Depths of the Vortex-9

Depths of the Vortex

Author: Aurorita248
Rated: T
Warnings: Slash, and LOTS of paranoia about spirals
Summary: John, Paul, George and Ringo plan to leave their sleepy village to become a great band in the city. Unfortunately, Torikakomu is not known to be very wild about letting the villagers go. It gets worse when mysterious incidents involving spiral patterns begin to take over several citizens of the town. It's up to the Fab Four—or the Beatles as they call themselves—to harness the powers they have inside to not only solve this mystery, but escape the winding fate that is left out for them.
Note: This story was inspired by a drawing created by deviantartist VictorianFox and Junji Ito's manga series "Uzumaki". The town Torikakomu is based on a Japanese word for "encircle". All rights to things that aren't mine belong to said company alone and I just voice out a story based out of these ideas.
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Chapter 9-The Snail

"They did what?!" Paul screamed, after dinner. "They can't! They're…they're…."

"Evil, I know." said John. "If it wasn't for them, I doubt I would've survived being eaten to death by Rocky's corpse. They helped me, and they helped Cynthia. Poor Cyn; she must be frightened out of her wits by now!"

Paul sighed as he clutched the pillow in his hands. They were all in the bedroom, and dressed in pajamas with Paul's notebook in the center of their circle. It had a new entry, describing Rocky and Cynthia's relationship.

"Whoever those freaks are, we can't trust them." said George. "We can only trust ourselves."

"Was there a Spiral version of me, John?" asked Ringo.

The other Beatles looked at the drummer strangely.

"Sorry, I was just asking." The drummer mumbled.

"Either way," said Paul, clutching his bass. "We need to do something about the Koiru festival. Does anyone have any ideas on what the song list for that should be?"

"We all came up with a couple of songs by ourselves." said John. "All we need to know is what we're going to do when we have all this stuff going on."

"How much more can we take?" asked George. "I wanna leave soon."

"We leave until every damn spiral in this place is gone." said John. "I am not abandoning my friends. We're the only ones who know about this, and all of them have to be saved."

Ringo laid back and stared at the ceiling. A silent scream roared in his head, but he ignored it.

"I just want these things to go away…" He murmured.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Five days passed since Rocky returned from the dead. Schoolwork kept the Beatles busy, and anything else they had to do also kept them busy. The four boys were all wondering what was going on, and why these spiral entities were going after them. Were they trying to help them? Were they trying to hinder them? Either way, they couldn't escape until they figured out the truth.

On Monday, June 29th, it was raining.

Rain in Torikakomu was said to be a splendid occasion; even more so than most villages. The rain would fill Cicada Pond to the brim, and give the water needed for them. Legend had it that when Torikakomu was barely a village, a meteor struck through the ground and created the crater.  The warm air in the atmosphere soon gathered and formed the clouds that filled the crater. There, cicadas began to chirp as the crater became the pond. It was at a time that the village was in a drought, and the meteor was considered a blessing.

Maybe we can make a song about rain… John thought to himself. He sighed as Mr. Epstein continued to talk and talk and talk. First period on Thursdays were usually boring, but that was only because of the anticipation for Friday. The class was halfway done when the door opened.

"Isn't that old Colin Hanton?" asked Stu, pointing to the figure out in the hall.

"Ah, he is." John noted. "I wondered what happened to the guy."

"He always comes on rainy days, remember?"

"And where there's Colin…there's mockery."

"I'm sorry that I'm late, Mr. Epstein." said Colin, his voice slurring a bit. The teen was covered in some sort of slimy substance (or it could've been water, considering that he wasn't carrying an umbrella on him).

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Hanton?" asked Brian.

"Well…I got up early…but it just took a long time to get here."

"That's because he's the slowest out of all of us, Sir!" laughed a voice. "It takes him ten times the time for a normal person to get anywhere."

A couple of laughs and jeers accompanied the remark as Stu and John sighed.

"Rory Storm and the Hurricanes strike again." They said simultaneously.

Ringo turned away from the group of laughing boys; before he met up with John, Paul and George, he hung out with Rory. He only did so because he felt that if he was in a gang like them, he wouldn't feel so…inadequate. In truth, being with the Hurricanes was just as bad—if not worse—than being alone. George came and freed Ringo from the abuse, and the two have been together ever since.

"That's enough, you four." said Brian to the Hurricanes. He then turned his attentions to Colin.

"Why don't you buy an umbrella?" Epstein suggested. "You're soaking wet again! Also, I don't understand why you only show up to class when it rains. Do you have the right to just come to school whenever you feel like it?"

"Uh…um…." Colin stuttered. Brian sighed.

"Just go to your seat," He stated, pointing to his empty desk. Colin began to march forward, taking sluggish movements to make it to the chair.

"I hate to agree with Eppy, but he's right." Stu whispered. "Old Colin is slow…"

John replied with a curt nod, turning his head toward Ringo. He hoped that the small drummer didn't become sucked into the chaos of the Hurricanes; who knows how long it would take to free him out of that?

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The rain didn't cease throughout the whole day. Fourth period was gym, and they were having volleyball. John, Stu, Ringo and Pete were on one team, while Rory had to deal with Colin.

Ringo bunted the ball back to Pete. Pete jumped into the air and spiked the ball. The ball landed a few centimeters to the left of Colin, who was slow to miss it.

Needless to say, John's team won the match. Colin was soon in the locker room being beaten by the Hurricanes. The resulting attack lead to poor Colin being stripped naked and pulled out of the hallway.

"GROSS!" The girls screamed. The boys just cringed and closed their eyes in disgust. Colin soon rolled to his back, as Rory was laughing up, well, a storm.

"This is what you get you pussy!" Rory spat out. "No one makes fun of me and..."

Rory stopped, seeing the backside of the slow boy. It was a giant spiral.

John and Ringo looked at one another before looking at the spiral. Things were starting to get bad.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"Stupid rain," said Paul. "If this keeps up, they're gonna be holding that Rain Ritual."

George nodded as the two were getting ready to teleport back home. After getting messages from John and Ringo, the younger Beatles rushed out of class and met them outside. Surrounded in the rain, John created his Spiral Barrier, making them unseen to the naked eye. The barrier was also preventing the rain from hitting them, so that was an extra bonus."

"Rory and the Hurricanes," said George. "I remember them; I'm pretty glad those guys haven't ganged up on us. Well, then again they stopped doing so ever since Ringo told them fuck off."

"I know." said John with a chuckle. "He just cursed in ten different ways and ended it with a hockey stick to the head!"

"Well, they made me mad." Ringo replied, his cheeks turning red. "I didn't like their teasing."

"We're here for you now, so don't worry." said George, hugging the small drummer. "We won't let anyone bother you again."

"How adorable, I remembered when love was like that."

The Beatles turned seeing Spiral Paul arrive from a red and black portal. His blue and purple eyes stared at them with amusement, and a cat-like grin appeared on his lips.

"You again?!" said John. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not here alone." said Spiral Paul. "I brought a friend."

Emerging from the portal was a smaller figure, but he looked similar to Ringo. He was dressed in a pink and black military suit with a pink cap with a flat top. Decorating the sleeves were pink and yellow ribbons.

"That must be Spiral Ringo…." George whispered. "Man…he looks bad in pink."

"I heard that!" Spiral Ringo snapped.

The younger drummer placed a finger near his ear, tracing a spiral in the air. His special earring appeared and his eyes began to glow in a pink and yellow light.

"Hear this also!" said Ringo, running past the barrier. "Maybe this should teach you a lesson."

The drummer rushed toward his Spiral counterpart, jumping into the air so he could grasp onto the ears of the evil Ringo. Unfortunately, Spiral Paul raised a hand and he became frozen in mid-air.

"We can't have us be aggressive, now can we?" Spiral Paul asked coolly.

With a snap of his fingers, Ringo fell onto the ground, soaked in mud.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Freezing time." said John. "Now what do you guys want?"

"We're just warning you that old Colin isn't feeling well." said Spiral Paul. "I suggest that you keep a close eye on him in the following school days."

"You might find something strange…." Spiral Ringo added. "Ta-ta…"

The two disappeared by a swirling portal opening beneath their feet. The rain continued to beat hard as the four stared at the very spot.

"…What did they mean by that?" asked George.

No one had the answer to that question.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The next day, Brian Epstein was out. Apparently, something happened to his family and he had to leave. Instead, the class had to deal with a substitute by the name of Allen Klein. His background was a bit shady, and he certainly did not understand the likes of the school system of Torikakomu. Still, it was either that or someone worse; the class decided for the lesser than two evils.

The class was going through roll call to make sure Mr. Klein knew who he was teaching.

"Pete Best?"

"Here, sir."

"Stu Sutcliffe?"

"Over here."

"John Lennon?"

"That's me, teach."

"Richard Starkey?"

"I'm here."

"Colin Hanton?"

There was a pause as everyone turned to Colin's empty seat. He wasn't here. The rain was still pouring and there was some silence. Mr. Klein just checked Colin off the list.

It was study period for the group; an hour passed before Colin entered, looking slimier than usual.

"S…orry…." He slurred. "I…didn't….."

"Just head to your seat, Mr. Hanton." said Mr. Klein. "I'll let it go…for now."

As Colin went to his desk, everyone noticed his back. There was a giant growth, twisted and knotted into a spiral. John had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Ringo closed his eyes and felt words in his ear…

Spirals take form, spirals grow; become a creature of a spiral….

That spiral mass was pulsing with spiral energy. They knew that things would get worse.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The rain was still there by Wednesday. Mr. Klein was still the teacher until Brian returned. He would be back by the new semester—which by then Ringo and John would've graduated—but until then, the last few days of school were run by a substitute.

Colin's back was swollen. The giant swirled mass was enormous, but it wasn't until Thursday that things got worse.

The doors slid open and Colin entered…but this time, he was crawling on the ground, flat on his stomach. He was completely  naked, except for the giant snail shell covering his back.

"GROSS!" Everyone yelled, stepping away from the snail-boy. Colin ignored the protests as he made his way into his seat. Everyone just stood there in horror.

"Something is definitely not right." said Pete. "Right?"

"Yeah." John whispered. "I don't like this feeling...."

No one in the class liked the feeling; it made them feel sick.

0 0 0 0 0 0

By Friday morning of July 3rd—which was coincidentally the last day of school—it was still raining. The village traditions stated that if rain lasted five whole days, the day after the fifth consecutive day of rain, whether there is rain or shine, there would be a rain ritual at Cicada Pond. There would be the tossing of onigiri into the water, as if to satiate the fish swimming inside, hoping that the fish would be plump for them to eat.

The Beatles were safe underneath John's barrier. With the manipulation of the spirals, he was able to make the barrier cover their bodies, thus preventing them to become sick from the rain. While everyone else was covered in umbrellas, they were out walking without worry.

"Time for an onigiri frenzy!" George exclaimed. "We'll be eating onigiri with cucumbers and umeboshi and salmon roe…they taste so good!"

"We won't have time to think about that with the spirals, George." said Paul. "Right, John? John?"

"Look!" John whispered, pointing to the school building. "There he is!"

The other Beatles looked up, gasping at the site. Crawling through the windows of the school building was Colin. He was now a snail. His eyes bugged out, growing and lengthening into stalks. Shining on the windows was a glistening slimy trail of snail slime, weaving up and down.

"Is this what those Spiral freaks were talking about?" asked George.

"I-I think so." said Ringo. "But why did it affect him? How did it affect him?"

"First off, what do we know about old Colin Hanton?" asked Paul.

"He's a student in my class!" Ringo stated.

"He auditioned to be a drummer in the band before Ringo came along." said John. "He got upset after one of the practices we had so he quit. After that, he's had little to no success. He's been taking drugs and he became lazy and lethargic..."

"To the point that he only shows up on rainy days." Ringo finished. "Snails like the rain, don't they?"

"They do." said Paul. "So the spiral responded to his behavior and habits by making him become a creature of a spiral."

"But now that he's a spiral, what now?" asked George. "He can't really stay like this forever....can he?"

"I don't know." said John. "Right now, we'll just have to keep an eye on him."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"ARE YOU BLIND?! THAT IS NOT OUR SON!"

The cries of Colin's parents were heard at the school. The snail boy was still on the glass, leaving its slime all over the place. The rain was still pouring, however, and it did nothing to block out the sounds of frustration down below. Ringo had a finger near his earrings, trying to figure out what else they were saying. From the looks of it, it sounded as if the mother and father wanted to have no relation to the snail boy.

As if we don't need anything else on our minds… The drummer thought to himself.

He wound his finger back, seeing the other students talking to themselves. They were all panicking and worried about the situation. It was something that was so unreal, and so improbable. If only they knew the truth.

Eventually, a couple of students were able to get a large broom to poke at the giant snail. Down below were students with a tarp in their hands, hoping to catch the gastropod-man and make sure he was safe.

With a final whack, the snail fell onto the tarp. Hopefully the school would find out what to do with him…after the rain was gone.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"This is nuts." said John. "How much onigiri do we need to make again?"

"Five per household." said George, placing a strip of nori around a rice ball. "The rest we get to eat!"

"Well we did go overboard with buying groceries." said Paul. "This is enough to last us a week at much."

"It's a good thing we don't have classes." said Ringo. "We'll be running everywhere and biking everywhere for our jobs."

The four were surrounded by bowls of rice, nori and delicious onigiri toppings. Whenever the rain would cast, the four gathered together for an onigiri feast. The onigiri would be their dinner so everything wouldn't be wasted. All the onigiri needed for the pond was stored in a lunch cooler for the next day.

"The rain is still pouring." George noted. "How much longer is it gonna last?"

"We have spiral powers, we're not psychics." said Paul. "So who knows how long this will last?"

John shrugged his shoulders, scooping some canned tuna mixed with mayo into his hands. With a ball of rice in one hand, he packed the tuna inside. He began to mold the rice into a cylinder, preparing it for the nori wrapping.

"At least onigiri isn't spiral shaped." said Ringo. "As long as we stay away from spiral shaped foods, I think we'll be fine."

"The last thing we need is to eat spirals." said John, placing an onigiri onto a large tray. On the tray were around 20 rice balls, each topped with a delicious filling that a particular Beatle liked.

"Don't people eat snails though?" asked George.

"What do you mean?" asked Paul.

"In France, they eat snails…or at least that's what Eric said before he died."

"Colin's a snail, but I doubt they'll eat him." said Ringo. "They'll probably place him in the old rabbit hutch, give him some cabbage and water, and let him curl in his snail in the sun."

"Can we stop talking about snails and get these rice balls done?" John exclaimed. "At the rate we're going, we won't have enough for dinner!"

George, Ringo, and Paul nodded their heads; when the four of them were together, they could eat a combined total of 40 rice balls. Then it became a guessing game as to which rice ball had which filling, then it would end with them making more rice balls for the day after.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0


After dinner, the four were off to sleep. Their bellies were full of the rice balls, and they were all excited for summer vacation to begin.  Even with the prospect of having no school, they pondered about a couple of things.

First off, what were these spirals? What was their motive? Why did they need the four?

The second question was whether or not they could trust their spiral counterparts. Without them, Cynthia would've been captured by Rocky. They also mentioned and warned them about Colin's transformation.

The last question was when they should leave. They had to leave when the Koiru festival started—which was in autumn—and that should give them enough time to figure out what's going on.

The uneasiness of the four settled into them until they all fell asleep. As they slept, eerie noises floated in the air. They flew past the window and into the ears of the four.

The Beatles opened their eyes and sat up. Their eyes were unfocused, wrapped in the comfort of sleep and slumber. They stood up, their bodies still and immobile. Spiral marks covered their bodies, each of them curled and crossed and twisted in dual colors. Their eyes began to shine with these sorts of colors also.

The four slowly began to walk toward their destination, to where the music was telling them to go. They smiled as the music filled them with happiness…the music made them happy…

With the door opened and Aunt Mimi asleep, John, Paul, George and Ringo began to approach the source of the music.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"John, wake up!"

John was the first to awaken. The skies were completely grey, and his eyes saw Stu and Pete over them. The two had umbrellas in their hands, blocking the rain that was pouring down. He also felt cold and sniffled a bit.

"W-where am I?" He asked. "This isn't my bedroom."

"You four are near the edge of Dragonfly Pond." said Stu. "Pete and I went off to pick you guys off so we can get the onigiri dumping done...and then we heard noises."

"Wait...did you say 'You four'?" asked John.

"As in you, Paul, George and Ringo, then yeah." said Pete. "We didn't see you at home, but as we neared the pond, we heard these weird noises. Naturally we followed them...and found you four acting like animals in the fucking heat."

"What? That's insane! The four of us went to bed after our onigiri dinner!"

"Then explain why Paul is..." Stu trailed off, pointing at John's crotch.

John turned and screamed. Paul was on his hands and knees, sucking on John's prick with hunger. The younger boy was in a daze, a slight moan escaping his pouting lips. Looking past Paul, John observed George and Ringo on top of one another and sucking each other off.

"Why are they doing that?" asked John.

"Beats me." said Stu. "We heard you screaming as you were floating and skinny dipping around the pond. Then all of you were swimming to shore and fucking each other in the ass before collapsing."

John backed away from Paul, trying to hide his saliva covered cock from his friends. Paul blinked and looked confused. His eyes were foggy as he began to crawl toward John again.

"Get away!" John screamed, bringing a hand into the air.

With one fell swoop, he slapped his love across the face. Paul's head snapped back as the bassist placed a hand on his cheek.

"Ow, that hurt." He stated. "Hey wait! John, why are you naked?"

"I'd like to ask why you're the same way." John replied.

Paul looked down and also began to cover his own erection. His face turned bright red with embarrassment and humiliation. The rain continued to pour, drumming and strumming down Stu and Pete's umbrellas.

"Just wake up your friends and get them out of here." said Stu. "I don't want your naked flesh burning into my eyes after we just got out of school...."

John nodded and crawled toward Ringo and George. The two moaned in pleasure, suckling on their treats. John and Paul pulled the lovers away from each other, slapping themselves across the face. Their bodies were being soaked by the pouring rain.

"Wake up!" said John, slapping Ringo across the face. "Wake up!"

"This is no time for a 69!" said Paul. "Open your eyes!"

"Ow..." said Ringo, rubbing his cheek. "What was that for?"

"You were being possessed, mate." said John. "You weren't yourself."

"Huh?" asked Ringo, looking down. "Oh my god, I'm naked!"

"We know." said Paul. "George, are you alright?"

"I'm naked, I'm not alright!" George replied.

"We can see you!" said Pete. "Now get going before someone knows you're gone! And get some clothes!"

"We'll see you in a bit...." said Stu, slowly backing away. "Bye then..."

The two began to walk off, their heads protected from the pouring rain. The Beatles huddled each other in a warm hug, trying to figure out what was going on.

"G-George...." John shivered. "Teleport us home..."

George nodded his head as he rotated his wrists into small circles. His ring appeared on his left ring finger as his pointer finger traced a spiral in the pouring rain. The spiral began to glow and spark in its usual colors.

"Let's go." said Paul. "A-Achoo!"

At the sneeze, the four jumped head first into the spiral, leaving the rain to its own business.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"Are you sure you boys aren't coming to the ritual?" asked Aunt Mimi, seeing the four boys asleep on the floor and bed.

"We're sick." John sniffled, an icepack on his forehead. "We can't make it."

"We made five onigiri for the pond though." said George. "They're in the cooler."

"Is there anything you need?" asked Aunt Mimi.

"No, we're fine." said Paul. "We're not that sick to not get green tea and rice balls. Besides, you'll be able to make your delicious okayu to keep us healthy."

"Just let us sleep." said Ringo. "We don't want you to miss out on the ritual."

"All right, then." said Aunt Mimi. "I'll let you four sleep. I'll be back once the ritual is over; you know where I'll be."

Aunt Mimi closed the door as the four Beatles stayed quiet. Once they heard Aunt Mimi leave the house, they began talking.

"George," said John. "Use your powers to bring those rice balls to us."

"I'm already doing it." said George, tracing the floor with his finger. The swirling spiral appeared as a cooler stocked with onigiri appeared. Each of them was wrapped in plastic wrap, but all of them were of different shapes. Some were triangles, a few were cylinders, and others looked like balls of rice, each of them wrapped in shiny nori. Taking two into his hands, he tossed one to John, and the other to Paul.

"What the hell happened to us?" asked Ringo, catching an onigiri in the air. "Why can't we remember all this stuff?"

"I bet it has something to do with that Spiral." said Paul, while he unwrapped his rice ball. "That has to be the case."

"Either way, we won't be doing anything for a while." said John. "We're sick in bed, and on the first day since school ended!"

George nodded his head, canceling his spiral portal. Instead, a figure rose from beneath the ground, dressed in red clothing.

"YOU!" John screamed. "You're George's spiral counterpart!"

"What if I am?" asked Spiral George, seating himself on a chair. "Poor you, all sick from the rain....such a shame that you can't see the two lovebirds at the hutches?"

"W-what do you mean?" asked Paul. "No one's been dating...or at least, people we known haven't been dating."

"They aren't people, but they are having personal time." Spiral George quipped. "I suggest you four rest and wait until Monday; even though school isn't over, it doesn't mean stuff at school is on hold until September."

Spiral George took an onigiri from the pile and stepped back into the portal. Tearing through the plastic wrap, the older George took a big bite from his treat.

"Someone has good taste." He noticed. "There's crab, avocado and cucumber in one rice ball...ingenious."

He soon vanished without a trace, taking the spiral with him. The four boys were quiet once more, hearing nothing but the pouring rain from outside.

"I don't like where this is going." said Paul. "What do we do about this warning?"

"We better figure out what's going on here." said Ringo. "It's a chance we have to take...."

"I just want to get out of here." John moaned, beating his pillow with a fist.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Aunt Mimi returned and quickly made oyaku for the boys. The four ate their soup with gusto and fell asleep. They could only hope that the whole situation would change sooner or later.

Sunday was rest day. In addition to Aunt Mimi making soup from the meals—and preparing leftover rice for bento boxes—the Beatles were listening to the radio. The weather was going to be sunny, and it would be nice that their Summer be nice and warm.

On Monday, July 6th, the four were active and healthy enough to head to school. They left early in the morning—since their jobs didn't need them until later in the day—and teleported to the school at around 8 AM.

"The school sure is spooky during the Summer." said John, looking up at the old school building.

"I hear something." said Ringo, his fingers on his earring. "Its voices...it's...the Hurricanes!"

"Are they upset that they might be held back a year?" asked John. "I swear, they're nothing but trouble."

"We should check them out either way." said Paul. "We'll make them talk if they refuse."

The four slowly approached the three Hurricanes. One was poking at a snail's shell, pestering and annoying the snail so that it would poke its head out.

"Come on, stupid snail!" said one of the Hurricanes. "Do something not boring!"

"He's doing something not boring." Paul remarked. "He's getting away from you."

"Yeah, I can't believe they're only poking one of the snails." said John. "Wait…one of the snails?"

The Beatles turned and saw another snail poking its head out. It looked similar in composition as Colin…but Ringo knew who it was.

"Oh my god," said the drummer. "I-I think I know who that other snail is."

"Who is it?" asked George.

"It's…Rory…." Ringo answered.

The other Beatles gasped as the drummer shook his head.

"I think it was karmic justice." said Ringo. "We probably won't know the truth unless…"

"Unless you got a glimpse of the past, right?"

The Beatles turned around, seeing Spiral John emerge from a shimmering portal. His eyes were closed halfway, and a cat-like smile graced his lips.

"Hello there," said Spiral John. "I hear you need to know the truth."

"We want the truth of why the spirals are here!" said John. "Tell us what you know! What happened to us two days ago?!"

"Ah, ah, ah…." said Spiral John, waving a finger. "You specifically wanted to know the truth on Rory's fate; I can only give you one bit of information at a time."

"But…"

"Since you need to fill that stupid notebook with evidence, I might as well tell you what happened."

Spiral John cleared his throat.

"While you boys were off sick, Rory and his friends decided to tease old Colin as usual." Spiral John explained. "After that, he started to change. He became super thirsty, and slow…and by early morning, he was a snail. I say that karma is working her charms on him."

"That's disgusting and inhuman!" Paul gasped out.

"Is it as inhuman as to what happened to Desmond and Molly's family?" asked Spiral John. "What about Magic Alex or Heather? They all were victims of spirals, and died. Karma let Rory live, so she's nice…."

"You're monsters…." said George.

"Perhaps," said Spiral John. "Perhaps we're not that mean at all…"

Spiral John entered the portal and disappeared from site. The Beatles stared at the spot where he stood and gulped. This summer was going to be their most dangerous ever.

"When are we going to leave this place?" asked Ringo.

The other Beatles didn't know how to answer that simple question.