"Of course," he agreed hurriedly. "Do not doubt it. All of you--I think I understand best of us all. We must strive for our accustomed normality. Remember--the mind now is nearly everything." "I am--not really confused," I said. It relieved him; he spoke more quietly. "This girl, Ala, came from her own realm--wandered out here to see and feel for herself what madness was possessing her people." * * * * * "It is strange," Ala said abruptly. "I am frightened--" Sudden terror marked her features. I was standing nearest to her and her hand gripped me. Again I felt that solidity. Normality. I was real; I laughed contemptuously at all these shadows. The girl added anxiously: "Cannot we go back? Now--where all is real--not like this. I--cannot stay here much longer." "We will go," said Will. "Bee--and you Rob--listen carefully. From now on it is a question of the power of our minds--our will-power. If you wander--weaken for a moment--we are lost. Keep thinking, I am here with my friends. We are going together--going into the other realm." He swung to the girl. "You, Ala, for you it is easier. But yield yourself slowly. If you withdraw resistance you will rush beyond us. You understand? Above everything else we must keep together." She nodded. We clung to each other. Ala began moving forward, drawing us onward up that empty Borderland slope which now was steeply inclined. We passed through the haystack--a mere shadow; passed upward through a corner of the barn roof. Beneath us now spread the phantom world we had left. But as my thoughts dwelt on what we were going to do, the shadows of our earthly realm seemed fading; growing dimmer, blurring as though about to vanish. I watched them fearfully; when they were gone I would be in darkness--pregnant darkness thronged with things unseeable. I thought vehemently. "We must keep together--we are going on into that other realm, Will says we are--Will says we must keep together." But my thought strayed. I remembered Will's house; the room we had left--the little clock--Why, I fancied I almost saw it. Was I there, back in that room?--Where was Bee?--Bee?-- I must have called her name in my thoughts, and at once she answered. "Here Rob. Right here." And I felt the pressure of her hand.