“Nik? Nik!?”

  She kept calling, but there was never an answer. She would’ve thought that the light, at least, could give a hint of her position if he was anywhere near her. Still, though, he didn’t say anything.

  “I-if this is supposed to be a joke, this isn’t funny!”

  She knew it wasn’t a joke. She just didn’t know what else it could be. What else it meant.

  What if something happened? What if this was part of whatever defense mechanism that note had apparently talked about? She hadn’t read it for herself, and Nik hadn’t really explained it, so maybe there was something about this in it. Not like it made it any better. Not like it changed the fact that Nik was gone, she was alone, and a part of her was beginning to doubt she really knew the way back.

  No. She was just starting to panic. She needed to not panic. That wasn’t something she’d ever told herself before and actually had it work but, hey, worth a shot, right? As long as she focused and thought about this rationally, she should be able to think of something.

  “Nik!” she called again. “Nik, if you can hear me, I’m going to try to follow the wall! It’s got to lead to an exit somewhere. I’m going to walk to the left of it! That—that’s where we came from, right? Hopefully, you had the same thought I did, and we’ll see each other there…” She trailed off at the end, but she hoped that it was going to be enough.

  There was no point in just standing there anymore. With one last look, as if he would magically appear, she started to follow the wall. She could only pray that she knew how to get back out.

  “Did we pass this before..?” Of course, she ended up talking to herself; she couldn’t stand the silence. At least this way, she felt a little bit less alone. It was probably the only kind of noise she’d like to hear, unless it happened to be some joke or comment of Nik’s, that would have made her feel better. Compared to some of the things it could be, though, she supposed the silence could be for the better,

  Aside from her overthinking, anyway.

  “I feel like we didn’t pass this. Had we gone a different way..? Or… maybe we did go this way, and it just looks a lot different from behind. I didn’t give it that hard of a look when we passed it. No matter if or how it changed, I probably wouldn’t notice the difference…”

  She remembered something, though, and stepped a little bit closer. Maybe she’d be able to recognize it if she could find the note saying what it did. It might not have been in the same place it was before—that much had been proven before the two of them lost each other—but the contents would still be the same, if it really was something they had passed. And if she didn’t recognize that, then she’d retrace her steps and try to figure out where she went wrong.

  After a brief look—making sure she didn’t touch anything, since she didn’t know what it would do—she found it. She carefully took off the paper in order to hold it up to the light, as it seemed to have been attached to something fabric. There was a set of numbers, and some text that read, Purpose: check for spirits.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Clover looked over at the machine again, trying to figure out if that was really right. She didn’t know a lot about spirits, but she was pretty sure they didn’t need weird and clunky things like this in order to do something so seemingly simple. Didn’t they… just use Qizarn magic? She remembered people in town talking about that, anyway. It made it more reliable than the other methods. Did… this scientist not know that, or did he want to do it in a way that was just as predictable without magic?

  Either way, it looked a lot more like a torture device…

  But it was one that she and Nik had passed before so, however creepy it was, it at least assured her that she was going in the right direction. Never mind the fact that it hadn’t looked like that before, and she couldn’t quite recall several of the other things she passed. But she was following the wall, so she had to reach the exit sometime, right? It wasn’t like there was a magical, lone door in the middle of the room that led to an exit.

  Though the thought of the possibility was enough for her to curse herself for the idea. Now she’d be worried about that, however unlikely she acknowledged it was.

  She tried grounding herself by focusing on her surroundings, but that only made her anxiety worse. She tried thinking of something more positive, but it got replaced with the wonder of if it would ever be able to happen. No matter what she tried, it didn’t seem to work. Maybe that was how it was supposed to be.

  The note had said that this was supposed to be a “test of body and soul.” Of course it was going to try to do everything in its power to break her—she wouldn’t be surprised if that was its whole purpose. It certainly wouldn’t be the only thing that this scientist created that seemed to just be borne from a desire to harm. She almost wondered if Nik had seen some set of numbers on that note—if there was a record of successes and losses, and which side was favored. Somehow, that was the one thought that seemed to bring her more encouragement. She—and Nik—would come out together as perhaps one of the only two successful people to make it out of this strange defense measure. This can all be a story they laugh about years from now, when they’ve had much more experience, and were able to see things for the not-quite-as-scary things that they were.

  And then the candle flickered.

  “Don’t panic,” she mumbled to herself, before she mustered the will to look at it. “Nik had said that it probably signaled the hour. That was probably just why…”

  But when she looked at the candle, she had to admit it was much worse. It was almost to the end now. Probably within thirty minutes, she’d be in the dark.

  She glanced around her, trying to see if there were any other landmarks she’d be able to make out. Aside from one or two particularly tall machines just within the reach of the candle, there didn’t seem to be anything. Not… aside from the wall, which itself was lined with cabinets, notes, and a few more machines.

  As much as she didn’t want to, she placed her hand along the wall, keeping it near, if not on, it as she walked. She needed it to ground her when the light finally went out; something that would continue to guide her even after it was too dark to see. She knew there wasn’t a hope of beating the light. Even if she could’ve sworn they hadn’t been here that long, the candle had already lost this much, and it was undoubtedly going to lose the rest. She just had to stay calm.

  Just. Stay. Calm.

  Calm.

  Don’t panic. There’s no need to panic. Just… breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe—

  Her hand hit something. But it didn’t just hit it—the lever, which must’ve been what she touched, was completely pulled down. She just stood there and stared at it, though, too afraid to move from her spot or try to return it to its original position.

  But as the candle flickered one last time, she was able to read what the note on the machine read.

  ’Purpose: remove a spirit from the soul, and return them both to a usable state.

  Notes: untested. This is one of many iterations. The others… have not been as successful. As soon as I have a good test subject, however, I will have to test this one. I have high hopes…’