It was almost as if the coin was for me, and well...maybe it was?
"Where are you going?" I heard Mary Priscilla ask from behind.
"Stop acting like my nanny."
"Then stop acting like a kid that needs a nanny."
I kinda knew she'd say that, but...whatever. I continued floating towards the opposite side of the road, my gaze still glued to the shiny object that was just begging for me to possess it.
"Where are you going?" the brat asked again as she caught up.
"Just a moment..." I bent down, and as soon as my fingers came into contact with the coin's smooth, rounded surface, a strange sense of darkness seemed to swarm around me—-
My gaze jerked up, but all I saw were the same lantern-strewn skies I had glimpsed earlier.
Huh.
It did seem like I had imagined things, but at the same time I couldn't shake off the feeling that I hadn't imagined anything at all.
I showed Mary Priscilla my lucky little find. "It was practically begging me to pick it up—-"
"Don't you think it looks a little too new?"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course you would still find something to question about. It's just a coin—-" The left pocket of my dress suddenly started vibrating, and since it was my private ringtone for Hadrian playing out, I quickly got my phone out and answered the call. "Guess what?"
"Listen, my love," Hadrian began at the same time.
"There's this new Chinatown in Portland," I told him cheerfully.
"I've just gotten a report about a new portal to another realm opening up—-"
"And as if that's not exciting enough, I also spotted a silver coin—-"
"These portals are only visible to those whose lives have been touched by magic, and it's best to play it safe and avoid them," Hadrian went on to caution.
"So of course I picked it up, like duh."
"If you make the mistake of touching any object that belongs to that realm—-"
"Finders keepers, losers weepers—-"
"You could end up trapped in another realm with no way back," Hadrian finished grimly at the same time.
There was a second of silence, and it was then and only then did his words finally dawn on me.
New realm...touch any object...trapped?
"Saoirse?" The tightness of Hadrian's tone made me gulp.
"Um...yeah?"
"Please tell me what I'm thinking is wrong, my love."
I gulped again. "Well, um..."
"Saoirse." Hadrian's voice was pained.
"It was a really shiny coin," I said weakly. "But I guess I could always drop it back—-"
Or to be specific... Paranormal Hong Kong, thanks to the unusual-looking shadows that had started lurking in the corner of my eye.
They were grayish in color and shapeless. But mobile. Like smog on the move. And where I went, so did they, and it was only after a few minutes of being stalked did comprehension finally dawn.
While lost, mindless souls in my world eventually turned into orbs of light, in this world they apparently turned into that: shadows.
Hadrian's last words suddenly played back in my mind, and I went absolutely still. He had mentioned something about a portal to another realm, and since the In-Between was a portal that connected the world above ground to Hell...
Could the pop-up Chinatown from earlier have the same function as the In-Between?