a dark alter to sacrifice and claim your immortal soul, I apologize ahead of time . . . .