The Princess and the Prince

Megara rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall, projecting amusement over the pain the motivated that action. "Who do you guys think he is?"

It was true that she was just trying to antagonize him - an unwise move, as Briar wouldn't hesitate to point out - but it was an instinct. Besides, she was curious, and who was she to deny herself satisfaction to her curiosities?

"It doesn't matter," I said before Asmira could speak. "You don't know him, and he's not going to show up anytime soon - or at all, unless someone decides to summon him."

I glanced over at Asmira and gave her a look. If she already knew Megara from somewhere else, then I knew she wasn't going to be giving her a lot of information to begin with. I just wanted to make it clear that I didn't want to be sharing anything important about the guy everyone seemed to think I was when they first met me. Megara was actually a breath of fresh air; it was nice being recognized for being me instead of him.

She huffed a sigh, but relented, "Whatever. How did you all get here anyway? And how can I get you back to your world?" before you get me killed.

She didn't like not knowing what they were talking about, but she had higher priorities. For instance, she had to make sure the newcomers didn't find out too much about her world before they left it. Something told her Skull was dumb enough to try to meddle with the balance between the syndicates, though it was unclear whether he would try to take them down or join them. She imagined Skull working under the Count, under her. She banished the thought. That would be an inconvenience and a half that she wasn't willing to deal with a the moment.

"Skull made a shady deal with someone who said they could bring him to another world," Asmira said. I gave her a betrayed look, but she continued on despite it - I knew she had to have noticed it. She made eye contact with me for just a second, but that was all I needed to be certain. "When we couldn't find him, we forced the person to send us after him."

"Did you do the threatening, or did you let her?" I asked, trying to regain a little sense of dignity. "Please tell me it was her."

It was me, Nathaniel replied, his voice almost a little smug. She tried, but shadows are apparently more terrifying than darkness and cold air.

I groaned.

"We don't know how to get back to our world," I finally said, taking over for Asmira in doing the explaining. "At least, I don't. The goal was never to go back - it was to get to a different world and stay there."

Megara's face twisted into an empty smile.

"That's just perfect," she said, her voice shaking with what might have been assumed to be rage, but was really some blend of too many emotions to process, "Well, the lot of you are going to have to find some set of mages or something because you are not staying here."

She was dead. She was so, so dead.

"Wasn't planning on it," I said. I decided now was the perfect time to switch back to my actual body - if I was going to be taking this conversation seriously, I'd need to.

...And, though I'd never let him know it, it was good to have Nathaniel's input in situations like this.

I took a deep breath and tapped myself on the shoulder.

Then I was back in my body, staggering a little as I regained sensation. Nathaniel, meanwhile, dusted himself off. I wanted to make some kind of retort about his reaction to me leaving, but I was more focused on what Megara was saying.

"So where exactly can we find these mages?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. The doctors could know something, some foolish part of her offered, The Ringleader has a duo of Bonded who practice magic.

She stopped the list there. No. She was not going to take Skull and his friends to anyone with connections to her, with connections to her father, or anyone in that vain.

"You'll have to figure that out on your own," she said through teeth gritted in frustration, "Just try not to get me killed while you're at it."

"Well," I said, turning back to Asmira and Nathaniel, "I guess that means she doesn't really care about us running into someone that she knows - if she did, I'm sure she would be a little more helpful."

I honestly couldn't tell if I was trying to convince Megara to help us out or not, but the comment made me feel a little better about this entire situation.

She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. He trying to provoke her, get her to 'be more helpful'. Knowing that didn't make it less effective.

It was in an impossible situation. They run into the wrong person, say the wrong thing, she dies. She gets caught helping them out, she dies. Her injury gets discovered, she dies.

That last point wasn't directly relevant here, but it felt appropriate to add. After all, Skull was involved in that too, if indirectly.

"Fine," she growled, "I'll...I'll see if I can find someone."

Or she could just kill them. She shook the idea from her head. Skull could possess her before she could do much damage, and then there wouldn't even be tentative trust in this situation.

Nathaniel and Asmira looked an interesting combination between disappointed and impressed in me, but I tried not to take their reaction too roughly - after all, I had gotten what we all needed.

"Great," I said, spinning back around to Megara. "Where do we start?"

Megara looked the group over. There was a school a few cities over that taught magic. They could...She sighed. No, they couldn't.

There was always the mer.

"I hate you," she said to Skull, "I really, really hate you."

"Welcome to the club," I said, smirking. "You're not the first person to, and you won't be the last."

She grit her teeth. Her nails had been biting into her palms, leaving angry red crescents in their wake when she unfisted her hands.

"If you want my help you're going to have to follow a few rules, are you capable of that?" she said, the shaking of her voice betraying her temptation to wring his neck.

I crossed my arms.

"Depends on the rules-"

"Skull," Nathaniel sternly said, right as Asmira was starting to clear her throat. I shot both of them a look, but neither one seemed to care about my expression. "She's our only way home right now - please don't antagonize her."

Megara suppressed a chuckle. Apparently no one was immune to the 'voice of reason' friend, not even Skull.

Outwardly, she just nodded to Nathanial and said, "Keep your heads down, don't talk to anyone, and for the love of the gods don't ask questions. I won't kill you so long as you do as I say, understood?"