Destiny

"Help me, help me, oh God, help me Ness!" Paula was screaming, yanking on her right arm, buried in the wall past her wrist, with her free left hand. Ness grabbed ahold of her arm and put all of his strength into pulling. Belinda, fearful and paralyzed by the strange phenomena, stood back, awestruck.

"Paula, pull harder!" Ness tried not to panic. "Try leaning back, put all your weight back or something..."

"I'm trying!" Paula cried, tears coming to her eyes. "Ness, it's not working! Do something!"

"Oh, Paula..." Ness was giving it everything he had, but her arm wouldn't budge. He could feel Paula ready to collapse, exhausting herself in the effort. His mind was racing, computing everything, wondering what was happening. "Is it hurting you? I mean, like it did to Mr. Anderson that--"

"Ness!" He watched in horror as Paula lurched forward, tired from pulling. The painting swallowed Paula's arm up to her elbow. "What is this thing doing to me... oh, I feel so..."

"Paula?" Ness and Belinda struggled to hold up the frightened girl, who looked as though she were about to faint. "Dizzy?"

"This isn't happening..." She trailed off.

Ness closed his eyes. Paula was breathing heavily, and Belinda was still silent. "Maybe it is," he said, collecting his thoughts. "Paula, I... don't want to say it, but maybe... you've got to let it, Paula."

Paula gasped. "You mean... Ness, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"You want her to, what, let the painting take her in completely?" Belinda had finally found words. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not half as dangerous as the frenzy that's gonna start when some visitors wander into this wing and see a girl with her arm stuck in the wall," Ness whispered, looking over his shoulder, checking the entrances. They were still alone, but how long would that last? "Paula, I think we have to... go now. Maybe..."

"This is it," Paula said suddenly. "Oh, God, this is it, Ness. The moment, the sign..." Her eyes were wet with tears. "I didn't want to leave home so soon..."

"I don't think we have a choice. You're right, this is the moment... oh man, I better go see if I can catch up with everyone! I mean, if we're going through now..." Ness stepped away, his eyes meeting Paula's. "I'll come back soon, I promise..."

"Don't leave me..."

"I'm here," Belinda reminded her. "If you're going to do this, you need the rest of the group, don't you? You better hurry, Ness."

"Right. Hang in there, Paula..." Ness took one last look at her, and then he bolted for the door, anxious to catch up with the others.

It was a long two minutes of near silence before they heard a voice at the door. "Oh my..."

Belinda jumped, expecting to see a museum guest, wondering what to say, then relieved to get a look at the person's face. "Oh, Tandy, it's just you," she said in an exhale.

"Yeah, only me," Tandy repeated, taking a few cautious steps closer. "Paula... oh, Paula, Ness says we've all got to go through that... does it hurt?"

Paula sniffled, then shook her head. "Well... not really, I mean, not that much. It's more like a pressure all around my arm, like a grip that won't let go..."

"Can you feel your hand or anything?" Belinda asked. "Like, can you move your fingers?" She watched Paula squint with obvious effort. "No?"

"It's strange," Paula said, feeling slightly more composed, "it's like I can feel my fingers and my hand, or no... no. I know they're there, I know what's there at the end of my arm, but I can't physically feel it, or move it around..." She looked from Belinda to Tandy and back again. "Ness is right, what'll happen if someone comes in here and sees me like this?"

"Don't look now, but..." Tandy's words came out in a rushed whisper as he pointed to a doorway down the hall. Two visitors, a man and a woman, were strolling down the corridor, heading for the east wing, though how soon was hard to tell. They were stopped in front of a particularly large and beautiful painting of a swan taking flight, seemingly absorbed in the delicate brush strokes, but their attention span could wear out at any time.

"Oh no, what're we gonna do?" Paula hissed, glancing at her arm desperately. "Belinda, Tandy, do something..."

Belinda opened her mouth to speak, although she had no idea what she would say, only to be cut off by Tandy. "Yeah, I'll do something," he said, standing right behind Paula now, "I'm gonna help you go through now, and I'm coming after you, Paula."

"What? But you have to wait for Ness and everyone else, don't you?" Belinda exclaimed, then remembered she was supposed to be whispering. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed that the couple seemed to be moving on, heading straight for the east wing, and she swallowed hard, a lump in her throat.

"No, Tandy's right," Paula replied, feeling his hands on her shoulders, "we've got to go now, there's no time! Belinda, wait here and tell Ness that we went through, and to come after us..." She closed her eyes, summoning her strength. "Belinda, thank you... for everything, I mean that."

"Okay, no problem, don't mention it!" She eyed the approaching couple and took a deep breath. "Go, you two, go, go!"

"Let's do this, Paula," Tandy whispered as he gently nudged her forward. Paula nodded, shut her eyes and let everything clear from her mind, her very being, and then she fell forward, forward into the painting... and then she was gone.

"Paula?" The lone voice echoed inside Paula's head like like a drum, like a reed flute, and like a whisper, all at once. The air felt thick, dense, as through it both restricted and encouraged the flow of sound, and the voice was dizzying and calm, deafening and so soft, contradicting in her mind, contradicting itself.

"Tandy?" Her head was swimming, her eyes closed tight. "Tandy, I'm right here..."

"Paula... what is this place?" His voice was questioning, hushed as found her hand in the dark and grasped it tightly. "It's... oh, never, never..."

She opened her eyes, peering through the haze... she had to close them again. "Never, in your wildest dreams... wildest nightmares, right, Tandy?"

"We'll make it out of here okay, won't we?" A wind whistled in his ears, stirring up his fears, giving him goosebumps. He'd wanted to be so brave, but it wasn't working. Something wasn't working.

"Ness is gonna be here soon." She crawled absentmindedly in Tandy's direction, frowning at the feel of rough, dry grass on her knees. The grass was red, she just knew it, blood red, like everything. "And everything will be all right."

Tandy sighed, still holding her hand. He could barely make out Paula's face in the night... that was what this seemed like, a glowing, hazy nighttime. Her eyes were closed, so he kept his open, although he really didn't want to. The landscape was something he didn't want to see.

It was like a movie, and yet it wasn't. He'd spent enough time at the Silver Street Cinema to know that no one had ever made a film like this. The world was painted red, deep red, as far as the eye could see. The sky and the grass dripped with blood. Tandy squinted at twisted structures rising in the distance -- through the haze, he couldn't tell if they were far or near -- until he recognized the broken frame of a familiar building, mangled beyond repair, damaged and destroyed.

"The Topolla," he said softly, gasping at the sight. "These are... Paula!" He squeezed her hand, and she opened her eyes. "Paula, these are ruins of..."

Paula blinked. "My head hurts so much," she mumbled. "So much... activity... oh God, ruins?" Her eyes searched the crimson landscape, straining to find something familiar. "Tandy..."

"Fourside..." Tandy wondered if he was dreaming, if this was all just a very long, very strange dream. "What is this, Paula, what's going to happen?"

"I don't know." Paula shook her head, closing her eyes again. "The red's hurting my eyes, it's making my head hurt worse. I don't know if it's too much color, or something... activity. Something's moving around here somewhere, or breathing, or something..."

"It's me," Tandy interrupted, trying to laugh.

Paula sighed. "No, not you, someone else, I can tell. Somewhere in the ruins, maybe? Or... Tandy, what's that over there, on the horizon?"

"The moon?" He blinked at the orb through the haze. It was pink and glowed with a pulsing motion. He frowned, though somewhat grateful for the little light it provided.

"Not the moon," Paula said, "what's below it. Behind the... beyond Fourside, Tandy." She was staring at a heavy black mass, stretching wide and far across the field of view, drawing her attention, making her head swim in circles. "The dark cloud, see, it's sort of flooding into the far corner of the... city..."

Tandy rubbed his eyes with his left hand. "I can't make it out. My eyes feel funny, it's so hard to see here... like everything's jumbling up as I try to look at it." He noticed Paula clutching her forehead with her free hand. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Paula replied, nodding weakly. "I'm getting a weird pain in my head, it's strange because it almost feels like a psychic sensation, but... different, somehow. I can't name it, I don't know how to describe it." She sighed again. "A tingling, a burning sensation?"

"Burning sensation?" Tandy looked at Paula, then around at the world before him. "Everything's on fire..." The redness was eerie to look at, a shock, a flash that stunned and confused the brain.

"I want Ness to hurry up and get here," Paula said slowly. "I don't like being the channeling point for this kind of stuff..." Tandy squeezed her hand again, and she closed her eyes and exhaled.

"You be a good girl, Ginny," Mrs. Monotoli was saying, wrapping her daughter in a warm hug. She peered over Ginny and addressed the three young men standing before her. "You'll take good care of her, won't you?"

"Of course we will, and Tandy and Paula too," Ness said, taking a step towards the two. "We'll get some of that magic going soon enough, right Ginny?"

"Yeah!" Ginny exclaimed, pulling out of her mother's embrace. "Don't worry, Mom, I'll be okay. I'm going on an adventure!"

"Yes, yes you are... my little Ginny," Mrs. Monotoli sniffled, blinking back tears. "My, you're growing up so fast... I'm so proud of you." She took a step back reluctantly as group prepared to enter the supposed portal in the painting on the wall. "Be careful!"

"I will, Mom," Ginny said with a nod. "C'mon, we have to go find Paula, right?"

"Yeah, Paula and Tandy are waiting for us." Ness looked at the picture anxiously, wondering what lay ahead and if they were okay. He had assembled the rest of the group as quickly as possible, but he couldn't help but wonder if he'd been quick enough, what kind of harsh environment they might have encountered, the enemies that dwelled there. "Who's going first?"

"I will." Poo solemly came forward, his eyes focused, his face stern. "The center?" He waited for the nod from Ness before reaching towards the pale center of the painting, touching his own reflection... and sinking in slowly, falling forward, disappearing in an instant as the painting swallowed him whole.

Mrs. Monotoli gasped. "Is that s-safe?" she stammered, her gaze fixed on Ginny.

"Safe enough," Ness replied automatically, without knowing if it was safe or not. His head was spinning. The vision of Poo vanishing into the painting played over and over in his mind, and it wondered what it felt like to fade out of the real world and into another place, if it hurt. He took a deep breath and started to step forward, but then his eyes fell on Ginny, and he somehow knew he should travel through the painting with her. "Jeff, you want to go next?"

Jeff's eyes widened, and he eyed the painting nervously. "Now? I mean..." His face was full of distrust, which Ness took to be the product of a scientific mind at work, not believing that this was possible, not knowing how it could all be happening again.

"There's no time for hesitation," Ness said, nudging him forward. "You first, and then Ginny and I will go last."

Jeff blinked, looking from Ness to the polished museum floor, then up at the painting. He stared at the rough red background, at the milky center. "All we're doing is stepping up here and..."

"C'mon, Jeff, we've got to get going!" Ness moved towards him quickly. Jeff's mouth was opening to speak, but Ness was already reaching for his hand, raising his arm and pressing it to the painting...

Jeff's hand rested flat on the canvas. Ness looked at Jeff, his eyes wildly confused.

Sighing loudly, Jeff hung his head. "I can't..."

"Jeff?" Ness's eyes darted from Jeff's face to the painting, his hand flat against the pale white circle at the center.

Jeff sighed. "I can't see myself in the painting. No reflection. It's your destiny... but not mine."