This information cuts deep. How the hell didn’t I notice that all these notifications are puns? I shake my head, disappointed in my own ability to recognize wordplay, and type out a message of my own to give the construct a back wound. With a tap of my finger the message zips into the construct. It’s back opens wide, split among both halves, but no new message finds its way to my Class Card.

  “Either it only works when we give it more anomalies than before, or this combo doesn’t work.” I absentmindedly tap my Class Card against my palm. “Something tells me we should be careful about the next one. Just in case.”

  “Just in case.” Jumble repeats with a nod. “Want me to give you a few seconds?”

  I shake my head as coins appear in my hand. “All ready to go whenever you are.”

  Jumble nods again, then leans down and taps the message into her Class Card. She looks up before she presses send, takes a half-step back so I’m between her and the construct, then sends the message bolt. It hits the construct like a freight train, sending the thing spinning backwards until it slams into the wall with a titanic ‘boom’ that’s way too loud for the actual impact.

  “Did I… did you…” Jumble trails off and scrunches her brow in confusion. “That wasn’t what was supposed to happen.”

  Even if she’s just stating the obvious, there’s something so wrong about what just happened. The message itself seemed to hit the construct like a gut punch, but there was just so little fanfare around it that I’m almost questioning what I saw. One second it was standing there and the next it fell backwards like a paid actor and hit the wall with a sound that seemed like it was added on in post-production. Hell, it happened two seconds ago and I’m describing it like I saw it years ago.

  It’s just… off. And I can’t explain why.

  The construct twitches on the ground as electricity finally courses through it. Both halves of its mouth open wide while the stuff crackles around its insides until it fades away to nothing, punctuated by a notification pinging onto my Class Card. I stare down at the thing for more than a few seconds, trying to shake the nagging feeling that something bad is about to happen. But my mind just won’t let it go.

  If it doesn’t happen now, then whatever happens when we combine four anomaly responses is going to be bad. Maybe even ‘living plastic stain’ bad, but with the construct. I shudder at the thought of it while Jumble fearlessly walks up to the construct, kneels next to it, and grimaces sympathetically. Guess it’s time to look at that message.

  I raise my Class Card and start to walk towards Jumble and the construct.

  (Questions Compounded Further.)

  What… what happened to me?

  My body doesn’t feel right.

  It.. it hurts… it hurts, but I don’t know where it hurts!

  Why does it hurt like this?!

  Nothing’s supposed to hurt like this!

  I… please… just… make it stop.

  IT’S IN MY HEAD!

  TURN ME OFF!

  DEACTIVATE ME!

  PLEASE!

  Well, now Jumble’s sympathetic look makes perfect sense. I swipe the message away with a frown and kneel down on the other side of the construct’s body, inspecting it for any new damage from the message’s impact. But… it just looks like it has all three injuries now. There's absolutely nothing that should’ve tossed it across the room and made that horrible sound. Not even a remnant on its body.

  “How do I still feel like we’re fumbling around in the dark here?” Jumble murmurs as she gently traces the construct’s face with the back of her hand. “We found the bodies, we know how the construct is going to get hurt each time, but we still don’t know any of the why. Is this construct actually from a long time ago, or did the quest just make it for this one purpose?”

  I shrug. “Sort of feels like we’re talking ourselves in circles. Could be that’s what the quest wants us to do.”

  Jumble sighs. “Maybe you’re right. It’s just annoying.” She stands, brushes off her pants, and looks over at Euro. “I guess we won't find anything out until we find those other two anomalies. Want to give them a hand?”

  “Nothing else we can really do.” I grunt, looking down at the construct as I stand and walk away. “Time to go back to normal. Stand back just in case.”

  “Already done.” Jumble says from Euro’s side. “Doesn’t look like they found anything yet, either. This could take a while.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  She doesn’t have to tell me. I swipe away my message, sending the construct back to its normal place with a flicker of motion that’s almost too fast to see. Jumble does the same with hers. Now it’s just like nothing ever happened to the thing. I breathe through my nose as the sense of impending doom presses down on my mind; it’s still here, even now that it’s back to ‘normal’. Something’s about to happen. I just hope it isn’t as bad as my brain’s telling me it’s going to be.

  For now, though, it’s time to get back to the search. I leave Jumble and Euro to scour the room I already searched and make my way to the bedroom, which I haven't really gotten a good look at. Once I turn the corner into the room a sticky hand reaches out from Pearl’s shell and gently taps my head to get my attention.

  I raise my chin to show I’m listening. Pearl clears her throat, laces her fingers together, and points towards a seemingly random part of the room.

  “Right there on the wall–open up a door.” She whispers. “But don’t go through it. Instead, you’re going to have to take that thing right over there and carefully move it into the other room.”

  Her hand moves, and with it, her target. I follow her finger with my eyes from the wall to a… well, it looks like a rectangular chest. With visible hinges, stubby square legs at the bottom, and a lid that doesn’t quite fit flush with the rest of it. I raise an eyebrow and step over to it and lift the lid, where I’m greeted with more compartments filled with perfectly folded clothes. Shirts, underwear, socks, and exactly two pairs of pants.

  “What am I looking at?” I quietly wonder aloud. “Didn’t Euro check in here already? Why’s it so well-organized?”

  “They did. And they put everything back perfectly. But they were so intent on searching for things that they accidentally ignored something else.” Pearl says ominously. “Push it through into the other room and I’ll show you.”

  I look between the wall and the chest–there’s not much space between them, but without Jumble’s help, I’m at the mercy of how heavy this is. Reluctance slows my movements as I bend down, lodge one hand under the chest and wrap my other arm around it to get the best leverage I can, and focus on my knees to give this thing a test heft.

  “Okay.” I take a deep breath and flex my muscles. “Let’s not pull anything.”

  I push with my legs, keeping my back as straight as humanly possible, and… lift the thing up with barely any strain at all. Guess those workouts slash magical supplement pills are actually working pretty well. I lift one knee to reorient the chest so I can hold it with one arm against my body, awkwardly shuffle over to the wall, and open up a door with my free hand. Once it slides open I carefully step through, set the chest down and out of the way, and hop back into the bedroom.

  “Alright, done.” I wipe my hands on my sleeves. “Now what did you want to show me?”

  Pearl gestures at the empty space where the chest was a second ago. “This is right above where the tank was in the room below you. There should be a bunch of wires connected to the floor right there–but there’s just a thin piece of roof and floor separating them. Try putting your hand on it.”

  I raise an eyebrow, but kneel down and do as Pearl asked anyway. As my hand presses against the floor, a sensation that’s not quite right prickles against my skin. Opening all the other doors just felt like touching slightly off stone. This… this feels like my hand is falling asleep just from touching the ground. On a whim I try to open a door, but the magic won't connect my hand to this particular piece of floor.

  “You're right–this is weird.”

  “Yup. My awareness sees it kind of like a… drain, where all the other parts of the apartment are just stagnant. Except for the one part of the ceiling that’s right underneath where the tank was in the room up above–that feels exactly like this does.” Pearl says. “I don’t think it's a conscience that the chest was above it, either.”

  I pull my hand away and flex my fingers. The feeling returns to them in quick waves. But even though the spot on the floor is weird and different, I don’t see how this helps us with the quest. Unless…

  “Do you think it’s a phasing spot?” I ask quietly. “Is that why you made me move the chest?”

  Pearl nods. “Except for the hallway, this and the ceiling are the only places in the apartment that are inconsistent with everything else. Of course this is all just a theory of mine, so don’t get too mad if absolutely nothing happens.”

  “And if something does happen?”

  Pearl smiles. “Then you can praise me all you want.”

  I roll my eyes as she giggles to herself, then step onto the staticky magical no-man’s land. The soles of my feet start to tingle like I’ve been walking on them all day without rest, and the sensation slowly worms its way up from the soles all the way to my ankles. It seems to stop there for some reason, so I take the moment to carefully look around at everything in the room. Phasing is finicky at best, but from the other times I did it, it doesn’t seem like it needs absolute pinpoint accuracy. Just pretty damn accurate accuracy. The first scan doesn’t reveal anything, so I crouch down a few inches and do it again.

  And again. Over and over, going lower each time until I’m pretty much sitting on my heels and craning my neck around because I don’t have the mobility in this awkward position. Pearl hasn’t said much of anything, but she looks like she’s studying my surroundings even closer than I am. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to find anything here or if this is just a hint that there's something below us.

  “Anything at all?” I whisper. “Because I can only go lower one or two more times.”

  Pearl frowns, then shakes her head. “Absolutely nothing so far. It’s just so… weird. I know something’s supposed to happen here. Keep trying. Please?”

  I nod and shift so I’m sitting on the ground. Pearl returns the nod with a look of gratitude, then goes right back to scouring the bedroom with lazer focus. Even though I’ve done it a dozen times already, I do the exact same thing. And nothing new jumps out at me. I quietly sigh through my nose and bend down even further, repeating the steps until I’m flat on my stomach and struggling to get my eyes high enough to see everything.

  “Doesn't look like there’s anything.” I struggle to say through pressed lungs. “Ready to call it a…”

  My voice catches as my eyes trail over the bed–and then under it. Something stares back at me from the small space under the bed, with eyes like two uneven sides of dice and a head that’s far too crushed to move. A rasping breath escapes lips split by dryness as a long, bony arm snakes out from beside it and grasps towards my face. One bone wrapped in papery skin escapes from the bed. Then another. And another. All wrong, all pulling at the thing under there like a toddler dragging all of their toys tied together with a jump rope.

  I scramble to my feet, heart racing at a hundred miles a minute, and pull out my Class Card. A few quick taps put into words what I’m seeing here, and I send it off to the construct without a moment’s hesitation.

  (Question Recognized)