Sarah gasped. She knew that voice. It was one that she had never expected to hear again.

  Rushing into the bedroom, she raised the lamp and flicked the light switch. Six figures jumped in startled surprise. Some of them were armed with guns. Some were not. They stood blinking and gaping at her.

  Sarah did the same.

  “T-teddy,” she stammered. “Teddy Garnett?”

  With a surprised expression, the old man smiled. “Howdy, Sarah. Fancy meeting you here.”

  “Teddy,” she repeated. “But...but you were...”

  “Dying?” The old man nodded. “I was. And I did. I did die. But then I got better.”

  “No, not dying.” She paused, trying to gather her thoughts. What did he mean when he said that he’d died? Her chest suddenly felt heavy, and her ears rang. “You told me and Kevin to go, so we left. We feared you were dead, but...that was in another world, Teddy. How are you here?”

  “I reckon the same way you are. I’ve got to assume you’re not this world’s Sarah. Otherwise you wouldn’t know me, and you wouldn’t remember all of that.”

  “I’m your Sarah.”

  “My goodness.” His smile grew broader. “So, how did you come to be here?”

  Instead of answering, Sarah stumbled toward him. Teddy held out his arms, and she collapsed against him in a hug. He felt real. He sounded like the Teddy Garnett she had known. Smelled like him, too.

  “I never thought I’d see you again,” Sarah murmured, and then burst into tears. “Is it really you?”

  He gently patted her back, and when he spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. “It’s really me. My God, it’s good to see you, too. And Kevin? Where is he? How’s he doing?”

  Sarah slowly broke the embrace and wiped her eyes. Then she shook her head. “Kevin’s not here. He...he’s dead. It happened not long after we left your place.”

  Teddy’s cheeks, slick with tears, pulled back in a grimace of dismay. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’d hoped...I’d hoped y’all made it to safety.”

  “I got to the forest ranger tower. And then someone else showed up. A teenaged boy named Henry.”

  “Henry...” Teddy eyes widened. “Henry Garrett?”

  Sarah nodded. “He said he knew you.”

  “My gosh,” Teddy exclaimed. “Of all the...Henry Garrett is here with you? The Henry Garrett from our world?”

  “He’s asleep in the next room.”

  “Well, if that don’t beat all.”

  Sarah giggled. She hadn’t realized until that moment how much she had missed Teddy’s colloquial expressions.

  “So, you do know him then?”

  “I’ve known Henry since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Great kid. His folks were great, too. It will be good to see him. But Sarah, how in the world did the two of you come to be here?”

  “There was a man named Simon. I know it will sound insane, but...”

  One of Teddy’s companions, a black woman about her own age, spoke up. “Try us. We’re used to insane.”

  “Simon, he...he did a magic ritual of some kind. He said it would open a hole into something he called the...”

  “Labyrinth.”

  The Latino man interrupting her stood apart from the rest of the group. Sarah noticed that he didn’t look at her as he spoke, nor did he look at his other companions. Instead, his eyes darted around the room, seemingly observing everything but focusing on nothing. She couldn’t pinpoint why, but he made her intensely uncomfortable.

  “That’s right,” she said. “The Labyrinth. I didn’t believe it was real. Even after the rain and what happened in Baltimore and the worms and all the rest of it. I was skeptical. But sure enough, we ended up here, on a different Earth. An alternate reality.”

  “Yep.” Teddy nodded again. “It’s all too real.”

  “Is that how you got here? The Labyrinth?”

  “It is. And I’d be happy to tell you all about it. But first thing’s first, Sarah. My tummy is a little upset. Could I please use your restroom?”

  Sarah laughed, and then Teddy did the same. After a moment, the others smiled and chuckled, as well. All of them, Sarah noticed, except the weird Latino guy.

  “It’s not an outhouse,” she teased, pointing at the bathroom door.

  “All the better, then.” Teddy winked. Then he gestured to his companions. “Y’all, this is Sarah. She’s a friend of mine from my old world. Introduce yourselves while I take care of business.”

  After he’d closed the bathroom door behind him, and the sound of the exhaust fan came on, the black woman walked over and stuck out her hand.

  “I’m Frankie.”

  “Hi, Frankie. I’m Sarah.”

  “He’s a sweet old man, isn’t he?”

  “Teddy?” Sarah smiled, eyes tearing up again. “Yeah, he is. He really is. They don’t make them like him anymore.”

  “I know that’s right,” Frankie agreed.

  “Well, they do make them like me.” A late thirtyish man wearing a rumpled black sports jacket over dirty black slacks and a wrinkled white dress shirt waved at her. A skinny black tie hung loose and askew around his neck, and his long black hair was pulled back tight into a ponytail. His fingers were adorned with several gold rings, and an expensive watch was wrapped around one wrist. His accent was a strange mix of the Dundalk region of Baltimore and either New Jersey or New York City. “How you doing, Sarah? I’m Tony. Nice to meet you.”

  A young man with an athletic physique and a crew cut that was just beginning to grow out stepped forward. Oddly, he clutched a small potted plant. “I’m Don Bloom.”

  “Tony,” Sarah said. “Don. Hello.”

  A middle-aged man with bushy eyebrows and an even bushier Amish-styled beard nodded a greeting. “Nelson LeHorn. It’s nice to meet you, Sarah.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, too. All of you.” Sarah glanced at the Latino man, who had made no effort to introduce himself, and indeed, seemed oblivious to the rest of the group.

  “That’s Mr. Mendez,” LeHorn explained. “But he doesn’t like it when people call him that.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah.” Frankie shrugged. “He’s an exit.”

  “I am the Exit,” Mendez muttered, staring out the window.

  “You’re fucking nuts is what you are,” Tony said.

  Mendez turned to him, and stared, unblinking. “Should we compare body counts, Genova?”

  “No thanks. I left prick waving contests behind in high school, asshole.”

  “They’re both always this charming,” Frankie told Sarah.

  Tony turned to Sarah and winked. Then he grinned. “Well, I am, at least. Give it time, and I’ll grow on you.”

  “Like mold,” Frankie quipped.

  The Exit turned back to the window again, and pulled the shade back further. It was lighter outside now, and Sarah caught a glimpse of the pre-dawn sky, purple and black. She didn’t need to hear the day’s weather forecast to know that it was going to rain. Storm clouds blanketed the horizon, and a light drizzle was already beginning to fall. The sight filled her with dread.

  The sound of the toilet flushing broke the silence.

  “So, Sarah,” LeHorn asked, “where exactly are we?”

  Sarah blinked. “On an alternate reality Earth.”

  LeHorn smiled, nodding. “Yes, we know that. This isn’t our first. And some of us were traveling even before we formed this group. What I meant is, where on this Earth are we?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. We’re in Kuta, a little beach town in Indonesia.”

  “Fuck me,” Tony groaned. “Indonesia! Why couldn’t you bring us out in New York, Exit? Or maybe Vegas?”

  Sarah noticed that the others referred to Mendoza as the Exit, as if it was his name.

  “Las Vegas is a shithole,” Bloom said. “I went there on leave once.”

  “Kid,” Tony replied, “if you didn’t have a good time in Vegas, then that’s because I wasn’t with you to show you around town. When this is all over, that’s the first thing we’re gonna do.”

  The bathroom door opened, and Teddy walked out. His expression was sheepish. “Anybody else need to go?”

  “If so, then they’d better do it now,” the Exit said, not turning away from the window.

  “Why is that?” Bloom asked.

  “Because there is a storm coming.” He pointed at the horizon.

  “So?” Tony shrugged. “It’s been drizzling since the moment we got here.”

  “Yes,” the Exit agreed, “but judging by the look of that sky, there’s a bigger storm coming. Soon. We got here too late.”

  “Stop being so dramatic,” Frankie scolded. “After all the shit we just went through, we can take a few hours off and chill.”

  “We all deserve a chance to catch our breath,” Teddy agreed.

  Scowling, the Exit gave a slight shrug and let the curtains fall back over the window. Then he turned to face the group. Sarah had to restrain herself from flinching as his gaze settled on her. There was something about the man’s eyes. They reminded Sarah of something, but she couldn’t remember what.

  “Would anyone like coffee?” she asked.

  “Oh, fuck yes,” Tony said. “I haven’t had coffee in...”

  “Too damned long,” Frankie finished. “You got coffee? I like you already, Sarah.”

  Smiling, Sarah pointed toward the kitchen. “It’s fresh ground. One thing I’ll say about Indonesia is that they have really excellent coffee.”

  “See?” LeHorn placed a hand on the Exit’s shoulder and gave him a friendly squeeze. “You brought us out in a place with good coffee.”

  “That’s not why we’re here,” the Exit replied, pulling away from him.

  Sarah’s smile faded. She realized now what the Exit’s eyes reminded her of. They were the same cold, expressionless black circles that the shark men had on the world she’d escaped.

  “The kitchen is this way,” she said, pointing again. “Henry is asleep on the couch, so let’s try not to wake him.”

  “I can’t believe Henry Garrett is here, too,” Teddy said. “What are the odds of that, you reckon? Three people who all first met in the same small town in West Virginia on the same Earth in the same reality ending up on a different Earth in a different reality all together again?”

  “I’ll figure it out for you after we have some coffee,” LeHorn said.

  Sarah opened the bedroom door and led them down the hallway and into the living room. They tiptoed by Henry, who was snoring softly on his side. Teddy paused for a moment, staring down at the boy. His expression turned sad. Then Sarah quietly ushered them into the kitchen.

  A radio played softly on the countertop, because Henry slept better with music on in the background. It was tuned to the one English-speaking radio station Sarah had been able to find. Currently, ‘Get Back’ by the Beatles was playing. To their credit, her guests tried their best to stay quiet as she got out the milk, creamer and sugar and sat them on the counter. She noticed that Tony had his head cocked, listening to the song with a confused expression.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

  “The lyrics are different,” he said.

  “Are they? I’ve got to admit, I was never much of a Beatles fan, even back on my Earth.”

  “I was,” Tony replied, “and this ain’t the version of the song I remember. Paul’s singing about Pakistanis and Puerto Ricans?”

  “That’s how I remember it,” Sarah said. “They wrote it as a protest song.”

  “Not where I’m from. I mean, yeah, the Beatles were political, but I don’t ever remember them singing about immigration.”

  “You might want to stick around here for a while,” Sarah said, “because on this Earth, they’re still together. They never broke up.”

  Tony gaped. “The fuck?”

  She nodded. “John Lennon is still dead, but in this reality, they were a five-man band. They have a piano player named Billy somebody?”

  “Billy Preston?” Frankie asked.

  “That’s it,” Sarah said. “After Lennon was shot, the other four stayed together.”

  Frankie’s eyes widened. “So Billy Preston joined them at the beginning of their career?”

  Sarah shrugged. “I guess?”

  Tony turned to Frankie. “You a Beatles fan?”

  “My mom was. One of the few good things she ever gave me.”

  As the two smiled at each other, Sarah searched the cupboard for coffee mugs.

  “We only have four mugs,” she whispered. “Does anyone mind sharing?”

  “I’m not having any,” the Exit replied.

  “I’ll share with someone,” Teddy said. “If I drink a full cup of coffee I’ll just have to go to the restroom again.”

  Grinning, Sarah rushed over and hugged the old man once more. Then she burst into tears again. Pulling away, she wiped her eyes and mumbled an apology.

  “What are you crying for?” Teddy asked gently. “This should be a happy occasion, Sarah.”

  “It is. It’s just that...Teddy, I thought you were dead. I was sure of it. When Kevin and I left, you were...”

  “I did die.” Grunting, Teddy eased himself onto a stool at the counter. Then he pointed at the group. “We all did. And then we were...reborn.”

  Sarah frowned. “Resurrected?”

  Teddy shook his head. “Not quite. Reborn is the better term. Or born again.”

  For the next twenty minutes, he recounted all that had happened to him since he’d last seen her, telling her about meeting Amun and Lucifer, and their mission to stop the Thirteen. He recounted a battle in Baghdad, where he and his companions defeated an entity named Kandara, and their journey to Frankie’s reality, another Earth where the only things still alive were the dead. Sarah noticed that all of their expressions turned to sadness as Teddy talked about a sacrifice made by Lucifer—all of their expressions, that was, except for the Exit’s.

  When he was finished, Teddy looked up at her and grinned. “I reckon we sound like crazy people.”

  “You do,” Sarah admitted, “but not crazier than Henry and I traveling here via a magic spell and a whirlpool between worlds. Leviathan and Behemoth exist. I know that because I’ve seen them. Why wouldn’t this Kandara or Ob exist, as well? Or Lucifer, for that matter? If the six of you are crazy, then I’m crazy, too. There’s just one thing I don’t understand.”

  “What’s that?” Teddy sipped from a mug and then handed it to Frankie.

  “If this...Amun? Was that his name?”

  They nodded.

  “He said there were supposed to be seven of you, but after losing Lucifer, now you’re only six.”

  “No.” Bloom held up the potted plant—which Sarah now realized was a bonsai tree. “We’re still seven.”

  Sarah laughed, softly.

  “He’s serious,” Frankie whispered.

  “Fucking nuts,” Tony muttered. Then he clapped Bloom on the back. “But we like you anyway, kid.”

  “Technically we’re eight,” LeHorn said. “Nine if we count the boy sleeping in there on the couch.”

  “How do you get nine?” Tony asked.

  “I’m counting Sarah, and Bloom’s bonsai tree.”

  “Why here though?” Sarah asked. “Why did you come to this reality? What’s supposed to happen?”

  “We don’t know yet,” LeHorn admitted. “But the path in the Labyrinth was clear. One or more of the Thirteen is either about to attack this Earth, or is already upon it.”

  Tony drained his mug and sat it down on the counter. “Thanks for this. Got anything stronger?”

  “Not at this time of the morning,” Sarah said, and then glanced back to LeHorn. “Do you have any idea which of these entities it’s supposed to be?”

  “Not a clue,” LeHorn admitted. “Have there been any strange occurrences in the news recently?”

  Sarah thought for a moment. “Well, on this Earth, Oprah Winfrey ran on the Democratic ticket in the 2016 Presidential election, if you can believe that?”

  “Go on,” Frankie said. “No she didn’t!”

  Sarah nodded. “It’s true.”

  “Well,” LeHorn admitted, “that is strange. But not exactly what I’m looking for.”

  “Did she win?” Frankie asked.

  Sarah shook her head, and then snapped her fingers. “Oh, I remember something else now. There was a thing in the news earlier this week about how the migratory patterns of animals and fish seemed all messed up. And there has been a lot of activity along the Ring of Fire. That was big news here, especially.”

  “What’s the Ring of Fire?” Bloom asked.

  “It’s a big old basin beneath the Pacific Ocean,” Teddy explained. “It’s responsible for a lot of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Or at least it was on my Earth.”

  “Mine, too,” LeHorn agreed.

  “It’s probably like that everywhere,” Tony said.

  “Not necessarily,” LeHorn argued. “I dare say there are plenty of Earth’s where Oprah Winfrey didn’t run for President of the United States of America and the Beatles didn’t stay together.”

  Teddy held up a hand. “I think we’re getting off in the weeds here, folks.”

  “That’s because you’re idiots,” the Exit replied. “I told you before, the storm is already here. All you have to do is look outside.”

  Sarah glanced at Teddy and found him staring at her. His expression was troubled. Her anxiety increased. Outside, the rain began to fall harder, audibly pelting the roof. Thunder rumbled across the sky.

  Sarah shivered. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Swallowing hard, he nodded. “We were drawn here for a reason.”

  “No,” she said. “Oh God, no. Not again.”

  “Sarah?” Henry’s sleepy voice drifted in from the living room. The couch springs creaked as he sat up and stared at them, blinking. He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and then slowly got to his feet. “What’s going on? Who’s...wait a second. Is that…is that Mr. Garnett?”

  Teddy waved. “Howdy, Henry! Long time, no see.”

  Before anyone could react, thunder boomed again in the distance. A moment later, the rain turned into a torrent.