Doctor Strange - This One Summer

The Main Guest

The Breach

On the tenth night she spent at Kamar-Taj, Hazel inexplicably woke up and was unable to go back to sleep. After lying in bed for a moment, she glanced at the clock by her bed.

2:56

Ah. So that's how it was. Although she was in a different place, Hazel got out of bed, shrugged into her robe, and left her room. She felt a Guest--an unfriendly one at that, one she didn't invite--enter here as definitely as one could hear the shattering of a window in another room. But the girl no longer had it in her to panic; she simply walked the halls, flashlight in hand, peering into each corner as she went. She passed through the empty kitchens and the library. Strange, this room is still lit. Wong--or something that just looked like Wong--sat at the desk, reading a book that lied flat on the desk before him. The tortoise-shell cat rested on the desk, staring at the pages and blinking slowly.

Hazel drifted past and went right to the other room, walking so she didn't draw attention to herself. However, little to Hazel's realization, Wong had noticed, as he noticed anything amiss in the library. He followed the presence into the other room, recognizing Hazel in her astral form peering up at the Ancient One's private collection. The librarian didn't know she'd been studying astral projection, and he was cynically amused that she'd honestly use that power to try to sneak into the library late at night. He approached as she leapt up, floating cross-legged in the air right next to the Tome of Dahmaan.

"Nice try, Hazel," he started, making her jump. She looked down at him, seemingly terrified out of her wits, before fleeing the scene as quickly as she could. Wong didn't pursue her; she wouldn't be back here tonight. He'd talk with her--no, the Ancient One--about this tomorrow. Of all people, she should know of Hazel abusing what she'd been taught.

Hazel wasn't surprised when she crossed paths with that tortoise-shell cat, who joined her in checking the shadows for the unwanted thing.

"It's a game we play," Hazel began after a moment of silence. Her tone was hushed, but her voice still seemed to fill the endless abyss of space they were in. "It's kind of like hide and seek, but in this case, when you hide it's not about being seen or not."

The cat blinked at her quizzically.

"That's why we're walking," Hazel explained. "The important thing is to just mind your own business and wait, then the game will end when the thing loses interest and goes away. There will be no winner or loser, but I'll wake up tomorrow, so I think that's a good reason to do it this way. I won't confront anything that will attack me."

Her companion lowered its gaze momentarily, as if nodding in agreement with her statement. They both paused in the courtyard. The wind howled, the trees trembled as if afraid of something. The cat sniffed the air, and Hazel knew. She didn't see anything, but she could feel it, like a big eye staring at her from the empty space in the courtyard. Then she heard it. A voice, lilting and reedy, spoke slower than molasses could drip out of a jar.

"Stay where you are...."

The cat darted back the way they'd come, leaving Hazel alone to face the thing searching for her. Her mind raced as she scoured her surroundings for a solution. There were various pillars bordering the courtyard, but she wouldn't be covered for long—there were nooks to either side of the stairs, but they were too far away.... There were bushes on her right; she only had to duck between them to be out of sight again. She did so and trembled, her limbs cold, as she waited for the feeling of dread to ebb away. The sound of leaves crunching underfoot echoed through the courtyard, coming close and closer to her, until they stopped right next to her.