“I’m sorry, that was…” I said, feeling warm. “Really embarrassing.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Oka said. “I’m just gd I caught you before we ended up here.”

  I looked around. A dimly lit hallway made of stone, with ankle deep water running through it.

  “We’re in the void, right?” I asked. “How?”

  “Well, sometimes after a first trip it is possible that we ‘blink’ back,” Oka said. “If we’re distressed, or…you were feeling out of it right?”

  I nodded.

  “I could kinda tell,” Oka said. “You zipped out of css pretty quickly. I thought maybe bathroom emergency, but my gut said otherwise.”

  “I don’t know what that was.” I said. “I thought I was going to pass out. Or puke. I just had to get out of there.”

  “Maybe it anic attack,” Oka said. “Was it from that movie? That opening song was kinda freaky.”

  Oka was exactly right, but not for the reasons she thought. I knew what it was from. Jeans. But how could I expin that? I just met Oka like a few weeks ago. We were friends, but how could I just tell her stuff that I couldn’t even tell Stel?

  “We should just try to find a way back,” I said. “Which is…how do we do that here?”

  Oka pihrough her wristband. “No e, so we ’t jump back even if we wao here. I think we have to find a safe spot for that. At least we have an excuse if they say we cut css!”

  “Isn’t there like an emergency thing we do on our wristbands?” I asked. “Or do those not have es either?”

  “No good.” Oka said. “But we’re not in immediate danger unless you’re allergiething in here.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Let’s just go.”

  Oka held her hand out. “You’re still shaking, so I help you walk if you .”

  “I walk,” I said. “Thanks, though.”

  We walked down the hallway. It turned left at the end of it, and the water there poured into a grate. Past that was something pletely different, a rger room. Like the old building we went in to go into the void.

  “Oh, I see where we are!” Oka said. “I think. This is good!”

  “Where is this? Are we back at the main station thing?”

  “We’re in our shared temple.” Oka said.

  “Shared…?” I asked as I noticed the six doors. Each had a statue above them. “This is that ohe tree?”

  “Yep!” Oka said. “These used to be called a Torme, but that’s sidered crude. Basically, they pulled something from each of our minds when we went into the void and colted it here so we train to fight specific leveled void monsters.”

  Oka’s statue caught my eye first. It looked just like her. Somehow this pce captured her personality in stone.

  “See there’s Kalei, Laenie, Aira, Lillia, me, and…” Oka trailed off.

  Mine was different thahers. I probably should have screamed, but I felt distant again. The statue of me above my door ale while the others looked like regur statue metals.

  My eyes were gaping holes, and the statue was bleeding from them. Statue me stared down with an odd grin. My fangs were bigger, and I was bleeding from the spots I bit on my lip too. I looked like I belonged in whatever a Torme was.

  “Oh! I got a e!” Oka said, turning away from my statue and immediately calling Dr. Diast. Staring at the call on her s was enough to pry my eyes away from the nightmare me above my door. “Dr. Diast! We’re in a bit of a sticky situation here.”

  There was a brief moment of static.

  “You’re in the void? Why are you in the void?” Diast asked.

  “I think we’re in the shared temple,” Oka said. “We’re by some doors with statues of us in a…temple-esque pce.”

  “Damn it, they weren’t supposed to pull those without telling us…” Diast said.

  “Pulling our…minds?” I asked. “Who is?”

  Diast sighed.

  “The headmaster of Wildfire Hearts oversees this part of void training for all the schools in the area. They must have grabbed your blood samples aal ss already and didn't tell me. Damn that Cloudy Eye…”

  Wildfire Hearts. Another bad thought.

  “So what do we do? you get us out?” I asked.

  “This is level 1, right? So we shouldn’t have any big monsters…?” Oka asked.

  “Yes, it’s level 1 where you are, and no. This was supposed to happen in the Jump Fifteen protocol, but it something must have triggered it early for you two.”

  I didn’t say anything, and Oka didn’t rat me out.

  “If you clear whatever that blockage is, that’ll make the e clear enough to…”

  Diast’s voice crackled and cut out.

  “Dr. Diast?” Oka asked. “We ’t hear…”

  “…at least one of the doors should be open. It’s gon a little freaky, and it’ll probably suck to gh it, Jump Fifteens are uable ao be heavily vision based. “Have you had any like weird visions or anything?”

  “No, it’s just been us in here.” I said. “Unless…one of us is a void creation…”

  “Not possible, sorry.” Diast said. “I see both of you on my tracker thing. Just know that nothing in there hurt you physically. They’re also called ‘Memory Trials,’ and you’ll see why in a sed. You just have to gh the door that’s unlocked.”

  “Does Oka o?” I asked, knowing which door it’d be. “Isn’t it safer for her to stay?”

  “No, Oka’s perfect for this, she’s been a i longer. She’ll be more stable in there. Just try calling me if you run into anything really bad. I’ll tell Kalei what’s going on so she doesn’t worry. And also don’t worry about whatever css you were in.”

  “It’s OK, Zeta,” Oka said. “I ha.”

  I knew she could, but if it was my door, I didn’t know if I could handle her seeing whatever was behind it.

  “I’m heading to my void watchy station now,” Diast said. “If there’s an emergency just call, but if the e goes out just try to muscle through it.”

  Diast hung up. I went to try the Kalei, Aira, Laenie, and Lillia doors, but they were all locked. I wasn’t surprised.

  “Mine’s locked too,” Oka said.

  “Great, sh the fun nightmare me door,” I said, my voice starting to quiver again. I didn’t want to have another freak out in front of Oka. She was a close friend already, but this was a level of vulnerable I was not prepared for.

  “I’ll be with you, we’ll get through this.” Oka said.

  Oka had a ed but supportive look on her face. It made me about 13.5% more willing to try whatever it is that id beyond my door. We stepped over the dripping blood of my statue, and I grabbed the handle of the door.

  There were rows of chairs. At the end of them was a stage with a lone spotlight on it. I hated this already.

  “The py is now seating.” My voice said from somewhere around us. A ticket taker booth appeared before us, and there was a me in there in a full uniform.

  “Wow, you actually make the fake mustache work, Zeta,” Oka said, being way too chill for the circumstances.

  “Oka Ohri?” Ticket Taker Zeta said. She had a really crappy fake at which I reized because it was the crappy fake at I would do if I retending to be a ticket taker with a fake mustache, which I did do at least oo Stel whe home from work. “You are seated at 105. Best seat in the house. Please take your seat now.”

  Ticket Taker Zeta handed her her ticket, and Oka was shooed away. Ticket Taker Zeta held me so I couldn’t follow.

  “Now, we saved a special seat for uest of honor,” She said. “Please, follow me.”

  “I’d rather sit by…” I said. “Oka…”

  But I was now far away from her. It was hardly a guest of honor special seat. I was already in my chair, and I couldn’t move. I could see the back of Oka’s head, but that was about it.

  Another me walked out on stage. There was an orchestra seated below the stage that began tuning their instruments.

  “Wele all! This is the inaugural performance of The Summers of Zeta Faleur.”

  “Oh no,” I whispered. “No no no…”

  Oka couldn’t see this. I k’d be this, but this felt so much worse actually firming it.

  “Please silence your cell phones and enjoy the show!”

  The full band of me’s took their p the chamber pit as emcee me bowed. I wao run as they tuheir instruments, but I couldn’t get up. I was an audience member of a py I never wao see again.

  The stage began to morph and ge, and it was like I had time travelled two years ba a dream. I began to feel more dreamlike as well, feeling sleepy as I watched. Maybe Oka would sleep through it too. Maybe it wouldn’t go over everything. Maybe it’d somehow skip all the really bad parts that led to my particurly traumatic summer.