Thirteen

"What are we going to do now?" Sapphire whispered breathlessly. The girl didn't seem to have noticed them yet. She seemed to be gazing off into space.
"Keep driving?" Argus suggested. It seemed like the sensible thing to do. Apparently he'd been wrong about the thing not being able to find him. All he could think now was that maybe it wouldn't be able to find him again, if he just ran away. For the first time ever he considered it. Images flashed through his mind, of moving vans and highways, maybe even an airplane or two and a continent away, and just how far was New Zealand? He'd always heard it was nice. He was so preoccupied with these visions that he didn't at first notice Sapphire opening the door and getting out of the car.
"Sapphire! Wait!" he shouted. She was standing outside now, and looked back in at him still sitting there in the passenger seat.
"Take the car if you want," she told him. "I left the keys in the ignition."
With that, she turned and walked toward the building. Now the girl saw her coming and turned to face her. She wasn't at all how she had been depicted. This girl wasn't aflame, or anything like it. She was just a young girl, a bit tall for her age, with short short black hair and bright eyes, a straight nose and thin lips. She was wearing a red shirt and blue jeans.
'Maybe the red had been taken for fire?' Sapphire wondered. The girl's skin was bronzed, much like her own, but the only thing strange that Sapphire could see was that the girl didn't smile, or have any other expression on her face. She seemed calm. It was just an impression. Sapphire drew closer with each step and the girl remained passive, arms down by her side, simply waiting.
Argus, meanwhile, got out of the car also. He had intended to do what, he couldn't have said. Certainly he didn't want to go near the young girl, and Sapphire didn't seem to need help. He found himself standing by the car, just watching. In that he was joined by agents Phipps and Hawkins, who'd also emerged from their undercover vehicle and stood gaping on the other side of the road.
Sapphire was preparing some questions. She was going to interview this child, see what she could get out of her. First things first, she reminded herself. Who are you and where did you come from? Where do you live? Who are your parents? She couldn't believe that the girl was a thing, not a person. Clearly it was a girl. She must have a story like anyone else. Sapphire wasn't afraid, and recalling Agent Sneed's panic, she nearly laughed out loud, thinking of all the fuss that was made of this child.
"Hi," Sapphire said as she came up to the girl, whose eyes met hers and seemed friendly.
"Hello," said the girl.
"My name is Sapphire Karadjian. I'm a reporter."
"I know who you are," the girl said, and held out her hands, palms up before her. Sapphire looked at them and saw nothing odd. She looked back at her face.
"Can I ask you some questions?"
"There's no need," the girl said. "Take my hands."
The girl took Sapphire's instead, grasping each one with one of her own. Sapphire felt a jolt blasting through her whole body. The sensation rolled through her like a wave through her bloodstream, not pleasant but not painful either, a little bit dizzying. She felt she was losing her balance but only for a moment.
"What is it?" she murmured aloud, but then it faded and she felt normal again. The girl was still holding her hands.
"Where are we going?" Sapphire said, although they were both standing still. The girl said nothing but squeezed her hands tighter. Sapphire had the feeling that every thought that had ever passed through her brain was being juggled and shifted into different positions, rearranged and re-ordered as if making room. For a moment she thought she was going blind but it was only her eyes seeing flashes of white, and this soon receded as well. The girl suddenly let go, and Sapphire relaxed. She hadn't even realized how tense she had been, or that she had indeed been afraid.
"I was lying to myself," she mumbled, then laughed and looked at the girl.
"Sometimes I think out loud," she explained. The girl smiled. She actually did, and it made Sapphire feel happy somehow.
"Okay," Sapphire said. "I get it. Let's go."
Together they walked back to the car. Argus took a step back but the girl, even Sapphire, took no notice of him. Sapphire opened the passenger door, and the girl climbed inside and sat down. Sapphire went around and got back in the driver's seat. She buckled the girl, then buckled herself. Then she pulled out her phone and called Sneed.
"I'm going to need an escort," she said, ignoring Sneed's questions. "Your boys where I am will do fine. Tell them to take me in. You know where," and hung up.
She watched as Phipps and Hawkins scrambled into their car and, putting a cop light onto their hood, drove off with the thing flashing red. Sapphire followed. They drove through the heart of the city, all the way across town. Sapphire and the girl didn't talk. As the child said, there wasn't a need. Sapphire was getting excited. Everything was going to make sense after all, and it was all going to be easy.
As they neared the sinkhole they had to slow down, to make their way through the caravan of television platforms and tents. The siren was blaring now and she could see Phipps screaming at people from behind the wheel. Barricades were moved, and trucks backing up made room for their cars to get past the layers of fences and walls. The sinkhole was surrounded by even more of a fortress than Sapphire had thought.
"It must really be something," she said, and looked at the girl, who was only staring ahead. When Phipps came to a stop and got out of his car, Sapphire turned off her own and took a deep breath.
"I guess this is it," she said to the girl, who nodded and waited for her door to be opened. Sapphire got out, went around, and gave her hand to the child. Sapphire expected to be bothered by someone at this point, but nobody dared to come near her. She scanned the faces of the guards and the agents she saw, and there was concern in some and terror in others. They kept their distance, shuffling unsteadily on their feet.
They were close to the hole, and she could see it was indeed huge, but other than that, it was only a hole in the ground. She didn't see what the big deal was about. The girl took her hand and they walked to the edge. Sapphire looked down and saw rubble and rocks and dirt and occasional trash that probably flew in on the breeze. She felt the girl squeezing her hand once again. Sapphire squeezed back and felt a surge of emotion, of warmth toward this child. She looked over at her and smiled. The girl tilted her head and had a strange look on her face, half a smile, half a question.
"Now what?" Sapphire asked, and the girl lifted her chin toward the hole. Following the girl's eyes, Sapphire looked again toward the hole and again felt that flashing effect in her eyes. She thought now she was dreaming. She was standing in front of a long, swaying rope bridge, which dangled over the sinkhole.
"How did that get here?" she blurted out, and felt the girl tugging at her.
"Are you crazy?" Sapphire asked, but she followed as the girl took a step off the edge of the hole.
"That's like a hundred feet down," Sapphire muttered, "there's no way."
She walked onto the bridge and it held.
"I know it's not even here," Sapphire quietly said, "but it is, isn't it?"
Nobody answered. The girl was still pulling at her, and Sapphire took another step, then another. The rope bridge was swaying a bit and with her free hand she steadied herself on its railing.
"Just don't look down," she advised herself, and instead she looked ahead, and saw, at the end of the bridge, and not too far off, what looked like a jungle. She thought she heard birds and saw motion ahead, trees maybe swaying and underbrush rustling. She kept walking. It was getting warmer with every step. It felt good. At the end of the bridge they stepped off and were there. Sapphire looked back. There wasn't any bridge, or any sinkhole, or any Spring Hill Lake either. It was all jungle around her, and the girl was still with her, and now the girl was giggling and Sapphire started laughing too and she knew, all at once, all about it.
The thing wasn't sick. It wasn't stuck. It wasn't scary and didn't intend any harm. It had something to give. It wanted to give. It was joy. It was good. It was beautiful.