Blue Monday

Chapter 19 - Weird Science

***GIDEON***

Not much more time passes before we reach what appears to be a door standing all by itself in the middle of the woods. According to Russell, this is the way to the Terminal, and by extension, the way back to the Prime 'Verse.

Annie takes the wheel in preparation for driving the others off to their next destination. Russell waits by the door while Gabe, Alex, and I say goodbye to the non-live ones. The twins take forever to hug Fionna goodbye. I don't blame them - as far as we're concerned, this will probably be the last time they get to see her. That was the mindset we were all in when Fionna and the others first left for the Second 'Verse in November. Alex and Fionna had hugged it out for a good long time then too. No doubt they'd also engaged in a sweet telepathic conversation, trying to prolong the goodbye even further. Again, I don't blame them. If it were me and Luca in that position, I'd do the exact same thing for sure.

I wish I could hear what Alex and Fionna must be thinking to each other. The tears being shed on both sides tell a good portion of the story, though. And I don't think they're all for Steve, either.

When Alex finally breaks away from Fionna, Gabe and I take turns hugging him as well. I don't know why, but I find myself making a prayer in my head. Please don't ever let me suffer the death of someone I love.

"You guys ready to go?" Russell asks, opening the door for us as the Humvee drives off.

"You're not gonna have to dark me up again, are you?" I ask, glaring at him.

"Nope." Russell shakes his head, cracking a smile for a short time. "I think we've learned that lesson quickly enough."

Gabe and Alex go through the door, but I can't pass through myself. Russell does a facepalm when he sees me get rejected like the doorway has been replaced with an invisible force field. "Yeah, sorry about that," he says. "Since you're not a Breaker, you're not gonna be able to travel without help." He puts his hand on my shoulder and steers me through the door. I feel my ears popping as I leave this 'verse, hopefully for good.

"Oh, there you are again," says a female voice. I look around and see an older woman coming down the hall, a plate of chocolate cookies in hand.

"Yeah, Grace, there we are again," Russell says. "Are those your famous chocolate peanut butter chip cookies?"

"Of course," Grace says, holding the plate out to Russell. "Help yourselves. I'm sure you could do with the extra sugar, after all these trips through my Terminal."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Grace tilts her head. "I don't think I remember seeing you come in with the twins before. What's your name?"

I take a bite of cookie, then swallow it. "Gideon Cabrera. These are delicious, by the way. Best cookies I've ever had."

Grace nods and shakes my hand. "Grace Muscat. And thank you for your compliments. I really do put extra sugar in them, you know." She clears her throat before continuing. "Nobody's ever been able to figure out why, but for some reason, crossing through the Terminal takes away a lot of blood sugar from people."

"Is that so?" Gabe asks through a mouthful of cookie.

Grace nods ruefully. "We had to find that out the hard way, as you can imagine."

"Well, any excuse I can get to overindulge in chocolate, I'm so there," Alex says. By now he's already had three cookies, and there were only a dozen on the plate. I can see the effort it's taking him to keep his self-control and not grab any more.