The next day started out much like the previous one. The clothes that I had worn the previous day were taken away to be washed and another set provided. This set was still loose and soft, but this time the pants were a light khaki and the shirt was white. I wondered for a moment how easily they might stain during our training sessions, but wasn’t going to complain about what was provided. Alissa and Quince had prepared a simple fruit salad for breakfast, with cottage cheese and more bread. Lexie scrunched her face up at the cottage cheese and picked at the fruit a bit, but did eat several slices of bread that she generously slathered with butter. Since I liked cottage cheese quite a bit, that suited me fine because it meant more for me.

Quince was beginning to clean our rooms and the dining area as Chase arrived to collect us. We met with everyone but Master Zern in the same courtyard as the day before. Once again, they performed the compass spell that allowed us to briefly see the other Grace. She was in the same position in the circle as before, this time sitting and eating a bowl of soup. She was such a small figure that it was hard to make out specific details about her.

After that, Greyjon put Zolambi in charge of leading Lexie and me through a series of motions and some sparring with the staffs, while he pulled Peyton aside to continue sparring with the wooden swords. It was warm this day too, and I was still concerned about getting the crisp white shirt dirty, so I pulled it off partially into the morning’s practice. Lexie whistled after I deposited it on the stone bench. “You’re actually pretty fit for an accountant,” she said.

“You’re way too young for me to be comfortable with you saying that,” I responded, feeling my face turn red. I wondered if I should have just left the shirt on, but didn’t want to appear too self conscience by retrieving it immediately. “But yes, I try to go to the gym regularly.” In truth I hadn’t been going much the past year, which was part of the reason the morning exercise had been kicking my ass. But she didn’t need to know that.

She studied me for a moment, a look of mock sympathy on her face. “So how long ago did you get dumped?”

I heard Peyton laugh briefly and shot her a look. She was very purposefully pretending to not pay attention to us as Greyjon led her through a series of parries, though they were both smiling at the conversation. “I didn’t start going to the gym because I was dumped,” I lied. “I started because I have a family history of diabetes and heart attacks. My dad was diagnosed when he was my age, and his dad died of a heart attack a little older than I am now.”

“Wow. You’re heart attack age? Isn’t that like… 50?” Lexie gaped at me openly.

“My granddad died when he was 40. I’m 36,” I said, feeling a little annoyed at the conversation.

“Oh. You would have looked great for 50.” I was under the distinct impression she was implying I did not look great for 36. “And for the record, it’s not like I’m a little kid. I’m 14.”

“That’s totally still kid-territory. Besides, you look 12.” She rolled her eyes at me, and I stooped to her level by sticking my tongue out at her.

Once we were done with the staffs, we moved on to using the bows. When it was time for lunch, we were led back to the tower to eat, as Chase planned to have us practicing magic indoors this time. Chase had Lexie working on hovering small items to teach her to properly gauge how much power was needed for the task while Peyton and I were set to meditating and learning some basic Primordial words from Zolambi.

The first item Lexie attempted to lift was a very thick, very heavy tome, but she put too much power into the spell and the book went slamming into the ceiling before falling very close to where I was sitting. “Should we be doing our lessons somewhere safer?” I asked Zolambi, and the sheepish look on Lexie’s face shifted to a scowl.

It wasn’t long before our days faded into that similar routine, though near the end of the first week they also gave us riding lessons in the afternoon. Once again, Peyton had prior experience – her family had owned horses when she was a child, and she had to ride horses for a few of the roles she’d had in the past, so there was very little actual training that she needed. She bonded with her horse nearly instantly, and would sometimes stay late at the stables to brush him out. He was a handsome deep tan in color with a dark nose and socks, and a black mane and tail. His name was Vayl.

I didn’t have much experience with horses, but I had always thought of them as beautiful creatures. I tried to apply what I had read about them in books to some degree, though I was uncertain how helpful any of it was. I was under the impression they specifically chose very calm animals for us anyway – my own horse was a mare that was brown and white in spots and so docile that it was hard not to be instantly fond of her and her patience for me. Lexie, on the other hand, was terrified of horses. “They bite, you know,” she said, and kept an obsessive watch on where her very placid brown mare was keeping its head. It was funny watching her jump every time the horse turned to her.

“At least we’re not riding giant spiders,” I joked.

“No one’s ever been able to tame one of those,” Zolambi said very solemnly. I couldn’t tell if he was adding on to my joke or telling the truth, and I felt a shiver run up my spine as I wondered if there were real giant spiders in this world.

We were also allowed to roam freely and without oversight when we weren’t receiving lessons, on the condition that we never leave the University grounds. I spent the evenings of my first week going on long strolls across the campus grounds after dinner, sometimes being joined by Lexie, or both Lexie and Peyton, but never Peyton alone. In a way I was grateful for that, because I never knew exactly what to say around Peyton. Lexie was easy to get along with, having a good sense of humor and being a naturally chatty person, which suited my usual silence. Sometimes I just walked through the gardens, and it relaxed me to see familiar sights from our own world – flowers and plants that I recognized, even if I couldn’t name them. Trees with familiarly shaped leaves. Finches and cardinals, and even a hummingbird once. We may have been in a completely foreign place, but nothing in it was completely alien to us.

I visited each of the guard towers in turn to look out past the University grounds. The University sat on a hill outside of the city, so you could stare off into the surrounding country side that stretched off into vast grasslands. But looking down into Rygalium was also interesting in its own way. You could just barely make out the people entering or leaving the city, and the traffic on the road that looped around the University and out further east. Another road bypassed the city heading west. I stared at it often, wondering if it was the road we’d be taking whenever we finally left.

I also spent time walking through each of the buildings after classes were done for the day. Sometimes a few evening classes would be in session, and I was careful to avoid interrupting. But most evenings the halls had the eerie ambience any vacated public place had when it was empty, and I always enjoyed that feeling.  Even when they were around, the students seemed to avoid me. Occasionally if someone caught me alone somewhere without any witnesses, I’d get a series of questions about what my world was like and how I was adjusting to theirs. They were always very brief conversations, full of worried glances to see if we’d be spotted. It gave me the impression that the students had been warned against talking to us, and might face some sort of repercussion when caught. It bothered me that a lot of them seemed… overly sympathetic? It was hard to put a finger on exactly, but it felt almost like pity.

Sometimes for lunch we returned to the tower, other times we joined the staff in the dining hall located in the building adjoined to the tower. There were some outdoor picnics very similar to our first day as well. Only once we ate in the student dining hall – at first it got really quiet when we entered and filled our plates, and then after we sat at our table, it was suddenly very loud as the students’ curiosity swelled at our presence. But similar to my outside walks, none of the students approached.

It didn’t take long before Lexie was conjuring her own water and baths, and could summon a gust of wind and direct it into a daredevil swirling around us in the courtyard. She could start a campfire, and quell it. She still had trouble balancing items once she had them floating in midair, but she was no longer at risk of slinging them like projectiles.

It was harder for Peyton and me. They tried teaching us some degree of Primordial, but that didn’t work for us as easily as it had for Lexie. Still, through careful practice and meditation, Peyton was able to feel magic by the end of the second week, and was quickly starting to learn all the basics that Lexie had already learned. It didn’t take long for them both to outpace me.

We had moved on to using moving targets with the bows as well, and though I wasn’t bad with the stationary target, I could barely hit the moving target. I was getting better with the staff, but I couldn’t use a sword, and I couldn’t cast any spells. All I could do was ride a very gentle horse and think about whether there really were giant spiders in this world or not. There probably was. It seemed in every fantasy setting, there was always giant spiders.

Once Peyton had accessed her casting abilities, Raella came to visit us one evening in the tower and asked that we sit with her. We saw her every morning for the compass spell, but she usually departed to take care of other details immediately after, so this was the first conversation we’d had with her since the first few days we’d arrived. From what I understood, she was sending communications out to the city-states nearest the borders of the human lands to try to gather information on where it might be best to sneak into the foreign territory. After the Fracture, the human kingdoms had become very protective against Imperial incursion, so the borders were well guarded. But since every city was its own independent government, it was sometimes hard to get information from them without providing information in turn.

We were seated in the dining room this time, shortly after having finished dinner. Alissa and Quince were clearing everything away when Raella arrived and asked to speak to us. Quince had gone to get Lexie, who had finished early and already returned to her room. Raella sat calmly at the table, her hands steepled in front of her as she waited patiently for a curious Lexie to arrive and slide into a chair.

“Now that two of you are able to cast, I wanted to discuss something that comes up in the texts about the Graces. Something that usually happens once they begin to use magic.” I frowned at the table, feeling too embarrassed to look up at anyone as she said that. I doubted that anyone really cared about my insecurities, but I couldn’t not feel them, and it annoyed me. “For some it happens immediately. There are a few that it never happens to at all. But at some point, it is very likely you will begin to hear voices.”

She paused and looked at each of us in turn, as though waiting to see if any of us would speak up and admit we had already been hearing these voices. I glanced over at Peyton and Lexie – Peyton’s face was a calm mask, revealing nothing. Lexie frowned. “So we’re going to go crazy?” she asked, the faintest hint of fear in her voice.

“No. The voices are very real.” Lexie grimaced, and I could tell that she didn’t like that answer any more than the thought of going crazy. “As you pull on your divine abilities, the individual that we have summoned you here to seal will became aware of your presence in this world. As we said before, the seal weakens over time, and being near divine himself, he is able to sense the Graces. He will attempt to reach out to each of you, to convince you to let him free. It is said in the texts that he will use different voices, make any claim, promise anything you want to convince you to help him. But you must not listen to him. He is desperate, and he is a liar.” She spoke the last sentence with a finality that said that there was no questioning the fact.

“If we do start to hear this voice, do we tell you about it?” Lexie asked.

“Yes. As immediately as you can.” Raella again looked at each of us in turn, her golden eyes seeming to almost glow against the darkness of her skin. “If for no other reason than posterity. Being the expert on Divinities and the seal, it is important that I record everything about our current quest, so anything you can tell me about your experience here will be appreciated and important to future generations of scholars.” She stood, her fingers sliding along the tabletop. “I am not… easy to approach. I understand that. But I hope you also understand the importance of keeping me informed on everything, and that you cooperate to the best of your ability.”

Peyton gave a brief, formal nod. “Of course,” she said, her tone warm although her features betrayed nothing of what she really thought. Raella’s lips thinned for a moment as she studied Peyton, but she nodded and left with little fanfare.

Lexie bounced to her feet and was out of the room almost as soon as Raella was gone. I studied Peyton for a moment, who was staring at the exit, her expression still unreadable. I wondered what she was thinking about. I wondered if maybe she had already heard voices. I wanted to ask, but also didn’t want to pry. With a sigh, I slapped the table and stood, and made my way down the hall to my room. I glanced up as I stepped into my door, and could see that Peyton still sat quietly at the table, apparently lost in thought.

I did finally get some sleep, because the next morning I woke to the sound of someone moving about the room and the smell of fresh bread wafting down the hall. I sat up, trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes, and saw the man from the kitchen the night before – he wasn’t particularly tall, and had a head of messy sandy colored hair and hazel eyes – he had finished emptying the tub with a wave of his hand, and smiled at me apologetically. “They’ll be getting you up soon. There’s some breakfast on the table.” I nodded wordlessly, still too sleep-dumb for words.

When he left, I stood up and walked over to the counter. I could see that he had left new clothes for me. I poured some of the water from the jug into the basin and washed my face, swished some water in my mouth and swallowed it, and rubbed my teeth vigorously with a finger, wondering if there was anything for dental care in a world like this. Then I splashed a few tiny drops of one of the mintier smelling herbal oils on my hands and rubbed it into my pits and under my jaw before getting dressed. The fabric was very soft, and the clothes were slightly loose fitting. The pants were a dark brown and had a tie for the waist, and there was a white shirt and a green vest that could lace up the front, though I left it open. They had left a pair of leather boots, but I opted for my own sneakers instead.

Walking out of my room, I saw that Peyton and Lexie were already sitting at the table. They were both wearing new clothes as well. The pants were very similar to my own, though theirs were both black, but Lexie was wearing a deep red tunic lined in gold and Peyton was wearing a lavender and cream-colored blouse. Peyton was scraping some butter over a piece of bread and there was some bacon piled on her plate. Lexie had some of the same potato soup from the night before poured over her bread slices like a gravy. The loaf sat in the center of the table, already sliced, next to a serving platter with the remaining bacon. They were talking about Lexie’s hair styles for her stream – apparently all wigs. I vaguely remembered that her entire gimmick involved different and vibrant hair colors in every review, sometimes themed around the game she was talking about or playing. They both looked up and greeted me, and I mumbled a low, “Morning.”

I rarely ate breakfast at home, and didn’t really want to stomach the bacon. Instead, I grabbed a few slices of bread for my own plate – it was still warm to the touch. There was a jam of some sort in a jar next to the butter – it was a deep purple in color and filled with little white-green seeds. I spread it across the bread and bit into it. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

When we were finishing up, Greyjon appeared in the doorway and smiled at us. “Sorry about leaving you guys so long yesterday. We’re trying to figure out what we can do to find the lost Grace. But you’ll get the tour today,” and he waved for us to follow him.

This time when we reached the final door at the bottom, there was no barrier. Greyjon easily opened the door into a more spacious room – the tower was only one part of a larger building. “You’re all staying in the Tower of D’walt – it’s been used for special ceremonies for over a millennium at this point, and is also the home of Master Zern,” he said, gesturing back to the door as we exited it. “It’s the oldest part of the Imperial University here.”

“Imperial? So is this an empire of some sort?” Peyton asked.

“It was once an empire, but it’s become more a loose collection of city-states. You’ll learn more about that from Raella though,” Greyjon shrugged apologetically, walking as he spoke. He led us from the large room we had exited the tower from, down a hallway that was lined with a series of rooms, most of which appeared to be empty or dark. “Many of these are the offices and quarters of the staff that resides here on campus. A lot of them are teaching students in the other buildings. But right now, I’m taking you to Master Zern, and to your first lessons here. It may be a bit of an incomplete crash course though. We’re worried about the fourth.” We exited the building into very bright sunlight. I blinked against it, and glanced up – the sky in a fantasy world looked blue after all. Greyjon led the way across a path that cut through what looked like a well-maintained garden, though most of it was browning like autumn was just ramping up.

“Are we going to help find them after all?” Peyton asked.

Greyjon nodded. “Yes. Raella and Master Zern think we can use the three of you to pinpoint which way to go – like a compass of sorts.” He stopped as we entered a small enclosed courtyard. Raella was there, as was Chase and the older gentleman with long white hair from the previous day. I also recognized the younger man that had been holding the last circle – he had short messy brown hair and brown eyes, and a fairly plain face. If it wasn’t for a puckered scar in one cheek, he would not have stood out in any way at all. 

The older man smiled, “You’ll recognize some of us from the night before, I’m sure, but circumstances kept us from giving a more formal introduction at the time, for which I apologize. My name is Wellam Zern, and I am the Master of the Imperial University. This is Raella Harn,” he gestured to Raella, “Our University’s expert on Ancient Divinity. She will be teaching you about the world that we live in and our history. Greyjon Pellort is a Captain of the Kimber City Military, on loan to us for his famed expertise as a battle master. He will train you in the use of weapons and act as a guardian in your journey.” Master Zern turned to gesture to Chase, who did a curtsy much like she had the previous night. “Chase is a student of the University, but her magical prowess and power is prodigal. She has agreed to take time away from her studies to teach your group magic. Aiding her will be Zolambi Demn, our local expert on using Primordial in casting, in case the use of vocalization is easier for any of you to learn.”

“What is Primordial?” Lexie asked, having perked up at the idea of receiving magic lessons.

“The ancient tongue, pre-dating the common god-gifted language of Blest,” Raella said. “Elves are the only people that speak it, perhaps a sign that we existed here before the arrival of the gods. The actual name of the language is lost to us, if it ever had a name, so it is called Primordial to distinguish it from Blest.”

“And Blest is the common language of this world?” Peyton asked, seeming genuinely curious.

“It is. Since it originated from the gods, we find that most cultures on our world, even those that had never met previously, speak this common language. There are sometimes dialectical differences – the gods haven’t touched our world in many thousands of years, and that is plenty of time for language to develop and change. But all current language beyond Primordial has that common root.”

“It just sounds like English to me,” Lexie said.

“We have records of individuals we’ve summoned always stating they understand us or each other perfectly, even though they speak vastly different languages in their homeworld. The last grouping included an individual who claimed to speak Nihongo, and another that claimed to speak Deutsch, but they understood each other perfectly. The summoning spell seems to incorporate you into our world so completely that you naturally understand Blest as your own native tongue.” I frowned as Raella explained. We had all been in the same locale when we were summoned – would a Japanese person and a German person have been hanging out together 500 years ago? Unless perhaps the flow of time was different between our worlds…

Master Zern interrupted my thoughts as he spoke up, “A more in depth explanation can be provided at a later point, Raella. I believe we have all gathered at this moment for a specific purpose.”

“Of course, Master Zern. My apologies, I got carried away,” Raella dipped her head in respect to the older man.

“We have determined a spell that may work in tracking down our lost fourth. If I could have the four of you that I have introduced take your places, and introduce your ward for me, as I assume you have at least learned their names from the previous night,” Zern gestured around the courtyard.

Raella stepped up to Peyton, and moved her to one side of the courtyard. “This is Peyton Hobbs,” she said simply.

“Miss Hobbs,” Zern nodded to her. She smiled politely back.

Chase bounced up to me and maneuvered me across from Peyton and Raella. “This is Lucas Kearney the accountant,” she said cheerfully as she did so.

“Mister Kearney,” Zern noted, nodding to me.

Greyjon tapped Lexie on the shoulder and gestured her over to the side. “This is Lexie Saint,” he said.

“Alexis Saint,” Lexie said, maybe feeling it was important to be more formal in the moment.

Zern smiled at her warmly. “Miss Saint.”

Zolambi moved over opposite of them. I felt Chase’s fingers lightly brush my back. A light sprung up around our four caretakers. I watched Lexie’s head swivel back and forth as she stared in fascination at each of them in turn. Zolambi was speaking as he cast, a strange language that must have been Primordial, and his voice took on a deep, resonant sound as he spoke. The light surrounded us slowly, and then moved between us, and then another source of light appeared. It was small, and closer to me, shaped vaguely like a person – a woman with wavy, shoulder length hair, wearing an oversized shirt. She looked to be crouched down, scrubbing at a floor with a rag. She paused momentarily to sit back and wipe at her brow, glancing up at something.

As the spell was released, the light surrounding the casters dropped, and the image disappeared. “So, she’s to the west, if I remember the specifics of the spell?” Master Zern said, glancing over at Raella.

Raella nodded. “Yes. Her appearance in the circle we form lets us know the direction she is in, and the size she takes lets us know the distance. She’s quite far.”

“That would put her in human lands,” Zolambi said, frowning, his tone worried.

There was a brief pause as glances were exchanged between the group. “She is human herself, so she may be safe,” Master Zern said reassuringly. I wondered why it was dangerous to be around humans, and could see the same question on Peyton’s face. Lexie’s head still swiveled to each person as they spoke, and she frowned in confusion.

“I wonder why she’s cleaning floors?” Zolambi said.

“Maybe she’s trying to earn some coin. She’s in a strange world with nothing to her name. She could be trying to make a fresh start of her life,” Chase suggested cheerfully.

“Maybe.” Zolambi did not seem very reassured, but he didn’t argue further.

“Regardless, we know the spell works. We’ll have to work out the details of sneaking into the human lands, but with a few humans amongst you, it shouldn’t be as dangerous,” Master Zern nodded to Raella, and then made his way out of the courtyard.

Raella turned to look over the rest of us. “Since I will be traveling with you, there will be more time for book learning as we go. Some degree of self defense and basic magical concepts are going to be more important for you to know before we leave. I will leave you to those lessons while Master Zern and I attend to other details.” With that she turned to follow Zern.

I glanced at our remaining instructors – Chase moved over to the side of the courtyard and plopped down on a stone bench, and a light sprung up around Greyjon as he summoned several smoothed sticks from a weapon stand that I hadn’t noticed until now. One each dropped into Zolambi and Greyjon’s hands, as well as to Peyton and me – Lexie hadn’t noticed hers until it thumped to the ground and she immediately ducked to scoop it up. “We’re going to start with something very basic,” Greyjon said with a smile.

Though it seemed closer to fall judging by the coloring of the trees and foliage in the gardens, the day was warm and we had worked up a sweat quickly. I was glad I wasn’t wearing the clothes I had arrived in – the looser, softer fabric of the clothes they had given us were easier to move in. Greyjon had decided to take us through the basic motions of two particular weapons, starting with staffs and then moving to wooden swords.

Lexie and I were clumsy and easily tired. Peyton, on the other hand, was ridiculously suited to anything they put in her hands. She hardly seemed to break a sweat, and was doing her best to hide the smirk on her face as she easily disarmed me of the wooden sword when we practiced together.  “You’re really good,” Lexie said, panting as she leaned on her own wooden blade and watched us.

“I’ve had some training,” Peyton admitted.

“Aren’t you, like, a black belt in something or other too?” Lexie asked.

Peyton shook her head. “Not a black belt.” But she didn’t elaborate to say what she had trained in or what belt color she did wear. I somehow doubted it was white.

Greyjon frowned from where he stood watching the short exchange after I had been disarmed. “We’ll avoid using actual bladed weapons with the two of you for now,” he said to Lexie and me. “You’re as likely to cut yourself as your enemy. I’ll have Zolambi help you with the staffs some more while I get you,” he nodded to Peyton, “a little more practice with a proper sword. That’ll be for tomorrow though. For now, let’s move on to bows and thrown weapons.”

Again, Peyton easily outshone each of us. Lexie had a little more luck than me with throwing daggers and small axes. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get the flick right to guarantee the blade would enter my target. I was a little better with the bow at least. As he got more of a feel for our skill levels, Greyjon decided he would have each of us continue practicing with the bows over the next week as well, and would give Peyton extra lessons with the throwing knives, even encouraging her to hang on to the set we were practicing with.

Closer to noon, Chase left and returned with the kitchen staff that seemed to be assigned to us, the same man and woman from the tower – they had hovering in the air around them an assortment of plates, bowls, and cups, as well as a small folding table that was very short. It was apparent that we were meant to sit on the ground to eat at it, like an Asian dining table. We took a break for lunch.

I watched Lexie flop down on the grass almost immediately as our break was announced. “I sit in front of screens all day. I’m so not used to this,” she groaned, then pushed herself up and used the bottom of her tunic to wipe the sweat off her brow. I felt that statement in my soul as I sat at the table to gulp at the water in my cup thirstily. Peyton also sat at the table, taking a cup of water for herself to drink as well. She still seemed very composed and like she could continue for another couple of hours. I thought about the work out videos I’d seen her post online and realized she probably could keep going easily.

After eating, the table was cleared and refolded. As the kitchen staff were leaving with everything floating around them in the air, Peyton said, “I don’t believe we ever caught your names.”

“Oh,” the woman with the messy bun and freckles said, seeming surprised. “I’m Alissa, and this is my younger brother, Quince,” she said, gesturing to the sandy haired man.

“Alissa and Quince,” Peyton repeated like she was committing the names to memory. She smiled, a bright award-winning smile, “Thank you for the meal.”

Lexie, taking her cue from Peyton, nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, thank you so much! And for last night, with the water and everything too. And the clothes,” she said, tugging at her tunic absently.

Feeling slightly shamed that I hadn’t thought of the simple nicety myself, I nodded as my companions spoke, and added my own brief, “Thank you.”

Alissa blushed and waved a hand as though to say it was nothing. “Oh, it’s no trouble at all.”

“You’re very welcome,” Quince added, also seeming slightly taken aback by the thanks. They quickly bustled off.

Chase was smiling widely as she brushed her skirt off, and Zolambi was studying us, his head tilted, his expression inscrutable. This time, Greyjon moved over to the stone bench and laid back on it. I didn’t think it looked comfortable at all, but he crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, looking ready to fall asleep. “Now,” Chase said cheerfully. “Now we’ll begin your first magic lessons.”

Peyton and Lexie were shown to the two private rooms on the level of the tower where we had the conversation, and Greyjon escorted me a floor down to what appeared to be a very similar set up. The spacious landing opened onto a common space with a dining table and chairs, and cupboards for storage. The private room on my side of the tower was larger than I had been expecting, and fairly plush. There was a large bed, at the end of which was a chest, an armoire, a nightstand, and an empty tub. A counter had some personal care items on it. There was no window here, and I hadn’t recalled seeing any windows while walking down the stairs either. I wondered what the sky looked like in another world. I wondered if I would get the chance to even see it.

The bed was almost uncomfortably fluffy, but the bedding seemed clean enough. I had checked obsessively for bugs, wondering at the quality of life in a fantasy place like this, but everything was clean. The chest was empty. The towels were clean and soft, smelling faintly perfumed. I tapped the tub, which was made of smooth wood, and wondered how hard it was to fill without running water.

After I had searched the room as thoroughly as I could, I walked to the door and peaked out into the hall. It was empty, which surprised me because I had half expected to see Greyjon lounging at the table, pretending he wasn’t standing guard. Curious, I walked over to the other door and opened it to find a room very similar to my own. I wondered if this had been meant for our lost companion, wondered what kind of experience they were having and where they had ended up.

The chest was empty there too. Then I examined the cupboards in the common area, to find extra wash basins, towels, linens, and dishes – cups, plates, bowls, jugs. For a moment I felt ridiculous, opening every cupboard in the place, but I justified it as wanting to be familiar with my surroundings. Besides, if this was a game of some sort, it wasn’t unusual to check every area thoroughly, and I had always been a bit of a completionist when it came to games.

I stepped out onto the stairs, listening for footsteps. When I heard nothing, I turned and made my way down. After about four more floors, I arrived at a door that closed off the stairwell. But as I reached out to see if it was locked, my hand hit the air in front of the door instead. I placed both hands out and pressed – a full 3 inches from the door, there was a solid invisible barrier. We weren’t free to leave after all. Frowning, I turned to make my way back up the stairs and almost ran directly into Peyton.

She gasped and pushed herself back against the wall of the stairwell. “Sorry, Lucas. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that,” she said softly, almost in a whisper. She glanced at the door behind me. “Is it locked?”

“I’m not sure. There’s a barrier of some kind.” I wasn’t sure if we needed to, but I also felt the need to whisper.

She tilted her head, her bright blue eyes full of curiosity as she stepped past me and placed a hand out. She was tall for a woman, maybe only a few inches shorter than me. At 6’2, I tended to tower over a lot of people. But then, actors and actresses were usually fairly tall. She reached, checking every inch of the door frame’s space. “Solid,” she noted, stepping back. She sighed, then turned and walked back up the staircase. I followed her.

“Think they’ve put a barrier up somewhere above us?” she asked.

“Possibly. I’m gonna look in here first though.” I stopped to check the first floor we came to – it opened into a currently dark kitchen, though embers did burn in what appeared to be a stone oven, warming the entire room. It smelled faintly of food, though it did not appear that anything was currently being cooked. The next floor was storage, full of barrels and baskets and sacks of vegetables and dried goods. There was a door that was very unnaturally cold to the touch – when I pushed it open, I could see that the entire room had frost and ice lining it, and there was meat stored inside. I ran a finger down the frost-coated walls, and wondered if magic kept it cold. The next floor had a similar set up to my own floor, but the doors to the rooms here were locked.

We walked up to the floor Peyton and Lexie were staying on. Lexie was standing at the entrance to the stairwell, bouncing on the balls of her feet in nervous excitement. “Nothing?”

“No exit, at least,” Peyton said. “There’s a kitchen and some supplies. We could probably make some food if you’re hungry.”

“Maybe later,” Lexie said, looking disappointed.

I nodded briefly to the girl, who smiled nervously at me for a moment. Then I continued up the stairs. “Oh, you’re going that way too?” Lexie asked.

“May as well,” Peyton said, following me. But I didn’t make it very far. Just around the bend, we met another invisible barrier. Or rather, I met it, intimately, face first. Peyton chuckled as I rubbed my face, and checked this one for any gaps as well. “Starting to feel a bit like a prisoner,” I said.

“You’re not wrong,” Peyton noted, her tone wry. We made our way back down.

The rooms for Lexie and Peyton were similar to my own, and they had already checked their own personal spaces as thoroughly as I had checked mine.

We were left fairly unsupervised through the rest of the day and the evening, which I found surprising. I thought we’d at least see people going up or down the stairs of the tower, but there was no sign of anyone. I wondered if they were having a meeting about how to handle things going forward. Although a part of me wanted to hole up in the room that had been assigned to me, another part of me wasn’t willing to move very far from the other people from my world. In a strange way, knowing that we had the shared history of our homeworld made them feel safe. The feeling must have been mutual, or at least they didn’t retreat to their own space – we had settled into the common area on their floor, where the chairs had more cushions. I had chosen a seat where I could stare out the door in case anyone did happen to pass by.

Lexie had laid back on the couch that we had shared with Chase earlier, staring absently at the items we had emptied out of our pockets. We had discovered that our electronics were completely fried and wouldn’t even turn on, and I think Lexie was still pouting over the loss of her phone. She had also arrived with a wallet that had a card that could access the funds she earned from streaming online, her state ID, and some pictures of her friends and family. Most of Peyton’s personal items had been in her purse, which hadn’t arrived with her, so she had left her baseball cap and smart watch on the table. For myself, I had a wallet stuffed with cards, a bit of cash, ID, and other detritus I had collected and hadn’t cleaned out recently – business cards, appointment cards, scraps of paper with important phone numbers. My keys were also in the middle of the table with my own non-functioning phone, and a tin of breath mints. “Who do you think the fourth person is? Someone else from the plane?” Lexie asked, as she absently reached out a hand to tap at the dark screen of her phone.

I thought about the strange popping noises I had heard on the plane. Three before me. “Yes, I think it was someone else on the plane.” I tried to remember if the first person I had seen disappear had been either of my current companions or someone else completely, but I hadn’t paid that much attention. All I had been aware of was that a person had been there one moment – and not the next.

After several more moments of silence, Lexie sat up. “Man, I can’t believe I was on the same plane as Peyton freaking Hobbs and would never have known!”

Peyton smiled. “I try not to advertise my travel plans. Sorry.”

“No, I get it. I bet the paparazzi are a pain in the ass. I’ve been getting recognized a bit, especially when I show up at cons, and it really freaks my parents out.”

“I bet.”

“Why were you heading to Reno anyway?” Lexie leaned forward as she talked. I continued to stare out the door, but was listening curiously as well.

“We were going to shoot parts of a film I’m going to be working on out there.”

“Wow, really? What movie? I bet it’s going to be…” Lexie trailed off midsentence, a frown creeping across her features, and she plopped back, slouching low on the couch. “Well. I guess it’s not going to be made now.”

Peyton sighed. “Oh, it could still be made. They can just find someone to replace me.” After several moments, she added. “Honestly? I’m not too upset. This could be interesting. A real life fantasy adventure.”

Lexie seemed to perk up at that a bit. “Yeah, like an RPG isekai.” I could see her head turn to look at me from the corner of my eye. “Do you ever play video games, Lucas?”

“Some,” I said. They both stared at me a moment longer, maybe expecting me to elaborate. But when I didn’t, they engaged in some other small talk. About an hour later, Lexie’s stomach grumbled, and the girl looked a bit sheepish at the volume of it. “I suppose we should see what we can make in the kitchen,” I said, standing and walking to the stairs.

I could hear Lexie immediately pop up to follow me, and Peyton trailed after. As we approached the kitchens, we heard voices, and I could smell food. I stopped at the doorway, feeling almost like an intruder – inside were two people, a man and a woman.

“Wow, that smells great,” Lexie said, peering around me to look into the kitchen. It was brighter and warmer, with a fire going under a cauldron and the stone oven was red hot.

The woman looked up and smiled at Lexie warmly. She had long brown hair tied back into a messy bun, and was absolutely covered in freckles. “We’re in the middle of preparing a supper for you lot right now. If you want to return to the room with the dining table, we’ll bring it up in a few moments.”

Lexie nodded enthusiastically and hopped back up the stairs, taking them nearly two at a time. Peyton lingered a bit, and when we were out of earshot of the room, said quietly, “Do you think it’s going to be safe to eat here? What if that’s what makes it so we have to stay?”

“Even if we’re in Hades or the Feywild, we have no way to get out that I can see, and I don’t really want to starve to death.”

She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I suppose you’re right. Besides, it smells really good.”

We continued up to the floor my room was on, where Lexie was already seated at the table, swinging her feet absentmindedly. Peyton and I both sat as well. Soon, the people that had cooked were bringing the food up to us. Lexie’s eyes boggled, and I’m sure I had the same look on my face though Peyton continued to maintain her composure – they had already served up the food to individual bowls and plates, and instead of carrying the items up on a platter, they were using magic to float them through the air. There was a faint light enveloping them, what I assumed to be a visible sign of their use of magic. A bowl of thick, white soup was settled in front of me, as well as a small plate of some sort of meat drowned in a brown gravy and two biscuits. A knife, fork, and spoon settled neatly onto the table next to the plate, and a cup also settled nearby.

The male cook waved a hand absently – the cups filled with water. “Wow,” Lexie whispered, and I felt equally awestruck.

“We do have some other options for drinks, if you want us to grab something for you,” the man said as the cups filled.

Peyton had grabbed her cup and taken a brief sip from it. “Water is fine,” she said, sounding impressed.

“I kinda wish I could have a root beer,” Lexie mumbled, grabbing a spoon to enthusiastically try the soup.

“Beer? Like an ale of some sort?” the man said, a bit confused.

Lexie’s face lit up again and she sat up straight and opened her mouth to speak. “No,” Peyton and I both said firmly at the same time. She rolled her eyes at us, but didn’t attempt to argue. I cleared my throat and avoided making eye contact with Peyton as I picked up the knife and fork and began sawing at the meat. It tasted like a regular steak. I wondered if it was probably just cow after all.

“We’ll have some proper bread prepared for the morning, got to let the dough rise. The biscuits should be a quick fix though. There’s more of the potato soup in the kitchen, and you can help yourselves to anything else you’d like.” The woman dusted her hands on her apron, and cast her eyes about the room as though she was wondering what she had forgot. “Oh, and water, of course.” She moved to one of the cupboards and pulled out three empty jugs. I watched her carefully as she summoned more water to fill the jugs for us. She didn’t say anything, but she was enveloped in light again, and the jugs filled to the brim. “Feel free to drink from these. I’ll go around shortly and fill the tubs, don’t worry about the water in them, we’ll remove it tomorrow.”

And then she bustled down the hall to my room to do just that. As she passed by us again to head upstairs, I asked, “Are we prisoners here?”

She looked startled by the question. “Why… of course not!”

“Then why the barriers?”

“They’re just for now. I understand something went wrong with the ceremony, and instead of settling you in proper they’ve been having meetings all day to try to figure out how to fix it. Spell creation and alteration is no mild feat, takes brilliant minds and lots of time.” She smiled reassuringly at me. “They’ll want to give you the grand tour tomorrow, I’m sure, and then start your lessons.”

“I see. Thanks.” She nodded, and continued out of the room and about her business.

After eating, Lexie and Peyton said goodnight and left, each carefully carrying a jug of water with them to their rooms. I did hear Lexie fuss about spilling some on the stairs, but didn’t hear any dramatic clatters at least. I sat in silence for several moments, staring at the dishes and leftovers. Feeling guilty to leave anything, I gathered the dishes and walked them downstairs. There was a large basin that seemed to be for washing dishes, so I set the dishes near that and went back up to my room, grabbing my jug of water on the way.

I set the water on the counter and checked the tub – it was halfway full of steaming water. It was too hot for my tastes, but it had been a long day and I didn’t want to stay up much longer. I stripped my clothes off and set them on the counter, and climbed into the tub. A small table set next to the tub had a few soaps and herbal smelling oils on a tray. I scrubbed myself down thoroughly, then got out and dried myself and pulled my boxers back on. Then I settled into the bed to sleep.

My mind was racing with so many thoughts about the situation. Usually when I get this distracted before bed I doomscroll or play games on my phone. But the phone didn’t work anymore. I thought about it, sitting upstairs on a table, next to my wallet full of things I couldn’t use and my keys to doors I’d never be able to unlock again. I stared at the ceiling of the unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar world and wondered what was going to happen to us.