Tyler’s gaze was still fixed on Milo, ignoring the split bowl. “Please tell me you can see him too.”

“Yep. I can. It’s not a symptom of a concussion you almost had,” Derek said.

“Holy shit, what did you do?” Tyler asked, still staring at Milo.

Derek threw his hands in the air. “Nothing! Well…”

Tyler shot a glance at Derek before returning his attention to Milo. Tyler’s eyes were bulging out of his head as he took in the mana fusor. Derek sighed. “Promise me you won’t kill us?”

“I don’t have the capacity. I’ll leave that up to Hraktar, if he got through, too,” Tyler said.

“Yeah. Yeah, everyone’s through. A lot of bad guys, too. We… might have used the AI game master,” Derek said.

It was that sentence alone that finally brought Tyler’s full attention to Derek. His eyes, which he didn’t think could get any wider, did. “You used AI! You replaced me with a MACHINE?” There were so many emotions to unpack from Tyler’s voice. “While I was at the hospital!” Derek tried to smile, but it came out as a cringe. Tyler tenderly held his head in his hands. “You know what? I can’t be angry. Karma has come back to chomp you in half. You’ve learned your lesson.”

Derek made a whimpering noise in the back of his throat.

Tyler finally noticed the bowl of ramen that had clattered to the ground. He stood to get some paper towels. “Tell me the entire story. Don’t leave out anything.”

Derek did. He assumed this was what he’d do when he drove here. He explained everything, not only the game, but what happened after. Milo excused himself part way through to study the dirt, and Tyler did little else but watch him leave.

Derek described the fight with the zombies. Tyler just listened, his eyes never losing that bugged look. Derek described the combat, how close it resembled the game, with time slowing down, making choices, and rolling dice.

Once the story was done, Tyler was still silent. The sun was high in the sky, and Derek had to keep an eye on Milo.

“Alright…” Tyler opened his mouth to finish speaking, but his eyes glazed over and it turned into more of a slack jaw. “Alright…” He closed his mouth, covering his head with his good hand.

“Does this have something to do with the AI we used?” Derek asked.

“I have no idea. If there were rumors of things like this circulating around in the eighties…” Tyler trailed off, his eyes still wide. “There was no AI in the eighties.” Through his fingers, his friend’s face crumpled. “That we know of, at least. This is literally flipping my entire world view around and I’m going to be quite silent in my alien class.”

Tyler rubbed his face as tenderly as possible. Derek used the time to knock on the window. Milo was down to two hit points, and it was too hot for him to be out there. Milo nodded, gathering his supplies and coming around the building.

Tyler folded his arms on the table. “I’ll happily do some research on this, though. If they got here, that means there’s a way to get them back. And they need to get back. Hraktar and Grizzizzik could create quite the stir.”

“Thankfully, no one has seen them yet. At least, not anyone who isn’t involved in the game,” Derek said. “My entire family ignored Hraktar at breakfast.”

Tyler nodded. “Yeah. There’s no way Hraktar could hide without some divine intervention.”

The door opened and Milo walked through with two different vials of dirt. He was covered in sweat and looked exhausted, but he gave Tyler a nod. “Perhaps I could use this contraption to get something researched?” Milo motioned toward the stove.

Tyler frowned, glancing at the stove. Derek leaned over. “He’s been trying to find a lab.”

“Ah. Well… sure. As long as you don’t blow anything up.”

Milo winced, and Tyler was confused. “Too soon,” Derek said.

“Right. Sorry.”

Milo sighed before placing the vials on the countertop. “I may have accidentally brought everyone here, but I am prepared to do everything I can to get them back. And that includes trying to figure out a way to use the materials you have. We must figure out how to get mana here.”

Tyler shrugged. “Well, I’m sure it’s not the weirdest thing my landlord has had to deal with. College towns, you know?”

Derek didn’t know, but he pretended he did. Tyler went to work doing some research, and Derek went to work helping Milo figure out how they could use a kitchen as a makeshift lab. It was going to be a long day, but the sooner they figured this out, the sooner his friends could return home. They couldn’t make a portal if there was no mana.

***

For being the first day of school, it was pretty uneventful for Evelyn. It meant a bit more to the seniors and the freshmen. The freshmen because it was their first time at Elmwood High. The seniors because it’d be their last. Evelyn, being a sophomore, it simply wasn’t that exciting. The first day was the same. Always a review of the syllabus, reviewing what was expected of the student for grades, and if there was any time left over, there were always the get-to-know-you games. She went to cheer practice after school, talking and laughing with the girls there. Even though there wasn’t much to do on the first day, it was still important to officially have it. The year had begun. She remembered what it was like to be a freshman cheerleader, so she went out of her way to get to make sure they had a good day. Cheerleading was important to her, and even more so was making sure the girls felt comfortable enough to trust each other. They were, after all, doing many flips and carries.

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Evelyn walked into the house. It was quiet. True, her mom was still on a business trip, and her dad was at work. It was almost five, and she knew Nick went from working full time in the summer to part time with school. She was probably the first one home, but Clarissa and Grizzizzik should still be here.

She went searching, and found the rogue lying in the sun, slightly curled. Evelyn stayed in the house, knowing she didn’t exactly want to greet the rogue. He happily soaked up the bright sun, his health bar all the way full.

She entered her room to see Clarissa curled up in the chair. “Princess Clarissa?” Evelyn asked.

She didn’t respond. Evelyn knew she was still alive, since her health bar, too, was all the way full. But when Clarissa uncurled from the chair, there was a haunted look about her. “Hello, Evelyn.”

She knew that look. She understood the heavy weight on the soul that came from a horrible event. The way the experienced sucked all the good out of her life. Evelyn glanced around her darkened room and had a feeling that Clarissa spent the entire day here.

“Are you hungry?” Evelyn asked. Clarissa shook her head. “Do you need some light in here?” Again, Clarissa shook her head. Evelyn wasn’t sure what to do. Well, she did. The best thing she could do for the druid was to make sure she got home safely. Back to the forest-covered hills of the Shrouded Domain. Back to her family. Away from the harsh desert sun. Evelyn sighed. “Look, I know you’re not okay, but I’ll respect your wishes. When you’re ready to talk, I’ll listen.”

Evelyn walked out of her room, trying to think of something to help Clarissa. She wasn’t good with this kind of thing.

Grizzizzik was taking a nap on the rock, looking completely at ease. She was glad that rogue couldn’t touch anything, or else all her stuff would have disappeared by now.

She made herself a salad, slicing up some hard-boiled egg and sprinkling some croutons on there before going very liberal with the ranch dressing. It was to where it negated the health factor of the salad, but she didn’t care. She was starving.

She ate her dinner as Walt got home from work. He barely said hi before he was in his back room, his own bag of food he picked up from Burger King.

She was scrolling on her phone when she got a text from Derek in the CCNC group text.

Meet tomorrow morning by the drama stairs. Interesting update.

Evelyn knew where that was. It was the stairway with all the rewards from past drama competitions. The one near the theater. Drama kids usually hung out there, which is why Derek picked it.

Evelyn flipped her phone over and noticed Grizzizzik had woken up and was walking into the house. She felt herself tense up. Grizzizzik couldn’t hurt her. Perhaps it was still just getting used to a man who looked like a snake. She didn’t particularly like snakes, but it was never a phobia of hers. She could see why many people had that phobia, though. At least he didn’t have the face of a spider. She shuddered at the thought.

Grizzizzik opened the door and walked in. She wondered what would have happened if Walt saw that. Would he see the door opening and closing on its own? Would he have seen nothing at all?

The rogue sat across from her, folding his arms. “I rather like this weather.”

“I can see that.”

He smirked, taking her in. “You’re uncomfortable around me.” It wasn’t a question.

“Are you surprised?” Evelyn asked. “Nick’ll be coming home soon.”

“I doubt Nick and I’d have much to talk about,” Grizzizzik said.

“We’re trying to get you back,” Evelyn said.

“I am looking forward to that. Despite the beautiful weather, it’s rather hard to make a living when you can’t touch anything.” Grizzizzik leaned forward, fingers heading for her ear. Evelyn jerked back, touching her ears. She had earrings in, dangling white gold hoops on the lobes with two smaller rings higher up her ears. Grizzizzik sniffed, unphased by her reaction. “They’re not worth much, are they?”

“I’m a high schooler without a boyfriend,” Evelyn said. “What do you think?”

Grizzizzik laughed. “I see where the Princess gets it.”

Evelyn gave him a soft glare, repeating in her mind how much Grizzizzik could not hurt her. “Doesn’t it bother you that a twelve-year-old boy created you? That he’s the reason you are who you are?”

“Nope,” Grizzizzik said. “Never gave much thought to the pantheon of gods and goddesses.”

“But this isn’t a pantheon in your world. Nick actually formed you from pencil and paper. You’re nothing more than a game,” Evelyn said.

Grizzizzik shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell you, girl. It won’t bother me. I doubt it’ll bother anyone in the group. Ezekiel will believe almost anyone about anything. Milo is too focused on his little gizmos. The Princess would only care if it meant she suddenly wasn’t treated like royalty anymore. And Hraktar has always been more of a follower than a leader.”

“And you? I’m assuming you’re going to shoe yourself in as the leader?” Evelyn asked.

Grizzizzik shook his head. “There’s only one thing I’ve ever cared about.”

“Being the one to slit your own father’s throat?” Evelyn asked.

This did get a reaction from him. Grizzizzik narrowed his snake eyes. “It does feel unsettling that you know so much about me.”

“I know a lot, yes. Probably more than you. Did you know Nick was planning on not giving you legs? You were going to have a snake body, just like your father.” Evelyn noticed the way Grizzizzik winced. “Except I remember being elated that it would make you look like a merman, so he changed his idea last minute and gave you legs instead.”

Grizzizzik paused, then glanced down at his legs, going so far as to wiggle his toes. He leaned back in his chair a bit. “Well, I see some benefit in getting to know this world. Judging by the children that are in charge of our well-being, I very much doubt we’ll be leaving this desert soon.” Evelyn gave him a look. “Calling it as I see it.”

It was such a modern phrase, but Evelyn also knew Nick used it a bit while roleplaying as Grizzizzik.

The door opened, and Nick walked in. He had a bag of fast food from McDonalds. It’s like the universe let him know Walt ordered Burger King, so he purposefully went with a different option. Though Evelyn had a sense Nick went there to see if Alejandra was working. Nick glanced up and seemed to hesitate at the sight of Evelyn and Grizzizzik. “Everything alright?”

“Fine,” Evelyn said as Grizzizzik said nothing.

Nick kept his eyes on his rogue, narrowing them ever so slightly. “She’s my sister.”

Grizzizzik narrowed his eyes back. “Many people say a variety of that same vagueness to me, and I find they all mean different things. Where I’m from, claiming a blood relation to someone usually means you want them dead.”

Nick kept his gaze. “That’s not what I mean. She’s my sister, so respect her.”

Grizzizzik turned his gaze toward Evelyn, the smallest of smiles on his lips. “As much as I can.”

“Yeah,” Nick said. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Grizzizzik stood. “It’s been a lovely chat, but I’m going outside again. It’s too cold in here.”

He left, and despite everything that happened, Nick left soon after, flipping open his old phone to check nothing. She knew how friendless her older brother was, but no doubt he wanted something to do to not have to talk to Evelyn.

She touched her earrings to make sure they were still there. She also checked her bracelet and rings and pockets. Grizzizzik may be level one, and it may be impossible for him to touch her, but she had seen Nick pull off insane sleight-of-hand rolls. Nick would warn her, though, if he ever tried one.

Would Nick warn her? And would Nick even be prompted to make such a roll?

Despite Grizzizzik’s condescending nature, he was right. They were just children, and she didn’t know if they could get these people back home.