I got up, stretched, curled my tail, and spread my wings. It had been a couple of days since the excitement of Master being abducted, and even though he did most of the work, I was taking some of the credit for rescuing him. Mostly, I only did so as a joke, but having him praise me for it was actually really nice, it helped me feel better about myself. I was trying to get better about accepting praise and compliments and such.

Either way, it was time to get up. We were still in a guest bedroom at the house of Cheryl’s friend, Sierra. Master was shutting off his alarm, followed by getting dressed, this time in more “regular Earth clothes”, slacks and a button shirt. Wearing his Terra clothes every day would start to get bad, and he only had the one set with him. He still wore his Guild Badge, just pinned to his shirt. Meanwhile, I raised a paw to my collar so I could focus on getting the illusion spell active again. We slept with the door locked, so it was a good chance to let it down, as that prevented the small strain from building into something larger. Master had recovered nicely from his “mana burn”, as I had nicknamed it.

Once in the house proper, Master began preparing some breakfast, a bit of ham and eggs as a “comfort food” throwback to life on Terra, even if the ham wasn’t the salted, preserved, dehydrated block we were used to. Cheryl wandered into the kitchen, possibly at the smell, and smiled at the sight of two plates. “Oh, is one of those for me?”

I pouted a little, but I didn’t want to speak up, in case Sierra was somewhere nearby. Master spoke up for me. “One is for Princess, but I can prepare a third plate if you’d like one.” His tone of voice was nice, there was no accusation in it, no scolding, nothing along those lines. But his words also left no room for denying that I was getting a plate, which I appreciated.

“Oh, right, I forgot. Sorry, girl, didn’t mean to try to take your food.” Cheryl chuckled to herself and nodded. “If you don’t mind, I’d love some.”

“I’ll make one for Sierra as well, it’s only nice since she’s letting us stay here.” He fetched another two empty plates and started cooking, while I sat patiently beside him to keep him company.

Breakfast went smoothly. Sierra joined us, and I ate from a plate on the floor like I usually did. Afterwards, Sierra left for work, leaving the three of us alone at the table.

Master washed the plates by hand. He’d been in the habit of washing what he used as he used it, which meant it wasn’t enough to put in the dishwasher, since we didn’t have one on Terra. Maybe I should ask him about making a spell to do it, or one of those servant-things Elimaio had created. But the thought of him taking after the mad wizard didn’t sit well with me, so I dropped that idea.

Cheryl leaned back in her chair. “So what are you two planning for today?”

Master set the last plate onto the drying rack. “Well, I don’t have work today, so I was hoping to start tackling something. The two big things facing us are getting home, and getting a place to stay until we can get home. At least, that’s what I see as the biggest things.”

I pulled a chair out and climbed up onto it. If I was going to talk, I’d rather be visible. “I’m still worried about Hoodie Guy. I wish we’d asked more questions about him, what he knows, how he knows it… It could be important.”

Master nodded as he sat down in a chair as well. Cheryl looked a bit uneasy at the mention of that day’s events. I started to feel a little bit of envy for her, thinking how seeing someone’s arm broken was the worst she’d seen of magic. But then I started thinking how drastically her life had changed, and all since she met me…

Cheryl tried to change the subject, I guess. “So, any thoughts on how you’ll do the ‘get home’ part?”

Master grumbled. “Unfortunately, no. I have no idea how Roffil’s spell to send me here worked, and taking my chances with the Storms again is… too risky to consider. I don’t hate Earth enough to take the slim chance I’d arrive on Terra intact, especially a second time. For all I know, having survived it once makes it more unlikely. I’ve already used up whatever… force kept me from losing cohesion or whatever.”

Cheryl’s eyes widened. “Is that how it works?”

“I don’t know how it works, that’s my point.”

I had lowered my gaze a bit at the “I don’t hate Earth enough” part. “If only I hadn’t lost that stupid book… It’s been so long, I don’t even know how we’d hope to find it.”

“We can try, though. Retrace your steps, from the last time you know you had it?” Cheryl’s tone had a slight strain to her optimism.

“Rerrh. The last time I had it was when I arrived, it was gone when I woke up in the back of that car with broken ribs.”

“Well, that’s a start, then. Maybe it’s where you left it. Let’s start there and see what we can find?” Cheryl continued to try to sound optimistic, but to me, it just came across as patronizing, borderline insulting. Master rubbed between my horns, and I pulled my head away instead. I didn’t feel like I deserved it.

“Seems like it’s our best lead, let’s head out.” I thought I saw Master frown slightly, a worried expression, but he chose not to push just yet.

Cheryl’s car bounced along the road, every seam of pavement making the car give a slight shake, a steady rhythm as we rode out of town along 255th Street. On both sides, the area was heavily wooded with no streetlights or other postings.

“You know, this is the direction I came in from.” Tola mused to himself.

I watched the trees out the window. “Of course, I got the others to make Roffil prepare the circle in the same spot, I wanted to follow as close as I could.”

“You never know, you could’ve ended up halfway across the globe. There’s no way to know how strongly a spot on Terra is connected to a spot on Earth. For all we know, even time isn’t connected, a week on Terra could be a year on Earth, or vice versa. Or even worse, you could’ve arrived a hundred years ago.”

I blanched progressively worse at each scenario. I really hadn’t thought about any of that stuff, I was so focused on following, on rescuing Master… I continued to watch the trees pass in silence, until I realized I was feeling a slight tug. “Hang on, wait… Pull over?”

Cheryl did as I asked, putting on hazard lights and parking on the shoulder. “What, you recognize a specific tree?” She was scoffing a little, but I wasn’t paying attention. The tug was like hearing a faint voice and trying to figure out where it was coming from.

“There’s no cars, I’m going to dispel the illusion. I think I sense something.” I didn’t even wait for acknowledgement, my paw brushed my collar and I willed the illusion away once more. Without its interference, I could feel it better, the faint, subtle sensation of magic, but rather than a flow that started and ended, it was sort of a constant… I didn’t really know what it was!

I guess I was silent long enough that Cheryl and Master were done waiting, as Master politely cleared his throat, prompting me to speak.

“Oh, right, it feels like… magic, but different? Not like an active spell, just… I don’t know how to describe it? But there’s something out there, possibly close. We should go out and track it. I, uh, need someone to open the door for me, though.” The handle was a bit different than it was on the other car I was in, I couldn’t get this one with just hooking a claw into a loop.

Master started to get out, but Cheryl hesitated. “What, looking like that?”

I huffed a little. “This road gets, like, one car a day, and we’re the one car. We’ll be in the woods soon enough, I think.”

Sure enough, we left the car behind and were picking our way through the trees and brush. Well, I charged through easily enough, my scales turning away any branches, but the others had a slower time of it, so I waited in order to let them keep up. It was still faint, but eventually, I reached a spot. There wasn’t anything here, though, just the feeling, all around me. I stopped and tried to figure out what I was even sensing.

Master put his hand on the trunk of a tree, thinking. Finally, he spoke up. “This might be the spot where I arrived on Earth. It’s hard to say.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but I wasn’t sure. But the air feels… almost like Terra here. Like… charged? No, humid? But not… moisture. It’s like there’s just… a breeze of magic, or a warm spot of magic… Leaking? From… I don’t know what? It’s in the air, in a way that it’s not back in town. Comparing the two, it feels a lot more like Terra did.” I struggled with the stream of consciousness, trying to put words to a sensation that didn’t have any. Senses that weren’t physical, registering an energy that couldn’t be felt by humans this way, so they never made words for it.

Master thought carefully as I talked. Cheryl looked completely confused. I was out of metaphors to try to use. Finally, Master spoke up. “I have encountered an issue using magic on Earth. If there was a lack of ambient magic, it could theoretically explain it. I’m not an expert. But perhaps us ‘punching through’ to Earth left some kind of ‘hole’ that magic is ‘leaking’ through, from Terra. Or… or even from something else entirely. Using Blood Magic was a sensation that was familiar, it was somewhat like what it felt like to be banished, but was more like what it felt like when I first travelled through the Storm. Except the Blood Magic burned from inside, while the Storm came from outside and burned through me. It’s too early to say anything, all I have is conjecture at this point, and there’s countless possible explanations for what I felt.”

Cheryl shrugged. “All this is going way over my head.”

I blinked. “That’s it! When I arrived, I flew up to get my bearings! Maybe that’ll help.” I gathered myself onto my haunches and sprung into the air, wings snapping out and flapping, propelling myself up above the tree line. I heard Cheryl let out a sound of surprise, but I was already airborne, and it felt good. Once I was in the air, looking around, I nodded to myself. This was the spot, this is where I started my time on Earth. Well, my time as a dragon. I didn’t like thinking about my old life too much. I did a couple of circles, and was tempted to stay up for a while, just enjoying the air and the wind and the feeling of flight, but the others were waiting… If all went well, I’d be in the skies of home soon enough anyway.

I landed in much higher spirits than I was when I took off, even if Master was giving me a look that asked if that was really necessary. Without a word, my head held high, I started to trot off towards the road again, but Master spoke up. “Princess, do you still need to be free of your disguise?”

“Wurf. No, I guess I don’t…” I summoned the energy of the illusion to wrap around me once again, feeling kind of like being wrapped in a slightly itchy blanket at all times. I hated that it was necessary more than I hated the sensation itself. “Anyway, this is the way I took, and I know I still had the book when I reached the road…”

The others picked their way through behind me, and I wasn’t as good at holding myself back this time. But they still were able to follow me, so I was good enough, as I stood by the road with my tail wagging.

Cheryl was picking branches and leaves out of her clothes, whereas Master just didn’t seem to notice them yet. I guess he planned on clearing them when it became necessary, so he could do so once and be done with it. However, once they arrived, I turned my attention back to the road. “…It’s not here.”

“Maybe it’s a little further up or down?” Cheryl tried looking along the road. “We don’t know exactly where you got hit.”

“It was here. I can still smell where I coughed up a little bit of blood.” I simply sat down in shock. I don’t know why I had let myself think this would work. Of course the book would be gone. Even if nobody picked it up, it would’ve been out in the open for, what, a week? Longer? I’d lost track of the days, I was never good at keeping track of them even as a human, and since arriving on Earth, it’d been almost non-stop stress. I felt a wave of emotion starting to come over me, and none of it was good.

Cheryl came over, her brow furrowed slightly. “Wait, really? That was… I mean, it’s been a while, you sure?”

It was almost like hearing her voice from the end of a hallway, and my own snout felt like it was packed with cotton as I swallowed hard. I was struggling not to break down, not again, not over something so stupid as this. The words came automatically, my voice flat and neutral. “Unless another dragon bled here recently, yes. The book is gone.”

Master knelt down, slipping an arm across my shoulders. “Hey, it’s all right, it’s not your fault. We’ll just have to track it down, that’s all. It would’ve been a lucky break if it was here, but it’s not the end of the line.”

I stiffened, but I didn’t react. I knew he was trying to comfort me, trying to help, but it just felt so… painfully empty of a gesture. It didn’t bring the book back, it didn’t undo my failure. There was just the empty road where I didn’t look before stepping onto it and let myself get hit, and let myself lose forever our one opportunity to get home, because I was an idiot. An idiot that did stupid things and then stupidly thought she could fix her stupid mistakes.

I was losing the struggle.

“C’mon, girl. Talk to me. It’s okay, I swear. We can still find it. You did good getting it this far, you did really good finding me. C’mon. Princess…” He was trying. I didn’t deserve it.

“Maybe those girls picked it up.” Cheryl looked at the empty road in thought.

I raised my head. “Huh?” If I could cry, there would’ve been tears in my eyes already, but since I couldn’t, I just felt numb and blank. In my head, it was still a dark swirl of thoughts and terrible words.

“The girls that hit you, that tried to bring you in. Maybe they picked up the book, too. We could try getting a hold of them. At the very least, we could ask.” Cheryl smiled, oblivious to the maelstrom of self-loathing in my head. But her words were starting to shine a light, a bridge that led out from the pit in the center. It was a thin hope, and it felt more like I was setting myself up for a worse failure, but maybe that was just the bad thoughts.

Master stayed at my side, stroking along my back, his hand bouncing along the ridges. “Would we be lucky enough to find them?”

“They left their number, asking to be contacted if we needed to. I’d forgotten all about it, what with the whole talking and magic and dragon thing. There should be a record of it at the clinic. Let’s go.” She was still smiling. It must feel nice to be competent and useful. No, I thought to myself. I need to not think like that. I’m useful, I do lots of things to help. I helped rescue Master from Hoodie Guy, for instance. Of course, my brain countered with how I ‘helpfully’ slaughtered a human, Elimaio, and nearly did the same to Hoodie Guy. Nearly murdered him like a wild animal.

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I shook my head and was determined to distract myself from that line of thought. “Sounds good. Back to the car, then?” We were close enough that we could see it from here, lights still blinking.

In the parking lot of Ida Grove Emergency Veterinary Clinic, I waited in the car. The windows were down, not that it mattered. It could’ve been as hot as an oven in here and I’d have been fine, but others wouldn’t know that and Cheryl’s habit was to lower the windows anyway. She and Master were inside while I sat alone. With my thoughts. Not the best place to be. I tried to think about nothing, just let the moments wash over me and pass by. Briefly, I wondered what my life would’ve been like if I had stayed on Earth, instead of running. If I had toughed it out a bit longer. I chuckled when I realized what I was doing, a dragon daydreaming about a fantastical life as a human working an office job somewhere.

I didn’t get far, I kept getting distracted with thoughts of flying instead, or thoughts of my hatchlings, or thoughts of the obstacle course we had set up back home and how good it felt to exercise, to push my limits and improve myself…

About the fifth time I had mentally ran the course, the car doors opened, the two humans climbing in. Once the doors were closed, I spoke up. “You get the number?”

“Yeah, we did.” Cheryl held a piece of paper. “Technically I did, because even though Tola claimed he wanted to give a reward, they didn’t want to give the info to someone outside the clinic. Privacy concerns and all.”

I stopped. “Reward… Do we even have anything we can give them, if they have the book? Or can point us towards it?”

Master thought for a moment. “I have a number of Sovereigns with me still. I could potentially create a magic item for them if that would do. If they have the book, there’s a good chance they’ve been brought into the secret of magic.”

Cheryl started driving back home. “Sovereigns? Doesn’t that mean king or something?”

“Yes, but it’s also the name for the currency back on Terra. They’re solid gold coins. I sold a couple to a pawn shop when I arrived, to cover my initial expenses. I think I got a raw deal, since I didn’t have any ID, but you or these girls could probably get a better value for them. I only got around a hundred fifty each.”

“A hundr–! Ahem. I’m sorry, you just… have gold coins? And you work at a tiny bookstore?” Cheryl glanced over at Master when we reached a stop light, and she didn’t have to watch the road.

“I have a limited number, they would eventually run out if I just sold them. Not to mention the challenges of explaining how I have so much gold, where it came from, and that I have no way to prove it’s not stolen. And since it’s minted into coins from no country on Earth, it risks raising more suspicions if someone decides to shop them around to coin collectors or other experts. So they’re more of a last resort than usable funds, like steady income. Even if that income is a trickle.” Master had that lecturing tone that indicated that he had clearly thought this through a lot.

“I guess…? I mean, still. Heh, if you find a way to get home, you could be pretty rich if you just melted them down to ingots before you came here.”

“Or I could bring in jewels and gemstones. Or I could skip that and just charge money for magic like I do back home. I imagine my services and skills would be in much higher demand here, I could charge quite a lot. You know, if I stopped caring about keeping a low profile.”

“Sorry… I mean, it’s crazy to think about, I’ve got a literal wizard and a dragon and here I am, just… thinking about budgets and work and acting like everything’s normal.” She had her gaze forward again, since we were in motion.

“It’s all right. It’s pretty wild what can become normal, once you get used to it. Unfortunately, I’m rather restricted in what I can do freely, even if I’m not harming anyone. Though, now that I think about it, our assailant knew magic, so there must be others… Perhaps I could get away with more than I thought without putting Terra in danger.”

“Terra?” Cheryl seemed surprised.

“Yes, I worry that if the secret of an entire other world becomes public knowledge, well… Some people are going to want to go there with guns and bombs and take all the gold, magic knowledge, and everything else they can grab. Or even just take land and build skyscrapers and condos.” Tola’s face darkened into a scowl. “As it is, the one Terran who knows Earth exists calls it ‘the World of Chaos’ and calls us ‘demons’, I wouldn’t want an army from Terra to invade Earth under the pretext of a defensive preemptive strike, laying waste to all the ‘demons’ they can find until someone manages to stop their magic might.”

“Ooh, no, that… Yeah, that would all be bad. That’s a lot of pressure.” She looked a bit cowed. My head lowered more. My mere existence here on Earth was putting all of what Master talked about in danger of happening, and worse. All because I impulsively jumped through that banishment circle because I couldn’t bear being without Master…

“It is. All the more reason to try to get this book and be back where we belong. I do hope we can do so in a way that allows us to keep in touch, though.”

“I’d like that.” She nodded.

Back inside the house, I paced while Cheryl dialed the number on the paper. Master sat on the couch in the living room, staying nearby in case he could provide input.

“Hi, this is Cheryl, from Ida Grove Emergency Veterinary Clinic. You asked me to call you if there was any news about the dog you found? … No, it’s good news. We found her alive and well, she was, uh, not hurt nearly as badly as you thought. Yeah, full recovery. No, no bill, no need to worry. In fact, I managed to find her owner, and he wanted to thank you. Mind if I put you on speaker?” Cheryl was starting to pace, and I sat by Master’s feet. I didn’t want to risk accidentally tearing up the couch with my claws. “Okay, here we go.”

She set the phone down on the coffee table, and Master spoke up. “Hello, my name is James, I’m told you were the ones who rescued my Princess and brought her to the clinic?”

A tinny voice came from the phone speaker. “Um, like, yeah, but… ‘Rescued’ is kinda… I don’t know if that’s the word I’d use?” She sounded so awkward.

“You mean because you hit her? It’s all right, she wasn’t hurt badly, and you brought her back to town. If you hadn’t, there’s no telling how long she would’ve been lost in the woods. You still helped greatly.” He smiled, trying to make sure that tone came through in his voice.

“Oh, you’re not mad, then? Okay, phew, because it totally was an accident, we swear!”

“No, not mad at all. Ah, I do have a question, though. You wouldn’t have happened to have found a book when you found her, did you…? A leather-bound book with a crystal set into the front cover? She had it with her when I lost her, I was hoping she would’ve had it but Cheryl said she never saw it…”

“Um, like, a book…?” A second voice cut in. “Is it yours? ‘Cause you said your name is James, right?”

“It was written by a… friend of mine, but yes, it belongs to me. Did you read it?” The smile had turned into a grimace. Master didn’t like lying.

“Like, we tried to, but it was some kind of weird, witchcraft-y stuff? Like, really weird, about storms and demons and chaos and monsters…” One girl seemed uneasy even talking about it.

“At least, what we could read of it. The handwriting was terrible.” The other voice cut in. “And a bunch of it was… drawings of shapes? Maybe Chinese or something?”

“It’s a long story, but I would be exceedingly grateful if I could get that book back. I could offer quite a reward for it…?”

“We didn’t know it, like, belonged to someone?” The uneasy voice was nervous.

“Yeah, we didn’t. So it’s not our fault.” Uh oh.

“Not your fault…? Well, even if you don’t have it, just being able to be pointed in the right direction would mean something… I understand, you had no way to know, it’s a pretty unusual book, and I’m in unusual circumstances…” He said that last part with a bit of a chuckle, hastily adding, “I’m not upset, I promise. I’d be happy to give a reward for just knowing where to start looking for it.”

“Like, what kind of reward? ‘Cause if you’re into witchcraft stuff, how do I know you’re not gonna pull, like, some kind of trick? Like when the villain goes ‘Your eternal reward!’ and kills the guy?” Uneasy and Nervous was getting even more so. I tried to remember which one was Driver and which was Navigator, but I simply couldn’t. Maybe if I saw them.

“Well, I hope I’m more trustworthy than that, but I suppose you have no way to know that, do you?” That last half came out strained, like he wanted to sigh but forced it to come out as words instead. “Well, I guess the reward would depend on what you would like. I was thinking money, but if there’s something else…?”

The two voices were whispering frantically before one got the bright idea to mute themselves, making the line go silent for a bit. Cheryl chimed in with, “Are you still there? We didn’t get dropped, did we?”

The line unmuted. “No, not dropped, just… had to talk for a sec. Um, what kind of ‘something else’ is there to choose from?”

Master grimaced more. “I… don’t have anything in mind, I’m just leaving the option open in case you want to suggest something. Perhaps a favor, if you have one to ask.”

More frantic whispering. I’m pretty sure one of them said something like, “I knew this was weird witchcraft stuff!” followed by a “Yeah but what if…?” followed by more frantic whispering.

Finally, the more nervous voice of the two gave a loud, “All right, a favor! You’re, like, bound by that, right? Making a deal and stuff?”

Master raised an eyebrow. “I’m bound by my word and my honor, if you’ll trust those.”

“Okay, well, then here’s my address…”

We met at a small house, and I recognized the two girls waiting at the door from my brief time in the back of their car. Master, Cheryl, and I all got out of the car and walked up.

“Hang on, you’re like, not officially invited in, you got that? Not yet.” I think that one was the Driver, the one with lighter hair. I mostly recognized them by scent and voice, though I wasn’t completely sure which was which. The darker-haired one nodded, arms crossed defiantly.

Master fought back a chuckle. “Just so you know, I’m not a vampire. I’m fully human, same as you or Cheryl here.”

“Uh huh.” Driver didn’t seem like she believed him. “Well, you look a lot more normal than I thought you would.” Navigator nudged Driver with an elbow, whispering something I couldn’t quite catch. Driver simply nodded with a slightly grim expression and whispered something back.

Master cleared his throat slightly. “Yes, not to be rude, but you did invite us here. I’m hoping it was for more than a staring contest on your front porch.”

The two looked at each other and made a series of facial expressions, but it ultimately concluded with nodding. “All right, come on in. But, like, if you do try anything, I’ve got all kinds of stuff to deal with you, a-and… and a friend’s gonna call the cops, like, if I don’t check in with them, you got that?”

Master rolled his eyes but nodded. “Only fair. I promise I have no plans to ‘try anything’, but I can’t fault you for being prepared.”

Once inside, the walls were decorated with a variety of ornaments. I knew one of them was a Dream Catcher, but I wasn’t well-versed with the whole “new age” scene. It seems she was covering her bases, though. Bookshelves were adorned with figurines from many different religions and cultures, as well as pretty crystals and carvings. It was kinda neat, but so few of them were dragons, which made me a little sad.

It wasn’t until I noticed the garlic dangling from the doorways that I realized just how many of these were traditionally symbols for warding evil and other supernatural creatures. Hm.

Driver and Navigator stood in the living room, arms crossed again, trying to project an air of toughness and preparedness. I briefly thought about dispelling my disguise, just to see them react, but that would be simply not worth it.

Master was looking at the collection, raising an eyebrow at some of the items. “May I pick up these crystals for a better look?”

“Yeah, I guess.” The two still seemed to be pretty guarded.

Master began picking them up and looking them over, turning them over in his hands, squinting. “Fascinating. Where did you get these? This one is in excellent shape. This one as well.” He set them back down where they were.

“Oh, like, I go to some stores when I go places. I like this kind of stuff. I had one of those Wicca phases back in the day, now I just get stuff I like the look of.”

“If you’re not attached to them, perhaps I could buy some of them from you…? Or at least ask about these stores. Some of these have some actual value, to the right people.”

This seemed to be the wrong thing to say to make conversation. The two girls got even more defensive. “What kind of people are ‘the right people’? You?”

Master tried to give a friendly smile. “Actually, yes. I picked up a bit of knowledge in appraising certain stones. Ones with certain qualities might not be worth a lot to most, but there’s a few who would very much like to have them, myself included.”

Navigator interrupted, glaring. “I thought you were here for a book.”

“All right, let’s talk about the book first. We can talk about the crystals later.” Master stepped away from the shelf and regarded the pair. “What can you tell me about where it is?”

“Hang on. Like, how do we know it actually belongs to you? I didn’t see the name James on it anywhere.”

Master’s lips pursed briefly. They were determined to make this difficult, especially with how little we could reveal. “Well, I described the cover, and I mentioned it was my friend Roffil who originally penned it, did I not? What would you consider proof?”

“You never said Roffil, but yeah, that name was, like, all over it… But that still doesn’t prove it’s yours. Like, you’re offering a reward. If we had the book, how much would you pay for it?” Driver’s gaze was pretty intense, she was clearly holding a lot of tension in her body.

“Okay, well, again, what would you consider proof? As for reward… A lot. Nearly anything I have, though that isn’t all that much.” Master was on the defensive in this interrogation.

“Why?” The single word was hurled almost like a dagger testing a swordfighting opponent’s defenses.

“I’m sorry?”

“Why are you willing to pay so much for it?”

“It’s… sentimental to me. I never even got the chance to read all of it, I only know what kind of things are in it, not the full details. It’s… all I have left of… of my friend Roffil.” I was a little impressed he managed to say that with a straight face.

Navigator shook her head. Driver’s eyes narrowed. “Uh huh. You know what I think? You’re not telling anywhere close to the truth. That thing is, like, either super valuable, or there’s some kind of really big secret.”

“Or both!” Navigator finally spoke up.

“Yeah, or like, both. You gotta tell me the truth, don’t you? Isn’t that like, the rules?”

It was Master’s turn to let a little bit of a glare seep into his gaze. “The ‘rules’? You don’t even have the book, do you? It sounded like you didn’t, on the phone.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe we have information. You said you’d do us a favor for information, but you won’t tell us the truth, so how do we know your ‘favor’ is real?” Navigator slipped out of the living room into the kitchen, coming back with a cast-iron pan, pressing it into Driver’s hands. “Yeah, we got Cold Iron, so maybe you better not lie to us.”

Master pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand. “I’m not… What, fey? Cold iron is fey, right? It’s a lot of things, I think. But look, again, I am human, just like you. Yeah, there’s a lot I’m not telling you, because it’s personal information. So, tell you what, ask your favor, and if you think I did a good enough favor for you, you can tell me what you think it’s worth, okay? Will that work?”

The two girls looked at each other, Navigator nudging her again and pointing at Master, but all I caught from the whispers was “the thing”.

Driver slowly set the pan down on the table, out of the way. “Okay, my favor… What’s the deal with that thing? The pin you’re wearing?” She pointed at Master’s Mage’s Guild badge.

Master raised a hand to the badge, making a bit of a pained expression. “That is a little personal, it’s… part of my past. I don’t think I have any reason to tell you.”

“So if I have a good reason, you’ll tell me? Promise?”

Master smiled faintly. “I promise, but it’ll have to be one heck of a good reason.”

Driver put her hands together. “Well, the design on it, I saw it. In the book.” Her voice seemed to take on the slightest tremor. I perked up, watching.

Master rolled his eyes. “There are a lot of drawings in that book, I think you called them ‘Chinese characters or something’. Roffil had a… habit of doodling little shapes.”

The two girls were not impressed with that. “No, I saw that exact one. Exact. That’s a good reason, right?”

“You sure? It’s a pretty complex design. It, ah, means something like ‘beginnings’, I think.” Master tried to placate them with a little more explanation.

“I’m sure. Because… It’s like, burned into my brain. After we sold the book, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. I started doodling it over and over, every time it was exactly that. And then… Fine, here’s your reason.”

Driver pulled her hands apart, her eyes half closed as she stared at them. Between them, floating in the air, hovered a glowing copy of the Start Rune. The flow of magic started from her, but halted in place, having nowhere to go. After a moment, it faded, and she stared into Master’s eyes.

Cheryl was still staring at the empty space. “Oh crap. Was that what I think it was?”

“That… is… a very good reason.” Master said, after a moment.