Chapter Fifty

B O HOISTED TRAVIS into the ceiling, then leaned against the wall while he listened to the soft thumps from above as Travis made his way about the Noble Mystery offices.

So far, things had been something of a bust. Bo wondered if Brittany would have done things differently. She was more experienced after all. And she seemed smart, she seemed capable, she—

Bo heard cracking sound, then a whoosh, and a thump. He was up and running in the direction of the sound, but after he took a right, there was a wall in his way.

He opened the door to the nearest office, but other than the furniture, it was empty.

"You okay?" Bo called out.

A foot came through the wall.

Travis' foot.

It got stuck.

So Travis put his fist through the wall.

It got stuck.

"I might need a hand here," Travis said.

It took Bo a second to get Travis's limbs unstuck, but, when he did, Bo could see through the wall.

"What the—" Bo started.

"I think there's a door over there," Travis said, "but there's not a ton of light in here, so I figured a quick hole would work. I also thought it'd seem cooler than it turned out."

"Yeah, not that cool," Bo replied.

Bo ripped the wood paneling off the wall and tossed it into a pile behind him. After a few minutes, his hands were sore and full of splinters, but there was an opening into the secret room. Sure, it required a bit of contorting and squeezing to get through metal studs, but Bo could manage.

The room could have been secret, but could also have just been hidden amidst the maze of corridors. It was definitely darker than any of the offices, and there didn't seem to be a light switch.

Bo dug out his phone and flipped the light on.

Across the room, Travis pulled out an actual flashlight, which did a significantly better job illuminating the space.

It was something like a conference room, with a large table surrounded by bookshelves and file cabinets. A door was on the opposite side of the room, with a light switch next to it.

"Switch," Bo said, pointing.

Travis nodded, and moved around the plush leather chairs. It looked as if there had recently been a meeting, but everyone just left quickly at the end without taking any time to clean up. Travis had to push a few chairs under the table, but when he flicked the switch, light flooded from the fluorescents above.

Bo shook his head. He wasn't sure what he'd expected.

Travis opened the door. It didn't lead to the outside offices; it lead to another large open room.

Travis stepped through.

"Uh," Bo started, trying to get the man's attention. Travis didn't seem to be listening, though. He was seemingly too interested in exploring.

Things didn't feel right to Bo. The sizing seemed off. He had a decent head for spatial relations, and he remembered how many steps it took to get from the front door to the elevator. The headquarters seemed larger than the actual building should have allowed. There could be a simple reason: the Noble Mystery bought the space next door. But it didn't seem likely. There was no indication the space was ever divided. The architecture seemed consistent all the way across. The front offices, the ones along the windows, had added up to what they'd seen from the outside of the building. But as soon as they got out of sight of anything leading to the external world, everything was, well, different. Longer. Wider. And the new room Travis was in just didn't fit.

"This is weird," Bo heard Travis call out. "It's like, too big or something."

Bo moved carefully to the door, and made a pointed effort to not step across the threshold.

The new room was almost a ballroom, it was that large. It didn't have the high ceilings of a ballroom, but it went on and on, roughly the size of a tennis court.

Bo shook his head.

"I think you should get back here," Bo called out.

"What?" Travis asked.

"I don't think you should be in that room."

"What's going to happen?"

"I don't know. I just don't like it."

Travis sighed, and jogged back across the carpet.

Something was happening behind him, though. There was a distortion in the room.

"Faster," Bo shouted.

Travis started to look behind himself.

"Don't look," Bo snapped, "RUN!"

Travis sprinted.

The room behind was disappearing. Sort of. It was closing in. Or liquifying. It depended on where Bo was looking. Portions of the carpet were falling away into nothingness, to just an inimitable black beneath. And it was catching up to Travis.

Bo clutched the doorjamb, then leaned out as far as he could stretch his other arm.

"Grab it!" Bo screamed.

Travis, trusting completely, launched himself at Bo.

Bo grabbed the man's hand and pulled the heavy soldier back into the conference room.

The two stumbled to the carpet.

Bo watched with a morbid horror as the ballroom place ceased exist.

The open doorway now led to nothingness, an empty blackness.

Travis got to his feet.

Bo kicked the door shut, and it slammed loudly.

"What the fuck was behind me?" Travis asked, sweating a bit, looking more than a little out of sorts.

"One of those things I can't tell you," Bo replied. "I think."

Travis put one hand onto a chair, swiveled it around, and dropped into it. He rotated himself away from the door pointedly, and put both elbows on the central table.

Bo's heart thudded in his chest. He felt like he was about to lose the tiny breakfast he'd managed to eat. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out, still unable to take his eyes off the closed door. He kept wondering if the nothingness on the other side would, maybe, pull the door into it. If the nothingness would continue into the conference room. More than anything, Bo wanted to get out of the Noble Mystery Headquarters. He'd even be willing to be back in his unheated shitbox apartment.

His phone vibrated again, so he looked down.

Brittany.

"Yo," Bo answered.

"You're not in your room," she said.

"No—" Bo tried to answer.

"I'm really hoping you're not doing something stupid."

"I think I'm doing something stupid."

"I'm outside the building. Want to come let me in?"

"Let you in?"

"Yeah, door's locked."

"Um… it wasn't when we came in."

"We?"

"Travis is here."

"Fuck, Bo. Is he still—"

"Sane?" Bo interrupted to ask.

"Yeah."

"I think so. Should I—"

"We need to have a chat about the rules," Brittany said firmly. "Now come let me in."