In the city that doesn't exist

A collision of nothing and all

Goddamnit, I forgot to post here again.  

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 Back in the rented room, I realized: I didn't need a guide to get back. And then: or the map. Then I saw Pan on one bed (luckily, we had a room with two, despite the fact that the Watcher hadn't been expected) with her head in her hands as she swore-- quite colorfully-- at her two new headaches. "Still have a headache?" I asked her.

"Slightly better, but who knows how long that'll last," she replied, looking up at me, then flinched. "Yes guys, that's what happens when someone goes into the actual Rift," she muttered to John and Mara, then to me, "I didn't know you could get into the Rift from the Hub." She said it like a statement, but the question was clear.

"I actually have questions for you about that. But, uh, how could you tell I went into the actual Rift?"

"Your eyes," she said. "People's eyes always look like that after being in the Rift. Now, what do you want to ask?"

"What are Rift beasts? 'Cause I mean--" I stopped myself, not exactly sure how to say what I meant.

"Well," Pan started, "No one's really sure but the Ancients, and they keep a tight lip on that kind of thing, but I've heard theories. Some Watchers--"

"Only Watchers?"

"Few people know about other worlds, mainly Watchers. Now let me finish. Some say that Rift beasts are living things from the worlds that somehow get into the Rift and just became one with it, losing everything of what they were before. I've heard others say the Ancients put them there to guard the borders between worlds, but I think it's a combination." She muttered something under her breath, then flinched as if John and Mara had responded, which they probably did. I noticed as her shoulders had slumped, and her face turned from serious to solemn, but she gave me a 'go on' look.

"What exactly keeps the Hub separate from the rest of the Rift?"

"To my knowledge, basically shitloads of spells that keep the reality of the Hub connected to itself and even more to keep the Rift beasts out." She looked at me. "Lee told me that the spells work by making sure the Rift beasts don't know about the Hub, or any world. Why?"

I was about to answer, but Pan seemed to realize what had happened . "Shit. You saw one didn't you?"

I nodded. "It was in a place connected to the city, but I think it was deeper in the Rift than the rest of the city."

"Did it notice you?"

"I think it did, 'cause it talked to me, but it could have been talking to itself. It had a stash of stuff in that cave, I think it was all from at least one world."

"Shit." Pan got up and muttered to herself as she searched through her bag. All I could make out was "what are the chances," and "talking to," before she snapped her head up. "Mara, that was a rhetorical question."

She had just found what she was looking for when an unnatural shriek rent the air. Pan stumbled, grimacing, then croaked out, "Well, so much for those odds." A pause, then, "Mara. Not helping." She swallowed, clearly scared, but when she looked up at me, she had hidden it, and no longer looked like the scared kid she was. "Well," she said, then paused when her voice wavered. "That was the beast. It found the Hub, and now we have to stop it."

"I'll help, it my fault it's even here." I scratched the back of my neck. "But I hope you have a plan."

That got a shaky smile. "I said 'we' for a reason, Fern. And yes, I have a plan." She was furiously tapping the stylus she'd pulled out of her bag on her palm as she muttered, "Fuck knows if it'll work, though. C'mon, stay close and out of the way, and after we get the damn thing taken care of, we'll need to go to where it was to get the stuff out."