"This is ridiculous," a bespectacled, well-dressed man sputtered. "I don't know what sort of con you're trying to pull, but that other man said there had been an unexpected eclipse. That's all, and he left to get help-"
"Look around," I snapped, waving at the window. "Not only has it been pitch-black for hours, the desert is now frozen. No eclipse could do that, and no con artist could, either. I know it's a lot to take in, but you need to accept that you're in another realm so that you can get the hell on out of it!"
"Demons? Realms? You expect us to believe that?" he muttered, to murmurs of agreement from the rest of them.
I contemplated how long it would take to knock them all out, carry them upstairs and drag them one by one through the gateway. Too long, judging from how I could hardly walk, and Adrian looked better, but not by much.
"You have another explanation for how a dark, freezing version of this world suddenly fell on you?" I countered, trying to force them past their denial. "If you don't, you might want to start listening to the crazy one."
"You gave it your best shot, but they're not listening, and we have to go," Adrian muttered, tugging my arm.
I planted my feet, going for one last argument. "I wish I could prove the existence of demons and other realms to you, but I don't have time. You don't trust me? Fine, trust your own eyes. Eclipses last minutes, not hours. They don't shut off everything that isn't battery-operated, knock out cell signals and freeze deserts. You know this, so if it's not an eclipse, then it's something that shouldn't be possible, and yet it is. So please, come upstairs with us, and we'll take you through the gateway and prove that we can get you home."
I put all of my desperation into those last few words, trying also to say with my eyes what I couldn't seem to convey vocally. Glasses Guy turned away. So did the costumed ranger, the white-haired lady and most of the rest of them. But, with several hesitant glances, a family of four stepped forward.
"We'll come," the father said, picking up his little girl.
"Take them upstairs," I told Adrian, fighting back a surge of tears. "Please, the rest of you, come with us. Like I said, we'll prove to you that we can get you out of here."
They began to back away instead, egged on by the white-haired lady's continual, muttered accusations and their own disbelief. Adrian led the family to the staircase and, after a few, long moments where I futilely hoped that at least one other person would change their mind, I followed them upstairs. I was almost at the top when a scream made me run the last few steps. I tripped, but made it into the trashed music room in time to see the two parents beating at the stone around the fireplace.
"Wait!" the mother was crying, while the father stuck his hands in the flames as if trying to snatch something back.
"It's okay," I reassured them, doing an odd hop-run into the room. "He'll be right back, I promise!"
No sooner did I say that than Adrian appeared, almost knocking the parents over with his sudden entry. He didn't pause to explain, as I continued to do, but grabbed both of them in a bear hug and then lunged at the fireplace. They disappeared as if the flames had somehow swallowed them. I knew what was going on, but to be honest, it was still a little freaky looking.
The costumed ranger picked that moment to run into the room. He had a candlestick in his hands, of all things, and he brandished it at me. "Where are they? What did you do to them?"
"Nothing," I began, but Adrian's reappearance cut me off. He grasped me around the shoulders, and I noticed that he was breathing heavy and his color didn't look good.
"Are you all right?" I asked, worried enough to ignore the ranger's sudden yell of "What the hell?"
"Oblivion did a number on me, and crossing the realms is making it worse." Adrian's words were choppy between his labored breaths. "I've only got one more trip left in me, Ivy."
I turned at once to the ranger. "Please," I started to say, but then Adrian went immobile so abruptly, I looked back at him in concern. He was staring over my shoulder, and when I glanced that way, the ranger was no longer alone in the doorway.
Demetrius stood behind him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MY TATTOO ROARED to agonizing, glowing life, but with a surge of panic, I realized that I didn't have anything to put into the sling. I should've stuffed my pockets with projectiles as soon as I realized that the weapon could manifest itself, but I'd been focused on trying to save Adrian. Then I'd turned my attention to saving the rest of the people, thinking with my heart, not my survival instinct.