Thump.

Thump.

Midge felt the next strike and his eyes flew open. He caught Lydia's hand before it could come across his cheek again.

Tears streamed down her face but when Midge surveyed his surroundings, he felt more inclined to cry instead. Her ragged clothes and forlorn expression took him aback.

"You dragged me," Midge said.

Trembling, Lydia stared him down. "The ground started to get soft. You almost fell in. And you were so damn heavy, you almost took me in with you." She shrugged and another tear escaped her left eye. "I wished the house would get us."

It took a moment more for Midge to realize he could move. "And it did," he said, looking up and around. Maybe Lydia expected a thank you but that was a long ways off. She couldn't have known Midge wouldn't have sunk for long. Bringing a grounding E into another realm was less safer than juggling live bombs.

Still. He could move and he felt no pain.

One look at Lydia's face and Midge dragged her close. The tightness of her own grip on him broke Midge's heart. He hated feeling her shudder from the tears but equally welcomed the ability to hear or perceive anything at all.

When he tried to let her go, she held on. "Mr. Osbourne...."

Midge caressed her face with both hands as he leaned down to meet her. "You don't have to worry—"

Her lips caught his, leaving Midge speechless. He was too stunned to react to the second peck on the lips but by the third he closed his eyes. They kissed. He took the initiative but when she moaned into his mouth, he remembered himself and pulled away.

This wasn't the time nor the place.

She hugged him again and he pulled her in equally as tight.

Now for this damn house. How do we get out?

"You shouldn't be here...."

Lydia yelped and spun around.

Nothing.

"What was that?"

Midge swallowed down his fear and answered. "I'm gonna be honest. I don't know." He took her by the hand as he looked around. "This isn't just an E house. It's one surrounded by other houses. They could be interconnecting for all we know."

"So someone else is here?"

The all-white room felt daunting.

"It could be a computer." All surveys of the room yielded a constant result—no doors. "We can't get out the way we came. We have a problem, though...." He spun around and realized something else. "We're not in the second realm anymore."

Lydia had nothing to say but Midge wasn't finished.

He looked down at her and asked, praying he was wrong. "When you called for the house, did you feel like you were passing through a massive gust of air?"

The grim look on her face came with a grimmer answer. "Four of them."

Internally Midge's jaw dropped, but on the surface he stayed calm. He leaned in to give her another kiss to calm her.

"Okay," he said. "We're not stuck in that house at least. So that's good."

Relief washed over Lydia who closed her eyes and hugged him again. "So we're all right?"

Midge tried to sound jovial when he said, "Not quite. We've left our birth realm, something E's are forbidden to do with a Yule such as yourself. So that's a crime."

Lydia chuckled but Midge couldn't laugh with her.

"Problem is...I don't know which realm we're in and because you let that house bring us here, I'm not sure I can bring us out, not without knowing which one we're encompassing."

He broke her hold finally and walked to the wall. When he touched it, his hand went through. Pulling his arm back caused a start with the wall faded to a dull red color.

"But if someone's talking to us, that means someone else is here. And if he came willingly, we can get out that way."

Lydia waited. "But...?"

Midge finally turned to her again. "But did he get in from the same location? Does he know about the stash we discovered? And is he friend or foe? Some E's surf the realms looking for enlightenment."

"And others?"

"Are hiding from the law."

The feel of Lydia tucked safely at his side calmed him.

"I've really done it now. And you told me not to go down there. You wouldn't have panicked and turned to stone."

"No." Midge explained, "That was coming with or without us being down there. Following you into that tunnel was a blessing in disguise. If I'd started to turn with Queenie around, he would have called in the rest of the family and force me to ground properly." He held her close as they walked forward. "Once we start, it's nearly impossible to stop the process. And I don't mind grounding but not until I've found my target. Time's all I need."

"You shouldn't be here...."

"I was invited. I have every right to be here."

"Milton." Lydia gasped. "That's my father's voice. That's my father."

She nearly broke free but Midge held her tight. Something was strange about this realm—he'd never been anywhere like this.

The wall before them faded, revealing a large ball room filled with nobles.

"Daphne D'Witt. It's a pleasure." A woman in a lovely red gown ushered people into the rom.

"My mother." Lydia went rigid. "And she looks so healthy." A gasp escaped her lips and she said what Midge was thinking. "Is this the fifth realm?"

Midge wasn't sure, but if this was the past, he wondered why they were seeing this—it looked eerily familiar.

"Delaney's last stand. This is the raid." Lydia gripped Midge's arm. "We're looking at the raid."

"Why?" Midge hadn't meant to speak aloud. When he met Lydia's gaze, he came to a conclusion. "Step away from me for a moment."

Lydia shook her head. "I'd rather not."

Midge pushed her back. The room faded to white again. They waited there for some time and the world around Midge changed. He saw the day he was born and the chaos that it caused. When he willed it away, it jumped to the face of a boy in stone. "Queenie...."

He could will this away, too. He knew. If this was his life, he could will it all away—only, he couldn't.

Tears threatened to fall and they almost did when another boy let out a cry for his twin.

"Mr. Osbourne?"

The world faded with the touch of Lydia's fingers interlocking with his.

"We can only see our own pasts," Midge lamented.

"I know. I noticed that, too." Lydia squeezed him tighter. "So why are we seeing the raid?"

The room around them dissolved to the ballroom yet again and Midge understood.

"Because we intersect. Somewhere in our history, your relative and mine met."

Lydia shook her head. "Can we really go backwards to relatives?"

The nobles in the ballroom drew Midge's focus and he said, "You're twenty?"

"Nineteen."

Midge scanned the party. "Your mother's pregnant with you." He met Lydia's gaze. "For me it can be a relative. I'm very sure of that. Your mother's pregnant with you. And she's at this raid. This is the first time our paths cross."

Lydia surveyed the room, confused. "So where's your relative? About to rob this place?"

"Hardly." Midge gestured upward to the E's falling from the ceiling. The Colony insignia on their armbands said it all. "Coming to offer security."

A small army of E's, men and women alike, knelt.

One man stood. He looked similar enough to Midge that Lydia looked between them repeatedly.

"That's my older brother," Midge explained. "But if your parent's here, chances are one of mine is, too."

A heavyset noble waved his hand away. His gestures were words enough.

"He's dismissing them."

Midge nodded. "Yes. The Colony E's said they'd worried about a gathering of this many high ranking nobles and insisted they stay. But the nobles refused."

"Why?"

"Hard to have fun with the authorities around." Midge turned and pointed. "Those aren't nobles, so I'm guessing they're entertainers or some sort."

Eventually the E's stood. Midge recognized his father among them. The fact that he was there masquerading as a lowly guard meant he knew something would go wrong.

"That's weird," Lydia said. "Why go out through the walls instead of the ceiling?"

Midge watched his father slip into the crowd while the Colony E's disappeared into the wall. A red light danced along the ceiling and faded in time.

"Because they left a Yule behind." Midge debating saying more—Lydia's family was here. Her squeezing his hand made him sigh. "When the E's initially come in, they demand credits, but something happens—someone fires maybe and all hell breaks loose. See that man there?" Midge pointed out his father. "He's a Yule and he also works for the Colony. I'm guessing he opens fire—which would be reckless. And that might be what got the ball rolling."

The next hour was strange. Lydia commented now and then about how cute and quaint it was but Midge didn't like any of it. Too many diskettes were being traded between the guests to be a normal get-together. They were selling something.

"We only want the money."

The E's came out of the center of the floor

"Why come from the ground? How come everyone knew to move back," Lydia asked.

"That's how a band enters."

"E! Take another step and it's your head."

Lydia gasped. "Mrs. Laurence?"

Midge gaped as well. "Oh the irony."

The woman fired.

And she wasn't the only one. Several guests were heavily armed. A yule from the crowd drew first blood, though by stepping behind a fleeing noble and cutting his throat.

Midge watched his father who stood by letting everything unfold. His father debated going after the murder or running to intercept the E's who took heavy fire.

It took a moment later for Midge to realize that his father was staring—at him.

"Can he see us?" Lydia asked.

"No." Midge swallowed hard. "No. He's a Yule. He's got no power."

"Whoever you are," Midge's father said, "you must leave. Your presence causes discord."

Lydia pointed and Midge looked behind him to see a woman with black hair so long it covered her face—she was who his father spoke to.

"I'm on a job. You're the one who doesn't belong." With a stomp of her foot, Midge's father slid backwards toward the wall. He crossed his arms before his face as he was cast out."

The room faded and a moment later there was blood and bodies on the floor.

"What happened?"

"My relative left," Midge explained. "So we didn't interact. That was an E and she didn't come in with the rest—she was there from the start."

It was hard to make anything out in all the carnage and panic. "So your relative came back?"

"Unlikely. When an E casts someone out it usually sticks." A beam of light flashed before them and Midge understood. "My mother was here."

The confrontation between the woman with black hair and the Colony-appointed female E with a fist burning blue was hard to make out. It ended in the black-haired E's surrender.

When the black-haired E was led from the room, the images faded.

Where'd everything go?"

"Our relatives parted ways," Midge explained.

"But my mother was still there."

Midge had nothing to say. He couldn't shake his father's piercing gaze. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought the man was staring right at him.

"I know a way out," Midge explained. "I know a way out of here. If this is the fifth realm, then we don't need to go back to the tunnel. We can fall back to the third realm and get out that way.

But instead of following Midge's lead or inquiring for more, Lydia sat on the gray nothingness below them. He thought to get her up, to maybe impress upon her how important this discovery was.

In time, Midge found himself sitting, too.

As was her habit, she leaned into him. He was tempted to hold her in return but feared she'd get the wrong idea.

"So we're safe now? We can finally relax?"

Instead of answering, Midge wrapped his arm around her.

"This is going to sting a little," Midge explained. "On my own I'd try to break out of the Lower-Levels but I'm afraid of what that'll do to you. But I'll find us someplace safe."

Midge's body felt heavy—just as it did before he started to ground. He needed to leave this place. Releasing any of his power now was a risk he had to take. He felt sorry for himself, but he felt sorrier for Lydia because taking her home from Big Henry was no longer a safe option. An E turning to stone mid-portal equaled death—if Lydia was lucky.

Lydia winced and Midge felt lightheaded but a moment later the main portal wall of the Lower-Levels spat them out. Midge wanted to kiss the ground.

When they lumbered to their feet, Midge scanned their surroundings; relieved to see a tram wiz by. That wasn't all—no watchers. Mitchellii had wisely given up.

Ten minutes later found them in their hotel room again. Lydia stayed quiet the whole time. She didn't try any funny business; no innuendos. Nothing.

In the main area before the front door, Midge turned the bolt only to find a small body clinging to his. Lydia trembled. Worst yet, Midge realized she wasn't the only one.

He found life unfair. All this time, other than an occasional hug from family, he'd resolved to die alone in his own skin. He'd finally found touch...and it still wasn't allowed. And he craved it. Maybe it was all the close calls of the night, he wasn't sure, but like Lydia, he craved this comfort.

But what was the point? It would lead nowhere...and he was turning to stone.

Breaking Lydia's hold was one of the hardest things Midge had ever done. He didn't have the courage to meet her gaze. And there they stood.

Lydia finally took a step toward him but Midge stepped back.

The look on her face was hard to bear but he stared her down out of respect. When she flopped down into one of the large chairs, Midge took that to mean she got the message.

Unsure what to do, Midge waited for her to say something. Lydia kept to herself. In time she reached behind her back for the diskettes documenting her bill which vibrated again. The forlorn expression on her face might have meant yet another one showed up. This time there was nothing he could offer—no money, no promises. They were lucky to be alive at this point.

"You still have a great deal..." he began but she pulled her feet up and his voice trailed off. Whatever she had would have to keep her.

Midge offered to wait out the transport with her right there. He needed to rest. He wanted to sleep nonstop but there was no doing that now—not with the risk of grounding so fresh.

Still, he decided to head toward the bed.

A hand grabbed the hem of Midge's shirt, dragging a sigh from him as he closed his eyes. "Mitchellii isn't looking for you anymore. You're free to roam," Midge said. He pulled free, muttering, "So just roam already."

After he slid the doors of the secondary room shut, he fell back onto the large bed. He was suspicious when Lydia remained in the main room instead of trying to join him.

"Mr. Osbourne?"

Midge took his time addressing the worry in her voice. "I'm still flesh and bones. Don't worry about me."

She didn't respond.

The heavy front door unbolted and closed shortly after, leaving Midge with his thoughts and regrets. He should have invited her in. She wanted affection—he craved it, too. But it was useless to indulge. That was the emotion he felt from her before she'd left. That E house wasn't on her mind, at least. Her intention was to come back so Midge closed his eyes to take some well-earned rest.