same characteristics," Isabella said with a shrug.
In a little while, Sinclair and Maryann returned.
"Hey, I'll get drinks," he said. "Help me carry?" he asked Isabella.
"I'll help!" Maryann said.
He smiled. "I think your friends probably want to talk to me."
"Oh, yeah, probably," she replied with a slight pout.
Isabella followed Sinclair to the bar and put in the drink order.
"I think your band should be careful tonight," he said while they waited on the bartender.
"In what way?"
"There's something unwholesome in the air tonight. A bad moon rising, if you will. I can't pin down what it is, and that bothers me, but I'm pretty sure it has something do with your band. Of course now I'm getting some idea as to why."
Isabella took this to mean he was aware she'd cast a spell on herself. She was slightly surprised, but didn't show any emotion. "Any idea on what specifically to watch out for?"
He shook his head. "No. I wish I did. I'm usually better at this. That makes me, and should make you, extra worried."
"I appreciate the warning," she said sincerely.
The drinks arrived and they rejoined the other three. Isabella quietly warned Leah and Nora that something bad could happen and that the warning came from Sinclair. They were suspicious, but even though they didn't trust the guy Maryann had just met, they trusted Isabella. And while they were glad of the warning, they weren't sure how to act on it. The evening overall was pleasant. Eventually they had to part Maryann and Sinclair to pack up their gear and head to the hotel. They were crossing the very short distance from the back door of the club to their van to finally head out when they were blinded by a flash of light and they felt the world change.
"What the hell just happened?" Nora blurted as she blinked furiously.
"I have no idea," Maryann replied. "I think we walked into a door or something."
"I thought Isabella said that doesn't just happen."
"It doesn't just happen," Isabella replied. "This was deliberate."
The band could see now, and they appeared to be in some kind of park. However, everything seemed just slightly off. It had been fully night in the real world, but seemed to be just at sunset in the world they found themselves in. The wind blew through the leaves, but the shadows on the ground moved just a second too slow. The brown of the bark and the green of the leaves were the wrong color. The wind itself had an unnatural chill in the air.
They turned to look behind them, but there was nothing except empty park. Isabella cast a spirit sight on herself to try to look for the door, but couldn't find even a trace.
"Well, Holmes?" Leah asked when Isabella sighed.
"There was a door here. I can feel a bit of weakness in the Veil, but this isn't a natural weak spot, so I can't reopen the door. I think we're in some kind of near-spirit realm," she said, meaning that the spirit realm seemed close enough to the real world to show some influences of it.
"Near-spirit realm?" Maryann repeated. "We're nowhere near where we were before! I think I remember driving past a park on the way to the club, but that must have been five miles away or more!"
"Distances don't always correspond," Isabella said dryly. "Like I said, this wasn't a natural door, so maybe we ended up in the nearest weak point. We'll just have to try to find a place where I can open a door."
"How did we get here?" Nora demanded.
"Someone sent us here," she answered grimly. "We tripped some kind of trap. There was the flash of light and the spell to open the door was activated. I mean, I say 'door,' but I think it was more of some kind of trapdoor or circle on the ground since we didn't take any steps after we were all blinded."
"Who did this?" Nora asked.
"Who cares right now?" Leah countered. "We get out first and find out who and why later."
Nora looked like she was going to argue, but then nodded. "You're right. Getting out is the most important thing right now."
"Alright, I've got spirit sight so give me a minute to look around," Isabella said. She cast a guidance spell on herself as well to help her orient on any doors or other weaknesses in the dimensional fabric.
"I don't remember those mountains," Maryann said, pointing at the rock walls on either side of the park.
"It's like we're in some kind of valley," Leah replied. "Which is really weird."
"Everything is really weird," Nora said impatiently.
"Come on, ladies," Isabella said. "We'll try this direction." She didn't have a clear path; only a vague intuitive feeling of the correct direction.
So they started to follow Isabella. There were birds chirping in the trees and small animals scurrying through the underbrush. They couldn't see the sun but it seemed to be shining as though it was late afternoon. The more they walked the more on edge they became.
"So, um, guys," Maryann started.
"Yeah?" Leah replied.
"Do those birds sound weird? Like, sometimes I don't have the best ear for pitch, but they're off-key."
"Oh, I thought I was the only one thinking that," she replied. "Yeah, I mean, I never paid much attention before, but this isn't right. They sound like they've been un-autotuned, if that makes sense."
"Okay, well, I'm glad it's not just me."
"Their mouths are too big too," Nora said unexpectedly.
"What?" Maryann said.
"Just look at when they chirp."
The others did so and realized that the birds' mouths were too big, or opening too wide, and their jaws ended up looking slightly disdended like a snake.
"This place is super creepy," Maryann said, shuddering.
"But is it dangerous?" Nora asked.
"Any place in the spirit realm can be dangerous," Isabella answered. "But I agree with Maryann: this place is super creepy."
"Yeah, it's like how everything is almost normal but not exactly normal makes it so much creepier than if the birds had, say, four eyes and were talking to us," Leah said.
"That would still be super creepy," Maryann countered.
They made their way through the park. The light remained at the same level as though the sun was just about to set.
"The park wasn't this big," Nora said in a low voice. "I remember the one we passed, and it couldn't have been this big."
"I agree," Isabella said grimly.
Suddenly they heard footsteps and a woman dressed like a park ranger emerged from a side path. "Excuse me," she said. "Can I help you? Are you lost?"
Maryann started with, "We're..." and then lost her voice.
The woman, like the rest of the world, was not quite right. Her blue eyes were a little too big, her fair skin and blond hair were too washed out to just be pale, her voice had a very slight echo to it, and her proportions also seemed slightly wrong, as though she was just slightly too tall and too thin but her head was just slightly too big. The overall effect was deeply disturbing.
Maryann cleared her throat, tried not to stare, and tried to speak again. "We're, um, just looking around, thanks!" she said as brightly as she could.
"Okay. Did you see anything odd? I thought I saw a flash of light. I thought maybe some kids were playing with sparklers again. They never read the signs. No fireworks."
"Um, no, we didn't see anything."
She stared at them suspiciously. "Well, alright. If you need any help, the ranger station is down that trail," she said, and walked away.
They all looked at each other once she was out of sight.
"Oh, my gods, that was seriously creepy, right?" Maryann asked. "I mean, it's not just me."
"No, that was really freaky weird," Leah replied. "And I mean that literally. Freaky weird. I feel like we just fell into some kind of horror movie. Isabella, please tell me you can get us out of here."
"I'm trying, I'm trying," she said.
They quickened their pace but found the park was much larg
er than it should have been. After over an hour by Isabella's watch, they were still in the park. Now they were approached by someone else.
"Are you lost?" said the young man. His eyes looked like glass marbles. His features were just slightly too sharp, his hair slightly too uniformly blond, and he was just slightly too thin in the park ranger unifrom. The overall effect was something like a broken doll.
This time Maryann could not rally her voice.
"We're just looking around," Leah answered, her instincts telling her not to be honest. "Lovely day, er, evening, isn't it?"
"Well, yes, but the park is going to close soon."
"Oh, well, yes. The exit is that way, right?" Isabella asked, thinking quickly and pointed.
The young man looked in the direction she indicated and kind of laughed. The sound made the others want to shudder. "You sure you're not lost?" he asked suspiciously. "That just leads you to the picnic area."
"Oh, I guess we got turned around a little," Isabella answered. She made an effort to smile.
"Okay, well, I guess that happens. The exit is that way," he said with a kind of exasperated sigh, and pointed. "There's a ranger station that way if you get turned around again," he said, and pointed in another direction. Finally he walked away.
"Isabella," Maryann said in a low voice, her eyes wide. "Please, please get us out of here."
"Well, he wasn't helpful. I know that's not how we get out of here," she answered.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded. "It's the same direction the other, um, person, told us was the ranger station. And I think the last thing we should do is go to the ranger station."
"Agreed," Leah and Nora said in unison. And for once, Leah was so rattled she didn't even follow