Ari closed the book suddenly not wanting to stare too long at the blue eyes that seemed to jump off the page at her. She had to contain the fear she witnessed that night on the patio otherwise she may not be able to take another step. Especially now that she understood what she saw that night staring out from the woods behind her house was a crasem. 'Did it come through the rip that night? Did it go back into Aldatu? How could she have missed a creature as big as it was described within the book?' Ari thought to herself. Nathan must have noticed the panic on her face because he slowed his pace so that he now walked beside her.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I am pretty sure I saw the crasem you drew behind my house" Ari said as she turned to look at him.

"More likely a descendant of that line. Crasems are very unique creatures. Once mated the female crasem will take on the eye color of their mate's line. There are five lines of lineage within the crasem species. Each line has a different color of eyes which makes it easy to identify the line. There's green for the Draco line, purple for the Talo line, yellow for the Rydal, red for the Exvis, and blue for the Walthane. The crasem within the book was Baltho Walthane."

"Tell me about him. What was he like?" Ari asked.

Nathan let out a heavy sigh, as if the memory were hard to grasp. "Well, I remember us trying to cross the Tunic, which is not a small river. It's wild and dangerous to cross if you don't know where to do so. Kollsar and I had recorded everything we could on this side of the river, and we had to cross to continue our journey. We thought we had found a decent spot to cross, but it was hiding an undercurrent. I must have stepped right into it because I was swept down river in a matter of seconds and when Kollsar tried to catch me he was pulled under too. The current was strong and pulled me so far down I couldn't resurface. But Baltho was flying over and saw us when we crossed and when we fell in. He managed to grab us both and take us to the other side. To show our thanks we hunted and cooked for him that evening. That's when I was able to talk to him and learn their history." Nathan finished.

"He sounds nice" Ari said with a little relief returning to her.

"Well, he's about the only one honestly. I think if it had been any other crasem they would have let us drown."

"Oh" Ari's relief bursts like a balloon full of water. She worried for Joseph more now. With seeing a crasem behind her home, the description Derrick had given and seeing the claw marks near the rip, it was looking more like a crasem may have been what took her brother. The distress on Ari's face led Nathan to put a hand on her shoulder and bring them both to a stop on top of a hill.

"Hey, we will find him, but you have to trust me." Nathan looked into her eyes and smiled. It brought Ari a tiny glimmer of hope that the tension in her shoulders loosened. She nodded and smiled back at him. He looked up behind her and his smile slowly faded. Ari turned around to see what he was looking at. In the distance, no farther than a football field's length, was a small dark brown house. The door was falling off its hinges and the two windows had lost their panes of glass. The whole house seemed to be leaning to the left and a hole had started to form in the right corner of the roof. A dilapidated wooden fence surrounded an overgrown field area that housed more grass than crops. Beyond the farm, Ari could what she assumed was the village of Schimbare with more wooden houses and smoke rising from the buildings. Ari looked at Nathan to find him staring at the abandoned farm and she could swear tears were forming in his eyes, but his face stayed neutral.

"Do you want to-" Ari started to say.

"No, we should keep going. I'd like to get there before nightfall." Nathan said the words but continued to stand and look at the scene before them. Ari could only imagine the memories and pain this place brought him. The loss of his friend and the guilt he was probably feeling led her to reach for his hand and give it a slight squeeze. Without taking away his eyes, he raised their clasped hands to his chest and patted the top of her hand. He sniffled and turned to give her a forced smile. He dropped her hand and continued to lead the way in front of her. They walked in silence the rest of the way. Schimbare slowly grew larger with each step they took. By the time they reached the outskirts, the light had completely faded. Nathan walked toward the middle road that stretched the length of the village. Houses and shops lined each side and only looked slightly better than the farmhouse. Some even looked abandoned, and Ari noticed Nathan's head glanced side to side to look at each one. His face showed concern and she said "I'm guessing it didn't always look like this..."

"A lot has changed for sure. Kollsar and I would come here after we would finish with things on the farm. This street used to be filled with merchants and their wares late into the night."

"There's someone there" Ari pointed towards the middle of the town that opened in a circle. In the middle of the circle, which was surrounded by more buildings, was a large fire burning and people sat around it quietly leaning in to talk to one another.

"We gotta start somewhere" Nathan shrugged. He dropped his bag from his shoulders again and pulled out a long brown cloak with a hood and passed it to me. Ari chuckled to herself and wondered what all he had stuffed into that bag? She knew he tended to hoard which was a handy habit when it came to the pawn shop, but also apparently when you needed to travel in another world too. "Put that on, I don't want you to show too much of your identity until I know it's safe."

"Should I expect not to be welcome?" Ari said as she took the cloak, removed her own bag, clasped it around her neck and pulled the hood over her head.

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"Back when Kollsar first brought me to town everyone was just curious. However, I can't be sure now. Best not to make too many assumptions." Ari nodded her agreement. Nathan led them to a small group of people that stood near the fire. As they approached, Ari came to realize they weren't exactly human. One had a long tail protruding from his backside, and another definitely had claws. They all stopped talking as they approached. Nathan nodded to them and put a fist to his chest "Aldatu keep you, brothers." They responded with the same greeting but eyed me wearily. Probably because I did not have a male figure even under the cloak, but they did not question it. Nathan continued "I have not been in these parts for some time brothers, but might you know where we can find Tali?"

"Elder Tali?" said one of them. "Of course, she is still running the tavern and can be found there most nights."

Nathan nodded his thanks and led Ari in the direction of another building that was alive with lighting and murmurs from inside. The only building to look that way in fact. "Who's Tali?" Ari asked when she thought they were out of earshot of the fire.

"The closest friend I had here. Funny to think she is an elder now, but nice to hear she did end up taking over the tavern from her father. Maybe, I haven't been gone as long as I feared." Ari smiled at that because maybe that meant it hadn't been a month in Aldatu for Joseph as well. They came to the stone steps of the building which had been well maintained from the looks of it. Nathan opened the large wooden door, and they were met with the sound of laughter and the smell of warm food. The whole room was filled with creatures that excited Ari's imagination. Even though everyone stood on two legs, each had a feature that made it clear that they weren't quite human. There were some with fur all over their bodies, some had different colored skin. Ari even caught the glimpse of small wings on a group seated near a window. Nathan stood on his toes looking over the crowds for what Ari assumed was his friend Tali. When he couldn't locate her, he stopped a man with hair so dark it was blue that ran down the back of his neck and continued in a strip down his arms and spread over the back of his hands. Nathan spoke close to his ear and the man pointed to a booth towards the side of a bar. There sat a lone woman with light olive skin and horns surrounded by thin white hair. The woman stared at the bar with a hunch in her back and wooden walking stick in her hands. Ari saw Nathan's shoulders slump as he looked at the woman with sadness, but also a tenderness. They walked towards the woman and as they neared, she caught sight of them. One of her hands shot to her mouth and tears formed in her eyes. Nathan came to stand in front of her and then knelt, putting a hand over hers that still held the walking stick. "Nathan?" she choked out through tears. He smiled and nodded as they embraced each other. Ari heard her say in a whispered voice "It's been so long, my friend."

Nathan pulled back and put his hands on her shoulders. "Yes, it has, and time has been kind to you."

The woman laughed at that and said, "You still know how to flatter a girl." She caught sight of Ari then and Nathan turned to introduce them.

"Ari, this is Tali," Nathan said.

"Nice to meet you." Ari held out her hand to the woman for a handshake and Tali just stared at it. Nathan chuckled and Ari remembered that she was not in her world anymore. Remembering how Nathan had greeted the men outside, Ari put a fist to her chest and said to Tali "Aldatu keep you, sister." Tali smiled and repeated the gesture.

"She learns faster than you." She smiled at Nathan and continued to Ari "You are safe to remove the cloak in here dear, you are among friends." Ari removed the cloak and Tali gestured for them to sit across from her at the table. They put their bags down and slid onto the bench. Tali took in the sight across from her and shook her head. "Well, this is a surprise." Her face changed from delight to concern in a matter of seconds. "After all this time, you've come back, and you have brought another of your kind. What is going on Nathan? You and Kollsar took off on your little adventure for the ruler and we never saw you both again. We all feared the worst."

"I know Tali, but I'll explain." Tali called for food and drink to be brought to us as Nathan recalled how the ruler had captured them in an attempt to gain the information they collected and use it for war on Aldatu. He also told her about his escape back to their world and why we had returned. As Nathan finished, another girl that resembled Nathan and Tali's features brought them a wooden bowl full of a soup with broth and odd vegetables and a white ceramic cup filled with an amber liquid. Ari tasted them both and was pleasantly surprised that they both tasted delicious. As they both tucked in their meal, Tali motioned for the woman who brought food to us sit next to her. "This is my granddaughter," Nathan nearly spit out his soup at the mention of granddaughter. Ari and the girl both chuckled as he fumbled for a napkin. "Her name is Brooklynn" Tali continued.

"Greetings to you both and it's just Brook" she said with a grin.

"Brook this is my old friend Nathan, the one who used to live on the farm outside the village" Tali indicated to Nathan, "and this is Ari, she came to our world as Nathan did many years ago."

Brook took in Ari's appearance and seemed to regard her with the same curiosity Ari shared of hers. "I go up to the farm and harvest what I can from it from time to time. It still produces quite a bit."

Nathan looked to Tali with a silent question, and she answered it with "Yes, she knows of the rip. She has even helped me keep folks away from it."

"In that case," Nathan said, "perhaps you can help us. We are looking for a young boy that came through the rip, but not of his own will. A crasem may have taken him."

Brook startled at the mention of the crasem and looked to her grandmother who turned to Nathan, "You have to understand something, Nathan. I'm afraid it has been over eighty seasons since I last saw you."

The color faded from Nathan's face and Ari asked, "How long is a season in our time?"

It took a minute for him to collect himself, but he turned to Ari and said "Aldatu has seasons like our world, but they are longer and Aldatuan's measure a year based on the length of growing season to growing season. Their seasons last twice as long as ours normally do, so that would make it over 160 years since I've been here."

Ari was confused by the growing concern that was being shown on his face and that of Talis's and Brook's. "Well, we knew it would be quite a bit of time that's passed here. You're not exactly a young man in our world anymore."

"Yes, but that means my math is way off Ari." Nathan said as he shook head and did not meet her eyes.

Brook answered the question Ari didn't know she wanted to ask "You see, I was near the farm when I saw a strange young boy being taken by a crasem. However, that was around 6 seasons ago."

Dread spread through Ari's body, and she looked to Nathan who said, while he continued to stare his bowl of soup with no intentions of taking another bite, "That means Joseph has been in Aldatu for roughly 12 years."