The measuring tape with the sharpened anchor attached zipped through the air. A faint clink was audible a few seconds later.
Enza shut her eyes, bent her knees, and braced herself for the terror as she strengthened her grip on Athalia's arm. At least we skipped the Amusement Emporium… agh, I'm still definitely going to vomit…
Enza's spirits crashed into the ground as she heard Athalia press the Measuring Anchor's grip with a click.
Every last molecule of air was torn from her windpipe. Wind screamed past her eyes so viciously that she couldn't open them as much as she wanted to. The acceleration was beyond what would invoke the mere drop of a stomach; her entire gut crashed to her toes. It felt like all the butterflies had crawled out and laid eggs for a million more madly flapping their wings and flying throughout her body.
The solid base of the snow globe had disappeared from sight almost instantly. The sky was growing closer and closer. Not just that, the light was refracting. She was staring into a magnifying glass…
Athalia's ecstatic laughter cut through her blurred senses.
"Check this out!"
Enza heard Athalia press the Measuring Anchor's grip in with a click, stopping their acceleration early.
As the pair flew through the opening in the glass, barely clearing it, Enza's vision went into slow motion. She felt Athalia let go of her arm.
She was flying like a bird over a crystal-clear sea…
A picturesque village lay beneath her.
Right as the arc of her fall was to lead her headfirst into the sea, a hand gripped her ankle. She smacked into the inner wall, but since the grab happened after most of her momentum had died—and she had armor on—the impact wasn't all that bad.
She felt a sudden tug, and she was raised up a few inches. With a few more tugs, she flopped onto an outcropping of glass. Luckily, she didn't land directly on any shards.
Still in a daze, she stared up at Athalia standing over her, who was grinning with delight. With some difficulty, she managed to croak out a sentence.
"How… how do you tolerate using that thing?"
"First time's the worst, I promise. I've also had more G-force training than you."
Unlike when she had lost the snowball fight, Enza didn't refuse Athalia's helping hand to stand up.
"Did you think of that maneuver on the spot? I'm impressed."
Athalia chuckled. "I had the idea for it during the crossing of the chasm. I knew that your body probably wouldn't be able to handle a sudden stop at the top so soon after the launch. I'm just glad I timed it right and didn't send you out too far."
Enza nodded, the fuzzy dizziness clearing from her head.
"Look… It's pretty…"
A sea of glassy liquid stretched below the ledge they stood on, which was rather cramped with two of them up there.
It's normal for a snow globe to be filled with liquid, but it's usually all the way up—this globe was only filled two-thirds of the way. It would be almost impossible to tell there was liquid there if not for gentle waves and the refraction of the light.
Athalia ignored the view and started fiddling with something attached to a nearby shard of glass. It was the knotted end of a rope. It led all the way down to the surface, where a blue plastic rowboat was gently floating.
She finished untying the knot and wrapped the end of the rope around her right arm, opposite to where she had put away the Measuring Anchor.
She gestured to Enza and then to the rowboat.
Enza met her eyes briefly, then looked back at the glistening sea.
"Just another moment… I need to catch my breath."
Enza's eyes gazed upon the undersea village.
There wasn't a single light on in any of the houses, nor was anything moving.
They're cute… Maybe if someone drains the rest of the slow globe, I could live in one someday…
"Gentle waves, and the books are asleep," said Enza.
Athalia snickered. "I feel bad for being an alarm clock. What do you think they'll try to make us read today?"
"A whole library full, if they could."
In unison, the two Explorers jumped down and landed in the rowboat. A large ripple bounced over the sea.
Inside the boat were two oarlocks, one on each side. Blue plastic oars were firmly locked into them.
"You row," Athalia said as she turned to meet Enza's eyes.
Enza didn't protest. "Your word is law."
I actually like the feeling of rowing. Gets the blood flowing.
She sat down on the second of two blue plastic benches, closer to the stern of the vessel. She grabbed the oars and began pushing them through the dense liquid with a great amount of force.
Athalia stood at the bow of the rowboat, resting her arms on its edge as she observed the sea and the village below.
For the first half of their trip across, there wasn't a single disturbance.
Out of nowhere, the waves started picking up. Not by much, but enough to get the attention of both Explorers.
Athalia's eyebrows shot up as two lights simultaneously came on in the houses below. She immediately shouted to Enza, "Get the blindfolds."
Enza stopped rowing and retrieved three items from within her suit. Two strips of thick fabric and a squirt bottle filled with black goop. She squirted a quarter of the bottle's contents onto each piece of fabric.
By the time she walked up to Athalia, she was already sitting down on the front bench with her head leaned back. "Can you do mine for me? I'm not great with knots; you saw me struggle just now."
Enza supported the back of her head and tightly blindfolded Athalia with one of the gooey strips. She quickly did the same for herself. She wrinkled her face at the uncomfortable sensation of the slime on her eyes and ears.
She reached into her armor and fished out a match. She smiled wide and struck it against her teeth. She moved the flame in a circle around her head, rapidly drying the black goop. She felt around for Athalia and grabbed her, then performed that same action on her with a new match.
With their blindfolds secured, both Explorers dropped to their knees and scrambled under the rowboat's benches. They got into the fetal position and tightly wrapped their arms over their eyes.
The moment they hit the floor, they heard a series of dull flapping sounds from below. It sounded like what you would hear if you tried to open a book underwater…
SLAM SLAM
In the town below, two doors flew open.
From each door, three large bookshelves slid out with minds of their own. The books on each shelf were vibrating violently with the desire to escape.
With a muffled snap, they were set free. They shot above the town and began to spin into a whirling sphere, like a school of story fish.
All but one of the books had simple leather binding.
All but one…
It was very thick, and its cover held four colored stripes. Blue, yellow, red, and orange.
It was struggling against the whirlwind, trying to return to the houses.
The whirlwind of books suddenly crushed itself into a ball of paper. That colorful book was lost among countless others.
The mass of pulp was molding itself into the shape of a human hand. The hand extended its finger joints back and forth a few times, warming itself up.
It made a fist and pointed its index finger towards Enza and Athalia.
Small chunks of mulch broke off from the hand and reformed into pieces of paper, with messy writing covering them.
Enza and Athalia heard a sound like torpedoes rushing through the water. Dozens of pages were shooting straight towards them.
The hand below was shaking and making repeated movements like it was struggling against a force holding it down from attacking directly. The pointing was almost emotional. It was an accusatory finger.
The Explorers heard a series of splashing sounds as the pages surfaced around the boat.
Without even taking a breather, the pages swarmed into the boat like hungry locusts.
A second later, Enza heard Athalia let out a muffled shout. She winced and braced herself for her own attack…
But it didn't come.
She could only hear Athalia's screams of agony.
Why aren't they swarming me?
And why is she screaming? The pages aren't strong enough to cause pain when they're above water unless I secured the blindfold wrong. What should I do? I doubt I can assess the injuries to her eyes while she's being swarmed, much less treat them. I'd also have to remove my own blindfold to do so, which is far too risky…
Amidst the waves rocking the boat, Enza clambered to her feet. She steadied herself using the edges as she fumbled her way to the front. She did her best to ignore Athalia's wails.
I'm still not being attacked… I can't say if it'll last… We need to get out of here, now…
She grabbed the oars and rowed as hard as she could.
Just a bit longer, Athalia…
Enza's rowing was making significant progress; they were nearly at the other side within a few minutes. Athalia's screams of pain were growing louder and more frantic, but the pages weren't knocking over the boat, and the waves were still manageable.
The cacophony of the swarm behind her grew louder and louder in Enza's ears.
She suddenly heard a wet tearing sound and a scream that was even more pleading and agonized than the rest. She cringed and gripped the oars harder, ignoring her burning arms as she continued to row.
She was startled as the rowboat bumped into the far wall. She quickly stood up from the oars and grabbed another squirt bottle from her armor. This one was filled with thin, clear liquid. She applied it all around her blindfold and slowly peeled it off.
Wiping her eyes dry, she rushed over to Athalia. The pages batted against her and buzzed around her legs. She tried to swat them away forcefully, but she couldn't so much as change their path. Athalia's screams were slowing down as she lost her voice and transformed into helpless moans.
How are they so strong right now… Damn it, what can I do? I'm not strong enough to drag her away…
Ah, wait… Won't those pages be dried off by now? They've been out in the open air for a while…
Enza reached into her suit again. This time, it took her a number of seconds to find what she was looking for.
Please tell me I still have it…
Yes, here it is.
She pulled out a container of cheap-branded hairspray, then another match. She struck the match and aimed the hairspray directly at the flame, with the pages behind both.
FSSSHHH
When she pressed down on the nozzle, the aerosol caused the flame to balloon into a fireball. The pages were immediately charred to black and stopped moving. Athalia's fireproof attire prevented her from suffering any burns, although the back of her hair was charred.
She won't be happy about that…
Enza grabbed the rope tied to the boat and threw it up towards a fragment of glass on a high ledge. It was almost identical to the ledge on the other side. When Enza confirmed the loop of the rope had precisely hooked around a shard, she grabbed Athalia around the waist and leaped up with a grunt.
She panted as she landed hard on the ledge and glanced behind her. The waves below her were churning heavily now, bouncing the boat against the wall. The layer of snow far below was beginning to stir…
The mulch seemed to have given up. It was losing the form of a hand and splitting apart before once again forming complete books. The books and shelves rushed frantically back into the houses.
Out of Enza's sight, down in a house that looked just like all the others, a large book was refusing to return to its shelf. It fought an invisible force. It was an uphill battle, but it managed to triumph, inch by excruciating inch.
It was heading towards an open box, right in front of the fireplace.
There was nothing inside other than a 20 euro bill…
The book flew into the box, which slammed shut behind it.