The Other Ring.

The Search

                       WEDNESDAY 10:30 A.M.

About two hours later, they were standing at a pier in Baltimore harbor, Wind's somewhat-decrepit houseboat floating in the water before them. At their backs was the bustle of the activities of seafarers and dockworkers.

Daria wasn't a huge fan of crowds, but she could usually tolerate them.

Today, however, she couldn't shake the impression that someone was staring down her neck, raising the short hairs with a prickle up and down her spine. It had to be nerves, and she told herself that the day had given her every reason to feel out of sorts. She just wanted to get in, get the information they needed from Wind, and get out of the city as quickly as possible, back to the solitude and safety of her own room, or Jane's.

Jane: Wind is the Lane-est of the Lanes. Even his house is made to move around.

Daria: And yet he keeps tying himself down with wives.

Daria replied, which seemed to her to be the most un-Lane-like characteristic of all. Vincent and Amanda Lane's absentee relationship, from each other as much as from their children, was proof of that. But at least they've managed to stay married, in name at least.

Jane: Well, he never was able to get life completely right.

She stepped onto the boat and rapped on the door.

Daria: So, who is he with right now?

Jane: Haven't kept up; it's time to open the wrapper and unveil the surprise.

There was no answer to her knock, so she tried again, louder and more insistent.

Daria: Can I just keep the Cracker-Jacks instead?

As they waited for an answer to their overture, Daria looked down into the water flowing before her feet. The play of light in the depths, blue and violet flashes flowing and melding, was fascinating, and she felt the mysteries of the deep beckoning to her, calling to her to plunge into their depths, to be submerged in the all-encompassing embrace of deep water.

She felt a rush, and suddenly the water surrounded her; she was floating in an unknowable expanse. But it wasn't the warm, loving experience that had been promised – she felt oppressed, entrapped, as the water quickly changed from blue to black and an ocean of darkness closed in around her.

Lost and abandoned, she opened her mouth to scream . . .

Jane: DARIA!

The world of light and air snapped back into place, and Daria found herself once more standing on the pier next to Wind's houseboat, both her arms firmly grasped in Jane's hands, her frightened expression only a few inches from Daria's own.

Jane: Daria, what happened?! (Slowly-receding panic.) I saw you about ready to fall into the water, and when I tried to stop you, you didn't answer. Are you okay?

Daria had to take a few deep breaths before she felt she had the strength to answer.

Daria: I thought that I had fallen in. It seemed so real, not like a daydream at all. I thought I was going to die in black water.

The last statement didn't seem to allay Jane's worry.

Daria: Jane, if I was going to commit suicide, I wouldn't do it by drowning; it's too clean. I want to leave a more memorable corpse.

Daria stepped back, removing herself from her friend's concerned grip; she could stand on her own now.

Jane: I think we've just discovered another side effect of the tape. (Jane swallowed nervously.)

Jane: We're not going to be getting information on that, at least not right away. While you were contemplating life as a mermaid, I had a very quick chat with the lady of the house. Looks like Wind's been kicked out again, just yesterday.

Daria: Shouldn't that make it easier? Won't he just show up at your place in tears?

Jane shook her head in unfortunate denial.

Jane: He only does that when he's been kicked out and had no money to go anywhere else; he would have turned up yesterday if that had been the case. (Sigh) When he does make it out with some cash, he usually ends up in a bar, or lying in an alley somewhere, drunk out of his mind. And he can do it for days on end. Right now, he's almost certainly having a few drinks somewhere in Baltimore.

Daria: We'll have to search for him.

Normally, the idea of looking for a drunken Wind Lane, or for a sober one, would have never entered her list of priorities, but Daria didn't know how many of these ever-more-disturbing side effects she could take before snapping completely, or falling into the ocean and drowning.

And since Quinn would not be around to take the brunt of her psychosis after her brain did snap, she thought that was an outcome that should probably be avoided.

Daria: Unless we're very lucky, we probably won't find him in an afternoon, and it's too far to commute to and from Lawndale every day, so we need to get a hotel room in town. I think I've got enough saved in my Montana Cabin Fund to keep us out of the roach motels, for a few days at least.

Jane: We might not have longer than a few days anyway,(A disturbing scenario piecing itself together in her mind.) Right after I watched the tape, I got a phone call; it was a little girl, and all she said was 'seven days'. I thought it was just a wrong number, but now.

Daria felt her face go white, and a chill spread through her chest.

Daria: We got the same call. Mom picked it up, and thought it was a joke. But it would have come about the time we were watching the tape.

Jane: Then it would probably be a very good idea to find out what's going on before that time is up,

Jane said, mentally calculating the time left in her head.

Jane: A little less than five days, if she's punctual. Or it.

Daria: Jane, there is no it.

Daria said, determined not to fall prey to superstition, even though it seemed to have overtaken her best friend, normally the most rational person she knew.

Jane: What else could it be? How could any normal person know exactly when we watched the tape?

Daria: I don't know,but that doesn't mean there isn't a way. Jane, even if ghosts and goblins existed, I don't think they would be able to use the telephone, or even want to. Why not just appear in person, since they can go anywhere they want?

Jane: Because it's scarier this way, when we don't know what's happening.

Daria: I think the automatic writing and the visions are scary enough, thank you. I don't need any extra mystery to add to the terror.

Daria realized that they were once again falling into a fruitless and distracting discussion.

Daria: Either way, I think we can both agree that we need to find Wind before this 'seven days' is up, so we can't afford to lose any time. If we head back to Lawndale now to pack, we can have a hotel room in the city before too late tonight. I'll just tell my parents I'm staying a few days with you; they'll be glad to have the house to themselves.

Jane: Right. Two women, one car, one mission on the road. Partners in crime!

The two walk into the car.

Daria: If you start to drive off a cliff, I'm jumping.