Odder Than Ever

Eleven: Crossing

Everyone waited in an anticipating silence. Suddenly, Oscar ran to his computer. "I've got signs of positive energy from the other world!"
"Yay! It's working!" squealed Camille. Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness! Can we use the portal yet?" asked an impatient Otto. Oscar chuckled. "Give it another five or so minutes, and then you can."
Otto looked disappointed, but then brightened. "I know just the thing to help us pass the time!"
Olive sighed. "Oh, no." She watched in disgust as Otto pulled out his boombox and set the speakers to full blast. "Take Away Four/Gonna Add Four Remix" began playing. Filip grinned and high-fived his counterpart. "Soundcheck."
Camille sighed, went over to the boombox, and inserted a CD. The music switched to a quiet classical piece.
"Hey!" Otto yelled, surprised.
Camille smiled. "We have a huge mission in front of us. We desperately need to relax, and Soundcheck doesn't quite cut it the way Tchaikovsky does." Otto sighed, defeated, while Olive quietly mouthed "thanks".
Five minutes later, Oscar checked his computer. "I think the reservoir of energy is full enough it'll be able to support you guys." He flipped a couple switches, and suddenly a huge portal appeared in the lab.
Dalila smiled and walked over to the edge of it. "Ready, guys?" One by one, Olive, Otto, Filip, Oscar, and Sean joined her.
"Oona, Olympia, Camille, you know what to do, right?" Oscar asked.
"Yep! You guys will be perfectly fine!" Oona smiled.
"Great!" Oscar smiled, then turned to Dalila and Olive. "I think you two should do the honors." Olive smiled at Dalila, and the two stepped into the portal.
Suddenly, they were sucked into a swirling tunnel.
"Ahhhh!" Dalila screamed. Olive smiled reassuringly. "Relax, you'll be fine."
Suddenly, two figures appeared behind them.
"Oh, hey Olive!" Otto smiled, with a slightly less chipper Filip trailing behind them. "This is so awesome, right?"
"NO," Dalila and Filip answered, slightly annoyed.
"Motion sickness issues," Olive explained quietly. Otto nodded. "Oh."
"Hey guys!" Oscar and Sean suddenly appeared. "The portal seems to be working, don't you think? Fingers crossed it'll hold!"
"Wait-you're not certain this'll work?" Olive glared at Oscar.
"Nope! Portals are finicky things! We may not even make it back at all!" Oscar grinned.
If Dalila looked mildly frightened before, she looked absolutely terrified now. "W-we might not make it back?"
"Well, there's like a 75 percent chance we'll make it to your world, and a 50 percent chance we'll make it back, so that's like a 60.5 percent chance!" Oscar seemed satisfied with these odds. However, Olive was not. "There's a 40 percent chance we won't make it back alive?"
Oscar nodded. "Yep! It was kind of a rush order, so I did the best I could."
Olive was furious now. "Did it ever occur to you to wait until we were out of the portal to mention this? Dalila is petrified!"
For the first time, Oscar looked at the panic-stricken girl hurtling through the portal, and realized what was going on. "Oh. Sorry." Dalila whimpered in response. Olive rushed to comfort her. "It's okay, Dalila. We're going to make it through, stop Todd, and make it back safely. Oscar is the best scientist we have, and he knows what he's doing. So just relax, okay?" Dalila smiled weakly and whispered, "Thanks."
"No problem," smiled Olive. They sped the rest of the way through the portal, chatting quietly among themselves. Suddenly, they came to the end of the portal, and they were spit out into the world.