Pan and her companions made short jumps through the forest, via portal. They followed the golden thread, and always, it led ahead.

Through the trees, they finally saw a structure – overgrown but still standing. The domed building was a somewhat temporary thing – a research camp, fallen out of favor.

“The thread leads there,” Irini whispered.

Pan and Aria exchanged a look.

Pan shrugged. “It’s the laboratory.” She drew a final portal to the clearing’s edge. She peered through and saw the ruined building. “I don’t know why I thought it would look nicer than the other place, but I did. This lab is in worse shape than the storehouse.”

Aria frowned at the portal. “I don’t know if we should go in. What if that failed arcane destroyed it? What if we don’t see signs of a small research team because they’ve all been killed?”

Pan straightened. “If they got themselves killed, that’s their problem. Our problem is getting into their lab, which looks pretty easy, considering all the holes. Now, if that arcane we saw destroyed the lab and fled to the storehouse, we know it probably doesn’t want to come back here. Bad memories.”

“What if there are more?” Irini asked.

“Your thread wants us to investigate.” Pan shrugged. “If we find more, they might be coherent. Maybe, they’ll talk to us. Or, I might find the ghost of a scientist, and ghosts love to spill all their dirty secrets in the after-life. Either way, it’s a win.” Pan knit her brow. “The only odd thing is that Sotir isn’t in total agreement with the magic thread. You’d think he would be.”

Aria cocked her head. “He didn’t agree with us going alone. Otherwise, he seemed fine with the expedition. I’m not sure. He’s still a man – and one that wants a very specific future at that. He’s interpreting his readings to get there the safest way possible.” Aria stared at the facility. Her eyes searched the trees.

Pan gestured to the ruins. “Well, should we go over?”

“We need to check in with Alban,” Aria said.

“We just did.” Irini frowned.

“I know,” Aria said, with a nod. “But, we just found this building. He’ll need to know that.”

Pan sighed. “Alright. Fine. I’ll do this one.” Pan clicked her com. “Hello Commander Alban. We’ve just found the abandoned research center, and the thread wants us to go inside.”

A short pause followed. “Anything unusual?”

“No. It’s abandoned. It’s a domed building, with overgrown vegetation. We haven’t seen any more of that arcane, just the building,” Pan said.

“What does Aria see?”

Pan held the com out to Aria.

“Old auras. More recent than what I saw at the storehouse. They’re faded. It’s been a while. Of what I can see – there’s yellow, green, red, and some blue. The people here were happy. The place was mostly calm with some moments of frustration and anger. I would expect that for a research location. The blue is somber but not exactly sad.” Aria looked at the building again. “It seems deserted.”

“Ask Sotir for a reading,” Pan said.

“He just woke up. He’s cranky, and I gave him the scrying disc, along with the records and the book. I’m going to trust you girls on this one. He can work on his task for now.” Alban paused a long while. “We’ll join you in a bit. Watch the facility for a few minutes. If you don’t see anyone, you can approach. Alban out.”

Pan put her com away. “Alban just told us to sit here.” She gestured to the ruin. “And, we know there’s no one there. We should have mentioned the holes in the roof.”

“Well, use your portals to get a good look at it. If we see no one, we can go in,” Aria said.

Pan dropped the original portal. She sighted and drew a new portal above the facility. Now, she looked down on the complex, like a bird from above. Below she saw the dome. It possessed two long halls. One extended back. The other, a shorter hall, reached for the forest’s edge. Pan could see broken windows and roof tiles. The place seemed to be made of cardboard and paper.

The domed building wasn’t alone. Another smaller building with two wings of its own, curved around a garden. The garden grew wild and abundant between the two facilities, hemmed in by their walls and a fence that stretched across the garden’s entrance.

“What do you see?” Aria asked.

Pan summarized, “Two buildings. One is big. The other’s smaller. There’s a garden between them, looks overgrown. There aren’t any people.”

Pan drew another portal and got a different angle. She could just peer inside some windows, but mostly she watched from above. Pan repeated the process and checked every view of the facility that she possibly could. She ended with a final look from above.

“What happens if you fall through that?” Irini asked.

“Maybe you die.” Pan swept the portal away and drew one to the edge of the clearing. “Shall we go?”

“Yes, I think we’ve followed his orders now.” Aria stepped through first.

“You have to be next.” Pan gave Irini a gentle nudge.

“Have you ever fallen through a portal that high?” Irini asked.

“Yes, but I have telekinesis. I just float down – kind of.” Pan nudged Irini again. “Go.”

Irini slipped through. Pan followed.

Nearby, the place looked even more like a ruin. Up close, Pan saw broken glass, mossy walls, and cracks that ran the height of the structure.

“Looks terrible,” she said.

“Yes,” Aria agreed. “I’m a bit nervous about going in.”

“If there’s no one there, then we can’t get hurt. Come on.” Pan held her hand out to Aria. “It’s safe.”

Aria bit her lip and looked back. Slowly, she turned to face the lab again. “It looks like it could collapse.”

“It’s made of paper.” Pan reached farther. “Aria, it’s too late to go back now. Don’t worry. I’ll get you home to your Gavain.”

Aria nodded. “Alright. I’m staying close to you though.”

Irini bumped into Pan’s flank. “Me too.”

Pan found a hole in a wall, not quite big enough. She wanted to punch out the rest of the pieces, which were already cracked like a puzzle. The building seemed to be made of cheap plaster, but Pan didn’t want to test it. She wasn’t that kind of arcane – the physically strong kind. Instead, Pan walked a few steps further and took them into another hole, plenty big enough for them to step through. Pan guessed it had been a window, with some of its lower wall knocked free.

As she crossed over, she saw that the walls were very thin.

“They let this place get bad.” Irini glanced side to side. Her curls bounced over her shoulders, as shadow from the interior of the lab engulfed her figure and face.

“It’s in a forest,” Aria said. “I suspect the forest wants to lay claim to it once again.” Aria took a slow, shallow breath. “Although, it looks like something punched its way out of here.”

Pan waved for them to follow. “If it punched out, it’s not in. Come on.” Pan almost turned on her flashlight but found so much light streaming through the broken bits that she didn’t bother.

They walked the floor of the facility and found only meeting rooms, sleeping quarters, and a welcome center. The building wasn’t quite permanent. The walls were made of flimsy materials, and the welcome center presented a tight check in space. The best and nicest part of the facility stood at the center. Pan circled around it, and then, she walked back. She’d found an open elevator shaft. Pan sent her light over the structure and saw that it seemed to be made of fine stone and metal. It could stand for several lifetimes while the rest of the building crumbled around it.

Since the elevator shaft stood open, Pan flashed her light up and down. She couldn’t find the car. Pan hit the call button. The elevator didn’t come. The button didn’t light up. Pan got only a small satisfaction from the button’s click.

Aria shook her head. “Out of order.”

“Absent is more like it,” Pan said.

“They took the whole car out?” Irini leaned in and looked down.

Pan grabbed her arm.

“Are you going to levitate us to the floor?” Irini shot Pan a look mixed between excitement and anxiety.

Pan shook her head. “No, let’s see if we can take the stairs.”

“I don’t see stairs, Pan.” Aria shook her head.

“Let’s just walk around.” Pan stared to circle the lab’s center column. “I doubt they’d want to be stuck underground with all those terrifying arcanes they make.” Pan stopped. She found a door. “Ah, here it is.” She put her light on the sign and saw the universal symbol for stairs.

Aria squinted.

“The sign says stairs.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Aria said. “Pan, this sign, and this door have an aura. It’s faint, but it’s newer.”

Pan caught her breath. “Does the aura look arcane?”

Aria shook her head. “No, there’s no white. It’s just normal. But, I might remind you that we look normal when we don’t use our powers.”

Pan felt her muscles go stiff. “But it doesn’t have arcane runes, right?”

“Right.”

Pan sighed. “Why did you get my heart rate up?”

Aria raised her eyebrows. “We might run into scientists.”

Pan put a hand to her cheek. “Scientists! Aria, oh no, scientists, what will we do?”

Irini snorted.

“There might be military personnel with them.” Aria crossed her arms.

“Toy soldiers.” Pan grabbed the door handle. “You should see what I do to them.” Pan pulled the door open. “I’ll go first, and I’ll protect you from the scientists and the guys with guns.”