Aos Sí

16: A Plan

A brush of static sounded near my ear. I knew better then to look.

"Ethan, we have to find Seán."

"Are you kidding me!?" he hissed. "This place is huge! Even for Beans!"

I rubbed my face and dragged my hands behind my neck, flipping off the air behind me. "Yes. But, we know they were excited to go to that YouTube Creator Panel. Maybe we can catch them there."

Ethan glanced down at the paper beneath us. "The one at 3pm?"

"Yeah." I looked around the area. There weren't any clocks, but I could see a glass door to the outside. There weren't very large shadows. "It looks like it's around noon, so we still have time."

"Except the panel is on the third floor."

I frowned. "How do you know that."

He pointed to a sign nearby, indicating rooms in the hundreds on either side. "We need to be at 310."

I spat a curse. Then looked at the sign again. "There's an elevator."

When Ethan didn't respond immediately, I looked over at him. He stared, pale faced and worried.

"An elevator!? Are you insane!? We can barely get through the edge of the halls without fear of being trampled!"

I hesitated. Static whispered in my ear.

No, this is my idea, and we don't have any others. Fuck off.

"It'd be easier and probably safer then the stairs. And unless this convention center already has Borrower Access, it's not like we can use the walls."

Ethan bounced a little, brow furrowed in concentration before he whined a little. "Fine, but let's at least find a map first."

"Is there one under here?" I asked, peeking under our small prize. We lucked out. There was.  With a bit of effort, we flipped it over and worked it out. I kept getting distracted by a flickering light above us, making my head hurt.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Just the light. We got a plan?"

He blew a raspberry. "I guess. You sure about this?"

"Y̶es̴, let's just get this over with."

We took off. There was no waiting for feet to stop. No one stopped. But we could see a difference in the groups. Solo Beans who paid more attention to their surroundings, compared to large groups who gossiped among themselves. We sprinted between cardboard cutouts, tables, and decorations. We stopped to break in a small crevice, panting. I felt something tickle the back of my mind, my eye starting to twitch.

I shook it off. It was following me.

Then it went away.

A light bulb popped.

My scream was covered by the others from the Beans. Ethan pulled me into a hug to help keep me calm.

"We're okay. It's fine. We're going to get this."

I nodded. "How far?"

"We're nearly there. I can see them."

I looked around again. A clock hung high on a wall nearby. 1:30. We still had time.

"How are we going to do this?"

My stomach plummeted. I had been dreading that question. "There won't be anywhere to hide."

Ethan winced. "No. There won't be."

We looked at each other. Then at the elevator. There was a planter right next to it and countless beans passing by. Ethan grabbed my hand and squeezed before letting go. With one last glance at each other, we ran.

All of my senses were trained on the air above and before me. I ran, stopped to stand on my tip toes as a shoe landed before me. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I danced and dodged around sneakers, flip flops, and foam paws. I heard a soft yelp.

My attention turned to Ethan as he collided with the floor, caught off-guard by a cosplayer's boot. He scrambled forward, unable to get to his feet. I was already half way to him, grabbed his arm when in reach. We bolted, the final stretch before us.

He grabbed me and pulled me back, my hair flying into the shoe that came down shortly after. Terror seized up in me.

My͘ ̴͏͞v͜͞i͟s͡͡i̴̵͞o̷͏n͘ ̡̕s̀t̛͘͢ar̷te҉͏d to͢ ͘gl͡i̸̡͠t͟ch̶́

I yelped as Ethan shoved me the rest of the way to the planter, and we scrambled out of sight. A soft giggle sounded somewhere, tickling my ear.

"Don't panic on me now, dammit. Ani. Ani! Focus!"

I let out a sob, tears starting to roll down my face. I looked up to see Ethan's tears as well. He knelt down beside me and pulled me close. I sobbed into his shoulder and returned the embrace.

We made it. We were safe.