Unknown.

20- One rule.

We trudge through the forest for what seems like hours on end. The rustle of the leaves above us is company, the cracks of twigs snapping a reoccurring sound. Wolfe's hand never leaves mine, even when our hands start sweating against one another.

In a line, Wolfe and I at the end, we make our way through the forest and don't converse until we begin to hear the rush of water progressively getting louder.

"Do you guys hear that water?" Gage calls out from the front of the line. "We can stop there to rest."

We continue on, our footsteps steady and our minds set. Every now and then Wolfe glances back, but as the sound of water nears he speaks.

"So... What did Caroline do to you?..." Wolfe asks and looks down at me, his icy eyes glazed over with an emotion I can't figure out. "You know, when we were on the coms?"

"She tortured me." I tell him and glance down at my body. "She tried to figure out what our plan was-"

"I heard her... But what did she do?" Wolfe questions me, a fire licking at the corners of his eyes. "Are there scars?"

"Yeah..." I whisper back, pointing at my right shoulder, my left thigh, and then to my throat. "She used her knife and thought stabbing me would get me to say something I didn't even know about."

   Wolfe peers into my eyes, sadness filtering through them. I shake my head and squeeze his hand though, and he gives me a half-smile as I say, "No, don't get sad. I'm alright."

   "Are you sure?" Wolfe asks, his voice filtering through my ear so close to me. "Torture isn't something that people handle easily."

   "Neither is finding out that you have a family after believing they were dead for ten years. Or finding out that there are monsters everywhere and that there are multiple dimensions." I counter, Wolfe's thick eyebrows raising. "But I'm dealing with it..."

   "Okay... Well... If you ever need to talk to anyone, I'm here." Wolfe explains and for the first time since forever I actually believe that that sentence is the truth.

   He squeezes my hand, making tingles run along my arm. I grin at him and crinkle my nose, but I turn away when Gage's voice crackles above the crunches of the leaves.

   "Here we are." Gage's voice booms, everyone following in line as he leads us and turns, scooting along the side of the pond we have come across.

  The pond isn't big, but isn't small. Just the right size for swimming, bathing, and just messing around in. At the far end of the pond there is a cute little waterfall where a long stream dribbles into the murky water.

   Although trees surround the whole pond, a light glints off the surface of the water. Flower blossoms and plants stick out of the water here and there, but the pond still looks like a perfect little spot to be around.

   "One rule." Marcus speaks aloud as we all begin picking places to sit down beside the water. "Do not get in the water. It may look nice, but nothing is nice in this dimension."

   Ellie plops herself down by the pond, her toes inches away from the brown water. Wolfe releases my hand as he sits himself on a huge rock by the water and Marcus sits down next to Ellie, in between them. I go to sit down beside Wolfe, but Gage stops me by grabbing my arm.

I turn around to face his nervous expression as he tells me, "Can I speak to you alone?"

I nod, glancing at Wolfe's curious expression before I glide over to the tree line and wade a couple of yards in until Gage catches up with me. When I turn to face him, he stands there for a couple of seconds and just stares at me with a plain look.