Nicolas shown his light around the tunnel as he made it to the bottom. The manhole had led to a much larger area, looking almost like a sewer system or subway station.

  He had lost all sign of Ash until he made it to the bottom of the manhole, the images of that creature still fresh in this mind. The long, skinny tentacles that grew out of its back, that voice that seemed louder than it was supposed to be.

  What was that thing? Nicolas asked himself. Then out loud, he added, “Where are we?”

  “It’s a drain tunnel,” Ash replied. “Perfect for escaping the kako.”

  “The what?”

  “Kako,” Ash answered, as if it were a totally normal thing. “Did coming back from the dead mess up your head or something?”

  “I didn’t… you mean that thing that was chasing us?”

  Ash nodded their head yes.

  “Look,” Nicolas rubbed his head. “I’m so confused right now.”

  Ash was silent for a few moments. When they finally replied, echoes were sent reaching through the dark tunnel; echoes that Nicolas’ voice didn’t have. “What did that thing call you? Eklek boy?”

  “More words that I don’t understand,” Nicolas answered.

  “Welcome to Charimone,” Ash said, repeating the other thing the creature they called a kako said. They seemed to be trying to make sense of the words as well, which made Nicolas feel glad that he wasn’t the only one confused.

  After their voice stopped echoing, everything was silent for what seemed like forever. Nicolas’ ears were beginning to ring, and he thought he could probably hear a pin drop from a mile away.

  “What’s that mean?” Nicolas asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Ash answered. “You said something about a mirror?”

  “My reflection. It… disappeared.” Even saying the words out loud made him sound crazy. Like Peter Pan losing his shadow, Nicolas had lost his reflection.

  And apparently, his echo.

  “I shouldn't trust you,” Ash hissed after a few long, silent moments. “But I will. Don't make me regret this, Nick.”

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  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Save the questions for later, right now there’s a demon hunting us.”

  The word demon caught him off guard a little bit; a million questions were still running through his head. They swarmed in his mind like bees in a hive, but he didn’t ask any of them. There’ll be plenty of time to ask questions. Right now, we gotta get out of here.

  ***

  They continued through the dark tunnel, Nicolas’ flashlight being a lot more helpful now that he wasn’t running from that creature.

  The tunnel opening into another tunnel, this one a lot larger. In the middle was a flow of water, moving like a river through the darkness, and there was concrete on either side.

  Ash turned left, and Nicolas followed, walking beside the river of water.

  "We have a lot to talk about. I'm staying in a hotel because I wanted to…" Ash paused for what seemed like forever; until the echoes of their voice faded out, replaced only by the echo of Ash' footsteps. "…to attend your funeral."

  That was when Nicolas started to believe that maybe Ash really did believe he was dead, and that this wasn't all just some corrupt joke.

  But I'm not dead, Nicolas thought to himself.

  Am I?

  A cold breeze flowed through the tunnel. "There's another manhole up ahead," Ash told him. "We'll take it to the street, where we can stay at the hotel until we figure this out." A small chill started to form as Nicolas realized that he didn't have a choice.

  Despite basically being kidnapped, Nicolas found himself unable to be scared of his old best friend.

  The air was definitely a lot colder in the tunnel—a very real, normal coldness that caused bumps to rise up on his arms as he shivered. "Why's it so chilly in here?"

  "Closer to hell," Ash replied, and Nicolas almost laughed before realizing that Ash seemed serious.

  "What?" Nicolas asked to make sure he heard them correctly.

  "Unless you don’t believe in that kind of stuff, then it's because it's so deep under the city."

  "Do you believe that kind of stuff? Nicolas had to ask.

  "I’m not sure. I believe in evil, and I believe in good," Ash replied.

  Nicolas wasn't sure what that meant, but didn't bother pushing further. He might 've, if it weren’t for the steel ladder appearing about ten feet away.

  “Go up,” Ash ordered, shoving Nicolas toward the ladder.

  “Why do I go first?” Nicolas had no problem going first, but Ash’s slightly annoying (though not at all unusual) bossiness left a slight arrogance in him.

  “So that way if you’re a kako, I’ll have time to react before you turn around.”

  “You think I’m one of those demon things?” Nicolas felt offended. “Do I look like I have ten foot long, skinny octopus arms coming out of my back?”

  “Maybe you’re hiding them.”

  Can they even do that?

  “I’m not a kako,” Nicolas said, that last word sounding weird on his tongue. It felt like speaking gibberish. There was a really weird sense of foreignness to it that made it feel like nothing Nicolas had ever spoken.

  “The Nicolas I know, Nicolas Starwood, is dead. Either you’re a kako disguised as Nicolas, you came back from the dead, or you're a different Nicolas.”

  A different Nicolas?

  “May I ask, have you ever heard of Eirini?”