Adrift → Ace; Nancy Drew [2]

x. the depths of the liminal space

THE DEPTHS OF THE LIMINAL SPACE
CHAPTER TEN

The air had an iciness to it, tinted a dull grey. Ace could see the vapor of his own breaths every time he let one out, and he could feel the raised hairs on his spine, but it wasn't because of the cold. It was because of something living, something eerie. He couldn't see it, but he could feel its presence. It was everywhere and nowhere all at once like it was watching him from afar, waiting.

His movements felt like they were in slow motion as he stood from the desk chair he had fixed the key. Olivia was only a few feet away, looking around for something. For what?

"Ace?" Olivia's voice was echoey. She was looking for him. Could she not see him?

"I'm right here," he replied, confused, but she took no notice of him. When she picked up her coat and began to walk toward the exit of the Historical Society, he followed her. "Olivia!" he called right as she stepped outside and slammed the door behind her shut.

With his heart pounding heavily into his chest, he turned around and leaned against the door closed to try and steady his mind. Taking in a deep breath, he reopened them, and couldn't believe what stood right before him.

"Hannah?" he gasped at the woman slowly walking into the archives. Her skin was pale, tinted the same old, cold greyish color as everything else around him.

She stopped in her tracks, eyes wide as she slowly rotated around to look at Ace. "You can see me?" she choked out in disbelief. "I have been trying to contact you all day..." Her face sunk in realization. "Oh, this isn't what I wanted... no... We're both in terrible danger."

"Why couldn't Olivia see me?"

Hannah inched toward Ace with a hand placed anxiously against her chest. "We're trapped in a parallel reality. No one in the real world can see or hear us. This liminal space warps the physical world and affects our perception of time. You were sent here as soon as you turned the key in the copperhead's padlock. The same thing happened to me as well." Her voice was slow, shaky– drained. Like the life was slowly being sucked out of her. "I've been trying to make contact with you all ever since but you thought I was charity's ghost."

"Well, it was a better guess than "Hannah turned invisible and is trying to signal us for help by throwing things at me," Ace scoffed and rolled his eyes, trying to drown his frustration. "I nearly got a concussion."

"I was trying to tell you "please get me out of here, I don't want to die."" Her eyebrows knitted together in fear and desperation. "The myths say that when the moon is full, all beings inside are purged from existence. Forever..."

Ace's shoulders slumped in surrender; that explained the sinister shadow that Ace felt surrounding him the entire time he'd been in the liminal space. "When is the next full moon?"

"The zenith is at 9:33. Tonight. We have to escape before then."

"That's right after the ball... I can try to reach Nancy there. She's sharp enough to figure it out."