Young Writers Society

Though neither Nathaniel or Asmira had seen her lock the doors, both had their suspicions and knew that the other shared them. They had never shared their pasts before, but both knew that other was skilled at dealing with situations like this.

"It's a long story," Nathaniel said. He didn't make a move just yet, even though his magic was itching to appear - it was always what happened when he was particularly emotional. "It's a story that's even less likely than appearing in the closet. We're from another world. We came here looking for a friend of ours. Unless you're secretly him, I doubt you know who he is."

She nodded, "I suspected as muchLet me guess, this friend of yours, if I were secretly him, it would be because he's taken over my body for a bit."

With a sigh, she leaned against the doorframe. Counted her weapons.

Sword. None.

Knives. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Poison. One.

These guys were beginning to sound like they knew Skull. If that were the case, she was about to be in big trouble. If her dad found out, anyway. But her dad always found out, one way or another.

Best keep this under control lest she end up permanently locked below the manor.

The two exchanged a look.

And then they both groaned.

"You've met him, then," Asmira guessed.

"Of course she did," Nathaniel said, though it was more of a grumble to himself than anything else. He ran his fingers through his hair, suppressed the urge to groan again, and spoke again - though this time it was a bit louder and clearly intended for the other two present. "I'm sorry that you met him first."

Asmira nodded in agreement.

"He's off exploring or something. Probably getting me in trouble, come to think of it, if you could go find him and stay the hell out of my life that would be wonderful, thanks," she said and stepped away from the doors, subtly unlocking them before she did.

These people had to leave, and they had to do it quickly. The sooner they were back to their world the better.

Nathaniel gave a curt nod.

Offering only the briefest of glances in Asmira's direction, he headed towards the door. But Asmira didn't immediately leave; she couldn't entirely explain why, but she found herself somewhat relating to the unnamed girl. She could almost see her younger self in her, even though their conversation had been short at best.

"Thank you for not attacking us," she said.

"That's not a curtesy you'll get next time I see you," she assured.

It was a second later that she realized she'd have to follow them. Keep track of the unpredictable elements. Control them when necessary.

She groaned internally. This was going to be a long day.

"I still appreciate it," Asmira said. "I know you were thinking about it when you brought us in here - I was thinking of doing the same thing."

Then she gave the girl one last look before following Nathaniel out into the world that lay beyond the building, already trying to put herself in Skull's shoes so they could find him quickly.

Megara had to keep from scoffing when the girl implied that she could get in a fight with her on Haven grounds and win. She manged, barely, and watched them go.

Before they had even reached the front door, she turned and walked to the back of the inn. The back entrances, nicknamed the 'Bloody Doors' by the unimaginative and immature members of the Count's branch of Caedis - in other words, Megara - were right next to the infirmary, meant for those who were too guesome looking to subtly enter through the front. They also made a pretty good exit for someone who didn't want to be seen.

She greeted the doorman, a youngish girl with her honey blonde hair tied up in three neat swirls a the back of her head, and was granted passage into the chilly morning air. Before she stepped outside, though, the girl placed a hand on her shoulder and held out a hat and coat with her other hand, "It's rather cold out, miss."

Her accent marked her as mer, from the northern seas. Megara's eyes flitted over her covered colar bone out of habit, imagining the gills she knew to be there.

"Thank you."

There was a lot Megara could do to keep hidden in the familiar streets of her city, especially from people who didn't know the area and people as well as she did. Her general look changed by the hat and coat and the gait of a perky woman with all the time in the world adopted over her now-usual easier-on-the-leg way of walking, Megara was unrecognizable to any who didn't look closely.

Her leg was killing her, too, but that could be ignored.

She found the pair easily enough and found a comfortable distance in which to follow them unnoticed.

I hadn't been making much luck in my trek around the area.

Then again, I didn't really have anything in particular that I was looking for. I just knew I needed some kind of way back to my other world. Unfortunately, there wasn't really a guide for that. It was just as hopeless as getting back to my world - or even more hopeless, considering that I at least knew I could hop worlds using someone else's powers in the second world.

As I scowled at the path ahead of me (causing some of the passing people to give me wide berth), I suddenly found myself being jerked in a nearby alleyway. My first reaction, as per usual, was to hop bodies - it was more of a reflex than anything else at this point.

You didn't even look, a familiar voice said. I could imagine the eye roll - and almost feel it, too, since he was starting to get a little more control than I would have liked when we shared bodies.

"You didn't even give a warning," I shot back, steadying my body by leaning it up the alleyway wall. "You can't just kidnap people off the streets, Natty boy."

He let out a mental sigh just as Asmira, who was standing a few feet away, let out a verbal one.

"You didn't help," I pointed out. "You could have said something."

"I was going to," she said.

I folded Nathaniel's arms in disbelief. "Didn't seem like it."

"It was a second," Asmira protested.

"You could have made a noise," I said. "Noises just take a second."

Asmira groaned.

Can I have my body back?

I shook my head.

"I'm keeping it for a bit," I declared.

You're impossible.

"Thanks," I cheerfully replied.

Megara didn't really have a way to follow the pair into the alley, so she settled for leaning against a storefront, Leo's, as it happened, and temporarily relieving the pressure on her bad leg.

She wasn't able to hear more than bits and pieces of the conversation that followed in the alley, partly because she suspected a good chunk of it was happening inside the head of Nathanial number three, and partly because this truly was a city of people who didn't know how to go quietly about their business,

It was a stupid move, really, but Megara wanted to be able to hear what was being said.

Curiosity was her greatest curse, unrivaled by any of her other afflictions. Including the leg, which, as she was about to find out, was going to be quite the hindrance.

She had tried to approach subtly, something that wouldn't usually be a problem, but someone had loosed their small dog (a crime) and was letting it roam about the street without a care in the world. In that manner, it ended up under Megara's feet.

She stumbled over it and nearly collapsed. Luckily, there was a handy dandy wall on which to catch herself. Unluckily, that wall happened to be one of those that turned into the alley.

She spat curses under her breath and glanced between the others, her gaze lingering for a second on Skull's limp body and the way Nathanial was holding himself.

"Skull, give him his body back," she said with more dignity than she felt she had any right to at the moment.

Did she follow us?

"Probably," I answered, barely giving her a glance as I spoke - I was more preoccupied with talking to Nathaniel. "She's a little lacking when it comes to morals."

Asmira blinked. "I...I didn't notice her."

I sent her a questioning look, but I didn't get an explanation; like Nathaniel and I, she didn't like to talk about the tricks she had picked up when she was alive. It was mean explaining how she had gotten her tricks, and all three of us were usually picky with our secrets.

I don't understand why she would try helping me, Nathaniel said, more to himself than to me. If you're not exaggerating-

"I'm not," I confirmed.

-then she has no reason to.

...He had a point.

I turned my attention to Megara, letting my body slump to the ground as I looked her over. It was out of character, especially if she had been perfectly following Nathaniel and Asmira up until this moment.

I glanced down at the lower half of her body.

"...You tripped," I realized, a snicker escaping me.

She glared, "You're real observant," she grumbled, straightening out and pretending it didn't hurt. There were different kinds of pain, and the constant, throbbing, biting pain of her leg right now was more bearable than other kinds she'd been made to feel and overcome. That was the mindset she was trying to adopt, anyway.

She focused on breathing, useless, useless breathing, for a moment before addressing Skull again.

"Get in your own body, Skull," she ordered, knowing he was bound to ignore her, "and stop going on about my immoral nature, you're not a bloody philosopher."

I crossed my arms and mulled over the suggestion.

"Nope," I finally said. "I'm sticking around in Natty boy for a bit."

...Are you sure you're not Bartimaeus?

A scowl appeared on my current face. "Why do you have to keep asking that?" I demanded. "I'm not Barti-whoever-that-is, and all three of us know that."

"You do act like him," Asmira pointed out.

I spun around and gave her a look of betrayal.