It was dusk when we first spotted land. Betsy and her seagull were asleep. Nessy had spotted it first, but said nothing. She quietly walked over to the wheel and adjusted course, which tipped off Roland, who then spelled it out for me.

Roland and I walked quietly past Betsy and the seagull to get a better look at the coast along the ship’s edge. Betsy was snoring loudly with the seagull sprawled across her chest, also snoring. They were swinging softly in the wind on a hammock.

The coast was jagged and harsh. Towering, densely gathered snow-covered trees, steep, rocky ocean walls, little shore to speak of.

Nessy joined us, her gaze fixed on the coast. She darted her head around, as the foggy landscape creeped into view. Roland was bobbing around too, but he mostly seemed to be watching for Nessy’s reaction.

“We overshot,” said Nessy. She left us and returned to the wheel, this time turning us ninety degrees. The ship creaked and bobbed, slowly turning south, and we began sailing parallel to the coast.

“How far off?” asked Roland.

Nessy shook her head with a scowl and walked off. I knew her habits by now. It was her “thinking time”.

“It’s the ice,” Roland pointed. “We’re too far north.”

“Should we wake the seagull lady?”

“No, it’s fine.”

I glanced behind our ship. One of the halfling ships that had detached from the halfling pirate fleet was escorting us. They were close enough that I could see slingers lined up on the edge of their ship. They were watching.

“How much longer?” I asked Roland.

“This time of year, it’s probably an hour out once the snow is gone.”

It was four some odd hours later when I spotted a lighthouse that bore no light. Roland was dangling up above mending a sail or something. I called for him and he quickly came, along with Nessy.

“Barf,” Nessy said, jogging to the wheel. She turned us around and slanted us slightly inbound towards land. “We passed it.”

The landscape was no less wintery than before, but with more fog.

“There,” Roland called out. “Clocktower!”

Nessy turned to Roland. “It shouldn’t be icy.”

The docks were small, enough for perhaps four ships at once. There was another ship docked, one twice our size, dark wood.

Nessy and I waited for Roland to come down and armor up. The halfling leader re-boarded our ship and woke Betsy and the bird.

“Off you go,” he said to the three of us.

We walked down to the dock. We were greeted by a man in a black suit. He was accompanied by five guards, each with a scimitar and matching black leather armor. Their emblem was a purple eye. Not one of them had a smile or uttered a word.

It was foggy, but I could see the extent of the dock. It wasn’t much. The main wooden path led to a dirt area surrounded by a rather striking thick, ivory wall. There was a single large door with a guard on either side.

“I’m Dunkleshaus,” the suited man nodded politely. He glanced up at the ship behind us. It began undocking, leaving us behind. “Three?”

Nessy nodded, then bowed slightly.

Dunkleshaus’s gaze was fixed on Nessy. “Well?”

“Not staying the night, Dunkle. Just a quick pick-up.”

“Are you entering the city?” he asked.

“For a moment,” said Nessy.

“That’s a night.”

Nessy stood silently for a moment.

The man smiled politely at me and Roland then returned his gaze to Nessy.

Roland turned to Nessy. “I—“

“Him.” Nessy pointed to me without looking at me. Then she walked forward towards the ivory wall door.

Dunkleshaus spun on a dime without breaking suave and paired with Nessy’s pace, matching her stride. The guards split, one following Nessy and Dunkleshaus, two on me, and one on Roland.

“This way,” one of my guards said to me. His voice was out-of-this-world; like a doom guard from hell.

I turned back. “Roland?”

Roland glanced at me, then looked over to Nessy, and back to me. “We’ll meet you on the other side,” he said. He looked upset.

I followed my guards. At first we shadowed Nessy, but then the brutes veered me towards the other docked ship. I glanced at Roland. He was following Nessy towards the ivory door.

I stopped.

Both guards turned and the one that spoke before spoke again. “It will only take a minute.”

“What will?” I asked.

The brute glanced towards the ivory wall door. He turned back to face me. “You owe a debt.”

“I don’t have any money.”

“You have enough,” he said.

He boarded the ship. I followed. The other brute walked behind me. The ship was empty. We kept going deeper in. It was dark. We kept walking. The ship didn’t seem this big on the outside. We curved and turned and went downstairs. There was a dim glow from a candle somewhere. Then I saw it. A single candle in the center of an empty room. I glanced around. The walls were mirrored. The two guards positioned themselves on either side of the door we had entered from.

I turned to re-examine the room, but as I turned, the candle went out. I heard a scream and a thud. I thought I laughed, but I didn’t. And then I recognized the scream had been me.

Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks on me, or trying to grapple with this reality. But I felt myself in others, as strange as that might sound.

I woke in a small, dimly lit room, on a bed I didn’t know. I felt far away from something, though I didn’t know what. The room was empty, save for the bed, and enclosed with a quant door that had a window.

Where am I!

I got up slowly from the bed. The walls were green and patterned with texture, all fancy like. Floor was stone. Basement maybe. I walked to the door. It opened to a crowded cobbled lane. I stumbled into the crowd and flowed. I took a left at every split. Didn’t mind going in circles. I was running away, or stalling. Waiting for my mind to wake up. I tried to ground myself with landmarks, while hiding within the crowd.

Where would they have gone? Where would Edgar be? Maybe a keep. The crowds were so thick! It’s the middle of the night! Where are we all going?

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I stumbled out of the crowd and by the grace of luck I found a bench. I sat at that bench, feeling violated and free. I will enjoy yelling at Nessy. How will she take it?

There was a deep darkness here in this city. You could feel it casted over the crowd. An idle sort of uneasiness. A growing dread.

What did they do to me? How could she, and he, do this to me?

I was alone. I felt it there on that bench with people passing by.

You’re different, a voice spoke to me. A girl’s voice.

I startled and turned, but saw nothing. I got up and looked around. All that there was, was a crowd. But the voice had been so clear.

Why have you come? the voice spoke again.

”I—” I mumbled, turning in circles. I felt an unexpressed laugh. A shiver down my spine. I wanted to cry but was too afraid. My fear of the world had turned inward. I felt surreal here. More than before. Like being lost, only to fall deeper. I’m hearing a girl’s voice in my head.

I re-entered the crowd. Oh, the crowd was an organism. I became swept up and devoured by it. I felt released, in part, from my will and slowly, dimly did I begin to see. Sight; what a funny thing. This was of a different kind. I could feel molecule me and, equally as apparent, molecule Roland, molecule Vanessa.

“Vanessa?” I heard myself ask, aloud, to no one. I remembered myself and the crowd around me. But then, I fell back into the higher sight and I saw her again, Nessy, running. Running against the crowd. I saw myself through her eyes.

I felt her grab my hand. I grabbed her hand back, hard. Punishingly hard. But I was so relieved. I was no longer alone.

“Where?” I asked.

“To Roland. The inn.”

I followed her from one stream of people to another. She knew this place too well. We were headed away from the shore, higher in elevation, through a maze of streets and alleyways, and towards a glittering grey stone tower.

We curved around the base of the tower, down a slope, and into a forest within the city. There were dwarves here, and elves, high men, and many seemingly habituated beasts of fantastic caliber, none of which seemed to pay me mind, like I had felt those of the crowd had.

“Here,” said Nessy, her hand squeezing mine. In front of us was our apparent destination. A dark wooden building. I saw light through its colored windows. Noises from within. But there was something deeply wrong here.

“The inn. Come,” said Nessy.

I stopped walking, my hand fell to the side. The inn’s large roof formed a high arch, not unlike a church steeple.

A mortuary for the living, said the voice in my head.

“Did you hear that?” I asked Nessy. But then, did I trust her to answer me honestly?

She looked startled, but the look quickly faded. She grabbed my hand and pulled me inside the building. There in the lobby was Roland and a pale girl. The girl was like the ones from the crowds.

Roland stopped mid-sentence and rushed over to me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded but became angry again. “Do you know what they did to me?”

“We do,” said Roland. “And I am sorry.”

“What did they do to me?” I asked.

“The price of admission is blood,” said Nessy. “And there are reasons why it had to be you.”

“You could have told me! You could have stayed with me!”

I was furious. Their reaction had just made it all so much worse. I no longer trusted them, but they were all I had, and that made me hate them more. I eyed the room, but I was examining the world. I wondered what spells Nessy had ready beneath her fingertips. Would it be enough to end me? What will happen then, when I die standing here?

Both of them eyed me tensely.

“Betray me again—and that is what it was—and I will end everything,” I lifted my hands palms up and motioned to the world. It was an idle threat. But this was my nightmare. My only strength was to I could find a way to end it.

They both kept their gaze fixed onto me. Nessy nodded slightly but sharply. Her lips were pressed tightly together, her eyes were sharp but her brows were uncharacteristically furrowed. Roland nodded too, with soft eyes and a clenched-teeth frown.

“Meet Alice,” said Nessy.

The pale one nodded politely.

“The cartographer,” said Roland.

“You got her released?”

“Released?” Alice said.

Nessy grinned and examined Alice.

“From Edgar,” said Roland.

Alice laughed. “Work in progress.”

“Where is Edgar?” I asked.

Alice turned and walked towards the stained glass windows. She held up a finger, as if to tell us to wait, or be quiet.

“Alice,” whispered Nessy to Alice.

Alice turned, rushed over to me, and grabbed my wrist with both hands. She vanished, and so did I. The room had changed colors.

We’re hidden now, Alice whispered within my mind. It had been her earlier.

“Where’d they—” Roland trailed off, turning in circles.

“Sh,” Nessy shushed Roland. “They aren’t here.”

I felt a tug at my wrists, so I followed along. Alice led me to a corner and gently guided me to the ground. I felt her sitting next to me, but I couldn’t see her or myself. Alice clinched my wrists so tight that my hands tingled. Then I realized it was my entire body that felt numb. Cold and numb.

Nessy took a seat near the fire and Roland stood in place watching Nessy.

The door slammed open. Dunkleshaus from the docks and five or six soldiers rushed in. Among them was a snarling wolf.

“Nessy!” Dunkleshaus called out. “There,” he motioned to the guards. “Roland. Where is the other one?”

Nessy stood up and walked over. “The boy left.”

“Is that so? Arrest them,” said Dunkle.

The guards rushed over and brutishly handcuffed Nessy and Roland. Neither protested. More guards rushed in. There were at least twenty armed guards in the room now, swords drawn mind you.

“Oh, Nessy,” Dunkle tisked. “You’re normally so careful.”

More guards rushed in. Dunkle himself didn’t have a weapon. He held a brown book. The guards just kept coming. I could see movement through the stained glass windows.

Dunkle turned to the wolf-like creature. “Still?”

The creature barked.

Dunkle looked around. “You sure?”

The creature nodded.

Dunkle turned back towards Nessy and approached her. “Last chance.”

Nessy and Roland were silent.

Dunkle tore a sheet from his book, it was aflame with black fire, he balled it up, and threw it at a soldier. The black flames devoured the man and formed him into a dark shadow creature engulfed in purple flame.

The creature hovered over to Nessy. “She isn’t scared,” it said. Then it turned and encircled Roland. “She loves him.”

Dunkle smiled at Roland and then turned to Nessy. “I’ll take him, Nessy, you know I will.”

Nessy was strangely collected. Roland, on the other hand, was not.

“Give me the boy,” said Dunkle.

Nessy sighed. “You’re complicating my day, Dunklehat.”

“Last chance.”

“Where is that patience you’re know for?” asked Nessy. “A special guest is joining us.”

Dunkle squinted his eyes and looked at his wolf. The wolf gave him a blank look back. Dunkle turned. “Bar the doors!” he shouted at the guards near the entryway. A guard rushed over to grab a chair and another few began moving a heavy piano over towards the door.

There was a knock at the door.

“Who’s there?” Nessy called out with a grin.

Dunkle’s eyes were wide. I stared at the door.

There was another knock.

Dunkle glared at Nessy. “Who—”

The door exploded, the piano along with it. Strangest sound I’ve ever heard in my life. We were all on the ground. Hate to think what happened to the guards near the door.

There was no smoke. Just a cloud of sawdust.

A tall man in a black suit with a red cape walked in. The room was silent, save for a few scattered groans. One guard near us backed away until he hit a wall, then he sat. The other guards backed away from the man, clearing a path.

Behind the man was a beautiful girl, perhaps an elf, with white hair, also dressed it black. She walked over to Dunkle. I couldn't hear. She seemed to be comforting him. She led him out of the building. His soldiers followed.

The man kept walking, past Nessy and Roland. As he did, the handcuffs binding Nessy and Roland melted off and poured onto the ground as water. He was headed straight towards Alice and me.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Alice stood too, not releasing her grip. We were still invisible, as far as I could tell, but it was as if he saw through it. He dragged me, with Alice in tow, over to Nessy and Roland and gathered us into a standing circle.

“Let go of him,” the man said.

Alice released her grip. I felt a rush of warmth pour over me. My skin was white.

The man was staring at me. “Why are you here?”

“Just a pick up,” Nessy said.

“Alice stays here,” he snapped at Nessy, then turned back to me. “Why are you here?”

Nessy cleared her throat. “Edgar—”

The man raised a hand at Nessy and kept his gaze on me.

“I don’t know,” I said.

Edgar glanced at Nessy. “He find you?”

“Tom found him.”

“Here,” said Roland, pulling a letter from his pocket. “From Tom.” He handed Edgar a letter.

Edgar read the letter then turned to me. “Are you dreaming?”

I could feel the sweat forming on my neck and brow. I looked at Nessy. Her face was neutral. I shook my head at Edgar.

Edgar glared at me. He leaned in closer. “Are you dreaming?”

“I don’t know.”

He shook his head. “Not good,” he said to Nessy. Then he eyed me. “Not good.” He turned and walked away, heading back towards the door.

“Good,” Nessy whispered to me with a solemn nod.

“Good?” asked Roland.

As Edgar walked towards the door, he flicked his wrist and six skeletons sprang up from the ground. They watched him leave, then turned to face the four of us. They slowly fanned out to form a wall between us and the door. Edgar opened the door and left.

“How is any of this good!” said Roland.

“He’s thinking,” whispered Alice.

“Which kind?” I asked.

“He can see you’re different,” whispered Alice.

“How?” I asked.

“Because I can. You glow different.”

“Guys,” said Roland. I could tell by his dumb smirk he was about to say something stupid. “I can kill these.”

One of the skeletons looked over with a grunt.

“You can?” whispered Alice with a smile. “All of them?”

Roland nodded thoughtfully, as if double-checking his math.

Nessy sighed. “We work with Edgar, not attack his pets.”

“That sounds painfully diplomatic,” said Roland.

Nessy took a seat by the fire again. We each followed her over and took a seat.

“You’ve grown,” Nessy said Alice.

Alice smiled and nodded.

“We need your help more than ever,” said Nessy.

“I know, but he won’t allow it,” said Alice.

“There are laws,” said Roland.

Nessy shook her head at Roland then turned back to Alice. “This is your life.”

“He’s coming,” Alice whispered.

The door opened again and Edgar walked in. The skeletons crumbled into dust.

Nessy stood up.

“I resolved the matter with the town. Come.”