The alarm clock buzzed for the third time, calling for Andrew to wake up. Slowly he lifted his hand and slammed it down on the clock, silencing it for the third time. Groaning, he rolled over and slowly opened his eyes, seeing that it was still dark out, he wondered again why he kept this job. Rolling out of bed with no motivation what so ever, he turned his alarm clock off and headed to the bathroom to get ready for work.

Andrew didn’t consider himself anything above average. He was six feet tall with a husky build, meaning he wasn’t fat though he did have some meat on his bones. With his light brown hair and hazel eyes, he seemed just like your average twenty-two-year-old, working a dead-end job. He couldn’t even grow a beard to help him look more rugged. As he got out of the shower, he looked in the mirror and wondered to himself what he was doing with his life.

As he got to work, he just sat in his car, looking at the building that had become his life for the last two years. Sighing he got out of his car and walked towards the building. He looked around as he walked and saw a couple other people going towards the doors as well. There was Charlotte who was a crass woman yet was nice to him and one of the better ones he worked with. Then there was Diane, who he joked around with and teased some though it was all in good fun. Those two were some of the few that made this job worthwhile.

As he was looking around he also noticed Katie, she was one of the younger people, like him, that worked the early morning shift. She was cute with shoulder length brunette hair, blue eyes that were always smiling and a sense of humor that matched his own. She was what he thought he was looking for in a girlfriend. The only problem was that he couldn’t talk to her outside of work or anything to do with going out. Though Charlotte and Diane would always tease him about how he should ask her out.

The first part of the shift went by as normal, unloading trucks, stocking shelves, joking and laughing with the rest of the crew. After break though while Andrew was working in the back stockroom by himself, something washed over him, making him black out and just stand there for five minutes or so. Shaking his head, he looked around and not seeing anything out of the ordinary got back to work. As he working he was debating with himself about whether he should ask Katie out or not, trying to work himself up enough so that could. At the end of his shift he finally decided to ask her out. Walking out of the stockroom he looked around for her though didn’t see her.

“Hey Char, have you seen Katie?” Andrew asked as he spied Charlotte.

“Oooo, finally going to ask her out, huh?” Charlotte asks back.

“Well I had thought about it.” Andrew says as he blushes slightly.

“Haha, well I think she just went to go clock out, so you might be able to catch her in the break room, if you hurry.” She says as she gives him a wink.

“Thanks.” Andrew says as he takes off towards the break room.

Andrew gets to the break room and walks in, looking for Katie. Not seeing her, he walks to where the lockers are and see her getting her stuff out. Taking a deep breath, he walks up to her.

“Hey Katie, done for the day?” Andrew asks as his heart is hammering in his chest.

“Yeah, they were all done on the floor and most of the back was finished as well so they said I could leave a little early.” Katie says as she turns towards Andrew and smiles.

“Lucky. I still have a bit left before I get to leave today, though I’m really glad it’s finally Friday.” He says as he chuckles a bit. “Anyways, I was just thinking, I don’t have any plans for this weekend so I thought maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“Well maybe you’d… uh… like to go see a movie or grab a drink or something?” He asks as he tries not to blush too badly.

Katie lets out a soft laugh and smiles. “Well Andrew I actually don’t have any plans, so I would like that.”

“Really? I mean, how about tonight at 8, meet at the theater?”

“Sure, sounds good. I gotta get going though as my mom needs me to take her to the doctor, so I’ll see you tonight.” Katie says as she turns and starts to leave.

“Okay, yeah, I can’t wait.”

As Katie’s leaving she turns around and says with a wink, “oh by the way, it’s about time you asked me out.”

Andrew just stands there with his mouth open and stares, thinking how the heck he was so clueless.

After work that afternoon, Andrew decides to take a nap, as he wants to be prepared to stay out late. As he’s laying down on his couch he has a vision of what looks to be a cabin of some sorts with nothing around except some fields. It only lasts a moment though before he finally succumbs to sleep.

When Andrew roused from his sleep, he reached for his covers, except felt grass under his hand instead. He propped himself up on his elbow to look around. He was in the middle of nowhere, sitting in a wide-open clearing of grass. To his right there was what looked to a downward slope but other than that there seemed to be nothing around him but grass. Since everything else looked to be flat, he decided to head towards the slope to the right. As he started walking, a light appeared. He stopped, as it got closer he could see that it was attached to a staff, and that staff was carried by someone. he didn’t feel afraid or scared as the person holding the staff came closer and he saw that it was an old man. Andrew thought the old man looked like Gandalf, since he had a white beard that hung down to his waist.

The old man stopped about three feet in front of Andrew and he could see the old man looking him over. It was then that he noticed he was naked, though the old man didn’t seem to care. The old man then looked at Andrew and said something in a strange language that he didn’t understand nor did it sound familiar. Looking at the old man funny, Andrew figured he was asking him something, though what it was, he had no idea, so he just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. The old man nodded and handed Andrew a robe, like his own, and then turned around and started walking back the way he came. Andrew looked at the robe, then to the old man, and then back to the robe, he shrugged and pulled the robe on and followed the old man.

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Andrew caught up to the old man easily and they walked down the slope in silence. Andrew was looking around at where they were when a light caught his eye. They were walking in the general direction of it, so he guessed it was the old man’s house. The old man lead Andrew to the door and as he opened the door, a scent like none other wafted out of the house. It was a mix of burning wood, lavender, bread and so many others, he couldn’t even guess. The old man walked into the house and Andrew followed him in, he extinguished the light he was carrying, then went to the fireplace, stoked the fire and put a kettle on. He then turned towards Andrew and pointed at the table. Andrew sat down and watched the old man move around the house, getting cups and other things from the cupboards. When the water was boiling, he poured water into two cups and then sat down opposite of Andrew.

They sat in silence as they drank their tea, it seemed like the old man was just waiting for something to happen. Before Andrew realized it, he had finished the tea and was feeling a little light headed. That’s when the old man stood up and walked around the table and stood right beside him. The old man reached his hands out and put them on Andrew’s head, on his temples, then he closed his eyes. After a moment, Andrew’s head started to swirl and he felt a strange sensation, like his head was rubber and something was being pushed into it, that’s when he blacked out.

Andrew woke up in a bed and was still wearing the robe, but his head was feeling better. Andrew looked around the room he was in, it was sparsely furnished, the bed, a desk and chair and a dresser the only furniture he could see. There was a fire smoldering in the fireplace, filling the room with just enough heat to be comfortable. As he opened the door, the scent of fresh bread wafted in, making him realize how hungry he was. He walked out the door and into a hallway, to his left was some stairs going down and to his right the hallway extended for as far as he could see, with doors alternating on each side. He figured the stairs would lead down to the kitchen where he first entered the house. When the kitchen came into view, sitting at the table was the old man, two men who looked to be in their fifties, a boy who looked to be about seventeen and two women who looked to be in their mid to late twenties. They all turned to look at Andrew and it made him stop on the bottom step. Feeling very self-conscious, he averted his eyes and made his way slowly to the only empty chair at the end of the table, between the boy and one of the women. He looked around the table at the people and from their expressions he took it that there were mixed feelings about him being there.

“Well, it’s good of you to join us finally.” The old man said with a smile.

Andrew was startled when the old man spoke, and he could understand him.

“Yes, we needed some new blood around here.” The man, sitting to the right of the old man, said sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

Andrew was still confused by the whole situation and so just stared blankly around the table, trying to think of something to say.

“So, what is your name?” The woman, sitting to the left of the old man, asked as she smiled at Andrew.

“Umm…Merlin.” Andrew replied, laughing in his head. He didn’t know why he picked that name, but at that moment he wasn’t too concerned.

“Welcome to the house, Merlin.” The same woman said.

“Why don’t you all go about your chores while Merlin has something to eat and I explain things to him.” The old man said.

As the others, all stood up and went outside, the woman who was sitting next to Andrew looked back at him before she went through the door.

“I suppose you have quite a few questions for me.” The old man said. “But first help yourself to some food, you’ve been out for a while, and I’ll explain some things to you.”

Andrew nodded his head and looked around at the food on the table. He helped himself to some of the bread, cheese, the rest of the eggs, meat and fruit, leaving the wine alone, since he wasn’t a big drinker. After he piled the food onto his plate and started eating, the old man started to talk.

“First off, my name is Ferdinand, but you can just call me Ferd. Next the others that were here are the other members of the house. The two older men were apprentices of mine but are now their own man. The one who sat on my right was George and the one next to him was Herald. The other three are my current apprentices. The boy is Arthur, the woman that sat on my left is Natalie and the one that was next to you is Azura.” The old man, Ferd, explained. “As to what this house is, it’s many things, though for the most part it’s a haven for people like us.”

People like us? Andrew thought.

“It’s a place to practice and hone our skills, it’s a place to study and experiment and it’s a place to call home.” Ferd said as he looked around like he was remembering something. “People come here from all over the place, it’s no secret it’s here, but they usually don’t sleep in the field naked while making the journey.”

Andrew looked up at him at that “I wasn’t in the field when I went to sleep.” To which Ferd gave him a curious look.

“Where did you go to sleep at then?” He asked.

“In my bed at my place.” Andrew said but didn’t elaborate on where exactly that was.

“Hmmm, curious.” Ferd said as he stroked his beard.

As Ferd pondered on what Andrew had said, Andrew took the opportunity to ask his first question. “When you said, people like us, what did you mean?”

Ferd stopped what he was doing and looked at Andrew. “What I meant by that was, people who can do magic.” He kept looking at him curiously, like he was trying to figure him out.

“So how do people know if they can do magic, then?” Andrew asked.

“Well the house only calls those who can do magic, so if you’re here, then you can do magic.”

“But I’ve never felt any magic before in my life.” Andrew said.

“You need not feel it to have it. Some people don’t come into their magic until very late in their life, while others come into it when they hit puberty. It all just depends on the person.”

Andrew’s heart was pounding and his stomach was a breeding ground for butterflies. “So how do I get home then?” He asked rather loudly.

“I will take you on as an apprentice and train you to use your magic safely and once your training is complete, you should be able to go home safely.”

“But how will I get home?” Andrew asked again. His mind going to his family and friends, would they even miss him while he was here? Would they even know he was gone?

“Well you’d go back the same way you came, I would suppose.” Ferd said, looking concerned. “Unless…”

Andrew looked up at him. “I’m not from here.”

“When do you come from then?” Ferd asked, with a little gleam in his eye.

“I imagine it would be considered the future, though how far, I’m not sure.”

Ferd nodded his head. “Hmmm, if that is true, you should keep it to yourself. At least for now.” He looked up at Andrew and said, “and I will do all I can to help you get home.”

It figures I’d be transported to the past the same day I work the nerve up to ask a girl out.