“What’s wrong? Why are we stopping?”

We’d been making steady progress, excepting one instance where Alice had to tackle me to the ground to avoid a pendulum trap we’d sprung. We learned to pay close attention to which tiles the squirrel hopped on after that. Well, she did. I was still blind.

On a tangential note: being tackled in the dark without warning by a girl less than half your size is a unique feeling, but not one I’d recommend experiencing with a busted up leg.

I could feel her ponytail swishing on my arm. “The squirrel’s gone. I can’t see it.”

That was worrisome. The route we followed was quite long and circuitous, oftentimes taking a twenty minute detour only to arrive one intersection further down a hall. Alice kept spotting various dead bodies throughout the dungeon, so on the whole we assumed the squirrel was taking us via the safest way. Knowing my luck, though, it might’ve just been messing with us. Or wearing us down before the kill.

“Did it round another corner?” I asked.

“No, it’s a dead end. I don’t see any holes it might’ve gone into, either. There’s a skeleton—uh, an inanimate skeleton—but that’s it.”

I could tell she hated having to differentiate what kind of corpse it was. “Freaking squirrels,” I groaned.

“What’s your deal with the squirrel? You made it sound like you had history or something.”

The squirrel, she said. I wasn’t sure if I should be more concerned with it being just one or all squirrels. “We encountered a large group of them. If I said they were acting strangely, it’d be putting it mildly. Since then, we’ve run into a few more, but they’ve been…weirdly helpful.”

“…Helpful?”

“Yeah. Weirdly helpful.”

I could tell she was looking back the way we came. “You know what?” she said. “I’m fine with helpful squirrels. Better than giant rats and those crawler things. 'Magic helping squirrels' are practically a fairy tale.”

“This is surely the wonderful world of the brothers Grimm. Okay, if the squirrel isn’t just being a jerk, maybe it’s trying to tell us something. Would you mind checking the body?”

I could hear her stifle a sigh through her nose. “Sure,” she said. I felt her move to check a spot on the wall, then guide me to lean against it. “Don’t move.”

“I’ll wait with bated breath. Actually, I’ve been doing everything with bated breath. I’ll try to calm down.”

I didn’t get any sign of appreciation for that comment, so I settled for a quick sulk. Alice moved away, slowly. Her footsteps were quiet, but I’d had not much else to do for the last several hours, so I could pick them out with ease. I cocked an ear back towards where we came, just in case something was on its way to trap us.

Everything was silent that way. The only thing I heard was Alice as she started rummaging. “Hang on…” she said in what felt like a trepidatious tone. I tensed, ready for action.

“Yes!” she cried, scaring the hell out of me. “It had some lockpicks on it!” She rushed over. I felt her shove a leather case into my hands.

“Oh. That’s awesome,” I said.

“Why aren’t you more excited about this?” she asked.

“It’s just, the cell door wasn’t locked, and we haven’t run into any doors or chests or anything….”

“What?” She tapped my neck. “Our collars have locks on them, you dolt.”

“Oh.” I blinked. “Oh! Jeez, I thought they, like, stayed via magic.”

“No.” She was definitely smiling. She grabbed my hand and pulled it to her collar. “Right here. This is a keyhole, right?”

I moved a finger over the metal. “I think you’re right.” I checked on mine—one there, too. “And ‘dolt’? That’s probably the cutest insult I’ve gotten in years.”

“Yeah, yeah. Can you unlock them?”

“I can sure as hell try.”

The leather case had a flap that opened over the tops of the thieves’ tools. I felt each one. “Okay, I think this tension rod and…probably the pick over the rake.” I thought out loud, slipping them out. I’d never actually picked a lock before, but I knew a little about the theory. I just had to trust that my hands knew what they were doing. At least it wasn’t a knowledge skill.

“Alice? Where’s your lock again?” I’d seen enough anime to know I shouldn’t just reach in the dark towards a girl.

She guided me. Tension rod…didn’t fit. I put it away and felt for a slightly thinner one.

Tension rod—so. Apply pressure…

“Um, sorry, Alice. Mind if I just…” I put my arms on her shoulders and braced her up against the wall. It was at that moment I realized just how small she was next to me. It must’ve been a clear sign of trust that she let me practically pin her between a bard and a hard place. I suddenly became very worried about my breath.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Once again: tension rod—so. Apply pressure. Pick—so. Tap. Wiggle. Jostle…

Clack! The collar came off.

There was a squeal and, to my surprise, she threw her arms around me in a hug.

On another tangential note: being leapt on and hugged by a girl less than half your size in the dark is also a unique feeling, and again one I wouldn’t recommend experiencing while on a busted up leg.

“Oh, shit, sorry!” she said, no doubt feeling me tense and shudder. She put her weight back on her own feet and moved her hand to cradle the side of my face. “Are you okay?”

Her hand was warm. Gentle. “It’s fine. Blinding pain is just pain when you can’t see.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be. It’s nice to see you happy. Or, well, you know what I mean. Feel free to hug me anytime. Just give me a warning, maybe.”

Her hand moved down to my torso. I suppressed a flinch, presumably because I was still reeling from pain. I heard her take a breath.

Energy flooded into me. It spread from her hands, suffusing my body with warmth and strength.

“That’s the last of it,” she said. “How’s your leg?”

I found myself hesitant to test, but pushed through. “I think it’s good!” I lightly stomped a couple times to check. “I mean, I don’t think I’m topped off HP wise, but I can probably walk on my own, now. Maybe even risk a hug, but let’s not tempt fate until we’re out of here.”

“Alright, fine. Can you get your own collar off?”

I was already moving the tension rod in place. “Hopefully. Let’s see.”

“You said earlier you had magic? Do you have something that’ll get us out of here?”

Next was the pick. “Ah, no. Not like a ‘whisk-us-away’ spell or anything. Actually, without my spell components or a musical instrument I can play, I won’t have much I can do.” It was more difficult picking it on myself, but I was confident it was doable. “Let’s see, some healing and a little self defense magic, but that’s about it.”

“Nothing you can do about the dark?”

“If I had an instrument, I could. Sadly, I didn’t choose xylophones, so I can’t play on a skeleton’s ribcage—Aha!”

My collar unlocked. A sense of relief swelled into my magic limb, which I flexed just to see if I could. Then, sending it in to take a bit of love, I said, “Sanare.”

The briefest golden flicker sputtered around me, not even enough light to make out more than Alice’s shape against the hall. Still, my eyes were happy for the use, brief though it was.

“That should be me in better shape,” I said, tucking away the collar. “I haven’t been able to tell, but do you need any healing?”

“No, thank you.”

I made a soft whistle. “Wow. Fighting rats, dodging traps, and lugging me around without so much as a scratch! It might suck to hear, but you really have a knack for this.”

She took a second, probably to grimace. “God, if this is my calling, shoot me now.”

I chuckled. “Hey, if nothing else, you’ve proven you can adapt and handle yourself, even when things are at their worst. That’s a damn good skill to have, no matter what world you’re in. Heck, when we get back to the U.S., there’ll be nothing even half as taxing as all this here.”

“So you really think we’ll be able to go back home?” she asked, quietly.

I thought about it. “You know, if you’d asked me even a couple days ago, I’d have had my doubts. But now? With you? I don’t know, I’m feeling kind of optimistic.”

I felt a blush coming on, so I turned away, just in case she could somehow see. “Of course, take that with a grain of salt, because I haven’t been able to do anything but put blind faith in you for the last several hours.” I cleared my head with a shake. “Regardless, we’re not done here yet. If the squirrel brought us for the thieves’ tools—and I’m not convinced it couldn’t have just carried them,” I added with some side eye, “—then it’s likely back to take us somewhere else we need to be.”

I waited a few moments.

Then I waited a few more.

“Um, is it back?” I asked.

“What? Oh, no. It’s not.”

Was she distracted? “Everything alright?” I asked.

“Yes. It’s fine.” Her hand squeezed mine. Its heat lingered after she let go. “Sorry. I don’t see the squirrel anywhere.”

“…Huh,” I pondered. Did it want us to tackle the dungeon now that we had our magic?

“Oh!” I nearly kicked myself. “Okay. Alice, we need to start checking out this dead end. I think there might be a secret door.”

“A secret door?” Judging by where Alice’s voice came from, I realized I was facing away from the dead end. “Is that, like, a magic term I should be aware of, or is it like those moving bookshelves in old mystery movies?”

“It’s not specifically a magical term. Usually they’re mechanical, like those bookshelf things. I suppose one could be magical, or at least concealed with illusion magic or something, but given how easy it is to get a Detect Magic spell, they’re usually just designed to blend in.”

“But this place was designed so people couldn’t use magic,” she said.

“True. Sorry, guess I was arranging my thoughts on the theory, and not applying. Uh, try looking for some telltale signs of a secret door—loose stones, seams in the mortar, scratches on the floor. It’s possible the floor or ceiling could have something hidden, too.”

I heard the clatter of bones as she moved the skeleton. “You know what?” she said from a distinctly lower point than usual. “There are totally scratches on the floor here.”

I clapped my hands together. “Fantastic! Next would be to find the mechanism that opens the door. Check for stones that can either be pushed in or pulled out. I can probably help with that, if you like.”

“Don’t bother.” I could hear her smiling. “I found it.”

I nearly doubled over in excitement. “Fucking awesome! Thank you, random squirrel! Oh, and thank you too, Alice.”

“Hang on,” she said. “I pulled out the stone, but there’s a keyhole inside. I think you’ll need to pick it.”

“No problem.” I grinned. “I’m happy to be useful. Show me where.”

She did so. I knelt down and felt the keyhole. “Much bigger keyhole,” I said. “Real quick, can you guess where on the wall the door will open?”

“You mean like from seams in the mortar? Uh…no, not really.”

“Alright. You don’t see anything else out of the ordinary? Not like something that might spit arrows at me or a groove for another one of those pendulum things?”

She gave the matter some serious attention. “No,” she said finally.

I nodded. “Cool. Thanks for checking.” I started about my work.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my thigh. “What? What is it?” I asked.

“What’s what?” she said.

The hand moved up my side. Was she being playful? I’d admit to being interested in such a distraction. Perhaps later. “I need to concentrate,” I said.

“You’re the one who—Jack!”

I had just enough time to remember the extent of my unappealing nature before a small fist smashed into my side.

I winced, more from my own idiocy.

“The skeleton’s trying to kill me, isn’t it?”