Bryant stares back. “It’sright there,Chester,” she says, jabbing a finger ahead of them. Predictably enough, Chester doesn’t see anything but undulating colors. “It’sliterallyright there. How can younotsee it?”
“I can’t,” Chester says faintly, tightening his grip on Bryant. “Thank Nostringvadha you followed me. I probably would’ve died here.”
“Well, Nostringvadha is the reason we’re even in this mess,” Bryant says breezily, guiding Chester forward, “so let’s maybe not thank him just yet. On a related note—dude.Dude.I need to know. Are you banging a god?”
A startled laugh jumps out of Chester’s throat. “Um, yeah. I guess I am.”
“That’s insane, man. Like, how does that even happen?”
“I wish I could tell you. It was sort of an accident.”
“No kidding?”
“Yeah.”
“And, like.” Bryant raises her eyebrows meaningfully. “How is it?”
“He has tentacles.”
“Tentacles?” Bryant repeats.
“Tentacles.”
“I am so very disturbed and soveryintrigued at the same time,” Bryant says. “So how exactly does he use these?—?”
“Chester! Bryant!” The voice rings out from behind Chester, but unexpectedly, JJ and Roma appear infrontof him and Bryant, jogging in their direction.
Or JJ is jogging, at least. He’s more or less dragging Roma along behind him, and Roma looks just about as terrified and nauseous as Chester feels, nearly tripping on every other step.
“What are you guys doing here?” Bryant asks, surprised.
“Giving my fiancé a heart condition, I think,” JJ says.
Bryant’s eyes widen. “Yourwhat,now?”
“Oh, yeah! That’s actually a recent development—he proposed last night,” JJ says cheerfully, like they’re just hanging out by Lakeside instead of meeting in an entirely different dimension. “He gave me apocket watch. It’s really beautiful. I’ll show you when we get back, yeah?”
JJ’s grin could light up a blackout. With a pang, Chester remembers that it’s been seven months since JJ last spoke to Bryant outside of a conflict zone, seven months since he’s been able to talk with someone who’s always been like a sister to him, and Bryant?—
Bryant looks just as reserved and skeptical as Chester figures she should be after those same seven months. “Sure. Yeah,” she says, giving JJ a tight smile back.
JJ’s smile wavers. Chester’s heart hurts for him.
“In the meantime,” Roma says, grabbing JJ’s arm for balance when a particularly deep shade of green roils beneath her feet, “can we get a move on, please? This isreallyno fun at all.”
“You kidding? I love this place,” Bryant says, pulling Chester more firmly against her side as she starts walking again. “I might look into buying some real estate and settling down. Hey, do you think they have real estate here? Or property taxes?”
“We are on an interdimensional rescue mission,” Roma says, “and you want to know if Tamaros hasproperty taxes?”
“It’s a valid question!” Bryant argues, matching JJ’s pace as they half-drag their respective humans forward. “I’m technically homeless right now, and I know enough about civilian economics to understand that the housing market is currently a travesty, so…”
Chester decisively tunes out their bickering, letting his gaze drift around. Now that he doesn’t have to concentrate on keeping his footing, he’s able to notice the other details of Obie’s home world: how the different colors make different sounds as they whizz past him, how they speed up and slow down and expand and contract, how some of them glow with an ethereal light and others are dark and muted?—
He doesn’t know if there’s any rhyme or reason to them. Hell, hedoesn’t even know if there’s any rhyme or reason to this entiredimension,and right now, he can’t afford to distract Bryant or JJ by peppering them with questions.
Right now, they have to focus on getting to the Fount of Blessings and saving Obie.
If they’re not too late already. Fear claws through Chester’s insides at the thought. Maggie said she didn’t think Obie would last more than another hour, right? How long have they been here already? It feels like years and mere seconds simultaneously, time and space ceasing to exist in a world where they don’t have any bearing on existence, and Chester?—
