“How do you decide where to set up your doors?” Marian asked.

She was sitting at her usual place at the front desk at the Adventurers Guild, wearing her half-moon glasses with the chain and old-fashioned poofy high-necked dress. She was slowly filling out a job request form. The question was directed to Bryopsida, a goblin wearing an expensive-looking double-breasted suit in a soft blue that looked quite nice with the green of his skin. He was sitting on top of the desk, facing away from Marian and kicking his feet idly.

“Oh, that’s an interesting art,” he said. “You have to consider the different types of humans you’re going to face. You see, most humans aren’t much trouble. They aren’t going to just go wandering through some random door, even if they’re sure it wasn’t there before. As long as you don’t put it right next to a door they actually will use they won’t be a problem. Children are a bit trickier, since they aren’t afraid to open a mysterious door just to see what’s behind it. If they’re going to be around, I hang up a sign that says ‘Crockworth Farthing, DDS,’ and that’ll usually chase them off. Then you’ve got your urban explorer types. Those who do go wandering through doors just for the fun of it. They can be trouble if you’re putting your door high up, like on a rooftop, so if I’m making a door up high I’ll usually make it out of glass and then weave an illusion to make it look like an office inside. They won’t be familiar enough with the building to figure out it’s a trick. Now, you really start to run into real trouble when you get fated adventurer types. You know, seventh sons of seventh sons, humans of elvish descent who start to develop their ancestor’s physical characteristics, young girls who are Very Clever. To be honest, I’ve never quite figured out how to keep them out. No matter where you put your door, no matter how you disguise it, they always seem to find a way through it, chasing a runaway pet or escaping bullies or something. Only thing you can do is try to chase them back out before they cause much trouble. Finally, you’ve got the really annoying types. The ‘don’t fit ins.’ People who go around moaning how ‘there’s got to be more to life than just this.’ People who are depressed or abused or who have problems that can’t be fixed in this world that they think can be fixed in our world. People who think running into fairies is all fun and games. Or worse, those who know exactly how dangerous we are and want in anyway for some reason.”

“We have one of those types around here,” Marian said, dryly.

Nightingale barked out a laugh. She was also at the desk, leaning on one elbow with her hat sitting next to her as she chatted with Marian and Bryopsida. “You’re talking about Riven.”

“They always seem to show up at guilds like this one,” Bryopsida continued. “They’re always keeping an eye out for mysterious doors that weren’t there before, and they aren’t afraid to peek through them just in case. What’s more, once they do get inside, they’re impossible to get out. I hate kicking out those who have nothing to go back to, but they just aren’t going to find what they’re looking for in our world, at least not in any way that’ll make them happy. Best way to avoid them is to hide the door from sight altogether. Put it in a closet or something. Or else make it look like a temporary service entrance for an area under repair. That’s what I did today.”

“Oh, yes, by meeting room number three,” Marian said, adjusting her glasses. “That place is a disaster. Why one of these idiot adventurers thinks it’s a good idea to keep a tiger around, I’ll never know.”

“You think that’ll stop Riven?” Nightingale asked. “I’ve seen her burst into the same broom closet three times, shouting ‘Ah-ha!’ That girl is determined to turn herself into some fairy’s plaything.”

“I don’t see why you don’t just ask her out, darling,” said Marian. “She seems like a much better match for you than Kaylen.”

“She doesn’t even begin to compare to my precious Kaylen,” Nightingale said, sighing. “Oh, how I wish I could kidnap her and keep her in a cage!”

Bryopsida nervously glanced over his shoulder at Marian. “Uh, look, if you really think there’s a chance this Riven woman will find my door, maybe we should hurry this along. If my Lady finds a human in her manor, she’ll want to keep her, and then I’ll get in trouble with my boss. The head servant is a real political type, you know? All obsessed with the humane treatment of humans and letting them stay in the wild instead of keeping them as pets.”

“Not to worry,” said Marian. “I’m just about finished. Just need to choose a team to offer the job to.”

She picked up another sheet of paper and glanced it over.

“I know you wanted a rush order, but it looks like just about every party is on a job currently. Nightingale, you want this one?”

Nightingale shook her head. “No can do. As much as I’m sure Maxim would love to put one over on the magical community, he’s busy right now with his whole ‘invent a child’ project. Plus Bessen’s just been invited to fight in some tournament and Atworth took a side job convincing a kraken to leave the harbor. I’d take the job on my own, but I don’t want to deal with whatever your Lady will do if I fail.”

“Fair enough,” said Marian, looking over the paper again. “Hmm, that only leaves one party, but they aren’t exactly the most reliable.”

----------------------------------------

Ten gold pieces. It was something. It was not nothing. It wasn’t one thousand gold pieces. It wasn’t even one hundred gold pieces. But it was solid. In fact, it was the most pay Lady von Ekko’s Glorious Adventurer Brigade had received for a job so far. And yet, it was tremendously unsatisfying compared to what they should have received.

They had tried their hardest. Andra had found the flask piece with the most curve and ordered Fiona to remove her shirt and wring it out. True, Riven had spilled a few drops because she was distracted by staring at Fiona, but all in all they had collected a pretty solid sample. But of course, Maxim just wouldn’t be satisfied. “That’s not even enough for the centrifuge,” he had complained. “I’ll have to hire a mage to do a scan spell, and you know how unreliable those are.”

Andra had tried appealing to the Guild. She had insisted that the original request had used the word “sample,” not “full dose.” Maxim had countered that he had made it clear to the party that he required a full dose. In the end, the judgment fell on the side of Maxim. However, since he acknowledged that the small sample might be enough for him to achieve his goal, he offered the party a partial payment of ten gold pieces.

Still, Andra couldn’t stop thinking about the sight of that ball crashing into the flask, sending ninety gold pieces spilling into the dirt. Even now, as they made their way through the woods and up the hill to their next job, she couldn’t get that moment out her mind.

“Why the hell did they build this stupid school so far away from the train station?” she blurted in frustration.

No one responded.

“Uh, Riven, I think she’s talking to you,” Kaylen said.

Riven jerked in surprise. “Hmm? Oh, it’s more like the train station was built far from the school. I guess the administration was worried about the train whistles disturbing, I dunno, rituals or whatever.”

Kaylen stepped forward to catch up to Riven. “Are you okay, Riven? You seem distracted.”

“You ever feel like you missed out on something really important? Because I’ve been feeling like that all day.”

“Well, you’d better get your head on straight. We are not messing up this job,” Andra said harshly.

“Yeah, we’re gonna need your help if we’re going to free the fairy that’s powering Magi-net,” said Kaylen enthusiastically, trying to rub some of her enthusiasm off onto Riven.

“Okay, first of all, there’s no fairy powering Magi-net. That’s not how Magi-net works,” Riven said.

“How does it work?” Fiona asked.

Riven sighed and put on her lecture voice. “Historically, mages have had two ways of communicating over long distances, books and mirrors, usually enchanted to work in pairs. They each have their own advantages. Books allow transmission of text and drawings, and only one book in a pair needs to be active at a time. A mage can write something down and an hour later the other mage can check the other book and see what was written. Mirrors let you transmit sounds and full-color images and work well in tandem with illusion spells, but both sides have to be active at the same time. Mirrors don’t record stuff.

“Anyway, eventually someone worked out that more than one book could be connected to the same ‘parent’ book, and that stuff written in the ‘parent’ could be seen in all of its ‘children.’ From there, people started hooking up books and mirrors in all kinds of creative ways. Eventually Constellation Academy started a big project where they hooked up a whole room full of books and mirrors and started handing out books to any mage who wanted to connect with it. That’s Magi-net. It’s a beautiful system. Mages can write to some books, but not to others. And there’s even a system in some books where if I write something, no one else can overwrite it. Plus now they’ve figured out ways to play mirror transmissions over and over again and⁠—here, I’ll show you.”

She pulled Fiona over to a log near the path and Kaylen and Andra crowded around her as she sat and pulled out her Magi-net book. She opened it to a page marked by a thin leather bookmark and touched one of the words on the page. The page momentarily turned blank before new words appeared and she touched one of those as well. She repeated this a couple more times, then flipped back to the inside of the front cover, where a small mirror was embedded. The mirror turned cloudy for a moment, before clearing up to display an awkward angle of a small dining room with a cat on the table. The image approached the cat who looked up with wild eyes, then suddenly lunged forward until its face filled the mirror. Then the mirror’s face turned black.

“Kitty!” shouted Fiona, delighted.

“What the hell was that?” asked Andra.

“It was a recorded image of someone’s cat. Being all crazy,” Riven explained.

“Okay, but why?” Kaylen asked.

“Because it was cute,” said Fiona. “Did you see? She was all excited!”

“It’s not just cute,” Riven added. “It’s testing the capabilities of a miracle of modern magic which has the potential to change the world.”

Andra was still confused. “Change the world… with cats?”

“It does more than just cats,” Riven said, exasperated. She closed the book. “Look, the point is, it’s all paper and glass. Stuff that human magic is perfectly capable of enchanting long-term. Fairies aren’t necessary and wouldn’t be particularly helpful. Magi-net is a purely human creation.”

“So then what are we supposed to be looking for?” Kaylen asked.

“I’m not sure,” Riven admitted. “But hopefully we’ll be able to find it.”

She stood and started to continue, but Andra lingered.

“I’m tired,” she whined. “Fiona, carry me.”

“Don’t,” Kaylen replied harshly. “Fiona, do not carry her.”

----------------------------------------

When the party finally reached the large doors of the entrance hall of the Constellation Academy, Fiona set Andra next to the exasperated Kaylen and Riven led the way inside. She breezed past the reception desk and into the twisting halls. She briskly led the way, familiar with the school’s labyrinthine layout. Eventually, she turned suddenly and entered a nondescript door.

Beyond was what appeared at first to be an ordinary library. From its lobby, well let by rows of large light potions hanging from the ceiling, two floors were visible, each filled with rows and rows of books. Andra wasn’t sure how deep it went. What set it apart from other libraries was that among the bookshelves were rows of mirrors, stacked together on hinges like giant books themselves. Riven took a deep breath, savoring the smell of the books.

“So this is Magi-net?” Kaylen asked.

“Part of it,” Riven replied. “After Constellation Academy set up this original library, several other schools have started their own. It’s all connected, though. So that cat reflection I showed you earlier could be stored here, or it could be from Nebula School, Nova University, even from Singularity Academy. Although probably not from there, based on how fast it loaded. And in a way, every individual book that connects to Magi-net is also part of it.”

“Okay, so where is the, I guess, center?” Andra asked.

Riven shook her head. “No, there is no center. That’s the whole point. You can remove any individual piece and the system as a whole will continue to work.”

“So how do we find this fairy?” Fiona asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Excuse me, do you four have business here?”

Andra turned to find that this voice had come from a librarian. Or, judging from her age, a student working at the library as part of a work-study program.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Yes, obviously,” Andra replied.

She started to turn back to the others, but the librarian spoke up again. “What I mean is, are you students?”

Riven spoke up before Andra. “I’m an alumnus. Riven Circe.”

“Then as an alumnus, you should know that library access is for students and teachers only, unless you’re here on official school business,” the librarian said, trying to sound authoritative.

“We’re here as part of a job for the Adventurers Guild of Rampart City,” Kaylen explained.

“Which does relate to school business as it relates to whether Magi-net will continue to work,” Andra added. “So if you’d kindly leave us be, we’ll get on with our work.”

That seemed to be enough for the librarian as she promptly walked away.

“So how do we get started?” Andra asked.

“I don’t know; nothing about this job makes sense,” Riven said, exasperated. “I guess we can look through the reference section. Most of those books manage the inner workings of the library. If something about Magi-net doesn’t work the way I think, then that would be the place to find out.”

Riven led the way down one of the rows and to a section where all of the books had numbers for titles. Each of the party members selected a book at random and sat down on the floor to read them. Unfortunately, Andra quickly discovered that the books in this section made no sense. They just appeared to be random words and punctuation. Riven seemed to understand it, however, as she quickly flipped through the pages, pausing only briefly to scan each.

After only a few minutes, they were interrupted again, this time by a large, annoyed-looking man.

“Seriously, ‘Riven’?” the man asked. “You show up here years after graduating just to look through the Magi-net reference?”

Riven looked up at him and grinned. “Copernicus! Are you a professor now?”

“Of ethics,” he said snidely. “A subject you know nothing about, I’m sure.”

Riven’s grin turned into a frown. “Are you just here to throw old accusations at me?”

“I’m here to make sure you don’t sexually harass any of my students,” Copernicus growled.

Riven looked back down at her book. “Yeah, I don’t do that.”

“What are you doing here, anyway?” the professor asked.

Riven sighed. “So I’m working for the Adventurers Guild over in Rampart City. My party was hired by someone who described themselves as an ‘anonymous humanitarian.’ This person claims that Magi-net is being powered somehow by a captured fairy.”

“Well, that’s nonsense,” said Copernicus.

“Right. But according to our client, the evidence of this fairy can be detected all over Magi-net. The Guild checked with a member who is an elf, and she confirmed that there is evidence of fairy magic on Magi-net, always on books and mirrors located here, so we’re supposed to find this fairy and set them free.”

“This is ridiculous. You expect me to just let you and your band of ruffians run around a delicate research project based on some anonymous tip? It’s probably just a prank.”

“Delicate research about cats,” Kaylen whispered to Fiona, who giggled.

“Prank or not, the Adventurers’ Guild has had a positive relationship with Constellation Academy in the past, has it not?” Andra asked, standing.

Copernicus hesitated. “It has,” he admitted. “In the past, the academy has found it necessary to employ the Guild’s services.”

“And yet as soon as the Guild requires something of the Academy, that relationship suddenly means nothing?” Andra continued.

Copernicus suddenly seemed to grow very nervous. “Of course not. Positive relations between the Guild and the Academy are of the utmost importance.”

“Then what exactly is wrong with us looking around here as part of official Guild business?”

“It’s just…” Copernicus stammered. “Does it have to be him?”

Andra leaned in conspiratorially. “Oh, don’t worry about Raven. We keep a close eye on her.”

Copernicus’ raised his eyebrows as if he finally understood something. “I see. In that case, carry on. And try not to disturb any of the students.”

He turned on his heel and left.

“Wow, way to just throw me under the train again,” Riven said to Andra.

Andra shrugged. “It’s not like I lied or anything. I do have to keep a close eye on you, just not for the reasons he thinks.”

“That guy was an asshole,” said Kaylen. Fiona nodded in agreement.

Riven sighed. “Yeah, he was. Should have known coming back to my old school would dredge up a bunch of old feelings.”

----------------------------------------

The group spent the next several hours searching through the library. Riven remained in the reference section, while the others wandered around, selecting books at random. Andra couldn’t quite seem to figure out how the library was organized. Sometimes an entire bay would cover the subject of a past war, other times she would be reading a recipe for stir-fry and turn the page to discover a diary about some mage’s vacation. She was sure it wasn’t random, but it followed some logic she couldn’t quite understand.

From somewhere in the stacks, Kaylen shouted “Hey, look what I found!”

Andra rushed to join her, arriving at the same time as Fiona and Riven.

Kaylen held up the book she was holding and read aloud. “I awoke in a room I didn’t recognize, surrounded by strange machines and medical implements. Was this a hospital? I tried to move my arms and legs, but found them unresponsive. However, I discovered I could move my head. I tried to look down at my body, hearing a high-pitched whistle that sounded like a motor, only to discover that what was lying on the bed was very much not my body. It was long and slender, made out of steel and chrome, and were those⁠—?

“‘Ah, you’re awake,’ said a voice from nearby.

“A moment later, the source of the voice entered my field of vision. A woman with long, dark hair, thick-framed glasses, and a lab coat. Beneath the lab coat she was wearing some sort of skintight suit that showed off her beautiful curves.

“‘Here, allow me to activate your motor functions,’ she said, pressing a button on a small remote control she had.

“Suddenly, I discovered I could move. I sat up, stretching my robotic limbs.

“‘What happened?’ I asked, my new voice remarkably high-pitched.

“‘Your spaceship crashed,’ she said. ‘Pilot error, from the report, so you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. But not to worry, I found you and uploaded your mind into one of my extra worker bots.’

“I examined my new body. It was a soft blue color, with slender limbs, broad hips and⁠—

“‘Do I have breasts?’

“The woman shrugged. ‘I prefer female models,’ she explained.

“‘Oh, well, can you get me a male model?’ I asked.

“‘I’m afraid you’d have to pay for that out of your own pocket,’ she replied. ‘After you pay off that body.’

“‘P-pay off?’ I stammered.

“‘Yes, of course. You didn’t think it was free, did you? You’re going to be working for me for a long time.’

“I stood. ‘Absolutely not. I refuse to be your servant.’

“‘I thought you might say that,’ the woman said, her voice becoming cocky. ‘So I took the liberty to install some programs in your mind that will make you more compliant.’

“She pressed a button on her remote. ‘Now how do you feel about working for me?’

“Working for her? I would get to be obedient and follow orders and maybe even call her something like ‘Mistress’ or ‘Queen’? That sounded like the best thing in the world! Why had I been resistant to that idea just a moment ago? Especially after she had gone to all the hard work of crafting me this lovely female⁠—”

Kaylen broke down laughing, unable to continue.

“Oh, good job, you found my blog,” Riven said dryly.

“What’s a blog?” Fiona asked.

“When someone keeps a diary on Magi-net. It’s a portmanteau of ‘book’ and ‘log.’” Riven explained.

Fiona still looked confused “Aren’t logs already books?”

“Look, I didn’t come up with the term,” Riven said, rolling her eyes.

“So, let me get this straight. This is a new experimental communication system and you use it to write bad sci-fi stories about mind control?” Andra asked.

“I thought it was pretty good,” said Riven sadly.

“Hey, what’s this symbol on the page?” Kaylen asked.

She showed the book to the others. There was a small, crude drawing of an insect in the corner.

“That’s odd,” said Riven. “That’s outside of the margins of what displays on Magi-net.”

She took out her own Magi-net book and flipped to the matching page. There was no symbol.

“I think I saw that symbol earlier,” said Fiona.

She led the group to another section where she’d found a blog belonging to a student. She spent a minute or two flipping through it before finding the right page.

“Here,” she said, pointing. The same symbol was drawn in the corner.

Kaylen took the book. “Ooh. Murder mystery.”

“Yeah, I thought it was a little predictable, but the characters were interesting,” Fiona said.

“Huh. It’s another work of fiction,” Riven said.

Kaylen picked up on what Riven was suggesting and turned a few pages. The symbol appeared on every page that made up the story, but disappeared as soon as the story ended. She continued flipping through the book past pages and pages of the writer complaining about teachers, until she found another sample of fiction and the symbol reappeared.

For the next half-hour, the group furiously searched through books, digging through every personal writing blog, story-hosting book, and role-playing forum they could find. Some contained the symbol, but others lacked it. It appeared on everything from amateur novels to works of flash fiction, with no pattern that anyone could determine aside from always appearing on pages containing fiction.

The group soon ran out of steam, and was just beginning to feel like they were at another dead end when Fiona let out a shriek, dropping the book she was holding. Andra rushed to her side to see something small skitter away from the book too suddenly for her to make out the details. It reached the nearest shelf and scampered up one of the books, somehow squeezing between the tightly closed pages.

Andra snatched up the book and tried to open it close to the pages the creature had disappeared between. After flipping through a few pages, she discovered a drawing of an insect. It resembled the sketch the group had been pursuing, but was much more detailed, with chiaroscuro shading giving it depth and ridges on the abdomen giving it complexity. It also moved, crawling across the page until it reached the word “here” where it crawled underneath the word, becoming more and more obscured by the letters until it disappeared entirely.

Riven, who had joined Andra’s side, said “It’s taking a link,” and opened her own Magi-net book. She found the correct page and touched the word “here”, causing the words on the page to vanish and a new page to appear, this one including the insect.

“This page is in a book on the other side of the library,” Riven said. “Oh, it’s starting to move again.”

From here, the search turned into a strange chase, with Riven tracing the insect’s movements using her book and trying to direct others to the insect’s location. The party dashed chaotically throughout the library, up and down the stairs, picking up books only to immediately discard them when Riven shouted that the creature had moved.

At one point they cornered it when Fiona found it on a page with only one link, but it simply leapt from the book, becoming a flesh and blood insect, though it remained the color of paper. Fiona yelped again and hesitated before trying to grab it, allowing it to easily escape her and find its way to another book.

“Can’t you turn that weapon into a butterfly net or something?” Kaylen asked.

“No, it only turns into weapons,” Fiona replied.

“Seriously? That’s a weird limitation.”

“I mean, I designed it to turn into weapons,” Riven said, not taking her eyes off her book. “But it’s a one-of-a-kind enchantment. I don’t really know its limitations. It’s worth a shot.”

Fiona drew her sword and watched with surprise as it transformed into a butterfly net before her eyes. It seemed that metal turning into wood and netting was no problem for Riven’s handiwork.

“What do you know?” Fiona said.

“Really wish we’d thought of that earlier,” said an annoyed and exhausted Andra.

The party continued to pursue the insect, eventually cornering it again. This time it was Andra holding the book and Fiona was ready nearby. When the insect leapt from the page, it made a beeline towards Fiona, who yelped again and stumbled backwards, forgetting about her net. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quick enough for the insect, which reached her foot and climbed its way up her pant leg, eventually disappearing under her shirt. Fiona dropped her net and desperately tried to brush it off, but it was too quick. She patted at her shirt, trying to catch it, and eventually froze, clutching her chest. Riven picked up the net.

For a moment everyone stood still.

“Did you catch⁠—?” Andra started, but was interrupted by Fiona shouting in pain.

“It bit my boob,” Fiona groaned. “It’s such a sensitive spot.”

The insect came skittering back down Fiona’s leg.

“Get it, Raven!” Andra shouted, but Riven was staring at Fiona, net held loose in her fingers.

As the insect passed out of Riven’s range, Kaylen shouted “Die, bug!” and promptly crushed it with a book.

Andra felt her stomach drop. “Why would you do that? We were supposed to save it, not kill it!”

“Oh. Oops,” Kaylen said. She carefully peeled the book off the floor.

The insect was no longer an insect. It was now a tiny round girl with pointed ears. She was dressed in a fine white shirt and brown pants and waistcoat, complete with a chain. She moaned softly.

“We’re, uh, here to rescue you?” Fiona asked more than said.

The girl slowly pulled herself to her feet and dusted herself off. “Rescue me from what? Unbroken bones?” She had a nasally voice that was only enhanced by her annoyance.

“We were told that you were being held captive by the mages here,” Andra explained. “We were hired to rescue you.”

“Yeah, I’m really confused,” Riven said. “Who are you?”

“Call me Bookworm,” the girl said with a bow. “I imagine you were hired by Lady Osier?”

“We don’t know who hired us,” Andra admitted. “The client is confidential.”

Bookworm nodded. “Definitely Lady Osier. I used to be her librarian. Ever since I left her service, she’s been trying to get me back.”

“Why’d you leave her service?” asked Kaylen.

“Because her library was boring,” Bookworm explained. “All tomes of magic and histories. I couldn’t stand it any more.”

“You prefer fiction?” Fiona asked.

Bookworm huffed as if the question were the most absurd thing in the world. “Yes, obviously. Fiction is wonderful. Full of strange and impossible things. Absolutely loaded with creativity and imagination. I can’t fathom why anyone reads anything else. And this Magi-net system makes it so convenient to find new stories. It’s like an enormous cave to explore, full of hidden paths and treasures.”

Riven clapped her hands together triumphantly. “I get it. You leave your mark to help navigate it.”

“Exactly! I’m planning an expedition to one of the other schools soon. But it’s a bit intimidating because they’re so far away.”

Andra nodded. “Alright, well, now that that’s sorted out, let’s get going.”

She reached for Bookworm, who leapt back. “What are you doing?”

Andra blinked, confused. “Taking you back to your Lady. That’s our job, after all.”

“Are you sure that’s okay, boss?” Fiona asked. “She doesn’t want to go back.”

Andra shrugged. “What difference does that make?”

“It’s wrong. We can’t force her to go back,” Kaylen said.

“Yeah, I can’t take the world of fiction away from someone,” Riven added.

“Seriously? You too, Raven?”

Bookworm looked up at Andra with pleading eyes.

Andra groaned. “Fine. We’ll let you stay.”

The fairy breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I can’t go back to that life.”

“I’ll explain things to Copernicus, in case someone else notices your marks,” Riven said.

Andra sighed, disappointed. “There’s no way I’ll be able to come up with a lie that’ll get us paid.”

“That’s okay,” Kaylen said. “Sure, we’ll miss a paycheck, but that’s it. It’s not like anything horrible is going to happen just because we couldn’t finish a job.”