Salt by Danielle Ellison

footing, I brace myself with my toes and pull myself up. That wasn’t so bad. Another branch is a little higher, but I reach it. Instead of prying, I sort of swing myself onto the branch and hang there like a monkey for a second before I can get upright.
    This is what I do for a few more feet, until I’m high enough that I can make out the other trees and a good portion of the bottom of the forest through the greenery. I push the leaves, flowers, and vines out of the way as much as I can so I don’t lose my balance. Something rustles to the left, maybe ten feet from me in the trees, but I can’t tell if it’s the demon. Looking down, I descend one tree branch to the left. That’s when I spot it.
    It’s definitely the demon, but even better, the knife is right there, cradled in the crook of the branches. I totally have the advantage now. It won’t even know I’m coming. I grab the knife and use it to clear away some of the leaves and vines. If I can get across the trees, then I can surprise the demon by landing on its turf. That would be rad. I’m totally doing it. And if I fail then I will fail in a blaze of glory.
    It takes some time to jump from limb to limb through the trees while still maintaining my height. My hands are shaky and red, my shoes damp, and my pants soaked from the moisture in the treetops, but I am nearly ready to make shish kebabs out of this demon. I cross a final tree before I’m right on top it. Perfect.
    I’m lowering myself down a branch when the demon sees me. Its red eyes locks on me, and I’m pretty sure it smiles before it scurries up the tree, digging its long talons into the bark with each inch it gets closer to me.
    So much for the element of surprise.
    Instead of moving toward it, I’m staying put. This branch is solid and wide, a few inches across, so I can definitely fight on it.
    Demon-thing scales the tree way faster than I had, and then it’s so close I choke on the smell. It lunges toward my branch off its own, but it can’t get a grasp and falls back down. It doesn’t stop trying. The demon jumps again, and again, and again until it finally grabs my branch and starts pulling itself up to me. The branch starts to buckle. So much for solidity. This is totally unfair.
    My options are limited: Stay on this potentially hazardous branch and fight the demon, or get down. I look below toward the ground. There’s a clearing, just big enough for a landing. It’s really far down there though.
    The demon pulls his feet up on the branch. I’m crazy. This is crazy. I can’t die in this simulation, can I? The demon reaches out for me, talons ready, and I jump.
    The landing was a bad idea that I didn’t think through. I crash to the ground, landing on my back, and all the air rushes out of my lungs. God, that hurt. I just want to lie here and die now, please. The sounds of the forest all go quiet around me as sharp pulses radiate up and down my spine. My head is already pounding. I open my eyes, but the light hurts it. I think I broke myself.
    When I get my breath back, I peel myself off the ground, sitting up very slowly. My bones all ache and I groan as I move my head. I look up at the treetops and see a mass of red still up there. The branches shake, like the demon is climbing down, but it’s coming down too quickly. It jumped too. I bolt up from my spot and say a silent prayer that it will land where I did.
    Why did it jump? Seriously, those things are so dumb.
    I hide behind a tree, moving as quickly as I can, and watch as it lands very close to where I did. I don’t think. I just move and shove the knife into its chest as it explodes into fragments of red guts and dust.
    I win.
    Unlike before, everything disappears. It dissolves away from me, and then I’m standing in the middle of Times Square, where the sky is dark but barely noticeable because of the bright lights of billboards. Are you freaking kidding me? This is the one that involves Nons. New Yorkers don’t really