The answer to getting over the ravine, apparently, was simply walking over it.

Elliot had wordlessly taken Hat Kid's hand and led her toward the gap. Cautious but reluctantly trusting, she came with him.

He put one foot out over the endless drop, and a platform of pebbles formed under his feet. The rock melted together to create a small floating island. Another step came with another platform. They dropped away once he lifted his feet, but they always shot up to support him.

Hat Kid followed, and the rock pooled together under her feet too. She picked up the pace so Elliot wouldn't just be dragging her along.

They headed through the room in relative silence. Hattie was too uncomfortable to pester the prince with more questions, and he didn't seem interested in striking up a conversation.

Not like she wanted to talk to him anyway. Her mischievous hopes of learning Snatcher's secrets had fizzled out by now. Elliot was simply too unsettling. If she had to learn secrets by talking to him, she'd rather keep her mouth shut. Hopefully, the new storybook she collected would be sufficient.

She found Rift Pons and storybook pages in the houses surrounding the manor. The huts were decrepit and slick with ice when she entered. But as she and Elliot continued toward the looming mansion, she risked a glance over her shoulder back at the houses. They were intact again, with no sign of destruction in sight.

She glanced back at Elliot, and her eyes trailed to the flowers growing in his wake. Were those strange magical effects connected somehow?

The hatch out of the rift was conspicuously placed in front of the manor, unprotected in the field. Hattie hesitated. Compared to the puzzling twists and turns of the rest of the rift, it was too conspicuous. If this rift was as "labyrinthine" as Elliot suggested, would that make the hatch a trap...?

But no, Elliot made a direct beeline for the hatch and propped it open for Hat Kid. Huh. I guess I'm overthinking things, she thought, hopping into the hatch's open mouth. Overthinking was more common than she'd like to admit.

It was why she was in this stupid situation in the first place. If she hadn't been so scared of dying, then maybe she wouldn't have messed around with her soul-!

Her heart stopped as she dropped into the next layer of the rift. The hatch had transported her directly to the doors of the manor. Just staring at the intimidating double doors and remembering what lurked inside made her shudder. The large snow barricade had either melted or disappeared. If Hattie wanted to, she could throw those doors open and loudly announce her presence to the entire mansion.

Hat Kid glanced back at Elliot, dropping from nowhere and landing neatly. Didn't he die in there? Surely he was at least as, if not more, uncomfortable as Hat Kid was?

They made eye contact for a brief moment. She noticed that the yellow in his eyes had receded again.

They both shifted away uncomfortably.

Hat Kid lowered her gaze to the ground, unwilling to look at either Elliot or the estate before her. Even if this was just a rift, the sight of the manor brought back... unpleasant memories, to say the least.

Her brow furrowed. Snatcher sent me in there, she remembered. With his stupid contracts. He wanted to scare me, didn't he? Her finger tapped the handle of her umbrella, restless as her thoughts. Ugh, if only I didn't have to get rid of the rift. I'd leave him here forever! Hattie mentally declared. It serves him right.

"Are you okay?" Hat Kid suddenly jolted at Elliot's voice. The only time he'd ever shown concern for her dragged her out of her hateful thoughts and back to her surroundings.

She glanced back at him but refused to meet his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are the rift pons in there?" Hat Kid gestured at the manor, though Elliot likely knew exactly what she'd been referring to.

His gaze trailed up as he took in the entire building. "Y-yeah. They are." His voice was tight. Worry was leaking through his normally emotionless expression.

"Yayyyy." She smiled ironically and made jazz hands at Elliot before pivoting and heading to the only other entrance she knew.

Thankfully, no headless statues were pursuing her, so she had the luxury of shuffling slowly and dreading the experience. What would Vanessa's manor look like in Snatcher's mind? Would it still be creepy and run-down? And would it have the same horrifying monster lurking within?

Hat Kid wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answers to those questions. She didn't know which would be creepier- if the manor was the same or different.

She headed to the back with Elliot following her this time. She gave a hearty tug on the back doors to the dungeon, cringing as the freezing metal handles burned her palms.

The doors didn't budge. She scowled and tried a few more times, but the doors didn't open. "Rude," she grumbled, though she was secretly relieved. The last place she wanted to go was through the dungeon. Elliot would probably hate being there, too, a small part of her pointed out. She forcefully shoved the thought away and turned her back on the dungeon doors.

It seemed like the only way in was through the front doors of the manor, which Hattie also didn't like the thought of. It would only make their entrance much more noticeable to anyone potentially lurking inside.

It was better than sloshing through a depressing basement foot deep in chilly water, though.

With an annoyed huff, she headed back to the front doors and reluctantly reached for the knob. She gripped the cool metal in one hand and steadied her umbrella in her other. Not bothering to see if Elliot was coming, she tugged the door open and entered. He'll catch up.

The hallway was pitch dark except for sooty torches flickering with blue flames, dimly lengthening the world's shadows. The main hallway stretched endlessly into the darkness, with countless rooms leading off of it.

Hat Kid swallowed hard. She'd found the answer to her previous questions. It would be creepiest if it changed in only the most subtle and liminal ways.

Elliot entered behind her, and she could feel from the shift in the air that he was trying to steady himself too.

"Well," he said suddenly, voice pitching upward with forced positivity. "Shall we get this over with?"

What a fake. Hat Kid rolled her eyes and stepped into the dark room, sliding out of the doorway's light. "You're the guide, aren't you?" she asked, gesturing forward down the hallway. "Guide me, then."

She could see the fear in his eyes, clashing with the smile on his face. What had happened to that careful calmness he previously had?

"Sure." His voice was strained. But without another word, he started down the hallway. Maybe he had some virtue to him if he was still willing to lead Hat Kid through the rift.

That thought forced Hattie's feet forward to trail after him.

They passed door after countless doors. Behind the tightly closed knobs, muffled sounds permeated the area. They passed several with voices leaking out of the cracks, hushed and incomprehensible. Hat Kid paused to listen to one. She could only detect the tone of both voices: furious. They were arguing about something, but whatever it was would forever remain unknown.

She shuddered and kept going.

Now avoiding the doors, she studied the decor around her. It took a minute for her to realize that it was the same thing over and over. The same side tables, the same vase with frozen plants, the same torch on the wall. Repeat.

Every so often, she noticed a painting on the wall of two people. One she recognized as Vanessa. In the painting, she held someone's hand. The face of the other person was scratched out, but Hat Kid had quite a good guess of who it was. The painting was shredded and crooked on the wall in every repetition.

In contrast, Elliot kept his eyes on the doors, watching each carefully. At a certain door, he stopped in his tracks and cracked it open, once deliberate movements becoming hesitant and slowed.

Golden light spilled out of the door's open crack. Encouraged, Elliot opened the door fully, revealing a Rift Pon hovering in the middle of the carpeted room.

Hat Kid wordlessly walked forward and collected it. No gong of the hatch opening yet, but that was expected by now. She looked around the room, but nothing of interest caught her eye. She shrugged and headed out again.

Hattie found Elliot adjusting the painting on the wall. He finished straightening it as Hat Kid stopped by his side. "Let's go," he said quickly, turning away in what might've been embarrassment.

Hat Kid started after him but first risked a glance at the painting.

It was as good as new. Hat Kid could clearly see the prince's face in the painting now.

The muffled sounds overlapped, fading in and out as they headed down the hallway. If it were any louder, it would be overwhelming.

What scared Hattie most wasn't the sounds or the unsettling vibe, but the danger. Or, rather, the lack thereof. All the other rifts she'd been in had enemies; Mafia men ready to pelt her with tin cans, Express Owls armed with books, or weird squid things.

So why wasn't anything jumping out to attack her in here? If anything, she would think Snatcher's mind would be the most hostile.

Maybe it was playing another trick on her. Maybe she would be attacked at the last second, by...

Warily, she side-eyed Elliot. He wouldn't turn against her, would he?

He looked back at her, noticed her unease, and smiled. If it was supposed to be comforting, it didn't work. Yeah, he's gonna try to kill me, was all she thought.

"What's your name?" he asked.

She was startled and snapped out of her thoughts by the personal question. She squinted at him "Huh?"

"What's your name?" he repeated gently. His eyes turned back to the hallway, but he still addressed Hattie. "Earlier, you asked for mine. I thought I'd return the favor." Genuine lightheartedness gave a soft undertone to his voice, but Hat Kid still caught the anxious waver in his expression.

Was he trying to make her feel better? As if. As if he cared about her. As if she would ever trust him enough! "I don't have a name," she grumbled.

Elliot glanced back at her, eyes wide. "People just call me nicknames," she added. "Like kid with the hat. Or Hat Kid for short." Or kiddo, for even shorter, she thought begrudgingly.

Elliot paused at another door and gave Hat Kid an inquisitive look as he opened it. "Is that what you would like me to call you?"

"Do what you want," she responded carelessly. She snatched the Rift Pon inside and stormed down the hallway.

It took another minute of awkward silence to collect two more Rift Pons. The once endless hallway suddenly grew a wall at the end. Two doors on either side of the hallway punctuated the end of the lengthy room. After a moment's examination, Elliot chose the door to his left and headed through. "We're almost out," he told Hat Kid, disappearing through the frame.

Relief flooded through her. Finally! She'd be out of here, and she could get her soul back! Elliot could chain himself back up as much as she liked if that's what he wanted. She really didn't care. She was going to get out of here!

It would be a shame her watch would start ticking again, but it didn't matter. It'd only take a few minutes to negotiate her soul's return with Snatcher.

Yet something stilled her movements. She glanced back at the door on the right. It stood ajar, emitting no light from its interior. She couldn't hear any noise emitting from it.

Curiously, Hat Kid shuffled over and peeked inside the room. She brightened up just slightly, seeing another storybook page hovering just above the ground. She entered the room and added it to her collection.

She lifted her gaze and froze.

Locking wide eyes with red demonic ones.

Frostbit shadowy claws reaching for her, grasping at air, inches away from tearing at her hair.

A once familiar face distorted with heartbreak and magic.

Hat Kid darted out of the room and slammed the door behind her. She pressed her back against it, feeling the rigidness of the wood through her shirt. Her hat shifted on her head as she steadied herself against the door and tilted over her eyes. Her heart threatened to punch a hole through her chest, and her lungs protested with it.

Hat Kid tore herself from the door, sending a glare toward the room that had scared her so horribly. "Peck you," she muttered. For good measure, she stuck her tongue out.

Without another hesitation, she entered the opposite door. Without bothering to slow, she grabbed Elliot's arm and plunged both of them into the open hatch.

The final room was a familiar setting. They stood in the hollow of a monstrously large tree posing as a home. Hat Kid spotted the glowing purple orb that contained the timepiece inside and stomped over, umbrella drawn. Get me out of this stupid place!

"A-are you okay?" Elliot asked as she raised her umbrella. "I heard you slam that door pretty hard."

"I'm fine," she answered stiffly. The force with which she struck the rift said otherwise. Cracks spiderwebbed across the area where she'd made the blow, and the rift skidded across the room.

Elliot watched as she chased after it. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that," he continued. (Why was he still talking? Hat Kid struggled to make him background noise, but his voice cut through her thoughts. How annoying.) "I-I know it's scary and unpleasant."

"Yup." Again, she struck the rift. It darted across the room. Was it trying to escape her or something? Geez. "Can't wait to get out of here." With her exhaustion, she sounded sarcastic even with genuine comments.

"And I understand that," Elliot said. (Holy peck, why was he so talkative all of a sudden?) "I-I understand that more than anyone. That's why-"

"Sure you do." Hat Kid rolled her eyes. Thwack! She hit the rift again, and it veered away from her again, coming to a halt next to Elliot.

The rift was badly damaged. Light poured from the deep cracks, and Hat Kid could just barely see the timepiece inside. Hat Kid stalked over. She needed just one more hit, and she would be free!

Elliot fidgeted with his hands, not daring to look at her as she came close. "Th-that's why I-I just wanted to..." He pursed his lips, unable to choke out his next few words.

Hat Kid readied her umbrella to attack.

"C-can I come with you?" Elliot blurted.

That stayed her hand. Hat Kid, still in an offensive position, turned her head to stare at Elliot. "What?" she asked, an incredulous chuckle escaping her.

The slightest hint of embarrassment tinged his face. "I-I know it's out of the blue," he mumbled. Elliot folded his arms, gripping tightly at his sleeves just below his cloak. "I just...I've spent so long trapped here. It's so cold. And terrifying." The tiniest bit of hope lit up his already bright yellow eyes, and he finally mustered the courage to look at Hattie. "A-and you're the first person I've talked with in a long time. I-I can help you more, I promise, and-"

"What happened to I can always chain myself back up?" Hat Kid frowned at him suspiciously.

"I wasn't thinking when I said that!" Elliot protested, spreading his hands. "Please. I'm begging you. Don't leave me here."

Hat Kid stared deep into his sorrowful yellow eyes. He genuinely wanted to come with her. She could tell by the tremor in his fingertips and the anxiety accented by the tiniest bit of optimism in his face.

It was tempting, sure, but Hat Kid took a moment to remind herself who he was. He's a time anomaly. He's not supposed to exist. He can't exist in the real world. He'll fade away. Making a mistake happy amounts to nothing.

So she looked at him long and hard and said, "No."

She swung, and her umbrella shattered the rift to bits. The timepiece tumbled out.

Any hints of happiness drained right out of Elliot's face. "W-wait!" he cried.

Hattie ignored him and reached out for the timepiece. She grasped it, and light filled her vision. Again, everything spiraled in, pulled by an unseen force, being sucked out of the collapsing time anomaly as everything fixed herself.

Someone grabbed her other hand.

Hat Kid met Elliot's eyes a moment before the light enveloped them.