Young Writers Society

The arrival to the inn went just as smoothly as I had hoped it would.

We didn't even have any run-ins with suspicious looking people lurking in the inn's lounge. We just strolled right up to the front desk, and booked the two rooms that they still had open. There was the matter of splitting the rooms, but I was pretty sure I knew how.

I slung my arm over Nathaniel's shoulder. "Natty boy, you're coming with me," I said. I started to head down the hallway, chucking the other room key over my shoulder with surprising accuracy to Asmira. "The girls and Eddie can sleep together."

Before anyone in our assorted group had a chance to protest my decision, I dragged Nathaniel into our room and slammed the door behind us.


Outside in the hallway, Asmira gave Megara and Eddie an awkward smile.

She was torn between being alright with the arrangement and being frustrated at Skull for deciding what they would do on his own. It was in moments like these that she remembered the spirit she had met what felt like an eternity ago. Bartimaeus and Skull really were similar.

Megara sighed and glared at the door Skull had vanished behind before shoving open the door to the room she'd be staying in, leading Eddie in after her. If she wasn't already frustrated at Skull for...well, existing, she might not have felt the urge to put a knife through his neck for rooming her up with one of his friends. Or anyone at all, really.

She would really have preferred it just be her and Eddie.

She kept to Eddie's mother tongue to speak to him when she saw him shivering, "Are you cold?" The language was a very musical one. It almost felt like singing to speak it, and it sounded about the same.

Eddie nodded.

Megara only glanced at Asmira briefly as she brushed past her to look for a spare blanket. Taking one from a bed was likely not the best of ideas, considering Eddie's clingy possessiveness of anything that was given to him. He had yet to understand the concept of a temporary gift.

She found what she was looking for and returned to Eddie, wrapping it around his shoulders. "Better?" she asked, still in his language.

He nodded.

"I'm sorry," Asmira apologized. She hated how she was apologizing for Skull again - it wasn't like she had any say in how the rooms were split up. "We usually sleep separately when we can. When there's only two rooms, Nathaniel and Skull usually share. Skull still should have asked you about how to split up the rooms ahead of time."

Thankfully, this room had two beds. Megara and Eddie could take one, while Asmira could take the other.

She sat down on the side of the bed closest to the door.

Megara barely glanced at her. If she were in the mood to be nice, she might tell her to stop apologizing for her disrespectful friend. But she wasn't in the mood to be nice, so she didn't say anything to her.

Eddie yawned, then immediately said, "I'm not sleepy!" forgetting to speak in his mother tongue.

Megara's lips tugged up in an amused smile, "Are you telling the truth, Eddie?" she asked in a playfully serious tone, matching his language.

Eddie shifted, his face showing conflicting emotions as he looked down, "Yes," he lied, very, very badly.

Megara sighed, "Come on," she sat down on the edge of the bed and gestured for him to sit.

Defeated, he trudged over like a soldier returning from the battle that lost the war and climbed up onto the bed. Just to be stubborn, he didn't get under the covers. Megara remedied that to some complaints.

Asmira couldn't help but give a small smile when she saw how Megara and Eddie were interacting. It reminded Asmira of how she used to interact with some of the younger guard trainees - or even just the daughters of the current members of the guard. She didn't miss too many things from her times with the guard, but interacting with the children was one of them.

...Then again, both Nathaniel and Skull had a tendency to be a bit childish sometimes.

It was a few minutes before Eddie fell asleep. When he did, Megara made no move to do the same.

She turned to Asmira, "Are any of you capable of sending us home or is Skull making things up?" she asked bluntly. Skull himself couldn't be trusted for an honest answer, so Asmira was her best bet for now.

Asmira took a deep breath and sighed.

"As of right now, none of us are," she said. "Our powers don't let us go between worlds. Skull can possess people and things, I can manipulate temperature and lighting, and Nathaniel can turn his body into shadows."

She folded her hands and placed them in her lap, sitting just as stiffly as she had back when she was receiving orders in the guard.

"There was someone that died and ended up here, once," she said. "She wasn't from either of our worlds. Skull and her are friends. I think he's somehow ended up on her world before, but I don't think it was his own choice."

She let out another sigh.

"I wouldn't say that he's making things up," she said. "I think he's just being hopeful. Nathaniel and I thought it was impossible when that girl ended up here, but he managed to do it that time. So even if he doesn't have a way to get you back to your world now, I think he'll manage to find one."

"So I'm just supposed to trust him?"

That wasn't happening. Skull was a lot of things - annoying, insufferable, worthy of a knife to the Achilles tendon were a few that came to mind - but trustworthy wasn't exactly on the list.

Asmira hesitated.

Then she gave a nod.

"I know it's hard trusting people, especially when you don't know them well," she said. "The three of us are the same way. I can't tell you why Skull and Nathaniel are, but it's just how I was raised. I've tried becoming a little more trustworthy, but it's...difficult."

Asmira's posture relaxed.

"This world is different than anything you're used to," she said, "and chances are that someone from your past will come back to haunt you. You could leave now if you wanted to. I wouldn't stop you. But you're better off with us."

She gave a small smile.

"...And chances are Skull will track you down before you can get that far."

She considered that. It didn't really matter why someone was untrustworthy, just that they were. There was no point arguing, though.

"I believe he would find that I'm much better at disappearing than most," she said, her tone cool, threateningly calm.

Asmira's words sounded an awful lot like a threat. Megara wasn't one to take something like that lightly.

Asmira hadn't meant for it to come across as a threat, but she was beginning to realize it had. It was strange talking to Megara - she kept being reminded of her younger self. Megara was like the girl she had been before she had met Bartimaeus, and before everything had gone done in Jerusalem.

It was funny how much a single incident could change a person.

"You know how Skull is," she said, a friendly, almost joking tone to her voice. "He's stubborn. If he wants to find you, he will."

Asmira's smile faded.

"...I know what I said came across as a threat," she said. "I didn't mean for it to. This world is just a place where dead people go. I don't know what your life was like before now, but I've had my suspicions. You must have killed at least one person who would want to get revenge."

She glanced in the direction of the other room. "That's what happened to Nathaniel before he got here. We ran into someone that he knew, and that man decided it would be better if Nathaniel was permanently dead. I was sent away with one of his men's power, and Skull just barely managed to escape with Nathaniel."

Her gaze fell to her lap.

"...If Nathaniel had been alone, I don't think he would be in that room next to us right now."

Megara was brought back to older times. How many people had been killed with her taunts in their ears? How many sets of close siblings or friends had she killed slowly, one agonizing drop of blood at a time while Briar's toxins ate away at them from the inside, too slow on its own to kill them before the blood loss. How many were here, waiting to return the favor?

She sighed, "Fine. I'll stay only long enough to get home. After that, I never want to see any of you again, got it?" that was a threat.

Asmira let out a sigh as well.

"I'll try," she said, "but I'm beginning to think we'll run into each other whether we want to or not."

She leaned back in her bed, thankful for how soft the mattress was. It wouldn't help with all of the nightmares, but it would make it easier to fall asleep after them.

Megara didn't respond to that, just got up and climbed atop the covers on her side of the bed. She didn't feel like getting comfortable tonight, here, anywhere near anyone Skull associated with.

Her mind was a swirling mass of answerless questions and questionless answers that all fit together in the wrong ways.

Sleep didn't come quickly, and when it did, it's usually soft embrace felt more like claws and barbed wire.

She didn't stay asleep for long.

Asmira didn't stay asleep for long, either.

Memories kept weaving in and out of unrelated dreams. Memories of her travels, memories of her death, and memories of Bartimaeus - they all kept appearing. Bartimaeus and her had never been friends, exactly, but her time with Skull was making her regret what could have been.

When she finally woke from her short-lived rest, she found that Megara was awake, too.