Chapter 25

Twenty-Five

They made it to the rip just as darkness fell in the forest. In some ways that worked in their favour because there were very few munching monsters on this side of the rip. Baku suggested they had scuttled off once they realised the rages would soon emerge. It also worked against them because it was going to be much harder to see where the queen was and get to her within the fifteen minutes. At least that was what Theo thought but when he said as much to Baku, the monster shook his head.

"We will know where she is."

"How?" Theo asked.

"The serum makes it so."

"Because it makes us part them?"

"We will be on the same frequency."

"So like them," Theo insisted because if there was one thing Theo didn't like about his monster it was how solemn he sounded when admitting to things Theo did not want to hear. But during the long walk, even before the rage had captured him, Theo had come to terms with what was about to happen and if he hadn't then, absolutely he had once free of the rages.

It was do or die time now.

They crouched down behind a massive bush with those same flowers that the butterfly had been eating. The flowers were cooing slightly now rather than screaming.

"We are very close to the queen here," Baku whispered.

"Within fifteen minutes?" Theo asked.

"Yes. She will stay as close to the original rip as possible but far enough away to be able to create a new one."

Theo couldn't help but look behind him to where the lights of the forest were starting to glow. "The rages don't cross through the rips?"

"No, we do not know why. They crossed from their home world to ours so what is to stop them from crossing over to yours?"

"They live in the forests only though?"

Baku nodded.

"There aren't many forests left in our world."

The flowers suddenly stopped cooing. Their petals closed in on themselves, and Baku touched Theo's arm.

"Look," he said, and he pointed at the four new nightmares that were now next to the rip.

They were shimmering here in this dimension in the same way they shimmered in Theo's. Absolute proof that they were from another world, that mysterious third world, home to both them and the rages.

The rip they were guarding was about a meter tall and at least waist height meaning they would need to jump into it. On their side several trees arched over and above it, and on the other was the beach, the sounds of it clear even in the forest. The nightmares were moving back and forth next to it, vibrating furiously. There were eleven in total.

"They haven't eaten the vegetation and the animals on this side?" Theo said.

"The rages would not allow it."

"But…you said they're not sentient…"

"No, but they understand enough to know that. The rages tolerate the rips here, but they will not have their homes destroyed. Perhaps they have an understanding. After all, they come from the same world."

The nightmares were not actually doing anything. They moved back and forth next to the rip and continued to vibrate, their teeth chattering, their multitude of eyes swivelling back and forth.

"When will they go through?" Theo asked.

"When one of their kin on the other side signals them to," Baku replied. "They are all in constant contact with each other. It is how the queen knows when danger approaches."

"Telepathy?" Theo breathed.

"No. Vibrations."

He drew Theo back slightly so that they were hidden by the large bush. The flowers were busy burrowing back into it. They clearly sensed danger nearby.

"Time to take the serum?" Theo asked, and there was a bit of a catch in his voice.

Bake nodded solemnly. "Yes, it is time."

He took two vials from one of his pockets. It was only then that Theo realised Baku intended to take one as well.

"You said it was cumulative," he breathed. "That there had to be a gap in between doses but your last dose was only a couple of days ago."

"I can tolerate more," Baku said.

"How much more?"

"Enough to get this done."

He passed a vial across to Theo. Theo held it in his palm, shivering slightly as he considered it. He knew what was likely to happen next. Baku had talked him through it before they'd left the cave. The serum didn't fundamentally change Theo's biology but rather the perception of that biology based on how his body vibrated within this dimension and then the next one. Theo didn't actually understand it, which was annoying, as one of his undergraduate degrees was science based, but Baku had reassured him that hardly anyone on Theo's Earth understood the science of how the dimensions interacted.

But perception was everything in the end. Theo knew that the signals his brain received were what he perceived as reality, and it was the same for Baku, for the munching monsters, for the rages…

The serum was going to change those signals and that perception. Even for Theo. This wouldn't hurt him. It wouldn't alter him at the genetic level. But if he took too much it would change how he was perceived, and Baku's test suggested that might be irreversible, and it wouldn't matter how human he was inside, no one would ever see him that way again.

"Are you ready?" the monster asked.

Theo pulled the stopper from the vial. The purple liquid shimmered below him. Was he ready? Honestly, Theo wasn't sure. If he could have taken care of this situation without needing to ingest a substance that he knew next to nothing about, that would have been preferable. But that wasn't an option, this was the only way.

"Yes," he said after a moment.

"It will be almost instantaneous," Baku said.

"I know," Theo said, and then before he could really consider it, Theo downed the serum.

It didn't really taste of anything, but Theo could feel it move into him. He drew in a deep breath of air before looking up and locking eyes with Baku. The monster had taken his as well, and Theo watched as the serum instantly darkened his skin from a light violet to a deep, vibrant purple. Even his moonlit eyes changed slightly, the greys and the blues suddenly joined by violet swirls.

"Are you okay, my human?" Baku asked.

"I feel a little strange," Theo said.

"Dizzy?"

"Yes…" Only it wasn't a normal sort of dizziness. Instead, Theo felt like he was vibrating slightly.

"A headache?" Baku asked.

"No."

"Nausea?"

"Not yet."

Theo looked down. His hands were purple. The same deep purple as the monster's. He turned his palms over. They were a lighter violet with little freckles of silver.

"I'm glowing," he said once he took in the strangeness of what he was looking at.

"It is the remnant of the shimmer from the nightmare's dimension," Baku said.

"Will I glow in my world?"

The monster reached out, and he took Theo's hands in his. Their purple fingers interlocked. "Yes," he said. "You have part of another world within you now."

Theo wished he had a mirror close to hand. He would have liked to see if his brown eyes were also purple. If his hair and rapidly developing beard had changed colour at all. He drew in another shaky breath as his body continued to vibrate in a slightly odd way. It felt like he'd drunk way too much coffee.

"Will the vibrations stop eventually?" he asked.

Baku tilted his head. "I do not know, Theo. I have not experienced that."

"Wonderful!" Theo said.

Baku frowned. "You will let me know if they get worse?"

"I will."

"And when you are ready?—"

"I'm ready now," Theo said, and he stood up, because he realised then, almost as if the knowledge had been given automatically to him, exactly what the vibrations were.

He stepped out from behind the bush where the flowers were now crying slightly, recognising something that was a nightmare and yet not a nightmare nearby. The actual nightmares guarding the rip turned as Theo approached them, and they vibrated furiously to acknowledge his presence.

He had expected them too.

Theo recognised them as well.

Baku was right behind him. Theo could feel him also.

Kin.

There was no other way to describe it. They were all there, vibrating on the same dimensional frequency, in the same perceived way, and Theo felt that inside of his body. It was the oddest feeling, like recognising family after a reunion long since overdue. Only these were not family, these were monsters, and Theo was going to put a stop to them once and for all.