Yesterday I did something I never, ever thought I’d do on purpose. Look, say what you will about my dumb decisions, but at least I don’t generally put myself in life-threatening situations intentionally. Historically, they’re due to me accidentally jumping, and my dumb choices only occur before or after that.

But yesterday, I made perhaps the stupidest choice of all, and definitely a life-threatening one: I, on purpose, went to the dark forests.

That’s right. I didn’t even jump there. I snuck out of Griffin's Edge in the morning, while Henri was still asleep, and passed through the fog while vaguely picturing the edges of the dark forest, by the icy plains where I’d met Jacian. I wasn’t even sure how well it would work—traveling through gaps in reality is never an exact science, and as far as I know, I’m the first to ever go to the dark parts of Neverland intentionally. Would reality even want to bend enough to let me through?

Yes. Apparently the answer was yes, because I found myself on the very border between a snowstorm and a wall of dark, twisted trees as easily as if I’d been traveling to Florida.

I’m not ashamed to say that I faltered slightly when I stared at those woods and heard the growls within. Sure, I’d been lying awake every night since my reunion with the pale kid, seeing him every time I closed my eyes, burning with questions and wondering if maybe he’d have some answers. Sure, seeking him out had seemed like the best option an hour ago. But now I was having second thoughts—I mean, I’d nearly died almost every time I’d ended up in that forest.

Luckily, there really wasn’t much of a decision, because suddenly the cold wind behind me seemed to whistle harder, and I swear I heard giggling on the breeze. “Oh, hell no,” I muttered, stepping into the trees.

Like I said, I’ve never actually entered the dark forests from outside before; I always just show up in the middle of them somewhere. So I didn’t really know how close I was to where I’d met the pale kid last time. But, I don’t know, he seemed like was keeping tabs on me. I kind of figured he’d find me before I had to worry about finding him.

I pushed my way through dense undergrowth and gnarled branches, wincing as thorns sliced through my sleeves and the skin beneath. Growls and hisses continued from all directions. “Oh yeah, just wander into the place that’s almost killed you countless times over ten years, that’s a brilliant idea,” I told myself under my breath.

Apparently the forest did not like my sarcasm, because I swear the noises from the undergrowth got louder and angrier. Cursing, I pulled out Sgrios and considered if it was worth yelling out in hopes of attracting the pale kid to me. Half a second later, I chided myself for even considering it; I would likely only attract the wrong attention. Besides, I didn’t know his name, or even if he had one. What would I yell? Hello, guy who sits in trees and saves me once every ten years! I want to find you before something else finds and tries to eat me! Please come out!

No thank you. I’ve looked like enough of an idiot in these woods already.

But that really only left me with the option of wandering aimlessly and hoping for the best. Which had seemed like a better idea while I was lying awake at 4 AM.

“Alright, if you’re really keeping an eye on me, this would be a great time to prove it,” I muttered as I shoved past a wall of thorny brambles. I watched as the blood from the scratches they caused dissolved before my eyes, seemingly sucked into the bush itself. It was…drinking my blood, I think. “A vampire bush,” I said in disgust, making a face as it drew more of my blood. “Not cool.”

I was so occupied with beating around the bush—literally—that I didn’t pay enough attention to where I was walking. You’d think I would have learned, considering how many times I’ve been grabbed at by roots or tripped over my own feet in the mud and leaves. But the ground was relatively smooth and steady under my feet—no roots—so the bush was more of a priority.

Until suddenly I stepped…and felt a weird wet, sucking sensation as the ground swallowed my foot. Almost immediately, my other foot followed, and before I could even register what was happening, I realized that I was standing in the ground up to my calves.

I cursed and looked down to see that a patch of dirt around me, perhaps a few feet in diameter, was actually glittery black sand. Sand that was rapidly swallowing me, dragging me down into the earth like quicksand. But it wasn’t ordinary quicksand, because as I tried to struggle, I realized that the perimeter of the sand circle was shifting, almost collapsing over itself, and out of the tumultuous sand emerged a ring of jagged teeth.

That’s right. Like half of this godforsaken forest, the sand was alive and carnivorous. Should have known.

As I continued to thrash—I was now up to my thighs—eyes appeared in the ground by the sand mouth. Big dark eyes that stared at me with a hungry glint as the thing continued to swallow me.

Look, I’d never heard of this creature before, but I had my usual weapons, plus Henri’s additions. Something had to work.

I slashed at the eyes with Sgrios, trying to move my hips enough to get some leverage and reach them. Unfortunately, that proved nearly impossible: the sand had reached my waist, and I couldn’t feel or move any of my lower body. Still, I managed to get in one good swipe, and the sand vibrated around me as it growled in anger.

Too much of my body was in the sand; I couldn’t reach the eyes anymore. I cursed and reached into my pocket for my lighter, thanking myself mentally for at least putting the lighter in my breast pocket and not my jeans today, since everything on my belt was already lost to the sand.

I flicked it open, holding the small flame as close to the black sand around my waist as possible without touching it. The creature screamed, its mouth convulsing, the downward motion momentarily stopping. I waved the lighter over its surface, breathing a tiny sigh of relief as I sat there, encased up to my ribs but no longer sinking deeper.

“Don’t like fire, huh?” I said, continuing to wave the small flame as the ground trembled and shrieked around me. Still, I glanced around doubtfully. Maybe if I kept it in pain, I could reach the edge and haul myself out of the sand? “At least I’ve lengthened the problem,” I muttered.

Not enough, though. Suddenly a tendril of black sand leapt upwards like a living vine—right onto the flickering fire of the lighter. It immediately went out, sending a tiny tendril of smoke winding upwards.

“Damn it,” I spit out, frantically trying to get the lighter to relight as the downward sinking resumed with a hungry growl. But glittering black grains of sand clogged the lighter, and not so much as a spark appeared despite my repeat attempts.

Up to my armpits now. God, I should’ve grabbed the pistol quicker, before it had been swallowed by the sand along with my legs. Instead I scrabbled for the teeth around the edge, managing to wrap my hand around one and pulling as hard as I could when I had absolutely no leverage or surface to push against.

Turns out, that’s not very hard. I yanked, but my grip slipped off the tooth. I cursed loudly again. My only hope now, I guess, was to let it swallow me, then try to fight my way up once I was in the sand.

Unless I got saved again. Which, as much as I hated to admit, was a lot more appealing than letting my head go under.

“You know how I said earlier that it would be a great time to prove you’re watching me?” I shouted as the sand reached my neck, straining to keep my face above the glittering sand. “Well, this would be an even better time!”

No sign of any mysterious saviors. I took the deepest breath of air I could muster and braced myself for going under the surface.

Just as black sand began to clog my nostrils—as bad as I expected, and yet somehow worse, because it *burned—*fire exploded in the clearing. The sand shivered and shook as the thing screamed; flames filled my eyes as they swept over me. I had once again paused where I was, with only the upper half of my face out of the sand…and while that was better than being swallowed up completely, I now realized that I couldn’t breathe.

I fought to get my chin back up as my mouth opened instinctively, allowing black sand to fill my throat. It was thick and sharp somehow, and I wasn’t even getting enough air to sputter; it was almost like a solid thing, blocking my throat as completely as if I’d swallowed a massive rock.

This sucks, I thought fleetingly as my vision blackened at the edges. I’m gonna die right before getting rescued, with only my eyes visible, by mere suffocation. If only I’d called out for him twenty seconds earlier, then I’d still be able to breathe!

But suddenly I was being pulled upwards by a surprisingly strong force, my body slowly pushing past the resistance of the sand. I was dropped onto the ground, and though I saw flashes of fire behind me, I was too busy choking up sand to pay much attention. I coughed violently, rolling over onto my stomach and spitting thick black sand onto the forest floor.

It felt like five minutes of coughing before my throat was fully clear, though there were still stray grains on the roof of my mouth. As I took several deep gulps of air, I flipped back over onto my back and watched the fire die down around me.

Someone crouched down by my head, and I looked up to see—who else?—the pale kid. He looked extremely amused. “Three for three. And this time you even asked.”

I grunted as I slowly sat up. “I would have been fine.”

He actually laughed out loud. “You’ve gotta stop saying that. You haven’t been right once.”

Now that I was somewhat upright and breathing normally, I was able to see what he’d done. The ground where the eyes had been was completely scorched, leaving only circles of ash. And the pit of black sand was smoldering, somehow looking singed and dead despite the fact that it had been black to begin with. And just behind the boy was a flamethrower, its surface etched with intricate runes that I didn’t recognize.

I wanted to protest, but he was right. Honestly, I was grateful and even kind of excited to see him. “Well, thank you,” I said. “For this time, and the first two. I don’t think I ever thanked you properly.”

He sat back on his heels, considering me, his dark eyes thoughtful. “You didn’t.”

Feeling slightly awkward, I stumbled to my feet—I was still a little unsteady as the numbness faded—and he followed. Both of us were silent for a long moment, staring at each other. I’d wanted to talk to him desperately, and yet, now I had no idea where to start.

Luckily, he went first. “So why did you call me this time?”

I shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant, like I hadn’t been lying awake for an entire week burning with questions. “I was looking for you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You…were wondering around the dark forest looking for me?”

Well, this was embarrassing. He was judging me crazy hard, and honestly, I couldn’t blame him. In hindsight, it had been a pretty dumb idea. Who’s to say he even knew anything that could help me? I mean, he’d seemed like he might, but that didn’t mean anything. Risking my life to meet with him again hadn’t been my best move. I looked at the ground, hoping I wasn’t blushing. “Yeah.” He didn’t laugh again, and after a moment I raised my eyes to see that he was smiling. “What? You didn’t want to laugh at that one?”

He shrugged, still with this tiny grin on his face. “I mean, it was stupid, but no one’s ever sought me out before. It’s not like there’s a lot of company here. I don’t know, it’s kind of…nice.”

“Oh,” I said. More silence.

Well, this is good! I told myself. If he’s lonely, he probably wants to talk! I stuck out my hand. “After saving me three times, you probably deserve to know my name. It’s Ian.”

He glanced down at my hand; the moment before he took it seemed infinite. But finally, he reached out and grasped it with his own black-gloved hand, his grip surprisingly strong. “Asher.”

Asher. I turned the name over in my head. It fit him, I think. Regardless, it was nice to think of him as something other than ‘the pale kid.’ “Nice to meet you, officially,” I said.

He was still grinning, a real genuine smile that made his black eyes sparkle. “You too.” His hand dropped, and he stuck them both in his pockets. “So why were you looking for me?”

“Oh,” I said for the second time in five minutes. I had so many questions, but the biggest was which one to begin with. What did he know about me? Why had he reappeared now, after ten years? Did he know anything about the murders? Why was he so interested in me? What was he? He was so different from all the other monsters of these forests.

It occurred to me as all of these thoughts swirled wildly in my head that I still didn’t know anything about him. He could be just as carnivorous as the rest of these monsters. He could have some connection to the murders. I had to play it safe until I knew what he knew.

And yet, my brain apparently did not connect to my mouth, because what came out was not the carefully-cautious response I’d intended. Instead, I found myself blurting out, “I have a problem that I hope you can help with. A few, actually.”

He seemed mildly surprised. “You thought…I could help?”

Too late to back out now. I mean, I hadn’t meant to say it, but it was true. I’d run out of options; even Henri and his ancient friends didn’t know anything about the murders. But Asher had shown up again as they started, so maybe he had some connection. At the very least, he might know something about me and what I was and why I jump between dimensions, if our previous conversations supplied any indications.

I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I still do. Please. If you can’t help, I promise I’ll leave you alone afterwards. Well, as best as I can. I won’t search you out on purpose, anyway. No guarantees on accidentally showing up here.”

God, I was rambling. Hadn’t meant to say that either. But Asher tilted his head, staring at me thoughtfully. After a long moment, he nodded. “Okay.”

My heartbeat quickened. “Okay what?”

He smirked. “Okay, I’ll try to help you.”

“Great!” I said, thoughts swirling even faster as if they were spinning down a shower drain. “So I—”

“No,” he interrupted. “Not here.”

I looked around at the smoldering remains of the sandpit, the gnarled trees, and the vampire bush behind us, which I could swear was whispering for more blood. I shuddered. “I’d love to do this somewhere else, but I kind of assumed you don’t leave the forest. I mean, if you do, my uncle runs a bar called—”

“No,” he interrupted again, eyebrows raised. “I don’t leave the forest. But there’s nicer places in it than here.”

I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. “There are?”

He chuckled. “You didn’t think I just lived in the knotty branches, did you?”

I guess I had thought that. Oh no. Was I being rude? Don’t offend inhuman beings, Ian, you idiot! “I’m…sorry?”

He stared at me for a long moment, expression stony, before breaking into a grin. “I don’t blame you. Despite your frequent visits here, it’s clear you’re not from these forests. You’d be a lot more competent if you were.”

I started to protest, but he simply rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm. “Yeah, yeah, I know, ‘you would have been fine.’” He raised his voice to mimic me, which I didn’t think was entirely fair, because my voice was not that high or squeaky. “But I want to get away from here before something is attracted to the smell of smoke, so you can be indignant on the way. Come on.”

Before I could protest, he grabbed me by the arm, his grip tight. And suddenly everything faded into darkness; I felt air rushing past us, saw flickering shadows moving in the dark, heard growls and whispers from somewhere in the distance. It was like we were flying and crawling through a cave all at once, though my body wasn’t actually moving, and the only lifeline I had was Asher—who I couldn’t even see in the darkness. I knew he was there because I felt his hand on my arm, but that was the only sign. I saw nothing but shifting shadows. It was deeply unnerving.

“Almost there,” Asher’s voice whispered, both in my ear and echoing around us. “Breathe.”

I gulped in stale, dark air. The shadows sped up, moving faster in the blanket of darkness, until suddenly they were gone, and the not-much-brighter surroundings of dark trees were visible once again.

Immediately, I felt nauseous, and I twisted to the side to empty my stomach. “That was way worse than traveling between dimensions,” I groaned, still bent at the waist.

Asher released his grip from my arm. “Sorry,” he said behind me. “I’ve never taken someone along before. I thought you’d be fine.”

“I am fine,” I insisted, slowly straightening up. “A warning would have been nice, though.”

He smirked. “Noted. I’ll warn you before we shadow travel next time.”

“I don’t know about next time,” I said, though my conviction trailed off as I finally began to look around. We were still in the dark forests, there was no doubt about that, but we were now standing in a…town? Houses and buildings made of knotted, black wood sprawled ahead of us, built between and in some cases incorporated into the surrounding trees. Amidst those houses, beings who looked like Asher­—pale skin, dark hair, dark clothing—walked and interacted freely, just like any other street in any other town.

That is, they had been, only now every single one of them stopped and stared at us. Well, at me. Each of them looked like an ivory statue, expressions as hard and stony as their frozen bodies. And though I’ve felt different from everyone I’ve known my entire life, I’d never felt so out of place as that moment.

Asher chuckled awkwardly and put a hand on my shoulder. “Welcome to Oasis, my home.”

“Oasis?”

“It’s kind of a joke,” he explained. “Because it’s our haven in the middle of the endless—NO! Stop!”

He sounded completely panicked, and something dark flashed in my peripheral vision, approaching form behind; that’s all I saw. I tried to turn to defend myself, but I wasn’t quick enough.

Suddenly strong hands were at my throat, and the world went black.