“The stove!” I shouted to myself as I realized what had happened.
Before I left, I started pre-heating the oven. I hadn’t put the pizza in yet, but I belatedly remembered the last time that I had baked a frozen dinner, I had spilled the sauce all over the heating element. Kicking myself for forgetting to clean it up, I quickly turned off the stove and opened the apartment window in an attempt to clear out the scent of burnt Salisbury Steak gravy.
My fire alarm in the living room was still blaring so I stood on the couch and popped open the detector. Over the time I had rented here, each smoke alarm had beeped at some point during the night to announce that the battery was low. I was an expert at changing them quickly, but this time, I just pulled the battery and unplugged the small cable connecting it to the apartment’s power.
Silence finally reigned inside my apartment. The smoke was starting to clear, and I would plug the smoke alarm back in once I was sure it wouldn’t go nuts again. Opening the oven door, I was greeted with a final, dense puff of smoke. Inside, the gravy I had spilled was now a blackened, burnt, hardened mess. I’d have to chisel that junk off before I tried to cook something again.
With the emergency over, I realized that I was again naked, and had probably given the neighbors quite a show while trying to silence the smoke detector. Oh well, I was in my apartment, so it wasn’t quite as bad as appearing naked in my cubicle at work. Instead of changing back into my work uniform, I grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt from the closet. The insurance company wasn’t paying me, so I wasn’t going to give them any free advertising by wearing one of their crappy polo shirts.
While I waited for the oven to cool down enough for me to clean it, I looked for the rewards that were supposed to be sent back with me. There, on the couch next to where I had sat before being summoned, was another leather sack. Inside, just as Rico’s Loot had described, were twenty-six silver coins and a small blue gem. Digging out my other rewards, the newfound wealth joined the sixty-two coppers, 2 silver, and one small red gem.
In the morning, I’d take my wealth to the nearby pawn shop and see what they would give me for it. With a bit of a break before I was summoned again, I lost myself in cleaning while thinking about my situation. One of the first things that stood out to me was that more time had passed after this summoning than had passed after each of the individual ones. It still couldn’t have been long, just enough time for the oven to heat up and start filling the apartment with smoke. Maybe twenty minutes or so, as far as I could tell. Next time, I’d set the timer on my phone again before the headache got too bad.
I spent the rest of the evening waiting for another headache, halfway convinced that Minerva was just messing with me, and I’d be snatched up by another summoning session. No headache was brewing so I finished cleaning the oven enough to cook my now partially thawed, frozen pizza without generating another cloud of smoke. With the pizza cooking away nicely, I considered my situation.
Getting some training was important, so I also looked online for a martial arts school, preferably one that taught weapon skills along with the whole punching and kicking thing. There were tons of places in the area, and even a couple within walking distance from home. Long bus rides with my condition were going to be problematic until I figured out a way to predict my summoning with a bit more accuracy.
I didn’t know much about martial arts, but it was pretty easy to see that any school that showed a bunch of happy kids on their website was probably not the type of place I was looking for. A school that specialized in combat stuff, one that advertised guys fighting rather than happy kids high fiving each other and learning the power of friendship was going to be my target.
There were a couple that looked promising. One was Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, which made me a little wary. Being able to grapple seemed like a good idea, but I wasn’t just going to be fighting other humans. For the most part, my combatants had been rather odd. Orcs and giant spiders didn’t seem like opponents you could deal with by trying to take them down and choke them out. No matter how good at grappling I was, an orc would still just pull my arms off.
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The other school I spotted taught a blend of martial arts, combining Kempo Karate, Ju-Jitsu, and Philippine martial arts. There was grappling, striking, and most important, some weapons training. It wasn’t too far from my apartment, so I decided to visit there tomorrow. The place, like most of them, advertised a free initial lesson, which was exactly what my budget could afford.
With a belly full of mediocre frozen pizza, and my mind drained from all the day’s stress, I slept well that night. To my delight, there were no nightmares, and I wasn’t snatched up into another summoning session. I could just imagine being snatched up for a summoning in the middle of a nightmare, that would really put a strain on my mental health.
After getting cleaned up and a bowl of cereal in my belly, I was ready for another day. Today, I would start to take back my life. I would become the best summoned being I could, rolling through the ranks and tiers until I found a way to escape. If I somehow earned a huge pile of silver coins and gems before escaping, that would be even better.
Pausing at the front door, I verified there wasn’t any headache brewing. Nope, I was clear, so out I went into the wide world of Los Angeles. My first stop would be the pawn shop. It was four blocks away, and I was nervous about carrying a pouch full of 28 silver coins and two small gems on me. All it would take was one mugger to clean me out.
It was early enough in the day that the sketchier residents were still sleeping off their prior night’s activities. Mostly, the streets had people heading to work, or small businesses opening for the day. I did pass my normal bus stop, noting the usual cast of characters were there. This time, I wasn’t going to join them, and despite the horrifying aspects of my new existence, I felt a little better that I wouldn’t have to manage another insurance claim.
“What can I do for you?” A man asked as soon as I entered Big Dave’s Pawn and Jewelry.
“Uh, hi, I was wondering if you buy silver?” I stammered. Shopping at pawn shops was something I’d done a time or two, but it wasn’t exactly my normal habitat. Occasionally, you could find a good deal on something, but a lot of the stuff was overpriced.
“Sure, what do you got?” The man asked.
“I have these, and a couple of small gems, but I’m not sure what the gems are,” I said, handing over the leather pouch that contained my rewards. The man looked at the pouch a bit oddly, I guess most people don’t show up with some primitive-looking leather pouch to store their wares.
“Where did you get these from?” The man asked as he pulled out the coins and gems. I was waiting for this question, and it was something they had to ask. Pawn shops needed to at least make the appearance that the store was filtering out any stolen goods.
“My father left me those when he passed away. I need the cash, so I figured I’d start selling some of it,” I answered.
“Hm, just give me a minute,” the man replied. He pulled out some weird machine that I guess confirmed the coins were silver. Not taking any chances, the man checked each and every one of them. He then went to town on the gems, examining them in several ways before pulling out a calculator and adding things up.
“Okay, the silver coins are all real and not just plated junk. They total out to just under twenty-four ounces. I’ll give you $190 for them. The gems are small, but not horrible, for both, I’ll add another $40,” the man offered.
“How do I know that’s a good price?” I asked.
“You don’t, unless you’re a precious metals expert or a jeweler. I’m straight up with my clients, and yes, I’m giving you a low offer, but I’m also willing to take them off your hands without any drama. You can sell them on eBay or something, deal with scammers, fees, and whatnot. If you do that, you might come out a few bucks ahead, but you’ll also have wasted weeks of your time doing it,” the man told me.
Well, he may not be giving me top dollar, but the man was being honest with what he was giving me. The last thing I wanted to do was sell a bunch of this stuff online. I always had bad luck doing that. I suppose I could shop this stuff around, go to other pawn shops, but was it worth the hassle? If I started to get a headache now and was summoned while out and about, there was a good chance I would lose it all by the time I returned.
“Make it $250 for everything and we got a deal. I’ll also have more of this kind of stuff to sell in the future if you’re interested,” I countered.
“Give me first crack at any other coins and gems you want to sell, and I’ll do $250. By the way, I’m Gary, the owner. If you need anything else, give me a call,” Gary said, handing me his card.
“I thought this place was called Big Dave’s?” I asked.
“That was what it was named when I bought out the old owner a few years ago. I never got around to changing the name,” Gary replied.
I had to fill out some forms, and a few minutes later, I was out the door of Big Dave’s $250 richer. Too bad I had to go through horrible pain to get that money, but like Minerva said, the experience wasn’t proving to be too traumatic once it was over. I still didn’t like that the system had messed with my brain but having a good night’s sleep without nightmares over everything that happened to me kind of helped.
“Do you still hear the voices? I can show you the last one that heard them,” a woman’s voice called from the alleyway.