Robbin

12. Map

She supposed she should have been more worried about the alien creatures who had been trying to kill her for the past five hours instead of a stupid, awesome, all encompassing sea which by all accounts looked to be poisoned, but then, who was she to discriminate?

Hunt's head bobbed upon his chest to appraise her before resting with a clunk upon the planks once more. Hunt commented with resignation, "if you fall in the water, I'll pull you out. Don't dawdle."

When she didn't listen, he warned, "you're really starting to agitate me."

Without further argument Terra swallowed her fear enough to sit. The wood didn't spontaneously combust and the small droplet of red water didn't burn her skin.

When she finally resigned herself to sleep she noticed the moon was gone, with the strange lake left alone to light the night. Terra found herself thinking of Sarah, and how Sarah had wanted to date the purse snatcher. Danny, she had called him.

She wondered if he really was a demon. But Danny had pale skin and eyes...

"Can demons come into your dreams?" she asked tentatively. She didn't know if Hunt had even heard her.

But suddenly an alert gruff voice was answering, "why do you ask?"

Terra paused, trying to figure out how to formulate the words. She decided to skip around the answer by explaining quickly, "I had this really weird dream the other day, and there was this kind of demon in it;" and then deflecting, "and I remember hearing Song say that demons could... come into your mind... The last time I was here she said that. In the cave." Terra swallowed. Did she dare ask it? No. She didn't. She didn't dare ask if he was alive, though she came close. With the mention of the cave where she had last seen the stranger who had saved her life, she found Robbin's name swirling around in her thoughts, until Hunt's answer made them go away again.

"I suppose so." His voice sounded hesitant. "What kind of demon was in your dream?"

Terra cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I don't know... I thought I saw it... follow me back home. It was kind of weird; maybe it was just a coincidence." She hoped he would drop it.

But then he was pressing on, "well, what did it look like?"

Terra cleared her throat again, miffed, and stared at a particular star in the sky. "Um... Well, maybe it wasn't a demon at all. It had the... you know... watery skin like the demons I have seen... Um, and its arms were all long and weirdly shaped like the demons... But its skin was kind of... paler. And it had these weird eyes..."

Hunt's voice stopped her right there. "Demons don't have eyes."

"Oh." Terra swallowed. "Oh, then it must not have been a demon."

There was more silence after that.

Terra hoped she wasn't bugging Hunt too much, but after a while another question came to mind that she felt she deserved an answer to. She had been very cooperative so far... so one more question shouldn't hurt... "What is this bridge for?"

"For dormensions; for people like me," came the immediate response.

Terra could finally link the term to a definition. Dormension... People like Hunt.

"What do dormensions use it for?" she pressed on carefully. The word sounded smooth on her tongue.

"The bridge is used mostly as... hunting grounds."

Terra narrowed her eyes. She waited for a better explanation but he didn't continue. When pressed, he didn't give her anything more. The most he said was that these "hunting grounds" were the "best and the most rare." He wouldn't tell her what was hunted.