Cuckoos and Chalk Marks

"I was ahead last time," he pointed out tetchily. "Just go on under me and we'll get out of here quicker."

I kept my arms crossed. I felt like I was scolding a kid right now. Which was a strange experience, seeing that I had always been the kid who was being scolded.

"We'll get out of here quicker if you keep going right now," I argued. "What are you even scared of? The only things in here are us."

Sorenson sighed, keeping himself bunched near the top of the hallway. "There could be a cave in," he said sullenly. "Or something."

I groaned. We weren't getting anywhere right now.

"We're not even in a cave," I pointed out. "It's just a regular, tight hallway. There's nothing that can fall here."

"You never know." Sorenson narrowed his eyes. "Come on, we're not getting anywhere fast by flapping our lips. I want to get out of here, Skull!"

Groaning yet again, I ducked underneath Sorenson and kept going down the hallway. For good measure, I grabbed his leg and gave him a tug, too—I wasn't going to let him stay floating up there in place.

Sorenson gave him a solid kick in response and lowered himself to the ground, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. He hated this so, so much...

I winced when he kicked me, but didn't say anything. It wasn't until he lowered himself to the ground that I finally turned back to him.

"Look," I said, "I get you're scared. But you're not going to stop feeling scared if you don't get out of this hallway. I wouldn't have been able to get across that chasm earlier if I didn't get over being scared of falling to my death."

"So move the hell forward." He glared at Skull. Did he not realize that stopping and chatting was just making everything worse? It was his fault Sorenson was getting irritable.

Why was I still trying to argue with him? It wasn't getting me anywhere.

I started down the hallway, then stopped a few steps in to glance back at him.

"If you don't follow me now," I said, "I'm going to drag you down the hallway."

Sorenson stalked after him. "I'd be mad not to," he retorted.

I rolled my eyes. At least he was following me.

"So," I started, trying to keep myself from dying of boredom and maybe trying to distract Sorenson from the hallway as we walked, "what were you doing before you ended up in this place?"

"Sleeping." Sorenson glanced up at the ceiling, so near. He was usually the talker but he wasn't feeling particularly chatty. "I was on a mission. You?"

My irritation finally gave way to something a bit more amusing.

"I was bugging my..." I paused, hesitant to call Nathaniel a friend but all too aware that he counted as one at this point. "...friend. I was using my powers to move things just out of reach from him. I thought it would be a good way to get better at using them."

I crossed my arms in thought.

"...My go-to trick is making him think he was paralyzed in his sleep by a ghost, but that usually doesn't end well."

"That's rather cruel," Sorenson said with a frown. "Doesn't sound very friendly."