Glad you decided to join us.

  A big part of me wished I hadn’t. Red-tinged mucus covered my face. My throat was numb as I coughed. I had something lodged in my throat.

  The worm’s tasty if you chew it.

  I choked, horror mounting. Desperately, I clawed the membrane from my eyes as I coughed. Finally, I spat out a shriveled worm. It looked like a white grub with tentacles instead of teeth.

  The “worm” had tiny little legs curled inward in the rictus of death. It looked like a vole crossed with a millipede and a worm.

  If you’re not going to eat it, mind if I do?

  I shook uncontrollably, waving at Richard to remove the evidence.

  “Was that thing lodged in my brain?” I whispered, watching Richard slime over to take a bite.

  No, do you understand biology? If it had, you’d be dead. Without hesitation, two fangs descended on the worm’s head.

  “Isn’t that cannibalism?” Ash asked as he rubbed his forehead.

  Are you claiming I’m a worm? Do they teach you anything about mollusks? Richard made loud smacking sounds as though they could combat our queasiness. It’s a [Mesmer], a mworm, and a baby at that. They lodge in your body and try to control you much like Briyain did before he died.

  Briyain resents that.

  Join the club, Briyain.

  “Where are we?” Meredeath asked. She was squinting at the dim light in the room as though suffering from a hangover.

  We were not in the hotel room we’d originally been assigned. It was a nightmare version.

  Three other Mworms twitched on the floor. My watering eyes tracked to Ash, Meredeath, and found what my heart hoped for: Tandy.

  Some sort of gelatinous webbing pinned her to the wall. The webbing shriveled, as if it had tied itself to the mworm’s life.

  Tandy was helping it along with her [Mercurial Scissors]. She hacked and snipped her way to freedom, falling to the floor in a sequined heap.

  She wore the velvet cape and sparkling jacket of her performance. Large shoulder pads framed her unbraided mane of hair. The edges of her eyes held the same feathery decoration all the staff of Griffin’s Hunt had.

  With energy spent, she clawed slowly at the remaining filaments around her face. The feathers around her eyes fell away too, as though the glue holding them on had finally worn away. I wondered how long she’d been in the mworm’s grasp.

  I stood shakily and stumbled toward my friend to help.

  “Tandy.” The name bubbled out of me, full of a promise fulfilled. I’d found her. “Let me help.”

  I scraped the mucus from her eyes. She looked up at me, and it was like the sun peeking out from behind a cloud. I couldn’t stop grinning.

  She tried to talk, but just ended up in a coughing fit as she inhaled some of the slime.

  We clung to each other for a moment. Words forgotten. The scaliness of her jacket pressed into my arms as we hugged.

  “You found me,” she finally coughed out, releasing me from her grip. “You’re alive!” It wasn’t clear which of those statements she was more surprised by.

  I squeezed her tighter. She was alive.

  “Of course,” I said with a wide smile. “I’m hard to kill.” And I’ll always find you.

  We let go of each other and examined the room.

  Mildew and fungal growth crusted the paneled walls. Moths had eaten the faded carpet on the floor. The bed I’d been looking forward to sleeping in was deflated. Rusty wire springs protruded in all directions, and the four-bed posts looked like something had gnawed on them.

  A pustule hanging from the ceiling burst, sprinkling Tandy and me with wriggling maggots. Freaking out, I jumped up. I could hear the patter of the larvae hitting the floor as I danced around wildly trying to swipe them off me.

  “Fucking Everbear, are they gone?” I twisted trying to see my back.

  Ash came over and calmly brushed at my back.

  “I think that’s all of them,” Ash said, even though his face said most of them.

  Tandy was a bit calmer, although I realized in my panic I’d added to her worm count. Ash and I helped pick them out of her hair.

  Meredeath stood mechanically scooping up the wriggling worms and tossing them into the SCMMOO. Briyain was sloshing in a feeding frenzy.

  Gross.

  She looked at me, green flashing in her eyes. I noted her skull amulet sat broken on her chest, split down the middle. I opened my mouth to comment, but she negated my effort with a sharp shake of her head.

  Later.

  Shivering, I repeated my original question as I scooped Richard off the floor.

  “Where are we?”

  Briyain knows. The creature had stopped eating and hung its snout over the rim momentarily. Nostrils flared as though he was smelling our expressions. Then the beast returned to munching.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “If you know, why don’t you just tell us?” Tandy snapped. Her face had regained some color. She turned to me. “If you pick up one more bear-damned animal companion, Cole.”

  Clearly she was feeling better.

  “It wasn’t me! She’s, they’re…” I still wasn’t sure what gender the undead monster was. Their deep mental voice had an unmistakably feminine quality, but did that matter in a creature of the deep? “…Meredeath’s!” I squeaked.

  Tandy’s head swung to Meredeath. Ash had been checking on the [Death Knight] an arm around her. None of the injuries from the void had followed us into the real world.

  None of the physical ones, anyway.

  They were muttering together.

  Can someone make the floating mind plague talk? I don’t feel well.

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t have gorged yourself on brain worms,” I snapped at Richard.

  “Out with it, Briyain,” Meredeath said.

  No.

  “Why not? You need to get out of here as much as we do.” I reasoned, not expecting an answer.

  Briyain floated up in her bowl, its elongated mouth swiveling around the room, as though trying to decide who to eat first. Her eyestalks hovered just above the water. Their green-eyed undead miniaturized stare bore into us.

  “Out with it,” Meredeath snapped. Briyain jerked suddenly, plunging back into the water, tail swishing in judgment.

  We are in Cersapil, intoned her deep mental voice, dripping with sarcasm.

  Meredeath audibly sighed. As much as I agreed, I knew Briyain had more to share. Antagonizing her wasn’t wise.

  “Tandy, what happened when you entered Cersapil?” It was time to get some answers. “How’d you end up down here? Was that you at the Griffin’s Hunt show last night?”

  She’d been poking at the lock of the door. “I think we can get out now. Cole, do you still have your little toolkit? The doorknob is loose.”

  Tandy had neatly dodged my question. When I opened my mouth to protest, she flashed me a warning glare.

  Fine, questions later. It was such a return to our normal operation. I with questions, Tandy with the plan. It felt good.

  I’d get my answers eventually.

  I shrugged my pack off my shoulders. Richard slimed up, waving his tentacles at me.

  Snack? He gave me a toothy grin, a strand of drool hanging from his left fang.

  “I thought you were overfull?” I rifled through my bag.

  A biscuit to settle things.

  I threw him a dry biscuit. The greedy little [Immortal] started biting it immediately.

  The more he ate, the less orange he looked. It was as though the carrot dye, and the poison just needed a digestive push.

  Richard farted.

  “Seriously?” Meredeath chastised as the stink bomb hit the room. The gelatinous membrane that was left in the room shriveled.

  Don’t question my methods. Richard took another bite of the biscuit. You try being an all-powerful [Immortal] slug.

  My hand fell across the hinged box I’d dragged across the world. I hadn’t opened it since we’d left Woodsten, but I couldn’t force myself to sell it.

  My hands fiddled with the clasp. Inside were my toolkit and a faint whiff of home. For a second I was transported back into my apartment, fiddling with gadgets trying to figure out how they work.

  I grabbed my multi-tool, pocketing it as I walked to the doorknob. We may need every tool in my arsenal.

  Tandy jiggled the frame.

  “I can help!” Ash’s enthusiasm was getting a little old.

  “Why don’t you let Cole and me take care of this one, Ash.” His shoulders slumped.

  “Keep an eye on Meredeath,” I added, watching his expression cheer over the new job. Lowering my voice, I whispered, “She almost didn’t make it out.”

  Ash’s face turned solemn as he approached his new task.

  “You’ve grown.” Tandy’s cool hand took the toolbox from me.

  I knew it was pointless to expect Ash to know we needed a moment. He always responded better with a task.

  “I had to adapt.” We all had been.

  Kneeling down in front of the door, Tandy handed me one of my miniature screwdrivers. The regal griffin on the brass plate stared at me in judgement.

  I hadn’t a clue how to pick a lock, but I could absolutely disassemble a handle with the right tools. Two inset screws, both of which looked loose, held the plate on.

  “He told me you’d died,” Tandy whispered, her hand clutching my arm. “Our party interface had stopped working because of the distances, and I’d gotten a death notification.”

  It made sense. How could she know?

  “I’m here now.” I twisted the first screw out. It came without complaint. The second one was frozen in place. Applying pressure, I twisted the screw hard, and stripped it. “By the Everbear’s tits!”

  “But are you? How do I know this isn’t another dream? I feel like I’ve been dreaming for too long.” I looked at my friend. She was shaking a bit, handing me the needle-nose pliers from the toolkit.

  “Are you really a [Pianist]?” I countered, grabbing the pliers. I pinched the head of the screw and twisted.

  “Yeah. I’ve always been a pianist, just didn’t have the class. I practiced when I could with Aunt Stacy, and when I couldn’t, I’d just imagine it in here.” She tapped her forehead as though it were possible for anyone to just imagine playing a piano.

  “I kept it all just short of earning the class. Actually got it once by accident, and had to stop playing for months so I’d lose it before Mom found out. Aunt Stacy, even with my mom watching like a hawk, helped me practice just enough. Mom would have killed her if she’d known.”

  “Why not share that with Leo and I?” It hurt that she’d kept it so secret.

  Her unbraided hair fell low around her face.

  “I just had two slivers of the world to myself,” she whispered, her face downcast. “You two, and music. And I felt that if those pieces ever met, it’d be too big. [Weaving] and sheep, my grandmother would sweep you all away into a bin.”

  The screw still wouldn’t budge. I flipped the screwdriver and tapped the pliers with the handle, trying to knock it loose.

  The head of the screw popped off, the corroded metal disintegrating under the pressure.

  “I knew you played, I didn’t know that’s what you wanted to do. Hell Tandy, I was one of your best friends.” I examined the doorknob. A tiny pin sat lodged below the knob. Nodding, I changed my approach, grabbing the pin with the pliers. “I would have supported you. Kept it a secret.”

  I pinched the pin and gave it a yank. The ball of the knob popped off and hit the floor.

  Now the plate could slide right off, revealing the internal mechanisms of the handle.

  “It didn’t matter then, and it doesn’t matter now. Pops told me some things before he threw me down here. The ability to create spells—that’s what makes me unique. Not weaving, or music. It’s the threads of magic playing together in a new weave. Every mage we’ve ever met is just replaying the remnants of the last age or leveraging a skill masquerading as a spell.”

  Her words were controlled and low. It was as though she'd replaced a hated fate with another equally distasteful.

  “Cole, magic as we know it, is dying.”

  She said it with finality. As though the fate of the world sat on her shoulders.

  I studied the door mechanism and smiled. Poking at the rod that held the knob in place, it clattered to the floor on the outside. Grabbing my screwdriver, I pried the catch mechanism in… and the door swung open.

  “It wasn’t locked at all, just frozen with age.” Feeling more useful than I had in ages, I looked back at Tandy. “Look, I don’t care if you’re [Threadmarked] or an [Arcane Pianist] or the next [Legendary Hero]. You’ve always been special, Tandy.”

  I weighed my next words, looking her in the eye.

  “The day you stop fighting yourself and embrace the destiny you want is the day you’ll change the world.”

  Tandy punched me on the arm.

  “Cole, you’re an idiot.”

  “Ouch,” I rubbed my arm. “I know, but you don’t have to point it out all the time.”