Chapter 1 of 5

A Cold Reception

Wilson's POV

When Webber and Wilbur spoke, their conversations were typically a strange mix of spider and English. Webber would bounce between the two languages without really noticing, giving me small glimpses as to what they were talking about. I found myself wishing, more than once, that Wilbur would give up whatever game he was playing and just speak to us normally, but he simply refused.

I knew that Wilbur was speaking to the boy in a hurried, hushed tone, but the words themselves were lost on me. Instead, I simply had to stand by and watch him dissolve into yet another panic attack, so soon after running off during the first. Faint inklings of guilt bubbled in my chest, and I wanted nothing more than to inch forward to help, but I knew better.

We were in a situation that I really didn't want to think about right now. A situation that was entirely my fault. They knew it was entirely my fault. They had all seen Nightmare pulling on the strings just hours ago.

Hours? How much time had really passed?

It was approaching winter, I knew that. I had been here long enough to be familiar with the seasonal cycle. And yet, it smelled like spring, and the sun was unnaturally warm for this late in the autumn.

It was Webber, only moments after being dragged out of his panic, that addressed the elephant in the room.

"Where are we?"

He asked the question in a small, hoarse voice, and yet it struck me as hard as if he had

screamed it.

Where were we?

The last thing I had remembered was moving against my will. It hadn't been as total of a possession as the last time (something I expected to feel the usual pang of guilt over, but failed to this time around) but I hadn't been able to fight it. For a moment, everything had felt right, and then everything had felt very very wrong. A ridiculous effort to go home had ended with something else. And I didn't need to have enhanced senses to sense the electricity in the air. I could sense the new shadows with almost terrifyingly accurate perception. The air felt heavier, the light duller. The shadows were more plentiful, hovering just on the edges of the suns rays. Between the particles of light. Observing.

The door hadn't taken us to Earth, which was a bummer but honestly something I had anticipated. It was the fact that Webber was unfamiliar with the world that startled me. After all, what other door could there be?

"You know, that's a great question," Winona mused. She glanced at me with a tilted eyebrow, cold frustration still glittering in her eyes. "Wilson, care to share?"

"Um." I had no answer. It was all I could do to shrink under her scrutiny. Webber's anger I was far too familiar with, both aimed at me and otherwise, and Wilbur's was familiar by way of association with his closest companion.

Winona's, however deserved, was entirely new to me.

"Allow me to answer that question, dear boy."

The voice was new, agonizingly familiar, and dripping cockiness all at once. I turned on my heel so fast that my head spun, my heartrate kicking up several paces at the sight of the man standing before us.

It had been a long time since I had been in Maxwell's presence. While I had never actually seen him, at least to my memory, it was impossible not to recognize his voice, and I had somehow always known what he would look like. He wore a long, fur coat that nearly grazed his too-clean dress shoes. In one hand, he held a cigar, which he casually blew a puff of as I stared, and in the other, a familiar blue sword.

While I was stunned into silence, the rest of my group had entirely different reactions. Wilbur let out a primal screech of rage and nearly leapt at the man, stopped only by Winona actively standing in front of him. Webber turned to anger as well, baring his teeth and growling deep in his throat. Both had their claws at the ready. Winona, however, held a hand out towards him, her eyes wide and blank with shock. It was her who moved first, stumbling closer to Maxwell with her mouth hanging open. "William?"

No sooner than the name left her mouth did Maxwell strike her with the sword. Not the blade, thankfully, but the attack was harsh and unexpected. She was shoved back a few paces, wheezing as the hit took her breath. I immediately moved to defend her from any further strikes, but Maxwell raised one hand and calmly smirked. He lowered the sword, pressing its point into the ground.

"That name is an insult to the person I am now," he said simply. "I must admit, I am surprised to see you here. It appears as if your sister had the right idea after all."

"Where is Charlie!?" Winona's voice was wobbly, but demanding nonetheless. "What did you do to her? I swear to God, if you hurt her-"

"Ah, finally asking the right questions! Or, well, close to the right questions." Maxwell cut off. He took another drag of his cigar, forging tension as he took his time. "Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Their domain." He spread his arms, motioning to the surrounding area. "Or, at least, the surface of it."

"The surface?" I pressed before any of the others could speak. Honestly, I felt I was the most in my mind at the time. Wilbur looked one word away from spreading Maxwell's entrails across the grass and I had no doubt that Winona and Webber would've joined him if their expressions had anything to say about it.

"I know that my companion once told you that the Giants were the key to your freedom." He placed a hand against his chest, looking awfully pitying, as though gazing upon an injured animal. "And while that was... unfortunately... a lie, you have taken one important step closer. You see, Their domain exists between our worlds. But the specifics are unimportant to you, I presume."

"Get to the point, Maxwell," Webber snarled. I absently raised a hand at the boy to tell him to stand down. "What does this have to do with Charlie?"

"Pushy, aren't we?" Maxwell pushed closer to Webber and Wilbur, a humored gleam in his eyes. "My my, what a duo you two make. You've moved on rather fast, Wilbur, haven't you?"

The tension snapped. Wilbur lunged at Maxwell in a frenzy, and I fully expected to see a violent fight happen before my eyes. Instead of pulling any magic tricks, though, Maxwell simply waved Wilbur's violence off. The monkey's attack didn't land, rather passing straight through what I now knew to be an apparition of our captor. Wilbur didn't appear confused, or even shocked in the slightest. The prime ape launched into a furious tirade, bouncing between languages so fast that I couldn't even make out growls from hisses from barks.

Maxwell's gaze landed on Winona, steady and arrogant. "Oh, but the opposite is true for you, right? You simply refuse to move on, despite everyone else telling you to."

"You are really overstaying your welcome," I said lowly.

"So impatient," Maxwell sighed, tapping the ash off of his cigar. "No flair for the dramatics. Fine, then. You stand at the beginning of your greatest challenge yet. Ahead of you lies five worlds, each painstakingly designed to break you in every possible way. To advance to the next world, you must not only survive the pressures of each land, but thrive in them. Only then will the way be clear to you."

"We're not in the mood for your games, William!" Winona snapped.

"Unfortunate. You can't win anything if you aren't playing a game." Another drag of the cigar, another moment of manufactured tension. "Oh, and you'll be needing this." With that, Maxwell tossed the blade to the ground in front of Webber, sneering at the boy as he moved to take it back. Webber froze under the scrutiny and stared wearily towards Maxwell, as if anticipating a trap. Maxwell ignored him. "The way will be violent. Bloody. People have made it here before, only to fall before the end. If you are the first to succeed, though, you will find everything you seek. Your purpose. Your freedom." Maxwell's gaze hardened on Winona again. "Your sister."

A sort of unsteady hope bloomed on Winona's face, even as her expression twisted to distrust. "How do we know you're not lying?"

"Oh, whoopsie. I suppose there is no way to know. Shame, that the only thing you have to go on is my word."

I clenched my fists and opened my mouth to speak, but Maxwell raised a hand to stop me.

"It appears that our little rendezvous is coming to an end. I have already given you all the information you will get. Succeed, and you will have everything you wish for. Fail, and... well, your little friend is probably getting lonely, hmm?"

Webber snapped at him, claws glinting in the daylight as he aimed a vicious swipe towards the man. Before the blow even had the chance to pass through the incorporeal form, Maxwell was gone.

Silence suddenly stretched between us, broken only by Wilbur's furious panting as he paced back and forth.

It was Winona that broke the silence. "I swear to God, when I find him, I will tear him to shreds." She wrapped her arms around herself, and I could see the muscles twitching in her jaw as she gritted her teeth. "Whatever he did to Charlie wasn't enough? He had to go and drag everyone into his... his foul game? What a miserable maggot of a human being..." Her voice trailed off, but I was sure her mind was still forming hundreds of colorful names for our captor.

"The only way is forward," I said after a moment. "We've gotten pretty good at surviving, right?"

"Oh, the traitor wants to give a pep talk." Webber rolled his eyes and turned his head to the side. "Was this your plan all along, Wilson? To lure all of us to our deaths? Did you want Them to laugh at us while we died. Was that it? It's hilarious, isn't it? Go ahead, Wilson. Go ahead and laugh like I know you want to." Even as his words and voice screamed anger, I had known him long enough to recognize the subtleties of his movements. The slight tremble in his claws, the uncomfortable scratching around his scars.

"Hiding your fear behind anger again, Webber?" I scoffed. "I thought we were over that."

"I thought so, too," he snapped. He grabbed his sword and thrust it towards me. "And that's not my name."

"Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between you two. You're as volatile as I am. At least I only have one name."

At that, I saw him inhale sharply. He was still trembling, but anger seemed to be genuinely overriding his fear now. His grip on the sword tightened. I fully expected him to attack me.

So it was unexpected when Winona was the one to hit me. It wasn't a debilitating hit, definitely not the kind of wound I would have received fighting with a four foot tall mass of furred rage complete with claws and teeth, but enough to catch me off guard.

"You, are absolutely not helping." She pointed a finger at me as if scolding, and I reluctantly stood down. With the angry indignance receding, I found myself feeling strangely empty. I expected to feel guilty, but nothing rose in my chest. It just felt cold with indifference. "William- er... Maxwell, I suppose- gave us an ultimatum. And while I don't trust a word out of his mouth, something tells me he would be more than happy to make our lives a living hell if we don't at least try."

I chose to argue. "He told us absolutely nothing about how to advance, let alone 'win' his stupid game. 'Survive and thrive'? What does he expect us to do? Settle down and start a happy family in the hills? The fact of the matter is, our lives are already Hell! What more could he possibly do to us to make things worse?"

"The other option is to die," Winona said. "If surviving is all we need to do, then it doesn't matter how long we stay here. We, quite literally, either advance or die trying."

I turned away from her, entirely unwilling to let her know that I knew her words made sense. I could almost sense her rolling her eyes.

"Whatever. If you want to stay out of this, be my guest. But I know the three of us have every intention to try to pass this test. If you want to sulk about it, nobody will stop you."

I waited a moment, listening to the low voice she used to speak to Wilbur and Webber. Then, when it sounded like they were about to leave, I let out a heavy sigh and dragged myself to my feet to follow. They knew I was there, I was sure, but none of them looked back at me.

They were all angry with me, I knew that. They had every right. And truthfully, I knew it was a low blow to attack Webber the way that I had, but in this case, redirection was a better strategy than risk the guilt pulling me under. Nightmare had me under its thumb. It had pulled me into a game that I couldn't win, and dragged everyone else into it as well. If anything happened to any of them while we were here, it would be entirely my fault.

Again, I waited for the pang of guilt to hit me. It never did.

A drop of rain hit me on the nose. I glanced up at the sky, noting the clouds that had suddenly swallowed the sun. Weather was normally unpredictable, but I didn't like how fast these clouds were moving. Almost as if pulled into place.

I wasn't surprised when rain started falling in sheets, only minutes later. I groaned, but didn't try to shield myself. I was fully aware that covering my head wouldn't help when I was already soaked to the bone. With the rain brought impaired vision, so I jumped when Winona appeared in front of me. Equally soaked, equally miserable, but still with that familiar steely glint in her eye.

"Come on. There's a thicker part of the forest ahead."

"I thought you were just gonna ditch me," I grumbled.

"Yeah. Well." She didn't seem to care to give much more explanation than that.

Hovering right on her tail, I quickened my pace into a jog. She was actively trying to shield herself from the rain, something that was clearly a fool's task.

When we reached the thicker canopy, the rain only lightened up slightly. It was barely enough for me to see Wilbur splayed out on the muddy ground, with Webber pacing just a few steps behind him. Language barrier or not, Wilbur's deep glare was not lost on me, and I knew enough about primates to know that his bared teeth was not forming a pleasant smile. And yet, he didn't try to rip my face off as soon as our eyes met, so I took it as a win.

Webber, at least, no longer looked angry. When he saw me and Winona approaching, he simply gave a defeated sigh and flopped down onto the ground next to his friend. I intended to get as far from the duo as possible, while still staying in their line of sight, but Winona's look stopped me. She nodded her head towards them. "Apologize." It was not a request.

"Either of them could kill me easily," I argued. "I like having a face, thank you."

"Should've thought of that before."

I sighed, but she had a point. We would get literally nowhere if half of the group hated the other half. So, instead of fleeing like I wanted to, I joined the duo. They had situated themselves under one of the bigger trees, I noticed, blocking out almost all of the rain. I sat on one of its roots. "Hey... um... Tyler, right?" The name felt weird. Foreign.

Webber's whiskers twitched. His good hand reached for the lame one, massaging stiff and underused muscles. "What?"

"I... I didn't mean what I said back there." Which was a lie. I meant every spiteful word of it. I just hadn't meant to say it the way I had. "I guess I'm just scared of... everything. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"You never do, Wilson." It wasn't acceptance. Just an acknowledgment. It was good enough.

"Um... if you don't mind me asking, why did you go by Webber for so long? If that's... his name?"

"It was the only name I knew."

His tone invited no further conversation. I chose not to push it.

Winona came to sit beside me on the root. She started wringing water out of her clothes to the best of her ability, all the while clearly making sure things didn't suddenly break out in violence again.

"You lied back there, you know."

"Huh?"

"You lied." Finally, Webber looked up at me. His expression was unreadable. "You said you only have one name."

I blinked, surprised. Was this about to make another vicious turn? I had no clue what he could be talking about.

"But you have three names," he continued. He raised his good hand, counting on his fingers. "Wilson. Percival. Higgsbury. That's three."

Oh. Oh! Suddenly, I understood the expression on his face. He was trying to lighten up the mood. Maybe tentatively fix one of the many problems between us. I tipped my head at him, trying to follow his tone. "What, you don't have a middle or last name?"

"Nope."

"You have to. What's your full name?"

"It's literally just Tyler."

"How did you know like... your family then? People you're related to."

To my surprise, Webber laughed. Not an amused sort of laugh, but not entirely malicious either. Probably, he thought the answer was obvious and that I was being stupid. "We lived together. Obviously."

That wasn't exactly what I meant, but at the moment, I was done arguing. "Well, you got me there. I apologize for the blatant lie, especially one that you caught me on so immediately."

Something wry twisted his face as he chuckled. When he spoke again, his voice had taken on a dangerous note. "Just don't lie to my face again." With that abrupt change in atmosphere, he stood up to approach Wilbur, leaving me confused and uncertain. Had I misread his intents? Had he been seriously upset? He himself said that it didn't matter what name I called him by, why was he just now getting upset by it?

A small spark ignited in my gut, something like anger but much colder. Instead of stamping it out, like I had been before entering the door, I instead let it fester. I was too tired to fight it anymore.