Ani wiggled, asking to be let down. I released my firm grip on him, letting him leap out and into the wood floor of the hallway. The young man waved me in, saying, “I need to close the door behind us.”

I did as instructed, slipping a hand in my pocket to find the cool glass of my phone. Once the door was shut and locked, the young man stepped a few feet forward, further than Ani or I, and automatic light flicked on, lighting up the old-fashioned looking green and yellow hallway a few feet in front of us leading to another door made of the same green wood as the bottom half of the walls.

The young man opened it, and I followed him into a guarded elevator room. The guard, a middle-aged man with an excellent poker face, halted us, stepping a few feet before the elevator.

“May I see your Identification?” He asked, hand extended.

I fingered my driver's license in my pocket, wondering if that was what the guard meant and, if so, if it was even safe to do so.

The young man tugged on a previously unnoticed silver chain on his neck, pulling out a coin-shaped tag from beneath his shirt. I could barely make out a sparkling, ocean-blue gem surrounding a decorative circle in the meager lighting. He flicked his finger against the center, spinning an interior section of the tag, the section with the decorative circle around, showing the other side to the security guard. Once the guard had taken a good look at the pendant, he turned towards me, clearly expecting me to do the same.

“All I have is my driver's license. I don’t have one of those.”

The young man tucked his necklace underneath his jacket and said, “He’s with me.”

The guard nodded and stepped back in an unmistakable gesture for us to continue. His eyes followed me as the other man pressed a button, the elevator doors opened instantly, and we filled in. The elevator doors shut between me and that uncomfortable gaze.

The elevator car shuddered and rumbled as we descended, Ani bumping my legs as the movement shook him. Reminiscent of elevators in those old-fashioned movies, an irritating jazzy song played through the speakers.

When the other man didn’t speak, I broke. “Where are you taking me?”

He tilted his head, looking at me curiously. “You really don’t know?”

“No? Am I supposed to?”

His cool blue eyes gave nothing away.“Since I saw you in Heirs, I thought maybe…” He drifted off.

Ah yes. The reason I’d followed him here. “About that. Who are you? What were you doing there?”

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He seemed to shake himself out of whatever stupor had fallen over him. A polite but sincere grin crossed his face, and he held his hand out. I grabbed it, and we shared a single firm handshake.

“Cove Doyle, Spaciotemporal Mage,” he said.

Spaciotemporal mage…spacetime mage?

“Hayden McCarthy.”

Cove smiled, flashing his white teeth. Looking at where Ani was sitting at my feet, he asked, “Is that your familiar?”

“Yes. Ani.”

He crouched down, reaching out for Ani to sniff, though he looked up at me as he spoke, “Nice to meet you, Hayden, Ani.” Ani sniffed his fingertips, then rubbed up against his hand.

“You too.”

“Before I answer the rest of your questions, have you encountered any mages before?”

“Yes, but only in Heirs.”

His eyebrows flew up. “Do you know what your main magic is?”

I shook my head. “Not by name. An old man in Heirs told me that it was unique and manifests as fortune telling. Ani can teleport, though.”

Cove nodded, expecting my answer. “We’ll do some confirmation tests ourselves, but that sounds like spatiotemporal, or as we sometimes like to call it, spacetime, magic.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the elevator wall. “Since you’re a newbie, I’ll leave out some details for now. We’re currently on our way to the City Beneath a City,” he said it theatrically, like a character in a movie might, “Ventosus. It’s a relatively large community deep underneath Chicago that is only accessible by mages like us.”

The naming sense was almost as bad as the one in Heirs.

Catching the look of distaste on my face, Cove chuckled. “Very original for a city beneath the Windy City, right?”

“Very original,” I agreed.

“This isn’t the only way into the city, but you won’t have access to those until we register you.”

“What if I don’t want to be registered?” I didn’t even know what I’d be registering for.

His face darkened. “Then all of your memories relating to magic will be wiped. Including your time in Heirs.”

A chill snaked its way up my spine, and I shuddered. A glance at his eyes confirmed he wasn’t lying. My time in Heirs had changed me, and as distasteful as I found some of the events that happened, I didn’t want to give my memories up. I didn’t ever want to give any memories up, actually.

“Don’t worry; the registration mostly gives you access to our resources. You’ll have access to each of the Mage cities, magic classes, magic tools, our public library, and several other resources.”

The benefits sounded nice, but “You said ‘mostly.’”

He waved dismissively. “Like any registration, it is also to keep track of you for law enforcement purposes.” The way he said it was strange, though I couldn’t quite understand why. “Anyway,” he continued, “as for why I was in Heirs, you’ll find out the whole story later, but I was there to collect something.”

Recalling the scene in the courtyard, I grew suspicious. “Something or someone?”

He shrugged. “Depends on the fragment. As I said, you’ll find out the whole story later.”

The elevator slowed rapidly, then gave another giant shudder. There was a ‘DING’ as the doors slid open, revealing another guard room. From what I could tell, it was nearly identical to the previous one, except we faced the doorway rather than another elevator.

We repeated the identification procedure nearly word for word with the security officer stationed down here before Cove finally opened the door. Light flared on the other side, blinding me momentarily as I hesitantly followed him through the doorway. Contrary to my expectations when I heard ‘underneath,’ air as fresh as the forest in Heirs blew gently against my face, and my eyes took in the deceptively normal-looking buildings across the street.

For a moment, I wondered if Cove had tricked me.

Those thoughts were quickly dispelled.