Despite a rocky start, the food wagon was a success. I sold out of chicken sandwiches and was almost out of my pseudo-chicken pot pie. My friends and customers enjoyed the food. I’d made enough money to acquire a more extensive food supply for the next few days, and now Seraphina was here. My day just kept getting better.

My friends noticed Seraphina had arrived and called out hellos to her. She waved back.

I walked around the table and thanked Caden, Shell, Mira, Doan, and Ragna for coming. "You all brought a lot of attention to my venture. I'd still be standing by the side of the road begging people to stop by if not for your help."

"Think nothing of it!" Doan roared and slapped his belly.

Laughter broke out among my friends and new customers and comments about how good the food tasted. I took a bow and returned my attention to Seraphina.

Besides Mira, Doan, Ragna, Caden, and Shell, at least half a dozen townspeople sat or stood, finishing their food or sipping iced tea. I’d added a two copper upcharge for the drinks.

"It looks like your idea is going to take off. I'm so happy for you, Varix," Seraphina said.

"Why, thank you. I’m glad you came. How did your day go yesterday? Any luck with the gems?“

Seraphina smiled and said, “I learned a few things, but I was distracted for most of the day. It made it difficult to concentrate."

“Distracted?” I asked, like a dummy.

She took my hand in hers. “Uh. Yeah.”

"I'm sorry you were...oh. Oh!" I couldn't help but smile again.

The image of Nyria, the relic hunter, flashed through my head, and I pulled back.

Seraphina looked at me in confusion. “Is everything alright?”

I sighed and said quietly, “We need to talk.”

“Oh dear. We’ve only been on one date.”

“It's nothing like that.” I laughed.

“Then what's on your mind?”

“Not here. Not now,“ I said,and quickly changed the subject. “I have a surprise for you.” I picked up the pitcher, grabbed a clean mug, poured a cup, and held it out to her.

“Wait.” She looked inside and then sniffed. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Try it.”

Seraphina took a sip, closed her eyes, and breathed a sigh. “This is…iced tea."

“Good?"

"So good. I don't know why I haven't thought to make this."

I lowered my voice. "It's a little bit of an upsell. Every little bit helps."

"It's perfect."

I took her to the cart, pulled the last biscuit out of a bag, cut the top off, removed the inside with a knife, and poured a spoon laden with extra chicken into the bread bowl. I put the top back on and presented it to Seraphina with a little bow, “For you."

She grinned, offered a curtsey, and took the food. “This smells like…”

“I call it chicken pot pie.”

Seraphina’s breath exploded as she fought off laughter.

“Sorry.” I chuckled.

She took a spoon, dipped it into the gravy, and tasted it. "This is good," she said.

"It's my first batch. It will get better. The trick is the broth. I need to work on making it a little stronger."

"No. This is really good, Varix. It has a unique flavor. The sauce is so rich."

"It cooked for a few hours."

"The chicken falls apart." She spoke between bites.

I looked over my supplies and realized I hadn't saved a chicken breast or biscuit for myself, so I settled for a bowl of the pot pie mixture.

As I went to find a seat for Seraphina and me, I loudly announced: "Sorry, folks. We're all out of food, but I'll be open tomorrow at the same time. I hope you'll stop by. Oh, and spread the word!"

"Better save me two sandwiches tomorrow!" Doan called back to me and held his mug of iced tea up in salute.

"You got it, my friend!"

We had a moment of quiet after Lady Churl and I had cleaned up the pots and brought in all the dirty dishes from outside. I piled them in the sink, while Churl went out back and brought in water.

There was too much to do to grow this business. I knew I would have to sacrifice some of my backup funds to hire help. I couldn't keep up with this much of a load. I'd fed about thirty people, forcing me to rush dirty plates in, which Lady Churl, thankfully, had washed and set out to dry while I continued to serve food.

Seraphina went to a barstool, stared at it, and then moved down one. It was the chair occupied by Lady Ophelia. Had she sensed the ghost? Seraphina settled in, her eyes going to the kitchen where Lady Churl was cleaning and putting stuff away.

"You have an interesting employee."

"Ah, he don' pay me!" Lady Churl called.

"What?"

"Hey!" I looked at Lady Churl.

She chortled and went back to work. "Nah. Got me a place to stay, food, and I don't have to eat no onions."

"Lady Churl, I'll take care of you, you know that," I said defensively.

She shot me a toothy goblin grin, exited the kitchen, and moved around the bar to sit in one of the barstools. The one occupied by Zyn. His face scrunched up like he'd just sucked on a lemon.

"Oi, barkeep." Lady Churl put her finger on the bar. "Needs me a drink. Strong."

"Coming right up." I laughed.

I fixed a round of drinks for the three of us and enjoyed the moment. Churls' only complaint was that the drink wasn't strong enough, so I added another measure of the Pixie's Giggles and another splash for myself. If there was ever a need for liquid courage, this was it.

"I call this drink Orange Blush. It's smooth, and made with Pixie's Giggles."

Seraphina cautiously took a sip, held the glass away, and turned it to get a look at the mix. "That is good. Hint of…pine?"

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"Yeah. The orange juice masks it a little."

"Reminds me of an old drink I used to enjoy."

I nodded, but didn't say anything. We only agreed to discuss our earthly origins at her place when we could silence her back room. Which made what I was about to reveal all the more awkward.

"You're going to tell her, aren't you?" Ophelia said.

My eyes darted to her, but I didn't reply. Garin leaned back and crossed his arms, watching the interaction.

Seraphina was observant and looked at the spot. "There is something very peculiar about this, um…this bar. I can't quite put my finger on it."

I sucked down the drink and lowered my voice. "Yeah. That's one of the things I need to talk to you about."

"Okay."

"Boss?"

I shook my head at Lady Churl.

The little goblin shrugged and downed the rest of her drink.

"Can we go to my room? I need to show you something."

She looked up at me from under long eyelashes. "Varix. Has that line ever worked?"

I laughed and shook my head. "No, no. This is something else."

"Very well." She stood and smoothed her skirt.

I verified both doors into the tavern were locked and went back to Lady Churl. Leaning over, I said quietly, "She's going to find out sooner or later."

Churl's face screwed up, and she looked like she was going to start protesting. I held my hand up and gave her a barely perceptible head shake.

"If you turn out to be a murderous crazy person, I am going to be very disappointed," Seraphina said.

"I'm not a crazy person."

"You left out the murderous part."

"Right," I said. "Not that, either."

Her eyebrows arched up.

"A joke. Besides. If we go upstairs, I'm sure you have a half dozen gems in there that can turn me into a frog."

"Maybe."

"Don' do a frog. We got a cat. Might be ole Varix gets eaten up," Lady Churl offered from the kitchen.

Seraphina laughed.

We went upstairs, and I led her to the back bedroom. I suddenly wished I had at least picked up the place. The bed was a mess; a small pile of clothes needed to be washed, and my basin of water needed to be changed.

Hastily, I pulled the bedspread up to at least cover the sheets and shoved the dirty clothes under the bed with my foot.

I closed the door and lowered my voice. "Do you have a gem similar to what you used at your shop? Something to give us some extra privacy?" I unbuttoned my shirt's top button with a shaking hand and pointed at The Heart of Shadows. "It's about this."

"Yes," she said, moving to the edge of the bed and sitting down, "but if it's something to do with the matter we discussed the other day at the shop, we should go there. It has better protection.”

She slid a pouch around on her belt and opened the top. Her hand dug inside. Stones rattled around like marbles. Seraphina pulled out a couple, studied them, and put them back.

"Hold on," she said and pulled out a couple more before she came up with something dark gray with flecks of gold.

She concentrated on the rock, and the room grew utterly silent. The sound of Lady Churl in the kitchen, people talking and passing by outside, and the hoots and calls of birds disappeared. I was again reminded of what it might sound like to be in a vacuum.

"Now. What did you need to tell me?"

Seraphina waited patiently while I paced the floor a couple of times, hand on my chin, as I considered how best to break this to her. Every instinct was telling me to run. Get out a voyager scroll. To start over somewhere else.

But I couldn't do it. I had friends here. Real friends.

"Shit."

"Just tell me."

"Okay." I came to a stop in the middle of the room. "You know for a fact that I'm from Earth. That we both are."

"Yes."

"Undisputable. I can tell you anything you want to know. I can tell you my favorite fast food places, favorite music, the best place to see a movie in Seattle, stuff like that."

"What are you getting at?"

"So, you know who I am no matter what I look like."

Her eyes darted to my chest and settled on the pendant. "That stone is hiding something."

"Is it ever." I sighed. "Look. The person who brought me here did it as a last-ditch effort to save their own ass. I did not, I repeat, did not ask to be here. When I awoke in his body, I was in a state of shock. I was also in great danger and had to make a run for it. That's where I met Lady Churl. She helped me escape."

"Okay."

I clenched my fists in frustration.

"You don't look anything like this, do you?"

"Actually, I look a lot like this on Earth. Except for the scars across my forehead. I have much better hair here."

Seraphina touched her head, and grinned. "Tell me about it. Anyway. Just get it over with. I'm here. If I were worried about who you are, I wouldn't be in your room right now."

"Okay," I said and motioned for her to get up.

Earlier today, I'd prepared for this, and had placed Morthisal's staff under the bed. I reached down, felt around, and pulled the staff up. I had covered the top with the leather headpiece Lady Churl had created to mask the horrendous top piece.

Seraphina studied the staff. "May I?"

"Before you do that, um…" I pulled the covering off.

"Oh my god!"

"Yeah."

"It's grotesque."

"And very powerful, or so I'm told."

She looked up. "Who told you that?"

"My ex."

"Huh?"

"This is the part that gets extra weird." I sighed. “When I thought I was dying on Earth, I was pulled to this world, and woke up in a massive throne room surrounded by green faces—armed and angry green faces. I mean, their faces weren't armed, but they sure were. I was sitting on a throne, and a huge battle was going on outside the big double metal doors."

The color drained from Seraphina's face. "Nooooo…"

"Yeah." I pulled the pendant out from under my shirt. "This is called The Heart of Shadows."

Seraphina tossed the staff on the bed like it had suddenly turned into a snake. Oh no, this was it! She was going to scream and call the guards. She grabbed the pendant, held it, closed her eyes, and concentrated.

"Um."

"Wait." She held up a finger.

Her eyes opened, and we were standing close together. "Varix. Vince. I don't care whose body you now inhabit. I know who you are inside. But this is going to present a lot of problems. This is a relic. A very, very old relic. It is powerful, and some will be looking for it."

"I know. A relic hunter came in yesterday sniffing around. I can't lose this gem. Ever. This is why."

I put my hand over her hand, covering the stone, and lifted it until the necklace came over my head, and stepped back.

The change was almost instantaneous. My skin became ashen gray. My limbs elongated, and the world became darker as I stared at Seraphina through Morthisal's eyes.

Whispers. Voices. Gloaming and dread. They called me. The staff was right there! I could easily reach out. Pick it up. Let the power flow. Embrace it. Embrace it!

With a shudder, I grabbed the necklace and quickly put it back over my head, letting the pendant settle over my chest. Seraphina let go and took a step back, then another.

Looking down, I found my body had returned to normal.

"I'm sorry. You needed to know that I was in the body of the recently defeated Dark Lord Morthisal."

Seraphina was silent. She started to say something and stopped. She lifted her finger and put it back down. Her eyes narrowed, then opened again.

My heart still hammered in my chest. "At least you haven't called the guards."

"Called the…? Varix," Seraphina blurted out. "I know you're not him."

I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"When the relic hunter came looking for this," I pointed at the pendant, "Zyn masked it, but that won't last for more than a few days."

"Zyn?"

"Yeah. That's a whole other conversation. I didn't know if we would get this far. I was half convinced you would run out of here, screaming."

"I'm still here," she said. "You said Lady Churl knows about you?"

"She was in Morthisal's bedroom when I made my escape. She's the only reason I got out with my head still on my shoulders."

"I knew I liked her the minute I met her."

"So you're not… um. Not freaking out?"

"I am. A little. Not gonna lie."

I scratched the back of my head. "So what do we do now?"

She stood up and moved close to me. Her hand once again touched the pendant. "The first thing you can do is to tell me everything. I believe you, Varix, Vince. I want to hear it all. We need to figure out what to do about this pendant. I may have an idea that will allow you to mask it from the relic hunter."

I blew out a long sigh of relief. "I should go get us another round of drinks. This is going to take a while."

"That would be lovely, Varix," Seraphina said with a gentle smile.

I was curious about Seraphina's own transition to this world. In fact, I had so many questions for her. First, a round of drinks.

"Back in a flash," I said.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"That is the best news I've heard today."