Young Writers Society

Megara was leaning against the wall, staring at the ceiling as though it was everything wrong with the world. She didn't move to acknowledge Asmira when she woke. Just kept glaring at the rafters.

It took a great deal of concentration in the silence to keep the thoughts, memories, of her death from her head.

Part of her was objective, just trying to look at it critically. What her killers had done right and wrong. What she might have done differently. It had been her job, for a while, after all.

The other part wasn't willing to be so calm, though.

So she tried to find something else to think about. Something, anything, that wouldn't make her angry. Such a topic did not seem to exist.

Asmira didn't say anything, either.

She was groggy and didn't feel like talking, but she also knew that Megara didn't want to talk. She wished she knew how to connect with her - a connection was what changed her life back when she was still part of the guard.

But maybe Megara never needed a girl like her.

After all, she did have her own equivalent of Bartimaeus.


"Pacing around our room isn't going to help you get them back to their world," Nathaniel said, exasperated.

I had no idea how late it was in the night, or how early it was in the morning. I just knew that I hadn't been getting much sleep - I kept waking up from a slew of creative nightmares. Nathaniel had similar luck. Part of me wondered if it was because of his more recent injuries, but it was hard to tell.

"The pacing has nothing to do with Megara," I said.

Nathaniel gave me a long, hard look. "You had trouble sleeping when Nikko was here, too."

"I always have trouble sleeping," I pointed out. "I've had more trauma than you'll ever had. I died twice, spent a good chunk of my life as a ghost, and now I'm stuck with you. That last part is traumatic enough."

He sat up in his bed, ignoring my last comment. "It's okay to be worried about someone."

"I'm not worried," I argued. "I'm just...concerned. That's all. Megara being here puts a serious cramp on my style."

"Did Nikko put a cramp on your style, then?"

I blinked and stared.

After another moment of silence passed, Nathaniel laid back down and pulled the covers up. "You're treating her like you treated Nikko, Skull. She might not act like Nikko, but anyone can see you care about her."

There was a pause.

"...You're as bad as Bartimaeus when it comes to your feelings..." he said, his voice going quiet by the end.

"Hey!" I protested, but Nathaniel was already miraculously asleep.

Megara eventually just sighed in frustration and sat down on the floor, finally turning her eyes to Asmira. "Where are you from?" she asked suddenly.

If Asmira had to be here, Megara might as use her for that distraction she desperately needed.

Asmira looked over at her.

"Where I'm from is...complicated," she admitted. "I was born and raised in Sheba, but I haven't been there for several years. Most of my recent life has been spent traveling."

She faltered.

"...Nathaniel and I are apparently from the same world," she said. "But we're from different times. He was born centuries after I was. Skull and Nathaniel have more in common than I have with either one of them."

Megara smirked, "Consider yourself lucky on that front then," she said, rolling her eyes, "The less you have in common with Skull the better."

As if she could talk. She and Skull actually had a great deal more in common than was comfortable. Beyond, even, their shared common use of sarcasm where sarcasm probably didn't belong.

She shoved that thought from her head. She wasn't like that anymore. Usually.

She let out a sigh and gave a small smile.

"That's certainly true," she said. "The only similarity Nathaniel and I have is that we both knew someone named Bartimaeus. He was...interesting. Skull reminds me a lot of him, even though I barely interacted with Bartimaeus."

"I'm sure Skull dislikes constantly being compared to someone else," she said, something in her tone suggesting she wasn't exactly talking about Skull.

She shoved down a couple of memories. Now wasn't the time. Nothing about reminiscing would be helpful right now.

"...He does," Asmira softly said.

She knew that she couldn't keep comparing the two, but Bartimaeus had changed her life. She would have died years sooner than she did if it wasn't for him. And while she didn't know the nature of Bartimaeus and Nathaniel's relationship, she could see that Bartimaeus was the one who made Nathaniel into the person he was now.

That was the thing about people like Bartimaeus and Skull. They were annoying, impulsive and had enormous egos, but at the end of the day they could see past your walls and help you when you needed the help the most.

Something told her Skull was like that for Megara, too - even if she'd never admit it.

"Good," she said curtly, "keep doing it. He's a brat." It was a petty thing to say, but at this point, she thought she'd earned a petty comment or two.

Eddie stirred and sat up, rubbing his eye with a bunched up fist. "Meggie?"

She went to his side, "You can go back to sleep, Eddie," she said gently.

He squinted at her, "No, I-" he yawned, "I'm awake now."

"Good morning, Eddie," Asmira said with a gentle tone - it was clear he wasn't the first child she had interacted with, and that she was fairly fond of them. She gave him a warm smile before looking back at Megara. "Skull and Nathaniel are probably up by now, if you want to leave."

Before Megara could tell him again that he should get more rest, Eddie hopped out of bed. "Good morning," he said mid-yawn to Asmira.

Megara sighed and straightened, "I guess we can leave then."

"Are you going to show us the cool stuff here?" Eddie asked Asmira hopefully. Megara vaguely remembered - and regretted - the conversation in which she'd told him that there was something interesting to be found everywhere. Did that kid ever just forget things?

Asmira's smile grew.

"I will," she said. She wasn't exactly sure what would count as cool in his books, but she would try her best to find it.

She got to her feet and headed to the door with her belongings in tow. She didn't have enough clean sets of clothes to justify getting changed right now. She could do that if her current ones got dirty.

When she opened the door, she found Skull lingering in the hallway. He was leaning up against the wall in between his room and her room, a bored expression on his face as he studied the dirt underneath his fingernails. The hallway felt cooler than her room did, but she didn't give it much thought - it must have been part of the building's design.

"Where's Nathaniel?" she asked.

He gestured back towards his door. "He's getting ready. You know how long he takes in the morning."

Eddie's energy came back quickly, and he rushed out of the room before Megara could slow him down. The moment he spotted Skull, though, he stopped dead in his tracks, staring wide-eyed up at him.

Megara stepped up behind Eddie and placed her hand on his shoulder, which got him to relax a little.

"Skull," she greeted. There were dark circles under her eyes and exhaustion weighing on her shoulders. She wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Megara," I replied.

Asmira glanced between the two of us. I couldn't tell if there was tension for her to notice or not, but there was definitely...something. I was trying my best to ignore what Nathaniel and I had talked about the night before. I knew he was right, but it wasn't like I could just admit it. Megara hadn't like what she felt from me back when we first ran into each other again. She'd hate to know how I saw her now.

Her greeting was proof of it. No hello, no good morning, no anything fancy - just Skull. Like we were Kipps and Lockwood, trying to pretend we didn't have some kind of animosity between us to keep up appearances.

I looked down at the smallest member of our group.

"Morning, Eddie," I said, grinning. Look, there wasn't anything against me greeting Eddie like that - I liked to think that the kid was actually a little fond of me. At the very least, he didn't hate me like Megara did.

Eddie lost all of his shyness at Skull's tone and immediately went to hug him, wrapping his short arms around Skull's legs, which was about as far as he could reach. "Good morning!" he enthusiastically shouted.

Megara closed her eyes. Emotions, either from the Skull and his friends, Eddie, or other patrons at the inn were swimming just below the surface of her own feelings. At least she could tell the difference now. Fondness, frustration, excitement - that was most likely from Eddie - were among the strongest of those in the pool. She imagined most of them were from the people in the other rooms.

She let Eddie do what he wanted. She might dislike Skull, but that didn't mean Eddie had to, too.

"What's your plan?" she asked Skull after a moment, "For getting us out of here, I mean."