LEA

I sit across from Chance, crossing my arms. "What the heck just happened?" I stand up from my chair, sitting down again a second later. What I just saw unnerved me. It just... disappeared.

"I don't know," Chance stands up, one hand grabbing his other arm and massaging it, either nervously or what I can't tell.

"You just.... Made it disappear." My tone portrays as much skepticism as I can make it hold. "Into thin air. Then where did it go?"

Chance shakes his head. "I don't know that either." His voice, in contrast to mine, is devoid of any emotion.

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket. It's a text from Brock, and I feel guilty that I haven't contacted him this whole time. It looks like now is the time for that. Especially after I just found out where the monster went.

I call him, listening to the phone ring, the whole time studying Chance. Chance avoids my eyes, intertwining his fingers.

"Hello?" Brock asks, as if making sure it's me.

"Hi." I say briskly, "So I heard you had a monster. In your dimension."

"You know about those? What do you know? The guy at the lab let something slip about them, but I couldn't get him to tell me anything else."

"Yes. Look, I found another person here. He told me about the dimensions. When there's an excess of radiation, an exact copy of the real world is formed. That's where we are." I explain.

"That makes sense," Brock says thoughtfully. "The book Mrs. Ladlien mentioned that radiation may have more properties than we think, but it didn't say anything about that."

"That's because the government doesn't want us knowing about that. Or something like that. I'm just telling you what Chance said."

"I assume that's his name?"

"Yes, sorry. We were just involved in a fight, and Chance accidentally transported a monster. He says he doesn't know how he did it, but I'm thinking we could use that to get us both back home."

Chance opens his mouth, looking angry, and then shuts it. He looks like he's wrestling with himself, trying to decide whether to say something or not. For the moment, I'm just glad he decided not to.

"I'll let you know if anything develops, okay?" I say, when Brock doesn't answer.

"Sounds good. I hope it works." He sounds genuinely concerned.

"Me too." I murmur as I end the call. I sigh, moving to a chair and sitting down. Me too.

Chance doesn't speak for the next hour, staring at his hands and looking like he's contemplating some major problem. Guilt had set in awhile ago, and I had started to feel bad about yelling at him. He doesn't know. I hated to think like that, because it meant there wouldn't be as easy of a solution as I wanted.

"I'm sorry for getting angry." I finally say, glancing up at him. His head jerks up, and I feel like his eyes look greyer than normal, with less blue in them. I clear that thought away, noticing that Chance looks surprised.

"What?" I ask, when he doesn't explain.

Chance shakes his head, his black hair moving with him. "I'm just... you're actually apologizing?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Is something wrong with that?"

He shakes his head again, and the corner of his lip twitches upward. I may have been imagining it, but a little more blue colored over the grey. "I'm just not used to others apologizing, I guess."

A wave of sympathy washes over me, but I can't think of anything to say. From what I knew of Chance, he would hate pity. Instead, I just smile back.

An hour later we're walking down the road again. Chance figured that keeping on the move was the best idea, trying to throw the monsters off track. I agreed, and this time while we're walking, Chance seems to know where he's going very definitely.

"So, where are we going?" I eventually ask, and just then, he stops in front of a building. Its definitely one of the smallest houses in the block, looking like it had enough room for two rooms, and one story.

"Just another house." He says evasively, going through the front door. I catch a glimpse of a shadow moving down the road and hurry after Chance. I don't lock the door, figuring that the monsters would just break it down if they really wanted to get in.

Chance is already in the kitchen, and I see him dump a hand-sized object into a drawer before shutting it quickly.

"What's that?" I stand up and walk over to him. Chance shakes his head.

"It's nothing. And don't touch it. For your own safety." He starts looking through the cupboards for something to eat. Curiosity burns inside of me, but for the moment I set it aside.

"You're just full of mysteriousness." I say playfully, but Chance doesn't smile.

"You don't know the half."