New Place to Begin

Late

" Where are they?" Yunjin murmured, glancing nervously at the clock for probably the hundredth time thus far. "They said two hours, right?"

"Yes." Sakura confirmed, her frown deepening as she too stole a look at the huge clock that hung from the far wall of the bus station. It'd been almost three hours since the others had left, and their bus was set to leave in nearly fifteen minutes. It'd been the only ticket they could find on such short notice, and the closest destination they found had been Denver. They'd hurriedly bought the tickets, using most of what was left of their funds to do so, but another bus to Denver wouldn't come until tomorrow morning at the very earliest, and they simply didn't have that time to waste.

"Maybe they lost track of time?" Kazuha suggested weakly, wringing her hands.

"Our bus leaves in fifteen minutes! " Yeji protested. "They need to be here!"

"Is there any way to contact them?" Yunjin asked desperately. She knew cell phones weren't an option, not when technology drew monsters, but there had to be some way to get in contact with the others.

Sakura shook her head. "We could try to send an iris message?" she suggested, but she didn't sound confident.

"What is that?" Yunjin asked, brows furrowed.

"Yes!" Nayeon responded, ignoring Yunjin's question. "There's a car wash next door!"

Before Yunjin could even comprehend what that could possibly mean, Yeji was already grabbing her arm and pulling her out the doors, nearly dragging her to the car wash just up the street. The others followed closely behind, and unlike Yunjin, they didn't seem to be completely lost as to what was going on.

The car wash was separated into stalls equipped with hoses, vacuums, and various tools to wash whatever car was parked inside a given stall. Yunjin watched with wide eyes as Yeji searched desperately in her pockets, letting loose a small cheer when she managed to scrounge up some loose change, just enough to get the hose of the empty stall to work.

The others crowded into the stall as Yeji began to spray the hose, positioning her thumb in front of the opening in order to create a spray of water. Yunjin looked on as a rainbow began to form before their eyes, just barely visible in the mist of water.

Sakura didn't waste a moment before reaching into her pocket to fetch a large, thick gold coin. A Greek drachma.

"What is that going to..."

Yunjin trailed off when Sakura threw the coin into the mist of water and the it promptly vanished, as if consumed by the rainbow itself.

"Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering."

Yunjin had about a million questions at this point, but she stayed silent when she noticed the intense focus clear on Sakura's face.

Yunjin's eyes widened in shock as a screen of sorts, about the size of a square foot, suddenly appeared within the rainbow, revealing...

"Is that a baseball field?" Kazuha asked, brows furrowed.

"Chaewon?" Sakura called into the screen. "Chaewon, can you hear me?"

"Sakura?" A voice came from inside.

Suddenly, a face appeared in front of them, but it wasn't Chaewon. "Sakura, is that you?" Eunchae asked, looking winded and disoriented as she stared at the screen with narrowed eyes. Yunjin's stomach dropped as soon as she noticed the line of blood trailing down the side of Eunchae's face.

"Yes, it's me," Sakura replied. "Where are you guys -"

"Eunchae!" came a distant voice from inside the screen. Yunjin stiffened when she recognized Chaewon's desperate call. "Could use some help over here!"