Excerpt: The Middles

It was cold. The cold was all that Kate seemed to focus on, that and the darkness, that and the fear that was sweeping over her like a tidal wave. It was so much darker than the last time she’d swept through the Middles with a line of fellow travelers and a pair of trained Guides carrying lamps. Everything was black except the glowing white snow at her feet and the rolling fog. Kate could see her breath.

“Oh gosh. Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh.” She had been afraid before, when she realized who the man was, what he had done. She had been afraid before, when he had reached for her. She had been afraid before, weighing the choices of Middles or unknown. She had been afraid before, but instinctively, the way a rabbit feels afraid when it smells blood on the wind, the way a mouse feels afraid when exposed in a field. She had been afraid before without even really knowing why she was afraid, just a gut feeling that had overcome.

Kate was afraid now, not simply because of the feeling of dread that the Middles always inspired in her, but because of the absolute knowledge that she was trapped in them. There were no Doors in the Middles. They existed only in the actual world. They were portals that could be opened only from the outside. That was why the system of Arrivals and Departures was so vital. Someone had to know that you were coming so they could be there to open the Door for you. Otherwise, the Middles were isolated, a land within themselves, just darkness and snow and cold and—

Crack.

Kate spun on her heels, eyes wide, heart beating furiously at her ribs. She could see nothing in the darkness. One hand few up to grasp the key hanging from her neck, as if simply holding it would will a Door to open. “I’m just imagining things,” she muttered feverishly. “It’s all in my head. It’s just my imagination, there’s no such thing as—”

Crack.

Kate whirled around again. The sound echoed through the black, making it impossible to discern the origin. In her panic, Kate was starting to hyperventilate, her breath coming out in sharp, wispy gasps.

CRACK.

Kate screamed and ran without purpose, without direction, running only to get away from a sound that seemed to be coming from everywhere. If given another chance she would have never come through that Door. No man could be as frightening as this.

She slipped suddenly in the snow and went down, slamming face first into glowing powder that, oddly, wasn’t cold. Kate had a brief moment of panic in which she feared she might suffocate, but then she rolled onto her side, gasping like a near-drowning victim. There came a fluttery rustle from somewhere nearby and Kate bolted into a sitting position, staring wildly into the darkness.

A hand fell on her shoulder.