Alex leapt to his feet just as Natalie slipped through, following the man as the gate began to close behind them.
Alex cursed. Rushing up to the closing gate, his heart was in his throat. He gazed at the strange, twisting patterns that were etched into the bars. For several seconds, he stood there, his hand closing over the cool metal. Barely twenty minutes ago, he’d been standing in the sun on a suburban road.
Either he had really and truly lost his mind, or he was venturing blindly into an utterly unheard of realm.
He looked up at the gray ivy that hung down in curtains before him. Whatever lay beyond, Natalie had gone ahead, and Alex couldn’t bring himself to turn away now. If nobody but him could see the gray man, there was no guarantee that anybody else would see what he saw now, here at the end of this impossible lane. He couldn’t rely on recruiting help.
Swallowing hard, Alex set his jaw and pushed.
The gate began to open.