Thomas couldn't hold back his tears.

Bren had released him from her protective embrace once they'd been pulled through the mirror. It was a strange sensation for the pair, very different to that of teleportation. They felt they were being turned into water, spinning down a plug hole to the dark abyss beyond. Except, the darkness had somehow become light. Bright and warm and welcoming.

Then that, too, was gone, and they were... somewhere. Thomas was too shaken to look around, his body trembling and his face wet from crying. Bren, though also unnerved, held her emotions together. She didn't look at her friend as weak, however. He was just a kid. Only ten years old. He shouldn't have to face Spotters and potential death.

She knew she, too, was a child, but she had leapt across the intervening years and become an adult in a child's body. An onslaught of new powers had given her a sense of responsibility she had otherwise been ignorant of. And, also, she had faced impending death.

She let Thomas have his moment of release. He needed to let it out, in tears if he must, to be able to move on and do what had to be done. He would need strength. He'd have to show resolve. He'd not been lacking up to that point, but greater challenges were on the horizon.

She just couldn't tell him what they were.

Not yet.

It would destroy him.

"Where are we?" Thomas said, his words splintered by stifled sobs.

Bren surveyed the area they had appeared in. There were no mirrors, broken or otherwise. No sign of Oscar, real or, again, otherwise. She did, however, recognise the place.

It was far away from the city. Far from Oscar's hideout and the challenges of the Spot. It was so removed from anywhere they'd been for the past few days, the silence had settled around them like a blanket. It was war and safe, but whispered softly of ominous intent. The silence wasn't absolute, though. Apart from their breathing, other noises were apparent. The wind through undergrowth. The rustle of leaves on the sparse trees that seemed to be there only to see who this strange pair that had just appeared. Bren could image them to have hurried from their long rooted locations to see who these interlopers were.

Bren had been there earlier that day, before going to find Thomas and discovering him almost at the mercy of David. She'd found it thanks to her burgeoning powers, ones she didn't know fully how to control or contain. From the supposed one ability, powers had erupted within her to the point she wasn't sure how her young body was preventing their escape.

Or why they were there.

"We're close," she said quietly.

She could feel her stomach churning. Bile rising. She could have been sick at the thought of what might, and probably would, happen, but managed to gulp air to force the vomit back down.

"Close to where? We're miles away from anywhere. At least we can't be tracked here. How did you teleport without a marker?"

"I didn't," Bren said quietly. Her head wasn't in the conversation. It was further ahead. Further into the journey they were about to take. "Didn't you see Oscar?"

"Oscar?" Thomas paused for a moment. He couldn't remember. Had he? In one of the broken pieces of mirror? Or had he imagined it? "I don't think so."

"It doesn't matter," Bren said. It didn't really. How they got there wasn't the issue. Where they were going was. "At least we got away."

Thomas's tear streaked face lit up briefly in a relieved smile.

"Thanks to you," he said, hugging her.

She returned his hug, squeezing as tightly as he was, though her embrace was for entirely different reasons.

"Maybe," Bren said.

Thomas pulled back to look at her, but her smile seemed genuine so he returned his attention to her arms. Once he'd had his fill of the hug, he stepped away.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

He thought about the Spotters still searching for him. He thought about Alex lying dead. He thought about his father, forgiving the man for his abandonment. He even thought about Billy and missed the bully's constant abuse.

He didn't think that Bren's answer would be so decisive.

"We go that way," she said. "Up there."

Thomas had never been out of town. To him, paved streets, tarmacked roads and brick or concrete buildings were the flora he recognised. Trees were something that, in ever dwindling numbers, lined avenues and grew in parks. They were something that was just there, looking sort of nice, but not enough to garner his long term attention. The total lack of anything urban made the area feel empty. He could see for miles in most directions, with no sign of civilisation to mar the landscape. He wasn't sure if he liked the fact. The absence of something manmade was unnerving, and the scattered greenery looked misplaced.

In the one direction he couldn't see for miles, was a large hill. It was a bleak thrusting of rock that seemed to have wanted to reach for the sun before realising it couldn't and, so, had settled back down to its fate - never to return to the depths and never able to reach the heights it had dreamt of. Smaller rocks gave way to larger boulders before they, too, surrendered to a high wall of stone. It wasn't quite a cliff, but it had visions of becoming one.

If Thomas stepped backwards a fair way, he could see one side descending back down the ground level, while the slight curve of the other hid itself from his view. In both directions, however, it was too far to walk to get around the obstacle.

Besides, Bren was pointing upwards. She intended for them to venture into its folds. At least, Thomas guessed, it would hide them from any prying eyes or drones that might find their way into this... nowhere.

"What's up there?"

"Answers," Bren answered. "I hope," she mouthed silently as she turned and walked past the first line of stones.

Thomas followed. He could do nothing else. He had no idea where they were. He wouldn't - couldn't - turn his back on Bren, but he felt an ominous sense of something waiting ahead. He wanted to turn back. Not teleport, of course, but walk. Or run. Or crawl, if he had to.

He did none. Being careful to not step on anything that wasn't fixed firmly in place, he hurried after Bren. She wasn't walking particularly quickly, but there was purpose in her steps. He wondered if she knew where they were going and, if so, why she hadn't just teleported them straight there.

At first, the terrain was rocky but passable. The steady increase in size made it little more than an easily surmounted assault course or playground climbing frame. Too soon, they arrived at the wall. The pair was standing close together on a small jut of stone that appeared thick enough to take the weight of two children, but neither were moving enough to test its sturdiness.

"What's up there?" Thomas asked again. He was breathing regularly, but it was an act. Bren's breath was even and calm. He didn't want to appear weak in front of her.

"I don't know," she said. She was avoiding his eyes, though, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Tell me," he said, taking her hand. "You know something."

"You need to see for yourself," Bren said, still not looking at him. "I can't... can't tell you."

"Why not?"

Bren pushed her fingers into a small crack in the rock face and pulled herself up, using other cracks and bumps to climb.

"Come on," she said. "Climb."

Thomas sighed, but followed suit, using the same purchase points she had. He didn't ask any more questions, knowing he'd not get the answers he wanted, at least from her.

They made slow progress up the cliff face. Thomas was struggling and Bren kept her pace steady to keep close to him. He didn't know it but, as she chose the various crevices to use as handholds, she quickly expanded her fingers, turning them into diamond hard slabs that forced the small holes larger. She absorbed any dust or pieces of rock that broke away into her skin, allowing it to be expelled as sweat. It gave the impression that she was finding the climb difficult too.

They climbed in silence for a while. Thomas didn't want his friend to lie, and Bren didn't want to have to. She wished she could teleport them both up to the top, but Thomas needed the climb to prepare himself. A shock was a shock either way, but at least this way he wasn't just thrown into the face of it. Besides, the Blocker in use up there was too strong even for her burgeoning powers. She had tried to penetrate its barrier and been unable to. None of her abilities had been of any use, in fact.

And she had a great many.