Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

She wiped her eyes, still chuckling. “My bad. I should’ve warned you that
could happen.” She shook her head. “It’s all good, though, right? I mean, how
great is it that you can’t be hit by cars anymore?”
“That’s what you took away from this?” he asked incredulously.
“It’s a pretty big thing if you think about it.”
“I don’t want to think about it,” he snapped. “I don’t want to think about
any of this!”
Inexplicably, she said, “If wishes were fishes, we’d all swim in riches.”
He stared after her as she started down the road. “That doesn’t explain
anything!”
“Only because you’re being obstinate. Lighten up, man.”
He chased after her, not wanting to be left alone in the middle of nowhere.
In the distance, he could see the lights of what looked like a small village. He
didn’t recognize any of their surroundings, but she was talking a mile a
minute, and he couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
“He doesn’t stand on ceremony or anything, so don’t worry about that.
Don’t call him Mr. Freeman because he hates that. He’s Hugo to everyone,
okay? And maybe stop scowling so much. Or not, it’s up to you. I won’t tell
you how to be. He knows that you…” She coughed awkwardly. “Well, he
knows how tricky these things can be, so don’t worry about it. Ask all the
questions you need to. That’s what we’re here for.” And then, “Do you see it
yet?”
He started to ask what the hell she was talking about, but then she nodded
toward his chest. He looked down, a scowl forming.
The pithy retort on the tip of his tongue was replaced by a cry of horror.
There, protruding from his chest, was a curved piece of metal, almost like
a fishhook the size of his hand. Silver in color, it glinted in the low light. It
didn’t hurt, but it looked like it should have, given that the sharp tip appeared
to be embedded into his sternum. Attached to the other end of the hook was
a … cable? A thin band of what almost looked like plastic that flashed with a
dull light. The cable stretched out on the road in front of them, leading away.
He slapped against his chest, trying to knock the hook loose, but his hands
passed right through it. The light from the cable intensified, and the hook
vibrated warmly, filling him with an odd sense of relief that he hadn’t
expected given that he’d been skewered. This feeling was, of course,
tempered by the fact that he had been skewered.