Through Beth’s entire visit, Liam had been noticing signs that something was bothering her, but he couldn’t figure out what it was until now. She was apparently deceiving him somehow. As far as Liam could tell, she was a sweet, innocent girl, so the source of that deception was certainly her superiors. Probably, it was the Grand Magus, but it could be from someone even higher up on the food chain than that, Liam supposed.

“Even if it’s to help my countrymen and our allies, I just can’t bring myself to deceive like this.” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

“It’s okay!” Liam desperately tried to calm Beth down. “Here, come over here.” He guided her back into the bedroom and sat her down on the foot of the bed. “So long as you tell me now, it’s not a problem, right?” He leaned against a dresser since there wasn’t anywhere else to sit except on the bed next to Beth. “Nothing serious has happened yet.”

“No…” she said. “Even that’s not true.”

Liam suddenly felt worried. “Well, just tell me then. I promise I won’t get mad at you.”

Beth nodded. “First, that dog Nathan… we assessed it after it came through the portal.”

“Vince’s dog? Did something happen to it?”

“Yes…” She wiped the remains of tears from her eyes. “Lyria Moonseeker is much more sensitive to magic than most of us. She said she sensed the seeds of magic within the dog. It must have gained that ability by passing through the invisible door.”

“What? You mean like, the dog can cast magic now?”

Beth shook her head. “Just seeds. Perhaps one day in the future the dog will be able to, but right now he can’t use any magic, I’m sure.”

“Why would the Grand Magus order you to keep that from me? Now I’ve got a magic dog wandering around outside with my buddy who knows nothing about your world.”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps they want magic to spread in your world?”

“Hang on.” Liam’s face darkened. “It’s one thing for them to try to kidnap me into your world to save them, but if they’re trying to fuck with my world, that’s a big freaking deal.”

Beth’s eyes widened at Liam’s sudden shift in demeanor. “Yes, you’re right…”

Liam noticed he was kind of terrifying the girl, so he softened his expression. “But you’ve warned me early on so it should be okay. The dog can’t do too much by itself, right?”

“Yes, I think you’re right. Still, it’s not right that I let you turn the dog over to your friend without warning you…”

“You’re right. It’s not. But what’s done is done. What else?”

“I was told not to tell you that I’m the magus who got struck in the head when you passed partway through the invisible door.”

“Oh you mean…” Liam thought back to when he butt-slammed someone by accident. “How embarrassing…”

“Yes, it is wrong for me to keep secret that I saw you in such a compromised state…”

“What? No.” Liam didn’t agree with her focus. “I should apologize for hurting you, whether it was an accident or not. I’m just glad you recovered.”

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“Yes, I’m mostly better now. But still…”

“It’s fine.” Liam was starting to get frustrated that she wouldn’t let this one go. “Unless you plan to show me yours to make things even, let’s move on.”

“Mine!? I, uh…”

“I’m joking! Jeez. What else have you been withholding?”

“Oh. Actually, um, it’s somewhat related to the last topic.”

Just what in the heck could Beth be hiding that was related to the last topic? She proceeded to explain.

“I was told to… gauge your romantic interests. To see if I could determine who might entice you to join our cause.”

“Wasn’t that kind of dumb of them?”

“Maybe… but why do you think that?”

This time Liam needed to explain. “You’re a magus trainee, not some super-secret agent, right?”

“I suppose…”

“Giving you some mission you’re not trained for is a recipe for disaster. This conversation is proof of that, right?”

Beth couldn’t deny it. “You’re right. Still, I feel awful for betraying the trust my kingdom placed in me, even if I’m doing the right thing.”

“Anything else?”

“What?” Beth didn’t immediately understand the question, likely because she was out of things to tell him already.

“Anything else you were told to hide from me?”

“Oh, no. That’s it.”

Liam pushed off the dresser to stand back up. “The only real problem is the dog. By the way, make sure you don’t tell anyone that you confessed all this to me.”

“Why?”

“Beth, I’m sorry for asking you to continue being dishonest, but there are two reasons. The first is that I don’t want them to know that I know what their goals are.”

“Okay.”

“The second reason is that you could be punished for undermining your kingdom’s efforts.”

“But shouldn’t I take responsibility for my actions?”

“Eh.” Liam thought about the right message here. “They put you in an impossible situation. So long as your intentions are pure, I see nothing wrong with keeping quiet about this. I promise not to abandon your people just because of the crap your Grand Magus or whoever pulled.”

Beth nodded and stood. “I should return. I can tell them about everything else we discussed, right?”

“Yes. The less you have to be dishonest about, the better off you’ll be. Here.” Liam led her back to the toilet.

She looked down into the bowl and turned back. “Could you possibly tell me why it is that you need a couple of days before we reach out to you again?”

“Exams.”

“Exams?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a couple of exams. I don’t have much studying left to do but I can’t take them remotely. I’ll have a long break once they’re done.”

“I’d be… interested to see what you’re learning about. Perhaps another time.”

“I’ll, uh, look forward to it. Just make sure you don’t make it seem like you’re too desperate to return. They might find that suspicious.”

She nodded again and climbed up onto the toilet, disappearing a few moments later.

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

With one exam down, Liam had a single final to go before he was free to devote his entire attention to the magic toilet. He received a text saying his package was ready for pickup.

“Crap… I forgot to change my delivery address to this house…” Due to his oversight, he’d need to return to the campus for a little while. Given the importance of the package, he decided to take care of it right away.

Half an hour later, he was walking out of a campus building carrying a single cardboard box. Immediately, he opened it, inspecting the contents. “Good.” The doorbell cam he ordered online was inside. Tossing the cardboard into a nearby bin, he returned to the house he was renting from his father near campus.

He placed the item on the kitchen table and opened the refrigerator. Liam decided to have a snack before figuring out exactly how he’d install the camera. Just as he bent over to grab a yogurt, someone or something grabbed him from behind and yanked back on his neck.

Although startled, he managed to look down and notice a sinister looking blade held just short of his neck. His first thought was that Sylara had returned and was either teasing or about to eliminate him for some unknown reason, but the voice he heard next was new to him.

“As I thought. Weak. I was just going to observe and report back, but I may as well… take care of the matter right now.”

The feminine voice was soft and airy, but her mouth was so close to his ear he had no trouble making out every word. Liam’s body filled up with a different emotion than he would have expected: rage.

“Why does this keep happening to me!” he shouted in defiance.

“Wha!?” The woman released him and hopped back, creating space between them.

Liam turned around, surprised he was released. As he thought, the person in the room with him was someone he hadn’t seen before. As he was trying to make out what race she was, she spoke again.

“You can understand me…?”