Jacob took a bite of the burger and tried not to moan. The interior of Fatburger was a retro-designed diner. A pair of tired construction workers sat in the booth across from him, their hardhats on the table next to their meals. A young woman wearing a backpack that screamed university student sat on a stool by the windows, swinging her legs. A wall-mounted TV played the news.

Jacob took another bite. Thank Christ for burgers, and thank Christ for the too convenient Apple Pay. After this meal he had $14.73 in his bank account, but he would have given his left leg for it. The gash on his forearm still burned faintly, but it had stopped bleeding at some point. He just hoped it wasn't infected.

Once he settled in to eat he realized that he was in the busiest section of Vancouver's downtown, by himself. Outside the Fatburger, hundreds of people flooded the streets on various errands, from homeless people to corporate executives and everything in between. The funny part was, it wasn't scary at all. He couldn't say whether or not it was 'dangerous' but it certainly didn't seem dangerous compared to the craziness he'd just been through. In fact the idea that people, human beings just going about their day, were dangerous, almost made him laugh at its absurdity.

The newscast broke his reverie.

"Blue skies today over metro Vancouver. BC Hydro officials are working hard to restore electricity to areas of Kitsilano that lost power during the sudden electrical storm early this morning. For now, residents are still in the dark. Experts weigh in: Will we be seeing more of these surprise storms and weather patterns, and is climate change to blame? Clyde Chelsea will have more on that at noon."

Jacob stopped mid-chew.

A surprise electrical storm?

The raijū.

He looked around the diner again, suddenly afraid. That rogue mage had only exited the magical world maybe a minute ahead of him. He could still be around. It could have been a trap to lure Jacob out.

It was still only the construction workers and the young woman in the diner. He looked outside at the people passing by on the street. There were too many. He needed to get back to the safety of the Sanctuary. What had he been thinking, coming in here to have a bite like everything was back to normal?

He looked at his half eaten burger. He should really go now. That would be the smart thing to do.

His stomach rumbled.

Groaning, he scarfed the burger down as fast as he could. Then he tossed his trash out and slipped out onto the street. Outside it was loud. He shoved his hands in his pockets unconsciously and hurried towards the Sanctuary.

——————

Jacob flicked a glance behind him, then scurried up the steps to the entrance to the office building. He was pretty sure this was the right one, but it wasn't like there was a shortage of tall glass office buildings downtown.

The lobby inside was nondescript. Two elevator bays flanked the back wall. A security guard scrolled on his phone. He glanced up at Jacob but didn't say anything. What floor had the Sanctuary been on? He couldn't remember for the life of him. There was a plaque next to the elevator that listed the floors each company occupied.

Second floor was a dentist's office. Then a law office on 3-4. Then a private equity fund management on 5-6, whatever that was. Then Baytech Shipping HQ 7-11. Then Universal Exports ltd 12-15. Then Malcom Christiansen LLC 16-17.

What had he been expecting? Magical Sanctuary Limited, floors 14-16?

Universal Exports seemed the most suspiciously named company on there. He went in the elevator and pressed floor 12. The elevator shot up.

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The doors opened on a white walled art deco lobby.

Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. He was suddenly very exhausted.

This time, Ola was sitting at the receptionist desk, flipping through some papers. She looked up as the elevator doors opened and her eyes widened.

"Ay!" She cried. "Ay! He's back. The kid is back!"

Thumping footsteps echoed from inside the Sanctuary. A moment later Camilla rounded the corner. Deputy Yang was right on her heels.

"Jacob!"

Camilla ran right at him and threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. Jacob froze, arms up, suddenly embarrassed.

"Thank God. Thank God!" Camilla stepped back. Her eyes were shining. "You're alive! We were so worried about you! Jimmy and I went looking for you but couldn't find you!"

"Yeah, I uhh..." Jacob looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

"Jacob, what happened? Where the hell were you? We looked everywhere for you." Jimmy came over and squeezed him in a tight hug. "Thank God you're okay. Wait, you injured or anything? C'mon, let's go to the med bay."

Jimmy led him and Camilla through the Sanctuary to a small clinical room, where they forced Jacob onto the bed. Camilla began checking him over.

"...And I couldn't stop worrying that you'd bene hurt, or worse, and that I'd been the one to drag you into all this. Thank God, you're alright!" Camilla rambled. "We were so worried. You couldn't have opened a portal, and the only other way to get back is at a nexus point. But it's so dangerous over there. How did you get back?" She looked up at him, maternal concern etched across her features.

Jacob started into his story, eager to have something to distract him. It was weird seeing Camilla so worried.

Jimmy cut him off. "Wait for Hueller to get here."

"Where is he?" Jacob asked.

"Sleeping. We had a long night." Jimmy said. He looked worse than worn. He looked harrowed.

"Did you have to stop a raijū?" Jacob asked.

"Yes!" Camilla said. She shot him a look. "How did you know about that?"

Jacob just sighed.

Deputy Ola came back with an exhausted looking Sheriff Hueller a few minutes later.

The Sheriff stopped in the doorway and just stared at Jacob for what seemed like forever.

"A miracle, for sure." Sheriff Hueller muttered. He turned to Ola, who stood in the doorway. "Go tell Xavier and Millicent to call off the search."

Ola disappeared.

Sheriff Hueller sagged down into one of the clinic's chairs. "It is good to see you, Mr Caibo. A massive weight has lifted from my shoulders. Start from the beginning."

Jacob told them everything. He left out the panic attack after the rogue mage had disappeared, or whatever the hell that had been.

They were all eager to hear how he'd gotten back, and nodded knowingly when he talked about the crystal skyscrapers and the Maintenance Room.

Sheriff Hueller cleared his throat. "So, he killed the crab-like creatures—we call that specific breed Bustles—then he cast a spell that lured the raijū to him, and let it consume the them?" Sheriff Hueller asked.

Jacob nodded.

The Sheriff shared a silent look with Jimmy.

"Thank you, Jacob. What you did took courage. Miraculous courage. I must discuss this with the other Deputies." Sheriff Hueller said, standing. "You should get some rest."

Rest. That sounded good. He was only just now feeling the effects of going a night without sleep. Pulling an all-nighter had been on his bucket list for a while, but he didn't think he'd ever do it again if he could help it.

Sheriff Hueller and Deputy Yang and Deputy Ola left. Camilla walked with him to the entrance to the Refuge, insisted on staying with him, but eventually relented after he complained about how tired he was. She squeezed him in another hug, then went to join the Deputies, leaving him alone to rest. Jacob entered the dark Refuge and plopped down on the lower bunk he'd been on earlier. He kicked off his shoes and rubbed his feet. He didn't think they'd ever been this sore. He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the metal slats of the bunk above him.

No one had said it, but Jacob had seen it in Sheriff Hueller's behaviour, as well as Jimmy's: He was lucky to have made it out of the magical world in one piece. He didn't know the stats or the percentage chance of people who couldn't use magic getting lost in that other world and making it back. He didn't want to know. He hoped he never knew.

He closed his eyes and shuddered.

Was that what this was going to be like? Being a mage? Being a Ranger? If it was, he didn't know if he wanted to learn any more. His parents were right. The world was a dangerous place.

That drew a chuckle. Then he started laughing. He clamped a hand over his mouth and glanced at the door. Hopefully no one had heard that. They'd think he'd lost some marbles over there.

Sheriff Hueller had said it had taken courage to do what he'd done. If that was courage it was scary, yet now that he was back and relatively safe, it felt good. It felt good that he'd been able to take control of himself and do what needed to be done. It felt better than good.

There was so much swirling around in his head he couldn't make sense of much. The one thing he did know was that he was still determined not to be a coward if he could help it.

He was exhausted, to the point that if he closed his eyes he'd wake up in two hours, drool on his cheek, wondering what time it was. He wanted to rest, ached for it. But he dragged himself out of the bed anyway, and went looking for Deputy Yang. He couldn't get caught out like that again. He needed to learn more about magic and that world.

He had to.